Week in Review: Europe Reviving the Roman Empire, Russia's Unfree Press, Sadr's Return in Iraq, ...

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Highlights:

The resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire

• Former London Mayor Boris Johnson told the Telegraph that the European Union is following in the footsteps of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte by trying to resurrect the Roman Empire.
• “[T]he history of the last couple of thousand years has been broadly repeated attempts by various people or institutions—in a Freudian way—to rediscover the lost childhood of Europe, this golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans, by trying to unify it,” he said. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically.”
• Both history and Bible prophecy indicate that the current revival will also end tragically—but not before tremendous, howbeit, short-lived “success.”

Britain’s tiny and impotent stick

• One of Britain’s most well-known generals is warning that military cuts have left Britain unable to fulfill its security role on the world stage.
• “A country famous for once ‘walking softly and carrying a big stick,’” wrote Gen. Richard Shirreff about Britain’s transformation, “now had a leadership that shouted loudly but, thanks to ongoing defense cuts, carried an increasingly tiny and impotent stick.”
• General Shirreff warned that as a consequence, Russia may soon invade Britain’s Baltic allies. But the consequences of Britain’s shrinking army will hit a lot closer to home than the Baltics.

Germany wins tank battle

• Europe resoundingly won nato’s Strong Europe Tank Challenge last week. But the big tanks belonged to Germany.
• Germany took first place, using their Leopard 2 A6 tank. Denmark and Poland came in second and third place respectively. Both of these countries also used German Leopard 2 tanks, though they were the A5 variant instead of the A6.
• It’s unknown where the United States placed, but it’s obviously not at the top.

Russia’s unfree press

• Whatever remained of Russia free press during the earlier parts of the Vladimir Putin era appears all but gone.
• The owner of the Russian rbc media organization, Mikhail Prokhorov, “was the last of the oligarchs supporting the opposition and the authorities wanted push him away from the media market,” wrote Anna Nemtsova for the Daily Beast. “Under mounting pressure, it appears he decided to compromise, and the journalistic bloodletting began.”
• President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is well toward the path of total authoritarianism. Bullying the rbc into submission is just one among many telling signs.

Muqtada al-Sadr’s return

• Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi wants to reshuffle his endemically corrupt cabinet in Baghdad. But so does the radical Muqtada al-Sadr.
• Unlike Prime Minister Abadi, Sadr wants a complete overhaul of the Iraqi parliament and the quota system of its power-sharing government. This will benefit the Shiites—and Sadr is a Shiite cleric and militant leader.
• During the early years of the Iraqi War, Sadr’s Mahdi Army terrorized coalition forces. And when he got into trouble with the United States, his supporters in Iran provided him a refuge.
• Now he’s back, and his political clout appears stronger than ever.

Other news:

• What happened to EgyptAir Flight MS804? Authorities have yet to determine whether is it was downed by terrorists or not. But the damage that this crash has inflicted on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the national economy is well known.
• On Wednesday, the Iranian parliament said the United States should pay Iran reparations for 63 years of “spiritual and material damage.” Iranian officials said America’s involvement in a 1953 Iranian coup and its support for Iraq during its 1980s wars with Iran means the U.S. owes Iran.
• A new Associated Press poll found that two-thirds of Americans would struggle to cover a $1,000 crisis. Released Thursday, the findings seem to indicate that many Americans finances never recovered after the 2008 Great Recession.

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