Republican News · Thursday 27 June 2002

Around the world

BY MICHAEL PIERSE

Israel finds Bible Belt friends

Israel/US - The Jewish lobby in the United States is warming up to the Christian right, with its unwavering support for Israel, says a report from The Jerusalem Report.com.

Located on a pastoral 117-acre campus in southern New Jersey are the headquarters of the Friends of Israel (FoI). This is not, as one might expect, a Jewish organization and most American Jews have probably never heard of it. In fact, it is a conservative, evangelical Christian institution, which only recently dropped "Gospel Ministries" from the end of its name.

"Claiming to be Zionist to the core", The Jerusalem Report.com tells us, it is dedicated to teaching Christians about Israel and the Jewish people. FoI, among other things, helps churches put on "Thank God for Israel" days, organises four annual trips to Israel for Christians and keeping its 250,000-member mailing list abreast of Israeli current events.

Until recently, FoI used to have little contact with the organised Jewish world, but that that has all changed dramatically, and to the mutual benefit of Zionist and Christian zealots.

Gary Bauer, who ran against George W Bush for the Republican presidential nomination and is a leading voice of the Christian right, says America's current 'War on Terrorism' has brought evangelicals closer to Israel than ever before. "I think after September 11 there is a real sense among evangelicals and Christians that Western civilization is being challenged again and that Israel and the United States share a civilization based on Western and Judeo-Christian values."

Examples of growing Jewish-evangelical cooperation are numerous and increasing. Just recently, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a 20-year-old organization that works with both communities, announced the launching of a Christian-led project called "Stand for Israel", which hopes to mobilise some 100,000 churches to create an evangelical version of AIPAC, the main Jewish pro-Israel lobby. The evangelicals hold a lot of sway in the US Republican Party - it's easy to see why pro-Israelis are glad of their support.

But why, you might ask, do the evangelicals want to support another, and quite different religion? Doesn't it seem a bit odd that their nomally insular, pro-gun lobby, conservative mindset has found common cause half-way across the world? Odd yes, logical no.

While there is a range of beliefs among conservative Christians, many evangelists look at the return of the Jews to Israel as a precondition for the return of Christ and see the current crisis there as something foretold in prophecy. In short, 'they crucified him, now they'll bring him back'. With 50 million evangelicals in the US, it seems that George 'Dubya' Bush's call this week for Yasser Arafat to be ousted may have been as much about boosting his own party as anything else.

Yugoslavia Fires Milosevic's army boss

Yugoslavia - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on Monday ordered the dismissal of army Chief of Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic, but the general - who rose to prominence under Slobodan Milosevic - refused to accept the decision.

The nation was braced to see whether the army would back Pavkovic or Kostunica. There was no immediate sign of army action in support of Pavkovic, whose dismissal had long been demanded by reformists and the West.

"However great Pavkovic's merits may be, and they cannot be disputed by any means, the army now needs skills of a different kind," Kostunica said, in remarks broadcast by state television.

Diplomatic skills are obviously lacking. "He has practically decided that my service ends as of tomorrow, as if I were the greatest scum in this state," Pavkovic complained. "Of course, I have refused this and I will not carry out this order. I am demanding the protection of the highest state institutions."

The general is closely associated with Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the late 1990s.

200 die in Tanzania train crash

Tanzania - Survivors described scenes of horror with passengers leaping from a speeding train in a desperate attempt to save their lives, and the driver running through packed carriages screaming that the train - with 1,000 people aboard - was out of control.

The Tanzanian train crash on Monday is now estimated to have claimed 200 lives. A number of corpses were still trapped under the wreckage. The badly injured so far number about 800.

The passenger train was climbing a hill when it suffered a mechanical failure and rolled backwards toward an approaching freight train.

The train went off the railway tracks backwards and smashed into the train behind it. It had 22 carriages and 21 of them left the tracks. Survivors said the driver lost control as the train rolled back down the hill for about 30 minutes before slamming into the freight train.

Red Devils under the bed

South Korea - "The red colour had long been associated with 'very bad things'," South Korean magazine, Korea Now, tells us. "It used to mean communism, militant North Korea and anti-government activists. And the word 'devil' is something local Christians vigorously avoid being associated with in any way."

Despite initial reluctance, however, Americanised South Korea, buoyed by World Cup successes (until Tuesday), have embraced the terminology of their heathen, communist foes up North with particular fervour. "With World Cup fever sweeping the nation and other soccer-loving countries, the Red Devils are now playing the crucial role of dispelling colour-sensitive political prejudice," the magazine proclaims.

Soccer fans show their true colours, decorating themselves to cheer on the Korean team. "We hope Korean soccer fans will help the national team win the game in a fair and gentlemanly manner," said Shin In-chul, chairman of the Red Devils' cheering squad, on its official homepage.

Shin's comment came as full-blown "anti-American sentiment was feared to mar the spirit of the world's greatest soccer tournament, co-hosted by Korea and Japan", in connection with the crucial Korea-US match.

Shin called for the 110,000-strong Red Devils members to "stay away from politically motivated cheering.

"We never want politics to interfere with football and our ultimate goal is to maintain and advance friendly relations with the United States through sports games, not sparking anti-Korea, or anti-US sentiment," Shin said.

Power to the people

Peru - Following massive protests in six Peruvian cities, the country's government has suspended plans to privatise two of Peru's power plants.

$100 million of damage to infrastructure, including one airport being attacked and all flights grounded, resulted from its original decision to renege on election pledges to keep the companies in state hands. Two people were killed and more than 140 injured when a state of emergency was declared and 5,000 soldiers were sent to quell the protests.

Man and bear, unite and fight!

Germany - Finally, following more than ten years of campaigning by German animal rights activists, animals like this Panda in Berlin Zoo now have their rights enshrined in the country's constitution. Parity of esteem or what?

Paragraph 20a of the German constitution, known as the Basic Law, now states that all animals, like humans, have the right to be respected by the state and have their dignity protected. "We hope this will bring a whole range of changes," said the president of the German Animal Protection League, Wolfgang Apel. However, the agricultural ministry has admitted that the law is unlikely to bring radical changes overnight.