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As Sanctions Against Russia Take Hold, They Are Having The Effect Of Devastating Economies All Over Europe, Who Will Be The First To Fall?

The political impact of the cost-of-living squeeze is ultimately likely to test the continent’s resolve to keep confronting Russia at a time when its president, Vladimir Putin, is threatening to shut off gas supplies amounting to about a third of EU consumption. “This is a sword of Damocles,” said Yves Dubief, whose grandfather founded textile weaver Tenthorey, an employer of 50 people in northeastern France that produces 5 million meters of cloth a year. In such circumstances, the business leader says the state would need to revive measures used during Covid to need help with fixed costs and furloughing workers. “If there is an embargo and we have to reduce our production, whatever the price of gas, it will be a question of whether we are compensated by public authorities.”

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Two weeks since Russia began the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II, businesses across the continent are already in varying stages of despair at the consequences on livelihoods from economic sanctions.

Economic sanctions to bring Putler and Russia to their knees? Don’t count on it. In fact, the sanctions placed on Russia over the past 2 weeks is hurting the economies of Europe just as much as it is Russia, and on some levels, even more so. The thing people forget is that Russia is a nation whose people have suffering as their birthright, shutting down McDonald’s and Starbucks doesn’t do anything. But $20 a gallon petrol for the Europeans will wreck their lives and inflict pain that they will not likely survive.

“And the famine was sore in the land.” Genesis 43:1 (KJB)

In many places in the Middle East, flour is already being rationed as Ukraine and Russia account for nearly 30 percent of wheat, 17 percent of corn and over half of sunflower seed oil exports. Critically, Russia is also a major exporter of fertilizer, the price of which has already been soaring. Significant disruptions of Russian exports could see that price jump more — further driving up the cost of food production globally. In the United States soaring gas prices combined with the Biden inflation is already beginning to be felt. But Bidenflation was already in progress before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Shockwaves Spread as Europe’s Economy Reels at Energy Fallout

FROM YAHOO NEWS: A crisis of human suffering in Ukraine, whose wider economic impact prompted European Central Bank officials to quicken their withdrawal from stimulus this week, is affecting prosperity from the farmlands of Spain to the euro zone’s manufacturing core in Germany and France.

Surging energy costs are the central complaint, though disrupted supply chains, sanctions and worries about a looming demand drop are also weighing on enterprises. The abrupt shock of war nearby, combined with broad effects and an uncertain duration, will pile pressure on governments to cushion the blow as well as testing their resolve to confront Russia.

“I don’t know what to do if the war in Ukraine continues for much longer,” Spanish pig farmer Lorenzo Rivera said in an interview this week. “I either have to halt production — or close business for good.”

Rivera, whose 200 sows outnumber people in Peleas de Arriba, the settlement in northern Spain where he lives, has endured cost increases for a while — first electricity, then fuel, and then animal feed. It was all manageable until war broke out on the other side of the continent.

The root of the difficulty is the European Union’s reliance on Ukraine for over half its supply of corn, a key source of feed for pigs. With farmers unable to access fields, analysts are slashing outlooks for crops and exports there by as much as a third, sending prices to the highest in about a decade. Other economic disruption is being inflicted by the geography of the crisis. In Germany, the heartland of the euro-zone economy, Porsche AG stopped production of its Taycan electric car in Stuttgart because it lacks cable trees made in Ukraine. Meanwhile its parent, Volkswagen AG, has halted exports to Russia and stopped production at an auto factory in Kaluga outside Moscow.

Most onerous is the energy impact. If current prices persist, the extra cost of importing gas and oil will amount to an income shock of 550 billion euros ($605 billion) or 4.5% of annual gross domestic product, according to JPMorgan economist Greg Fuzesi. Goldman Sachs now reckons inflation will reach toward 8% and the euro zone will suffer a contraction in the second quarter. To many euro-zone businesses, that pinch has been immediately crippling. Just in December, Manuel Rodriguez’s Groupe Kramer took over a century-old porcelain factory in eastern France called Jurassienne de Ceramique Francaise. He has now taken the painful decision to put it in hibernation.

“If we were to pay a gas bill that’s increased 10-fold, we’d hit the wall,” he said. “We would have no other choice but to file for bankruptcy and close down the factory.”

Heading south, along Italy’s coastline, the spiraling cost of fuel has also left many trawlers unable to go to sea and sparked a week-long strike of fishing boats. Carlo Lista, who owns a fishmonger business in Rome’s Monteverde district, says the effect has been dramatic.

“About 80% of fishing boats have stopped due to the surge in fuel prices,” he said. “You go there, and it’s maybe one boat, and one guy bids and then another, and the price just goes up — whoever bids more gets the fish. Prices are just soaring and soaring.”

Grumpy fishermen are calling on Italy’s government to do something about their predicament beyond the 16 billion euros already spent to protect consumers and companies from rising energy costs. That’s a plea being echoed around the continent. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has already extended a series of energy tax breaks to the end of June. Portugal will cut fuel levies starting on Friday, and other counterparts are likely to take similar action.

With the EU also under pressure to act, leaders are discussing the crisis in Versailles on Friday. One measure the bloc could consider would be to temporarily lift a ban on imports of genetically modified grains from the U.S. and South America to help farmers struggling with supply disruptions, according to Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas.

What Bloomberg Economics Says…

“If the gas supply is turned off, Germany and Eastern Europe almost certainly face a crunching blow to output, pushing the euro area into recession.”

The political impact of the cost-of-living squeeze is ultimately likely to test the continent’s resolve to keep confronting Russia at a time when its president, Vladimir Putin, is threatening to shut off gas supplies amounting to about a third of EU consumption.

“This is a sword of Damocles,” said Yves Dubief, whose grandfather founded textile weaver Tenthorey, an employer of 50 people in northeastern France that produces 5 million meters of cloth a year. In such circumstances, the business leader says the state would need to revive measures used during Covid to need help with fixed costs and furloughing workers. “If there is an embargo and we have to reduce our production, whatever the price of gas, it will be a question of whether we are compensated by public authorities.”

While such challenges are likely to focus governments in coming weeks, the most immediate task of addressing economic fallout has been left to ECB President Christine Lagarde. Officials accelerated stimulus withdrawal on Thursday as they unveiled forecasts showing inflation averaging 5.1% this year. The war presents a “substantial upside risk” to prices, she said.

Rodriguez, the French ceramics entrepreneur, looks on that threat with dread. He warns that the problems he’s seeing are likely to cascade throughout global manufacturing.

“There is a domino effect,” he said. “All big industrial firms on the planet have the same problem. In the more or less long term, we will all be faced with this problem of gas that’s too expensive.” READ MORE

Russia sanctions: Moscow warns it will retaliate to Europe gas changes

Russia sanctions: Alexander Novak, Russian Deputy Prime Minister speaks of how Russia will retaliate to the European gas movements as he also warned that the actions will cause prices to rise. Novak said Russia, which supplies 40% of Europe’s gas, was fulfilling its obligations in full but that it would be entirely within its rights to retaliate against the European Union after Germany last month froze the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Oil price surge and any sanctions hurt Europe more than U.S., expert explains

Seton Hall University Professor Margarita Balmaceda sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how the energy market would be impacted by the U.S. import ban on Russian oil, additional operational costs for European refineries, and crude oil prices.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. Even all the way to South Africa. We even restarted our weekly radio Bible study on Sunday nights again, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

European Union

Flush With Cash From The Biden Administration, Ukraine Is Now Saying They Have The Capability To Produce A ‘Homemade Nuke’ To Fight Russia With

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Ukraine has the resources and expertise to indigenously produce a large quantity of nuclear weapons at short notice if it was forced to do so, a briefing document meant for top government figures allegedly says, a report states.

Today, Biden administration Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked, bragged actually, about the massive amount of money the United States is planning on funneling, some would say laundering, to Ukraine in their endless war with Russia. It’s already at $8.5 billion since September, with many more billions to follow. What is Ukraine doing with that money? Making homemade nuclear bombs to attack Russia with.

“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.” Luke 21:9 (KJB)

The west and NATO continue to do this funny, little dance that draws us ever closer to WWIII, not the least of which is a proxy war being waged through Ukraine against Russia. If Ukraine actually starts building ‘homemade nukes’ it can only end in disaster. The fact that the outgoing Biden administration is bragging about the obscene amounts of money being given to Ukraine, in light of the very sparse support for Americans after things like hurricanes and floods, is beyond appalling. This is one of the main reasons why Donald Trump won in a landslide, to return some sense of normalcy to Washington, if such a thing can actually be done. There are still another 67 days left in the Biden administration, and they can still do a lot of damage.

Ukraine Believes it Can Build its Own Nuclear Bombs From Spent Fuel Rods in Months: Report

FROM BREITBART NEWS: A briefing produced for the Ukrainian defence ministry allegedly explaining to policy makers that the country could rapidly develop rudimentary nuclear bombs from spent fuel rods and long-range ballistic missiles to carry them states this could be achieved in just months.

Claimed as an exclusive by The Times of London, the document is presented by the newspaper as illustrating a potential backstop for the country to defend itself from the Russian Federation if the United States under a Trump Presidency withdrew military support. President Trump has made clear he wishes to bring peace to Europe quickly, but has not yet revealed how. Many of the options open to him do not align with the official Kyiv policy as the only acceptable end to the war being total victory over Russia.

The paper cites key lines from the report, written for the Ukraine government’s Centre for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies by Oleksii Yizhak, a senior leader at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, also a government think tank, both of which work in an official capacity advising the Presidency of Ukraine. It allegedly notes: “Creating a simple atomic bomb, as the United States did within the framework of the Manhattan Project, would not be a difficult task 80 years later”.

“I was surprised by the reverence the United States has for Russia’s nuclear threat. It may have cost us the war… They treat nuclear weapons as some kind of God. So perhaps it is also time for us to pray to this God.”

The degree to which the briefing was solely meant for the illumination of top Ukrainian cabinet ministers — given the dissemination of key paragraphs in a widely-read English newspaper — or is partly intended as a veiled threat to both Moscow and Washington D.C., is naturally hard to immediately ascertain. Certainly, the Ukrainian government communicated a rebuttal overnight, stating the country was bound by a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Yet this denial came without addressing the actual points in the briefing that the authors believe the country has legal grounds to unilaterally withdraw from those obligations, given it could claim other partners haven’t honoured it.

Whatever the truth, it is certain that the emergence of a new rogue nuclear state willing to use unsophisticated, low-yield nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe to defend its sovereignty from an aggressor would be not well received by Western capitals, and least of all by European nations threatened by drifting fallout clouds. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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antisemitism

In Amsterdam, Antisemitic Rioters Shout ‘Kanker Joden!’ Targeting The Jews In An Unprecedent Wave Of Nazi-Like Violence And Attacks

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‘Kanker Joden!’: Trams set alight, violence erupts in Amsterdam in second wave of antisemitic attacks against Jews in Europe

Europe has been a hotbed of antisemitic violence ever since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel took place, and over the past 72 hours in the European city of Amsterdam, it has been a literal Nazi rally on the streets. Jews are absolutely not safe there, and should leave immediately. Earlier this evening, hundreds of pro-Palestinian citizens protested in the streets shouting ‘Kanker Joden!’, which is to say that the ‘Jews are a cancer’. Adolf Hitler said the same thing back in 1935, what’s old has suddenly become new again.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJB)

Nazism did not die when WWII came to an end in 1945, it just went underground to wait for the right time to reemerge. Events continuing to unfold in Amsterdam shows that is alive and in 2024, and just looking for a leader. It’s a bad time to be a Jew, and according to the prophets, it’s going to get a whole lot worse very soon. Pray for the Jewish people, pray for Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Pro-Palestine protestors had clashed with riot police earlier in the day at Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, leading to over 50 arrests.

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: Violence erupted on the streets of Amsterdam on Monday night in the second wave of antisemitic attacks to hit the Dutch capital over the last week, according to local media reports. One of the city’s famous trams was set alight by rioters dressed in black and armed with fireworks, according to De Telegraaf. The rioters threw debris and shouted “Kanker Joden” (cancer Jews), but it is used to mean “f*** the Jews.”

Rioters reportedly burned a tram in the city’s western suburbs and clashed with police earlier in the day. A police spokesman said a tram at the ’40-’45 Square in the west part of Amsterdam had caught fire, likely caused by fireworks thrown at it. The windows of the tram were shattered. No one was injured in the incident, as the tram had been empty, the spokesman said.

Masked men reportedly roamed the streets yelling “Free Palestine.” De Telegraaf reported that journalists witnessed a bystander being ripped from his bike and beaten by the rioters. Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV, responded to the events by saying, “After the Jew-hunt, the Intifada.”

Wilders has been a strong defender of Israel and the Netherlands’s Jewish population while being deeply critical of Dutch immigration and integration policy.

Wilders heads the Dutch Parliament’s largest party, the Party for Freedom (PVV); however, due to being an extremely controversial figure within Dutch politics, he was blocked from becoming Prime Minister or even a minister. Instead, Wilders helped organize the ruling bloc and assisted in steering policies, in effect being the de facto Prime Minister.

Amsterdam was rocked by a pogrom that targeted Jews and Israelis in the city immediately after the soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Dutch team Ajax.

Pro-Palestine protestors had clashed with riot police on Monday at Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, leading to over 50 arrests, according to Deutsche Welle. Following the attack, the city announced a three-day ban on all demonstrations to maintain public order. Furthermore, the government had announced it would hold stricter border control until December 9.

Hundreds of people defied the ban, which had been upheld by a local court earlier in the day.  They chanted “Free Palestine” and “Shame on you” and called for an end to the war in Gaza. READ MORE

One unconscious man is kicked in the back. Another pleads for mercy in a narrow alleyway before being punched in the head. And a third Israeli citizen is made to shout “Free Palestine” after jumping into a canal to save himself. Amsterdam is reeling from what has been called a “Jew hunt” and “pogrom” on its streets that has rekindled memories of Europe’s darkest hours. After Maccabi Tel Aviv had played a Europa League match against Ajax on Thursday night, Israeli fans were chased with knives, humiliated and assaulted across the Dutch capital.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron Called For A ‘New International Order’ In Paris As Well As A Two State Solution And A Truce in Lebanon At The United Nations This Week

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French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ‘new international order’ during his speech at the Sant’Egidio International Meeting for Peace in Paris yesterday and spoke of “rethinking” relations with Russia amidst the war in Ukraine.

It has been a very busy week for French President Emmanuel Macron, first at the Sant’Egidio International Meeting for Peace in Paris on the 22nd, and at the United Nations in New York City on the 25th. At the first meeting, he laid out his vision for a new world order, and at the second, his repeated call for a Two State Solution for the Palestinians. Anyone have Macron on their scorecard for ‘man of sin’? I do.

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Revelation 17:17 (KJB)

Like Hitler before him, Emmanuel Macron is not someone that can accused of having a hidden agenda, the things he wants to bring in are right out in the open for all to see. Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ to tell the world what his plans were, Emmanuel Macron does the same thing behind a mic at the UN. On top of everything else, he also called for an immediate truce in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel.

Emmanuel Macron Calls for New World Order in Paris and a Two State Solution at United Nations

FROM NEWSWEEK: Macron, president of France since 2017, said that he wanted a new order to maintain peace on the continent and around the world.

“We try to walk with this European political community but we will have to think of a new form of organization of Europe and rethink our relationship to Russia,” he said. “In the same way as you said we have to build a new international order, is undoubtedly the greatest challenge of the moment because our order today is incomplete and unjust.”

He added: “We need to think about the world in a new form. It is necessary to take into account the geographical reality of Europe, which is not limited to either the EU or, most definitely, NATO. We need to think about a new form of organization of Europe and rethink relations with Russia in the future, as well as peace on this continent,” according to Oreanda News.

“The international community must evince the political will to ensure a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” Emmanuel Macron said

The French president noted how the current world order was created after World War II and is “incomplete” because it did not take into account climate change, the technological revolution, or other future world changes.

Macron said that a new model needed to take into account equal representation for all European nations and consider larger peacebuilding tactics. Russia’s Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Macron’s speech. “Obviously, as the security architecture of Europe is changing by leaps and bounds, it is necessary to build it anew. The whole system of international relations is changing,” he said, according to the Russian news agency Tass. Peskov also reportedly emphasized that the building of the new world order would be of particular interest to the Kremlin as it would ensure Russia’s legitimate security interest.

Macron initially received criticism for his comments on Russia, specifically when he said, “We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means,” in 2022. READ MORE

Day two of the UN General Assembly was dominated by concerns over the escalating Gaza war and the potential for conflict spreading across the Middle East. French President Emmanuel Macron criticised Israel’s prolonged military campaign in Gaza, warning against expanding operations into Lebanon. He stressed the importance of diplomacy to protect civilians and prevent a regional escalation, also calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought continued support against Russia’s invasion, but discussions remained largely focused on the growing threat of conflict in the Middle East.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

nteb-free-king-james-bible-program-750-550

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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