Political Gridlock Around the World
Political Gridlock Around the World
By Todd Strandberg
There has been a sharp increase in the level of public unrest all around the world. We currently have protests going on in France, Spain, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. Not since the protests of the 1970s have there been so many street marches.
It would be logical to conclude that all this fighting and protests would translate to the political worlds. Amazingly, there has been little reaction from most politicians. In key nations like the U.S., Great Britain, Israel, and China in respect of Hong Kong, political gridlock is the rule.
In the U.S., there is an endless battle between President Trump and Republicans on one side and the Democrats and the liberal media on the other side. A massive chasm has formed between the two sides. Nothing is getting done in Washington, DC, because most of the city is fixated on one subject: Donald Trump.
“It seems like Republicans and Democrats are intractable,” said Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and chairman of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation. “They are both adhering to their own versions of reality, whether they’re based in truth or not.”
Polling conducted by Gallup shows that an average of 86% of Republicans have approved of Trump over the course of his time in office, and no less than 79% have approved in any individual poll. That’s compared with just 7% of Democrats who have approved on average, including no more than 12% in any individual poll.
The anti-Trump crowd has failed time and time again: He will never run for president, he will never be the GOP candidate, he will never be president, the markets will crash if he is elected, he will never make it one year, Stormy & Avenatti will take him out, Robert Mueller will bring him down, and we’ll find something to impeach him on.
Great Britain has been in gridlock over the subject of Brexit, which involved a scheduled withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Following a June 2016 referendum in which 51.9% voted to leave, the UK government formally announced the country’s withdrawal in March 2017.
The withdrawing has been delayed several times. Every time the British Parliament was presented with a method to deliver Brexit, it would be voted down by the members. Because of the impasse, Prime Minister Boris Johnson found himself forced to call for early elections.
Israel has the most profound level of gridlock. After failing to form a government for the second time in two consecutive elections, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, will likely need to call for a third vote.
Netanyahu is considering the option of holding direct elections for the prime minister if coalition talks fail. It’s not certain that the dysfunctional Knesset could be relied on to pass a law making a direct vote possible.
I find it very odd that China would be gridlocked over what to do with the protest in Hong Kong. In the past, tanks and bullets would be the response to any region protesting authority of the central government. In the Muslim Uighur province, Chinese men have been assigned to monitor the homes of Uighur women whose husbands are sent to prison camps. They were told to sleep in the same bed with the women.
The endless protest in Hong Kong has had a hugely negative impact on the local economy. The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) crashed to 39.3 in October – the lowest since November 2008, with business activity crashing at the fastest pace in the survey’s 21-year history. I know that the leaders of Beijing doesn’t want to violate the agreement that made Hong Kong an autonomous territory because of the economic impact such a move would have. With China already being a brutal dictatorship, it seems odd that monetary concerns would hold back a crackdown.
I think a key reason for the political gridlock is that the stage is being set for the arrival of the Antichrist. When he comes, he will solve all the world’s problems. With the world already in a profound mess, the time seems about right for the arrival of this false messiah.
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25).
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:7-8).
–Todd