Displaying items by tag: Politics

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, currently on temporary release from a five-year jail sentence, is, for the first time, under formal consideration for clemency. A decision will be made by the highest level of Iran’s multi-layered government. There is no guarantee that clemency will be granted, or that she will be allowed to return to the UK. The supreme leader will present a recommendation to the deputy prosecutor. He could either approve clemency or recommend to the supreme leader not to grant it; or it could just sit on his desk for a bit. Now is the time to pray that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei releases a strongly worded recommendation to the prosecutor general’s office for her immediate release. Pray also that the prosecutor-general will decide that now is the time to allow Nazanin to take the steps towards freedom. 

The European Union is showing major evidence of stress thanks to the pandemic. Every member state considers its own national interests over those of the rest of the EU. Economist Branko Milanovic called the crisis ‘a huge test of European solidarity’, as countries close borders and hoard medical equipment. When Italy requested help from other member states to fight the coronavirus not one responded, but China did. Germany and France were condemned for blocking the export of vital medical supplies, calling into question the bloc's solidarity in times of crisis. Pray for humility and compassion to replace nationalist dialogue, and for members to return to the founding principle of unity.

On 2 March Israel held its third election in a year. Already huge Likud roadside billboards bearing the faces of Blue and White and the Arab Joint List leaders have been erected, stating, ‘Yes to a Jewish and democratic state, no to supporters of terror.’ Israel’s elections are not over. The party headed by Benjamin Netanyahu continues its campaign against the formation of a minority government by Blue and White with the support of the Joint List. Foreign minister Katz called members of the Joint List ‘terrorists in suits’. 64% of Arab voters support the Joint List joining the government, but the right-wing/ultra-Orthodox and many of the general public, including Blue and White voters, don’t. Knesset members are receiving constant curses and insults by those against such cooperation. Is Israel prepared for real cooperation between Jews and Arabs at the highest level?

Security agencies are using ‘Yarovaya Law’ to impose harsh restrictions on evangelical Christians to tackle ‘extremist’ activities. The law demands permits to enable meeting outside registered religious buildings - outlawing house churches and prayer meetings. The law gives security agencies access to private phone conversations and text messages. There are few Protestants who have not been impacted by the law. A Moscow pastor with a congregation of 50 who are interrupted most Sundays by police said, ‘Authorities dressed as civilians knock on our door, asking to come in and “pray”. If we refuse they film us turning them away and use the footage against us. If we let them in they take pictures inside the church to identify ways that we are violating the law and must pay fines for “illegal missionary activity”’. Meanwhile President Putin’s revised constitution wants gay marriage to be forbidden. It will be put to a public vote. See

A migrant crisis on the Turkey/Greece border is entwined with Idlib, the last stronghold of Syrian rebels backed by Turkey. Russia supports Syria and intends eradicating rebels from Idlib. When 34 Turkish soldiers died in Russian airstrikes, Turkey withdrew from an agreement to prevent refugees from crossing Turkey’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria, so by 5 March 25,000 refugees and migrants had gathered on the Greek border, seeking to cross into Europe. But they faced Greek troops repelling them with tear gas and water cannons on the land border and denying landing permission at the coast. EU leaders voiced unwavering solidarity with Greece, pledging to deploy urgent border guard reinforcements on land and at sea, and to disburse immediately some €350 million in aid, sending a message to the EU's 440 million citizens that they will prevent a new wave of arrivals at a time when the continent is struggling to prevent a coronavirus epidemic. See

On Monday 2 March, Israelis will, for the third time in a year, cast votes for a government. Proverbs 16:9 says ‘In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps’. Lord we ask you to encourage the hearts of the electorate to vote in line with your will. Since two elections with no final results did not take you by surprise, we ask for your purposes to be fulfilled in a clear undisputed election result. Also, Hamas has threatened to restart the weekly riots soon. Israel is supposed to have a cease-fire with Hamas but still rockets are fired and incendiary devices are flown against the Israelis living in that Western Negev area. Father, during this ‘lull,’ do not allow the IDF to become complacent. Protect the young ones from the fire balloons coming across the border which are specifically aimed at killing or maiming Jewish children.

After months of unrelenting demonstrations led to the fall of President Omar al-Bashir last year, Sudan entered a three-year transition towards democracy with a new cabinet in September. Hope accompanies this situation as people look for a fresh approach that will respond to their needs. Many believe only time will show whether this hope will stand. Pray that the preliminary peace deal with the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement will stand and end 9 years of fighting in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas. Meanwhile, efforts to conclude a peace agreement with rebels in Darfur and Eastern Sudan are also under way. Important progress was made this month when Sudan announced that it was willing in principle to hand over ousted President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes and genocide in these areas.

UK Christian politician Jeremy Hunt read Brother Andrew’s book ‘God’s Smuggler’ in his youth. This gave him a lifelong prayerful concern for the persecuted church. When he was appointed foreign minister, he looked into what the foreign service was doing to help persecuted Christians worldwide. What he discovered made him uncomfortable: there had been very high-profile interventions supporting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Bahai in Yemen, and Yazidis in Iraq - but little UK and international diplomatic assistance for suffering Christians, even though NGOs and churches were advocating on their behalf. Mr Hunt identified possible blind spots for persecuted Christians by his staff: awkwardness about bringing God into politics, post-colonial guilt, and fearfulness of being seen to impose our faith on others. He called it ‘misguided political correctness’ in his independent review. Now Boris Johnson has appointed a special envoy on freedom of religion or belief to head up the process of dealing with Christian persecution. The UN and the EU have similar envoys.

Sajid Javid has shocked Westminster by quitting as chancellor of the exchequer in the middle of Boris Johnson's cabinet reshuffle. He rejected the prime minister's order to fire his entire team of aides, saying no self-respecting minister could accept such a condition. He has been replaced as chancellor by chief secretary to the treasury Rishi Sunak - who just seven months ago was a junior housing minister. Mr Javid’s resignation follows rumours of tensions between him and the prime minister's senior adviser Dominic Cummings. He said his advisers had worked ‘incredibly hard’, and he could not agree to them being replaced. ‘I felt I was left with no option but to resign’, he said, adding that Mr Sunak and the rest of the government retained his ‘full support’. Downing Street said there would now be a joint team of economic advisers for both the chancellor and prime minister. For full details of Mr Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle, see

The Commonwealth faces uncertainty over its leadership after its heads of government rejected the secretary-general, Baroness Scotland, being given an automatic second term. Her four-year term of office comes to an end next month. The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries, encompassing almost 1/3 of the world’s population. There is disquiet among some member states about how its secretariat has been run. New Zealand has recently stopped giving funds to the institution. As long ago as 2017 the Government drafted in senior officials to support it amid concerns over the way it was being run. Senior diplomatic and political sources are accusing Lady Scotland of poor leadership and underperforming. Also, internal auditors found she awarded a lucrative £250,000 consultancy contract to a company run by her friend Lord Patel, ‘circumventing’ usual competitive tendering rules. The committee report found his firm was insolvent, with debts worth over £40,000. See