Current Events & Trends

In Russia, Vladamir Putin’s party was recently reelected, as reported by the German broadcast service Deutsche Welle: “The official result of Russia’s parliamentary election on Sunday [Sept. 18] comes as no surprise: President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia now claims a two-thirds majority in the Duma [Russian parliament]” (Ingo Mannteufel, “Opinion: Clear Voter Fraud in Russia,” Sept. 19, 2016).

Voter turnout was low (only 48 percent), showing Russian apathy toward an increasingly thin democracy. Reuters broke down some of the suspicious activity: “In the Bashkortostan region’s capital Ufa, in the foothills of the Urals, Reuters reporters counted 799 voters casting ballots at polling station number 284. When officials tallied the vote later in the day, they said the turnout was 1,689” (Olga Sichkar, Jack Stubbs and Gleb Stolyarov, “Phantom Voters, Smuggled Ballots Hint at Foul Play in Russian Vote,” Sept. 20, 2016).

Corrupt leadership hurts everyone. The cover story of the last issue of Beyond Today was about leadership and the sad situation in which the world finds itself in terms of corruption.

The biblical prophet Micah lamented the moral state of affairs in his day: “The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice” (Micah 7:2-3, New Living Translation).

Bad leadership is not new to our world, but the globalization of economies has linked us all together in ways not possible in the past. The world needs righteous leaders (Proverbs 29:2), not those we see on the world scene today. God’s government of peace will usher in a new style of governance that is righteous and just. Join us in praying, “Thy Kingdom come”! (Sources: Deutsche Welle, Reuters.)