Current Events in the Light of Fatima

It is vital that we understand that if current events don’t appear to us to be in conformity with the Fatima Message, we should not reject Fatima. Rather, we must rethink the perceptions we have been fed by the media and politicians. Like St. Paul, the Christian must “demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Our Lady came to Fatima, not for any benefit of Her own, but for us. God sent Her out of His great love for the people of our time. Our Lady told us that if Her requests were not heeded, Russia’s errors would spread throughout the world, causing wars, famine, and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father. God directed Our Lady to give us this Message. Sister Lucy explained to Father Fuentes, “The Blessed Virgin told my cousins as well as myself, that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation….” It may appear that Russia isn’t a threat to us anymore, that it is a weak country. However, if we dig deep enough we will see that Russia’s errors are being spread more and more, and that Russia is actually much stronger than the United States.

The doctrine of Sun-Tsu

Anatoliy Golitsyn was a Russian KGB officer and a member of the KGB’s thirty-year planning board in 1958, before defecting to the United States in 1961. In 1984 he wrote a book called New Lies for Old, in which he made 148 predictions concerning Russia and communism. Within ten years of making his predictions, 139 of the 148 had been realized, including the fall of the Berlin Wall. That is a 94% success rate, better than any intelligence agency in the world. Golitsyn is not a prophet; he merely knows the strategies and the strengths of Russia. (See article “Communism Alive and Menacing, KGB Defector Claims” by Cornelia Ferriera, in the March 1996 issue of Catholic Family News.)

In his book, he explains that Russia bases its military doctrine on that of Sun-Tsu, a Chinese military leader of 2,500 years ago. Sun-Tsu believed that all warfare is based on deception: if you are weak, you must act as though you are strong; and if you are strong, you must act as though you are weak. However, if you choose the latter strategy, you must be very strong to pull it off.

The lessons of Troy and Carthage

Sun-Tsu’s doctrine has been proven successful throughout history. Troy was destroyed through the same tactic of deception. Greece had besieged Troy for ten years. Although they were outnumbered, the people of Troy were very good at defending their city, and had withstood the ongoing attack. Finally, the armies of Greece declared their intention to cease the attack. They boarded their ships and sailed off into the distance, leaving behind for the people of Troy a large wooden horse on wheels. It was given as a gift to symbolize peace between Greece and Troy. The people of Troy were overjoyed. They pulled the Trojan horse, as it is known, inside the city gates. That night, after the gates were closed and the people were asleep, the Greek armies that had sailed away returned to Troy. Twenty Greek soldiers who had been hiding within the hollow horse emerged, opened the gates and let the Greek armies through the gates. Troy was destroyed that night.

The Romans outdid the deception of the Greeks. Three wars, called the Punic Wars, were fought between Rome and Carthage. After the second war, Carthage went to Rome to make peace. Rome expressed its distrust of Carthage, and asked that it dismantle its standing army, as a sign of good will. “After all,” they asked, “if you want peace why do you have an army?” Carthage therefore obliged Rome and dismantled its army. Then Rome asked for a tribute of grain and gold, as another mark of Carthage’s good will. Carthage agreed and gave Rome the requested tribute. Rome then reminded Carthage that the tribute was really not much of a sacrifice, since Carthage was a wealthy city, so Rome requested hostages — sons and daughters of the leading families of Carthage. If Carthage did not attack, the hostages would be properly cared for. The leading families of Carthage therefore sent their sons and daughters to Rome as hostages.

Rome then expressed further distrust of Carthage. It argued that because Carthage was a great economic power, it could rearm very quickly. Rome therefore demanded that Carthage, which stood on the seacoast, move twenty miles inland. However, the seacoast was the basis of Carthage’s wealth, and the Carthaginians realized that they would have nothing left if they moved their city. Therefore they refused Rome’s request.

Rome therefore killed the hostages and annihilated Carthage, which had no standing army. Doubtless, Rome paid its soldiers with the gold and fed them with the grain acquired from Carthage. That was the third and final Punic War.

Do these lessons from history suggest to you what’s going on in the United States today? Think about it. In the treaties that the United States has made with Russia over the last 15 years, more than 50 billion dollars have been given to Russia in “economic aid”. What about disarmament? Many of the billions of dollars the U.S. spends on the military are actually used for disarmament, in fulfillment of their treaties with Russia, whereas the Russians use the billions of dollars the U.S. hands over to them to arm themselves.

Also, the government of the United States is operating under a principle, which it developed with Russia, called the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine. According to this principle, since both the U.S. and Russia have the capability to destroy one another, each has agreed not to defend its civilian population from nuclear attack. The MAD doctrine is meant to serve as a guarantee against an unprovoked nuclear missile strike, because it insures the destruction of both nations. The United States, living up to its end of the agreement, has no civilian defense for a nuclear assault. Russia, however, has developed a civilian defense that protects about 70% of its citizens.

In addition, in accordance with the INF treaty signed on December 8, 1987 by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev, the United States’ Cruise and Pershing missiles were removed from Europe. Since then, Russia has been protected from the threat of an American nuclear missile strike. Previously, their entire population was at risk due to the accuracy and ability of these missiles based in Europe to enter through the entrances of their bomb shelters. But once the missiles were removed from Europe, they were withdrawn out of their 1500 mile range and therefore useless in this balance of power act.

Russia’s military

In 2002 the Russian submarine Kursk made international headlines when it sank with 118 sailors on board. The British and Norwegian navies offered to rescue the men, but Russia refused the aid. Why did Russia refuse to allow 118 of its men to be rescued? Russia did not want anyone to see what was on board the Kursk. The submarine contained the Topol missile, which can travel six times faster than any torpedo the Unites States has, and four times faster than any the British have. It travels faster than the speed of sound underwater, which means that it will have impacted its target before the sonar has detected that it has been launched. There’s no defense against it. (See “The Kursk Sinking – Russia’s Super Torpedo, a New Threat from China“.)

In mid-February 2004, Russia held its largest military exercises in 22 years. The intended object of the simulated attacks carried out during the exercises was the United States of America. During the exercises, Russia tested new missiles that officials admitted were impossible to defend against, even by an advanced missile shield.1

Another example of Russia’s military prowess is a new Russian submarine, Oscar II, which is longer than a football field and can launch twenty nuclear missiles. One submarine alone is capable of destroying half of the United States. One of these submarines remained submerged, undetected, for 30 days in Puget Sound, which is off the West Coast of Washington State. (See “Russia Heightens Nuclear Threat“.)

Russia, following Sun-Tsu’s strategy of pretending to be weak when actually very strong, wants us to believe that it is not a threat. For many years Russia has fooled the world into thinking that it has a very weak military, which is no longer a threat to the West. As Golitsyn pointed out, they are acting like they are weak because they want the United States and the West to let their guard down. The United States would not win a war with Russia, and both the U.S. and Russian military realize this.

In an interview with Professor William Thomas Walsh (see “Sister Lucy’s Statement to Professor Walsh“) on July 15, 1946, Sister Lucy said that Communism would take over the entire world, including the United States of America. The former Secretary General of the Communist Party USA, Gus Hall, said that recruitment for the Party in the U.S. was higher in the 1990’s than at any other time in its history. (See “The Great Soviet Deception” and “Mesmerized by the Bear: The Great Soviet Deception, Part II“.) Nevertheless, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the American media today continue to portray the U.S.A. as both the sole superpower remaining in the world and the primary defender and promoter of worldwide democracy.

Therefore, it is important to understand that the news and information we receive is biased and most often distorted. But the Message Our Lady gave at Fatima remains clear and unchanged. Thus we must always keep Our Lady’s Message in our minds when we try to understand and interpret the events currently taking place in the world around us.

Notes:
  1. See, “May 2004, Vol. 11, Issue No. 5., p. 1. Catholic Family News’”, Bernadette Vesco, Russia’s New Hypersonic Missiles Act Like a ‘Swarm of Bees’.