New Blog Site

Just wanted to let you know that I moved to a new blog page and renamed it "Legatus". Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Bruce

Signposts Of Prophecy

It's been awhile since I have written on these pages but I wish to touch on certain indicators of prophecy that I believe are continuing to congeal before our eyes. The impressive turn of events in Tunisia and Egypt this month remind us that things can change in a matter of weeks or even days when by all appearances the overthrow of existing political orders should never happen in the first place.

Through these indicators we begin to anticipate great things as far as the Jew or Christian is concerned at least they who are the righteous, Jew, Gentile and Christian. And yet, we must understand that we are still in the Church Age, the great parenthesis of biblical eschatology, and that these indicators are for another age apart from this Age of Grace. And though, we may identify and even see the faint outline of future political, economic, and religious characters on this current world stage- we must not place them in our Church Age but bear in mind that these persons, places and things are reserved for the Age of Israel. The demarcation between the Age of Israel and the Age of the Church will be the Rapture which is simply the resurrection of the Church both dead and alive.

No one knows when the Rapture will occur because if you think of Heaven as another country and God as its Executive branch with Jesus Christ as its Prime Minister if you will, then a lot depends on mankind's relation(s) with the Ambassadors of this Divine Country, who currently belong to the Church. When enough people on earth collectively reject the Demarche from Heaven, that is, accept Christ as their liege Lord, then God the Father will remove his Ambassadors to Earth as a grave sign of his divine displeasure. It seems this tipping point is close at hand but in fairness, many Christians in many different times have felt it was near when it in hindsight was not. That being said, we never have been so globally connected as we are now and thus man on a worldwide scale can accept or reject the Demarche en masse as never before.

Additionally, as you may or may not know, when ambassadors are recalled from another country then usually a state of war exists between the two countries. The Rapture therefore is the recall of Gods' ambassadors from earth with the concomitant reduction in relations between the two civilizations. It could happen tonight or it might not happen for another thousand years. However, when it does occur then the Age of the Church will close and the Age of Israel will resume where it left off at the First Advent of Christ in 30 AD. We call it the Age of Israel because the nation and its people will take center stage as they must endure God's punishment for sins and transgressions against him in times past per the Book of Daniel.

Nearly 99% of the Age of Israel had passed when our Lord last walked the earth in 30 AD. Only 1 percent remains and it will last only a mere seven years when it does resume after the Rapture. After this then the Age of Israel will finally close and a new Age will be ushered in with the Millennial Reign of Christ where Israel takes center stage not for punishment of past sins but where she so rightly belongs as the nation basking in the glory of God's light. Her King will be the King of Kings and her Lord will be the Lord of Lords. Her enemies will be vanquished and the Church will reign with Christ in resplendent glory. Maps will be redrawn-New nations will be formed and old nations destroyed for their relationship to Israel and to the Church, the body of Christ or their lack thereof. Religion in all of its myriad forms, Satan's answer to God's Grace, will be vanquished as we will all see Christ in the flesh ruling the earth from Israel.

Until then, we only have signposts to tell us how close we are to our final destination. I count 14 signposts      (there may be more) and as we review them I think you will find that indeed we are very close to the event-horizon that will be the Rapture as the next prophetic event on the eschatological calendar. I have grouped the "sign posts" into several categories - political, economic, cultural, religious and cultural/technology.

Political Signposts

Israel - The first and foremost sign that we are nearing the end of the Church Age is the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Prophecy cannot proceed forward without the nation of Israel and the Jew. End of story! Or it would be without Israel. There can be no anti-Christ were it not for Israel for the anti-Christ breaks the military treaty protecting Israel from her Moslem enemies during the middle of the Tribulation. There could be no False Prophet were it not for Israel for he comes from this country singing the praises of the anti-Christ. Even the number 666 could not become operational without the nation of Israel for it is the False Prophet of Israel who declares that all should be marked with that number who owe their allegiance to the anti-Christ. None of the prophecies in both the Old and New Testament could come to pass without the nation of Israel being in existence save one prophetic event not related to her - the Rapture of the Church. Thus, we must conclude that Israel's national resurrection in 1948 must be counted as extremely important and the final turn towards Armageddon or the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Of course, the Second Advent of Christ could not be operational unless there is a nation called Israel in existence in the same geographical location that it currently resides in when Christ first walked on earth in the flesh nearly 2000 years ago.

King Of The South - In Daniel 11, the nation of Israel confronts the rise of the Greek gentile world power that would come to enslave Israel. However, its clear that this chapter also anticipates the rise of a great power that resides in Israel's southern sphere of influence way into the future beyond the rise and fall of the Greek empire that was anchored in the Middle East after the death of Alexander the Great in antiquity. Today, the King of the South must be placed within Israel's timeline politically speaking. In other words, since 1948 when Israel was resurrected as a nation, what power has resided south of Jerusalem? Ethnically and religiously it currently is the Arab and the Moslem in that order. Today, the Arabic Moslem hegemony resides in the state of Egypt as it's political capital and Saudi Arabia as its religious capital. Since 1948, the King of the South has not always been "Moslem" religiously as the Arabs experimented with fascistic social structures in the religious absence of the Caliphate until the rise of the Ayatolollahs and the Shia Moslems in Iran showed the way for the Sunni in 1979. Since then, we have seen the steady rise of the Moslem Brotherhood and all its offshoots in various Sunni Moslem countries such as Egypt (which they are based) to all of the North African countries as well as to all of the Arabian countries that sit on the Saudi periphery such as Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.  Even now, uprisings all across North Africa from Tunisia to Egypt to Bahrain and Yemen have crystallised these countries in favor of the Moslem Brotherhood. The so called Arab Spring is only defrosting the Moslem Brotherhood and giving them the breathing room to seize power as previous "pro-Western" Arabs kept them in the freezer with their anti-MB policies. As a result, we may see the rise of a new caliphate that has a specific Sunni orientation that will be completely be at odds with not only Israel but their heretical cousins sitting in Iran.

Kings Of The East - In the book of Revelation, the Anti-Christ, the False Prophet and the Dragon (Satan himself) send demonic emissaries to the "kings" of the east with explicit instructions to march their Asiatic armies westward to Israel during the latter half of the Tribulation. The Kings obey and send their armies marching west to cross the dried out riverbed of the Euphrates River which normally would have blocked such a military adventure. This is not the same army that John saw that is numbered at 200 million that exits out of the Euphrates riverbed and is led by 4 fallen angelic generals. But I digress, the kings of the east on the other hand, are led by other human Asiatic generals. Again, back to the east, we see since 1948 the slow and steady erection of an Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere not unlike Japan's forced attempt at one before and during WWII in which it would have been Japanese in orientation. Since the Japanese defeat in 1945, with the blessings of the United States and Europe, the Asians are slowly coming together to form a regional political and economic power bloc that includes Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand and of course, Korea. And it may include the masses of the Indian peoples as well someday. Needless to say, their importance to global trade cannot be stressed enough since 1948 they have come from being a backwater local power and slave economy to being nearly a superman economically and politically over America and Europe. They only lack a military component at this moment but I'm sure as events unfold in the coming future this too may be resolved in their favor. The fact that the Chinese renmimbi and the Japanese Yen or a mixture thereof have been discussed as replacing the "almighty" American dollar as a global currency should remind us that indeed the "kings" of Asia are now poised to assume their place in prophetic history. Even the Chinese are starting to underwrite the American and European debt problem that has so vexed the West since the end of the Cold War.

King Of The North - Since the resurrection of Israel, the one power that is of any significance that sits North of Jerusalem would have to be Russia and her allies. Ezekiel 38 & 39 outlines the King of the North's intention as Magog to invade Israel and the Middle East and the North's ultimate destruction by the hands of God. Since 1948, the Middle East has once again come to the attention of Moscow just as it did in the days of the Czars, however, unlike in the days of the Czars, the Middle East now includes the state of Israel. Today, Russia finds herself thwarted politically at least by Israel and her ability to sabotage any initiative by Russia to increase her influence over the Levant and its environs much to her chagrin. The exception to this would be Iran, since the overthrow of the Shah, a pro-western leader, Iran has maintained a decisively anti-American and anti-Western paradigm by playing Russia against the West and vice versa in the Persian Gulf locally and in the Middle East at large. The book of Ezekiel clearly states that the King of the North will have allies and significantly one of these allies will be Persia, which is present day Iran. There will be other allies that could include Turkey as well but this is mere speculation on my part. However, as you may know, politics makes strange bedfellows! For example, who would have ever guessed that Stalin's Communist Russia would make a devil's pact with Hitler's Nazi Germany over the conquest of Poland in 1939? The same could be said of Turkey in her relation with Russia if the European Union does not accept Turkey's entry into that political bloc. Or if Turkey thinks it can strike out on its own then perhaps she will side with Russia and her allies in any future conflagration that might involve Israel and the West. It was only a couple of months ago that Ankara hosted a summit between herself, Iran and Russia as the beneficiaries of a future economic entity to rival OPEC and perhaps even a military bloc to match Europe and America. Again, 1948 features prominently because it was then that Turkey became a NATO ally when Israel became a nation. However, since the rise of the AK Islamic Party under Erdogan beginning in early 2000, Turkey has decisively tilted in a pro-Islamic stance and her relations with both Europe, American and Israel has disintegrated significantly enough to wonder whether she will stay with NATO or go her own way. This can only serve Russian interests. Less talked about however, is Russia's ability to be a major energy exporter and deal breaker. Russia today sends her energy exports to Europe such as oil, gas and coal. And she uses her exports to leverage any political/military advantage over her enemies real or perceived. If she were to grab the Middle East and physically control the oil there then what would Europe and China do? If Russia felt her integrity and sovereignty threatened or if she was outright attacked by a southern hegemon then perhaps this would be one of those crisis' that would be too good to go to waste? Perhaps Russia's control over the pipelines of oil and gas running through Turkey could paralyze Europe into subservience to Moscow's strategic plans which in the mind of a Russian might just be incentive enough no matter how crazy it may sound, could in times of trouble, be the one "solution" to Russia's xenophobia to the outside world especially if the Russian feels the West wants to "control" Mother Russia by other means.

King of the West - Not since Charlemagne has "Europe" been united under one German king. The last time "Europe" was united previously was under Roman Caesars and only then for a couple of hundred years in which it disintegrated with the advent of the Germanic tribes that came to occupy and ultimately pillage the ossified Roman Empire by the 5th Century. Between the 5th and 11th centuries, a period of 600 years, the German peoples congealed roughly into the nations we see today in Europe. And it wasn't until the 12th Century AD that we begin to see the advent of Europa onto the world stage beginning with, ironically enough, the sacking of Jerusalem in 1099 AD in the First Crusade outside the environs of Europe. The Franks, the English, the Germans and the Italians all had a hand in the Crusades that for nearly 200 years would harass the Islamic Caliphate that ruled that part of the world. Even in Byzantium, the crown jewel of Christendom in the Middle East, they too came to seek military aid then ultimately political and religious union with the West. However, the subject peoples of both civilizations of Christendom would come to reject such a notion. As time went on, the West under the German people would come to dominate the world in its myriad forms either under French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Austrian, Swedish, or British flags. Even the divided Italians came to dominate the Mediterranean with their small city states and navies. On the continent of Europe, the Holy Roman Empire came closest in resembling a "unified" Europe though it was extremely weak at the "federal" level of government. Then in the 19th Century, arose Germany as the fountainhead of the Germanic people, to slowly conquer and terrify the nations of Western and Eastern Europe. But then something odd occurred in the 20th Century - Europe collapsed upon itself. Again, irony has a way intruding itself on history, Germany waged war in the West to seize control of the West. Both the first and second world war completely engulfed Europe and ultimately bled it so dry that Europe could no longer venture out into the world as it had for nearly 800 years previously. In its place two hegemons, Russia and the United States, vied for control of Europe as the cockpit of strategic control of the world. Since 1948 with the advent of Israel, we see how Europe has been licking its wounds and unable to control events except at a marginal level. However, it appears, that all may change shortly. Russia has vacated eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The United States appears to be next as her debts have come home to roost inadvertly causing America to question the validity of paying for her armies to control the parts of the world that the West used to control during the 19th and early part of the 20th Century. As a result, we should see the United States slowly retreat from the world, especially western Europe and return back to her Western Hemispheric sphere of influence in the New World. Europe will once more control her fate but this time Israel will be in existence just as it was under the Roman Empire. Since 1948, after nearly losing everything, the West has been solidifying politically and economically while America has guarded her frontier with Russia. First came the WEU, or Western European Union, then came the EEC or European Economic Community also known as the Treaty of Rome. Now, it has emerged as the European Union and is slowly gaining ground as a political unit as much as an economic one. The Book of Daniel and Revelation predicts the advent of a 10 Nation confederation specifically anchored in the West. Out of this union of ten nations will arise the anti-Christ per the book of Daniel and Revelation. Even now, we see the EU struggling with out of control social spending thus threatening their rather large and unwieldy organization that currently includes some 23 European nations. Will a massive economic shock reduce the EU to a mere "union" of 10 nations? There is talk that the EU is too big and that some nations will have to peal off and go their own ways at least economically such as Greece and Ireland. And just recently, the EU has created the position of High Representative for foreign affairs and its own diplomatic corps thus signifying the return of a unified "Europe". Even now, as the Arab Spring runs its course in Libya, NATO under European command is now taking center stage as it now commands American forces in Libya as well its own European military organizations to strike at Quaddafi and his forces. The Europeans are a little rusty after playing second fiddle to the USA since 1945 but slowly they will prove formidable once more in military matters. Again, Israel will play their part for Europe either under Britain with Tony Blair leading political and religious initiatives to bring peace to Palestine between the Arab and the Jew or as France pushing for a Mediterranean Union stretching from Algeria to Israel and though it may be in vain nevertheless they are back into the game of foreign policy on a Europe wide level. Germany today is slowly flexing its military muscle after being neutered since the end of WWII. Only America stands in the way. Europe again will not be as relevant to the Middle East until America fully disengages from Europe and the Levant.

Economic Signposts

Globalization - Never has the world been so interconnected economically as it is now. Since the end of WWII in 1945 and by the time Israel came into existence in 1948, the world began trading using American dollars as the global reserve currency with the advent of the Bretton Woods Accord. It used to be the British Pound as the reserve currency but World War II changed all that. Most of the world is connected into this system or if they are not they certainly trade their resources for the almighty dollar such as Russia for natural gas and the Middle East for oil. Even the communists with their eternal hatred of all things capitalist succumbed and offered their peoples up for slave labor to service the West and the world with their cheap labor. This is very important when we consider that the False Prophet demands all people must accept the "mark of the beast" in order to trade and to sell and the fact the West is the rudder of this world wide system is no accident.

Commercial Babylon  - With globalization as standard operating procedure for worldwide trade, we find that the ruling elite in almost all the countries within this sphere are "Babylonian" in nature. They are not economic nationalists who wish their nation to succeed at the expense of another but are "Babylonian" in their view and seek to betray their peoples to world wide subservience to this economic order. Babylonians betray their own nation's sovereignty to serve the order and we see this not merely in the United States but in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Chinese Communist ruling elites sell out their people to the capitalist West. The ruling elites in the United States sell out their people and allow Mexico to export their cheap labor across the border by looking the other way while illegal aliens cross with impunity. European ruling elites tell their people to accept the economic order of the EU at the expense of their own sovereign position in the world. The subject peoples sit helpless as they watch these events unfold incapable of action. The lack of trade with borders has given way to trade without borders and none dare question it's efficacy. Never in the history of man has this condition existed within the ruling elite. They are truly men without a country. They are commercial Babylonians.

666 - In the future the number of the anti-Christ will be required in order to buy and sell. The number of the anti-Christ is either "implanted" or "etched" in the skin or on the skin of the right hand or the forehead specifically. Not only is the technology now operational it will go hand in hand with the advent of globalization and the mentality of the commercial Babylonian. Today, animals have been "chipped" and is experiantially showing the capability and usefulness of said technology. Companies have created tiny capsules with RFID(radio frequency identification) technology that can actually be powered by the sound of the heartbeat or flow of blood. Combined with WIFI technology then suddenly we find ourselves facing exactly what the Book of Revelation so explicitly pointed out what would be the outstanding identifier of the anti-Christ when he will arise.

Religious Signposts

The Temple of Israel - To date the Temple in Israel has not been reconstructed. The Second Temple as built by Herod was destroyed in 70AD.  However, I strongly believe it will be rebuilt during the Church Age. I believe this because it was destroyed in the Church Age in 70 AD by the Roman Legions that crushed Israel in their rebellion against the Empire. Thus, it should be rebuilt at the end of the Church Age, at least if there is symmetry in the plan of God. Even now, the Levitical Priesthood is now being staffed by Jews in Israel for the eventual erection of the Temple that will someday come. Also, the implements of Temple rituals are now created for their use in the daily sacrifice that will certainly be resurrected, if I dare say, for use in the Temple.

The Harlot - The Book Of Revelation has recorded within its pages a false Church that will rule the West. This False Church will have all the trappings of many religions mingled within its doctrines. This false Church rises with the 10 Nation Confederation that will come to power in Western Europe. The Roman Catholic Church fits this description the best when we consider how pervasive is the pan-theistic doctrines that suffuse this organization. And really, the Catholic Church truly controls most of the world at least in terms of its religious influence. It certainly has controlled Europe religiously and politically for nearly 1500 years. Some might say the Catholic Church has reached and surpassed its zenith especially in Europe however, they are certainly in a position today to come back big in European politics and religious affairs especially in Europe. Interestingly, since the false Church rises with the 10-Nation Confederation its future completely rests with the Confederation, thus, it will fall with the 10-Nation Confederation when the anti-Christ arises with the advent of the Fourth Reich that will supplant this political organization. The antagonism towards the Harlot is evident even now among atheists as the Catholic Church is considered one of its greatest enemies. Even with the European Union now in place, the Catholic Church is seeking greater recognition of its role in European History and wants the "constitution" of the EU to include references to its Christian past.

Religious Babylon - The idea that all religions are the same and Christianity is the same as all religions is a heresy of the highest order. Christianity depends on Jesus Christ for salvation. Religion depends on one's self for salvation. The two doctrines are completely at odds with each other. Yet, many Christians, due to lack of Bible Doctrine, have given themselves to religious living and thinking that has no basis in Christianity. In fact, if we define Christian spirituality as knowledge and belief in bible doctrine then indeed many Christians today are spiritually dead for they have rejected doctrine and invested their time in works and things physically titillating that is so common among the "religious". In the absence of bible doctrine the mind is filled with religious dogma including the idea that man is good and everyone believes in the same God. Like the commercial Babylonian, the Religious Babylonian has forsaken their own country, that is, Christendom is rejected for a pantheistic community of religious believers. Today, the world is so fused with this idea we now see ecumenical movements in almost all the Churches as well as governments and among nations. Interestingly enough, the most ecumenical counsels reject the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, that they dare not speak his name lest the ecumenical movement is somehow diluted with true doctrine.

Cultural/Technological Signposts

Fornications - The sexually deviant have always been around, however, never has it been so institutionalized as it is today. The mad dash towards homosexual acceptance at the institutional level is but one manifestation of the deviancy of this movement that has been gathering steam since World War II. And it's not just occurring in Europe and America but over the entire world. Fornications at all levels before, during and after marriage strikes at the very heart of what it means to be married between a man and a woman and what it means to create a family. In the Book of Revelation, an angel proclaims to the inhabitants of God that he judges mankind for their fornications among other things and today we see how deviancy is now the norm and being embraced fully by governments, schools, military, businesses and even Churches. An acceptance of fornications is a rejection of Christian life and doctrine.

Knowledge - The advancement of academic knowledge in general even while the masses of people reject Christianity, the ultimate knowledge rooted in the revelation of God to man, has now reached its peak. Never have so many people been as "literate" as they are today. The advent of television, newspapers, cable, magazines, movies and of course, the Internet has made people more knowledgeable of their environment than ever in human history. The Book Of Daniel in the Old Testament predicted the increase of knowledge by mankind at the end of the Age of Israel and certainly knowledge in general has exponentially increased beyond imagination.

Unwalled Cities - Cities without walls was completely unusual when the Bible was written. The invasion of the Middle East by the future King of the North is predicated on the fact that the cities have no walls thus are vulnerable to invasion. The Book of Ezekiel notes how Magog, the King of the North, acknowledges publicly how the cities are ripe for invasion and completely defenseless since they have no walls. Today, cities have no walls as military technology has rendered this historical defense against an invader completely obsolete.

Judge For Yourself

I'm sure there are more signposts I could point out but you get the picture. So many things continue to align themselves politically, economically, religiously, and militarily as to verify the prophetic truth that Christ will return and the Saints to inherit and rule the world with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Prepare for the judgment of God.

Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) as the ship departs Pearl Harbor. Within view are the USS Arizona Memorial, right, and the USS Missouri Memorial. http://www.navy.mil/

Programming Note

Please excuse the long absence regarding my blog posts. The last year or so has be quite abnormal for me as I had a baby girl born into the family and then subsequently lost my job. I thought being home I would have a whole lotta time to write and commensurate via the blog but alas I have to honestly admit I'm more busier now than when I worked at my previous employer! I find myself staying up late after getting the boys to bed and just trying to relax by "vegging" out in front of the TV or just browsing the Internet.

That being said, I did open another blog regarding my wargame nights called Kriegspielnacht. Even here, I'm struggling to just keep that blog updated as my duties at home take precedence over gaming, as they should.

Anyway, I do plan on getting back to a regular schedule of posts regarding current events and politics. Please stay turned.

A New Middle East Order

Ever since the Turkish Aid Flotilla violated Israeli waters and was boarded by Israeli forces against the apparent wishes of the United Nations and the Obama Administration in the United States, it appears that Turkey once again has made itself felt not only in the Mediterranean world and in the Middle East but on the world stage with long term negative consequences to the detriment of the Atlantic Alliance. I believe a new order is arising in the Middle East that will affect the current strategic balance in favor of Russia and leave the West in an inferior geopolitical position. Behold, a new Axis of Evil - Russia, Turkey and Iran.

If you have followed my blog for the past several years, you will know that I have never accepted that Turkey would be admitted into the European Union. There are just too many factors that mitigate against a Turkish accession into what is largely a Christian/Secular/Traditional/Progressive Europe which Ataturk's Turkey possesses none of the European "virtues" that other European nations have as far as Brussels is concerned. I know that Ankara would beg to differ but alas we see in Europe a rise against all things Moslem and ultimately Turkish in the rejection of the Hijab (France), rejection of minarets (Switzerland), limits on Moslem immigration (Netherlands), demands that Turkish immigrants to Germany disavow their language and customs to be more like Germans and many more minor issues that have arisen to challenge the Moslem Turkish inclusion into the European Union. Then there is the touchy subject of the Armenian Holocaust that Turkey disavows at every opportunity to the point of breaking off diplomatic relations by Ankara against any nation from Sweden to the USA that might support the Armenian Diaspora albeit a century too late that there is simply no bridging the gap for the Turks to entwine themselves into Western Europe. And I believe the Turks know this. And I respect their position in this matter. Let us therefore come to terms with the reality that Turkey is no longer an ally of the West and the next logical step is their "ex-communication" from NATO.

When the United States was attacked on 9/11 by Moslem Terrorists she initiated a clause in the NATO Treaty that called for the defense of the United States by all partners within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Whatever each government could provide for the defense of another alliance member whether military, economic, police, legal or other services would be and was greatly welcomed by the United States against her enemies. NATO was on board against the Pakistani supported Taliban in Kabul late in 2001 but hesitated when the United States trained their eyes on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Yes, the French were against an Iraqi invasion but nevertheless continued supporting us by other means. Ankara however, completely threw sand into our faces when as a NATO ally refused to support operations into Iraq on the eve of invasion and deliberately obstructed our military operations specifically the US Fourth Infantry Division from invading from the North of Iraq into Baghdad from Turkey in 2003. The US Fourth Division had to instead load up all their material on ships and move out of Turkish territory and invade Iraq from Kuwait. By then the US Fourth Infantry's services were too late to deliver the necessary force to Saddam's retreating army in the North and I believe allowed the Saddam Hussein regime to move out their WMD program lock, stock and barrel to either Iran or Syria through a northern route unmolested by the US Army. Saddam had a history of moving his military assets to Iran (Gulf War) and burying military assets literally in the desert sand. Since then relations between the US and Turkey have been strained to say the least and Ankara's devotion to NATO has been degraded as a result.

Israel too has been harmed by Turkey's ascent of Erdogan's political party (AKP) in the past ten years that what was once a rock solid relationship between Jerusalem and Ankara from a previous un-moslem Turkish regime has now been reduced to a failed and miserable marriage in which divorce is surely in the future for this very delicate relationship in the Middle East. The latest outrage coming from Ankara was the Hamas relief flotilla that has sealed the breakup of the Israeli/Turkish alliance contrary to whatever the Turkish government may say. Then there is the detente between Damascus and Ankara that can only serve Syrian interests at the expense of Israel by Turkey. Hezbollah is a Moslem Terrorist organization based in Lebanon and supported by Syria and Iran. Turkey's friendly overtures to Syria can only to serve to aggravate Jerusalem and ultimately Washington with the potential of another supporter of Hezbollah and Syria against Israel.

The rupturing of the EU accession, the eleventh hour sabotage of the American invasion of Iraq by a NATO ally the magnitude of which has never occurred in the annals of NATO, the up and coming divorce between Ankara and Jerusalem by political provocations in support of Iranian backed terrorist groups and a new Syrian-Turkish alliance against Israel can only mean one thing - Turkey has fallen away and will never return to the West. Where does she go from here? Does she go it "alone"? Or is there another house that she can move into that would lay out a red carpet for her? Enter Russia.

I used to think that Turkey would never countenance a Russian on their soil due to the long, long, long history of conflict between these two nations. But time does indeed heal and opportunities arise that force itself to the front without having to consider past ignominies and allow an opportunity to pass without the proper forbearance to embrace such a great prize. In other words, never let a crisis go to waste! In this case, Ankara's pariah status in the West. Turkey has gone rogue but she is not alone.

Russia has now offered Turkey Moscow's nuclear blessings. The Russians have agreed to build a nuclear facility within Turkey and this is but the beginning of Russia's deeper involvement with Ankara. It was Russia's involvement with Iran also that began with a nuclear reactor and facilities. It seems when Russia offers its nuclear know-how to the nations of the world those very nations seem intent on being the enemies of the United States and ultimately of the West. Even far off Brazil has been offered nuclear know-how by the Russians. Just recently, Turkey hosted a security summit between Russia, Iran and herself that bodes ill for the West.

If a new politico-military triangulation is slowly forming before our eyes with the advent of a Russian-Turkish-Iranian alliance then we can see how they would be a force credible and dangerous enough to bring not only Europe to its knees - the oil and gas control from its sources (Iran) as well as its transit points(Turkey) - but would also constrain the USA from attacking a Russian-backed satellite country(s) as she has in the past (Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam) for the stakes would be too high to embroil the West in another war with Russia. The West in general would be hard pressed to do anything "provocative" that would get the spigots turned off to vital energy supplies if Russia decided to become a bigger player in world affairs than she has been since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Finally, the last variable in this elixir of potential trouble would be the Sunni Moslems positioned south of Israel from Saudi Arabia to Egypt and to the Maghreb (Moslem North Africa) that would find themselves stuck between a decadent West as they see it and a pagan triad of the Russian-Turkish-Iranian Alliance. The Sunni Moslems consider Shiite Iran as heretics. No doubt they consider the Turks, their historical Ottoman oppressors, a heretic of sorts by rejecting the Caliphate based in Istanbul after WWI and replacing their first love of Muhammed with the worship of a false god in the man Ataturk. Then of course, there is Mother Russia which is the greatest enemy that Moslems have fought since the Mongol Hordes descended upon the Middle East nearly 700 years ago. Osama Bin Ladin cut his teeth fighting the Russians in Afghanistan and nearly all of the troubles that Moscow finds herself in regarding "Moslem Separatists and Terrorists" are Sunni in religious outlook. I suspect that the Sunni Moslems are finding themselves more and more on the defensive especially after the United States destroyed Saddam Hussein's Sunni supported Iraqi regime.

Three great powers therefore are vying for control of the greater Middle East- the North(Russia-Turkey-Iran), the West (America - EU) and the South (Saudi Arabia-Egypt-Maghreb) with little tiny Israel as the fulcrum that balances these would be power blocs against each other at any one time. Israel recently was accepted into the European based OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) much to the consternation of the HAMAS and FATAH led Palestinians thus cementing Israel's position within the political/economic/military sphere of the West more and more. Turkey's falling away is clearly the greatest debacle to face the West since Germany was united under Bismark in 1870. Turkey could become Russia's greatest foreign policy coup since Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Hitler on the eve of WWII giving the green light for Germany to invade Poland and ushering in the greatest war the world ever saw up to that point and to this day.

Behold! The future.

• Citizens of Earth...
• Dreaming of 666...
• A toast to the Messiah...
• Steam to the rescue...
• Poison to stun and to kill...
• No one can escape...
• End of the Anglo-American Alliance since WWI...
  

AV8 Harrier II maneuvers around the flight deck of the USS Nassau LHA4. Nassau is underway with other elements of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and embarked 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit for a certification excercise. www.navy.mil

History Keeps Repeating

I'm afraid its true but history keeps repeating itself. Not because God makes it so but because man is inherently corrupt from birth and in his stupidity continues to make the same mistakes, knowingly and unknowingly, over and over again. The Ft. Hood terror attack in Texas last Friday is the latest manifestation of this existential phenomena. The murderous thug is a Moslem and he wanted to go to "Paradise" in a bang so to speak and so compelled by his Islamic religion which is codified for all to see in the Koran he chose to take the path of human good and evil and kill as many "infidels" as he could before he himself was brought down by armed force.

How many times must this equation be acted out in the malls, schools, offices, airliners and military installations in our country before we decide we no longer will put up with it? Must we endure another 9/11 type of Islamic terror attack in the future? Apparently so. The gospel of Diversity has consumed all common sense amongst our most important constituency in America - the Elites! Its one thing if the peasants are morons but quite another when our intelligentsia decide to mentally fade out and drive our nation into the ground by their drunken and doped up actions that only serve to encourage our enemies to attack us. Unfortunately, when the elites get it wrong its the peasants who suffer! Diversity and Multiculturalism is a poison destroying the vitality and martial spirit of this nation one drip at a time. Ft. Hood only occurred because "we" refused to recognize the danger "we" put ourselves in. I fully expect Islamic Terrorists to seize on this opportunity to attack us in the rear but I don't expect our elites to just "look the other way". This attack was completely preventable but the ruling elites in this country have betrayed the people with their collectivist mentality and our beautiful men in arms have paid for it with their lives!

The religion of Islam is completely incompatible with the American way of life and really incompatible with the Western way of life. There are no doctrines in the Bible calling for the murder of innocents to advance our Judeo-Christian religion but not so for the devout Moslem. For him, to kill is to serve his master well. In fact, the murder of others is the highest form of "devotion" even if it means killing their own children! Only a Moslem would consider the murder of their children as "honorable". The Sunni Moslem on Moslem violence is cynically notorious for its primeval viciousness not only towards the Jews in particular but to other religious peoples in general including Shiites amongst themselves.

My friends, this is the great elephant in the room! No amount of ignoring its stench or overlooking its mass can be innocently excused. The War Of Terror will continue until the day we decide enough is enough. Unfortunately, we have not reached that point as yet. Islamic Terrorism is extant today because they wish to return to a Caliphate in the Middle East and they think by murdering the masses that this will be the catalyst of its return. And their devious calculation may yet prove the efficacy of their way.

Behold the clash of civilizations!

Osprey From Marine Tiltrotor Squadron VMM 263 22nd MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) prepares to take off from the Amphibious Assault Ship Bataan LHD5. The aircraft were flown to Camp Bastion Afghanistan where they will be transferred to VMM 261 and used to support the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. This is the first time this type of aircraft will be used in the Afghan Theatre. www.navy.mil

• The Temple must be rebuilt!
• Agenda 21 - prepare for assimilation.
• Falling to pieces...
• Turkey's future not anchored in the West...
• How do we know Barack Obama is a Gemini? Because he is exactly like Jimmy Carter!

2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

The Islamic Anti-Christ?

As you may well know I have a keen interest in biblical prophecy. I believe that prophecy in the Bible is part of the proof that there is a God. In fact, if there were no prophecy then there could be no hope for the believer both Jew and Gentile alike and we could not verify if the claims being made by the Lord, before or after he came in the flesh, were in fact true or false. Bible prophecy is the great identifier of friend or foe as far a Jews and Christians are concerned and in the book of Revelation, the grand central station of Bible prophecy, John even tells us that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy".

Lately, I have read a promotional artical on World Net Daily regarding the up and coming future anti-Christ. The author believes unlike most Christians that the future anti-Christ will not be West European but actually be Islamic and perhaps even Arabic. The author states that the prophecy in Daniel regarding the great empires that rise and fall and ulitimately lead to the anti-Christ will not culminate with a "revived Roman Empire" but instead will produce a ressurected Caliphate based in the Middle East. The critical break in the author's view being that it is the city of Babylon that is the key to unlocking this great "mystery" regarding the future anti-Christ.

Let me rebut these points in detail and let the reader come to his own conclusion.

1) Daniels prophecy of the statue & four beasts- Israel's enslavement to the great empires for her sins. In Daniel 2 and 7 we see from God that 4 great empires would arise to punish Israel for her sins against God. They don't arise to conquer Babylon but to conquer Jerusalem. God has allowed them to rise to power for this purpose to purify the soul of the jew not the Chaldeans who were the first to take Israel's sovereignty away.

Babylon, the ancient seat of the Chaldeans, was not the focus of God in Daniel but merely the first gentile nation to rule over Jerusalem. She would not be the last. The Persians came second and allowed the Jew to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Then came the Greeks as the third overlord of Jerusalem beginning with Alexander the Great and giving birth to Greek rule over the entire Middle East including Israel. Finally, the Romans took over where the Greeks left off and Israel becomes a vassal state to the Roman Empire just before Christ is born.

Eventually, it would be the Romans, the fourth great empire, that would trampel over Jerusalem in 70 AD and destroy the Temple the second time on exactly the 9th Day of Av of the Jewish calendar when the first great empire of the Chaldeans destroyed the first Jewish Temple over 500 years before on the same day. Christ says in Luke 24 that Jerusalem (not Babylon) shall be trodden down by the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled.

All of these events preceded the rise of Islam in the late 7th Century. In fact, Islam claims Jerusalem and Israel as Jewish entities have never existed and certainly did not exist when they conquered Jerusalem in their own time (circular reasoning par excellence). Per Christ then the Moslems are simply another gentile power currently treading on Jewish property and as part of the great gentile masses will continue to do so until the Second Advent of Christ which ends gentile rule over JERUSALEM sometime in the future.

2) The Church Age - The Great Parenthesis. When it comes to prophecy it has to be recognized that the Church Age is a very unique time period and that it was completely invisible to the Old Testament Saints including the prophets such as Daniel himself. In Daniel 9, When Daniel is praying an Angel comes to him and explains that God has decreed 70 "sevens" upon the people of Israel to "finish the transgression, put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up visions and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy" the angel also mentions something very important - there is a break in the 70 weeks of seven years due to the First Advent of Jesus Christ-

"know and undstand this: from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven and sixty-two sevens (69 weeks of seven years). After the sixty-two sevens the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing".

After 69 weeks of seven years from the time the First Temple is rebuilt to the First Advent of Christ we see that Christ is "cut off" and the resumption of the last week is not fulfilled until "he" confirms a covenant with many for one (last) seven. The Angel speaking to Daniel goes on and says something very significant - the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and sanctuary (of Jeruslaem). We know from this conversation the Angel is not talking about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Chaldeans under Nebachanezzer because by this time that event was past. Here the Angel is speaking about the future second destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and we know this because 70 sevens have been decreed by God as just announced by the Angel to Daniel. And by the 69th seven (483 years later) Christ is born but will be cutoff by the crucifixion. Crucifixion in fact and deed administered by none other than the Roman Empire in 30 AD. Islam you will note is no where to be seen until the 7th century way into the great parenthesis known as the Church Age some 600 years later.

We also know who the origin of the "people of the ruler who will come" that destroys Jerusalem and the Temple a second time because in the city of Rome itself a great arch was commemorated for the conquest of Israel showing none other than the Jewish Menora on a freize as the spoils of war in Rome itself in the heart of Italia! Nope, not in Riyadh or Mecca but in Rome we find these facts. Islam once again is no where to be found.

Between the 69th week and the 70th week that God has decreed for Israel's punishment the "great parenthesis" is inserted now known as the Church Age. The 70th week only resumes when "he" makes a covanent with the "many" for one last "seven". That "he" is the False Prophet of Revelation 13 because here in Revelation we find that it is the False Prophet of Isreal(a Jew) who erects a statue to honor the "god" of the 10-King kingdom(Revived Rome) in the city of Jerusalem and this only occurs by the middle of that last seven year "week" of Daniel's prophecy. The "god" of Revived Rome is known as the "beast" and he sits as the ruler of "the people who will come" that destroyed the second Temple and that my friends was the great Roman Empire not the tribes of Arabia or the Islamic Caliphate.

Finally, Daniel was told that all of these things were to occur during the 70 weeks of seven years of Israel's punishment. The great perenthesis or Church Age though it is between the 69th and 70th week is not part of this prophetic equation and thus Islam which arose during the great parenthesis (Church Age from 30AD to present) in the 7th century cannot be the people who return at the 70th Week of Daniel's prophecy in the future as this has been reserved for the empire that ruled over Israel and Jerusalem during the preceding 69 week period which would fall squarely on the Roman Empire domiciled in Western Europe. In other words, its the ROMAN EMPIRE that stradles the 69th and 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Hence, we call the future 4th gentile kingdom of Daniel 2 & 7 the "revived Roman Empire" and not a revived Caliphate since the Caliphate didn't exist until after the 69th week of Daniel and was only evident during the Church Age which Daniel himself could not see because he was not told of its existence (the Church Age) by the Angel.

3) The Beast - 7 hills and 7 kings. Who is the anti-Christ? I believe it's John of Revelation that tells us exactly where the anti-Christ will hail from and what people he rules over in the future. In Revelation 17 John has been shown the future and he sees a harlot riding a "beast". This beast the Angel explains to John will sometime in the future be completely worshipped and idolized by the unrighteous inhabitants of the earth. This "beast" is at once the revived Roman Emporer of the 69th Week of Daniel when Christ was "cut-off" at his First Advent on earth.

The Angel explains something quite significant- he says the people of earth will be astonished by his "ressurection" because "he once was" (in the 69th week of Daniel as the first Roman Caesar), "now is not" (during the great parenthesis or Church Age when John wrote Revelation), "and yet will come" (in the 70th week of Daniel as the last Roman Caesar). Here the Angel is connecting the future "beast" with the Roman Empire as it was when the Roman Empire cut off the Anointed One at the 69th Week of Daniel when Christ was crucified at Golgotha by the Roman Empire. No doubt Satan had used the Roman Caesar as his proxy and justification to have Christ executed for "slandering" Caesar and actually establishing himself as the Lord of Lords over the King of the West which of course during this time was heresy (civil not religous) and treason to the Roman Empire which Israel now belonged as a vassal state.

When the people of the world see the beast again in the future at the 70th week of Daniel they connect these two leaders as one - the Roman Caesar of Western Europe! Thus they are astonished and amazed by the appearance of the "beast" one last time in history when the Angel describes the beast as "once was, now is not, and yet will come". The beast is evident during the 69th Week (once was) disappears during the great parenthesis of the Church Age(now is not) and reappears at the 70th week of Daniel(yet to come).

The Angel further tells John about the future anti-Christ known as the beast - "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while".

I believe we can pinpoint quite accurately the seven kings. First, the harlot is the future ecumenical religion (religious babylon) that sits on seven hills. Clearly the Vatican with the Roman Catholic Church is the mother of all religions today (more ecumenical then Christian orthodox) and the Vatican is seated at Rome and this city has seven very famous hills (Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal) which makes Rome the site of the seven hills. Furthermore, the Angel tells John that the seven hills are also seven kings. If the seven hills are in Rome (which I'm convinced they are) then the seven kings by logic must be Roman as well. The Angel goes on and says "five kings have fallen, one is and the other has not yet come; but when he does come he must remain for a little while".

Here we can triangulate if you will to get a precise picture of the seven kings. When John was exiled to the Island of Patmos the "king that is" was none other than the Roman Ceaser Domition! By 96 AD Domition had imprisoned John on Patmos and if we count backwards we can trace the "five" kings that had previously fallen.

Before Domition there was the Ceasar Titus (5th King) then before him was Vespasian (4th King) before him was Vitellius (3rd King) and before him was Otho (2nd King) and finally before him was Galba (1st king). What is fascinating is that the first four kings all vied for the position of Emporer in what is now known as the Year of the Four Emporers. That is not without significance I believe because that year was characterized by a succession attempt by these four would-be emporers for the Roman Empire during the exact time period that Israel was being sacked by Rome when she revolted against her in 68 AD. By December 69 AD, Vespasian takes over as Emporer and just 7 short months later Israel would fall to Titus and his legions and the Second Jewish Temple would be destroyed.

Later, Vespasian (4th King) dies and Titus (5th king) takes over as Roman Caesar. Once again, Titus is significant because he was present with the Legions when the Second Jewish Temple was razed by the Romans in 70 AD on the 9th Day of Av according to the Jewish calendar. Later, Domition takes over as Caesar and he is identified by the Angel in Revelation as the "king that is" since it was he who exiled John to the isle of Patmos.

What is also significant about the 5 kings is that all of them are related or connected to events occuring in Israel at that time namely her destruction by the legions of Rome. Vespasian emerges victorious over the succession struggle in the Year of the 4 Emporers and it was he who was initially in Isreal when the revolt over Roman suzerainty erupted between the Jews and the Romans in 68 AD.

Also interesting is that the entire succession struggle occured in the first place because Emporer Nero was declared an "enemy" of the state by the Roman Senate in 68 AD. He later committed suicide to avoid certain torture and death by his executors and it was Nero who had the greatest Apostle of the Church Age, Saul of Tarsus or Paul as we now know him from the Bible executed in 68 AD in Rome! Additionally, Domition himself like Nero, would find himself dead the exact same year he had John exiled to Patmos in 96 AD after ruling for 15 years as Caesar. Invisible hand of God? Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord? Most certainly.

All of these kings are Roman. And the Angel tells John that the "other has not yet come" meaning the 7th Roman Caesar or King of the 70th Week of Daniel is yet future. The Angel goes further and states the beast "who once was" (in the 69th week) "and now is not" (evident during the great perenthesis or Church Age) "is an eighth king". This last phrase bifurcates the last week of Daniel or the 70th Week as we know it because the Emporer of Rome emerges at the begining of the 70th week (Tribulation) thus astonishing the world and by the middle of the 70th week (Great Tribluation) the Emporer of Rome becomes the anti-Christ when he is fully possessed by Satan. Hence, the "8th King" is part of the seventh at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel (human - Emporer of Europe) and by the time we reach the middle of the last 70th week of Daniel (3 1/2 years) becomes the anti-Christ (Satan possessed human - Emporer of the World). You will note in Revelation that the anti-Christ is captured alive by the victorious armies of Christ at the Second Advent and thrown bodily into the Lake of Fire - hence the 8th king "goeth to his destruction" once and for all.

Once again, the Moslems are not part of this equation and cannot be. The world will not be astonished and hopeful over a revived Caliphate but they most certainly will over a Revived Roman Empire. Once again, history comes full circle. Caesar in fact will be destroyed by Jesus Christ and Israel restored to sovereignty.

All Hail the Lord of Lords and King of Kings! All Hail Christ our Lord!

The Wild, Wild East

Afghanistan is apparently on the front burner of leftwing politics judging by the networks and newspaper coverage of this rather unknown and benign "war" in the eastern most part of the Middle East. As you very well know, Afghanistan was the first country we attacked after that vicious and unprovoked attack on New York City and Pentagon by Islamic Terrorists in the service of their Al Qaida masters on September 11th, 2001. As you also already know, terrorism operates chiefly unmolested by Islamic states in the Middle East and in most cases is clandestinely funded by Islamic states for the furtherance of their own national objectives such as Pakistan in Afghanistan and Syria & Iran in Iraq.

Terrorists are the pawns of nations in this part of the world with Islam being the fuel that burns the fires of terrorism. Both terrorist and Middle Eastern nation are using each other to achieve their objective(s) and as try as we might the West is unable to break this "cycle of violence" that is the hallmark of the Middle East. The Middle East really is at a breaking point in terms of Islamic culture and really we could say that the entire world is at a breaking point due to the advance of the West in terms of its economic, political, cultural and military clout that it imposes both passively and aggressively upon the nations of the world. The Middle East is feeling the vice being squeezed upon them and there simply is no way out other than through the tried and true method of political violence.

Oil has made the Middle East wealthy beyond its dreams but it also is a curse. Collectively, the Middle East has a GDP equivalent to that of Spain and we know how pathetic Spain is to the world today. The Middle East is the proverbial sick man of the world. Oil has made it possible for the Middle East to exercise some room for movement on the geopolitical plane however time is running out for them. The Middle East nations understand that the world is being sown together in a patchwork of nationalist entities to form a unified global government with the West as the cockpit of this international entity. The terrorist and the Middle East nations see the ever encroaching power of the West hence their predisposition to terrorism to effect an outcome that either will preserve them in the Middle East or allow them to separate altogether (they will still sell oil to us) from this new global hegemony. The income from oil keeps the nations of the Middle East in power and the fanaticism of religion fuels the Islamic terrorist that keeps him going in the face of an obstinate Middle Eastern dictator that runs these nations. Oil and religious fanaticism is a deadly concoction that prevents a stable Middle East from overcoming their "cycle of violence" amongst each other and of course with their neighbors.

Now, Afghanistan is before us. What shall we do and why? The networks and newspapers keep on calling our occupation of this nation as well as Iraq a "war". Just because our military is being utilized to occupy a piece of territory doesn't necessarily mean we are "at war". Yes, we do sustain casualties here and there with Islamic rebels occasionally planting an IED in the pathway of our patrols. Yes, we do get into "gunfights" with them but this is in no way similar to a "war" in which millions of rounds of ammo, millions of gallons of fuel, tons of supplies being shipped to the front and military objectives demanding sweeping movements to capture targets, towns, cities and capitols of the enemy as it was in most wars the United States has been involved in. Actually, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq were both characterized by the aforementioned requirements of "war" but since then (2001 for Afghanistan and 2003 for Iraq) our military basically has been displacing the enemy by occupation of captured ground rather than continuing with the tempo and pace of actual combat. The casualties we have sustained in occupation are truly minuscule compared to the actual combat in the opening days of Afghanistan and Iraq that statistically makes the death of our Soldiers and Marines relatively "acceptable". Really, we should compare the occupation of the Middle East to the American-Indian Wars after the Civil War when we put down the Indian nations in the Western most part of the United States. Occasionally, we suffered death and injury on the battlefield (not to mention Custer's Last Stand) but overall this period of American military operations was more "occupation and pacification" than classical war. Very few soldiers actually participated in this military operation much like today versus the total number soldiers that participated in the earlier Civil War (A million Yankee men were under arms when General Grant took over for the North as Supreme Commander in 1864).

I know that may sound nuanced and insensitive but its critically important to understand where we are today in the ex post facto War On Terror. We have already won the war in Afghanistan and Iraq but we have not yet pacified this part of the world. Pacification can only successfully occur if we as the United States are willing to go on the offensive in Pakistan, Syria and Iran in which these Islamic rebels are operating from with the in explicit blessing of their host nations. This is the truth that cannot be denied. These Islamic rebels operate from bases within these nations and attack our allies in Baghdad and Kabul at will. All the troops in the world cannot change this fact. No amount of defensive posturing no matter how clever we are can change this strategic advantage that now lies with the rebels.

Ironically, the Russians seemed to understand this dynamic after their invasion of Afghanistan in 1978 when after 10 years of occupation they decided to pull out when they could not and would not muster the military and political muscle to invade Pakistan from whence the Mujaheddin so successfully operated, rested and regrouped after any military engagement with the Russians. The Russians never lost a battle with the Islamic rebels during this time however, the strategic advantage was with the rebels and not with the Russians and by 1988 they fully understood this and left Afghanistan to its communist fate - The emergence and consolidation of the Pakistan inspired Taliban.

Will this be America's fate in Afghanistan and Iraq as well? Sadly, it appears to be so. Hence all this discussion of late about the lack of support for the "war" in Afghanistan and Iraq. The American people refused to support the War On Terror when in 2006 the pacifist Democrats swept to power in the American mid-term elections thus handing then President George W. Bush the option of holding what was achieved or pulling out in an orderly fashion. The white anger of 9/11 now has appeared to cool off and it is only a matter of time before we, like the Russians before us in 1988, decide to pull up roots and remove ourselves from the wild wild East.

Our retreat from these lands will only serve to add fuel to the fire of both Islamic terrorist and Islamic terror supporting nation in the Middle East. To what ends will this move the Middle East towards tuning out of the West and extricating itself from the global governance that is fast approaching is anyone's guess. However, I suspect that our retreat will be the catalyst of a recalcitrant anti-Western (not to mention anti-Israel) collective that will range from Mauritania across the North African Arabic plane to Iraq and the Mesopatamian region with Egypt as the base of this new religious totalitarian order. Egypt will be the political base and Saudi Arabia the religious base. If the Moslem Brotherhood has been as influential as everyone says they have been then indeed I believe this will probably be the outcome in the not too distant future.

Haven't Forgotten

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,for you are with me; your rod and your staff,they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Psalm 23:3-5

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