Global SITREP C1-14: Al Qaeda Shuts Off Euphrates River; Assault on Baghdad Coming

The once mighty Euphrates River coursing through Baghdad becoming a memory of yesteryear.

UPDATE 30 April 2014: Almost two weeks after the posting of this report on the military gains being made by the Sunni Islamist insurgency in Iraq, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article titled "Fledgling Iraqi Military Is Outmatched on Battlefield" which confirms in detail what had been written here previously.

A key quote from the WSJ article:

“More than two years after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, as the country prepares for its first post-occupation parliamentary elections on Wednesday, its demoralized, underequipped military is losing the fight against Islamist militants, who are better armed, better trained, and better motivated, according to Iraqi and American generals, politicians and analysts.”

The article's authors, Matt Bradley and Ali Nabhan, go on to note:

"Even the most basic maneuvers can stymie the Iraqi military. Regional commanders who lack basic knowledge of military logistics often are clumsy when transporting food for soldiers on the move, leaving many enlistees to scrounge for themselves or go hungry, say officers and observers.  Without meals, some soldiers simply leave. Though there are no official statistics, military personnel cite desertion as a persistent and growing problem, particularly for troops deployed in Anbar and other areas to the north where ISIS is active.

This is dismaying considering how much time and effort the United States spent in standing up the Iraqi security forces. By the time that U.S. troops pulled out at the end of 2011, the Iraqi security forces numbered more than 600,000 and appeared, at least on paper, to be more than capable of safeguarding their country.  Appearances, it turned out, were illusory. The Iraqi troops are perfectly capable of fighting if well-supplied, -supported, and -led. But supplying them–much less planning their operations and providing the kind of integrated intelligence and fire support they need–is beyond the rudimentary abilities of the Iraqi military. U.S. advisers filled in the gaps, but now they are gone and Iraq is spiraling downward.

This is a warning of what could happen in Afghanistan."

 It is good to know that the persistent study of Bible prophecy will advance the knowledge of any watchful student at least two weeks ahead of current events reported by the secular media.

15 April 2014: The Islamist Al-Qaeda forces in Iraq have shut the water off in Baghdad by closing all of the Falluja Euphrates Dam's gates yesterday.  In current foreshadows of Revelation 9 and 16, the bottom of the Euphrates River in its course through Baghdad is showing its sandy bottom very clearly in many places.

Everything south of the Falluja Dam is going to have an unbearably miserable time as the heat of the Iraqi desert is already absolutely overwhelming without water resources. Not in recent memory has the world seen a humanitarian crisis in a major world capital as could emerge from the closing of this dam. Accompanied by the arrival of full-scale war once again in Baghdad and this place could become a literal hell on earth in a very few weeks time.

Recent parades of the Islamist forces and their warfighting hardware in Falluja and Abu Ghraib (adjacent to BIAP - Baghdad Int'l Airport) are showing they have acquired as battlefield spoils quite a number of up-armored Humvees and M-113 APCs the US left behind to re-equip the Iraqi Army after the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) a couple of years ago. These forces are under the supreme command of the former "King of Clubs" during OIF, General Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri.

 

General Al-Duri was Saddam Hussein's top military aide and a key figure within Saddam's Ba'athist dictatorship in Iraq. He successfully eluded capture by US and Coalition forces for the entirety of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He knows things that the Iranian Shi'a overlords of Baghdad do not know.  The shutting off of the water supply is the first indication and Warning (I&W) that he intends to take Baghdad very soon and by all means at his disposal. Outside of direct Iranian military intervention, there is nothing much to stop him. At a minimum the near total depopulation of Baghdad is a near-term likelihood.

Additional References:

Global SITREP B11-13: Psalm 83 and AQ in Iraq 

Global SITREP A1-14: Psalm 83 and AQ against Israel

Psalm 83 Verse 8: Assur - Syria or Iraq?

Global SITREP C5-14: Saudi's Conclude "Abdullah's Sword" Exercise by Revealing Chinese-made DF-3 Nuclear Missiles

30 April 2014: Yesterday, the first time ever, Saudi Arabia openly exhibited two of its several dozen Chinese-made Dong Feng-3 (DF-3) multiple warhead (50-100kT) nuclear missiles, received in 1987, in a massive military parade at the northeastern military base in Hafr al-Batin. 

This base is well-known to many of 1991's Operation Desert Storm veterans as King Khalid Military City (KKMC); it is the only part of Saudi Arabia most got to see prior to General Norman Schwarzkopf's "Hail Mary" tactical maneuver along the Saudi-Kuwait-Iraq border region to the northwest. KKMC was the pivot point for all coalition forces during that action which annihilated Saddam Hussein's forces that had overrun the State of Kuwait as Iraq's "19th Province."

Also included in this parade were support vehicles not associated with the DF-3 IRBMs, but rather with Saudi Arabia's upgraded nuclear deterrent force of the far more accurate Chinese-made single-warhead DF-21 MRBMs. The parade served as firm notice to the U.S. Obama Administration, as well as to the Iranian Ayatollah's regime, that Saudi Arabia has embarked upon a fully independent course of action with respect to defending itself and its Gulf Cooperation Council Allies against the continually expanding Iranian nuclear weapons program. 

In attendance at the parade as Saudi Crown Prince Salman's royal and distinguished guests were King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan's military Chief-of-Staff General Raheel Sharif, who notably sat next to Saudi Crown Prince Mitab, King Abdullah's senior son and heir. Pakistan is the supplier of nuclear warheads for Saudi Arabia's arsenal of DF-3 and DF-21 Intermediate and Medium Range Ballistic Missiles.

Sourcing of this for this open source intelligence (OSINT) is from a Washington Institute "Policy Alert" by Simon Henderson, published 29 April 2014, and several Eschatology Today reports of the past two years. A 'Policy Alert' will appear when a central theme of a Presidential Administration's inept foreign policy has been dealt a death blow by a sovereign foreign government which refuses to abide by it any longer.

Also of note is the fact that while the Saudi military exercise was occurring, and within 48 hours prior to the Saudi revealing of their nuclear delivery vehicles, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared the Iranian threat to be the same as the Nazi threat posed to Jews 75 years ago.  One need not think too hard or too long to realize that had the Jews possessed the means to end the European Nazi threat prior to the start of the Holocaust they most certainly would have done so with extreme prejudice. Once again we are reminded that in the complete absence of a determined and consistent American leadership a coalition of apparent enemies stands foursquare against the growing greater threat posed by an Iranian nuclear menace.

We would do well to be prepared for the sudden eruption of unrestrained warfare in the Middle East; warfare that will alter the global paradigm in ways that few are currently capable of comprehending.

Global SITREP C3-14: The Current Global Military Situation

25 April 2014: This SITREP will focus on the current global military situation by looking at the top-tier military powers and their ability to project their power. War has been a dominant feature of life on planet Earth in the 20th century AD, and it continue to be a dominant feature ("wars and rumors of wars") until the end of the 70th Week. We will also engage in foresight from the Biblical perspective into the 70th Week. Some of you will notice that I remain absolutely consistent with the theme of the US playing a key role in the beast empire of the 70th Week.

It may come as a shock to some, but despite the much publicized downsizing of US military forces the US will remain the global military colossus it has been for the past six decades (since the end of WWII). One could say that the US is currently feigning weakness. And this would be consistent with one of the principle, albeit paraphrased, tenets of the ancient Chinese military genius Sun Tzu in his "The Art of War": "When you are strong, feign weakness, when you are weak, feign strength."  Opposing the US is Russia, and right now Russia is flexing its military muscles against a relatively weak foe in Ukraine. This is where a full-scale military invasion appears to be imminent. But against a united NATO any Russian military adventurism would result in an overwhelming defeat for the forces of the red star.

When it comes to sheer, brute force, military power and the ability to project that power to any given point on planet earth, the USA is unrivaled by any nation or group of nations today. The chant "We're number 1" is no idle boast; it is a fact.  The US defense budget for FY-14 is greater than the ten highest ranked military forces on the planet combined. Moreover the US exceeds their combined military spending by more than $105 billion dollars. Even more interesting is the fact that of those next top ten military forces, only two of them could be considered potential enemy's in a conflict, and all of the remainder constitute our closest military allies in Europe, the Pacific and in the Middle East. The second top ten military forces on planet Earth after the USA are, in relative order 2 through 10: Russia, China, India, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and Israel.

US military spending for FY-15 is essentially unchanged in that a cut of .4 billion from the FY-14 spending still leaves the US with a $612.1 billion budget. This dwarfs the Russian budget of $76.6 billion and it is nearly five times that of Communist China's budget of $126 billion. The US has more proven, combat hardened soldiers than any nation on earth both on active duty or who would return to the call of duty if it were necessary such as in a world war scenario. Now add in the combined military forces and budgets of just our NATO, Japanese, South Korean, Australian and Israeli allies and one is staring squarely in the face of a $1 trillion dollar per year military colossus that has not yet had its full weight called into action on any field of battle.

The Bible's prophetic description of the power of this world dominating force might now have some more resonance when it is considered in light of these real-world facts. The most ancient description of the beast having crushing, trampling and tear to pieces power should not be lost as if it were mere hyperbole or of some purely symbolic meaning. On the contrary, the prophetic picture given to us in advance of that military power is as literal as literal can be and as accurate as accurate can be - even after the occurrence of the Harpazo. Take for example the vivid description of this military force in action as detailed by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 11:40-44 (with emphasis added):

"At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many."

Marana'tha.

Global SITREP C2-14: An Op-Ed on Stuff in General

Sign seen on the Road to Revelation

23 April 2014: Time and time again, when one thinks this or that event will turn out to be the proverbial 'straw that broke the camel's back,' something else occurs to further compound an already untenable and highly volatile situation. That's what I found myself thinking yet again in reading a few hundred OSINT reports in just the three days since Resurrection Day. 

Then I remembered Jesus' own Mount of Olives SITREP about the pains we should expect in these last days. A paraphrased executive summary would read something like: "There will be multiple wars and rumors of even more wars. Understand these events for what they are, but do not live in fear of them because they must occur in their appointed times, for the end of them is still in the future. Nations will rise up against each other; one dominion will provoke another dominion. This will result in acute food shortages, rampant plagues, and violent commotions all over the earth. Yet all these events are just the heralding of My coming again."

Just when one might think "this is it, something has got to give," and yet even more pressure comes to bear. A provocation here, a provocation there; gunshots here and gunshots there; the thunderous sound of jet engines and thousands of tanks and other armored vehicles rumble which seems to make the earth itself recoil in terror at the prospect of their belching smoke, fire and the smell of explosive charges.  Most people on the earth have never experienced war, they have no comprehension of it. However, as Jesus said, stand by...

There's a growing sense that Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to act responsibly; that he is deliberately calculating each and every movement in the current crisis as if he were the conductor, his military forces his orchestra and the rest of the world a captive audience. Worst of all, to be perfectly blunt about it, Putin doesn't think, he knows that the current president of the United States is a wimp; that he's flexible enough to bend over backwards and stab any friend or ally in their back. Benjamin Netanyahu know this better than anyone else. Bibi knows that Obama just gave Sunni jihadists in Syria some of the best MANPADS money-can-buy for free, and which puts a lot of IAF pilots in harms way from American-made missiles. Some ally Obama is.

It seems to me that if there's an impetus for a truly unified Europe from Spain to the Arctic Circle and Ireland to Bucharest, then Vladimir Putin and his Russian Federation are proving to be it. There's certainly no warm and fuzzies coming Europe's way in any of the bouncing blank check assurances given by Veep Joey Biden; intelligent Europeans already understand that Vladimir Putin's objective is to unify Europe under his own goose-stepping boot. Could it be that the 'king of the north' will be responsible for getting the 'king of the west's' act together? It could very well be. Bible prophecy is fulfilled through the day-to-day events of secular world actors doing their thing, hooks notwithstanding.

So while there's the prospect of another world war erupting in Europe, on this side of the pond our totally corrupt and out-of-touch administration and its big government allies are completely consumed with persecuting ranchers in the American heartland who are trying to make a living and keep us fed with quality beef as well. Simultaneously, with the administration's blessing, the Islamonazi's of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah are running rampant all across America. 

Yet, not-so-strangely enough, "Dirty" Harry Reid's focus remains on what he refers to as the "domestic terrorists" who patriotically rallied to defend Clive Bundy's ranch against an over-reaching federal bureaucracy. Neither Obama nor Dirty Harry ever identified the 2009 Ft. Hood mass-murdering jihadist Nidal Hassan as a "domestic terrorist," no, they save that choice ad hominem attack for some real red-white-and-blue-blooded American patriots. Real-life American cowboys. What's wrong with this picture? Everything! To my American brothers out west, this Jersey guy says tell the Feds "Molon Labe!" Welcome them accordingly.

Addendum I: Speaking of the armed conflict occurring in the American west between our government's executive administration and We the People, I found an article written by Dr. Ben S. Carson on JewishWorldReview.com to also be very much worth your time to read. Enjoy and Ben Carson for President.

When Government Looks More Like Foe Than Friend.

Addendum II:  I simply have to include this one final item in this Op-Ed. It is both a heart-felt and well deserved salute to our parents, grandparents, and in some cases perhaps even great-grandparents, and relatives of every kind who were part of the "Greatest Generation," which not-so-coincidentally I believe, also includes the generation of Israel's founding mothers and fathers. Let this also be a lesson to those naysayers who say we can't do something about the current situation. On the contrary, with God, we can do anything!

"During just the 3 and 1/2 years of World War II that started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and ended with the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, the United States of America produced 22 aircraft carriers, 8 battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 420 destroyer escorts, 203 submarines, 34,000,000 tons of merchant ships, 100,000 fighter aircraft, 98,000 bombers, 24,000 transport aircraft, 58,000 training aircraft, 93,000 tanks, 257,000 artillery pieces, 105,000 mortars, 3,000,000 machine guns and 2,500,000 military trucks.

Furthermore, The United States of America placed 16.1 men in the uniform of our various branches of the armed forces, invaded Africa, invaded Sicily and Italy, won the battle for the Atlantic Ocean, planned and executed D-Day, marched across the Pacific Ocean and marched across Europe, developed the atomic bomb and ultimately conquered both Germany and Japan.

It is worth noting that during the almost exact same amount of time the Obama Administration could not build a functioning web site."

Marana'tha!

CBN's Erick Stakelbeck Inerview with Israel's Minister of Economy, Naftali Bennett

21 April 2014: Naftali Bennett, born to American parents, is without question a very fast rising and increasingly powerful figure in Israeli politics. He is the leader of the Israeli political party Habayit Hayehud, or The Jewish Home, and the co-founder of the Israeli political movement Yisra'el Sheli, or My Israel. In the simplest terms understandable to American born-again Christians, Naftali Bennett is a Zionist within the context of all the Biblical prophecies regarding a re-born Israel in these last days. 

Naftali Bennett is the kind of Israeli leader I can envision as being the Rosh HaMemshala (Prime Minister) in office for the fulfillment of Isaiah 17; the Psalm 83 prophecy final engagements, and possibly even the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39. Since I do believe we are just so very close to the 70th Week, and based upon Naftali's experience as a member of Israel's elite special forces (Sayeret Maktal and Maglan), I can also envision him in the near future as possibly being or directly associated with what Israeli Orthodox religious leaders will herald as the long-awaited Moshiach ben Yosef, the great military leader of Israel prior to the appearance of the also expected Moshiach ben David.  Both are figures who are directly connected to the Jewish vision of the expected Messianic era.

All of that said, here is a link to brief article and a 'must see' embedded interview between CBN's Erick Stakelbeck and Naftali Bennett: Bennett: Judea, Samaria Key to Israel's Security.

Global SITREP B19-14: "Cry Havoc! And Let Slip the Dogs of War!"

Ukrainian army troops receive munitions on the outskirts of Izyum. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP

UPDATE  16 April 2014: The continuing and ever expansive Russian orchestration of military provocations and outright military aggression against Ukraine has finally resulted in a military response from NATO. In the US these facts on-the-ground in Ukraine have also finally been acknowledged by the White House. The Russian actions dictated by Tsar Vladimir Putin (a/k/a Gog) have been designed to look like a Ukrainian civil war. However, the fact of the matter is that these actions are purely Russian aggression in pursuit of military reconquest of territory that was formerly under the control of the Russian Empire and its heir, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The NATO alliance this morning declared its intent to militarily oppose this Russian aggression. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen just held a press conference in Brussels wherein he declared:

“We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land. We will start to implement these measures straight away. Our decisions today are about defense, deterrence and de-escalation. They send a clear message: NATO will protect every ally and defense against any threat against our fundamental security. ”

In addition, James Jeffrey, the former Bush Administration Ambassador to Kuwait and Obama Administration Ambassador to Iraq, has made a very public call for the deployment of US ground combat forces in today's issue of the Washington Post.  Ambassador Jeffery's concluding paragraph reads:

"We do not need to be apologetic about the risk of even “tripwire” presences. Putin has no illusions about America’s combat-hardened conventional superiority. But by all appearances he has great doubt about America’s will to use force, and that creates a dangerous situation. After seeing American boots on the ground, Hussein decided not to threaten Kuwait anew. But recall that half a world away and six decades ago, the United States took a different approach, withdrawing its forces from South Korea. North Korea and its Russian supporters saw that as a green light to invade, only to learn, three years and millions of casualties later, that the United States was serious about defending a friend."

This will likely be the last update for Global SITREP B19-14; a new Global SITREP will take over where this one has left off.

14 April 2014: The United Nations Security Council emergency session intended to diffuse the Russian-Ukrainian military crisis descended from the world-class diplomatic forum it is supposed to be into something akin to a schoolyard shouting and recriminations match. Both sides of the conflict and their ardent supporters were responsible for the failure of cooler heads to prevail. One would think that a line in the sand has been drawn along the entire remaining length of the Ukrainian-Russian border, and Ukraine has asserted its sovereign right to reestablish its laws and order in the eastern Oblasts.

Those administrative centers were over run by armed Russian Spetsnaz and ethnic Russian-speaking supporters last week, but were under a Ukrainian government ultimatum issued late Thursday to withdraw within 48 hours or face armed eviction. Yesterday Ukrainian government forces made good on the government's ultimatum and began the operation of a forced eviction. As expected, urban warfighting commenced with Ukrainian security forces backed by Ukrainian military units going on the offensive, and the fog of war immediately descending and masking the action as the day progressed. A focal point emerged at Slovyansk, a small city located deep in the heart of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. Slovyansk is situated 50 miles north of Donetsk, and 100 miles from the nearest Russian military forces massed on the border. A full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine could be mere hours away.

7 April 2014:  It has begun. In the three easternmost Oblasts of Ukraine bordering on Russian territory (see map below to locate: Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk) civil disturbances began this morning in the same false flag type of operation as previously executed in Crimea. This tactic involves Russian Spetsnaz (Special Forces) masquerading as Ukrainian militiamen wearing sanitized camouflage uniforms and steel helmets assaulting and seizing the regional administrative government buildings and then securing them with makeshift barbed wire fencing. Once the buildings were secured the false flag operation enters its second phase with the Special Forces troops requesting Russian Federation President Putin to intervene with an invasion force to secure their independence from Ukraine. Updates as they are received.

6 April 2014: This is an update that could easily fit right in with "And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea...", but I will post it here and just link back to that item as benchmark reference material.

I awoke this morning at Oh-Four Hundred with a burning thought which was the central theme of a dream I was having just prior to waking. There is a beast rising in the in the West, his domain is being re-constructed and prepared for by a central cadre, an elite of the elite if you will. I have referred to these people as the Global Oligarchy in the past. Even the MSM has taken to using this term in recent weeks, so they are very real indeed. To simplify things I am going to abbreviate the Global Oligarchy down to the acronym GO.

The GO in control of the major powers in the West are on the rise, but at present do not have their act together enough to actually make a difference. They appear and in a very real sense are weak and lacking effective, qualified and competent leadership. This is largely due to the leftist elements which currently hold sway and the reigns of power. Most folks are likely to say at times like this, "Where's a Churchill or a Reagan when we need them?" Yes, at the moment the western stage does appear to be filled with a cast of quasi-socialist versions of Neville Chamberlain. 

But this will not always be the case. Elections are coming. Change from the leftward direction of our current governance seems inevitable and the political pendulum swing back to the right. And it seems apparent also that current events will catalyze a more purposefully driven cadre of the GO into the reigns of power. In this the new geopolitical reality of a militarily aggressive Russian Federation and rampant Islamonazi jihadism is almost made-to-order. And this is where the burning thought from my dream comes in. The GO will manage and manipulate the global situation. It has been said that while the GO leadership is playing geo-political checkers, Vladimir Putin is playing chess. I disagree with this idea to some extent. Vladimir Putin is playing chess, but the GO is now playing Risk!  Everyone wants to control the world to their advantage, and the Biblical prophetic world informs of who will succeed at this very short-term game who will be defeated and summarily run over by the dragon-worshiping GO and its Beast.

The management and manipulation might come in allowing something like this to occur: The more invincible Putin/Gog thinks he is the more he can be successfully manipulated by the rising but still hidden beast in the GO. Over the next couple of years, as the GO quickly regains its dominant edge, the emphasis will be to contain him as much as possible until the required overwhelming power to effect a roll-back is achieved. Remember, Revelation 13:4, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"

This brings me to the  bottom line of what I awoke with this morning. Vladimir Putin/Gog of Magog might just be the very first great victim of the emergence of this beast rising up out of the sea; a beast which according to the Bible never really died. Over the past 1700 years it symbolically went from being two iron legs to a pair of feet with ten toes of world conquering iron and clay. Is it not apparent though Bible prophecy that the destruction of Gog of Magog on the mountains of Israel heralds the arrival of the Roman Antichrist and his "covenant among many"?


2 April 2014: It needs to be said here, for reference at a minimum, that the former-KGB colonel and current President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, is not and was not a Russian Communist. He is now and always has been something even worse than any Russian Communist ever dreamed of being. He is a Russian nationalist. A Russian nationalist just like the one the world is a little more familiar with who was born in Kazakhstan and named Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Vladimir Putin was born in 1952 in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is located north of northeast of Estonia and southeast of Finland, and both of which he desires to conquer and repossess for Mother Russia if given the opportunity. Unchecked Western fecklessness in the ongoing dismemberment of Ukraine will provide Vladimir Putin with the opportunity. Russian nationalists are exceptionally bombastic, but they actually do mean what they say.

1 April 2014: This second map depicts the anticipated Russian invasion routes. The extent of actual military conquest includes of all the oblasts (provinces) east of the red line. These areas will forcibly be made part of the Russian Federation. The remaining oblasts west of the red line will be forced into a type of federalized republic under Moscow's direct control. Russia will suddenly have a long border with the NATO countries of eastern Europe. A new "Iron Curtain" appears to be in the making. So much for the fictional post-Cold War "peace dividend."

UPDATE 30 March 2014:  It looks like Putin and Lavrov are enjoying themselves in an apparent game of high-stakes bait and switch with Obama and Kerry in setting autonomy demands for several Ukrainian provinces (oblasts) that the Americans cannot possibly deliver. Lacking anything of a physical nature to forestall a full-scale Russian military invasion of eastern Ukraine, it seems Kerry has capitulated to an ultimatum delivered by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in order to at least appear to be relevant in great power politics.

My best assessment is that Russian forces will soon invade along four main axes noted in the image above by red-colored wedge shapes along a broad front on the Russian-Ukrainian border from Chernihiv to Kharkiv to Luhansk and Donetsk. The Russian columns that cross the frontier at Kharkiv oblast will run head-on into crack Ukrainian formations that are fully prepared for full-scale combat operations. I do not expect the current quiet to last for long.

28 March 2014: The title of this SITREP is not the line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar,  but one that by all current indications and warnings is about to come from a modern-day Caesar, namely, 'Tsar' Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of the Russian Federation. Those indications and warnings has folks in the Pentagon very concerned that a military invasion by Russian forces of the rest of Ukraine may well be imminent. 

Current estimates are of 30,000 Russian troops in full battle array at key points along the length of Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, and another 50,000 reportedly in rapid movement away from their assembly points and garrisons and towards the Ukrainian border, far more troop than have ever been seen in movement for an "exercise" that simply does not exist.  To say that alarm bells are ringing in Western capitals would be a tremendous understatement.

"And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea..."

Updated 14 April 2014:  Are we now seeing complete ineptitude and powerlessness from Western leaders in the face of Russian military aggression in southeastern Europe?. Has President Obama has withdrawn the United States of America as the "on-call" backbone of the NATO alliance. Is it true that when the United States of America says its military commitment is ending in theaters of allied military operations (Iraq and Afghanistan) our NATO allies will commence to scrambling for the emergency exit to bring their troops home as quickly as possible?

While these things may appear to be true to even the most seasoned observer, as has been the case in recent times, there is more to this than we realize or can see the physical manifestation of. Despite many claims to the contrary America has not abdicated its role as a global superpower. It is instead morphing into something beyond what we and our parent grew accustomed to defining as a superpower. Through the application of technological advances this military colossus is actually more powerful than it was just ten years ago. My position is that the sum of American military power combined with that of our allies will be the basis for the incredible kinetic power to fulfill the post-Harpazo prophecy of Revelation 13:4b,

“Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

Our focus is on Israel, and the role played in the achieved and future military capabilities of the Israel Defense Forces by the United States of America is nothing short of monumental. For example, not many of us are aware that Israel's vaunted Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system currently under the final phase of its construction has been jointly funded and built with the United States. 

You may be hearing this here first. Israel's fully implemented BMD defense system will be known as 'Sword Shield,' and the final, topmost layer of this system is something straight out of former US President Ronald Reagan's vision of BMD known as the"Star Wars" missile defense system. This final layer will become fully operational next year (2015), and it is known as the Arrow-3. The Arrow-3 is much more than just a high flying missile interceptor, it is a spaceship that is fully an order of magnitude beyond anything which currently exists in the lower layers of 'Sword Shield', namely the Arrow-2, David's Shield, David's Sling and Iron Dome layers. Arrow-3 will engage enemy missiles and their warheads in the exoatmosphere, which means it is a kill vehicle that will operate outside of the earth's atmosphere. 

All of these layers will operate as one unified system, and will be interoperable with the US/NATO ship and shore-based BMD in the Middle East region. Moreover, there is a plan at this time to also extend Israel's 'Sword Shield' to cover neighboring Jordan and possibly even Egypt. This is a good idea considering what will be needed when the final engagement of Psalm 83 dust has settled.

 DDG-1000, a/k/a the extremely stealthy USS Zumwalt, was christened at the Bath Iron Works in Maine on Saturday, 12 April. There is nothing like this new United States Navy destroyer-sized warship anywhere in the world; two sister ships will soon join her at sea. The USS Zumwalt features very advanced weaponry, such as electromagnetic railguns and a virtually "self-aware" encrypted computer operating system known as TSCE that identifies any and all threats and sends the ship into battlestations. TSCE is capable of engaging all identified and confirmed threats on its own. Perhaps it is more than entirely fitting that the first commanding officer of the USS Zumwalt is Captain James A. Kirk.

In addition to this the United States of America possess a new generation of aircraft that are a technological leap beyond the famous F-117 Nighthawk, B-2 Spirit 'stealth craft.' These aircraft are not the un-piloted drones like the X-47B or RQ-180 drones which appear to be straight out of a science fiction movie; they are piloted, high-flying diamond-shaped craft (a shape known to diamond cutters as a 'trillion'). The world has never before seen anything like these craft and our enemies will not want to. Right now America appears to be walking and talking softly, but wielding a very big, powerful, stealthy and high-precision stick capable of striking anywhere on the globe within minutes. Minutes.

However, there is something far more important to pay closer attention to here than Putin's (Gog of Magog) blatant and pre-hook in the jaws aggression.  This is basic Bible Eschatology 101, and we're the generation the Lord Himself prophesied about who would see it come to pass. And we're starting to see it because as also prophesied human knowledge has increased and continues to increase at an exponential rate.

Whether we realize it or not, whether we accept it or not, we most certainly are in a combination of a perfect geo-political-military storm and the bodyguard of lies deception of a Missing-In-Action leadership scenario. This is a scenario which appears to have been deliberately created. We know it is all to be rolled up in the ultimate fulfillment of the Lord's prophetic Word. We stand on the threshold of the rise of a charismatic statesman, the ultimate peacemaker, a man with more book and field military genius than Sun Tzu, Von Clausewitz, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, Zhukov and Patton combined. A man none other than the Antichrist, a demonically-led prince of the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. I think the stage has been given its final set for his entrance through this current global crisis.

Watch carefully as this crisis moves forward in time. An alliance of nearly 800 million people without a strong leader when one is prophesied to appear in these last days is a prophecy begging for fulfillment.

Israel Launches Ofek-10

Launch image: Israel Channel 2

 

10 April 2014: Last night Israel launched is next-generation and most advanced military intelligence collections satellite from the Palmachim Air Base launch facility in central Israel. The Ofek10 (also: Ofeq 10 meaning Horizon 10) will allow Israel's national military authorities to see pretty much whatever they want to see whenever they want to see it in every weather condition on every 99-minute overhead orbital pass. 

 

 A 2010 rendering of Ofeq-10 by AviationWeek

 

Given the continuous back-stabbing Israel has taken from the Obama Administration's position on Iran's nuclear weapons program, the launch of Ofeq 10 last night is no great surprise. It is what a sovereign nation does when near-real time intelligence, target surveillance, or battle-damage assessments are deemed to be essential. 

 

The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and 1-cubit resolution imaging device (19.5-inch/.5 meter/50cm) are part of the onboard intelligence collection suite codename Jupiter. Jupiter will also provide 15km/9mile wide panoramic views of Iranian territory at a resolution of 78 inches from its orbital altitude of 600km/372 miles. Congratulations to Israel on a successful launch and orbital insertion!

Lighter Side: "Vot haf I done?"

8 April 2014: A New Jersey native son, a brother-in-Christ who is a former law enforcement officer that posts via the internet alias 'Joey Bagadonuts" send me the following lighter side humor entitled "Vot haf I done?" in an Email early this morning. The humor was responsible for setting off almost uncontrollable laughter before anyone in my house had their morning cup of java, and therefore I just have to share this with everyone. It's humor but it also speaks to a soon to be revealed prophetic 70th Week truth that will reach all Israel. By the way, Mr. Bagadonuts is retired and living comfortably in the sunshine state of Florida. Hiya Joey!

"Vot haf I dun?"
 

A Jewish businessman in Chicago decided to send his son to Israel to absorb some of the culture of the homeland. When the son returned, the father asked him to tell him about his trip. The son said,"Dad, I had a wonderful time in Israel . By the way, I converted to Christianity." "Oy, vey," said the father. "Vot haf I dun?"

He decided to go ask his friend Jacob what to do. Jake said, "Funny you should ask. I too sent my son to Israel , and he also came back a Christian. Perhaps we should go see the rabbi and ask him what we should do."

So they went to see the rabbi. The rabbi said, "Funny you should ask. I too sent my son to Israel . He also came back a Christian. What is happening to our young people? Perhaps we should go talk to God and ask him what to do."

The three of them prayed and explained what had happened to their sons and asked God what to do. Suddenly a voice came loud and clear from Heaven.

The Voice said, "Funny you should ask. I, too, sent my Son to Israel ......"

Global SITREP B21-14: Global Military Tensions Are Rapidly Becoming Palpable

5 April 2014: Is it a coincidence that a sequence of signs of blood red moons is about to occur over the next year as military tensions between the world's preeminent military powers are rapidly becoming palpable? I don't think there's anything coincidental about this; we're living in the so-called 'last days' when the primary signs that Jesus gave us of "wars and rumors of wars" are supposed to take place.

It's like something mechanical that's too tightly wound up and stresses throughout the mechanism are at the point of simultaneous catastrophic failure, and the internal parts of the device go flying uncontrollably in every direction imaginable. This is the world as I see it today. It's like Humpty Dumpty is in mid-flight in his fall off the wall, and all of the kings horses and all of their man have no prayer of putting that Humpty Dumpty of so-called world peace together again. Truth be told, during this present age, world peace is literally the absence of world war. No wonder the Bible prophecies that men will literally collapse of heart attacks when they see these things coming upon the world.

War and the threat and rumors of an even of a greater war in the heart of Europe have gripped dozens of world capitals and the attention of as many general staffs in NATO on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in North America and Europe. Emergency meetings, planning sessions and operational orders are being issued with a frequency that would make any fast food retail outlet green with envy.  

In the Middle East there are extraordinary pressures for military action, both outright and preemptive; the so-called 'peace process' between Israel and the Arabs is but a smoldering hulk in a sea of smoldering hulks. There's a lot of smart, articulate diplomatically astute men in the United States. So the US government sends the pompous, condescending but totally inept and even more unqualified John Kerry on this absolutely critical mission in shark infested waters? Seriously? Why not VP Joe Biden then? An informative related report can be found HERE. As a direct result of John Kerry's efforts the Arabs, in the form of he Arab League, have just officially refused to recognize the cold, hard fact of reality that Israel is Jewish state. As we all know, this merely proves what we've known for decades; there will be no lasting peace in the Middle East until the Lord Jesus Christ comes to establish His kingdom, Until then keep your head down, ammo dry, locked and loaded, and your gas mask at the ready on your hip at all times.

In northeastern Asia the offensive military belligerence and war-like rhetoric of North Korea has both South Korea and Japan experiencing a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation. South Korea is now directly responding to almost daily North Korean military provocations, and the Japanese government has ordered its military to respond by shooting down any further North Korean missiles launched over the Sea of Japan. Aye-aye was the response from the Japanese Navy and its Aegis cruisers in that area.

In southeastern Asia the rapid Russian conquest of Crimea from its former ally Ukraine has Chinese Taiwan on pins and needles over the prospect of mainland Chinese aggression against them; the Japanese and Chinese tensions over the Senkaku Islands between Japan, Taiwan and mainland China could forge a military alliance between Japan and Taiwan against China. make no mistake, these are all Top 10 global military powers who are on the periphery and are allies of the Top 3 military powers on the late-great planet Earth.

And its not everyday that a senior CIA officer commits suicide by jumping off the roof of a 5-story building. Stresses abound in the nations capital and they're only increasing across the board because American leadership is all but nonexistent in the current Obama Administration and the current Congress is not much help either. Folks in the Pentagon appear to be divided over a military duty to salute the CInC and say "yessir" and their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic. They did not take kindly at all to the recent treasonous revelation that the Obama Administration was planning to give the Russians highly classified US missile defense secrets. That's right, the Obama Administration was about to give the Russians precision data on the performance of our anti-missile defenses. Imagine that, a Trojan Horse in Washington, D.C. and it looks just like our 220-year old White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Anyone hear the word "impeachment" from any Congressmen as a result of this revelation? I'm not holding my breath either.

The tension is absolutely palpable. Common sense says something has got to give. But there's no fear, these things must take place to prepare the way for His kingdom.

Marana'tha Lord Jesus!

Global SITREP B20-14: Bible Prophecy Front and Center

4 April 2014: The purpose of this SITREP is to illustrate how Bible prophecy is literally being manifest in current world events. These are events which everyone who is being a watchman of world events relative to specific Bible prophecy can witness to with their own eyes and ears in living color via satellite and cable television broadcasts. Bible prophecy coming to pass in front of our eyes from verses almost no one has paid real careful attention to before now, plus other verses which clearly indicate a very clear sequence for these major events, and why we should be exuberantly looking up for our Harpazo by the Lord draws ever closer!

To begin with, lets take Ezekiel 38/39. I think all of us have read these two prophetic chapters as well as an endless stream of articles giving various interpretations on the basics, and that's all fine and dandy. However, it's when one pays attention to the little noticed details that one actually notices them occurring in real-time, as in right now real-time, that one can feel the Holy Spirit leap within you. This happened to me last evening.

The verse that I would like to call your attention to is Ezekiel 38:7 where the LORD God is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel directly to the man who is known as "Gog, of the land of Magog." and He says:

“Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them."

In this single sentence the LORD God has instructed Gog to prepare (Hebrew: kuwn qahal: meaning to be prepared as in a very high state of readiness for war or invasion) the military forces of his own country, the military forces of those countries he also has direct control over, as well as all those military forces of the other countries that are also in this military alliance with him, and to be a guard for them. The Hebrew word for guard here is mishmar, meaning a diligent ward or overwatch for their military capabilities.

In very recent news and as a direct result of the Russian invasion and annexation of the Crimean Autonomous Republic from Ukraine, the United States and our NATO allies in the EU have taken various economic measures known as sanctions. Most important of them was the one which resulted in kicking the Russian Federation out of the exclusive economic club, formerly known as the G8, but now just being the G7 (yes, 7 nations in a Trans-Atlantic and Global economic alliance which also includes Japan!).

In direct retaliation for these sanctions the Russian's have served notice to the G7 that they will henceforth act as guardian of the Iranian nuclear program in the upcoming round of talks which resume shortly following a 6-month hiatus during which Iran was supposed to have accomplished some benchmark reductions and shutdowns of its nuclear program. Now that the time has arrived for a viable Western military option to strike Iran to be raised, Russia has now openly committed to defend Iran's military-purposed nuclear weapons program against the US and Europeans.

Putting aside for a moment the billions upon billions worth of Russian weapons systems sales that are arming all of the the Ezekiel 38/39 Magog military confederation, is this new direct Russian defense of the Iranian nuclear weapons program not a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 38:7? I absolutely believe it is, and this is why the Holy Spirit leapt inside me when I read about it. This will shortly be, or at least it should be, front page news or the lead story when the "E3/EU+3 Iran Talks" reconvene

Well, everybody knows the Iranians never intended per the negotiated E3/EU+3 interim agreement to reduce their growing nuclear weapons capabilities by even so much as a single spinning centrifuge. But what everybody may not know is the the United States and European Union made a hard promise to Israel to keep the Iranian military strike option on-the-table. This promise is what directly prevented Israel from launching their own well-planned and  devastating unilateral strike against Iranian nuclear infrastructure targets in the summer of 2012. Now Russia's actions in Crimea and the very real Indications and Warnings (I&W) of an even larger Russian invasion of the rest of Ukraine probably have Israel's military commanders pounding on the conference table even before Bibi Netanyahu strolls into the room. If those IDF commanders understood Bible prophecy they'd know that God has a pair of hooks from which there is no escape in His hand that He will soon put to use. The appointed hour approaches.

Now to another item which I have posted on and written about many times in the past 5 years or so. Isaiah 17. And as much as I have read that prophetic chapter, and have believed it would be the event which launches the final battles of the ongoing Psalm 83 war (1947 to the present), it wasn't until very early in the morning the other day that I noticed something in those texts which even more directly points to a sequence of Isaiah 17 preceding Psalm 83.

We're all very aware of what occurs in Isaiah 17. The focus is always on the total destruction of Damascus, then of the cities of Aroer, and then of central Israel (Ephraim). It is the end result of the military action which results in the destruction of Damascus that I noticed is more profound and prophetic than I previosuly saw it to be.

Isaiah 17:12-13 reads:

"Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind."

Who are those many gentile people who are making a noise like the roar of the seas that Isaiah prophesies about? A rushing of gentile nations going where and to do what?

Of course, they are the gentile Arab Shi'a and Sunni Muslims nations and peoples from Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and the Sinai in a headlong jihad rush to attack and destroy Israel so "the name of Israel may be remembered no more" (Psalm 83:4). Why do they suddenly rush in to do this? Because Israel has just destroyed to the point of complete obliteration the oldest Arab Islamic capital city in the world. But what happens when they come rushing in? The result is that these nations God rebukes them, they are chased like chaff off mountains before a wind, like a rolling thing before the Cuwphah (Sufa).

So why do I conclude that Isaiah 17 precedes the finale of Psalm 83? Because of the very specific language the singing prophet (chozeh) Asaph was inspired of the Lord's Spirit to use in his description of the military result of Psalm 83. This military result was nearly achieved in 1948, and again 1967 and again in 1973. This next time it will absolutely be achieved. Asaph's specific prophetic language in Psalm 83:13-15

"O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind! 

As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire, 

 So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm."

It appears to me that these two prophets, first Asaph and then Isaiah, were inspired by the same Holy Spirit to prophesy about the same event but from slightly different perspectives and about 400 years apart from each other. It is these two distinct perspectives about this great military defeat that is strongly suggestive of and reinforces what I have come to understand about their place in the sequence in events preceding the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 which immediately precedes the start of the 70th Week. In this these verses sequence provide an explanation of why the resultant rushing of the Arab nations in Isaiah 17 occurs only after Damascus is obliterated, and why Aram-Syria-Damascus does not appear at all within the nations and peoples specified in Psalm 83.

Addendum: As a final note to the sequence of Isaiah 17 immediately followed by Psalm 83 being thereafter followed by Ezekiel 38/39, I again submit the confirming prophecies found in Isaiah 11:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26.