Global SITREP C7-14: Intel Brief for June 2014

5 June 2014: The current situation on planet Earth is pretty much the same as it was the last time a global war was in the making.  Ours is a polarized world as the above image depicts, with the world powers moving their chessmen within the various theaters of kinetic conflict. This is completely consistent with the prophetic view expressed in the Bible prior to the 70th Week, and nothing that has not already been discussed on Eschatology Today in recent years. However, an Intel Brief for June 2014 to update everyone on global maneuverings is called for at this time.

In Ukraine low intensity conflict rules the day and the night in the eastern part of the country between the government in Kiev and Russian-speaking so-called "separatists" led by Russian special forces and military intelligence commanders taking their orders from Vladimir Putin in Moscow. So far and overall, absent the direct involvement of the bulk of Russia's main air and land forces, Kiev's military forces are inflicting tremendous damage and casualties on their "separatist" adversaries in engagements of various sizes and durations. However, Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine, as is the nature of special operations forces, are very stealthy and continue unabated, but at some point heavy forces will be necessary to forestall total defeat.

I continue to assess that the probability of a full-scale Russian military invasion grows with every "separatist" set back or defeat in combat; a war of attrition is not in Russia's interest by any measure. Countries on the periphery of Ukraine have used this low intensity period to strengthen their forward deployed and reserve battalions and brigades and place them in a near-war posture. This is true with NATO in the West, especially in Poland; Finland and Sweden in the North and with other nations to the South, such as in the not fully resolved Russian war of aggression against the Republic of Georgia.

In Georgia the new government is actively preparing for another Russian invasion. However, unlike their experience against Russian armored forces in 2008, the next war here will cause Russia's military forces to be bled profusely. Georgia has used the past 6 years to create the most combat hardened force in the Caucasian region, a force that if unleashed today would be more than capable of dislodging the twenty percent of its territory still occupied by the Russian army (South Ossetia and Abkhazia). What is not widely known is that Georgia's entire army has been rotated through and thoroughly trained in the past five years on the battlefields of Afghanistan alongside and in support of American forces. In short, the Republic of Georgia has a new army, an all-volunteer, top-notch and very battle-hardened professional army that can robustly defend its territory or strike the Russian bear a severe blow in his hind quarters should he suddenly move towards Israel. With the exception of the Polish army, Georgia now fields an army larger and more capable then most of the larger members of NATO. Keep an eye on Ukraine, but know that Russia has a much bigger potential problem with its expansion ambitions to the south. In 2015 this Georgian army will be fully integrated into the NATO Rapid Reaction Force of 25,000 troops.

In East Asia there are great rumblings among he military forces of the "kings of the East." Mainland China is actively provoking the Vietnamese with naval skirmishes in the South China Sea of late - several Vietnamese commercial fishing vessels have been sunk after being rammed by Chinese warships escorting a sea-going oil platform, and Chinese PLA armored units have run up onto the border with northern Vietnam. Chinese and Japanese air and naval forces have been squaring off against each other in the maritime area just north of Taiwan. In Thailand martial law was followed by a military coup d'etat which makes another southeast Asian nation less than stable in a region poised for war. And then there is North Korea with the prospect of a dual nuclear weapons test (with Iranian participation) and more launches of long-range, nuclear-capable missiles.

In Central Asia, from Pakistan to all the former-Soviet republics further north to the Uighur part of western China, Islamic jihadism is spreading like a wild fire and is the greatest threat to the entire region. Continued upheaval here is a given conclusion; war and the misery it brings on a far greater scale is inevitable.

In Africa, from Nigeria to the Horn of Africa, north to Egypt and Libya we find the northern half of the continent a place where war, rampant terrorism and insurrection reign supreme and where southern African nations (OAS armies) have joined their military forces with the expeditionary forces from NATO and the US in combat operations against Islamist militias such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). Yes, the king of the South is flexing his muscles as well.

And last, but never the least, there's the Middle East powder keg. From the Eastern Mediterranean littoral to the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and on down to Yemen, ongoing combat operations and maneuverings also perpetually rule the day and the night. Most concerning is the the Syria war which is now right up against Israel's northern frontier as it is up against Jordan's northern frontier. Iraq is a basket case and full-scale war between Sunni and Shi'a rages there in everything but name. Then there's the Iranian nuclear program, which is about to have yet another North Korean-hosted test as mentioned above. This program continues as the Obama Administration pretends to be negotiating a deal with an Ayatollah who just recently reiterated for the umpteenth time his plan to destroy the "great satan" America and then the "little satan" Israel.

Notice how the globe with the chessmen in the image above looks more like a traditional anti-ship mine than it does a chessboard. Any one of these regional conflicts has the potential to set the world on fire with the war that our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about in the Olivet Discourse that would sweep the world like the flood of Noah's day. How many millions of lives were snuffed out in that flood? Unknown, but the coming flood of fire will take an exponentially larger number of souls.

Now is the time to double-down on your witness to those who have yet to receive the Grace of God through Christ our Lord. I believe all these things point to the very imminent yet completely unknown day and hour when the Harpazo will take us in less than a nanosecond leaving many of the unsaved we know and love behind to endure even more unspeakable horrors in the wrath of the 70th Week.

Even so, Marana'tha Lord!