Global SITREP C1-23:The World Is A Big Place

Clickable Image: NASA Earth Observatory

UPDATED 8 August 2023: Before embarking on a temporary quick-halt stand-down (i.e. quasi-vacation) for the Eschatology Today blog, and by expressed popular demand, a brief survey of topics that must be duly noted is necessary. Global SITREP C1-23 is intended as a placeholder while real-world events synchronize with the prophetic interpretive manna offered here. The world is a big place from our perspective, and we've duly focused on Israel (the "fig tree") because it is the number one I&W of where we are on the eschatological time-table of the Lord's appointments. However, this placeholder SITREP must have a global aspect as the Lord's prophetic word makes abundantly clear.

"REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE"

For decades, ever since the rise of the European Union, many postulations to the point of type of dogmatism, hold the EU is the "Revived Roman Empire." 

The phase "Revived Roman Empire" itself does not appear verbatim in Scripture, but allusions to such a regime and its supreme leader appear throughout the Book of Daniel (Dan. 2, 7, 8, 9 and 11) and in The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ (Rev. 13). The most germane of all of these verses within Scripture is found in Daniel 9:26 where it says, "...and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Sanctuary (2nd Temple)." No doubt about this being a direct reference to the Roman Empire, in that Titus Flavius Vespasianus, son of Vespasian and future Caesar of the Roman Empire fulfilled this prophetic snippet precisely with several Roman Legions under his command. In Daniel 7:19-25 the Roman Empire is identified in the last days as the "fourth beast," that is the final world empire.

Eschatology Today now attempts to balance the above with the Scripture of Daniel 8:3-7 which is an exceptionally accurate account of the conflict between ancient Greece and the empire of the Medes and Persians. Here we find clear reference to Alexander the Great of Macedonia, the general of all Greek-Macedonian armies and symbolically identified as a goat having a single horn protruding from between his eyes. Then in Daniel 8:8-9 following the division of Alexander's vast empire into four lesser horns (empires) we see the first reference to Antiochus IV Epiphanes as the little horn who arose from among one of these four. Antiochus IV Epiphanes is the archetype or forerunner of the future antichrist. This prophetic narrative of direct reference to Greece, given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel, culminates in Daniel 8:23-26 speaking to the "latter time of their kingdom," and the rise of antichrist. This little horn corresponds to the little horn, the eleventh horn who rises among the ten horns (ten toes; ten kings) which are discussed at length in previous posts HERE and HERE. 

So, the question arose, according to Scripture is the eschatological identification of the EU as the "Revived Roman Empire" truly the singular descendant of both the ancient Roman Empire and its immediate predecessor the ancient Greek-Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great and its division into four rump empires? The interpretive answer from the Eschatology Today perspective is a resounding YES! and this is in accordance with 2 Timothy 3:16-17. 

The "Revived Roman Empire" is and will yet be comprised of ten principle national leaders (horns) which will be led by an eleventh leader (little horn) who rises up among the ten and subdues three of those ten for his own kingdom. Is this kingdom based entirely in the European and South West Asian regions? We think not because the descendant civilizations and nations of both the Greek-Macedonian and Roman empires live on today in North America, Central America, South America and Australasia, and that makes it a truly global empire of many peoples, tongues and national identities as the Scripture also declare.

RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR

Eschatology Today has long assessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2014 to the Present) as being a precursory conflict to the attempt to invade, conquer and despoil Israel per Ezekiel 38-39.  Contrary to the erroneous war planning that occurred in Russia and in Belarus (the "Union State") prior to the invasion of Crimea and the Donbas regions of southern and eastern Ukraine, the so-called "special military operation" has been an unmitigated disaster for the Russian Federation and its allies. Simply put, despite initial gains the Russian side is losing the war, badly. So badly in fact that we saw the best of the Russian forces, the Wagner PMC contract soldiers, briefly mutiny against the military leadership in Moscow.

The Russian fiasco in Ukraine has also resulted, despite oft-repeated threats of nuclear conflict, in the expansion of the NATO military alliance to now include 31 nations and will soon also add Sweden to its membership. The total population of the alliances member nation with Swedish ascension will be just under 1 billion people. Also, one of the Russian Federation primary goals was to prevent the inclusion of Ukraine into the NATO alliance. This goal has also failed as Ukraine is assured of NATO membership, and its ascension into the alliance will push the total population to well over 1 billion. The population of the Russian Federation is currently about one-tenth of NATO's population, making Russia's military manpower wholly insufficient to take on NATO and its overwhelming technological warfighting superiority. However, nuclear weapons are another calculus completely.

It was duly noted some time ago on Eschatology Today that in ancient times the southern coast of Ukraine including the Crimea was part of the maximum extent of the Roman Empire's territorial acquisitions. The Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces will retake the occupied oblasts of southern and eastern Ukraine, and this will include Crimea. 

In what might be a final desperation move, a Russian-led (Wagner PMC) military seizure of sparsely populated and 60-mile wide NATO territory between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwałki Gap, (map image below) is being rumored (wars and rumors of wars) of late. Along NATO's eastern borders the Suwałki Gap is its weakest point and the currently most dangerous place for a military conflict with nuclear connotations on the earth. A Russian incursion here would without question trigger a NATO Article IV conflict with the Russian Federation.  

The Suwałki Gap

It would appear on the face of it that such a strike would be unthinkable if not suicidal. But these are desperate times in Russia and the need for the regime of VVP to save face, or to distract from the losses in Ukraine, or even to distract NATO from its military support of Ukraine's counteroffensive are worrisome considerations. To add credence to the threat, Belarussian forces accompanied by their Wagner PMC training cadre as of Monday this week began conducting highly provocative maneuvers in this very region of the Polish Lithuanian border.

Yet, there may be a prophetic clue in Ezekiel that involves hooks in the jaws that turn around a mass of Russian forces from the utmost north to their ultimate destruction on the mountains of Israel. In the coming days and weeks this situation bears close monitoring. 

"KING OF THE SOUTH"

In the Book of Daniel there are several references to the enigmatic "king of the South." Most often these references are to the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, one of the four rump kingdoms that emerged from Alexander the Great's Macedonian-Greek empire circa 332-30 B.C., and which fought several wars with another of the rump empires, that of the Seleucid Empire. However, in these last days, and specifically during the 70th Week of Years, there is a new "king of the South." This 5-verse reference is found in Daniel 11:40-45. It is tantalizingly brief, very short on details, but forecasts a candidate for a new "king of the South" which is not Egypt. This king of the South is apparently located in Africa, and will attack the Antichrist-led beast empire of the West with the king of the North. Israel becomes involved as the Antichrist enters "the Glorious Land" with his armies. The timing appears to be during the first 3 1/2 years of the 70th Week of years, prior to the Abomination of Desolation.

In the African Sahel, the African region south of the Sahara Desert, (image above) there has been a years-long and ongoing jihadist conflict involving up to fifteen different nations. Most of these nations were, or remain members of a type of E.U. in the Sahel known as ECOWAS, or the Economic Community of West African States, which was founded in 1975. 

As a type of fallout from this conflict there have a few coup d'etat by the military forces within these nations against elected leadership who've failed to subdue the Islamic State Sunni jihadists in the ever expanding conflict. These nations have been expelled from ECOWAS as a direct result of a coup d'etat in each of them. Those nations are Mali, Burkino Faso and Guinea. 

In late July 2023 yet another coup occurred in the nation of Niger which removed from power its democratically elected president, the first to have a peaceful transfer of political power in its brief history of independence. As a result of this the remaining ECOWAS nations, with Nigeria being chief among them, have threatened to invade Niger so as to restore the outed president to power. A one-week ultimatum threatening invasion of Niger expired on 6 August. The military juntas in Mali, Burkino Faso and Guinea all said they would declare war on the ECOWAS countries if Niger were invaded. A major sticking point is that a large majority of Niger's population have held mass demonstrations in support of Niger's coup d'etat junta in the capital city Niamey where they also denounced France, the European Union and the African Union, all while waving Nigerian and Russian flags.

As a result of this it cannot pass without noting that there is a significant presence of Russian Wagner PMC forces in several of these nations, and in neighboring nations which are not part of the pro-Western ECOWAS, principal among them is the Central African Republic previously noted in one of our SITREPs. There are also, as of last report, about 1,500 French and 1,100 U.S. combat troops remaining in Niger which have yet to be withdrawn. An evacuation of mostly western foreign national has ben ongoing since 1 August.

Nigeria has announced it will provide more than half of the 25,000 troops for an invasion of Niger, with Benin, Senegal and Ivory Coast also pledging troops. The military junta's in Mali, Burkino Faso and Guinea has pledged their forces to oppose the ECOWAS military intervention in Niger. This is another situation which warrant close monitoring, if for nothing other than the potential for a massive human catastrophe in West Africa.

Ghana's VADM Seth Amoama (center) is flanked by LG Drammeh
of Gambia (left) and GEN. Doumbia of the Ivory Coast (right) during the
Extraordinary Meeting of ECOWAS Chiefs of Defense Staff in Accra,
Ghana yesterday, 18 August 2023.

UPDATE 19 August 2023: At this time a delegation representing the 11 ECOWAS nations who have committed their military forces to intervention should be meeting with the junta leadership of Niger in a last-ditch effort to resolve the Nigerien July 26 coup d'etat diplomatically. Should this meeting be unsuccessful then, according to all available OSINT information the ECOWAS Defense Staff will order their troops into Niger to roll back the the military junta and restore the democratically elected government of President Mohammed Bazoum. The actual "D-Day" for ECOWAS troops and air forces to cross the border into land-locked Niger has not been disclosed.

The ECOWAS intervention comes at the same time as Islamic jihadists have launched deadly attacks which have killed scores of Nigerien troops in remote parts of the country. The ECOWAS forces will potentially square off against Nigerien, Malian and Burkino Faso forces as well as assistance from Russian Wagner PMC mercenary troops. According to most accounts the situation in Niger could quickly morph into a disaster that may place the physical security of the entire continent of Africa in jeopardy. A human disaster (food insecurity - starvation) is already in progress in this region.  

Marana'tha!