Prophecy Updates and Commentary

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

February 9th, 2010

I’m sure many readers are familiar with the lyrics and tune of the famous patriotic song, “America the Beautiful.” However, are you familiar with the story re: the inspiration for this iconic song? Two readers sent me this same video clip today so I’ll take that as a “sign” that this inspirational video clip should be shared with all of you.

The lyrics of this song were written by a British author who was moved at the awesome beauty of America when looking out at the stunning view from the top of Pikes Peak, Colorado. The video gives you the details of how and why this song was written, and it takes you to the top of Pikes Peak to see the same view that inspired this patriotic song. I’ve been in Colorado Springs, and I think I also saw the “Garden of the Gods” rock formation which lies near the base of Pike’s Peak.

The video also mentions the deeply-Christian nature of the lyrics of this song. The truth is that the USA was founded as a Christian nation by Christian believers, it rose to greatness when its people and leaders were guided by biblical laws and teachings, and the USA has been declining steadily even as our nation has steadily expelled God from our schools, our government and our culture. President Obama was quoted recently as saying that America was not a Christian nation. Any such statement represents a profound ignorance of our nation’s history. If we reach the time when America really does become a non-Christian nation, America’s days as a nation will be numbered. America was blessed by our Creator God with power, a large territory, fertile soil, natural resources, prosperity and victories in war because of the promises made by God to Abraham in the book of Genesis and repeated by Jacob (later called “Israel”) in Genesis 48-49. Those chapters contain blessings about the Israelite tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, who were destined to become a single great nation and a company of nations in the “latter days” (Genesis 49:1). Manasseh and Ephraim were brothers (the sons of Joseph) and their descendants in the modern world will be found as “brother” nations with a common culture, language and heritage.

The United States of America is that single great and prosperous nation prophesied to be on the earth in the latter days, and the British nations of England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are the prophesied company of nations which would be their “brother” nations on the earth in our latter days. The Bible’s prophecies are being fulfilled in precise detail in our modern times. You don’t need to “take it on faith.” This can be proven with many objective facts. If you desire proof that we are living in the latter days, I invite you to read my article “Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days?” (available at the articles link at my website). If you wish to see abundant evidence that the USA is the prophesied single great nation of “Manasseh” in the latter days, that evidence is contained in my article, The USA in Bible Prophecy, available at my website’s homepage.

The United States of America is a biblical “covenant” nation, whether it knows it or not. It is bound to the biblical ”blessings and cursings” applicable to covenant nations, whether its people know it or not. Americans very much need to know their place in biblical prophecy and repent as a nation to the God who made our nation great before that same Creator God deals with us in judgment instead of mercy.

Enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOcOzC6TiXo

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A VERY IMPORTANT HANDSHAKE!

February 8th, 2010

A very important handshake occurred on February 6th in Munich, Germany at a conference of “security experts and diplomats.” Initially, there were some misunderstandings about panel assignments and the Israeli and Saudi delegates seemed at odds. The Israeli delegate, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, thought the Saudi delegate did not want to sit on the same public panel as him, but during a particular session, the Saudi delegate, Prince Turki el-Faisal (the chief of Saudi intelligence for 20 years) rose to address the assembly and said that he had not requested to be on a different panel than the Israeli delegate.

After some tense conversation between the Israeli delegate and the Saudi delegate, the Israeli delegate (who was on the stage) offered to shake hands with his Saudi counterpart either on the stage or on the assembly floor. The Saudi prince agreed to shake hands with the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister if the Israeli official would come to his position on the conference floor. The Israeli delegate agreed and came to the Saudi prince and they shook hands “as the audience clapped.”

My compliments to both and Israeli and Saudi officials. A handshake between high Israeli and Saudi officials done openly in a forum of VIPs would have been unthinkable for decades. That this happened at all is an important symbol that the very chilly relations between the Israelis and Saudis are in a distinct thaw. I think the fact that the Israelis and the Saudis are both increasingly threatened by Iran is leading to a warming trend between them. Indeed, I would not be the least bit surprised if there is already some secret intelligence cooperation between the two nations vis a vis Iran’s threat.

Ezekiel 38:2-6 lists many modern nations which will be in the Gog-Magog alliance. The “Ishmaelites” (the Arabs) are not listed as part of the Gog-Magog alliance. This infers that the Arab Sunni Moslem nations will not be part of the Gog-Magog alliance even though the Shiite Iranian Moslems (“Persia”) will be part of the Gog-Magog alliance. It is worth noting that not a single modern nation descended from Abraham is listed as a member of the Gog-Magog alliance which argues that the entire family of Abraham’s seed will be on the same side in the great World War III which is prophesied to climax the end of this age and usher in the return of Jesus Christ/Yahshua.

Abraham’s family includes the descendants of Abraham via Isaac: Judah (the Israelis), the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel (the USA, the British nations, many western, northern and Scandinavian nations), the Edomites (Turks and others), and the descendants of Abraham via Ishmael (the Arabs). One also needs to include the modern nations descended from the union of Abraham and Keturah (various nations located in eastern Europe), and the modern descendants of Abraham and his unnamed and unnumbered concubines (Genesis 25:6) who were sent away to the east (my previous blogs have identified various castes in India as being descended from Abraham). The dominant caste of the Brahmins bears Abraham’s name upon them to this day. Ancient languages did not write out the vowels of words, so if you add an “A” to the beginning of “Brahmins” you have “Abrahmins,” a clear form of the name of Abraham. Genesis 17:4-5 prophesied that Abraham’s descendants would grow into “many nations” in the world. That promise has come to pass.

I think that Saudi-Israeli handshake indicates that the sons of Abraham are drawing closer together in the modern world. That is a good development for all of them.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135890

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OBAMA “CAVES” TO CHINA–TELLS US INTEL AGENCIES TO GO EASY ON CHINESE SPIES

February 7th, 2010

The Washington Times ran a story which every American should be required to read as it would make our citizens realize how dangerous a time our nation has entered. President Obama’s White House National Security Council “recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China” (emphasis added). Specifically, Obama’s White House has told U.S. intelligence agencies to lower their threat rating of China from “Priority One” status to “Priority Two” status. In effect, it means Obama’s White House has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to regard China as less of a threat to the USA and spend less intelligence resources spying on Chinese intentions or countering Chinese spying efforts.

To their credit, both Leon Panetta, the CIA Director, and Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, challenged this odd action by their own President, warning that the White House’s actions will “hamper efforts to obtain secrets about Beijing’s military and its cyber-attacks.” One GOP Congressman, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, correctly warned that “China should be at the top of the priority list, not moving down [on it].” A former State Department official also warned that “It means the Obama administration doesn’t understand the profound challenge that China has become, or … it cannot understand that China’s challenges to America’s policies are becoming even more threatening with each passing week” (emphasis added). A military source also added that U.S. military intelligence agencies are “just beginning to understand the growing need to focus more intelligence assets on the challenges posed by China’s military buildup and aggressive intelligence activities” (emphasis added).

Given the obvious fact that China is becoming a greater threat, Obama’s action to officially declare that China is less of a threat is utterly bizarre. What is going on here? I see only three alternatives, and none are comforting explanations.

The first option is that Obama simply lacks the “smarts” to understand global geopolitics. He had no foreign policy, military or executive experience when he was elected. Some media stories reported he even needed a teleprompter to be able to give a speech to a six-grade class. I heard on a radio talk show an audio clip of an Obama speech where he called a Navy “corpsman” a “corpse-man,” confirming we have a president whose knowledge of military facts and matters is abysmal. The second explanation can be found on various right-wing websites, talk-shows, etc. that Obama is trying to destroy the USA. His profligate spending, his easy association with a pastor who wanted God to “d–n” America (not bless it), his previous associations with Marxist radicals, the growing doubts about whether he is even eligible to serve as U.S. President (the “birther” issue), etc. all support that option’s explanation. The third option, as I see it, is that Obama has just given in to Chinese blackmail. China’s huge U.S. dollar reserves can be used in ways to crash U.S. equity markets (by shorting them), drive down U.S. Treasuries on world markets (by selling them), nationalizing U.S. production facilities foolishly moved by U.S. companies to China, etc. There is a long list of ways China could really hurt the U.S. economy and financial system, mostly because the USA has flagrantly ignored God’s warning about debt in Proverbs 22:7.

While readers can pick and choose which option they think is the best explanation for Obama’s bizarre action to tell U.S. spy agencies to go easy on the Chinese military and spies who are trying to undermine the USA, I lean to option three (the “blackmail” option). We do not know what ultimatums China is giving to Obama behind closed doors. Given the very weak resume Obama brought to the Presidency, he is likely seen by China as being a weak leader who can be blackmailed into taking actions that harm the USA. The trouble with blackmail though is once you give into it, the blackmailers’ demands will get steadily stronger. It is a grim situation that the USA has a President who is clearly taking actions which even top officials in his own administration can see are harmful to the security interests of the USA. Ezekiel 38 makes it very clear that China, Russia, Iran and their allies intend to eventually attack the USA and the western world (see my article “What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveal about a Future World War III“). This makes Obama’s action even more dangerous to U.S. interests.

This very important story about Obama’s bizarre policy decision should have headlined every national TV news broadcast and been featured in every U.S. newspaper. Did you hear anything about it? Why not? Perhaps the ”sheeple” are not to be told that they are being led not to a future of “hope and change,” but rather to a future that will devastate Americans’ lives.

One more item about Obama’s intelligence priority decision. He did order U.S. intelligence agencies to devote more intelligence assets to investigating “climate change” (code for “global warming”). When Obama went to Copenhagen for the recent “global warming” conference, the Heavens heaped scorn on the event by sending record cold and snow not only on Copenhagen, but also all over Europe, Asia and North America. Now that Obama has told U.S. intelligence agencies to give a higher priority to the doubtful threat of global warming and less priority to very real Chinese threats, Washington, DC is now being hit by a record snow storm that might give that city over two feet of snow! I think the Heavens just heaped more scorn on Obama’s decisions and agenda.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/20/china-removed-top-priority-spies/

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USA RUSHES MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS TO THE PERSIAN GULF and IRANIAN SPACE LAUNCH

February 6th, 2010

On February 3rd, I posted a blog about the major naval build-up occurring in the Persian Gulf. Today’s blog follows up with more information on that region of the world. FoxNews reports that the Obama administration has been “quietly” rushing missile defense systems to the Arab nations located across the Persian Gulf from Iran. Some of that air-defense capability is on the warships deployed to the Persian Gulf by the USA, but other missile defense systems are ground-based and they are being sent to the Gulf States, apparently on an expedititious basis.

The first link below notes that “tensions between the USA and Iran are rising” as a result of these military deployments. While the Obama administration talks much about settling the Iran problem via diplomacy and more “sanctions” (which have been largely useless so far in halting Iran’s nuclear programs), it is also making active preparations for war. Remember the old saying “actions speak louder than words?” America’s “actions” currently are hastening to put the region on a war footing even as America’s “words” say otherwise. There are two possible reasons for the Obama administration acting with more haste to prepare for a shooting war in the Persian Gulf. Either Obama knows that the USA is going to strike Iran and is taking the necessary deployment moves one would expect if such action was approaching, or its intelligence appraisals indicate that Iran might strike first (a possibility I examined in a previous blog). There are some reports on the internet that Iran may be expecting to do something major on 2-11-10. Time will tell if those reports have any validity.

The first link, dated 2-1-10, ends with a statement that U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Iran’s ballistic missile program is not progressing as fast as they first thought. Just two days later, Iran successfully launched a satellite into space carrying small animals and creatures into space atop a new and larger rocket. Those U.S. intelligence analysts may want to look closer at their data. That new Iranian rocket that can carry live cargo into earth orbit may also become a long-range ballistic missile with a few adaptations.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/01/missile-shield-gulf-ups-ante-iran/

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100203/157765694-print.html

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AMERICAN-JAPANESE MILITARY TIES TO “EXPAND”

February 4th, 2010

When a new political party took over the reins of the Japanese government, it pledged “a diplomatic stance more independent of Washington” as the link below notes. The key word in that statement is the word “diplomatic.” Nations have many kinds of relationships. There are diplomatic, military, economic and cultural relationships, for example. Other media articles have focused on the fact that Japan is taking a more independent path on economic/banking matters than previous Japanese governments. That is understandable as the Japanese Central Bank functioned so in lock-step with the policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board for so long that it seemed like a junior partner to the Fed. That the Japanese will now have financial policies that are more independent of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is hardly a surprise. Such independence was long overdue.

The link below reports, however, that US-Japanese military ties will not only remain strong, but will also “expand into new areas… as both [the USA and Japan] adapt to a rising China.” This statement emerged from a joint meeting of the two nations’ foreign and defense ministers. While acknowledging differences over the basing of U.S. troops on Okinawa and other issues, the joint declaration really reflects the most-pressing reality that both nations face. That reality is the rising military power of China. China is so large a nation and is building new high-tech weaponry so fast that the USA and Japan are being driven relentlessly closer in their military alliance.

Japan lives so close to China that it is particularly threatened by China’s militarism. China has not forgotten what Japan did to China in World War II, and I suspect that China’s leaders may want to settle that score in a future war with Japan. Japan knows this although I’m sure this will remain an unspoken factor in relations between the two nations. China’s rapid militarization makes Japan’s military alliance with the USA steadily more important, not less important. China’s rising military threat to the USA makes Japan steadily more important to the USA as well. Keep this fact in mind whenever diplomatic squabbles develop between Japan and the USA. Military realities mandate that Japan and the USA unite their forces and interests to counter the growing power of China which increasingly threatens both the USA and Japan. This dynamic is not going to change.

The Japanese-American alliance was prophesied approximately 2,500 years ago in Ezekiel 38. After listing in verses 2-6 the Asian nations that will attack the USA, NATO and their western allies (called “Israel” in this prophecy because these western nations are descended from the ten tribes of “Israel”) in the latter days, verse 13 lists the Asian nations which will not attack the USA and its western allies. They are listed as “Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish with all the young lions thereof.” My previous blogs have identified India as the modern nation of “Sheba and Dedan,” Japan as “the merchants of Tarshish” and the young tiger nations of the Pacific Rim as the “young lions” of Ezekiel 38:13. Japan so pioneered and perfected the export-driven, mercantile national economy that it is uncannily accurate for this prophecy to refer to them as “the merchants of Tarshish.” Tarshish is identified as a nation of Japheth in Genesis 10:4, and Tarshish’s father was “Javan” (a very close similarity to “Japan”). Javan had three other sons as well, and the descendants of one of them must have migrated to Indonesia as the name “Javan” resurfaces there on the island of “Java.” The “young lions thereof” is an uncannily accurate prophetic term for the “young tiger” nations of Asia which copied the Japanese mercantile economy. These nations include South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, etc.

For a more through discussion of the identification of Japan, India and the “young lion” nations in the modern world, I invite you to read my article, Japan’s Role in Biblical Prophecy and my May 2, 2007 blog entitled Will India and the USA Become Allies? The latter blog, written almost three years ago, accurately saw that India and the USA would steadily become strategic allies against China. That prediction was based solely on biblical prophecy. The fact that very ancient biblical prophecies are relentlessly coming to pass in our modern times confirms that we are, indeed, living in the biblical latter days and that there is a Creator God who both authored the Bible and is guiding the destinies of modern nations to fulfill his biblical prophecies. If you accurately understand biblical prophecies, you can understand the future before it comes to pass!

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20100119/japans-vow-expand-ties-despite-base-feud.htm

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WESTERN MILITARY BUILDUP IN PERSIAN GULF DRAWS IRANIAN THREATS

February 3rd, 2010

Although the Obama administration verbally indicates it has all but given up on a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, its deeds are saying otherwise. The first link below, from an Islamic website, reports that there are now “more than 90 war vessels in the [Persian] Gulf,” and that there is now a “military environment” in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s Foreign Minister made it crystal clear that these numerous western naval ships will be the “best operational targets” for Iranian forces to attack if Iran’s nuclear facilities are attacked. Iran also threatens to attack Israeli weapons plants and its Dimona nuclear reactor if Iran is targeted by a military strike. Iran does not have to launch missiles from Iran to attack those Israeli targets. It can launch thousands of missiles from Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon and (very likely) hundreds of missiles from Hamas in Gaza to attack those targets in Israel. If this happens, we will learn if Israel’s “Iron Dome” defensive shield is truly operational or not.

The second link indicates that there are now “nearly 100 [western] warships” in the Persian Gulf practicing operations “to be directed against Iran.” The total of 100 warships includes just those which would be arrayed against Iran. If Iran’s naval vessels are included in the total, there are a very large number of warships now jockeying for position against each other in the event war breaks out. This is the kind of situation where one ship commander with an itchy trigger finger could ignite a major war. Iran will surely fire many hundreds of cruise missiles at these western warships if war breaks out. Many missiles will be aimed at any U.S. carriers in the Gulf.

The Obama administration is really caught between a rock and a hard place vis a vis Iran. If Obama does not attack Iran and allows Iran to develop nuclear weapons, Obama could very well likely bear the same “wimp” label that ended any chance of Jimmy Carter being re-elected when he weakly let Iran hold U.S. embassy staff captive for over a year. If Iran gets nukes, all of Obama’s goals about nuclear nonproliferation will go down the toilet. Previous blogs have reported that South Korea and Saudi Arabia may already be de-facto nuclear powers. Many other nations will also quickly develop nukes if Obama passively allows Iran to obtain them. On the other hand, if Obama attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities, there could be a major war involving many nations and it is likely that such warfare will also come to American home soil as Hezbollah sleeper cells are activated to attack iconic American locations.

The third link below confirms that the USA has been “beefing up its military presence and war paraphernalia off the Iranian Coast.” This could be a routine “flexing of military muscles” or it could indicate military action is considered more likely. Obama is walking a treacherous path on his Iranian policy. If the Israelis decide they have to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to ensure their national survival, Obama’s political career will likely be “toast” if he refuses to help (or if he actually hinders) the Israeli attack. American voters are overwhelmingly pro-Israeli and they will not forgive Obama and the Democrats now in power if Obama refuses to help the Israelis. The final link, from the International Business Times, provides even more evidence that this growing naval confrontation between the USA and Iran in the Persian Gulf is a reality.

At some point, either Iran or the USA will have to “blink” and yield to the other’s wishes or war is inevitable. I don’t think either one intends to blink. Even if Obama opts for a weak policy and “blinks,” the Israelis cannot allow Iran to get the nukes that could destroy the Israeli nation. That existential need on the part of the Israelis may force Obama’s hand after all.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/01/19/97797.html

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2440426/posts

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117487&sectionid=351020104

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20100119/iran-says-may-hit-western-warships-if-attacked.htm

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AN 1800 YEAR-OLD “SWISS ARMY KNIFE”

February 2nd, 2010

The link below offers fascinating evidence that the design skills of ancient civilizations were far more advanced than modern man generally assumes. The link, sent by a reader, shows photos of an 1,800 year-old “Swiss army knife” that was apparently used by someone in the ancient Roman Empire. It has a knife, fork, spoon, spatula, tooth pick and food spike all built into a compact, easily-portable hand-tool.

This example of practical ancient technology is in extraordinarily-good condition for one reason. It was made of silver, with the exception of the knife blade which was made of iron and is badly corroded. The article makes the case that the ancient owner of this hand-tool had to be a wealthy person to have had such a utilitarian instrument made of silver. That is, no doubt true. However, this well-preserved silver tool design is a testimony to a larger truth: that such hand-tools must have also been mass-produced in the ancient world out of common metals for the masses to use. The owner of this ancient silver hand-tool likely sent a similar tool made of base metals to the shop that manufactured them with an order that said “make me one of these but make it out of silver.”

The link notes that this exotic tool was “excavated from the Mediterranean area” (a very broad region) so it is not clear if this tool was made by someone within the Roman Empire or whether it was imported from a foreign civilization with which Rome had trading relationships. It was certainly found within the region dominated by the Roman Empire. The Romans had very ingenious and skilled engineers as can be seen from Roman roads, aqueducts, buildings, etc., so it is entirely possible this advanced hand-tool is of Roman design. However, if it was imported, where else might it have been manufactured in 200 AD? One answer is the Parthian Empire.

The Parthian Empire was composed of the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel who had originally gone into an Assyrian captivity circa 721 BC. In 200 AD, the Parthian Empire was still reigning over the approximate region from the Euphrates River to near the Indus River. The Parthian Empire fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 14:2 that the descendants of the captive Israelites would eventually take captive those nations which had been their oppressors. Those “captor” nations would have been Assyria, followed by Babylon and Persia, and, finally, the Seleucid Greek Empire. The Israelite Parthians did, indeed, rule over the people of all those previous empires. This is another example of how God always fulfills his prophecies, just as he promised he would in Isaiah 41:21-26. The Parthian Empire was also very ingenious in its engineering skills. It even developed rudimentary electric batteries! A copy of one such battery is on the cover of my book, Parthia–The Forgotten Ancient Superpower. Trade and commerce flourished between Parthia and Rome when they were at peace with each other, so this is a distinct possibility.

Another possibility is that the tool may have been produced in the Scythian regions of the Black Sea. The Scythians were also called the Sacae, a name derived from the root word for “Isaac.” The Scythians were also descended from the ten tribes of Israel and were long-time allies of their Parthian brother tribes. The Scythians were descended from the Israelite tribes who avoided the Assyrian captivity by voluntarily going into exile and migrating into the Black Sea region (the apocryphal book of II Esdras mentions this body of Israelites in II Esdras 13:40-45). By 200 AD, the Scythians were generally called “Goths” by the Romans, but these Scythians had long had a flourishing trade with the Greek city-states that were then within the Roman Empire. The Scythians were a major wheat-supplier to the city of Athens. The Scythians were also famous for their exquisite engineering skills in crafting all kinds of gold artifacts. Given their superior skills in working with gold objects, it would have been easy for them to also make objects out of silver, the other precious metal. It would not have been hard for a wealthy Roman to “special order” such a silver tool to be made by the advanced goldsmiths in Scythian regions via the longstanding commercial contacts the Greeks had with the Scythians. Even the Bible gives circumstantial evidence to support such a possibility. In Colossians 3:11, the Apostle Paul is drawing a series of contrasts and one of the contrasts is between “barbarians [and] Scythians.” This biblical reference reveals that it was commonly known in Paul’s time within the Roman Empire that the Scythians were an advanced civilization (the opposite of “barbarians”). The history and skills of the Scythian tribes are documented in my book, Israel’s Lost Empires.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247230/The-Roman-Army-Knife-Or-ingenuity-Swiss-beaten-1-800-years.html

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US AIR FORCE LOSING ITS QUALITATIVE ADVANTAGE

February 1st, 2010

In a very disturbing trend, it is becoming apparent that the main fighter of the U.S. Air Force is losing its qualitative edge over the new fighter aircraft of other nations. The primary USAF fighter is the F-15 Eagle. It is a weapons platform whose basic design dates back to the Reagan years. Many upgrades have occurred to make it ever-more capable, but it is still an old design. Many airframes are getting old. A blog I posted some time ago showed a video of one F-15 coming apart in midair during a routine mission due to metal fatigue.

The American F-22 fighter is a new, stealthy and much more capable fighter aircraft and the USAF now has a number of F-22 squadrons in service. It is a state-of-the-art warplane, but the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress have inexplicably decided to cancel the F-22 program and have the USAF “make do” with older designs. This is increasingly looking like a very foolish decision, but what do you expect from a Chief Executive who came to office without any meaningful military skills or knowledge?

Previous blogs have documented the greatly-increased capability (and numbers) of new Chinese warplanes being built to eventually oppose the USA, NATO and its global allies. Now a report has surfaced that Russia is building a new air-superiority fighter which looks almost exactly like the American F-22! The first link below discusses the new Russian Sukhoi-50 which appears to be a copy of the F-22’s stealthy design. This would hardly be a surprise given the numerous reports of extensive spying in the USA by Russia and China. Russia very likely stole the design plans from U.S. manufacturers and copied the F-22 with Russian modifications. The link includes a slide show of the new Russian warplane.

For balance, one must point out that the new Russian fighter is in the prototype phase and will reportedly not be in mass production for a few years. However, nations routinely understate the capabilities of their new weapons systems and no one knows what Russia is building in its secret underground production facilities buried deep in the Ural Mountains (I did a blog on those secret Russian facilities a long time ago). However, Russia is now the world’s leader in oil production and stands to gain much revenue in future years due to oil and gas exports. You can be sure Russia will not stop production of its new Sukhoi-50 warplane when it makes 186 copies (which is the number the USA had authorized before Obama and the Democrat-led Congress cancelled the F-22). You can bet China will build thousands of its new warplanes.

There is more evidence that the F-15 has lost its edge in the world as an air superiority fighter. Several European nations have developed a new state-of-the-art “Eurofighter” called the Typhoon. In a head-to-head practice dogfight, two typhoons from the Spanish Air Force easily defeated eight F-15s from the U.S. Air Force (see second link). That is cause for major concern! If the warplanes of the Spanish Air Force can easily defeat a larger number of U.S. F-15’s in aerial combat trials, all the other European nations fielding the Typhoon can defeat American F-15s as well. The report also mentions the Saudi Air Force will soon have Typhoons so the Saudi Air Force will also have a qualitative edge on a U.S. F-15s (and possibly Israeli F-15s as well). Any nation which wants to shoot down most USAF warplanes can do so by simply buying the new Eurofighter Typhoon.

Leviticus 26:14-46 includes prophecies concerning what would happen to future generations of God’s “covenant” nations if they abandoned God’s ways and turned to sinful practices. One of the curses to be placed on such nations was that God would “break the pride of their power” (verse 19). As anyone can see who has read my homepage article, the USA in Bible Prophecy, the USA is a covenant nation bound by the fate of this ancient prophecy. The USA and its leaders are steadily turning to sin so the national punishments in this prophecy can be expected to come down on the USA. Believers can offer intercessory prayers that God would delay punishments to give nations time to repent, but the trends are obvious. The foolish decision to stop producing top-quality warplanes for the USAF is one sign that the USA is losing the “pride of its power.” Our nation’s leaders make decisions that make no sense. The logical decision would have been to shut down the older F-15 assembly line and to increase production at the newer F-22 assembly line. Obama and the Democrat Congress gave trillions of dollars to Wall Street’s reckless firms, but it couldn’t find even a few billion to build modern fighters for the United States of America to defend itself. I guess Obama and the Democrat Congress thought it was more important to fund excessive bonuses for the reckless staffers on Wall Street than to make modern warplanes that can defend our nation. Am I the only one who sees something very wrong in these priorities?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584241,00.html?test=latestnews

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/eu_military0066_01_28.asp

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CHINA TO BUILD MILITARY BASES IN PAKISTAN AND ELSEWHERE?

January 31st, 2010

An alert reader of this website tipped me off to this story in the Times of India (see first link below). It reports that China intends to “set up military bases in overseas locations that would possibly include Pakistan.” Note that this statement allows for China to build military bases in a variety of overseas nations, not just in Pakistan. Given that China has immense foreign currency reserves, it would be easy for China to finance a series of new overseas military bases. Also, since the USA has overseas military bases all over the world, China certainly has every right to do the same thing.

The first such overseas base will apparently be in Pakistan, a traditional ally of China and a nation which buys “70% of its military hardware from China.” The stated reason for such a base would be to counter radical Moslem extremists in Western China, but I think there are two far more important reasons. The U.S. main overland supply line to its troops in Afghanistan runs through Pakistan. If China builds military bases in Pakistan, it will be in a position to shut off the U.S. supply routes in the future. A previous blog at this website reported on the possibility that western nations want to dismember Pakistan and set up a pro-western government in Baluchistan to better reinforce western troops in Afghanistan. China is already building a major seaport in Gwadar on Pakistan’s Indian Ocean coastline, and I expect this new Chinese facility on Pakistani soil will develop into a major Chinese naval and army base. This will counter any western attempts to sever Baluchistan from China. While Pakistan may have qualms about hosting Chinese military bases on Pakistani soil, that may be the price that needs to be paid to ensure that Baluchistan remains within Pakistan. Also, having Chinese troops in Pakistan will threaten India as it will put Chinese forces on India’s western border region. Having Chinese reinforcements stationed in Pakistan will greatly strengthen Pakistan’s position against India. It will further push India into alliances with the USA, other western nations and Japan.

If China builds bases in Pakistan, it will gain a “veto” over the overland supply route to American troops in Afghanistan. Russia already has a “veto” over the U.S. air supply routes into Afghanistan via Russia’s powerful influence over the Central Asian nations which were once part of the USSR. This will give the two most powerful nations in the prophesied Gog-Magog alliance in Ezekiel 38 the power to shut down supply lines to U.S. troops in Afghanistan whenever they wish to do so in the future. U.S. troops in Afghanistan have no secure supply lines and no secure lines of retreat. This is a very unwise deployment by any military perspective, and it apparently continues only to keep alive fanciful hopes of a major energy pipeline by western oil companies from Central Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistani Baluchistan to the Indian Ocean. It is also exhausting U.S. troops and wearing out U.S. military equipment in pursuit of no clear American strategic goal.

The second link below indicates that new Chinese bases in Pakistan are all but a certainty. According to a Chinese government source, China “should also be able to put pressure on the potential enemies’ areas of interest.” The report makes it clear that the USA and India are the “potential enemies” that will be targeted by these new overseas Chinese bases. This is a dangerous development for American geopolitical interests. As is usual with important issues such as this, the establishment American media will almost certainly not inform the American people about this new threat from China. Also, since China apparently intends to build overseas military bases in nations other than Pakistan, where might those bases be? If I were directing China’s war-preparation plans, I’d put such bases on Iran’s coastline (to help Iran block the Strait Of Hormuz), Burma (to help control the Straits of Malacca and threaten India from the east as well as the west and north), and in Venezuela (to control access to the Panama Canal). Current American leaders seem completely oblivious to the growing dangers they face from the Gog-Magog alliance so accurately foretold in Ezekiel 38 (written about 2500 years ago). That biblical prophecy reveals that war is a certainty. This rivalry will not end peacefully.

In previous blogs, I have expressed my viewpoint that Ezekiel 38’s prophecy foretells Pakistan will be part of the anti-American and anti-western Gog-Magog alliance at the end of this age. If China begins building military bases in Pakistan, as now seems likely, this will almost certainly come to pass and Ezekiel 38’s prophecy will be affirmed even more as the pivotal latter-day prophecy in identifying the final alignments of the global alliances on earth when World War III breaks out in the future. See my article, What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveals about A Future World War III, to gain an insight into what the Bible reveals about the dangerous future that will unfold in world geopolitics in the years ahead of us. Once you understand what modern nations are identified in Ezekiel 38’s prophecy, it is easy to understand what will certainly come to pass in the future. God’s hand is guiding these prophecies toward fulfillment, and he promises he will bring them to pass (Isaiah 41:21-26).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/China-mulls-setting-up-military-base-in-Pakistan/articleshow/5510235.cms

http://www.zeenews.com/news599878.html

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USA’S ROLE IN YEMEN’S WAR GROWS (EGYPT TO JOIN THE WAR SOON?)

January 30th, 2010

Most Americans have no idea that the USA is involved in a third war in Eurasia. They know about the Iraqi war (which is winding down) and the Afghan war (which is winding up), but they do not realize the importance of the war now being fought on (and near) the Saudi-Yemeni border. Previous blogs at this website have cited reports that Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government are involved in a major war against an Iranian proxy force called the “Believing Youth.” The Saudis have imposed a naval blockade on Yemeni shores to try and stop Iran from delivering weapons to the Believing Youth, and have been fighting them with tanks and air strikes. That was not enough to stop the Iranian-backed forces which actually seized control of Saudi border facilities. The Saudis then brought in Jordanian special forces troops who were also not enough to stop the Iranian-backed forces.

American media have reported that the USA made a strike against Yemeni insurgents, but the American media mention only “Al Queda” as the target of all the rebellions in Yemen. There seems to be a black out of the fact that the Saudis and Yemeni government are battling an Iranian-backed military force. Al Queda is, no doubt, in Yemen, but the real danger is the Believing Youth who are backed by a nation state—Iran. It is likely more palatable to the American public if “Al Queda” gets blamed for everything as it is then understood as part of the “war against terrorism” instead of a “war vs. Iran.”

The first link below, from Fox News, reports that “US military intelligence agencies are [now] deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops.” However, the report only mentions Al Queda as the targeted enemy and fails to mention Iran’s proxy force. Oddly, right after a paragraph in which it states that U.S. advisors “do not take part in raids in Yemen,” there is a report on the effects of a U.S. raid against enemy forces in Yemen. Debka reports in the second link below that U.S. CIA Director Leon Panetta was in Egypt and Israel for top-level “secret” talks with the leaders of those nations re: the Yemeni war. Debka also reports that “the American military involvement in Yemen is already substantially broader than admitted,” and it adds that “an Egyptian expeditionary force” may soon join the war in Yemen against “Al Queda.” Wait a minute! Let’s get this straight. The Saudis, Yemenis, Jordanians and Americans are fighting “Al Queda” in pitched battles in Yemen and those combined nations can’t defeat “Al Queda” so Egypt’s army may have to join the war as well? How many divisions of troops is “Al Queda” fielding in Yemen? Obviously, if the combined militaries of several nations can’t defeat the insurgents, they are fighting a much more highly-organized, well-motivated and well-armed force than some ragtag Al Queda types. They are fighting Iran’s proxy army called the “Believing Youth,” but the West seems scared to death to admit that openly. Why? Here is my analysis for the silence of western governments and media on the matter.

I think western governments do not want to admit that they are involved in warfare with Iranian-backed forces in the southern Arabian Peninsula. If they admitted this fact openly, it would strengthen the argument that they need to also attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. As Iran gets closer to having nuclear weapons, the pressure on Israel to attack Iran grows as well. The third link below reports that the Obama administration is telling Israel “in no uncertain terms” to not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Why would Obama effectively be “protecting” Iran from an Israeli strike? I think it is because the USA knows that any such strike will trigger a much-broader war throughout the Mideast (and maybe the world). The USA fears this because the USA has no more troops with which to fight any more wars, and such a war could bring down the global financial/monetary system based on the U.S. dollar. Indeed, U.S. ground forces are at the breaking point already, worn out by years of warfare and repetitive combat deployments of the same personnel over and over again. The final link below documents that the morale and well-being of the U.S. ground forces’ personnel is so depleted that suicides are now outnumbering battle deaths in the U.S. Army. The link notes that there were almost twice as many suicides in the army as deaths from hostile action in the Afghan War during January. If Obama has to fight a war with Iran in the Persian Gulf, he will either have to admit defeat in Afghanistan and quickly withdraw U.S. forces there (so they can fight elsewhere) or enact a civilian draft in the USA so the “Nobel Peace prize winner” in the Oval Office can fight a much larger war. Either option will have devastating political costs for Obama. I think this is why Obama wants the Israelis to sacrifice themselves or jeopardize their national survival by doing nothing while Iran gets the nukes to “wipe Israel off the map.” While the Israelis will wait as long as they can to preserve their historic ties to the USA, they cannot delay so long that they risk their own national survival. When that point is reached, some very hard choices will have to be made by many nations.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/26/report-secret-joint-operations-yemen/?test=latestnews

http://www.debka.com/article/8567/

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2010/01/us-asks-israel-in-no-uncertain-terms-to.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-01-28-suicide_N.htm

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