This blog will pass on a number of important developments that are taking place in the Mideast. These developments reveal how close the region is to a major war, and how political/alliances may be shifting as well.

The first link below reports that six nations (the USA, Israel, Britain, the Netherlands, France and Japan) may release new evidence that reveals Iran’s nuclear program is more advanced than previously realized. The report says that this new information was known to IAEA Director, Mohammed ElBaradei, but that he “withheld this data” from the world community. American and Israeli sources called ElBaradei’s action as “verging on fraud.” The second link adds that new information about the advanced state of North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs has led the USA to hasten delivery of monstrously-large “bunker buster” bombs that can penetrate 200 feet into the ground before exploding. Clearly, these bombs are intended to destroy underground nuclear facililities in Iran and North Korea, and the urgency of the USA to obtain more of these bombs quickly argues that there will be a need to use them soon.

Saudi Arabia has also made a major policy shift in purchasing $2 billion worth of heavy Russian battle weaponry (see third link below, for which I thank reader Susana). The USA has traditionally been Saudi Arabia’s main weapons supplier in the past. The story opines that perhaps Saudi Arabia is trying to buy Russian cooperation vs. Iran. Let’s hope that is the truth. However, the smiling face of Vladimir Putin sealing the deal with Saudi Arabia indicates that Russia is delighted with the deal. With that Russian armament shipped to Saudi Arabia will come Russian instructors, technicians, spies, etc. Undoubtedly, some of the Russian support personnel sent with those Russian weapons will be Russian Spetsnaz commandoes who can either use or sabotage those weapons in the future according to Russian directives.

On the other hand, Egypt and Jordan have both taken actions to protect their nations and military forces from the Iranians and their Palestinian proxies. The fourth link below reports that Jordan has launched a “major purge of the Jordanian military” in order to get rid of the Palestinians within the officer corps and other key positions. Jordan fears that the Palestinians will act as agents for Iran and Syria in a future confrontation. Jordan is also removing Palestinians from key governmental positions in the nation of Jordan. The fifth link reports that Egypt’s security forces fear that Hamas-led Palestinians are helping the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood seeks to overthrow Egypt’s government and replace it with a radical Islamic regime. Egypt also typically has its border closed to the Hamas-led Gaza Strip to keep Palestinians out of Egypt. It appears that Jordan and Egypt do not trust the Palestinians any more than do the Israelis! It should also be remembered that when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, the Palestinians rejoiced at the death of so many Americans and passed out candy and gifts to each other to celebrate the attack on America. The Palestinians were also strong allies of Saddam Hussein who gave Palestinians subsidies for each suicide bomber who struck at the Israelis. I wonder if the foreign policy novices in the Obama administration have noticed that the Palestinians are enemies not only of Israel and the USA, but moderate Islamic governments as well? Egypt’s and Jordan’s actions vs. the radicalized Palestinians reveal that Jordan’s and Egypt’s governments increasingly have more in common with the Israelis than most people realize.There is also a report from a Kuwaiti newspaper that indicates Hezbollah “has been stockpiling chemical weapons” in Lebanon since December, 2008 (see sixth link below). Reportedly, several Hezbollah personnel were killed when a chemical weapons warhead exploded recently. It is well-known that Hezbollah has many thousands of missiles to fire at the Israelis whenever a new war breaks out. It is quite possible that Iran will order Hezbollah to fire its missiles at the Israelis if Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities are attacked. If Hezbollah fires missiles with chemical warheads at the Israelis, Hezbollah will be using weapons of mass destruction against the Israelis. If they do so, Hezbollah can expect terrible retribution from the Israelis. In the last Israeli-Hezbollah war, the Israelis had a weak leader (Olmert) and their military essentially fought Hezbollah to a draw. The new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has some steel in his backbone, and I expect the Israelis will make Hezbollah pay dearly for any new atack vs. Israeli targets. In the last Hezbollah-Israeli war, the Israeli war effort was frustrated by their own kindness as they did not attack Lebanese villages from whcih missiles were being launched in order not to kill Lebanese civilians. A blog many months ago at this website noted a report that the Israelis announced that in any future war with Hezbollah, they will not hesitate to wipe out civilian villages in Lebanon from which Hezbollah is launching missiles vs. Israeli civiilans. If Hezbollah launches waves of missiles against Israeli cities, expect the Israelis to turn south Lebanon into a “scorched earth” zone. It appears that the Israelis realize that “decision time” is nearing on a strike against Iran. The last link below reports that the Israeli military conducted a “live fire” air exercise to practice “long range strikes” against enemy targets. I think we all know that the Israelis’ “long range” enemy is Iran. When the Israeli Air Force is using live weapons in its practice exercises, it argues a “Mideast D-Day” is drawing near.

Jesus warned in Matthew 24:6 that the latter days will be marked by “wars and rumors of wars.” There have been many “rumors of wars” in the Mideast for years. However, given the fact that Iran is about to obtain nuclear weapons and it has openly announced it intends to “wipe Israel off the map,” a shooting war is looking more likely. If a Mideast war breaks out, one can only imagine the effects on the world’s economic, monetary and commodity markets. Also, Russia and China are allies of Iran in the prophesied Ezekiel 38 “Gog-Magog alliance.” If Iran is attacked, will Russia and China stay on the sidelines? Perhaps Russian and Chinese military personnel are already in Iran and are personally manning the latest Russian and Chinese weapons in Iran which will be used against any American or Israeli warplanes and missiles that attack Iran. In this way, Russian and Chinese forces could be involved in the fighting, but maintain plausible deniability about their involvment. If I were Vladimir Putin, Russia’s skillful chessmaster in global geopolitics, that is what I would do. If I, a mere American civilian observer, can think of that option, you can be sure Putin thought of it long ago.

We are entering increasingly perilous times as we get deeper into the latter days of this age (which is exactly what Paul prophesied in II Timothy 3:1 would occur). Have you heard about any of these developments in the major American media? If not, please send this link and blogsite to any of your friends who need to be warned that a major war in the mideast is looking more likely.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6244

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6247

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/09/01/russo-saudi-arms-deal-the-harbinger-of-the-middle-east-power-shift/

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6240

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978062.html

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112168.html

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/me_israel0676_08_25.asp