LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
OK THE ARAB MUSLIMS ARE FORCING THE EUROPEAN UNION INTO GETTING MORE INVOLVED IN THE ISRAELI PEACE PROCESS. THE BIBLE SAYS THE EU NOT AMERICA WILL SIGN THE FINAL 7 YR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN THE ISRAELI-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27. SO PROPHECY IS RIGHT ON SCHEDUALE FOR THE EU TO TAKE FULL CONTROL OF THE PEACE PROCESS.
AND HOW DO I KNOW JORDAN WILL BE PLAYING A ROLE IN THE PEACE PROCRESS? BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS IN WAVE 1 OF WW3 EGYPT WILL BE DESTROYED BUT JORDAN WILL BE SPARED.
41 He (EU DICTATOR GUARENTEEING ISRAELS SECURITY) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
AND AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE 7 YR TREATY I BELIEVE ISRAELIS WILL FLEE TO PETRA IN JORDAN TO BE PROTECTED AS WE READ IN REVELATION.
REVELATION 12:
6 And the woman (ISRAEL) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.(3 1/2 YEARS)
Jordan calls for bigger EU role in Mideast peace
Amman, Sep 14: Jordan Sunday called on the European Union (EU) to play a much bigger role in restoring peace in the troubled Middle East region.Jordan's King Abdullah II, underscored the importance of the EU's role in the establishment of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, when he met Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief of the 27-nation bloc, in Amman Sunday, a royal court statement said.The monarch underlined the importance of the EU role in the maintenance of security and stability in the Middle East and the establishment of peace between the Palestinians and Israel, particularly in the coming months, the statement said.Abdullah also warned that Israel's continued building of settlements in the Palestinian Territories, particularly East Jerusalem, will derail peace efforts.He urged the EU to help the Palestinians rebuild their institutions and improve their standard of living.Solana also held separate talks with the Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and Foreign Minister Salah Bashir.The European foreign policy chief arrived in Amman Saturday night in the course of a Middle East tour which also took him to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Egypt. --- IANS
Solana: EU seeking co-op with Arabs on Mideast peace September 14, 2008
Visiting European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana said here Saturday that the EU is keen on promoting cooperation with Arab countries in a bid to support efforts aimed at reaching a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. Solana made the remarks following his talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the current situation in the Meddle East, particularly on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported. Describing the meeting as particular important, Solana said they discussed the latest regional developments, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and means to push forward the negotiations.
Solana voiced his appreciation to Muabark's viewpoint on the current regional situation, saying the meeting is meant to coordinate efforts to help implement the pledges that all parties made at a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis last November. Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged at the Annapolis conference to reach a comprehensive peace deal by the end of 2008.Yet little visible progress has since been achieved. Solana, who arrived here Friday evening as part of his Mideast tour, also held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit. Source: Xinhua
Abbas: We'll ask new U.S. Administration to support peace September 14, 2008
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday evening that the Palestinian Authority would ask the newly elected American administration to support the Middle East peace process. Abbas told a joint news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos in Ramallah We hope that the current U.S. administration won't blame any part in case no agreement is reached by the end of this year.We are doing our best in order to reach a peace agreement with Israel before the end of this year, because since Annapolis, we have been talking about reaching an agreement and we really want to reach an agreement, said Abbas. Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference to reach a comprehensive peace deal by the end of 2008, before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves the White House in January. Yet little visible progress has since been achieved. Abbas also added that the Palestinians don't want to reach an interim peace agreement, and not an agreement that doesn't include all the permanent status issues, which are currently on the negotiating table.
Abbas stressed that the Palestinians don't want to postpone any of the six permanent status issues, which are Jerusalem, the settlements, the refugees, water, security and borders. Asked about his scheduled visit to the United States on Sept. 26, during which he is to meet with President Bush, Abbas told reporters that I will talk with President Bush about the points that we agreed upon and the points we disagreed.For his part, Moratinos told the news conference that the Israeli settlement activities have to stop immediately in order to reach a real peace, while reiterating the supportive position taken by Spain to the Palestinians. We are certain that at the end an independent Palestinian state will be established, said Moratinos, who still expressed hope that Israel and the Palestinians would be able to reach a peace agreement before the end of the year.Source: Xinhua
Israel says U.S. wrong on Jerusalem talks Sept. 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas meets with the U.S. consul-general to Jerusalem Jacob Walles, in Ramallah on December 24, 2006. (UPI Photo/Omar Rashidi/Palestinian Authority)JERUSALEM, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Israeli leaders are reportedly upset over remarks attributed to a U.S. official that Israel is ready to open talks on Jerusalem with the Palestinians.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a Kadima Party meeting that his government was sticking by its position that Jerusalem should be left until the end of the talks.Comments on the Jerusalem issue in Israeli-Palestinian talks reportedly from U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles appeared in the Palestinian daily al-Ayyam and were deemed by Israel as highly inappropriate, The Jerusalem Post said.We have achieved significant progress but we haven't started the negotiations on Jerusalem yet, Olmert told a crowd of several hundred party activists and supporters.Olmert said he believed a final-status peace agreement was within reach by the end of 2008.
THE ARAB LEAGUE I BELIEVE TO BE THE MANY OF DANIEL 9:27 IN THE FINAL 7 YR TREATY SIGNING.
Arab League chief doubts Mideast peace deal this year Sat Sep 13, 1:43 PM ET
CAIRO (AFP) - Arab League chief Amr Mussa said on Saturday there were no high hopes for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians this year, warning that time was being lost. There is no great expectation that there will be an agreed solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Mussa told reporters after talks in Cairo with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.He said the status quo was causing despair in the Middle East as a whole.This is what we discussed, particularly in the context of the promises made by US President George W. Bush regarding the year 2008 and the results of the Annapolis meeting.Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were launched at a US-sponsored conference in Annapolis in November with the goal of reaching a comprehensive peace deal by the time Bush leaves office in January 2009.
But the two sides remain sharply divided on the core issues of the conflict, despite several meetings in recent months between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.The negotiations are not heading in a productive direction and the Palestinians' situation is not reassuring, Mussa said, warning that time is being lost.Differences focus on the future status of Jerusalem, final borders, the fate of some 4.6 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees and the future of Jewish settlements on Israeli-occupied territory.On August 31 a senior Israeli government official said his country wants to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of the year but postpone a final agreement on the future of Jerusalem.
Israeli vice premier offers settlers buyout By Jeffrey Heller SEPT 14,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's vice premier presented a proposal on Sunday to pay thousands of Jewish settlers to leave their homes in the West Bank but said a peace deal with the Palestinians was unlikely this year or in 2009. Haim Ramon, a top deputy to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and one of his closest confidants, said the government should offer each settler family living beyond the barrier Israel is building in the occupied territory some $300,000 to relocate.Greater Israel is a thing of the past, Olmert told his cabinet, which debated Ramon's proposal for the first time. He was referring to many settlers's hopes of retaining all of the West Bank, land Palestinians want for a state of their own.Facing possible indictment in corruption probes, Olmert has promised to resign after his Kadima party holds an election on Wednesday to replace him. He could stay on as caretaker prime minister for weeks or months until a new government is formed.Ramon has said his evacuation-compensation plan could help bolster U.S.-sponsored peace talks which Washington hopes can yield at least a framework agreement by the time President George W. Bush leaves the White House in January.But at a news briefing after the cabinet session, Ramon echoed pessimistic forecasts by Palestinians and top Western diplomats who see little chance of a breakthrough on issues such as borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.The way things are going at the moment, I'm not optimistic there can be a deal by the end of this year or even by the end of next year, said Ramon. It could take five or 10 years.
TERRITORIAL COMPROMISE
Although no vote was held on the compensation package, the discussion marked an attempt by Olmert to prepare the Israeli consciousness for territorial compromise, a spokesman for the prime minister said.Ramon presented a survey indicating that about 18 percent, or 11,000, of the 61,000 settlers who live east of the barrier -- land Israel is likely to hand over to the Palestinians -- would agree to leave immediately in return for a buyout.Yonaton Behar, who lives in Har Bracha settlement east of the barrier, said he did not think Ramon's plan would have much of an impact.
Ramon is talking about 11,000 (who agree to compensation), out of a couple of hundred thousand. That's minuscule, that's nothing, said Behar, 48, who is originally from the United States.Some 500,000 Jews live among 2.5 million Palestinians on West Bank land captured by Israel in a 1967 war, including Arab East Jerusalem.At the cabinet session, Olmert described as intolerable an attack by armed settlers on Saturday on the West Bank village of Asira al-Kabaliya, an assault launched after a Palestinian stabbed and slightly wounded a boy in a nearby settlement.In the State of Israel, there will be no pogroms against non-Jews, Olmert said.The word pogrom has particular significance in Israel, where it is used mainly to describe extensive violence against Jews in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Three Palestinians were shot and wounded in the settlers' attack, medical officials said.(Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch and Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
EVIL INVENTIONS ARE PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE.
ROMANS 1:29-32
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
REVELATION 9:7-8
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
EU Georgia monitoring team ready on time - Solana
By Alaa Shahine SEPT 13,08
CAIRO (Reuters) - The European Union has enough pledges from member states to form a 200-strong team of monitors and deploy it in Georgia before the beginning of October, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Saturday.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana speaks with the media after meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak at the Presidential palace in Cairo September 13, 2008. (REUTERS/Nasser Nuri) He also said he was confident Russia was committed to the Oct. 10 deadline to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory outside the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.We have plenty of pledges and we will do it, Solana told Reuters, referring to the monitoring team. We will do it in time and we will do it properly.Russian troops withdrew from the region around Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti on Saturday, two days before the Sept. 15 deadline set for the first phase of a pullback brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the EU.Russia sent forces deep into Georgia last month after repelling an attempt by Tbilisi to retake the breakaway, pro-Russian South Ossetia region.
Moscow agreed on Monday to withdraw its troops from security zones inside Georgia around South Ossetia a second breakaway region, Abkhazia, within a month.By the 10th of October that part (undisputed Georgian territory) will be without any Russian troops. That is the most important thing, Solana said.That is what (Georgian) President Saakashvili wanted and that is we have been trying to broker with the Russians.The deal between Russia and the European Union also includes the deployment of 200 EU monitors. The mandate of that team, however, has already become an issue of dispute.The EU delegates view the monitors as a reinforcement to a pre-war peacekeeping force, which can operate anywhere in Georgia. Russia says the monitors are not part of pre-war international monitoring missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and should operate under separate rules.Solana struck a conciliatory tone. He said there would be Europeans everywhere in Georgia under Monday's deal, whether with the EU team, United Nations observers in Abkhazia or with the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, whose ceasefire monitoring mission is deployed in South Ossetia.Solana also said the deployment of the international community in Georgia would likely be discussed during talks in Geneva, starting on Oct. 15, as part of the EU-Russia deal.Moscow's intervention in neighbouring Georgia, an ex-Soviet republic that has angered Moscow by pushing for membership of NATO, drew widespread international condemnation.Solana dismissed the idea that the conflict risked resurrecting Cold War sentiments between Russia and the West.We are not in the Cold War. We will never be back to the Cold War. Nobody wants that. Nobody needs that, he said.What we need now is more cold blood than Cold War, and that cold blood is important to analyse the situation properly and to react properly.
Abbas meets Russia envoyPublished: Sunday, 14 September, 2008, 09:23 AM Doha Time
RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received here yesterday the Russian president’s personal envoy, Aleksandr Saltanov. Abbas informed Saltanov of the latest Palestinian developments and efforts to push the peace process forward. - QNA
Putin warns West against starting arms race SEPT 13,08 19:21 | Reuters AP
Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned the West on Thursday against starting an arms race in Europe by stationing a U.S. missile defence shield near Russia's borders and said there was no basis for a new Cold War.
Putin, who has taken a robust stance on Russia's conflict with Georgia over the South Ossetia region, blamed Washington rather than Moscow for resurrecting Soviet-style rhetoric.Today there are no ideological contradictions. There is no basis for a Cold War, Putin told a group of reporters at a three-hour lunch briefing at his retreat in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.There is no basis for mutual animosity ... Russia has no imperialist ambitions, he said.Russia was criticised by the United States and European governments for sending troops into Georgia last month and then recognising the two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.Some Western leaders accused Moscow of using Soviet-style tactics in dealing with its neighbour over South Ossetia. Others feared Moscow might take similar steps to reassert its influence over other countries it long dominated in the Soviet Union.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney charged Moscow earlier this month with using intimidation and brute force.There is no more Soviet threat but they are trying to resurrect it, Putin said.He questioned criticism of Russia for crushing Georgia's bid to retake South Ossetia by force, which prompted concern over energy security in the region and rattled Russian markets with shares losing more than 40 percent of their value since May.
STRONG LANGUAGE
What did you expect us to do? Respond with a catapult? ... We punched the aggressor in the face. Did you expect us to wipe the bloody snot off our faces and bow our heads? he said.Putin said the stock market falls were due to the global credit crisis and not Russia's intervention in Georgia.Putin, his speech peppered with strong language, has spearheaded criticism of the United States, accusing the U.S. administration of stoking the conflict to help the Republican candidate in the race for the White House.His successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, once thought to be firmly in his mentor Putin's shadow, has steered a more balanced course, setting up a diplomatic good cop, bad cop routine.In Sochi, Putin accused the United States of acting like a Roman emperor, but also said Moscow would maintain relations with the next U.S. president due to be elected in November.We'll see how actively they use anti-Russian rhetoric. This is a sign of the weakness of the candidates, he said. Whatever the result of the elections we will speak and maintain relations with the next U.S. president.Putin again warned Poland and the Czech Republic against hosting the U.S. missile shield -- a contrast to a slight softening of position by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Warsaw that Moscow remained open to talks.Washington says the shield is aimed against what it calls rogue states like Iran, but Moscow fears it will pose a direct threat to Russia's security.Our targeting of these countries will happen as soon as these missiles are brought, said Putin.Please do not instigate an arms race in Europe. It is not needed. What should we do? Sit pretty while they deploy missiles? He said if Ukraine, a neighbouring former Soviet republic, joined NATO, it would be very detrimental.
Putin showed little concern about sanctions, which had been raised by some members of the European Union, including the Baltic States.The bloc was unable to reach a consensus on whether and how best to punish its largest energy supplier, but Washington is holding out the prospect of sanctions.In the global context it is better to support one another, he said. Risks are reciprocal. We are taking risks when we invest dozens of billions of dollars in the U.S. economy.Putin reserved some of his strongest criticism for Britain, which he accused of harbouring people wanted on criminal charges in Russia and allowing them to operate campaigns against the Russian government from their London base.Okay you can keep them. You have a legal system that protects them. But why do they use Britain as a launch-pad to fight Russia? Is this a normal relationship between partners?
Russia lines up with Syria, Iran against America and the West
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 12, 2008, 10:06 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian Navy prepares for permanent Mediterranean base in Syria
Friday, Sept. 12, Moscow announced renovation had begun on the Syrian port of Tartus to provide Russia with its first long-term naval presence on the Mediterranean. As the two naval chiefs talked in Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki in the Russian capital for talks on the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant by the end of the year.DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the commander of the Russian, Navy Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, and his Syrian counterpart, Gen. Taleb al Barri, spent all Friday working on details for the outfitting of Tartus port to accommodated increased Russian fleet Mediterranean missions not far from Israel’s shores. Mottaki’s unannounced visit to the Russian capital focused on the timetable for Atomstroiexport to finish work on the Bushehr reactor after five years of delays.Moscow has sharpened its tone in comments aimed at the West and the US in particular. President Dmitiry Medvedev said Friday that Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia was the equivalent for Russia of the 9/11 attack on America. Even if Georgia had become a NATO member, he said, he would not have thought twice about ordering the Russian army to go in. Prime minister Vladimir Putin, after putting Moscow’s case on Georgia to the Western media, warned the US that stationing a missile defense shield near Russia’s borders would start an arms race in Europe. There was no basis for a new Cold War, he said.
DEBKAfile’s sources interpret Friday’s events as indicating that Russia’s leaders have determined not to declare a Cold War in Europe but to open a second anti-Western front in the Middle East. In the second half of August, DEBKA file and DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s analysts discussed this re-orientation at length (Russia’s Second Front: Iran-Syria), disclosing that Moscow had decided to use its ties with Tehran and Damascus to challenge the United State and the West in the Middle East as well as the Caucasian, the Black Sea and the Caspian region.The traumatic impact of the Georgia conflict on Russia’s rulers came through in the remarks of an unnamed Kremlin official quoted by the Russian media this week: Everything has changed since the war with Georgia. What seemed impossible before is more than possible now when our friends become our enemies and our enemies our friends. Russia will respond. A number of possibilities are being considered, including hitting America where it hurts most – Iran and Syria.In aligning with Tehran and Damascus, Moscow stands not only against America but also Israel. This volatile world region is undergoing cataclysmic changes at a time when Israel is virtually without a fully competent prime minister and key political and military decision-making by the rest of the government is at a standstill.
Russia overhauls naval base in Syria Saturday, September 13, 2008
By Sam F. Ghattas, The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Russia yesterday said it was renovating a Syrian port for use by the Russian fleet, signaling an effort to establish a firmer foothold in the Mediterranean at a time of tensions with the United States over Georgia.Syria was Moscow's strongest Mideast ally during the Cold War. The alliance largely waned after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, though Russia has continued some weapons sales to Damascus. But Syrian President Bashar Assad has increasingly reached out to Russia recently, including seeking weapons and offering broader military cooperation.
Yesterday's announcement was the first tangible sign of any new cooperation. The Itar-Tass news agency reported a vessel from Russia's Black Sea fleet had begun restoring facilities at Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus for use by the Russian military. The two countries' naval chiefs also met in Moscow yesterday and discussed further strengthening mutual trust and mutual understanding between the two states' fleets, a Russian naval official, Igor Dygalo, told Itar-Tass.The Tartus renovations could signal an intention to have a long-term Russian naval presence there. In late August, Russia's ambassador to Damascus, Igor Belyev, said Russian ships already patrol the area, but a new development is that the Russian presence in the Mediterranean will become permanent.The Russian navy's closest access to the Mediterranean is through the Black Sea, where its has a strong naval presence. But that area has seen an increase in NATO naval activity after the Georgia conflict, prompting Russian complaints that NATO has exceeded ship numbers permitted there under international accords.The move comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Russia after last month's brief war in Georgia. The rift has raised concerns that Moscow might start reaching out to U.S. rivals around the world to beef up military alliances.Russian bombers this month arrived in Venezuela for training exercises, and the two countries are to hold joint exercises in the Caribbean in November.In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday said Russia would build economic and military ties with nations willing to do so, even if the West dislikes some of these alliances. There are many other interesting places in the world with governments maintaining friendly ties with us, he said. And if they like developing economic, humanitarian and military ties with us, we won't say no.Syrian media made no mention of the Russian announcement yesterday, and Syrian officials could not be reached for comment. In Syria, military activities are rarely discussed or divulged by authorities, who keep a tight lid on state security matters.
Russian military experts said Tartus would be a considerable boost for operations in the Mediterranean. It is much more advantageous to have such a facility than to return ships patrolling the Mediterranean to their home bases, former Black Sea Fleet commander Adm. Eduard Baltin said, according to the Russian Interfax-AVN service.
