Tag: putin

Putin says ‘sorry cant help’ to Israel and invites Iran to Israels border.

On By AdminIn Israel, Russia1 Comment

For so long, Israel’s Prime Minister has warned Iran about crossing the ‘red line’ – an ultimatum which has characterised most of Netanyahu’s tenure as PM.

His warnings were issued to Iran with a tone of profound confidence and proclaimed at the highest levels of government. His speeches were arresting and the news organisations around the world cashed in on the sensationalism of it all. Many would remember his vivid speech to the world at the United Nations where despite irreconcilable world views, world leaders gather to epitomise unity and peace on earth while on the other hand, Netanyahu presented an explosive chart showing the sketch of a bomb with – you guessed it – a red line.

However, in the last few years, the red-line rhetoric fizzled out when under President Obama, the US put Netanyahu into a headlock and used the other arm to give Iran a load of cash as part of the Iran deal. While to the North, Russia’s grand move into Syria left an irritating little scribble on Netanyahu’s red-line.

As times have changed, the reality is that a bigger problem looms on the horizon: another red-line – this time, not Netanhayu’s.

Until now, Netanyahu’s military exploits in Southern Syria have been left unchecked by the Russian occupying force – most likely against the will of the regional Russian military commanders.

Netanyahu has bombed Syrian tanks that have strayed towards the Israeli border and even bombed Hezbollah targets close to Damascus while Putin seems to have had more interest in Sochi’s weather. Yet, only a few days ago, a senior Israeli official outright threatened to bomb Damascus – still, no response from Putin.

However Netanyahu’s concern for Iranian occupation in Syria reached a tenor pitch when he left Israel and took his red-line narrative to Putin who was patiently suffering harsh conditions in his Sochi resort. The meeting with Putin started well – at least for Netanyahu, who drizzled at length about his concerns of Iranian occupation in Syria; “Iran continues to threaten Israel’s existence, and it funds terror organizations and missile plans,” Netanyahu told Putin. “Wherever ISIS disappeared, Iran has taken over. Iran is already on its way to taking control of Iraq, Yemen, and in many ways has already taken over Lebanon.”

But when it came time for Putin’s turn to talk, the conversation did not go so well; “Iran is Russia’s strategic ally in the Middle East,” Putin told Netanyahu.

Witnesses present during part of the nearly two-and-a-half hour meeting say that following the Prime Minister’s entreaties to the Russian leader, Putin sighed, telling Netanyahu his government would be unable to assist; “Unfortunately, we can not help you here.”.

This is Netanyahu’s fourth trip to Russia in the last 16 months, and his sixth meeting with Putin during this same time frame. Netanyau said that the reason he wanted to hold talks now with the Russian leader was because the situation inside Syria has changed very rapidly over the last few weeks.

Less than a week after Netanyahu warned Putin, Putin put Netanyau’s warning to the test. DEBKAfile reports exclusively from its military and intelligence sources that on Saturday and Sunday Aug 26 – 27, Russian forces installed Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hizballah officers at a joint “administration center” they had set up in the town of Quneitra – 5 Kms from the Israeli border.

Surveillance spotters saw them moving 2 km from the Golan border, the closest hostile Iranian and Hizballah troops have ever come to Israel’s border with Syria.

The reality is that while Israeli enemies gather on its border with Putin’s explicit support, Netanyahu’s tattered red line could well soon be replaced with Putin’s very literal and meaningful red line – Israel could lose its authority overnight to strike freely in Southern Syria.

What then of Israel’s red line?

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Ezekiel 38 prophecies that Russia and Iran will invade Israel in the latter days around the time of the coming of Jesus Christ. This has been a clear understanding of Christadelphians for 150 years and only now looking to becoming a reality in the years ahead. Follow our Facebook page for daily updates:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/WatchYeTherefore

Russia running out of cash… while military spending accelarates

On By AdminIn RussiaLeave a comment

Over the past few years in Russia, two trends have started to converge: Russian funds are drying up very quickly while on the other hand, military spending is accelerating.

After almost two years in recession, the country’s rainy day fund has shrunk to just $32.2 billion this month, according to the Russian Finance Ministry. It was $91.7 billion in September 2014, just before oil prices started to collapse.

rainy day fund drying up

And it’s getting worse. Analysts expect the fund will shrink to just $15 billion by the end of this year and dry up completely soon after that.

“At the current rate, the fund would be depleted in mid-2017, perhaps a few months later,” Ondrej Schneider, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, wrote in a note this week.

As if to ignore the alarming numbers, the second trend under Putin has become evident; defence spending has been steadily rising since 2011.

spending in Russia on military

Ofcourse, there is only so much defence investment that can be sustained when the country is attempting to steer away from an impending debt crisis, and this observation continues to stoke the anxiety of many a financial observer.

By itself, this national financial predicament is nothing new to Russia, however under the helm of Putin – who has a history of nationalistic & militant behaviour – it suddenly becomes a serious risk to global peace. Here is why;

  1. Putin’s unsustainable polls. 
    Putin pays considerable attention to his popularity as indicated by the polls. The biggest spike in popularity occurred when Putin invaded Crimea, which he considers to be Russian heartland, along with the rest of Ukraine. As western analysts point out, popularity by conquest is not a sustainable approach to politics. As Russian funds deplete and military spending increases, Putin might be pressured to invade Ukraine or Turkey to maintain political popularity.20160206_woc909
  2. Putin’s power is being internally challenged. 
    Over the last 12 months, analysts like STRATFOR and the Brookings institution have noticed that a dangerous feud is occurring amongst the Russian political elite. Putin is beginning to loose control as some of his closest allies are turning against him. For this reason, Putin has had to establish his own “praetorian guard“, and he is now looking to revive the former KGB as the existing FSB is increasingly challenging his interests. Read more here
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  3. Putin’s ideologies.
    Since 2012, Putin has been overtly reviving and supporting a number of Roman oriented philosophies and ideologies. They include such things as taking Constantinople, and giving it to “Christendom”. The unification of Catholicism with Orthodoxy, to be led by the Pope as the religious leader, and a Russian Emporer based in Constantinople on the Byzantine model. These ideologies suggest that Russian lands extend as far as Turkey, Egypt and even Israel, infact, some would suggest that Israel is not deserving of its own nation state.  These ideologies are prevalent, particularly in the far right of Russian politics amongst the nationalists, and generally, the Russian people and the clergy are both looking for the realisation of these ideologies. Both Putin’s popularity and power is increasingly dependant on the realisation of these ideologies in Russia.

To students of prophecy, these things are not so surprising, and now that Israel is back in their own land (and has been since 1948) we expect Russia to attempt conquest in the Middle East to secure for itself a spoil.

On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land. 

Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’

Ezekiel 38: 10-13

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Russia’s so called withdrawal from Syria

On By Geoff HenstockIn RussiaLeave a comment

In 2015 Russia surprised the world when it committed Russian troops and military hardware to defend the Assad regime in Syria.  With Russian assistance the Assad government was able to make substantial gains against the various rebel forces who had been threatening it.

Russia caught the world off guard again in March 2016 when it announced that its forces would be withdrawing from Syria.  Exactly what “withdrawal” means is hard to define.  It is true that many of the 4,000 ground forces that had been deployed have returned to Russia, but it also is clear that the Russians will continue to operate the airbase it built last year near Latakia as well as the naval base it has long held at Tartus (having inherited it from the former USSR).

Why did Vladimir Putin decide to withdraw (even if only partially) from Syria?  Presumably because he had achieved his objectives from his intervention.  And what has Russia achieved?  Firstly, it has saved the Assad regime, at least for the time being.  Secondly and more importantly, Putin has restored Russia’s superpower status by demonstrating its resolve to extend its geo-political reach into the Middle East.  Thirdly, Russia has frustrated the ambitions of Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to be the patrons of a reconstructed Syria.

It is clear that the Assad regime cannot hope to retain its hold on Syria in the long term; Russia’s involvement has ensured it will play a key role in determining who fills the vacuum when, finally, there is regime change in Syria.

While the United States and her allies vacillated with regard to Syria, Russia took decisive action which changed the course of the Syrian civil war.  In an article by Amotz Asa-el entitled “Russia’s Retreat? in the April 2016 issue of the Australia/Israel Review he made this observation which resonates with the scenario outlined in Ezekiel 38:

The region-wide impression that Moscow initiates and Washington responds, that the Kremlin impacts while the White House talks, and that Russia does not abandon allies the way Obama abandoned Egypt’s Hosni Mubarek, will constitute a major diplomatic challenge for the next American President.

While Israel has benefited from neutralisation of the Syrian army as a threat there is no guarantee that the forces which replace the Assad regime in Syria will be any more well disposed towards Israel than the current regime.  Israel has watched events in Syria closely to ensure that they do not impact adversely upon the Jewish state, and intervened at times when necessary to protect her interests.  She has also benefited from the Syrian civil war in terms of her regional position, in particular those nations which Ezekiel 38 indicates will be allied with Tarshish at the time of the end.  Amotz Asa-el made the point that, as a result of the Syrian civil war:

Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states appreciate Israel as a regional stabiliser, and as an ally in their confrontation with Islamism.  The war also made Ankara reconsider its anti-Israel U-turn last decade …

Putin’s involvement in Syria has, however, impressed upon Israel the fact that its relationship with Russia is now more critical and sensitive than it has ever been.  In that context it is interesting to note Israel’s reticence to criticise Russia’s intrusions into the Ukraine.  It also is interesting to see Russia’s continued interest in seeking to help Israel in its exploitation of the major oil and gas fields recently identified off the Israeli coast.  Perhaps most remarkably, Israel now regards Russia as potential peace broker with her enemies in the Middle East.

A mere 48 hours after Russia announced its “withdrawal” from Syria, President Rivlin of Israel made an unscheduled visit to Moscow, postponing a previously arranged visit to Australia to facilitate the trip.  At that meeting Russia agreed to two requests from Israel:

  1. That Russia continue its co-ordination with the Israeli Defence Force with regard to operations in Syria; and
  2. That Russia work to restore the UN peace keeping force that, prior to the Syrian civil war, helped to maintain stability on the Syrian-Israeli border.

Amotz Asa-el concluded his article with this paragraph:

The role of peacemaker which Putin is now in a position to play is hardly what his international image currently evokes.  Nonetheless, the world opinion that does not expect him to pacify enemies is the same world opinion that did not expect him to intervene in Syria last year, or to retreat from it now.

Russia has demonstrated its capacity and willingness to intervene in long-running internecine conflict in the Middle East.  It is not hard to imagine how Russia’s intervention in Syria could be repeated in the near future a little further south.  When she does, we might expect from the terms of Ezekie 38 that the powers opposed to Russia will be as flat-footed and muted in their response as they have been in the case of Syria.

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Putin agrees to take the Golan from Israel, and give it to Syria

On By AdminIn Israel, Russia4 Comments

Last year we wrote a post explaining what could cause Russia to invade Israel.

At the time, Israel’s Prime Minister had flown to Washington, and was making a desperate bid to get Obama’s support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Only a few weeks earlier a discovery had been made that would serve to increase tensions on the question of sovereignty over the Golan – huge oil deposits were found on the Golan Heights, and verified by an Israeli company.

Yet, weeks later, Benjamin Netanyahu returned to Israel having failed to secure Obamas support.

It wasnt long before the United Nations – including Russia – condemned Israels “occupation” of the Golan Heights, and around the same time, Syria asked Russia to develop their oil resources.

Then, over the course of the next 6 months, the Israeli leadership became very concerned about Russian activity near the Golan.

Click here for the context of the story thus far.

Now, Debkafile reports the following:

“Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow on Thursday, April 21 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to launch the most important battle of his political career, and one of Israel’s most decisive contests of the last 10 years: the battle over the future of the Golan Heights.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources and its sources in Moscow report exclusively that Israel’s top political leaders and military commanders were stunned and shocked last weekend when they found out that US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to support the return of the Golan to Syria. The two presidents gave their top diplomats, Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the green light to include such a clause in a proposal being drafted at the Geneva conference on ending the Syrian civil war.

Israel captured the Golan from the Syrian army 49 years ago, during the Six-Day War in 1967 after the Syrian army invaded Israel.

In 1981, during the tenure of then Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Israel passed a law defining the Golan as a territory under Israeli sovereignty. However, it did not state that the area belongs to Israel.

While Israel was preparing for a diplomatic battle over the future of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Obama and Putin decided to deal a diplomatic blow to Israel and Netanyahu’s government on an unexpected issue, the Golan.

It is part of an endeavor by the two powers to use their diplomatic and military cooperation regarding Syria to impose agreements on neighboring countries, such as Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

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For example, Washington and Moscow are trying to impose an agreement regarding the granting of independence to Syrian Kurds, despite Ankara’s adamant opposition. The two presidents are also pressuring Riyadh and Amman to accept the continuation of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule, at least for the immediate future.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that just like the other diplomatic or military steps initiated by Obama and Putin in Syria, such as those for Assad’s eventual removal from power, the two powers see a resolution of the Golan issue as a gradual process that may take a long time, perhaps even years. But as far as they are concerned, Israel will have to withdraw from the Golan at the end of that process.

It should be noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not traveling to Washington to discuss the Golan issue with Obama. The frequent trips by the prime minister, senior officials and top IDF brass to Moscow in recent months show where the winds are blowing in the Middle East.

However, Moscow is not Washington, and Israel has no lobby in the Russian capital defending its interests.

It should be made very clear that the frequent trips by senior Israeli officials to Moscow have not created an Israeli policy that can influence Putin or other senior members of the Russian leadership. Putin has made occasional concessions to Israel on matters of minimal strategic importance, but on diplomatic and military steps regarding Syria and Iran he has shown little consideration of Jerusalem’s stance.

It should also be noted that there has been no basis for the enthusiasm over the Russian intervention in Syria shown by Netanyahu, Israeli ministers and senior IDF officers.

All of the calls by a number of Russia experts, mainly those of DEBKAfile, for extreme caution in ties with Putin have fallen on deaf ears among the political leadership in Jerusalem and the IDF command in Tel Aviv.

Amid these developments, three regional actors are very pleased by Washington and Moscow’s agreement to demand Israeli withdrawal from the Golan: Syrian President Assad, the Iranian leadership in Tehran and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Now, they do not need to risk a military confrontation with Israel over the Golan because Obama and Putin have essentially agreed to do the dirty work for them.

Putin: Russia may deploy forces back to Syria ‘in mere hours’ if necessary

On By AdminIn RussiaLeave a comment

“Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm”
– Ezekiel 38

“The king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind”
– Daniel 11

While Russia is withdrawing most of its forces from Syria, they could be deployed there again in a matter of hours if such a need arises, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated. He added that the Russian bases in Syria are well-protected.

Putin was summarizing the results of the Russian five-month-long anti-terror campaign in Syria at a solemn ceremony in Moscow.

The Russian president said Moscow was open in saying from the start of the operation that it was a limited campaign with a set deadline.

“We have created the conditions for a peace process. We have established constructive and positive cooperation with the US and a number of other countries, with respectable opposition forces in Syria, which really want to end the war and find a political solution of the conflict. You, Russian soldiers, paved that way,” Putin told the Russian military personnel who took part in the campaign.

He added that the Syrian Army, with Russia’s support, can now hold out against terrorist forces and take back terrorist-controlled territories.

The president acknowledged that the pull-out may be reversed, if necessary, even though Moscow would not want to see such a development. He also stressed that advanced air defense systems deployed in Syria for protection of Russian military sites remain there and would attack any hostile forces threatening them.

“We stick to the fundamental international laws and believe that nobody has the right to violate Syria’s sovereign airspace. We have created an effective mechanism for prevention of air incidents with the Americans, but all our partners have been warned that we would use our air defense systems against any target that we considered a threat to the Russian troops,” Putin said

Published by RT.com