The media is fixated on the GOP primaries and the American presidential campaign and giving scant attention to Russia’s upcoming election on Sunday, March 4th. But the Russian vote may prove to be a bigger deal than our own. Here’s why:

 Though protest movements against Vladimir Putin throughout Russia in recent months suggest a growing number of Russians finally see the former KGB chief for what he is—a thug and a bully—polls still suggest he is expected to win handily. If those polls are right and Putin does, in fact, reemerge as president then let’s be clear: we will be watching a new Czar rising, a tyrant who will rule with an iron hand over his own people, and look to project Russian power elsewhere in the world. Putin has, for example, drawn sharp criticism from Mikhail Gorbachev who says Putin’s political party is a bad copy of the Soviet Communist Party: anti-freedom and corrupt.

 Putin says he will immediately begin to rebuild Russia’s tattered military, investing $772 billion to that end—we should take him at his word and consider seriously why he is so determined to have a stronger military in a world in which Russia faces no real or serious threats to its own national security.

 Putin is increasingly anti-American and has said Americans are “living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar.”

 Putin, at heart, is a fierce Russian nationalist, which means he is an imperialist, which means he is devastated by the weakness of “Mother Russia” and mourns how it has been shrinking over the past few decades. In 2005, Putin said,

 “The collapse of the Soviet Union was the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. For the Russian people, it became a real drama. Tens of millions of our citizens and countrymen found themselves outside Russian territory. The epidemic of disintegration also spread to Russia itself.”

 For most of us, the greatest geopolitical catastrophes of the 20th century include World Wars I and II, the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide in Sudan and Rwanda, and the death of tens of millions under Stalin’s reign of terror, to name a few. Most sane people think the end of the “Evil Empire” was a good thing; Putin isn’t one of them.

 More than anything, Putin wants to regain and reassert the glory and the power of Mother Russia. That means he wants to expand her territory and enlarge her borders. The problem Putin faces is that Russia can’t significantly expand westward because NATO is moving eastward (though Putin has spoken openly of creating a merger with the neighboring country of Belarus, which is also currently run by a tyrannical dictator). Russia can’t expand eastward because China is now a rich and strong and nuclear-armed power. Russia can’t seriously expand northward because there’s not much to gain from the North Pole. Thus, we should expect him to project power southward. Since 2000, he has, in fact, been building strategic alliances with Islamic countries throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He has sold billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Iran, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Sudan and other Islamic powers. He’s been particularly vocal in defending the tyrants in Tehran and Damascus. Expect Moscow’s focus on the Islamic world to increase dramatically (Note: Putin has spoken openly of creating a Eurasian economic union in Central Asia, similar politically and economically to the European Union but likely dominated by the Kremlin).

 Would Putin actually use military force to defend Iran and Syria, and challenge their enemies? We shall see, but I believe the issue is not one of will, but of timing. I think Putin is itching to find a place to showcase Russian military power, but he first has to make certain his forces are truly ready again for battle.

 It should also be noted that the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel wrote in chapters 38 and 39 of his biblical text that in the “last days” there will be a political and military alliance between Russia (Magog), Iran (Persia) and a coalition of other “epicenter” countries that will move against an increasingly secure and prosperous State of Israel for an apocalyptic battle driven by greed and a lust for power. Ultimately, the prophecy tells us that Russia and her allies will be decimated in this war and face divine judgment, while Israel will be saved. It remains too early to say that we have arrived at such a fulfillment of the “War of Gog and Magog” prophecies, but the geopolitical, economic and spiritual trendlines suggest we are steadily moving in that direction.

 For all these reasons, Sunday’s presidential elections in Russia may prove a bigger deal over the short-run—and over the long-run—than our own. The trendlines are intriguing, to say the least. Russia will pose an increasing threat to American and Western values and interests, and in time will pose an even greater threat to Israel and to the security and stability of the Middle East. The media may not be paying attention, but we should.

We need to be aware of what could be the trigger event for Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39 the War of Gog -Magog and that is a little known prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 17. It tells of the future destruction of Damascus as a city. We need to be watching the events in Syria closely as Iran is sending troops into Syria and also warships into it’s ports. Syria is threatening war with Israel. Keep watching and be ready for you do not no when the Bridegroom comes!

Is Damascus, Syria Destined to be Destroyed Soon?by Perry Stone

Since the early 1990s, I have been honored to participate in the God’s News Behind the News Prophetic Conference, joining with some of the most informed prophetic writers, speakers and television hosts in the world. For many years now, the speakers at the conference have participated in a two to four hour open panel discussion, answering questions and making comments revolving around the times and seasons and what they see in the distant future for the church, for America and the world.

                Especially since 9-11, there has been a renewed interest in an ancient prediction recorded by Isaiah the prophet concerning Damascus. The prophecy reads, “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isa. 17:1). As often pointed out, there is no time in previous history when Damascus was completely destroyed and became a pile and a heap. The area was always an oasis and was a noted spot for nomadic tribes traveling with roving bands with their flocks. During one invasion, the trees were cut down in the region, however the city of Damascus is noted as one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on earth.

                Why would this city be destroyed in the near future? First, there is a major uprising occurring within Syria as the common people in several cities are demanding the removal of their dictator-type leader, Assad. The removal of the Egyptian and Libyan leaders was swift; however Assad refuses to budge and not only has a loyal army but has recently enjoyed the support of 15,000 high level Iranian soldiers. The defiant leader has also killed over 8,000 of his people and has an arsenal of biological and chemical weapons at his disposal. It is believed that the components and various types of chemical agents that belonged to Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, are stored in two underground military facilities in Syria and Israel is certain that Assad has chemical tipped warheads on certain missiles.

                It was recently reported that Assad had over 21 missiles pointed toward Turkey and several towards Israel, and that six of these missiles were tipped with deadly chemical agents. Turkey has already warned Syria that if these missiles are sent into Turkey or near the border areas, that Turkey will initiate an all out war with Assad and his regime. Israel has also warned Assad that any missile of any type sent into Israel will be met with swift retaliation. Assad’s military commanders have also been informed that if any missile enters Israel tipped with deadly nerve agents or biological and chemical agents of death, Damascus will be destroyed!

                It has been noted that in the prophecy of the war of Gog of Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 38, Syria is missing from the list of nations that form an (Islamic) coalition and move like a violent storm cloud over the mountains of Israel. It just may be that the destruction of Damascus – a city that houses an estimated 10,000 terrorists and is friends with the radical government in Iran – will serve as the trigger for the predicted Islamic coalition to make its move upon Israel in the future, as retaliation for a war that occurred prior to the war of Ezekiel 38.  Stay tuned. Things are really about to get interesting!

Op-ed: Israel will bomb Iran’s nuke sites earlier than predicted, with Western and Arab support
Sever Plocker
A war is coming. We need a miracle to avert it. Both sides have been preparing for it for years. The two states are earmarking resources, holding drills, utilizing intelligence means, creating uncertainty, and publicly presenting positions that offer no way back. Israel and Iran are currently facing a growing cold war situation and are on an almost certain collision course. A war is coming.

 In only few cases did a cold war not turn into an all-out war. One of the prominent cases is that of the Soviet regime’s collapse in the 1980s and its defeat in the Cold War against the West. The United States won without firing a single shot. It used its economic-technological supremacy as a strategic threat, while Western ideology won hearts on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The threat of nuclear war passed after the regime in Moscow changed.

 The Israeli-Iranian case is much more volatile and it’s hard to foresee a happy ending. Israel is willing to do (and will do) anything to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. No Israeli prime minister and no IDF chief of staff will assume the responsibility for a nuclear Tehran.

 Israel can live with the current Iran: A state capable of producing a nuclear bomb, while being two to three years away from arming the first missile with the first nuclear warhead. However, Israel will not allow Iran to cross the military nuclear threshold. There is no way in the world Israel would compromise on that.

 “Cannot live with” and “cannot accept” are diplomatic phrases marking a declaration of war. And it will be a predictable war; at this point, commentators and gamblers are giving it 90% chance of materializing. Hence, preparations for it must be accurate. In practice, they have been completed already. Unless Iran caves in, an Israeli operation against Tehran’s nuclear sites is inevitable.

 Iranian irrationality

Can the Iranian leadership cave in? Yes, it can. The regime in Tehran is not being asked to curb the entire nuclear project, but rather, to pursue what Iran itself said was its legitimate aspiration: Nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This means an immediate halt to the secret military program, willingness to fully open nuclear sites to foreign inspectors, and agreeing to transfer the enriched uranium overseas.

 Such agreement won’t undermine the regime’s popularity: It will be received enthusiastically in Tehran’s markets, especially as the economic sanctions will be lifted. Nuclear arms are perceived as an imperialist gadget in Iran. The country can do without them.

 The lack of symmetry may prompt an optimistic conclusion: Under growing pressure of sanctions, which are now biting and comprehensive, the Iranian regime would indeed cave in. It would forego the military nuclear option for at least the next 12 years and make do with electrical plants. The regime’s popularity won’t be hurt because of this; the opposite is true.

 Yet these are rational considerations, while Iran’s leadership displays irrationality. Its secret desire for nuclear weapons is irrational, its hostility to Israel is irrational, the way its economy is being managed is irrational, and its support for Syrian President Assad serves as further proof of its irrationality.  

Hence, there is no telling how the ayatollah regime would respond to growing international pressure. Iran’s leaders are playing a cat-and-mouse game with the US and with Israel. The Iranians think they’re the cat, but they’re in fact the mouse.

Hence, we shall almost certainly see a war here. Israel will bomb Iran’s nuclear military sites earlier than predicted, while enjoying Western and Arab assistance and backing. The sirens will wake us up early in the morning. The Home Front Command’s spokesman will instruct us to enter our sealed rooms without panicking. And the rest will be history.

We need to remember what the end goal for Iran really is. They are looking to start the chaos that will breing about the 12th Imam or Mahdi. They believe they are in contact with him right now. This is why this issue with Iran will not go away. Iran is a major part of Ezekiel chapters 38-39 as part of the coalition that comes against Israel. The article below is key to understanding the Iranian mindset and where we may be headed.

The Prophet Isaiah, in describing the condition of the world leading up to the Second Coming of Christ, says that “the curse [alah] has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate” (Isa 24:6). Yes, the word for “curse” is the Hebrew word “alah” …

By Reza Kahlili – “The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people.

The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide.

Calling Israel a danger to Islam, the conservative website Alef, with ties to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opportunity must not be lost to remove ‘this corrupting material. It is a ‘jurisprudential justification’ to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and in that, the Islamic government of Iran must take the helm.’

The article, written by Alireza Forghani, a conservative analyst and a strategy specialist in Khamenei’s camp, now is being run on most state-owned conservative sites, including the Revolutionary Guards’ Fars News Agency, showing that the regime endorses this doctrine.

Because Israel is going to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran is justified in launching a pre-emptive, cataclysmic attack against the Jewish state, the doctrine argues.

On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the ‘cancerous tumor’ of Israel. Though his statement was seen by some in the West as fluff, there is substance behind it.

Iran’s Defense Ministry announced this weekend that it test-fired an advanced two-stage, solid-fuel ballistic missile and boasted about successfully putting a new satellite into orbit, reminding the West that its engineers have mastered the technology for intercontinental ballistic missiles even as the Islamic state pushes its nuclear weapons program.

The commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Seyyed Mehdi Farahi, stated in August that the Safir missile, which is capable of transporting a satellite into space, can easily be launched parallel to the earth’s orbit, which will transform it into an intercontinental ballistic missile. Western analysts didn’t believe this would happen until 2015. Historically, orbiting a satellite is the criterion for crediting a nation with ICBM capability.

Forghani details the Islamic duty of jihad as laid out in the Quran for the sake of Allah and states that ‘primary jihad,’ according to some Shiite jurists, can only occur when the Hidden Imam, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, returns. Shiites believe Mahdi’s return will usher in Armageddon.

In the absence of the hidden Imam, Forghani says, ‘defensive jihad’ could certainly take place when Islam is threatened, and Muslims must defend Islam and kill their enemies. To justify such action, Alef quotes the Shiites’ first imam, Ali, who stated ‘Waging war against the enemies with whom war is inevitable and there is a strong possibility that in near future they will attack Muslims is a must and the duty of Muslims.’

The article then quotes the Quran (Albaghara 2:191-193): ‘And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers] … and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.’

It is the duty for all Muslims to participate in this defensive jihad, Forghani says. A fatwa by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini made it clear that any political domination by infidels over Muslims authorizes Muslims to defend Islam by all means. Iran now has the ICBM means to deliver destruction on Israel and soon will have nuclear warheads for those missiles.

In order to attack Iran, the article says, Israel needs the approval and assistance of America, and under the current passive climate in the United States, the opportunity must not be lost to wipe out Israel before it attacks Iran.

Under this pre-emptive defensive doctrine, several Ground Zero points of Israel must be destroyed and its people annihilated. Forghani cites the last census by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics that shows Israel has a population of 7.5 million citizens of which a majority of 5.7 million are Jewish. Then it breaks down the districts with the highest concentration of Jewish people, indicating that three cities, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, contain over 60 percent of the Jewish population that Iran could target with its Shahab 3 ballistic missiles, killing all its inhabitants.

Forghani suggests that Iran’s Sejil missile, which is a two-stage rocket with a trajectory and speed that make it impossible to intercept, should target such Israeli facilities as: the Rafael nuclear plant, which is the main nuclear engineering center of Israel; the Eilun nuclear plant; another Israeli reactor in Nebrin; and the Dimona reactor in the nuclear research center in Neqeb, the most critical nuclear reactor in Israel because it produces 90 percent enriched uranium for Israel’s nuclear weapons.

Other targets, according to the article, include airports and air force bases such as the Sedot Mikha Air Base, which contains Jericho ballistic missiles and is located southwest of the Tel Nof Air Base, where aircraft equipped with nuclear weapons are based. Secondary targets include power plants, sewage treatment facilities, energy resources, and transportation and communication infrastructures.

Finally, Forghani says, Shahab 3 and Ghadr missiles can target urban settlements until the Israelis are wiped out.

Forghani claims that Israel could be destroyed in less than nine minutes and that Khamenei, as utmost authority, the Velayete Faghih (Islamic Jurist), also believes that Israel and America not only must be defeated but annihilated.

The radicals ruling Iran today not only posses over 1,000 ballistic missiles but are on the verge of ICBM delivery and have sufficient enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs even as they continue to highly enrich uranium despite four sets of U.N. sanctions.

The Iranian secret documentary ‘The Coming Is Upon Us’ clearly indicates that these radicals believe the destruction of Israel will trigger the coming of the last Islamic Messiah and that even Jesus Christ, who will convert to Islam, will act as Mahdi’s deputy, praying to Allah as he stands behind the 12th Imam.”