blog.Tribulationperiod.com

Reuben, Reuben, I’ve been thinking, what a Queer World this would be, IF…….!

November 22, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Psalm 12 gives a good description of the state of the world today, due in part to the unreal diplomatic practices that are being carried out by the United Nations in Unrealistic Surrealistic Misguided National Interest.

Psalm 12:1-8 – Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. [2] They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. [3] The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: [4] Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? [5] For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from

him that puffeth at him. [6] The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. [7] Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. [8] The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

The last name of the man, who wrote this article from the Jerusalem Post, reminded me of a song as I read his offering. The President of Iran has suggested several different homelands in recent months where he would like all Jews to be transported. His most desired choice would likely be Hell. So, by substituting the word “Jews” for “men” in the well-known song by Harry Birch, we could probably guess his second choice for their permanent abode.

“Reuben, Reuben, I’ve been thinking,

What a queer world this would be,

If the men (Jews) were all transported,

Far beyond the Northern Sea!”

I love the Jews – Were they transported far beyond the Northern Sea, they would still be God’s chosen people. I have great admiration and respect for them, but there are definite trends across this planet which show a growing number of its population wishes the Jews would simply “go away,” believing the Middle East problems would

be laid to rest.

I know this would not be the case, but I also know this sort of unrealistic “thinking” will continue to grow.

Barry Rubin is one of the true “thinking” writers in the Middle East I read after, and the extracts from his article, which follows, show his thoughtful insight into the realism of national interest in international politics and principles.

I have a good ministerial friend who, like me, classifies himself as a realist in national interest driven goals of European politics, which makes us about as popular as “The Outcasts of Poker Flats.” My years in the USAF Branch of the National Security Agency turned me into a nation interest realist.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

The Region: The Hijacking of Political ‘Realism’

Barry Rubin, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 19, 2006

The time has come to speak of what “Realism” means in international affairs. Historically, realism has been the core of diplomatic practice. This concept says that countries rationally formulate their national interests and pursue them.

These interests are defined in material, not sentimental, terms – obtaining or holding security, territory and economic assets. As an explicit doctrine this arose in Europe.

America has always had some trouble accepting this approach. It often seeks to inject ideas and values into its foreign policy.

In general, Realism needs some small, reasonable adjustments. Let me mention three:

(1) Ideology does matter.

The USSR and Russia have parallel interests, but how they define and pursue them is related to the difference between seeking world hegemony for Communism and just trying to keep a country afloat. Both the Shah’s and Islamist Iran tried to become the leading power in the Persian Gulf, but the way they went about it is rather significantly not the same.

(2) The interests of the regime might not be that of the nation. Syria as a country would benefit from peace with Israel and good relations with the West. But these things would mean death for the current regime. Therefore, these are not its policies.

(3) Ideas can be an important part of a Realist policy. For example, the US knew that promoting democracy and prosperity in Europe was essential to avoiding Communist takeovers.

During the Cold War it was the liberal position – for example that of John Kennedy – that America should promote reform and democracy in, say, Latin America, to achieve victory over the pro-Soviet forces.

But if Islam was “hijacked” by radical Islamists, Realism is now being hijacked by those who are far from being realistic.

REALISM does not mean that all countries think alike even if they act structurally in similar ways. The key is to understand how a given regime defines the national interest. This requires real knowledge of various countries, not just conversations with leaders or reading their newspaper interviews with Western correspondents.

Here’s how Lewis Carroll put it in Alice in Wonderland, one of the best guides for understanding Western policy toward the Middle East: “Would you tell me,” asked Alice, “why you are painting those roses?” The playing card painter replied, “You see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off.”

A Realist is not someone who repaints Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas from white to red, but rather one whose starting point is to recognize their true color.

To be so deluded as to believe one can profitably “engage” these forces is not Realism, but Surrealism.

Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler at Munich with the gift of Czechoslovakia not because he was a bad man but because he thought it would work. The same applies to those who

today are ready to sacrifice Iraq, Lebanon and Israel on the same principles.

Human beings are supposed to learn from experience and observation. Syria has sponsored terrorism, lied repeatedly to the West, plotted to seize control of Lebanon, sponsored terrorists in Iraq, and so on. Are these strategies not a true picture of its national interests as perceived and practiced by the rulers? For five years the US government tried to engage Syria and found out it was impossible.

Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, spreading hatred and incitement, sabotaging an Arab-Israeli diplomatic resolution, sponsoring terrorism, trying to take over Iraq, and so on. Do its leaders have any idea of what they think suits Iran? For three years the world has been trying to engage Iran on the nuclear issue and found it was impossible.

CONCLUSION: There is a genuine clash of interests between the Iran-led alliance and those of

the West which cannot be bridged by diplomacy because of its goals and methods.

The Washington Post understands this in a November 15 editorial which advocates a truly Realist policy:

(1) The UN Security Council should quickly establish an international tribunal to begin criminal proceedings against Syria’s government for murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

(2) It should consider other actions against Syria, including sanctions, if Syria continues trying to block the tribunal’ s formation and

sponsoring political violence in Lebanon.

(3) “Security Council action against Iran for its refusal to suspend its nuclear program is long overdue; governments that are holding it up, beginning with Russia, must be forced to choose between supporting sanctions and breaking off strategic cooperation with the West.”

(4) “Until Iran and Syria are made to pay a price for their attempts to radicalize the Middle East, they will have no incentive to rein in clients such as Hizbullah.”

And if this doesn’t happen, others in the Middle East will copy, join, or surrender to the extremists. As a great document of Realist politics put it: “On every side the wicked roam when vileness is exalted.” (Psalm 12)

End Jerusalem Post Article

So, do I think that (1), (2), (3), and (4) will happen. Of course not! Not even one of the four things listed as Realistic Policies by the Washington Post is going to be put into effect. So, why do I even bother to list them

?

I have only read after one Personage who is a perfect Realist, and has a Perfect Interest in the welfare of all nations. He is, of course, the God-Man, Christ Jesus. He is coming soon to establish a perfect kingdom on a devastated earth.

Ezekiel 38:18-23 – And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. [19] For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; [20] So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. [21] And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. [22] And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. [23] Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Revelation 1:7 – Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

Zechariah 14:9 – And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

LEBANON BECOMING “GREATER SYRIA!”

November 21, 2006

Late Morning Blog

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Ever since Lebanon became a nation, Syria has referred to it as “greater Syria,” and seems determined for that name to become a reality.

In our BLOG of November 20 we covered the precarious situation in Lebanon, and discussed in detail the danger of attempted coups against the majority government by three minority factions representing a pro-Syrian form of governmental control. Please go back and take a look at “Humpty Lebanon sat on a Wall, Humpty Lebanon had a great Fall.”

The three articles which follow, from the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and DEBKAfile, are the latest available at this time, and should give you an overall view of what is known up to this time.

Begin Jerusalem Post Report

Lebanese industry minister gunned down in Beirut

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 21, 2006

Prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, his party’s radio station reported.

His fatal shooting will certainly heighten the political tension in Lebanon, where Hizbullah’s leading Muslim Shiite party has threatened to topple the government if it does not get a bigger say in Cabinet decision making.

Gemayel was rushed to a nearby hospital seriously wounded, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and Voice of Lebanon, the Phalange Party’s radio station, reported.

The party radio later said he was dead.

Gemayel, the minister of industry and son of former President Amin Gemayel, was a member of the Phalange party and supporter of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, which has been locked in a power struggle with pro-Syrian factions led by Hizbullah.

End Jerusalem Post Report

Beg in Haaretz Report

Lebanese cab

inet minister assassinated in Beirut

Haaretz

By News Agencies

November 21, 2006

BEIRUT – Lebanese anti-Syrian cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel was shot dead in a Christian suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.

Security sources said gunmen opened fire as his convoy drove through the Christian Sin el-Fil neighborhood. Gemayel was rushed to hospital, where he later died of his wounds.

Gemayel was rushed to a nearby hospital, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and Voice of Lebanon, the Phalange Party mouthpiece reported.

He was later declared dead.

The shooting – at a time when Lebanese political and sectarian tensions already are at fever pitch – seemed certain to intensify the tensions, regardless of who was responsible.

Gemayel, the minister of industry and son of former President Amin Gemayel, was a member of the Phalange party and supporter of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, which is locked in a power struggle with pro-Syrian factions led by Hezbollah.

Lebanon is in the throes of a political storm pitting the anti-Syrian ruling majority against the pro-Damascus opposition. The political tension threatens to spill into street confrontations.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said Tuesday his depleted cabinet was legitimate despite the resignation of six pro-Syrian ministers, and warned that any anti-government protests could turn violent.

Pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies are preparing to take to the streets to topple Siniora’s government, which they accuse of being allied with the United States, arguing that it has lost its legitimacy since Shi’ite Muslims are no longer represented.

The depleted cabinet last week approved draft United Nations statutes for a tribunal to try the killers of former prime minister Rafik Hariri despite the resignation of the six pro-Syrian ministers.

Many Lebanese blame Syria for the killing of Hariri in a suicide truck bombing in Beirut last year. Damascus denies involvement. A UN commission investigating the assassination has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian security officials.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and son

of the slain former prime minister, broke off a televised news conference after hearing that Gemayel had been shot.

“This is the act of a coward regime,” said Hariri, in an apparent reference to Syria.

“The cedar revolution is under attack,” he said. “Today one of our main believers in a free democratic Lebanon has been killed. We believe the hand of Syria is all over [this].

“The people of Lebanon will not give up on the international tribunal. This will make them even more determined. We will bring justice to those who killed Pierre Gemayel.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her British counterpart Margaret Beckett, speaking at a joint press conference in London as the news broke of Gemayel’s assassination, both condemned the murder.

“The news from Lebanon is another example of the kind of neighborhood we are living in,” Livni said. She said that the killing illustrated the ongoing battle “between moderates and extemists” in the region.

Beckett said that Britain condemned the killing, adding that, “we are dismayed… there are enough problems in Lebanon already.”

End Haaretz Article

Begin DEBKAfile REPORT

Lebanon’s industry minister Pierre Gemayel is murdered near Beirut

November 21, 2006, 5:00 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile Report

The Christian minister’s convoy was attacked driving through the Christian Sin el-Fil district as Lebanon faces a Hizballah threat to the anti-Syrian Fouad Siniora government unless it is granted veto powers. Gemayel died on the way to hospital.

Majority leader Saad Hariri, architect of the anti-Syrian pro-Western New Lebanon, said he sees the hand of Syria behind the murder. His own father was assass inated last year

in a suspected pro-Syrian plot. The government is already shaky after the resignation of six pro-Syrian ministers, including Hizballah’s, ten days ago.

It is feared the murder could tip the country over into civil war. Last week the Siniora government approved a proposed UN tribunal for the killers of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri last year, despite their resignation.

Sunday, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah threatened to call a million Shiites to the streets to topple the anti-Syrian Siniora government.

This challenge was a decisive step in the proxy standoff over domination of Beirut involving Hizballah’s backers Iran and Syria, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel, on the other.

End DEBKAfile Report

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

The Islamic Clanton’s are gathering at the Tombstone O.K. Corral!

November 21, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The Clanton Clan of Syria, Iraq and Iran are getting together for pre-funeral preparations to select their Armageddon Tombstones.

There is a wild shoot-out of some three and one-half years awaiting them after it begins. At the end of the shoot-out, rest assured their bodies and bones will be stretched out across the Armageddon landscape of Israel, all waiting to be unceremoniously placed in plots without tombstones.

The President of Iran is very anxious to generate great chaos so the Islamic Mahdi Imam Messiah will rise out of a well in Iran and take over the world. Well, I guesstimate God is going to begin to unleash his own chaos at some point in time between 2008 and 2012, and finish it some three and one-half years after it begins.

It will be the chaos that God looses on the earth that produces dead bodies from one end of Israel to the other.

Please Read Prophecy Update Number 199B and the two current event articles from the Middle East, which follow it.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 199B

November 24, 2004

Tectonic Chaos – Chapter 25 – The Big Cleanup

I am persuaded that a vicious blitzkrieg like attack will eventually be launched against Israel from the north. It will be the attack of the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal foretold by Ezekiel. We have covered this attack in detail in many previous updates, which may be found above in our Prophecy Archives in non-suffixed Prophecy Update Numbers 27 to 38. Gog is not a Russian prince, he is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, whose descendants were settled in Syria when Ezekiel wrote his prophecies.

Ezekiel 38:16 – And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Now, let’s take a look at the aftermath of this attack after God has destroyed Gog’ s army by the greate

st geological holocaust that has ever occurred in the land of Israel.

Ezekiel 39:8-16 – Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. [9] And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: [10] So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed

them, saith the Lord God. [11] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. [12] And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. [13] Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. [14] And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. [15] And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. [16] And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

Verse 8 informs us that the day of the Lord is done.

The events daily appearing in the Middle East are presently leading us to that great day of the Lord. Finally, it will be over – God’s wrath will have passed – and a remnant of Jews still in physical flesh will dig themselves out of the ashes of the Great Tribulation Period.

They will begin to build a new millennial world with their Messiah, Jesus Christ, as their King.

Verse 9 pictures these Jews gathering the war weapons of Armageddon and smelting them with fire into weapons of agriculture and commerce. It will be seven years before the metals have all been recycled into materials to be used by a nation in peaceful pursuits.

Verse 10 advises us that wood will not be used to provide the fire necessary for smelting the metal in the weapons of war. They will take the oil of the Arab nations that spoiled them in the Tribulation Period. They will use their oil to produce the fire that fires the metal into useful peacetime products.

Verse 11 describes the massive cleanup of the millions of corpses from the Battle of Armageddon that still clutter the hills of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. They will bury them in a valley they will name “the valley of Hamon-gog.” Hamon-gog means “multitude of Gog,” and Gog is the Antichrist, so this valley can be referred to as “the graveyard of the Antichrist.” The exact location is unknown. We are merely told it will be to the east of the Dead Sea. You will not find directions listed as being anything other than north, east, west, and south in the Old Testament. Any direction from NE to SE was referred to as east, SE to SW as south, SW to NW as west, and NW to NE as north. So this burial zone could be anywhere from northeast to southeast of the Dead Sea. I rather suspect it will be to the southeast of the Dead Sea near Petra.

Verse 12 gives the length of time required to cover and bury the countless numbers of exposed bodies – seven months. However, many bodies will be buried under massive landslides associated with earthquake activity, and it will be necessary to continue to search for bodies for a much longer period of time.

Verse 13 tells us that all the Israelites will take their turn during the seven-month period of massive burials. It may be that each Israelite will be required to do one months service during the period. By the end of the seven-month period they will have buried most of the bodies.

Verse 14 advises us the compulsory graveyard service of all the Israelites will end after seven months, but that a new system will be instituted to continue the search as long as is required. It may work something like this: the nation of Israel will take some of its men, employed in other aspects of continuous nation rebuilding, and divert them to a full-time job of overseeing and performing the removal of the remaining bodies from the land. These full-time body disposers will work together with other Israelites (passengers) that travel routinely through the land.

Verse 15 describes how the full-time grave providers and passengers will work together toward a common goal. After seven months only skeletons will remain, so when a traveler happens across a skeleton, in his normal daily pursuits, he will stick up a clearly visible marker by it. When the full-time grave providers see the marker, they will carry the bones to the Antichrist’s graveyard for burial.

Verse 16 informs us there will be so many grave provider personnel that a city named Hamonah will spring up by the Antichrist’s graveyard. Since the name Hamonah means “multitude,” it is only natural to assume the city is named in memory of its permanent residents.

Begin the Star Article

The Star Online

Iraq says to restore Full Ties with Syria

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq and Syria expect to restore full diplomatic ties this week, the Iraqi government said on Monday after Syria’s visiting foreign minister pledged support in helping its neighbour quell rampant violence.

Iraq and Syria severed ties a quarter of a century ago, when Syria sided with Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. They restored some links in the 1990s but do not have full relations.

“The first step is restoring diplomatic relations before the delegation leaves, God willing,” Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told state television on Monday night.

The visit by Walid al-Moualem is the first by a Syrian minister since the U.S-led 2003 invasion and is a rare visit by any senior Arab official to Shi’ite-led Iraq, whose U.S. occupation and close ties with Shi’ite Islamist Iran are viewed with suspicion by Arab states.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have long accused Damascus of doing too little to stem the flow of foreign Islamist fighters and weapons across its long, porous border. Syria says sealing the border is impossible and Iraq must do more to patrol its side.

The U.S. military said on Monday that between 70 and 100 foreign fighters were still crossing the border each month.

“We don’t know how much they (Syria) are assisting this effort, but we don’t know how much they are trying to preclude it either,” U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad.

After meeting Iraqi officials, including Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Moualem pledged Syria’s cooperation in tackling violence that has raised the spectre of civil war, saying it was prepared to work “hand in hand to achieve the security of brother Iraq”.

WORDS AND ACTION

“The stability of Iraq is a very important part of the stability of Syria,” he said. Around 1 million Iraqi refugees have fled to Syria since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Dabbagh said the good words now needed to be followed by action, noting that the two countries planned to set up a joint security committee.

“We see positive desires and good intentions. We would like these intentions to be translated into deeds on the ground.”

U.S. President George W.

Bush’s allies have urged him recently to open the door

to talks with Tehran and Damascus to seek their help in stabilising Iraq, where insurgent violence and sectarian attacks are threatening to tear the country apart.

But Moualem, who said on Sunday that a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal would be the best way to reduce violence, said he was not in Iraq to “please the United States”.

“I am nobody’s godfather and not a mediator for the United States,” he told a joint news conference after talks with powerful Iraqi Shi’ite Islamist leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

“In this current situation there is no dialogue between Syria and the United States,” he said.

Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus and says it will not authorise higher-level contacts because of Syria’s suspected role in supporting violent militants, Iraqi insurgents and opponents of Lebanon’s government.

End Star Article

Begin Associated Press Article

Iran Invites Iraqi, Syrian Presidents

November 20, 2006

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

The Iranian diplomatic gambit appeared designed to upstage expected moves from Washington to include Syria and Iran in a wider regional effort to clamp off violence in Iraq, where more civilians have been killed in the first 20 days of November than in any other month since the AP began tallying the figures in April 2005.

The Iranian move was also a display of its increasingly muscular role in the Middle East, where it already has established deep influence over Syria and Lebanon.

“All three countries intend to hold a three-way summit among Iraq, Iran and Syria to discuss the security situation and the repercussions for stability of the region,” said Ali al-Adeeb, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party and a close aide to the prime minister.

The State Department reacted with skepticism about Iran’s intentions in Iraq, but said it was up to Iraq to decide. “It’s their call; it’s their decision,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington.

“We have seen statements like this many times in the past,” and there have been several high-level contacts between Iran and Iraq, Casey said.

But Iran’s statements of a desire to reduce violence in Iraq “have not been backed up by facts,” the U.S. spokesman said.

As for Syria, Casey said, “The problem is not what they say but what they do.”

Both Iran and Syria are seen as key players in Iraq. Syria is widely believed to have done little to stop foreign fighters and al-Qaida in Iraq recruits from crossing its border to join Sunni insurgents in Iraq. It also has provided refuge for many top members of Saddam Hussein’s former leadership and political corps, which is thought to have organized arms and funding for the insurgents. The Sunni insurgency, since it sprang to life in late summer 2003, has been responsible for most of the U.S. deaths in Iraq.

Iran is deeply involved in training, funding and arming the two major Shiite militias in Iraq, where Tehran has deep historic ties to the current Shiite political leadership. Many Iraqi Shiites spent years in Iranian exile during Saddam’s decades in power in Baghdad. One militia, the Badr Brigade, was trained in Iran by the Revolutionary Guard.

An Ahmadinejad spokesman said that Talibani’s visit was scheduled several weeks ago for late November to work on improving bilateral relations. But Majid Yazdi told the AP that he had no information on a coming visit by the Syrian leader.

But Talabani confidants said the invitation was issued on Thursday by Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazimi Qumi, who said Syrian President Bashar Assad also would be in Tehran for the talks with Ahmadinejad.

AP correspondents Bassem Mroue in Baghdad and Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.

End Associated Press Article

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Humpty Lebanon Sat on a Wall, Humpty Lebanon had a Great Fall! All the Antichrist’s Horns, and all of his Men, could not put Lebanon together again!

November 20, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com

Three Pro-Syrian Factions or offices in Lebanon are making an effort to pull off a bloodless coup in a change of government. They are: (1) The Office of President Emile Lahoud, (2) The Iranian controlled Hizbollah led by Nasrallah, and (3) The Pro-Syrian Shi ite

Amal Faction. Could it be that Lebanon is associated with one of the three horns of Daniel 7, which are to be plucked up by the Antichrist?

Begin First Article CNSNews

Iran, Hizballah Making Moves to Topple Lebanon, Expert Says

Julie Stahl

Jerusalem Bureau Chief

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com)

Hizballah, Iran and Syria have been waiting for an opportunity to topple the Lebanese government,

and they apparently believe the time has come, a Middle Eastern scholar says.

The recent Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress emboldened Syria, Iran and Hizballah (Iran’s proxy) because they view it as the defeat of President Bush, said Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Even before the U.S. elections, Hizballah’s political faction was demanding more power in the Lebanese government. Earlier this week, six pro-Syrian members of the 24-seat Lebanese cabinet, including all of the Shi’ite members, resigned.

Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that the current Lebanese government would “go” and a new one would take its place. He did not say how that would happen, but his statement seemed to signal that Nasrallah will call for massive street protests — as he threatened to do last month.

According to Phares, the next few months are critical for Hizballah as it tries to consolidate its power in Lebanon.

With the U.S. government in transition and bogged down in Iraq, Hizballah may assume the U.S. won’t involve itself in the Middle East right now, Phares said.

But Hizballah won’t make any move without the express permission or backing of Iran and Syria, Phares told Cybercast News Service in a telephone interview. “It’s a troika,” he said.

Washington recently noted that Iran and Syria are working through Hizballah to try to topple the Lebanese government.

And Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Lebanon would be the arena of defeat for Israel and America.

“Today it is [America’s] policies in the world and the region that are bound to fail.

These opportunities must be exploited with determination and action,” Khamenei was quoted as saying in talks with Nabih Berri, leader of the pro-Syrian Shiite Amal faction, which is allied with Hizballah.

Phares said Iran, as a “pre-emptive strike,” will try to topple the Lebanese government before announcing that Iran has obtained nuclear capabilities.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated earlier this week that his country would celebrate the completion of its nuclear fuel cycle very shortly – apparently by March.

The Lebanese government can withstand Hizballah-inspired street demonstrations, Phares said, but if Hizballah is successful in paralyzing the country through boycotts and strikes, Lebanon will need significant support from the international community.

Phares believes Hizballah will go well beyond street protests – possibly shutting down services such electricity and water and major government ministries.

If Iran, through Hizballah, succeeds in seizing power in Lebanon, Tehran would be able to deploy its missiles much closer to Europe and Egypt, Phares warned.

To prevent Iran from succeeding in Lebanon, the international community must immediately re-deploy United Nations forces along the Syrian-Lebanese border to cut off the flow of weapons from Iran to Hizballah, Phares added.

According to the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hizballah war this summer, Hizballah was supposed to be disarmed. But it never happened, and Iran and Syria are now taking advantage of the calm to re-arm the terrorist organization.
Phares said Lebanon is a key element in plans to spread democracy in the Middle East.

On Monday, the remaining Lebanese cabinet members voted for a tribunal to try those accused of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri, along with 22 others, was killed in a truck bombing last year.

The United Nations called the decision an “important step” in fulfilling a U.N. Security Council resolution.

A U.N. investigation into the murder implicated senior Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese security personnel in the murder. Hariri, a favorite of the West and a strong force for democracy in his country, was

an outspoken critic of Syrian control over his country.

End First Article from CBSNews

Begin Second Article from Jerusalem Post

Nasrallah calls for Mass Demonstrations

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 19, 2006

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged his followers in a speech aired Sunday to be “psychologically” ready to take to the streets in mass demonstrations to support the guerrilla group’s demand for a national unity government.

But Nasrallah, who did not set a date for the demonstrations, warned that the protests should be peaceful and avoid riots.

“We must psychologically be ready to take to the streets. It is one of means for the required movement,” Nasrallah said.

“We do not want riots … We respect private and public properties.

We will not allow any clash, even if they [anti-Syrian groups] staged a counter street demonstration,” he said in the speech, which he made Saturday but was aired Sunday on Hizbullah’s TV station, Al-Manar.

Nasrallah also said in the speech that the Lebanese government lacked credibility, but denied his group was trying to block the formation of an international tribunal.

“The authority team today is in a state of weakness and feel a huge defeat as the result of the last Israeli war in Lebanon,” he said.

Nasrallah’s speech comes amid mounting political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon in the wake of Hizbullah’s 34-day war with Israel last summer.

The organization has demanded that Lebanon form a national unity government that would give it veto power over major decisions. But negotiations among groups broke down recently, and six Cabinet ministers, including two from Hizbullah, resigned.

Another source of tension is a draft agreement between the UN and the Lebanese government to establish an international tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The UN Security Council is expected to discuss the draft on Monday.

The Lebanese government last week approved the draft agreement. But it was met with opposition from the country’s pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who said the government lacks legitimacy after the ministers resigned.

Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in February 2005. The assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable.

End Second Article from Jerusalem Post

Begin Third Article from Haaretz

Lebanese Druze leader warns of possible ‘coup’ in country

Haaretz

By News Agencies

November 19, 2006

BEIRUT – Druze leader Walid Jumblatt warned Sunday that Lebanon is on the verge of a “coup” by pro-Syrian opposition groups, a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed the country’s government of lack

of credibility.

“The (pro-Syrian) opposition groups are on the verge of announcing a coup in the country and we (the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority) should take the brave decision to confront all options,” said Jumblatt in an address to the politburo members of his group, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

Jumblatt said, however, that there was still the possibility of a peaceful solution to the country’s political divisions, in order to avert “a new civil war” that would recreate the 1975-1990 internal conflict.

End Third Haaretz Article

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Persian Wipe Out Propaganda and Lies about Two-Thirds Correct!

November 19, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The Iranian Newspapers remind me of the propaganda garbage put out by the Nazi propaganda machine in the early forties.

It usually had a little truth sprinkled in it here and there to make the German people believe it.

They are correct when they say a Great War is coming, but they are not correct when they say Israel will be wiped out – two thirds will, and the Arabs will drive Israel into the Negev Wilderness, where they will stay for three and one half years but, three and one half years later, Israel will charge north to recover all of Israel, driving all the way east to the great Euphrates River, and pushing north to Hamath in Syria.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman 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.

Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left

therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Micah 5:6 – And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

Ezekiel 47:17 – And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

Begin MEMRI Article

Iranian paper: Great War to wipe out Israel coming!

Yaakov Lappin

Iranian newspapers Kehyan and and Resalat have urged Muslims around the world to prepare for a ‘great war’ to destroy the State of Israel.

The newspapers published the editorials, translated from Persian by MEMRI, the Middle East translation service, to mark ‘Quds’ day, an Iranian ‘holiday’ calling for the “liberation” of Jerusalem and war against Israel.

“Hizbullah destroyed at least half of Israel in the Lebanon war… Now only half the path (to its destruction) remains,” an editorial in the conservative Keyhan newspaper declared.

“It was proven that, by means of an offensive operation that need not be equal to Israel’s moves, it is possible to neutralize the Zionist navy,” the article said triumphantly.

‘Great war not far off’

It continued: “Just as in one 33-day war more than 50 percent of Israel was destroyed, and the hope of its supporters for the continued life of this regime was broken, it is likely that in the next battle, the second half will also collapse.”

“On that day… Jordan will not be able to prevent the Jordanian Islamists from operating through the long Jordan-Palestine border, and the millions of Egyptian Islamists… will not let the Sinai-Israel border remain quiet, and the Syrian Golan Heights will not remain as a (mere) observer of the battle.

That day is not so far off.”

The Resalat newspaper struck a similarly bellicose tone with an editorial entitled “Preparations for the Great War.”

“The great war is ahead of us, (and will break out) perhaps tomorrow, or in another few days, or in a few months, or even in a few Years… Israel must collapse,” the newspaper said.

It added: “For the first time in the 60 years of its disgraceful life, the Zionist regime – the West’s beloved in the Middle East – tasted the taste of defeat, and the citizens of this regime trembled at the menace of Hizbullah’s missiles… The nation of Muslims must prepare for the great war, so as to completely wipe out the Zionist regime, and remove this cancerous growth.

Like the Imam (Ayatollah) Khomeini said: ‘Israel must collapse.'”

End MEMRI Article

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.