THE AGING US AIR FORCE

Gray Hairs: America’s Aging Air Force

January 26, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com

The U.S. Air Force is invincible—or so many think. But will age, that unseen enemy, soon leave it outgunned and outnumbered?

At the outbreak of World War ii, Britain was shocked to find its air force inferior to Germany’s. Churchill reported that British leaders had critically underestimated the number, production rate and technological advancement of Germany’s military aircraft industry. While Germany had stealthily built a completely modern air force, Britain was in large part still relying upon old World War i models. Along with other neglectful nations, Britain saw its air fleet cut apart at the onset of the war.

The United States could soon find itself in a similarly dangerous position.

On January 12, the Air Force revealed that the midair collision of two F-16s last year was due to a combination of pilot error and equipment malfunction. A radar failure distracted Capt. Nicholas Giglio, diverting his attention from correcting his mistakes, leading to his death.

Although pilot error was found to be the primary cause, the tragedy highlights a perilous problem facing the country.

America’s Air Force is rapidly aging.

The situation is so critical that America’s entire F-15 fleet was grounded during parts of 2007 and 2008 due to a spate of problems.

The current U.S. Air Force is the oldest in usaf history. According to the Air Force Times, the average plane age in the fleet is 24 years old. Many transport and refueling tankers are in excess of 40 years old, and current plans don’t provide for replacements until they are 70 to 80 years old. By 2013, the average fleet age is expected to rise to 29 years. Contrast those numbers with the air fleet’s average age of only 8.5 years in 1967.

Lt. Gen. David Deptula, a former fighter pilot who now serves as the head of intelligence for the Air Force, reported in 2007 that his son flies the exact same F-15 as he flew back in the late 1970s. Deptula warns that the graying Air Force may be facing a “crisis.”

usaf former Chief of Staff Michael Moseley concurred. “The F-15s and F-16s were designed and built in the late ’60s and ’70s. Some of them were produced up until the early ’80s. But they’ve led a pretty hard life. … In the F-15 case, we’ve got the airplane restricted to 1.5 Mach. It was designed to be a 2.5 Mach airplane. We’ve got it limited on maneuvering restrictions because we’ve had tail cracks, fuselage cracks, [and] cracks in the wings” (Defense Industry Daily, March 30, 2008).

Moseley says the maneuvering restrictions are affecting unit preparedness, and likens it to practicing for the Indy 500 by driving at 60 miles per hour—then accelerating the car to 200 miles an hour on the day of the race.

“It is not the time to be doing that on game day,” he says. Moseley worries about the health of the aging fleet and feels that the seriousness of this issue is “not well understood by those our airmen protect.”

The F-15s were supposed to last until 2025, but after 17 years of almost continuous use in the First Gulf War, the Balkans, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wear and tear is taking its toll. Most people don’t drive cars that are even 17 years old, let alone operate computers that are that age. The F-15’s average age is 25 years. When you start accounting for corrosion issues, metal fatigue, structural components not built to spec, and multiple computer upgrades and electrical rewirings over the years, it is easy to see why the F-15s are starting to have so many problems.

Much of the rest of America’s aircraft, like the F-15, are also simply getting old and wearing out. The F-16 “Fighting Falcon,” the lightweight, less-expensive companion to the F-15, for example, has an average age of over 17 years. But the problem with the F-16 is that it was not designed for a long service life. Now, after heavy use, it also is approaching the limits of its life expectancy, according to Lexington Institute’s Loren Thompson. The 1,280 of these aircraft in service make up the bulk of America’s fighters. Outside of the F-15 and F-16 models, the Air Force’s fighter fleet would be left with just 91 F-22s. The F-22 is a fifth-generation fighter. Although it is far more advanced than the F-15 or F-16, current plans call for the eventual procurement of only 183 units. F-22s currently cost about $135 million each, while F-15s and F-16s originally cost just $15 million and $10.2 million respectively (approximately $45 million and $30 million in today’s dollars).

The U.S.’s transport and refueling tankers are also earning a reputation as flying death traps. Old flying behemoths such as the C-130 and KC-135 are regular causes of concern for the Air Force. After cracks were discovered in the wing boxes of older C-130s, the Air Force grounded many of those transports. In fact, many planes on Air Force inventories are considered too risky to fly at all except in emergencies. In these cases, once a month the engines are fired up and the planes are pulled around the tarmac to keep the tires from going flat.

All told, only two thirds of the service’s aging fleet is available to go up in the air at any time. For the F-15s and F-16s, the mission-capable rate stands at only 74 and 76 percent respectively.

“This can’t go on,” Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne warned back in 2007. “At some time in the future, they will simply rust out, age out, fall out of the sky. We need, somehow, to re-capitalize this force.”

And as America’s Air Force ages and wears out, it is sucking in greater and greater amounts of resources to keep it flying.

Maintenance costs increased by 38 percent from 1996 to 2006, and maintenance man-hours increased 50 percent compared to hours of flying time. The workload for heavy repairs at aircraft depots was up a whopping 41 percent.

Wynne says that when you add up the rate at which the fleet is aging, the rising maintenance costs, personnel cutbacks and the prices of new equipment, it means one thing: Air Force America is “going out of business. It is simply a matter of time.”

Probably the most amazing aspect of the graying Air Force is that the U.S. spends more money on its armed forces than the whole world combined! But even with the hundreds of billions spent each year, the average aircraft age is heading into the atmosphere—on afterburners. Being the world’s policeman, fighting terrorism and continual wars for the past 19 years is taking its toll.

The signs are everywhere, and not just in the Air Force: America’s military is aging. The Navy and Coast Guard are in similar situations. America’s heavy ice-breaker fleet is down to three operational vessels, two of which are approaching the end of their operational cycles. The Coast Guard is sailing many 30- and 40-year-old ships and even World War ii-era vintage vessels including the 65-year-old cutter Acushnet, whose propeller separated completely from its shaft in December 2007. Because of the ship’s age, no off-the-shelf spare parts were available; the fixes had to be custom built.

Increasing amounts of money and resources are needed just to maintain these war machines, and these are costs the American economy has not had to bear in the past on any sort of large scale. The problem is, America doesn’t have the money. All levels of American society—federal, state, local, corporate, personal—have unsustainable debt levels. America is broke—most just don’t realize it yet.

Hosea, talking to ancient Israel, warned that Ephraim’s military and economic might had largely faded, though the tribe was ignorant of it: “[Y]ea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.”

Today, gray hairs are on America. Its age as a superpower is nearly over—America’s waning air superiority is just one example. New powers are destined to rise in Europe, China and Russia, and the Middle East—so says your Bible. For proof, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy. •

DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 28

Deuteronomy Chapter 28 דְּבָרִים

א וְהָיָה, אִם-שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹתָיו, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--וּנְתָנְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, עֶלְיוֹן, עַל, כָּל-גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ.	1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth.
ב וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל-הַבְּרָכוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ: כִּי תִשְׁמַע, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.	2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
ג בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, בָּעִיר; וּבָרוּךְ אַתָּה, בַּשָּׂדֶה.	3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
ד בָּרוּךְ פְּרִי-בִטְנְךָ וּפְרִי אַדְמָתְךָ, וּפְרִי בְהֶמְתֶּךָ--שְׁגַר אֲלָפֶיךָ, וְעַשְׁתְּרוֹת צֹאנֶךָ.	4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock.
ה בָּרוּךְ טַנְאֲךָ, וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ.	5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
ו בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, בְּבֹאֶךָ; וּבָרוּךְ אַתָּה, בְּצֵאתֶךָ.	6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
ז יִתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת-אֹיְבֶיךָ הַקָּמִים עָלֶיךָ, נִגָּפִים לְפָנֶיךָ: בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶחָד יֵצְאוּ אֵלֶיךָ, וּבְשִׁבְעָה דְרָכִים יָנוּסוּ לְפָנֶיךָ.	7 The LORD will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee; they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways.
ח יְצַו יְהוָה אִתְּךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה, בַּאֲסָמֶיךָ, וּבְכֹל מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ; וּבֵרַכְךָ--בָּאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ.	8 The LORD will command the blessing with thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto; and He will bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
ט יְקִימְךָ יְהוָה לוֹ לְעַם קָדוֹשׁ, כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע-לָךְ: כִּי תִשְׁמֹר, אֶת-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, וְהָלַכְתָּ, בִּדְרָכָיו.	9 The LORD will establish thee for a holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee; if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in His ways.
י וְרָאוּ כָּל-עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ, כִּי שֵׁם יְהוָה נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ; וְיָרְאוּ, מִמֶּךָּ.	10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon thee; and they shall be afraid of thee.
יא וְהוֹתִרְךָ יְהוָה לְטוֹבָה, בִּפְרִי בִטְנְךָ וּבִפְרִי בְהֶמְתְּךָ וּבִפְרִי אַדְמָתֶךָ--עַל, הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ, לָתֶת לָךְ.	11 And the LORD will make thee over-abundant for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers to give thee.
יב יִפְתַּח יְהוָה לְךָ אֶת-אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב אֶת-הַשָּׁמַיִם, לָתֵת מְטַר-אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ, וּלְבָרֵךְ, אֵת כָּל-מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶךָ; וְהִלְוִיתָ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים, וְאַתָּה לֹא תִלְוֶה.	12 The LORD will open unto thee His good treasure the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow.
יג וּנְתָנְךָ יְהוָה לְרֹאשׁ, וְלֹא לְזָנָב, וְהָיִיתָ רַק לְמַעְלָה, וְלֹא תִהְיֶה לְמָטָּה: כִּי-תִשְׁמַע אֶל-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת.	13 And the LORD will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them;
יד וְלֹא תָסוּר, מִכָּל-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם--יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול: לָלֶכֶת, אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים--לְעָבְדָם. {פ}	14 and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. {P}
טו וְהָיָה, אִם-לֹא תִשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹתָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל-הַקְּלָלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, וְהִשִּׂיגוּךָ.	15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
טז אָרוּר אַתָּה, בָּעִיר; וְאָרוּר אַתָּה, בַּשָּׂדֶה.	16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
יז אָרוּר טַנְאֲךָ, וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ.	17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
יח אָרוּר פְּרִי-בִטְנְךָ, וּפְרִי אַדְמָתֶךָ--שְׁגַר אֲלָפֶיךָ, וְעַשְׁתְּרֹת צֹאנֶךָ.	18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock.
יט אָרוּר אַתָּה, בְּבֹאֶךָ; וְאָרוּר אַתָּה, בְּצֵאתֶךָ.	19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
כ יְשַׁלַּח יְהוָה בְּךָ אֶת-הַמְּאֵרָה אֶת-הַמְּהוּמָה, וְאֶת-הַמִּגְעֶרֶת, בְּכָל-מִשְׁלַח יָדְךָ, אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה--עַד הִשָּׁמֶדְךָ וְעַד-אֲבָדְךָ מַהֵר, מִפְּנֵי רֹעַ מַעֲלָלֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר עֲזַבְתָּנִי.	20 The LORD will send upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that thou puttest thy hand unto to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the evil of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me.
כא יַדְבֵּק יְהוָה בְּךָ, אֶת-הַדָּבֶר--עַד, כַּלֹּתוֹ אֹתְךָ, מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.	21 The LORD will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it.
כב יַכְּכָה יְהוָה בַּשַּׁחֶפֶת וּבַקַּדַּחַת וּבַדַּלֶּקֶת, וּבַחַרְחֻר וּבַחֶרֶב, וּבַשִּׁדָּפוֹן, וּבַיֵּרָקוֹן; וּרְדָפוּךָ, עַד אָבְדֶךָ.	22 The LORD will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
כג וְהָיוּ שָׁמֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר עַל-רֹאשְׁךָ, נְחֹשֶׁת; וְהָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר-תַּחְתֶּיךָ, בַּרְזֶל.	23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
כד יִתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת-מְטַר אַרְצְךָ, אָבָק וְעָפָר: מִן-הַשָּׁמַיִם יֵרֵד עָלֶיךָ, עַד הִשָּׁמְדָךְ.	24 The LORD will make the rain of thy land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
כה יִתֶּנְךָ יְהוָה נִגָּף, לִפְנֵי אֹיְבֶיךָ--בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶחָד תֵּצֵא אֵלָיו, וּבְשִׁבְעָה דְרָכִים תָּנוּס לְפָנָיו; וְהָיִיתָ לְזַעֲוָה, לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ.	25 The LORD will cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them, and shalt flee seven ways before them; and thou shalt be a horror unto all the kingdoms of the earth.
כו וְהָיְתָה נִבְלָתְךָ לְמַאֲכָל, לְכָל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְבֶהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ; וְאֵין, מַחֲרִיד.	26 And thy carcasses shall be food unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to frighten them away.
כז יַכְּכָה יְהוָה בִּשְׁחִין מִצְרַיִם, ובעפלים (וּבַטְּחֹרִים), וּבַגָּרָב, וּבֶחָרֶס--אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תוּכַל, לְהֵרָפֵא.	27 The LORD will smite thee with the boil of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
כח יַכְּכָה יְהוָה, בְּשִׁגָּעוֹן וּבְעִוָּרוֹן; וּבְתִמְהוֹן, לֵבָב.	28 The LORD will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.
כט וְהָיִיתָ מְמַשֵּׁשׁ בַּצָּהֳרַיִם, כַּאֲשֶׁר יְמַשֵּׁשׁ הַעִוֵּר בָּאֲפֵלָה, וְלֹא תַצְלִיחַ, אֶת-דְּרָכֶיךָ; וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ עָשׁוּק וְגָזוּל, כָּל-הַיָּמִים--וְאֵין מוֹשִׁיעַ.	29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not make thy ways prosperous; and thou shalt be only oppressed and robbed alway, and there shall be none to save thee.
ל אִשָּׁה תְאָרֵשׂ, וְאִישׁ אַחֵר ישגלנה (יִשְׁכָּבֶנָּה)--בַּיִת תִּבְנֶה, וְלֹא-תֵשֵׁב בּוֹ; כֶּרֶם תִּטַּע, וְלֹא תְחַלְּלֶנּוּ.	30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not use the fruit thereof.
לא שׁוֹרְךָ טָבוּחַ לְעֵינֶיךָ, וְלֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ--חֲמֹרְךָ גָּזוּל מִלְּפָנֶיךָ, וְלֹא יָשׁוּב לָךְ; צֹאנְךָ נְתֻנוֹת לְאֹיְבֶיךָ, וְאֵין לְךָ מוֹשִׁיעַ.	31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee; thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies; and thou shalt have none to save thee.
לב בָּנֶיךָ וּבְנֹתֶיךָ נְתֻנִים לְעַם אַחֵר, וְעֵינֶיךָ רֹאוֹת, וְכָלוֹת אֲלֵיהֶם, כָּל-הַיּוֹם; וְאֵין לְאֵל, יָדֶךָ.	32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day; and there shall be nought in the power of thy hand.
לג פְּרִי אַדְמָתְךָ וְכָל-יְגִיעֲךָ, יֹאכַל עַם אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדָעְתָּ; וְהָיִיתָ, רַק עָשׁוּק וְרָצוּץ--כָּל-הַיָּמִים.	33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed away:
לד וְהָיִיתָ, מְשֻׁגָּע, מִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה.	34 so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
לה יַכְּכָה יְהוָה בִּשְׁחִין רָע, עַל-הַבִּרְכַּיִם וְעַל-הַשֹּׁקַיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תוּכַל, לְהֵרָפֵא--מִכַּף רַגְלְךָ, וְעַד קָדְקֳדֶךָ.	35 The LORD will smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head.
לו יוֹלֵךְ יְהוָה אֹתְךָ, וְאֶת-מַלְכְּךָ אֲשֶׁר תָּקִים עָלֶיךָ, אֶל-גּוֹי, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַעְתָּ אַתָּה וַאֲבֹתֶיךָ; וְעָבַדְתָּ שָּׁם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עֵץ וָאָבֶן.	36 The LORD will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
לז וְהָיִיתָ לְשַׁמָּה, לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה--בְּכֹל, הָעַמִּים, אֲשֶׁר-יְנַהֶגְךָ יְהוָה, שָׁמָּה.	37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither the LORD shall lead thee away.
לח זֶרַע רַב, תּוֹצִיא הַשָּׂדֶה; וּמְעַט תֶּאֱסֹף, כִּי יַחְסְלֶנּוּ הָאַרְבֶּה.	38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.
לט כְּרָמִים תִּטַּע, וְעָבָדְתָּ; וְיַיִן לֹא-תִשְׁתֶּה וְלֹא תֶאֱגֹר, כִּי תֹאכְלֶנּוּ הַתֹּלָעַת.	39 Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
מ זֵיתִים יִהְיוּ לְךָ, בְּכָל-גְּבוּלֶךָ; וְשֶׁמֶן לֹא תָסוּךְ, כִּי יִשַּׁל זֵיתֶךָ.	40 Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olives shall drop off.
מא בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת, תּוֹלִיד; וְלֹא-יִהְיוּ לָךְ, כִּי יֵלְכוּ בַּשֶּׁבִי.	41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine; for they shall go into captivity.
מב כָּל-עֵצְךָ, וּפְרִי אַדְמָתֶךָ, יְיָרֵשׁ, הַצְּלָצַל.	42 All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust possess.
מג הַגֵּר אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבְּךָ, יַעֲלֶה עָלֶיךָ מַעְלָה מָּעְלָה; וְאַתָּה תֵרֵד, מַטָּה מָּטָּה.	43 The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher; and thou shalt come down lower and lower.
מד הוּא יַלְוְךָ, וְאַתָּה לֹא תַלְוֶנּוּ; הוּא יִהְיֶה לְרֹאשׁ, וְאַתָּה תִּהְיֶה לְזָנָב.	44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
מה וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל-הַקְּלָלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, וּרְדָפוּךָ וְהִשִּׂיגוּךָ, עַד, הִשָּׁמְדָךְ: כִּי-לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ--לִשְׁמֹר מִצְו‍ֹתָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו, אֲשֶׁר צִוָּךְ.	45 And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee.
מו וְהָיוּ בְךָ, לְאוֹת וּלְמוֹפֵת; וּבְזַרְעֲךָ, עַד-עוֹלָם.	46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever;
מז תַּחַת, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-עָבַדְתָּ אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּשִׂמְחָה, וּבְטוּב לֵבָב--מֵרֹב, כֹּל.	47 because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;
מח וְעָבַדְתָּ אֶת-אֹיְבֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁלְּחֶנּוּ יְהוָה בָּךְ, בְּרָעָב וּבְצָמָא וּבְעֵירֹם, וּבְחֹסֶר כֹּל; וְנָתַן עֹל בַּרְזֶל, עַל-צַוָּארֶךָ, עַד הִשְׁמִידוֹ, אֹתָךְ.	48 therefore shalt thou serve thine enemy whom the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
מט יִשָּׂא יְהוָה עָלֶיךָ גּוֹי מֵרָחֹק מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ, כַּאֲשֶׁר יִדְאֶה הַנָּשֶׁר: גּוֹי, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תִשְׁמַע לְשֹׁנוֹ.	49 The LORD will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the vulture swoopeth down; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
נ גּוֹי, עַז פָּנִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יִשָּׂא פָנִים לְזָקֵן, וְנַעַר לֹא יָחֹן.	50 a nation of fierce countenance, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young.
נא וְאָכַל פְּרִי בְהֶמְתְּךָ וּפְרִי-אַדְמָתְךָ, עַד הִשָּׁמְדָךְ, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יַשְׁאִיר לְךָ דָּגָן תִּירוֹשׁ וְיִצְהָר, שְׁגַר אֲלָפֶיךָ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹת צֹאנֶךָ--עַד הַאֲבִידוֹ, אֹתָךְ.	51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; that also shall not leave thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy kine, or the young of thy flock, until he have caused thee to perish.
נב וְהֵצַר לְךָ בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ, עַד רֶדֶת חֹמֹתֶיךָ הַגְּבֹהֹת וְהַבְּצֻרוֹת, אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה בֹּטֵחַ בָּהֵן, בְּכָל-אַרְצֶךָ; וְהֵצַר לְךָ, בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ, בְּכָל-אַרְצְךָ, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָךְ.	52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou didst trust, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
נג וְאָכַלְתָּ פְרִי-בִטְנְךָ, בְּשַׂר בָּנֶיךָ וּבְנֹתֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לְךָ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ--בְּמָצוֹר, וּבְמָצוֹק, אֲשֶׁר-יָצִיק לְךָ, אֹיְבֶךָ.	53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters whom the LORD thy God hath given thee; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall straiten thee.
נד הָאִישׁ הָרַךְ בְּךָ, וְהֶעָנֹג מְאֹד--תֵּרַע עֵינוֹ בְאָחִיו וּבְאֵשֶׁת חֵיקוֹ, וּבְיֶתֶר בָּנָיו אֲשֶׁר יוֹתִיר.	54 The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining;
נה מִתֵּת לְאַחַד מֵהֶם, מִבְּשַׂר בָּנָיו אֲשֶׁר יֹאכֵל, מִבְּלִי הִשְׁאִיר-לוֹ, כֹּל--בְּמָצוֹר, וּבְמָצוֹק, אֲשֶׁר יָצִיק לְךָ אֹיִבְךָ, בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ.	55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left him; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee in all thy gates.
נו הָרַכָּה בְךָ וְהָעֲנֻגָּה, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-נִסְּתָה כַף-רַגְלָהּ הַצֵּג עַל-הָאָרֶץ, מֵהִתְעַנֵּג, וּמֵרֹךְ--תֵּרַע עֵינָהּ בְּאִישׁ חֵיקָהּ, וּבִבְנָהּ וּבְבִתָּהּ.	56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter;
נז וּבְשִׁלְיָתָהּ הַיּוֹצֵת מִבֵּין רַגְלֶיהָ, וּבְבָנֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵד, כִּי-תֹאכְלֵם בְּחֹסֶר-כֹּל, בַּסָּתֶר--בְּמָצוֹר, וּבְמָצוֹק, אֲשֶׁר יָצִיק לְךָ אֹיִבְךָ, בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ.	57 and against her afterbirth that cometh out from between her feet, and against her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee in thy gates.
נח אִם-לֹא תִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת, אֶת-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת, הַכְּתֻבִים, בַּסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה: לְיִרְאָה אֶת-הַשֵּׁם הַנִּכְבָּד וְהַנּוֹרָא, הַזֶּה--אֵת, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.	58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and awful Name, the LORD thy God;
נט וְהִפְלָא יְהוָה אֶת-מַכֹּתְךָ, וְאֵת מַכּוֹת זַרְעֶךָ: מַכּוֹת גְּדֹלֹת וְנֶאֱמָנוֹת, וָחֳלָיִם רָעִים וְנֶאֱמָנִים.	59 then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
ס וְהֵשִׁיב בְּךָ, אֵת כָּל-מַדְוֵה מִצְרַיִם, אֲשֶׁר יָגֹרְתָּ, מִפְּנֵיהֶם; וְדָבְקוּ, בָּךְ.	60 And He will bring back upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast in dread of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
סא גַּם כָּל-חֳלִי, וְכָל-מַכָּה, אֲשֶׁר לֹא כָתוּב, בְּסֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת--יַעְלֵם יְהוָה עָלֶיךָ, עַד הִשָּׁמְדָךְ.	61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
סב וְנִשְׁאַרְתֶּם, בִּמְתֵי מְעָט, תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר הֱיִיתֶם, כְּכוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם לָרֹב: כִּי-לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.	62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
סג וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר-שָׂשׂ יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם, לְהֵיטִיב אֶתְכֶם וּלְהַרְבּוֹת אֶתְכֶם--כֵּן יָשִׂישׂ יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם, לְהַאֲבִיד אֶתְכֶם וּלְהַשְׁמִיד אֶתְכֶם; וְנִסַּחְתֶּם מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.	63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest in to possess it.
סד וֶהֱפִיצְךָ יְהוָה בְּכָל-הָעַמִּים, מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ וְעַד-קְצֵה הָאָרֶץ; וְעָבַדְתָּ שָּׁם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַעְתָּ אַתָּה וַאֲבֹתֶיךָ--עֵץ וָאָבֶן.	64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone.
סה וּבַגּוֹיִם הָהֵם לֹא תַרְגִּיעַ, וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה מָנוֹחַ לְכַף-רַגְלֶךָ; וְנָתַן יְהוָה לְךָ שָׁם לֵב רַגָּז, וְכִלְיוֹן עֵינַיִם וְדַאֲבוֹן נָפֶשׁ.	65 And among these nations shalt thou have no repose, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot; but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and languishing of soul.
סו וְהָיוּ חַיֶּיךָ, תְּלֻאִים לְךָ מִנֶּגֶד; וּפָחַדְתָּ לַיְלָה וְיוֹמָם, וְלֹא תַאֲמִין בְּחַיֶּיךָ.	66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life.
סז בַּבֹּקֶר תֹּאמַר מִי-יִתֵּן עֶרֶב, וּבָעֶרֶב תֹּאמַר מִי-יִתֵּן בֹּקֶר--מִפַּחַד לְבָבְךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּפְחָד, וּמִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה.	67 In the morning thou shalt say: 'Would it were even!' and at even thou shalt say: 'Would it were morning!' for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
סח וֶהֱשִׁיבְךָ יְהוָה מִצְרַיִם, בָּאֳנִיּוֹת, בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתִּי לְךָ, לֹא-תֹסִיף עוֹד לִרְאֹתָהּ; וְהִתְמַכַּרְתֶּם שָׁם לְאֹיְבֶיךָ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת, וְאֵין קֹנֶה. {ס}	68 And the LORD shall bring thee back into Egypt in ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee: 'Thou shalt see it no more again'; and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwoman, and no man shall buy you. {S}
סט אֵלֶּה דִבְרֵי הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת-מֹשֶׁה, לִכְרֹת אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל--בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב: מִלְּבַד הַבְּרִית, אֲשֶׁר-כָּרַת אִתָּם בְּחֹרֵב. {פ}	69 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. {P}

OBAMA'S ROOKIE YEAR

Barack Obama’s Rookie Year

January 20, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com

Did he deliver? By Stephen Flurry

President Obama’s abysmal first year in office ended yesterday, punctuated by Republican Scott Brown’s stunning special election victory in the blue state of Massachusetts. Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley to claim the U.S. Senate seat left by the late Ted Kennedy, the liberal stalwart who practically owned the seat for nearly a half-century. The upset victory leaves the Democrats one senator shy of a filibuster-proof majority, meaning Republicans can now block President Obama’s controversial health care legislation.

A year ago, President Obama could do no wrong. Riding a wave of popular support that extended far beyond America’s shores, the self-assured politician all but guaranteed to fix health care, eliminate wasteful spending, cut taxes, revitalize the economy, reduce carbon emissions, solve the energy crisis, safeguard the world’s supply of nuclear weapons material, close Gitmo, pull out of Iraq, crush al Qaeda, win in Afghanistan, befriend Muslim nations and repair America’s damaged reputation abroad.

And most Americans enthusiastically joined him on the “hope” and “change” bandwagon. According to the New York Times/cbs News Poll from one year ago, “overwhelming majorities” believed Obama would be a good president and “make the right decisions on the economy, Iraq, dealing with the conflict in the Middle East and protecting the country from terrorist attacks.”

Today, as he begins his second year in office, “the thrill is gone, the doubts growing—even among erstwhile believers,” Charles Krauthammer recently wrote. His approval rating has plummeted by more than 20 percent—the sharpest decline ever for a first-year president. Most polls now have his rating sitting below 50 percent. Another recent poll found that a majority of Americans believe Obama is performing “about the same” or “worse” than his unpopular predecessor, George W. Bush.

“What I haven’t been able to do in the midst of this crisis,” President Obama recently acknowledged in an interview with People, “is bring the country together in a way that we had done in the Inauguration. That’s what’s been lost this year … that whole sense of changing how Washington works” (emphasis added throughout).

High hopes have been dashed by harsh reality.

On Sunday, President Obama scrambled to make an eleventh-hour visit to Massachusetts, in hopes of rescuing Coakley’s sinking campaign. After the election results were in last night, administration officials were quick to distance the president from the race and to blame the loss on Coakley’s ineffective campaign strategy.

Coakley’s supporters, according to the Associated Press, fired back at the president, saying she lost her lead in the polls after health care legislation had gained momentum in Congress and because of a national security breach that nearly downed an airliner on December 25.

What a difference a year makes. Yesterday, a senatorial candidate, who is a Democrat, blamed her loss on Barack Obama.

If you are a student of Bible prophecy, of course, you saw this coming. As Joel Hilliker wrote 12 months ago, “We can expect events swiftly to expose the fact that no mortal man—even one assuming the highest office in the world’s most powerful country—could ever fulfill the hope that people have invested in this individual.”

Still, it’s sobering to watch how fast these prophetic events are unfolding. •

DR. JAMES D. MANNING

Obama Is A Muslim

Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 in Featured Videos

Hon. James David Manning says Obama is a Muslim. Recorded on Tuesday, 5 January 2010. Follow us on twitter http://www.twitter.com/atlahworldwide Connect with us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/ATLAHWorldwide/150345810898

AMERICA HAS BEEN SOLD OUT FROM WITHIN

Ron FraserColumnist

America, Interpol and the EU

January 11, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com

The White House signs away its internal security to the EU.

There has been quite a hue and cry recently about Executive Order 12425 signed by the U.S. president on Dec. 16, 2009.

The following is the text of that executive order as it appears on the White House website:

executive order amending executive order 12425 designating interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities

By the authority vested in me as president by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including Section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (interpol), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2-c, Section 3, Section 4, Section 5 and Section 6 of that act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

Just what does this mean to the average citizen of the United States?

To answer that question, we need a little history about Interpol.

In 1923, Dr. Johannes Schober, president of the Vienna police, established the International Police Commission (ipc). Within four years, at a conference in Berlin, member countries of the ipc adopted a German idea to establish National Central Bureaus of investigation (ncbs) in addition to establishing centralized police records registries.

In 1938, the Nazis seized control of the ipc, relocating its headquarters to Berlin, and maintained control of European policing till the end of World War ii.

Following the war, Interpol, based on the same German model of the ncbs, was established in Paris, becoming an autonomous body in 1956. In 1989 it moved to new headquarters in Lyon in France, just before the Berlin Wall fell.

Throughout the 1990s, Interpol upgraded its systems to adapt to the latest technological improvements in data search, maintenance and sharing between various Sub-Regional Bureaus, launching its first website in 1997.

In 2003, a Command and Control Center was established coordinating the operations of Interpol’s 187 member countries. By 2004, a liaison office was established at the United Nations staffed by a special representative and in 2008, a special representative appointed to the EU in Brussels.

The real concern here is the degree to which Interpol is becoming associated with the global security initiatives of the European Union, itself a very German idea, closely associated with the old Nazi vision of centralized government in Europe.

An Interpol media release in 2008 stated: “The concept of strategic global partnerships is central to Interpol’s future mission as enshrined in its Global Security Initiative (gsi), with the organization having entered into a variety of partnerships with the European Union, United Nations and the private sector” (Nov. 4, 2008).

So just what is this EU Global Security Initiative? According to Interpol’s website, it is “the strategic vision that will guide Interpol’s development and its support for global policing.”

That may seem a worthy goal. However, when matched with another even greater initiative of the EU, the EU’s Program for Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (gmes), the closer cooperation between Interpol and the EU raises significant red flags in the minds of those who truly understand the direction that EU elites are taking in their imperial quest for global rule. It is the same strategic vision that those old German national socialists held back in the 1930s!

gmes is a powerful semi-space project being developed by the EU for the total strategic surveillance of the whole globe. Its potential to override and excel any equivalent initiatives developed by opposing powers in the race for global hegemony, in the wake of America’s decline, is staggering.

Integrating observation of the planet by both satellites and ground-based technology, the gmes project is being sold under the deceit of its being mainly for use in environmental control. As described by the European Parliament’s Directorate General for Internal Policies, all of the conceivable applications of the project “can be classified under the topics of atmospherics, marine, land, security and emergency.” Though an EU-conceived, -developed and -funded initiative with EU strategic goals in mind, the scope of its applications is “not restricted to the European area”; rather they are “worldwide.”

Of real concern as to the surveillance power of gmes and its potential strategic use by imperialist EU elites is the Directorate’s declaration that “gmes can be the appropriate strategic tool to support Europe on geopolitical issues through unified earth observation. gmes has strategic importance due to the EU’s role as a global actor … and makes an important contribution to the EU’s civil security [police] needs” (emphasis mine throughout).

Though couched in terms that would appeal to global warmists, carbon traders and old-fashioned greenies, the essence of this document is in the recurring military and “civil security” themes that thread their way through its verbiage. “Emergency response” (read Rapid Reaction Force), “land monitoring,” “Marine services,” “external border surveillance,” “crisis prevention”—all phrases used in the Directorate’s description of the gmes project—can all too readily connote military, in addition to police usage, especially in terms of the EU’s emerging role in global defense and security.

Already well advanced, though given little publicity (in particular within Anglo-Saxon countries), the gmes project will engage in the rapid deployment of a series of space satellites over the next five years. Already deployed in 2007 was the Metop satellite, to be followed by EU-based space initiatives deploying the Pleaides satellite in 2010-11, the Jason 3 and the system of three satellites termed the Radarstat Constellation in 2012-15, and the five-satellite system “Sonic” over the same period. The whole program is EU conceived, developed, funded and controlled, the major contributor being Germany with a €1.15 billion commitment so far to the deal. And there’s more.

The gmes program is designed to dovetail with the EU’s Galileo project which will eventually send 30 satellites into circular orbit at an altitude of 23,000 km above Earth. A global space-based location identification system, Galileo is planned to be superior to both the U.S.-based gps and Russian Glonass systems.

The newly ratified Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution grants control of the entire global surveillance system jointly to the European Parliament and European Commission. Prime end users will be EU global police and peacekeeping missions.

Apart from the above danger signals to those who fear the “big brother is constantly watching you” potential of such a powerful system of global surveillance and intelligence gathering, perhaps of deepest concern to keenly concerned watchers of this European imperial power is the European Parliament Directorate’s indication that: “Civil and defense applications increasingly draw from the same technological base, and there is an increasing overlap of functions and capabilities required for military and non-military [police] security purposes which often allows for the use of the same technology for the development of both security and defense applications. … The decision whether global positioning or Earth observation systems … are to be used for security or defense purposes is primarily political in character, not technological.” That simply puts EU elites in charge! The problem here is that too many of those elites are tainted with the same imperial vision of their old Nazi mentors, as many an intelligent observer both within and outside of Germany has noted.

The point is that, by virtue of the fact that the EU-based Interpol is to become a prime end user of this surveillance technology, what the White House has now permitted, through this latest executive order, is the completely unchecked usage of gmes and Galileo by the EU via Interpol to extract intelligence of strategic value to the imperialist European Union, destined to be used to counter American power!

Next to the U.S. signing up a year ago to the regulation of its economy by the EU-controlled Financial Stability Board, this has to be one of the most significant foreign-policy blunders of America’s current administration. It literally permits the EU to spy on the U.S. unfettered by any control from its government. Newt Gingrich “accused the administration of ‘very quietly’ signing an executive order that removes ‘all American constraints’ from the international police force Interpol.

“‘Freedom of information acts don’t apply,’ he said. ‘All the constraints that you as a citizen could use against an American police force, based on a recent Obama-signed executive order, give Interpol—which has relationships with Syria, Libya, with Iran—it gives them all sorts of extra legality in the United States in a way that has never, ever before been offered to Interpol’” (Politico.com, January 5).

When one truly understands what is at play here, shades of Europe’s medieval inquisition, with a high-tech, space-age touch loom large on the horizon, let alone what happened when Interpol’s predecessor was taken over by the Nazis!

Sound extreme?

Well, only to those ignorant of the real power behind this European empire which, as our editor in chief announced on our Key of David television program over a month ago, is none other than the seventh and the final resurrection of an ancient police state, the “Holy” Roman Empire!

You need to read our February edition of the Trumpet magazine to fully grasp what is afoot and just what is at stake in the wake of the appearance, yet one final time, of this old, and brutish empire that has shed more blood throughout its long and cruel history than any other politico-religious entity on Earth!

Yet, to those truly attuned to this final resurrection of this old church-state combine, its arrival on the world scene is a great harbinger of hope! For it is perhaps the greatest of signs at the moment that the long-awaited and expected coming of the Messiah, the only true peacemaker, is just about here! •

EGYPT AND IRAN ALLIANCE

A Nightmare Alliance

January 7, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com

The warming Iran-Egypt relationship could become Israel’s greatest security threat.

For much of their history, the ancient Israelites were a friendless and despised people with more foes than friends. Among their enemies were the Philistines, a people fearsome in demeanor, brutal in war and equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry.

For 400 years the Philistines were the archenemy and number-one security threat to Israel. But it wasn’t the size of their army, their iron swords and chariots or their penchant for conflict that gave the Philistines the advantage. That was largely a function of their geographic situation.

In the northern and eastern parts of Israel, the land was mountainous and covered with thick forests, giving the Hebrews a rugged buffer and geographic strong point against encroaching enemies. The Mediterranean sat to the west. Geographically, it was on the open, undulating plains of their southern underbelly that the Israelites were most disadvantaged and vulnerable.

More than 3,000 years later, this geographic reality—and the strategic equation it imposes—has barely changed. The national security of the Jewish state depends largely on the entity that controls and dominates the southern Levant and eastern Mediterranean.

Stratfor founder Dr. George Friedman acknowledged this reality in 2007 in the context of Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip. “The only thing that could threaten the survival of Israel, apart from a nuclear barrage, would be a shift in position of neighboring states,” he wrote. “The single most important neighbor Israel has is Egypt” (June 19, 2007; emphasis mine throughout).

In modern times, Israel’s existence was especially precarious during the 1950s and early 1960s, when Egypt, under President Gamal Abdul Nasser, was at the vanguard of Arab hostility toward the Jewish state. This suddenly and miraculously changed in the late 1970s, when President Anwar Sadat reversed Nasser’s anti-Israel policy with the Camp David Accords and formed a “peace” treaty with Israel.

Since then, Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt has been the backbone of the national security equation of the Jewish state.

One reason for Cairo’s comparatively warm overtures toward Israel over the past 30 years has been its political and ideological divorce from Iran. This occurred after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and was sealed by the Iranian-orchestrated assassination of President Sadat in 1981. Naturally the disintegration of ties between Cairo and Tehran, and Egypt’s realignment with Israel, worked in Israel’s favor. In fact, Egypt’s antipathy toward Iran has been a pillar of Israel’s national security and a tremendous source of national confidence. The assurance that Egyptian-Iranian relations were non-existent enabled Israeli security officials to sleep at night.

But as the Trumpet has been reporting for some years now, those peaceful dreams are being replaced with a horrifying new reality: A major geopolitical realignment appears to be unfolding between Iran and Egypt. These countries are edging toward resuming a full-blown friendship.

On December 20, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sat down for a rare two-hour, face-to-face talk with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. Larijani had broken the ice with Mubarak on an earlier trip in December 2007, and flew to Cairo last month to represent Tehran at a committee meeting for member states of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

During his short visit—which Egyptian sources revealed was an attempt by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to end tensions between Iran and Egypt—Larijani also conducted talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Fathi Surur and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. “The message is offering a new Iranian approach to resolve outstanding issues,” an anonymous source inside the Egyptian government told the Los Angeles Times.

In what few considered a coincidence, Egypt’s president, who rarely travels because of his poor health, departed the day after his meeting with Larijani for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. In meetings with fellow Arab heads of state, Mubarak reportedly placed Arab-Iranian relations at the top of the list of discussion items.

Upon returning to Tehran, Larijani made a statement that ought to alarm every Israeli. Egypt and Iran do not differ in strategies regarding Israel, he said. “There may be differing views in tactics [over Israel] between Iran and Egypt but the strategies of the two countries are not different.” Larijani, who is also a top aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the strategy Iran is now pursuing aims to rally all of the Muslim world behind the Palestinians in a campaign against Israeli occupation. He also said Israel is upset by the growing cooperation between Egypt and Iran.

Meanwhile, in Israel, very few appear to be taking seriously the ramifications of an Iranian-Egyptian rapprochement. Caroline Glick ranks among the few: “For years Egypt has been the most outspoken Arab opponent of Iran’s moves towards regional hegemony. … Yet on Sunday, Mubarak hosted Ali Larijani, Iran’s former nuclear boss and current speaker of Iran’s parliament in Cairo. Following their meeting Mubarak traveled to the Persian Gulf for consultations on Iran’s nuclear program. Given Mubarak’s poor health, the fact that his meetings with Larijani sent him flying to Saudi Arabia indicate that something of major importance has just occurred.”

Very soon, it will become clear that a major new alliance is emerging in the Middle East. “The possibility of some sort of reconciliation between Iran and Egypt has substantial implications. … An opening between Egypt and Iran changes the entire dynamic of the Islamic world. Until recently, Egypt has played an extremely quiet role. If it opens ties with Iran, it is certainly a signal that it is prepared to play a more active, important and unpredictable role” (Stratfor, Jan. 2, 2008).

Consider that: Egypt as a “more active, important and unpredictable” player stands to revolutionize Middle Eastern politics!

Stratfor continued: “Egypt and Iran gain by flirting with each other. However, the United States and Israel do not want to see any sort of reconciliation between the two …. Iran, meanwhile, knows that Egypt will use the opening to extract concessions [from the U.S. and Israel]. Assuming that Egypt gets what it wants—which is likely to happen—what are the Iranians expecting as a reward for shilling for Egypt?” Glance at a map of the Middle East, or take a moment to consider the Philistines’ geographic position in relation to the Israelites.

By forging better relations with Egypt, Iran gains a much stronger presence at what is, geographically, Israel’s most vulnerable point!

For nearly 20 years, we have forecast that the moderate government in Cairo will be replaced by hardcore Islamists who will quickly align Egypt with the anti-Israel, radical Islamic administration in Tehran. Our editor in chief first said this in the November/December 1990 Trumpet, after the assassination of Egypt’s speaker of parliament: “Egypt’s President Mubarak could [also] be assassinated …. This could radically change Egyptian politics ….” Mr. Flurry went on to explore the prophecy in Daniel 11, which states that Egypt will be destroyed along with the king of the south by the king of the north. Why is Egypt also destroyed? he asked: “Is it because Egypt is somewhat allied with the king of the south …?”

By July 1993, Mr. Flurry’s prophecy for Egypt had grown even clearer: “Islamic extremism is gaining power at a frightening pace in Egypt. … This verse [Daniel 11:42] indicates Egypt will be allied with the king of the south. … I believe this prophecy in Daniel 11:42 indicates you are about to see a radical change in Egyptian politics!”

When we first wrote about Egypt, reality didn’t seem to back our forecast. During the early 1990s, Cairo and Tehran were barely on speaking terms. Egypt was the most moderate Arab state in the Mideast and widely considered to be America’s and Israel’s firmest ally in the region. Iran was an unfriendly Islamic theocracy. But as the years passed, events validated our forecast. During elections in December 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in Egypt’s parliament, a six-fold increase over the previous election. Although that was fewer than a quarter of the parliament’s seats, the Brotherhood’s success exposed radical Islam’s growing influence and popularity.

Since then, radical Islam’s footprint has grown even more definitive. In the lead-up to Egypt’s 2008 election, Mubarak’s government became so concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood’s popularity that it brutally suppressed the Brotherhood’s potential candidates, resulting in the Muslim Brotherhood boycotting the election.

Increasingly, however, Mubarak is conceding to the Islamic shift in the country—and in the region.

Iran has begun to court Egypt, cautiously and steadily—yet successfully enough that it now appears Egypt’s “moderate” leadership is prepared to take the relationship to the next level. Watch for this relationship to grow stronger—setting the stage for a far stronger alliance likely to be cemented under a more radical Egyptian government in the future.

The result is sure to produce some nightmares for Israel. •

"PRAVDA"

From a Russian Newspaper -

The irony of this article appearing in the English edition of Pravda (Russian newspaper) defies description. Why can a Russian newspaper print the following yet the American media can't/won't see it?

American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper

October 1, 2009

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years... The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America .

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America 's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, losses, and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties, and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more than a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motors) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self-given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK 's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "free man" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance, and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Frank, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort.. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible.. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud Americanwill go down into his slaverywithout a fight, beating his chest, and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is.. The world will only snicker.

"RUSSIA"

Robert MorleyColumnist

How Russia Is About to Dramatically Change the World

January 5, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com

In a remote corner of the world, a port bristles with cranes, smokestacks, mammoth ships—and trouble for Europe.

Over the next few days, Russia will change the world. It has completed a new oil pipeline and port complex that sets Russia up to become a more powerful oil exporter than Saudi Arabia. The ramifications for Europe and Asia are profound: The shape of the global economy—and the global balance of power—will be altered forever.

December 28 was a big day of ceremony in Russia. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pushed a button that transformed global oil dynamics—especially for Asia and Europe. The button released thousands of barrels of Siberian crude into a waiting Russian supertanker and heralded the opening of Russia’s first modern Pacific-based oil export facilities.

The multibillion-dollar, state-of-the-art oil terminal was a “great New Year present for Russia,” Putin said during the inauguration. The strategic terminal, located in the city of Kozmino on the coast of the Sea of Japan, is one of the “biggest projects in contemporary Russia” he said, not only in “modern Russia, but the former Soviet Union too.”

Putin has every right to be enthusiastic about his new port. Kozmino will unlock a two-way gate through which Russia’s vast Siberian oilfields will gush into Asia’s energy-hungry economies—and Chinese, Korean and Japanese currency will flow into Russia.

If just the seven ships currently waiting to berth are all filled during January, the port of Kozmino will instantly become Russia’s third-most important oil outlet.

According to Reuters, the first oil transport loads on January 15. In a symbolic move highlighting Russia’s warming relationship with China, Hong Kong will receive the first shipment.

After that, Kozmino’s importance will exponentially grow over the next year. Currently, all Siberian oil shipments into Kozmino are delivered by train—but that will soon change. Phase one of the East Siberian-Pacific Ocean Pipeline (espo) was also completed during December. Phase two will soon connect the Siberian fields directly to the new port. When phase two is finished in 2012, total exports could jump from the current rate of 250,000 barrels per day to over 1 million. Kozmino will transform into one of the largest oil centers in the world—capable of handling 16 percent of total Russian oil exports. It will be one of the most strategic geopolitical assets in Russia’s arsenal.

Russia pumped more than 10 million barrels of oil per day during November. With Saudi Arabian production falling, Russia is now the world’s largest oil exporter. Toss in Russia’s natural gas exports, and Russia is the biggest energy superpower in the world, by far. That does not even count Russia’s massive uranium resources and nuclear expertise.

But here is why the new port in Kozmino could radically affect the future of both Asia and Europe. For over a century, Russia’s entire energy infrastructure has focused mainly on supplying Europe. That has now changed forever!

The first and now-complete phase of the espo pipeline, which connects Russia’s Siberian oil fields to China, is already destabilizing global oil dynamics and shifting them in Russia’s direction. “espo is what political strategists might call a ‘game-changer,’” writes the Telegraph. “It means that Russia will be able to send its oil either east or west—so it can drive a harder bargain when selling crude to Europe” (emphasis mine throughout).

Previously, when Russia has had pricing disputes with Europe, Moscow had to play the embargo card with an obvious bluff. It had no other alternative outlet for its oil. Without the Europeans, its oil would sit in Samotlor and Tyanskoye, costing money instead of making it. But now Moscow can turn off the tap to Europe and still pump in the profits by opening the pipe wide to its energy-hungry Asian partners.

But Russia’s stranglehold on Europe is about to get even tighter—much tighter. By 2012, the espo pipeline will be twinned with a pipeline for natural gas exports so Russian gas supplies can also flow east instead of west if necessary.

This development is truly scary to Europeans.

Moscow has already demonstrated that it isn’t afraid to turn off Europe’s energy supplies when it feels it needs to. In the middle of winter 2006, Russia shut off gas supplies to Germany, and several other countries, in order to punish Ukraine. Since then, it has repeatedly used the same method to strong-arm its former Eastern European satellites back into accepting Russian dominance.

The message is clear: Russian oil and gas supplies are a weapon to be used—or not used—to freeze opponents into submission.

Europe, in a tenuous relationship with Russia to begin with, desperately needs to secure another source of energy. Only one other region in the world can supply the energy to warm and lubricate modern Europe’s homes and industries: the Middle East. Countries like Germany, which imports 90 percent of its oil, are now much more dependent on one of the most volatile regions of the world for power supplies.

It is inevitable that Berlin will seek to expand its ties with oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council members: the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and especially Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest petroleum producer. Europe has no choice but to become much more intimately involved with the affairs of the Middle East—a region from which 40 percent of its oil is currently derived.

It is therefore no surprise that Germany, the most dominant nation in Europe, has made sure it has troops on the ground surrounding this Middle Eastern “golden triangle” of energy production (Gulf Cooperation Council members plus Iran and Iraq). On the seas, the European Union’s naval presence is growing too. The European anti-piracy task force operates in both the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden. Forty percent of the world’s ocean-borne oil is shipped through the Gulf of Oman.

Europe is critically dependent on imported oil. And Germany knows it must have a strong presence in the world’s most oil-rich region if it is to secure its flow and the country’s future.

The Bible predicts that a major military clash will soon occur in the Middle East—specifically between a European power, led by Germany, and radical Islam, led by Iran.

Daniel 11:40-45 indicate that Iran will continue to push at this European power until it finally responds in “whirlwind,” blitzkrieg-type fashion. As we have explained for almost 20 years—and has been borne out repeatedly in real-world events—the “king of the south” spoken of in these verses is radical Islam under the leadership of Iran. And as Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has written, a big part of Iran’s push against Europe will involve oil.

The Middle East is a powder keg that could explode at any time. Syria dominates Lebanon and is stirring up trouble there. Iran is about to create a nuclear weapon and has said it wants to wipe Israel off the map. It is test firing missiles that can strike European capitals. Israel knows that the window to prevent Iran from getting the bomb is closing. Hamas is preparing to violently take East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital. Israel is about to release 1,000 terrorists back onto the streets in return for one captured Israeli soldier.

And to top it off, the world is in the midst of its worst depression since the 1930s. Oil prices remain above $70 per barrel, and the International Energy Agency has indicated that world oil production will now peak in 2020—10 years sooner than prior estimates. Some analysts think the world has already reached peak oil production.

In this climate of global instability, Russia’s recent moves on the world’s oil stage will be amplified in dramatic fashion. By unlocking Siberia’s energy reserves, Russia is simultaneously binding Asia together and lighting a fire under Europe. Watch for the development of an Asian alliance between Russia, China and Japan. And watch for Europe’s next moves toward the Middle East. •