Up to now, except of the Dry Bones thing, it’s all been peace and roses. Well, there’s difficulty in the details. Just remember that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are bringing Israel to the point where THIS happens:

Ezekiel 36:31 Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

When all hope seems lost, God will reach down and save Israel, showing that He exists and loves His people, prompting introspection and soul searching.

And, revival.

I know that those of you who are Jewish will consider this to be farfetched and outlandish. But, walk with me a bit here. Let’s see how outlandish it really is.

Let’s begin.

Ezekiel 38

1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

4 and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

6 Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee.

Whoa. THAT is a long sentence. But, it does do the job well of getting the list of bad guys out in one go.

I’ve talked in various places about Gog and Magog, so regular readers will understand that Gog and Magog is something like Russia and her client states.

Could Gog be… Moscow? Vladimir Putin? Something larger than that?

Or… Could Gog and Magog be the CSTO, the Russian version of NATO? That’s right, these people:

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. On 7 October 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a charter in Tashkent founding the CSTO.

Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO; and its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek parliament on 28 March 2008. The CSTO is currently an observer organisation at the United Nations General Assembly.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states,[citation needed] while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organisation cooperation. The largest-scale CSTO military exercise held to date were the “Rubezh 2008″ exercises hosted in Armenia where a combined total of 4,000 troops from all 7 constituent CSTO member countries conducted operative, strategic, and tactical training with an emphasis towards furthering efficiency of the collective security element of the CSTO partnership. A 2011 series of training exercises has recently been held in central Asia consisting of “more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft”.

Read the rest of the Wikipedia entry here.

Could Gog and Magog be the CSTO?

Notice that all the members of the CSTO are former Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs), but not all the SSRs are members of the CSTO. Here’s a list of the SSRs:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Who has escaped the clutches of the CSTO?

Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Ukraine

Which of these are Meshech and Tubal?

Rosh, believe it or not, is the Ukraine – what was once known as “The Land of Rus” or Kievan Rus.

Georgia is busily rushing into the arms of NATO, while Vladimir Putin is attempt to pull all the SSRs back into something called the Eurasia Union (EuU).

By the way. In Israel, you tend to pronounce acronyms. EuU is not a pleasant sounding acronym.

Just sayin’.

So, if this prophecy delays long enough, maybe it’s the EWWW… er… EuU that is Gog and Magog.

All of the above basically means that elements of the USSR plus extras come down.

Who are these extras?

Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal – Rosh is the Ukraine. Meshech and Tubal sound like they could be other SSRs.

Persia, Cush, and Put – Cush is Africa, and Put looks like North Africa. Persia is Iran. Did you know that there are moves being made to bring Iran into the CSTO?

Gomer and Togarmah – Turkey and… someone else?

It’s getting pretty crowded in there, so I’m not sure that it quite matters who is who. There are a limited number of candidates for Gog and Magog. There are a limited number of candidates for the rest.

All that we REALLY need to know is that they make up a vast army and try to descend on Israel – and that we see evidence that this army is beginning to form (via the CSTO).

Let’s continue.

7 Be thou prepared, yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

Hmmm… Gog is a ‘guard’.

Maybe they’re able to block the UN Security Council? Or, maybe they just wave their nuclear weapons at them.

Russia certainly can, which would certainly act in defense of the CSTO and/or the EuU.

8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.

Notice the language here. It connects with chapter 36:

gathered out of many peoples

Ezekiel 36:34 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste

Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about;

they shall dwell securely

Ezekiel 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

I don’t want to be too dogmatic here. I think that it’s enough to see the pattern.

9 And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee.

The description of Gog and Magog includes the description of what they will do. And, that description stops here. We go on to the Hows and Whys

10 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device:

11 and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;

12 to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn thy hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the middle of the earth.

What is the motivation for coming down?

Greed for plunder.

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?

The other nations of the world hang back in shock and dismay, but do nothing – except a bit of whining.

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In that day when my people Israel dwelleth securely, shalt thou not know it?

Ah. Here’s a tricky bit.

How do we define securely here?

Seriously. How many threats do you need to lose that characteristic attributed here?

You can make an excellent case for the idea that Israel is secure right now. The only thing that really threatens Israel is Iran, and right now, they aren’t a threat. (They WILL be when they get nuclear weapons, but at this moment… I think that ‘securely’ is a good way of describing Israel right now.

15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost parts of the north, thou, and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army;

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

God is going to bring this vast army down so that God can demonstrate who He is.

17 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Art thou he of whom I spake in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, that prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring thee against them?

Is this verse referring to itself?

Interesting.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils.

Gog will come down, and then…

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 birds of the heavens, 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.

There will be a titanic earthquake and EVERYTHING will fall down. EVERYTHING.

When you see a huge army come down that looks sorta like what we’re talking about… when you see them start to get close…

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

STAY out of the house.

Go camping.

EVERYTHING standing is going to fall down. EVERYTHING.

(at least everything in the vicinity of this army)

21 And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

And, this army actually makes it to mountains that are a part of Israel. They get stuck and start killing each other.

22 And with pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Those last three words tell me that Gog doesn’t make it past the Golan Heights. In fact, I would venture to say that they are STUCK on the Golan Heights. (It’s certainly a great place for an army to regroup on. You’ll see why, tomorrow.)

The Golan is chock full of dormant volcanoes. Not so the Jerusalem mountain range. If you walk around the Golan and places nearby, you’ll see lots of dark, volcanic rock, and many of the older buildings would have been made with it.

The Golan is going to blow up, and take this massive army with it.

23 And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

In the process of all this… because it will happen in the exact way that the Lord describes here… God will be glorified.

And, I’ll win my bet with my Jewish friends over the identity of the Messiah.

Please remember that I want bacon on that cheeseburger, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, in Ezekiel 36-39, we have four chapters of prophecy that describe potentially horrific events leading to an awesome outcome for Israel. One key element of those horrific events is the coming of a great army lead by a people the bible refers to as Gog.

In Hebrew, the word gog (gimmel vav gimmel) is the word for top. For instance, the top floor of a building is the komat gog. But, can we really say that this Gog in Ezekiel is a description?

There certainly isn’t any reference to a person/people named Gog, anywhere else except the book of Revelation… Well, there is this reference here, but that’s the son of someone obscure, right around the time of the kings of Israel. Gog ben Yoel cannot, in my mind, be the father of this ‘people of Gog’. And, there is a Magog in Genesis who was the son of Japeth (Yaphet), one of the three sons of Noah.

But, that’s the last that we hear of them, until we get to Ezekiel and Revelation. But, did you notice where all these sons of Japeth went?

They went North. To the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Europe.

What coalition do we see being put together that has had a history of enmity with Israel and the West?

Yeah, those guys. Russia. In the North.

Whether or not you think that Russia is this Gog, it does appear that our favorite KGB apparatchik, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, is intent on rebuilding a Soviet Union, version 2.0. And, he won’t have an Eastern Europe for allies. Where is he going to look to bolster this burgeoning empire of his?

South.

Specifically the central Asian republics like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. All the ‘stans’ that either yearn for the halcyon days of the Soviet empire, or are just nervous about China, and want someone to keep that dragon away from their doorstep. And, if you keep running south, you also run straight into…

Persia (Iran)

That’s right, one of the members of that big coalition that gets destroyed when it attacks Israel. You can find it here:

Ezekiel 38

 ¹ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

 ² Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

 ³ and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

 ⁴ and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

 ⁵ Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

 ⁶ Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee.

Of course, this Eurasian Union will probably also see Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey. Who knows? Maybe we’ll also see Afghanistan and Pakistan join.

What you don’t see are the Arabs, which I suspect would be a case of once burned – twice shy. They’ve had a deal with the Russians before, and it didn’t go well.

Anyway, a batch of prophecy-fulfilled is brewing in Moscow, and you can say that you saw it here:

Russia’s Putin says wants to build “Eurasian Union”

Vladimir Putin is trying to take Russia back in time

Putin calls for ‘Eurasian Union’ of ex-Soviet republics

Putin’s ‘Eurasian Union’ admired and decried

Putin’s Eurasian Union: Soviet Revival or Potential EU Competitor?

Kazakhstan welcomes Putin’s Eurasian Union concept

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Proposes ‘Eurasian Union’

Back to the USSR? Putin raises fears of return to Cold War days with plans for ‘Eurasian Union’ of former Soviet states

Putin calls for new ‘Eurasian Union’

And, let’s not forget:

The Cold War Returns?

The Soviet Union Rises Again

It’s enough to chill you to the bones.

You know how cats are… they hide in shadows and ambush you when your guard is down. Then, when you’re trying to take a snooze, they’ll sidle up to you, squeeze into any space you’ve left open, and play with your tail. And, that’s before the little beast decides to use your nose as a scratching post.

Pretty soon you’re jumping out of your skin at every shadow and sent outside because you bark too much. (And, the cat just grins at you as she cleans her whiskers.)

So yeah, I feel like that. The dog.

Why?

Because I keep getting ambushed by bits of information that shouldn’t surprise me, but do anyway. Like Iran cozying up to Russia. That shouldn’t shock me when I see it. (After all, it’s what I said would happen.) But, it was supposed to remain a THEORY. I didn’t actually want any of it to happen.

What got me started this time was an email from Joel Rosenberg about Iran’s involvement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Shanghai what?

I looked it up. It’s China and Russia together with some Central Asian states.

Oh, that.

The SCO must be a frustrating place to be, since getting China and Russia to agree on anything must be like herding cats. (And, you know how the family dog feels about cats.)

But, that got me to thinking about the organization that took over from the Warsaw Pact, also known as the Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance (don’t you just love Russian?). What was that organization that took over from them?

Ah yes, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). It’s basically Russia, Armenia, Belarus and the Stans (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). The CSTO has tried to be the counter-balance to NATO, but they just can’t make it happen, which is why we have the aforementioned SCO.

What got me to start digging was that, while having elements of Gog and Magog as described in Ezekial 38-39, the SCO could not be Gog and Magog ‘cuz China’s in there. I don’t see China anywhere in Gog and Magog. But, the CSTO is a different kettle of fish.

So, how is the relationship between Iran and the CSTO?

I did some digging a couple nights ago, and what I found had me yapping and chasing my tail.

Iran and Russia really have been trying to find ways to cozy up to each other. Really.

I was dumbfounded. Worse, I was yipping and yapping and dumbfounded. Completely spooked, I was.

It’s almost as if the Russians had read the book of Ezekiel and said to themselves, “You know, comrades, this could really be a good idea!”

The only thing that really seems to be keeping it from happening is this ever-so-slight Western tilt that the Russians currently seem to have. They don’t want to alienate the West too much, so they’ve kept the Iranians on as observers, rather than full members of the CSTO.

But, if that ‘Western tilt’ should disappear, Iran would quickly become the newest member of the organization. All that it would take for this ‘Western tilt’ to go away would be either a collapse of NATO as a military threat, the collapse of the West as an economic partner, or a power shift away from the Putin-Medvedev axis to something more classically Russian – or, all three.

The point is that Iran is chillingly close to Russia, and Russia is always just chilling, period.

Here’s that Joel Rosenberg article: Russian and Iranian Leaders Meet for Summit in Central Asia: Echoes of Ezekiel 38-39 coalition

While you’re at it, read also the four chapters of Ezekiel 36-39. As you read from 36 to 39, think of how the description progresses from the general to the specific. The first two chapters tell us that it all works out, but 38 and 39? A really rough ride for everyone, ESPECIALLY those who live outside of Israel:

Ezekiel 39:6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

How could he possibly do that without the help of thermonuclear bombs in the multi-megaton range? We also call them hydrogen bombs, or H-bombs, and they are beyond his capability to make. And, I can’t believe that Russia would let him have any.

However, I was given the idea of a decapitation strike by WorldNet Daily. They talked about using Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). This EMP strike would only require a few medium-yield nuclear warheads and only a few medium range missiles – and every unshielded electronic element/device/thingy in the Western world would be toast.

I originally thought that the whole idea was just shrill blather, until I did my research. It’s not shrill, and it’s not blather. It’s just really, really awful.

Let me play out a scenario that I’ve been thinking about. The first bit (up to today), except one, has already been documented as happening. (And the one bit, is a pretty reasonable assumption.)

Let’s get started.

———————————-

Doomsday

June, 1989. Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani goes to Moscow and signs an agreement to procure advanced Soviet weapons.

1990. American successes in the Persian Gulf prompt the Soviets to create a closer, more intimate relationship with Iran.

Early winter, 1998. In Russia, the dramatic fall of the Soviet Union and the crash of the ruble has impoverished the guards of the Krasnoarmeyskoye nuclear weapons depot. Special Pasdaran operatives of the Quds Force of Iran bribe the guards to allow a truck in and out of the depot. (It’s only that LAST sentence that we aren’t sure about.)

Spring, 1999. Russian nuclear weapons scientists and specialists struggling to survive on meager salaries are offered generous compensation by Iran to do research and development.

January, 2004. A.Q. Khan, father of the Pakistani Atom Bomb, admits to transferring nuclear weapons material to Iran.

2004. The mayor of Tehran, the capital of Iran, secretly instructs the city council to construct a broad avenue for the coming of the Mahdi. The mayor’s name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

February, 2005. Russia signs agreement with Iranians to supply fuel rods to Iranian nuclear reactors at Bushehr.

August, 2005. Engineer, Revolutionary Guards commander, and the founder of the Quds Force, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is elected as President of Iran – on a platform of poverty relief and the destruction of the US and Israel.

October, 2005. Ahmadinejad proclaims that Israel must be wiped off the map.

2006. Ahmadinejad is known to be secretly meeting with the Mahdi (Islamic Messiah). Islamic prophecies surface that the destruction of Israel will hasten the coming of the Mahdi. (In fact, are necessary.)

Late Summer, 2007. Troop surge by US forces succeeds in limiting effectiveness of insurgents but does not result in real political change.

—– this is where we start the ‘what-if’ —– 

2008. Nervous about America’s growing influence in the Middle East and the EU’s closer ties to the Ukraine, Russia strengthens ties with Iran.

Summer, 2008. The US economy descends into a shallow-dip recession.

Fall, 2008. A Democrat President is elected on a platform of jobs and ‘bringing the troops home’.

Spring, 2009. The US begins force reduction and starts repositioning forces towards Baghdad.

Summer, 2009. Russia and Iran hold their first joint military exercises along with other CIS states – Turkmenistan, Khazakstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. Turkey attends as an observer.

Fall, 2009. Nervous about Turkey’s growing Islamism and slow progress on democratic reform, Germany and France finally succeed in convincing the EU to freeze accession talks. Upset over the insult to national pride, the Turkish government asks the EU delegation to leave and recalls its ambassadors from European capitals for ’consultation’. They don’t return.

Winter, 2009. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Turkey and Iran announce new cooperative agreements in trade. Turkey announces that it has withdrawn from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Spring, 2010. Turkey and Iran join a newly rejuvenated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as associate members. Russian advisors start appearing among the staff of Iranian and Turkish generals.

Summer, 2011. CIS Military exercises include units from Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Syria and Libya. Western observers begin expressing nervousness over the growing military power of CIS forces.

February, 2012. The Russian president travels to Ankara for anticipated talks. Both Russia and Turkey announce that Turkey will be hosting the largest military maneuvers since World War II.

March, 2012. Late at night, off the deserted coast of Louisiana, three rubber boats race away from a Panamanian freighter, pounding through five foot waves. Rain lashes at the muffled figures in the heaving boats. As they land, men jump out and wrestle several heavy packages to the sand. They send a sequence of flashes to the ship. They deflate their boats and bury them.

May, 2012. Israeli intelligence agencies report that they have detected the use of a new type of warhead for Iranian long range and intermediate range ballistic missile forces. Israeli dolphin class submarines depart Haifa enroute to the Persian Gulf.

Six Panamanian-flagged tramp freighters leave the port city of Chabahar.

June, 2012. Intelligence sources indicate that Iranian missile forces have deployed nuclear warheads with their Shahab 4 missile batteries. North American and European leaders increase diplomatic pressure on Iran. The US president proposes new sanctions and threatens the use of military force. From US armed forces command in Iraq, the Israeli requests IFF transponder codes and permission to over-fly Iraqi airspace. Their request is denied. The US State Department warns that Israeli aircraft will be shot down if they violate Iraqi airspace.

July, 2012. Concerned that Iranian forces are preparing to use nuclear weapons against Israel, the Israeli government finally okays a strike against Iranian nuclear forces.

At midnight, on July 12th, three Boeing 707 refueling aircraft disguised as commercial aircraft, of either the Egyptian or Jordanian airlines, take off at intervals of 90 minutes and enter Saudi airspace transmitting civilian transponder codes. At 2 a.m., 24 F-15I aircraft take off from Ovda airbase in the southern Negev and enter Saudi airspace flying 30 above the desert floor.

Within hours, mushroom clouds bloom over the mountains of Iran as the Israeli aircraft drop 48 precisely targeted low-yield nuclear bombs.

A large part of the Iranian arsenal and weapons production capability is destroyed – but only a large part.

A fire storm of diplomatic vilification descends upon Israel.

Iran invokes the common defense provisions of the CIS charter.

 August 15, 2012. Russian, Iranian, Turkish, African and CIS army and air force units begin assembling in Southeastern Turkey near Incirlik and Iskenderum.

The US and EU, demand that all respective governments show restraint and stand down from their aggressive posture.

The UN Security council meets, and Russia demands that Israel disarm its nuclear weapons, pay reparations, and accept a massive multinational force to oversee the disarmament. The US, still reeling from Israel’s use of nuclear weapons abstains and the motion passes. Foreign nationals are advised to leave Israel.

Congress begins debating resolutions requiring the US President to intervene. No motion successfully passes.

September 19th, 2012. On Monday, at 11 a.m., a pair of service technicians wrestle an air conditioning unit onto a service elevator and punch the button for the very top floor in the Sears Tower. A library book mobile rolls down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington D.C. A heavily loaded bakery van drives past Trafalgar Square on its way towards Downing Street in London. An early morning cleaning team wrestle their extra large trash can onto a freight elevator and punch for the 73rd floor of the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles.

Five medium yield nuclear explosions take out lower Manhattan, downtown Chicago, the center of Washington D.C., the governmental center of London, and the center of Los Angeles. The upper echelon of the political, military, and civilian leadership of the US and Britain cease to exist.

Throughout the US and Europe, small groups of men set off bombs at refineries, bridges, electrical switching stations, railroad depots, and port facilities. Buildings are destroyed, and fires begin to rage. Traffic and communications are snarled, and the fires begin to grow.

As the nuclear mushroom clouds rise ever higher over the LA, New York, Chicago, Washington, and London, five Panamanian freighters lie more than 20 miles off the coasts of Japan, California, New York, Texas, and Germany. One lies in the middle of the South China Sea. A long hatch in each freighter opens revealing the elegant nose of a Shahab 4 missile. Within two minutes the missile launches, racing into the sky on a column of fire. Within moments the missiles leave the atmosphere and there are six flashes of brilliant light over each freighter.

Each flash generates a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy over all of Europe, the US, Southeast Asia, and Japan. Computer systems, switching platforms, pumping stations, power plants, hospitals, and airplanes cease to function. In fact, every advanced electrical and electronic device ceases to work. The fires started by the terrorists, begin to rage out of control as water pressure falls to zero.

As the nuclear fallout begins to rain down upon shocked and horrified onlookers, the nations of Europe, North America, and Japan come to a grinding halt – and begin to die.

Food spoils in refrigeration units. Gas stations cannot pump fuel. Refineries cannot produce the fuel that the gas stations cannot distribute. Electronically managed cars cannot start (or even stop). The planes that survive cannot fly, and those already in the air, fall out of the air.

America, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia are reduced in an instant to a 19th century existence.

Then, another missile lofts into the air from the area of southeast Turkey. It doesn’t quite leave the atmosphere and when it arrives over Israel, it’s nuclear warhead explodes creating yet another less massive Electromagnetic Pulse that takes out all unshielded electronics in Israel - which unfortunately included Arrow anti-missile batteries defending northern Israel and the bases in the south.

Several more missiles are launched from Southeast Turkey and mushroom clouds appear on the Golan, Dimona, bases in the Negev and Tel Aviv.

September 20, 2012. Using the passage of the UN Security Council resolution, the massive armed force begins advancing towards Israel. They expect to arrive at the border of Israel before September 26 – the holiest day in Judaism, Yom Kippur.

Within hours, Western Civilization has crumbled and Israel lies defenseless against one of the largest military formations ever put on the field.

I don’t know.

Russia would love to have Israel out of the way, but they really don’t hate Israel. They’re indifferent. Destroying Israel would just be business. No hard feelings.

And, don’t point the finger at Putin. He doesn’t necessarily hate Israel. He’s just doing what he thinks is best for Russian interests.

Even if it was Putin, changing the leadership of Russia probably wouldn’t do any good. Russia has no real grassroots belief in democracy. It is true that Russians like to have a say in who their leadership is, but they like strong leaders and idolize them – even if they’re scoundrels. So, the only reason for replacing Putin would be if we could guarantee that the next guy was either an idiot or someone with a better sense of moral values. Unfortunately, if you ask any Russian on the street in Moscow, or Petrograd, or even Vladivostok, you’ll find that they LOVE Putin.

Of course, Russia couldn’t be expansionist if the price of oil was lower. Russia is flush with oil profits, and they are using them to Russify their neighborhood. So, if you could lower the price of oil to the point where it was back under $17 a barrel, Russia would be stopped in her tracks.

So, sell your car and get a bike.

Right. It ain’t gonna’ happen, which means that we need to look at Iran.

Iran is a problem because there doesn’t seem to be anything (or anyone) in place to stop them. It is true that there is a home-grown insurgency that does blow up a police vehicle every once in a while. There are various student protests that sometimes succeed in making a nuisance of themselves. And, the terrible condition of the economy is causing popular discontent to rise.

Unfortunately, the anti-mullah insurgents, the student protests, and the growing popular discontent won’t make a serious impact for several years, and we don’t have several years. Iran will have the bomb soon. They will have a delivery capability soon.

The only options that can have ANY chance of success in stopping Iran’s nuclear program are either military or economic. Unfortunately, no one has the will or the means to use the military option. A ground invasion would suffer terrible casualties, and the use of nuclear weapons would be… too upsetting to those with delicate sensibilities.

So, we’re pretty much left with the economic option. However, as long as oil is running at over $17 a barrel, no economic embargo is going to work. All that the Iranians would have to do is offer a discount, and they could sell as much oil as they had to sell. The Russians would certainly be willing to buy it and resell it.

The only thing that could work would be a concerted bombing campaign against Iranian oilfields, oil terminals, and pipelines. If you turn off the source of Iran’s income, she won’t be able to pursue her nuclear program, or any other military/terrorist program.

That’s because it takes money. If you turn off the money, you turn off the threat.

So, are we going to bomb Iran’s oilfields, terminals, and pipelines?

Nope. It’s not gonna’ happen. There’s just no political will to do that.

So, we are really left with only one choice if we want to stop the Russo-Iranian juggernaut. Stop driving our cars. And, we know that this just…

Ain’t gonna’ happen.