Weekly World Watch: Russia's Military Power and NATO Preparation

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s March 10 - 16, 2019 “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” (Ezekiel 33:6, New International Version) PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE To skip the introductory slides and go straight to this weeks developments click here.

2. What is a Weekly World Watch? The idea is simple. It is to look at current events and compare them to events spoken of in the Bible. . I hope to build up a picture of God’s hand working in the affairs of this world. God is bringing about a day when all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem to battle. At that time God will send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to this earth. Jesus will then establish God’s kingdom on earth. This kingdom will last for ever. This is our hope and the reason we watch. The following six themes will appear repeatedly in WWW: • Israel: The continuing conflict in the Middle East and focus on Jerusalem. • Europe: Its developing union, both political and religious. • Russia: Its return to anti-Western ways as Bible prophecy’s “king of the north.” • The UK and the US: Bible prophecy’s “king of the south.” • Moral standards in decline and violence on the increase. • Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc WWW presentations in PowerPoint can be ordered as audio/visual CDs by clicking here. Move your mouse to place the cursor on the blue link and click.

3. BIBLE QUOTE What is in a Weekly World Watch? Each WWW looks at a few key developments that have happened during the past week. It is in no way meant to be exhaustive – just a look at those events I saw as significant from a Biblical point of view. Every WWW event slide has the following format. To reveal each block of text just left click your mouse or press the space bar. You control when it appears. News Photo This is straight from a news report that caught my eye because it looked significant from a Biblical perspective, usually that of prophecy. HEADLINE The source of the headline and the date are included. This is the reporter’s description of the event. It is always a direct quotation from the news report and reflects the understanding of the reporter and editors. EVENT This is my comment on why the event is interesting to a Bible student. The intention of the WWW is to offer brief Biblical perspectives without going into detail. If more detail is desired, please e-mail me: (andy@weeklyworldwatch.co.uk). Please note that these are personal thoughts and the aim is purely to stimulate Bible study. COMMENT This is normally one verse which backs up why the event that has occurred is interesting from a Biblical perspective. Please read in its context. Unless stated otherwise, all quotes are from the King James Version.(Book, chapter, and verse)

4. This Week’s Developments March 10 - 16, 2019 • Russia boasts about revived military power • Russia prepares for war with NATO • Turkey to begin training on Russia’s missile shield • Israel strikes after rockets fired from Gaza to Tel Aviv • Iran holds massive drone drills in Persian Gulf region • Christchurch mosque massacre: At least 49 killed To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5.  You will come from your homeland in the distant north with your vast cavalry and your mighty army, and you will attack my people Israel, covering their land like a cloud. At that time in the distant future, I will bring you against my land as everyone watches, Russian defence ministry boasts about revived military power Associated Press, March 11, 2019 The Russian military has commissioned more than 1,000 new aircraft and thousands of tanks in the past few years in a massive modernization effort amid tensions with the West, the nation’s defense minister said Monday. Sergei Shoigu boasted of the military’s achievements in his six years on the job, saying in a speech to lawmakers that the armed forces have turned into a highly mobile force capable of projecting power to distant areas. Shoigu noted that the military received more than 1,000 warplanes and combat helicopters and over 3,700 tanks in 2012-2018. He added that the armed forces have received 109 ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and 108 submarine-launched ICBMs and formed 10 brigades armed with state-of-the-art short-range Iskander missiles. Russia-West ties have plunged to their lowest levels since the Cold War times over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the war in Syria and the allegations of Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. EVENT Russia boasted this week how it has transformed itself into a major fighting machine over the past few years. Russia wants the world (the West) to know what they would be up against in a future conflict. The defence minister emphasized that the 1-million-strong military has nearly 400,000 professional enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers, a major shift for the armed forces that in the recent past relied exclusively on the draft. He said that every brigade or regiment in the Russian army now has two battalions of professional soldiers and one made up of draftees. Interesting he also focused on Russia being able to project power (force) to distant areas. The Bible says Russia will descend into Israel from the distant north… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:15-16 NLT)

6. The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. Russia prepares for war with NATO and strikes against western Europe, report reveals Newsweek, March 12, 2018 In the coming year, Russia will likely continue to launch influence operations in the West and prepare for a war with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to a new threat assessment report issued by Estonia’s foreign intelligence service. Estonia is one of three Baltic States that border Russia and have been consistently under threat from their larger neighbor. Estonia is also a NATO ally that hosts NATO troops, including forces from the United Kingdom, Denmark and France. This year’s threat assessment, an advanced copy of which was obtained by NBC News, demonstrated that Estonia’s intelligence services viewed Russia as the biggest threat to both Estonia’s security and the security of its NATO allies. “Russia continues to develop and train its armed forces for a large-scale war against NATO,” the report reads. “Even though the likelihood of a worst-case scenario is slim, surprises arranged by its authoritarian regime cannot be excluded.” EVENT There is a faultline between east and west – and that faultline is eastern Europe bordering Russia. Why does the world split into east and west? The French Revolution had 3 main mantra’s. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Liberty (freedom) spawned democracy. Equality spawned communism. They were both false promises. Democracy didn’t bring freedom. Communism didn’t bring equality. Democracy spread west. Communism spread east. Communism led to authoritarianism. Democracy led to people power and instability. Nebuchadnezzar’s image with it’s 2 legs is effectively the east / west rift. The rift is there at the time Jesus returns. The image still has 2 legs! COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 2:32-33 NLT)

7. Turkish troops to begin training on Russia’s S-400 missile shield The Time, March 13, 2019 Turkish soldiers will begin training on the S-400 missile defence system this summer as part of a $2.5 billion arms deal between Ankara and Moscow that has opened a rift at the heart of the Nato alliance. Yeni Safak, a Turkish newspaper with close ties to President Erdogan’s court, reported that 100 Turkish soldiers would soon travel to Azerbaijan where they would be trained on the S-300. Baku bought that system from Russia in 2017. They will then move to Russia in late summer to begin exercises with the S-400, and will return to Turkey in January next year. The S-400 systems are due to be delivered to Turkey in July and will become operational in October. Ankara is resisting pressure from Washington and stoking a growing row with Nato by pushing ahead with the deal. The US has warned Turkey that it will not be able to take delivery of its new F-35 fighter jets if it goes through with the S-400 purchase, since having both technologies risked intelligence and intellectual property breaches. Washington may also impose sanctions. EVENT Turkey is also on the rift line between east and west. Istanbul (ancient Constantinople) the capital of Turkey literally sits in between the 2 continents of Europe and Asia. But Turkey as a whole sits in Asia – the east. Not too long ago Turkey was onside with the west and a geopolitical partner of the US. That has all changed in just the last few years. Turkey is now increasingly allied with Russia. Which is incredible when you think that Turkey is actually a member of NATO! NATO is designed to protect the west from Russia… But now Russia is arming Turkey! In fact this week they had joint naval exercises in the Black Sea. The Bible said that Turkey would be allied to Russia. Both nations would end up invading Israel in the future. That future is almost here…. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah [Turkey] of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard [protector] unto them. This verse is almost identical to the headline above! (Ezekiel 38:6-7)

8. Israel Strikes After Rockets Are Fired From Gaza to Tel Aviv New York Times, March 14, 2019 EVENT Two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip on Thursday — the first time since 2014 that rockets had reached the area — in an attack that led to retaliatory airstrikes by Israel hours later. Israel blamed Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, for the rocket fire, but by Friday morning, the assessment of Israeli military officials, also widely reported in the Israeli media, was that Hamas operatives had launched the rockets “by mistake.” Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system detected the incoming rockets around 9 p.m. and sounded alarms that were heard across metropolitan Tel Aviv on a rainy night. No injuries or damage were reported, but residents reported hearing loud blasts and the mayor ordered bomb shelters opened. The Israeli military said it had carried out retaliatory strikes overnight against approximately 100 military sites belonging to Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip, including an underground rocket manufacturing facility and an office complex in a residential area of Gaza City that housed Hamas’s headquarters for directing activities in the West Bank. COMMENT Hamas denied firing the rockets at Tel Aviv. Both Israel and Hamas say they do not want to escalate things at this point. However we know that conflict is coming between Israel and the Palestinians. We also know that Israel will get drawn into the conflict with Syria. According to World Israel News (reported on Thursday), Syria vowed to attack Israel unless it withdraws from the Golan Heights. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad submitted an official warning to the head of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. Psalm 83 and Zechariah 12 both tell us there are “surrounding peoples” that attack Israel. That attack could come at any time… BIBLE QUOTE “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. (Zechariah 12:6 NIV)

9. Iran’s IRGC holds massive drone drills in Persian Gulf region Press TV, March 14, 2019 EVENT Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) holds offensive-combat drone exercises in the Persian Gulf region, involving dozens of RQ-170 stealth unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Tehran has manufactured based on a model of a US Sentinel drone it captured unharmed in 2011. The massive drills, dubbed ‘Towards al-Quds 1,’ were staged by the IRGC's Aerospace Division in the general range of the Persian Gulf, with senior military officials in attendance, Sepahnews reported on Thursday. Different types of “offensive and combat” drones, including 10 Iran-built RQ-170s, took part in the maneuvers. It is the first time that the Armed Forces test the performance of such a high number of offensive drones during a combat-offensive operation, which saw the aircraft fly simultaneously at a distance of over 1,000 kilometers from the hostile targets before approaching and striking them at a specific time. COMMENT This drone exercise by Iran was given a significant name… It was code named “Beit al-Maqdis,” or “The way to Jerusalem”. We know that Persia (Iran) will join with Russia to invade Israel in the not too distant future. Iran is telling us in this code name that this is exactly what its ultimate intentions are. The point of the drill is to showcase Iran’s military prowess. It comes in the wake of a large naval drill in February and frequent new tests of ballistic missiles. The Bible tells us that the Medes (Iranians) are obsessed with missiles. They don’t care for wealth and riches but are ideologically driven and believe their missiles will help them achieve their goals. Again another piece of the prophetical jigsaw puzzle firmly in place… BIBLE QUOTE See, I will stir up against them the Medes [Iranians] who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows [missiles] will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children. (Isaiah 13:17-18 NIV)

10. Christchurch mosque massacre: At least 49 killed in day of infamy NZHerald, March 16, 2018 EVENT • 49 confirmed dead in 'terrorist' shootings at two Christchurch mosques• Seven died at Linwood, 41 at mosque near Hagley Park• Four people initially arrested, including one woman• Man, 28 due in court today charged with murder• One of the gunmen livestreamed shooting at Al Noor Mosque in chilling 17-min videoThe nation is in mourning after the deadly massacre at two Christchurch mosques — a day of infamy which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as a "terrorist act" and "one of New Zealand's darkest days". At least 49 people were killed, and a further 48 injured, after gunmen opened fire at the Masjid Al Noor and Linwood Masjid, with a livestream of the horrific massacre being broadcast on the internet via a camera on one of the gunmen's helmets. COMMENT The World Health Organisation did a recent report called “World Report on Violence and Health” . Its opening statement reads “Each year, over 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence. Violence is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15–44 years worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males and 7% of deaths among females. For every person who dies as a result of violence, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. Moreover, violence places a massive burden on national economies, costing countries billions of US dollars each year in health care, law enforcement and lost productivity.” Jesus said the world would be as it was in the days of Noah when he returned. The days of Noah were full of violence. We see that now. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  BIBLE QUOTE (Genesis 6:11-13)

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