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Gog Watch
“An Evil Thought”
By Gary Stearman
We continue to monitor the intrigues of
Vladimir Putin, the driving force behind
Russia’s push for international military su-
periority. Whether or not he is the “Gog”
of Ezekiel’s prophecy, he is certainly the
focal point of the contemporary Russian
psyche.
His despotic power, and the power of
those who follow him, is not based upon
morality, ethics or even some imagined
altruism. It is based upon the acquisition
of power, and positioning for dominance.
Whether or not he is the Gog of Scripture,
he is certainly the present personification
of Gog. Putin is refining a plan that he
believes will give him supremacy in the
Middle East.
This single dominant feature of his
thinking bears a remarkable resemblance Above: Vladimir Putin speaks to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
to that of Gog, at the time of the northern seems backward. In a Middle East that has Flaunting power in and around Syrian
invasion that will sweep into Israel in the been maintained in its present state by the seaports on the Day of Atonement aroused
latter days: Western powers, an invasion into this region Israeli sensitivities to the fact that Russia’s
“After many days thou shalt be visited: would seem to spell certain defeat for Rus- real goal is much larger. They are in the
in the latter years thou shalt come into the sia. But somehow, he comes to believe that Western hemisphere on joint maneuvers
land that is brought back from the sword, an invasion of Israel will take him, not into with Venezuela. As stated by the DEB-
and is gathered out of many people, against the teeth of nuclear retaliation, but to the KAfile news service on October 1st: “The
the mountains of Israel, which have been next level of control on the world scene. precedence the Russian navy is awarding
always waste: but it is brought forth out At the moment, Russia is beginning to to visiting Middle East ports before Ven-
of the nations, and they shall dwell safely exhibit just the sort of boisterous and con- ezuela attests to the importance Moscow
all of them. fident attitude displayed in the mind of the attaches to its new Damascus-Tehran-
“Thou shalt ascend and come like a biblical Gog. Caracas alignment opposite the US-Israel
storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover alliance.”
the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many Yom Kippur Eve These last chilling words remind us
people with thee. Yom Kippur, 2008 (Oct. 9th) brought a that after a short-lived experiment with
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also highly publicized upsurge in Russian na- “democracy,” Moscow is once again aim-
come to pass, that at the same time shall val activity, causing many to remember ing at becoming the world’s most power-
things come into thy mind, and thou shalt that thirty-five years before, Russian and ful military presence. And their navy, of
think an evil thought: Arab military planners managed to lull the course, is only one small part of their total
“And thou shalt say, I will go up to the Israelis into complacency, paving the way military effort.
land of unwalled villages; I will go to them for the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of This year on that date, the nuclear mis-
New Lines of Force
them dwelling without walls, and having sile cruiser Peter the Great led a four-ship We must never forget that Russia’s chief
neither bars nor gates, squadron to various Mediterranean ports ally is Persia – modern Iran. In the last
“To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to of call in an exercise designed to warn the decade of the twentieth century, these two
turn thine hand upon the desolate places world that the Russians are on their way partners signed a twenty-year mutual de-
that are now inhabited, and upon the peo- to military superiority. This flotilla was fense pact that remains solid to this day.
ple that are gathered out of the nations, specifically designed and equipped to sink Vladimir Putin was replaced as Russian
which have gotten cattle and goods, that large ships, aircraft carriers in particular. president by Dmitri Medvedev in May of
dwell in the midst of the land” (Ezekiel It’s no coincidence that the United 2008. Now, Putin holds the office of Prime
38:8-12). States focuses its power through huge car- Minister. Every credible analyst views him
Many have pondered the nature of this rier groups operating in Mediterranean as the power behind a new and rapidly ris-
“evil thought.” Somehow, Gog’s thinking and Persian Gulf areas. ing dictatorship. In brutal and iron-fisted
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fashion, he commands government policy to ‘unite the whole Euro-Atlantic region on report:
and military planning. Furthermore, his the basis of common rules of the game.” “After Syria moved tank units up to the
new axis of power carefully cultivates Is- “Let it be noted that in the past year Rus- Lebanese Beqaa Valley border Tuesday,
lamic hatred for the U.S. and Europe. sia’s stock market has lost almost 70% of its Oct. 7, Israel raised the alert level for Yom
In short, Putin is the muscle, and Med- value. Insofar as his predecessor Vladimir Kippur on its borders with Syria and Leba-
vedev is the mouth. Putin’s success rests mainly on delivering non and placed its Air Force and emergen-
The September 23rd DEBKAfile empha- income growth to Russians, this dim mo- cy first aid teams on standby in the event
sized this fact: “Iran’s suspect nuclear pro- ment must have struck Messrs. Putin and of Syrian or coordinated Syrian-Hezbollah
gram is further polarizing the big powers. Medvedev as a good time to blame any fi- attacks.
“As American and European officials nancial trouble on forces outside Moscow. “Israeli embassies and Jewish institu-
discussed a third round of UN Security “In a particularly intriguing passage, tions worldwide were also placed on high
Council sanctions, Iran’s president Mah- Mr. Medvedev in Evian noted NATO’s terror alert … Damascus and the Lebanese
moud Ahmadinejad, more pugnacious plans to expand, and ‘quite naturally,’ he Hezbollah are closely aligned.”
than ever, addressed a military parade Sat- said, ‘we regard these actions as directed “DEBKAfile’s military sources report
urday, Sept. 22, marking the 27th anniver- against us.’ Then, perhaps anticipating that the Syrian tank concentration on the
sary of the onset of the Iraq-Iran war of criticism, he said, ‘Sovietology, like para- Lebanese border Tuesday was Damas-
the eighties. noia is a very dangerous disease, and it is cus’ second military movement against
“‘Those (countries) who assume that a pity that part of the U.S. Administration its neighbor; three weeks ago, Syrian
decaying methods such as psychological still suffers from it. commando units took up positions on the
war, political propaganda and the so-called “Some thought Mr. Medvedev would North Lebanese border. In the first deploy-
economic sanctions would work and pre- lower the volume on former President Pu- ment, their tanks and armored vehicles
vent Iran’s fast drive towards progress are tin’s anti-U.S. outbursts. Instead, it appears were kept some 3 – 10 km [2 – 6 miles] to
mistaken.’ he is joining such other anti-American the rear of frontline commando forces. In
“Other slogans called for ‘Death to stalwarts as (Venezuelan dictator) Hugo the second, much closer to the Israeli bor-
America’ and ‘Death to Israel.’ Western Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in der, armor and tanks have been deployed
military attaches, apparently warned in ad- concluding that international forums are at the front.”
vance, boycotted the rally for the second mainly venues for ranting about the U.S. This report gives us considerable in-
year running. One wonders if somewhere in this Krem- sight into the level of tension that has
“But there is no escape: These are the lin, Nikita Khrushchev’s famous banging now become a permanent part of the Is-
messages Ahmadinejad takes with him shoe from the 1960 U.N. visit isn’t kept raeli landscape. Authorities there actually
this week to the UN General Assembly nearby as a lucky charm.” feared that on the 35th anniversary of the
and Columbia University in New York.” It must always be remembered that Rus- infamous Yom Kippur aggression, Bashar
French President Nicolas Sarkozy mean- sia’s strategy has grown beyond the culti- Assad might actually order an invasion on
while, stands shoulder to shoulder with vation of a nuclear Iran. It is now called the Israel’s northern front.
President George W. Bush. Friday, Sep- “Damascus-Tehran-Caracas” alignment. DEBKAfile put it this way: “Our sourc-
tember 21, he said: ‘Iran is trying to obtain Russia is cultivating a global presence. es report that Washington, Jerusalem and
an atomic bomb. That is unacceptable and I In Iran, Russian railways run directly to Beirut are taking into account the possibil-
tell the French people it is unacceptable.” fortified storage areas and to the facilities ity of Damascus seizing the moment of the
In this new set of developments, we can that are rapidly expanding to manufacture total shutdown in Israel for 25 hours from
clearly observe the evolution of new and nuclear weapons. When Iranian nuclear Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 8, to Thurs-
more militant lines of opposition. Russia weapons are discussed, it must always be day night, Oct. 9. for Yom Kippur (Day of
is systematically trying to build a global remembered that Russia commissioned Atonement) to launch its military forces
political presence that is based upon blam- the Bushehr nuclear plant and delivered against northern Lebanon or the Golan.”
ing the U.S. for the quaking oscillations in 90 tons of nuclear fuel to Iran. As this is written, the day has come and
world trade and the balance of power. gone without serious military action in the
And while Putin schemes at home, the Don’t Forget Damascus region. But every day, tensions increase.
Russian President is on the road, stridently With this in mind, Currently, Damascus And every day, more and more arms are
blaming the U.S. for the world’s problems. has become the focus of Mideast arma- put in place.
ment. We have often alluded to the recent Without Russia’s overbearing presence,
Dmitry’s Diatribe upsurge of Russian activity at the Syrian none of the region’s aspiring powers could
To emphasize this fact, we quote an Oc- seaports Tartous and Latakia. We cannot possibly have a serious thought about in-
tober 9th commentary that appeared in the repeat too often that war materiel is be- vading Israel. Russia is the single power
Wall Street Journal. Entitled, “Dmitry’s ing daily unloaded at these two ports, behind the growing threat of a major battle
Diatribe,” it notes certain statements made which are key railheads that run directly in the region.
by the Russian President: to various Syrian cities, most especially, Without Russian support, Iran, Syria and
“Russian President Dmitry Medve- Damascus. the various Arab powers would be feuding
dev dumped a truckload of vitriol on the Syria and Lebanon drape across Israel’s among themselves. As it is, with the Shi-
United States yesterday in Evian, France northern border, where the well-financed ites, Sunnis, Hezbollah, Hamas and dozens
… Mr. Medvedev said that after 9/11 the and fortified armies of Hezbollah await of similar Islamic factions taking both their
U.S. missed a chance to build a ‘truly the order to attack. As Yom Kippur ap- weapons and marching orders from the
democratic world order” and instead chose proached, Syria commenced military ma- Russians, they look toward a day of victo-
to ‘consolidate its global domination.’ He neuvers. On Oct. 8, (the eve of Yom Kip- ry. They are blind to the fact that the Bible
urged Europe to work instead with Russia pur) DEBKAfile released the following predicts Russia’s stunning defeat. u
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