When the President of the United States bravely stands up and pushes for military intervention to protect the people of Libya from a murderous dictator, but then tries to shirk his responsibility to live with the consequences of leadership by withdrawing his service it is nothing less than cowardice on a global stage.
President Obama’s pledge to scale back the U.S. military’s role in Libya has opened up a leadership vacuum on the world stage, as international partners squabble over who should take the reins once the opening round of missile strikes is over.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/22/obama-pledge-scale-military-role-libya-opens-leadership-vacuum/#ixzz1HM64XbL5
Worse than just showing his true colours, Obama’s failure to lead in a real crisis leaves an opening into which another may step—another who may prove to be even worse than cowardly, even more dangerous than incompetent.
Some leaders think NATO is the obvious choice to lead, but Turkey has objected and France — which has been out in front of the crisis — is making a play for political leadership of the mission.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/22/obama-pledge-scale-military-role-libya-opens-leadership-vacuum/#ixzz1HM7O16Vm
Although France may gain leadership in a small way for particular missions like the one currently under way in Libya—and France is not a bad choice for such missions—it seems unlikely that the other members of the UN Security Council will allow France to fill the bigger shoes of leadership so disgracefully vacated by the Obama administration. Because, as we see the “eMageddon” political revolution sweep the Middle East and the potential develop for increasing chaos in the volatile Muslim world, a much greater military intervention will eventually be needed. The kind of military intervention that only a superpower—either a former superpower or an up-and-coming superpower—can offer.
Germany also questioned the wisdom of the operation, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin railed against the U.N.-backed airstrikes mounted so far.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/22/obama-pledge-scale-military-role-libya-opens-leadership-vacuum/#ixzz1HM8ydpMR
With the caveat upfront that I am not making any predictions and am not at all sure if I am interpreting the Bible correctly on these points, let me make a couple of observations following up on what I’ve been saying recently on this blog.
1. It looks to me like Daniel 11:40 is being fulfilled before our very eyes. The tricky part is in identifying the characters involved in the prophecy
“At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.” (Dan 11:40 ESV)
As I’ve argued before, because the original designations of the “King of the South” and the “King of the North” referred to the Seleucid Greek kingdom to the North of Israel and to the Ptolemaic Greek Kingdom to the South of Israel, and because these two were polarized for a time as the superpowers of the region battling it out for supremacy in the third century BC, both labels now should probably be understood with reference to superpowers polarized over the desire to have primary influence over the Middle East.
So I am hypothesizing that the “King of the South” foreseen in Daniel 11:40 is the United States and her allies; that the pronoun “him” whom the US and allies attack is Islam; that the “King of the North” is Russia and her allies. (I’ve also written about Islam in prophecy in these posts here.) One sequence of events to watch for if indeed Russia is what is meant by “the King of the North” in Daniel 11:40, is outlined in the next verses:
“He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.” (Dan 11:41-45 ESV)
We can summarize these points:
- Russia would take the place of the USA as the leader of a military force extending its presence throughout much of the Middle East, except for Jordan (called “Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites”);
- Russia would gain control over the oil resources of most of the region (see verse 43);
- Russia would then establish what looks to be an embassy between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea (see verse 45, “palatial tents”—the Hebrew reads literally that “he will plant the tents of his palace”, either meaning that the tents will be his palace, or more likely, that the tents will represent his palace, his capitol, his country).
2. Because of these possibilities drawn from Daniel 11:40-45, it would seem that this passage is parallel in its fulfillment to the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 concerning the invasion of Israel and the Middle East by the country called, “Gog” and a coalition of nations under Gog’s leadership. Scholars have, for many years, thought Gog to be a reference to Russia based on ancient tribal names of people living in that region. It’s interesting, however, that Gog is described as giving leadership to a) a coalition of troops led by “Gomer”—thought to be primarily France, and b) forces from other countries including Turkey—called “Meschech and Tubal”, again because of the names of ancient tribes living in the region of Turkey.
What nation can give political and military leadership to the attempts by western nations to control the chaos now sweeping the Muslim world? If not the US—and Obama seems determined that it won’t be the US—then Russia. What nation would be accepted as a leader for this kind of work by Turkey, by the EU and by much of the Muslim world? Russia. And what country is now really really angry at the US for pushing this intervention in Libya? Russia.
” The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes–many peoples are with you. 7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land,” (Eze 38:1-9 ESV)