Catching up on Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and more

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Oct 24, 2014 at 10:34

Skylark,

"Ethiopia" in that prophecy was "Cush" in Hebrew, which is modern Sudan. Also, Russia is not mentioned in the prophecy -- and did not exist until the 16th Century AD (=CE).

That said, yes, Ezekiel 38-39 seems to be drawing closer, with Gog (Erdogan, or some successor), the Land of Magog (Turkey), Persia (Iran), Cush (Sudan) and Phut (Cyrenaica) attacking Isrel. At the moment, there's so much bad blood between Turkey and Iran, it is not likely.

Catching up on Libya, The conflict at the moment is between the Pro-Egyptian government, based in Tobruk, and the pro-Turkish rebels based in Tripoli. Also opposing the government are pro-Caliphate rebels in Benghazi. The warlord who wants to govern an autonomous Cyrenaica is in control of the main oilfields, and is cooperating with the Tobruk faction. Also allied with the government are the forces of Gen. Haftar and the Zintan Militia.

Russia doesn't really have interests in Libya. It has converging interests with the Iranians and Hizbullah in Syria; that's about it. The Russians also have been the main suppliers of military equipment to Algeria since Soviet times; but this is peripheral to the big goings on in the region. The Iranians also are big backers of the Houthi rebels who occupy much of North Yemen, and probably have a conduit to them via Eritrea. Yemen has become another Lebanon, Syria and iraq, with all three main Muslim players (along with the US) all backing local warlords. In Ezekiel 38-39 terms, Yemen is "Sheba" and Saudia Arabia "Dedan"; both are onlookers in the prophecy, as is NATO ("the merchants of Tarshish").

As for Sudan, President Bashir is under charges as a war criminal. He's also broke, and would like to mend fences with the Saudis after backing their enemies all these years. I don't know how successful he'll be at that, since he supports the opposing camp in Libya (the Tripoli gang; as opposed to the Tobruk crowd that the Saudis back). He's 70 now, so I don't know how long he'll be a factor. I wouldn't be amazed if he were to keel over from chronic coup or acute assasination. That country is a mess, barely alive.

Iraq seems to be in for a protracted struggle with ISIS; although, as in Sudan, I would not be surprised if the situation changed quickly. ISIS is a house of cards, in my estimation, like the Taliban was in 2001. Now that they've been in power for a while, the Sunnis are beginning to hate them.

The Kurds are interesting. One thing ISIS seems to have done, is unify the various Iraqi Kurdish factions with one another and with the PKK and allies among the Northern Kurds of Turkey and Syria. The turbaned Barzani seems firmly in control, trying to steer a safe path between the Baghdad government, the Iranians, the Americans and the Turks. When ISIS collapses, he may become a player; but geographically, I don't see how Kurdistan can hope to be more than an buffer area between Turkey and Iran.

One thing that might very well happen before Ezekiel 38-39 unfolds, is an Israeli attack on Iran. The Iranian nuclear problem has not gone away, nor Israel's need to deal with it. One curious result of the current anarchy in Iraq and Syria, is that Israel has a pretty free path over those countries to Iran.

I was napping through the partial solar eclipse yesterday -- no doubt an omen, but I don't know of what. Sun and Moon were in early Scorpio, for what that 's worth.

Shalom shalom.

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