Current world situation: Kurds, Turks, Iranians, Saudis and the Beast

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Nov 7, 2014 at 11:00

Hello, beloved Tovey! You said,

At the risk of repetition, it has been a long time teaching that the Scriptures are replete with immediate fulfillments and long term fulfillments,..

...which logic you applied to Zephaniah. You said, concerning Zephaniah prophesying during the time of Josiah (641-609 BC),

we have history's confirmation of the Assyrian conquests of the northern precincts of Israel [yes, 722 BC, before Josiah's time]... The assertion that there is a modern reading of this prophetic passage is by association of the mindset (and not necessarily the ideology) of nomadic sons of Ismael and unrelated non-Semitic marauders careening around the ancient Assyrian lands, killing and pillaging under the black banner of a assumed ideology that seeks Israel's destruction...

Yes, there is a resemblance between ISIL/ Da'esh and ancient Assyria: both were violent people, who occupied Iraq and Syria; and neither had a love for the Jews. Some things never change.

As for the 'Palestinians 'ethnicity, calling them by their modern nom de plume after the World War One redesign of the Middle East indeed does not validate any possessory interest; that is a fiction authored under British and French auspices of their own imperial desires, the results of which they are paying for now at the malfeasance of a world gone mad in the Middle East.

You're preaching to the choir. The ancient Romans and modern British both called Israel "Palestine", after the long-non-existent Philistines who had been brief sojourners in Israel during the time of the Judges and the Kings. In both cases, it was meant as a slur against the Jews, and an attempt to de-legitimize them. You went on,

Cutting to the chase scene, we read: "Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. Zephaniah 3:8.

Seriously; are the nations of the earth who plan against Israel not headed for that exact scenario?

Yes. Zephaniah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and other pre-Exilic prophets often spoke of the ultimate, eternal realm of Messiah -- in order to give the readers solace, after reading about the horrible judgments that would shortly (596-570 BC) come upon them. What these prophets lack, compared to Exilic prophets such as Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah, are details about events in the end times. The most detailed prophecy of all about our times, of course, is the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.

Concerning end-times prophecies, along with a nod to Kurdistan (the topic of the OP), I have been puttering around, trying to fit the nations of the earth in coherent groups -- groups which sort of get along with one another and have something of a common goal. At the moment I've settled on 17 such groups:

1. US & Co., 2. Russia & Co., 3. PR China & Co., 4. Egypt & Co., 5. Iran & Co., 6. Turkey & Co.; 7. Thailand & Co., 8. India & Co., 9. Brazil & Co., 10. Mexico & Co., 11. Taiwan; 12. S. Africa & Co., 13. Nigeria & Co., 14. Ethiopia & Co., 15. Cameroun & Co., 16. Dominican R. & Co., 17. Timor-Leste & Co.

The first group, "US & Co.", consists of "The Atlantic Alliance" and others, and forms the heart of what is commonly referred to as "Western Civilization". We are tied to one another primarily by military connections, with the US being the principal leader and arms supplier. You will find that every one of what I consider to be the "Ten horns" of the "beast" are in this group; and that I consider the US itself to be the "little horn that became stouter than the others".

In the Middle East, the US group is represented by Israel (joined at the hip with us in the UN) and -- tada! Kurdistan!

Other Middle Eastern groups are Turkey, the remnant of the Ottoman Empire; Iran, the remnant of the Persian Empire; and Saudi Arabia, the remnant of the (real, original) Arab Caliphates. Each of them has a long, almost uninterrupted, history of independence. Those are the big players in the Middle East today, with the Jihadis (from ISIL to the Muslim Brotherhood and HAMAS) in Turkey's camp; most of the Sunni Arab world in Saudi Arabia's camp, and an interesting potpourri of countries (including Cuba, Venezuela and Eritrea) in Iran's camp.

What is interesting is that besides the Jihadis, the Turkish camp includes "Western" countries such as Iceland, Ireland and Sweden. I came to this conclusion, by noting that there was a deep rift in the Western bloc between Turkey on the one hand (supporting terrorist beasts like ISIL) and Israel on the other. I classifyied these countries according to their relative affinity and animosity towards ISIL and Israel. Sweden, for instance, is giving no real support to the anti-ISIL coalition; but has a toxic animosity towards Israel. Pretty much ditto with the others. Ukraine has a slightly different situation: Israel remains neutral concerning the Ukraine's struggle with the Russians, but the Turks support them; so I also put the Ukraine in the Turkish group.

Some other observations: Iran is looking to Latin America for close allies, building these relations upon brazen mutual hatred of the US. The Saudis, meanwhile, seek connections with fellow Sunni (but not Muslim Brotherhood) countries; and the Turks, who have few friends left in the Middle East, are finding companions among the socialists and atheists of Europe. Curiously, they are finding closer fellowship there as an "Islamist" state than they ever had as a secular state.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".