Epicenter 2.0

by Joel C. Rosenberg

  172 Yuri Shtern, (member of Knesset), personal interview with author, November 13, 2005.

  173 Natan Sharansky, interview with author, February 2005. For abridged version of the interview, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Free Societies vs. Fear Societies,” World magazine, February 26, 2005. For full version, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Russia, Iran & the Future in the Middle East,” www.leftbehind.com, posted March 8, 2005.

  174 “Within the United States Armed Forces, the Secretary of Defense is often referred to as SecDef. The SecDef and the President of the United States together constitute the National Command Authority (NCA), which has sole authority to launch strategic nuclear weapons. All nuclear weapons are governed by the two-man rule, even at the highest levels in government. Both individuals must concur before a strategic nuclear strike may be ordered” (“United States Secretary of Defense,” www.answers.com, accessed March 23, 2006).

  175 Caspar Weinberger, personal interview with author, February 23, 2006.

  176 Most Americans do not realize, for example, that Putin has already survived at least three assassination attempts (February 2000, August 2000, and October 2001), and a radical Islamic Chechen terrorist group known as the Brigades of Islambuli has reportedly put a $20 million bounty on Putin’s head. See “$20 Million For Vladimir Putin,” Pravda.com, September 10, 2004 (accessed March 16, 2006). Also, fears of a revolution in Russia have been rising in recent years. As I wrote in a 2005 article, “When I was in Moscow for ten days last September doing research for [The Ezekiel Option], I met with top Russian officials and political analysts, senior officials at the U.S. Embassy, and a number of journalists, including the New York Times bureau chief. The unanimous consensus was that a coup wasn’t necessary to create a Russian dictator, because Russia already has a rising dictator—Vladimir Putin. Nevertheless, the coup remains in the novel. So it is with particular interest that I’ve been watching the recent political upheavals in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and their reverberations in Moscow. Putin, once thought to be invulnerable, is now the subject of growing controversy and dissatisfaction.” See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Revolution Brewing in Russia?” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, March 31, 2005; also see “Whither Uzbekistan? Another Fmr. Soviet Republic on the Brink,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, May 24, 2005.

  177 See Amos Harel, “Ex-Military Intelligence Chief Ze’evi Warns of Impending World Jihad ‘Tsunami,’” Haaretz, May 15, 2006; Daniel Pipes, “The Mystical Menace of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” New York Sun, January 10, 2006; Charles Krauthammer, “In Iran, Arming for Armageddon,” Washington Post, December 16, 2005.

  178 Amir Taheri, “The Frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants a Bomb,” Sunday Telegraph, April 16, 2006.

  179 Hossein Bostani, “Ahmadinejad in Touch with 12th Imam,” www.roozonline.com (popular Iranian dissident Weblog), March 15, 2006.

  180 Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, Al-Imam al-Mahdi, The Just Leader of Humanity, trans. Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina (Qum, Iran: Ahul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, electronic online version), al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Toc.htm (accessed April 15, 2006).

  181 Ibid.

  182 Nearly all religious Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites, share a view of the end times that involves wars and the coming of a Messiah who will ultimately bring peace and justice to the world. According to Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr and Ayatollah Murtada Mutahhari, authors of The Awaited Savior, “the idea of the final victory of the forces of righteousness, peace and justice over those of evil, oppression and tyranny, of the world-wide spread of the Islamic faith, the complete and all-round establishment of high human values, the formation of a utopian and an ideal society and lastly the accomplishment of this ideal at the hands of a holy and eminent personality called, according to the Islamic traditions, Mahdi is a belief which, of course with variations in details, is shared by all the Muslim sects and schools of thought.” See al-islam.org/awaited/index.htm (accessed April 20, 2006).

  183 Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Special Edition, trans. Lionel Giles (Editorial Benei Noaj, 2005), 65 (“XIII, The Use of Spies”).

  184 Captured Iraqi Document, CMPC-2003-001950, Foreign Military Studies Office, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/recent.htm, see http://70.69.163.24 (accessed March 23, 2006). See also ABC News, “Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan?” March 23, 2006; and Will Dunham, “Russia Gave Iraq Intelligence: Pentagon Report,” Reuters, March 24, 2006.

  185 Captured Iraqi Document, CMPC-2004-001117, Foreign Military Studies Office, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/recent.htm, see http://70.69.163.24 (accessed March 23, 2006). See also Captured Iraqi Document, “Letter From Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Office of the President Regarding Russian Intel,” April 2, 2003, quoted in an unclassified version of a U.S. Joint Forces Command report; Kevin M. Woods, and others., Iraqi Perspectives Project: A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership, Joint Center for Operational Analysis, Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), March 2006, www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/ipp.pdf (accessed March 24, 2006).

  186 The New American Standard Bible translates Cush as “Ethiopia,” as do the King James Version, the New King James Version, and the New Living Translation.

  187 Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston, Book One, Chapter 6, Paragraph 2 in Josephus: The Complete Works (Nashville: Nelson, 1998), 42.

  188 Tim LaHaye identified Cush as Ethiopia and other “African nations” in The Coming Peace in the Middle East (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1984), 135. Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson identified Cush as Ethiopia and other “African nations” in The Late, Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1970), 68. Mark Hitchcock identified Cush as “the land just south of Egypt on the Nile,” which he notes includes Ethiopia and Sudan, in The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel (Sisters, Ore.: Multonomah, 2002), 55–56. Charles Ryrie identified Cush as “Ethiopia” and “northern Sudan” in the Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 1323. J. Dwight Pentecost identifies Cush as Ethiopia and “a region south of Egypt” in Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Academie, 1958), 329, though he also cites a source who suggests Cush could refer to people of Babylonia or “a land and people in northern Arabia.” It should be noted that Babylonia and Mesopotamia are never mentioned directly by Ezekiel, though they certainly could have been if they were to be involved in this attack against Israel. Ezekiel was, after all, writing the prophecy in Babylon at the time.

  189 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.

  190 LaHaye, Lindsey, Hitchcock, Ryrie, and Pentecost all agree that Put is Libya. LaHaye and Lindsey believe that modern-day Algeria and Tunisia are likely included, though they include Morocco as well. Pentecost cites a source that suggests Put could be “adjacent to Persia or Iran” instead of North Africa.

  191 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.

  192 Voltaire, The Portable Voltaire (paperback), ed. Ben Ray Redman (New York: Viking Penguin, 1977), 101.

  193 Arno Clemens Gaebelein, The Prophet Ezekiel (New York: Publication Office “Our Hope,” 1917), 259. On page 135 of Coming Peace, Tim LaHaye identifies “Gomer and its hordes” as “involving either just East Germany and the Soviet satellite countries of Eastern Europe, or all of Germany and the Eastern European satellites.” On page 87 of the 1999 nonfiction book Are We Living in the End Times? (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1999), LaHaye and coauthor Jerry Jenkins say Gomer is “thought to be Turkey.” On page 69 of Late, Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey cites Gesenius who “speaks of part of Gomer’s ‘hordes’ as being Ashkenaz . . . ‘the proper name of a region and a nation in northern Asia [minor], sprung from the Cimmerians who are the ancient people of Gomer. The modern Jews understand it to be Germany, and call that country by this Hebrew name.’” Charles Ryrie identifies Gomer as “probably the eastern part of Turkey and the Ukraine” on page 1323 of his study Bible. Mark Hitchcock sides with the Turkey
theory (page 59 of Islamic Invasion), and J. Dwight Pentecost concludes on page 330 of Things to Come that “there seems to be evidence to support the view that [Gomer] refers to modern Germany.”

  194 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.

  195 See “Phrygia” on www.wikipedia.org; “Origins of the Armenian People,” www.armenianheritage.com/peorigin.htm (accessed March 23, 2006); and Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, “Classical Armenian Online,” Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-0.html (accessed March 23, 2006).

  196 On page 35 of Coming Peace, LaHaye identifies Togarmah and its hordes as “Armenia, which may well involve Turkey and other nations or peoples remaining from the Turkish Empire.” On page 70 of Late, Great, Lindsey identifies Beth-togarmah as Armenia and “the Turkoman tribes of Central Asia,” including “modern Southern Russia.” On page 1323 of his study Bible, Ryrie identifies Beth-togarmah as “the part of Turkey near the Syrian border.” On page 59 of Islamic Invasion, Hitchcock identifies Beth-togarmah as “southern Turkey.” On page 330 of Things to Come, Pentecost says Beth-togarmah is “generally identified as Turkey or Armenia, although it is extended by some to include Central Asia,” and cites several sources reaffirming this conclusion.

  197 LaHaye does not identify Sheba and Dedan specifically in either Coming Peace or The End Times Controversy, ed. Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest, 2003).

  198 “Arafat Hopscotches from Tehran to Moscow,” CNN, August 10, 2000; “Putin Tells Arafat That Russia Backs Palestinian Independence,” CNN, August 11, 2000.

  199 “Khatami Visit Heralds New Iran-Russia Ties,” China People’s Daily, March 13, 2001; Brenda Shaffer, “Khatami in Moscow Boosts Russian-Iranian Arms Cooperation,” Policy Watch #522, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 5, 2001.

  200 See “Ethiopian Premier Visits Moscow,” China People’s Daily, December 4, 2001; “Russia Agrees To Sell Arms To Ethiopia,” Russian Reform Monitor, December 3, 2001; BBC News, “Russia Writes Off Ethiopian Debt,” May 30, 2001; “Russia To Develop Gas Fields In Ethiopia,” Pravda, September 2, 2002.

  201 See “Saudi crown prince in Russia today in the first visit of its kind,” ArabicNews.com, September 2, 2003; and “Saudi-Russian Oil and Gas Agreement; Abdullah: A Historical Day in the Relations Record,” ArabicNews.com, September 3, 2003. See also Dr. Ariel Cohen, “Saudi-Russian Rapprochement: U.S. Should Beware,” Web Memo #336, The Heritage Foundation, September 12, 2003.

  202 Russian president Vladimir Putin, Tenth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (speech, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Information and Press Department, Putrajaya, Malaysia, October 16, 2003). See also Agence France-Presse, “Putin’s Call to Join OIC Helps Improve Russian Relations with Muslim World,” January 2, 2004. See also “OIC Grants Observer Status to Russia,” Daily Times (Pakistan), July 1, 2005.

  203 Agence France-Presse, “Putin Plans to Visit Iran,” October 6, 2004.

  204 Steve Gutterman, “Putin First Russian Chief to Visit Turkey,” Associated Press, December 5, 2004.

  205 See “Putin OKs Russian Troops for Sudan,” CBC News (Canadian), February 3, 2005; “Oil-Rich Sudan Buys Arms from China, Russia, Iran, Belarus,” WorldTribune.com, November 23, 2004; “Russia Sells Missiles to Sudan, Syria, Libya,” WorldNetDaily.com, September 18, 2002.

  206 “Putin Makes Landmark Visit to Egypt,” Aljazeera.com, April 26, 2005; Associated Press, “Putin Pushes ‘Road Map’ in Historic Visit to Egypt,” April 27, 2005.

  207 See “President Putin to Visit Middle East Despite Arms Delivery Scandal with Israel and Syria,” Pravda, March 24, 2005; ABC News, “Putin Makes Historic Visit to Israel,” April 27, 2005; BBC News, “Putin Plays Down Israel Arms Fear,” April 28, 2005; Molly Moore, “Putin Calls Arms Aid No Threat to Israel,” Washington Post, April 30, 2005. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Putin’s Historic Trip to Israel,” www.leftbehind.com, May 3, 2005.

  208 Aljazeera, “Putin Invites Hamas to Moscow,” February 9, 2006; “Russia May Sell Arms to Hamas,” The Australian, February 18, 2006; “Russia to Consider Selling Helicopters to PA,” www.YnetNews.com (Israel), February 16, 2006. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Putin Says Hamas Not a Terrorist Organization,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, February 2, 2006.

  209 Khaled Mash’al declared: “America will be defeated in Iraq. Wherever the [Islamic] nation is targeted, its enemies will be defeated, Allah willing. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Iraq, and it will be victorious in all Arab and Muslim lands. . . . These fools will be defeated, the wheel of time will turn, and times of victory and glory will be upon our nation, and the West will be full of remorse, when it is too late. . . . We say to this West, which does not act reasonably, and does not learn its lessons: By Allah, you will be defeated. Israel will be defeated, and so will whoever supported or supports it. . . . I say to the [European countries]: Hurry up and apologize to our nation, because if you do not, you will regret it.” See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Hamas Threatens America, Putin Invites Them to Moscow,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, February 9, 2006, citing the Middle East Media Research Institute, www.memri.org.

  210 See Agence France-Presse, “Putin to Press Algeria to Buy Arms,” March 10, 2006; RIA Novosti, “Rosoboronexport Strikes $7.5 Billion Deal with Algeria,” March 10, 2006; “Russia Strikes $7.5 Billion Arms Deal with Algeria,” MosNews.com, March 10, 2006.

  211 Interfax News Agency, “Dialogue with Muslim World among Russia’s Priorities—Putin,” March 27, 2006.

  212 Agence France-Presse, “Russia Would Never Harm Israel: Olmert,” March 2, 2006.

  213 “Acting PM Olmert Speaks with Russian President Putin,” Office of the Israeli Prime Minister, March 5, 2006, www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/Spokesman/2006/03/spokeputin050306.htm (accessed March 28, 2006).

  214 Ariel Cohen, “Zhirinovsky in His Own Words: Excerpts from The Final Thrust South,” trans. Cohen and Melana Zyla, The Heritage Foundation, February 4, 1994.

  215 Kevin Fedarko, “Rising Czar?” Time magazine, July 11, 1994.

  216 Cohen, “Zhirinovsky in His Own Words.”

  217 CIA World Fact Handbook, www.cia.gov (accessed March 29, 2006).

  218 Alexei Mitrofanov, personal interview with author, September 1, 2004.

  219 “Begin Describes Soviet Arms Cache,” Washington Post, July 7, 1982.

  220 Caspar W. Weinberger, interview with author, February 23, 2006.

  221 “Message from Brezhnev to Nixon,” October 24, 1973, U.S. State Department. See The National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).

  222 Some may characterize Brezhnev’s threat not as a Soviet plan to attack Israel but as a bluff. But Kissinger said: “I did not see it as a bluff, but it made no difference. We could not run the risk that [it was not]. We had no choice except to call the bluff.” “The October War and U.S. Policy,” William Burr, ed., The National Security Archive, October 7, 2003. Dr. Burr is a senior analyst of nuclear history with the National Security Archive at George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).

  223 “Message from Nixon to Brezhnev.”

  224 Transcript of “Secretary’s Staff Meeting: Tuesday, October 23, 1973—4:35pm,” classified as “Secret/NODIS.” The National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).

  225 Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 123.

  226 Oren, 25.

  227 Oren, 149.

  228 Ibid.

  229 “Message from Eshkol to Johnson,” telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the State Department, classified at the time as “Secret,” June 5, 1967, Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, vol. 3; Published by The National S
ecurity Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on February 22, 2006).

  230 Oren, 29, 27.

  231 Oren, 57, 65.

  232 “President’s Daily Brief,” June 9, 1967, then classified “Top Secret,” Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, vol. 6, Appendix A. Published by the U.S. State Department, Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/xix/28059.htm (accessed on March 29, 2006).

  233 “Message from Kosygin to Johnson,” June 10, 1967, National Security File, NSC Histories, container 19 volume 7, LBJ Presidential Library, quoted in Isabella Ginor, “The Russians Were Coming: The Soviet Military Threat in the 1967 Six-Day War,” Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) 4, no. 4 (December 2000): 48. See also Isabella Ginor, “How the Six Day War Almost Led to Armageddon,” The Guardian (London), June 10, 2000.

  234 Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Eshkol, June 12, 1967, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mfa.gov.il (accessed on March 29, 2006).