Friends, the first blood moon occurred on Passover 2014 and now the evidence is coming in. Israel is fighting a war with Hamas in Gaza, war in Ukraine, Christian Holocaust in North Africa and the Middle East, severe deought in California and parts of the west, the U.S. border is out of control, there is an Ebola epidemic and 500,000 people without water near Toledo, Ohio and it looks like End Times events are speeding up. Remember the second Blood Moon is on 14 Tishrei/8 October 14 on the Feast Erev Sukkot/Tabernacles. Now, is the time to recognize Yeshua/Jesus Christ as your Messiah and Lord.
Friends,
Today is the most dangerous date of the 9th of Av. Remember the anti-christ will offer a false peace and security.
Isaiah 48:22 (KJV)
Daniel 7:25 (KJV)
I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war
Isaiah 48:22 (KJV)
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
Daniel 7:25 (KJV)
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
The following bad events occurred on the 9th of Av:
1. The 10 spies bring Joshua the bad report about the Promised Land.
2. The first Temple was destroyed.
3. The second Temple was destroyed.
4. The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 (the Alhambra Decree).
5. The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 (the Edict of Expulsion)
.Jewish Year 5774/2014: sunset August 4, 2014 - nightfall August 5, 2014
Tisha B'Av is the culmination of a three week period of increasing mourning, beginning with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, which commemorates the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem, before the First Temple was destroyed. During this three week period, weddings and other parties are not permitted, and people refrain from cutting their hair. From the first to the ninth of Av, it is customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine (except on the Shabbat) and from wearing new clothing.
The restrictions on Tisha B'Av are similar to those on Yom Kippur: to refrain from eating and drinking (even water); washing, bathing, shaving or wearing cosmetics; wearing leather shoes; engaging in sexual relations; and studying Torah. Work in the ordinary sense of the word [rather than the Shabbat sense] is also restricted. People who are ill need not fast on this day. Many of the traditional mourning practices are observed: people refrain from smiles, laughter and idle conversation, and sit on low stools.
In synagogue, the book of Lamentations is read and mourning prayers are recited. The ark (cabinet where the Torah is kept) is draped in black.
Tisha B'Av is never observed on Shabbat. If the 9th of Av falls on a Saturday, the fast is postponed until the 10th of Av.
 |
| Mosul Dam |
"Islamic State (IS) fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest
dam, an oilfield and three more towns on Sunday after inflicting their first
major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping across much of northern Iraq in
June. Capture of the electricity-generating Mosul Dam, after an offensive of
barely 24 hours, could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major
Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms, raising the stakes in their bid to
topple Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shia-led government.
"The terrorist gangs
of the Islamic State have taken control of Mosul Dam after the withdrawal of
Kurdish forces without a fight', said Iraqi state television."
Immediately after capturing
the dam, IS threatened to open its floodgates as an act of war.
This could give the Sunni
militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms,
raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
Shi'ite-led government."
IS's seizure of the dam
happened on the heels of releasing the 2nd issue of its online magazine known
as Dabique. Dabique's issue is called "The Flood" with the threat on
the cover, 'It's either the Islamic State or the flood'. The 'flood' issue of
ISIS's Dabique talks about punishing sinners by drowning them through a massive
flood. "
What would happen to
Shi'ite Iraq should ISIS open the floodgates wide? The best description of the
potential threat of a massive flood from the Mosul Dam was written in 2007, when
experts warned the Mosul Dam could collapse at any time!
Amit R. Paley of the
Washington Post Foreign Service, wrote about this on October 30, 2007.
"AT THE MOSUL DAM,
Iraq -- The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse
that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands
of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to
new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials
... Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a
catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have
concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning
Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet."
Seven years ago, long
before IS was even formed, experts knew that the Mosul Dam was built so badly
it might fail!
"The Mosul dam is
judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability," in the dry
wording of an Army Corps of Engineers draft report ... In terms of internal
erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world," the Army Corps
concluded in September 2006, according to the report to be released
Tuesday. 'If a small problem [at] Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely'."
Why is this dam so
structurally dangerous? You might be shocked. Engineers knew from the beginning
that they should not build a dam on that location.
Sitting in a picturesque
valley 45 miles along the Tigris River north of Mosul, the earthen dam has one
fundamental problem: It was built on top of gypsum, which dissolves when it
comes into contact with water.
Now that is a problem.
Iraqi officials have pumped 50,000 tons of grout at the base of the dam, a
liquefied mixture of cement and other additives. But, that action seems to have
only delayed what some believe is an inevitable collapse.
I cannot imagine the devastation
which would be caused by 500,000 civilian deaths, many of them occurring in
Mosul, a Kurdish controlled city.
God's End Times judgment
against Ancient Babylon -- modern Iraq -- seems in danger of being further
fulfilled.
Ancient Babylon -- is nearing the End
Times' final annihilating judgment just as God foretold 2,700 years ago in
Isaiah 13. "Mighty Babylon" is falling and her days shall not be
prolonged!"
Isaiah 13 "The noise
of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise
of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the
host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even
the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl
ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the
Almighty."
A flood of this magnitude
would most certainly destroy much of Iraq, and would wipe out huge numbers of
civilians, as this map demonstrates. Since
Mosul is so close to the dam, she would be buried under 65 feet of water, an enormous
wall of water. God's judgment of destruction of Iraq would come upon the
destruction of much of the land by Depleted Uranium
munitions.
Iraq's life as a nation seems to be quickly disappearing!
 |
Chloe Valdary |
The student organization Students for Justice in
Palestine (SJP) is prominent on many college campuses, preaching a mantra of
“Freeing Palestine.” It masquerades as though it were a civil rights group when
it is not. Indeed, as an African-American, I am highly insulted that my
people’s legacy is being pilfered for such a repugnant agenda. It is thus high
time to expose its agenda and lay bare some of the fallacies they peddle.
• If you seek to promulgate the legacy of
early Islamic colonialists who raped and pillaged the Middle East, subjugated
the indigenous peoples living in the region, and foisted upon them a life of
persecution and degradation—you do not get to claim the title of “Freedom
Fighter.”
• If you support a racist doctrine of Arab
supremacism and wish (as a corollary of that doctrine) to destroy the Jewish
state, you do not get to claim that the prejudices you peddle are forms of
legitimate “resistance.”
• If your heroes are clerics who sit in
Gaza plotting the genocide of a people; who place their children on rooftops in
the hopes they will get blown to bits; who heap praises upon their fellow gang
members when they succeed in murdering Jewish school boys and bombing places of
activity where Jews congregate—you do not get to claim that you are some
Apollonian advocate of human virtue. You are not.
• If your activities include grieving over
the woefully incompetent performance by Hamas rocketeers and the subsequent
millions of Jewish souls who are still alive—whose children were not murdered
by their rockets; whose limbs were not torn from them; and whose disembowelment
did not come into fruition—you do not get to claim that you stand for justice.
You profess to be irreproachable. You are categorically not.
• If your idea of a righteous cause entails
targeting and intimidating Jewish students on campus, arrogating their history
of exile-and-return and fashioning it in your own likeness you do not get to
claim that you do so in the name of civil liberty and freedom of expression.
• You do not get to champion regimes that
murder, torture, and persecute their own people, deliberately keep them
impoverished, and embezzle billions of dollar from them—and claim you are
“pro-Arab.” You are not.
• You do not get to champion a system
wherein Jews are barred from purchasing land, traveling in certain areas, and living
out such an existence merely because they are Jews—and claim that you are
promoting equality for all. You do not get to enable that system by pushing a
boycott of Jewish owned businesses, shops, and entities—and then claim that you
are “against apartheid.” That is evil.
• You do not get to justify the calculated
and deliberate bombings, beatings, and lynchings of Jewish men, women, and
children by referring to such heinous occurrences as part of a noble “uprising”
of the oppressed—that is racism. It is evil.
• You do not get to pretend as though you
and Rosa Parks would have been great buddies in the 1960s. Rosa Parks was a real Freedom Fighter. Rosa
Parks was a
Zionist.
Coretta Scott King was a Zionist.
A. Phillip Randolph was a Zionist.
Bayard Rustin was a Zionist.
Count Basie was a Zionist.
Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was a Zionist.
Indeed, they and many more men and women
signed a letter in 1975 that stated: “We condemn the anti-Jewish blacklist. We
have fought too long and too hard to root out discrimination from our land to
sit idly while foreign interests import bigotry to America. Having suffered so
greatly from such prejudice, we consider most repugnant the efforts by Arab
states to use the economic power of their newly-acquired oil wealth to boycott
business firms that deal with Israel or that have Jewish owners, directors, or
executives, and to impose anti-Jewish preconditions for investments in this
country.”
You see, my people have always been Zionists
because my people have always stood for the
freedom of the oppressed. So, you most certainly do not get to culturally
appropriate my people’s history
for your own. You do not have the right to invoke my people’s struggle for your shoddy
purposes and you do not get to feign victimhood in our name. You do not have
the right to slander my people’s good name and link
your cause to that of Dr. King’s. Our two causes are diametrically opposed to
each other.
Your cause is the antithesis of freedom. It
has cost hundreds of thousands of lives of both Arabs and Jews. It has
separated these peoples, and has fomented animosity between them. It has led to
heartache, torment, death and destruction.
It is of course your prerogative to
continue to utilize platitudes for your cause. You are entirely within your
rights to chant words like “equality” “justice” and “freedom fighter.”
You can keep using those words for as long
as you like. But I do not think you know what they mean.
 |
| Iranian supplied rockets to Hamas |
While the mainstream media has focused solely on
Hamas and Israel in the current ongoing war, there has been less attention
given to the major role that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been playing in
ratcheting up the conflict with its military assistance to Hamas fighters,
including Iranian-built Fajr 5 and M-75 with ranges of approximately 75
kilometers. These are missiles and rockets that can target cities like Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem. It is worth noting that the export of arms as well as military
and weaponry assistance by the Islamic Republic to Hamas is legally prohibited
by the United Nations Security Council, written in UN Resolution 1747. Although
Iranian leaders often deny that they are supporting Hamas militarily, some, including
former Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, admitted that the Islamic
Republic has been supplying military aid and technology to Hamas in the Gaza
Strip. On the Iranian parliament’s website, Larijani stated, “We are honored to
provide the Palestinian people with military aid, while all Arabic countries do
is hold meetings. Palestinian people do not need lectures and meetings.” In
addition, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Mohammad, Ali Jafari,
admitted that Iran is supplying weapons to Hamas and other groups: “Iran
provides technical assistance to all Muslims who fight against world
arrogance.” What is Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s stance? Is he truly a
moderate? Rouhani’s stance on arming Hamas and standing against Israel is no
different from his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In fact, across Iran’s political spectrum, there
is no difference with regard to their position towards arming Hamas and
fighting Israel. They all share anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinians views. In
addition, whenever the international community or the United States has
attempted to broker a peace, Iranian leaders have attempted to scuttle it.
Their view is the same as what Ahmadinejad previously conveyed: “Who gave them
[Mahmoud Abbas’ negotiating team] the right to sell a piece of Palestinian
land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them
to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy. The negotiations are
stillborn and doomed.” The Iranian leaders hypocritically and frequently point
out that the reasons they support the Palestinians and Hamas are humanitarian.
Nevertheless, the main reason is advancing Iran’s regional hegemonic ambitions
and its strategic, geopolitical and ideological goals. In addition, the Islamic
Republic has been seeking to project its regional hegemonic supremacy by
supporting not only Shiite groups such as Hezbollah (Lebanon), Bashar Al Assad
(Syria), and Nori Al Maliki (Iraq), but also penetrating the Sunni communities
and supporting groups such as Hamas. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran, the
main foreign policy objectives of the Islamic Republic have been rivalry and
antagonism towards the United Sates and its ally Israel. Under the presidency
of Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s foreign policy has not shifted and it is crucial to
draw attention to Iran’s intervention and military assistance as the Islamic
Republic is major player in ratcheting up the ongoing war.
Matthew 24:7 (KJV)
For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Matthew 27:54 (KJV)
Now when the
centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and
those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the
Son of God.
Search and rescue efforts are underway
today as workers attempt to find survivors still stuck in collapsed buildings
across parts of southern China. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported a strong earthquake, 6.1 magnitude,
that shook this region on Sunday, August 3, 2014, causing significant damage,
injuries and deaths. 12,000 homes toppled during the quake, with 398 deaths and
some 1,800 injuries. Nearly 30,000 buildings are reported to be significantly
damaged. The quake occurred 11 kilometers (7 miles) west-northwest of Wenping,
China in the Yunnan province at 4:30 p.m. local time. Areas significantly
impacted by the quake include Liupanshui, Guizhou, China.
A majority of the deaths occurred in
Zhaotong City. Over 2,500 troops
are currently in the area to rescue people possibly trapped in debris. Search
and rescue is the number one priority for the Chinese. Several thousand people
were forced to leave their home as the buildings were not structurally sound.
Police are on heightened alert in Jerusalem
following today’s two attacks in the capital, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
tweets. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat says the soldier seriously injured in the
Mount Scopus shooting attack is in surgery at the moment and “as far as we
understand the soldier arrived here conscious.” Barkat says Israelis and
especially Jerusalem residents must remain vigilant during this tense time “and
no less important, continue with their daily lives.” Disrupting Israeli life
“is exactly what the terrorists are trying to do to us. We mustn’t give them
that reward.” Security officials are conducting a manhunt for the Mount Scopus
shooter, and believe it is highly likely that it is a terror attack, Jerusalem
police chief Yossi Pariente says. Pariente says the soldier was “shot at close
range by a man dressed in black.” “He fired several shots and ran towards a
motorcycle or moped nearby” and escaped, Pariente says. “A security guard fired
at the motorcycle…apparently he didn’t hit it.” Pariente says security forces
are scouring the area for the shooter, “so far without results.” “We are
treating this at the moment as a terror attack with very, very high
likelihood,” he says.
Police are on heightened alert in Jerusalem
following today’s two attacks in the capital, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
tweets. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat says the soldier seriously injured in the
Mount Scopus shooting attack is in surgery at the moment and “as far as we
understand the soldier arrived here conscious.” Barkat says Israelis and
especially Jerusalem residents must remain vigilant during this tense time “and
no less important, continue with their daily lives.” Disrupting Israeli life
“is exactly what the terrorists are trying to do to us. We mustn’t give them
that reward.” Security officials are conducting a manhunt for the Mount Scopus
shooter, and believe it is highly likely that it is a terror attack, Jerusalem
police chief Yossi Pariente says. Pariente says the soldier was “shot at close
range by a man dressed in black.” “He fired several shots and ran towards a
motorcycle or moped nearby” and escaped, Pariente says. “A security guard fired
at the motorcycle…apparently he didn’t hit it.” Pariente says security forces
are scouring the area for the shooter, “so far without results.” “We are
treating this at the moment as a terror attack with very, very high
likelihood,” he says.
Comet C/2013 A1, Siding Spring, will pass the
planet Mars in Oct. 14. In this photo
the comet is passing near ringed galaxy NGC 1291
Israel's prime minister accuses them of being as bad as
al Qaeda, but he isn’t trying to run the group out of Gaza. There’s a good
reason why ... You have to think through what comes next,” a senior Israeli
official said this month when asked why Israel was not pursuing regime change
against Hamas. 'You don’t want to actually administer Gaza and you don’t want
someone worse taking over'.
What could be worse than Hamas? They insist
that their ultimate goal is the complete annihilation of Israel and every one
of her citizens and she has kept that goal in her foundational charter. What
could be a worse enemy than one who wants you really dead?
The problem for Israel is that it’s stuck.
Many top U.S. officials now concede that as bad as Hamas is for both
Palestinians and Israelis, it’s the least bad alternative ... if Hamas were
destroyed and gone, we would probably end up with something much worse. The
region would end up with something much worse A worse threat that would come into
the sort of ecosystem there…something like the Islamic State (IS) an
unanchored, unmoored, lawless Gaza in the hands of something like IS or Islamic
Jihad, this proposition would be fundamentally worse than the one we inhabit
and inherit now.
This fuzzy-headed thinking is the kind that
will get Israel into so much trouble that, one day, Michael, Israel's
archangel, will have to spring into action to deliver Israel from annihilation.
And at that time shall Michael stand up,
the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall
be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that
same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered..." (Daniel
12:1)
Friends, the time is coming
when it will be very difficult to stand with the Jews, the hatred towards the
Jews I find to be overwhelming.
Anti-Semitism
is on the rise in Europe. Public expressions of Jew-hatred tend to spike when
Israel is at war, but this round has been exceptionally nasty. In France,
pro-Palestinian demonstrations have descended into full-blown riots and
pogroms, with synagogues
firebombed and Jewish
neighborhoods ransacked;
German streets have been filled with cries of “Jews
to the gas!”; and abuse on social
media has simply been
too rife to quantify.
European
leaders have begun to understand the gravity of the crisis. The German, French,
and Italian foreign ministers have issued a joint
declaration condemning
anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks. Leading German tabloid Bild ran the headline “Never
Again Jew Hatred!” last
week, featuring denunciations from leading public figures. And the French
government took the extraordinary step of attempting
to ban several pro-Palestine rallies for fear of further eruptions of
violence.
But
across Europe’s vestigial Jewish communities, there is a sense that non-Jews
just don’t get it. After all, none of this is new.
Indeed, the heightened security around synagogues and Jewish schools is so
commonplace that Jews have become accustomed to it. In France, public displays of
anti-Semitism—and acts of violence—were on the rise long before this latest
Gaza war. So, why is anti-Semitism overlooked by many Europeans until it
explodes into view at moments like these? There are three key reasons.
Firstly, Jews have
integrated very well into the establishment. In Britain, the leader of the
opposition, the speaker of the House of Commons and the president of the Supreme
Court are all Jews. It is hard, in this context, for many to perceive of this
bourgeois minority as a “minority” at all, much less as victims of prejudice.
It is as if the Jews, subsumed into the “Judeo-Christian” fabric, have nothing
to fear because they have finally made it.
But this perception is
based on ignorance of Jewish history. Anti-Semitism has historically coexisted
with Jewish flourishing, often because of, not
despite, Jewish integration into the establishment. Frequently, anti-Semitism
is not based on perceptions of Jewish weakness, but power. This is one characteristic that
makes it unique. Jewish prosperity has historically blinded people to the
fragile foundations on which it rests and the explosive dangers underneath.
Thus, Iraq’s Jews used to form the backbone of their country’s economy, but
they were still chased out by a tide of popular anti-Jewish revulsion. Across
the Arab world, anti-Semitism was fueled by a perception of the Jews as being
in league with the colonial powers—a trend that still continues, as Jews are
associated with Israel, and Israel with imperialism.
The
second reason European anti-Semitism often goes unremarked upon is that this upsurge
of prejudice is coming not only from the nationalist far right, but also—at the
risk of political incorrectness—from Muslim quarters. Mehdi Hasan, Britain’s
most prominent Muslim journalist, has called the “virus” of “routine and
commonplace” anti-Semitism the “dirty
little secret” of
British Muslims. And the riots in France have been predominantly the work of
North African immigrants.
This fact complicates
efforts to tackle anti-Semitism, because it involves extremists from one
minority preying on another. It would be unthinkable for a mainstream
politician to say that Muslims “as a community … do have a ‘Jewish problem’”
(Mr. Hasan’s words exactly). Combatting this hatred requires recognizing
uncomfortable facts about its provenance, but politicians are loathe to single
out a minority for public criticism—especially not one that is itself targeted
by the far-right, and one that far outnumbers the smaller Jewish minorities.
The problem is exacerbated by the aforementioned perception of Jews as members
of the establishment: any attempt to address Muslim anti-Semitism specifically
might be interpreted as a witch-hunt by “powerful Jews,” further entrenching
the usual stereotypes.
In effect, then, Europe’s Jews are
paying the price for the continent’s failure to effectively integrate its
immigrant communities. (This is a problem that eventually will hit the U.S.)
It is hardly surprising that the banlieues of Paris—the home of many North
African immigrants—are hotbeds of anti-Semitism if, according to theADL’s recent study,
80-87 percent of Maghrebi Arabs are bona fide anti-Semites.
Thirdly,
the increasingly
thin line between
anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism means that anti-Semitism can be difficult to
identify, concealed behind “anti-Israel” rhetoric.
Accusations of anti-Semitism are often met with the riposte that Jews are just
“crying anti-Semitism” to
silence criticism of Israel. And Jewish anxieties about the recycling of
classically anti-Semitic motifs might come across as a bit paranoid for those
unaware of the depressing continuities in Jewish history and anti-Jewish hate.
Anti-Semitism
will continue to bedevil Europe until people understand what it is and where it
is coming from. Until then—well, perhaps the exodus of 1%
of French Jewry this
year to Israel is a harbinger of things to come. This part of God's plan to re-gather his people from all around the world.
Friends, I think Mr. Brzezinski, the Illuminati globalist, needs to pull his dusty Bible off his bookshelf and read it. Mr. B. the reasons
to this global chaos are in the Bible.
It's a chaotic world out
there. But we'd better get used to it; this may be the new normal.
The Middle East is in flames, not only Gaza but Syria, Iraq and Libya as well. Russia is massing troops on the border of Ukraine. Central Africa is a mess, as are Afghanistan and Pakistan. Parts of Mexico and Central America are ruled by criminal gangs and drug cartels. And those are merely the crises big enough to command front-page attention.
"This is historically unprecedented," former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told Foreign Policy magazine recently. "Huge swaths of global territory are dominated by populist unrest, anger and effective loss of state control."
Brzezinski's point wasn't merely that disorder is loose in the world; that's happened in earlier periods of war and revolution (think of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, for example). His point was that chaos is breaking out simultaneously in many regions, and that governments are less capable of meeting those challenges than before.
Moreover, in an age of instant communication, conflicts can spread more readily. In the Middle East, the democratic uprisings of the Arab Spring led to anarchy in Libya, a counterrevolution in Egypt and a civil war in Syria. The war in Syria immediately became part of the larger, regionwide conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and spread across the border into Iraq.
And with that, two epic struggles were joined: the political battle over who will govern the fractious nations of the Arab world, and a religious war between two major branches of Islam.
These aren't the kind of conflicts that end quickly or neatly. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, says the closest analogy he can come up with is the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants, a conflict that devastated Europe from 1618 to 1648. That's a daunting thought.
And it's not only the Middle East. Ever since the end of the Cold War 25 years ago, foreign policy pundits have been warning that the world is becoming more unstable because power is fragmenting.
Big governments and conventional armies could once command obedience around the world; in the 19th century, five British warships compelled the sultan of Zanzibar to surrender after only 38 minutes of artillery fire. The great powers don't enjoy that kind of military superiority anymore. The United States spent more than a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan but couldn't fully pacify either country.
The reason isn't that the great powers are no longer powerful; the difference is that their opponents — balky local governments, insurrectionists and jihadists alike — are more potent than they used to be. They're better equipped, better funded and more skilled at guerrilla warfare.
At the same time, outside powers like the United States have lost their appetite for fighting long counterinsurgency wars. It's become harder and more costly to keep a lid on the developing world's disorders, so we're more reluctant to try.
The result is what one scholar, Randall Schweller, has called "an age of entropy" — a leaderless world with no superpowers to enforce order.
Republicans have two words to explain how we got to this leaderless state of affairs: Barack Obama.
But the big changes around the world aren't entirely (or even mainly) his fault. Nor are they, as Democrats insist, mainly the fault of his predecessor, George W. Bush, who took the United States to war in Iraq.
That's not to say that either of their foreign policies was flawless. Bush had a naive faith in America's ability to extend the reach of democracy. Obama began his presidency with a naive hope that an outstretched hand to Iran, Russia and other adversaries would be met with cooperation. And, when the Arab Spring arrived, he underestimated the problems that upheaval would bring, trying to promote democracy on the cheap by cheering uprisings in Libya, Syria and elsewhere, but doing little to help them succeed.
Obama has now retreated to a more minimalist version of his foreign policy. Despite what his most partisan critics assert, he hasn't abandoned international affairs; instead, he has focused on his biggest priorities: counter-terrorism, Iran, China and Russia. But his core foreign policy doctrine is now one of restraint.
That's been infuriating to internationalists who view the United States as the indispensable nation, duty-bound to sort out the world's problems. As Brzezinski put it: "We are … increasingly devoid of strategic will and a sense of direction."
That's overstated. But if Obama is looking for a big goal for his final years in office, here's one he should embrace (and can hardly avoid): articulating an overarching global strategy for the United States in an increasingly chaotic world, and convincing Americans that it makes sense.
The Middle East is in flames, not only Gaza but Syria, Iraq and Libya as well. Russia is massing troops on the border of Ukraine. Central Africa is a mess, as are Afghanistan and Pakistan. Parts of Mexico and Central America are ruled by criminal gangs and drug cartels. And those are merely the crises big enough to command front-page attention.
"This is historically unprecedented," former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told Foreign Policy magazine recently. "Huge swaths of global territory are dominated by populist unrest, anger and effective loss of state control."
Brzezinski's point wasn't merely that disorder is loose in the world; that's happened in earlier periods of war and revolution (think of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, for example). His point was that chaos is breaking out simultaneously in many regions, and that governments are less capable of meeting those challenges than before.
Moreover, in an age of instant communication, conflicts can spread more readily. In the Middle East, the democratic uprisings of the Arab Spring led to anarchy in Libya, a counterrevolution in Egypt and a civil war in Syria. The war in Syria immediately became part of the larger, regionwide conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and spread across the border into Iraq.
And with that, two epic struggles were joined: the political battle over who will govern the fractious nations of the Arab world, and a religious war between two major branches of Islam.
These aren't the kind of conflicts that end quickly or neatly. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, says the closest analogy he can come up with is the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants, a conflict that devastated Europe from 1618 to 1648. That's a daunting thought.
And it's not only the Middle East. Ever since the end of the Cold War 25 years ago, foreign policy pundits have been warning that the world is becoming more unstable because power is fragmenting.
Big governments and conventional armies could once command obedience around the world; in the 19th century, five British warships compelled the sultan of Zanzibar to surrender after only 38 minutes of artillery fire. The great powers don't enjoy that kind of military superiority anymore. The United States spent more than a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan but couldn't fully pacify either country.
The reason isn't that the great powers are no longer powerful; the difference is that their opponents — balky local governments, insurrectionists and jihadists alike — are more potent than they used to be. They're better equipped, better funded and more skilled at guerrilla warfare.
At the same time, outside powers like the United States have lost their appetite for fighting long counterinsurgency wars. It's become harder and more costly to keep a lid on the developing world's disorders, so we're more reluctant to try.
The result is what one scholar, Randall Schweller, has called "an age of entropy" — a leaderless world with no superpowers to enforce order.
Republicans have two words to explain how we got to this leaderless state of affairs: Barack Obama.
But the big changes around the world aren't entirely (or even mainly) his fault. Nor are they, as Democrats insist, mainly the fault of his predecessor, George W. Bush, who took the United States to war in Iraq.
That's not to say that either of their foreign policies was flawless. Bush had a naive faith in America's ability to extend the reach of democracy. Obama began his presidency with a naive hope that an outstretched hand to Iran, Russia and other adversaries would be met with cooperation. And, when the Arab Spring arrived, he underestimated the problems that upheaval would bring, trying to promote democracy on the cheap by cheering uprisings in Libya, Syria and elsewhere, but doing little to help them succeed.
Obama has now retreated to a more minimalist version of his foreign policy. Despite what his most partisan critics assert, he hasn't abandoned international affairs; instead, he has focused on his biggest priorities: counter-terrorism, Iran, China and Russia. But his core foreign policy doctrine is now one of restraint.
That's been infuriating to internationalists who view the United States as the indispensable nation, duty-bound to sort out the world's problems. As Brzezinski put it: "We are … increasingly devoid of strategic will and a sense of direction."
That's overstated. But if Obama is looking for a big goal for his final years in office, here's one he should embrace (and can hardly avoid): articulating an overarching global strategy for the United States in an increasingly chaotic world, and convincing Americans that it makes sense.
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