Russia vows response against Israel for future Syria strikes

The story below fits as a scenario that could lead to the prophesied war found in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. In that prophecy, Biblical scholars (among them Joel Rosenberg who I interviewed in 2010) generally agree that Gog, a large kingdom from the north of Israel, will join forces against Israel's enemies to destroy Israel in the last days. 

Carefully read Ezekiel's prophecy above in the context of the story below: Russian President Vladimir Putin is allegedly pledging to retaliate against Israel, if Israel conducts another strike on targets inside Syria. 

At the same time, yesterday (May 15, 2013), the Israeli government publicly pledged to "bring down" Syria's President Assad if Assad retaliates against Israel for Israeli air strikes inside Syria on missiles and weapons systems bound for Iran's terrorist proxy militia Hizballah in southern Lebanon. 

The threat posed to Israel by all of these interconnected alliances is compounded by Israel's long-rumoured potential mission to conduct air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and missile sites. In short: the Middle East is at the precipice of total conflagration.

The truth and potential fulfillment of the Bible's prophecies in Ezekiel is becoming explicitly clear, and is worthy of critical assessment by believers and non-believers alike. What if the as-yet-unfulfilled prophecies written 2500 years ago are coming true in this lifetime? Christians are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). In light of the likelihood of massive global war, perhaps non-Christians should be praying that too. 

Even so, come Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).

-R.O.

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"Syrian-Israeli war of words via Putin edges into Syrian-Hizballah war of attrition"

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report May 16, 2013, 10:58 AM (IDT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Netanyahu ended their three-hour meeting in Sochi Tuesday, May 14, at loggerheads on Syria. In fact, Putin warned his guest that Israel and its army, the IDF, were heading for war with Syria in which Russia might well be involved – and not just through the advanced S-300 anti-air missiles supplied to the Assad government.

The case Netanyahu and Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi put before Putin and Russian foreign intelligence chief, SVR Director Mikhail Fradkov, fell on deaf ears.

They found the Russian leader further infuriated by the docking that day at Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat of the USS Kearsarge, carrying 1,800 marines and a consignment of 20 V-22 Osprey helicopters which US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had promised to supply to Israel during his April visit.

Putin viewed the stationing of US forces in the Gulf of Aqaba just two hours away the Israeli-Syrian border for repelling Syrian-Iranian-Hizballah aggression against Israel or Jordan – signaled by the Kearsage’s arrival - as an act of bad faith by Washington. On the one hand, they want us to cooperate for an international conference to end the bloodshed in Syria, while on the other, they deploy military forces, he complained to Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister countered with a warning that Israel would continue to strike advanced weapons in Syria that were destined for Hizballah. And if President Bashar Assad hit back for Israel’s May 5 bombardment of weapons stores on Mount Qassioun near Damascus, Israel would intensify its bombardments of Syrian military targets and weapons until Assad was left to fight off rebel assaults empty-handed.

Putin rejected this threat as implausible.

Neither Putin nor Netanyahu put all their cards on the table, but the conversation ended with the Russian leader fully confident that his capabilities for safeguarding Assad were greater than Israel’s ability to destroy him.

In the end, Netanyahu and his party arrived home Tuesday evening with a bad feeling. They were certain that Moscow had given Assad the green light to go through with his threat to make the Syrian Golan and the Horan of southern Syria “a front for resistance” – i.e. the platforms for embarking on a war of attrition against northern Israel with the help of a flow of advanced weapons to Hizballah.

The Syrian ruler is strongly encouraged to adopt this path by Tehran. Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has embraced it. And the radical Palestinian leader, Ahmed Jibril, head of the Assad-satellite Popular Front-General Command, has eagerly offered his services.

And indeed, Wednesday, the day after Netanyahu’s trip to Sochi, Jibril’s group let loose with mortar fire on the Israeli Mt. Hermon ski site, firing from a Syrian army position.

Israeli military sources confirmed later that these were no stray shells from a Syrian-army-rebel battle as in former cases, but a deliberate attack. In Jerusalem, it was taken as a direct consequence of Moscow’s account to Assad of the conversation between the Russian and Israeli leaders. They concluded that Assad took it for granted that he was now at liberty to go on the offensive against Israel.

Wednesday night, Netanyahu’s office reacted to this deterioration with a swift and strong warning.
Israeli media were informed bluntly that if the Assad chose to retaliate for Israel’s air strikes, he would be removed from power.

That same night, “a senior Israeli official” contacted The New York Times with a more detailed warning quoted by the paper: "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."

Within hours, early Thursday morning, May 16, Jerusalem had its answer from Damascus.
A Palestinian group calling itself “Martyrs of the Abdel Qader al-Husseini Brigades” (named for the commander of a Palestinian force fighting Israel in its 1948 War of Independence) claimed responsibility for the "rockets" aimed at an Israeli military observation post in the Golan Heights. They were fired in honor of Nakba Day, said the statement released in Damascus "We are not celebrating but avenging the blood of our martyrs."

A video showing the launch was appended.

Palestinian terrorist groups habitually use made-up names when claiming attacks, a practice often followed by al Qaeda, but this one was easily identified by Israel and taken to mean that Assad had begun using what the Israeli official referred to in The New York Times as "his terrorist proxies."

Depending on the next move decided on by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, this incident could mark the tipping-point of a slide towards a war confrontation against Israel by Syria, Hizballah and other Assad proxies.

Source URL: http://www.debka.com/article/22970/

Israel-Russia talks focus on Syria

Israel-Russia talks focus on Syria
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22519770

Important developments in Israel and Russia. Which direction will this relationship head? -R.O.

Jonathan Kay: Stephen Hawking should go to Israel — and Gaza. And this is what he should say

Jonathan Kay: Stephen Hawking should go to Israel — and Gaza. And this is what he should say

Provocative truths. - R.O.

"How to Be a Leader" - My Interview in the UTSC Commons Magazine

In January I had the great honour of being jointly interviewed with my dad for a feature article on "How to Be a Leader" in the University of Toronto Scarborough's 'Commons' magazine. Check it out on pages 7-8 here, or read it copied below. - R.O.
Magazine Source URL: http://read.uberflip.com/i/119514

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Lieutenant Governor of Ontario The Honourable David C. Onley and his son Robert on what it takes to become a leader.

The Honourable David C. Onley (left) and Robert Onley.

The Honourable David C. Onley (BA, 1975), Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor, has held many leadership roles over his career in broadcasting and public service. His Honour's son, Robert Onley (BA, 2009), is an articling law student, a former student council president and a member of Youth Diplomacy, an international youth think tank. Both are proud UTSC alumni, so UTSC Commons asked them to sit down in His Honour's office at Queen's Park to explore the concept of leadership.

His Honour: When was the first time you realized somebody was a leader?

Robert Onley: In school, when I realized my sixth-grade teacher Mr. Hazlewood was influencing the way I was thinking.

HH: When I was student council president at Scarborough College (now UTSC) our principal was Wynne Plumptre. He was a remarkably dignified gentleman, a scholar and a diplomat. This was at a time in the early 1970s of great student activism. And there were many laudable attempts by the administration to reach out to student groups and involve students in the decision-making process. Principal Plumptre did this with great aplomb. He was a real conciliator. I remember being conscious of the fact that he was practicing a form of leadership that I found enormously impressive.

RO: A great leader creates opportunities for people. And if you want to lead, it's up to you to seize these opportunities. Universities can provide opportunities for people to exercise skills they might have deep inside them. That's huge. Leaders understand that if you don't have the opportunities, you'll never realize your potential.

HH: You learn bits of leadership as you go along. My late father, Robert's grandfather, was a navigator in WW2 with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Many of my Dad's friends had fought in the war. These were amazing guys. They flew Lancaster bombers and Hurricanes and Sunderlands. These guys were decision makers, and when they came home they moved into various leadership positions in society. I'm not sure how much of leadership can be taught, but I'm sure a good portion of it is something you can learn.

RO: We've transformed the way our generation rallies around causes and exhibits leadership. We'll never displace the old notions of political leadership and government, but the ability of young people to quickly coordinate and connect on ideas... we need to harness that for good. For three years I've been a part of Youth Diplomacy, an international NGO that runs G8/G20 Youth Summits. One year the summit was in Paris and I represented Canada as the Minister of Defense. This was, for me, a staggering event, a week-long set of negotiations with my counter-parts from the G8. We had some of the most intense debates over nuclear-proliferation policy, Iran, Libya, defense spending, piracy. And at the end of it we collaborated using Skype, Google Docs and Facebook Messenger to draft a communiqué that summed up the positions we could agree to. In a matter of five days we produced a mini-essay that consolidated the collective wisdom of the G8 youth. Here's what makes that so mind-blowing: for the first time in history, the leaders of tomorrow are already communicating with each other today. This is unprecedented. The rules of the game have changed.

HH: A leader still has to lead, though. The principles of leadership are still the same: you have to inspire people. You have to convince them that they can trust you to make the right decisions even when they don't fully agree with it, whether that's in the boardroom, in cabinet or in the prime minister's office. From my experience, one of the great leadership skills is the capacity to listen to other people. As long as people are being listened to, and they know their input is valued and appreciated, they'll follow you.

RO: A good leader is also able to find and keep the right people.

HH: That's crucial. You just can't do it yourself. If you try to, you won't succeed. History is littered with presidents and prime ministers who tried to do it all by themselves.

RO: As a leader, I don't just want "Yes" people. I want people who will stand up to me or make me sit down and listen. You need a counterweight, someone who puts you in your place a little bit. Because if you don't have that, you risk trampling the roses.

HH: There is such a thing as a born leader, but born leaders can still bomb out if they don't choose the right people or have the right skill sets.

RO: And if you're lucky, you might have good leaders at home, in your own family. I've always been inspired by how much my Dad has accomplished in his life. Having battled polio at a young age, and having fought through it all the way to today... I've always felt that if he can do that, with his condition, imagine what I can do! I have an unrivalled sense of optimism in my own capabilities because I see what can be done.

HH: Well, I was inspired by my Dad, but also inspired by my mother. She was the one who taught me how to be a pit-bull, to fight to get things fixed. When my grandmother came down with Alzheimer's in 1974, nobody knew what it meant. So my mother said, "Well then, we need to have an Alzheimer's Society." So along with another lady she founded the very first chapter of the Alzheimer's Society. That wasn't political or military leadership, but it was leadership.

RO: In the end, leaders are doers. They get stuff done. They say, "this is wrong," or "this needs to change" and they just make it happen. That's where universities come in. By presenting opportunities for students to engage with the world, UTSC can help create immense change. If you live intentionally and take opportunities and make decisions, you can do so much. That's what being a leader is all about.

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution
Fascinating insights from Eric Schmidt (Chairman of Google) and Jared Cohen (President of Google Ideas) upon their return from a trip to North Korea. Be sure to watch the interview. North Koreans are the only people on earth who remain without widespread access to the Internet. -R.O.