Beginning last year, friends started asking me about the war in Ukraine. Eric Metaxas asked me that question when he came over for dinner. My estimate as we discussed:
1. Nichole Perlroth wrote in her book, This is how they tell me the World Ends, that Russian hacking in 2016 of Ukraine’s power grid, election, and more were a practice run. Her conclusion was that the Russians refined their tactics and techniques in Ukraine, using them against the United States in our 2020 elections. Recall that hacking subverted our elections, took down oil infrastructure, and attacked other elements in US power grids. There is a reason why Ukraine now accepts only paper ballots from properly identified citizens.
2. Today, Russia’s leadership is pushing its Army into Ukraine. (Recall Poland in 1939.) In a recent speech, our President sort of gave them carte blanch to do what they wanted. I concluded our President is a senile Neville Chamberlain look-alike. Think about this a moment. Putin already took Crimea and dominates the Black Sea. Once part of Ukraine, the Crimea is strategic territory with important deep water naval ports for a nation looking south. Yet, the way to Crimea is through Ukraine.
Eze 38:4 “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.
Ukraine is west of Moscow, so I asked the question – ‘Turn you toward what?’ Ezekiel answers the question,
Eze 38:14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
Eze 38:15 “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
Ezekiel’s prophesied strategic turn is from the North to the South.
1. My personal estimate is that moving against Ukraine militarily solves a border problem for Russia.
2. More importantly, this opens up the way for unfettered access to Crimea.
3. Though Ukraine is west, it might be one of the ‘Hooks’ in Putin’s jaws turning him south. Why? Oil. And Power.
4. Ukraine will once again be a practice run for Russia but with tanks, planes, and soldiers, in the same way that Poland was a practice run for Germany in 1939.
5. The end game is that having Ukraine in his grasp, Putin and Russia will use the Crimea to project power south toward…
Eze 38:11 “You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—
Last note… Across ten years in Afghanistan, NATO / Coalition nations lost over ten thousand soldiers (2,500 were American) to Jihadi / terrorist groups equipped and trained by the Russians. If the NATO / Coalition could serve the Russians the same cold dish in Ukraine they served us in Afghanistan, would we do it? You better believe it. I hope Putin enjoys the taste of the hooks in his jaws.
Map of situation from ISW as of 21 May and the Russian consolidation of its land route to Crimea. I highly recommend their site for analysis of Ukraine and wars around the globe.
Today, Israel is a nation of walls and gates. It is possible that after the Psalm 83 war, they tear down their walls and gates to live in what they think is peace.
Jay