Iran's Growing Influence

Or, the title today could be given by Caroline Glick who has just written Slouching towards Teheran

Her commentary relates to how a weakened U.S., along with a very weak foreign policy has left a void in the region, a void that is rapidly being replaced by Iran, and more and more countries seeing the "writing on the wall" and as a result are siding with Iran:

Two weeks ago, Iran scored a massive victory. Jordan, the West’s most stable, loyal ally in Arab world, began slouching towards the Iranian Gomorrah.

On December 12, Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei met with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman and extended a formal invitation from Ahmadinejad for him to pay a state visit to Iran. Abdullah accepted.

According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mashaei said that Abdullah’s visit will begin a new page in bilateral relations and that “the two countries hold massive potential to work together."

Unfortunately, there is much more involved:

Abdullah reportedly said that his country recognizes Iran’s nuclear rights and supports its access to peaceful nuclear technology.

Abdullah was one of the first world leaders to sound the alarm on Iran. In 2004, Abdullah warned of a “Shi’ite crescent” extending from Iran to Iraq, through Syria to Lebanon. His words were well reported at the time. But his warning went unheeded.

In the intervening six years, reality has surpassed Abdullah’s worst fears. Not only Lebanon and Syria have fallen under Iranian control. Iraq, Turkey, Qatar, Gaza and increasingly Oman, Yemen and Afghanistan are also either willing or unwilling members of the axis.

So why is this happening and how is this happening?

Abdullah cautioned that if the Arabs believed that the US was appeasing Iran at their expense, “that engagement will set off a stampede of Arab states looking to get ahead of the curve and reach their own separate peace with Teheran.

THAT WAS then. And since then, the Obama administration did nothing after Iranian dictator Ahmadinejad and his henchmen stole the presidential election. It did nothing as they repressed the tens of millions of Iranians who demonstrated against the election fraud.

The Obama administration did nothing as Iran conducted repeated war games along the Straits of Hormuz, progressed in its nuclear program, deepened its military alliances with Turkey and Venezuela and escalated its proxy war against the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

But that is only part of the story:

As Washington stood idly by in the face of Iran’s aggression, Jordan and the other US-allied Arab states watched as Obama harassed Israel, announced his plan to withdraw all US forces from Iraq next year, appointed a new ambassador to Syria and approved more military aid to the Iranian-controlled Lebanese army.

And Abdullah and the other Arabs watch now as the US is poised to begin yet a new round of appeasement talks with Iran next month.

And if you want one quote which encapsulates this entire situation, it can be found here:

In acting as he is, Abdullah is following in his father’s footsteps. The late King Hussein survived by watching the prevailing winds closely and always siding with the side he believed was strongest at any given time.

When Hussein believed that the West and Israel were weakening, he went with their enemies. He only rejoined the Western alliance after it defeated its foes, and so convinced him that it was stronger.

IT IS often erroneously claimed that siding with the metaphorical stronger horse is primarily an Arab practice. In truth, everyone does it.

In another diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks, the US Embassy in Paris reported that French President Nicolas Sarkozy thinks that the Palestinians are stronger than Israel.

Before Sarkozy took office, he was considered a great supporter of Israel and a personal friend of Netanyahu’s. But since taking office, he has sided with the Palestinians against Israel. He has been friendly to Syria. Most recently, he agreed to sell 100 advanced anti-tank missiles to the Hizbullahcontrolled Lebanese military.

And now for the bad news:

It is important to bear this in mind when one considers the reason that the campaign to delegitimize Israel is gaining momentum.

ALL THIS is not to say that the Left is purposely sinking the ship of state. It is simply a victim of its own success. The Left has convinced Europe and the Arabs that it is dedicated to appeasement and that like the US under Obama, Israel will not fight its enemies.

What the Left failed to recognize is that Europe and the Arabs would rather cut a deal with Iran than defend themselves against it. A surrendering Israel is of no use to them. They only like Israel when it wins.

There isn't much to add to this commentary. Canada Free Press has a similar and related article:

Obama Has Lost the World

This article reveals how a weakened U.S. leads to much of what we are seeing in the world today

Obama’s cocktail party tour of the world’s capitals may look impressive on a map, but is irrelevant on a policy level. In less than two years, the White House has gone from being the center of world leadership to being irrelevant, from protecting world freedom to serving as a global party planning committee.

On the enemy side, the growing aggressiveness of China, North Korea, Iran, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda can all be attributed to the global consensus that no one is at home in the White House.

And if no one is at home in the White House, then that’s a perfect time to slap the big boy around the yard. China is doing it economically, the rest are doing it militarily. They’re all on board with Obama’s Post-American vision of the world.

Syria and Iran are back in charge in Lebanon. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban are laughing at our soft power outreach efforts.

From the first, this administration has curried favor with America’s enemies by betraying and humiliating its allies. But these hideous acts of moral cowardice have not won Obama the approval of America’s enemies. Only their contempt.

Ouch. The truth hurts. What else do we see as a result of the U.S. policy of appeasement?

Now that the Koreas stand on the brink of war, Iran continues its drive toward a nuclear bomb, Al Qaeda is going global, Hezbollah is on the verge of taking Lebanon and Mexico is on the verge of imploding—the impact of America’s absence on the global stage is all too clear.

The countless cocktail parties and toasts have not changed the world. All they’ve done is highlighted the transition of the White House from world leadership to global party guest. Trip after trip has ended in photo ops and policy failures.

There is much more to this article and it is well worth reading.

But we prophecy watchers knew that this had to happen. We knew that America had to fall from the world stage for many reasons, not the least is the fact that America isn't even given a passing glance in biblical end-times prophecy. Additionally, it is painfully obvious that for the big powers to rise before and during the Tribulation, the U.S. would have to take, at a minimum, a "back-seat" to the rest of the world.

While many of us speculated that the Rapture of the Church would effectively remove the U.S. from the world stage - we are now seeing the removal of the U.S. from this stage occur - right before our very eyes, as we watch, unable to change matters.

Although this will ultimately lead to the destruction of many, and it will lead to the pain, hardship and death of billions of people across the globe (just read Revelation 6-18 for a detailed description) - it is part of the overall plan. With a strong U.S. presence - a presence founded on biblical principles - many of the events of the Tribulation couldn't take place. A weakened, diminished U.S. is a necessity in the last days, and indeed this is what we are seeing.

In a way, watching the demise of the U.S. is strangely comforting. It is comforting because we can see that it is very much consistent with biblical prophecy. It is comforting because we know that God is ultimately in control of everything, including these last days scenarios that are playing out in real time.

But more importantly, it is comforting to the Christian, because we know what else is coming - or better stated - we know WHO else is coming - and it is Jesus Christ coming for His church. Because that too is very much a part of end-of-days prophecy.

And just as everything else around us is occurring with undeniable certainty - consistent with prophecy - so will His coming.

Its a guarantee.