News From The World: WMDs Spreading Throughout Terrorist Groups

First of all, the hurricane is giving us some strong winds and a lot of rain, but at this point we still have power (keeping fingers crossed on that - as power outage will probably be the most significant aspect of this in central NC).

THE EPICENTER:

It looks like the rhetoric is continuing to increase, particularly from Iran. This alone is interesting, but an overall look at the Middle East right now reveals a region that is continuing to prepare for war:

Ahmainejad: Holocaust 'big lie' used to justify establishment of Israel

Millions of people attend state-run anti-Israel rallies throughout Iran to voice support for Palestinians and its liberation from what they call Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that the Holocaust was a "big lie" used to justify establishment of the state of Israel.

"The Zionist regime's establishment was based on numerous deceptions and lies and one of the biggest lies was the Holocaust," Ahmadinejad said in a speech after an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran and other Iranian cities.

The late supreme leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan to be Qods, or Jerusalem, Day and called for annual mass rallies against Israel and in support of the Palestinians.

The crowd at the university greeted the president's remarks with cries of Allah Akbar, meaning God is great, and by chanting anti-Israel slogans.

According to state television, millions of people attended the state-run anti-Israel rallies throughout the country to voice their support for Palestinians and its liberation from what they called Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called for the eradication of Israel, saying that Iran would "never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy."

'Not a grain of Palestinian sand should be conceded'

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah calls on Islamic world to "rise up and support the Palestinian people" during Quds Day speech.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday spoke out against concessions to Israel, saying not "one grain of sand" should be given up "at Palestine's expense."

Nasrallah was speaking via video link to a mass rally organized by Hezbollah at Maroun al-Ras on the Lebanon-Israel border. The rally was held in commemoration of Quds (Jerusaelm) Day, an annual show of support for the Palestinian cause.

“The Palestinians have the right to negotiate over the 1967 borders,” Nasrallah was quoted by Naharnet as saying, “but talks should not take place at the expense of the rest of Palestine,” he added.

The Hezbollah leader called on the Islamic world to "rise up and support the Palestinian people," praising what he referred to as a "new phase in Egypt."

Meanwhile:

Two Gaza rockets hit south after reported cease-fire

Grad Rocket Hits Near Ashkelon

Despite ceasefire: Rockets hit western Negev

OK...I think I'm seeing a trend here:

The terrorists launch a barrage of missiles into Israel and then declare a ceasefire. After approximately 12-24 hours nothing happens, then we see another barrage of missiles and immediately we see another call for a ceasefire. This pattern has repeated itself more times than one can count.

So what is going on?

This requires some degree of speculation, but only one idea seems obvious:

The terrorist groups know that Israel will launch a counter-attack sooner or later.

What better way to get "international condemnation" directed towards Israel than headlines that read "Israel attacks ____ during ceasefire"...(fill in the blanks with "Gaza", Lebanon", "Golan Heights" or wherever the hot spot is. Right now it is Gaza).

I believe this is the game that is being played - as nothing else makes sense. We shall see. But as soon as Israel counters these attacks, I fully expect to see such headlines, and of course the MSM would buy it, hook, line and sinker.

Also from around the world:

The truth about Libyan 'rebels'

Here are three things Americans need to know about the Libyan "rebels" the U.S. government isn't telling us.

One: The inspiration of the Libyan war is as much anti-Western as it is anti-Gadhafi.

Two: The anti-Gadhafi, anti-Western forces that NATO power has brought to apparent victory through an air war and not-so-secret deployment of special forces (so far costing U.S. taxpayers $1 billion) include jihadist forces the U.S. and NATO allies have been fighting for the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This Libyan surge, the report explains, may have been due to the "increasingly cooperative relationship" with al-Qaida of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). What is the LIFG? Designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2004, the LIFG is a prominent faction among anti-Gadhafi forces today.

Three: The draft constitution of the anti-Gadhafi forces cites "Shariah" as the "principal source of legislation."

Shariah is Islamic law, the basis of conquest or control of non-Muslims, conscience, speech and other Western-style liberties. Not too surprisingly, rebel spokesman Mustafa Abdul Jalil, former Libyan justice minister, sports a "zabibah," the forehead bruise of fanatical adherence to Islamic law. He also has animus toward Israel on the brain.

Such is the man touted as one of the powers-to-be in post-Gadhafi Libya, which U.S. government officials, such as Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, promise will be "moderate," "modern" and "secular." But don't laugh too hard. The joke is on us.

Gadhafi's Loose Weapons Could Number a 'Thousand Times' Saddam's

Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi spent decades piling up a huge stash of weapons like a crazy old lady hoarding cats. Ironically, rebel forces looted his arms depots to turn Gadhafi’s missiles and guns on their old master. But the ease with which the rebels were able to arm themselves points to their next massive problem: securing those weapons before they fuel a lethal insurgency or flood the global arms bazaar.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, has spent time on the ground in Libya during the uprising. He tells Danger Room that “weapon proliferation out of Libya is potentially one of the largest we have ever documented — 2003 Iraq pales in comparison — and so the risks are equally much more significant.”

Libya is still home to the remnants of its weapons-of-mass-destruction programs, though Gadhafi officially abandoned his efforts along those lines in 2003. Western officials are now worried about the security of a remaining 11 metric tons [12 U.S. tons] of mustard agent and 500 to 900 metric tons [550 to 990 U.S. tons] of uranium yellowcake still located in the country near Tripoli, according to the Associated Press’ Kimberly Dozier and Douglas Birch.

Below we see even more worries about terrorists and arms build-up:

Israel, U.S. worried over Syria's WMDs

Israel, US are closely monitoring Syria's suspected caches of chemical arms for fear that the weapons could fall into terror groups' hands as uprising against President Bashar Assad rages on, Wall Street Journal reports

Israel and the United States are closely monitoring Syria's suspected weapons of mass destruction due to concerns that terror groups could take advantage of the unrest in the country to seize chemical arms and long-range missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

According to the report, US intelligence services estimate that Syria's nonconventional weapons arsenal includes stockpiles of mustard gas, VX and Sarin gas, as well as the the missile and artillery systems to deliver them.

"We are very concerned about the status of Syria's WMD, including chemical weapons," Israel's Ambassador to the US Michael Oren told the newspaper. "Together with the US administration, we are watching this situation very carefully." A senior US official added that Syria's suspected chemical weapon program "is of great importance and...under intense study.

Also see this:

Ambassador Oren: Israel is very concerned about Syrian WMDs

Israel is worried about the possibility that the Syrian military may transfer chemical weapons to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah or Hamas due to instability within Syria, said Israeli Ambassador the United States Michael Oren.

Don't forget, Israel has stated repeatedly that any use of such weapons would be met with an overwhelming Israeli response, as any chemical or bio-weapons would be viewed the same as a nuclear weapon. And don't forget that such Israeli rhetoric is specifically directed towards "Damascus".

Speaking of arms build-up, lets take a look at the Kings of the East:

China seeking to bolster nuclear force

China's military is seeking to improve its nuclear arsenal by acquiring more mobile ballistic missiles that could survive a possible attack, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"China is modernizing its nuclear forces by adding more survivable delivery systems" and may be developing a new "road-mobile" ballistic missile, an annual report to Congress on Chinese military power said.

State media have reported that China's Second Artillery Corps has carried out training exercises that emphasized camouflage and maneuver tactics, which the report said would be designed to "increase survivability" of the country's atomic arsenal.

China expanding its nuclear stockpile

China is expanding its nuclear forces with a new multiwarhead mobile missile and keeps its strategic stockpiles in deep underground bunkers, the Pentagon disclosed in its annual report to Congress on the Chinese military.

The report states for the first time that China appears to be developing a third road-mobile ICBM, possibly capable of carrying a multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicle.

Additionally, the report provides new details on China’s efforts to develop missile defenses and says China conducted a warhead-intercept test as part of the system.

Personally, I have always believed that China will launch their nukes during the Tribulation, based upon Revelation 9 and a few passages there.

The location is revealed first:

"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind." (v15)

"The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths." (v17-18)

Did the apostle John witness nuclear missiles being launched, in the best terms that he had available 2,000 years ago?

What else involving "fire, smoke and sulfur" (which sounds a lot like witnessing missiles being launched, as one would indeed see "fire", "smoke" and "sulfur" as missiles are initially launched). Food for thought anyway.

Also see:

Pentagon warns India of Chinese build-up

Wars and rumors of war. We can't go a day now without reading at least one article on the rapid and alarming build-up of WMDs, whether nuclear, chemical, gas or biological.

Jesus certainly had it right when He gave us this warning.

Most of mankind will perish during the Tribulation and over that seven year period we would expect to see these weapons finally unleashed, so what we are seeing now should come as no surprise. It was all foretold by the ancient Prophets.