Confirming The Covenant Of Daniel 9:27

We know from Daniel 9:27 that the antichrist will 'confirm' the covenant for a 7-year period - a confirmation which will officially begin the Tribulation. This has always intrigued me, because the key to understanding this passage may lie in the key word 'confirm'. After all, several various peace accords have been signed, but almost immediately afterwards, major escalating violence ensured, and the agreements were never really confirmed. It has always been my personal opinion that the term confirmed could actually mean the process of having peace-keeping forces control the area - which in some respects is the only way to truly confirm the covenant.

Having said that, it is quite possible that this covenant will be signed and ratified and give control of the border-control and peace-keeping forces - all as part of the same covenant, this rendering any nuances of who controls these military forces moot. However, the confirmation of the covenant could possibly reference the individual put in control of the actual confirmation process, which must involve some sort of military forces in the region - forces that would control the borders and prevent major violence from aborting the process. 

Of course this is all irrelevant to the Church Saints, who will not be here to witness this process, therefore, for this writer it is all academic. However, the article below reveals that the idea of having some kind of 'peace-keeping' forces on the ground is becoming a big factor in the re-started negotiations for a peace plan. It also seems obvious, that whenever this actually happens - such peace-keeping forces would have to come from 'the nations' and not involve troops from the U.S., which would be viewed as too controversial, nor Israel (same reasons)...It would seem that EU troops would be more likely, given their accepted position as unbiased. That groundwork will be something to keep an eye on in future negotiations. The EU's EEAS (see here) seems to be a perfect fit - either before or after the '10 kings' comes into play. 

Kerry Brings Plan Integrating West Bank Security In Planned US-Led Regional Force

The security plan, which US Secretary of State John Kerry brought with him Thursday, Dec. 5, on his eighth trip for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, entails deploying a regional international force including US troops along the Jordan Rift Valley and West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

The security provisions Washington promised Israel under a final settlement of its dispute with the Palestinians are assuming a broader, regional form as a US blueprint, on which the Obama administration is still working, for a Middle East regional force to combat Al Qaeda.

This force would secure parts of Syria, as well as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the future Palestinian state and Israel against Al Qaeda attack from positions in Syria, Iraq and Sinai.

The secretary of state proposed integrating Israeli and Palestinian special forces units in the planned regional counter-terror force, alongside the American, British, French, Saudi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Qatari units enlisted to the new framework

Since its area of operation would be extensive, ranging from southern Syria to Sinai, including Israel and the potential Palestinian state, the IDF would be able to continue performing its security functions in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, as part of the new force. But by the same rule, Palestinian forces would be allowed by mutual consent to serve in parts of Israel in the same multinational framework.

The public groundwork for this plan is already being laid by means of extensive reporting in Western media which magnify the ever-present menace Al Qaeda poses to the United States and West Europe from its concentrations in Syria and Iraq.

Thursday, the day Kerry arrived in Israel, Al Qaeda staged one of its biggest operations in recent times against the Yemeni Defense Ministry in Sanaa. It claimed at least 52 lives and injured up to 200 people. Suicide bombers rammed the ministry compound’s gates setting off explosives in cars and bomb belts, while gunmen stormed the defense ministry building and hospital annex, gunning down any personnel they met, including foreign staff. Among the dead were six doctors.

US forces across the region, including Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, were immediately placed on high terror alert. Friday, as the Secretary of state met the Israeli prime minister for the third time and headed off to the Palmachim Air Force base to inspect the Arrow missile interceptor, US forces in Israel, the embassy in Tel Aviv and General Consulate in Jerusalem were also placed on heightened alert against a major terrorist strike.

The Yemeni attack was viewed by experts as an Al Qaeda demonstration of defiance, to show the visiting American official that Washington’s evolving security strategy was no match for its own ability to launch surprise attacks anywhere in the region on the most heavily guarded facilities.

Warnings Of Possible EMP Attack From Iran

A U.S. senator already has warned that a decision to cancel a U.S. defense system exposes America to a heightened risk of a catastrophic electromagnetic-pulse, or EMP, attack by Iran.

Now, an expert on the subject will present details that should concern every American, particularly in the wake of the U.S. nuclear agreement with Tehran.

A seminar on the Internet Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time will feature Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the congressional advisory boards of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum.

The webinar is hosted by the Clarion Project, an independently funded, non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the threat of Islamic extremism.

Fry also has been a CIA analyst and staff director of the congressionally mandated EMP Commission.

He’s spoken out about the risk of a disastrous EMP attack repeatedly, telling WND and its related G2 Bulletin multiple times about the threat.

Fry will address whether America’s recent concessions to Iran will make an EMP attack more likely.

There are two types of EMP attacks that could, experts believe, return America to an 18th century agrarian lifestyle that would cause millions of deaths.

One is a direct hit from a solar flare.

The other would be an EMP from a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere about 50 to 100 miles above the U.S. A basic missile and a crude nuclear device is all that would be needed.

Federal officials have estimated that a direct hit from either could cost $2 trillion in damage the first year and a recovery time frame of four to 10 years.

U.S. utilities have been resisting efforts to harden the grid and local utilities against an EMP attack.

He pointed out that the SHIELD Act, introduced by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., would give the federal government authority to get the utilities to undertake protective measures.

However, the legislation may not be going anywhere in Congress.

A “super-EMP” nuclear bomb, Pry said, is lighter than regular nuclear weapons and is designed to emit greater amounts of gamma rays, a form of electromagnetic energy. It’s the most destructive type of EMP event.

He also said even nations with “defensive” missiles could load them with nukes and deliver an EMP death blow to America.

His comments came after it was found that components of Cuban SA-2 surface-to-air missile were on a North Korean ship in the Panama Canal.

Pry said if armed with a nuclear warhead and launched from a freighter, the SA-2 is technically possible to use  offensively for an EMP attack.

Sources say that if one armed SA-2 were to be launched from a freighter off the U.S. East Coast and exploded high over the highly populated region stretching from New York City to Washington, D.C., the resulting EMP could knock out the Eastern grid that services some 70 percent of the U.S. population.

Experts Weigh In On Japan-China Row

East Asia is trapped in a vicious cycle of escalating tensions, with China's rising power giving Japanese hawks legitimacy in their bid to bolster the military -- exactly what Beijing says it fears.

The United States -- rival to one power, ally to the other -- finds itself walking a tightrope, with Vice President Joe Biden in China this week urging restraint to "reduce the possibility of crisis or mistake", according to a US administration official.

But that is hard when relations between Asia's two biggest economies are so poisoned by history. Every time Beijing summons the demons of Japan's past aggression, Tokyo plays on fears of Chinese domination to come.

"This is a battle about pride," said Takehiko Yamamoto, international security professor at Japan's Waseda University. "I cannot, for now, see there being any compromises."

Simmering tensions heated up with Japan's September 2012 purchase of some of the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, in the East China Sea, from their private Japanese owners. China, which calls them the Diaoyus, regards them as its territory.

Since then, China has sent ships and aircraft into the area on scores of occasions, prompting counter-deployments by Japan, and last month Beijing declared an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) covering a large stretch of the East China Sea.

Japan already has an ADIZ, which now overlaps China's. In October, a Chinese drone flight prompted Japanese threats to shoot down unmanned aircraft that enter its airspace, something Beijing said would amount to "an act of war".

Each escalation is blamed on the other side, with Japan claiming China is trying to "forcefully change the status quo", and China saying it must stand up to a re-emerging militarism it sees in Japan under conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Also see:

Report: Scientists Predict A Century Of Global Cooling

Ice, Snow And Extreme Cold Across The U.S.

Japan's Tsunami: How Clay On The Pacific Floor Could Raise The Risk Of Another Large Earthquake