 By Colonel David J. Giammona, U.S. Army, Ret.
The year 2020 will go down as one of the most pivotal years in modern history for several reasons. We have observed the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19, fires burning out of control in various countries, swarms of locusts invading North Africa and the Middle East, global economic downturns, riots and assaults in major cities, political unrest, the rise of China as a superpower, and other global events too numerous to name. Now, the White House announced this news: “President Donald J. Trump has brokered an agreement to normalize relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel – the first such agreement between Israel and a major Arab country since 1994.” We also have now witnessed an extraordinary event with the announcement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that full diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates has ushered in a "new era" in Israel's relations with the Arab world. On the human level, it seems that some Arab nations are cowering in fear over the prospect of Iran and Turkey dominating the Middle East with their overt and covert military actions. This fear is shocking the watching world as the UAE aligns itself with Israel in order to strengthen its military alliances. Not only that, there is now the expectation that other Arab countries will follow suit. This event has great implications as GODSPEED Magazine senior editor Troy Anderson and I point out in our forthcoming book, The Military to Armageddon, due out for release on January 5, 2021. It seems that God is aligning the nations for the end times and His purposes. This new Arab alignment with Israel will cause geopolitical and military turmoil in the region and around the world. Both Iran and Turkey, once formidable enemies of each other, are now finding themselves more and more in agreement against Israel and those aligned with her. Military experts say that the abrupt convergence of geopolitical and security interests between Tehran and Ankara, or Iran’s efforts to mend fences with Turkey, is no accident. Squeezed by the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions and constantly pushed back by the U.S.-led constellation of its Arab rivals, Iran has been in need of an opening to alleviate the consequences of isolation, and Turkey is in a powerful position to facilitate it despite its differences with Syria. The words of Jesus in Luke 21:36 really come into focus when He states we need to “watch and pray.” No man knows exactly what is going to happen in the world, but we are well aware of “the times and seasons.” We are in a season of monumental change and paradigm shifts. What we knew yesterday will be exponentially different as we emerge from this pandemic and geopolitical changes of the world. |
