Turkey-Russia Deal: Historic agreement on Kurds

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s October 20 - 26, 2019 “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” (Ezekiel 33:6, New International Version) PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE To skip the introductory slides and go straight to this weeks developments click here.

2. What is a Weekly World Watch? The idea is simple. It is to look at current events and compare them to events spoken of in the Bible. . I hope to build up a picture of God’s hand working in the affairs of this world. God is bringing about a day when all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem to battle. At that time God will send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to this earth. Jesus will then establish God’s kingdom on earth. This kingdom will last for ever. This is our hope and the reason we watch. The following six themes will appear repeatedly in WWW: • Israel: The continuing conflict in the Middle East and focus on Jerusalem. • Europe: Its developing union, both political and religious. • Russia: Its return to anti-Western ways as Bible prophecy’s “king of the north.” • The UK and the US: Bible prophecy’s “king of the south.” • Moral standards in decline and violence on the increase. • Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc WWW presentations in PowerPoint can be ordered as audio/visual CDs by clicking here. Move your mouse to place the cursor on the blue link and click.

3. BIBLE QUOTE What is in a Weekly World Watch? Each WWW looks at a few key developments that have happened during the past week. It is in no way meant to be exhaustive – just a look at those events I saw as significant from a Biblical point of view. Every WWW event slide has the following format. To reveal each block of text just left click your mouse or press the space bar. You control when it appears. News Photo This is straight from a news report that caught my eye because it looked significant from a Biblical perspective, usually that of prophecy. HEADLINE The source of the headline and the date are included. This is the reporter’s description of the event. It is always a direct quotation from the news report and reflects the understanding of the reporter and editors. EVENT This is my comment on why the event is interesting to a Bible student. The intention of the WWW is to offer brief Biblical perspectives without going into detail. If more detail is desired, please e-mail me: (andy@weeklyworldwatch.co.uk). Please note that these are personal thoughts and the aim is purely to stimulate Bible study. COMMENT This is normally one verse which backs up why the event that has occurred is interesting from a Biblical perspective. Please read in its context. Unless stated otherwise, all quotes are from the King James Version.(Book, chapter, and verse)

4. This Week’s Developments October 20 - 26, 2019 • Erdogan and Putin strike deal over Kurds • Jordan: Peace with Israel ‘cold and getting colder’ • Russia to conduct sweeping drills of its nuclear forces • Lebanon Hezbollah warns protests could lead to war • Brexit: Growing risk of no-deal in six days • A rare hurricane-like storm threatens Egypt and Israel To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:  Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah Erdogan and Putin strike deal over Kurds BBC, October 23, 2019 President Turkey and Russia have agreed what they say is a "historic" deal aimed at keeping Kurdish forces away from Syria's border with Turkey. It comes during a pause in Turkey's offensive to drive Kurdish forces out, creating a "safe zone" in the area. Under the deal, Syrian and Russian forces will immediately oversee a withdrawal of Kurdish forces. There is no word from the Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey regards as terrorists. The deal sets out plans for joint Turkish-Russian patrols along the border next week. The agreement was announced after six hours of talks on Tuesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian host, Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The Turkish offensive began after the US announced a sudden and unexpected withdrawal of its troops from northern Syria. The US troops had been supporting the Kurdish fighters, who have been allies in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in the region. EVENT A few weeks ago President Trump shocked his allies by announcing the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria. Since then Russia has helped Mr Assad retake much of north-east Syria, played peacemaker and deepened the wedge between Turkey and its NATO ally, America. It is worth remembering that Turkey is in NATO and technically therefore on the same side as the US. The friction now between these two nations could well lead to a full scale crisis in NATO. Turkey has NATO’s second largest army and keeping it in NATO helps reduce historical tensions Turkey has had with Greece. The Bible is clear that Turkey is allied to Russia at the time of the end. Togarmah is Turkey and therefore one day Turkey may well leave NATO. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:4-6)

6. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.  For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;  Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Jordanians say 25-year peace with Israel ‘cold and getting colder’ The Times of Israel, October 24, 2018 Twenty-five years after the signing of a landmark peace treaty, ties between Jordan and Israel mirror the ebbs and flows of a turbulent region, while many Jordanians still regard the Jewish state as an “enemy.” The Israel-Jordan peace treaty, inked in the Arava Valley on October 26, 1994, formally ended decades of war between the two neighbours but the accord faces continual challenges, analysts say. “Israel remains our number one enemy,” Yazid Khleifat, a 38-year-old civil servant, told AFP. “Israel has displaced millions of our Palestinian brothers and killed thousands of Arabs,” he said. More than half of Jordan’s 9.5 million population is of Palestinian descent. The largely desert Hashemite kingdom borders Israel and the Palestinian territories where a decades-long conflict has defined the political tremors of the Middle East. Jordan — the only Arab country besides Egypt to have a peace treaty with Israel — administered the West Bank, including mostly Arab East Jerusalem, until the 1967 Six Day War. EVENT In the Bible Jordan is made up of three ancient kingdoms – Edom, Moab and Ammon. They are all mentioned in Psalm 83 which speaks of the inner ring war of people that directly surround Israel. These people rise up against Israel but are completely defeated. This happens before Gog invades. In Psalm 83 we read of the “tabernacles or tents of Edom”. Jordan houses the Palestinian refugee camps in thousands of tents. It is an exact description of the modern day Palestinian refugees that live in tents in this area. The article above explains how Jordanian relations with Israel are cooling fast. When the inner ring conflict starts Jordan will be part of it. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 83:4-7)

7. Russia to conduct sweeping drills of its nuclear forces Associated Press, October 14, 2019 Russia’s military will this week undertake a sweeping drill of its strategic nuclear forces. The Defence Ministry said the three-day exercise will begin Tuesday and involve 12,000 troops, 213 missile launchers, 105 aircraft, 15 surface warships and five submarines. It said in a statement Monday that the war games will feature practice launches of missiles. Maj. Gen. Yevgeny Ilyin, the head of the ministry’s international cooperation department, said at a briefing for foreign military attaches that two intercontinental ballistic missiles will be launched at practice targets on the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula. He added that strategic bombers will also fire cruise missiles at test targets at several firing ranges. Russia has expanded the scope of its military drills in recent years amid rising tensions with the West. EVENT COMMENT These surprise drills come at a time when President Vladimir Putin is warning of a new arms race which has been spurred on by the unravelling of a key arms control treaty, something he blames on the United States. Washington rejects that and says Russia is the one who has flouted its arms control commitments.  The aim of this week’s exercise is to test the readiness of Russia’s command structure and how efficiently its orders are carried out, the defence ministry said. Russia’s Northern Fleet will be involved, the ministry said, saying the naval part of the exercise would cover the Barents, Baltic, Black, Caspian and Okhotsk seas.  Most months have some report of Russia preparing for war. The Bible says this is a key news article to look out for. Russia doesn’t just wake up one day and invade Israel. The preparations are a long in time in the making and we are watching them take place… BIBLE QUOTE “Get ready; be prepared! Keep all the armies around you mobilized, and take command of them.  A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel. (Ezekiel 38:7-8 NLT)

8. Lebanon Hezbollah warns protests could lead to chaos, war Washington Post, October 25, 2019 EVENT The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said Friday that nationwide protests against the country’s political class have been exploited by foreign powers and were no longer spontaneous, warning they could drag the country toward civil war. Hassan Nasrallah’s comments came shortly after his supporters clashed with anti-government protesters in central Beirut. His supporters rejected the protesters equating the powerful group’s leader with other corrupt politicians they want to see step down. A popular refrain in the rallies, now in their ninth day, has been: “All means all.” The unprecedented nationwide protests that began Oct. 17 were triggered by proposed new taxes, including on the use of the WhatsApp mobile application. They came on the heels of an austerity budget that cut public spending, pensions and employee benefits to tackle a deepening economic crisis. COMMENT Hezbollah is one of the main political parties in the Lebanon coalition government. It is listed as a terrorist organisation by many countries as it is an armed militia who want to destroy Israel. But turmoil has hit Lebanon with 9 days of nationwide protests. Never has Hezbollah faced such strong domestic sentiment against it from across different sects. Its leadership is facing the greatest existential crisis it has experienced in a long time. The Bible speaks of Lebanon burning in Zechariah 11. We read that in symbolic terms Lebanon’s cedar’s fall. In the next chapter we read of the inner ring war around Israel. There are many unprecedented aspects to these demonstrations, including their size, scope and cross-sectarian nature. It could well explode into the chaos and war Nasrallah mentions. This could all lead to the inner conflict with Israel….soon. BIBLE QUOTE Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.  Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.  (Zechariah 11:1-2)

9. Growing risk of no-deal in six days after Macron blocks Brexit extension The Times, October 25, 2019 EVENT France is ready to send Britain crashing out of the European Union unless Labour and the Commons agree to a general election or ratify Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Britain and the EU are nearing the brink of no-deal after President Macron today blocked an extension to Brexit and preparations began for an emergency summit on October 30. A source close to the French president warned that a delay to Brexit beyond Thursday was “not a given” unless there was new political movement in Westminster to justify it. “France wants a justified and proportionate extension. However, we have nothing of the sort so far,” an Élysée official said. “We must show the British that it is up to them to clarify the situation and that an extension is not a given. Pressure must be maintained.” COMMENT This week for the first time the UK parliament voted in favour of a Brexit plan put to them by the PM Boris Johnson. However they wouldn’t agree to a short time table to get it through before the 31st October. So the paralysis of British politics continues. France has had enough (and said so publicly) and has refused to grant an extension post 31st October unless the UK parliament agrees to an election on Monday or agrees the deal. This is very unlikely to happen though. This means the chance of a “no deal” Brexit is increased. This was confirmed this morning by an EU diplomat. The default position (if no extension is granted) is that Britain leaves without a deal. Therefore Britain’s future is in the EU’s hands not in Britain’s as the UK cannot agree to get the deal through. Christadelphians have long said that Britain would not be part of the EU beast system. And so we do expect at some point for Brexit to happen. The Day of the LORD will be uponall the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up , and upon all the high towers,  and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish [UK] Two nations are singled out – Lebanon and Britain – both are in crisis! BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 2:13-16)

10. A rare hurricane-like storm in the Mediterranean threatens Egypt and Israel CNN, October 25, 2019 EVENT Egypt and Israel are preparing for the onset of heavy rains and strong winds as a rare "medicane" barrels toward them. Medicanes are named for a combination of "Mediterranean" and "hurricane" due to their blend of tropical and extratropical cyclone characteristics. Up to 200 mm (nearly 8 inches) of rain is possible locally from Friday to late Saturday as the storm moves through the region, raising concerns for flash flooding. North-eastern Egypt, southern Israel, the Palestinian territories and the Sinai Peninsula are arid regions that receive an average of 10-20 mm (nearly half an inch to almost an inch) of rain in October. This storm may bring 10 times as much rain as normally falls in the entire month of October and it could fall in only a few hours. Egypt's capital, Cairo, has experienced severe flooding from heavy rains already this past week from an unrelated storm system, killing at least 11 people. Cairo may fortunately miss the worst of the rainfall as the system moves past the city to the east. COMMENT The UK Met Office said Friday morning the impending storm is “incredibly rare this far east in the Mediterranean.” Israel is set to be lashed by a rare hybrid tropical storm over the weekend that is expected to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding across the country. Officials in the Gaza Strip declared a state of emergency on Friday that will stay in effect until Saturday evening. People in southern Israel were also making preparations for the storm, including opening hotlines and emergency centres. God has established certain laws and principles that govern nature, and he remains sovereign over these laws. We cannot understand every aspect of God’s plan but we do know that trials (like severe storms] should bring us closer to God – we should trust in Him. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. God sent a great wind in the eastern Mediterranean when Jonah wanted to go in the wrong direction. God uses the weather to fulfil his purpose. BIBLE QUOTE (Jonah 1:4 NIV)

11. Weekly World Watch YouTube Videos

12. Weekly World Watch The end of this week’s WWW will be e-mailed to you each week. If you think others may find the WWW helpful please direct them to the website www.weeklyworldwatch.co.uk They can register on the site PLEASE NOTE: The Weekly World Watch is written and sent by myself – it is my take on events and I accept that on occasions I will miss significant events and also misinterpret them as well. However I will endeavour to be faithful to the scriptures and hope that it will be of benefit to both of us. To watch again please click the green arrow To watch again, click here.