Notes
1 Hanan Greenberg, “Halutz: Abducted Soldier Alive,” Ynet News, June 25, 2006.
2 For more, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Reporters and Politicians Ask: Are These the End Times?”, joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, July 23, 2006.
3 Associated Press, “Ahmadinejad: Israel pushed self-destruct button in Lebanon,” July 28, 2006.
4 Aviram Zino and Roni Sofer, “Winograd: Political, Military Leadership Failed during War,” Ynet News, January 30, 2008.
5 Nora Boustany, “For Arab World, a Sea Change,” Washington Post, August 19, 1990.
6 Nadia Abu el-Magd, “Egypt Ponders Regional Role After War,” Associated Press, May 7, 2003. Other examples: In April 2003, Israeli Military Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon told senior Israeli commanders that the Middle East was “undergoing a political earthquake . . . that would take months, and possibly years, before the full effects are realized.” See “Israeli Security Perceptions to Change After Iraq War,” Voice of Israel Radio/BBC Worldwide Monitoring, April 14, 2003. In his March 8, 2005, column in the New York Times, David Brooks wrote of “political earthquakes now shaking the Arab world.” Steve Forbes wrote in his “Fact and Comment” column in Forbes magazine on March 28, 2005, “Our overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the resultant elections in Iraq have set off a political earthquake: elections in Afghanistan that extended the vote to women; free elections in Iraq; a free presidential election among the Palestinians, with the winner pleading for an end to violence and negotiating deals with Israel; a popular uprising in Lebanon; and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak suddenly calling for a free presidential election when his term expires.”
7 Agence France-Presse, “Hardline Win in Iran Sparks Fears on Nukes and Extremism,” June 25, 2005.
8 Search of the Lexis-Nexis news database conducted on February 21, 2006.
9 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, address to the United Nations General Assembly (speech, New York, September 17, 2005), translated and distributed by the Islamic Republic News Agency, posted on www.globalsecurity.org.
10 Golnaz Esfandiari, “President Sees Light Surrounding Him,” Iran Press Service, November 29, 2005.
11 Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, text of address to Tehran conference, reported by the Iranian Students News Agency, October 26, 2005, cited by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch Series No. 1013, October 28, 2005.
12 See Reuters, “Iran Says It Joins Nuclear Club,”April 12, 2006. See also Amos Harel, “MI Chief Warns That Iran Will Produce Nuclear Bombs by 2010,” Haaretz, May 10, 2006; Agence France-Presse, “Iran 2–3 Years from Nuclear Bomb,” April 11, 2006; Con Coughlin, “Iran ‘Could Go Nuclear within Three Years,’” Daily Telegraph (London), January 16, 2006; Bloomberg News, “Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says,” April 12, 2006.
13 John Mintz, “U.S. Called Unprepared for Nuclear Terrorism,” Washington Post, May 3, 2005.
14 Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (New York: Times Books, 2004). See excerpts in Graham Allison, “Nuclear Terrorism,” Blueprint magazine, Democratic Leadership Council, October 7, 2004.
15 See Associated Press, “Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated,” April 14, 2006. See also Chris Brummitt, “Iran Leader Calls Israel an ‘Evil Regime,’” Associated Press, May 11, 2006.
16 President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address (speech, United States Capitol, Washington DC, January 29, 2002).
17 Glenn Kessler, “Bush Says U.S. Would Defend Israel Militarily,” Washington Post, February 2, 2006.
18 Edmund Blair, “Bush Won’t Rule Out Nuclear Strike on Iran,” Reuters, April 18, 2006.
19 Sen. John Kerry, for example, said during the September 30, 2004, presidential debate that “Iran is moving toward nuclear weapons and the world is more dangerous.” (http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004a.html). His campaign Web site stated that “a nuclear armed Iran is an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and our allies in the region” (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/kerry_natl-security-plans_strategy.htm). Sen. John Edwards told the Washington Post in an interview published August 30, 2004, that “a nuclear Iran is unacceptable for so many reasons, including the possibility that it creates a gateway and the need for other countries in the region to develop nuclear capability—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, potentially others” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45216-2004Aug29.html). Sen. Joe Lieberman delivered a speech in Munich on February 5, 2006, warning, “Iran will test us all. If we ignore the threat it poses, or cover it with endless and hopeless negotiations, we will regret it” (http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=251200).
20 Senator Hillary Clinton, address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference (speech, May 24, 2005), http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/speeches/2005524910.html.
21 John Zogby, “Zogby: 66% Say Iran A Threat To U.S.” (e-mail alert from Zogby.com, based on poll by John Zogby). See http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1109.
22 Agence France-Presse, “Khatami Warns U.S. of ‘Burning Hell’ as Iran Marks Islamic Revolution,” February 10, 2005.
23 See “Tehran Threatens West with Homicide Attacks,” Sunday Times, April 16, 2006; see also Ali Nouri Zadeh, “Iran’s Secret Plan if Attacked by U.S. Codenamed ‘Judgment Day,’” Asharq Al-Awsat, April 27, 2006.
24 Associated Press, “Russia Agrees To $1 Billion Arms Deal With Iran,” December 2, 2005.
25 Anton LaGuardia, et al., “We Will Use Force, Blair Warns Iranians,” Daily Telegraph, October 28, 2005. See also Philip Webster, “Blair Hints at Military Action after Iran’s ‘Disgraceful’ Taunt,” Times (London), October 28, 2005.
26 Hilary Leila Krieger, “Olmert: Ahmadinejad Is a Psychopath,” Jerusalem Post, April 29, 2006.
28 Transcript, NBC’s Meet The Press, April 2, 2006.
29 President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address (speech, United States Capitol, Washington, DC, January 29, 2002).
30 Associated Press, “3 Americans Killed in Gaza Blast,” October 15, 2003.
31 Paul Bedard, “Washington Whispers: Modern Nostradamus,” U.S. News & World Report, November 3, 2003.
32 Associated Press, “Gunfight at Arafat Mourning Tent,” November 14, 2004.
33 Asia News, “Civil War Looms over Palestine After Arafat’s Death,” November 15, 2004; Arutz Sheva, “Rival Gangs Violently Vie for Control in PA,” IsraelNationalNews.com, November 15, 2004. See also Daniel Pipes, weblog, “Palestinian Anarchy, Post-Arafat,” November 14, 2004.
34 Agence France-Presse, “Palestinian PM Called for End to ‘Armed Chaos,’” November 18, 2004.
35 See “Bush Pledges to Spread Democracy,” CNN, January 20, 2005; Peter Baker and Michael A. Fletcher, “Bush Pledges to Spread Freedom: Global Focus on Rights Would Be a Shift in Policy,” Washington Post, January 21, 2005; Barbara Ferguson, “Bush Again Calls for Democracy in Middle East,” Arab News, February 4, 2005; “Rice Calls for Mid-East Democracy,” BBC News, June 20, 2005. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Two Great Dissidents: Natan Sharansky’s Vision, and President Bush’s,” National Review Online, November 19, 2004.
36 Joel C. Rosenberg, interview by Sean Hannity, Sean Hannity Show, June 24, 2005.
37 Henry Meyer, “Putin Amendment May Allow Third Term,” Associated Press, June 24, 2005.
38 See Agence France-Presse, “‘Street Sweeper’ Ahmadinejad Promises New Era for Iran,” June 24, 2005; Associated Press, “Ahmadinejad Vows Strong Islamic Iran After Election Triumph,” June 25, 2005; BBC News, “Iran Hardliner Sweeps to Victory,” June 25, 2005; Roxana Saberi, “Iran’s New Leader Vows to Restart Nuclear Program,” National Public Radio, June 27, 2005.
39 See John Daniszewski, “Hard-Liner Wins Decisively in Iran Presidential Election; Ahmadinejad’s victory signals the return of an Islamic fundamentalist government and is likely to alter the dynamic in nuclear negotiations,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2005; see also Kathy Gannon, “Iran’s New Leader to Pursue Nuclear Plans,” Associated Press, June 27, 2005.
40 Vladimir Isachenkov, “Putin Offers Iran’s President-Elect to Continue Nuclear Cooperation,” Associated Press, June 25, 2005.
41 Associated Press, “Novel Written By Saddam to Be Published,” June 24, 2005.
42 To better understand the case he was making at the time, see Natan Sharansky, “Too Eager to Close the Deal,” New York Times, June 6, 2000; Natan Sharansky, “No Justice, No Peace,” Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2000; Natan Sharansky, “And Israel’s Task,” Washington Post, July 30, 2000.
43 Daniel Klaidman and Jeffrey Bartholet, “The Fate of Jerusalem,” Newsweek cover story, July 24, 2000.
44 Statement by Natan Sharansky, July 25, 2000.
45 Putin served as head of the FSB—Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii—from July 1998 to August 1999 and was then promoted by Boris Yeltsin to the role of Russia’s prime minister.
46 See articles and studies by Joel C. Rosenberg: “Land of Promise: Restoring Israel’s Economic Miracle,” Policy Review (Fall 1991; Joel C. Rosenberg with Edward L. Hudgins, “Economic Reform, Not Loan Guarantees, Israel’s Only Path to Prosperity,” Heritage Backgrounder #881, The Heritage Foundation, February 13, 1992 ; “Still Time to Say No,” Jerusalem Post, August 10, 1992; “Why Economic Growth Is Critical to Arab Israeli Peace,” Heritage Backgrounder #920, The Heritage Foundation, November 5, 1992; “Economics and the Middle East,” Journal of Commerce, November 25, 1992.
47 Tim LaHaye, The Coming Peace In The Middle East (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 9.
48 For 1948 data, see Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Independence Day” press release, April 25, 2004. For current data, see Israel Central Bureau of Statistics press release, “The Population of Israel Has Reached About 7 Million,” October 2, 2005 (actual number: 6,955,000). For future projections, see analysis by the Jewish Policy Planning Institute, cited by Amiram Barkat, “Greater TA Replaces NY As World’s Largest Jewish City,” Haaretz, January 17, 2006.
49 Jon Felder, “Focus on Israel: Israel’s Agriculture in the 21st Century,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, December 24, 2002, 2. See also Statistical Abstract of Israel: 2005, Agriculture section, chart 19.19, 654.
50 “Country Studies: Israel,” Agriculture section, U.S. Library of Congress, countrystudies.us/israel/76.htm.
51 Jon Felder, “Focus on Israel: Israel’s Agriculture in the 21st Century,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, December 24, 2002.
52 Ibid.
53 Statistical Abstract of Israel: 2005, Agriculture section, chart 19.19, 654.
54 Ibid.
55 It was widely reported by the international media and interpreted in capitals around the world that Sharon’s stroll across the Temple Mount sparked spontaneous Arab protests. But even top Palestinian officials later acknowledged the “Al-Aksa Intifada,” as it came to be known, had been carefully planned and shrewdly orchestrated. “Whoever thinks the intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon’s visit to the Al-Aksa Mosque is wrong,” Palestinian communications minister Imad Al-Faluji told an Arab newspaper in the spring of 2001. “This intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat’s return from the Camp David negotiations.” Another Arafat advisor told a French newspaper that “a few days before the Sharon visit to the mosque . . . Arafat requested that we be ready to initiate a clash.” Indeed, a closer look at official Palestinian media in the days and even months leading up to Sharon’s visit revealed such preparations. See Dore Gold, publisher, “One Year of Yasser Arafat’s Intifada: How It Started and How It Might End,” Jerusalem Issue Brief, 1, no. 4, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (October 1, 2001).
56 See “Palestinian Violence and Terrorism Since September 2000,” Fact Sheet, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mfa.gov.il (accessed March 2, 2006); Martin Asser, “Lynch Mob’s Brutal Attack,” BBC News, October 12, 2000; “Attack on USS Cole,” U.S. State Department fact sheet, www.usinfo.state.gov (accessed March 2, 2006). See also, “Will Saddam Hussein Attack Israel?” Special Dispatch Series No. 136, Middle East Media Research Institute, October 13, 2000; “U.S. Calls Iraqi Troop Movement ‘All Show,’” CNN, October 12, 2000; “Hammurabi Division (Armored) [History],” www.globalsecurity.org (accessed March 3, 2006); Frank Gardner, “Saddam Threatens Israel,” BBC News, October 4, 2000.
57 See “Suicide and Other Bombing Attacks in Israel Since the Declaration of Principles (September 1993),” Fact Sheet, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mfa.gov.il (accessed March 2, 2006).
58 Arutz 2 [Israeli media], “Netanyahu: Barak’s concessions will destroy the country,” July 24, 2000.
59 “Sharon Wins Landslide Victory,” CNN, February 7, 2001.
60 Ibid.
61 Benjamin Netanyahu, Fighting Terrorism; How Democracies Can Defeat the International Terrorist Network (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995), 96. Note: The publisher rereleased the book in late 2001, with a new foreword by the author, following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
62 Ibid., 126.
63 Ibid., 125.
64 Netanyahu’s book was updated in 2000 and retitled A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place among the Nations.
65 Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place among the Nations (New York: Warner, 1993 and 2000), 135.
66 Ibid., 136.
67 See Judith S. Yaphe, statement to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (commonly known as the 9/11 Commission), July 9, 2003. Yaphe served for twenty years as a CIA analyst, specializing in the Middle East. She now works with the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
68 Cited by Steven Komarow and Tom Squitieri, “NORAD Had Drills of Jets As Weapons,” USA Today, April 18, 2004.
69 Condoleezza Rice, testimony before the 9/11 Commission, May 19, 2004, transcript by CNN.
70 Richard Armitage, testimony before the 9/11 Commission, March 24, 2004, transcript by CNN.
71 See Peter Jennings, America Strikes Back, ABC News Special, transcript, September 21, 2001.
72 Tom Kean, et al., Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, Executive Summary, “General Findings,” 7, www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm (accessed February 27, 2006).
73 Nick B. Williams Jr. and Daniel Williams, “Iraq Threatens Israel with Use of Nerve Gas,” Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1990.
74 Jill Smolowe, “Sword of the Arabs,” Time magazine, June 11, 1990.
75 Andrew McEwen, “Experts Believe Iraq Will Stop Short of Invasion,” Times (London), July 26, 1990.
76 Michael Wines, “U.S. Says Bush Was Surprised by the Iraqi Strike,” New York Times, August 5, 1990.
77 Ibid.
78 Rowan Scarborough, “CIA, Defense Saw Different Aims in Buildup,” Washington Times, August 3, 1990.
79 The points that follow are from Brian Shellum, A Chronology of Defense Intelligence in the Gulf War: A Research Aid for Analysts, Defense Intelligence Agency, July 1997. See the National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).
80 Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount (New York: Free Press, 2000, updated in 2002), 1–4, 223.
81 Bill Moyers, speech accepting the Global Environmental Citizen Award, Harvard University Center for Health and the Global Environment, New York City, December 1, 2004.
82 Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century (New York: Viking, 2006), 252–255 and vii, respectively.
83 Survey for Joel C. Rosenberg, “American Attitudes toward Bible Prophecy,” National Omnibus Survey, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates on February 13, 2006, of 1,000 likely voters. Margin of error +/- 3%. See appendix for more survey results.
84 Tim LaHaye, The Coming Peace in the Middle East (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1984), 105.
85 Cited in “Moses’ Oily Blessing,” The Economist, June 18, 2005.
86 William A. Orme Jr., “Gas Deposits off Israel and Gaza Opening Vision of Joint Ventures,” New York Times, September 15, 2000.
87 William A. Orme Jr., “Arafat Hails Big Gas Find off the Coast of Gaza Strip,” New York Times, September 28, 2000.
88 Ross Dunn, “Israeli Geologist Drills for Oil Based on Biblical Guidance,” VOA/Israel Faxx, November 20, 2002.
89 “Oil Traces Found East of Kfar Sava,” Haaretz, September 12, 2003.
90 Associated Press, “Israeli Oil Company Claims Oil Find Valued at US $6 Billion,” May 4, 2004. Luskin told reporters that he believed “about 20 percent [of the reserves] are commercially exploitable,” though he cautioned that much more testing had to be done and said “the company would need to raise between US $20 million and US $50 million to develop the find.” See also Amiram Cohen, “Givot Olam Drills Afresh at Kfar Sava,” Haaretz, November 23, 2004, which notes, “Based on rock properties of the Meged 4 site, Givot Olam calculated that each square kilometer of the oil structure contains approximately 5 million barrels of oil, which translates into a total of 980 million barrels of oil at the site.”
91 “Moses’ Oily Blessing,” The Economist, June 18, 2005.
92 Tovia Luskin, personal interview with author, March 22, 2006.
93 Spillman’s son, Steve, recently updated the book. See James R. Spillman and Steven M. Spillman, Breaking the Treasure Code: The Hunt for Israel’s Oil (Medford, Oregon: True Potential Publishing, 2005; original copyright 1981), 3–4.
94 The abbreviation “G_d” is included in Zion Oil’s mission statement as a gesture of respect to Orthodox Jews, who traditionally do not write the name of God.
95 Spillman, 2005 ed., 134–35.
96 Philip Mandelker, personal interview with the author, November 14, 2005. Among the other companies that recently have been pursuing oil and/or gas exploration (some with a biblical perspective, but not all): Avner Oil Exploration, based in Israel; BG (formerly British Gas), based in Great Britain; Delek Group, based in Israel; Ginko Oil Exploration Ltd. (which estimated in 2004 that there were some 20 billion barrels of oil in the Dead Sea basin), based in Israel; Isramco, based in Texas; Ness Energy Inc., based in Texas; Lapidoth Israel Oil Prospectors, based in Israel; Modii Energy, based in Israel; and Sdot Neft, based in Israel.
97 Shlomy Golovinski, “Israel, the Home of the Millionaire,” Haaretz, June 15, 2005.
98 Amy Teibel, “Buffet Pays $4B For Stake In Israeli Firm,” Associated Press, May 9, 2006.
99 See “Investing in Israel” and “Venture Capital in Israel,” Updates, Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, www.moit.gov.il (accessed March 15, 2006).
100 Ibid.
101 The Israel Center dinner was held on June 27, 2005. See www.icsep.org.il for details (accessed on March 15, 2006).
102 Joel C. Rosenberg, “For Real?” National Review Online, February 9, 2005.
103 Total attacks in 2001: 7,634. Total attacks in 2005: 2,365. Suicide bombings specifically have dropped from a peak of 60 in 2002 to 7 in 2005. See “Palestinian Terrorism in 2005,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Center for Special Studies (Israel), December 31, 2005, 17; www.intelligence.org.il (accessed March 16, 2006).
104 Major General Yaakov Amidror, personal interview with author, June 8, 2005.
105 Joel C. Rosenberg, “Pakistan Moves toward Ties with Israel after Gaza Pullout,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, September 10, 2005.
106 Arieh O’Sullivan, “Halutz: Sanctions Won’t Deter Iran,” Jerusalem Post, November 21, 2005.
107 Ted Koppel, conversation with author, February 23, 2004. For more on my conversation with Koppel about The Passion of the Christ, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Koppel Tackles The Passion,” National Review, February 24, 2004.
108 The other Palestinian participants in the Nightline broadcast from Jerusalem were Hanan Ashrawi and Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi.
109 Shimon Peres, personal interview with author, November 16, 2005.
110 Saeb Erekat, personal interview with author, November 16, 2005.
111 Dean Yates, “Olmert Sees Final Israeli Borders by 2010,” Reuters, March 9, 2006. See also BBC News, “Olmert Vows to Set Final Borders,” February 13, 2006. For Mofaz quote, see Yaakov Katz, “Mofaz Presents Israel’s Final Borders,” Jerusalem Post, March 21, 2006. See also Associated Press, “Israel Offers Outline to Divide Jerusalem,” May 4, 2006.
112 Yates, “Olmert Sees Final Israeli Borders by 2010,” Reuters, March 9, 2006.
113 Akiva Eldar, “Abu Mazen to Israel: ‘Let’s Discuss the End of the Conflict,’” Haaretz, March 24, 2006.
114 Khaled Abu Toameh, “Arafat Enraged at Being Called ‘Incompetent’ by PA Minister,” Jerusalem Post, September 12, 2003.
115 General Nasser Youssef, interview with the author at an American Enterprise Institute event on June 6, 2006.
116 Abdul Salam al-Majali, interview with the author at an American Enterprise Institute event on June 6, 2006. For more, see Dan Diker and Pinchas Inbari, “Are There Really Signs of a Jordanian-Palestinian Reengagement?” Jerusalem Issue Brief, vol. 5, no. 1, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, July 19, 2005.
117 Voltaire, The Portable Voltaire (paperback), ed. Ben Ray Redman (New York: Viking Penguin, 1977), 101.
118 Ibid.
119 Flavius Josephus, Josephus: The Complete Works, trans. William Whiston (Nashville: Nelson, 1998), 41, citing Antiquities, Book One, chapters 5 and 6.
120 See article, “Scythian,” The Encyclopedia Britannica, online edition, www.britannica.com (accessed March 17, 2006).
121 William Gesenius, Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament (Boston, [n.d.]), quoted in Tim LaHaye, The Coming Peace in the Middle East (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 123.
122 Arno C. Gaebelein, The Prophet Ezekiel: An Exposition (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1918), 258, cited from the 1972 edition.
123 J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), 328.
124 Among the Bible scholars: C. I. Scofield, editor of the Scofield Reference Bible, wrote in 1909: “That the primary reference is to the Northern (European) powers headed by Russia, all agree. . . . The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification.” Dr. Charles Ryrie, editor of the Ryrie Study Bible, wrote in the 1995 edition: “Magog was identified by Josephus as the land of the Scythians, the region North and Northeast of the Black Sea and East of the Caspian Sea (now occupied by three members of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan).” Dr. John Walvoord, the late Chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary and widely considered one of the leading prophecy experts of the twentieth century, wrote in 1990 in Every Prophecy of the Bible: “If Ezekiel 38–39 is studied carefully, it reveals a future invasion of the land of Israel by the armies of Russia. . . . In the quarter of a century since World War II Russia has risen to be one of the great military powers of the modern world. To a far greater extent than ever before Russia has become a prominent nation, especially in its influence on the Middle East. The possibility of Russia attacking Israel is a modern concern of the United States and other nations.” Dr. Tim LaHaye, arguably the world’s preeminent prophecy expert, and coauthor (with Jerry Jenkins) of the phenomenally successful Left Behind series (over 62 million copies sold), wrote in 1984 in The Coming Peace in the Middle East: “Magog is an ancient name for the nation now known as Russia. . . . The name ‘Moscow’ derives from the tribal name ‘Meschech,’ and ‘Tobolsk,’ the name of the principal state, from ‘Tubal.’ The noun ‘Gog’ is from the original tribal name ‘Magog,’ which gradually became ‘Rash,’ then ‘Russ,’ and today is known as ‘Russia.’” Hal Lindsey, author of the nonfiction best seller Late Great Planet Earth (over 15 million copies sold), wrote in 1970: “For centuries, long before the current events could have influenced the interpreter’s ideas, men have recognized that Ezekiel’s prophecy about the northern commander [Gog] referred to Russia.” Lindsey cited Dr. John Cumming, who wrote in 1864, “The king of the North I conceive to be the autocrat of Russia . . . that Russia occupies a place, and a very momentous place, in the prophetic word has been admitted by almost all expositors.” Lindsey also cited Bishop Lowth of England, who wrote in 1710, “Rosh, taken as a proper name, in Ezekiel signifies the inhabitants of Scythia, from whom the modern Russians derive their name.”
125 See biography of Josh McDowell, Josh McDowell Ministries, www.josh.org (accessed March 18, 2006).
126 Joel C. Rosenberg, “Dispatch from Moscow: Putin and Terror,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, September 1, 2004.
127 Peter Baker, “Putin Moves to Centralize Authority: Plan Would Restrict Elections in Russia,” Washington Post, September 14, 2004.
128 Ibid.
129 Ibid.
130 Tom Parfitt, “Putin’s Reforms Are Undemocratic Says Governor,” Daily Telegraph, September 19, 2004.
131 Mikhail Gorbachev, op-ed, “Mikhail Gorbachev on Putin’s Reforms: ‘A Step Back from Democracy,’” Moscow News, September 16, 2004.
132 Quoted by Parfitt, “Putin’s Reforms.”
133 Voice of America News, “Russia’s Upper House Passes Bill Tightening Putin’s Grip on Regions,” December 8, 2004.
134 Jackson Diehl, “Putin’s Unchallenged Imperialism,” Washington Post, October 25, 2004.
135 Ibid.
136 See Peter Biles, “Ukraine Crisis Exposes Putin’s Plans,” BBC News, December 1, 2004; Associated Press, “Putin Opposes Ukraine Runoff,” December 2, 2004; BBC News, “Yushchenko Wins Ukraine Election,” December 27, 2004.
137 Joel C. Rosenberg, “A New Czar Rises in Russia,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, December 3, 2004.
138 Reuters, “Russian Premier Vows to Rebuild Military Might,” October 28, 1999, noted in David Johnson’s Russia List, #3592, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org.
139 BBC News, “Putin: Russia Must Be Great Again,” January 11, 2000.
140 Associated Press, “Russia Planning Maneuvers of Its Nuclear Forces Next Month,” January 30, 2004.
141 “Putin Urges Enhancement of Russian Army’s Combat Capability,” China People’s Daily, February 23, 2004.
142 See “Defense Spending to Be Raised 40% in 2005,” www.Gateway2Russia.com, August 12, 2004; BBC News, “Russia Plans Defence Budget Boost,” August 13, 2004.
143 Associated Press, “Cold War Missile Test-Fired from Russia,” December 22, 2004.
144 BBC News, “Putin Address to Nation: Excerpts,” April 25, 2005; BBC News, “Putin Deplores Collapse of USSR,” April 25, 2005; Associated Press, “Putin: Soviet Collapse a ‘Genuine Tragedy,’” April 25, 2005.
145 Vladimir Putin, First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait By Russia’s President, with Nataliya Gevorkyan, Natalya Timokova, and Andrei Kolesnikov, trans. Catherine A. Fitzpatrick (New York: Public Affairs, 2000).
146 On May 1, 2000, for example, Putin delivered a speech in which he said: “Some have even suggested more radical measures than those contained in the submitted draft laws, going so far as suggesting that governors should be appointed by the Russian president. But I still think that the heads of the regions of the federation must be elected by the people. This procedure has become established, it has become part of our democratic system,” Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of the Revolution (New York: Scribner, 2005), 371.
147 Putin was born October 7, 1952, in Leningrad, Russia (now called St. Petersburg).
148 Olena Horodetska, “Lukashenko win in Belarus sets US, Russia at odds,” Reuters, March 20, 2006.
149 “Support for Third Term for Putin Growing,” Gazeta.ru, March 16, 2006, cited in Johnson’s Russia List, 2006-#66, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, March 17, 2006.
150 “When Putin was taken off the list of contenders in a July [2005] Yury Levada Analytical Center study, Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky were tied for first place,” though each had only 10 percent support. See Mario Canseco, Angus Reid Global Scan, September 9, 2005; cited in Johnson’s Russia List, #9241, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, September 11, 2005.
151 RIA Novosti, “Sucessor should be responsible decision-maker—President Putin,” June 16, 2006, cited by David Johnson, Johnson’s Russia List, 2006-#139, Center for Defense Information, June 16, 2006.
152 See Andrei P. Tsygankov, “Why Russians ‘Love’ Stalin,” cited in Johnson’s Russia List, 2006-#66, March 17, 2006. M. Tsygankov is an associate professor of international relations and political science at San Francisco State University and program chair of the International Studies Association.
153 Vice President Dick Cheney, address to the 2006 Vilnius Conference, May 4, 2006, www.whitehouse.gov.
154 See Ariel Cohen and James A. Phillips, “Countering Russian-Iranian Military Cooperation,” Heritage Backgrounder #1425, The Heritage Foundation, April 5, 2001.
155 UPI, “Russia, Iran Renew Ties,” March 13, 2001.
156 See Cohen and Phillips, “Countering Russian-Iranian Military Cooperation.”
157 Aljazeera, “Putin: Iran Will Not Seek Nuclear Arms,” February 18, 2005.
158 Agence France-Presse, “Putin Opposes Iranian Nuclear Bomb,” April 28, 2005.
159 President Ali Khamenei, address to Iran’s nuclear scientific community (speech, Tehran, January 1987), quoted in Kenneth R. Timmerman, Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran (New York: Crown Forum, 2005), 42.
160 Timmerman, Countdown to Crisis, 66.
161 Iran Press Service, “Rafsanjani Says Muslims Should Use Nuclear Weapon against Israel,” December 14, 2001, www.iran-press-service.com.
162 “Iranian President at Tehran Conference,” Special Dispatch Series, No. 1013, Middle East Media Research Institute, October 28, 2005.
163 Stefan Smith, “Move Israel to Europe, Ahmadinejad Suggests,” Agence France-Presse, December 9, 2005.
164 Mossad official, personal interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name and date of interview withheld at interviewee’s request.
165 Donald H. Rumsfeld and others, “Executive Summary,” The Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, July 15, 1998. Available online at www.fas.org/irp/threat/bm-threat.htm.
166 UPI, “Lockheed Continues Study of Ship-Launched Threat,” November 9, 2005, cited on www.missilethreat.com, (accessed on March 30, 2006).
167 David Albright, “Iran Hid Nuclear Plans for Nearly Two Decades,” interview on FOX News, April 24, 2005.
168 Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict between Iran and America (New York: Random, 2004), 362. For more on Iran’s clandestine nuclear research, read 361–74.
169 Viktor Mikhailov (director of the Strategic Stability Institute of Russia’s Ministry of Atomic Energy), “Iran Can Create Nuclear Bomb,” interview with RIA Novosti, March 10, 2006.
170 Dore Gold, personal interview with author, November 14, 2005.
171 Putin has made increasing arms sales a top priority. In 1990, the Soviet Union sold some $16 billion worth of weaponry, military equipment, and spare parts worldwide. After the collapse of the USSR, sales plummeted to under $4 billion a year through 2000. In February 2006, however, Moscow’s top arms sales official said, “The figure for Russia’s [arms] exports in 2005 was [the] highest for the past few years. The final figure is $6.126 billion.” See BBC News, “Russian Arms Exports at 10-Year High,” February 7, 2001; RIA Novosti, “Russian 2005 Arms Exports Hit Record $6.1 Billion,” February 9, 2006.
172 Yuri Shtern, (member of Knesset), personal interview with author, November 13, 2005.
173 Natan Sharansky, interview with author, February 2005. For abridged version of the interview, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Free Societies vs. Fear Societies,” World magazine, February 26, 2005. For full version, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Russia, Iran & the Future in the Middle East,” www.leftbehind.com, posted March 8, 2005.
174 “Within the United States Armed Forces, the Secretary of Defense is often referred to as SecDef. The SecDef and the President of the United States together constitute the National Command Authority (NCA), which has sole authority to launch strategic nuclear weapons. All nuclear weapons are governed by the two-man rule, even at the highest levels in government. Both individuals must concur before a strategic nuclear strike may be ordered” (“United States Secretary of Defense,” www.answers.com, accessed March 23, 2006).
175 Caspar Weinberger, personal interview with author, February 23, 2006.
176 Most Americans do not realize, for example, that Putin has already survived at least three assassination attempts (February 2000, August 2000, and October 2001), and a radical Islamic Chechen terrorist group known as the Brigades of Islambuli has reportedly put a $20 million bounty on Putin’s head. See “$20 Million For Vladimir Putin,” Pravda.com, September 10, 2004 (accessed March 16, 2006). Also, fears of a revolution in Russia have been rising in recent years. As I wrote in a 2005 article, “When I was in Moscow for ten days last September doing research for [The Ezekiel Option], I met with top Russian officials and political analysts, senior officials at the U.S. Embassy, and a number of journalists, including the New York Times bureau chief. The unanimous consensus was that a coup wasn’t necessary to create a Russian dictator, because Russia already has a rising dictator—Vladimir Putin. Nevertheless, the coup remains in the novel. So it is with particular interest that I’ve been watching the recent political upheavals in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and their reverberations in Moscow. Putin, once thought to be invulnerable, is now the subject of growing controversy and dissatisfaction.” See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Revolution Brewing in Russia?” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, March 31, 2005; also see “Whither Uzbekistan? Another Fmr. Soviet Republic on the Brink,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, May 24, 2005.
177 See Amos Harel, “Ex-Military Intelligence Chief Ze’evi Warns of Impending World Jihad ‘Tsunami,’” Haaretz, May 15, 2006; Daniel Pipes, “The Mystical Menace of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” New York Sun, January 10, 2006; Charles Krauthammer, “In Iran, Arming for Armageddon,” Washington Post, December 16, 2005.
178 Amir Taheri, “The Frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants a Bomb,” Sunday Telegraph, April 16, 2006.
179 Hossein Bostani, “Ahmadinejad in Touch with 12th Imam,” www.roozonline.com (popular Iranian dissident Weblog), March 15, 2006.
180 Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, Al-Imam al-Mahdi, The Just Leader of Humanity, trans. Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina (Qum, Iran: Ahul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, electronic online version), al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Toc.htm (accessed April 15, 2006).
181 Ibid.
182 Nearly all religious Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites, share a view of the end times that involves wars and the coming of a Messiah who will ultimately bring peace and justice to the world. According to Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr and Ayatollah Murtada Mutahhari, authors of The Awaited Savior, “the idea of the final victory of the forces of righteousness, peace and justice over those of evil, oppression and tyranny, of the world-wide spread of the Islamic faith, the complete and all-round establishment of high human values, the formation of a utopian and an ideal society and lastly the accomplishment of this ideal at the hands of a holy and eminent personality called, according to the Islamic traditions, Mahdi is a belief which, of course with variations in details, is shared by all the Muslim sects and schools of thought.” See al-islam.org/awaited/index.htm (accessed April 20, 2006).
183 Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Special Edition, trans. Lionel Giles (Editorial Benei Noaj, 2005), 65 (“XIII, The Use of Spies”).
184 Captured Iraqi Document, CMPC-2003-001950, Foreign Military Studies Office, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/recent.htm, see http://70.69.163.24 (accessed March 23, 2006). See also ABC News, “Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan?” March 23, 2006; and Will Dunham, “Russia Gave Iraq Intelligence: Pentagon Report,” Reuters, March 24, 2006.
185 Captured Iraqi Document, CMPC-2004-001117, Foreign Military Studies Office, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/recent.htm, see http://70.69.163.24 (accessed March 23, 2006). See also Captured Iraqi Document, “Letter From Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Office of the President Regarding Russian Intel,” April 2, 2003, quoted in an unclassified version of a U.S. Joint Forces Command report; Kevin M. Woods, and others., Iraqi Perspectives Project: A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership, Joint Center for Operational Analysis, Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), March 2006, www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/ipp.pdf (accessed March 24, 2006).
186 The New American Standard Bible translates Cush as “Ethiopia,” as do the King James Version, the New King James Version, and the New Living Translation.
187 Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston, Book One, Chapter 6, Paragraph 2 in Josephus: The Complete Works (Nashville: Nelson, 1998), 42.
188 Tim LaHaye identified Cush as Ethiopia and other “African nations” in The Coming Peace in the Middle East (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1984), 135. Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson identified Cush as Ethiopia and other “African nations” in The Late, Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1970), 68. Mark Hitchcock identified Cush as “the land just south of Egypt on the Nile,” which he notes includes Ethiopia and Sudan, in The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel (Sisters, Ore.: Multonomah, 2002), 55–56. Charles Ryrie identified Cush as “Ethiopia” and “northern Sudan” in the Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 1323. J. Dwight Pentecost identifies Cush as Ethiopia and “a region south of Egypt” in Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Academie, 1958), 329, though he also cites a source who suggests Cush could refer to people of Babylonia or “a land and people in northern Arabia.” It should be noted that Babylonia and Mesopotamia are never mentioned directly by Ezekiel, though they certainly could have been if they were to be involved in this attack against Israel. Ezekiel was, after all, writing the prophecy in Babylon at the time.
189 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.
190 LaHaye, Lindsey, Hitchcock, Ryrie, and Pentecost all agree that Put is Libya. LaHaye and Lindsey believe that modern-day Algeria and Tunisia are likely included, though they include Morocco as well. Pentecost cites a source that suggests Put could be “adjacent to Persia or Iran” instead of North Africa.
191 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.
192 Voltaire, The Portable Voltaire (paperback), ed. Ben Ray Redman (New York: Viking Penguin, 1977), 101.
193 Arno Clemens Gaebelein, The Prophet Ezekiel (New York: Publication Office “Our Hope,” 1917), 259. On page 135 of Coming Peace, Tim LaHaye identifies “Gomer and its hordes” as “involving either just East Germany and the Soviet satellite countries of Eastern Europe, or all of Germany and the Eastern European satellites.” On page 87 of the 1999 nonfiction book Are We Living in the End Times? (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1999), LaHaye and coauthor Jerry Jenkins say Gomer is “thought to be Turkey.” On page 69 of Late, Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey cites Gesenius who “speaks of part of Gomer’s ‘hordes’ as being Ashkenaz . . . ‘the proper name of a region and a nation in northern Asia [minor], sprung from the Cimmerians who are the ancient people of Gomer. The modern Jews understand it to be Germany, and call that country by this Hebrew name.’” Charles Ryrie identifies Gomer as “probably the eastern part of Turkey and the Ukraine” on page 1323 of his study Bible. Mark Hitchcock sides with the Turkey theory (page 59 of Islamic Invasion), and J. Dwight Pentecost concludes on page 330 of Things to Come that “there seems to be evidence to support the view that [Gomer] refers to modern Germany.”
194 Josephus, Complete Works, 42.
195 See “Phrygia” on www.wikipedia.org; “Origins of the Armenian People,” www.armenianheritage.com/peorigin.htm (accessed March 23, 2006); and Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, “Classical Armenian Online,” Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-0.html (accessed March 23, 2006).
196 On page 35 of Coming Peace, LaHaye identifies Togarmah and its hordes as “Armenia, which may well involve Turkey and other nations or peoples remaining from the Turkish Empire.” On page 70 of Late, Great, Lindsey identifies Beth-togarmah as Armenia and “the Turkoman tribes of Central Asia,” including “modern Southern Russia.” On page 1323 of his study Bible, Ryrie identifies Beth-togarmah as “the part of Turkey near the Syrian border.” On page 59 of Islamic Invasion, Hitchcock identifies Beth-togarmah as “southern Turkey.” On page 330 of Things to Come, Pentecost says Beth-togarmah is “generally identified as Turkey or Armenia, although it is extended by some to include Central Asia,” and cites several sources reaffirming this conclusion.
197 LaHaye does not identify Sheba and Dedan specifically in either Coming Peace or The End Times Controversy, ed. Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest, 2003).
198 “Arafat Hopscotches from Tehran to Moscow,” CNN, August 10, 2000; “Putin Tells Arafat That Russia Backs Palestinian Independence,” CNN, August 11, 2000.
199 “Khatami Visit Heralds New Iran-Russia Ties,” China People’s Daily, March 13, 2001; Brenda Shaffer, “Khatami in Moscow Boosts Russian-Iranian Arms Cooperation,” Policy Watch #522, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 5, 2001.
200 See “Ethiopian Premier Visits Moscow,” China People’s Daily, December 4, 2001; “Russia Agrees To Sell Arms To Ethiopia,” Russian Reform Monitor, December 3, 2001; BBC News, “Russia Writes Off Ethiopian Debt,” May 30, 2001; “Russia To Develop Gas Fields In Ethiopia,” Pravda, September 2, 2002.
201 See “Saudi crown prince in Russia today in the first visit of its kind,” ArabicNews.com, September 2, 2003; and “Saudi-Russian Oil and Gas Agreement; Abdullah: A Historical Day in the Relations Record,” ArabicNews.com, September 3, 2003. See also Dr. Ariel Cohen, “Saudi-Russian Rapprochement: U.S. Should Beware,” Web Memo #336, The Heritage Foundation, September 12, 2003.
202 Russian president Vladimir Putin, Tenth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (speech, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Information and Press Department, Putrajaya, Malaysia, October 16, 2003). See also Agence France-Presse, “Putin’s Call to Join OIC Helps Improve Russian Relations with Muslim World,” January 2, 2004. See also “OIC Grants Observer Status to Russia,” Daily Times (Pakistan), July 1, 2005.
203 Agence France-Presse, “Putin Plans to Visit Iran,” October 6, 2004.
204 Steve Gutterman, “Putin First Russian Chief to Visit Turkey,” Associated Press, December 5, 2004.
205 See “Putin OKs Russian Troops for Sudan,” CBC News (Canadian), February 3, 2005; “Oil-Rich Sudan Buys Arms from China, Russia, Iran, Belarus,” WorldTribune.com, November 23, 2004; “Russia Sells Missiles to Sudan, Syria, Libya,” WorldNetDaily.com, September 18, 2002.
206 “Putin Makes Landmark Visit to Egypt,” Aljazeera.com, April 26, 2005; Associated Press, “Putin Pushes ‘Road Map’ in Historic Visit to Egypt,” April 27, 2005.
207 See “President Putin to Visit Middle East Despite Arms Delivery Scandal with Israel and Syria,” Pravda, March 24, 2005; ABC News, “Putin Makes Historic Visit to Israel,” April 27, 2005; BBC News, “Putin Plays Down Israel Arms Fear,” April 28, 2005; Molly Moore, “Putin Calls Arms Aid No Threat to Israel,” Washington Post, April 30, 2005. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Putin’s Historic Trip to Israel,” www.leftbehind.com, May 3, 2005.
208 Aljazeera, “Putin Invites Hamas to Moscow,” February 9, 2006; “Russia May Sell Arms to Hamas,” The Australian, February 18, 2006; “Russia to Consider Selling Helicopters to PA,” www.YnetNews.com (Israel), February 16, 2006. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Putin Says Hamas Not a Terrorist Organization,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, February 2, 2006.
209 Khaled Mash’al declared: “America will be defeated in Iraq. Wherever the [Islamic] nation is targeted, its enemies will be defeated, Allah willing. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Iraq, and it will be victorious in all Arab and Muslim lands. . . . These fools will be defeated, the wheel of time will turn, and times of victory and glory will be upon our nation, and the West will be full of remorse, when it is too late. . . . We say to this West, which does not act reasonably, and does not learn its lessons: By Allah, you will be defeated. Israel will be defeated, and so will whoever supported or supports it. . . . I say to the [European countries]: Hurry up and apologize to our nation, because if you do not, you will regret it.” See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Hamas Threatens America, Putin Invites Them to Moscow,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, February 9, 2006, citing the Middle East Media Research Institute, www.memri.org.
210 See Agence France-Presse, “Putin to Press Algeria to Buy Arms,” March 10, 2006; RIA Novosti, “Rosoboronexport Strikes $7.5 Billion Deal with Algeria,” March 10, 2006; “Russia Strikes $7.5 Billion Arms Deal with Algeria,” MosNews.com, March 10, 2006.
211 Interfax News Agency, “Dialogue with Muslim World among Russia’s Priorities—Putin,” March 27, 2006.
212 Agence France-Presse, “Russia Would Never Harm Israel: Olmert,” March 2, 2006.
213 “Acting PM Olmert Speaks with Russian President Putin,” Office of the Israeli Prime Minister, March 5, 2006, www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/Spokesman/2006/03/spokeputin050306.htm (accessed March 28, 2006).
214 Ariel Cohen, “Zhirinovsky in His Own Words: Excerpts from The Final Thrust South,” trans. Cohen and Melana Zyla, The Heritage Foundation, February 4, 1994.
215 Kevin Fedarko, “Rising Czar?” Time magazine, July 11, 1994.
216 Cohen, “Zhirinovsky in His Own Words.”
217 CIA World Fact Handbook, www.cia.gov (accessed March 29, 2006).
218 Alexei Mitrofanov, personal interview with author, September 1, 2004.
219 “Begin Describes Soviet Arms Cache,” Washington Post, July 7, 1982.
220 Caspar W. Weinberger, interview with author, February 23, 2006.
221 “Message from Brezhnev to Nixon,” October 24, 1973, U.S. State Department. See The National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).
222 Some may characterize Brezhnev’s threat not as a Soviet plan to attack Israel but as a bluff. But Kissinger said: “I did not see it as a bluff, but it made no difference. We could not run the risk that [it was not]. We had no choice except to call the bluff.” “The October War and U.S. Policy,” William Burr, ed., The National Security Archive, October 7, 2003. Dr. Burr is a senior analyst of nuclear history with the National Security Archive at George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).
223 “Message from Nixon to Brezhnev.”
224 Transcript of “Secretary’s Staff Meeting: Tuesday, October 23, 1973—4:35pm,” classified as “Secret/NODIS.” The National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on March 1, 2006).
225 Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 123.
226 Oren, 25.
227 Oren, 149.
228 Ibid.
229 “Message from Eshkol to Johnson,” telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the State Department, classified at the time as “Secret,” June 5, 1967, Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, vol. 3; Published by The National Security Archive, George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ (accessed on February 22, 2006).
230 Oren, 29, 27.
231 Oren, 57, 65.
232 “President’s Daily Brief,” June 9, 1967, then classified “Top Secret,” Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, vol. 6, Appendix A. Published by the U.S. State Department, Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/xix/28059.htm (accessed on March 29, 2006).
233 “Message from Kosygin to Johnson,” June 10, 1967, National Security File, NSC Histories, container 19 volume 7, LBJ Presidential Library, quoted in Isabella Ginor, “The Russians Were Coming: The Soviet Military Threat in the 1967 Six-Day War,” Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) 4, no. 4 (December 2000): 48. See also Isabella Ginor, “How the Six Day War Almost Led to Armageddon,” The Guardian (London), June 10, 2000.
234 Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Eshkol, June 12, 1967, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mfa.gov.il (accessed on March 29, 2006).
235 Richard Helms, “Memorandum for the Record,” including oral history from CIA Director Richard Helms, prepared in Washington, October 22, 1968. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, vol. 7, Appendix G. Top Secret. Published by the U.S. State Department, Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, Volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/xix/28059.htm, (accessed on March 29, 2006).
236 Ibid., 54.
237 Ginor, “How the Six Day War.”
238 Nikita S. Kruschev, Vremya. Ludi. Vlast., memoirs in four volumes (Moscow: MN, 1999), volume 3, 435; vol. 4, 460; cited by Ginor in “The Russians Were Coming,” 45.
239 Yuri V. Nastenko, “Aviatsiya v Egypte,” in Grif “Sekrentno” Sniat (Moscow: Committee of Veterans of Military Actions in Egypt, 1998), quoted in Ginor, “The Russians Were Coming.”
240 Ginor, “The Russians Were Coming,” 49.
241 Isabella Ginor, “The Cold War’s Longest Cover-Up: How and Why the USSR Instigated the 1967 War,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, 7, no. 3 (September 2003): 46, 57.
242 Among them are Professor Robert O. Freedman of Baltimore Hebrew University and Professor Galia Golan of Hebrew University, both of whom have written extensively on Soviet policy in the Middle East. I spoke by phone with Professor Freedman, who dismissed Ginor’s findings. I also spoke by phone with Ginor, who lives in Israel. She stands by her reporting. She notes that she has carefully documented her findings, has spoken directly to most of the people she cites, and even quotes those who disagree with her, including then–Soviet ambassador to Washington Anatoly F. Dobrynin. She chose not to be quoted directly for this book, but approved of my quoting extensively from her articles.
243 Paul Johnson, “The Necessity of Christianity,” Truth Journal, Volume 1, 1985, see www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth08.html (accessed May 24, 2006).
244 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, quoted in William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959), 26.
245 Arnold Beichman, “How Stalin, the ‘Breaker of Nations,’ Hated, Murdered Jews,” Washington Times, August 16, 2003. Beichman was reviewing Arno Lustiger’s book, Stalin and the Jews: The Red Book; The Tragedy of the Jews, published by Enigma Books.
246 Aljazeera, “Ahmadinejad: Wipe Israel off map,” October 26, 2005.
247 Arnaud de Borchgrave, “Later Than We Think,” Washington Times, February 6, 2006. See also Charles Krauthammer, “Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World,” Time magazine, March 26, 2006; and Anton La Guardia, “‘Divine Mission’ Driving Iran’s New Leader,” London Telegraph, January 14, 2006.
248 ABC News, “An exclusive interview with Osama bin Laden,” TK, 1998; cited by Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days (New York: Free Press, 2000, updated in 2002), v–vi.
249 “Bird Flu Could Take 142m Lives,” CNN, February 16, 2006.
250 Warwick McKibbin, Global Macroeconomic Consequences of Pandemic Influenza, Lowry Institute for International Policy, February 2006, 57.
251 Charles Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 1326.
252 Russian pastor, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity, September 2004.
254 Robert C. Byrd, Remarks on the Senate Floor, January 25, 2005, byrd.senate.gov (accessed October 13, 2005).
255 John Kerry, speech at New York University (September 20, 2004).
256 Kevin Whitelaw, “Sen. Chuck Hagel Criticizes President Bush’s Performance on Iraq,” U.S. News & World Report, June 20, 2005.
258 Ibid.
259 Georges Sada (Iraqi General), interview with author, March 30, 2006.
260 Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, February 2006, report to Congress in accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2006 (Section 9010), U.S. Defense Department, www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Iraq_Reports/docs/2006-02-Report.pdf.
261 Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi (Iraq’s minister of finance), interview with author, April 26, 2006.
262 Dr. Sinan Al-Shabibi (governor of Iraq’s Central Bank), interview with author, April 26, 2006.
263 “Iraq’s Economy Nearly Doubled—Report,” April 9, 2006, www.portaliraq.com.
264 “Infrastructure: Visa Accepts International Card Payments In Iraq,” June 2, 2003, www.portaliraq.com.
265 “FedEx Express Launches Service in Iraq,” press release, August 11, 2003, www.fedex.com/us/about/news/pressreleases/archives/pressrelease232234786.html?link=4 (accessed April 15, 2006).
266 Reuters, “Coca-Cola in Iraqi Joint Venture Talks,” November 19, 2003, noted on www.portaliraq.com. See also Rory Carroll, “Cola Wars As Coke Moves on Baghdad,” The Guardian (London), July 5, 2005.
267 Kamel al-Gailani, “Iraq: Open for Business,” Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2003.
268 See “Operation Iraqi Freedom: Three Year Anniversary, Project Fact Sheet,” March 23, 2006, U.S. Defense Department.
269 Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, 13.
270 Allawi, interview with author.
271 See “Operation Iraqi Freedom: Three Year Anniversary, Project Fact Sheet,” U.S. Defense Department, March 23, 2006.
272 Lawrence Kumins, “Iraq Oil: Reserves, Production and Potential Revenues,” Congressional Research Service, April 13, 2005, 1, 5.
273 North American oil executive, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity, April 2005.
274 Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy (New York: Viking, 2006), 261. See also 253.
275 John F. Burns, “New Babylon Is Stalled by a Modern Upheaval,” New York Times, October 11, 1990.
276 Charles H. Dyer, The Rise of Babylon (Chicago: Moody, revised 2003 version of the original 1991 edition), 14.
277 Jeffrey Gettleman, “Babylon Awaits an Iraq without Fighting,” New York Times, April 18, 2006.
278 Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi (Iraqi finance minister), interview with the author, April 26, 2006.
279 See Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; and Revelation 11, among many other verses in both the Old and New Testaments that concern a future Temple.
280 See “Another Outrageous Claim by Arafat: Ancient Jewish Temple Was in Nablus, Not Jerusalem,” press release, Zionist Organization of America, May 21, 2002, www.zoa.org; see also Daniel Pipes, “More on the Muslim Claim to Jerusalem,” May 2002, www.danielpipes.org.
281 For more on the threats to the Temple Mount, see Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount (New York: Free Press, 2000, updated in 2002).
282 In many Hebrew writings, the name of God is omitted or abbreviated, according to the Orthodox Jewish custom of not writing down the name of God.
283 Gershon Salomon, “Long-Term Objectives, Short-Term Objectives,” www.templemountfaithful.org (accessed April 4, 2006). Last phrase regarding the Messiah comes from Salomon’s “Vision of Redemption” on the same Web site.
284 Gershon Salomon, “The Voice of the Temple Mount,” newsletter, Spring 1998, www.templemountfaithful.org (accessed April 4, 2006).
285 See “The Temple Mount Faithful Will Go up to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av,” www.templemountfaithful.org/Events/tishabav5761.htm, July 29, 2001. See also “Court Won’t Let Temple Mount Group Lay ‘Cornerstone’ of Third Temple,” Haaretz, October 16, 2005.
286 Gershon Salomon, “An Open Letter about the Critical Situation on the Temple Mount and Its Godly Endtime Solution,” April 3, 2003, www.templemountfaithful.org (accessed April 4, 2006).
287 Yisrael Ariel (Rabbi), writings, www.templeinstitute.org.
288 “About the Temple Institute,” www.templeinstitute.org (accessed April 4, 2006).
289 “Sanhedrin Launched in Tiberias,” Arutz Sheva/Israel National News, January 20, 2005.
290 “Reestablished Sanhedrin Convenes to Discuss Temple,” Arutz Sheva/Israel National News, February 9, 2005. See also Hal Lindsey, “Revived Sanhedrin Discusses Temple,” WorldNetDaily.com, February 17, 2005.
291 Gershon Gorenberg, The End of Days, 13.
292 Ibid., 10.
293 For more on this subject, I would highly recommend two books by Randall Price, an evangelical Christian scholar of the ancient Temples and their treasures. One is The Temple and Bible Prophecy: A Definitive Look at Its Past, Present and Future, published in 2005 by Harvest House. The other is Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls, published in 1996 by Harvest House. Both were invaluable tools as I wrote The Copper Scroll.
294 Yisrael Ariel (Rabbi) and others, “Where Is the Ark of the Covenant?” www.templeinstitute.org/ark_of_the_covenant.htm (accessed on April 4, 2006).
295 Glenn Frankel, “Brooklyn Rabbi a Power in Israel,” Washington Post, November 23, 1988.
296 Charles Fenyvesi, “Awaiting the Messiah,” U.S. News & World Report, June 27, 1994.
297 “Today: The Goal,” www.chabad.org/therebbe/timeline.asp?AID=62188 (accessed April 4, 2006).
298 Yisrael Ariel, “Which Comes First, the Messiah or the Temple?” www.templeinstitute.org (accessed April 4, 2006).
299 Ian MacKinnon, “Old Shack Will Give Madonna Front-Row Seat for Arrival of Her Messiah,” Times (London), March 4, 2006.
300 Martin Buber, Gog and Magog: A Novel, paperback ed., trans. Ludwig Lewisohn (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999), 284. The book was originally published in German in 1981 by Atheneum.
301 Elie Wiesel, Souls on Fire, paperback ed. (1972; repr., New York: Touchstone, 1993), 206–7.
302 Elie Wiesel, Elie Wiesel: Conversations, ed. Robert Franciosi (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 138.
303 Figures based on interviews with messianic Jewish leaders in Israel and the U.S.
304 Ibid.
305 Patrick Johnstone and others, Operation World (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2001), 362. Operation World was a winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and is researched and produced by WEC International. See www.gmi.org/ow/.
306 Charles M. Sennott, The Body and the Blood: The Middle East’s Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace (New York: Public Affairs, 2001), prologue.
307 Sennott, The Body and the Blood, endorsements on the 2003 paperback edition.
308 Jonathan Mann and Gerald Kessel, “Christians Leaving Middle East,” CNN, April 21, 1992.
309 Roger Hardy, “Christians Quit Christ’s Birthplace,” BBC News, December 21, 2001.
310 Bob Edwards and Sylvia Poggioli, coverage of the Pope’s visit to Syria, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, May 7, 2001.
311 Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman, “Christian Eclipse in Shadow of Radical Islam,” op-ed, Rocky Mountain News/Denver Post, December 22, 2001.
312 William Dalrymple, “William Dalrymple on how the Christians of the East became an endangered species,” The Guardian (London), October 30, 2001.
313 Salim Mansur, “A Christian Exodus?” Toronto Sun, December 23, 2004.
314 Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, 1998 paperback ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 65. Quoted by Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 5.
315 Gayle Young, “Fast-Growing Islam Winning Converts in Western World,” CNN, April 14, 1997.
316 Ray Suarez, “Observing Islam,” The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, November 16, 1997.
317 For example, see www.islamicity.com/Mosque/aboutislam.htm, www.allaahuakbar.net/womens/islam.htm#Listen, www.riseofislam.com/western_world_02b.html.
318 Dan Woodling, “Cairo’s Extraordinary Garbage Dump Priest and His Cave Cathedral,” Assist News Service, www.assistnews.net/strategic/s0000020.htm (accessed April 5, 2006). See also the church’s Web site, www.saman-church.org/English.htm (accessed April 5, 2006).
319 Egyptian Bible Society leaders, interview with author given on condition of anonymity, January 23, 2006.
320 The Morocco Times ran an article on March 12, 2005, entitled “Why Are Moroccans Converting to Christianity?” The Times published a story on January 24, 2006, entitled “Evangelical Missionaries Back in the Limelight.” Other Moroccan publications that have run similar stories include Attajdid, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, Le Matin, and La Gazette Du Maroc. The U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2005 included this item on Morocco: “The generally amicable relationship among religions in society contributed to religious freedom; however, converts to Christianity generally face social ostracism. From January until the May concert of contemporary Christian music, there was an ongoing societal debate on the influence of evangelical Christianity in the country. In January, the French language weekly Le Journal reported that an Istiqlal (Nationalist Party) party member, Jilali Abouali, challenged the minister of Islamic affairs in Parliament about allowing Christian evangelical missionaries into the country. In April, an Islamist Arabic-daily newspaper, Attajdid, carried an editorial by Habib Choubani, a member of parliament representing the Islamist Party for Justice and Development (PJD), charging that evangelicals were invading and that the Government, by permitting the concert, was undermining the country’s ‘spiritual security.’ In spite of considerable criticism, the Government allowed the May concert to take place and no negative incidents occurred.” See www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51606.htm.
321 Ahmed Kostas (senior advisor to the Moroccan king), interview with author, November 28, 2005.
322 Dr. Ahmed Abaddi, interview with author, April 24, 2006.
323 Arab pastor, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
324 “Algeria bans Muslims from learning about Christianity,” ArabicNews.com, March 21, 2006.
325 Sudanese evangelical leader, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
326 Stan Guthrie, “Hope amid the Ruins: Anglican Bishop Sees Massive Church Growth,” Christianity Today, January 2004.
327 Sheikh Salman Al-Odeh, “Christian Missionaries Sweeping the Islamic World,” transcript, Lesson 66, Monday 12th of Safar, 1413 Hijra (1993), from www.islamworld.net/tanseer.htm (accessed February 3, 2006). Al-Odeh was apparently citing the 1982 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. The updated figures in the 2001 edition found that the number of Christians in Africa had jumped from 9.9 million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000, still an enormous growth and a significant degree of it from Muslim converts. See David B. Barrett and others, World Christian Encyclopedia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 5.
328 Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani, interview on Aljazeera, transcript, December 12, 2000. Transcript available from Ali Sina, Iranian dissident, on his Web site, www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm (accessed February 3, 2006).
329 “More Christians Arrested in Wake of ‘Apostasy’ Case,” Open Doors USA Web site, www.opendoorsusa.org/Display.asp?Page=AfghanArrests (accessed on April 3, 2006). See also www.compassdirect.org.
330 Afghan evangelical Christian leader, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
331 Georges Sada (Iraqi general), interview with author, May 22, 2006.
332 Iraqi pastor, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
333 Iraqi evangelical leader, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
334 Iraqi pastor from Baghdad, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
335 Cited by Julian Lukins, “Behind the Black Veil,” Charisma, June 2004.
336 Patrick Johnstone and others, Operation World (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2001), 353.
337 Iranian evangelical leader, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
338 Ramin Mostaghim, “Ruling Shiites Influence Eroded by Other Faiths,” Inter Press Service, May 5, 2004.
339 Compass Direct news service, “Government Officials Admit Christianity ‘Out of Control,’” October 7, 2004.
340 Compass Direct, “Iranian Convert Stabbed to Death,” November 28, 2005; see also World Watch List 2006, Open Doors, www.opendoorsuk.org/downloads/wwl_downloads/WorldWatchList.pdf (accessed April 3, 2006).
341 Compass Direct, “Iranian Convert.” See also Nina Shea, “The Real War on Christmas: Being a Christian Can Be Deadly,” National Review, December 19, 2005. Shea cited Rev. Keith Roderick, an Episcopal priest representing Christian Solidarity International. The Voice of the Martyrs news agency also reported Ahmadinejad’s quote.
342 Iranian pastor, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
343 Based on interviews with Iranian pastors and Christians who have been inside Iran in recent years.
344 Iranian pastor, interview with author, given on condition of anonymity. Name of interviewee and date of interview withheld.
345 Brother Andrew kept his full name secret during his years of work behind the Iron Curtain and has revealed it to only a few people since.
346 Brother Andrew, interview with the author, October 2004.
347 Brian Williams, “Now It Can Be Told: Notes on the Eve of Destruction,” weblog entry, September 5, 2005, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9216831/#050905.
348 Ibid.
349 Brian Williams, “The weatherman nobody heard—Robert Ricks predicted Katrina’s wrath; why didn’t more people listen?” NBC Nightly News, September 15, 2005.
350 Associated Press, “Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Eliminated,” April 14, 2006.
351 Mortimer B. Zuckerman, “Moscow’s Mad Gamble,” U.S. News & World Report, January 30, 2006.
352 Georges Sada, Saddam’s Secrets (Brentwood, Tenn.:Integrity Publishers, 2006), 148.
353 The Four Spiritual Laws is an executive summary of the New Testament’s plan of salvation. It was written in 1965 by Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. It has become so popular as a clear and simple presentation of this Good News or “gospel” that more than 1.5 billion copies are now in print around the world. It can be read in its entirety at www.greatcom.org/laws/.
354 “Rice sees bombs and birth pangs,” Aljazeera.net, July 29, 2006.
355 This leader or “prince” is often referred to by Christians as the “Antichrist.” For the record, I have no idea who the Antichrist is or will be. Moreover, I strongly discourage speculation along these lines. It is not productive in any way, shape, or form for followers of Jesus Christ—especially pastors, Bible teachers, seminary professors, or other Christian leaders—to speculate about what current or emerging world leader may be the Antichrist. Indeed, it is deeply counterproductive. It invites scorn and ridicule on the teaching of prophecy just at a time in history when both Christians and non-Christians need and increasingly want to hear sane, rational, thoughtful voices about the intersection of Bible prophecy and current events. Personally, based in part on 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I believe the Bible teaches that the Antichrist’s identity will not be revealed until after the Rapture. This is another reason not to guess before the Rapture happens. For a brief definition of the Rapture, please see Epicenter chapter 15.
358 Haro Chakmakjian, “Russian Troops Make First Mideast Foray in Lebanon for Centuries,” Agence France-Presse, September 27, 2006.
359 Suzan Fraser, “Turkey Agrees to Send Troops to Lebanon,” Associated Press, September 5, 2006.
360 Werner Sonne, “German Troops to the Middle East?” Jerusalem Post, August 1, 2006.
361 Ibid.
362 For more background, see Ulf Gartzke, “Germany Goes to the Middle East,” The Weekly Standard, August 22, 2006. See also Ulf Gartzke, “German Cabinet Reviews Maritime Mission in Lebanon,” The Weekly Standard blog, August 2, 2007.
363 U.N. Security Council Press Release SC/8181, September 9, 2004.
364 U.N. Security Council Press Release SC/8808, August 11, 2006.
365 Associated Press, “UN report: Israel Says Hezbollah’s Arsenal Includes 30,000 Rockets,” March 4, 2008.
366 Associated Press, “Israel: Hezbollah Used Russian Missiles,” August 18, 2006.
367 Associated Press, “Peres: Moscow Asked Syria to Explain Why Hezbollah Had Russian Missiles,” September 6, 2006.
368 Christiane Amanpour, “Czar Putin,” CNN, November 30, 2007.
369 Anna Politkovskaya, Putin’s Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004), 242.
370 See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Sharp Critic of Putin Murdered,” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, October 8, 2006.
371 Bob Simon, “Who Killed Alexander Litvinenko?” 60 Minutes, January 7, 2007.
372 “Litvinenko’s Death Marks a New Kind of Chernobyl—It Threatens Us All,” Daily Mail, November 30, 2006. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “Assassination Raises Critical Question: Who Is Vladimir Putin?” joelrosenberg.blogspot.com, weblog, November 28, 2006.
373 Associated Press, “UK: Radioactive Isotope Killed Ex-KGB,” November 25, 2006.
374 Christian Lowe, “Russia Rejects UK’s Litvinenko Extradition Request,” Reuters, July 5, 2007.
375 Adi Ignatius, “A Tsar Is Born,” Time, December 4, 2007.
376 “Supporters Want Putin to Stay in Power,” USA Today, December 5, 2007.
377 Bloomberg.com, October 1, 2007.
378 Clifford J. Levy, “Medvedev, Putin’s Chosen Heir, Speaks, and the Plot Thickens in Russia,” International Herald Tribune, December 11, 2007.
379 Putin quotes cited by Dr. Ariel Cohen, “Russia’s Presidential Elections: Management Reshuffle for ‘Russia Inc.’?” Heritage Foundation WebMemo #1825, February 25, 2008.
380 Cited by the BBC, February 10, 2007.
381 Associated Press, “Report: Russia, Iran Helped Syria Bolster Arsenal,” based on reporting from Haaretz, February 22, 2007.
382 Associated Press, “Russian Died Reporting on Arms Sales to Iran, Syria,” March 7, 2007. Excerpt: “Ivan Safronov, a military affairs writer for the daily Kommersant, died Friday after plunging from a stairwell window between the fourth and fifth stories. Kommersant reported Tuesday that Safronov had told his editors he was working on a story about Russian plans to sell weapons to Iran and Syria via Belarus. The deals, if concluded, could upset the balance of power in the Middle East and strain Russia’s relations with Israel and the United States, which strongly objected to earlier Russian weapons sales to the two countries. Kommersant reported that Safronov, 51, had recently told colleagues he was warned he would face a criminal investigation for possibly releasing state secrets if he reported allegations that Russia had struck a deal to supply Iskander missiles to Syria.”
383 Associated Press, “Putin Threatens Pullout from Arms Pact; Putin Calls for Moratorium on Russian Participation in Soviet-Era Arms Control Treaty,” April 26, 2007.
384 Andy McSmith, “Russia Refuses to Extradite Man Accused of Murdering Litvinenko,” The (U.K.) Independent, May 23, 2007.
385 Demetri Sevastopulo, “Putin Threatens to Target Missiles at Europe,” Financial Times, June 4, 2007.
386 Associated Press, “Newspaper: Russia Starts Delivery of Advanced Fighter Jets to Syria,” based on reports from the Russian business journal Kommersant, June 19, 2007.
387 Associated Press, “Russia successfully tests new sea-based missile,” June 28, 2007.
388 “Putin’s Arctic Invasion: Russia Lays Claim to the North Pole—and All Its Gas, Oil, and Diamonds,” Daily Mail, June 30, 2007.
389 Yaakov Katz and Herb Keinon, “Reports: Iran to Buy Jets from Russia,” Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2007.
390 Associated Press, “Putin Suspends Russia’s Participation in Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty,” July 14, 2007.
391 Ynet News, “Russia Navy to Operate from Syria,” August 6, 2007.
392 “Russia, China Host Ahmadinejad at Anti-U.S. Security Summit,” Bloomberg.com, August 16, 2007. For more on the Shanghai Cooperation Council—an alliance of countries with a combined population of 1.5 billion people possessing three-fifths of the landmass of Eurasia—see the organization’s Web site, www.sectsco.org.
393 “Memorandum of Understanding between SCO Secretariat and CSTO Secretariat,” www.sectsco.org, October 5, 2007 (accessed March 24, 2008).
394 RIA Novosti, “Use of force in Iran would threaten Central Asia—CSTO,” March 1, 2007.
395 See Associated Press, “Putin Expected to Visit Belarus to Discuss Plans for Closer Union,” December 6, 2007; RIA Novosti, “Kremlin Denies Putin Will Head Russia-Belarus Union,” December 7, 2007. See also, “Will Putin Swallow Belarus?” Jane’s, September 4, 2002; Associated Press, “Putin Urges Belarus on Union,” September 4, 2002.
396 “Russia Delivers Nuclear Fuel to Iran,” CNN, December 17, 2007.
397 “Iran Announces Purchase of Missiles from Russia,” Jerusalem Post, December 26, 2007.
398 Peter Finn, “Putin Threatens Ukraine on NATO,” Washington Post, February 13, 2008.
399 Agence France-Presse, “Russia Scraps Libya’s Debts as Putin Visits Tripoli,” April 17, 2008.
400 Associated Press, “In Iran, Putin warns U.S.,” October 16, 2007.
401 “Press Conference with the President,” White House transcript, October 17, 2007.
402 See Charles Krauthammer, “In Iran, Arming For Armageddon,” Washington Post, December 16, 2005; Daniel Pipes, “The Mystical Menace of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” New York Post, January 10, 2006. For a fuller and more detailed treatment of this topic, see Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar, The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran, (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007).
403 Y. Mansharof and A. Savyon, “Escalation in the Positions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—A Special Report,” MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series #389, www.memri.org, September 17, 2007.
404 Ibid.
405 “President Ahmadinejad Delivers Remarks at Columbia University,” transcript published by the Washington Post, September 24, 2007.
406 For more, see Joel C. Rosenberg, “Iran Sobered Us Up on New Year’s: A Message of Nuclear Proportions,” National Review Online, January 3, 2007.
407 Mark Mazzetti, “U.S. Report Says Iran Halted Nuclear Weapons Program in 2003,” International Herald Tribune, December 3, 2007.
408 Ibid.
409 See interview with Senator Shelby transcript from the PBS NewsHour, June 3, 1998. See also “CIA Caught off Guard on India Nuclear Test,” CNNInterctive.com, www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9805/12/india.cia/index.html (accessed March 24, 2008); and “U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb: Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Failed to Warn of India’s Nuclear Tests Despite Tracking Nuclear Weapons Potential Since 1950s,” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 187, George Washington University, available online at: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/index.htm (accessed March 24, 2008).
410 For examples, see Amb. John Bolton, “The Flaws in the Iran Report,” Washington Post, December 6, 2007; and Gerald M. Steinberg, “Decoding the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, www.jcpa.org, December 5, 2007.
411 “Good and Bad News about Iran,” New York Times editorial, December 5, 2007.
412 “‘High Confidence’ Games: The CIA’s Flip-Flop on Iran Is Hardly Reassuring,” Wall Street Journal editorial, December 5, 2007.
413 “Intelligence on Iran,” Washington Post editorial, December 5, 2007.
414 Agence France-Presse, “Israel PM Warns Iran Can Develop Nuclear Bomb by 2010,” December 11, 2007.
415 Charles Hurt, “Bush: Beware Iran ‘Nuclear Holocaust,’” New York Post, August 29, 2007.
416 Sen. John McCain, transcript, NBC’s Meet the Press, April 2, 2006.
417 Ines Ehrlich, “Modern Day Gog and Magog: Similarities between Ezekiel’s Prophecies, Today’s Mideast Reality Uncanny,” Ynet News, December 10, 2006.
418 Glenn Beck, “Honest Questions about the End of Days,” transcript, Glenn Beck Show, March 30, 2007.
419 “Israel Warns World War III May be Biblical War of Gog and Magog,” Arutz Sheva, October 18, 2007.
420 “Gallup Polls on American Sympathy toward Israel and the Arabs/Palestinians,” Jewish Virtual Library, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/gallup.html (accessed April 20, 2006).
421 “Reliable Ally Polls,” based on Harris data, Jewish Virtual Library, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/poally.html (accessed April 20, 2006).
422 Joel C. Rosenberg, “A Vicious, Anti-Semitic Film,” National Review Online, February 25, 2004; and Reuters, “U.S. Envoy: Anti-Semitism in Europe Nearly as Bad as in 1930s,” February 13, 2004.
423 Robin Shepherd, “In Europe, an Unhealthy Fixation on Israel,” Washington Post, January 30, 2005.
424 The Rapture is a term used by evangelical Christians. It refers to a moment in the last days when true followers of Jesus Christ will be suddenly snatched up to heaven and thus disappear from the earth, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. It is followed by seven years of terrible judgments known as the Tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, and then the second coming of Christ to reign on earth for one thousand years.
425 For descriptions of Israel as figs and fig trees, see Jeremiah 24; Hosea 9:10; and Micah 4:1-4.
426 See Gore Vidal, United States: Essays, 1952-1992 (New York: Broadway Books), 1993, 1001–2, drawing upon an August 1985 article written by Senator James Mills for San Diego Magazine.
427 Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random, 1999), 835.
428 Ibid., 632–33.
429 Michael Reagan, phone conversation with author, June 24, 2005.
430 See “Al Qaeda’s Poison Gas; The foiled attack in Jordan might have killed thousands,” Wall Street Journal editorial, April 29, 2004; Gethin Chamberlain, “How Al Qaeda plotted to kill 80,000 in Jordan,” The Scotsman, April 29, 2004.
431 Author interview with General Sada, May 22, 2006.
432 See “Hotel Blasts Kill Dozens in Jordan,” CNN.com, November 9, 2005; “Jordan Confirms Al-Qaeda behind Hotel Blasts,” CNN.com, November 12, 2005; Nibras Kazimi, “The Islamist Threat to Jordan,” Jerusalem Issue Brief, vol. 5, no. 25, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, May 25, 2006.
433 Bernard Lewis, responding to a question from the author at an American Enterprise Institute event, June 6, 2006.
434 This national survey was conducted among 1,000 Christian likely voters between March 16-18, 2008, by McLaughlin & Associates. All interviews were conducted by professional interviewers via telephone. Respondent selection was at random The accuracy of the sample of 1,000 Christian likely voters is within +/- 3.1% at a 95% confidence interval. The survey was paid for by November Communications, Inc., the message strategy company I founded in 2000. The results to nonpartisan questions (that is, questions not pertaining to specifically identified candidates, such as John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama) were then made available for use by the Joshua Fund, in keeping with the fund’s nonprofit, nonpartisan status. Any comments made or implied by me in this book or in public of a partisan nature—or perceived to be partisan—were and are made in my capacity as a private citizen, not in connection to the Joshua Fund.
435 “Defining Evangelicalism,” Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, Wheaton College, statistics reported online at http://www.wheaton.edu/isae/defining_evangelicalism.html (accessed March 31, 2008).
436 UPI, “Roman Catholics Total 64 million in U.S.,” June 25, 2007.