The inevitable conflict.

[Botz]

Over the years I have tried to work out from a purely practical perspective, how long Israel can stave off the inevitable...

The inevitable is what most of us realise...namely that the enemies of Israel have been getting stronger, their weapons more powerful, and as time has gone by it was evident that one day they would be capable of inflicting serious damage.

This is now the case....Hizbollah we are told, now have weapons that can fire over distance and with great accuracy, whereas in the past they and others had short range rockets and missiles that were highly inaccurate, and one only ever heard of a few Israelis getting wounded and occassionally killed...but all this is rapidly changing. When the next conflict arises what will happen? What will be the predictable response if rockets hit heavy population areas such as Tel-Aviv and people are killed in their hundreds and their thousands?

This is not like trying to target a single nuclear facility, weapons systems can be prolific, mobile and hidden, and if there is co-operation and co-ordination amongst the Moslem enemies of Israel, then a full scale attack on Israel will be devastating...so how will they respond? How can they possibly defend themselves?

I see only two possibilities, neither of which will endear them to the world because as we have read, many of the locations of these weapons systems have already been placed in heavily populated civilan areas.

1. Pre-emptive strikes...to accomplish this they would need incredible detailed information over a vast area....and as soon as they started, the enemy would still have plenty of time to send off their missiles and to claim the higher moral ground....so it is unlikely.

2. Baton down the hatches when...not if....the missiles and rockets are launched at Israel by providing huge underground bomb shelters (many of which are in place I believe) and then by satellite pinpoint every location that rockets have been fired from and retaliate. But the time it will take to do this and pin-point targets will be very hard, and if attacked from multiple fronts, they will spread themselves too thin, and in the meantime the possible devastion to Israel through destruction of its cities and resource centres will be catastrophic.

Which leads me to the only option I can think of...Israel will threaten any attempt to attack their nation with the promise of mass retaliation and the possibility of contained nuclear strikes (using low-grade nuclear weapons) at specific targets...the death tolls would be in the 100's of 1,000's.

Something has to give....something has to happen...everything is poised.

In many ways it is miraculous that nothing much has happened since the Yom Kippur war of 1973...(the two Lebanon wars being much lesser affairs)...and I believe this in part is due to the prayers of people crying out for Israel to be protected and to come to the L-rd...Now more than at any other time Israel, her government her people need the G-d of Israel the Lion of Judah...lets encourage each other to keep praying for Israel...her protection, her deliverance and her Salvation.

[hupo]

Hi there Botz,

I value your opinion and anasysis of the mid east conflict, yet it is based on logic, very sound logic I must admit, but is not everything God has to provide

If you recall 1948 was a miracle in itself. We were "supposed" to have been wiped out. We weren't! That was a miracle

1967 we were strangled by Abdul Nasser and came out with a miraculous victory

1973, we were so cocky we nearly got wiped out. We didn't. Another miracle

I won't even bother with history, Hitler, Stalin, Spanish Inquizision, Babylonians, Romans, and Greek empires....

As for today, I don't think the media have it right at all and if they do they are not letting it out. The Arab world is so engrossed in hating each other. Israel is the only thing that holds them together with a common focal point for their hatred.

Islam is the name of the game. Satan's weapon of mass destruction!

Lets face it. There are more Palestinians killed by their "so called brothers" than we have ever done! Look at the countries around us. Look how easily they kill their own citizens. There is something going on all right. Something is already giving but we are looking in the wrong direction.

Do you believe God will let satan take over? I doubt it

The world is slow to wake up but it will, maybe with aches and pains but it will wake up and see extreme Islam for what it is.

Yes we could be blasted heavily from all sides. It is not new. Remember whatever they have, we have much more. I don't think this is what is going to win or lose the war. There are higher powers at work and as you mentioned, we need to recognize and acknowledge these powers

I'm sitting 15 km away from the Lebanese border where 1000's of rockets are pointed at us. Somehow I don't feel this is going to be the .... something...that is going to give. I don't know why. Maybe a naive denial of what seems to be the Inevitable.

But, that's just my feeling, with no facts to back it up, while the facts are unfolding out there and time will tell....

[Babbler]

To attack Israel is foolish. With all the atomic and neutron bombs they have at Dimona it would put the human race at the point of extinction if Israel is ever forced to use them.

[hupo]

To attack Israel is foolish. With all the atomic and neutron bombs they have at Dimona it would put the human race at the point of extinction if Israel is ever forced to use them.

I wouldn't worry. We will not be using them. No need

God didn't create the human race to make it extinct

I trust He has better ways of turning mankind around

[MorningGlory]

To attack Israel is foolish. With all the atomic and neutron bombs they have at Dimona it would put the human race at the point of extinction if Israel is ever forced to use them.

I wouldn't worry. We will not be using them. No need

God didn't create the human race to make it extinct

I trust He has better ways of turning mankind around

I believe as you do, hupo, that God will never allow Israel's enemies victory. I continue to pray for your country along with many thousands of other Americans.

[Guest]

Amen~!

Praying~

[hupo]

To attack Israel is foolish. With all the atomic and neutron bombs they have at Dimona it would put the human race at the point of extinction if Israel is ever forced to use them.

I wouldn't worry. We will not be using them. No need

God didn't create the human race to make it extinct

I trust He has better ways of turning mankind around

I believe as you do, hupo, that God will never allow Israel's enemies victory. I continue to pray for your country along with many thousands of other Americans.

I would like to sharpen this point.

Yes, Israel is a big part of it but God can and probably will, turn many of today's enemies, around too

That is a bigger victory than any bomb can achieve

[Bible2]

Botz said:

The inevitable conflict.

The coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18 will begin with a horrible war, which, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, will end up killing a fourth of the world (Revelation 6:4-8). The "great sword" of this war (Revelation 6:4) could be Israel's nuclear weapons.

One way this war could happen is that the U.S. could build up the Iraqi Army until it's huge enough and well-equipped enough to serve as a proxy army (for the U.S. and Israel) for an all-out ground invasion of Iran (to end Iran's nuclear weapons program and extremist regime). As part of the buildup of the Iraqi Army, the U.S. could reinstall some of the former Baathist military hierarchy to run the Iraqi Army more efficiently and ruthlessly. And if the current Shiite-dominated government of Iraq balks at any invasion of fellow-Shiite Iran, the CIA and the Mossad could then help the Baathists (who see non-Arab Iran as an enemy of Arab autonomy) to take back complete control of Iraq via a coup d'etat.

But then, right when Iraq is all ready to invade Iran, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel could destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest sites in Islam) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, to prepare the site for the building of a third Jewish temple. This could so enrage Muslims worldwide, including the (Muslim) Iraqi Army, that the Iraqi Baathist Generals could see it as a perfect excuse to abandon the plan to invade huge Iran and instead turn and send their huge army against tiny Israel, completely defeating it (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath").

But this would not be the ultimate reason for the Baathist attack, which could continue on south to also defeat Egypt (Daniel 11:15), the regime of which (even if there's some ostensible change in Egypt) the Baathists could see as still being a puppet of the U.S., just as the Baathists could see Israel as being a colony of the U.S. The ultimate aim of Baathism is to unite all Arab lands from Oman to Morocco into one massive, powerful United Arab States free of all foreign hegemony.

The all-out Iraqi attack on Israel could be joined by the Baathist Syrian Army (with all of its missiles, many tipped with nerve agents), as well as by all of Iran's long-range missiles and all of Hizballah's and Hamas' missiles and guerrillas. Tiny Israel could find itself suddenly attacked from three directions at the same time, with thousands of missiles raining down all at once on all of its cities and military bases, and hundreds of Iraqi tanks (meant to occupy huge Iran) pouring across its borders. As Israel starts to see its tiny sliver of land completely overrun, and sees its defeat as imminent, in retaliation it could drop nuclear bombs on Baghdad, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1), Tehran and all the other major cities of Iraq, Syria and Iran.

There could be so many nuclear explosions sending so much radioactive dust and ash so high into the atmosphere that it could be blown eastward and fall on hugely-populated South Asia, ruining so many crop fields and immune systems there with radiation that a fourth of the world could end up dying from the war and its aftermath of famines and epidemics (Revelation 6:4-8).

After an Iraqi Baathist General who could lead the defeat and occupation of Israel and Egypt mysteriously disappears from the scene (Daniel 11:19), the Antichrist, who could be an Arab, could arise peacefully out of Lebanon (from the modern city of Tyre: Ezekiel 28:2, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4), and he could take up the mantle of Baathism and vow to (in his words) "complete the great work of Arab liberation and unification".

The first thing the Antichrist could do once he's given control (Daniel 11:21) of a Baathist confederation of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and a "United Palestine" (i.e. a defeated Israel), is to perform a very small and localized attack against an army of ultra-Orthodox Jews holed up in the walled Old City of Jerusalem and led by a false ultra-Orthodox Jewish "Messiah" (Daniel 9:26, Daniel 11:22). They could have managed to hold off the first Baathist attack even as it overran the rest of Israel, because the walled Old City of Jerusalem is considered holy to the Muslims, and so it's not to be bombarded or destroyed. The Antichrist could manage in some way to take the Old City without doing it much harm.

Then, instead of executing all the ultra-Orthodox Jews and their false "Messiah", the Antichrist will do an amazing thing: he will make a peace treaty with them (Daniel 11:23); he will "cut" a peace treaty with them and their false "Messiah" (Daniel 9:26), permitting them to keep a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1) which they will have built on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, and to keep control of the Old City, for at least seven more years (Daniel 9:27a), so long as they give up the outer court of the temple (Revelation 11:2) to the Muslims so that the Muslims can rebuild the Al Aqsa Mosque on the southern end of the Temple Mount and resume worship there.

By this seven-year peace treaty, the Antichrist could present himself to the world as (in his words): "A reasonable man, a man of peace. I am no Hitler. I do not desire a second Holocaust. I am willing to give the religious Jews in the Old City seven years to show that they are willing to live peacefully with others, that they are different than the Zionist Jews who have just destroyed the world with their nuclear weapons".

And if the Antichrist gets flak from his fellow Baathists for letting the ultra-Orthodox Jews keep the Old City, he could explain to them privately that (in his words) "It's all a temporary ruse, meant to keep world opinion off guard while we consolidate our position". The Baathists could consolidate their position by becoming so well dug-in, and so well equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that a U.S. counter-attack to "take back" Israel and Egypt could fail, and leave the Baathists in control, and in a position to extend their power over all the rest of the Arab nations.

For if the Baathists defeat Israel, they will be hailed by all the Arab masses as magnificent heroes, so that the Baathists could have no problem persuading the Arab masses to support them. And the Baathists could justify their defeat of the Egyptian military regime, and then their subsequent defeat of other regimes such as in Jordan, by railing against them as being (what they could call):

"These vile cronies of the Americans. These cronies pretended to be for the Arab people while in fact they were taking American bribes in the billions, completely selling out our Palestinian brothers to the endless cruelties of the Zionist occupation, and keeping you, the great majority of the Arab people, in poverty. These cronies, like the Zionists themselves, were the American bulwarks against our glorious Arab Unification and return to world power. Join now with us, the Baathists, that we might bring about the long-awaited Arab Renaissance, the long-awaited Arab Resurrection [the Arab word 'Baath' can mean 'Renaissance' and 'Resurrection'], that we Arabs might all rise up together and unite, from Oman to Morocco, into one great United Arab States, one great Arab Empire, shaking off completely all the shackles of the West, placed upon us so long ago, and return to our former glory as we had during the Middle Ages, when we were far superior to the West".

With such rhetoric, the Baathists could rally the masses to their side throughout the Arab world. The Baathists could also rail against the kings and sheikhs of the Arab Gulf States for (in their words) "hoarding the huge oil wealth given by Allah to all the Arabs, and keeping the Arab masses in poverty and subjugation to Western interests". The Baathists are socialist, and so could call for the distribution of the Arab oil wealth to the Arab masses (Daniel 11:24). In this way (and by their defeat of Israel) they could easily turn the masses to their side in every Arab nation.

During the first few years of the seven-year peace treaty, the Antichrist could employ Baathism as the means by which he will gradually and peacefully put together a United Arab States, or Arab Union, stretching from Oman to Morocco. Once he has accomplished this, he could then begin to downplay Baathism and start speaking of "world peace and the unity of mankind". He could convince an oil-thirsty European Union to let the oil-rich Arab Union join it, thereby forming a massive Mediterranean Union, which he could manage to peacefully gain control of and use as his base of power to eventually exert his hegemony over the entire earth (Revelation 13:7).

Then, only some 3.5 years years after making the seven-year peace treaty, the Antichrist will break the treaty, attack the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, stop the daily Mosaic animal sacrifices offered in front of it, and sit in the temple and proclaim himself God (Daniel 11:31,36, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will then rule the whole earth in all the power of Lucifer/Satan (the dragon: Revelation 12:9) for 42 months (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 11:2b), or 1,260 days (Revelation 12:6, Revelation 11:3), or "a time, and times, and half a time" (Revelation 12:14, Daniel 12:7, Daniel 7:25).

The second coming of Jesus Christ may not occur immediately after the 1,260 days of the Antichrist's worldwide reign are over, but could occur 75 days later, on the 1,335th day after the Antichrist and his followers set up the abomination of desolation (possibly a standing android image of the Antichrist) in the holy place of the Jewish temple (Daniel 12:11-12, Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15). The 75 days could be taken up by the vials of God's wrath which will be poured out on the worshippers of the Antichrist (Revelation 16). When Jesus returns he will completely defeat the Antichrist (the beast) and the False Prophet (Revelation 19:20, 2 Thessalonians 2:8), and he will have Satan bound in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3). Then Jesus and the just-resurrected church (including those in the church who had been beheaded by the Antichrist) will reign on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29).

Edited April 11, 2011 by Bible2

[Botz]

Hi there Botz,

I value your opinion and anasysis of the mid east conflict, yet it is based on logic, very sound logic I must admit, but is not everything God has to provide

If you recall 1948 was a miracle in itself. We were "supposed" to have been wiped out. We weren't! That was a miracle

1967 we were strangled by Abdul Nasser and came out with a miraculous victory

1973, we were so cocky we nearly got wiped out. We didn't. Another miracle

I won't even bother with history, Hitler, Stalin, Spanish Inquizision, Babylonians, Romans, and Greek empires....

As for today, I don't think the media have it right at all and if they do they are not letting it out. The Arab world is so engrossed in hating each other. Israel is the only thing that holds them together with a common focal point for their hatred.

Islam is the name of the game. Satan's weapon of mass destruction!

Lets face it. There are more Palestinians killed by their "so called brothers" than we have ever done! Look at the countries around us. Look how easily they kill their own citizens. There is something going on all right. Something is already giving but we are looking in the wrong direction.

Do you believe God will let satan take over? I doubt it

The world is slow to wake up but it will, maybe with aches and pains but it will wake up and see extreme Islam for what it is.

Yes we could be blasted heavily from all sides. It is not new. Remember whatever they have, we have much more. I don't think this is what is going to win or lose the war. There are higher powers at work and as you mentioned, we need to recognize and acknowledge these powers

I'm sitting 15 km away from the Lebanese border where 1000's of rockets are pointed at us. Somehow I don't feel this is going to be the .... something...that is going to give. I don't know why. Maybe a naive denial of what seems to be the Inevitable.

But, that's just my feeling, with no facts to back it up, while the facts are unfolding out there and time will tell....

Hi there Hupo.

Yep I was looking at what is happening in Israel purely from a logical point of view...trying to weigh up what I see with my own eyes the possible outcome.

Of course I don't believe G-d will allow Satan to take over....but if you think about it since the L-rd resurrected the nation of Israel, it has not had an easy time what with the constant threat of war....enemies within and without....politicians who want to capitulate....nations that want to dictate to Israel....secularism that spreads like a cancer...a very fragmented society....most without Messiah, and yet I believe it is He who neither slumbers nor sleeps and keeps watch over His people.

When I read of how Israel first came into the land as a nation under the leadership of Joshua, the initial generation of bold believing men and women who saw the hand of G-d at work died out, and a new generation sprung up who compromised, turned from G-d and adopted the habits and the gods of the Canaanites...therefore G-d often used the local heathen to dominate Israel and oppress them UNTIL they cried out as a people to their G-d, and He had compassion on them and raised up a leader to redeem His people.

In some respects the Israel of today is not different, except when G-d bought the Jews to the land this time, He did it for His own sake, He did it even when they did not all know Him or acknowledge Him...this time part of His plan is to work on them from inside the land. This being the case although I believe the hand of G-d is on the nation of Israel, I believe He will still use the hostile nations to bring the Jewish people to their knees, where no longer are they secure in their unrighteousness, or safe behind their military might....but are literally hedged all around by such impossible odds they have to seek His face.

In the meantime bit by bit a few Jewish people are very slowly turning to the L-rd and small groups being established across the land, able to pray for their people and seek the help of their Gentile brethren across the globe....and in the meantime as well, G-d is working amongst the Moslems as in some places, many are coming to know the Messiah of Israel. The fanatic loonies that the Moslems often seem to deserve as their leaders have no sense of awe or danger concerning Israels military prowess...they just want to be the one who gets the praise for wiping Israel off the map, and they will let all their people die to achieve their aim...so in this sense Israels capabilities, nuclear or otherwise, mean very little to them...many have suicidal tendancies along with their meglomania.

The sobering thing that I think about constantly is that G-d has always had His hand on His people....but He was powerless to aid them until they cried out to Him en masse ....and this often resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands before He got their attention which is precisely where things are poised at the moment....but even then I wonder how things will pan out, because the biblical figures demonstrate the ultimate cost in lives will be phenomenal. It's not a question of being pessimistic, but trying to see the hand of G-d moving in spite of what seems inevitable.

[Bible2]

Botz said:

Israel will threaten any attempt to attack their nation with the promise of mass retaliation and the possibility of contained nuclear strikes . . .

That brings to mind some possible objections to the Baathist scenario presented earlier:

1. "Wouldn't the Baathists be deterred from attacking by Israel's nukes?"

That's a good question. Would Iraq and Syria make an all-out attack on Israel knowing of its nuclear weapons and its tendency to retaliate in huge measure against any attack against Israel? Iraq and Syria could decide to attack anyway for a couple of reasons. First, by that time Iran could have successfully tested its first nuclear weapon and have claimed to have built a few more to (in its words) "serve solely for defensive purposes against Israel's nuclear threat". Iraq and Syria could then think that Israel won't use its nuclear weapons against them, even if Iraq and Syria do attack Israel with all their conventional forces, because Israel would then have to fear Iran retaliating against Israel with nuclear weapons.

Second, the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque could so enrage the rank and file of the (Muslim) Iraqi and Syrian Armies that they could demand an immediate invasion of Israel, and threaten an all-out revolt against their generals if their generals refuse to lead them in the attack. Fearing for their own lives at the hands of their own soldiers, the generals could initiate the attack against Israel, figuring that even if Israel goes ahead and nukes Baghdad and Damascus in retaliaton for the defeat of Israel, by that time the Iraqi and Syrian armies will all be in Israel, out of harm's way from Israel's nukes, for Israel isn't going to nuke its own land.

But what good would it do the Baathists to gain Palestine and Egypt while losing Baghdad and Damacus to Israeli nukes? The Baathists could figure that the loss of Baghdad and Damacus (which they could evacuate ahead of time) is worth it in order to completely defeat Israel and Egypt, thereby removing the very foundation of U.S. hegemony over the Arab world. And by the time the U.S. makes its counter-attack to "take back" Israel and Egypt, the Baathists could have become so well dug-in, and so well equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that the U.S. counter-attack could fail, and leave the Baathists in control, and in a position to extend their power over all the rest of the Arab nations.

---

2. "Wouldn't the Israeli Air Force be able to take out any forces streaming toward Israel?"

The Israeli Air Force could be unable to hit enough of the massive Iraqi invading force to prevent the tiny territory of Israel from being overrun. For between Baghdad and Israel is basically flat desert across which massive numbers of Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers and rapid-fire, rapidly-moving tracked howitzers could stream west toward Israel in wide and staggered formations which Israel's Air Force could have difficulty taking out quickly. And interspersed liberally among the Iraqi forces could be large numbers of highly mobile Iraqi SAM units which could manage to take out most of Israel's Air Force as it's attacking the Iraqi forces.

Any Iraqi force configuration which the U.S. will make sure is capable of surviving all of Iran's air and surface defenses and overunning Iran's relatively huge territory could have no problem with surviving Israel's air and surface defenses at least to the point of still being able to overrun the tiny territory of Israel.

---

3. "What about the U.S. forces in Iraq?"

They could have been withdrawn by the time the war happens. Iraq could have demanded they be withdrawn, and the U.S. could have agreed, thinking that a powerful Iraqi Army was on its side. Also, any remnant of U.S. forces in Irag at the time of the war would have a hard time justifying to the Iraqi masses any U.S. killing of Iraqi troops (starting on their way across the desert to defeat Israel).

Also, if the Iraqi Army basically vacates Iraq in order to defeat Israel (with a promise from Israel-hating Iran not to invade Iraq in the meantime), then if any U.S. forces in Iraq also vacated Iraq (chasing westward after the Iraqi Army to attack and weaken it before it reaches Israel), the U.S. would have to fear Iran invading and occupying a then completely-defenseless Iraq (which occupation Iran could justify by saying that it's just there to defend the Iraqi masses from any retaliation by U.S. forces until the Iraqi Army can return from its defeat of Israel).

---

4. "Wouldn't the U.S. be able to counter-attack with its forces in the West and take back Israel and Egypt?"

If the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt, the U.S. could begin a counter-attack to "take back" Israel and Egypt by attempting a huge amphibious assault on Egypt, only to see its invasion force cut to shreds in the sea by tens of thousands of rockets and missiles fired from shore, resulting in the loss of something like 30,000 U.S. military personnel in a single day.

This could cause a huge uproar among the U.S. public, which could cry out: "What are we doing over there? Who cares about Egypt? And why in the world do the Israelis have to live in that awful region surrounded by so many hateful and powerful enemies? Let all the Israelis come over here to America and live in freedom and peace with us. Why should any more of our precious young men and women be slaughtered over this madness in the Middle East?" And so the U.S. could withdraw from attempting any more counter-attacks to "take back" Israel and Egypt. Also, a bankruptcy of the U.S. government at this same time because of a massive run on the U.S. dollar after its disastrous failure in the counter-attack could render the U.S. simply unable for a time to finance any more huge military adventures overseas.

The U.S. could instead blockade the Baathists with its Navy and call an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to address the situation. But Russia and China could veto any votes to send in U.N. forces, saying "What right does the world have to interfere in this act of Arab self-determination? How is Arab Iraq invading Arab Palestine and Arab Egypt to bring about a free union of Arabs any different than the American North invading the American South during the Civil War to establish a free union of all Americans? Should the U.N. invade America to restore the Confederacy? And how is the Arabs throwing the Jews off their land any different than the Americans throwing the Indians off their land? Should the U.N. invade America to restore the Indians to their land?"

The U.S. could then turn to the U.N. General Assembly, only to have its spokesman hooted and shouted from the podium by a world that is jealous of America's power: "Ha! Ha! Great America is defeated! And no one wants to help it restore its hegemony in the Middle East!"

The U.S. could then turn to NATO, only to have the Europeans turn down its request to send the armies of Europe (as they could say) "into the jaws of death, and for what?"

Russia and China, seeing America's isolation, could then send in military "advisors" into the "United Arab States" and shore it up with massive amounts of military hardware and training. Oil-thirsty China could do so in exchange for cheap oil, and oil-rich Russia could sell its advanced military hardware in exchange for huge amounts of cash (and just to be able to thumb its nose at a defeated U.S. and keep the U.S. from taking back the Middle East).

Ultimately, the U.S. could find itself completely blocked out of the Middle East and all of its oil, but could pretend that it's the Middle East that is "blockaded" by the U.S. Navy. To get around the U.S. naval blockade, China could build oil pipelines from the Middle East into China, and Russia could send its military hardware sales into the Middle East by rail, truck, and air across the Caucasus and eastern Turkey.

Edited April 10, 2011 by Bible2