Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”
Important Takeaways:
- Cyberattacks knock out sites of Ukrainian army, major banks
- At least 10 Ukrainian websites were unreachable due to the attacks, including the defense, foreign and culture ministries and Ukraine’s two largest state banks. In such attacks, websites are barraged with a flood of junk data packets, rendering them unreachable.
- Among the attackers’ targets was the hosting provider for Ukraine’s army and Privatbank, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the network management firm Kentik Inc.
- It was too early to say who was behind the attack, he added.
- The cyber aggression is nevertheless typical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who likes to try to keep his adversaries off balance.
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Exodus 18:21 “Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Important Takeaways:
- Biden Administration Kills Israel-to-Europe Gas Pipeline
- Biden’s decision — reportedly coordinated with Turkey but reached without consulting Israel, Greece or Cyprus, the main countries involved in the project — undercuts three of the strongest American allies in the Mediterranean region.
- The EastMed pipeline has been in the works for more than a decade. The Israel-Greece-Cyprus project — joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia — has long been seen as a way to diversify natural gas supplies to Europe.
- The Turkish government has always insisted that Israeli gas can only be sold to Europe through Turkey.
- “The Americans do not want the pipeline because Ankara might ‘get angry.'” — Theofrastos Andreopoulos, defense analyst, defensenet.gr.
- “The reversal on the EastMed pipeline becomes only more hypocritical and offensive given the fact that President Biden continues to clear the path towards completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.” — U.S. Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”
Important Takeaways:
- US: Over 130,000 Russian troops now staged outside Ukraine
- Some airlines canceled flights to the Ukrainian capital and troops there unloaded fresh shipments of weapons from NATO
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to President Joe Biden for about an hour, insisting that Ukrainians had the country under “safe and reliable protection” against feared attack by a far stronger Russian military, aides said afterward. The White House said both agreed to keep pushing both deterrence and diplomacy to try to stave off a feared Russian military offensive.
- S. and European intelligence findings in recent days have sparked worries that Russia may try to target a scheduled Ukrainian military exercise slated for Tuesday in eastern Ukraine to launch such a “false-flag operation,” according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
- The United States was pulling most of its staff from the embassy in Kyiv and urged all American citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. Britain joined other European nations in telling its citizens to leave.
- Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.
- S. officials in recent days that Russia could be planning to invade as soon as midweek.
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Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”
Important Takeaways:
- Biden: If Russia Invades, I’m Not Using Troops to Rescue Americans Trapped in Ukraine
- Biden stated that he wouldn’t send American troops into Ukraine to get American citizens out if Russia invades, it wouldn’t be possible to do so and to find people and that he’s “hoping” if Putin does invade, “he’s smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens.”
- Host Lester Holt asked, “What scenarios would you put American troops to rescue and get Americans out?”
- Biden answered, “There’s not. That’s a world war, when Americans and Russians start shooting at one another. We’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been in.”
- Holt then asked, “Not even on behalf of simply evacuating Americans?”
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Zechariah 12:3 “ And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia begins military exercises in Black Sea and Belarus, stoking fears of preparations for an attack on Ukraine
- Russian forces on Thursday began 10 days of military exercises with Belarus, and warships arrived at a strategic port on the Black Sea, as Western diplomats seek to avert what they fear could be an invasion after preparations cloaked as training.
- Ukrainian officials blasted the maneuvers, calling them an “unprecedented” action that makes navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov virtually impossible.
- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as Russia’s decision to “block” parts of those seas and the Kerch Strait “under the pretext of holding regular naval exercises.”
- Top Russian military commanders flew into Belarus on Wednesday for the maneuvers, which involve thousands of troops and sophisticated weapons systems including S-400 surface-to-air missiles, Pantsir air defense systems and Su-35 fighter jets.
- Moscow’s recent military maneuverings are nudging some countries that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers part of Russia’s sphere of influence further toward the West. Lithuania’s president on Wednesday said Vilnius would request that Washington station troops in the Baltic country permanently to help boost security.
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Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Important Takeaways:
- Vladimir Putin warns a nuclear war could break out if Ukraine joins NATO and accuses West of ‘complete disregard for our concerns’ hours after Macron talks
- French officials are touting the talks as a success and claim that they have won concessions from Putin with a promise not to ‘escalate’ his troop buildup.
- Putin claimed his Moscow talks with President Emmanuel Macron were constructive but said:
- ‘I want to stress it one more time, I’ve been saying it, but I’d very much want you to finally hear me, and to deliver it to your audience in print, TV and online.
- ‘Do you understand it or not, that if Ukraine joins NATO and attempts to bring Crimea back by military means, the European countries will be automatically pulled into a war conflict with Russia?’
- Putin warned: ‘Of course the [military] potential of NATO and Russia are incomparable. We understand it.
- ‘But we also understand that Russia is one of the leading nuclear states, and by some modern components it even outperforms many.
- ‘There will be no winners. And you will be pulled into this conflict against your will.
- ‘You won’t even have time to blink your eye when you execute Article 5 (collective defense of NATO members [means that )…. [an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies]
- ‘Mr. President Macron, of course, doesn’t want this. And I don’t want it. And I don’t want it….which is why he is here, torturing me for six straight hours.’
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Zechariah 12:3 “ And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
Important Takeaways:
- Do Not Open Nord Stream 2
- The Russian threat… was very clear — that Russia would then be able to shut off its gas to Europe in the middle of winter [by means of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline], if it chose to, as a form of blackmail, at which point the US might then be expected to save Europe from its own deal.
- Nord Stream 2 would give Putin a new tool to continue these nefarious actions. Russia has already used energy as a lever to achieve its foreign policy objectives. In 2009, Russia cut off energy supplies to Europe. With Nord Stream 2 in place it would have an even more powerful “economic tool” to threaten European economies, and even their national security. Nord Stream is a commercial project with major geo-political overtones.
- In turbulent times in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are uniting to oppose Nord Stream 2. The U.S. message is clear. We oppose Nord Stream 2 because it represents a geostrategic threat to our closest friends and allies.
- The United States calls on our European friends to take decisive actions against Russia. An effective next step would be to take meaningful action to stop Nord Stream 2. From MH-17 to Ukraine, Russia must be held accountable for its actions.
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Zechariah 12:3 “ And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
Important Takeaways:
- Kyiv could fall in days with a huge civilian toll, U.S. assessments find
- Russia is close to completing preparations for what appears to be a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could leave up to 50,000 civilians killed or wounded
- It would launch a humanitarian crisis with up to 5 million refugees fleeing the resulting chaos, according to updated U.S. military and intelligence assessments
- The assessments, the people familiar with them confirmed, also judged that the window for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis appears to be closing. Even as a steady stream of European leaders have been in contact with Putin, further meetings have been scheduled, and the Kremlin has repeatedly denied any invasion plans, the number and configuration of troop movements have continued to push the West’s consensus in the opposite direction.
- One possibility is that Putin may delay until after the Olympics conclude Feb. 20, in order not to upset China by overshadowing the games and threaten Chinese financial assistance in response to U.S. sanctions.
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Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Important Takeaways:
- Peace with US only possible after ‘new world order’ – Putin ally
- Aleksey Pushkov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, “The US is a hegemon that is gradually losing its position in the world,” he claimed. “They suffered a very serious defeat in the Middle East, they lost Syria, they lost the battle for Afghanistan, they were forced to withdraw almost all of their troops from Iraq at the end of 2021.”
- According to the Russian senator, US officials “are trying to maintain their dominant influence by having conflicts simultaneously with Russia and China, although with different degrees of intensity.
- Pushkov added that America’s political and financial elite “believe that they are the only ones who can run the world,” and do not intend to let anyone else take the helms. “So, until a new world order is established in which the US is weaker and its role is diminished, we will be in more or less acute political conflict with them.”
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Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia Could Launch Cyber Attacks Against U.S. if Biden Sends Wrong Signals, Intel Warns
- The Department of Homeland Security has warned:
- “We assess that Russia would consider initiating a cyber-attack against the Homeland if it perceived a US or NATO response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine threatened its long-term national security,”
- The warning came as President Joe Biden sent additional weapons to Ukrainian forces and reportedly weighed the option of sending thousands of U.S. troops to the Baltic states
- And if these risks turn kinetic, he warned such an escalation could pass the point of no return.
- “Once the shots are fired, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle,” Vindman said.
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