ARMENIA STRENGTHENS TIES TO RUSSIA

 

The nation of Armenia has signed an agreement which strengthens its alliance with Russia. The new agreement gives Russia a very long-term presence in Armenia and it also makes “Russian troops responsible for Armenia’s national security.” Russia will be able to move arms and military equipment into Armenia apparently as it wishes.

For Russia, this means one more nation that used to be a Soviet province in the old USSR is coming back into the fold. Slowly, Russia is reassembling many of the nations that used to be in the old USSR back under its domination. Belarus is all but part of Russia now and the Ukraine has moved back into the Russian sphere of direct influence after the last Ukrainian election swept pro-Russian leaders back into power. Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian “-stan” nations are effectively under Russian domination already as part of Russia’s “Near Abroad” and they realize that their “independence” is limited by the Kremlin’s wishes. Now Armenia has effectively rejoined the Russian fold as well. As the old provinces of the USSR return to a condition of Russian domination, the Gog-Magog alliance prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39 is taking shape, and it will include most of the old Soviet states by the time this prophesied attack occurs. Russia, China and Iran dominate the Gog-Magog alliance, but its other members are becoming ever clearer.

One cannot blame Armenia for making a close military alliance with Russia. History and geography virtually force Armenia to take this action. Armenia is a small, vulnerable nation located between Azerbaijan (a Shiite Moslem nation with which it fought a war years ago) and Turkey (which once slaughtered millions of Armenians and which has also been moving closer to an alliance with Iran, the leading Shiite Moslem nation). These factors mandate that Armenia seek a militarily powerful ally. Armenia saw that NATO offered no meaningful aid to Georgia (which borders Armenia on the north) when Georgia fought a short war with Russia so there was no point in seeking American or NATO ties which would be unreliable in a future crisis. Russia was the logical choice. Russian troops could quickly be airlifted into Armenia in a crisis as Russia is very near to Armenia. Russia is also an ally of Iran, so Armenia’s alliance with Russia should restrain any Shiite Moslem aggressions from either Azerbaijan or Iran. Given the desire of Turkey to be a new assertive regional power and its history of killing many Armenians, Armenia needs Russia’s army as a security guarantee vs. Turkey. Russia benefits from this alliance too as Georgia wants to be allied to the West, but Georgia is bordered by Russia on the north and Armenia on the south. With Russia now able to move troops and military equipment into Armenia apparently at will, Russia will be in a position to invade Georgia from both the north and south at some future point and effectively reabsorb that nation into the old Soviet bloc as well. NATO is disarming and it is led by an American president who has a string of very weak performances in the geopolitical arena. NATO can be expected to do nothing whenever Russia decides to end Georgia’s independence.

Armenia has no choice but to ally itself closer to Russia. However, chalk up one more nation (Armenia) in the Gog-Magog bloc. I think the fate of a second nation (Georgia) was just sealed as well.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.4c9f915f604329d2775041d5e4286b05.121&show_article=1