The Rise of Autocratic Russia

It has been an interesting week again in many respects, but among all the news stories a really significant one has been the landslide election victory for Vladimir Putin in Russia. As reported by the Associated Press:

"Vladimir Putin's party won a crushing victory in parliamentary elections Sunday, paving the way for the authoritarian leader to remain in control even after he steps down as president.

"The vote followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for the United Russia party and for Putin, who has used a flood of oil revenues to move his country into a more assertive position on the global stage.

'The vote affirmed the main idea: that Vladimir Putin is the national leader, that the people support his course, and this course will continue,' party leader and parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov said after exit polls were announced."

The United States newspaper 'USA Today' reported the election as follows:

"European election monitors said Monday that Russia's parliamentary ballot was unfair, hours after President Vladimir Putin's party swept 70% of the seats in the new legislature

The victory paves the way for Putin to remain Russia's de facto leader even after he leaves office next spring. On Monday, Putin described the weekend's election as a vote of confidence in him. 'I headed the United Russia ticket and, of course, it's a sign of public trust.' Putin said in televised remarks.

The 'persuasion and intimidation' spoken of in those reports refers-- in part, at least--to the activities of the Russian youth group known by the name NASHI. Nashi appears to be much like the Hitler youth groups of the 1930's in many ways. A report in the Moscow Times described the anti-US fervour of this movement as they sought to influence the Russian elections. Under the headline NASHI SAYS U.S. PLANNING INSURRECTION it was reported:

"A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman called the claim 'ridiculous.''

Well, ridiculous or not, many Russians will believe it, just as Germans believed the tall stories told by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebells as the Nazis rose to power 70 years ago. There seems to be abundant evidence that today, we are witnessing the rise of a new autocratic Russia, and there is every sign that this Russia is becoming more and more hostile to the United States and Britain.

An article in the Jerusalem Post by the columnist and assistant editor, Caroline Glick said:

"Just ahead of Sunday's Duma elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin took yet another step towards ending the post-Cold War thaw in Russia's relations with the West by signing a law suspending Russia's participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Starting next week, Russia will halt NATO countries' inspections and verifications of its military sites and will no longer be obligated to limit the number of its conventional weapons deployed west of the Urals. The signal the move sends former Soviet republics and satellites like Ukraine, Georgia, Poland and Rumania is a chilling one.

She went on to say, "Russia's hostility to the West extends from Europe to the Middle East." And that, of course, Russia, they have said, is the chief power mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 38. For example, Lowth, in his commentary of 1739 identifies Russia, saying that:

"The Septuagint interpreters (that is the Greek version of the Bible dating back to about 285 BC) take the word Rosh, commonly translated chief, for a proper name... Rosh, taken as a proper name, signifies those inhabitants of Scythi, from whence the Russians derive their name and original."

"There never has been such an age of conquest as that which will soon open upon the world; and as to the establishment of European freedom and independence, the war to be initiated is the setting in of an overwhelming inundation that will submerge them under one of the most terrible and scorching despotisms that ever wrung the heart of nations."

This is where current events are leading. The Nashi movement, the rise of an autocratic Russia, the hostility to the United States and the West, the extension of this into the Middle East-

Russia, The Prince of Rosh ( Captain ) and all his bands.........are in the final phase of Prepertory work, and you can bet they will come when you least expect it. Like it or not, they will come!!!!!