It has been more than a year since I submitted my manuscript for “Living in the Age of the Ram and the Goat” for publication so I decided to write this article to update the situation in the Persian Gulf for 2012.

“Kurds”

My book proposes that one of the chief groups to watch in the Persian Gulf is the Kurds.  Since the U.S. withdrew from Iraq the Kurds have quickly switched their alliance with the U.S. to Iran.  Iran’s willingness to work with the Kurds was a result of Turkey’s opposition to Assad in Syria.  Once Iran agreed to become friendlier with the Kurds of Iraq then the PJAK (the Kurdish terrorist group that has been battling against Iran) has ceased to attack Iran.  Iran and Syria also announced publicly that if Turkey attacked Syria that they would support the PKK (the Kurdish terrorist group that has been fighting Turkey) in fighting Turkey.  This is a significant development since previous to this Iran and Turkey were working cooperatively in fighting the PKK and PJAK. 

The Kurds in Syria will become a significant player in the outcome of the civil war in Syria.  The Syrian Opposition and Assad have both been trying to sway the Kurds to come to their side politically.  The   Kurds however are content to sit on the sidelines until the war has been resolved.  Their hope is that Syria will be segregated into autonomous districts like Iraq has been.  They want a Kurdish region in Syria just like Iraq. 

Also since Iraq’s Shia leadership in Iraq has been found to be relatively week since the U.S. withdrawal the Kurds in Iraq have become more powerful politically.  Exxon has signed a big oil contract with the Kurds without the approval of the Iraqi (Shia-controlled) government and the Iraqi government appears to be powerless to do anything about it.  The Iraqi president (a Shia) has been trying to consolidate power in Iraq and has threatened the Sunni Vice President.  The Vice President has sought refuge in the Kurdish region in Iraq and again, the Iraqi government appears powerless to retrieve the Vice President from the Kurds.  (The Kurds that are Muslim are predominantly Sunnis although they are not Arabs.)

“Iran”

Ahmadinejad’s political position has been severely compromised in 2011 once the chief mullah, Khameini, has decided that Ahmadinejad has been trying to position himself in superiority to the mullahs.  Khameini has gone as far to comment that the president position may be abolished in the near future.  Ahmadinejad from now until the presidential (if there is a president?) election in 2013 is essentially a lame duck.  Khameini has also said that the opposition movement may submit candidates for the parliamentary election in 2012 in an effort to reach out to the rebels.  Therefore Ahmadinejad may have a short political future that ends in 2013.  However don’t expect Iran to stop its “saber rattling”, it will continue to do what it can to subvert sanctions from the West.  Since the Kurds are part of the democratic movement in Iran, this could be a positive development for the rise of the Kurds in Iran.

“Turkey”

For the casual observer Turkey’s foreign policy seems to be extremely confusing.  The truth of the matter is that Turkey wants to be a strong NATO/U.S. ally but it has a significant problem.  Turkey has to import 90% of its energy needs.  Who does it import it from?  Iran and its ally, Russia.  Therefore this explains why Turkey is willing to position an anti-missile battery from the U.S. within its borders but then tell Iran that Turkey will not use it against Iran.  Huh?  Turkey is afraid of making Iran mad at them but also wants to work with the U.S.  This also explains why Turkey is trying to claim by force the major gas find that Israel and Cyprus have made in the Mediterranean Sea.  Turkey will fight for any major find that keeps it from being a pawn of Iran. 

Darren Thompson

Last week I was visiting a church near my home at the invitation of a neighbor and I took a copy of my book Living in the Age of the Ram and the Goat with me.  Somebody sitting behind saw the book and asked me about it.  I explained that one aspect of the book concerned the possible invasion of Saudi Arabia by Iran.  They responded in a very heated manner that this “couldn’t possibly be true”.  They asserted that Iran hadn’t invaded a nation in the Middle East so why would they start now?  Based on what I found this week Iran is certainly thinking about an invasion.

There was an article on Ahram Online (English Version) that had an article titled  Iran’s alleged plot to kill Saudi envoy to US, blow to Arab-Iranian ties (Friday, 28 Oct 2011) that described quotes from several Iranian officials decrying U.S. efforts to punish Iran for the attempted assassination of a Saudi Arabian diplomat on U.S. soil.  Most of the quotes from the Iranian officials were making the point that Iranian-Saudi relations were good and this was an effort by the U.S. to stir things up between Iran and Saudi Arabia.  There was one quote however that was truly bizarre.  A fundamentalist member of Iran’s parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Mohammed Karim Abedi, said Iran could easily occupy Saudi Arabia, if the Islamic Republic wished to.  If Iran’s purpose was to quell this controversy and pacify Saudi Arabia why make this kind of statement?  I suspect the politician’s intention was to make the point that it didn’t make sense for Iran to assassinate this diplomat because Iran had the capability to take over Saudi Arabia outright!  Here’s a follow-up question, how would he know that Iran is capable of capturing Saudi Arabia?  I suspect he knows this because Iran has been considering this possibility for a long time and he has been privy to those discussions.  Is it possible that this Iranian politician has made a tactical error and given away a vital clue or is this a veiled warning to the Saudis?

Prior to the Arab Spring Turkey had been battling the Kurdish terrorist organization called the PKK and Iran was at war with the other Kurdish terrorist group called the PJAK.  Both of these organizations have been orchestrating their attacks from the northern Kurdish region of Iraq.  Turkey and Iran had been cooperating to eradicate the Kurdish menace.  However, that spirit  of cooperation ceased last week.  Since Syria began to kill its own citizens to put down the latest internal revolt Turkey has made a stand against Syria’s oppressive tactics against its people and has supported the opposition movement.  In response Syria and Iran both threatened to form an alliance with the PKK and use them as proxy forces to fight against Turkey.  Shortly after that announcement the PKK invaded Turkey and killed several dozens of its soldiers.  Turkey then asked the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq to cooperate with Turkey in policing the actions of the PKK.  The KRG has been unable (or unwilling) to suppress the invasion of the PKK into Turkey.

I proposed in my book, Living in the Age of the Ram and the Goat, that the establishment of the ram of the prophets Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat has to be a coalition of the Kurds and Iran.  The Kurd/Iran relationship took another step this weekend.  The Khaleej Times Online had an article titled Iraq’s Barzani, Iran state border rebel issue ‘over’ (29 October 2011) which quoted this statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi: “With the good management of Mr. Barzani, we were able to handle the issue of the PJAK terrorist group and currently our borders with the Kurdistan region of Iraq is secure.”  This act of goodwill between the KRG and Iran demonstrate that the Kurds of Iraq, the PJAK and the PKK are collaborating with Iran now.  This also demonstrates that the KRG does have the power to control the Kurdish terrorists groups.       

Living in the Age of the Ram and the Goat makes the case that we were on the verge of experiencing an era that will fulfill the prophetic vision of the ram and goat that is described in Daniel chapter 8 of the Old Testament.  Daniel describes the ram as having two horns and these two horns represent the kings of the Medes and the Persians.  It is no surprise to anyone that the modern day Persians would be manifested in the nation of Iran, but who are the Medes?  The culture that makes the best case for being the descendant s of the Medes is the citizens of Kurdistan: the Kurds.  So the ram can only be formed when Iran and the Kurds make some kind of political alliance.  This being the case we were symbolically standing at the doorway of the fulfillment of Daniel’s vision.  Notice that I said we were: as of this week we have stepped over the threshold into Daniel’s vision.  The ram is now in place.

This week in an article in Today’s Zaman (dated 11 October 2011) titled Turkey-Iran Tension Escalates Over NATO radar system and PKK  it became apparent that Iran and the Kurds have finally teamed up.  Here is a quote from that article: “The war of words between Iran and Turkey over the latter's decision to host NATO's early-warning radar system may hint at a new crisis looming on the horizon between the two neighbors, with the Kurdish terrorist organization, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in play as a possible trump card by Iran against Turkey.”  The PKK is a Kurdish terrorist group that since 1984 has caused havoc in Turkey in its aspirations to attain statehood for Kurdistan.  Kurdistan is a people that have no land; they are an ethnic minority in four different nations:  Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.  Also up to now the Kurds have not been friends of Iran either for much of the same reasons as the Turks: fear that the Kurds might try to absorb part of Iran in their drive to become a state.  However the “Arab Spring” has changed all that.  As this article describes Turkey has become the standard bearer for NATO and its push for the Arab Spring so it is not a surprise that Turkey has stood against Syria in its fight against the Sunni opposition.  Syria and Turkey at one time were allies; since Turkey has stood against Syria, Syria has now also allied itself with the PKK and has threatened to use them in any military strikes initiated by Syria against Turkey.  It should be no surprise to anyone that Iran has orchestrated this Iran-Syria- Kurd triangle.

Turkey’s reaction to the Iran-Kurd alliance has become evident in an article from Fox News today.  The article titled, Turkey Urges Iraq to Crackdown on Kurdish Rebels,had this to say: “Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday that Iraq should move to prevent Kurdish attacks on his country from Iraqi soil as the two countries renewed their commitment to fight the rebels.”  It is interesting that Turkey is seeking assistance from Iraq to subdue the PKK (assistance it is not likely to receive).        

If you go to STL (send the light) distribution's website you can find my book now. Why do I need a distributor? Distributors are the organizations that get your book on a book shelf. More books are still sold on bookshelves than as e-books. This is my first book that will have a distributor and this is a big, big deal.

Darren Thompson