Photo by David Guttenfelder, National Geographic
The scare of earlier this month seems to have died down. Only it hasn't, it just isn't being reported all that much. Goodness, the US media has the attention span of a gnat. Look, North Korea! Over there, Lindsey Lohan! Wait, the White House Correspondent's Dinner! Oy.
North Korea is still busy moving missiles, reports the UK Guardian.
"North Korea has moved two short-range missile launchers to its east coast, apparently indicating it is going ahead with preparations for a test launch, a South Korean news agency reported. Seoul and its allies have been expecting some sort of missile launch during weeks of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula."Sooo, China ordered more troops to the border of North Korea.
"China is reportedly beefing up its military presence on the North Korean border amid heightening tensions in the region. The troop mobilisation is said to be taking place along with deployment of dozens of tanks in the strategically important border region with North Korea, which is separated by the Yalu River. The Chinese military is on high alert over the ongoing tensions in the Korean Peninsula."Just thought I'd let you all know that it is still going on over there. Lindsey Lohan notwithstanding.
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This week there has been some reporting from main stream news outlets that Syria has used chemical weapons. However, those reports started leaking out a month ago. I reported on Israel's claim that chemical weapons were used in Syria back on March 19. Israel's claim got a huge ho-hum from the world. But now that a defected Syrian General is telling the world that he was ordered to use them, the world is being forced to face it. So the UN dips a toe and cautiously investigates. The US and UK are "treading cautiously."
Ignoring it, is my opinion. They went into Libya pretty fast, as I recall.
Joel C. Rosenberg reports that Israel is closing in on the end of their patience with Iran and their nuclear program. He wrote this week, "Close confidante of Netanyahu warns “it’s now or never” for military strike on Iran: Analysis." The article opens this way:
"Tzachi Hanegbi — a close, trusted, long-time personal friend and confidante of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – made remarks on Tuesday at a security conference in Tel Aviv that did not make news in the U.S. But they should have. Hanegbi explained that the time for sanctions and diplomacy and covert options to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat is over, and the time for Israel to use its military option has come. “It’s now or never,” said Hanegbi, ”and the option of never does not exist.”However later, the guy was told to stay mom on all that. And that is the news from the 'epicenter'.
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Speaking of earthquakes, I'd noticed that in previous years there had been a huge increase in quakes in the 6.0-6.9 magnitude. Then this year a severe drop-off. Since 2003, quakes in that magnitude had exceeded the United States Geological Survey's own annual average. See here:
The dearth of 6.0+ quakes has continued into 2013. I had wondered what was up. Apparently I was not the only one who wondered. This article's title poses quite the interesting conundrum:
A global murmur, then unusual silenceAha! We know from the bible that the earth will shake and totter continuously throughout the Tribulation. (Isaiah 24:20, Matthew 24:7). Upcoming earthquakes of increasing magnitude are prophesied to occur. For example, there will be one in Jerusalem that will kill 7,000. (Rev 11:13). A huge one will occur that is predicted in Revelation 6:12 that will submerge all islands and crumble all mountains. In between the earthquakes will continue in diverse places. (Luke 21:11).
"In the global aftershock zone that followed the major April 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake, seismologists noticed an unusual pattern. The magnitude (M) 8.6 earthquake, a strike-slip event at intraoceanic tectonic plates, caused global seismic rates of M=4.5 to rise for several days, even at distances thousands of kilometers from the mainshock site. However, the rate of M=6.5 seismic activity subsequently dropped to zero for the next 95 days. This period of quiet, without a large quake, has been a rare event in the past century. So why did this period of quiet occur? In his research presentation, Fred Pollitz of the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the Indian Ocean earthquake caused short-term dynamic stressing of a global faulting system. Across the planet, there are faults that are "close to failure" and ready to rupture. It may be, suggests Pollitz and his colleagues, that a large quake encourages short-term triggering of these close-to-failure faults but also relieves some of the stress that has built up along these faults."
All this speaks to the scientist's notion that the earth's quake faults are about to fail. It's because they are.
Pray, live for Christ, and look up, for our Redemption draweth nigh.
