Russia May Annex South Georgia and Sell Oil to the East

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, President of Russia

It appears that Russia plans to annex, Ossetia, a region in South Georgia:

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian troops remaining in Georgian territory are effectively preventing Georgians from returning to their homes, a U.N. representative said Saturday…

The zones are near the border with separatist South Ossetia, the disputed province at the heart of the conflict that has ruined Georgia-Russia ties and caused the biggest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1991 Soviet collapse…

Russia supplies the EU with about a third of its oil and about two-fifths of its natural gas. In an article published Sunday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said European nations should adopt a united energy policy to avoid becoming too dependent on Russia…

Brown said he spoke with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by telephone Saturday, and told the Russian leader “to expect a determined European response” to the crisis.

With EU leaders set to huddle Monday on how to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has angrily warned Europe not to do America’s bidding and has said that Moscow does not fear Western sanctions.

Adding to the tension, a lawmaker in South Ossetia said Russia intends to eventually absorb the province at the center of the five-day war.

South Ossetian parliamentary speaker Znaur Gassiyev said Friday that Russia will absorb South Ossetia within “several years” or even earlier. He said that position was “firmly stated” by both the province’s leader, Eduard Kokoity, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in talks in Moscow earlier this week.

The statement stoking Georgian suspicion that Moscow’s intent all along has been to annex the South Ossetia. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUA357W77ndvCMh32VlQqdGj53mAD92SU65O0

I think that it will more than a united European energy policy that will come out of this. I believe that this and other moves that the Russians have made will get the Europeans to really decide that they need their own stronger military.

Russia, apparently anticipating economic sanctions, has a plan around them:

Telegraph – Aug 31, 2008

The announcement on the eve of Monday’s Brussels summit on Russia’s occupation of Georgia put European states on notice that Moscow is developing an alternative client base in the Far East.

To stave off tough measures, including possible sanctions, Moscow has sent a variety of signals that it will use its energy clout to retaliate against any European reprimand for its refusal to implement a ceasefire with Georgia.

Russia’s Asian pipeline is a technically challenging effort to link the oilfields of Eastern Siberia to Russia’s Pacific coast thousands of miles to the east. Mr Putin visited Kozmino, a giant oil terminal, where the resources will be loaded for transportation to China and Japan.

The two-stage pipeline has been delayed by a year and building costs have soared as constructors grapple with the harsh conditions of the Siberian tundra, where temperatures regularly fall to -50 C and infrastructure is nonexistent.

When it is inaugurated the Kremlin will have succeeded in diversifying its financial dependence on energy sales to the European Union…

In the wake of a Czech deal to host an American missile shield, Russia’s delivers from the Friendship pipeline fell 40 per cent but “technical” difficulties were blamed for the drop-off.

In the last four years, Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine have also suffered mysterious shortages while embroiled in disputes with Russia.

Mr Putin lashed out at the European summit, defending the country’s incursion into Georgia. “The truth is on our side,” he told Vesti-24 television.

“We act absolutely correctly, morally and in accordance with international law. Someone in Europe wants to serve someone else’s foreign-policy interests.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2656372/Vladimir-Putin-demands-Asia-pipeline-as-warning-to-Europe.html

Europe will not sit on its hand and put up with this. It will most likely decide that it really needs military strength to back up it economic strength and political influence. Europe will re-arm.

However, as I have long been reporting, the Bible indicates that Russia, China, and other Asian powers will get together–and ultimately attack the future European King of the North (Daniel 11:44-45).

Several articles of possibly related interest may include:

Russia: Its Origins and Prophesied Future Where do the Russians come from? What is prophesied for Russia?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for China? Is it a “King of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where?
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: Prophecy Japan in prophecy. What is prophesied for Japan. Will God save the Japanese?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?