Ukraine signs agreements with EU as more of its troops leave Crimea
Soldiers in Crimea
Russia is consolidating its power in Crimea, while the Kiev government signed a deal for Ukraine with the European Union (EU):
March 21, 2014
Moscow has completed the process of making Ukraine’s Crimea part of Russia, as Ukraine’s prime minister, in a highly symbolic move, signed a political cooperation agreement with the European Union.
President Vladimir Putin signed laws on the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation on March 21 after the upper house ratified the annexation treaty earlier in the day. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, overwhelmingly backed the treaty in a session the previous day.
Ukraine has said it will continue to fight for Crimea’s “liberation.”…
EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the signing early on March 21 of political chapters of the Association Agreement with Ukraine shows how important the relationship between the two sides is.
“Today, we are signing the [association] agreement’s political provisions,” Rompuy said. “It shows our steadfast support for the course the people of Ukraine have courageously pursued. Today is but the opening act. We expect to soon sign the agreement’s remaining parts, not least the economic provisions. Together with the political ones, they form a single instrument.”
Rompuy and other EU leaders signed the agreement with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels. The two sides signed three of the seven chapters of the agreement.
“This deal covers the most existential and most important issues, mainly security and defense cooperation,” Yatsenyukd said. “This deal will establish a joint decision-making body, which is to facilitate the process of real reforms in my country. And this deal meets the aspirations of millions of Ukrainians that want to be a part of the European Union.”
It was the refusal by ousted President Viktor Yanukovych to sign an association and free-trade agreement with the EU in November that triggered months of crisis. http://www.voanews.com/content/kyiv-signs-eu-agreement-as-putin-signs-crimea-annexation/1876142.html
Ukraine’s Crimean troops make plans to leave peninsula
March 21, 2014
LIUBYMOVKA, Crimea – During the morning drill on March 20, Colonel Yuliy Mamchur announced to his troops that Ukraine’s commanders had decided to withdraw from Crimea. The personnel of Belbek military airbase near Sevastopol greeted the news with relief and regret…
The Russian invasion caught Ukraine by surprise, including its soldiers in Crimea.
Sobetsky said on Feb. 20 that nobody on the Ukraine side believed that Russia was preparing to take over the peninsula. Living side-by-side with Russian-speaking civilians, as well as staging joint exercises with Russian military stationed in Sevastopol, the Ukrainian soldiers could not imagine that such a long-time relationship could be shattered so rapidly.
In Liubymovka, a village on the outskirts of Sevastopol that houses Belbek airfield, the attitude of the villagers to Ukrainian soldiers changed just as fast. They now refer to Ukrainians as “occupants.”
“They are just blind with Russian propaganda. Let them live under a totalitarian regime for some time and they will see what they’ve got and what they’ve lost,” Sobetsky said.
Born in Mykolayiv Oblast in southern Ukraine, he is now thinking about returning to his home region along with his family. He plans to continue to serve in the army…
Olga, who did not give her last name because of fears for her husband’s fate, is distraught because Ukraine’s navy has not been given an order to evacuate. In fact, they have not been given any clear orders.
“How long is Kyiv going to keep the fleet in uncertainty? They have already given the order to land troops to move away, but what about the navy?” Olga laments…
Those who want to continue serving in the army on mainland Ukraine expect the battle to move with them.
“I really worry that the Russians may try to invade our eastern border and it will turn into a real war,” said Sobetsky of Belbek. http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-crimean-troops-make-plans-to-leave-peninsula-340245.html
March 21, 2014
Defense analysts in Kiev say there are between 8,000 and 10,000 Ukrainian troops deployed at about three dozen bases across Crimea, but the Ukrainian military estimates there are up to 20,000 of their troops on the peninsula.
In the Belbek air base, which has so far refused to surrender, some Ukrainian soldiers were seen leaving in pairs or threes, or packing bags and home appliances into cars. Others said they would remain inside until the end…
Nikolai, a middle-aged serviceman in camouflage fatigues, complained about a lack of orders from the higher command in Kiev and said he was willing to continue to serve in the Ukrainian forces.
“We repeatedly asked Kiev for orders, and it was radio silence, as if they were afraid to take responsibility for us,” he said. “The Russians will come, there will be some noise, and that’s it, hopefully. We don’t plan to die here,” he said. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-ukraine-crimea-crisis-20140321,0,2589311.story
March 21, 2014
EU leaders have signed an agreement on closer relations with Ukraine, in a show of support following Russia’s annexation of Crimea…
The EU Association Agreement is designed to give Ukraine’s interim leadership under PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk economic and political support.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy said in a statement that the accord “recognises the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law”.
Mr Yatsenyuk said this was a “historic day”, adding: “We want to be a part of the big European family and this is the first tremendous step in order to achieve for Ukraine its ultimate goal, as a full-fledged member.”…
Speaking at the end of the summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was returning home “very happy,” as European leaders had been able to find a joint position on the Ukraine crisis. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26680250
Despite USA and EU rhetoric, as I have reported since late 2013, a split was possible, and now seems to have occurred. Assurances by the USA seem hollow to many of the Ukrainian troops that are/were in Crimea. Notice also the following:
Obama doesn’t grasp Putin’s Eurasian ambitions
Mr. Putin advanced a radical and dangerous argument: that the collapse of the Soviet Union left “the Russian nation” as “one of the biggest, if not the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders.” That, he suggested, gave Moscow the right to intervene in Crimea, and, by extension, anywhere it considers ethnic Russians or their culture to be threatened…
Western officials seem to be betting that Mr. Putin won’t dare to extend his aggression beyond Crimea. But then, just last week they were saying they did not expect Moscow to move quickly on Crimean annexation. The Obama administration and its European allies have been too slow to grasp that Mr. Putin is bent on upending the post-Cold War order in Europe and reversing Russia’s loss of dominion over Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Worse, some in and outside of Western governments may be feeding Mr. Putin’s imperialism by rushing to concede “Russian interests” in Eurasia. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-doesnt-grasp-putins-eurasian-ambitions/2014/03/19/89439990-af7e-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html
Vladimir Putin has long wanted to restore his version of a new Soviet Union which he calls the Eurasian Union. Bible prophecy does show that a Russian-led Eurasian confederation will ultimately form (for details, see The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy).
In my view, the current crisis in Ukraine is dramatically showing the Europeans that Russia does not consider Europe a credible military threat without direct USA involvement, and that the USA does not want to militarily engage Russia. This also is showing that the Europeans that if they want to defend hoped for European Union countries like Ukraine, and even actual European Union countries, that Europe needs to have a stronger, more independent, military. Europe has taken some steps and will take more steps in the future (see, for example, Revelation 13:4, Daniel 11:39-43, and European Technology and the Beast of Revelation).
History and Prophecy
There are descendants of the ancient Medes in the territory taken up by modern day Ukraine and Crimea.
In the first century, Josephus wrote:
Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia…they called the nations by their own names…Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks… Thobel founded the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes; and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch…And so many were the countries that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants. (Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. VI, 1).
Some of the Russians themselves appear to have been from the Medes. Notice the following account:
But how are we to explain the name Russia? The old-fashioned view was to derive the word from the Rhoxolani. This, however, has long been abandoned. One thing is certain, namely, that these Rhoxolani were of Oriental descent, a Medic or Iranic tribe. They disappear from history, having, like so many other tribes — as, for instance, the Pechenegs and the Khozars—been swallowed up by the huge waves of immigration which overflowed the country (Morfill WR. Russia. Published 1890 by T.F. Unwin, London).
There are many disputes among academics as to who derived from whom, thus it is not completely clear, for example, that the Rhoxolani were Medes who went to Russia. However, if the Rhoxolani were Medes and they are essentially Russian, then it would seem to be consistent with certain biblical prophecies.
If the Medes are instead the main people in the west of Ukraine, ultimately, even if they some day join Europe, the Bible shows that they will support a force against end time Europe. Those called Medes are also shown to destroy the final Babylon according to both Isaiah and Jeremiah:
1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw…
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:1, 17-19)11 Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is aagainst Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the Lord, The vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)
27 Set up a banner in the land, Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, Call the kingdoms together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a general against her; Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts. 28 Prepare against her the nations, With the kings of the Medes, Its governors and all its rulers, All the land of his dominion. 29 And the land will tremble and sorrow; For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. (Jeremiah 51:27-29)
Catholics may find it of interest to note that even among their scholars, it is taught that the “Babylon” of Jeremiah 51:11 is referring to a European power: “the Roman Empire” (Kurz W. What Does the Bible Say About End Time? A Catholic View. Nihil Obstat: Hilarion Kistner, Imprimatur: +Carl Moeddel, July 19, 2004. Servant Books, 2004, pp. 48-49).
Both Russia and the European Union are truly interested in Ukraine.
But what about Europe?
In the Book of Daniel, it is prophesied that a little horn would develop and would mainly expand South and East into what apparently is becoming a European entity (Daniel 8:9-12). Ukraine is south and mainly east of the nations that once were part of Benelux–the ‘entity’ that eventually grew into the European Union. So Ukraine, for a while at least, may end up supporting Europe. The Bible shows that all the world will worship the beast (Revelation 13:4,8), so that will include those of the Ukraine. However, that does not mean that all Ukrainians must be part of the Beast’s empire.
As I have mentioned before, if most of those in western Ukraine are not descendants of the Medes (and I have not seen DNA or specific genetic evidence on this, mainly reports from historians related to the general region), I had expected a split in Ukraine, with the western portion attempting to be part of the European Union, which is now what seems to be happening (although Russia could stop this militarily). Yet, even if those in the west are Medes and even if they do end up in the European Union, note that Bible prophecy teaches that the Medes will turn against the end time Babylonian power that will fully arise in Europe.
Many in Ukraine are scared and frightened and need our prayers. While many seem to be placing their hope in the European Union, that will not turn out well according to many biblical prophecies (e.g. Revelation 18-19).
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end?
Ukraine in Prophecy? What is happening in Ukraine? What is known and what is unsure about its future? What is the origin of those who live in Ukraine? What does the Bible teach about the role of the Medes in the end times? Will Ukraine split? Why might part of Ukraine end up in the European Union? Why might part of Ukraine end up in the Eurasian Union? Is war in the prophesied future for Ukraine? What is the ultimate destiny for nearly all Ukrainians?
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
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”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch 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? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
WTO/TTIP and the Babylonian Beast Will international trade agreements like WTO/TTIP/CETA lead to the fulfillment of end time prophecies concerning the Babylonian Beast power that the Book of Revelation warns against? What does the Bible teach? A related video would be WTO Trade Deal and the Rise of the European Beast Power.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Edition for Second Obama Term This is a 160 page book for people truly interested in prophecies related to Barack Obama and the United States, including learning about many that have already been fulfilled (which the book documents in detail) and those that will be fulfilled in the future. It also has a chapter about a Republican choice. This book is available to order at www.barackobamaprophecy.com. The physical book can also be purchased at Amazon from the following link: Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States: Is Barack Obama Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic Catholic, Kenyan, and other America-Related Prophecies? What About Republican Leaders? Second Edition for Second Obama Term.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition. This electronic version is available for only US$2.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition.
 |
Tweet |
|