It seems that no longer are we questioning whether North Korea has nuclear weapons. It is becoming common enough that it is now assumed that North Korea is armed and we aren’t questioning if they will use the weapons but when.

From Fox News today:

Now North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has the potential to kill millions in Japan as well as the South, and to lay waste U.S. bases and airfields in both countries. It will force military strategists to rethink plans for war in Korea and significantly increase the potential costs of any intervention in a future Korean war. The shift from acknowledging North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program to recognizing it as a fully fledged nuclear power is highly controversial. South Korea, in particular, resists the reclassification because it could give the North greater leverage in negotiations.

While eyes seemed to be focused in the United States on matters at home, we seem to have forgotten much of what else is going on in the world. Yesterday Third Lens writer, Steve Remington, snapped us back to attention, if only briefly, that Russia had broken its peace agreement and had moved its military machine back into Georgia on a march to reclaim South Ossetia. This would give Russia power and control over the movement of oil and natural gas into the rest of Europe.

On another front, Taliban forces in Pakistan moved that much closer to the capital bringing radical forces, who many believe have the objective of capturing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, to within about 60 miles of those weapons.

Oddly enough though, after capturing nearby Buner, and setting up command headquarters, Taliban troops began pulling back today, apparently after brokering some kind of agreement with the Pakistan government or perhaps actually fearing the government’s claim that it would forcibly remove them from the area.

According to an AP report on Fox News, few think the Taliban is content to fall back and wait there.

The government agreed in February to impose Islamic law in Swat and surrounding areas of the northwest in return for a cease-fire that halted nearly two years of bloody fighting between militants and Pakistani security forces.

But hard-liners have seized on the concession to demand Islamic law, or Sharia, across the country, and the Swat Taliban have used it to justify a push into Buner, putting them within striking distance of the capital and key roads leading to the main northwestern city of Peshawar.

As the global balance of power shifts, the rest of the world is left wondering what can be done? Are we prepared to take action to stop this movement by radicals to gain power through nuclear weapons?

Tom Remington

“It will be Russia,” said a Russian army lieutenant as the Ossetian soldiers under his command nodded.

But it isn’t just South Ossetia the Russians want. It’s all of Georgia…

“And Georgia used to be Russian, too,” said the young freckle-faced lieutenant, who would give only his first name, Sergei. Three armored personnel carriers and a tank were dug in around the checkpoint.

Remember that EU brokered cease-fire deal? Well Russia is now in direct violation of it by stationing forces just 25 miles from the Georgian capital. In recent weeks their have been protests against the Georgian president, which drew 10,000 people, and they vow to continue their opposition daily until the president resigns.

Of course this goes back before the Cold War, and I am sure pride has a lot to do with it. But let’s take a more realistic view of the situation. The oil and gas pipelines that cross into Georgian territory are among the few that bypass Russia in supplying Europe with energy coming directly from the Caspian Sea. With the EU pushing their empire East and Russia’s pushing West, gaining control over the pipelines feeding Europe is all about controlling Georgia. You take the Capital and you get the pipeline. Once Russia takes control, there is much more leverage besides military might to retake the old Soviet empire states that broke off from it.

This battle for Georgia, I believe, is a big step in what could soon lead to the Gog/Magog war, prophecied in the Bible.