From Hal Lindsey

February 25th, 2011

Yogi Berra, the Yankee Hall-of-Famer, is famous for standing phrases on their heads. One of his most endearing and enduring twists of phrase is, "This is like deja vu all over again." Obviously wrong, totally redundant, but spot on! Somehow, that misspoken phrase perfectly captures the essence of its meaning. It IS something that's happened before happening again. 

Well, recent international developments seem like "deja vu all over again." It's the Middle East and it's 1979. It's a hated and secular leader of a U.S. ally. No, wait, it's the Middle East, but it's 2011. Yet it's a hated and secular leader of a U.S. ally. Am I in a time warp? 

In 1979, it was an American President who was a weak leader and foreign policy waffler who mistakenly thought that by appeasing the Muslim radicals and dumping a longtime ally, he could bring peace to the region. But in 2011... it's an American President who is a weak leader and foreign policy waffler who mistakenly thinks that by appeasing the Muslim radicals and dumping a longtime ally, he can bring peace to the region! 

But there's more insanity. In 1979, it was the exiled Ayatollah Rhuhollah Khomeini triumphantly returning to Iran (with the help of the US) to soon found The Islamic Republic of Iran -- a thorn in the side of the West for the last three decades. In 2011, it's the exiled Yusuf al-Qardawi triumphantly returning to Egypt (with the help or, at least, the acquiescence of the US) to preach to hundreds of thousands of Muslims attending the "Victory March" in Tahrir Square less than a week after the fall of the Mubarak government. Oh, Yogi, where are you? Help me make some sense of this! This is likedeja vu all over again! 

Is The Islamic Republic of Egypt the next item on the agenda? 

Speaking of Iran and 1979 and Egypt. Something happened this week in the Middle East that hasn't happened since 1979. Two Iranian warships passed through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean. Until now, the Iranians would have never even requested permission to transit the canal because they knew Hosni Mubarak would never grant it. As Bob Dylan sang, "The times, they are a-changin'" Though the ships, a frigate and a supply tender, are declared to be free of contraband (like missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza) and on an innocent training mission to Syria, the event signals a sea change in the Middle East geopolitical picture. 

And though Libya is the hot spot of revolutionary fervor this week, the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain has been experiencing its own uprising. Embroiled in a proxy battle between the Shi'ites of Iran (who are seeking to gain a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula) and the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia, the tiny sectarian state -- which is ruled by the Sunni minority -- is just the latest pro-Western, secular state to be targeted by 'pro-democracy' protesters. The U.S. has a vested interest in what happens in that tiny nation because it serves as the home of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf. 

For a long time, we've been watching the relationship between Venezuela and Iran, Chavez and Ahmadinejad, grow ever warmer and more deeply entrenched. The sinister implications of this alliance are even more ominous in view of the developing danger to America's soft underbelly presented by the virtual anarchy in Mexico and the rogue regimes springing up around the Caribbean in places like Nicaragua, Bolivia, and, of course, Cuba. Some leading intelligence experts are becoming concerned that Iran might use Venezuela as the launching point for a simple, yet clever attack on the United States -- an attack that we know Iran has been planning and even practicing for in recent years. 

I've covered this story before, but as each year passes, it becomes an even greater possibility. 

I guess you've been watching the vehement protests and, in some cases, the outright street battles taking place between the bankrupt government and the 'entitled' union classes who want their money and benefits no matter what it costs or who it hurts. No, I'm not talking about Wisconsin. I'm talking about Greece. Actually, this is the second act in the Grecian drama. The first violent upheaval subsided after the Greek government begged a $150 billion bailout from the world. But now that that money's gone and the European Union is demanding that Greece clean up its act and take solid austerity steps to avoid total financial collapse, the unions and the entitled masses have hit the streets again. I just keep watching this and wondering, "Where do they think the money is going to come from? When are they going to realize they have to shoulder some of the responsibility for their own financial futures like the rest of us." 

Hey, wait, maybe I am talking about Wisconsin! At least some of the public sector unions in Wisconsin. Yogi, where are you? 

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