What's Going On In Russia?

The AP reports that Putin has dissolved the Russian government. Supposedly, he did it to shake things up prior to the upcoming December elections, but that reasoning seems suspect, especially given his previous attempts to stay on past the normal term limits of the Russian President. According to the Russian constitution, Putin has two weeks to propose a new head of government, and the lower house of parliament (the Duma) will have one week to vote on the appointment after that.

Another concern is that Russia has tested a devastating new weapon:

Russia has tested the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, which unleashes a destructive shockwave with the power of a nuclear blast, the military said on Tuesday, dubbing it the "father of all bombs". The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature. All that is alive merely evaporates.

[Earth-huggers will be happy to know that as this weapon evaporates all living creatures in its blast radius, it does not contaminate the environment like a nuclear blast does. Well, unless you consider wiping out all living creatures as contamination, that is.]

The U.S. has used similar bombs in Afghanistan, but none as powerful.

Despite what Russia says, it is clear that they are beginning a new arms race, probably with the intent to catch up to -- and surpass -- the United States. As Rush Limbaugh frequently states, ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force, and this weapon packs a whopping lot of force (in an environmentally-friendly package). Couple that with the fact that Putin is strong-arming people into place in the Russian government as he sees fit, and we have some major problems on the horizon. Whether he stays in charge of Russia himself or is merely positioning the people he wants to be in charge when he steps down next year remains to be seen. Regardless, keep your eye on this; Joel Rosenberg has predicted that a Russian-Iranian alliance will trigger a war against Israel that will shock the world (reference his book, Epicenter). This alliance has already begun, as evidenced by Russian arming Iran with a wide variety of technologies for a number of years, including a nuclear reactor.

Could this be the beginning stages of that war against Israel? How will the United States react to such a conflict? Don't ignore these things; they may end up being more important than you can imagine.

There's my two cents.