Connect the Dots

Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has put together a list from the past 12 months of what some of the enemies of the US have been up to. Notice again that Russia and Iran are in the list, and they are in prophecy as well. I'm not sure where Hugo Chavez fits in, but since they have oil and he hates the US, I'm guessing that he would like to see us destroyed.


Still-Gathering Storm: Enemies Are Working to Undermine the U.S.

Seven years since the terror attacks on the American homeland claimed the lives of 3,000 innocents and changed the lives of countless more. Seven years of war. Seven years without a terrorist attack at home, and the temptation grows to return to our pre-9/11 ways.
Can we afford to take a "holiday from history"? Two years ago I spoke of "the gathering storm" of anti-American nations - such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela - moving to confront us and was roundly criticized as a fear monger.

A quick look at the last 12 months:

September 2007: Iran establishes diplomatic relations with Bolivia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledges $1 billion to help Bolivian President Evo Morales' "Bolivarian revolution."

September 2007: At a meeting in Venezuela with President Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad pledges $9 billion in direct aid to the region in 2007 alone.

October 2007: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden releases a videotape message laying the foundation for an alliance between radical Islamism and Western leftist "progressivism."

October 2007: Iran and Venezuela announce their intent to sponsor "a global progressist front" to underline "the ideological kinship of the left and revolutionary Islam."

October 2007: In Venezuela, Russia's deputy prime minister says his country will build a $1 billion alumina plant. (Alumina is used to make aluminum.)

November 2007: Chavez tells French TV that Venezuela will join Iran in launching a "peaceful" nuclear program.

November 2007: Chavez meets in Tehran with Ahmadinejad to expand bilateral ties - Tehran-Caracas flights, joint construction of an oil refinery, a $2 billion anti-American fund, and greater outreach to North Korean, Syrian and Cuban allies.

November 2007: Venezuela's 2008 budget draft includes more than $250 million to finance "anti-imperialist" movements in the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America.

December 2007: China and Russia ignore U.S. sanctions triggered by Iran's nuclear program and continue to invest in Iran.

January 2008: Russia's Vladimir V. Putin announces plans to launch two long-range missiles just off the coasts of France and Spain in the biggest naval exercise since the days of the Soviet Union.

January 2008: Russia continues its nuclear-fuel shipments to Iran. There also are reports the two countries are teaming up to advocate for a "gas OPEC."

February 2008: National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell testifies to Congress that Iran, Venezuela and Cuba are working to undermine the spread of democracy though drug trafficking and the establishment of terrorist safe havens in the Western Hemisphere.

February 2008: Iran announces that it will cooperate with Venezuela on more than 30 industrial projects in 2008.

February 2008: Morales announces that Iran plans to open a television station "for all of Latin America" in Bolivia's Andean foothills.

March 2008: Iran launches a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that could reach Europe.

May 2008: Chavez announces that Venezuela has purchased military planes from China, expanding both its arms and its relationship with Beijing.