The war on terror and the road to Armageddon

By now the whole world already knows what happened last Friday night when the ISIS terrorist groups struck a huge blow to Paris, France, where some 129 people and 8 terrorists were killed. Most of the terrorists were on a suicide mission to sow terror and kill as many people that they can find. This was eerily similar to the assault on Mumbai by Pakistani terrorist groups exactly seven years ago. The last terror incident that struck Paris was the killings of the editors and staff of that satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo by Muslim extremists, which happened less than a year ago.

This latest terror wave to hit Paris has caused French President Francois Hollande (he was watching a soccer game in a Stadium outside of Paris which was hit by suicide bombers) to shut down the borders of France as preventive security measure… to stop any fleeing terrorists or anyone entering France. This never happened to France even during World War I and World War II. Somehow US Intelligence sources said that there was no imminent terror threat to the US mainland.

We gathered that the French National Police had a meeting with the German BKA Federal police that believed that a terror attack on Paris was imminent. They just didn’t know whether the terrorist would aim at soft (civilian) or hard (government or military) targets. Months back, we also saw many photographs of Syrian refugees, where known ISIS terrorists were seen huddled with the refugees seeking entry into Europe. We can only second-guess that French and German intelligence networks were busy trying to identify who these terrorists were, but they gained entry into Paris.

French President Francois Hollande blamed ISIS for this terror attack saying “It is an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army” as the death toll rose to 127 killed with 300 others wounded of which 8 victims are still in critical condition. Hollande declared a state of emergency and three days of national mourning. With the whole world on a heightened state of alert, I’m sure that the security measures for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit could now include possible terrorist attacks on soft targets, just to embarrass the Philippine government.

What is truly disturbing here is that these crazed ISIS terrorists have now shifted their terror campaign away from Syria because the Russian military has openly attacked ISIS strongholds in Syria as they are now running out of places to hide. So will France retaliate by having more military attacks on Syria? Will the US join this war that could bring us to Armageddon? 

But lest you forget, the Russian military is there to support the beleaguered Assad regime, while the US and its allies is helping the Free Syrian Army. This war could escalate into a bigger war, after all Megiddo or Armageddon as prophesied in Revelations 16:16 as the last battle to be fought between good and evil is located near Haifa, Israel, which is not far from Syria.

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I was in Manila over the weekend to attend the 15th Grand Wine Experience hosted by the Philippine Wine Merchants of the Joseph Brothers held at the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel. As expected traffic was bad even around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). What I didn’t expect was that it took me two full hours from NAIA-3 to across the street to Marriot Hotel. Thanks to the security measures for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that should be on-going at this time.

In a sort of way, I fully concur with the observation of many people, which has gone viral in the social media networks that the APEC Summit should never have been held in Manila. Just imagine a thousand flights had to be moved, classes had to be stopped in the hope that it would ease the daily traffic problems, but traffic only worsened. On top of it, APEC delegates had priority on the road. No doubt that holding the APEC Summit in the Philippines has its economic advantages, but it cannot make up with the things that this Summit disturbed the daily lives of Filipinos living in the nation’s capital.

Anyway, we got to the 15th Grand Wine Experience in good time and I congratulated my former golf buddy, Marriott General Manager Bruce Winton for the preparations they did for this annual event. As Robert “Bobby” Joseph and his brother Ralph told me, “No stone were unturned to ensure the success of the 15th Edition of the Grand Wine Experience. That it was held in the Marriott Hotel in what I would say is the biggest ballroom in Manila, thus this event has become three times bigger than last year’s event.

With the bigger ballroom, now they had tables and chairs for the more than 1,700 guests who came this time around and they got to sit down and enjoy the sumptuous food and the open bar that only the Philippine Wine Merchants (PWM) could offer. Once again, kudos to the Joseph brothers for hosting the best wine and food-pairing event in the country.

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