NATIONAL SECURITY FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPDATE
OCTOBER 23, 2017 (REPORT #51)

Highlights:

• Cold War returns with nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour alert
• CIA expands Taliban hunt
• ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley
• Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border
• U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD
• Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two
• U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home
• Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home”

CURRENT

• Cold War Returns with Nuclear-Armed Bombers on 24-hour alert.  DefenseOne reports the U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour ready alert, something not seen since the end of the Cold War.  “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said.  “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward.”  Putting the bomber fleet on alert is just one of many decisions facing the Air Force as the U.S. military responds to changing geopolitical environment that includes North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal as well as Russia’s increasingly potent and active armed forces.
• CIA expands Taliban hunt.  The New York Times reports the CIA is expanding its operations in Afghanistan, sending teams alongside Afghan forces to hunt Taliban jihadi.  The Times reports this is a shift for the CIA in that country, where it had focused on defeating al Qaeda and helping Afghan intelligence operatives.  The agency’s paramilitary division, which is taking on the mission, numbers only in the hundreds and is deployed all over the world.  The expanded mission reflects that agency’s assertive role under Mike Pompeo, the new director, to combat insurgents around the world.  Pompeo said “We can’t perform our mission if we’re not aggressive.  … This is unforgiving, relentless.  You pick the word.  Every minute, we have to be focused on crushing our enemies.”
• ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley.  The Air Force Times reports the coalition’s fight with ISIS jihadi is now focused along a stretch of the Euphrates River Valley straddling the Syrian border.   ISIS no longer has a presence in cities such as Mosul, Tal Afar and Haditha.  Rather, U.S.-led coalition forces are focused on driving ISIS out of towns like al Qaim.   Air operations are “shaping” the battlefield by taking out weapons centers like car bomb factories and ISIS C3 centers.  Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, deputy commanding general for Air, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, Operation Inherent Resolve, said “They’ll move against multiple areas in the Euphrates River Valley in a multi-axis operation.  The preponderance of ISIS forces, we believe, are in that area … essentially all the way out east to Rawa.”

CONSEQUENCES

• Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border.  The Military Times reports Iraqi federal and Kurdish forces exchanged fire at their shared border on Friday, ending a week of conflict whereby Kurds returned control to Iraqi forces.  By mid-Friday, Iraq’s defense ministry said anti-terrorism forces used artillery against Kurdish forces in AltunKupri, a town in the Kurdish region.    Kurdish forces withdrew last week in most areas to positions they last held in 2014, restoring the map to the time before the rise of ISIS.
• U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD.  The Yonhap News Agency reports the U.S. Forces Korea set-up the unit charged with operating the advanced missile defense system deployed in that country.  On Thursday, a ceremony was held in Seongju to transfer the Delta Battery of the 11th Air Defense Artillery brigade to the 35th ADA Brigade in South Korea.  The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, which has missile launchers, command and control facilities and a powerful radar, was first deployed in April, but at that time there were only two interceptor launchers.  Four more launchers arrived last month.
• Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two.  The BBC reports the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurds and Arabs, destroyed Raqqa, and Moscow compared that result to the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in WW II.  Russia itself was accused of committing war crimes for bombarding Aleppo, Syria last year.  UN war crimes investigators in June that there had been a “staggering loss of civilian life” in Raqqa.  A Russian defense spokesman said “Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments.”
• U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home.  The BBC reports U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Iran-backed militias fighting ISIS should leave northern Iraq as the battle is nearing its end.  Tillerson insists mopping up should be left to the Iraqis.   Iraqi forces have been fighting ISIS alongside Popular Mobilization Units, a coalition of Shia militia, backed by Iran.  Those units have been accused of abuses, including torture and killings, during the anti-ISIS operations in Iraq.
• Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home.”The media office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 23 criticized U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent statements that Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units who helped Iraq fight the Islamic State should "go home," Reuters reported. According to Reuters, the prime minister's office said that "No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters."  

Pray – lets be in prayer over each of these very significant situations and pray as we are guided.

Robert Maginnis
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No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.  Is 54:17

In this edition of IPC Connections, we are once again highlighting the extremely volatile situation on the Korean Peninsula, that needs our prayers.  

Last month, we prayed about the potential of military options, which could cause many deaths. There is still the danger of provocative actions which we continue to pray against.  We also highlighted the significant relationship with China, who has the power and influence to broker a peaceful resolution to the crisis.  

Since then, an interview (reported here) with an academic with close relations to the Chinese government has warned that a war between China and North Korea was 'on the table'.  Chong Sho-Hu, a professor from Renmin University, Beijing said that the relationship with North Korea was now worse than it had been with both the Soviet Union and Vietnam at the time of the wars with those countries in the past.

In his words: "North Korea is standing on the edge of a deep cliff, one light blow could push this country off the cliff."   When asked whether this meant one more missile test could trigger war, the professor agreed.

Let's pray for continued peace and a 'breakthrough intervention' in the relationship between China and North Korea that will open the door for a U-turn and for positive de-nuclearization negotiations.

We also report in this edition on the real threat that the continued development of intercontinental ballistic rockets by North Korea's regime is creating. North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador called his country’s nuclear and missile arsenal “a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.” A UK Daily Mail article also included in this month's edition quotes North Korean official's ambitions - both defensive and offensive capability that will hold the whole of the United States within it's range.  

As I have been writing this, a notification has arrived of an un-confirmed tunnel collapse in September at the North Korean nuclear test site that resulted in 200 deaths of 100 workers and a further 100 rescuers who were killed in a second collapse.  Whilst any loss of life is regrettable, there is no doubt that such an incident will have hampered the efforts of the regime in their attempts to develop these nuclear weapons.  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-tunnel/tunnel-collapse-may-have-killed-200-after-north-korea-nuclear-test-japanese-broadcaster-idUSKBN1D018L?il=0

Pray on for the nuclear ambitions of North Korea to be thwarted. (Is 54:17) Let's also pray into the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and other United Nations efforts to restrict and reduce the development of nuclear arsenals globally.

Many Christians are suffering in North Korea for their faith.  Choi Kwanghyuk (55) escaped a work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith. Read about his harrowing experiences below.

Robert Park, a US prisoner of the Kim Jong-il regime from December 2009 to February 2010 estimates that there are up to 400,000 believers worshipping secretly in North Korea.  He reminds us of the fact that thousands of the imprisoned Christians are in prison camps that are located close to military targets such as weapons facilities and test sites.  Read Robert's moving plea for a workable and peaceable solution addressed to the Korean President below.

Pray on for those being persecuted, raped, beaten, tortured for their faith. (Matt 5:11-12).  Pray for their release and an end to the oppression of believers of all faiths.  Pray for a solution to the crisis that does not endanger lives, either side of the border.  

On a more positive note, let’s be thankful for news of a growing Christian Church in North Korea, reported in this month's edition and for the innovative means being used to make the word of God available to them, through 'Bible Balloons containing text from the Bible or flash drives containing the whole Bible - Praise God!

Pray for the continuing efforts to encourage, equip and educate new believers in North Korea and for those who are taking great risks both in these efforts from South Korea and those who are nurturing God's people within North Korea.  Pray for one, united Korea.

May God bless and encourage you all as you join us in praying both for Korea and these other important global matters.

In His service,

John Robb, IPC Chairman