WND.com reports: “A recent annual military exercise that Russia held, called Kavkaz-2012, or Caucasus-2012, apparently assumed that Russian battalions would be going up against U.S. Marines who had landed on a Black Sea coast, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Without saying which coast, analysts believe such a likely scenario would have been Georgia, which until recently had frigid relations with Moscow and was the subject of a Russian invasion in 2008.

According to regional sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin had visited a military training exercise at the training ground Rayevsky near the port city of Novorossiysk.

The military was simulating an attack from U.S. Marines who had presumed to have landed at a Russian Black Sea port. The exercise had the simulated Marine force penetrate deep into Russian territory with armor and air support to take over possible natural gas and oil pipeline terminals, and even one of the many residences Putin has at his disposal.

At the end of the exercise, sources say, the Russians succeeded in defeating the simulated U.S. Marine force with their traditional conventional force of aircraft, tanks, helicopters and anti-aircraft missiles…” (President Obama’s nonproliferation treaty which brought great praise to him for world peace has collapsed. In a pledge the president made to Medvedev, Putin’s puppet, Obama promised extra promises to Russia after he, Obama, was reelected. Unfortunately, an open mike revealed this compromise. Russia, in October 2012, canceled the treaty and is moving ahead angrily for what I believe to be Armageddon – Revelation 16:16. See Ezekiel 38:1, 2, 8, 16; 39:1, 2, 6, 12, 13; Joel 2:3, 20, 30. World War III is obviously being planned. See the next five reports.)

Reuters reports: “President Vladimir Putin took a leading role in the latest tests of Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal, the most comprehensive since the 1991 Soviet collapse, the Kremlin said.

The exercises featured prominently in news reports on state television which seemed aimed to show Russians and the world that Putin is the hands-on chief of a resurgent power.

Tests involving command systems and all three components of the nuclear ‘triad’ – land and sea-launched long-range nuclear missiles and strategic bombers – were conducted ‘under the personal leadership of Vladimir Putin’, the Kremlin said.

An RS-12M Topol Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was launched from the Plesetsk site in northern Russia, and a submarine test-launched another ICBM from the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defence Ministry said.

Long-range Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers fired four guided missiles that hit their targets on a testing range in the northwestern Komi region, it said.

‘Exercises of the strategic nuclear forces were conducted on such a scale for the first time in the modern history of Russia,’ the Kremlin statement said.

‘Vladimir Putin gave a high evaluation to the combat units and crews and the work of the Armed Forces General Staff, which fulfilled the tasks before them and affirmed the reliability and effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear forces.’

The exercises included tests of communications systems and ‘new algorithms’ for command and control, it said.

Russia says it is modernizing a nuclear arsenal that was largely created during the Cold War and will continue to use nuclear weapons as a key deterrent…”

Israel National News reports: “A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine sailed within 200 miles of the U.S. East Coast, defense officials told the Washington Free Beacon.

The report follows by three months a similar revelation by the newspaper that a Russian nuclear sub patrolled the Gulf of Mexico undetected for more than a month.

The submarine off the East Coast was identified as a Russian Sierra-2 class submarine and was the first time that class of Russian submarine had been detected near a U.S. coast, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

‘One defense official said the submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia,’ The Free Beacon reported. ‘A second official said the submarine did not sail close to Kings Bay and also did not threaten a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group that was conducting exercises in the eastern Atlantic.’

The Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base is the home port for two guided missile submarines and six nuclear missile submarines.

The Washington newspaper also reported that a Russian electronic intelligence-gathering vessel was granted safe harbor at a Florida port during the Sandy Superstorm, within listening range of Kings Bay.

The Russian attack submarine off the East Coast is equipped with anti-submarine warfare missiles and torpedoes. It was detected by U.S. Navy underwater sonar sensors and now is believed to have sailed several hundreds miles from the coast.

Media reports from Russia the past year have indicated that Moscow is trying to flex its power on the oceans, particularly on the North Sea route…”

Haaretz reports: “A senior Russian diplomat warned the West against trying to predetermine a future leadership of Syria.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Twitter that such attempts would contradict the peace plan for Syria approved by world powers in Geneva in June.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the administration would push for a shakeup in the Syria opposition leadership so that it better represents fighters on the frontline. Washington believes that a revamped rebel leadership could rally wider international support and prevent extremists from hijacking the rebellion.

‘Attempts by Western sponsors of the Syrian opposition to enforce a list of the nation’s future leadership from the outside contradict the Geneva agreements,’ Gatilov said. ‘The Geneva communique says that a transitional governing body should be formed on the basis of mutual accord of the government and the opposition.’

Russia has been the main supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, shielding it from UN sanctions over a crackdown on the 19-month uprising, in which at least 36,000 people have been killed, according to opposition activists…”

Voice of America News reports: “Almost one decade after American troops overthrew Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Kremlin is seeking to regain some of the influence it enjoyed in the country during the near quarter century of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Russia’s president and prime minister rolled out the red carpet for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who came to Moscow with his defense and trade ministers and a large group of business leaders. The first priority was negotiating a $4 billion weapons deal, and Russian President Vladimir Putin got straight to the point.

‘Iraqi specialists are familiar with our weapons systems, which are highly recommended,’ Mr. Putin told the visiting Iraqi leader. ‘And I’m confident that we’ll find a mutual understanding in these important directions, which will unquestionably increase not only returns in economic trade, but will also increase trust between the two governments.’

Alexander Golts, a military analyst, said that under Saddam Hussein, 90 percent of Iraq’s arms came from Russia, or from its predecessor state, the Soviet Union. The new weapons package is to include air cargo planes and anti-aircraft guns…”