Voice of America News reports: “Russia and China, once bitter foes during the Cold War, have praised their current relationship as their leaders concluded new cooperative pacts between the countries.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said that Sino-Russian ties had reached their ‘highest point’ ever as he ended a three-day state visit to China. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said it was the ‘best period in history’ for Russian-Chinese relations.

The two countries celebrated the completion of a cross-border oil pipeline that links Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, with China, the largest energy consumer. Russia is expected to send China $150 billion worth of oil over the next 20 years. They are working on a natural gas deal as well.

According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the two countries also signed a pact supporting each other’s core territorial interests.

Russia said it supports China’s control of Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, while China expressed approval of Russian efforts to ‘promote peace and stability’ in the North Caucasus region, where Islamists are seeking to establish an independent Islamic state…” (Russia and China unite for Armageddon – Daniel 11:44. First invasion: Russia – Ezekiel 38, 39. Second invasion: China and remaining army of Russia – Revelation 16:12; Revelation 9:14 – 18. Third invasion: all nations – Zechariah 14:2 – and then Christ returns – Zechariah 14:4 and wins the battle – Zechariah 14:12, 16.)

Haaretz reports: “Even as Israel attempted to pressure Russia not to sell S-300 missile systems to Iran, a part of Russia’s own missile arsenal stood open and unguarded in a forest near Moscow, Russian bloggers discovered recently.

A report containing scores of pictures appeared earlier this month on the popular blogging platform Livejournal.com, showing a completely abandoned missile base. The pictures were accompanied by amusing captions, which recounted how easy it was for a mushroom-picker walking in the forest to enter through the rusting gates and take pictures of the missiles and radar systems – some in storage, some resting on their launch pads.

‘Maybe it’s a museum?’ a mushroom-picker wonders in one of the captions. ‘There’s no one around – just come and take what you like … What a strange museum – all the exhibits are working and the systems are all buzzing.’ No soldiers could be seen in any of the photographs.

Within a week, the pictures were reproduced on dozens of websites, drawing considerable coverage. An officer told the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda that each site used to be guarded by an entire battalion, but ongoing cutbacks resulted in sites being guarded by the same soldiers that operate the missiles’ launching devices. He said the base has some guard dogs, but the soldiers don’t have firearms and the officers only have handguns.

Speaking to the Russian media, Russian defense officials doubted that whoever took the photographs was indeed an innocent passerby.

The Russian military said the pictures were taken in three different missile bases, speculating that the photographer was a soldier on active duty or recently discharged, with intimate knowledge of the localities.

They mocked the notion that a terrorist could have launched a missile, noting this was much more complicated than pushing a button. ‘No one yet has managed to blow up or take apart a missile. You can wreck it, but certainly not use it for terrorism,’ one general told Komsomolskaya Pravda…” (Luke 21:25)

YnetNews.com reports: “Russia will complete the delivery of anti-ship missiles to Syria this year and may sell more weapons to Israel’s neighbor after assessing the impact on the regional balance of power, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg news agency.

Serdyukov returned to Moscow from meetings with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Both the US and Israel have expressed concern about the arms deal.

‘A contract may not be signed in the end,’ the Russian defense minister told Bloomberg. ‘We are conducting a serious assessment of how it may affect the existing balance of forces in the region. We understand that it would not be right to upset it. Therefore all these nuances and analyses are being thoroughly assessed.’

The Moscow-based Interfax news service reported September 19 that Russia intends to supply Yakhont missiles worth more than $300 million to Syria.

‘The Israelis and perhaps to some extent the Americans voice apprehension that these weapons can somehow fall into the hands of terrorists,’ Serdyukov told Bloomberg. ‘The contract has provisions for a series of controlling measures that will not allow for this to happen.’…” (Russian – Ezekiel 38:1, 2 – and Syria unite and both suffer defeat – Ezekiel 39:1, 2, 12, 13; and Isaiah 17:1.)