Modern Day Beast Nations
An example of a modern day “beast” nation using its power to expand territorial control was exhibited when Russia, in early 2014, under the direction of President Putin, used its military might to capture the Crimean Peninsula, which is located south of Ukraine on the Black Sea. Russia’s “beast” leader, President Vladimir V. Putin, has also been active in the Syrian civil war and has built and/or upgraded two of their naval and air bases in Syria (Tartus and Khmeimim). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in late 2017 stated, concerning Syria, “We have started to form a permanent presence there.”
Iran, Turkey and Russia are all actively competing for Syria’s oil fields and to establish hegemony in Syria, which just happens to be next door (adjacent) to the Golan Heights. The United States, under the direction of President Donald J. Trump, became the first country to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel by issuing a Presidential Proclamation on March 25, 2019.
The Golan Heights was captured by Israel from Syria in the Six-Day war of 1967, and has been considered part of Israel since 1981. In December of 2014, Afek Oil and Gas began round-the-clock drilling in the Golan Heights and found large reserves of oil at three drilling sites in the southern part of the region.
“We are talking about a layer which is 350 meters thick,” Dr. Yuval Bartov, the chief geologist of Afek Oil and Gas told Channel 2 News. “On average in the world, strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is 10 times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities.” ‘Afek, a subsidiary of American company, Genie Energy, estimates that oil production at the site could potentially reach billions of barrels. Currently Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil a day.’ ” 4
