Not so much prophecy, as it is the Russians moving into the power vacuum that Obama has created in the Middle East.
Despite our efforts, Iraq is going to eventually fracture into three nations, and the Russians want apiece of the action.
Isn’t it Iran and Russia who are supposed align against Israel?
“IRAQ” was created by Gertrude Bell after WW1. It was not a real country. See “Miss Bell’s Lines in the Sand:”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/12/iraq.jamesbuchan
I particularly like this poetic line: “Even in conversations with the vicious and cornered cadres of Saddam Hussein’s regime, her name will come up to evoke, for a moment, an innocent Baghdad of picnics in the palm gardens and bathing parties in the Tigris.”
Those were the days. And now the picnic is over and we’re stuck with the results.