Bible Time

Noah's Last Year, Soviet Union disbands

Noah was the Bible's preeminent sailor. His death replayed in January of 1992. Of course the Soviet Union came to a formal end at this point. The main prophetic event marking this sailor's death was the division of the Black Sea Fleet between Russia and the Ukraine. The death of the once proud Soviet Navy.

Background

The first year of Noah's life had mapped using day-for-a-year to May 31, 1991. This had been a traumatic time in the history of the Soviet Union. A few days earlier the Soviet public had elected their first competitively elected congress in 70 years. By June 3, 1989 they would meet for the very first time.

Now, 950 days later, Sunday, January 5, 1992,the length of Noah's life, the Soviet Union was disappearing. A week and a half earlier, December 26, 1991, the Union had formally voted to dissolve. By this date the world was waking up to news of a flock of new nations suddenly appearing out of no where.

The Seattle Times, the paper I used for the original research for this work, had a huge spread on the event. Articles about each of the new countries, their history, and what they were like. Westerners had generally learned the history of Russia and of the Soviet Union. We knew nothing about the other republics and needed to learn allot.

On the Saturday of this weekend the Ukraine had done something important. They had ordered that the men serving in their new black sea fleet take loyalty oaths. Anyone not wanting to take such an oath was free to transfer to a ship under Russian control or was free to retire on pension, but they would not be allowed to remain serving on Ukrainian vessels.

This lead to something of a stir between Russia and the Ukraine. It seems that there was an agreement in place that governed which ships went where and the Ukraine was asking this of ship crews Russia thought belonged to them. The controversy would last several weeks. Indeed, Yeltsin himself arrived January 29, 1992, in the black sea to visit and understand the situation better.

Strategic Agreement

The assignment of vessels to the various nations hinged on the meaning of one little word. "Strategic." The agreement between Russia and the Ukraine was this: Strategic ships belonged to Russia, all others belonged to Ukraine. The Ukrainians knew exactly what this meant. Ships capable of carrying nuclear weapons were strategic, all others were not. The Russians were being asked to vacate non-strategic ships.

This is important because it defines the word "Strategic" in the diplomatic language of the Russians. We know this, of course, SALT limits are really nuclear arms limits, but we need a reminder. A "strategic" agreement between China and Russia in December of 1999, is probably a nuclear agreement, not simply a trade agreement like many would assert.

For the Russians and Ukrainians in early 1992, the issue was one of property. Of course the Russians probably just realized that support vessels, not capable of carrying nuclear weapons at all, also needed to stay with the nuclear weapons fleets. They had overlooked that detail in their negotiations with the Ukraine.

Split Navy

We don't know, really, what happened to this discussion. For our prophetic outline here it doesn't matter. As of this weekend sailors in the black sea were either loyal to the Ukraine, or they were loyal to Russia, they could no longer be loyal to the Soviet Union. As of January 5, 1992, this was no longer an option, Noah was dead.

The last prophetic date in this period springs from the last day-for-a-day date in the account of Noah's flood by a quirk of the timeline it still comes future. That date was when Noah came out and built an alter. We look at that next.