Marty Breeden sent me this video from CBN News today, and it immediately got my attention.
Even a member of Congress is warning that we could soon see a military conflict between the United States and China, and that is extremely alarming.
Those that follow this website on a regular basis already understand where all of this is eventually heading. The prophetic chess pieces are moving into place, but most Americans have no clue about what is happening.
What in the world are the Iranians thinking? After President Trump decided not to respond militarily to the rockets that the Iranians fired at U.S. bases in Iraq, it appeared that a major war had been averted. People all over the world celebrated this unexpected turn of events, and global stock markets soared. But now the Iranians are changing their tune again. Instead of “standing down”, top Iranian leaders are warning that “harsher revenge” is on the way and that there will be more attacks against U.S. forces. I think that Iran correctly perceives that Trump does not want a war, but if Trump gets pushed too far he will hit the Iranians extremely hard. And once the Iranian homeland starts getting pummeled by U.S. missiles, the Iranians will start firing some of the 200,000 missiles that they have stockpiled at Israel, and needless to say the Israelis will respond with even greater force. In other words, any escalation of this conflict at this point has the potential to spark World War 3.
So the Iranians would be wise to stop this nonsense while they still can, but apparently they have no intention of doing so.
On Thursday, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force claimed that the missile attacks the other night were just “the first stage of a major regional operation aimed at expelling U.S. forces from the Middle East”…
Iran’s missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops were the first stage of a major regional operation aimed at expelling U.S. forces from the Middle East, the Iranian commander responsible for the attack said Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who as commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force oversees most of Iran’s missile arsenal, stopped short of threatening further concrete military action. He also said Iran hadn’t intended to kill anyone in Wednesday’s attack but only to cause material damage.
And Revolutionary Guard commander Abdollah Araghi is promising that “harsher revenge” is coming soon…
A senior Iranian military commander has promised further action against the United States, a day after Tehran launched missiles at two bases housing US troops in Iraq.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Abdollah Araghi said that Iran would take “harsher revenge soon,” without specifying what that might entail, Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.
Do they actually believe that Trump will allow them to repeatedly attack our forces without responding?
If any American had been killed during the missile strikes the other night, it is quite likely that Trump would have responded already.
And when Trump acts, he likes to make a major statement.
Iran is playing a very dangerous game, and if they miscalculate just a little bit there will be disastrous consequences.
Unfortunately, they are so blinded by rage that they don’t appear to be thinking rationally. At this point, the Iranian media is reporting that the recent missile attacks were “only the beginning of the strikes”…
Tasnim News Agency reported on Thursday that the missiles that hit U.S. interests in Iraq were only the beginning of the strikes. The deputy head of the IRGC, Ali Fadavi, described Iran’s missile attacks on US forces as a display of the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities, claiming that the Americans “couldn’t do a damn thing” about the strikes.
Many of us had been hoping that cooler heads would prevail, but at least on the Iranian side that does not appear to be happening.
And Iranian proxies are already lobbing rockets at U.S. targets. For example, on Wednesday a couple of “small rockets” were launched toward the Green Zone in Baghdad…
Small rockets hit the area in or around the Green Zone in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad late Wednesday, a day after Iran launched missiles at bases housing U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq, American military officials said.
There was no casualties to U.S. or other coalition forces in the area, and no damage to facilities in the Green Zone, which contains the American embassy and other Western diplomatic posts, officials said.
Subsequently, there was a rocket attack on Balad Air Base in Iraq on Thursday…
Another day, another rocket (alleged) rocket attack on a US airbase in Iraq.
Al-Sumaria reports that rockets hit the Balad Air Base, about 40 miles north of Baghdad, where US troops are stationed.
The source said in an interview with Alsumaria News, “A missile, whose type was not specified, fell this evening, to the Fadlan area of the Dujail district near Balad Air Base,” without giving further details.
Iranian proxies would not be doing this if they did not have permission from Tehran.
Perhaps President Trump is waiting until there are American casualties to respond, and he certainly is not eager to get the U.S. involved in a major war during an election year, but at some point his patience is going to run out.
Meanwhile, the IDF has just conducted a stunning attack on Iranian-backed militia targets “on the border between Syria and Iraq”…
According to reports by domestic and western media, the Israeli air force carried out an attack against an Iran-backed militia reportedly headquartered on the border between Syria and Iraq.
Tribal sources in Iraq apparently told reporters that the Israeli shelling targeted trucks and individuals associated with Iranian-backed militias near the Iraqi-Syria border. Artillery and shelling was also reported, though it’s unclear who fired those shots. The weapons are believed to have been destined for Hezbollah.
In the end, even if President Trump is absolutely determined to keep the U.S. out of a major conflict there will still be a war between Israel and Iran.
The Iranians have restarted their nuclear program, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that Iran will never be allowed to finish it.
The clock is ticking, and Israel is going to do whatever it takes to keep the psychopaths in Iran from being able to build their own nuclear weapons.
So one way or another, war is definitely coming, and it will change all of our lives in a major way.
But many were hoping that World War 3 was at least delayed for a while after Trump showed such great restraint on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the Iranians seem determined to press their luck, and we are all going to pay a great price for their complete and utter recklessness.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
If someone else had been in the White House, this crisis could have easily turned out much differently. Sadly, most Americans have no idea that we were literally on the brink of the beginning of World War 3 this week. In fact, our population is so clueless about the rest of the world that 75 percent of all registered voters can’t even find Iran “on an unlabeled map of the globe”. We literally live in an “idiocracy” where a third of the country can’t even name a single branch of government. For most Americans, the alarming headlines about Iran will soon fade from memory, and they will just go on with their lives as if nothing really happened. But the truth is that we were right on the precipice of a cataclysmic war that could have resulted in millions upon millions of deaths. And a major war in the Middle East could still start at literally any time, but President Trump’s brave decision has at least delayed it for now.
When Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, it would have been so easy for President Trump to order an immediate military response.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he waited for an accurate damage assessment to be completed, and it turned out that no Americans had been killed or injured.
The Iranians possess very accurate weapons, and so at first a lot of people were quite puzzled by this. But then later on it started to become obvious that the Iranians “may have intentionally missed” their targets. In other words, this attack was essentially the equivalent of “a warning shot”…
Iran may have intentionally missed targets on bases in Iraq to avoid significant U.S. casualties and damage to infrastructure, according to U.S. government sources.
Iran appears to have fired the missiles into vacant areas where they were unlikely to cause significant harm, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The attack, the official said, was designed mainly for a domestic audience to show Iranians that the regime was responding to the killing last week of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
Iranian leadership had to show the Iranian people that they were “taking revenge” for the death of Soleimani.
But by choosing not to spill any American blood, they presented Donald Trump with an opportunity to walk away without escalating the conflict into a full-blown war.
And the Iranians made doubly sure that no American blood would be spilled by issuing a warning in advance…
PM Adel Abdul Mahdi received a call from Tehran warning him an attack was imminent in retaliation for the US killing of its highest ranking general, his spokesman said.
CNN, citing an Arab diplomatic source, said that Iraqi officials then passed the information on to US troops before the attack began.
Subsequently, when the missile strikes were over the Iranians notified the U.S. government “through at least three back channels” that there would be no more attacks…
Iran initiated contact through at least three back channels starting late Tuesday, including through Switzerland and other countries. There were “multiple messages and they were all the same,” a person familiar with the matter said. Iran wanted to convey their retaliatory action had ended — and was waiting to see how the US would respond.
If Hillary Clinton had been in the Oval Office during these very tense moments, we would probably be at war with Iran right now.
But Donald Trump is not Hillary Clinton.
In both of my articles yesterday, I explained that this was a golden opportunity for President Trump to avert a major war, and I was hoping that his advisers were telling him this. Since no American blood was spilled, both sides could still walk away and claim victory, and that is precisely what happened on Wedensday…
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that there would be increased sanctions but no retaliatory strikes for Iran’s ballistic missile assault on U.S. bases in Iraq. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said, “For the time being, the Americans have been given a slap,” but no other attacks were coming soon. Both sides have relaxed tensions, and the threat of war has receded.
In the end, President Trump is coming out of this looking really good. Soleimani is dead, and Iran’s “revenge” did not take a single American life.
But if Trump had recklessly ordered a retaliatory strike against Iran, the Iranians had already warned that they were going to launch missiles at Israel.
And once the first missile landed in an Israeli city, the Israelis would have responded with overwhelming force. Just check out what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday…
Israel will strike back hard if Iran attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at the Kohelet Policy Forum’s conference on Wednesday.
“The state of Israel is the stable anchor in the stormy [Middle East] waters,” Netanyahu said. “We stand firm in the face of those who seek to destroy us. Anyone who tries to attack us will suffer the most overwhelming blow.”
When we get to the point where missiles are flying back and forth between Iran and Israel, nobody is going to be able to stop the madness.
And we are still on the brink of global chaos, but at least President Trump has given us a chance to avoid a worst case scenario.
In the aftermath of the events of the past two days, Franklin Graham posted the following message of gratitude to President Trump on Facebook…
Thank you Mr. President for addressing our nation today and for giving peace a chance. I’m sure there are millions of Iranians who would like to thank you too, if they could. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a dangerous government and is responsible for exporting the Islamic revolution to many countries around the world. They have also repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I know you probably had lot of pressure from some to respond quickly and with a heavy hand; but thank you for showing restraint. A former premier of France once said, “It is far easier to make war than peace.” I also appreciate the fact that you made it clear that as long as you are president, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. Please be assured of my prayers and those of many Christians across the country and around the world.
You know, for once it would be nice for the Democrats to also acknowledge that President Trump has done something right.
Yes, we understand that this is an election season and that the Democrats are going to look for every opportunity to criticize Trump.
But we are all Americans, and this week we were just moments away from the start of a cataclysmic war with Iran.
President Trump’s wise decision has kept us out of such a war for now, and for that he should be greatly applauded.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
We are at one of the most critical turning points in modern world history, and whether or not we will be able to avoid World War 3 will come down to a handful of key decisions that Donald Trump will make over the next few days. If he makes the wrong decisions, he will be second guessed for generations to come. But if he makes the right decisions, he could literally change the course of human history for the better. The entire globe was shocked when Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq a few hours ago. But the initial reports indicate that there were no U.S. casualties, and the Iranians are telling us that there will be no further attacks as long as the U.S. does not retaliate. So this gives Trump the opportunity to de-escalate the conflict and still save face. Since we were able to take out Qassem Soleimani without losing a single American life, Trump can simply claim victory and move on.
But there will be an enormous amount of pressure on Trump to respond militarily to this attack, and if that happens the Iranians are already promising to escalate the conflict to an entirely new level.
In particular, the Iranians have repeatedly warned that they will bomb Israel if there is U.S. retaliation.
And if Iran attacks Israel, the Israelis will likely respond with overwhelming force, and once that happens nobody is going to be able to stop a major war from happening.
This could literally be our last chance to avoid World War 3, and hopefully President Trump is getting some really good advice from the people around him.
Because I believe that the Iranian threats are very real. Shortly after launching missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, the Iranians threatened “to bomb Israel and Dubai if the United States retaliates”…
Iran has threatened to bomb Israel and Dubai if the United States retaliates for its ballistic missile strike at two Iraqi bases housing US troops.
Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops in a revenge attack for the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Friday.
And NBC News Tehran Bureau Chief Ali Arouzi has reported that the Iranians are specifically threatening to destroy the Israeli city of Haifa…
Iran is warning that if there is retaliation for the two waves of attacks they launched their 3rd wave will destroy Dubai and Haifa.
Of course this is not the first time that we have heard such threats.
On Sunday, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council warned that if Trump escalates the conflict, Iran would “strike Haifa, Tel Aviv and wipe out Israel”…
Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Expediency Council and former chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, said on Sunday Iran will target Israel during a confrontation with the US.
“If Trump retaliates to Iran’s revenge, we will strike Haifa, Tel Aviv and wipe out Israel,” said Rezaei.
And then on Monday, the chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said that the nation of Israel would be wiped out in “half an hour” if the U.S. attacks Iran again…
A senior Iranian lawmaker on Monday threatened that Israel would be destroyed in “half an hour” if the United States attacks the Islamic Republic.
“If the US attacks us, only half an hour will remain of Israel’s lifespan,” said Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, in comments carried by the Mehr news agency.
After being stirred up so much by their leaders, hordes of Iranians loudly chanted “death to Israel” over and over during the funeral procession of Qassem Soleimani on Tuesday.
Even though this is a conflict between the United States and Iran, clearly the Iranians want to make this about Israel as well.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying very hard to keep Israel out of the fighting…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Security Cabinet ministers Monday Israel is not responsible for Soleimani’s death and does not want to be pulled into a confrontation between Iran and the US, Axios reports.
“The killing of Soleimani is a US event, not an Israeli event, and we should stay out of it,” Netanyahu is quoted as saying according to two sources.
But the moment the first missile from Iran hits Israel, everything will change.
Israel has been preparing for a war with Iran for a very long time, and the Israelis would likely strike back with such force that it would absolutely stun the entire planet.
And once that happens, nobody is going to be able to stop a major war from happening.
The storm clouds that have been building on the horizon are now directly over top of us, and if this window of opportunity to avert war is missed we may not get another chance.
So let us hope that President Trump grabs this opportunity and does not choose to escalate the conflict even more.
Unfortunately, all of the war hawks in Washington will be urging him to do just the opposite, and at this point it is difficult to see how a major war with Iran will be avoided.
And most Americans actually believe that one is coming. In fact, a survey that was just released found that 71 percent of all Americans believe that “the U.S. will be at war with Iran within the next few years”…
A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran Jan. 3-6 found that 41% consider Iran to be an “imminent threat” to the United States, up 17 points from a similar poll that ran in May 2019. (https://tmsnrt.rs/35xJUDA)
It also found that 71% of Americans believe that the U.S. will be at war with Iran within the next few years, up 20 points from May’s poll.
But this war won’t be anything like our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
It would literally be a worldwide life or death conflict with Iran, their proxies and millions upon millions of Shiite radicals wherever they are located.
They would fight dirty, they would throw everything that they have at us, and they would go after targets on U.S. soil.
We are definitely not prepared for such a war, and so let us hope that it can be averted somehow.
But I have a feeling that there will soon be a U.S. military response to the missile attacks, and then we shall see how serious the Iranians really were about striking Israel.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
It certainly didn’t take long for the missiles to start flying. Just hours after Qassem Soleimani’s funeral proceedings ended, the Iranian military fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq. President Trump will be making a statement about this attack on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is calling the attack “an act of war”, and the top headline on the Drudge Report at this hour consists of just two words: “It’s War!” Of course the Iranians were already calling this conflict a “war” even before they decided to start firing missiles at us, but this definitely escalates matters.
The Iranians warned us that this was coming, but it was still absolutely stunning to see it actually play out. Ayatollah Khamenei had mandated that any retaliation must be “proportional” and carried out by the Iranian military directly, and that is precisely what happened.
And according to the Daily Mail, Khamenei “was personally in the control center coordinating the attacks”.
The good news is that the initial damage reports seem to indicate that there were no U.S. casualties. The following comes from Fox News…
Iran fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq, targeting U.S. military and coalition forces early Wednesday, officials said, in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.
Ten missiles hit Al-Assad Air Base, one missile hit a military base in Erbil and four missiles failed to hit their targets, according to a U.S. military spokesman for Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East. The attacks unfolded in two waves, each about an hour apart.
Initial assessments showed “no U.S. casualties,” a U.S. military official in Baghdad told Fox News.
However, it does appear that there were some Iraqi casualties…
A US official told CNN that there were no initial reports of any US casualties, but an assessment of the impact of the strikes is underway. A preliminary report from an Iraqi security source indicated there were Iraqi casualties, but Iraqi security officials later told CNN there were no casualties among Iraqi security forces.
There are casualties among the Iraqis at al-Asad airbase following the attack, an Iraqi security source tells CNN. The number of casualties and whether the individuals were killed or wounded were not immediately clear.
When news of these missile strikes originally broke, just about everyone assumed that Trump would soon hit back really hard.
But if it is true that no Americans were killed or wounded, that gives Trump a potential way out.
According to NBC News Tehran Bureau Chief Ali Arouzi, Iran is not currently planning any more attacks as long as the U.S. does not respond…
Iran’s foreign minister @JZarif says Iran’s response was proportional and does not want this to escalate. State media are reporting that senior officials in country won’t launch anymore attacks as long as America does not attack.
Trump could decide that taking out Soleimani without losing a single American life is a pretty good trade and walk away from this conflict. He could simply declare victory and start focusing on the upcoming election in November.
Of course that is probably not likely. There will almost certainly be some sort of U.S. response, and the Iranians are already promising to escalate the conflict even further if that happens…
In a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, an elite wing of the Iranian military that is also known as the IRGC, said the attacks were “hard revenge” for the death of Soleimani. The IRGC said in the statement that any country housing US troops could be subject to “hostile and aggressive acts” and called on American citizens to demand the government remove US troops from the region.
“To the Great Satan … we warn that if you repeat your wickedness or take any additional movements or make additional aggression, we will respond with more painful and crushing responses,” the statement to the US read.
And without a doubt, the war hawks in Washington will be pushing for the Trump administration to hit Iran with overwhelming force.
In particular, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham sounds like he is ready to go over to the Middle East and start bombing Iran himself…
On Fox News, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated that he “just got off the phone” with Trump about the situation and that if Iran continues “this crap” they are “going to wake up one day out of the oil business.”
“This was an act of war, Sean, by any reasonable definition,” Graham continued, before declaring that “the President has all the authority he needs under Article II to respond. How he responds is yet to be determined.”
And earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN that the U.S. is prepared to “finish” a war if Iran starts one…
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN Tuesday that the US is not seeking a war with Iran but it is “prepared to finish one.” He also said the US is not withdrawing troops from Iraq following a weekend vote by Iraq’s parliament to expel American forces.
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
Perhaps the Iranians were simply incompetent, or maybe it is even possible that they fired at areas of those bases that were not occupied by Americans on purpose, but in any case the fact that there were no U.S. casualties gives everyone a chance to save face and avoid war at the same time.
Yes, I am the same guy that is constantly warning that war is coming, but I am not eager to see it actually happen.
There is still a chance for peace at this late stage, and let us hope that Trump grabs it.
Because if events escalate even further, nobody may be able to control what happens.
At this hour, thousands of additional U.S. troops are headed to the Middle East, and many of them are fully convinced that they are heading into a war…
The 600 mostly young soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were headed for the Middle East, part of a group of some 3,500 U.S. paratroopers ordered to the region. Kuwait is the first stop for many. Their final destinations are classified.
“We’re going to war, bro,” one cheered, holding two thumbs up and sporting a grin under close-shorn red hair. He stood among dozens of soldiers loading trucks outside a cinder-block building housing several auditoriums with long benches and tables.
Sadly, if there is a full-blown war many of those troops may never come home again.
We are so close to a cataclysmic conflict with Iran, and it would be far more nightmarish than any other war in the post-World War 2 era.
But at this moment there is a slight chance that it can be averted, and let us pray that President Trump makes the right decisions.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
Whether you want it or not, the war with Iran has already begun. It is kind of sad that the pundits on our cable news channels are so clueless about what has happened. They seem to think that there is still a debate about whether we will go to war with Iran or not, but meanwhile the Iranians believe that the war has already started. Of course most Americans don’t want such a war, and President Trump didn’t intend to start one, but we now have one nonetheless. Over the past few days, vast hordes of Iranians mourning the death of Qassem Soleimani have been literally screaming for “war” and “revenge” at the top of their lungs. And as you will see below, the top military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei just told CNN that our two nations are already at war. So it isn’t our decision to make. The Iranians are going to be shooting at us whether we shoot back or not.
Perhaps you think that I am exaggerating.
Well, I would like for you to consider some of the statements that Major General Hossein Dehghan made during an exclusive interview with CNN. Dehghan is the top military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, and he is promising that Iran will soon “take direct action against America”…
“It might be argued that there could be proxy operations. We can say America, Mr. Trump, has taken action directly against us — so we take direct action against America.”
And he also told CNN that the Iranian response to the death of Soleimani will have “decisive deterrent effect”…
In common with other Iranian officials, Dehghan suggested that Iran was in no hurry to retaliate and would choose its targets carefully. “Our reaction will be wise, well considered and in time, with decisive deterrent effect.”
But just because Iran plans to hit us back really hard does not mean that a war has begun.
However, this next statement that Dehghan made leaves no doubt about where the Iranians stand…
“The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle.”
The Iranians clearly believe that a “period of war” has already started.
And we are being told that the only way for this “period of war” to end is for Iran to inflict a blow upon us that is equal to the blow that we inflicted on them.
So what would be equal to the loss of Qassem Soleimani in the eyes of the Iranians?
Soleimani was one of the greatest heroes in the modern history of Iran, and hundreds of thousands of mourners have poured into the streets over the past couple of days to express their grief…
Crowds mourning the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani continued to flood the streets of the capital as his funeral procession dragged into the night.
Earlier in the day hundreds of thousands of people swamped central Tehran to express their outpouring of grief at the death of the revered leader of the elite Quds Force, who was assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday.
After following his casket through the capital, Soleimani’s body was transported to the holy city of Qom where a ceremony at Masumeh shrine will be held ahead of his burial in his hometown tomorrow.
It is going to take a great deal for the Iranians to feel that they have extracted sufficient vengeance. And Dehghan foreshadowed what may be coming when he made this statement to CNN…
“No American military staff, no American political center, no American military base, no American vessel will be safe.”
And other key Iranian leaders are saying similar things.
For example, Soleimani’s replacement is warning that the Iranians will “continue down martyr Soleimani’s path”…
Esmail Ghaani, who has replaced Qassem Soleimani as head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, has warned the US that Iran will retaliate to last week’s drone attack. He told Iranian state television that “God the Almighty has promised to get his revenge” for the killing of Mr Soleimani. The newly appointed chief said that actions would “certainly” be taken.
Mr Ghaani also pledged to “continue down martyr Soleimani’s path”, after US officials claimed they assassinated the Iranian general because intelligence showed he was plotting “imminent attacks” on US officials.
Even more ominously, the New York Times is reporting that Ayatollah Khamenei himself has mandated that American interests must be attacked directly by Iranian forces…
In the tense hours following the American killing of a top Iranian military commander, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a rare appearance at a meeting of the government’s National Security Council to lay down the parameters for any retaliation. It must be a direct and proportional attack on American interests, he said, openly carried out by Iranian forces themselves, three Iranians familiar with the meeting said Monday.
Of course most Americans absolutely do not want a war with Iran.
In fact, I would guess that probably about two-thirds of all U.S. citizens will be against a war with Iran when a national survey is taken.
But that doesn’t matter to the Iranians. They are going to start shooting at us, and they want to make us hurt as much as possible.
If you can believe it, one member of the Iranian parliament has even suggested attacking the White House…
Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi has reportedly threatened to attack the White House in response to a message from President Trump that promised severe consequences if the Islamic nation escalates hostilities with the U.S.
Abutorabi was responding to a question about how Iran should react to the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani during an American airstrike, The Independent reported.
“We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time,” Abutorabi said according to the UK publication, which cited Iranian news agency ILNA.
So you can debate about whether there will be a war or not all you want, but the truth is that everyone should really be trying to figure out how to end the war that has already started.
And at this point, I don’t know if anything can be done to stop events from spinning wildly out of control. Every time Iran hits us, Trump is going to hit them back even harder, and neither side is going to back down any time soon.
At this hour, more U.S. troops are headed to the Middle East. In addition to the deployment of thousands of troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, a couple thousand Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been diverted to the Middle East…
Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will now head to Iraq aboard the USS Bataan (LHD-5) amphibious assault ship to join other U.S. troops recently called upon to bolster security measures and military readiness in the country, according to USNI News.
According to the USNI Fleet Tracker, the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group had just arrived off the coast of Morocco this week as tensions have risen with Iran. The Marines aboard had planned to train with Moroccan military members, as part of the joint Exercise African Sea Lion, before the apparent change in plans.
Even more importantly, six B-52 bombers have just been deployed to Diego Garcia…
The U.S. Air Force is deploying six B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean, amid the rising threat of Iran retaliating after a U.S.-led airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The move, which was first reported by CNN, is the latest in efforts by U.S. military officials to bolster resources near the Middle East after the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah hinted at possible retaliatory attacks to avenge Soleimani’s death.
I wish that it wasn’t true, but war is here.
Will this conflict eventually evolve into World War 3, or can we still be pulled back from the brink somehow?
Only time will tell, but I would definitely encourage everyone to get prepared for a worst case scenario.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
For the first time ever, a blood red flag is being flown over the famous Jamkaran Mosque in the Iranian “holy city” of Qom. If you have not see it yet, you can watch it being raised right here. And as I will explain below, the fact that this mosque is directly associated with the Mahdi makes this symbolic gesture doubly significant. The hoisting of this flag was broadcast on Iranian state television, and it was obviously intended to send a message to Shiites all over the globe. So precisely what was that message? Well, we are being told that according to Shiite tradition a red flag represents both “blood spilled unjustly” and a call for revenge…
Red flags in Shiite tradition symbolise both blood spilled unjustly and serve as a call to avenge a person who is slain.
It is the first time in history that the red flag has been hoisted on top of the Jamkaran mosque in the Iranian city and comes after warnings of harsh retaliation against the US.
Red flags have also been spotted flying at anti-U.S. demonstrations in Tehran over the past few days.
Clearly, the Iranians want blood. They will never, ever forgive us for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, and their faith requires that he be avenged.
There is also a message inscribed on the blood red flag that is now flying above the Jamkaran Mosque, and apparently it is a reference to the death of the grandson of Muhammad…
The flag, inscribed with the words “Those who want to avenge the blood of Hussein,” was hoisted above the mosque’s shrine for what local reports claimed was the first time in history, according to the Daily Mail.
The grandson of Muhammad, Hussein was decapitated in A.D. 680 during the Second Islamic Civil War, when Muslims were fighting over who was the proper successor to their prophet. The act was met with bloody retaliation from Muslims who considered Hussein’s death unjust and sought to avenge him.
Obviously the Iranians are viewing this as something much bigger than simply extracting sufficient revenge for the death of a deeply loved national leader.
Rather, they seem to be using this moment as a call to wage jihad against all of the enemies of Shia Islam.
And as I mentioned above, the fact that this flag was raised over this particular mosque is a very big deal.
The Jamarkaran Mosque is considered to be one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, and it is also associated with the future reappearance of the Mahdi. In fact, as the flag was being hoisted there was a direct reference to the Mahdi…
As the flag was raised in Qom, the mosque speakers called, ‘O Allah, hasten your custodian reappearance,’ a reference to the end-times reappearance of the Mahdi.
In Iran today, most of the national leaders believe that the 12th imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was born in Iraq in 869 and never died. Just before judgement day, the Mahdi is supposed to reappear along with Jesus during a time of war and chaos “to bring peace to the world and establish Islam as the ruling faith across the globe”. It is also commonly believed that the Mahdi is coming very soon, and so that explains why so many top Iranians seem to relish the thought that war could be coming. They need war to come first in order for the Mahdi to appear, and since the Mahdi is supposed to return during the coming apocalyptic war and establish Shia Islam as the faith of the entire planet, they aren’t exactly too concerned about the threats that President Trump is making.
It is so important to understand the mindset of these radical Shiites.
If they die as martyrs, they will be rewarded as such in the afterlife.
If they live through the coming holy war, they will get to see the coming of the Mahdi, and they will help to institute the global rule of Shia Islam.
So in either case, they believe that they can’t lose.
At this point, what they want is blood. In fact, even the daughter of Qassem Soleimani is asking for vengeance. Just check out what she just asked Iranian President Hassan Rouhani…
‘Who is going to avenge my father’s blood?’ One of the commander’s daughters asked.
In response, Rouhani promised her that ‘everyone will take revenge’ and assured her as she wept, ‘we will, we will avenge his blood, you don’t worry.’
There is no question that Iran is going to strike back.
And it won’t just be a one time deal. They are going to hit us repeatedly, and they have already identified 35 potential targets…
IRAN today pinpointed 35 “key US targets” for revenge after its top general was assassinated – with America expecting retaliation “within weeks”.
Hours later, rockets were fired near the US Embassy in Baghdad and at an airbase housing American troops, according to reports.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for the violence to begin. In fact, the Green Zone in Baghdad has been targeted by rockets for two days in a row…
At least three explosions were reported Sunday inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone — which houses the U.S. Embassy, Balad Air Base and Iraqi government buildings — in the second attack of its kind after the U.S.-led airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
A total of six Katyusha rockets — three inside the Green Zone and three in the nearby Jadriya area — hit Baghdad, according to a statement by Iraq’s military, as Reuters reported.
Of course President Trump is not going to put up with this, and he has warned the Iranians that he has identified 52 Iranian targets that could potentially be hit…
Showing no signs of seeking to ease tensions raised by the strike he ordered that killed Soleimani and Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad airport on Friday, Trump issued a threat to Iran on Twitter. The strike has raised the specter of wider conflict in the Middle East.
Iran, Trump wrote, “is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets” in revenge for Soleimani’s death. Trump said the United States has “targeted 52 Iranian sites” and that some were “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
Following that tweet, many on the left harshly criticized Trump for potentially targeting cultural sites, but Trump subsequently doubled down on that threat…
“They’re allowed to kill our people, they’re allowed to torture and maim our people, they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way,” Trump told reporters.
“If they do anything there will be major retaliation.”
Does anyone see a way that war with Iran can be avoided at this point?
Because I certainly don’t.
The Trump administration and the Iranians will both keep escalating things until a full-blown cataclysmic war erupts in the Middle East, and it will be a war that will inevitably involve Israel as well. This Middle East war will greatly accelerate the development of “the perfect storm” that I keep talking about, and none of our lives will ever be the same again.
Those that think that this is a crisis that will blow over in a few days or a few weeks are not being rational.
The Iranians will never, ever, ever forgive what Trump has done, and Soleimani’s successor is assuring everyone that we will soon “see the bodies of Americans all over the Middle East”…
Esmail Ghaani, the successor to slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, threatened the US Friday following his appointment to head the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm.
“Be patient, and you will see the bodies of Americans all over the Middle East,” Ghaani said.
There is no stopping this now.
War is coming, and the death and destruction it will bring will shock the entire planet.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
In 2015, Prophet Peter Odhiambo of Heart Revival Network International, Kenya had a very unusual supernatural experience.
The Lord hung a banner right in front of him, and on it was written ten ominous words.
Here is how he described what he saw…
August 6, 2015.
I had a vision that left me shaken and wondering what is this coming to befall the earth.
In this dream, I was in a place, ready to minister to a gathering, the Word of The LORD. As time for the meeting approached, The LORD brought a banner in the air and before me and on it was written:
He wrote it in a way that, the name U.S.A. was written in red, and below ISRAEL AND IRAN.
Then He told me to prophesy an event of war, involving Israel and the Islamic republic of Iran, but then there is also war in America.
I however, do not know whether this is one war, that the three nations will corporately engage into, as being signaled by the on-going Iranian nuke deals that Israel harshly protests. Israel, having in many times opted for military strikes in her defense.
Whether this war here shall arise from the nuclear race in Middle East, is something we may want to wait and see. But The Spirit of The LORD in the visions of The LORD, has in wisdom seen war coming to Israel, Iran and America.
War shall be in America. War shall be in Israel and Iran. This is to establish what is written in Mathew 24:7-8, saying: “For Nation will rise up against Nations and Kingdoms against Kingdom”…. “All these are Beginnings of Sorrows.”
Jesus said these shall be the signs of his coming even the signs that denote the end of this age. The centrality of Israel as a nation in bible end-time prophecy is clear.
All that happens with her, direct points to the fact that the messiah is soon coming to establish His everlasting kingdom and to rule from Jerusalem.
Iran too, has a prophetic role, because Persia in Bible prophecy, must, together with her allies, come against Israel until the Messiah himself will fight on behalf of His people.
This is the first time The LORD reveals to His servant that this war will occur and it shall be as a result and according to Psalms 83:3-8 .
Pray for the Nations.
“They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot. Selah,” Psalm 83:3 (NKJV).
Shalom,
~ Prophet Peter Odhiambo
The world is most definitely a better place without Iranian military chief Qassem Soleimani. He was a butcher, a murderer and a despised international terrorist. All over the globe, people are celebrating his death, but without a doubt this also brings us much closer to a cataclysmic war with Iran. In fact, as you will see below, the phrase “World War 3” is now trending on Google and Twitter. Soleimani was the second most important person in Iran, and he was a greatly cherished national hero. His death has absolutely enraged the Iranians, and they are already vowing revenge.
Of course many top Democrats are already strongly criticizing President Trump for ordering the strike that killed Soleimani, but what was Trump supposed to do? According to NBC News, Soleimani was actively plotting more attacks against American targets…
Planned attacks against American military, diplomatic and financial targets in Lebanon and Syria comprised the imminent threat cited by U.S. officials as the reason President Donald Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, multiple U.S. officials said Friday.
“When we start seeing extensive and very solid intelligence that [Soleimani] is plotting imminent attacks against the United States, the president as commander in chief has a duty to take decisive action,” said a senior State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity. “If we had not taken this action, and hundreds of Americans were dead, you would be asking me why didn’t you take out Soleimani when you have the chance.”
Was Trump supposed to just sit there and allow the Iranians to kill hundreds or even thousands of Americans?
And the truth is that Soleimani has been behind attacks on U.S. forces all the way back to 2003. The following comes from a USA Today editorial…
The criticism that this move was escalatory ignores the fact that Iran has been escalating conflict in the Middle East for years. Iran supports insurgent and militia groups in Yemen, Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, among others. Iran, using Soleimani’s Quds Force as its spearhead, was responsible for more than 600 American deaths in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, 17% of all U.S. dead in that conflict. President George W. Bush’s administration never adequately made Tehran pay, and the Obama administration was more interested in paying Tehran.
If he would have been left alive, a lot more Americans would have died.
But because President Trump took decisive action, his “reign of terror is over”…
In brief remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in south Florida, Trump said Soleimani, who commanded Iran’s Quds Force, had been caught “in the act” planning “imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel.”
“We caught him in the act and terminated him,” Trump said in a brief address. “His reign of terror is over.”
So that is the good news.
The bad news is that the Iranians are vowing “severe revenge”, and that means that a major war in the Middle East is almost a certainty.
Here is what Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, had to say in the wake of Soleimani’s death…
Dear Iranian Nation!
Years of sincere, brave efforts fighting against the devils& villainous in the world & yrs of wishing for martyrdom on the path of God finally took the dear Commander of Islam, Soleimani, to this lofty status. His blood was shed by the most barbaric of men.
We congratulate Imam Mahdi (‘a.j.) & Soleimani’s pure soul& condole the Iranian nation on this great martyrdom. He was an eminent example of a person trained in Islam. He spent all his life in struggling for God. Martyrdom was the reward for his tireless efforts over the years.
His efforts & path won’t be stopped by his martyrdom, by God’s Power, rather a #SevereRevenge awaits the criminals who have stained their hands with his & the other martyrs’ blood last night. Martyr Soleimani is an Intl figure of Resistance & all such people will seek revenge.
All friends – & enemies – know that Jihad of Resistance will continue with more motivation & definite victory awaits the fighters on this blessed path. The loss of our dear General is bitter. The continuing fight & ultimate victory will be more bitter for the murderers & criminals.
The Iranian nation will honor the memory of the noble Major-General Soleimani & the martyrs with him – particularly the great Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – & I declare 3 days of mourning across the nation. I condole & congratulate his family.
And a key adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei is also warning that “revenge” is coming…
Ahman Khatami, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a chilling threat to the US troops in Middle East that it is “time to clear the region from these insidious beasts”.
He added: “I am telling Americans, especially Trump, we will take a revenge that will change their daylight into a nighttime darkness.”
So what will that look like?
We don’t know yet, but one former CIA official is telling us that there will be “dead civilian Americans”…
CBS News senior national security contributor, and former acting and deputy CIA director Michael Morell told “CBS This Morning” the drone strike on Soleimani will lead to “dead civilian Americans.”
“Soleimani was an evil genius, he had a lot of American blood on his hands,” Morell said. “The world is a better place without him. The problem is that comes at a very high cost. Number one, there will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this. Possibly over the next few days in any place where Iran has its proxies, Iraq is the most likely place, but also Lebanon, Bahrain, other places in the Middle East.”
Of course President Trump will respond to any Iranian attack by hitting back even harder, and the escalations will just continue until missiles start flying back and forth.
Needless to say, the Israelis are monitoring these developments very closely, because they definitely understand that they would be attacked if a major war breaks out. In fact, Iran may decide that one of the best ways to take revenge is to have their proxies start firing missiles into Israeli territory…
But Israel Army Radio said the military had gone on heightened alert, amid fears that Iran could strike through its regional allies such as Tehran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah to the north, or through Palestinian militant group Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
“They will wait for the right moment to exact revenge, perhaps by firing into Israeli territory through Shiite militias in Syria and perhaps even from Gaza,” Ron Ben-Yishai, a commentator for Israeli news outlet Ynet, wrote on its website.
The coming days are going to be chaotic and unpredictable.
But what is now clear to everyone is that we are now closer to World War 3 breaking out in the Middle East than we have ever been before.
In the hours after Soleimani was killed, the phrase “World War 3” began trending on both Google and Twitter…
Many of those tweeting about the airstrike used memes to bring light to the situation, joking about fears it could spark ‘World War 3’ – a phrase now trending on Twitter.
Searches for ‘World War 3’ also spiked on Google within hours of the airstrike in Iraq overnight.
Google Trends recorded ‘Iran’ as the second most searched term in the United States, with more than 500,000 searches for the topic.
President Trump is not going to back down.
So the only way that we aren’t going to have a war is if the Iranians back down, and I don’t see that happening.
These are the times that so many of us have been warning about, and all of our lives are about to change in a major way.
War is coming, and the entire globe is going to feel the pain of this conflict.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
We just witnessed one of the most important deaths in the Middle East in decades. Just hours ago, President Trump ordered the drone strike on Baghdad International Airport that killed Iranian Major General Qassim Suleimani and several other key officials. Suleimani was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, but even more importantly he was a huge national hero in Iran. To describe this killing as “seismic” would not do it justice. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy says that Suleimani was “the second most powerful person in Iran”, and elsewhere he is being described as “the most influential Middle East military official for decades”. This is a major victory for President Trump and the U.S. military, but it also makes it much, much less likely that we are going to be able to avoid a full-blown war with Iran.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, was also killed in the strike. But it is Suleimani’s death that changes everything. In the U.S., our generals are not national celebrities, but in Iran Suleimani was one of the most recognizable faces in the entire country. In fact, he was so deeply loved that Iranian state television literally interrupted their programming to announce his death…
In Iran, state television interrupted its programing to announce General Suleimani’s death.
The news anchor recited the Islamic prayer for the dead — “From God we came and to God we return” — beside a picture of General Suleimani.
For more than two decades, Suleimani has essentially been running the show for Iran in the Middle East. If you doubt this, just check out the message that he sent to U.S. General David Petraeus in 2008…
In 2008, Soleimani wrote in a letter to David Petraeus, “Dear General Petraeus: You should be aware that I, Qassem Soleimani, control Iran’s policy for Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan.”
Of course since 2008 Suleimani became even more powerful both inside and outside of Iran. He was the one at the top of the food chain giving Iran’s proxies their marching orders, and there is no way that the U.S. embassy would have been attacked earlier this week without his direct approval.
So Trump definitely picked a target that was directly responsible for the damage to our embassy, but what happens next?
Ultimately, that is going to be up to Iran.
The Iranians could put their tails between their legs and cower in fear now that this has happened, but that probably isn’t likely.
It would be difficult to put into words the extreme rage that the Iranians are feeling right now. Their deeply hated enemy, the United States, has just killed a greatly beloved national hero. They are going to want revenge, and they are going to want it to be as painful as possible.
Needless to say, there will probably be attacks against U.S. targets in the region, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper has stated that the U.S. military may even take “pre-emptive action” to prevent that from happening…
“There are some indications out there that they may be planning additional attacks. That’s nothing new,” Esper said. “If that happens, then we will act and, by the way, if we get word of an attack of some kind of indication, we would take pre-emptive action as well to protect American forces, American lives — the game has changed.”
Beyond that, the Iranians may decide that an “eye for an eye” approach is justified in this case.
In other words, now that we have killed one of their key leaders, they may decide to kill one or more of our key leaders.
As I have previously detailed, Hezbollah is the strongest and most well funded terror organization on the entire planet. They have a very strong presence in North America, and they certainly have the capability to strike just about anywhere on U.S. soil.
If I was a prominent military official, a member of Congress or a top politician, I would be carefully “watching my six” in the coming days.
Some members of Congress are already realizing the implications of what just happened. For example, here is what U.S. Senator Cory Gardner just said…
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.. a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, applauded the Trump administration’s decision to target Soleimani. But, he added, “I now urge the administration to be prepared for possible retaliation, including against U.S. troops stationed in the region, and to consult closely with Congress on any next steps should the situation escalate.”
And U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has told the press that the killing of Qassim Suleimani could lead us directly into a full-blown war with Iran…
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, said the attack that killed Soleimani could trigger a major military escalation with Iran.
“There’s no question Soleimani had American blood on his hands,” Blumenthal said Thursday night. “He was an enemy. But this step could lead to the most consequential military confrontation in decades.”
In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that started World War 1.
Could it be possible that we just witnessed the spark that will start World War 3?
Only time will tell, but at this moment more U.S. troops are being deployed to the Middle East…
The first wave of hundreds of U.S. Army paratroopers from a rapid reaction force has deployed to Kuwait in response to the assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad by pro-Iran militiamen, with thousands more soldiers on alert for snap deployment.
On Wednesday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, paratroopers from the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division boarded C-17 Globemaster aircraft transports bound for Kuwait.
These are the days of “the perfect storm”, and many are anticipating that 2020 will be the most tumultuous year in modern history.
By killing Suleimani, Trump has essentially “crossed the Rubicon”, and there will be no going back.
So now it is up to Iran to make the next move.
They can roll over and give up now that Suleimani is dead, or they can choose to escalate matters even further and push the entire region to the brink of war.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten that we were literally on the brink of war with Iran earlier this year. Back in June, President Trump cancelled a major U.S. bombing mission against Iran at the last minute, and things seemed to settle down quite a bit since that time. But now tensions are rising once again. On Sunday, U.S. airstrikes targeted Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that U.S. officials believe have been behind recent rocket attacks against U.S. forces. Of course those Iranian-backed forces never would have launched such attacks in the first place if they did not have permission from Tehran itself. The Iranians love to hide behind proxies, and for now the U.S. is only conducting airstrikes against those proxies. But at some point President Trump’s patience is likely to run out, and at that point we could start hitting Iran itself. Over the past six months, the U.S. has sent 14,000 more troops to the Middle East, and it is being reported that “the Pentagon is considering deploying additional forces to the region”. The drumbeats of war are starting to get louder again, and many believe that eventually one side is likely to push the other side a bit too far.
The attacks that we just witnessed were supposed to send a very strong message to Tehran. According to the Daily Mail, five separate targets were hit, and at least 19 people were killed…
US air strikes left 19 people dead in Iraq and Syria on Sunday in retaliation against an Iranian-backed militia group blamed for a rocket attack two days earlier that killed an American contractor.
F-15 Strike Eagles hit five targets associated with Kataib Hezbollah, the Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
These airstrikes were launched to directly retaliate for the casualties that U.S. forces suffered from a rocket attack on one of their bases in Iraq on Friday…
Officials with the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS said Friday that a U.S. civilian contractor was killed and several American troops were wounded in a rocket attack targeting an Iraqi base in Kirkuk.
The attack, which occurred Friday around 7:20 p.m. local time in Iraq, also wounded several Iraqi personnel, officials with Operation Inherent Resolve told Military Times in an emailed statement.
But of course that attack was just the latest in a series of rocket attacks that have targeted U.S. forces lately…
U.S. officials believe Iranian-backed militias are behind a recent spate of rocket attacks that have targeted U.S. bases and interests in Iraq over the last couple months.
A U.S. official told Military Times that Iran-backed militias are now using more lethal and longer range 122 mm rockets in their attacks.
Friday’s attack on Kirkuk is at least the eleventh rocket attack targeting an outpost housing American forces in the last two months.
I am certainly not a fan of military conflict, but if I am sitting in the White House and someone keeps lobbing rockets at my troops I wouldn’t wait two months to hit them back.
So why did President Trump wait so long?
As I noted earlier, these Iranian-backed militias wouldn’t be doing anything without approval from Tehran. If Trump really wants these rocket attacks to stop, Iranian leaders need to be sent a message that will be clear and unmistakable.
And it appears that U.S. officials may be starting to lean in that direction. In fact, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told the press on Sunday that more military action “could be warranted”…
Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared briefly in a club ballroom to comment on the airstrikes.
Esper termed the offensive “successful,” but said that Trump was informed that a further military response could be warranted.
Personally, I don’t know what the Iranians are thinking.
Perhaps they believe that if they use their proxies to make things uncomfortable enough for U.S. forces that Trump will eventually pull them out of the region.
But if that is what they are really thinking, they have badly miscalculated.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to get cozy with Russia and China. In fact, the three nations are currently conducting “their first-ever joint naval drills”…
This weekend, China, Iran, and Russia began their first-ever joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman. The training exercises were announced by China’s defense ministry on Thursday, as all three nations continue to have strained relations with the United States and its allies.
The Russians have developed a very strong military presence in the Middle East in recent years, and Russia and China have both warned about what a war between the U.S. and Iran would mean for the entire region.
A major war in the Middle East would have very serious implications for the entire globe, and it would risk sparking a much wider conflict.
Right now our relations with Russia are already the worst that they have been since the end of the Cold War, and they just continue to deteriorate.
Most Americans don’t spend too much time thinking about a potential war with Russia, but over in Russia there is lots of talk about a possible military confrontation. In fact, Russia’s top general recently warned that the western powers are preparing for a “large-scale military conflict”…
Russia’s top general has warned a big war is coming in a chilling prediction amid ongoing tensions with NATO.
Valery Gerasimov, the chief Vladimir Putin’s general staff, has said he believes the West are preparing for a “large-scale military conflict”.
He was speaking at a senior briefing for the military – saying that the West has assigned “adversary status” to Russia.
Ultimately, one of the big reasons why Trump may have been so hesitant to be more aggressive with Iran is because he realizes that it could potentially spark World War 3.
Because once we go to war with Iran, the Iranians are going to start launching missiles directly at Israel, and Israel would undoubtedly strike back with overwhelming force.
Once the dominoes start falling, it could very easily set off a sequence of events that nobody is going to be able to control.
We definitely live at a time of wars and rumors of wars, and peace could be taken from the Earth very easily.
So let us hope that cooler heads prevail.
But if the Iranians keep pushing their luck, it is only a matter of time before Trump gets fed up, and when he decides to hit them directly he is going to hit them exceedingly hard.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
On Tuesday, terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s targeted killing of the senior commander of Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Many of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, but quite a few got through, and some even reached as far as Tel Aviv. Following those rocket attacks, Israeli tanks and aircraft pounded Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli officials are pledging to continue to respond to any additional attacks. Unfortunately, it certainly sounds like more attacks are coming. According to Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala, his organization is “going to war” with Israel. The following comes from the Times of Israel…
“We are going to war. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has crossed all the red lines in assassinating Al-Quds Brigades Commander Baha Abu al-Ata. We will respond forcefully,” PIJ Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala told the Dar al-Hayat Arabic-language news site.
Israeli officials felt that they had no choice but to kill Baha Abu al-Ata once they had a clear opportunity to do so. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he was an “archterrorist” and was “the main instigator of terrorism from the Gaza Strip”. The Israeli people are fed up with the endless rocket attacks, and so it makes sense that Israel would target the man that initiated so many of those attacks.
But to Islamic Jihad, Baha Abu al-Ata was a greatly beloved hero, and his death sent shockwaves throughout the entire Middle East. Once news of his death got out, terrorists in Gaza fired “more than 200 rockets into Israel”…
Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip sent a barrage of more than 200 rockets into Israel Tuesday and vowed further revenge after the Israeli military carried out a pair of targeted airstrikes on senior Islamic Jihad commanders, killing one in Gaza and missing the second in Syria.
An Israeli airstrike killed Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, and his wife as they slept in their home in eastern Gaza Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said. Conricus added that Abu al-Ata was responsible for a number of recent rocket attacks on southern Israel and claimed he was actively planning new attacks.
In response to those rocket attacks, IDF tanks and planes absolutely pummeled Islamic Jihad military outposts…
Israeli tanks attacked three Islamic Jihad military posts in the Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon.
An IDF spokesperson stated: “A short while ago, IDF tanks targeted three PIJ military posts in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli Air Force has also bombed numerous Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza in response to the firing of dozens of rockets by the terrorist organization.
And IDF spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told the press that the Israelis are “prepared for several days of battle” if it comes to that.
We shall see what happens, but it appears that we may be looking at a conflict that will last a whole lot longer that just a few days.
Islamic Jihad is promising a campaign of revenge that will “have no borders”, and it is being reported that Israel’s enemies are considering “opening a second or third front in the north”…
DEBKAfile’s sources report that when Israel’s security cabinet was convening in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, so too were senior officials in Tehran, Damascus and Beirut. They were discussing whether to punish Israel by opening a second or third front in the north.
The Palestinian Jihad also maintains armed forces in Syria and Lebanon, who may be conscripted in both countries for strikes against northern and central Israel in solidarity with their brothers in Gaza. The Gaza headquarters initially reacted to the death of its leader by announcing that their retaliation “would have no borders.” Then, after firing some 50 rockets, Jihad stated that as yet “unprecedented retaliation” was still to come, suggesting that Israel faced attacks from additional borders.
Of course every time Israel’s enemies escalate the conflict, Israel is going to hit back even harder.
And if this conflict escalates enough, it could pull in the Iranians and all of their close allies in the region. In recent years, Islamic Jihad has actually forged very close ties with Tehran. The following comes from the Jerusalem Post…
PIJ is important for Iran because Tehran’s regime often argues that it is the center of “resistance” against Israel and the US. In order to weave a narrative of “resistance,” it must show that it is actually doing something against Israel. Since Iran doesn’t like to sacrifice its own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, it works through other groups. In Lebanon it supplies Hezbollah with precision guidance for its rocket arsenal; in Gaza it has relations with PIJ and also with Hamas.
At some point, Israel will find itself fighting against Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran all at the same time.
Could it be possible that we are right on the precipice of that war?
Without a doubt, many on both sides of the conflict are eager to achieve final victory. For example, on Tuesday one activist group in Israel was openly calling for war with Hamas…
The group’s activists were seen hanging signs around the country reading, “Bibi – Give Us The Order!”
“The time has come for Israel to achieve victory over Hamas and all the terror organizations in Gaza,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg. “Peace is made with defeated enemies, and that’s the only way to restore quiet to the south. Today’s assassination of a senior Gazan terrorist was a step in the right direction, and now we need to take the next step and defeat the terror in Gaza once and for all.”
If rockets were constantly being fired at my family and friends, I think that my patience would be gone too.
There simply is not going to be lasting peace in the region as long as the status quo exists. Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian government have all pledged to permanently wipe Israel off the map, and the Israelis are going to respond to every attack against them by hitting back extremely hard.
Whether it happens today, tomorrow or at some future time, the truth is that a major war is coming to the Middle East.
And once that war happens, none of our lives will ever be the same again.
About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.
In the aftermath of the tightest election that Israel has seen in a long time, headlines all over the world are boldly declaring that “the Netanyahu era is over”. But that is not necessarily true. At this point it is going to be exceedingly difficult for anyone to put together a governing coalition, and as I will explain in this article, there are still a couple of ways that Benjamin Netanyahu could hold on to power. This is a drama that is probably going to take an extended period of time to unfold, and Avigdor Lieberman is in the catbird seat. The decisions that he makes in the coming days are going to be absolutely critical.
Let’s start by talking about the election results. With over 90 percent of the vote counted, the Blue and White party (Kahol Lavan) and Likud have almost the same number of seats…
With 91 percent of the votes counted, Kahol Lavan has won 32 out of 120 Knesset seats, with Likud behind with 31 seats. Netanyahu’s bloc, comprised of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties, currently stands at 55 seats. The center-left bloc has 56 seats.
Avigdor Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beiteinu party is projected to have nine seats, is expected to be the election’s kingmaker. On Wednesday morning, he reiterated his support for a “broad liberal unity government,” which would include Yisrael Beiteinu, Likud and Kahol Lavan.
It may look like the Blue and White Party is just a few seats away from establishing a governing coalition, but that is not true at all.
The “56 seats” projected above includes the 13 seats won by the Joint List of Arab parties, and Benny Gantz has already ruled out any coalition that includes them.
Plus, if Gantz tried to include them in any coalition, he would immediately lose any hope of attracting Lieberman.
So at this point, it appears exceedingly unlikely that Gantz can get to the 61 seats that he needs to become the prime minister.
Of course things don’t look promising for Netanyahu either, and as a result he felt forced to cancel his visit to the UN next week…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday canceled a visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week amid political uncertainty in Israel, where he appeared to fall short of a government majority in national elections.
With just 55 seats, Netanyahu’s coalition is 6 seats short of a governing majority, and so the answer would seem to be to pull in Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party.
But Lieberman and Netanyahu had a major falling out last November when Netanyahu refused to go to war with Hamas. Lieberman promptly resigned as defense minister, and he now says that he will not join any coalition if Netanyahu is the prime minister.
Things certainly look bleak for now, but could it be possible that Netanyahu could find a way to repair that relationship?
Maybe, but he would almost certainly have to give Lieberman just about everything that he wants, and that would include a military invasion of Gaza. Lieberman is literally holding Netanyahu’s political future in his hands, and he knows it. He may never have this sort of leverage ever again, and Lieberman is the sort of politician that will squeeze as much juice out of this moment as he possibly can.
If Netanyahu can persuade Lieberman to join his coalition, and that is a very big “if”, then Netanyahu will get another term as prime minister.
The other way that Netanyahu could remain prime minister is if nobody is able to form a coalition and another election is held a few months from now.
A lot can change in a few months, and Netanyahu could try to rectify the mistakes that he made this time around. In an article that he posted before the election, Jerry Golden explained why so many conservative Israelis are upset with Netanyahu…
A lot of Israelis are very upset with Netanyahu for not taking out Hamas after the last 700 missiles fired into our civilian population from Gaza. He knows he is in trouble and many of us here are very concerned that because of the dissatisfaction with him the liberals will win the election tomorrow.
He is now saying if he wins he will annex all the land of Judea and Samaria and even Hebron, along with the Jordan Valley. The problem is he has had around ten years to do all these and didn’t. Now many believe it is just out of desperation that he is saying these things “again”.
If no governing coalition is formed, Netanyahu could theoretically use the time period before the next election to conduct a military invasion of Gaza. This would win him back a large number of conservative votes, and that might be enough to propel him to another term as prime minister.
In any event, it appears that a military invasion of Gaza is probably coming sooner rather than later, and that means that our relationship with Israel is likely to be a very hot political issue during the 2020 U.S. election cycle.
Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is on the rise all over the nation. In fact, one recent study found that anti-Israel attitudes are rising dramatically on our college campuses…
Direct targeting of Israel’s supporters for harm, especially Jewish students, reached alarming rates: acts accusing Jewish and pro-Israel students of supporting racism, genocide and other evils more than doubled; 47% increase linking Jewish and pro-Israel students to “white supremacy”; attempts to exclude Jewish and pro-Israel students from campus activities more than doubled, with expression calling for the total boycott or exclusion of pro-Israel students from campus life nearly tripling.
Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey, it has a population of less than 10 million people, and yet it is constantly at the center of the world’s attention. Millions upon millions of people greatly love Israel, millions upon millions of people greatly hate Israel, and it is going to play a critical role in the global drama that is currently unfolding all around us.
And as this drama continues to play out in the years ahead, it is entirely possible that Benjamin Netanyahu will still be the prime minister.
We shall see what happens during the coming days, but the truth is that this game is far from over.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
Last November, Avigdor Lieberman resigned as Israel’s defense minister when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to reject Lieberman’s plan for a military operation in Gaza and agree to a ceasefire with Hamas instead. At the time, Lieberman called the ceasefire a “surrender to terrorism”, and of course it didn’t last very long at all. Hamas has continued to bombard Israel with rockets in the months since then, and this has once again brought Israel and Hamas to the brink of war. But everything was on hold until Tuesday’s election, and it appears that the outcome of that election is going to make war with Hamas much, much more likely.
According to the exit polls, the Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz and Netanyahu’s Likud will win about the same number of parliamentary seats. But neither of them will be able to come close to forming a majority without Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party, and that makes Lieberman Israel’s new “kingmaker”. The following comes from the BBC…
Exit polls following Israel’s second general election in five months suggest the result is too close to call.
The centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz is projected to win between 32 and 34 seats, and PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party 30 to 33 seats.
Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman may end up being kingmaker.
This gives Lieberman an extraordinary amount of leverage, and he has already stated that he plans to use that leverage to force Likud and the Blue and White party into “a national-unity government”. The following comes from the Jerusalem Post…
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman promised on Tuesday night that his party would fulfil its campaign vow to ensure the establishment of a national-unity government without the ultra-Orthodox and religious-Zionist parties.
“We have only one option. A liberal, national, broad unity government made of Yisrael Beytenu, Likud, and Blue and White,” said Liberman speaking above raucous cheers of jubilation at the party’s election party late Tuesday night.
Don’t be misled by Lieberman’s use of terms such as “liberal”, because the truth is that he is the number one war hawk in all of Israeli politics.
In fact, he makes Netanyahu look like a dove in comparison. When Netanyahu refused to go to war with Hamas last November, Lieberman promptly resigned as defense minister. And since that time, he has been telling anyone that would listen what needs to be done in Gaza.
For example, he made the following statements in March…
“Today, when the military enters Gaza, it will have significantly better capabilities than the Second Lebanon War. But in the end, when you embark on such a campaign, you want to ensure the safety of the soldiers,” he said. “Terror always has a bottom. In order to dry out terror, we must reach the critical mass. You have to kill thousands, arrest thousands more, and the rest will disperse.”
But, he said, “The reality in Gaza is that the group has terror infrastructures with military capabilities, and this is a very problematic situation. We have to destroy the military infrastructure in Gaza, and it will not be by a political move or only by airstrikes.”
And he has been very outspoken about the fact that Netanyahu “personally torpedoed” his plans “to deal with Gaza”…
Former Defense Minister MK Avigdor Liberman said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally torpedoed plans to strike Gaza during a significant escalation in violence between Israel and Hamas in November.
“Netanyahu personally torpedoed the plans,” the Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu told Ben Caspit at the Maariv Security Conference on Wednesday. “We have enough tools to deal with Gaza and I had a full plan.”
In this election, it looks like Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party will roughly double the number of seats they hold in parliament, and I guarantee you that Lieberman will not join any coalition unless he is assured that Israel will invade Gaza.
In the days leading up to the election, I think that Netanyahu realized that he was losing votes to Lieberman, and that may be why he said that it looks like Israel has “no other choice” other than to invade Gaza. In the end, that didn’t stop many Israelis from voting for Lieberman instead, and now Lieberman has more political power than ever.
If Netanyahu had moved to crush Hamas earlier, he might not be fighting for his political future now. The Israeli people have grown very weary of rockets constantly being fired at them from the south, and an increasing number of Israelis want someone that will take decisive action. So it is not exactly a surprise that someone like Lieberman has experienced a surge in popularity.
So what should we expect next?
After the formation of a government, we should expect Israel to launch a military operation inside Gaza at some point after the upcoming Jewish holidays. Of course this would have the potential of sparking a much wider regional conflict, but the Israeli people are simply not going to put up with the endless rocket attacks coming from Gaza any longer.
And of course all of this is happening at the same time that a military conflict between the United States and Iran is potentially looming. World War 3 could literally erupt at any time, and once it starts, the Middle East will never be the same again.
For Hamas, the Israeli election could not have gone any worse.
If either Likud or the Blue and White party had won a landslide victory, there would have been a slight possibility that war could have been avoided.
But now Lieberman is in the catbird seat, and that means that Gaza is about to get flattened.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
With elections looming on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that Israel has “no other choice” other than to invade Gaza in order to overthrow the Hamas regime in power there. In fact, the Jerusalem Post is reporting that on Friday Netanyahu said that war “could happen at any moment”. The Prime Minister and other Israeli officials are sick and tired of rockets being constantly fired into Israel, and they have come to the conclusion that a peaceful resolution with Hamas is simply not possible. Here in the United States many on the left will criticize Israel for taking military action, but how long would any U.S. president wait before taking military action against a terror group that was firing missiles at us? The truth is that Israel has been exceedingly patient with the situation in Gaza, but now the time for patience has run out.
In recent days, Netanyahu has made it exceedingly clear what is about to happen. Here is one example from the Jerusalem Post…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Thursday that Israel may have no choice but to embark on a military operation in Gaza to overthrow Hamas.
“It looks like there will be no other choice but to embark on a wide scale campaign in Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet Radio shortly before he boarded a flight to Moscow where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And here is another quote where he essentially says the exact same thing…
“There probably won’t be a choice but to topple the Hamas regime. Hamas doesn’t exert its sovereignty in the Strip and doesn’t prevent attacks,” he said. “We have a situation in which a terror group that launches rockets has taken over, and doesn’t rein in rogue factions even when it wants to.”
Netanyahu’s comments also came two days after a campaign rally in the southern city of Ashdod was interrupted by incoming rocket sirens after rockets were fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
I am not sure how Netanyahu could be any clearer. Here is a third example…
“I do not wage war unless it is a last resort and I don’t risk the lives of our soldiers and citizens just to get applause,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet Radio. “We will probably have no choice but to set out on a big campaign, a war against the terror forces in Gaza.”
“I won’t start it one minute before we are ready, and we are preparing for a `different war’,” he added, shortly before flying to Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu always chooses his words very carefully. He is a gifted communicator, and we have never seen him talk quite like this before.
In the past, Israel has responded to rocket attacks from Gaza by conducting targeted airstrikes, and this is something that we witnessed yet again on Wednesday…
Early Wednesday, Israeli jets launched air strikes on 15 targets belonging to the Hamas terror group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in response to the rockets fired at Ashdod and Ashkelon, which were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, according to the IDF.
But it has become clear that airstrikes will never be enough to permanently stop the rocket attacks, and so the Israeli government is preparing to initiate a major ground operation inside Gaza.
Of course this could potentially spark a much wider regional war. Israel and Hezbollah have literally been on the brink of war for months, and so if a major conflict erupts it is easy to envision Hezbollah jumping in to aid their allies in the south.
Right now, Hezbollah has approximately 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel, and their troops are battle-hardened after fighting for many years in Syria.
And if Israel and Hezbollah go to war, there is a very strong possibility that Iran could get involved as well.
Basically we are just a hop, skip and jump away from a cataclysmic war in the Middle East, and this is one of the reasons why Israel has shown so much restraint.
But at some point action must be taken. No nation is going to allow terrorist organizations to keep firing rockets at their citizens indefinitely, and the Israeli government has had enough.
As IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi recently stated, there is “a moral obligation to defend the nation’s citizens against the armies of terrorism that surround them”…
“The changes in the enemy demand that the IDF make changes and adjust its forces and methods of warfare, so urban areas cannot shield the enemy. The firepower the enemy will encounter in the next war will be unprecedented, and a country that allows terrorism to entrench itself in its territory will be seen as responsible for it, and suffer the consequences,” Kochavi warned.
“The IDF has a moral obligation to defend the nation’s citizens against the armies of terrorism that surround them. When the Israeli homefront is under threat by thousands of missiles and rockets, we won’t hesitate to strike a massive blow to eradicate those threats. We will attack and preserve our values, but a main tenet of those values is the need to protect our citizens,” he said.
Personally, I doubt that the Israeli military operation will happen before the election on Tuesday, but I could be wrong.
And let us also hope that it can be postponed until after the upcoming Jewish holidays.
But it is coming, and once Israeli tanks roll into Gaza everything will change. Global events are about to accelerate significantly, and so many of the things that we have been watching for are about to happen.
Both sides have been preparing for this war for a very long time, and the death and destruction will be immense.
Things are eerily quiet for the moment, but the fighting will soon commence, and when it does this will become the biggest news story on the entire planet.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
It has been a seemingly quiet summer in America so far, but meanwhile we are witnessing major developments on the other side of the globe that could change everything. We are so close to war, and yet most people have absolutely no idea what is happening. In fact, if you showed most Americans a blank map of the world, they couldn’t even pick out Iran, Hong Kong or North Korea. There is so much apathy in our society today, and so little knowledge about foreign affairs, and so most people simply do not grasp the importance of the drama that is playing out right in front of our eyes. But if a major war does erupt, none of our lives are ever going to be the same again. So I am going to keep writing about these things, because I believe that we have reached an absolutely critical juncture in our history.
Let’s start with a stunning new development in the Middle East.
Even though most Americans do not realize it, Israel and Iran are already shooting at each other. Israel has been striking Iranian military targets inside Syria for months, but now the rules of engagement have apparently changed, because in recent days the IDF has started conducting airstrikes against Iranian targets inside Iraq…
In an unprecedented move, Israel has expanded its attacks on Iranian targets, with two bombing strikes on Iran-run bases in Iraq in the space of ten days. The Israeli Air Force carried out the military strikes with F-35 jets, according to Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London. News of the attacks comes just a day after the US and Israel tested a missile defence system which used targets “similar to Iranian nuclear missiles”.
The reason this is being called “an unprecedented move” is because this is the very first time since 1981 that we have seen Israeli airstrikes inside Iraq.
Needless to say, these latest airstrikes have absolutely enraged the Iranians. It looks like the Israeli government has determined that any Iranian military targets outside of Iran itself are fair game, and it is probably only a matter of time before Iran strikes back in a major way.
And if Iran ultimately decides that one of the best ways to strike back is to start hitting targets inside of Israel, that could be the spark that sets off a major war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, it appears that something major is brewing in China.
The political protests that have made global headlines in Hong Kong in recent weeks have greatly angered the Chinese government. They were probably hoping that the protests would quickly subside and soon be forgotten, but that hasn’t happened.
So now China is faced with a decision. If such protests were happening elsewhere in China, they would be brutally crushed, but Hong Kong is a special case.
If the Chinese are too harsh with the protesters in Hong Kong, that could turn world opinion against them, but if they do nothing that could encourage protests to start happening in other area of the country.
In the end, the Chinese will probably do what they always do, and that means crushing the opposition. And Zero Hedge is reporting that Chinese forces are currently gathering “on Hong Kong’s border”…
Massive anti-Beijing protests which have gripped Hong Kong over the past month, and have become increasingly violent as both an overwhelmed local police force and counter-protesters have hit back with force, are threatening to escalate on a larger geopolitical scale after the White House weighed in this week.
With China fast losing patience, there are new reports of a significant build-up of Chinese security forces on Hong Kong’s border, as Bloomberg reports:
The White House is monitoring what a senior administration official called a congregation of Chinese forces on Hong Kong’s border.
Technically, Hong Kong is considered to be part of China, but it has always been allowed wide latitude to govern itself ever since it was handed over to the Chinese.
But now things could be about to change dramatically, and some are even using the word “invade” to describe what is about to happen. For example, just consider this tweet from Kyle Bass…
If Chinese forces start pouring into Hong Kong, the Trump administration is going to throw a fit. Relations between our two nations are already the worst that they have been since the end of the Korean War, and the situation in Hong Kong could potentially push things over the edge.
In fact, the Chinese have already been placing the blame for the protests in Hong Kong squarely on the U.S. government…
“It’s clear that Mr. Pompeo has put himself in the wrong position and still regards himself as the head of the CIA,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing. “He might think that violent activities in Hong Kong are reasonable because after all, this is the creation of the U.S.”
China’s position has been to recently declare the protests going “far beyond” what’s legal and “peaceful” amid clashes with police.
We shall see what happens, but this certainly has the potential to push the United States and China much, much closer to conflict.
On top of everything else, North Korea just fired two more missiles into the ocean…
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles early on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, only days after it launched two other missiles intended to pressure South Korea and the United States to stop upcoming military drills.
The latest launches were from the Hodo peninsula on North Korea’s east coast, the same area from where last week’s were conducted, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. It said it was monitoring in case of additional launches.
The North Koreans are greatly alarmed by the joint military drills that the U.S. and South Korea will soon be conducting, and whenever they get greatly upset about something they seem to express that displeasure by firing off more missiles.
Yes, President Trump and Kim Jong-Un have been talking, but things remain extremely tense and it wouldn’t take very much at all for a major conflict to erupt on the Korean peninsula.
Without a doubt, we live at a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and those with discerning eyes can see what is happening.
The chess pieces are slowly being moved into place, and the combatants are almost ready.
Any number of things could ultimately spark World War 3, and once it begins it is going to be nearly impossible to stop.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
It is funny – for decades we have never had any problems with commercial ships passing through the Persian Gulf, but all of a sudden it has become a major flashpoint. As you will see below, the Iranians are now warning that they plan to “secure” the Strait of Hormuz, and meanwhile a plan for a European-led naval task force to confront the Iranians is rapidly coming together. The seizure of a British tanker a few days ago really rattled British officials, and they are determined to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Of course the more the Persian Gulf region becomes saturated with military assets, the more likely it is that a “mistake” will happen, and it sure won’t take much of a spark to start World War 3 at this point.
Today, close to 20 percent of all the oil produced in the entire world passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and that makes it an exceedingly important waterway. U.S. and European officials continue to stress the importance of freedom of navigation through the area, and they appear to be losing patience with the Iranians.
But Iran does not intend to back down one bit. On Tuesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that his country “will use its best efforts” to secure the Strait of Hormuz. The following comes from the Jerusalem Post…
“Iran will use its best efforts to secure the region, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, and will not allow any disturbance in shipping in this sensitive area,” Araqchi told French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, IRNA reported.
So what does that mean exactly?
Do the Iranians plan to keep grabbing oil tankers whenever it suits them?
The seizure of the Stena Impero pushed us dangerously close to war, and the British government is still hoping that negotiations will result in the release of that tanker.
However, the British also plan to flex their military muscles in order to keep such an incident from happening again, and they are calling for other European nations to join them…
France, Italy and Denmark gave initial support for a British plan for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, proposed after Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker, three senior EU diplomats said on Tuesday.
The cautious backing at a meeting of EU envoys in Brussels contrasts sharply with the lukewarm response shown by European allies to a similar American call first voiced at NATO in late June, when countries feared they could make U.S.-Iranian tensions worse.
Could this be the very beginning of a “coalition of the willing”?
According to Reuters, this task force would likely include “aircraft too”, and that is definitely raising some eyebrows…
British foreign ministry and defense officials have also discussed a possible mission, which would likely involve not just ships but aircraft too, directly with their Italian, Spanish, French and German counterparts.
A senior German diplomat in Berlin said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was in close contact with his British and French counterparts, Hunt and Jean-Yves Le Drian, to “contribute to the security” of the Gulf including on maritime security.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is making headlines as well. In an interview with CBS News, CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth McKenzie claimed that U.S. forces may have actually shot down at least two Iranian drones last week…
The U.S. believes it may have brought down two Iranian drones last week, rather than just the one that has been reported, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told CBS News’ David Martin in an interview Tuesday aboard the USS Boxer, the ship that took action against the drones. Asked by Martin whether it was “only one drone,” McKenzie revealed that he believed the Boxer had engaged two drones “successfully” and perhaps even more.
“As always it was a complex tactical picture, we believe two drones. We believe two drones were successfully — there may have been more that we are not aware of — those are the two that we engaged successfully,” said McKenzie.
We should be very thankful that there is no more shooting for the moment, but that could change at any time.
And even if things stabilize in the short-term, the truth is that it is going to be exceedingly difficult to stop the countdown to war at this point. The U.S. and Israel have both made it exceedingly clear that they will never allow the Iranians to develop their nuclear program past a certain level, and the Iranians have been racing to move their program forward ever since the U.S. left Obama’s nuclear agreement.
Unless there is some sort of crazy miracle and another nuclear agreement happens, it appears that war is on the horizon.
Also, I wanted to mention that we just witnessed a very alarming “incident” off the coast of South Korea on Tuesday…
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming they had fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft early Tuesday morning after it had twice violated the country’s airspace, the first such incident between the countries.
Moscow furiously denied Seoul’s account of the encounter, claiming that South Korean military jets had dangerously intercepted two of its bombers during a planned flight over neutral waters.
That is a huge number of “warning shots”, and it is yet another example of how tense things are all over the world at this point.
Without a doubt, we are living during a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and once World War 3 begins we will not be able to stop it.
So let us pray for peace, because the alternative is too horrible to even think about right now.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
The U.S. military is following many of the exact same patterns that we witnessed during our previous wars in the Middle East, and that even includes setting up shop at a key military base deep in the heart of the Arabian peninsula. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. military abandoned Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, but now they are back. Hundreds of U.S. troops are already there working hard to get the base operational, and as you will see below, a tremendous amount of new construction is planned. The base covers “well over a hundred square miles”, and so it has more than enough room to serve as a central hub for a new Middle East war. Tensions with Iran have escalated dramatically over the past few weeks, but apparently somebody anticipated that the U.S. would need to use this base even before then, because according to NBC News U.S. troops were already arriving back in June…
In June the U.S. military began moving equipment and hundreds of troops back to a military base in Saudi Arabia that the U.S. deserted more than 15 years ago, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the deployment.
Over the coming weeks the deployment to Prince Sultan Air Base, intended to counter the threat from Iran, will grow to include fighter jets and Patriot long-range missile defense systems, the officials said. The Patriots have already arrived at the base and should be operational in mid-July, while the aircraft are expected to arrive in August.
And it turns out that the U.S. military has used this base during all of our previous wars in the Middle East.
For example, according to Air Force Magazine the U.S. military first occupied Prince Sultan Air Base for a few months during Operation Desert Storm…
The US Air Force first occupied the sprawling base in two frantic months from November 1990 to January 1991, then departed. Five years later, USAF and coalition forces moved back into the base. It quickly became a massive facility, home to a state-of-the-art air operations center and serving as the hub for air activity in the region.
Then later on, the base played a key role during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The following comes from the Military Times…
Starting with the January 1991 air war against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait the previous summer, the U.S. flew a wide range of aircraft from Prince Sultan air base, originally known as al-Kharj. Supported by an all-American array of creature comforts like fast-food restaurants and swimming pools, U.S. forces there flew and maintained Air Force fighters and other warplanes.
The base also served as a launch pad for the December 1998 bombing of Iraq, code-named Operation Desert Fox, which targeted sites believed to be associated with Iraq’s nuclear and missile programs. In 2001, the base became home to the U.S. military’s main air control organization, known as the Combined Air Operations Center, which orchestrated the air war in Afghanistan until it was relocated in 2003 to al-Udeid air base in Qatar.
But U.S. activity at the base didn’t reach a crescendo until Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Here is more from Air Force Magazine…
Other delicate negotiations came down to the wire just before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “We’ve had very productive meetings regarding military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the event of military action against Iraq,” State Department official Richard Boucher announced Feb. 26, 2003.
That day, newspapers reported that the Saudis granted formal permission for PSAB to be used in the war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom began March 19.
Once again, PSAB pulled its weight in the air campaign. Fuel was a metric showing just how far PSAB had come since 1996. Prince Sultan Air Base operated at maximum rates during major combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 19 to May 1, 2003. During that time, the 363rd Fuels Management Flight issued more than one million gallons per day. Officials had previously expanded the fuel storage capacity at Prince Sultan from two million to more than 15 million gallons.
So as you can see, every time the U.S. has decided to go to war in the Middle East, Prince Sultan Air Base has played a leading role.
And now after all this time we have suddenly returned.
This time around, it appears that the U.S. is planning for a very long stay. According to NBC News, existing roads and runways will be reinforced and expanded, and the U.S. military is even going to “build a medical facility”…
While Prince Sultan Air Base is an active facility, portions of the base will need an upgrade to accommodate the U.S. military, including reinforcing and expanding roads and runways, one U.S. official said. Base housing will also need updating, the official said, and the U.S. will build a medical facility. Many of the U.S. service members deployed there over the past few weeks are engineers preparing the base for the new mission.
Apparently whoever is in charge of making these sorts of decisions is not very optimistic about peace with Iran.
A tremendous amount of money and effort is required for a project like this, because it is basically the equivalent of putting up a small American city in the middle of nowhere. The base covers “well over a hundred square miles”, and all the way back in 2002 Wolf Blitzer called it “a little sliver of America in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula”…
“By the time the base complex was completed in 1999, it had cost the government of Saudi Arabia more than $1 billion and covered well over a hundred square miles,” found Air Force historian Daniel L. Haulman.
Food was also a priority. Baskin-Robbins ice cream set up shop as did other popular vendors such as Pizza Inn and Burger King. In time, the exchange provided a small haven of food, shopping, and diversion. “It’s a little sliver of America in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula,” enthused CNN’s war correspondent Wolf Blitzer, who visited the base in December 2002 as forces there prepared for intensifying action against Iraq.
I suppose that the Saudis want us to be as comfortable as possible if we are going to fight a war that will greatly benefit them.
After all, the Saudis and the Iranians have been engaged in a proxy war for many years, and so the Saudis would be absolutely thrilled to see the U.S. military bomb the living daylights out of them.
And Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs actually sounds quite eager for the action to start…
“Any attack on the freedom of navigation is a violation of international law,” Adel Aljubeir said in a Twitter post.
“Iran must realise its acts of intercepting ships, including most recently the British ship, are completely unacceptable. The world community must take action to deter such behaviour,” he added.
But as I discussed in a previous article, if the American people truly understood what a war against Iran would be like, there would be millions of protesters in Washington D.C. right now trying to stop it from happening. It would be a horrible, bloody, apocalyptic war that would set the entire Middle East ablaze, and it would set the stage for the sort of nightmare scenarios that I have been relentlessly warning about.
Unfortunately, so far only a very small portion of the U.S. population seems alarmed about any of this.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is rapidly preparing for war, and Prince Sultan Air Base is now buzzing with U.S. military activity for the very first time since the invasion of Iraq.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
It has become exceedingly clear that if the U.S. and Iran go to war, the entire region is going to be set ablaze. Iran has already threatened to hit Israel extremely hard if the U.S. attacks, and hordes of Hezbollah fighters are massing along Israel’s borders right now in anticipation of a military conflict. As you will see below, it is estimated that Hezbollah now has 150,000 missiles of their own pointed at Israel, and one Hezbollah military officer recently warned that they “will fire the first shot this time”. The war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 was highly destructive, but the truth is that it isn’t even worth comparing to what the next conflict will be like. Today, Hezbollah is the most heavily armed terror organization the world has ever seen, and their forces are battle-hardened after spending many years engaged in the bloody war in Syria. After victory after victory in that struggle, now those same fighters are being deployed along the Israeli border. The following comes from the Daily Beast…
Hezbollah’s forces, battle-hardened in the Syrian civil war, have begun redeploying toward the Israeli border, not only in Lebanon, but in Syria opposite the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights.
Hezbollah fighters who spoke to The Daily Beast say their organization is hurting from sanctions and ready to initiate hostilities—if and when Tehran deems that necessary.
All Tehran has to do is give the order and those forces are going in.
In fact, one Hezbollah commander that was interviewed by the Daily Beast is openly admitting that “we will fire the first shot this time”…
“The sanctions now have us preparing for dealing with the Israeli front,” says “Commander Samir,” a Hezbollah officer in charge of 800 fighters on Lebanon’s border with Israel. He declines to use his real name because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “We will fire the first shot this time,” he says.
As I keep warning, we are literally on the verge of World War 3 breaking out in the Middle East.
The moment U.S. missiles start hitting Iran, the Israelis will have to go on full alert because they will be attacked.
One Hezbollah official even said that “if any missile hits Iran, it will be treated like Israel did it”.
And let there be no doubt – Hezbollah is fully capable of raining down hell on Israeli cities. According to a report in an Israeli news source from late last year, it is estimated that Hezbollah’s arsenal of missiles and rockets has now risen to 150,000…
The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah’s arsenal of missiles and rockets has grown to 150,000, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) revealed Sunday.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies on Sunday, Erdan highlighted the increasing military presence of Iran and its allies along the Israeli border, Israel Hayom reported.
Can you imagine the devastation that would be caused by 150,000 missiles and rockets being fired into an area roughly the size of New Jersey?
Yes, the Israeli military would intercept some of them, but many would get through.
Of course Israel has even more firepower, and they would undoubtedly win the conflict. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Israel would “act with tremendous force” if a war with Hezbollah were to erupt.
Unfortunately, it probably would not be just Hezbollah that Israel would be fighting. The Iranians have also been “providing training and support” for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. And it definitely raised eyebrows when a delegation from Hamas visited Tehran over the weekend. The following comes from the Jerusalem Post…
The head of the political bureau of the Hamas terrorist movement, Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday that he hoped that a visit by a senior Hamas delegation in Tehran over the weekend would provide “important results,” according to a Hamas press release on the terror group’s website.
In the end, Israel could find itself fighting Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iran simultaneously, and such a war would be unlike anything we have ever seen before.
And the violence would not just be limited to the Middle East. In a previous article, I detailed the enormous presence that Hezbollah already has in North America, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad definitely have a presence here too.
Could you imagine the chaos that we would see if all of those terrorists were suddenly unleashed and they started destroyed “soft targets” all across America?
So the Trump administration should think very, very carefully before going to war with Iran. Because once it starts, there will be no going back.
At this point our border security is a complete and utter joke, and conservative activists have been documenting for years that illegal immigrants can hop back and forth across the border with ease. For highly organized terror organizations, getting operatives into the United States is not exactly a problem. They are here, and when the right moment comes, they will strike.
I have been loudly calling for the U.S. government to secure our borders for many years, but it hasn’t happened, and now we could pay a very great price for our foolishness.
All it is going to take is one wrong move for war to erupt. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are all preparing to fight, and all of them would throw literally everything that they have at the United States and Israel.
We do not want to fight a war against hordes of apocalyptic terrorists that hate us with a passion that most westerners cannot even imagine. It would be a horrible, bloody, nightmarish war, and none of our lives would ever be the same again.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
Why aren’t more Americans concerned that we could be on the verge of an apocalyptic war with Iran? If there was still any doubt, what happened on Friday made it exceedingly clear that we are literally on the brink of seeing World War 3 erupt in the Middle East. And as I detailed yesterday, a war with Iran wouldn’t be anything like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the American people truly understood what a war with Iran would be like, there would be millions of protesters in front of the White House right now trying to stop it from happening. Without a doubt, the Iranian government is deeply evil, but the Iranians also possess weapons of mass destruction and they control a vast global terror network unlike anything the world has ever seen before. A full-blown war with Iran would be the stuff that nightmares are made out of, and it would unleash death and destruction on an unimaginable scale all over the planet. Perhaps it is already too late to stop what is going to happen, but I very much hope that is not true.
After news broke on Friday that Iran had seized two British oil tankers, President Trump told the press that “Iran is in big trouble”…
President Donald Trump said Friday that the Islamic Republicn of Iran has endangered itself by seizing a pair of British oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
‘Iran is showing their true colors,’ he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House has he departed for a weekend in New Jersey.
‘Iran is in big trouble.’
That doesn’t mean that airstrikes are imminent, but it does mean that we are a lot closer to military conflict than we were before.
Personally, I have no idea what Iran is thinking. When the Iranians seized a British oil tanker named “Stena Impero” on Friday, it made headlines all over the world…
The U.K.-flagged Stena Impero, which has a crew of 23 aboard, “was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters,” Stena Bulk, the shipping company that owns the vessel, said in a statement. “We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces, in a statement on their website, say the ship was seized for “non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations” and is being brought to an unnamed Iranian port, according to the Associated Press. Websites tracking the ship’s path showed it turning sharply in the direction of Iran’s Qeshm Island, instead of its intended destination of Saudi Arabia.
Of course it is also possible that the Iranians are being set up. According to Iranian media, the Stena Impero “had turned off its GPS locator” and had “tried to enter the Strait of Hormuz in an area where most ships exit”.
If those claims are true, then that certainly puts a much different spin on the story.
Almost an hour later, the Iranians briefly seized a second oil tanker, but after issuing a warning the Iranians let it go…
Approximately an hour later, a Liberian-flagged tanker operated by a British company was also seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was seen on maritime tracking services making a turn toward Iran. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency later claimed that the second ship, known as the Mesdar, was warned to comply with environmental regulations before being allowed to continue on its way.
Needless to say, the British government is deeply concerned about these developments, and Iranian officials are being warned of “serious consequences” if the Stena Impero is not immediately released…
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Iran of “serious consequences” if its military does not return control of the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, according to Sky News. He said British action will be “robust” but also emphasized “we’re not looking at military options” at this early stage.
Hunt said he’s seeking to urgently speak to Iran’s foreign minister, currently unreachable as he’s on a plane flying back from a UN meeting in New York, and hopes the crisis will be resolved diplomatically.
Of course this is just the latest in a long string of incidents which have steadily brought us closer to war. I covered the developments which we witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday in this article, and the following is a timeline of events which the Daily Mail put together…
May 12: Four commercial oil tankers attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Washington accuses Tehran, which denies all involvement.
June 13: A Japanese and Norwegian fuel tanker are hit by mysterious blasts while passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Again, Iran denies involvement.
June 14: U.S. Military releases video ‘proving’ Iranian involvement in the earlier attacks.
June 20: Iran downs a $130m US surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz
July 4: Royal Marines Commandos detain the Grace 1 Iranian tanker in Gibraltar which is accused of busting EU Syrian sanctions
July 11: Iran tries to interfere with a UK-registered tanker but is warned off by the Royal Navy.
July 14: Iran seizes the Panama-flagged ‘Riah’.
July 18: The USS Boxer shoots down an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz which it claimed was endangering the vessel.
July 19: Iran seizes British-flagged ‘Stena Impero’.
July 19: Iran seizes a second British-linked vessel, the Mesdar.
Before I end this article, I want to make a couple of observations about Iran.
Firstly, the Iranians are obviously not afraid of a war with the western powers, because otherwise they would not dare to seize oil tankers.
What is making the Iranians so confident? Could it be possible that they have weapons that we don’t know about?
Secondly, the Iranians may feel like they have been pushed so far into a corner that they have no choice but to push back.
Let me give you one example of what I am talking about. Two Iranian cargo ships arrived in Brazil earlier this year, but now they are trapped because the Brazilians won’t sell them enough fuel to get home…
Reuters explained on Friday that the cargo ships Bavand and Termeh arrived in Brazil a few months ago to deliver a shipment of petrochemical fertilizer and pick up loads of corn. The Bavand was loaded up with 50,000 tons of corn and the Termeh is supposed to take on another 66,000 tons.
Carrying food back to Iran is legal under U.S. sanctions and Iran buys a great deal of corn from Brazil, but unfortunately for the Iranian captains, the Petrobras subsidiary that sells maritime fuel in Brazilian ports cited the U.S. sanctions and refused to refuel the ships. The Iranian government might need to send a tanker loaded with fuel all the way to Brazil to get the cargo vessels and their loads of corn.
The U.S. policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran was intended to get them to fold, but instead it might just be making them so frustrated that they will lash out in anger and set off the spark that causes World War 3 to erupt.
And the U.S. military has been preparing for a coming war with Iran for quite some time. Last month U.S. troops began arriving at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in August…
In June the U.S. military began moving equipment and hundreds of troops back to a military base in Saudi Arabia that the U.S. deserted more than 15 years ago, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the deployment.
Over the coming weeks the deployment to Prince Sultan Air Base, intended to counter the threat from Iran, will grow to include fighter jets and Patriot long-range missile defense systems, the officials said. The Patriots have already arrived at the base and should be operational in mid-July, while the aircraft are expected to arrive in August.
The moment missiles start flying back and forth, the price of oil is going to go into the stratosphere and the global financial system will be thrown into chaos.
And when terror attacks on western soil start happening, people will be desperate for the violence to stop, but by then it will be too late.
It appears that we are about to get a war that we do not need and that we do not want, and this comes at a time when so many other elements of “the perfect storm” are coming together.
Unfortunately, I don’t see a lot of urgency among the American people to try to stop this war from taking place. I think that a lot of people simply do not believe that it will actually happen, and many others seem to assume that we will beat the living daylights out of the Iranians without much damage on our end. Of course a large chunk of the population is so addicted to entertainment that they have absolutely no idea what is going on in the rest of the world.
Yes, there are a few voices that are speaking out against a war with Iran, and that is a good thing.
But for the most part we are sleepwalking toward World War 3, and once it begins there will be no turning back.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
On Wednesday, five Iranian gunboats attempted to seize a British oil tanker as it was traveling through the Persian Gulf. As you will see below, this was apparently done in retaliation for an incident which happened in Gibraltar less than a week earlier. British Royal Marines captured a tanker that was reportedly taking Iranian oil to Syria, and the Iranian government warned the British that there would be “consequences” for that action. Apparently the Iranians felt that since the British grabbed an oil tanker that they should return the favor, and they may have gotten away with it if a British warship had not quickly intervened. No shots were fired, and the five Iranian gunboats quickly left the scene after the British warship arrived. But this move by the Iranians will be seen by the western powers as a direct threat to freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, and many of President Trump’s advisers will undoubtedly be begging him to send a “message” to Iran by taking direct military action.
Last month, President Trump called off U.S. airstrikes against Iran with only minutes to spare, and if those airstrikes had gone ahead we might be at war with Iran right now.
That is literally how close we are to a major war erupting in the Middle East, and that is why what happened on Wednesday is so alarming…
Five Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats tried to seize a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf Wednesday but backed off after a British warship approached, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News.
The British warship was said to have been less than 5 miles behind the tanker but soon intercepted the Iranian boats and threatened to open fire. A manned U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was above as well, the official said, adding that Iranian forces left without opening fire.
Could the Iranians actually be this stupid?
After all, what in the world did they hope to accomplish?
Apparently, the Iranians were intending to retaliate for an incident that took place less than a week ago…
The comments from Hassan Rouhani come after British Royal Marines joined authorities in Gibraltar in capturing the tanker amid suspicions that it was trying to provide crude oil to Bashar Assad’s Syrian regime – an ally of the Islamic Republic.
“You are an initiator of insecurity and you will understand its repercussions,” Rouhani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting, adding that the seizure of the ship was “mean and wrong.”
A day earlier, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, told the Tasim news agency that Tehran will give an “appropriate answer” to Britain following their actions.
If the Iranians had been successful in grabbing the British tanker on Wednesday, what then?
The Iranians have got to know that taking this sort of aggressive action is only going to make war even more likely.
There are many in the west that are just itching for a war with Iran, and now Iran may have just given them the justification that they need to start launching airstrikes.
But maybe the Iranians are crazy enough to want a war too. Without a doubt, Iran is run by a bunch of apocalyptic nutjobs, and none of them appear to be thinking straight. For example, just consider the following statement from Iranian cleric Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani…
Iranian cleric Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani told a sermon in Tehran that the Islamic republic is ready for war with the US.
He said: “Think of an attack only if you want to change the color of the Persian Gulf waters from azure to red.”
And Iranian military official Hossein Nejat made headlines all over the world this week when he said this…
Commander Nejat said: “American bases are within the range of our missiles.
“Our missiles will destroy their aircraft carriers if they make a mistake.
“Americans are very well aware of the consequences of a military confrontation with Iran.”
Unfortunately, Commander Nejat is actually quite correct. The Iranians have a large stockpile of extremely lethal Sunburn anti-ship missiles which they purchased from the Russians and Chinese over the years.
If the order is given, U.S. warships will be going to the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and once that happens all of the major news networks will be breathlessly pounding the war drums.
So we better hope that the Iranians don’t get too tempted by the sitting ducks that we currently have in the region. If they decide to launch their missiles, World War 3 will become inevitable.
And even a limited military confrontation that closes the Strait of Hormuz for an extended period of time would be catastrophic. According to one study, the price of oil could go as high as $325 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz was closed for an extended period of time.
What do you think that would do to the global economy?
For a while there, it looked like tensions were starting to cool off just a little bit, but now we are right on the precipice of war once again.
And we definitely do not want a war with Iran. Such a war would set the stage for scenarios that most of us don’t even like to think about. Most people seem to believe that such a war would be limited to the Middle East, but the truth is that the Iranians would unleash terror attacks inside the United States unlike anything we have ever seen before.
A full-blown war with Iran would be a fight to the death, and the Iranians would use everything in their arsenal to try to defeat us. They would not abide by the rules of war, they wouldn’t hold anything back, and their goal would be to kill as many of us as possible.
We do not want that kind of war, and let us hope that it can still be prevented somehow.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
The U.S. has deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to the Middle East for the first time, and this has many concerned that military action against Iran may be in the near future. Could we soon see the spark that causes World War 3 to erupt? The following comes from the Express…
The US has deployed a mysterious number of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters for the first time to the Middle East, amid growing fears of a clash with Iran. The number of F-22 Raptors remains unclear but photographers spotted at least a dozen of the radar-evading jets at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar for the first time ever. In response, a senior Iranian figure has threatened to annihilate Israel “with half an hour” if the US strikes Iran.
The deployment of the top-secret stealth fighter jets has put the Middle East is on alert amid rising tensions between Iran and the US.
Earlier today, the US Air Force confirmed the presence of the fighter jets – insisting they were deployed to “defend American forces and interests”.
Why are top officials in both the United States and Russia suddenly being pulled into emergency meetings? At this moment rumors are flying all over the Internet, and we have very little solid information about what is really going on. In this article I will share what we know so far, but as we learn more the picture will inevitably become a lot clearer. On Tuesday President Trump didn’t have any public events scheduled, and that was a bit strange, but Vice President Mike Pence was supposed to appear at an event in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, that trip was suddenly canceled after Pence had already boarded the plane, and Pence was ordered to return to the White House…
In the immediate aftermath of his abrupt cancellation of an event in New Hampshire, the reasons for Vice President Mike Pence’s reversal are still unknown.
The White House has stayed mum on why Pence was called back to the White House, declining to elaborate at all on the reason for the change of plans.
I cannot recall the last time something like this happened. According to a top Pence aide, we will know the reason why the trip was canceled “in a few weeks”.
What in the world does that mean, and why did President Trump need to meet with Mike Pence so urgently?
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin “called an urgent meeting” with his top military officials on Tuesday…
Vladimir Putin today called an urgent meeting with defence chiefs hours after 14 sailors died in a mystery submarine blast.
The Russian leader cancelled his schedule for a meeting with his defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
If the story about “a mystery submarine blast” is accurate, then this sudden gathering makes sense. Here is more about this incident from Time Magazine…
Fire broke out on one of the Russian navy’s deep-sea research submersibles, and toxic fumes from the blaze killed 14 sailors aboard, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, although it released few details about the disaster or the vessel involved.
The Defense Ministry did not say how many sailors were aboard the vessel during Monday’s fire, whether there were any survivors or if it was submerged at the time. But Russian media reported it was the country’s most secret submersible, a nuclear-powered vessel designed for sensitive missions at great depths.
But could it be possible that there is something additional that we aren’t being told?
This is where it gets very strange. DEBKA is claiming that their military sources are reporting that there was a confrontation between a U.S. submarine and a Russian submarine, and that it resulted in the U.S. submarine being hit by a torpedo…
First reports reaching DEBKAfile’s military sources say that a US submarine intercepted a Russian nuclear sub in American waters opposite Alaska. The Russian sub escorting the nuclear submarine responded with a Balkan 2000 torpedo and scuttled the US vessel. Urgent consultations in both the White House and the Kremlin were taking place on Tuesday night. US Vice President Mike Pence called off an appearance in New Hampshire after being recalled to Washington for a conference called by President Donald Trump without explanation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled an engagement and headed for the Kremlin to confer with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and military chiefs, after learning that 14 submariners died in a fire that broke out on a nuclear-powered “experimental submarine in Russian waters.” This account carried in Russian media varies in most respects from the first reports reaching this site and may refer to a separate incident. They report between 14 and 17 members of an AS-12 nuclear powered submarine died of poisonous fumes caused by a fire aboard the vessel. The submarine was described as experimental and unarmed but often used in spy missions. It is unclear how many of the 25 crew survived.
At this point, we have zero confirmation of DEBKA’s report.
Could it be possible that DEBKA got this completely wrong?
We shall see.
Meanwhile, we do know that Israel has continued to strike Iranian targets inside Syria, and DEBKA is reporting that the Israelis hit a total of 10 targets early on Monday…
One of Israel’s largest attacks is reported by Syrian sources to have swept across 10 targets across the country early Monday, July 1. They included Damascus Mezza military airport; Iranian and Hizballah military facilities at Al Kiswa south of Damascus; the base of the Syrian 1st Division; the Syrian military “research” institute at Jumriyah; military facilities at Siniya; and a chain of Hizballah bases in the Qalamoun Mts straddling the Syrian -Lebanese frontier, as well as bases in the Homs district.
The attacks were said to have been conducted by Israeli jets from Lebanese air space and naval vessels. Syrian sources reported that four people were killed in the attack and its air defense systems intercepted some of the incoming Israeli missiles. They described powerful explosions and huge fires at Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hizballah bases in the Qalamoun Mts and ambulances streaming to the scene.
There have been persistent rumors that the U.S. and Israel are both moving toward taking military action against Iran’s nuclear program, and at this point it appears that even the Europeans are losing patience.
The following comes from a joint statement that was just released by France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European External Action Service…
The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, the UK, and the High Representative are extremely concerned at Iran’s announcement that it has exceeded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action stockpile limit for low enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed this information.
We have been consistent and clear that our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance by Iran. We regret this decision by Iran, which calls into question an essential instrument of nuclear non-proliferation.
We urge Iran to reverse this step and to refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal. We are urgently considering next steps under the terms of the JCPoA in close coordination with other JCPoA participants.
We truly do live in a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and as I noted yesterday, it may already be too late to stop war with Iran.
Let’s hope that isn’t true, but without a doubt events are beginning to spiral out of control.
Iran just crossed a critical uranium enrichment threshold, and the U.S. and Israel have both warned that they will take military action to stop Iran’s nuclear program if that is what is necessary.
As I keep saying, the clock is ticking, and World War 3 could be just right around the corner.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
What if what you have been told over and over again is not really the truth? For weeks, the mainstream media has been telling us that Iran is getting dangerously close to having nuclear weapons. And now that the Iranians have publicly admitted that their uranium stockpile has exceeded the limit set by the nuclear deal, there is a lot of buzz that either the United States or Israel may soon strike Iran in order to prevent their nuclear program from proceeding even further. But of course once the missiles start flying, it is going to be just about impossible to stop a major war from erupting in the Middle East. Before we get involved in such a war, we better make absolutely certain that Iran does not already have nuclear weapons, because a war with a nuclear-armed Iran could be absolutely cataclysmic. If the Iranians felt that the survival of their regime was on the line, they would not hesitate to throw everything that they have at Israel and at U.S. forces in the region. Unfortunately, very few people are talking about the well known evidence that Iran has had their hands on nukes for a long time.
In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a mad scramble for the nuclear weapons that were being held by Kazakhstan and Ukraine. According to former CIA spy Reza Kahlili, during that time period Iran received at least two nuclear warheads from Kazakhstan…
Kazakhstan, which had a significant portion of the Soviet arsenal and is predominately Muslim, was courted by Muslim Iran with offers of hundreds of millions of dollars for the bomb. Reports soon surfaced that three nuclear warheads were missing. This was corroborated by Russian Gen. Victor Samoilov, who handled the disarmament issues for the general staff. He admitted that the three were missing from Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, Paul Muenstermann, then vice president of the German Federal Intelligence Service, said Iran had received two of the three nuclear warheads and medium-range nuclear delivery systems from Kazakhstan.
If Iran did get two nuclear warheads from Kazakhstan, that is definitely very troubling, but not enough to cause Armageddon.
However, the bad news doesn’t stop there. According to Kahlili, when Ukraine finally transferred their nuclear weapons back to Russia, there “was a discrepancy of 250 nuclear weapons”…
To make matters worse, several years later, Russian officials stated that when comparing documents in transferring nuclear weapons from Ukraine to Russia, there was a discrepancy of 250 nuclear weapons.
Last week, Mathew Nasuti, a former U.S. Air Force captain who was at one point hired by the State Department as an adviser to one of its provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq, said that in March 2008, during a briefing on Iran at the State Department, the department’s Middle East expert told the group that it was “common knowledge” that Iran had acquired tactical nuclear weapons from one or more of the former Soviet republics.
This discrepancy was also reported by the media in Russia, and one Russian journal even suggested that those 250 nuclear warheads could have been sold to Iran…
On April 3 the Russian journal Novaia Gazeta reported that 250 nuclear warheads with a total yield of 20 megatons were not returned by Ukraine to Russia.
Novaia Gazeta suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, possibly Iran.
The 200-kiloton warheads were due to be returned to Russia in 1992 after Ukraine declared itself a nuclear-free zone following a payment by Moscow to Kiev of approximately $500 million. The missing warheads were inventoried on papers Ukraine submitted to Moscow that were officially accepted by Russia.
If Iran is sitting on 250 nuclear warheads, it would be absolutely suicidal to get into a full-blown war with Iran.
Of course the mainstream media in the U.S. has been repeating the “fact” that Iran doesn’t have nukes for so long that most of us no longer question it.
But in 2002, one Russian general unequivocally stated that “Iran does have nuclear weapons”…
Sometime a slip of the tongue is so incredible that no amount of doctoring can explain it. And sometimes a slip of the tongue is as intentional as could be. Take an appearance by Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky. He gave a briefing on Friday in Moscow during the Bush-Putin summit and was asked about whether Iran actually fired the Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile in a successful test earlier this month. The second question was whether Iran can threaten Israel, Russia or the United States with its nuclear and missile programs.
Then the Russian general takes a surprise turn: ‘Now, as to whether or not Iran has tested something like that. Iran does have nuclear weapons,’ Baluyevsky said. ‘Of course, these are non-strategic nuclear weapons. I mean these are not ICBMs with a range of more than 5,500 kilometers and more.”
And all the way back in 1998, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives publicly stated that the intelligence that they had been shown indicated that the Iranians already had nukes…
Representative Jim Saxton (R-NJ), chariman of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, told the Jerusalem Post ‘I believe that Iran already has nuclear weapons and that our policy should reflect that.’ Representative Bill McCollum (R-FL), also a member of the task force, said that evidence collected by the group ‘indicates Iran possesses nuclear capability.’ He added that ‘for years, we have received reliable information that Iran has been obtaining nuclear weapons’s parts and supplies from the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. Not only have we not dismissed these reports, but over these six years there has been a growing volume of supporting evidence.’
In addition to potentially obtaining nukes from elsewhere, the Iranians also aggressively developed their own nuclear weapons program for many years prior to agreeing to Obama’s nuclear deal. Just a couple of years ago, a former director of the CIA and several other former U.S. officials made it very clear that they believe that Iran has probably already developed their own nuclear weapons…
We assess, from U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency reports and other sources, that Iran probably already has nuclear weapons. Over 13 years ago, prior to 2003, Iran was manufacturing nuclear-weapon components, like bridge-wire detonators and neutron initiators, performing non-fissile explosive experiments of an implosion nuclear device, and working on the design of a nuclear warhead for the Shahab-III missile.
Thirteen years ago Iran was already a threshold nuclear-missile state. It is implausible that Iran suspended its program for over a decade for a nuclear deal with President Obama.
You can dismiss all of this and continue to push for war with Iran if you would like.
But what are you going to do when Iran uses their nukes and millions of people end up dead?
Iran is run by a bunch of apocalyptic nutjobs that hate us with a passion that is absolutely overwhelming. If World War 3 breaks out in the Middle East, they would use nuclear weapons against us without even thinking twice about it.
Thankfully they do not have missiles that can reach North America, but they do have missiles that can hit U.S. targets all over the Middle East, and all of Israel is in their range.
Of course if Iran starts using nukes we will definitely nuke them back, and such a turn of events would lead to scenarios that are absolutely unthinkable to most of us right now.
Maybe it is already too late to stop a war with Iran from happening. I certainly hope that isn’t true, because the death and destruction would be off the charts even if Iran doesn’t have nukes.
The next several months are going to be absolutely critical, and we will see what happens. Let us pray for peace to prevail, because the alternative will be more horrible than most of us can even imagine.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
If the U.S. goes to war with Iran, we won’t just be fighting the Iranian military. In recent years, Hezbollah has grown into the most powerful terror organization that the world has ever seen. It is best known for causing all sorts of chaos in the Middle East, but today it has an extensive presence in Europe, Africa, Latin America and North America. Hezbollah has made billions selling drugs inside the United States, and at one point they had more than 70 used car dealers in this country through which they were laundering drug money. Of course the primary source of funding for Hezbollah is Iran. The terror organization was founded in 1985 with heavy support from Iran, and according to Wikipedia “most of its financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid” currently comes from the Iranians. In essence, Hezbollah is Iran’s terror arm, and so if we go to war with Iran we will find ourselves in a conflict with Hezbollah as well.
Most Americans have no idea what a full-blown conflict with Hezbollah could look like. For a moment, just imagine thousands of extremely well-trained terrorists shooting up and blowing up soft targets all across America. The sheer panic that would cause would immediately paralyze our entire society.
But Iran always knew that if Hezbollah started conducting terror attacks in the United States that we would blow them off the map. We made it exceedingly clear that we would hold Iran responsible for whatever Hezbollah did, and that prevented Hezbollah from hitting U.S. targets over the last couple of decades. However, if the U.S. and Iran get engaged in a full-blown war in the Middle East and missiles start flying all over the place, there won’t be any reason for Hezbollah to hold back any longer.
And last Friday we literally came within 10 minutes of war with Iran. The following comes from Fox News…
President Trump confirmed early Friday that he called off a retaliatory attack on Iran in response to the downing of a U.S. drone “10 minutes before the strike,” saying the number of expected casualties was not “proportionate” to what Tehran did.
In a stunning tweet thread, the president said the U.S. was “cocked & loaded to retaliate” with plans to hit three sites, but he reversed course after asking military leaders about how many would be killed.
Just because that attack was pulled back does not mean that the threat is over. In fact, Trump is threatening Iran with “obliteration like you’ve never seen before” if they don’t immediately come to the negotiating table and agree to end their nuclear weapons program…
President Donald Trump warned the United States may launch a devastating military attack on Iran unless it comes to the negotiating table and drops its bid to develop nuclear weapons.
“I’m not looking for war, and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next three years,” Trump said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press” airing Sunday.
Of course Iran isn’t going to do that.
In fact, the Iranians seem to be ready to rumble. On Sunday, there was a chant of “death to America” by Iranian lawmakers on state radio…
“America is the real terrorist in the world by spreading chaos in countries, giving advanced weapons to terrorist groups, causing insecurity, and still it says ‘Come, let’s negotiate’,” the parliament’s deputy speaker, Masoud Pezeshkian, said at the start of a session broadcast live on state radio.
“Death to America,” chanted many lawmakers.
The chants, often repeated since the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah, came weeks after Trump said in a U.S. television interview: “They (Iranians) haven’t screamed ‘death to America’ lately.”
Unlike our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, if there is a war with Iran it won’t just be limited to the Middle East.
Iran has an extremely sophisticated intelligence network of their own, and everyone agrees that they have many agents deeply embedded inside the United States. In fact, late last year two of them were arrested and charged with espionage…
The U.S. has charged two alleged agents of Iran, accusing them of conducting covert surveillance of Israeli and Jewish facilities in the United States and collecting intelligence on Americans linked to a political organization that wants to see the current Iranian government overthrown.
Earlier this week, Ahmadreza Doostdar, 38, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen born in Long Beach, California, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, who has lived and worked in Costa Mesa, California, since he arrived in the United States in the mid-1990s, were charged with acting as illegal agents for Tehran. Ghorbani, who denies the charges, became a legal permanent resident of the United States in 2015.
But without a doubt, Hezbollah is an even greater terror threat. If you are not that familiar with Hezbollah, here is a pretty good overview from the Heritage Foundation…
Hezbollah regards terrorism not only as a useful tool for advancing its revolutionary agenda, but also as a religious duty as part of a “global jihad.” It helped to introduce and popularize the tactic of suicide bombings in Lebanon in the 1980s, developed a strong guerrilla force and a political apparatus in the 1990s, provoked a war with Israel in 2006, intervened in the Syrian civil war after 2011 at Iran’s direction, and has become a major destabilizing influence in the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict.
Hezbollah murdered more Americans than any other terrorist group before September 11, 2001. Despite al-Qaeda’s increased visibility since then, Hezbollah remains a bigger, better equipped, better organized, and potentially more dangerous terrorist organization, in part because it enjoys the support of the two chief state sponsors of terrorism in the world today: Iran and Syria.
And as I stated earlier, today Hezbollah has become a global powerhouse. In fact, most Americans don’t realize that Hezbollah has been extremely active inside the United States for a very long time.
About a decade ago, a DEA operation discovered that Hezbollah was bringing in “$1 billion a year from money laundering, criminal activities, and drug and weapons trade”, but that operation was ultimately shut down by the Obama administration. The following comes from Newsweek…
Project Cassandra, a campaign launched by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008, found that the Iran-backed military and political organization collected $1 billion a year from money laundering, criminal activities, and drug and weapons trade, according to Politico. Over the following eight years, the agency found that Hezbollah was involved in cocaine shipments from Latin America to West Africa, as well as through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States.
The Obama administration halted Project Cassandra as it was approaching the upper echelons of Hezbollah’s conspiracy in order to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, even though Hezbollah was still funneling cocaine into America. Officials at the U.S. Justice and Treasury departments delayed the project’s requests to conduct relevant investigations, prosecutions and arrests. Obama eventually helped strike the Iran deal with several other nations in 2015.
And according to Politico, one of the things that the operation uncovered was the fact that a lot of drug money was being laundered by “buying American used cars and shipping them to Africa”…
They followed cocaine shipments, some from Latin America to West Africa and on to Europe and the Middle East, and others through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States. They tracked the river of dirty cash as it was laundered by, among other tactics, buying American used cars and shipping them to Africa. And with the help of some key cooperating witnesses, the agents traced the conspiracy, they believed, to the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran.
As I noted earlier, at one point there were more than 70 used car dealers in the U.S. that were involved in this scheme.
But thanks to Barack Obama, Project Cassandra was shut down before it could strike a decisive blow against Hezbollah’s financial networks in the United States, and we could end up paying a great price for that negligence.
Right now, there is no terror organization in the entire world that is better armed than Hezbollah. As I noted last week, they have accumulated 150,000 missiles for use in a future war with Israel. And considering what a joke U.S. border security has become in recent years, it wouldn’t exactly be difficult to get weapons across our border.
In fact, Hezbollah cells inside the United States are undoubtedly already very well armed and very well prepared for military operations inside the United States.
We live in extremely ominous times, and one wrong move by the Trump administration could set off a chain of events that nobody is going to be able to control.
As I close this article, let me leave you with this chilling warning from the Heritage Foundation…
Covert Hezbollah cells could morph into other forms and launch terrorist operations inside the United States. Given Hezbollah’s close ties to Iran and past record of executing terrorist attacks on Tehran’s behalf, there is a real danger that Hezbollah terrorist cells could be activated inside the United States in the event of a conflict between Iran and the U.S. or Israel.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone is talking about this.
Everyone seems to assume that all of the death and destruction will happen on the other side of the world if we go to war with Iran, but that simply isn’t true.
In the event of a full-blown war, the Iranians and Hezbollah would be determined to shed as much blood on U.S. soil as they possibly could, and that is not something that we should take lightly.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
We could be on the verge of the most cataclysmic war that the Middle East has ever seen. As you will see below, we are being told that there will be a “measured” U.S. response to the downing of a U.S. Navy drone by Iranian forces. In other words, we should expect some sort of U.S. military action against Iran to happen soon. If the Iranians choose not to respond to that attack, that will hopefully be the end of it for a while. But if the Iranians respond by firing their highly advanced anti-ship missiles at U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, the Trump administration would feel forced to use overwhelming force in return, and that would likely spark an all-out war in the region.
And in the event of an all-out war, Iran would almost certainly hit Israel with a massive barrage of missiles. In fact, last month the Iranian Parliament’s vice-speaker Ali Motahhari specifically threatened this sort of an attack…
Mr Motahhari told FARS news agency: ‘The US military forces’ deployment in the Persian Gulf is more of the nature of psychological warfare. They are not ready for a war, specially when Israel is within our range.’
Today, Iran possesses a highly sophisticated missile arsenal, and some of those missiles are capable of hitting targets up to 2,500 kilometers away. For an in-depth examination of Iranian missile capabilities, I would commend a National Interest article entitled “Iran Has Amassed the Largest Ballistic Missile Force in the Middle East”.
Of course if Iran starts firing missiles at Israel, it is inevitable that Israel will start firing missiles back at Iran. And in such a scenario it is unthinkable that Iran’s proxy Hezbollah would sit quietly on the sidelines.
At this point Hezbollah has accumulated an absolutely massive rocket arsenal in southern Lebanon. According to the Jerusalem Post, they now possess “more than 150,000 rockets”…
Hezbollah’s massive rocket arsenal of more than 150,000 rockets pose a major threat. These include long-range rockets such as the Zelzal, Fateh 110 and the Fajr, as well as shorter range such as Katyushas. The Fateh 110 has a range of several hundred kilometers.
There is no place in Israel that is out of the range of those rockets. Without a doubt, Israel’s anti-missile systems are extremely advanced, but if thousands of missiles are fired in a very short period of time Israel won’t be able to intercept them all.
In order to stop the rocket fire completely, Israel would have to invade southern Lebanon on very short notice, and it is quite interesting that the IDF actually just wrapped up a major exercise which simulated a future war with Hezbollah. The following comes from ABC News…
Israel wrapped up its largest military drill in years on Wednesday, with thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force simulating a future war with the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group amid fears that Iran would draw its Shiite proxy into the recent growing tensions in the Persian Gulf.
This absolutely enormous military drill made headlines all over the world, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was even on hand for the conclusion of the exercise…
The exercise, which was focused on the country’s north—not far from contested borders with Lebanon and Syria, two countries which Israel has accused Iran’s allies of firing rockets from—was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The leader, who also serves as defense minister, spoke with participating troops of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and issued a warning to those threatening his country.
“I am concluding a major, multi-corps IDF exercise in several areas. I am very impressed by the improvement in readiness, by the fighting spirit of the soldiers and commanders, and mainly by the destructive power of the IDF,” Netanyahu said.
It appears to be inevitable that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah will happen at some point, and Israel will most definitely win that war.
But the death and destruction caused by tens of thousands of missiles fired by Iran and Hezbollah will be immense, and so we should hope that such a conflict is put off for as long as possible.
Unfortunately, it appears that a full-blown war could begin in the Middle East at any time. Top congressional leaders were summoned to the White House Situation Room on Thursday, and following that briefing the press was told to soon expect a “measured” U.S. response…
Top administration officials and lawmakers have left the White House after a classified briefing lasting over an hour, about Iran’s sudden downing of an American surveillance drone in the Middle East — and a “measured” U.S. response, they suggested, is likely coming soon.
Amid mounting tension between the U.S. and Iran, the White House earlier Thursday invited House and Senate leaders and Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees to meet with President Trump in the White House’s secure Situation Room.
And we almost got that “measured” response on Thursday night. According to multiple media reports, President Trump approved military strikes against Iran but then pulled back at the last moment…
President Donald Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing a U.S. surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.
As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.
Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.
We should be very thankful for President Trump’s restraint, and hopefully it will continue, because at this moment we are literally on the verge of World War 3 erupting in the Middle East.
Right now, a “perfect storm” is developing all over the globe. Events are starting to move at a pace that is breathtaking, and it isn’t going to take much to push the planet into a state of absolute chaos.
Once a military conflict with Iran starts, it will be nearly impossible to stop.
The time to stop it is now, and let us hope that President Trump makes the right choices in the days ahead.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
As if on cue, a mysterious attack on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz has brought us to the brink of an apocalyptic war in the Middle East. On Sunday, four commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf, including two Saudi oil tankers, were seriously damaged in deeply disturbing “sabotage attacks” that immediately sent shockwaves across the entire Middle East. Nobody took responsibility for the attacks, and at first nobody was being blamed, but now an “initial U.S. assessment” is pointing a finger at Iran. The following comes from the Wall Street Journal…
An initial U.S. assessment indicated Iran likely was behind the attack on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers and two other vessels damaged over the weekend near the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said, a finding that, if confirmed, would further inflame military tensions in the Persian Gulf.
The assessment, while not conclusive, was the first suggestion by any nation that Iran was responsible for the attack and comes after a series of U.S. warnings against aggression by Iran or its allies and proxies against military or commercial vessels in the region.
And an article in the Daily Mail had some more specific details about the U.S. assessment…
An American military team’s initial assessment is that Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies used explosives Sunday to blow large holes in four ships anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official said Monday.
The official said each ship has a 5- to 10-foot hole in it, near or just below the water line, and the team’s early belief is that the holes were caused by explosive charges.
So here we go.
If President Trump can be convinced that Iran was behind the attack, he will probably want to “send them a message”.
And if Iran strikes back militarily, events may begin to spiral out of control very rapidly.
On Monday, before we knew the outcome of the U.S. assessment, Trump directly threatened the Iranians…
President Donald Trump threatened Iran with a “bad problem” Monday following news that Saudi Arabian oil tankers were sabotaged near the Persian Gulf.
“It’s going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens, I can tell you that,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “They’re not going to be happy.”
Asked to clarify what he meant by a “bad problem,” Trump responded: “You can figure it out yourself. They know what I mean by it.”
It seems so crazy to think that we could soon be at war with Iran, but events seem to be rapidly pushing us in that direction.
Even before the attacks on the oil tankers, U.S. officials had already come up with a plan to possibly send “up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East”. The following comes from Axios…
At the direction of national security adviser John Bolton, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week presented top White House national security officials with a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East in the event that Iran “attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons,” the New York Times reports.
Details: The plan was reportedly presented during a meeting about the Trump administration’s broader Iran policy, attended — among others — by Bolton, CIA director Gina Haspel, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
The New York Times pointed out that a similar number of troops were used when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
But Iran is not Iraq. The Iranians have a military force that is vastly superior to what the Iraqis had at that time, and Iran has also developed weapons that possess immense destructive power.
From a strategic standpoint, the worst thing that the U.S. could do would be to stage 120,000 troops in just a handful of locations directly across the Persian Gulf from Iran. Rather than just sit there and wait to be invaded, the Iranians would likely strike the bases where our troops are being staged. With the weapons that the Iranians now possess, the losses would be absolutely catastrophic.
Let us hope that nothing like that ever happens.
If the U.S. just sends air and naval assets into the region, the Iranians will probably not act rashly. But if the U.S. actually decided to deploy 120,000 troops, the Iranians would definitely consider it an existential threat, and they would use everything at their disposal to survive.
Iran has been planning for this conflict for many years, and the U.S. should not rush into such a war without seriously considering the consequences.
Surprisingly, even the British are urging caution…
‘We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended really on either side,’ Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned.
‘Most of all, we need to make sure we don’t end up putting Iran back on the path to renuclearization. Because if Iran becomes a nuclear power, its neighbors are likely to want to become nuclear powers. This is already the most unstable region in the world, and this would be a massive step in the wrong direction.’
We are truly living in apocalyptic times, and it isn’t going to take much to take peace from the Earth.
One more thing – if the U.S. goes to war with Iran, the Iranians have already promised to hit Israel extremely hard in response.
And if Iranian missiles start flying at Israel, the Israelis will hit back even harder.
Both sides possess weapons of absolutely immense power, and so we could be talking about death and destruction on an apocalyptic scale.
Nobody should want to see such a war, because that would be the kind of war that nobody wins.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
The Iranians are openly threatening to start firing missiles at Israel if Trump decides to attack Iran. And this threat should not be taken lightly, because Iran has a highly sophisticated ballistic missile arsenal, and Hezbollah has approximately 150,000 missiles pointed directly at Israel right now. If the order is given, the Iranians and their proxy Hezbollah could rain an enormous amount of death and destruction down upon Israel, and of course Israel would hit them back even harder. We are talking about a scenario that could potentially trigger World War 3, and the Iranians apparently believe that the possibility of such an outcome will keep Trump from taking military action against them. The following comes from the Times of Israel…
A senior Iranian official on Sunday dismissed the US military buildup in the region as psychological warfare, saying that the US will not attack for fear of provoking an Iranian assault on Israel.
“The US military forces’ deployment in the Persian Gulf is more of the nature of psychological warfare. They are not ready for a war, specially when Israel is within our range,” Iranian Parliament’s Vice-Speaker Ali Motahhari said on Sunday, according to the FARS news agency.
In addition to its own missiles, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip have hundreds of thousands of rockets aimed at Israel.
Perhaps the Iranians are correct and the U.S. has no intention of starting a war. But we have already seen that the Trump administration has not been afraid to engage in a campaign of “maximum pressure” that has pushed us to the brink of military conflict. In recent days the Trump administration has decided that they will not allow Iran to sell oil to anybody at all, and the crushing sanctions that were imposed on Iran last year have been absolutely devastating for the Iranian economy…
The sweeping unilateral sanctions that Washington re-imposed when it quit the agreement a year ago have dealt a severe blow to the Iranian economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, driving away foreign investors and triggering protests.
And for good reason: the plunging value of the rial has affected the prices of imported staples as well as locally produced goods. According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the cost of red meat and poultry has increased by 57% over the past 12 months; milk, cheese and eggs by 37%; and vegetables by 47%.
The Iranians are growing deeply frustrated, and they appear to be convinced that an alliance headed up by the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia would love to see regime change in Iran.
For example, just consider these recent remarks from Iran’s foreign minister…
And as Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said, Tehran is convinced that what he calls “the B Team”—Bolton, Bibi, bin Salman, and bin Zayed, the last three being Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and effective ruler of the United Arab Emirates—are determined to force regime change in Iran. “President Trump says that the pressure will bring Iran to its knees,” said Zarif.
“The other day, Secretary Pompeo was asked if he was planning a coup d’état in Iran. And you know what he said? Any diplomat, even if they’re planning a coup, would deny it! But he said, if I were planning a coup, I wouldn’t tell you. Sometimes people say what’s in the back of their mind,” Zarif added. (The exact quote, according to Axios, came in a speech by Pompeo to an Iranian-American group, in which he said, “Even if we [were], would I be telling you guys about it?”)
And Zarif is probably correct on this point. If the U.S, Israel and Saudi Arabia could snap their fingers and establish a completely new government in Iran, they would almost certainly do it.
But all attempts to encourage an internal revolution have fizzled, and a full-blown war would seem to be unthinkable.
The Iranians have made their military a core priority in recent years, and they have developed weapons systems of immense destructive power. At one time they would have been intimidated by a U.S. carrier group being moved into the Persian Gulf, but those days are long gone. The following comes from Reuters…
“An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past but now it is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities,” said Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards’ aerospace division.
“If (the Americans) make a move, we will hit them in the head,” he added, according to ISNA.
And on Friday, Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai Nejad boldly declared that our ““billion-dollar fleet can be destroyed with one missile”…
The ISNA news agency quoted hardliner Ayatollah Tabatabai-Nejad in the city of Isfahan as saying: “Their billion-dollar fleet can be destroyed with one missile.
“If they attempt any move, they will face dozens of missiles because at that time government officials won’t be in charge to act cautiously, but instead things will be in the hands of our beloved leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”
Of course Nejad is exaggerating, but the truth is that our fleet will definitely be sitting ducks in the Persian Gulf. If the Iranians wanted to do so, they could definitely take the entire fleet out.
We are so close to war, and let’s hope that nobody starts getting itchy trigger fingers.
Iran is run by a bunch of nutjobs that believe that war with the U.S. and Israel is inevitable. Meanwhile, war hawks John Bolton and Mike Pompeo are the top foreign policy officials in the Trump administration and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has already shown us what he is capable of doing.
We need someone to step forward and be a voice of reason before we plunge into a nightmarish apocalyptic conflict that we will not be able to escape, and that voice of reason may have to be President Trump himself.
In the end, it will be Trump that makes the final call on any war with Iran, and that decision will have enormous implications for all of us.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
This is the closest that the U.S. has been to a war with Iran in decades, and yet most Americans are either clueless or they don’t seem to believe that it could actually happen. And I certainly don’t think that President Trump wants a war, but he is surrounded by war hawks that have been pushing an extremely aggressive “get tough” policy with Iran. The Trump administration just canceled the waivers that were allowing other nations to continue purchasing Iranian oil, and the goal of that move is to reduce Iranian exports to zero. But oil exports are 40 percent of the Iranian economy, and the Iranians understand that this move could absolutely cripple their economy. The Iranians have threatened to close the straight of Hormuz in retaliation, and that would almost certainly provoke a U.S. military response. In addition, it is being reported that on Wednesday the Iranians will announce that they are taking steps to restart their nuclear program…
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to announce small steps to resume his country’s nuclear program. According to the New York Times, that will include conducting research on centrifuges that can make nuclear fuel, and curbing nuclear inspections from observers.
Of course the truth is that the Iranians never fully abandoned their nuclear program in the first place, but that is supposed to be a big secret.
In any event, tensions between the U.S. and Iran have now reached frightening levels.
On Sunday, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln and four B-52 bombers are being sent to the Middle East as a message to Iran…
Four B-52 Stratofortress bombers are being sent to the Mideast to support the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in moves aimed at countering threats from Iran, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.
The B-52s, from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, are deploying to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a hub for U.S. air operations in the region, CBS News reported.
Apparently there was some intelligence which indicated that Iran was planning a possible attack on U.S. forces in the region, and Bolton said that these deployments would make it very clear that any assault would be “met with unrelenting force”…
The deployments would “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States’ interests, or on those of our allies, will be met with unrelenting force,” he said in a statement. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”
In response, the Iranians accused the U.S. of engaging in a form of “psychological warfare”.
In addition to everything else, CNN is reporting that it appears that the Iranians have been “moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf”, and this has deeply alarmed U.S. officials…
Intelligence showing that Iran is likely moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf was one of the critical reasons the US decided to move an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers into the region, according to several US officials with direct knowledge of the situation.
The concerns over the movement of the missiles was one of multiple threads of intelligence from various sources that led the US to believe Iran had a capability and intention to launch strikes against US targets.
If both sides rattle their sabers for a while but nothing ever comes of it, we will be fine.
But if someone goes a little bit too far and the missiles start flying, we could be soon engaged in a conflict that could literally spark World War 3.
While they are certainly no match for the U.S., the truth is that the Iranian military is quite strong, and they possess weapons of immense destructive power. And in the event of a military conflict with the U.S., the Iranians have already said that they will hit Israel too.
And if Israel gets hit, they will certainly strike back at Iran extremely hard.
The Iranians absolutely hate both the United States and Israel, and recent moves by the Trump administration have pushed the Iranians into a corner. The following comes from Pat Buchanan…
Did President Donald Trump approve of this? For he appears to be going along. He has pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions. Last week, he canceled waivers he had given eight nations to let them continue buying Iranian oil.
Purpose: Reduce Iran’s oil exports, 40% of GDP, to zero, to deepen an economic crisis that is already expected to cut Iran’s GDP this year by 6%.
Trump has also designated Iran a terrorist state and the Republican Guard a terrorist organization, the first time we have done that with the armed forces of a foreign nation. We don’t even do that with North Korea.
A cornered animal is extremely dangerous, and at this point the Iranians may feel as if the only option they have left is to lash out.
As a first step, they could potentially close the Strait of Hormuz, and that would instantly create a global oil crisis. Here is more from Buchanan…
Iran has also warned that if we choke off its oil exports that exit the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait could be closed to other nations. As 30% of the world’s oil shipments transit the Strait, closing it could cause a global crash.
In 1973, when President Nixon rescued Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the OPEC Arabs imposed an oil embargo. Gas prices spiked so high Nixon considered taking a train to Florida for Christmas vacation.
Of course a potential war with Iran is not even on the radar for most Americans these days. Most of us are preoccupied with other things, but if the missiles start flying this will instantly become the top news story on the entire planet.
Wars never start in a vacuum. In every major war throughout history, there has always been a series of steps that has ultimately resulted in the outbreak of war.
Without a doubt, the U.S. and Iran are moving toward war. That doesn’t mean that one will happen, and we better hope that it doesn’t, because it would have all sorts of apocalyptic consequences.
So let us hope that cooler heads prevail.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any “cooler heads” among Iranian leadership, and Trump has surrounded himself with war hawks like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.
In the end, Trump himself will make the final call on any conflict with Iran, and let us hope that he makes the right one.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
On Wednesday afternoon, senior U.S. officials gathered at the White House to discuss possible military options for Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Russians are warning of grave consequences if the U.S. invades, and so the stage is being set for a potential showdown between the world’s two foremost military powers. Previously, administration officials had hoped that the Venezuelan people would rally around Juan Guaido to such a degree that it would not require military intervention to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, Guaido’s big push to start a revolution in the streets over the past few days has ended up being a total flop. The following comes from Yahoo News…
Guaido had called for the “largest march” in Venezuela’s history and said on Twitter that “millions of Venezuelans” were in the streets in “this final phase” of his move to oust Maduro.
But by late afternoon, many of the protesters in the capital Caracas were drifting home.
Despite Guaido’s calls for the military to support him, the armed forces leadership has so far remained loyal to Maduro, who has been in power since 2013.
In the long-term, the situation in Venezuela isn’t going to change much if the U.S. is able to replace one socialist president (Maduro) with another socialist president (Guaido). Socialism always ends badly, and the people of Venezuela are going to have to decide for themselves that they don’t want socialism any longer.
But that isn’t what this is about. U.S. officials have decided that it is time to impose their will on the people of Venezuela, and they have determined that Maduro must go. If Guaido cannot create a successful internal revolution, then other options will be explored.
And as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, there was a very, very important gathering of top U.S. officials at the White House on Wednesday afternoon…
Senior U.S. administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and National Security Advisor John Bolton, will meet at the White House Wednesday afternoon. With the situation on the ground still “extraordinarily fluid,” according to Shanahan, the U.S. says it is still weighing military options.
Don’t you wish that you could have been a fly on the wall for that meeting?
Of course we already know what Pompeo and Bolton are thinking. This is what Pompeo just told Fox Business…
“Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do.”
In other words, if Guaido can’t get the job done, our boys and girls are going in.
And John Bolton has repeatedly insisted that “all options are on the table” regarding Venezuela, and he just told reporters the following about potential Russian interference…
“This is our hemisphere,” he told reporters outside the White House. “It’s not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It’s not going to lead to an improvement of relations.”
So precisely what would Bolton like us to do about it?
The Russians already have troops and military equipment in Venezuela, and they are there with the permission of the Venezuelan government. Does Bolton really want us to attack and risk a war with Russia?
And for what? Venezuela certainly has a lot of oil, but the truth is that there is no fundamental national security interest at stake in Venezuela.
Unfortunately, there is a growing consensus in Washington that something must be done about Venezuela, and the hysteria has already reached absolutely ridiculous levels. For example, just consider the words of U.S. Senator Rick Scott…
“Here is what is going to happen. We are in the process, if we don’t win today, we are going to have Syria in this hemisphere. So, we can make sure something happens now, or we can deal with this for decades to come. If we care about families, if we care about the human race, if we care about fellow worldwide citizens, then we’ve got to step up and stop this genocide.”
Did you catch that?
Apparently, if you are not in favor of a U.S. invasion of Venezuela, you don’t “care about families” and you don’t “care about the human race” either.
In response to those comments, this is what Tucker Carlson had to say…
When was the last time we successfully meddled in the political life of another country? Has it ever worked? How are the democracies we set up in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and Afghanistan right now? How would Venezuela be different? Please explain — and take your time.
Are we prepared for the refugees a Venezuelan war would inevitably produce? A study by the Brookings Institution found that the collapse of the Venezuelan government could force eight million people to leave the country. Many of them would come here. Lawmakers in this country propose giving them temporary protected status that would let even illegal arrivals live and work here, in effect, permanently, as many have before, with no fear of deportation. Are we prepared for that?
If we are going to ask members of our military to shed their blood, it had better be for a really, really good reason.
And switching out one socialist leader for another socialist leader in Venezuela definitely does not qualify.
Of course that is the best case scenario.
In a worst case scenario, a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela would spark a war with Russia, and the Russians are making it very clear that there will be “grave consequences” if we attack…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone on Wednesday that further “aggressive steps” in Venezuela would have grave consequences, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is getting dangerously close to war with Iran as well. The Iranians are threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Washington cutting off all their oil exports, and if the Strait of Hormuz gets shut down all hell could break loose.
U.S. officials want to “get tough” with all of our enemies around the world, and that is fine as long as you know what are you doing.
Because even one miscalculation can result in missiles flying back and forth, and once peace is taken from the Earth things could get wildly out of control very rapidly.
So let us hope that cooler heads prevail, because right now we are quickly approaching a tipping point.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
Are we heading for World War 3? According to a stunning vision that Monique Bizet had just a few months ago, it is definitely coming, and the United States is going to lose. Of course she is not the only one to see such a thing. For decades, God has been revealing to men and women all over the world that there will be a surprise nuclear attack on America. Afterwards, the Russians will invade the east coast and the Chinese will invade the west coast. For a very long time, many doubted that this would ever take place, but now our relations with both Russia and China are deteriorating rapidly. We certainly aren’t on the verge of war just yet, but we are moving in that direction.
If you are not familiar with Monique Bizet, the following is her bio from Z3 News…
Monique Bizet was born in Venezuela, South America, and migrated with her family to the United States when she was very young. She received The Lord when she was a teenager. In 2014, the Lord started speaking to her through strong prophetic dreams and visions, which changed her life and propelled her to eagerly seek to walk with Him at a new level. She enjoys encouraging others with what the Lord teaches her. Her desire is for a massive harvest of souls to be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven and for disciples to be raised to develop a relationship with the Lord and spread the Good News of the Gospel to all the world. Visit her website at Back to Your First Love. She also has her own YouTube channel.
And here is what she was shown on the night of November 17th…
While sleeping on November 17, 2018, I saw a map of the USA come before my eyes and I noticed it was dark all around it. The map itself was also dark as if darkness had come upon America. I have summarized what I saw here, but share more details in the 29-minute video shown at the bottom of this post.
From an aerial view, I suddenly saw nuclear explosions striking Florida. I saw in the map the whole state of Florida was up in flames. Then the same thing happened with New York. I also saw the entire east coast was attacked and other things were happening, causing great damage in the areas along the east coast.
Then I saw Los Angeles was struck by nuclear bombs as well California. There were attacks to the western and eastern sides of the nation.
Then my eyes focused on Texas and I saw something major, a huge cloud like explosion that grew and consumed the state and the heart of the nation. Then I saw the explosion gave an orange light, which was red on top. Texas was the only place I saw this orange reddish light. The explosion grew and came up high into the air, covering the neighboring states.
I also saw men targeting these areas mentioned, to strike them with nuclear bombs. I saw a profile of President Putin of Russia.
When I woke up I heard the Lord say, “The nation is going to be invaded by Russia and China.”
Juan Guaido has initiated a violent uprising in an attempt to overthrow Nicolas Maduro, and it appears that the U.S. may be preparing to intervene in the conflict militarily. The USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker accurately tracks the current positions of U.S. naval assets, and according to them the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has left port on the east coast and the USS Theodore Roosevelt has left port on the west coast. In both cases, each aircraft carrier was originally slated for “training” exercises, but now there is lots of speculation that they are both steaming south toward Venezuela. Since there has been no official confirmation from Washington, let me stress that once again that any talk about the potential destination of these carriers is just speculation. But considering what is taking place in Venezuela at this moment, it certainly would not surprise anyone if the waters off Venezuela is precisely where they are heading.
Earlier today, the Intel_Radar Twitter account created quite a stir with a series of seven tweets…
BREAKING: US Navy deploys two aircraft carriers, both southbound, one from each coast, amid Venezuela crisis.
#Venezuela#Maduro#GuaidoUpdate 1 : Eisenhower left Virginia headed South, on the same day Roosevelt deployed out of San Diego headed for the Panama Canal.
#Venezuela#Freedom#Guaido#Maduro#Cuba#USNavyUpdate 2 : US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (MMSI:368962000|CS:NIKE) departed Norfolk ~2019-04-26, was off AIS for 4 days, and seems to be headed South, off the US East Coast.
#Venezuela#Maduro#Guaido#Freedom#US_NavyUpdate 3 : American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC) RoRo Integrity (IMO:8919934|MMSI:367063310) departed Mexico with a fake destination, “hiding their destination”.
Update 4 : USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has earned a number of awards, including the Battle “E” in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2006 and 2012 as the most battle efficient carrier in the Atlantic Fleet.
#Venezuela#Maduro#Cuba#Guaido#FreedomUpdate 5 : 6248 kHz LSB Venezuela naval freq still active. Also morse code in background.
Update 6 : A US Navy fast combat support ship departed Norfolk just a little bit ago.
If all of this information is true, it would certainly seem to indicate that something is up.
Could it be possible that the U.S. is about to go to war with Venezuela?
If you are not familiar with what happened in Venezuela on Tuesday, here is a pretty good summary…
It was a ploy that from its outset felt like a long shot. Before dawn Tuesday, Juan Guaido, flanked by his political mentor Leopoldo Lopez and a handful of soldiers who had broken ranks, issued a message to Venezuela and the world: The time to topple Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian regime was right now.
By dusk, with Maduro still firmly in control of the military command, Lopez had sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador’s residence in Caracas and the streets were beginning to empty of the protesters who had heeded Guaido’s call to join what he called Operation Liberty.
Either Guaido is completely suicidal, or he is coordinating with the U.S. and he believes that U.S. military help in on the way.
The second option seems more likely, and on Tuesday John Bolton even admitted that “a deal had been struck” with key members of Maduro’s regime…
The whole episode was so bizarre — with Guaido seemingly lacking the military might to have any chance at all — that it was hard to understand the day’s events. One explanation, as related by National Security Adviser John Bolton, was that a deal had been struck behind the scenes and that key members of Maduro’s regime had agreed to flip, paving the way for Guaido to easily assume power.
Well, either Bolton was bluffing or those officials double-crossed him, because it just hasn’t happened.
And perhaps that would help to explain this very angry tweet from Bolton…
.@vladimirpadrino, @Ivanr_HD, @MaikelMorenoTSJ: Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaido’s amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship.
In response to Bolton’s tweet, one top Venezuelan official posted the following…
Dream on
@AmbJohnBolton … Not today!#TrumpHandsOffVenezuela
Subsequently, Bolton once again told the press that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Venezuela…
Bolton later told reporters that the U.S. would consider intervening in Venezuela.
“We want, as our principal objective, the peaceful transition of power, but I will say again as the president has said from the outset and as Nicolas Maduro and those supporting him — particularly those who are not Venezuelan — should know, is all options are on the table,” Bolton said.
But if the U.S. goes into Venezuela, it will be a full-blown war against a seasoned military with more than 300,000 troops in a country twice the size of Iraq.
In addition, the Russians and the Cubans already have troops there, and they have no intention of pulling their forces out.
In other words, an invasion of Venezuela could potentially spark World War 3.
But John Bolton doesn’t seem fazed by any of that. He is a hardcore war hawk, and he has been calling for military conflict for years. If you will remember, he actually called for a pre-emptive war against North Korea just two months before joining the Trump administration…
For John Bolton, the national-security adviser, the summit represented a conundrum. Two months before he entered the White House, in April, 2018, he had called for preëmptive war with North Korea. During the past two decades, Bolton has established himself as the Republican Party’s most militant foreign-policy thinker—an advocate of aggressive force who ridicules anyone who disagrees. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, he argued that Kim’s regime would soon be able to strike the United States with nuclear weapons, and that we should attack before it was too late. “The threat is imminent,” he wrote. “It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”
We truly live in ominous times, and many are deeply concerned that Bolton seems to have so much influence over U.S. foreign policy right now.
Ultimately, we don’t know what is going to happen next, but it is interesting to note that White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also used the phrase “all options are on the table” during an interview with Maria Bartiromo…
“The only messages I think we are trying to get out there is that we want to make sure the Russians and the Cubans know they are not supposed to get involved and that we do and have said a bunch of times that all options are on the table” said Mulvaney during a conversation with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo from the Milken Institute Global Conference Opens a New Window.
They are making it very clear that a full-blown invasion of Venezuela is a real possibility, and most Americans have absolutely no idea what that would mean.
We are talking about a conflict that would be several magnitudes greater than the Iraq war, and it could be right around the corner.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
Instead of “collusion with Russia”, will the mainstream media soon be buzzing about a potential war with Russia? The Trump administration and the Russian government are currently engaged in a very heated war of words regarding the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, and at this point it is difficult to see how this crisis will end well unless one side is willing to back down. The Russians are backing current president Nicolas Maduro, and as you will see below, they now have troops on the ground in the country. That absolutely infuriated President Trump, because it greatly complicated his plans for regime change in Venezuela. He told the press that Russia must “get out” and that “all options are open” as far as accomplishing that goal. In other words, President Trump is actually threatening Russia with military force if they refuse to pull their troops out of the country.
Of course the Russians are not going to do that. They have been strongly speaking out against the possibility of U.S. military intervention, and they seized the upper hand strategically when they were able to get boots on the ground in Venezuela over the weekend…
One flight tracking website shows two aircraft left a Russian military base for the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Friday, with a further jet leaving on Sunday.
The arrival of the military jets was confirmed by Javier Mayorca, an independent journalist, who said an Antonov-124 cargo plane and a smaller jet touched down late on Saturday.
He said approximately 100 soldiers – led by General Vasily Tonkoshkurov, who is head of the Mobilization Directorate of Russia’s armed forces – was also seen, as well as 35 tons of equipment.
Having the backing of the Russian military greatly, greatly strengthens Maduro’s position, and it is going to be much more difficult for the Trump administration to get rid of him now.
In recent public statements, Russian officials have made it exceedingly clear that they will not tolerate U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, and they underscored that point by sending in troops.
In response, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is warning that the U.S. “will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela”…
The influx of Russian forces, reportedly with intelligence officers among them, prompted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to call his Russian counterpart on Monday and warn him, “that the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela.”
Okay, so what does “not stand idly by” actually mean?
When asked by reporters for specifics on the situation in Venezuela, this is what President Trump had to say…
“Russia has to get out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he met with Guaido’s wife, Fabiana Rosales.
Asked how he would make Russian forces leave, Trump said: “We’ll see. All options are open.”
But Russia is not going to get out of Venezuela.
So either Trump will have to back down, or he will have to risk a full-blown war with Russia by taking military action.
Yes, we have actually reached that point.
On a note that may or may not be related, the U.S. Army has just placed an order for 167,195 assault rifles…
The Army Contracting Command-New Jersey (ACC-NJ) has issued a pre-solicitation to the defense industry, on behalf of Project Manager Soldier Weapons (PM-SW), for the request to procure 167,195 M4/M4A1 Carbines to be manufactured exclusively within the United States or its Territories.
The M4/M4A1 carbines provide a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle to the United States Armed Forces. The lightweight assault rifle fires 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition from a 30-round magazine and has semi-automatic and three-round burst firing modes.
Is this just a routine order, or does someone anticipate that our troops will be doing some fighting soon?
Whether military action is coming in the short-term or not, it is clear that the U.S. intends to continue to increase the pressure on Maduro. President Trump met with Juan Guaido’s wife on Wednesday, and the day before another crippling power outage paralyzed much of Venezuela…
Venezuelans reacted with despair and resourcefulness on Tuesday as nationwide power cuts closed schools and businesses, paralyzing a nation that was only starting to recover from its worst blackouts earlier this month.
The new outages, which began Monday, forced people to follow now-familiar routines: scour neighborhoods for food and water in the few shops that were open or seek out the few spots where they could find a signal on their mobile phones and get in touch with family and friends.
Now that the Mueller investigation is over, hopefully there will be a vigorous national debate about our policy regarding Venezuela, because the American people deserve to know what another war would cost us.
A war in Venezuela would be far more complicated and far more difficult than our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just consider Ron Paul’s assessment of such a conflict…
So is President Trump about to attack Venezuela? At a recent US House hearing, one of the expert witnesses testified that such an invasion would require between 100,000 and 150,000 US troops, going up against maybe three times that number of Venezuelan troops in a country twice the size of Iraq. With a lot of jungle. All for a “prize” that has nothing to do with US security. If the president makes such a foolish move he might find the current war cheerleaders in the Democrat Party changing their tune rather quickly. Let’s hope Trump changes his tune and returns to his promises of no more regime change wars.
On top of all that, an invasion of Venezuela would risk sparking a full-blown war with Russia.
It would be a foreign policy mistake of epic proportions, and we must not do it.
Without a doubt, the situation in Venezuela is heartbreaking, and we should all hope for their economy to be restored.
But this is something for the people of Venezuela to sort out. As I have repeatedly stressed, the U.S. cannot be the police of the world, and the U.S. military should not be used to overthrow governments just because we do not like who is currently running things.
If we are going to ask young American men and women to shed their blood and sacrifice their lives, it had better be for a really, really, really good reason, and regime change in Venezuela definitely does not qualify.
About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.