WORLD AT WAR: 12.4.21- The United States Gets Even Closer To War With BothRussia And China

The United States Gets Even Closer To War With BothRussia And China - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/the-united-states-gets-even-closer-to-war-with-both-russia-and-china/ While most of the U.S. population is distracted by other matters, the Biden administration continues to march us even closer to war with both Russia and China. It is understandablethat so much attention is being given to the craziness surrounding the COVID pandemic, our very serious economic problems and the growing violence in our streets, but ultimately our deteriorating relationships with Russia and China will become even biggernews than any of those stories. If we stay on the path that we are currently on, there will inevitably be war with Russia and there will inevitably be war with China. I do not believe that either of those conflicts will erupt this week or this month, but thanksto the recklessness of the Biden administration we are relentlessly moving toward war. So even though most of my articles address concerns that are of a more immediate nature, I am going to keep my readers periodically updated on these developments, becausethis is a story that isn�t going to go away. On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin warned the United States and NATO not to deploy troops or missiles in Ukraine� Russian President Vladimir Putin warned NATO and the US Tuesday that any deployment of troops or missiles in Ukraine would cross a �red line� and prompt a military response. �The emergence of such threats represents a �red line� for us,� the Russian leader said. �I hope that it will not get to that and common sense and responsibility for theirown countries and the global community will eventually prevail.� Of course this is not the first time Putin has issued such a warning. For months, the Russians have been making it clear that they will not tolerate western forces in Ukraine. The Russians are particularly concerned about missiles, because a missile launched from Ukraine could potentially hit Moscow in five minutes. It is kind of like the Cuban missile crisis in reverse. For good reason, the U.S. didn�t want Russian missiles in Cuba because of the close proximity. Similarly, the Russiansdon�t want western missiles right on their doorstep. Unfortunately, instead of defusing the situation we continue to see NATO sending more �military hardware� into Ukraine in order to stop a potential �Russian invasion�� Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO on Tuesday of deploying a significant amount of military hardware near Russia�s borders and said Moscow could respondto security threats from Western countries and Ukraine if necessary. U.S., NATO and Ukrainian officials have raised the alarm in recent weeks over what they say are unusual Russian troop movements near the border with Ukraine, and have suggestedthat Moscow might be preparing to launch an attack. Moscow has denied any plans to do so. Most Americans don�t realize this, but this is a tinderbox that could literally explode at any time. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to prepare for a future global conflict. A few weeks ago, Putin announced that testing of Russia�s new hypersonic missiles was almost done� Earlier in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that tests of the Zircon hypersonic missiles are almost completed. Vladimir Putin said that the hypersonic weapon with maximum speed of Mach 9 will appear in Russia in the near future. These missiles can move at unimaginable speeds, and the U.S. has absolutely no way to defend against them. Even more alarming, Putin is saying that Russia will be deploying �sea-based� hypersonic missiles early next year� Speaking to gathered experts, Putin called the development of high-speed missiles as a �necessary� response to �Western actions.� �We have already successfully conducted tests, and from the beginning of the year we will have in service a sea-based hypersonic missile of Mach 9,� Putin said. Russia�s �black hole submarines� are so quiet that they can literally sneak up to our coastlines without anyone ever detecting them. So imagine a scenario where a whole bunch of them suddenly surface just off our coastlines and launch hypersonic missiles which start hitting our coastal cities within justmoments. By the way, China has also developed a very alarming new hypersonic weapon system� A senior U.S. Space Force officer has stressed that China�s new hypersonic weapon system is indeed orbital in nature and could be able to stay in space for an extended periodof time. This is the latest piece of official information about this novel system that reportedly uses some kind of hypersonic glider, which may be capable of launching its own projectiles to actually execute a strike. At this point, both Russia and China are miles ahead of us when it comes to developing hypersonic weapons. But at least the U.S. military has them both beat when it comes to conducting diversity seminars. As bad as things are with Russia, I actually believe that war with China is even closer. Taiwan is the primary source of contention between the Chinese and the Biden administration, and things just continue to get even more tense. In fact, China just sent �about 150 aircraft� into Taiwanese airspace over a recent four day period� The past few days have been busy in airspace off Taiwan�s southern coast, in what�s been a steady uptick of such threatening flights. �Over the past year, the frequencyof Chinese incursions has increased, with about 150 aircraft over a period of four days,� The Associated Press tallied by the close of Sunday. This could mark a new record set over a four-day time period, given the first week of October say 145 PLA aircraft within the same window, a prior record. The actions hadcorresponded with China�s 72nd annual National Day. I am entirely convinced that the Chinese will pull the trigger on an invasion of Taiwan at some point. When that occurs, the U.S. and China will instantly be in a state of war. But most Americans don�t really care about any of this. Most Americans will just keep their heads stuck in the sand as the world continues to go mad all around them. Unfortunately, when they do finally wake up it will be way too late to reverse course. ----------------------------------- Is The US Missing the Bigger Picture on Iran? – Dan Schueftan - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5085 The coming months are crucial to Israel's national security because the decision that the United States makes with regard to Iran will shape our strategic environment foryears to come. And whoever looks at the implications of U.S. policy from the nuclear aspect alone is missing the point. President Joe Biden will either choose a responsible policy that will prevent Tehran from gaining regional hegemony, and allow Washington to divert its resources to itsstruggle against China, or one that will turn the ayatollah-led regime into a superpower whose actions will most likely lead to a widespread conflict in the Middle East. The democratic West in general and the United States in particular have consistently failed to understand radicalism. They assume that what emanates from radicals are empty"extremist" slogans and that fundamentally "rational" leaders will act "pragmatically" when they "have something to lose." This is also how they misunderstood Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,to name a few. A similar "cultural blindness" has consistently failed Americans when they tried to bring democracy to Iraq, pluralism to Libya, acceptance to the Muslim Brotherhood, women'sequality to Afghanistan and peace to Palestinians. As for Iran, a nuclear deal will only marginally curb its nuclear progress, but will greatly increase its capabilities and regional aggression. Having enriched uranium torecord-high levels, it only lacks the launch means and weapons system to become a nuclear threshold state. The danger of the nuclear deal lies in the strategic realm in which Washington has failed repeatedly, by obsessively focusing on a much-needed, but secondary, goal in away that disregarded the main one. As such, focusing on curbing Tehran's nuclear enrichment efforts alone will eventually make it easier for the regime to become a nuclear threshold state and strengthen itsstatus as a regional power. The key questions remain economics and consciousness. Lifting the sanctions will bring the regime in Tehran tens of millions of dollars and will open the door for hundredsof billions more from Europe, China, India and others. A critical U.S. contribution to strengthening Iran and its regional control will almost inevitably lead to a conflict with Israel, which sees such hegemony as an existentialthreat. Such an outcome can still be prevented if Washington examines the overall regional repercussion of the nuclear deal. ---------------------------------- A War Between Two Ideologies - Israel & Hezbollah Make Plans For NextWar � Yaakov Lappin - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5089 The Israel Defense Forces are developing upgraded intelligence and firepower strike capabilities, and is drilling these new abilities on a regular basis. At the same time,Israeli intelligence sources acknowledge that Hezbollah has morphed from a guerilla-terror organization into an organized terror army. These developments were clearly on display this month, during an extensive war drill conducted by the IDF's 36th Armored Division, a multi-arena division capable of maneuveringinto enemy territory and attacking targets in a range of ways. "We are preparing ourselves in better ways. We hope we don't have to get there," said Deputy Intelligence Officer for the 36th Armored Division Maj. A (full name withheld),during the drill. When assessing Hezbollah, Maj. A stated that the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group has learned from its experience in Syria's battlefield how to go on the offensive. As opposed to only trying to target IDF patrols with IEDs, anti-tank missiles and other guerilla tactics, Hezbollah of 2021 is focused on mobilizing forces into Israeliterritory and employing tactical lessons it has learned from its partners in Syria since 2011. "They will look to achieve a very big success early on in a conflict or a serious 'success' against the [Israeli] civilian front," he cautioned. This could mean attackingan Israeli village near the Lebanese border and holding families hostage, exploiting Israel's heightened sensitivity to the welfare of its civilians. Hezbollah will "look to achieve its objective early on, allow the media coverage to go viral, and after that, it doesn't care what happens in the rest of the war. It willhave its picture--Israelis embarrassed on the world stage," the intelligence officer said, providing an insight into Hezbollah's strategy. Drawing on its experience in Syria, Hezbollah has spent the past decade planning attacks into the Galilee, deploying thousands of armed operatives "the second the war starts."The IDF's destruction of cross-border Hezbollah tunnels in 2018-19 put a dent in those plans, though Hezbollah is planning new overland attacks and collecting intelligence on the IDF's day-to-day activities as part of its "early achievement" strategy. When it comes to Hezbollah's large projectile arsenal, estimated at 140,000-plus, the organization understands that rockets form a "very practical weapon" when fired fromcivilian areas at civilian areas, said Maj. A. It has closely been studying Hamas's rocket attacks against Israel and "trying to understand what the best way to challenge us is in the next conflict," he added. Hezbollah also has some 100,000 mortars deployed on the border, aimed at villages and frontline IDF posts within a 10-kilometer radius. "This is a rate of fire we are notused to down south," said the officer. 'The strength of the urban system' In light of this challenge, the IDF has not been resting on its laurels. In addition to developing unprecedented airpower strike capabilities--based on unleashing thousandsof munitions every 24 hours--the Israeli military is planning its next ground offensive to be nothing like past operations and wars. A core part of this change is the ability to gather the most precise intelligence in real time and send it to just the right company, battalion, brigade and division inthe field, enabling the rapid, surgical destruction of enemy targets and minimal harm to noncombatants, explained Maj. A. With Hezbollah deeply embedded in the Shi'ite civilian population of Southern Lebanese villages, coupled with its fortifications and posts in those villages, the IDF's dependenceon rapid, reliable intelligence is more important than ever. The goal, said Maj. A, is for maneuvering forces to be able to see the enemy, tell it apart from noncombatants, and be precise and lethal all at the same time. Much of the intelligence picture is "under the surface, in more ways than one," said Maj. A. Hezbollah is deployed both in Lebanon and in Syria, backed by the Iranians.The Islamic Republic is building a pipeline of munitions that travels from Iran into Iraq, and ends up in Syria and Lebanon, impacting the entire Middle East. Hezbollah has amassed a drone fleet for intelligence and attack capabilities they can use against both Israeli civilians and the IDF. "When you build a capability you believe in, this also makes you more ambitious. You develop it by yourself, see it succeed--and this gives you more nerve," Maj. A. said,providing a glimpse into Hezbollah's mindset. Using schools, mosques and hospitals is a core part of Hezbollah's modus operandi, as well as concealing itself with mass human-shielding tactics to make it harder for theIDF to respond. Hezbollah looks "ahead of time at the terrain where it thinks we will enter certain areas from and make use of that terrain. It will set up observation posts in high accesspoints. It will take anti-tank missiles ... Russian products and places them in specific vantage points. It builds underground fortifications within the center of urban areas, next to civilian sites," said Maj. A. "That's the strength of the urban system wemaneuver in, and the battleground is a civilian battleground whether we like it or not. That's the challenge that makes us have to be precise." Hezbollah's capabilities also include making use of the electromagnetic spectrum for jamming and for intelligence collection. 'A war between two ideologies' In light of the above, the IDF General Staff has instructed the military to build the ability to flow relevant intelligence directly down to the maneuvering units in a fast,accurate manner. Otherwise, the officer said, the intelligence will simply be irrelevant or will not enable effective action. The division-wide exercise tests just this ability. End-to-end intelligence was streamed to the division's brigades, including through the use of a new intelligence centerin central Israel that sifts through massive quantities of data and highlights relevant insights for those in the field. Signals intelligence, human intelligence, visual intelligence--all are fused into a big picture of the combat arena, and teams put it together like a jigsaw puzzle intoa relevant "product." This then turns into "targeting packages" that are sent with the press of a button" to the ground forces. "This allows us to be more relevant against the enemy and more lethal. But more importantly, it allows us to avoid innocent casualties," said the source. The exercise saw units examine terrain, enemy activity in civilian infrastructure and then initiate a full process of preparing strikes for the battlefield. Many of these capabilities rely on new advances in digital combat capabilities and intelligence-gathering means. Asking the right questions and getting the relevant answersto those who need it in the line of fire is critical, said Maj. A, describing a shift towards "intelligence-oriented warfare." "We're interested in peace, in the status quo," he said, adding that he assessed that Hezbollah is not interested in a conflict right now either. However, the history ofthis troubled region has already demonstrated that this is no guarantee that one won't erupt suddenly anyway. The fact that Hezbollah has been seeking to develop precision-guided missiles, for example, is an explosive red line that Israel has said it will enforce. If Israel is forcedto take preemptive action, that could form a trigger for a wider conflict. Similarly, Iran's nuclear program continues to lurk in the background as a potential trigger point for regional conflict despite Israel's obvious preference for the statusquo. If Iran orders Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to act, he will most likely do so since Iran is the source of funding leading to Hezbollah's force build-up, and Iran isthe party telling Hezbollah what to do in Syria. "Nasrallah is a very religious man and will follow what the Iranian supreme leaders tell him," said Maj. A. Israel is warier these days of attempting to predict Nasrallah's precise future moves after recent years have shown that he is more than capable of unexpected action, addedto the very different cultural mentality that guides his worldview compared to the West. The 36th Division's drill was joined by the IDF's Golani Brigade. During the drill, Col. Barak Hiram, Brigade Commander, stated: "The challenge isn't to win a battle againstseveral Hezbollah fighters; we know how to do that very well. Western armies know how to do that. The main challenge is to win the entire war--and to stay humane. To win and to stay with our morals." He pointed out that an Israel-Hezbollah war is not only an armed conflict but a war between two ideologies, with Israel at the forefront of Western modern democracies confrontingIslamic fundamentalist ideologies. "If we win the battle but lose the war because we become one of them; this is victory for their morals," he said, explaining just how critical it was for the IDF to strikethe right balance between combat effectiveness and sticking to its own rules of engagement. "In any escalation entering Lebanon, we very much will put the focus on how to kill as many Hezbollah combatants as possible and destroy military infrastructure withoutharming the civilian population," he added. During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, in which Hiram was injured, the Israeli government decided not to move forward into Lebanon, creating a static war in which the IDF heldground that it captured and stopped moving ahead. "I think that most of our plans for the next time will be much more active, including maneuvering further on, which will take the Hezbollah organization to different dilemmasthat it did not have in 2006," he said. Asked by JNS whether this meant an IDF maneuver into Beirut, Hiram stated that no one knows for sure how wars end. "We are here to stay for good. Lebanon is here to stay," said Hiram. "We are willing and hoping that one day, we'll be able to have peace with the Lebanese state that ison our northern border. ------------------------------------ VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM