The Stage Is Being Set for The Biggest War In Human History

The Stage Is Being Set for The Biggest War In Human History - by Michael Snyder - https://endoftheamericandream.com/the-stage-is-being-set-for-the-biggest-war-in-human-history/ Most people don�t realize this, but all of our lives are about to change. We are moving into a time of global war, and the death and destruction that we will witness will be off the charts. World War I was supposed to be �the war to end all wars�, and it resulted in approximately 20 million deaths. It was a truly nightmarish conflict, and those living at the time thought that we would never see anything like it again. But then World War II erupted, and it resulted in approximately 75 million deaths. Sadly, global leaders seem to have forgotten the lessons of World War II, because now the stage is being set for the biggest war in human history so far. During World War III, billions of people could die. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be no turning back now. It is my personal opinion that the war in the Middle East will be the first conflict to rise to an apocalyptic level. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned the media that he feels that there is �an obligation to change the situation in the north�� Israeli officials on Wednesday escalated threats against Lebanon�s Hezbollah amidst escalating cross-border exchanges of fire between the two sides. �We are completing the land and air preparedness, strengthening the intelligence systems, and preparing for any possibility,� Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the press before meeting with military chief Herzi Halevi and senior commanders in the Northern Command headquarters in the city of Safed. �We have an obligation to change the situation in the north,� he stressed. In other words, Gallant fully intends to push Hezbollah back so that approximately 100,000 Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel. Another Israeli official has issued an even more ominous warning� Meanwhile, the Israeli Ynet news site reported that an anonymous �senior Israeli government official� told the news outlet that �if Hezbollah continues to attack Israel, southern Lebanon will look like Gaza. Beirut will not be immune.� Those are very strong words. This week the Biden administration has been trying desperately to find a diplomatic solution that will satisfy both sides, but that endeavor was never going to succeed. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have been making preparations for a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, and it is being reported that �operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon� have been officially approved� The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday announced that plans to launch an offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah have been formally approved. The IDF statement further said it is preparing to �accelerate readiness in the field� at a moment the situation is deteriorating, given the Lebanese paramilitary group backed by Iran has in the last days sent hundreds of drones and missiles into northern Israel. The statement spelled out that �operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved.� I was stunned when I read that. I knew that this was coming, but I didn�t think it was coming quite so quickly. When the IDF enters southern Lebanon, it will mean all-out war. On Wednesday, the leader of Hezbollah warned vaguely of �new weapons and intelligence capabilities� that his organization now possesses� Lebanon�s Hezbollah has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel in case of an all-out war, the militant group�s leader warned on Wednesday. Hassan Nasrallah�s comments came as the monthslong cross-border conflict simmering between Hezbollah and Israel appears to be reaching a boiling point and a day after a top U.S. envoy met Lebanese officials in his latest attempt to ease tensions. And this week Hezbollah also released some very alarming footage� The Hezbollah terror group published footage on Tuesday from what it said was one of its reconnaissance drones flying over northern Israel, including the Haifa port, as Israel said it struck down more suspected drones over the Western Galilee. It was unclear when the roughly 10 minutes of footage released by Hezbollah were captured, and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment on the video. Iran has provided Hezbollah with a vast arsenal of very sophisticated missiles, and once an all-out war erupts tens of thousands of those missiles will rain down on Israeli cities. There will not be a single city in all of Israel that will be out of range. How do you think Israel might choose to respond in such a scenario? You might want to start thinking about that. Elsewhere, it looks like any chance for peace in Ukraine is gone. Apparently the Russians are now saying that the next proposal that they will offer to Ukraine will be an offer to surrender� The Kremlin now says that the next formal proposal on the horizon will be a document of the Ukrainian government�s surrender. This was stated by Russia�s chief delegate to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, in a Rossiya-24 television interview. �There are points of no return. The next thing that Russia will have to offer will be the document about [the Kiev government�s] surrender,� he said. He called last week�s proposals by Putin �realistic� and said they could end the war if they were embraced. The Russians are steadily gaining ground, and so they feel like they have all the leverage that they need. But western leaders are absolutely obsessed with winning this conflict, and they insist that they will keep ramping up their efforts for as long as it takes. In the end, it appears that both sides are willing to keep escalating matters until someone pushes things a little bit too far. Let us hope that day does not arrive any time soon. Unfortunately, when we do find ourselves in a direct war with Russia we could also find ourselves in a direct war with North Korea at the same time because those two nations just signed a mutual defense pact� Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a new pact Wednesday that includes a pledge of mutual defense if either is attacked. The agreement was sealed at a summit in Pyongyang during a rare visit by Putin to the reclusive nuclear-armed state as both countries face growing confrontations with the West. This is really big news. I don�t know why it isn�t getting more coverage by the western media. The Russians have been making all sorts of unusual moves lately. For example, it is being reported that Vladimir Putin just picked his niece to be Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation� Putin�s niece Anna Tsivileva has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, as stated in the official decree published on Russia�s legal acts portal. Pavel Fradkov, the youngest son of Mikhail Fradkov, Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies and former Prime Minister and chief of foreign intelligence, has also been appointed as Deputy Minister of Defense. Anna Tsivileva is married to Sergey Tsivilyev, Russia�s Minister of Energy, who assumed office in May after leading the Kemerovo Region. Tsivileva, formerly Anna Putina, has been previously reported by Agentstvo to be President Putin�s second cousin. Even for Putin, I thought that this was a rather bizarre thing to do. But I guess they do things differently over there. Before I close this article, I also wanted to discuss a couple of new developments regarding China. A new weapons package for Taiwan that is worth approximately 360 million dollars has been approved, and this isn�t going to make the Chinese happy at all� The US State Department has approved a new weapons sale to Taiwan involving hundreds of armed drones and missiles worth $360 million, the Pentagon�s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has said. Under the deal that was concluded on Tuesday, Taiwan will receive Altius-600M systems, which are unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with warheads, and related equipment at an estimated cost of $300 million, the agency said. Of course the Chinese have been preparing for war as well, and those preparations have included expanding the size of their nuclear arsenal faster than anyone else� China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other major superpower, and is in command of 500, a top European think tank has warned. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute wrote in a report published on Monday that Xi Xinping has increased his nation�s nuclear stockpile from 410 to 500 in a single year. The increase in nuclear weapons meant �China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country� in absolute terms, WMD expert Hans M Kristensen told Insider. Most people don�t like to think about nuclear war, because it will mean the end of our society as we know it today. Someday when the U.S. finds itself in such a conflict, it will be relying on an ICBM fleet that first went into service many decades ago and that is constantly needing to be repaired. The following is a brief excerpt from an excellent Time Magazine article� If a piece of equipment breaks inside Captain Kaz �Dexter� Moffett�s underground command center at the Alpha-01 Missile Alert Facility, it�s marked with a paper tag that reads either �warning� or �danger.� A few of those are hanging in this cramped capsule buried about 70 ft. below the high plains of eastern Wyoming. One is stuck to the shut-off valves that control water flow in the event of an emergency. There�s another one on a ventilation hatch. The entire command capsule itself is jury-rigged on top of steel stilts because the shock-absorber system, which was first installed in 1963 to survive a thermonuclear blast, is now inoperative. So there�s a tag for Air Force maintenance teams to fix that too. Then there are malfunctions that aren�t marked. Moffett�s computer monitor�the one that enables him to keep watch on a fleet of 10 nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)�has a flashing glitch on the bottom of the screen. His classified phone line has such a weak connection that he can barely hear fellow Air Force officers who are commanding more than 100 other nuclear missiles spread across 9,600 sq. mi. �You can hear them pretty clearly if you stand on an angle, on one leg, and jump up and down,� Moffett says, smiling. �It�s all part of the job. We spend a lot of time saying to ourselves, �Hey, how are we going to make this work today?�� Most Americans don�t realize that our strategic nuclear forces are in horrendous shape. In many cases, those running the system are forced to use rotary phones and 8 inch floppy disks. Meanwhile, the Russians have introduced a new line of ultra-advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the S-500 is the best anti-missile system on the entire planet by a very wide margin. I have written about all of this a lot, but I don�t think that it is sinking in for most people. Over the past decade or so, the balance of power has shifted dramatically. I would highly recommend that our leaders pursue peace while they still can, because we are simply not prepared for the type of war that is now staring us in the face. -------------------------- Cease the Ceasefire Talks: Allow Israel to Put An End To Hamas� Chaos, Death, and Destruction � By Chris Katulka - https://harbingersdaily.com/cease-the-ceasefire-talks-allow-israel-to-put-an-end-to-hamas-chaos-death-and-destruction/ Shortly after Hamas�s brutal October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, U.S. President Joe Biden demonstrated solidarity with the grief-stricken Jewish nation. He preached accountability in the face of terrorism, stating, �History has taught us that when terrorists don�t pay a price for their terror, . . . they cause more chaos and death and more destruction.� The White House robustly supported Israel�s military actions in Gaza after October 7; and the president not only endorsed Israel, but he also strategically deployed the USS Ford and USS Eisenhower carrier strike groups to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to deter further aggression from Hezbollah terrorists along Israel�s northern border with Lebanon. Biden�s remarks after the massacre hold profound truth. Since coming to power in Gaza in 2007, Hamas has exemplified the adage �Give them an inch, and they�ll take a mile.� But it wasn�t long before Biden�s tone shifted. During a press conference in February, the president called Israel�s military operations in Gaza �over the top.� Despite years of enduring incessant rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel always faces international criticism when conflicts arise. Calls for a ceasefire only emerge when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) respond to escalating rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians. In December 2023, 153 countries voted in favor of a UN resolution for a Gaza ceasefire; 23 abstained, and only 10 opposed. To make matters worse, South Africa accused Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice. Hamas�s history shows a pattern of failure to maintain ceasefires. So many ceasefires have been established and promptly violated that the term no longer means much. The pattern is clear: (1) Hamas unleashes terrorism on Israel; (2) Israel responds with military action after days, weeks, or months of escalated rocket attacks; (3) the news media condemns Israel for targeting Hamas bases and launch sites; (4) Israel faces international pressure to end military operations; (5) a ceasefire is brokered between Israel and Hamas; and (6) Hamas breaks the ceasefire. Wash, rinse, repeat. In 2008, in response to several years of Hamas rocket attacks, the IDF initiated Operation Cast Lead, a 22-day conflict in Gaza. Egypt brokered a ceasefire; and almost immediately, Hamas resumed rocket attacks, violating the truce. In 2012, another escalation of rocket fire from Gaza forced the IDF into another conflict, Operation Pillar of Defense. After eight days, a ceasefire was established; but it eroded as Hamas continued terrorizing Israel. Then, Hamas breached several short-lived ceasefires during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge and the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls. Israel�s current objective is to eliminate Hamas, ensuring it can no longer govern or operate within Gaza. Ceasefires have proven to be a one-sided deal favoring Hamas. They only give the terrorists time to regroup and rearm, providing breathing room to double down on their efforts to destroy the Jewish state. The international community urging Israel to embrace a ceasefire cannot ignore October 7. As long as Hamas is in power, the threat of another massacre looms large. Psalm 83 is a prayer asking God not to remain silent as Israel�s enemies try to eliminate Israel and the Jewish people. The enemies say, �Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more� (v. 4). As pressure mounts on Israel, we must remember that God will act. We pray President Biden will heed his own words: �When terrorists don�t pay a price for their terror, . . . they cause more chaos and death and more destruction.� So, let�s allow Israel to put an end to Hamas and its chaos, death, and destruction. ------------------------------- War Will Be One Of The Primary Elements Of The �Perfect Storm� That We Are Now Facing - by Michael Snyder - https://endoftheamericandream.com/war-will-be-one-of-the-primary-elements-of-the-perfect-storm-that-we-are-now-facing/ There has not been a global war since the 1940s, and now nations all over the planet are armed to the teeth with weapons of immense destructive power. Everyone knows that it is just a matter of time before global conflict turns our world upside down, and once that happens everything will change. If you think that economic conditions are bad now, just wait until war paralyzes global trade. If you think that global hunger is bad now, just wait until war absolutely devastates global food production. War will be one of the primary elements of the �perfect storm� that we are now facing, and it will have a dramatic impact on many of the other elements. The war that has erupted in the Middle East will be a year old in October, but what we have witnessed so far is just a walk in the park compared to what is coming. When an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah begins, it will be a complete and utter nightmare. Sadly, Israeli officials are warning that we are getting very close to that point� Israeli officials warned that the country is on the �brink� of a full-scale war with Hezbollah if the terrorist group continues to increase its aggression in northern Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) made the warning on Sunday, just a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet with Amos Hochstein, a top aide to President Biden. Biden�s administration is pushing Israel to avoid a war in Lebanon, but IDF officials continue to highlight the outsized threat posed by Hezbollah compared to Hamas. �Hezbollah�s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation,� an IDF spokesman warned Sunday. Vast numbers of Israelis were evacuated from their homes in northern Israel when Hezbollah started lobbing rockets over the border. They are very eager to return to their homes, but that won�t happen until the threat that Hezbollah poses has been neutralized. Unfortunately, in order to do that the IDF will need to go into southern Lebanon, and once that happens there will be all-out war. Hezbollah is sitting on a vast arsenal of highly sophisticated missiles that it can use to target Israeli cities, and we are being told that they possess �even more firepower than several European countries have today�� Hezbollah, however, is far more well-equipped and has more manpower. Their rockets and drone attacks have already forced over 100,000 Israelis to evacuate their homes in northern Israel. �Hezbollah is the crown jewel in the Iranian empire of terror and evil and is by far the most powerful Iranian proxy, equipped with nation state capabilities and even more firepower than several European countries have today,� former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus told Fox News. �In a military comparison, Hezbollah is far more powerful than Hamas,� he added. I am entirely convinced that we could be just months away from a worst case scenario in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the president of Poland is saying that the �decolonization� of Russia should be the end result of the war in Ukraine. Apparently, this would involve breaking up Russia into a number of much smaller ethnic states� Polish President Andrzej Duda has called for the �decolonization� of Russia, claiming that Russia�s many ethnic minorities should form their own states. Russia is one of the most diverse countries in the world and comprises over 190 ethnic groups that speak more than 270 languages and dialects, according to the government. Speaking at the so-called �Peace for Ukraine� conference in Switzerland on Sunday, Duda described Russia as a �prison of nations.� The country is �home to almost 200 ethnic groups,� which �became the residents of Russia as a result of methods used in Ukraine today,� the Polish leader claimed, referring to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. This sort of talk is extremely dangerous, because it just confirms Russian fears that they are locked in an existential conflict with western powers. The Russians have warned us over and over again that they will use nuclear weapons if the very existence of their nation is threatened, but our leaders just keep brushing off such threats. In fact, just last week Vladimir Putin once again publicly discussed the possibility of nuclear war� Speaking to foreign ministry officials, the Kremlin leader said: �Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons demonstrate the extreme recklessness of Western politicians. �They either do not understand the scale of the threat they are creating � or are simply obsessed with their own sense of impunity and exceptionalism. �Both can lead to tragedy.� The Russians have been preparing to fight a nuclear war for many years. Most Americans do not realize this, but their missile systems and anti-missile systems are both far superior to our own. This is something that I have documented extensively for my readers. Western leaders are finally starting to realize that they need to get serious, and the head of NATO has stated that there are discussions about �taking missiles out of storage and placing them on standby�� Nato is in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons in the face of a growing threat from Russia and China, the head of the alliance has said. Jens Stoltenberg added that the bloc must show its nuclear arsenal to the world to send a direct message to its foes in an interview with The Telegraph. He revealed there were live consultations between members on taking missiles out of storage and placing them on standby as he called for transparency to be used as a deterrent. I wish that leaders on both sides would get serious about peace, but it doesn�t appear that is going to happen. A major war with China could soon erupt as well. The Biden administration has been provoking China over and over again, and it is being reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping just told Ursula von der Leyen that Biden and his minions have been attempting to �goad Beijing into attacking Taiwan�� China�s President Xi Jinping told European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen that the United States was trying to �goad Beijing into attacking Taiwan,� according to officials aware of the exchange, which took place a little over a year ago but is just now being revealed. Xi has also been warning his own officials, at a moment tensions are high across the Taiwan Strait particularly given Beijing sees newly inaugurated Taiwan President Lai Ching-te as a pro-independence hawk. �Xi issued the warning in a meeting with von der Leyen in April 2023 that was described to the Financial Times by several people,� according to a weekend report in FT. �He said the US was trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, but that he would not take the bait. Another person said he had issued similar warnings to his officials.� Of course let us not forget that Chinese President Xi Jinping isn�t exactly an innocent party here. Late last year, he told Joe Biden to his face that one way or another he will �reunify� Taiwan with China� Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided, according to three current and former U.S. officials. Xi told Biden in a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials that China�s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, the officials said. The Chinese leader also referenced public predictions by U.S. military leaders who say that Xi plans to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027, telling Biden that they were wrong because he has not set a time frame, according to the two current and one former official briefed on the meeting. Taiwan will never, ever �reunify� with China peacefully. So war is coming, and it will be horrible. Before I end this article, I also wanted to mention that North Korea�s nuclear arsenal got quite a bit larger during the past year� North Korea is believed to possess 50 nuclear weapons � 20 more than in the past year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed in its annual report published on Monday on global militaries. SIPRI�s �Yearbook 2024 Armaments, Disarmament and International Security� report assesses the known arsenals of nuclear states as well as global military development. It once again found that the vast majority of known nuclear weapons are in the possession of America and Russia, but that communist China is making significant efforts to expand and modernize its own arsenal. Notably, the report documented �the first time China is believed to have some warheads on high operational alert� in 2024. And we are being told that the North Koreans have supplied millions of artillery shells to the Russians� North Korea has recently sent containers to Russia that could hold as many as 4.8 million artillery shells, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in an interview with Bloomberg published on June 14th. Seoul spotted at least 10,000 containers being shipped from North Korea to Russia, according to Won-sik. Pyongyang has also sent dozens of ballistic missiles that Moscow troops have launched against Ukraine. To put this in perspective, the US has sent only 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine (most of them maintained since the 1980s in a reserve stockpile meant for Israel) and is straining to meet a manufacturing quota of 100,000 shells per month by 2025. The disparity between the production of armaments between NATO and Russia (and its allies) has proven to be immense. From artillery to armor to ammunition, NATO simply cannot keep up. Those numbers are simply embarrassing. One of the reasons why we won World War II is because we simply outproduced everyone else. Now we are being outproduced by the North Koreans. As we move deeper into this new era of global war, it is just a matter of time before American boys and girls are sent to die. If you doubt this, just check out what the House of Representatives did on Friday� The House of Representatives passed a measure on Friday automatically registering men aged 18 to 26 for selective service. It was part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets out the U.S. government�s military and national security priorities over the next fiscal year. If they want war, I would like to see them send their own sons and their own daughters. Of course World War III won�t just be fought on the other side of the planet. World War III will be a truly global war, and all of our lives will be completely turned upside down as a result. ------------------------------ Five Predictions for The Coming Decade Of Decline � James Hickman - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6983 There is a well-known modern proverb (often attributed to the novelist G. Michael Hopf) that goes, "Weak men create hard times, hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men." The saying sums up the cyclical nature of the rise and fall of societies- and it's a topic in which I have tremendous personal interest. Having recently reached middle age, I can comfortably say with the benefit of hindsight that I was born and grew up during the American prime time- the time at which the wealthiest and most powerful country in the history of the world was at its peak. The US is still an incredible country with so much prosperity and opportunity. But it would be completely naive and ignorant to claim that America is not in substantial decline. Its standing in the world has waned, much of it just over the past few years. It's hard for adversary nations to take you seriously when your President shakes hands with thin air and embassy employees in Kabul have to be evacuated by helicopter. Financial challenges keep piling up- from the insolvency of Social Security to the $35 trillion national debt to the inflation problem that just won't go away. And social divisions, many of which have been bizarrely self-inflicted, seem to grow more tense by the day. Fortunately, America's decline began from a historically high peak. So even in its diminished state, again, it is still wealthy and powerful. But the real concern isn't where the country is today. It's the trend, i.e. where the country will end up in ten years' time if it stays on current course. I've spent the past fifteen years studying similar cases throughout history- the US is far from alone as the only nation that has ever peaked and declined. And one of the best works on the subject I've ever read is The Collapse of Complex Societies, by anthropologist Joseph Tainter. "Collapse" is a strong word and conjures images of anarchy and death. But Tainter's definition is more precise; "collapse" doesn't mean that a society or nation ceases to exist, but that it experiences a steep decline in political, social, and economic stability. This is what (I believe it's clear) the US is going through right now, and the trend is accelerating. Tainter's book examines the common factors of how different societies throughout history declined- from ancient Mesopotamia to Western Rome. And his analysis shows that one of the key culprits in collapse is the inability of a government to recognize problems... or to solve them. Many ancient Roman emperors were legendary for failing to recognize the horrible problems brought on by their policies and incompetence- inflation, invasion, etc. This pretty much describes the US federal government in a nutshell. Politicians can barely talk about problems in a civil and rational manner. And quite often they refuse to even acknowledge them. We've seen this over and over again with issues such as inflation, the southern border, crime, and social security. For example, the Social Security trustees publish a report each year stating plainly that the program is going to run out of money by 2033. But no one in Washington wants to talk about it. Joe Biden has even pledged to veto ANY efforts to reform the program. Biden's top officials also repeat the bold-faced lie that "the border is secure", while actively encouraging illegal immigration. The federal government even sued Texas to stop the state from securing the border on its own. The people in charge demonize and defund police, decriminalize theft, and elect progressive prosecutors who let violent criminals go free. It's the same dysfunction with federal spending. These people can't even acknowledge that a $35 trillion national debt is catastrophic. Most politicians happily ignore it, and others come up with more outrageous spending to further the debt spiral. They cannot acknowledge the problem, let alone discuss it rationally. Merely passing a budget now routinely devolves into a crisis. Our view of where this trend leads is clear: Inflation is coming. There is little hope of responsible spending. The government's own projections forecast an extra $20 trillion in new debt over the coming decade, and frankly that's optimistic. History shows that explosions in national debt are financed by the Federal Reserve creating new money- which ultimately causes inflation. When the Fed created $5 trillion of new money during the pandemic, we got 9% inflation. How much inflation will $20+ trillion cause? And the worse inflation becomes, the more urgency the rest of the world will have to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency... which will result in even MORE inflation in the US. It's a vicious cycle in which inflation will create more inflation. We project this is 5-7 years away. Social Security is not going to be there for you. Social Security is not a political problem; it's an arithmetic problem. And the math just doesn't add up. Every year the US Secretary of Treasury signs the report saying plainly that, by 2033, Social Security's trust funds will run out of money. Benefits will have to be permanently cut by 25% and then become worse over time. Higher taxes are virtually guaranteed. Politicians love claiming that people should pay their "fair share" but can never quite define how much that means. And they have already moved the goalposts on who exactly owes society more-- the "billionaires" became the top 1%, then quickly shot up to the top 5%, then 10% and soon it will be the top 25%. Higher taxes won't just be federal. State and local taxes-- from sales tax to property tax-- are very likely to cost more, while your governments provide much less. Continued social chaos. Every time it feels like the lack of civility and unity across Western Civilization can't get any worse, something new erupts. The latest is university students screaming "from the river to the sea" and "Just Stop Oil" while defacing artwork and public monuments. Rising tides of socialism and racial animosity never seem to ebb, and idiotic wokeness just won't go away. These social divisions will likely continue to grow. Maybe most importantly, major geopolitical disruptions. As the financial and social decline of the US becomes increasingly obvious to the rest of the world, adversaries are becoming more emboldened. Nations like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are likely to grow more assertive, and there will be significant calls to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency. Soft war incidents like spy balloons, manufactured pandemics, cyberattacks, etc. will persist-- and if we're very lucky, there won't be a shooting war. I give it 50/50. It's exasperating. Anybody over the age of about 35 remembers a time when it wasn't like this. Yet now chaos is the norm. I'm not saying this to be dramatic- it's important to be intellectually honest. Part of being intellectually honest means acknowledging that, again, the US is still a great country with an incredibly powerful economy, boasting some of the most valuable businesses in the world. And Americans still enjoy an extremely high standard of living-- albeit one that has been disrupted in recent years by the combination of inflation, crime, and social chaos. The most exasperating part is that these problems are fixable. The US government could spend responsibly, encourage capitalism and innovation to grow the economy, and its debt problems would melt away. The dollar would remain valuable. US leadership might even earn back global trust. But with the current people in charge, I wouldn't hold my breath. And I also wouldn't put all my hopes and dreams on the voters smartening up anytime soon. Yet there are still plenty of solutions that independent-minded individuals can execute without relying on the government. For example: Problem: Future inflation will pose a major problem to one's savings. Solution: Invest in assets which do well during, or even benefit from, inflation-- real assets such as energy, mining, and productive technology. Right now many of these are selling for record low prices, yet poised for substantial growth. Problem: An overrun border and rising crime rates threaten cities and living standards. Solution: Obtain a second residency in a foreign country where you really enjoy spending time, or even obtain a second passport. This way you and your family will always have a place to go if the need ever arises. Problem: Social Security's trust funds will run out of money within a decade. Solution: Maximize contributions to retirement accounts-- including a special type of 401k which could allow you to double contributions and direct where funds are invested. This lowers your taxable income, puts more money away for retirement, and allows the investments to grow tax-free. There are solutions for people who, unlike the government, are willing to recognize the problems and actually do something about it. -------------------------------- The China example of US woes - Bill Wilson � www.dailyjot.com It is alarming the amount of farmland near US military bases that communist Chinese entities have been allowed to purchase. Also concerning is the direct relationship between Chinese military expansion and the communist country�s trade surplus with the US. In October 2010, The Daily Jot reported that China holds trillions of dollars of US debt, has funded its military on a $200 billion plus a year trade deficit with the US, manipulates its currency, and assists all the enemies of America, including terrorists. This is not accounting for the millions of forced abortions, human rights violations and religious persecution perpetrated by China. Today, China has only expanded these practices. In February 2007�that�s over 17 years ago�The Daily Jot reported that Chinese missile tests that attack low-orbit satellites were surprising to US military analysts, but the analysis from the Department of Defense and the US-China Economics and Security Review Commission suggested that China�s export policies may be facilitating US national security concerns. The analysts were concerned how China�s military exports migrate to rogue nations and non-state actors and, in turn are used against the United States, and how a fully modernized Chinese military, which has been fueled by surplus money from China�s export trade, negates the ability of the US to project its own foreign-policy agendas. Meantime, the newly elected Democratic congressional leadership from the 2006 election cycle was very vocal that it did not believe US intelligence reports, that it agreed with Russian leader Vladimir Putin that America�s policies were making the world a more dangerous place, and that America should defer to diplomatic discussion and appeasement in the war on terror. That was then. Fast forward to today when the only thing that has changed is that things have gotten worse. It�s interesting that the same political party that was appeasing China and turning a blind eye to the Chinese communist threat is doing it on steroids today. Even worse, is that the Republican Party talks a more protectionist game, but does nothing little or nothing about it. American leadership is signaling to the rest of the world that it has no will to defend itself at the same time its enemies are gearing up for a fight. The soft underbelly of the United States is its lack of moral integrity. Once strong in knowing right from wrong, Americans have become morally lukewarm, infatuated with sex, homosexuality, abortion, and short-sighted selfishness, which has clouded its judgment as a nation as demonstrated by electing immoral leadership incapable of righteous decision-making. The Lord said in Ezekiel 22:30, �And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.� I ask, if not us, who? -------------------------------- Resurgence of Israel�s Military in Bible Prophecy, Pt. 1 - By David R. Reagan - https://www.raptureready.com/2024/06/15/resurgence-of-israels-military-in-bible-prophecy-pt-1-by-david-r-reagan/ Israel is the major focus of End-Time Bible prophecy. That�s the reason that the re-establishment of the nation in the 20th Century was so important. That event signaled the fact that we are now living in the end of the end times. Prophecies Concerning Israel During the 20th Century, we were privileged to witness God beginning to fulfill in whole or in part seven prophecies regarding the Jewish people: 1) The regathering of the Jews from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:10-12). Theodor Herzl�s book, The Jewish State, published in 1896, helped motivate Jewish migration back to Israel. There were 40,000 Jews in Palestine in 1900. Today, there are over 7 million in the land of Israel. 2) The re-establishment of the state of Israel (Ezekiel 37:21-22). This prophecy was fulfilled on May 14, 1948, when the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. 3) The reclamation of the land (Ezekiel 36:34-35). When the Jews started returning to the land just over 100 years ago, it was a malaria-infested swampland that had been denuded of all its forests. Today, it produces food in abundance, and the forests have been replanted. 4) The revival of the Hebrew language (Zephaniah 3:9 and Jeremiah 31:23). When the Jews were scattered worldwide, they stopped speaking Hebrew. But in the 1800s, God raised up a Lithuanian Jew named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda to resurrect the language from the dead. Hebrew now predominates as one of the three official languages of Israel. 5) The re-occupation of the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:4-8). When the Israeli War of Independence ended in 1949, the Old City of Jerusalem was under Jordanian occupation. The Israelis reclaimed the city during the Six-Day War on June 7, 1967. 6) The resurgence of the Israeli military (Zechariah 12:6). Even though Israel is one of the smallest nations, its military is considered one of the top ten in the world. 7) The re-focusing of world politics on the nation of Israel and its city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3). Today, world attention is focused on Israel and Jerusalem � as has been abundantly evident in late 2023. Military Power in Prophecy From its humble beginnings in 1948, the Israeli military has become a highly professional and capable force. The prophet Ezekiel referred to the revival of Israel in the last days as producing �an exceedingly great military force� (Ezekiel 37:10). Zechariah was more specific, prophesying that God would make �the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves� and enable them to �consume on the right hand and on the left� all their enemies (Zechariah 12:6, NASB). He proceeded to state that, in the end times, the nation will be so strong that the �one who stumbles among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of Yahweh before them� (Zechariah 12:8). Let�s look now at the major conflicts of the past that offer evidence of the fulfillment of these prophecies. The War of Independence (November 1947 � March 1949) On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted a resolution providing for the ending of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, replacing British rule with a partition of the land that would result in the creation of two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. Jews worldwide were elated, even though the territory they were offered was merely a portion of what they had been promised in the British Balfour Declaration of 1917. But the Arabs were outraged because they wanted all the land of Palestine. They immediately launched a civil war that continued right up to the day that the Jews issued their declaration of independence on May 14, 1948. The surrounding Arab nations repeatedly warned that they would attack in mass if the Jews declared independence. For example, the Secretary General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, declared, �It will be a war of annihilation. It will be a momentous massacre in history that will be talked about like the massacres of the Mongols or the Crusades.� On the Jewish side, there was considerable concern that such boasting could become a reality. Thus, on the eve of the war, Yigael Yadin, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli forces, told David Ben-Gurion, the Jewish leader, �The best we can tell you is that we have a 50-50 chance.� The fears materialized within hours of the declaration of independence when five Arab armies (Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq) attacked the new nation. At the time, Israel had only 30,000 rag-tag fighters who were ill-trained and poorly equipped. The Arab armies, particularly the Jordanians, were well-trained and equipped with aircraft, tanks, and modern artillery. Transjordan�s army was even led by British officers under the command of General John Glubb. President Harry Truman officially recognized the new state of Israel immediately, but his Administration refused to provide any aid under the naive assumption that it would help avert bloodshed. Britain openly supplied arms to the Arabs, while Israel had to smuggle surplus weapons from Eastern Europe. But despite the overwhelming odds against them, the infant Jewish state prevailed, albeit at enormous cost. 6,377 Israelis were killed � nearly one percent of the population (equivalent to an American loss today of 3.4 million!). In the end, Israelis controlled not only the territory allotted to them by the UN but also 60% of the area that had been proposed for an Arab state. The only key area that the Israelis were unable to conquer was the Old City of Jerusalem. Overall, the war represented a miraculous victory for Israel. In the second and final part of this fascinating look into the resurgence of Israel�s military in Bible prophecy, we will explore God�s miraculous victories during the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. -------------------------- War Drums: Imminent Conflict Between Israel & Hezbollah � PNW Staff - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6995 Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Wednesday of the potential outbreak of a wider conflict with Hezbollah, as the Iranian-backed terror group continued to launch rockets and drones at the Jewish state. Gallant made the comments during a situation assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi at the military's Northern Command. "We are achieving readiness on land and in the air, strengthening our intelligence systems and preparing for every scenario," said Gallant. "We must all remember that Hezbollah started a war against us on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked Israel, and since then, it has not stopped. We have an obligation to change the situation in the north, and to ensure the safe return of our citizens to their homes, and we will find a way to achieve this," he added. "Hezbollah's increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region," IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an English-language video statement. "When we say that we will not let October 7th happen again on any one of our borders, we mean it," Hagari added. Noting Hezbollah's "refusal to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701," which ended the Second Lebanon War and mandated that the terror group withdraw north of the Litani River, Hagari said that "because of Hezbollah's military infrastructure, weapons and fire at Israel from the area south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, and because of Lebanon's failure to enforce 1701 on Hezbollah, Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians, until security along our border with Lebanon is restored." Hagari warned that "one way or another we will ensure the safe and secure return of Israelis to their homes in northern Israel. That is not up for negotiation." The Israel Defense Forces' Northern Command announced on Tuesday the approval of operational plans for a war against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and are now prepared for the next steps when they should come. Hezbollah and Israel have been escalating cross-border strikes for weeks. After rocket attacks caused massive fires in the north of the country, Israel last week killed commander Taleb Abdullah, the most senior official killed in the fighting. Hezbollah responded with unprecedented rocket barrages on northern Israel. Israeli Ynet news site reported that an anonymous "senior Israeli government official" told the news outlet that "if Hezbollah continues to attack Israel, southern Lebanon will look like Gaza. Beirut will not be immune." CBS News reported that US officials were also increasingly concerned that an all-out war could break out and had sent Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden to try to negotiate a calm however reports indicate his mission has failed. Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8, which it says it's doing in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the war started by ally Hamas's terror onslaught. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened an invasion of Israel's Galilee region and an attack on Cyprus during a televised address on Wednesday concerning the terror group's war against the Jewish state. It marked the first time that the Iranian proxy steeped in Lebanon has directly threatened the Eastern Mediterranean island nation. Nasrallah said Cyprus would be considered "a part of the war" if Nicosia continued to allow Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises. According to the Cyprus Mail, it is believed that the airports and bases refer to the Royal Air Force Akrotiri, a permanent military base that supports ongoing operations in the region and support for the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus. "Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war," he said. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides responded to Nasrallah's threat, saying these "statements that do not reflect reality. Cyprus remains uninvolved in any military conflict, and positions itself as part of the solution--not as a problem," the Cyprus Mail reported. Nasrallah warned that Israel, not Hezbollah, should be fearful and that nowhere in Israel would be safe in the case of a wider war, which he said that Hezbollah is not seeking, with the terror army fighting with "no rules" and "no ceilings." On Tuesday, Hezbollah published video captured by a surveillance UAV of the Haifa Port, one of Israel's most important commercial shipping gateways. According to the Lebanese newspaper Elnashra, Hezbollah plans to attack Haifa if Israel expands the fighting and, in the next stage, additional cities, including Tel Aviv. "It is not by chance that Haifa was included in the equation of the war currently being waged in southern Lebanon," the Lebanese media outlet stated. "This city has been marked by Hezbollah as a target in the event of an expansion of the war. If the Israelis enter into large-scale military confrontations... in the area south and north of Litani, Haifa will be a legitimate target for Hezbollah." "Strategic, military, and civilian facilities were scanned, continuing the equation drawn by Hezbollah that destruction will be met with destruction, and civilian casualties will be met with civilian casualties," Elnashra wrote. "The drone also scanned a military-industrial facility belonging to Rafael, which is the most dangerous thing the video contained for the Israelis." Sources quoted in the newspaper warned Israel that Hezbollah has precision missiles capable of hitting these targets. "The footage was evidence for the Israelis that Hezbollah holds a database of strategic Israeli targets," the sources warned. The sources cited in Elnashra presented a possible scenario for the first days of the war, during which Haifa and Tel Aviv would be attacked. "If Israel makes a decision to expand the war in the south or launch a major military operation in the south, Hezbollah will respond according to the level of escalation, and the vital area in Haifa will be targeted with conventional missiles. To distract the defense systems, the organization will simultaneously attack targets related to the Iron Dome and David's Sling. Israel's air defense will be exposed to direct hits, as has happened before. In the next stage, Hezbollah will launch dozens of precision missiles carrying large warheads at specific targets in and around Haifa port." The sources claimed that "Israel has not seen this scenario before and understands it will experience it if it decides to enter into a large-scale war." ------------------------ Why Has China Purchased Farmland Near 19 Different Military Bases Inside The United States? - by Michael Snyder - https://endoftheamericandream.com/why-has-china-purchased-farmland-near-19-different-military-bases-inside-the-united-states/ The Chinese aren�t exactly being subtle about what they are trying to do. Today, they own more than 300,000 acres of farmland inside the United States, and they have been specifically targeting areas that are located near important military bases. As you will see below, the Chinese now own farmland very close to 19 different U.S. military bases. How in the world could our leaders have allowed this to happen? Foreign adversaries should not be allowed to purchase farmland at all, and yet somehow they have been able to acquire land that is ideal for spying on our military bases over and over again. In fact, the New York Post has �identified 19 bases across the US from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities�� China has been buying up strategically placed farmland next to military installations across the US, raising national security fears over potential espionage or even sabotage. The Post has identified 19 bases across the US from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities and could be exploited by spies working for the communist nation. When I read stuff like that, it makes me want to tear my hair out. Are the people that are in charge of our national security really this incompetent? According to the New York Post, the list includes some of our �most strategically important bases�� They include some of the military�s most strategically important bases: Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in Fayetteville, North Carolina; Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Killeen, Texas; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California, and MacDill air force base in Tampa, Florida. We know that the Chinese are very interested in our military bases. Do you remember the Chinese spy balloon that was allowed to fly over our country? The path that it took allowed it to gather intelligence on Malmstrom Air Force Base, which is where some of our key nuclear assets are located. And the Wall Street Journal has reported that Chinese nationals have been caught accessing �military bases and other sensitive sites� inside the United States close to 100 times� Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have accessed military bases and other sensitive sites in the U.S. as many as 100 times in recent years, according to U.S. officials, who describe the incidents as a potential espionage threat. The Defense Department, FBI and other agencies held a review last year to try to limit these incidents, which involve people whom officials have dubbed gate-crashers because of their attempts�either by accident or intentionally�to get onto U.S. military bases and other installations without proper authorization. They range from Chinese nationals found crossing into a U.S. missile range in New Mexico to what appeared to be scuba divers swimming in murky waters near a U.S. government rocket-launch site in Florida. Look, everyone knows that the Chinese are trying to spy on us. That isn�t a big secret. Just don�t make it easy for them. At the same time all of this spying is going on, there has been an unprecedented surge in Chinese migrants coming across the southern border� US border officials said they detained 37,000 Chinese migrants attempting to cross the border in 2023, or 10 times the number detained in the year before. The true number of those attempting to cross the border is likely higher. The flow of Chinese migrants continued to surge in 2024, with CBS reporting in February that it observed 600 migrants, many of whom were Chinese, entering the US in a single day. The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability said in May that the number of Chinese nationals encountered by authorities at the US border in March had jumped 8,000% from the same period in 2021. Most of the Chinese migrants that are coming across the southern border are men of military age, and they commonly travel to the border in groups. Suspiciously, these groups of military age Chinese men are often decked out in matching equipment. But they are let into the country anyway, because that is what our leaders have decided to do. So now we have tens of thousands of military age �Chinese migrants� that are running around inside our country, and we have no idea where they are or what they are doing. The Chinese are preparing to win a war, and we are preparing to lose one. At this point, everyone realizes that the Chinese are going to invade Taiwan eventually. In fact, the Daily Mail ran a big story about the coming invasion this week� Xi Jinping views Taiwan as a breakaway Chinese province and has vowed to �reunify� it with the mainland, by force if necessary. He is in the midst of a huge military buildup, regularly sending fighter jets and warships to harass Taiwan, and staging menacing war games in the area. When Taiwan is invaded, the U.S. military will be expected to intervene, and then we will be at war with China� Taiwan views itself as independent of Beijing and is allied to America � a legacy that stretches back to the Chinese Civil War 75 years ago. America supplies the islands with weapons and is expected to go to war to defend them if they are attacked. By most estimates, a war over Taiwan would be one of the biggest, bloodiest, and most expensive in history. Most people don�t realize this, but China and the Philippines are also on the verge of military conflict. Recently, there was a very alarming clash in the South China Sea that resulted in one Filipino soldier losing a thumb� Filipino soldiers had to defend themselves with bare hands against Chinese coast guard armed with swords and knives, according to the Philippines. General Romeo Brawner, the Philippines� top military commander, criticized China for what he described as �reckless and aggressive� behavior while the Philippines navy and coast guard were delivering supplies to Filipino soldiers in the disputed South China Sea on Monday. Chinese coast guard personnel rammed their vessels into boats belonging to the Philippines, and boarded and attacked them, the BBC reported Brawner as saying, leaving some injured and one soldier having lost a thumb. The Chinese have become extremely aggressive, and it is just a matter of time before we are at war with them. But even though many of our leaders publicly talk about the coming war, we are still allowing the Chinese to take advantage of us in unthinkable ways. We should have never allowed the Chinese to purchase large tracts of farmland near 19 of our most important military bases. Unfortunately, they are there now, and that will give them a major advantage when war finally erupts. -------------------------------