(End of the American Dream)—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.
Coffee the Christian way: Promised Grounds
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.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
