Has The Next War In The Middle East Already Started?

According to this author, it has:

The Next War In The Middle East Has Begun And Israel Vows 'To Act Powerfully On All Fronts'

Israel and Hezbollah are at war.  On top of everything else that is going on in the world, now we have a new war in the Middle East, and nobody is quite certain what is going to happen next.  Israel has been preparing for this moment for more than 8 years.  So has Hezbollah.  According to some reports, Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of 50,000 rockets since the end of the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006.  

If all-out warfare does erupt, we could potentially see tens of thousands of missiles rain down into an area not too much larger than the state of New Jersey.  And of course the Israeli military is also much more sophisticated and much more powerful than it was back in 2006.  If cooler heads do not prevail, we could be on the verge of witnessing a very bloody war.  But right now nobody seems to be in the mood to back down.  Hezbollah is absolutely fuming over an airstrike earlier this month that killed six fighters and a prominent Iranian general.  And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel is “prepared to act powerfully on all fronts” in response to a Hezbollah ambush that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded seven.  Just such an incident is what sparked the war between the two sides back in 2006.  But this time, a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could spark a full-blown regional war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promising a “disproportionate” response to the Hezbollah attacks, and he says that Hezbollah should consider what Israel recently did to Hamas before taking any more aggressive action…

If things continue to escalate, we might not just be talking about another Hezbollah-Israel war.

In the south, tensions between Israel and Hamas remain near all-time highs.  In the event of a full-blown war, Hamas probably could be easily convinced to join the fray.  And if Hamas jumps in, the rest of the Palestinians might not be far behind.

In addition, ISIS now has territory near the border with Israel…

Because of the strategic importance of the terrain, Iran and Hezbollah have been building infrastructure there for some time.  But their interest in the Golan skyrocketed in December.

The reason: ISIS gained a foothold there when the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade of the Free Syrian Army “defected” from the de facto alliance with the U.S.-Arab coalition against Assad, and declared its allegiance to ISIS.  The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade had been one of the most active rebel factions holding territory directly adjacent to the “area of separation” between Syria and Israel administered (in theory) by the UN.  In particular, it has held the southern line of confrontation with Syrian regime forces, in the transit corridor leading to the Quneitra border crossing.

Needless to say, ISIS would be extremely interested in any conflict with Israel.

And of course there are all of the other surrounding Islamic nations that are not too fond of Israel either.

The truth is that the Middle East is a perpetual tinderbox.  One spark could set the entire region on fire.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama continues to do all that he can to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The animosity between the two is well known, and now an “Obama army” of political operatives has been sent to Israel to help defeat Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.

The “leader” of this “Obama army” is Jeremy Bird, who was the national field director for Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign.  But he has plenty of company.  Just check out the following list that was compiled by WND…

Besides Bird, the 270 Strategies team includes the following former Obama staffers:

• Mitch Steward, a 270 Strategies founding partner who helped the Obama campaign build what the U.K. Guardian called “a historic ground operation that will provide the model for political campaigns in America and around the world for years to come.”
• Mark Beatty, a founding partner who served as deputy battleground states director for the Obama campaign. He had primary responsibility for Obama’s election plans for the battleground states.
• Marlon Marshall, a founding partner at 270 Strategies who joins the team after holding several key positions in national Democratic politics, most recently as deputy national field director for the 2012 Obama campaign.
• Betsy Hoover, a founding partner who served as director of digital organizing on the Obama campaign.
• Meg Ansara, who served as national regional director for Obama for America where she was responsible for overseeing the 2012 programs in the Midwest and southern states.
• Bridget Halligan, who served as the engagement program manager on the digital team of the 2012 Obama campaign.
• Kate Catherall, who served as Florida deputy field director for Obama’s re-election campaign.
• Alex Lofton, who most recently served as the GOTV director of Cleveland, Ohio, for the 2012 Obama campaign.
• Martha Patzer, the firm’s vice president who served as deputy email director at Obama for America.
• Jesse Boateng, who served as the Florida voter registration director for Obama’s re-election campaign.
• Ashley Bryant, who served most recently as the Ohio digital director for the 2012 Obama campaign.
• Max Clermont, who formerly served as a regional field director in Florida for Obama’s re-election campaign.
• Max Wood, who served as a deputy data director in Florida for the 2012 Obama campaign.

As the first month of 2015 wraps up, our world is becoming increasingly unstable.

In addition to the oil crash, the collapse of the euro, looming stock market troubles, civil war in Ukraine, tensions with Russia, an economic slowdown in China and imploding economies all over South America, now we have more war in the Middle East.

And if lots of missiles start flying back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah, it could potentially spark the bloodiest war in that region that any of us have ever seen.

Did Putin Depart From His 'Wait And See' Strategy?

[Note: This is one of the best summaries on the current state state of affairs involving Russia and Putin available]

Something isn’t right. And, whatever is happening, it is very bad news.

If you haven’t already heard, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave the U.S. and the West a stern warning on Tuesday, January 27. If future sanctions end up restricting Russia’s ability to operate via the SWIFT system that is used for international banking transactions, Russia’s response will be “without limits.”

“We’ll watch developments and if such decisions are made, I want to note that our economic reaction and generally any other reaction will be without limits,” Medvedev said.

A Stunning Threat

Threatening an unlimited response is remarkable. In war – and this is a war, by the way – responses are generally expected to be proportionate. Disproportionate responses are obviously frowned upon and, for whatever it’s worth, against international law. As a result, unlimited responses are generally restricted to situations where the threat at hand is viewed as an existential threat.

This is important. If unlimited responses are reserved for existential threats, then this means Russia is saying somethingvery surprising. In particular, if Russia is threatening an unlimited response to a potential SWIFT ban, then they’re suggesting that this ban would be a threat to Russia’s very survival as a country.

Why is this so surprising?

As we all know, the dollar is dying. The U.S., to prop it up, is waging wars everywhere. And currently, Russia is in its cross-hairs. This is why the U.S. has been doing everything in its power – including sanctions, economic warfare, and covert operations in Ukraine – to provoke Putin to make some stupid move so that he can be blamed for the hot phase of World War 3.

How has Putin been responding to these provocations? Wisely. He has been buying gold, dropping the dollar, and patiently waiting for the U.S. to collapse under the weight of its own problems – something bound to happen fairly soon.

Given Putin’s strategy for handling U.S. provocations, there’s one that wouldn’t make any sense to do. In particular, it makes no sense for Putin or his government to announce that they have a weak spot that will force them to make the stupid move they’ve been actively avoiding.

That would be like announcing that your quarterback has a bum left knee. You’re just begging the opponent to hit it.

But that is precisely what Putin’s government appears to have just done. When Medvedev threatened an unlimited response to a SWIFT ban, he basically told the U.S. that they can get the war they want with a simple sanction. The move appears so stupid that it demands an explanation.

So, what’s really behind this threat? There are at least three possible explanations, and none of them inspire confidence.

1. One possibility is that Putin realizes that the U.S. has found their weak spot, and they’re coming after it soon. As a result, he had no other option but to make this threat, perhaps hoping that the prospect of nuclear war will stop this from happening.
2. A second possibility is that Russia has finally screwed up. They’ve had enough, and they’ve departed from their plan. Instead of sitting back and watching the West escalate the war in the Ukraine, impose additional sanctions, etc., they’ve drawn a line in the sand – a line, no doubt, they know the West will cross.
3. A third possibility is that Russia is actually in on the conspiracy, and Medvedev’s threat is all part of the show. This is just an international version of the battle between ‘Republicans’ and ‘Democrats’ – a big theatrical production designed to make people believe something that isn’t true. In this case, they want us to believe that sovereign countries and the lack of a global government are the reason World War 3 will happen. Once the war is over, the bankers who control both sides plan to step in and establish their New World Order – a global, fascist government.

The bad news, here, is that a hot, global war appears inevitable. The chance that Russia can sit back and win the war by letting the U.S. collapse on its own is now near zero. If the U.S. is provoking them because they want a hot war, Russia has told them how to get it – include a SWIFT ban in a future round of sanctions. And if this is all a show, then we know what both sides are eventually working towards: global war that serves the bankers’ interests. So, there isn’t a “good guy” to support because he is opposing the New World Order. They’re just all working together to make this diabolical world order a reality.

What do I think? I don’t know precisely what’s happening. It is possible that Putin really is a thorn in the side of the NWO. If that’s the case, then it appears he plans to hit the West first and hard – possibly even with an “unlimited response” to an economic sanction. On the other hand, as the video above shows, we know that Obama, Medvedev and Putin have had some secret plans for a while. So it is also possible that this is all a grand conspiracy with an inevitable war at the end.

Also see:

U.S. Passports On The Verge Of Elimination?

Inside HQ Of 'Obama Army' Opposing Netanyahu

The Shemitah: The Biblical Pattern Which Indicates That A Financial Collapse May Be Coming In 2015

Media Black Out 200,000 Marching Americans

Misdirection And Misinformation Plague EU