Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante spoke at an event hosted by Axios on Wednesday, where he said that Houthis are displaying and deploying advanced weaponry, especially missiles that “can do things that are just amazing.”

He described that Houthis “are getting scary” in terms of their capability on display for more than a year in the Red Sea, where they’ve gone to war against Israeli and international shipping.

“I’m an engineer and a physicist, and I’ve been around missiles my whole career,” LaPlante said before the summit, called the “Future of Defense” in Washington, DC.

“What I’ve seen of what the Houthis have done in the last six months is something that — I’m just shocked.”

Among the surprisingly advanced capabilities include anti-ship ballistic missiles. Analysts have widely asserted that without doubt Iran is directly supplying these and other capabilities.

The Houthis have also routinely scored direct hits on commercial shipping vessels with both aerial and drone boats.

The Shia group has also claimed many times to have scored hits on US, UK, and other allied warships; however, the US has kept a tight lid on the extent of this, or actual damage, perhaps wishing to not give the Houthis a propaganda win.

According to the latest attacks on US warships via an announcement this week from the Pentagon:

Houthi forces attacked two American destroyers with drones and missiles as the ships transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait entering the Gulf of Aden on Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

The Houthis launched at least eight one-way uncrewed aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles at USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Stockdale (DDG-106), which engaged all the projectiles, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command has not yet issued a statement.

The Pentagon says that the warships were not damaged in the attack, which contradicts the account of Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare’e, who quickly claimed the attack on the pair of destroyers was successful.

The past year has seen a number of videos like the below showing destruction of large tankers off Yemen’s coast:

Footage released by the #Iran-backed Houthis of their targeting the Greek-owned and operated bulk carrier Tutor has sent shockwaves throughout the shipping industry, especially after it was confirmed Tutor sunk on 19 June.pic.twitter.com/MkfQMzlHKM

— Bachar EL-Halabi | بشار الحلبي (@Bacharelhalabi) June 20, 2024

The enduring conflict in the Red Sea has been widely acknowledged as the biggest naval battle that US forces have been engaged in since World War II. Several US and Israeli airstrikes have hit Houthi positions hard over the last months, but this appears to have done little to erode Houthi capabilities.

When that agenda failed (lockdowns blocked, mask mandates ignored, vaccine passports defeated and the CDC caught inflating vaccination numbers), the WEF and Klaus Schwab conveniently disappeared from the media radar.

When globalists tried to permanently establish ESG as a way of life for corporations, they introduced the Council For Inclusive Capitalism, run by Lynn de Rothschild and partnered with the Vatican. When ESG was exposed for what it really is (a bridge to full bore communism in which corporations enforce far left social engineering), the CIC vanished from the limelight as quickly as they appeared.

That said, there is one globalist group that has consistently been in the background during most of these operations – The Atlantic Council. Whenever there’s a propaganda push in play to misdirect the western public, whenever there’s a policy initiative to take away your freedoms, whenever there’s a regional war that might explode into a world war, I always end up finding the fingerprints of the Atlantic Council.

The council was deeply involved in covid propaganda from 2020 onward and they also have their hands in climate change propaganda, but their bread and butter is regional proxy wars.

In my recent article ‘Globalists Are Trying To Escalate The Ukraine War Into WWIII Before The US Election’, I outlined how the council is deeply interwoven into the escalation of the Ukraine war through their Eurasia Center and their Scowcroft Center. They have been stoking conflict in the region for at least a decade with the intention of drawing NATO forces into a direct confrontation with Russia.

In a report published by the Atlantic Council in 2014 titled ‘A Roadmap for Ukraine: Delivering on the Promise of the Maidan’, the group notes:

“Last fall, as Ukrainians massed on the Maidan to demand a better government and closer ties to Europe, the Atlantic Council began to mobilize on Ukraine. An Atlantic Council delegation visited Warsaw and Kyiv in March to map out our strategy, and during the visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to the Council that same month, we launched a one hundred- day campaign to galvanize the transatlantic community behind Ukraine’s democratic future in Europe.

As the crisis worsened, we convened at the highest levels, making vital connections between Ukrainian, American, and European policymakers and thought leaders. We deployed our substantial expertise to launch “red team” exercises that anticipated Russia’s actions and outlined strategies to respond to likely scenarios. Our rapid response working groups (“tiger teams”) made recommendations on issues fundamental to Ukraine’s success. An Atlantic Council delegation delivered this report, which brings all of these findings together, to Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and other leaders in Kyiv the first week of July. The findings are also being shared with American and European policymakers…”

On Ukraine’s security policy, the Council advised both NATO and Ukraine officials.  The document goes on to outline how NATO could covertly and overtly engage with Ukraine to strengthen their chances of joining with the EU over time; a move which Vladimir Putin claims was one of the very reasons for his invasion of the Donbas.  Finally, the paper described how NATO could foster a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine without directly declaring war on Russia.  As the Council states:

“Russia’s aggression provides an opportunity of strategic clarity and urgency that should be used to expedite building a robust, modern, and capable Ukrainian defense and security establishment…”

I believe the Atlantic Council is a root instigator behind every globalist scheme to trigger a larger war between the East and the West. Their ideal scenario seems to be the creation of a proxy conflict that acts as a first domino in a chain that leads to world war, a bit like DARPA’s “Linchpin Theory” which I have written about in the past.

To be clear, the council is not only interested in Ukraine and Russia. They’re happy to embroil Americans in a larger war wherever they can.

This past week, the Atlantic Council has published another war scenario report dealing with Iran titled ‘The Future of US Strategy Toward Iran: A Bipartisan Roadmap For The Next Administration’. The goal of the report is to influence a new defense doctrine with a mission to insert the US directly in the middle of the burgeoning war between Iran and Israel.

As the report states:

“In simple terms, the goal was to develop a US policy toward Iran, not a Democratic or Republican one. We termed the effort the Iran Strategy Project (ISP). And when we began recruiting experts to join our advisory committee and working group, we did so with two overriding principles in mind. First, ideological diversity and bipartisanship could not just be talking points—they were requirements. The wild swings of US policy toward Iran over the last decade created significant policy gaps that Iran exploited to more rapidly advance its regional malign influence and nuclear program…”

The assumption in the notion of a “bipartisan” posture on Iran is that there is common ground to be harvested between conservatives and leftists when it comes to war in the region. To be sure, the Democrats and the Neo-Cons are in full agreement on most things.  But Neo-Cons are not conservatives and the political base on both sides of the aisle has little interest in another war in the Middle East.

The wild card here is Trump. The establishment media reports that Iran hacked the Trump campaign’s election strategies and gave them to the Harris camp. There are also rumors spread by US intelligence agencies that Iran was working to have Trump assassinated.  Are these claims true? There’s little public evidence available to prove it.

Maybe Iran really wants to take Trump down. Or, maybe this is part of a plot to ensure that Trump backs a full blown war with Iran should he win the election.  Trump has said repeatedly that he intends to end the war in Ukraine upon his return to the White House. This would ruin over a decade of planning by the Atlantic Council. But what if they can sink the US into a different conflict with the same potential for a world war? That’s what Iran is – Another linchpin.

The council asserts that they will seek to tie the US inexorably to the fate of Israel by positioning a permanent American military force in the region:

“Deterring the threat posed by Iran and its proxies requires a multifaceted approach that includes maintaining an adequate military presence in the region and a willingness to respond with appropriate force to attacks on US interests and those of US allies; working with allies to enhance cooperation on regional security; collaborating with partners on ways to reduce conflicts and instability that create openings for Iran to exploit; and expanding security cooperation beyond traditional realms.”

They also want the US to create its own red line declaration; if Iran obtains nukes, then Iran must be destroyed (keep in mind, it is confirmed that Israel already has its own nuclear arsenal).

“The United States needs to maintain a declaratory policy, explicitly enunciated by the president, that it will not tolerate Iran getting a nuclear weapon and will use military force to prevent this development if all other measures fail. To support this policy, the United States should refrain from stressing that it does not seek conflict with Iran; announce that it will conduct yearly joint exercises with Israel, such as Juniper Oak.”

Juniper Oak was a joint live fire war exercise organized by US and Israeli defense forces in 2023 which is viewed as a theoretical trial run for an attack on Iran. War between Iran and the US has been a sought after outcome for globalists for a long time, but it seems to me that they are particularly interested in roping Trump into the agenda.  The following statement from the Atlantic Council report is highly suspicious:

“Because assassination plots against current or former US officials are a direct threat to US sovereignty, and in order to enhance deterrence, the United States needs to consider a standing policy of a kinetic military response against Iran in retaliation for a successful—or even close to successful—plot…”

This seems to be a direct reference or message to Trump concerning the rumors of Iran contracting his death. Given there have been at least two assassination attempts on Trump so far, I would not be surprised if after he wins the election new information is suddenly released linking Iran to at least one attack.  I would also expect a major terror attack in the US within the next year (real or false flag).

This is not to say that Trump wants war; I can’t make that claim one way or the other yet.  To his credit he was one of the few presidents that avoided the expansion of US conflicts during his first term. But as I warned back in 2016, he had a LOT of ghouls in his cabinet whispering in his ear. Keeping the Atlantic Council (among others) away from the Oval Office and Trump should be a priority in 2025.

The council appears to be positioning for a war under either administration – A war with Russia under Harris or a war with Iran under Trump.  I’m not a fan of Islamic fundamentalism, but a conflict between the US and Iran is exactly what the globalists want because it can easily metastasize like a cancer.

The council notes that there are already 40,000 US troops spread across the Middle East, and that this force could be reorganized into a contingent for rapid response to Iran, along with new troops added over time. Of course, they acknowledge that Iran’s situation has changed over the years, with far closer strategic associations with China and Russia:

“This requires recognition that Iran’s relationship with Russia and China has evolved in a manner that makes it difficult to convince either country to support new economic or military restrictions against Iran…”

In other words, the council understands that a war with Iran could escalate into a larger conflict with Russia and perhaps China.

The fight between Israel and multiple nations in the Middle East does not concern me. I have no stake in the success of either side. I’m an American and I care about America, but there are powerful people out there that WANT us to become invested in foreign wars. They want us to pick a side and they want us to cheer for American troops being sent to fight and die over these foreign conflagrations.

The greater concern here is that one day these proxy wars and regional wars will explode into something that lands on our doorstep. In the past Americans have been lured into apathy when it comes to foreign entanglements because we never have to deal with them in our daily lives. They’ve always been out of sight and out of mind. In the next war, we may not have that luxury.

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In other words, we are on the brink of the sort of all-out war between Israel and Iran that I specifically warned about in a chapter entitled “The 3 Wars Of The Apocalypse” that was featured in a book that I published last year.  I know that virtually everyone in the U.S. is really focused on the upcoming election at the moment, but what is going on in the Middle East right now is really big news.

We just witnessed the largest Israeli attack on Iran ever.  It is being reported that “dozens of fighter jets” were involved in a massive operation that struck targets all over Iran and Syria…

Dozens of fighter jets hit ballistic missile factories, air defence batteries and missile launchers. Israel launched a simultaneous attack on military targets in central and southern Syria. Among the pilots and navigators involved in the Iran strikes were a number of women, praised by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for their bravery.

It is thought the secret research base near Tehran was developing ‘kamikaze drone’ technology, designed to loiter over a target until instructed to attack.

According to Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari, the Israelis now have “broader aerial freedom of operation in Iran”, and this will make it easier for the IDF the next time it becomes necessary to strike the Iranians…

Israel’s first open attack on Iran targeted missile production facilities and air defense systems, the military said Saturday, tempering fears of a broader foray but giving Israeli aircraft the ability to operate more freely in Iranian skies as the region entered a new phase of escalation.

“Israel now has broader aerial freedom of operation in Iran,” an Israeli military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said in a statement after the attack concluded. The remarks signaled Israel’s willingness to strike Iran in the future, even as Israeli officials said the attacks were tailored to minimize casualties and allow Iran to deny major damage.

The Biden administration is trying to play down the size and scope of the Israeli operation, and Joe Biden is desperately hoping that the Iranians will choose not to respond…

“It looks like they didn’t hit anything other than military targets,” President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters in Philadelphia, said of the Israeli strikes. “I hope that this is the end.”

We should all hope that this is the end of it. But it appears that the Iranians have already made their decision.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Iran has “vowed revenge” and that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is using the phrase “no limits” to describe what Iran might do…

Iran vowed revenge yesterday after Israel’s missile blitz on Tehran destroyed up to 20 key military sites, including a top-secret research facility.

Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had ‘no limits’ in defending its interests and was obliged to take retaliatory action.

Those are very strong words.

And we are being told that Araghchi has already delivered a letter to the United Nations that declares that Iran has the right to respond to the Israeli attack…

Iran’s top diplomat has condemned Israel’s unprecedented attack on multiple military sites across the Islamic Republic and has asserted Tehran’s right to respond to the latest escalation amid a year-long Middle East conflict in a letter obtained by Newsweek.

The letter was attributed to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and sent Saturday to United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General António Guterres and U.N. Security Council President Pascale Christine Baeriswyl via Iranian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani.

According to Araghchi, Iran “reserves its inherent right to legal and legitimate response to these criminal attacks at the appropriate time”.

To me, it sounds like the Iranians do not plan to respond immediately. But a response is definitely coming. And the Israelis have already warned that they will hit Iran again if the Iranians strike back.

So this is it. The big war between Israel and Iran is here.

Of course the big war between Israel and Hezbollah has already been raging. In recent days, fierce fighting in southern Lebanon has resulted in a substantial number of Israeli casualties…

Ten Israeli soldiers were killed and at least 28 more wounded to varying degrees amid heavy battles against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday and Friday.

The soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in just over 24 hours. Since the start of the ground offensive in Lebanon, 27 soldiers have fallen amid the heavy fighting.

In the most recent incident, five reservists serving in the 8th Hazaken Brigade’s 89th Battalion were killed, and 19 others were wounded, with four in serious condition, when a Hezbollah rocket struck a supply point at a building in a southern Lebanese village.

We aren’t hearing much about this from the big news networks in the United States, are we?

If they give too much attention to what is going on in the Middle East right now, that could make Kamala Harris and the Biden administration look bad, and so they are being pretty quiet about it.

The big news networks in the United States are also being pretty quiet about the stunning Russian advances that are happening in eastern Ukraine…

With Russia advancing at the fastest rate in eastern Ukraine since the first months of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with the West to allow Kyiv to fire deep into Russia with Western missiles.

The Biden administration’s plan for the war in Ukraine has completely and utterly failed.

Billions and billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been poured into that war, but the Russians are still winning. In fact, the Russians are gobbling up more territory with each passing day. And now the Middle East is on the verge of erupting in flames.

We were warned about these wars way in advance, but most people still aren’t paying much attention.

What will it take before most of the population finally starts waking up?

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan told local media on Saturday that Russia, Iran and Syria should do more to protect Syria’s “territorial integrity.”

“It is essential that Russia, Iran and Syria take more effective measures against this situation, which poses the greatest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity,” Erdoǧan said when asked about the recent alleged Israeli airstrike in the nation’s capital, Damascus.

Obviously Iran and Syria are already working very closely together. But we shall see what Russia and Turkey decide to do.

The Russians definitely have their hands full with Ukraine, and so they don’t really have resources to spare for a war in the Middle East. And Turkey is a member of NATO, and that status would certainly be jeopardized if Erdogan decided to jump into this conflict. But as for Iran and Syria, they are already essentially at war with Israel.

The IDF is constantly bombing targets inside Syria, and the Iranians recently launched about 200 missiles into Israel.

Now we are waiting for the Israeli response, and Iran has already told the Biden administration that it will respond in kind to any Israeli attack…

Iran has informed the United States that it will retaliate against any new attack by Israel, a source in Tehran told CNN. Iran’s government has also been engaging in urgent diplomatic efforts with countries in the Middle East to gauge whether it can reduce the scale of Israel’s response to its missile attack earlier this month and — if that fails — help protect the capital, sources say.

Nobody is backing down this time.

The final showdown between Israel and Iran has arrived, but both sides don’t seem to fully realize this yet.

Meanwhile, the IDF continues to bomb the living daylights out of Hezbollah targets all over Lebanon…

Israel expanded its targets in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people in an airstrike in the north, health officials said, while millions of Israelis took shelter from projectiles fired back across the border.

So far the main focus of Israel’s military operations in Lebanon has been in the south, the Bekaa Valley in the east and the suburbs of Beirut.

I am expecting some really big escalations in the coming days.

But for the moment we are still waiting for the next big shoe to drop.

At the same time, the Russians and the Chinese just continue to develop closer ties with one another…

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, who called for strengthening military cooperation between the two countries.

Moscow and Beijing have forged closer ties since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an alliance that has sparked anxiety in the West as both countries seek to expand their global influence.

How many years have I been warning about a very strong alliance between Russia and China?

This is precisely what we have been anticipating, but very few people in the western world seem to be alarmed about what is happening.

Despite all of the money that we have poured into Ukraine, the Russians are winning that war.

At this point, the Ukrainians are so desperate for manpower that they are literally dragging young men out of restaurants, clubs and bars in front of everyone…

Ukraine’s military recruiters have launched targeted raids in Kyiv, detaining those whose documents do not comply and press-ganging them into the army.

Video footage captured the moment two men were dragged away by officers as they exited the Palace of Sports on Friday where Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy played.

One concertgoer could be seen struggling and shouting ‘Get away from me!’ at three policemen as they pulled him towards the recruitment desk set up outside the venue.

A series of raids were carried out at restaurants, clubs, bars and a concert hall in the capital city, according to reports.

Of course the Ukrainians have been quietly doing this sort of thing for a long time, but now they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.

On the other side of the world, the Chinese just surrounded Taiwan with warships and fighter jets…

On Monday China has launched large military drills encircling the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Taipei has blasted as an “unreasonable provocation”. China’s PLA military deployed warships and fighter jets to send a “stern warning” against “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces”.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command deployed joint operations of the army, navy, air force and rocket force. These assets have been largely concentrated in the Taiwan Strait, as well as surrounding Taiwan. “The joint drills focused on sea and air combat readiness, blockading key Taiwanese ports and areas, and assaults on maritime and ground targets,” described the eastern theatre command’s spokesperson, senior captain Li Xi.

The good news is that this was just a military exercise.

The Chinese are practicing for a future blockade of Taiwan, and just before the military exercise commenced a video was released that boldly declared that the Chinese military is “prepared for battle at all times and can fight anytime”…

Just before these fresh drills, China’s military issued and circulated a propaganda video entitled “prepared for battle” on vairous social media accounts. The about one-minute video features fighter jets, warships and amphibious assault vessels taking to the air and sea near Taiwan. Mobile rocket launchers are also seen being maneuvered and made ready for attacks. Text associated with the video said Chinese forces are “prepared for battle at all times and can fight anytime.”

A blockade will probably be the very first step that the Chinese take when they decide that it is time to forcibly “reunite” with Taiwan.

And the moment that they establish such a blockade, the U.S. and China will be at war.

Sadly, that could happen a lot sooner than most people think.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, war is in the air.

We are so close to the unthinkable, and our window of opportunity to avoid a global nightmare is rapidly closing.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is worried that World War III could break out in the next four months due to the policies of the Democrats leading the US government.

“I actually worry about the next three months. I really do. I worry about the next three and a half four months will end up in a world war because of this, the people that we have [in government],” he said at a rally in the state of California.

The Biden administration has been making colossal mistake after colossal mistake in the Middle East.

Now the time for talk is over and Israeli tanks have entered southern Lebanon…

Israeli tanks have burst through the gates of a United Nations peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon, the UN confirmed today.

It comes after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the UNIFL withdraw from combat zones and Hezbollah strongholds — and accused the UN of inadvertently ‘providing terrorists with human shields’.

In a statement addressed to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu said: ‘The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.

Of course Hezbollah has been quite busy as well. On Saturday, Hezbollah fired missiles at four different Israeli military bases…

Hezbollah claimed it had destroyed four military bases in Israel today as it launched a blistering rocket attack across the southern border.

The Iranian-proxy group said it had hit bases in Al-Jarrah, Za’rit and bases in the Golan Heights after claiming to have pushed back advancing forces late Friday.

Its fighters were ‘targeting the explosives factory there with a salvo of… missiles’, the group said in a statement this morning.

Then on Sunday, a massive Hezbollah drone attack injured more than 60 people in northern Israel…

More than 60 people have been injured, several of them critically, in a drone attack in northern Israel, according to first responders.

There were no immediate official reports of deaths from the attack, but the high number of injuries reported makes the attack one of the bloodiest since the war started last October.

The news comes after Hezbollah said Sunday it had fired a swarm of attack drones on an Israeli “Golani” infantry training camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa. The Lebanon-based militant group said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Thursday that killed 22 people and injured 117, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Most Americans are not really paying much attention to this war yet.

And most Americans don’t seem to realize that we will be directly involved.

In fact, it is being reported that approximately 100 U.S. troops will be operating the THAAD air defense systems that are about to be sent to Israel…

On Saturday we were among the first outlets to report that the United States is preparing to deploy THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems in Israel, a major development which will put American troops directly in harm’s way (or… boots on the ground) amid the tense showdown with Iran.

The Pentagon in follow-up statements to the NY Times has confirmed the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) systems will be sent to Israel, and that about 100 American troops will operate them.

If Iran and Israel start lobbing thousands of missiles at one another, those troops will be very heavily involved in what is happening.

Israel has promised to respond to Iran’s recent missile attack, and that could unleash a chain of events that nobody will be able to control.

According to the Daily Mail, the Iranians are making some very alarming threats…

Iran has threatened to recalculate its nuclear weapons programme if Israel launches a revenge strike as Biden has insisted Tehran is not building nukes. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack last year on Israel triggered a wave of regional hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, officials in Tehran have warned the Islamic republic could change its nuclear doctrine if it faced an existential threat. But they have been deliberately vague about what that might entail.

Pretty soon, both sides will be forced to reveal all of their cards. And once that happens, everything will change.

Meanwhile, the Russians continue to gobble up more territory in eastern Ukraine…

Russian forces have seized control of another eastern Ukrainian settlement, Moscow said on Sunday, in what would be the latest in a string of gains in the Donetsk region if confirmed.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that its Center group of forces had captured the Donetsk village of Mykhailivka.

Several settlements in Ukraine bear the same name, and Russia’s Defense Ministry statement is likely referring to the village immediately east of Selydove, southeast of the strategic Ukrainian-held hub of Pokrovsk where Moscow has been concentrating its efforts.

The Russians clearly have the upper hand at this stage.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately wants NATO to give him permission to use western missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia, and he is also accusing the Russians of using North Korean troops against him…

Zelensky’s comments came days after visiting several European capitals to press his case for more military and financial help in the war against invading Russian forces.

“We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like in North Korea,” Zelensky said in his evening address.

“It is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupier’s military forces.

“Obviously, in such circumstances, our relations with our partners need to be developed. The frontline needs more support,” he said.

Both sides just continue to escalate matters, and I am entirely convinced that it is just a matter of time before the U.S. and Russia are directly fighting one another.

If our leaders had any sense, they would sit down at the negotiating table before things ever have a chance to reach that point.

Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention.

According to the Wall Street Journal, fleets of unidentified drones have been flying over U.S. military bases on the east coast…

U.S. Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of reports that a suspicious fleet of unidentified aircraft had been flying over Langley Air Force Base on Virginia’s shoreline.

Kelly, a decorated senior commander at the base, got on a squadron rooftop to see for himself. He joined a handful of other officers responsible for a clutch of the nation’s most advanced jet fighters, including F-22 Raptors.

For several nights, military personnel had reported a mysterious breach of restricted airspace over a stretch of land that has one of the largest concentrations of national-security facilities in the U.S. The show usually starts 45 minutes to an hour after sunset, another senior leader told Kelly.

The first drone arrived shortly. Kelly, a career fighter pilot, estimated it was roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers.

I would very much encourage you to read that entire article, because it is absolutely stunning.

Our military has no idea where the drones are coming from, and they are not being allowed to shoot them down…

Officials didn’t know if the drone fleet, which numbered as many as a dozen or more over the following nights, belonged to clever hobbyists or hostile forces. Some suspected that Russia or China deployed them to test the response of American forces.

Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near military bases in the U.S. unless they pose an imminent threat. Aerial snooping doesn’t qualify, though some lawmakers hope to give the military greater leeway.

If a fleet of unidentified aircraft is flying over highly sensitive military bases, you shoot them down.

I don’t even understand why there would be any debate.

My guess is that the drones are probably from either Russia or China. But if they are not from either Russia or China, that is probably an even more troubling scenario.

In any event, it has become clear that we are living at a time of wars and rumors of wars.

This war in the Middle East has escalated to an extremely dangerous level, the war in Ukraine is reaching a critical stage, and I believe that it won’t be too long before a conflict between the U.S. and China erupts.

World War I and World World War II both killed millions of people. World War III will kill billions of people, and it is right at the door.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right, to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” Netanyahu told the General Assembly, adding, “And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

During his speech, Netanyahu showed world leaders two maps of the Middle East, pointing out the difference between a “blessing” and a “curse.”

“Now look at this second map,” he said, pointing out, “It’s a map of a curse. It’s a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean.”

Netanyahu added: “There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach – that’s true for the whole of the Middle East.”

Even with broadening war risks in the Middle East, the geopolitical risk premium in Brent crude has all but evaporated – overshadowed by economic slowdown fear in China and the US. Not even the China stimulus story earlier this week could ignite crude prices.

On Thursday, we noted the usual anonymous sources reporting by corporate media were back, and pressured Brent crude prices lower. The first report was published by Reuters earlier this month. In that report, journos cited anonymous sources that said OPEC+ was set to proceed with a production hike in October. Then an FT report on Thursday joined the anonymous-source-citing oil manipulation game with the news that the Saudis were ready to ditch the unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude.

Also, recent headlines surrounding a possible ceasefire in the Middle East have pressured oil prices. We must ask what exactly ‘the powers that be’ are afraid of?

Maybe Goldman analyst Lindsay Matcham’s note to clients this morning shows precisely what ‘the powers that be’ are afraid of…

“We’re continuing to keep a close eye on the conflict in the Middle East amid intensifying tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.” 

Matcham added:

“We think further escalation in the conflict could have material market implications, especially if it involves a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which would likely lead to a spike in oil prices here.” 

Strait of Hormuz…

In a separate note, Goldman analyst Lina Thomas outlines four positive near-term drivers for crude markets:

• The easing in global policy.
• Inventories are still drawing.
• Positioning and valuation remain low.
• Oil markets are not pricing a significant risk of geopolitical disruptions.

Fast forward to noon today, Brent prices jumped to the mid-point of the $72 handle after IDF airstrikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut.

Massive Israeli Airstrikes In Beirut Target Hezbollah HQ, Nasrallah https://t.co/uqp8T0VZyM

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 27, 2024

Broadening war risks come as speculators have placed record bearish bets in crude markets.

Brent prices hover around $72/bbl in late morning trading in the US.

The looming question for Brent traders is: When will the war risk premium return?

A potential IDF invasion of Lebanon could provoke Iran, although there are currently no signs of Tehran’s imminent closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Given the Israel-Hezbollah escalation in conflict to the end of the week, traders should monitor these events as traders hold record net-bearish bets on crude.

Hezbollah’s leader has condemned Israel after thousands of pagers and walkie talkies exploded over two days, saying ‘all red lines have been crossed by the enemy’ and that the deadly attacks ‘deserve a response’.

Nasrallah also said that what we witnessed this week was a “declaration of war” by Israel…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared Israel’s surprise pager and handheld radio attacks a “declaration of war” and dared the Jewish state to invade Lebanon. As he spoke, Israeli forces carpet bombed the terror group’s strongholds.

In a televised address Thursday, Nasrallah acknowledged that Hezbollah “received a heavy, painful blow,” saying that Israel’s decision to detonate scores of pagers and other electronic devices earlier this week amounted to “a major aggression” that will not go unanswered.

“These massacres amount to war crimes or a declaration of war,” Nasrallah said, promising “a crushing response from the axis of resistance.”

It sounds like he is saying that Israel and Hezbollah are now officially at war.

And of course that would be an accurate assessment of the current state of affairs.

As Nasrallah was delivering his speech, Israeli forces were conducting airstrikes in southern Lebanon, and fighter jets were setting off sonic booms over Beirut…

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, moments before the militant group’s leader said two days of debilitating attacks on its members amounted to a declaration of war.

The strikes Thursday were more extensive than in previous days and were timed to coincide with a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was addressing a wave of device explosions before cadres who were shocked by the scale of the attack. Israeli jets flew over Beirut, setting off sonic booms as they have done repeatedly in recent months in an effort to intimidate the group.

Does Nasrallah actually believe that Hezbollah can win the coming war?

He must realize that Israel has capabilities that his side does not.

Once Israeli forces enter southern Lebanon, there will be no turning back and vast numbers of people will die.

At this moment, additional Israeli units are on their way to the northern border…

In a statement Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the “center of gravity” in the Israel-Hamas war was moving north to Lebanon. He said more military units and resources were being sent to the border.

“This is not Hamas − we’re dealing with something different, and we need to prepare accordingly,” he said.

I know that the Biden administration is still pushing for peace, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his minions are extremely incompetent.

And Hezbollah has already stated that there will be no peace as long as the IDF is fighting in Gaza.  On Thursday, Hezbollah continued to fire at targets inside northern Israel…

The powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah continued to strike what it called military targets in northern Israel Thursday after thousands of its members were injured and several killed in an apparent Israeli operation using exploding pagers and other communication devices. The Israel Defense Forces said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon “to degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.”

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization has turned southern Lebanon into a combat zone. For decades, Hezbollah has weaponized civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them, and used civilians as human shields,” the IDF said in a statement. “The IDF is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes, as well as to achieve of all of the war goals.”

In response, the IDF hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers.  The airstrikes that we witnessed on Thursday evening are being called “some of the most intense” that we have seen so far…

Israel carried out dozens of strikes on Thursday across southern Lebanon, in what Lebanese security sources said were some of the most intense bombings since Hezbollah began daily cross-border attacks on northern communities after the start of the Gaza war on October 7.

The military said fighter jets had struck over 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon that were primed for immediate attacks on Israel. It said that in total, the launchers included around 1,000 launch barrels.

This is going to end very badly. But most you knew that already.

There are a couple of other things that I wanted to mention.

Firstly, it is being reported that the pagers and walkie-talkies that exploded this week were actually made by shell companies that had been set up by the Israelis…

The Israeli secret service didn’t just tamper with the deadly Hezbollah pagers — they made them from scratch, having set up a complex web of shell companies across Europe, it was claimed today.

Initially it was suspected that Mossad had managed to intercept and plant tiny bombs in a shipment of the pagers headed for the Iranian-backed terror group in Lebanon after thousands of people were injured and dozens killed.

But now it appears that the Israelis set up front companies across Europe to manufacture the pagers themselves, embedding small amounts of PETN explosive inside, ready to be detonated by a coded message.

In particular, the New York Times is telling us that the pagers that exploded came from a Hungarian company that had been purposely set up to sell electronic equipment to Hezbollah…

A report Thursday alleged that a Hungarian firm that apparently supplied pagers used by Hezbollah was secretly set up by Israeli spies as part of a widescale operation that appeared to culminate this week when the devices exploded, killing several and maiming thousands of Hezbollah operatives and others in Lebanon and Syria.

The New York Times claimed that rather than merely managing to tamper with the devices at some stage of their production or distribution, Israel actually “manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.”

On the other side, the Iranians have apparently been attempting to assassinate Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials…

Iran plotted to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, the Shin Bet, in cooperation with the police, announced on Thursday.

Its efforts were particularly intense following the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which most of the world has attributed to Mossad. However, Israel has been careful not to take any credit for it.

In addition, the Islamic Republic, at a somewhat more vague level, explored assassinating former prime minister Naftali Bennett and other top Israeli defense officials.

The most alarming plot reportedly involved an Israeli businessman that was actually smuggled into Iran on multiple occasions…

An Israeli businessman was smuggled into Iran to plot the assassination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, police and intelligence officials said Thursday, amid rising tensions over Trojan Horse attacks this week that killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters and civilians in Lebanon and wounded thousands more.

The Israeli businessman wanted a million dollars in advance to help kill Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, but he only received 5,000 euros before he was finally arrested…

The suspect was twice smuggled into Iran from Turkey to meet with Iranian intelligence officials, the Israeli statement said. He demanded $1 million in advance to help kill targets including Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar − but received a paltry 5,000 Euros for his trouble before Israeli police arrested him last month.

We are witnessing extreme chaos in the Middle East, but what we have seen so far is just the beginning.

Once Israeli forces enter southern Lebanon, events are going to move very rapidly.

Many will cheer the death and destruction, but the truth is that we should all grieve for every precious soul that passes into eternity.

Sadly, there is no way out now.

War is here, and it will soon escalate to a level that will shock the entire planet.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

There are approximately 100,000 Israelis that have been unable to return to their homes in northern Israel for months, and Netanyahu has become convinced that the only way that they can be safely returned to their homes is to force Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.  But of course Hezbollah will not go willingly.  In fact, Hezbollah has warned that there will be “all-out war” if IDF forces attempt to enter southern Lebanon.

Unfortunately, any hope for a peaceful resolution appears to be gone and we are being told that the Israeli government has decided to launch a military operation in southern Lebanon “as soon as international legitimacy and IDF manpower” allow for it.  The following comes from a Times of Israel article entitled “PM said to warn Israel faces ‘large-scale confrontation’ with Hezbollah in near future”…

According to Channel 13 news, Netanyahu believes that Israel is headed for an inevitable all-out confrontation with Hezbollah, as a diplomatic solution that could bring an end to the near-daily cross-border clashes with the Lebanese terror group remains elusive.

Citing an unnamed Netanyahu associate, Channel 13 reported that no timeline had been established for the expected confrontation, which has been promised by top officials for months, and as such, it could be in weeks or months from now.

The assessment that the skirmishes with Hezbollah on the northern border, which have led to the displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis, would not be solved through a diplomatic solution was shared by the security chiefs, the report stated, and as such it was agreed that a military operation should be launched as soon as international legitimacy and IDF manpower allowed for it.

So many people are going to die on both sides.

But it has become clear that nobody will ever be able to persuade Hezbollah to stop firing at targets in northern Israel.

So a decision has been made that it is time to take action.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been against a military campaign in southern Lebanon, and there are reports that he may soon be fired by Netanyahu…

There is currently widespread speculation in Israeli media that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon terminate Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, which would constitute a monumental reshuffle of his cabinet. The two have reportedly been clashing over war strategy, especially on what to do about the crisis in northern Israel, an area which has come under daily rocket and drone attack from Lebanese Hezbollah.

“The drafts of the agreement have already been drawn up … Netanyahu is preparing for Gallant’s dismissal in the near future … Galant will be fired by Netanyahu,” Israeli news outlet Ynet reported Monday.

Gallant is reportedly wanting to avoid immediate escalation of the war with Hezbollah in the north, reportedly clashing with the army’s Northern Command chief Ori Gordin, who is calling for the government to approve a large-scale operation in Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah.

It is very difficult to succeed when everyone is not pulling in the same direction.

Either Gallant has to go or Gordin has go to.

And it appears that Gallant is going to be the one that will be forced out.

But I do not expect the IDF to launch a military operation in southern Lebanon quite yet.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly later this month, and during that address I expect him to publicly make his case for military action against Hezbollah…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to the United States later this month to deliver an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27, his office announced on Sunday.

The Israeli premier is slated to leave for New York on Sept. 24 for meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the event, according to the statement.

Netanyahu is to address the 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly three days later, on Friday afternoon, and fly back that Sunday.

I do not think that all-out war will erupt before Netanyahu delivers that speech.

But it may come fairly soon afterwards.

Interestingly, this will be the first time that Netanyahu has spoken to the UN General Assembly after the Palestinians were granted a seat among the member states…

Palestinians took a seat among member states at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, a new right accorded to the Palestinian Authority’s delegation despite it not being a full member of the body.

In May, an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly asserted that Palestinians deserved full membership, a move that has been blocked by the United States, which along with Israel says recognition of Palestinian statehood must come through a peace agreement.

The General Assembly granted the delegation certain new rights in a resolution, which still excludes it from being able to vote or be a member of the Security Council.

The coming war is going to be absolutely horrifying.

In the aftermath of the war, I expect that there will be a full-fledged Palestinian state and that they will be given full membership at the United Nations.

Needless to say, that will have enormous implications for all of us.

But before we get to that, the entire region is going to be facing an apocalyptic war. You see, the truth is that Israel isn’t just going to be fighting Hezbollah.

Israel will be fighting an alliance of Islamic nations and terror groups, and more fighters are pouring into the region with each passing day.

In fact, it is being reported that large numbers of Houthi fighters have been arriving in Syria…

A Houthi source confirmed the arrival of Houthi fighters from Yemen to Syrian territory, according to reports.

The confirmation comes after a Syrian source told i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel that the Iran-backed Yemeni group was on its way to Israel’s border with Syria in the Golan Heights.

The Yemeni armed group claimed that “this is a prelude to a new phase of escalation against Israel.”

Both sides are preparing for war, and this is going to be the sort of war where both sides don’t hold anything back.

The death and destruction that we will witness will shock the entire globe.

We have been warned that this war would be coming for a very long time, and now we are almost there.

So many lives have already been lost since last October, and now the entire Middle East stands right on the brink of a complete and utter nightmare.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

This is not new. Indeed, after the 2017 uprising in Iran, an analysis published by the country’s Sociological Association concluded: “We have entered an era of super-crisis.”

100 crises and 10 super-crises

Mohammad Mahdi Hatami, an economic expert close to the ruling Iranian regime, states: “In 2017, a collaboration between the Presidential Strategic Studies Center and certain private sector institutions resulted in a list of 100 crises threatening Iran. Among the 100 identified crises, nearly 70 had economic origins, and among the top 10 super-crises (in order of importance), seven were also of economic origin.” (Fararu, Jan. 21, 2022)

Ali Saadouni, another economic expert, mentioned the following seven super-crises: the bankruptcy of pension funds, the banking super-crisis, the insurance super-crisis, the water super-crisis, the energy super-crisis, the hyperinflation super-crisis and the investment super-crisis. (Khabar Online, May 6, 2023)

Pedram Soltani, former vice president of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce for eight years, is among the economic experts who believe the new government of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will bring no improvement to the current situation. According to Soltani, “the government, within the current power structure in Iran, has very few prerogatives, and various factors have rendered it largely ineffective in policymaking.” (Tejaratnews, Aug. 27, 2024)

Referring to the imbalances across all sectors, Soltani asserts that the Iranian economy is no longer even capable of staying afloat.

Greatest super-crisis of all: Despair of the Middle Class

Saeed Leylaz, another expert close to the ruling regime, emphasized that “the greatest super-crisis in Iran is the widespread despair of the middle class.” He insisted that “this situation must be corrected, and that economically, our greatest super-crisis is structural imbalance.” According to Leylaz, resolving these imbalances is possible only by rebuilding legitimacy in the eyes of the people. (Aftabnews, June 12, 2024)

Most vital and urgent issues for the country

One of the most severe warnings concerning the insoluble crises of the mullahs’ regime was issued by Massoud Nili, economic adviser to former President Hassan Rouhani during two mandates. At a roundtable discussion, Nili revealed the depth of the catastrophe, the despair about the future, and the confusion of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He identified three main challenges for governance: imbalances, foreign relations and the enormous gap between social classes, distinguishing between the most vital issue for the country and the most urgent ones.

He believes that, although the most important problem in the country is the imbalances, despite the high costs they entail this is not the most urgent priority. “No matter how we analyze the current situation, we come to the conclusion that the priority is to repair social conditions and even domestic politics before any economic or foreign relations reform.”

The fall is near

Midway through former Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi’s administration, as it became clear to everyone that the regime’s fall was imminent, some sent warning letters to Khamenei. He responded: “They say the country is heading towards decline! What decline? Why? … Some have said that the Islamic Republic is in a dead end; well, if we are in a dead end, there is no need to overthrow a government in a dead end; it will collapse on its own.”

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