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The Russians just told us again that the world could soon be facing nuclear war if western powers don’t stop escalating the conflict in Ukraine, but this is yet another warning that has gone in one ear and out the other.  The Russians can talk about nuclear war until they are blue in the face, but nothing that they say is going to sink in, because our leaders simply do not care.  They are entirely convinced that the Russians will never use nuclear weapons, and so they are not afraid to keep pushing the Russians closer to a breaking point.  When the Russians finally reach their breaking point, what will they do?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been playing this game for decades, and he always chooses his words very carefully.

So when he publicly brings up the possibility of nuclear war, that is a really big deal.  The following comes from an article that was posted on Yahoo News entitled “Russia warns the United States of the risks of World War Three”…

“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire – and they are like small children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

“Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov added that Russia was “clarifying” its nuclear doctrine.

Obviously the Russians do not want a nuclear war.

But unlike the U.S., the Russians have been feverishly preparing to fight one.  Today, their strategic nuclear arsenal and their anti-missile systems are far superior to our own.

Most Americans don’t realize this.

I have been writing about this for years, but most people in the western world are not interested in such warnings.

And the Russians also very clearly understand that whoever strikes first will have the best chance of surviving a nuclear conflict.

Over and over, the Russians have made it clear that they would very much prefer to avoid using nuclear weapons.

But the Russians have also told us over and over that if they are pushed too far they will use them.

Right now, the Russians are extremely angry.  We saw more evidence of this when they just launched the largest air assault on Ukraine since the war started…

Russia launched a “massive” missile and drone attack aimed at energy infrastructure across Ukraine at the start of the week, marking the biggest air assault since the war began, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow has since followed that with a second wave of strikes early Tuesday morning.

Monday’s onslaught, which killed at least seven people and caused power outages in several cities, marked Russia’s “most massive air attack” in more than two-and-a-half years of conflict, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

The reason why the Russians are so angry is due to Ukraine’s surprise invasion of Russia’s lightly populated Kursk region…

Three weeks ago, Ukraine’s military launched a stunning operation to take the war in Ukraine back onto the territory of the country that launched it. Three weeks later, the Ukrainians still occupy hundreds of miles of territory in Russia’s western Kursk region.

The incursion had a number of goals: to force Russia to divert its forces from Ukraine to defend its own towns and cities; to seize territory that might later be used for bargaining leverage in peace negotiations; and to send a political message to the Russian people and their leaders that they are not safe from the consequences of the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

Unfortunately for Ukraine, the Russians did not divert assets from eastern Ukraine to defend Kursk.

Instead, the Russians have continued to move forward steadily in eastern Ukraine, and now they are closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk…

And that means Russia’s eastern offensive, which kicked off last fall and widened around the New Year, has continued unimpeded through August. The consequences for Ukraine’s defensive campaign in the east have been dire.

In essence, Russia is trading Kursk for part of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine is trading part of the east for Kursk. Whether either tradeoff is worth it is a political question—and one without an easy answer for either side.

The drumbeat of recent Russian advances east of Pokrovsk, northwest of Donetsk, should sound like an alarm in Kyiv. On Friday, Russian infantry marched into Novohrodivka, seven miles east of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine sent many of their best units (along with significant numbers of western mercenaries) into Kursk, and so much of the front in eastern Ukraine is now defended by new conscripts that are very poorly trained…

As Kiev attempts to bask in triumph over its territorial gains inside of Russia, its forces are losing territory along the Eastern front lines in Ukraine. Ukrainian military commanders say the reason for the losses is poorly trained soldiers; many are even afraid to fire their weapons.

Speaking with the Associated Press, a battalion commander in Ukraine’s 47th Brigade said, “Some people don’t want to shoot. They see the enemy in the firing position in trenches but don’t open fire. … That is why our men are dying. When they don’t use the weapon, they are ineffective.”

The decision to invade the Kursk region is turning out to be a massive strategic blunder.

The Ukrainians have lost vast numbers of men and vehicles in Kursk, but they aren’t going to be able to hold Russian territory for very long.

Meanwhile, the front in eastern Ukraine is at risk of completely collapsing.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to insist that the invasion of Kursk is part of his “victory plan” which he will soon unveil to Joe Biden…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his troops’ incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is part of a “victory plan” that he will present to US President Joe Biden next month.

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, President Zelensky said the success of the plan would depend on President Biden and on whether the US would give Ukraine “what is in this plan or not, [and] whether we will be free to use this plan, or not”.

“It may sound too ambitious for some, but it is an important plan for us,” he added, saying that he would also show the plan to both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

The only way that the Ukrainians can possibly achieve victory is to get the U.S. and other western powers directly involved in the conflict.

So far, the Ukrainians have not been able to do that.

But if that does happen at some point, that will bring us literally to the brink of nuclear war.

Sadly, most people have no idea what a nuclear conflict would actually look like.

According to author Annie Jacobsen, the initial blast of one nuclear warhead in Washington D.C. would immediately wipe out everything in a 9 mile diameter…

So with a 1-megaton bomb on Washington, DC, what happens in the very first millisecond is that this thermonuclear flash expands into a ball of fire that is one mile of pure fire. It’s 19 football fields of fire.

Then the fireball’s edges compress into what is called a steeply fronted blast wave — as dense wall of air pushing out, mowing down everything in its path three miles out, in every direction, because it is accompanied by several-hundred-mile-an-hour winds.

It’s like Washington, DC, just got hit by an asteroid and the accompanying wave. When you think about this initial 9-mile diameter ring, imagine every single engineered structure — buildings, bridges, etc. — collapsing.

That is what one nuclear warhead would do.

The Russians have thousands of them.

Millions would die during a full-blown nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia, but billions would potentially die during the nuclear winter that follows…

A Nuclear war would plunge our planet into a deep nuclear winter. In the worst-case scenario, a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia (which together possess nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons) could eject up to 165 million tons (150 million metric tons) of soot into Earth’s atmosphere, reducing surface temperatures by 16 degrees Fahrenheit (9 degrees Celsius) and sending global calorie production plummeting by as much as 90%.

We should do whatever it takes to avoid such a scenario.

If leaders on both sides were sane, they would sit down and try to talk things out while it is still possible to do so.

Unfortunately, neither side is interested in talking at this point, and so we continue to steamroll toward the unthinkable.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Most people don’t seem to realize this yet, but we have entered a time of global war.  While millions in the western world are partying, an apocalyptic all-out war is threatening to erupt in the Middle East and Ukraine has launched a surprise invasion of Russia.  Needless to say, seeing Ukrainian troops come pouring across Russia’s lightly defended border in the Kursk region came as quite a shock to Vladimir Putin and his generals.  The Ukrainians have decided to take things to the next level, and the Russians are beyond angry.  Meanwhile, Israel is bracing for a “large scale” Iranian attack at any time…

Israel is expecting a ‘large scale’ Iranian attack and Hezbollah has evacuated its Beirut headquarters in anticipation of an all-out war with Israel, according to reports.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iran was making preparations for a large-scale military attack on Israel during a phone call on Sunday, Axios News reporter Barack Ravid wrote on X.

The planned attack could happen ‘within days’, according to two sources who spoke to CNN. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has evacuated its headquarters in Beirut, according to Lebanese news outlet Al Joumhouria – further raising concerns.

We have been waiting for Iran to strike Israel since the end of July, but so far such an attack has not materialized.

Many were hoping that cooler heads had prevailed in Iran.

Sadly, it appears that an attack is still coming, and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant is warning that Iran and Hezbollah “are threatening to harm us in a way they haven’t done in the past”.

That sounds rather ominous.

If there is an attack, it will almost certainly be more substantial than what we witnessed last time around.

For the moment, however, the Iranians seem to be enjoying keeping everyone in suspense…

“There may be no attack at all, or there could be one tonight,” an Iranian regime insider told the Financial Times. “Waiting for death is more difficult than death itself.”

“Iran has launched a psychological warfare campaign to keep Israel’s military, security, and logistical capabilities on edge, denying residents of the occupied territories any sense of calm,” the insider added.

Maybe they will keep playing this game for a while.

Or maybe they will attack tonight.

We just don’t know.

There have been reports of missile launchers being moved into position.

But that could just be more of their mind games.

The U.S. is certainly not taking any chances.

According to John Kirby, the U.S. is operating under the assumption that an Iranian attack could come as early as this week…

The U.S. is preparing for Iran or its proxies to attack Israel as soon as this week, according to White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

He confirmed Monday that the U.S. is increasing its military presence in the region and said that President Joe Biden had talked with European allies about support for Israel.

If the Iranians attack, the U.S. will defend Israel.

A guided missile sub is being deployed to the Middle East, and the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has been ordered to “sail more quickly to the area”…

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, as the U.S. said Monday it believes Iran or its proxies could launch a strike against Israel as soon as this week.

The moves, announced by the Defense Department Sunday, come as the U.S. and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

I will be watching the USS Abraham Lincoln very closely.

If all-out war erupts, it could become a prime target for either the Iranians or Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has taken an unexpected turn.

The Ukrainians have been slowly but surely losing ground in eastern Ukraine, and so they decided to do something dramatic to change the momentum of the war.

Nobody expected the Ukrainians to invade Russian territory, and so the Russians were completely surprised when that actually happened…

Ukraine’s shock incursion across the Russian border into Kursk Oblast may force important strategic decisions on Moscow as President Vladimir Putin’s troops are taken as prisoners of war and supply lines are threatened. The Ukrainian attack took Russian forces by surprise, according to one U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine’s cross-border gambit has allowed Kyiv to seize the battlefield initiative, long held by Russian forces who were able to dictate the time and place of fighting and force Ukrainian troops to expend manpower and equipment on defensive operations.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of the importance of removing these Ukrainian forces from Russian territory during a televised appearance…

President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday to “dislodge” Ukrainian troops who have entered Russian territory as authorities said more than 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.

Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing more than two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.

“One of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society,” Putin told a televised meeting with government officials.

The Ukrainians will not be able to hold Russian territory for long.

So why did they do this?

Personally, my opinion is that the Ukrainians are trying to get the Russians so angry that they will decide to use tactical nuclear weapons.

If Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons, NATO will be forced to intervene, and then we really will have a nightmare scenario on our hands.

This conflict with Russia is one of “the 3 wars of the apocalypse” that I keep warning my readers about.

The coming all-out war in the Middle East is another one.

All of the chess pieces are moving into position, and it won’t be too long before we witness global chaos on a grand scale.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

It is getting very difficult to ignore all of the shaking that is going on.  Over the past few months, there have been very unusual earthquakes all over the United States.  As you will see below, there have been noteworthy quakes on the west coast, on the east coast, near our northern border, and near our southern border.  Of course all of this comes at a time when the entire planet is being shaken by unusual seismic activity.  Is all of this unusual seismic activity building up to something?  If so, what does that mean for all of us?

On Tuesday night, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake that shook southern California made headlines all over the nation…

An earthquake northwest of Los Angeles shook a large swath of Southern California on Tuesday night, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.2 magnitude temblor struck at 9:09 p.m. and was centered near Mettler, an unincorporated area in Kern County about 85 miles (137 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.

Following the quake, Dr. Lucy Jones went on television and revealed that her initial assessment was that the quake was not associated with any known fault.

I thought that was quite strange.

Another earthquake expert named Ole Kaven agreed with that assessment, but he did note that this particular area is known for earthquakes…

There isn’t a known fault in the area where the earthquake struck on Tuesday night, but it’s still an area known for earthquakes, said Ole Kaven, U.S. Geological Survey research geophysicist.

The shaking was felt over a very large area.

In fact, it was being reported that this earthquake was felt by those living “in Ventura, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Santa Clarita, Encino, Hollywood, Santa Monica, North Hollywood and Woodland Hills”.

Subsequently, there have been more than 200 aftershocks in that same region…

There have been more than 277 aftershocks to Tuesday’s magnitude 5.2 earthquake in Southern California, two with a magnitude 4.0 or greater – but the likelihood of another, larger shock is still low, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

“Seeing a lot of these smaller events that slow over time is very normal,” said Ole Kaven, a research geophysicist with USGS.

Hopefully things will settle down soon.

But it is just a matter of time before the earthquakes return.

For more than a decade, I have been specifically warning about what will happen to the state of California when “the Big One” finally strikes.

Scientists assure us that “the Big One” is overdue, and the damage that it will cause will be off the charts.

California is known for earthquakes, but we are also seeing significant shaking in areas of the country that are not known for earthquakes.

For example, the state of New Jersey has been shaken by more than 200 earthquakes over the past three months…

It’s not known for being a hotspot for earthquakes.

But New Jersey has been rattled by more than 200 tremors in the past three months.

In the middle of the country, a magnitude 2.9 earthquake was just recorded directly under Lake Michigan…

As an earthquake nut, I thought I had seen it all. An earthquake Friday proves that I still haven’t. The USGS has confirmed there was an earthquake under Lake Michigan Friday which was felt by many in Wisconsin.

The USGS confirms that an earthquake large enough to be felt by dozens in Wisconsin happened at 9:18am and was centered under Lake Michigan.

This bizarre earthquake registered 2.9 on the Richter Scale and was reportedly felt by many near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

We will want to keep a very close eye on any seismic activity around the Great Lakes, because it could have very serious implications for the city of Chicago at some point in the future.

Meanwhile, so many earthquakes have been happening in one county in Texas that a state of emergency was formally declared…

So many earthquakes have struck the west Texas county of Scurry in the past week – more than 100 at last count – local officials have declared a state of emergency.

Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks wrote in his Friday declaration of disaster that since the first earthquake, registering magnitude 4.9, was felt the night of July 22, “damage has been found throughout Scurry County in businesses and residences.”

In my previous article entitled “5 Reasons Why You Should Be Prepping Like Crazy Right Now”, I warned that natural disasters would be a major theme during the second half of this year and beyond.

Of course there are a lot of other reasons why so many people are feverishly preparing for “the perfect storm” that is now upon us.

Global events are starting to spin out of control, and there is a tremendous amount of concern about what is coming next.

Earlier today, I came across a CNN article that discussed the fact that many among the elite are now constructing “21st century fortresses” in anticipation of what is ahead…

Few things appear to soothe the existential anxieties of the super-rich like a bunker designed to withstand anything short of total nuclear Armageddon. Yet it’s no longer enough for the security-conscious billionaire to stick an impenetrable safe room in the basement where it might sit empty forever. In today’s uber-prime properties, bunkers have gone seriously upmarket and hi-tech, in some cases growing to the extent that whole homes are becoming 21st century fortresses.

“We’ve seen a lot more of a focus on entertainment,” said Al Corbi, who has been at the forefront of secure luxury for 50 years as the president and founder of SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments), based in Virginia, in the US. “If you’re going to be able to survive underground, we want you to be having fun.”

Do you think that those elitists are going too far?

I don’t.

We have entered a time of tremendous political chaos, global war, worldwide food shortages, deadly pestilences and historic natural disasters.

If you are wise, you will be working extremely hard to get prepared for what is coming too.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

It is difficult to see how a cataclysmic war in the Middle East can be avoided at this point.  The region was already teetering on the brink of disaster, and now the head of Hamas has been assassinated.  It would be difficult to overstate the anger that the Islamic world is experiencing right now, and the Iranians are particularly mad because it happened on their territory.  As you will see below, the Iranians are vowing that they will take revenge on Israel.  If the Iranian response is too large, there is a risk that it could set off a series of events in the Middle East that nobody is going to be able to control.

What we just witnessed within a 24 hour period is truly unprecedented.

First, a key Hezbollah commander named Fuad Shukr that had been orchestrating terror attacks since the 1980s was taken out…

Israel says it has killed a top Hezbollah commander after carrying out an air strike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The Israeli military says Fuad Shukr was the target of an “intelligence-based elimination”.

Then the entire world was absolutely shocked when the political leader of Hamas was assassinated in Tehran…

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran’s capital after attending the inauguration of the country’s new president, Iranian officials and the militant group said early Wednesday. Both blamed Israel for the strike that killed Haniyeh, and Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. bore responsibility for the killing as Israel’s biggest ally.

And now there are unconfirmed reports that a top figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been assassinated in Damascus…

In a dramatic turn of events, unconfirmed reports from Syria suggest that Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forces, has been assassinated in an attack near the Syrian capital of Damascus. Hajizadeh, a key figure in the Iranian military hierarchy, was reportedly the senior commander behind the Iranian ballistic and cruise missile attacks against Israel in April.

According to journalist Levent Kamal, “There are unconfirmed reports from Syria that Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of the Aerospace Forces of the IRGC, was killed in an attack near the Syrian capital Damascus.”

This is essentially the equivalent of slamming a hornet’s nest with a baseball bat over and over again.

The Iranians are steaming mad, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has told the world that “we consider it our duty to seek revenge”…

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that Iran would take revenge on Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. had not been involved in or informed of in advance.

“With this action, the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself, and we consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khamenei said in remarks carried by the country’s state media.

I believe that he is quite serious.

In fact, it is being reported that “the red flag of revenge” has already been raised over the Jamkaran Mosque…

Iran has raised the red flag of revenge over the dome of the Jamkaran Mosque following the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

So what will Iran’s revenge look like?

Do you remember how the Russians called it a “special military operation” when they invaded Ukraine?

Well, now the Iranians are using the term “special operations” to describe what they have planned…

The response to the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh will be “special operations,” the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN said Wednesday.

“The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations—harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator,” it wrote on X.

The statement came hours after Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital.

Hopefully the Iranians will not do anything stupid.

The last time Iran directly attacked Israel, it was a carefully crafted assault that was orchestrated not to cause too much damage.

At the time, both sides wanted to avoid the kind of confrontation that could lead to all-out war.

But now the Iranians are even angrier than they were the last time, and it is being reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has “issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly”…

Multiple Iranian officials have told the New York Times in a breaking story that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered retaliation against Israel for the brazen assassination by missile strike of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh which took place on Iranian soil in the early morning hours.

Officials referenced the “humiliating security failure” and that Iran must once against show “strength against the risk of escalation” in exacting revenge on Israel.

Khamenei has, according to the report, “issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader” – three Iranian sources who were briefed on the matter said.

For years, I have been relentlessly warning that there would be a major war in the Middle East that would involve Israel and Iran fighting one another directly.

Once it fully erupts, the death and destruction that we will witness will shock the entire planet.

But I still don’t think that we are at that point quite yet.

I could be wrong, but I still think that we have at least a couple of months before this conflict spirals completely out of control.

For now, I expect a limited attack from Iran which will cause only a moderate amount of damage inside of Israel.

And like last time, I don’t think that the IDF will respond.

Israel has been able to take some of the biggest chess pieces off the board this week, and if they have to suffer a night of limited strikes in response I think they will consider that to be acceptable.

We have certainly gotten closer to all-out war, but in my opinion it is still going to take a little bit more to finally push things over the edge.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

A deadly new strain of monkeypox that is “killing children and causing miscarriages” is causing a tremendous amount of fear among global health authorities.  We are being told that this strain is “10 times deadlier” than the one that infected people in more than 100 different countries in 2022, and apparently it spreads much more easily.  The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm about what might happen if there is a full-blown global outbreak of this new strain, and some experts are concerned that it may already be too late to prevent that from happening.

Right now, the news is filled with lots of ominous stories about this new strain of monkeypox.  The dramatic surge of cases that we are currently witnessing in the Democratic Republic of Congo has officials at the WHO extremely concerned…

The spread of mpox in Africa needs to be addressed urgently, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as scientists warned separately of a dangerous strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“There is a critical need to address the recent surge in mpox cases in Africa,” Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for mpox, said in a briefing note to journalists.

The strain of monkeypox that spread around the world in 2022 caused excruciating pain, but there were very few deaths.

Unfortunately, this new strain of monkeypox still causes excruciating pain, but it also has a high death rate.

Of the 384 people that monkeypox has killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo so far this year, over 60 percent of them have been children…

There remain many “important unknowns” about the new strain, Lang cautioned, comparing this stage of investigation to the early days of Covid-19.

Out of 384 people who died from all mpox strains in DR Congo this year, more than 60 percent were children, according to the World Health Organization.

It is being reported that this new strain of monkeypox is “10 times deadlier”, and those that get infected often develop “horrendous whole body rashes”…

It gives sufferers “horrendous whole body rashes,” unlike clade II, which caused lesions normally more limited to the genital area, said Trudie Lang, a global health researcher at Oxford University.

Even if you don’t die, if you get infected you are going to experience absolutely horrifying pain and you are likely to develop disgusting sores all over your body.

The good news is that this strain of monkeypox has not appeared in the western world yet.

But authorities are warning that it could be just a matter of time before that happens…

There are fears the new virus – now officially called mpox – could quickly spread to Europe and beyond.

The mutant variant, clade 1b, is “undoubtedly the most dangerous strain of mpox yet,” stressed Prof Trudie Lang, the director of Global Health Network at Oxford University.

The strain that caused so much chaos in 2022 was spread primarily by sexual contact between men.

But this new strain can spread much more easily without any sexual contact at all.  That is why so many children are getting infected…

The new strain of the virus does not require sexual contact to spread.

On a Zoom call with journalists on Tuesday, the researchers confirmed that clade 1b is spreading through touch, something which is “incredibly worrying,” according to Prof Lang.

It was spreading mother to child, as well as in schools and workplaces, they said.

Can you imagine the panic that is going to erupt if this thing gets loose in the western world?

Anyone that has any sort of visible sores will instantly cause people around them to freak out when they go out in public.

We will want to keep a very close eye on this one.

Meanwhile, an unprecedented outbreak of dengue fever has already infected close to 10 million people on our side of the globe…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory on Tuesday warning the public of a heightened risk of dengue virus (DENV) infections in the U.S. this year as cases continue to rise around the globe.

Countries in the Americas reported the highest number of cases ever, exceeding the record for a full year in less than six months. Since the start of 2024, there have been a total of 9.7 million dengue cases, more than twice the number recorded in all of 2023 (4.6 million).

We have never seen a dengue fever outbreak of this magnitude before.

Hopefully it will not continue to get worse.

On top of everything else, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield is warning that “we will have a bird flu pandemic”…

“I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time, it’s not a question of if, it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic,” Redfield told NewsNation on Friday.

He added that the mortality rate is likely to be much higher from bird flu compared to Covid-19.

While the mortality rate was 0.6 per cent for Covid-19, Redfield said the mortality for the bird flu would probably be “somewhere between 25 and 50 percent.”

We have already been through a pandemic that had a death rate of well under 1 percent, and we all saw the immense panic that it caused.

So what would a pandemic with a 25 to 50 percent death rate look like?

You might want to think about that, because they are telling us that it is coming.

This week, the FDA announced that it will be testing 155 different grocery store products for traces of the bird flu…

Ice cream, butter and cheese are among the latest products set to be tested for bird flu by the FDA — amid a rampant outbreak in dairy cows.

In a release, the agency revealed it would swab 155 products bought from grocery stores nationwide for traces of the H5N1 virus.

If any are positive for the virus, further tests will be carried out to determine whether the virus inside them is ‘alive’ — or able to cause an infection in humans.

For the moment, life in America feels at least somewhat normal.

But as we have seen before, that can change in the blink of an eye.

We live at a time when horrifying outbreaks of disease will be very common, and once a deadly bug gets loose it can spread around the globe very rapidly.

The last pandemic was extremely unpleasant, but the truth is that it was just a warm up for what is ahead of us.

So enjoy this summer while you still can, because a number of extremely dangerous diseases are already on the verge of becoming major problems, and it is just a matter of time before all of our lives are once again turned upside down by another worldwide health crisis.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Will we soon see a major prophecy in the Book of Revelation be fulfilled?  Global food prices have been skyrocketing and hunger has been spreading like wildfire all over the world.  We desperately need 2024 to be a year of good harvests, but unfortunately weather patterns are not cooperating at all and bad news about harvest forecasts just continues to pour in from many of the planet’s most important agricultural regions.  Global food supplies just keep getting tighter and tighter, and the agricultural price spikes that we are witnessing right now are definitely quite ominous.  Could it be possible that the stage is now being set for the global food crisis prophecy of Revelation 6:6?  In that verse, we are warned of a time when food prices will soar to absolutely frightening levels…

Then I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

We certainly haven’t reached that point yet.

But are we on the way there?

In this article, I would like to share what has been going on with a number of our most important agricultural commodities recently.

For example, poor harvests in Brazil have caused the price of orange juice to approximately double over the past 12 months…

Prices of the breakfast staple have been climbing rapidly in recent years, partly driven by declining output in Florida — the main producer of orange juice in the U.S. — and climate-fueled extreme weather in the main orange producing areas of Brazil.

The South American agricultural powerhouse is the world’s largest producer and exporter of orange juice, which means it plays a hugely influential role in shaping the global industry.

The benchmark frozen concentrated orange juice futures, traded on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York, closed at $4.77 per pound on Wednesday. That’s nearly double the price registered a year ago.

Prices have gone so “bananas” that some orange juice producers are actually “considering turning to alternative fruits”…

Orange juice makers are considering turning to alternative fruits such as mandarins as wholesale prices have “gone bananas” amid fears of poor harvests in Brazil.

Prices of orange juice concentrate reached a new high of $4.95 (£3.88) a lb on futures markets this week after growers in the main orange producing areas of Brazil said they were expecting the harvest to be 24% down on last year at 232m 40.8kg boxes – worse than the 15% fall previously predicted.

The price of coffee is also going haywire.

So if you love coffee, I would stock up now while you still can.

Thanks to extremely dry conditions in Brazil and Vietnam, coffee prices were up “sharply” this week…

Coffee prices Tuesday rallied sharply, with arabica jumping to a 1-month high. Coffee prices soared Tuesday on concern that excessive dryness in Brazil and Vietnam will damage coffee crops and curb global production. Somar Meteorologia reported Monday that Brazil’s Minas Gerais region received 5.3 mm of rain or 69% of the historical average in the past week. Minas Gerais accounts for about 30% of Brazil’s arabica crop.

Last Wednesday, coffee trader Volcafe said Vietnam’s 2024/25 robusta coffee crop may only be 24 million bags, the lowest in 13 years, as poor rainfall in Vietnam has caused “irreversible damage” to coffee blossoms. Volcafe also projects a global robusta deficit of 4.6 million bags in 2024/25, a smaller deficit than the 9-million-bag deficit seen in 2023/24 but the fourth consecutive year of robusta bean deficits.

Wheat is specifically mentioned in Revelation 6:6, and Bloomberg is reporting that a confluence of factors has pushed the price of wheat to the highest level in 10 months…

Wheat briefly touched the highest in 10 months, as cold and dry weather in major producers and the ongoing war in Ukraine deepen supply concerns.

Futures climbed as much as 3.3% in Chicago, before paring some of the gain. Analysts have been cutting production estimates for top exporter Russia in recent weeks, while Ukraine is headed for its driest May on record. Historically low rainfall in Western Australia is also adding to nervousness.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

I am entirely convinced that the price of wheat will soon go far higher than it is right now.

So if you think that the price of bread is high now, just wait until you see what is coming next.

Meanwhile, the price of beef just surged to another brand new all-time record high…

Beef prices skyrocketed to a new record high this Memorial Day weekend as industry experts warn costs could continue to rise even higher if current regulatory and economic conditions remain unchanged.

Recently released data shows that “all fresh beef retail value,” a composite value based on choice beef, other beef, and hamburger retail prices, shot up to $794.90 in April, according to the Economic Research Council, the highest price on record.

The size of the U.S. cattle herd is the smallest that it has been in decades, and one rancher named Shad Sullivan recently warned that beef will soon be a luxury that only the wealthy will be able to afford on a regular basis…

“We are seeing prices at an all-time high, and it is getting close to that point when the consumer is going to say, I can’t do this anymore; it’s just too costly,” said Mr. Sullivan.

“They (officials and regulators) are trying to push these high prices as a new norm where meat is only a treat for the wealthy. That is where they are pushing us, and that is where we are going.”

You may be thinking that if beef gets too expensive you will just eat more chicken and turkey.

Sadly, chicken and turkey prices are poised to go a lot higher thanks to H5N1.

A fresh wave of the bird flu is sweeping across the nation, and Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds just declared a state of emergency in one county in her state due to an outbreak there…

Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a disaster proclamation on Tuesday for one of her state’s counties as public health officials prepare to euthanize more than 4 million chickens exposed to a highly contagious bird flu.

The order comes after a case of avian influenza was confirmed among a large flock of egg-laying chickens in Sioux County on Tuesday by state and local agriculture officials, according to a report from CBS News.

As a result, the animals will be destroyed and their remains will be isolated in an attempt to prevent the further spread of the contagion.

In total, some 4.2 million chickens will be put down.

Just think about that last sentence for a moment.

What do you think that losing 4.2 million chickens will do to egg prices?

Everywhere you look, there are signs of trouble.  Unfortunately, this is all happening at a time when foreigners have more control over our food supply than ever before.

Foreigners now control more than 43 million acres of U.S. farmland, and this should deeply alarm all of us…

A recent map has revealed the alarming trend of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) acquiring vast swaths of American farmland, raising serious national security concerns.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land expanded to approximately 43.4 million acres in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

According to the USDA, Chinese investors’ ownership of U.S. agricultural land has skyrocketed from merely 13,720 acres in 2010 to an astounding 346,915 acres by 2022 out of the 43 million acres.

Chinese entities hold ownership of farmland across 29 of the 50 U.S. states.

I have been warning for many years that global food supplies would get tighter and tighter.

Now it is happening right in front of our eyes, and hundreds of millions of people are going to bed hungry every single night.

I wish that I could tell you that things will soon get better, but I can’t.

We really are living in the end times, and the things that are written in the Book of Revelation really will take place.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

In recent years, Americans have been fleeing our largest cities in unprecedented numbers, and many of them have decided to settle down in quiet little towns all over the country.  There are many reasons why this is happening, and I will highlight several of them below.  If this trend continues, what will our major metropolitan areas look like?  Violence, theft, drugs, homelessness and international migration have all risen to crisis levels and are putting a tremendous amount of strain on our core urban areas.  Meanwhile, many small towns are absolutely booming as wave after wave of big city refugees comes pouring in.

People have been leaving large metropolitan areas for a long time, but once the pandemic arrived that trend greatly accelerated…

In the three years before the pandemic, counties in metro areas with at least 1 million residents lost a total 200,000 or so residents annually to other regions, after figuring both people moving in and leaving, according to the Goldman report. After COVID, those losses vaulted to 750,000 in 2021, 650,000 in 2022 and 550,000 in 2023, according to Goldman and Census data. The numbers reflect annual changes through July of each year.

A separate study by Lombard shows the domestic migration losses were concentrated in the largest metro areas with more than 4 million residents. Those cities shed a total 400,000 residents annually before the pandemic and have lost 820,000, 707,000 and 591,000 residents, respectively, over the past three years.

And it is being reported that last year small towns became “the nation’s top destination for domestic migrants for the first time in decades”…

Last year, about 266,000 of the big city refugees moved to metro areas with populations of 250,000 to 1 million and about 291,000 moved to areas with populations under 250,000. That made those small towns the nation’s top destination for domestic migrants for the first time in decades, Lombard says.

In 2023, the New York City metro area lost 204,000 residents; Los Angeles, 119,000; and Chicago, 64,000, according to Census and Moody’s.

So why is this happening?

Well, there are a number of reasons why so many people are relocating to small towns these days.

For many, the quality of life in big U.S. cities has become utterly deplorable.  For example, one young Chicago mother recently had to wait for hours for a police officer to show up after masked robbers entered her home…

A Chicago mom who called 911 during a terrifying break-in was left on her own for hours — with dispatchers telling her to call her local representative to demand more police funding.

Michelle called the emergency hotline six times after coming face-to-face with two masked bandits, only for the strained supervisor to tell her the city’s severe budget cuts had left them with a bare-bones staff.

“A gentleman got on and said sorry to say we have no units to send you … then there was an awkward pause,” Michelle told NBC Chicago Wednesday, declining to share her name or face while her would-be robbers are still on the loose.

I don’t know why anyone would want to live in Chicago at this point.

Of course the exact same thing could be said about most of our other large cities.

Another reason why a lot of Americans are choosing to relocate has to do with taxes.

There has been a mass exodus out of “high tax states”, and Massachusetts is one of those that is being hit really hard…

Massachusetts is in danger of losing nearly $1 billion in annual revenue over the coming years as high state taxes trigger an exodus of wealthy residents.

Since 2013, migration out of Massachusetts has seen an “alarming” 1,100% increase to more than 39,000 people, according to new findings published by Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. If the trend continues, more than 96,000 residents making a cumulative $19.2 billion in adjusted gross income will leave the state by 2030.

The study estimates those departures would cost Massachusetts about $961 million in income tax revenue each year.

In my rankings of all 50 U.S. states, I have Massachusetts all the way down at number 44.

The cost of living crisis that we are currently facing is another factor that is motivating vast numbers of Americans to relocate.

At this point, we are being told that Mississippi has the lowest cost of living in the entire nation…

Imagine stepping into a world where your paycheck stretches like bubblegum and the promise of Southern charm meets you at every corner. Welcome to Mississippi, a land where the living is easy, the cost of living is easier, and every quirk adds color to the canvas of daily life. Here, your financial aspirations can don a superhero cape, albeit in a landscape peppered with challenges that keep things interesting.

One of the reasons why Mississippi has such a low cost of living is because average home prices are the lowest in the country…

Mississippi’s housing costs are the lowest in the nation. Home prices range from $32,000 to $240,000 depending on the city, with an average of $162,292.

But even though it has such a low cost of living, I don’t really like Mississippi as a place to live during the chaotic times that are coming.

In fact, in my rankings of all 50 U.S. states I have Mississippi all the way down at number 33.

Ultimately, the cost of living is only a minor consideration when it comes to choosing a place to live during the extremely difficult years that are ahead of us.

Much more importantly, you will want a location that has like-minded people, that has a low population density, that has a low risk of experiencing major natural disasters, and that is not near any important military targets.

Unfortunately, such areas have become very popular in recent years and home prices are going through the roof.  For instance, the median home price in Bozeman, Montana has risen to about $770,000…

Nowhere has the affordability crisis been felt as acutely as in Bozeman, a city of about 56,000 not far from Yellowstone National Park and the upscale Big Sky skiing community. Bozeman, where the median home sells for about $770,000, has had so many out-of-state arrivals over the years that Montanans sometimes refer to it as “Boz Angeles.”

As high-end rentals in Bozeman spring up next to historic homes and new arrivals snap them up, a smattering of tents and RVs have begun to populate the outskirts of town: homeless residents priced out by rising rents.

Many longtime Montanans bristle at the newcomers, and bumper stickers proclaiming some version of “Montana Is Full” abound, occasionally with an expletive attached. Some locals blame the popular television show “Yellowstone” for romanticizing the Mountain West, luring people to the state.

A lot of Americans now find themselves priced out of many of the most desirable communities in the country, and that is extremely unfortunate.

If you are considering relocating to another part of the nation, I would encourage you to do it soon.

Because global events are starting to really go haywire, and the clock is ticking.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Did we just witness a moment that will permanently alter history?  As I write this article, the entire world is waiting for confirmation that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is either dead or alive.  If it turns out that he is dead, that will be really bad news, because that could push the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.  No matter what actually happened, there is no way that you are going to be able to convince Iranian leaders that the U.S. and Israel were not responsible for bringing that helicopter down.  So let us hope that Raisi survives, because if he doesn’t the Iranians will be overwhelmed with emotion and will begin planning how to avenge the death of their president.

Ultimately, this could have just been a tragic accident.  Flying a very old helicopter while there is “heavy fog” in a very remote area surrounded by high mountains is never a good idea, and shortly after the helicopter went down it was being reported that “information coming from the crash site is very concerning”…

The lives of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister were feared to be in jeopardy after their helicopter crashed Sunday in heavy fog in a mountainous area following a visit to the country’s northwest border, prompting a massive search and rescue effort.

“We are still hopeful, but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” an official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters.

There were three helicopters that were traveling in a convoy, and several of Iran’s highest ranking officials were all traveling inside one of them…

The helicopter was one of a convoy of three and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Friday prayer Imam Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem and other high-ranking officials were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president.

Once Raisi’s helicopter went down, the other two helicopters should have known exactly where it happened.

And we are being told that the helicopter that Raisi was on should have been able to send out a signal unless it had been completely destroyed somehow…

“Helicopters used for high-ranking officials can send out their exact location in case of a crash, unless an explosion has disabled all onboard systems, including the emergency system,” Iranian defense and security analyst Farzin Nadimi told @IranIntl.

“It’s possible that a bomb exploded inside, or due to pilot error and insufficient visibility, the helicopter might have collided with a rock or the top of a hill, resulting in its sudden destruction.”

So something is not adding up here, because for hours after the crash happened it was being reported that rescuers were having difficulty locating the crash site…

Details about the incident remained unclear, although reports indicated that the president’s helicopter suffered a “hard landing” in foggy weather. As night fell, the search became even more difficult. According to the Iranian IRNA news agency, the helicopter crashed in a forest area between the villages of Pir Davood and Uzi in northwestern Iran.

IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency said emergency services were conducting searches to try to find the helicopter, but the weather and 70-meter tall boulders in the area were complicating the search efforts. Over 40 rescue teams were operating in the area.

To me, it seems like the Iranians are trying to keep a lid on this thing.

I don’t think that they are ready to tell the world what really happened.

And I think that it is a very bad sign that IRGC forces have been positioned around a number of government buildings in Tehran…

A Significant Deployment of Iranian Security and Military Personnel has been noted across the Capital of Tehran, with Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to be taking up Positions near several Government Buildings.

If Raisi was perfectly fine, this would not be happening.

On Twitter, Israel News Pulse is claiming that there has been confirmation that Raisi is dead…

Confirmation: Ali Reza Dawari, head of the communications department in Ahmadinejad’s presidency, confirms the deaths of the President of Iran and his Foreign Minister, Abdollahian, in the president’s helicopter crash in the mountains of East Azerbaijan Province.

I haven’t been able to find confirmation of this anywhere else.

So for now, I am still operating under the assumption that his fate is unknown.

But I will admit that it doesn’t look good for Raisi at this point.

Arnaud Bertrand is pointing out that if Raisi is dead this could be “an archduke Ferdinand of the Middle East scenario”…

If Raisi is confirmed dead and foul play was found to be involved (a strong possibility given the geopolitical context), this has the potential to turn into an archduke Ferdinand of the Middle East scenario, especially given Raisi was rumored to be Khameini’s successor.

For those that aren’t familiar with history, many historians regard the death of Archduke Ferdinand as the spark that started World War I.

Could we be on the verge of another historic war?

Needless to say, for a very long time I have been warning that Israel and Iran were headed for a showdown.

Speaking of Israel, it appears that Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime government could potentially be starting to crumble…

Tensions within the Israeli government are exploding, after Defense Minister Yovav Gallant earlier this week called out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and gave him an ultimatum, demanding that a day-after plan be offered and approved by the government.

“I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza strip, that Israel will not establish military governance in the Gaza strip, and that a governing alternative to Hamas in the Gaza strip will be raised immediately,” Gallant said recently.

What’s more is that Washington is backing Gallant’s pressure campaign against Netanyahu. “We share the Defense Minister’s concern that Israel has not developed any plans for holding and governing territory the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] clears, thereby allowing Hamas to regenerate in those areas. This is a concern because our objective is to see Hamas defeated,” a senior Biden administration official told The Hill.

This is the most dangerous moment that we have witnessed in the Middle East in decades.

And I am entirely convinced that all-out war is eventually coming.

Will this helicopter crash be one of the events that sparks such a conflict?

We shall see.

For now, let’s pray for peace, but let’s also brace ourselves for war.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.