Now we can add “a major war” to the list of things that have happened in 2020

While almost everyone’s attention was diverted, a major war erupted on the other side of the world.  It has been more than a week since Azerbaijan launched their invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh, although the mainstream media in the western world will never use the word “invasion” to describe what is happening.  At most, they will use terms such as “attack” or “offensive”, but without a doubt what is taking place is an invasion.  The population of Nagorno-Karabakh is primarily made up of Armenians, and the region has been self-governing since separatists won an extremely violent war against Azerbaijan in 1994 in which tens of thousands of people died.  Now Azerbaijan is attempting to reassert control over Nagorno-Karabakh, and neighboring Armenia has stepped up to help defend Nagorno-Karabakh.  Unfortunately, this could easily escalate into a much wider war.  Russia has a defense pact with Armenia and a military base inside their territory, Iran has threatened to get involved in the conflict, and Turkey has already sent proxy forces into the region to aid the offensive by Azerbaijan.

Following days of vicious fighting, over the weekend the president of Azerbaijan claimed that his forces had captured the critically important town of Madagiz

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said late Saturday that his forces “raised the flag” over the strategic town of Madagiz and had taken several villages.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said separatist forces in Karabakh had fended off a large Azerbaijani attack, and spokesperson Shushan Stepanian pointed to intense fighting “along the entire front line” and said Armenian forces had shot down three Azerbaijani planes.

And it is also being reported that Azerbaijan is using cluster munitions to bomb the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of Stepanakert…

The separatists’ foreign ministry said on Monday that shelling of Stepanakert had resumed at 6.30am (0230 GMT), with four shells hitting the city. Residents had spent the weekend cramming into underground shelters and many are leaving.

It released video footage of repeated bursts of heavy shelling and debris from seriously damaged blocks of flats, claiming Azerbaijan had used cluster munitions, which are banned by international humanitarian law.

In response, several towns in Azerbaijan have been getting shelled by Armenian forces

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said Armenian forces were shelling three of its towns on Monday, after hitting the country’s second-largest city, Ganja, the day before in what Nagorno-Karabakh’s leader said was an act of retaliation and a “warning” against targeting civilian settlements in the breakaway region. Baku said one person had been killed and four injured in the attack on Ganja.

Hundreds have already died on both sides, and the fighting just seems to get worse with each passing day.

A report from CBS News says that there has been “an unprecedented use of heavy artillery, tanks, missiles, and even kamikaze drones”…

Videos posted online from the battleground show an unprecedented use of heavy artillery, tanks, missiles, and even kamikaze drones as the fighting has escalated. Both countries accuse the other of refusing to agree to cease fire, and neither has shown any willingness yet to reengage in stalled peace talks.

Azerbaijan is wealthier and more powerful than Armenia, and so the Armenians are ultimately going to have a very difficult time trying to stop Azerbaijan from taking quite a bit of territory from Nagorno-Karabakh.

But what happens if other parties start to join the conflict?

One analyst that spoke with CBS News says that Russia and Turkey could both potentially get involved

“All the signals were in place, everything was telling that escalation was coming. And there was diplomatic silence,” Olesya Vartanyan, senior analyst for the South Caucasus region at the International Crisis Group, told CBS News.

“We are definitely one step away from a large-scale war in the region,” she said, noting that such a conflict could embroil Russia, Turkey, or both.

And actually we know that Turkey is already flying proxy fighters into the region to help Azerbaijan with the invasion.  In fact, dozens of those fighters have already died

Early Sunday morning, the bodies of more than 50 Syrians killed in a conflict raging far from their own borders—in a land many had barely heard of a few months ago—were returned home for funeral preparations.

They were members of militias that had fought previously in northern Syria, then Libya, and now in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh—but always on behalf of Turkey.

As I mentioned above, the Russians have a defense pact with Armenia, and they also have a military base located in the country.

Russia and Turkey were on opposite sides in the war in Syria, and they have increasingly irritated each other in recent years.  It would seem to be unthinkable that the Russians would just stand aside and allow Turkey to have their way in this new conflict, but so far the Russians haven’t made a major move.

When they do, however, it will probably be a big one.

On top of everything else, the Iranians are warning that they may take “reciprocal measures” if the fighting continues to spill over into their territory…

Iran warned that it would take reciprocal measures if fighting between its neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan spills over and endangers security across their borders with Iran.

Iran’s Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli urged the two countries to contain the fighting after clashes over their long-standing war over the Nagorno-Karabagh region erupted last month, according to a statement shown on Iranian state TV.

This is yet another example that demonstrates that we are living during a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and experts agree that this new war has the potential to eventually become a much larger conflict.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have never even heard of Nagorno-Karabakh, and most of the population would not be able to locate Armenia or Azerbaijan on a blank map of the world.

And the mainstream media in the United States is so obsessed with covering President Trump’s every move 24 hours a day that they are almost entirely ignoring this conflict.

But this war is a really big deal, and we should all be paying close attention to it.

Whoever wins the presidential election in November is going to have to deal with this crisis, and if things are not handled very, very carefully events could spiral out of control very rapidly.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The EndGet Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

14 Reasons Obama Is Lying When He Claims The World Is ‘More Stable’ And ‘Less Violent’ Than Ever

Obama Press Briefing - Public DomainWith a straight face, Barack Obama has been repeatedly telling us that the world is “more stable” and “less violent” than ever.  In fact, he believes that this is the best time in history to be alive because of how peaceful and stable everything is.  And of course Obama is more than happy to take credit for his role in bringing all of this “stability” about.  Just this week, his press secretary told the media that this administration has “substantially improved” the “tranquility of the global community”.  Apparently these guys don’t think that we will notice all of the violence, war and terrorism constantly raging all around us.  It would be wonderful if the planet actually was becoming a more peaceful place, but instead the exact opposite is happening.  The world is becoming increasingly unstable, and if we aren’t really careful we could see World War III break out before too long. But if you listen to Obama, he makes it sound like we are living in an emerging global utopia.  The following is an excerpt from remarks that he made during a White House event in June…

[T]he truth of the matter is that for all the challenges we face, all the problems that we have, if you had to be — if you had to choose any moment to be born in human history, not knowing what your position was going to be, who you were going to be, you’d choose this time. The world is less violent than it has ever been. It is healthier than it has ever been. It is more tolerant than it has ever been. It is better fed then it’s ever been. It is more educated than it’s ever been.

You can watch video of him making those remarks below…

And as I mentioned above, a similar statement was made by White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday

“I think that there have been a number of situations in which you’ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the – the tranquility of the global community.”

In addition, posted below is video of Obama declaring that the world is “more stable” than it was five years previously during a speech to the United Nations last year…

It would be great if all of this stuff was actually true.  But I think that at this point not even Obama believes half the things that are coming out of his mouth.  He has told dozens of major lies while he has been in the White House, and the following are 14 reasons why Obama is lying when he claims that the world is “more stable” and “less violent” than ever…

#1 The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has brought Ukraine and Russia even closer to the brink of war.  The government in Kiev is blaming Russia and Russia is blaming the government in Kiev.  But Barack Obama does not seem too concerned about it.  During a speech on Thursday, he spent a mere 40 seconds addressing the downing of the plane before he began a 16 minute speech in which he told numerous jokes.

#2 If it wasn’t for revolutionary Ukrainian groups funded by George Soros and the U.S. government (among others), the Ukrainian government may never have been violently overthrown and there might not have been a civil war in Ukraine at all.

#3 Relations between the United States and Russia are the worst that they have been since the end of the Cold War, and the economic sanctions that Obama just slapped on Russia are not going to help matters any.

#4 Israel has just launched a major ground offensive in Gaza, and many fear that a full-blown regional war in the Middle East could erupt at any moment.

#5 The civil war in Syria has been raging for several years now.  Thanks to the United States and Saudi Arabia, those seeking to bring down the Syrian government are very well armed.

#6 The civil war in Iraq continues to get even worse.  ISIS has already captured vast stretches of Iraqi territory and they are using American weapons to do it.

#7 The Kurds claim that ISIS is now using chemical weapons against them.  If this is true, it is really, really troubling news.

#8 The Iraqi government has told the United Nations that ISIS was able to steal 88 pounds of uranium from Mosul University.  Some experts are concerned that they may be able to use this material to create a dirty bomb (or worse).

#9 Barack Obama told us that we were “liberating” Libya, but instead we just transformed it into a war-torn wasteland that is constantly being fought over by warring militia groups.  Just this week, one of those militia groups launched a devastating attack on the main airport in Tripoli.  And the horrible fighting in Libya has spilled over into other nearby countries in North Africa such as Mali.

#10 Relations between the United States and Germany are at the lowest point that they have been since the end of World War II.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel was so furious when one U.S. spy was discovered recently that she expelled the top U.S. intelligence official from the country.  But Germany is far from alone.  The truth is that most of the rest of the world is sick and tired of our “Big Brother” behavior.

#11 Islamic terror group Boko Haram continues to cause havoc all over Nigeria.  The following is from a news report about an incident that happened earlier this week

Suspected members of the deadly Boko Haram Islamic sect on Monday attacked Dille village in Borno State, killed 45 people and torched several houses and shops and forced many people to flee into nearby hills for safety. The terrorists, it was gathered, came in a convoy of over 20 vehicles and motorcycles. According to one of the villagers, Njimtiku Papka, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri on the phone, the terrorists on arriving the village started shooting indiscriminately at everyone in sight.

#12 The ongoing civil war in the Central African Republic has forced hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes.

#13 There is horrible fighting going on inside Somalia right now

A fierce and violent conflict erupted on the outskirts of Qoryoley district in Lower Shabelle between joint African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops and Somali National Army soldiers (SNA) against Al-Shabaab. The terrorist insurgents attacked an SNA and AMISOM military sitting in the town just outside Qoryoley when the battle initiated. Locals have reported to Shabelle that the fight also affected towns in the district like Maanyo Mudug, Farhanle and Abdi Ali.

#14 Things are not even stable in North America.  Horrific gang violence and warring between drug cartels in Central America and Mexico has been one of the factors that has caused millions of illegal immigrants to come pouring toward the United States.  Today, Honduras has the highest murder rate on the entire planet, and the Mexican drug war has claimed more than 120,000 lives since 2006.

Of course this is just a partial list.  The truth is that there are dozens of other conflicts that are happening all over the globe right now that could be added to this list.

So what would you add to this list? 

Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

Wars, Rumors Of Wars, Skyrocketing Oil Prices And Global Economic Chaos – Why Is All Of This Happening?

Did anyone out there anticipate that 2011 would be such a wild year?  The year is barely over two months old and we have already seen multiple civil wars erupt, rumors of more wars all over the mainstream media (potentially even including the United States), riots and revolutions breaking out all over the globe, oil prices soaring into the stratosphere and chaos on global financial markets.  So why is all of this happening?  Is all of this one big coincidence or is there a reason why we are witnessing such global chaos right now?  Is it just coincidence that revolutions have broken out in over a dozen countries in the Middle East all at the same time?  Is it just a coincidence that global prices for oil, food and precious metals are all skyrocketing?  Is it just a coincidence that world financial markets suddenly seem more vulnerable than at any time since 2008?  Looking at what is going on in the world right now, it is very tempting to use the phrase “a perfect storm” to describe it.  Unfortunately, this “perfect storm” is very likely to plunge the global economy into yet another financial collapse if it continues to get even worse.

After decades of relative stability, the Middle East has erupted in chaos in 2011.  In the post-World War 2 era, we have never seen a time when there have been so many major internal revolutions all at once.  All of these simultaneous revolutions are driving the price of oil rapidly upwards.

The price of West Texas crude is now over $102 a barrel and the price of Brent crude is now over $116 a barrel and if the chaos in the Middle East continues those numbers are likely to go a lot higher.

Meanwhile, gold has set a new all-time record this week and the price of silver is absolutely exploding.

In fact, just about every kind of “hard asset” that you can possibly name is going up in price.  Investors don’t like all of this instability and they are looking for safe places to put their money.

Unfortunately, the global situation looks like it may become even more heated.

The calls for military action against Libya are rapidly reaching a crescendo.

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, and many members of Congress are openly declaring that the U.S. and NATO should take unilateral action no matter what the UN ultimately decides.

But implementing a no-fly zone is not a simple thing.  It is not just a matter of telling Libya not to fly their planes.  Rather, imposing a no-fly zone over Libya would constitute a major military operation.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is even admitting that enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya would begin with a huge military strike…..

“Let’s just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses … and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down.”

U.S. commander General James Mattis made a similar comment on Tuesday….

You would have to remove the air defense capability in order to establish the no-fly zone so it – no illusions here, it would be a military operation.

Essentially, imposing a no-fly zone over Libya would be an act of war.

Most of our representatives in Washington D.C. seem to be quite ready to go to war in Libya, but it is another story entirely when it comes to the American people.  A recent Rasmussen poll found that a whopping 67 percent of Americans do not want the U.S. to get more involved in the unrest going on in Arab countries and only 17 percent of Americans do want the U.S. to get more directly involved.

But the American people don’t get to decide whether we go to war or not.  Our leaders in Washington D.C. do.  The USS Enterprise and other major warships are on their way to Libya, and U.S. forces throughout the Mediterranean are on high alert.

So could the U.S. really get involved in another war in the Middle East?

Well, if the U.S. and NATO choose to get involved they will do it without the approval of the rest of the world.

On Wednesday, the Arab League issued a statement which specifically rejected “any foreign interference within Libya on behalf of the opposition”.

Not only that, but any military action by the UN will most likely be blocked by both China and Russia.

Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, says that any military action against Libya without UN approval would be a violation of international law….

“If someone in Washington is seeking a blitzkrieg in Libya, it is a serious mistake because any use of military force outside the NATO responsibility zone will be considered a violation of international law.”

But Libya is far from the only crisis point in the Middle East.

In fact, a much larger problem may be brewing in Saudi Arabia.

On Facebook, a “Day of Rage” is being hyped for March 11th.  Other dates being promoted for “revolution” in Saudi Arabia include March 20th and March 21st.

But if Saudi Arabia sees the same kind of chaos that we have seen in other countries in the Middle East there is no telling how high the price of oil could go.

Could we see $125 oil?

Could we see $150 oil?

Could we see $200 oil?

Saudi Arabia exports more oil than anyone else in the world, so if their oil production gets interrupted it is going to have a dramatic impact on the global economy.

For example, are you ready to pay 5 dollars for a gallon of gasoline in the United States?

For decades, the entire globe has been blessed with very cheap oil and this has resulted in a massive economic boom.

But times are changing.

The economic situation over in Europe is already deteriorating and any additional bad news could plunge that entire continent into a major crisis.  A recently released report from Ernst & Young is warning that if oil goes up to 150 dollars a barrel and it stays there, “at least” one eurozone country will default and the entire eurozone will be plunged back into recession.

A much higher price for oil would obviously not be good for the U.S. economy either.  Do you remember what happened back in 2008?  The price of oil hit a record high in June and then the entire financial system came unglued just a few months later.

But if we see a repeat of 2008 it may be a lot worse this time because the global financial system is now more unstable than ever.

The truth is that the entire world is still trying to recover from the last financial crisis.  The Federal Reserve is pumping massive quantities of dollars into the U.S. economy in an attempt to stimulate it back to life, but so far it is not working too well.

The rest of the world does not appreciate all of this “money printing” and the inflation that this is causing is beginning to create massive imbalances on global financial markets.

The world is starting to lose faith in the U.S. dollar.  Right now, approximately 85% of all foreign-exchange transactions in the world involve the U.S. dollar.  Not only that, 60% of all the currency reserves in the world are in U.S. dollars.  With the U.S. dollar rapidly becoming less stable, many are now wondering if it should continue to be used as the reserve currency of the world.

The truth is that if the U.S. dollar falls, it is going to create a tremendous amount of financial chaos in almost every nation on the globe.

Unfortunately, as I have written about so many times previously, the U.S. economy is dying.  The U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt, and leaders all over the planet are calling for the establishment of a new global reserve currency.

The days of the United States being the “economic engine of the planet” are rapidly coming to an end.

The U.S. economy is not ever going to fully “recover”.  In fact, the U.S. economy is basically “running on empty” at this point as Gerald Celente recently noted during an interview on RT television….

The entire U.S. economy was designed to operate on massive amounts of very cheap oil.  Americans do more driving than anyone else in the world.  Many of us are so lazy that we won’t even walk to a store if it is on the other side of the parking lot.

If oil hits record levels in 2011, it is going to be a massive shock to the U.S. economic system.  Any hopes for an “economic recovery” will be completely dashed.

In fact, if one wanted to “take down” the U.S. economy, driving up the price of oil would be a perfect way to do it.

And if one wanted to drive up the price of oil, a perfect way to do that would be to create all kinds of chaos in the Middle East.

So is all of this craziness that we are seeing in 2011 just a big coincidence or is there a reason why all of this is happening?

Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the matter below….