Archive for Al Qaeda

Will the Covert War Against Iran Go Overt?

Being that the media is in lockstep on reporting only a handful of issues (Pandemic, Trump is bad, Social Justice), most have missed the fact that almost daily now, a highly sensitive and/or strategic sites in Iran have mysteriously gone up in flames…or more precisely, in explosions.  The highly coordinated fashion at which these sensitive Iranian sites were attacked has all the hallmarks of state level sponsorship.  Iran no doubt knows this and by this time has identified the sponsors behind the attacks as Israel and the United States.  Even if this was a false flag by a third-party actor, the result will be the same.  Iran must decisively retaliate.  When it does, it very well may trigger the war Israel and their Deep State allies in Washington have sought.  Further, the Trump Administration needs an issue more than ever to refocus the nation from the current domestic issues.  A war with Iran would certainly do it.  Unfortunately, any war with Iran will be disastrous for all parties.  Iran will be smashed, but the cost to the United States doing it will make it a Pyrrhic victory at best. 

A quick summary of sites hit in Iran include the Natanz nuclear facility, a missile facility, a power plant, a medical facility, industrial sites, and now the Port of Bushehr with seven ships aflame.  The incidents happened all within approximately a month timeframe making any argument of random bad luck ludicrous.  This is a deliberate campaign being covertly waged to cripple Iran.  My point is not to justify or condemn the attacks, but rather, to warn that there are always consequences.  In fact, I do not find it coincidental that just days after the USS Bonhomme Richard was engulfed in flames and is currently burning to the water line while at port in San Diego, seven Iranian ships in port at Bushehr went up in flames today.  Through the lens of covert tit-for-tat, this is no coincidence.  In addition, it is only a matter of time before there is a showdown between the United States and Iran over its oil tankers supplying Venezuela.  President Trump has gone so far as to hint that major action against Venezuela, an ally of Iran, will occur soon without elaborating.  My guess is the two issues…Iran and Venezuela, will be jointly addressed in whatever action President Trump orders.   

Now, for the “so what” factor.  I have written a book’s worth of articles on the implications of a major war with Iran (search LastMinuteSurvival.com keyword “Iran”) and the takeaway is all negative.  Iran will suffer massive devastation, the Middle East will explode into greater turmoil, and the costs (lives, money, material, and influence) to America will render it impotent in the region opening a vacuum for China and Russia to exploit.  Further, America will not escape unscathed domestically.  Price spikes, shortages, attacks, and social unrest will all be baked into the consequences.  For those that want to get biblical, yes, there is also reference to this in the Book of Daniel and it is the trigger for what you read in the Book of Revelation.  If that does not reach your “it matters” threshold, it should.  Neither you nor I can stop this (what I believe is a nearly certain major war with Iran), but we can prepare.  If you have not looked at your preps and relocation plans, you should.  As with the stock markets, you cannot call the precise timing, but by paying attention to the fundamentals, you know when a market is poised to crash. 

By Guiles Hendrick,

July 15, 2020

https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/07/15/seven-ships-catch-fire-at-port-near-iranian-nuclear-reactor/

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/07/08/Timeline-A-look-back-at-recent-explosions-and-fires-across-Iran

https://distincttoday.net/2020/07/15/fire-rips-through-three-ships-near-irans-only-nuclear-power-plant/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/14/uss-bonhomme-richard-burned-third-day-navy-reports-some-progress/5437070002/

Was Trump Right to Pullout from Syria?

President Trump ordered the US military to withdraw from a large part of Syria last week. Since then, he has been attacked repeatedly for the decision. By the amount of criticism being lobbed at the President, one should be safe in assuming this must have been the worst policy decision of the Administration. However, contrary to the purveyors of perpetual war, the decision was sound and long overdue. President Trump’s decision will go a long way to stabilizing the region by allowing Syria to re-exert its sovereignty. As an added benefit, this decision also pits Russia against Turkey and ensures the remaining pockets of radical Islamists are eliminated all while saving American lives and money.

Over the years, I have repeatedly written about Syria and it is no secret I have been a vocal critic. This was a war the US should have never created or been involved with. Nonetheless, the milk was spilt. The US and its coalition covertly built an army of radical terrorists to take down Syria’s President Assad that failed to achieve its goals while causing massive death and destruction in Syria. Further, it led to a massive influx of refugees to Europe and the spread of Islamic terrorism around the world. If not bad enough, it inadvertently strengthened the positions of Russia, China, and Iran in the Middle East while reducing the influence of the US. Literally, nothing good came out of this. Still though, President Trump has been viciously attacked by the apparatchiks of the Deep State for daring to remove our military from Syria.

To establish a framework of understanding, it is worthwhile to lay out some basic information about the US involvement in Syria. Not surprisingly, these facts don’t support an argument for a perpetual occupation of Syria. Predictably, President Trump’s critics intentionally leave out important facts relating to our ever-evolving Syria policy like:
• The US never declared war against Syria.
• Syria is a sovereign nation the US illegally conspired to overthrow and invaded.
• The US has no vital national interests in Syria.
• The combined forces of Syria and Russia were having no problem wiping out ISIS and did not need US support or intervention.
• The US presence in Syria risked sparking World War III with Russia on several occasions.
• Syria was destabilized by a direct US policy to arm-train-equip rebel factions that were aligned with al Qaeda and ISIS (as in we instigated and supported the civil war).
• The US only began “fighting ISIS” as an excuse to invade Syria after its initial covert policy of backing the fighters that became ISIS failed to overthrow President Assad.
• Evidence of the use of chemical weapons by President Assad was at best inconclusive and at worst, demonstrated the Syrian government was setup and falsely accused in order to try and bait the US into a direct conflict with the Syrian government and Russia.
• US presence in Syria and support of rebel factions have prolonged the war in Syria.
• The US policy of supporting Islamic extremists against President Assad created a massive refugee crisis and imposed a balkanization of the state.
• The US under President Obama refused to intervene against ISIS in a meaningful way to protect ethnic Kurds and Christians in both Iraq and Syria when it would have prevented mass slaughter and destruction.
• Only after Kurds and Christians had been slaughtered did US intervention under President Trump begin.
• The US has illegally seized Syrian gas/oil fields depriving both the people and government of Syria of vital resources.
• US occupation continues to prevent a full return of sovereignty to Syria and stabilization.

By removing the US from the equation, the withdraw brings US policy into better accord with international laws and norms, which our presence in Syria violates. You would think the diplomats at the United Nations and State Department would be celebrating this instead of attacking President Trump. The anti-war Democrats and the media should also be ecstatic. However, it is clear the facts don’t matter. Only maintaining the narrative that President Trump can do no right matters to these political zealots. Their mission now seems to be to push the tale that the US is selling out the Kurds. This is rich considering the history of Democrats actually selling out the Kurds in the worst ways. For example, did President Clinton back the Kurds in their uprising against Saddam Hussein. The ensuing slaughter of Shiites and Kurds without the promised US support was horrible. Further, if prevented by then President Clinton, the US could have removed any need to ever invade Iraq in the first place. Let’s also mention that it was President Obama’s policy to support the rebels in Syria that became ISIS, which directly led to the slaughter of thousands of ethnic Kurds in Iraq and Syria. President Obama was fully aware of the ethnic cleansing underway and could have intervened to stop it, but refused. In my humble opinion, these are the real sellouts of the Kurds, but according to the Left and the MSM, these policy disasters are apparently okay and get a pass. What equates to a “sellout” in their not so humble opinion is President Trump’s policy to actually back the Kurds with real military support and crush ISIS preventing further slaughter of the Kurds and then pulling out after the mission was accomplished and the area stabilized. Please also understand that the Kurds have understood from the beginning that US support was a marriage of convenience that would end once ISIS was beaten back. There was never any intention or suggestion that the US would occupy Syria and back the Kurds there for ever and ever. The Kurds knew the pullout of US troops was coming for at least two years and that is why they already had brokered a peace deal with the Syrian government. Any suggestion otherwise is simply ill-informed and/or lies.

In addition, with the US now out of the way, President Assad and Russia can focus on eliminating the remaining pockets of radical Islamists. The US understands that the rebel resistance is controlled by radical Islamic groups bottled up in the city of Idlib and backed by Turkey. These jihadists will use women and children as human shields to try and stop any operation aimed at capturing or killing the remaining fighters. This creates a very messy situation for the US if it were to continue its operations against Islamic terrorist groups in Syria and its NATO “ally” Turkey. By handing off the fight now to Russia and Syria, the US avoids an ugly situation and can conveniently look the other way as the civil war is brought to an end. It also pits Turkey and Russia against each other instead of creating contexts for them to work together against the US as has been the case. Now Turkey’s President Erdogan must broker a deal with Russia…a Russia that has no interest in allowing any jihadists to escape and a Russia that will insist on the return of Syria’s sovereignty. This ultimately saves American lives and money while achieving our “stated” objectives in the region. As I wrote all along, it would be Russia that would check the US globalist agenda in Syria, which was doomed to failure. The US simply did not have the kind of interests in Syria to defend that Russia did and was never willing to go to the levels Russia was willing to defend their respective interests. Read more

US narrowly avoided World War Three in April: International Investigation Proves Syrian Chemical Attack on Douma Faked

Albeit, a very misleading title (see link below), a critical read of this disinformation reveals the alleged chemical attack on Syrian rebels in Douma was faked.  Why should you care?  You should care because President Trump was willing duped by our military leaders and our intelligence community (AKA: Deep State) into nearly provoking World War III.  Yes, we falsely accused and attacked a sovereign nation.  This nearly started a war with Russia over an alleged chemical attack even amateur analysts could quickly discredit.  Based on blindly accepting this false flag attack as legitimate, President Trump recklessly ordered an attack on Syria with no protest from Congress or the MSM.  This attack brought the US within one errant cruise missile killing some Russians of starting a nuclear holocaust.  This was the closest we have come to an actual nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Amazingly, not a word of outrage or dissent in the MSM or Congress. Wow!  Just, wow!  If this isn’t proof the Deep State is still fully in control, I don’t know what more evidence you need.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-07-06/watchdog-finds-evidence-of-chemicals-in-syria-gas-attack

Let me break this down in more detail.  Three months ago, the Globalists were screaming for the US to attack Syria based on incredibly flimsy evidence that the Syrian Regime perpetrated a chemical attack using nerve agents against Syrian rebels.  On April 10, 2018, LMS posted an article “Deep State using Staged Chemical Attack in Syria to Sucker Trump into War with Russia.”  In it, we explained why the facts supporting the alleged chemical attack were faked as a means to force President Trump into a broader war with Syria and Russia. We profusely warned of the danger of allowing this false flag attack being used as a pretext for attacking President Assad and the Syrian government.

http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/2018/04/10/deep-state-using-staged-chemical-attack-in-syria-to-sucker-trump-into-war-with-russia/

As we pointed out, the media and our government completely ignored the fact they knew essentially nothing about what actually happened on the ground.  Literally, the CIA and Department of Defense were using social media posts from rebels that had sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda as “proof” of the attack.  Knowing that the Syrian rebels (Islamic extremists) had everything to gain from manipulating the US into a war against the Assad government, we immediately should have either completely discounted the social media posts or at least assumed any reports were heavily biased, manipulated, and/or outright false.  Further, the disinformation posted on social media simply did not support the claim a nerve gas attack occurred.  But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good war?  We had our false flag and the Deep State wanted to run with it.  Did anyone find it unusual this was perhaps the only time President Trump was praised by all of the elites and the media?  How about the fact an initial investigation of the attack would have only taken 1-2 weeks, but we were unwilling to wait for an actual investigation.  The unified cheering for an immediate attack should have been more than enough proof we needed to slow down before jumping into WWIII.

Now let’s jump back to the grossly misleading “news” article I highlighted, which reports on the results of the fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  The MSM reports (see other reporting on this report), which at first glance seems to “confirm” a chemical attack, camouflage the fact that the report actually clears the Syrian government of the attack and completely obliterates US and rebel claims regarding the attack.  In particular, the report reveals that investigators conducted tests and “no organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products” were detected in samples taken from people allegedly exposed or in the environment.  Translated to plain language this is actual proof no nerve agents were used and the entire chemical attack story is a fabrication.

Case closed…or is it?  What about the headlines claiming “various chlorinated organic chemicals” were found at the site in Syria where a chemical attack is suspected of being carried out in April?  Doesn’t this prove it was a chemical attack?  Well, this is what the article would mislead you to believe.  The reality is what was found was residue from chlorine, which could come from any number of widely available sources such as pool cleaner and in no way proves any type of attack was committed.  Further, investigators found two “industrial” tanks in the vicinity of the alleged attack.  This is where the whole story falls apart.  The Syrian military did not use artillery or jets to launch “industrial” chlorine tanks into people’s bedrooms and patios (the locations the tanks were found according to the report).  The Syrian regime uses military grade weapons, not improvised industrial tanks.  Reading the actual report and cross-referencing the actual evidence obtained, one can see pictures of these industrial tanks and it’s obvious they did not smash through any walls or fall from the sky.  Being that the tanks were found in rebel controlled territory and weren’t launched or dropped, it is very safe to conclude they could have only been placed there by rebels.  Also highly misleading is the fact that in no MSM article we reviewed was there any mention of the very well documented fact both ISIS and Syrian rebel groups have possessed chlorine for years and have repeatedly used it in attacks against US, Kurdish, and Iraqi forces.  I attached just a few easily obtained links to show just how dishonest the MSM is.  It is utterly disgusting how disingenuous and manipulative the media and the Deep State are.

https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/urgent-isis-kills-300-iraqi-soldiers-chlorine-gas-attack-saqlawiyah/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3007334/Hundreds-British-jihadis-trained-launch-highly-likely-chlorine-gas-attack-train-tube-football-match-UK-warns-chemical-warfare-expert.html

http://www.newsweek.com/isis-militants-chemical-weapons-attack-soldiers-iraq-585174

Remember, chlorine is an easily obtained commercially.  The bottom line is the regime did not launch a chemical attack of any kind…nerve agent or chlorine, but rather, we have a provable false flag operation where rebels gassed their own people to mimic a chemical attack in hopes that it would provoke the US into a war against Assad.  All I can say is thank God Putin and the Russians had enough discipline to see this was a knee jerk desperation move by Globalists trying to salvage their agenda from collapse in Syria for what it was: A false flag.  Had Putin acted with the same recklessness that President Trump advised by the Deep State displayed, we would all be dead.  We barely….barely, averted World War III.

By Guiles Hendrik

July 13, 2018

Are You Ready to Pay $8.00 per Gallon for Gas

If you have filled up lately, you have noticed that gas prices have been steadily inching higher.  Enjoy these prices while they last because chaos is again on the horizon.  Those of you cheering America’s never ending wars in the Middle East should take heed.  If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets his wish for a war between the US and Iran, we very well could be looking at fuel prices spiking north of $8.00 per gallon, which under even the best scenarios will collapse the US economy.  The implications of this alone should cause any thinking man to reconsider how “necessary” a war with Iran is and how much it will actually cost America to “win.”  I strongly urge anyone that will listen to take a step back and work hard to prevent the US from getting sucked into another conflict in the Middle East. Read more

Did Russia Just Place the US in Check in Syria?

The last few months of the Syrian Civil War have been a very significant transitional period.  Contrary to what many may think, this period has the potential to be far more dangerous than the last few years of conflict and could result in a far bigger regional war if any missteps occur.  For the US to remain in Syria, it is almost totally reliant on its current proxy, the Kurdish SDF.  Let me be clear, without the Kurds, the US strategy in Syria is dead.  The US has neither the manpower nor the money to play counterinsurgent in Syria.  Russia and the Syrian Government have recognized this and over the last month they have executed a remarkably brilliant strategy to shatter this alliance.  In fact, the US is now faced with a no win situation.  Read more

Is the Middle East about to Break Out in a Major Saudi-Iranian War?

The last week has witnessed some unprecedented changes across the Middle East.  These events have moved the entire region closer to a major Sunni-Shia conflict.  As such, it is important to review what has occurred and assess if this will lead to a major war.  If so, it will have major strategic implications for the US so are you prepared? Read more

What Media Failed to Tell You about the Special Forces Killed in Niger

When I first heard of the deaths of US military personnel in Niger, I was saddened, but not surprised.  Having no shame, the MSM took less than 48 hours to spin the events into a political debacle of legendary indecency.  It began with the media providing a platform for a mentally deranged, utterly contemptible, and rather freakish Congress(woman?) from Florida to exploit a family’s grief.  As that began to backfire on the Democrats, the propagandists within the MSM got their new talking points and began trying to equate the attack to some type of Benghazi cover-up.  What they failed to mention in all of this spin was that there was an element of truth in that the soldiers’ deaths were actually directly related to the events that claimed the American lives in Benghazi.  However, it wasn’t Trump’s fault; it was Obama’s. Read more

Trump’s Afghanistan War Strategy

Well, tonight is the night.  President Trump will officially own the war after his 9PM address to the nation tonight for better or worse.  Will he pull us out?  Will he create a mercenary army?  Will it be a few thousand more troops and status quo?  Will it be a drastically different strategy to achieve a decisive victory?  No matter what the president decides, it will be our best window yet into whether or not the Deep State has seized full control of the White House.

Here is what we do know going into the address.  First, the US has for all intents and purposes at this point strategically lost the war in Afghanistan.  Second, the status quo plus more troops will not change anything other than the final cost in bodies and treasure.  Third, without a deliberate effort to secure the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and at minimum isolate Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan any strategy will fail before it begins.  Fourth, anything less than a concrete plan to decisively win in Afghanistan is an admission the Deep State (i.e. Pentagon) has taken full control of White House policy.

As for me, I would like to see one of two things after clearly outlining what we are doing in Afghanistan and what end state we are trying to achieve.  Here is the general outline of what should be desirable.  Option A:  Cut and seal the Afghanistan-Pakistan border using NATO troops, annihilate Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan, continue to enable the Afghans to mop up the Taliban trapped in Afghanistan, freeze aid to Pakistan until they cut ties with China and turn over Al Qaeda’s remaining leadership, and incorporate Afghanistan’s neighbors to include Iran to put the pieces back together again.  Option B:  If we will not do A, then we need to immediately pull out of all troops, destroy any remaining military gear and equipment in country we haven’t already given to the Taliban, and cut aid to Pakistan.

Stand-by for analysis after the President’s brief.

 

By Guiles Hendrik

August 21, 2017

Warning: Healthcare is the new call to arms for domestic terrorists

As the farce of Russian meddling in the United States’ election has turned to focus on the very real collusion amongst senior Democrats, the story is quickly being killed by the mainstream media.  In its place, a new hysteria is being created to distract and divide the nation.  This hysteria is extremely dangerous and focuses on the lie that President Trump’s healthcare plan is “killing” Americans.  This extremist narrative needs little translation.  It is a thinly veiled message to radical leftwing extremists that they are now fully justified in killing people to promote their agenda.  I do not say this lightly.  By making the claim that President Trump and the Republicans are killing people, they have provided a moral justification and call to arms that can’t be ignored by the insurgents organized under the banners of the Left.  The media propagandists are knowingly yelling “fire” in a theater.  They are creating an insurgency in this nation that will lead to many more deaths, injuries, and huge amounts of property damage.  The leadership of these domestic terrorist organizations must be legally taken down now or our nation will continue to spiral closer to an all-out civil war, which the Left desires, but no intelligent person wants. Read more

Trump Declares Holy War during Speech in Saudi Arabia

I must admit, Trump’s trip to the Middle East and his planned speech were not on my list of highly recommended things for Trump to undertake.  The trip was high risk with a low potential for any pay off.  Nonetheless, even the mainstream media networks were grudgingly admitting that he appears to have pulled it off.  This may indeed be true, but this is not reason to celebrate.  Just because the propagandists and the poorly informed think President Trump’s unapologetic speech was a success, you may want to ask the other half of the Muslim world.  In fact, every Shia Muslim listening to Trump’s speech heard his message loud and clear.  The United States has joined forces with Sunni Arabs in a holy war against Shia Islam.  Congratulations President Trump, you just signed the US up for an Islamic holy war and it will cost our country dearly. Read more

US Moves Closer to Full Scale War in Syria with Russia and Iran

To say there have been a few distractions in the news cycle lately is an understatement.  The establishment (aka: Deep State) will continue to create scandals to mire the Trump Administration in a never ending cycle of chasing his tell to prevent his agenda moving forward.  In all of this chaos, it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction and recognize true news of consequence.  One such important event occurred today when the US directly attacked Syrian government forces in southern Syria.  This event, even more than the previous missile strike, signals the true motives of US intervention in Syria.  These motives can only spell disaster for the US and are laying the ground work to create the context for the US to enter the next stage of the conflict.  As I have correctly forecasted the evolution of this conflict from its very beginnings in Iraq, I can tell you with authority that this doesn’t end with ISIS.  It begins.  Read more

Swamp Dupes President Trump into Expanding US War into Syria

Let me get right to the point.  President Trump is a complete moron if he honestly believes his military advisors are setting him up for success.  I want President Trump to succeed, but until he gets better advisors, he will self-destruct.  By ordering a surge of US military forces into Syria without any long term strategy or plan, he is effectively forcing America into the middle of an ugly civil war that will cost our nation dearly.  Further, by directly entering the Syrian Civil War, President Trump has committed our nation to yet another unnecessary and unconstitutional war without making the case to the American people or obtaining congressional approval.  This won’t just be a massive military mistake; it will be a political disaster.  President Trump has no idea that as the US gets sucked further and further into this war, the failure of “his” war will arm his political enemies with everything they need to ultimately cripple his administration.  By listening to the generals, President Trump has, within a month of taking office, committed the US to an even more disastrous war than his predecessors, which he will lose, and quite possibly destroy his administration.  Brilliant! Read more

Update: Middle East on Brink of Major War after Saudi Warship Attacked

Again, the news cycle is moving so quickly, no one is able to completely keep up.  However, with all of the focus on executive orders on immigration some major events are slipping by unnoticed.  The take away is that the Middle East is again moving rapidly toward all-out war.  The immigration issue is serious and important, but the war that could potential break out in the Middle East could be staggering.  Here are the most recent highlights with comment:

Yemen in particular has become a flashpoint.  Starting from the top, a unit from SEAL Team Six got mauled badly and lost an operator while conducting a direct action raid on a suspected al-Qaeda facility.  Further, their MV-22 Osprey crashed and was destroyed on the ground.  The base model of a single Osprey costs over $73,000,000 dollars and this was a special operations variant, which comes in closer to one hundred million dollars.  This was in exchange for killing 14 alleged terrorists of at best, medium value, and collecting some information to better identify their network.  This shows that President Trump is less risk averse when it comes to launching our soldiers into combat.  If this becomes a trend, it means much more kinetic warfare and far greater US casualties.  Previous to this raid, attacks in Yemen were almost exclusively being carried out by airstrikes.

If not bad enough, a Saudi Arabian Frigate, which is a warship, was attacked according to the US government, by a small boat laden with explosives.  However, video evidence supports the assessment that believes the ship was hit by a missile supplied by Iran.  Anti-ship missiles have been fired at US Warships in the same area over the last six months.  Further, one man can be heard speaking in an Iranian accent chanting death to America.  If it was indeed a missile that hit the boat, the fact is being downplayed and covered up to prevent outrage in Saudi Arabia that would demand revenge and initiate a war with Iran.  This is not unprecedented in the region.  An advanced ship from the UAE was also recently hit by an Iranian supplied anti-ship missile launched from Yemen and damaged so badly it had to be decommissioned.  However, the UAE never officially acknowledge the attack.

Irrespective of how the attack occurred, the blast appears to have struck the upper portion of the stern of the Saudi ship inflicting serious damage and killing at least two Saudi sailors.  This is a major act of war and is believed to have been launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen.  One may say this is the cost of starting an unnecessary war and invading Yemen.  I would agree that it was stupid for Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily in Yemen.  However, the Saudis tonight are not discussing whether or not their war was smart.  What they are discussing his how to retaliate.  If it in fact was an attack launched by the Houthis, the missile was undoubtedly supplied by Iran.  Everyone knows this, but the question is if the Kingdom will hold the Houthis and/or the Iranians responsible.  I assess the possibility of Saudi Arabia expanding their war in Yemen as high.  I also see a medium likelihood of Saudi Arabia expanding it to Iran to include indicting any Iranian flagged ship near Yemen.  This will undoubtedly provoke another cycle of violence.  Worst case is Saudi Arabia decides to retaliate directly against Iran, but I assess this as unlikely.  The fact that Saudi Arabia has not said anything about the ban in immigration from seven predominately Muslim countries factors into this situation.  It is highly likely the Saudis will try to lean heavily on the US to take out Iran for them, which brings me to my next point.

Iran test launched a ballistic missile this week in violation of pretty much everything the international community has told Iran it could not do.  Iran became a serial violator of any international dictates since the Obama Administration was in office.  Their transgressions included seizing US Navy vessels and their crews in international waters, providing weapons to attack and kill Americans, holding Americans hostage, developing long range missile technology, and feigning attacks on our warships.  Following precedent, Iran conducted a launch of another ballistic missile and has yet to be “reprimanded” by the new Administration.  Perhaps, Iran thinks it has gotten away with it and President Trump will be a push over.  If so, I believe they have badly miscalculated the new American President.  President Trump in a short amount of time will respond.  How, is the only question.  Trumps retaliatory options range from lodging a diplomatic protest and re-invoking sanctions to launching a nuclear strike.

Yes, I do think President Trump is serious enough he may indeed use nuclear weapons during his time in office to prevent a bloody and costly deployment of ground troops against a country like North Korea or Iran.  Nonetheless, I assess the Administration will come out with a clear warning to Iran, but will stop short of a military strike.  Iran will get one warning, but no more.  However, there is a perfect coalescing of Saudi and US interests with regards to annihilating Iran.  Iran should take this seriously because Saudi Arabia may be on the phone right now with Washington discussing military options for the attack on their ship.  If Trump greenlights retaliation, we could have a major outbreak of war in days.  However, I reiterate, I think right now we will have some clear red lines drawn and preparations made, but the war won’t begin just yet.

In summary, things are getting hotter in the Middle East.  All that is needed is a slight nudge and the entire region could erupt.  I do not see anything getting calmer anytime soon.  In fact, I think we are about to see a major escalation of war in the Middle East.

 

By Guiles Hendrik

January 30, 2017

SOFREP’s Most Important Story Reveals How US being Tricked into WWIII

Jack Murphy, an author at SOFREP recently had the opportunity to interview Syrian President Assad.  Whether or not you like President Assad, you need to hear Andrew Wilkow’s short interview with Jack about the meeting broadcast on The Wilkow Majority radio show.  Jack may not realize it, but his observations are accurate and completely contradict Washington’s talking points.  To be specific, our government is lying to us about Syria.  If you do not get smart about the real facts on the ground that Jack discusses, you will be tricked into World War III by your propaganda masters.

As I have detailed from the beginning, the war in Syria has been engineered by global elites using terrorist proxies.  (See http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/?s=syria).  These special interests are solely interested in advancing their own agendas and care not for the damage it does to others.  If successful, their strategy will result in disastrous strategic consequences for the region and the US.  Read more

Prepper Update of World Events for Week of October 10, 2016

The following summary of recent world events is decidedly negative.  This is not due to overt pessimism as much as the facts are just plain bad.  In fact, I didn’t even include events like the effects of Hurricane Mathew, the attack on our warship off the coast of Yemen, and the assassination of more police around the US.  The world is not getting any safer and indicators are all pointing to things worsening as we move into late fall and winter.  The following are major events you should be taking note of with short comments.

  • Situation in Syria: Syrian government forces backed by Iran and Russia continue to pound Aleppo and are nearing a strategic breakthrough.  All actors in Syria recognize that if Assad is able to recapture Aleppo from the Islamic extremists it will be the beginning of the end for Washington’s terrorist proxies in Syria.  As such, there is panic from Doha to Washington.  The terrorist coalition knows that it is now or never for major intervention, which may force the White House to order direct strikes against the Syrian regime, which undoubtedly will be countered by Russian retaliation.  This creates the potential for a rapid outbreak of a major regional war that could go global.  We have effectively arrived at the point I have repeatedly forecasted would occur in Syria where either Moscow or Washington accepts a massive strategic policy defeat or there is a major war…perhaps both.  This is inescapable at this point.  The best case scenario is if the US backs out by aligning with Russia to defeat ISIL and negotiate a peace deal that leaves the regime in place for now.  This is highly unlikely and if Hillary Clinton is elected, all but impossible.
    • I am forecasting that the US will continue to spread false anti-Assad and anti-Russian propaganda to drum up war sentiment in the US to prepare the public for the announcement airstrikes against Syrian military positions.  If the neo-cons within the establishment get their way the air strikes will happen, but there will be an immediate cost to US forces.  Russia will defend its positions on the ground and engage any US forces that directly threaten Russian lives and interests.  In this event, it is possible we will witness the first combat losses of US Fifth Generation Fighters, which Washington is rightfully terrified will occur.  The loss of these jets will show everyone how much superiority the US has lost against countries like China under Obama.  This will jeopardize the multi-billion dollar acquisition program that has been riddled with corruption, failures, and delays.  As such, it is far more likely Washington will lead with cruise missile and drone strikes that are easier to deny and hide if they fail to achieve their objectives, but are also much less likely to achieve decisive results.

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Is the US about to Lose Its Last Foothold in Iraq, Create a Terrorist Caliphate, or Start World War III?

I have been warning about the brewing showdown in Syria and how it could quickly escalate in minutes to the brink of World War III.  A key warning embedded in my analyses was that if not properly managed, the Turks would enter the war against the Kurds, which are the most effective US proxy against ISIL.  I warned that should this occur; the Kurds would be once again left for dead by the US in order to maintain its strategic alliance with the Turks.  This would not only place the US fully in league with the Al-Qaeda aligned Al-Nusra Front and other Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions, but would also alienate the Kurds to great detriment of the anti-ISIL effort.  Well, these warnings have gone unheeded and this week we are seeing the first solid open source reports of the factions beginning to turn against the US.  This is a watershed moment that if not immediately mitigated through changes in US strategic policy, will result in the US being completely ejected from Syria and Iraq, the creation of a terrorist caliphate, or World War III.  Those are your policy choices.

Read more

News You Need to Get: April 7, 2016

I am not a huge fan of the major news consolidators because they tend to mask important content with frivolous content of dubious accuracy and reliability.  Further, you tend to get a lot of repetitive reporting of the same “news.”  However, having a list of targeted news articles of substance is very valuable.  As such, on a semi-regular basis, I will continue putting together a list of important links to articles and information that went under reported in the American media.  They will cover a range of topics, but will all deal with critical issues that are going to shape events in each of our lives.

 

http://www.dailymails.xyz/wires/afp/article-3396210/Israel-gets-fifth-German-submarine.html

Israel on Tuesday took delivery of its fifth German-built submarine, an advanced Dolphin-class vessel said to be capable of remaining submerged for up to a week.

Speaking at an official welcome ceremony at the northern port city of Haifa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the undersea fleet allows Israel “to deter enemies who seek to destroy us.”

“They should know that Israel can strike very hard indeed at anyone who tries to harm it,” he said.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-how-to-hack-an-election/

On the question of whether the U.S. presidential campaign is being tampered with, he is unequivocal. “I’m 100 percent sure it is,” he says.

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Confessions-Economic-Hit/dp/1626566747
“Mr. Perkins’s core message is that American corporations and government agencies employ two types of operatives: ‘economic hit men,’ who bribe emerging economies, and ‘jackals,’ who may be used to overthrow or even murder heads of state in Latin America and the Middle East to serve the greater cause of American empire. . . . [This} book seems to have tapped into a larger vein of discontent and mistrust that Americans feel toward the ties that bind together corporations, large lending institutions and the government — a nexus that Mr. Perkins and others call the ‘corporatocracy.’”
—The New York Times

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/science/scientists-ponder-the-prospect-of-contagious-cancer.html?em_pos=small&nl_art=6&te=1&_r=0

While there is no sign of an imminent threat, several recent papers suggest that the eventual emergence of a contagious human cancer is in the realm of medical possibility. This would not be a disease, like cervical cancer, that is set off by the spread of viruses, but rather one in which cancer cells actually travel from one person to another and thrive in their new location.

 

https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/

The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret documents detailing the inner workings of the U.S. military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The documents, provided by a whistleblower, offer an unprecedented glimpse into Obama’s drone wars.

 

http://kurdishdailynews.org/2016/02/18/kurds-warn-turkey-of-big-war-with-russia-if-troops-enter-syria/

Russia has promised to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria in case of a ground offensive by Turkey, a move that would lead to a “big war,” the Syrian group’s envoy to Moscow said in an interview on Wednesday.

“We take this threat very seriously because the ruling party in Turkey is a party of war,” Rodi Osman, head of the Syrian Kurds’ newly-opened representative office said in Kurdish via a Russian interpreter. “Russia will respond if there is an invasion. This isn’t only about the Kurds, they will defend the territorial sovereignty of Syria.”

 

http://m.ibtimes.com/russia-conducts-military-exercises-armenia-base-latest-combat-readiness-drill-1997545

“We are concerned by the size, sale and frequency of Russia’s snap exercises,” a NATO official told CNN in May. “Three of them have included over 80,000 troops. Some of them have been used to deploy troops to annex Crimea, mass forces on Ukraine’s border and support the [pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine].”

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/imf-predicts-greek-default-will-coincide-with-eu-referendum-claims-wikileaks-a6964676.html

The International Monetary Fund anticipates a possible Greek default on its bailout will coincide with the UK’s referendum on Europe, according to a leaked transcript.

 

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/japan/2016/japan-160403-presstv01.htm

A Japanese submarine, along with two guided-missile destroyers, has docked at a Philippine port near the South China Sea, where there is a territorial dispute with China.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/338831-montreal-police-brutality-protest/

A demonstration against police brutality in Montreal, Canada, led to cars being set alight in the streets and a police station being attacked. The protest was sparked by the death of a black man who was killed by a police rubber bullet last month.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/338833-chemical-gas-aleppo-shelling/

A neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is held by Kurdish YPG militias, has been shelled with chemical agents from territory held by Islamist and FSA factions, a local journalist on the ground has told to RT.

“The attack was carried out between 11.30 and 12.00 local time. The gas that was used in this attack, caused choking and malaise among those affected. This indicates that the poisoning substances were used in the attack,” journalist Nawrouz Uthman reports.

Uthman adds that 23 people were killed and over 100 injured in Thursday’s attack.

 

 

Obama’s pick to head CENTCOM testifies his strategy to fight ISIL will be to use the previous failed strategy to fight ISIL. Can it get any worse for the military?

President Obama picked General Joseph Votel, the current commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), to succeed General Lloyd Austin as the new head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) pending Senate approval. This was a genuine opportunity for Obama to change the strategic trajectory of US failures in the Middle East. However, after hearing Gen. Votel’s comments, I can say without any doubt the man is an incompetent commander that was politically chosen as a policy “yes man.” In short, Gen. Votel does not have a viable strategy to achieve victory and therefore should be fired as a commander, not promoted. Gen. Votel will not be the man to defeat ISIL unless he takes credit for the good work the Russians, Kurds, and Syrians are doing. Even then, I have full faith and confidence that the White House will manage to scuttle Russia’s successes too for the time being. What it means if Gen. Votel is confirmed by the Senate is that you can expect more of the same series of failures and continued perpetual indecisive wars across the globe. I urge every one of you to make it clear to your senators that Gen. Votel is NOT the man for the job or he will be confirmed and you will see another one of my predictions come to pass. Tell your senators we need a CENTCOM commander that will break from the failed strategies of the last 15 years. Congress must know Gen. Votel is incapable of charting a strategy for decisive victory, which our nation requires.

I am sure that some of my readers, which are well meaning, but loyal brainwashed company men of the military establishment, are cussing me for my blasphemy against such a vaunted general. However, I can say that anyone that places stock in military commanders that fail to achieve victory against a force as inept as the Taliban is a qualified idiot. Further, if they are currently serving in the military and support these professed students of what I refer to as a defeatist military strategy, they are suicidal. How weak minded must someone be to buy into the rhetoric that the Taliban are a super human force that would require a generation to defeat? Only by choosing to lose could that be a reality for the US military. This is strategic dereliction and I will not accept it even if the best Army post graduate students are too institutionalized to see the truth. At times, it is far more effective to be tactful in commentary; however, this is a case where blunt honesty is needed because lives will be lost because of this mockery of a commander. Incompetence left to its own devices is forgivable, but I will give no quarter to incompetence that seeks the power to sign the death certificate of a single life.

Gen. Votel was in charge of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) before taking over SOCOM and should know that our current strategy of training rebels isn’t working unless you are taking into account the number of ISIL and Taliban fighters we armed, trained, and equipped. Gen. Votel’s professional pedigree sounds superb until you consider “brilliant” losers like General McChrystal came from JSOC as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love the superbly professional organization JSOC has become and can say from working with their phenomenal operators around the globe that they are “tactically” the best in the business. However, the special operations cult worship has to end on Capitol Hill. Special operators regularly do take on missions of vital strategic importance, but they do not decisively operate at the strategic level. The distinction is crucial. Special operators are an extremely valuable warfighting tool, but have become the defacto tool for supporting the flawed notion that you can fight a war on the cheap and win decisively with a handful of special operators training foreign armies and rebels. Part of this comes from the fact many special operators trace their roots to traditional Army Special Forces units where their primary “special” mission is training and advising indigenous forces to support COIN and Foreign Internal Defense (FID) missions even if the historical data now overwhelmingly shows the COIN and FID tactics and techniques don’t work. The bottom line is unless said special operators are launching a strategic nuclear strike, the strategy simply isn’t working at a strategic level and over 15 years of failed war attest to this fact. Neither JSCOC nor SOCOM is designed or capable of giving us a decisive strategic victory against ISIL. Only, a through a true total war of attrition will you finally turn back and utterly defeat the Islamic Holy War against the West.

Specific to Gen. Votel’s demonstrated incompetence, in testimony Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Votel told lawmakers that he supports moving forward with a revised effort to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels battling Islamic State militants. Gen. Votel described the “new” approach as a “thickening effort” as opposed to just raising a large force. What that exactly means is anyone’s guess, but this much is clear. This is the same “old” counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy the US has been peddling since Vietnam, which has never led to anything but total strategic failure. This is repeating a failed and completely discredited strategy and expecting a different result, which is insanity. Gen. Votel should know that there are no “moderate” rebels that will effectively challenge ISIL. He should also know that the only effective fighting force has been the Kurds and Washington is about to double cross them again on behalf of the Turks, which will blow back horribly on our anti-ISIL efforts. How, after billions of dollars were spent overtly and covertly on the failed strategy to arm, train, and equip rebels to fight ISIL in Iraq and Syria, can Gen. Votel honestly believe it will be different this time? Even Gen. Austin, the retiring CENTCOM commander, admitted in Congressional testimony the entire plan only trained four of five fighters! Not even Gen. Votel can be this naïve. Only someone that has sacrificed their integrity at the gates of politics would continuing such a ridiculous policy be possible.

Gen. Votel’s testimony did not improve. He went on to testify, “But I do think it is helpful to have people who have been trained by us, who have the techniques, who have the communications capability, and the resources to link back into our firepower.” The trained fighters, Votel explained, present the Islamic State with added “dilemmas.” This is a very disturbing conclusion by the general considering the historical record shows that US trained forces repeatedly failed when tested in battle and also defected in most cases without even a fight. Worse yet, these indigenous forces took all of our training, techniques, communications, and firepower to the enemy when they defected. In fact, based on the US track record, it would be more accurate to say that it is only helpful to our enemies.
Gen. Votel’s lack of integrity and or lack of good sense will rightfully earn him the blame for the failure of US strategy (or lack thereof) in the Middle East against ISIL. Mark my words, Obama has never accepted responsibility for his growing list of strategic failures and isn’t going to start now. Gen. Votel is signing on to a disastrous strategy that cannot work. Obama will hang this around Gen. Votel’s neck just like he has done with nearly every other commander. If Gen. Votel is even a bit savvy as a strategic thinker, he should clearly see that he is being set up as bad as the disgraced General Petraeus and run for the door or get a new strategy right now.

As with most articles I write, I try not to just criticize and point out flaws, but offer solutions. This article is no different. The links at the bottom of this article are a short list of key articles I have written that accurately predicted the progression to the state of affairs as it stands now in the Middle East with regards to ISIL. A key part of those predictions has been to repeatedly warn that President Obama’s strategy was never a “strategy” and would ultimately fail in a very predictable fashion, which has played out exactly as I predicted over two years ago. This should serve as my bona fides for correctly assessing and accurately predicting events years in advance. Second, I have also included an outline of what a real strategy for a decisive strategic victory would look like. I hope that these articles end up in the right hands of individuals that actually have power over policy, but it suffices for now that the public is being educated about the military’s lies. Whether or not Gen. Votel is confirmed, I will continue to extend the offer to step up and advise anyone actually serious about defeating ISIL going as far as staking my reputation to a winning strategy, which to date, no one has had the courage to do. It is time for our senior policy makers to show real courage and leadership by breaking away from the old caste of establishment beltway characters and seek some fresh, independent perspectives because to date, nothing the snake oil salesmen have provided has worked and it never will. Until then, in the least, call your senators and explain that we need a real military commander in charge of CENTCOM and that Gen. Votel should not be confirmed.

By Guiles Hendrik
March 10, 2016

 

http://www.blackboxwire.com/2014/08/30/islamic-extremism-and-what-lies-ahead-part-i-iraq/
http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/2014/10/01/islamic-extremism-and-what-lies-ahead-part-ii-the-war-on-isis-and-syria/#more-699
http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/2014/11/18/update-on-the-third-iraq-war-against-isilisisisaqsyriaetc/
http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/2015/11/21/how-to-defeat-isil-civil-military-strategy-101/

A Message to the Members of the US Military

Instead of exposing lies and treason within the top tiers of government, today, I am going to simply make a plea to the service members of the US armed forces and those thinking about joining. The message is simple.  If you aren’t in, don’t join.  If you are currently in the service, do what you have to do to survive, bring your troops home safely, and get out.  The missions are garbage, the wars are lies, and you are serving the special interests of the elite, not your nation.  Don’t be a fool and buy into the propaganda.  Contrary to your leadership that sold you out long ago, I actually care about your well-being and the future of this nation.  If I can wake even one person up and save them from being killed or heinously wounded in another unnecessary war, this post was worth infinitely more than the time it took to compose.

The issue of service in today’s military was directly put to me by a mother who asked whether I thought her son should enlist in the Marines. Knowing this lady and her son, I thought long and hard before answering her with a definitive, “No.”  The lady knew that I had spent many years in the military in both the enlisted and officer ranks and had served in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan so seemed taken aback by my blunt answer.  Clearly surprised, she asked what my rationale was for saying it was a bad idea.  I told her the military was bad enough while I was in the service, but the waste and abuse of the lives of our service members is now at the worst levels since Vietnam.  Our troops are simply cannon fodder for wars the US not only has engineered, but has no intention of decisively ending.  Granted, the equipment and training the military provides is better than it ever has been, but our senior leadership is the worst I have ever seen, there is no will or strategy to win, and our troops are being left for dead in places like Afghanistan for political expedience.  Further, all of our efforts, as honorable as they were, were completely in vain in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the massive dereliction in our leadership.  If our leadership and all of NATO couldn’t even handle the Taliban, what does your survivability look like in the military when the elites pick the next fight with an actual competent enemy like Russia or China?  Until the US military purges its general staff and the country elects a competent Commander-in-Chief, run for the door.

Just today in Afghanistan we lost another American serving with a special operations unit. This makes me sick to my stomach with sadness.  Dropping all of the patriotic propaganda, what did that operator give his life for?  How is the loss even remotely justifiable?  Read more

One Step Closer to Major Middle Eastern War between Iran and Saudi Arabia

Readers of Last Minute Survival are well aware that I have been correctly predicting for years the progression of events in the Middle East toward a total regional conflagration. Speaking broadly of a few key events, I predicted the rise of ISIL, the spread of the “civil war in Syria” to Iraq, and the proxy war between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shia) going hot.  The execution of a prominent dissident Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia just took this conflict one notch closer to a total war, which the United States is not prepared.  The brewing war has triggered a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and it now appears averting a massive war will not be possible.  The only question is how to best mitigate the damage.

This escalation has not been fully appreciated in the US and in fact seems to have been discounted by the US Department of State, which will certainly be “surprised” when both countries begin to mobilize their militaries. Both nations are now moving toward a war footing, which has initiated a secret nuclear arms race in the Middle East.  Iran knows Saudi Arabia has a far more modern military and the backing of the United States, the Gulf Coast Countries, and possibly Israel, Turkey, and Pakistan.  Iran is also threatened by Saudi backed Sunni extremists fighting to overthrow its allies to the west in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon while being boxed in by another Saudi backed Sunni extremist group, the Taliban, to its east in Afghanistan.  Iran knows Pakistan has agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons.  Iran’s generals are not stupid and assess that they must obtain nuclear weapons if they have any hope of successfully defending Iran.  They are also racing to improve their anti-access and missile technologies to thwart any type of amphibious invasion from the US while effectively being able to attack Saudi Arabia’s water and oil installations from afar.  Further, as I have warned, Iran has been racing to operationally deploy advanced, Russian, S-300 air defense systems, which will effectively deny Iranian airspace to all but 5th Generation fighter/attack aircraft.

As overwhelming as the odds may seem to Iran, Saudi Arabia is justifiably terrified of a powerful Iran. What Iran lacks in high tech military hardware, it has in willpower and individual fighting capability, which will prove far more potent than anything the Saudis can muster for a war.  Those of us that have worked with the Saudi military know that the Saudi military is a paper tiger.  The Saudis are lazy and incompetent as warriors, but they have a big checkbook that keeps the US military industrial complex in business.  This keeps Washington and the Pentagon from ever effectively addressing the issue, which will become brutally apparent when a direct conflict between the nations breaks out.  In a head to head fight, Iran’s fighters are better trained, better organized, and far more motivated than even the best Saudi units.  In fact, aside from perhaps Jordan, the Arab armies are a joke.  Most are probably more likely to shoot each other (intentionally or not) before ever fielding an effective force against an enemy.  Further, although Iran has proven its ability to project forces beyond its borders successfully, and would no doubt use Iraq as a staging area for a land invasion of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia has no such force projection capability.  Without the ability to actually invade and defeat Iran, Saudi Arabia could only at best win a partial victory over Iran.  As such, Saudi Arabia must rely on buying off Washington to intervene and fight its war with American troops and treasure.  The Pentagon at least gets this, but what isn’t well understood by either the generals or the White House is that the Saudi backup plan if Washington bulks is to have a credible nuclear weapons capability that they will use if Washington won’t act.  The US is totally unprepared for and to date has no policy to even remotely address.  Read more