Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.
This Week in the News
This week, it seems inevitable that we are headed straight to war. When Trump was elected, the fact that he seemed committed to getting along with Russia gave many people hope that a global conflict could be averted. That and the repeal of Obamacare seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel of a contentious election.
It looks like that supposition was wrong, because this week, global conflict seems almost certain to be the course.
President Trump Signs a Bill That Ties His Hands to Prevent War with Russia
Earlier this week, I wrote about a horrible bill passed by the Senate, one of those ones in which the misleading name is the exact opposite of what is really contained in the bill. This one, the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017, targets two things:
- It heaps economic sanctions upon Russia
- It ties the hands of the President in foreign diplomacy matters
You know, the President who has been the only thing stopping a war with Russia from happening.
Only two US senators voted against the bill: Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders.
Imagine my shock when President Trump signed this misbegotten bill. He seemed to have signed it grudgingly, saying:
“While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed,” Trump said in a statement announcing the signing.
Trump said he was concerned about the sanctions’ effect on work with European allies, and on American business. “My administration … expects the Congress to refrain from using this flawed bill to hinder our important work with European allies to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and from using it to hinder our efforts to address any unintended consequences it may have for American businesses, our friends, or our allies,” he said…
…In a second statement on the legislation, Trump said that, “Despite its problems, I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity.”(source)
Russia, unsurprisingly, is ticked. They responded by immediately booting 722 US diplomats out of their country and seizing two US compounds there. And really, it’s rather understandable, since the US just declared an economic war on them. (Incidentally, did you know that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the richest man alive? His financial worth is more than that of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates combined, and they’re the two people that top the list of “richest in the world.”)
Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev responded to Trump signing the sanctions bill:
The signing of new sanctions against Russia into law by the US president leads to several consequences. First, any hope of improving our relations with the new US administration is over. Second, the US just declared a full-scale trade war on Russia. Third, the Trump administration demonstrated it is utterly powerless, and in the most humiliating manner transferred executive powers to Congress. This shifts the alignment of forces in US political circles.
What does this mean for the U.S.? The American establishment completely outplayed Trump. The president is not happy with the new sanctions, but he could not avoid signing the new law. The purpose of the new sanctions was to put Trump in his place. Their ultimate goal is to remove Trump from power. An incompetent player must be eliminated. At the same time, the interests of American businesses were almost ignored. Politics rose above the pragmatic approach. Anti-Russian hysteria has turned into a key part of not only foreign (as has been the case many times), but also domestic US policy (this is recent).
The sanctions codified into law will now last for decades, unless some miracle occurs. Moreover, it will be tougher than the Jackson-Vanik law, because it is comprehensive and can not be postponed by special orders of the president without the consent of the Congress. Therefore, the future relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States will be extremely tense, regardless of the composition of the Congress or the personality of the president. (source)
I’ve been saying since before Trump was inaugurated that the Congress is hungry for a war with Russia. After all, they’ll be safe in their ivory towers, their sons and daughters will be exempt from getting blown to bits in the conflict, and they’ make tons of money. As General Smedley Butler, the most decorated soldier in American history, said, war is a racket. And this particular racket makes politicians filthy rich with blood money.
If you’re paying attention, you can clearly see the direction this is headed.
North Korea isn’t going away.
The issue with North Korea isn’t getting any better, either. Kim Jong Un is becoming more aggressive. An editorial in the state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmu, said:
Every minute and every second, the new reality that US mainland is on the knife’s edge of life and death is forcing US administration to wave a white flag and fundamentally change her North Korea policy.
If the US still refuses to accept such a realistic demand and doggedly pursue hostile policy against North Korea in order to save face, she will receive unexpected ‘gift packages’ which we will continue to send. (source)
It doesn’t stretch the imagination to know what those “gift packages” would contain.
A lot of people are putting a great deal of hope in American missile defense systems, but it’s important to note that a couple of weeks ago in a test over the Pacific, our defense system failed.
A medium-range ballistic missile was launched from a test range in Hawaii at 7:20 pm local time, but the interceptor missile fired at sea from USS John Paul Jones, a guided-missile destroyer, missed the target.
“A planned intercept was not achieved,” the statement said. (source)
That’s disconcerting.
Another matter of concern is the possibility that it wouldn’t be a nuclear strike, but an EMP detonation that would take out the American power grid. Should such an event occur, the effect would be devastating.
If we don’t end up at war with Russia first, North Korea seems primed to attack. Retired Green Beret Jeremiah Johnson writes:
War is the vehicle to create a cohesive bond and gain the support of the populace: nothing new here with this method.
The cost, however, will be sustained by the population and not by those who initiated the conflict, whether North Koreans, Americans, or others. The ones who initiate the hostilities will be safe in underground bunkers with food, water, medical supplies, and armed guards…funded by their “host” populations, who will be busily engaged in being vaporized and incinerated on the surface. I close with the point that I have stood by all along, and exhort you to make the best possible choices and take actions for you and your family, while there’s still time to do so, in whatever way you can. Now is the time to act, and not “one second after,” so to speak:
The next world war will be initiated by an EMP weapon detonated over the United States, followed by a nuclear exchange and a war between conventional forces. (source)
And for all the folks who say, “North Korea isn’t a threat. They’re just being made out to be the bad guys,” I have a response.
It won’t matter.
If we get nuked or an EMP detonates, it won’t matter at all whether it’s a false flag, because we will all be focused on surviving it. You can read my thorough response to this right here.
Meanwhile, while we’re distracted, the economy is about to go belly up.
Despite the sleight of hand being performed by the economic mouthpieces who tell us soothingly that everything is just fine, these following points made by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market all remain true:
Retail store closures have tripled so far this year, with 8,600 stores projected to close in total in 2017. This far surpasses the previous record of 6,163 stores in 2008 at the onset of the credit crisis…
Auto sales continue their steady decline in 2017 as the short lived boom now faces death as ARM-style loans turn over and new buyers become scarce.
U.S. home ownership rates have collapsed since 2007. More households are renting than at any time in the past 50 years.
U.S. household debt has now hit levels not seen since 2008, just before the credit crisis.
Those looking for government spending to save the day should probably look elsewhere. Nearly 75 percent of every tax dollar goes towards non-productive spending on the part of government. (source)
Smith is a brilliant analyst, in my humble opinion, and in an article that you absolutely must read, he explains how war is a common distraction during difficult economic periods.
For many centuries now, elitists in power have understood the value of geopolitical distraction as a tool for controlling the masses. If you examine the underlying motivations behind the majority of wars between nations regardless of the era, you will in most cases discover that the power brokers on both sides tend to be rather friendly with each other. In fact, monarchies and oligarchies are historically notorious for fabricating diplomatic tensions and conflicts in order to force populations back under their control. That is to say, wars and other man-made conflicts give the citizenry something to react to, instead of hunting down the establishment cabal like they should…
… In truth, most conflicts have nothing to do with ideological differences between governments and financial oligarchs. The REAL target of these conflicts is the people — or, to be more precise, the psychology of the people. Conflicts are often engineered in order to affect a particular change within the minds of the masses or to distract them from other dangers or solutions…
…Four trigger points around the globe concern me greatly, not because I think they will necessarily lead to a disaster any greater than the one we are already living in, but because they have the potential to effectively distract the public from more serious concerns. I am of course talking about the powder keg issues of Syria, North Korea, China vs. India, as well as Russia.
First, let’s be clear, the ongoing destabilization of our economy should be the primary concern of every person on the planet, most particularly those in the West. We are living within the husk of a dead fiscal system, reanimated with the voodoo of central bank stimulus, but only for a limited time. Economic decline is the greatest threat to cultural longevity as well as to human freedom. (source)
So, to be clear, things are looking grim. But if you take action, there’s still time to get prepared before the situation goes full-blown Venezuela.
- Keep on top of world events (Sign up here for my daily newsletter)
- Get prepped for a variety of scenarios
- Store food
- Store water and water purification supplies
- Be medically prepared
- Grow food
- Preserve food
It’s a brief list, but a starting point. This is something you need to focus on consistently before time runs out.
Yes, unfortunately, it is. The Deep State needs to push Putin like Roosevelt did Japan, forcing them into a move so the US ‘looks innocent’ and a “heinous act” can be answered.
Like the ‘surprise’ of Pearl Harbor.
And if Putin DOESN’T respond – as needed – then expect a small, nuclear event. A my ‘deep source’ I often get to talk to says; “Some ‘unimportant’ city in the US”.
Still quite a few nukes unaccounted for in that Dyess AFB incident, years ago.
Finally, the US will need to hide/blame the Dollar’s collapse, and we have a lonnnnng history of Hillaritis; Someone else is ALWAYS to blame – cuz’ we’re the good guys.
“… my ‘deep source’ I often get to talk to says; “Some ‘unimportant’ city in the US”.”
My mammon’s on Chitcago.
I’d like to make a statement for the record.
When the smoke starts to clear and our enemies are reduced to nothing more than burnt and smoking corpses and we stand victorious with our rights and our sovereignty restored….no matter how much I beg or plead….DO NOT GIVE ME THE LAUNCH CODES TO OUR NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Because I will use those f–kers.
“Is World War 3 Inevitable?”
Another rhetorical question?