PREPPER EXPERT: U.S. CHURCH NOT READY FOR WHAT'S COMING

Weak, soft and ignoring biblical prophecy at its own peril

The American church is weak.

It’s an unfortunate truth says Jake McCandless, the head of Prophecy Simplified and the author of the new book “Spiritual Prepper: Tapping Into Overlooked Prophecies To Prepare You For Doomsday.”

“Following Christ is not an easy road,” said McCandless. “It’s a blessed road, but it’s not an easy road. And our faithfulness is being challenged in a wide number of ways.”

In America, he said, “because we are blessed to worship with such freedom and to really walk with Christ, there’s no gateway at the beginning where you say, ‘I’m going to be persecuted if I follow Christ.'”

“But in other parts of the world, you know that if you make that profession of faith and you’re going to be baptized and you’re going to follow Christ, you know you’re going to face persecution right off the bat,” he said.

“We’re just weak! We’re not even thinking we could face struggles. And that puts us in a dangerous spot.

“And because of the lack of strength within churches, I think a lot of those who have a heart to live for the Lord are just discouraged. That’s a struggle we face. We just need to know from the get go we’re not being trained up as fast as Christians from the past and in other parts of the world, which makes us susceptible to the challenges we may face.”

McCandless made the comments in a recent interview on the “Freedom Friday” radio show with Carl Gallups, the author of “When The Lion Roars” and a passionate advocate of using prophetic teachings in ministry.

McCandless and Gallups agreed American Christians seem to have largely abandoned the study of prophecy, especially younger believers.

“You seem a little young to be interested in prophecy; there’s not many millennials out there who are interested,” McCandless said he is often told. But he argues exploring prophecy is critical to revitalizing the American church. Gallups also said a study of prophecy is simply a logical extension of the study of the Bible.

“Just about a quarter of Scripture has to do with prophecy, and half of that has to do with the last days, the generation that will just precede the return of the Lord,” he said. “People want that practical connection. What does this mean for me? How then should I live?

“I think it’s changing, but by and large, up until very recently, the church has not paid much attention to prophecy, the millennial generation especially. They kind of mock it and scoff, which of course the Word of God said would happen in the last days.”

McCandless said Christians should understand prophecy is not just about huge grand events during the end times, but about gaining insight into what is happening right now and the specific challenges facing the church.

“Prophecy is avoided by so many,” he said. “And not just pastors, but in the congregations. I go somewhere, and there’s maybe one or two who have a great interest in prophecy; but the great majority of the congregation have just not touched it at all. So they’re needing that just basic level of walking through what Scripture says.

“When we think prophecy, we think we’re going to hear something about the Mark of the Beast, the coming Antichrist, the geopolitical scene at the end times. Now that’s true, and that needs to be taught and there’s a lot out there. But there’s a lot of passages that are very familiar, but we don’t look at them as prophetic. It really got a hold of me that there are passages that describe humanity and especially Christians at the end of the age, in terms of their morality and their faith.

“We find in 2 Timothy how many will turn away from the truth and will search out things which just allow them to gravitate to their own passions. We find in 2 Peter 3 about the scoffing. And in Matthew 24:10, it says many will turn away at this time.”

The prophetic prediction of a “falling away” from the faith, McCandless said, deeply informs his ministry. He warns Christians they need to actively prepare for persecution.

“I’m standing in front of the congregation, asking myself if I have done enough to prepare them to stand through these challenges now and in the future,” McCandless said, describing a common experience for him.

It was with the aim of helping Christians meet this challenge that McCandless wrote “Spiritual Prepper.” The book seeks to reinforce the faith of American Christians, especially by describing the circumstances Christians face overseas.

“In the book, I’m walking through what I think are seven to eight direct challenges we’re facing from these overlooked prophecies, especially Matthew 24,” he said.

“I began by talking about the persecution our brothers and sisters are facing in places like Iraq and Syria, where you have parents making a decision for Christ, knowing that could mean their young daughters being sold into sexual slavery. And I contrast that in the beginning of the book with hurt feelings. What I saw the most, when I was a pastor, was the reason people were not regularly participating in church was because they would have their feelings hurt!”

In contrast, McCandless calls for a new spirit of commitment and a passionate search for biblical truth.

“One of the problems is false teaching,” he said. “You find a different kind of church on every corner that’s teaching different things. You can find every 30 minutes or hour on a different television station someone teaching something different. Not everybody’s going to be right when there are that many messages going out, you know? And I think that’s something we really got to get a hold of to find the truth, to be aware of that.”

And McCandless promises that believers who explore these overlooked prophecies and incorporate these teachings will be able to deepen their own faith and strengthen their congregations.

“It’s just missing that next element of going to that next level of your faith and your walk in the Lord,” McCandless commented of American Christianity today.

Believers should be willing to take that next step. After all, McCandless argues, if people are willing to prep their homes for tough times, they should also be willing to prepare their souls.

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MailOnline

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MailOnline

Prepare for real war: Russia and Iran warn Trump they will retaliate militarily against US if it crosses their 'red line' again with attacks on Assad in Syria

• Russian and Iranian forces warned US they would retaliate with military action

• It comes after Donald Trump crossed a 'red line' with bombing of Syrian forces

• The Russian Embassy in London suggested the situation could lead to 'real war'

• UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to push for Russia to face tough sanctions over support for Assad

By JOHN STEVENS, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 23:02, 9 April 2017 | UPDATED: 05:16, 10 April 2017

Russian and Iranian forces last night warned Donald Trump they would retaliate with military action if he launched more airstrikes on Syria.

In an ominous threat raising the prospect of war, they said the US President had crossed a 'red line' with his surprise missile bombardment on Bashar al-Assad's forces.

'From now on we will respond with force to any breach of red lines and America knows our ability to respond well,' the military chiefs said in a joint statement with militant group Hezbollah.

The Russian Embassy in London suggested on Sunday night there could be 'real war' if Moscow is presented with an ultimatum over Syria.

But UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will lead a push on Monday for Russia to face tough new sanctions unless it withdraws its support for Assad.

At a G7 meeting in Italy, Johnson will call for Moscow to be threatened with isolation from the international community and a raft of economic punishments.

On a day of escalating tensions:

• The Kremlin mocked Britain for having 'no real influence on the course of international affairs' after Mr Johnson cancelled a planned trip to Moscow;

• UK's Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said Russia was responsible for 'every civilian death' in Assad's chemical weapons attack on his own people;

• America warned Moscow it faces a 'relationship of competition and potential conflict' unless it stops supporting Assad's 'murderous regime';

• The White House told North Korea it should take US missile strikes against Syria as a warning that America is prepared to take military action against countries which break international agreements.

Despite the looming threat of war, Trump made his way on to his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida - marking his 16th visit to one of his own courses since he became president.

During the election campaign, Trump said that as president he would probably never see his own golf courses again because he'd be too busy working.

He also repeatedly attacked Barack Obama's golf trips and vacations for at least five years during the previous administration.

In the early hours of Friday morning, President Trump ordered airstrikes on a Syrian airbase in the first direct attack by the US against Assad.

The onslaught of 59 cruise missiles followed a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun in northern Syria which killed 87 civilians, including many children.

A joint command centre of Russia, Iran and Islamist militant group Hezbollah warned America they would not allow further attacks on the Syrian regime.

In a statement they said: 'What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines. From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well.'

The phrasing appeared to be a mocking reference to Barack Obama's warning in 2012 that Assad should not cross a 'red line' by using chemical weapons.

In a further sign of increasing tensions, the Russian Embassy in London responded with anger to claims the G7 – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and America – could today agree to slap Putin with the threat of sanctions unless he pulls his troops out of Syria and ends his support for Assad.

In a series of provocative tweets on its official account, the embassy suggested that if Russia were given an ultimatum, the outcome would be either, 'war of clowns, war of muses, a conventional war or a mix of the above'.

It added: 'If G7 ultimatum to Russia brings us to real war, what is your trust in @realDonaldTrump as a wartime leader & @BorisJohnson as his lieutenant?' Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last night said the US had made a 'strategic mistake' by attacking Syria.

He made clear he was not intimidated by claims the airstrike was a warning that America was willing to target other countries. Tehran has been a key backer of Assad in Syria's six-year civil war.

'The Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave the field in the face of threats. Former American officials created Daesh [Islamic State] and the current leaders are reinforcing it,' Khamenei said.

Trump administration officials yesterday blamed Russian inaction for enabling the deadly poison gas attack against Syrian civilians last week. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Syria was able to execute the attack, which killed scores of people, because Moscow had failed to carry out a 2013 agreement to secure and destroy chemical weapons in the country.

White House national security adviser HR McMaster said Syria's 'sponsors', Russia and Iran, were enabling Assad's 'campaign of mass murder against his own civilians'.

He said the US would take further action in Syria if necessary. 'We're prepared to do more. The president will make whatever decision he thinks is in the best interests of the American people,' he told Fox News.

Mr McMaster said Moscow was supporting 'a murderous regime' and its actions would dictate the future of US-Russian relations.

'Do they want it to be a relationship of competition and potential conflict,' he said. 'Or do they want it to be a relationship in which we can find areas of co-operation that are in our mutual interest?'

Last night a US strike group led by an aircraft carrier steamed toward the Korean peninsula as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the strikes against Syria carried a message for any nation operating outside of international norms.

'If you violate international agreements … if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken,' he told ABC TV.

Mr McMaster said it was 'prudent' to send the strike group, criticising North Korea as a rogue, nuclear-armed nation engaged in provocative behaviour.

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The Economic Collapse

The U.S. Entered World War I On April 6, 1917 – Did Trump Just Start World War III On April 6, 2017?

By Michael Snyder, on April 7th, 2017

Did World War III begin on April 6th, 2017? After Donald Trump fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria on Thursday night, millions of Americans were cheering, but the cheering isn’t going to last for long if a new world war erupts. What is amazing to me is that this happened on the 100th anniversary of the United States entry into World War I. The U.S. officially entered that war on April 6th, 1917, and now 100 years later to the day Donald Trump has essentially declared war on Syria.

If you think using the term “World War III” is alarmist, you might want to tell that to the vast numbers of people that are buzzing about a new world war all over social media. If you don’t yet understand why a strike on Syria could be so dangerous, go back and read my article from yesterday. If we continue striking Syria, we could very easily find ourselves in a direct military conflict with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

Hopefully last night will be the full extent of U.S. military action. If Donald Trump and his national security advisers pat themselves on the back for “looking tough” and decide that was enough, we probably won’t see a major regional war break out.

But if the U.S. decides that regime change is necessary and continues to conduct more strikes, we will have war. And unfortunately, there are already signs that this may happen. On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley stated that the Trump administration “is prepared to do more”…

“The United States took a very measured step last night,” Haley said. “We are prepared to do more. But we hope that will not be necessary. It is time for all civilized nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution.”

I don’t understand why so many Americans seem to have a thirst for war.

I have been studying war virtually all my life. When I was just a small boy, I would check huge volumes on World War I, World War II and the Korean War out of the library and read them cover to cover. And let me tell you, war is hell. Nobody should actually want to see war, and now we are closer to the next world war than we have been in decades.

Needless to say, the Russians are extremely angry about what Trump has done. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced it as an “illegal act of aggression”, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says that the U.S. came “within an inch” of a direct conflict with Russian forces…

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said the US air strike on a Syrian air base came “within an inch” of militarily clashing with their forces.

He said the action taken by the Americans was in breach of international law and their own internal procedures, and accused Washington of “barely avoiding combat clashes with Russia”.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Medvedev said the air strike had “completely ruined relations” between the two superpowers.

What in the world is Trump thinking?

The Russians very much wanted Trump to win the election because they felt that there was a very high probability of war between our two nations if Hillary Clinton would have won.

And the Russians were quite right to think that.

So the Russian people rejoiced greatly when Trump won, because they thought that it would be a new day for relations between our two great countries.

But after last night that hope is dead.

In fact, historians will probably mark April 6, 2017 as the day when the relationship between the United States and Russia officially died.

And it didn’t take long for the Russians to start to respond. The following comes from Business Insider…

The Russia Foreign Ministry announced that it suspended an agreement to avoid clashes between Russian and US-led coalition jets over Syrian airspace, while Reuters reporter Idrees Ali reports that Russia withdrew from a deconfliction channel, which the US used Thursday night to warn Russian forces of the incoming cruise-missile strikes (which took place Friday morning local time).

In addition, it has been announced that Russia will be significantly bolstering air defenses in Syria, and according to Fox News a Russian warship has been dispatched to confront the two U.S. naval vessels that fired the cruise missiles at Syria…

A Russian warship entered the eastern Mediterranean Friday and was heading toward the area where two U.S. Navy destroyers launched missile strikes into Syria, Fox News has learned.

The Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich RFS-494, crossed through the Bosphorus Strait “a few hours ago” from the Black Sea, according to a U.S. defense official.

Here in the United States, we need to start making our voices heard very loudly so that President Trump will understand that most Americans do not want to go to war in Syria.

And of course the same thing can be said about a potential war with North Korea. After last night’s cruise missile display, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is warning that his nation is on the “brink of war” with the United States.

One of the angles that is not getting a lot of discussion in the mainstream media is how the events of last night were viewed by the Chinese.

Donald Trump grew up in New York City at a time when the mafia still had a dominant presence, and to put a “hit” on another rival across town when you are sitting down for a meeting with a top boss from another family sends a very, very powerful message.

The fact that Trump ordered those 59 cruise missiles to rain down on Syria at the exact moment when he was having dinner with the president of China is going to be remembered by the Chinese for a very, very long time. In Asian cultures respect is a very big thing, and the Chinese had to be deeply embarrassed by what just happened last night.

On top of everything else, the truth is that Donald Trump blatantly violated the U.S. Constitution by conducting a military strike against Syria without the approval of Congress. This is something that U.S. Senator Rand Paul pointed out very clearly in an editorial that was released on Friday…

The Constitution clearly states that it is Congress that has the power to declare war, not the president. Even the War Powers Resolution, shoved forward by hawks as justification, clearly states criteria under which the president may act – a declaration of war, a specific statutory authorization, or a national emergency created by an attack on the United States.

That’s it. Absent those criteria, the president has no authority to act without congressional authorization. Congress must stand up and assert its authority here and now.

Conservatives always protested whenever Barack Obama violated the U.S. Constitution in this manner, and so they should protest when Donald Trump acts in the same fashion.

A lot of people will read this article and they aren’t going to grasp the importance of what is going on because they do not understand where all of this is ultimately heading.

But there are some of you that have major alarm bells going off in your head because you have been listening to the warnings and you know what comes next.

We have entered a season of time that myself and other watchmen have been warning about for many years. I just can’t believe that it is starting to happen so quickly. Many had been hoping for a time of peace and prosperity during a time of “reprieve” under Donald Trump, but you can forget that now.

The events of April 6th, 2017 have changed everything, and most Americans are completely unprepared for what will soon follow.

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YourNewsWire.com

Rothschild Demands Western Nations Invade Syria

April 11, 2017

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild has urged western nations to “unite as one” in order to “intervene” in Syria and overthrow Assad to “usher Syrians into the new century.”

Describing Assad as “a brutal dictator who must be bought to heel” during a grim speech at a fundraiser in the City of London financial district, Rothschild demanded that western nations “topple the Assad regime” because it is “resistant to common decency” and a threat to our “corporate values.“

Rothschild also referred to his family businesses which originated with five brothers setting up the “first and only truly global banking system,” operating from London, Paris, Vienna, Naples and Frankfurt just before the turn of the 19th century.

He said: “These five brothers, working together to exchange information and ideas, built an extraordinary business that superseded boundaries and cultures.

“Just over 200 years later, these business ideals, which have stood the test of time, are now under threat by despotic regimes that are resistant to common decency. These regimes pose a threat to our international corporate values.”

Sir Evelyn, a billionaire financier who is married to Lynn Forester de Rothschild, did not explain why world governments should listen to his demands for interventionist wars in the Middle-East.

However it has been suggested he is advocating for the invasion of Syria because the nation remains one of only five nations left in the world that does not have a Rothschild controlled central bank.

In the year 2000 there were eight countries without a Rothschild controlled central bank, however Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan – immediately after western invasion – now all have established central banks.

Will Syria be next?

Zero Hedge

1983 CIA Document Reveals Plan To Destroy Syria, Foreshadows Current Crisis

by Tyler Durden

Apr 10, 2017 11:05 PM

Prophetically foreshadowing the current crisis (and apparent action plan), leaked CIA documents from the reign of Bashar al-Assad's father in the 1980s show a Washington Deep State plan coalescing to "bring real muscle to bear against Syria," toppling its leader (in favor of one amenable to US demands) , severing ties with Russia (its primary arms dealer), and paving the way for an oil and gas pipeline of Washington's choosing.

As ActivistPost.com's Brandon Turbeville detailed (just a day before Trump unleashed his

Tomahawks), as the Syrian crisis enters its sixth year, the Donald Trump administration is looking more and more like the Obama administration every day. With the Trump regime refusing to open useful dialogue with Russia regarding Syria, its obvious anti-Iran and pro-Israel positioning, and support for a very questionable “safe zone” plan for Syria, the odds of a rational U.S. policy in regards to Syria has lower and lower odds of existence as time progresses.

Yet, despite the fact that the Trump administration is apparently poised to continue the Obama regime’s proxy war of aggression against the people of Syria, an example of seamless transition, it should also be remembered that the plan to destroy Syria did not begin with Obama but with the Bush administration.

Even now, as the world awaits the continuation of the Syrian war through a Democratic and Republican administration, the genesis of that war goes back to the Republican Bush administration, demonstrating that there is indeed an overarching agenda and an overarching infrastructure of an oligarchical deep state intent on moving forward regardless of which party is seemingly in power.

As journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in his article, “The Redirection,”

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

“Extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam” who are “hostile to America and sympathetic to al-Qaeda” are the definition of the so-called “rebels” turned loose on Syria in 2011. Likewise, the fact that both Iran and Hezbollah, who are natural enemies of al-Qaeda and such radical Sunni groups, are involved in the battle against ISIS and other related terrorist organizations in Syria proves the accuracy of the article on another level.

Hersh also wrote,

The new American policy, in its broad outlines, has been discussed publicly. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is “a new strategic alignment in the Middle East,” separating “reformers” and “extremists”; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were “on the other side of that divide.” (Syria’s Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, “have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize.”

Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said.

. . . . . .

This time, the U.S. government consultant told me, Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s who they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.”

. . . . . .

Fourth, the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations. Syria is a major conduit of arms to Hezbollah.

. . . . .

In January, after an outburst of street violence in Beirut involving supporters of both the Siniora government and Hezbollah, Prince Bandar flew to Tehran to discuss the political impasse in Lebanon and to meet with Ali Larijani, the Iranians’ negotiator on nuclear issues. According to a Middle Eastern ambassador, Bandar’s mission—which the ambassador said was endorsed by the White House—also aimed “to create problems between the Iranians and Syria.” There had been tensions between the two countries about Syrian talks with Israel, and the Saudis’ goal was to encourage a breach. However, the ambassador said, “It did not work. Syria and Iran are not going to betray each other. Bandar’s approach is very unlikely to succeed.”

. . . . . .

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of a radical Sunni movement founded in Egypt in 1928, engaged in more than a decade of violent opposition to the regime of Hafez Assad, Bashir’s father. In 1982, the Brotherhood took control of the city of Hama; Assad bombarded the city for a week, killing between six thousand and twenty thousand people. Membership in the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria. The Brotherhood is also an avowed enemy of the U.S. and of Israel. Nevertheless, Jumblatt said, “We told Cheney that the basic link between Iran and Lebanon is Syria—and to weaken Iran you need to open the door to effective Syrian opposition.”

. . . . .

There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.

Hersh also spoke with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Shi’ite Lebanese militia, Hezbollah. In relation to the Western strategy against Syria, he reported,

Nasrallah said he believed that America also wanted to bring about the partition of Lebanon and of Syria. In Syria, he said, the result would be to push the country “into chaos and internal battles like in Iraq.” In Lebanon, “There will be a Sunni state, an Alawi state, a Christian state, and a Druze state.” But, he said, “I do not know if there will be a Shiite state.” Nasrallah told me that he suspected that one aim of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon last summer was “the destruction of Shiite areas and the displacement of Shiites from Lebanon. The idea was to have the Shiites of Lebanon and Syria flee to southern Iraq,” which is dominated by Shiites. “I am not sure, but I smell this,” he told me.

Partition would leave Israel surrounded by “small tranquil states,” he said. “I can assure you that the Saudi kingdom will also be divided, and the issue will reach to North African states. There will be small ethnic and confessional states,” he said. “In other words, Israel will be the most important and the strongest state in a region that has been partitioned into ethnic and confessional states that are in agreement with each other. This is the new Middle East.”

Yet, while even the connections between the plans to destroy Syria and the Bush administration are generally unknown, what is even less well-known is the fact that there existed a plan to destroy Syria as far back as 1983.

Documents contained in the U.S. National Archives and drawn up by the CIA reveal a plan to destroy the Syrian government going back decades. One such document entitled, “Bringing Real Muscle To Bear In Syria,” written by CIA officer Graham Fuller, is particularly illuminating. In this document, Fuller wrote,

Syria at present has a hammerlock on US interests both in Lebanon and in the Gulf — through closure of Iraq’s pipeline thereby threatening Iraqi internationalization of the [Iran-Iraq] war. The US should consider sharply escalating the pressures against Assad [Sr.] through covertly orchestrating simultaneous military threats against Syria from three border states hostile to Syria: Iraq, Israel and Turkey.

Even as far back as 1983, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, was viewed as a gadfly to the plans of Western imperialists seeking to weaken both the Iraqis and the Iranians and extend hegemony over the Middle East and Persia. The document shows that Assad and hence Syria represented a resistance to Western imperialism, a threat to Israel, and that Assad himself was well aware of the game the United States, Israel, and other members of the Western imperialist coalition were trying to play against him. The report reads,

Syria continues to maintain a hammerlock on two key U.S. interests in the Middle East:

— Syrian refusal to withdraw its troops from Lebanon ensures Israeli occupation in the south;

— Syrian closure of the Iraqi pipeline has been a key factor in bringing Iraq to its financial knees, impelling it towards dangerous internationalization of the war in the Gulf

Diplomatic initiatives to date have had little effect on Assad who has so far correctly calculated the play of forces in the area and concluded that they are only weakly arrayed against him. If the U.S. is to rein in Syria’s spoiling role, it can only do so through exertion of real muscle which will pose a vital threat to Assad’s position and power.

The author then presents a plan that sounds eerily similar to those now being discussed publicly by Western and specifically American corporate-financier think tanks and private non-governmental organizations who unofficially craft American policy. Fuller writes,

The US should consider sharply escalating the pressures against Assad [Sr.] through covertly orchestrating simultaneous military threats against Syria from three border states hostile to Syria: Iraq, Israel and Turkey. Iraq, perceived to be increasingly desperate in the Gulf war, would undertake limited military (air) operations against Syria with the sole goal of opening the pipeline. Although opening war on a second front against Syria poses considerable risk to Iraq, Syria would also face a two-front war since it is already heavily engaged in the Bekaa, on the Golan and in maintaining control over a hostile and restive population inside Syria.

Israel would simultaneously raise tensions along Syria’s Lebanon front without actually going to war. Turkey, angered by Syrian support to Armenian terrorism, to Iraqi Kurds on Turkey’s Kurdish border areas and to Turkish terrorists operating out of northern Syria, has often considered launching unilateral military operations against terrorist camps in northern Syria. Virtually all Arab states would have sympathy for Iraq.

Faced with three belligerent fronts, Assad would probably be forced to abandon his policy of closure of the pipeline. Such a concession would relieve the economic pressure on Iraq, and perhaps force Iran to reconsider bringing the war to an end. It would be a sharpening blow to Syria’s prestige and could effect the equation of forces in Lebanon.

Thus, Fuller outlines that not only would Syria be forced to reopen the pipeline of interest at the time, but that it would be a regional shockwave effecting the makeup of forces in and around Lebanon, weakening the prestige of the Syrian state and, presumably, the psychological state of the Syrian President and the Syrian people, as well as a message to Iran.

The document continues,

Such a threat must be primarily military in nature. At present there are three relatively hostile elements around Syria’s borders: Israel, Iraq and Turkey. Consideration must be given to orchestrating a credible military threat against Syria in order to induce at least some moderate change in its policies.

This paper proposes serious examination of the use of all three states – acting independently – to exert the necessary threat. Use of any one state in isolation cannot create such a credible threat.

The strategy proposed here by the CIA is virtually identical to the one being discussed by deep state establishment think tanks like the Brookings Institution today. For instance, in the Brookings document “Middle East Memo #21: Saving Syria: Assessing Options For Regime Change,” it says,

Turkey’s participation would be vital for success, and Washington would have to encourage the Turks to play a more helpful role than they have so far. While Ankara has lost all patience with Damascus, it has taken few concrete steps that would increase the pressure on Asad (and thereby antagonize Tehran). Turkish policy toward the Syrian opposition has actually worked at cross-purposes with American efforts to foster a broad, unified national organization. With an eye to its own domestic Kurdish dilemmas, Ankara has frustrated efforts to integrate the Syrian Kurds into a broader opposition framework. In addition, it has overtly favored the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood over all other opposition groups. Washington must impress upon Turkey the need to be more accommodating of legitimate Kurdish political and cultural demands in a post-Asad Syria, and to be less insistent on the primacy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Some voices in Washington and Jerusalem are exploring whether Israel could contribute to coercing Syrian elites to remove Asad. The Israelis have the region’s most formidable military, impressive intelligence services, and keen interests in Syria. In addition, Israel’s intelligence services have a strong knowledge of Syria, as well as assets within the Syrian regime that could be used to subvert the regime’s power base and press for Asad’s removal. Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training. Such a mobilization could perhaps persuade Syria’s military leadership to oust Asad in order to preserve itself. Advocates argue this additional pressure could tip the balance against Asad inside Syria, if other forces were aligned properly.

While Syria is not in conflict with Iraq today, after being destroyed by the United States in 2003, Western Iraq now houses the mysteriously-funded Islamic State on the border between Iraq and Syria.

That being said, this plan is not merely being discussed, it is being implemented as one can clearly see by the fact that Israel routinely launches airstrikes against the Syrian military, Turkey continues to funnel ISIS and related terrorists into Syria through its own territory, and ISIS continues to present itself as an Eastern front militarily. As a result, the “multi-front” war envisioned and written about by the CIA in 1983 and discussed by Brookings in 2012 has come to fruition and is in full swing today.

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MailOnline (Some may find this article to graphic. Ed)

How the Mother of All Bombs kills people: Vaporized bodies, crushed internal organs and suffocated to death... while anyone who survives is left psychologically scarred for life

• The US dropped its largest non-nuclear weapon on ISIS in Afghanistan

• Was dropped on tunnels containing ISIS camp in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province

• The Pentagon estimates that 800 ISIS terrorists were in the area

• GBU-43 bomb weighs 21,600 pounds, is 30 feet long, contains 11 tons of explosives

• Unleashes huge explosive forces in the seconds after detonation - leveling buildings, tunnels and causing fireball which incinerates anyone

• Trump pledged in 2015 that if he became president he would 'bomb the s**t out of ' ISIS

By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 01:11, 14 April 2017 | UPDATED: 06:31, 14 April 2017

The GBU-43, otherwise known as the Mother of All Bombs, or MOAB unleashes a devastating fireball that incinerates and vaporizes anything within 30 feet when it first detonates.In the milliseconds following the initial blast in Afghanistan, all the oxygen would have been forced out of the tunnels and for hundreds of feet around, literally sucking the life out of ISIS terrorists, suffocating them as their lungs imploded.Then, in a flash the fiery shockwave would have radiated outwards at the speed of sound for up to a mile, causing huge blunt force trauma injuries to anyone caught in its path, leveling buildings and trees.Huge: The MOAB test fired in 2003 shortly before final preparations for it to be loaded onto an MC-130 attack aircaft

Ears would have been left bleeding ears and internal organs battered by the sheer force of the shockwave.

The blast would also have caused many within two miles of the blast to lose their hearing.

Anyone caught inside the tunnels would have been crushed as the force of 19,000 pounds of highly complex explosives caused them to collapse on top of the ISIS terrorists.

Anyone left alive would have been shocked and left in awe by the sight of a terrifying mushroom cloud - the psychological scars staying with them forever.

The Pentagon estimates that 800 ISIS terrorists were in the area.

Its frightening power was unleashed by the United States for the first time on Thursday when it was dropped on an ISIS camp in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, in order to obliterate underground tunnels used by the terrorists.

A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 feet wide after it exploded just six feet above the ground. Anyone at ground zero was vaporized.

The energy released by the nearly 19,000 pounds of highly complex explosive, would have caused a barometric shock wave known as 'overpressure' that moves at the speed of sound away from ground zero.

Classed as a thermobaric bomb - 'thermo' for heat and 'baric' for pressure, the MOAB features a two stage detonation powered by H6 explosive which contains powdered aluminum.

The first blast detonates and spreads highly flammable aluminum dust and the second is the baric blast - which literally sucks oxygen out from cave tunnels before rapidly becoming an expanding shock wave.

Both the implosion and the blast wave cause massive internal damage to anyone who has not been already been incinerated by the explosion, with most injuries to hollow organs such as the ears, lungs and stomach.

Is That Armageddon Over The Horizon?

April 12, 2017

Paul Craig Roberts

The insouciance of the Western world is extraordinary. It is not only Americans who permit themselves to be brainwashed by CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the New York Times and Washington Post, but also their counterparts in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, who rely on the war propaganda machine that poses as a media. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39573526

The Western “leaders,” that is, the puppets on the end of the strings pulled by the powerful private interest groups and the Deep State, are just as insouciant. Trump and his counterparts in the American Empire must be unaware that they are provoking war with Russia and China, or else they are psychopaths.

A new White House Fool has replaced the old fool. The New Fool has sent his Secretary of State to Russia. For what? To deliver an ultimatum? To make more false accusations? To apologize for the lies?

Consider the audacity of Secretary of State Tillerson. He has spent the week prior to his visit to Moscow supporting incredible lies and false allegations that Assad of Syria used chemical weapons with Russia’s permission, which justified Washington’s unambigious war crime of a military attack on a country with which the US has not declared war. Less than 100 days in office, and Trump is already a war criminal along with the rest of his warmonger government.

The entire world knows this, but no one says it. Instead, Tillerson, who has been heavy with lies and threats has the confidence to go to Moscow to tell the Russians that they have to hand over Assad to the American Uni-Power.

Tillerson’s mission demonstrates the complete, total unreality of the world in which Washington lives. Try to imagine Tillerson’s arrogance. If you had been bad-mouthing and threatening strong, important people, would you feel comfortable going over to their house to have dinner with them? Does Tillerson think that now that Russia has largely freed Syrtia of US-supported ISIS, Russia is going to turn Syria over to Washington?

Is he going to tell Lavrov that he didn’t really mean all those nasty lies he told about Russia, but the zionist neoconservatives made him do it? That he is not really in charge, just a tool of the Anglo-Zionist Empire?

Is Tillerson going to apologize for White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s statement that Assad, Russia’s ally, is more evil than Hitler? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39573063

Maybe Tillerson is going to ask for asylum and get on the winning side.

Stephen Cohen, one of the few remaining Americans knowledgeable about Russia, told the two CNN presstitutes and the warmonger Col. Leighton, one of the “experts” that the presstitutes roll out to pronounce the propaganda against Russia, that Russia was preparing for hot war. It seems to have gone over the heads of the CNN presstitutes and colonel. Whose payroll are they on? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46838.htm

The Russian leaders, who, unlike the Western liars, speak the truth, have said clearly that Russia will never again fight a war on her own territory. The Russians couldn’t put it more clearly. Provoke a war, and we will destroy you on your own territory.

When you watch the president and government in Washington, the European governments, especially the idiots in London, the Canadian and Australian governments, you can only marvel at the total stupidity of “Western leadership.” They are begging for the end of the world.

And the presstitutes are at work driving toward the end of life. Huge numbers of Western peoples are being prepared for their demise, and they are protected from the realization by their insouciance.

Washington is so arrogant and lost in its own hubris, that Washington does not understand that the years of clear as crystal lies about Russia and Russian intentions and deeds have convinced Russia that Washington is preparing the populations of the United States and Washington’s captive peoples in West and East Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan for a US pre-emptive nuclear strike against Russia. Published US war plans against China have convinced China of the same.

If not for war, what else is the change in US war doctrine for? George W. Bush abandoned the stabilizing role of nuclear weapons by moving them from a retaliatory function to a nuclear first strike. Then he pulled out of the anti-ballistic missile treaty concluded by President Richard Nixon. Now we have US missile sites positioned on Russia’s borders. We tell the Russians the lie that the missiles are to prevent an Iranian nuclear ICBM strike against Europe. This lie is told, and accepted by the puppets in Europe, despite the known, incontestable fact that Iran has neither nukes nor ICBMs. But the Russians do not accept it. They know it is another Washington lie.

When Russia hears these flagrant, blatant, obvious lies, Russia understands that Washington intends a preemptive nuclear attack on Russia.

China has reached the same conclusion.

So, here is the situation. Two countries with nuclear forces expect that the insane fools who rule the West are going to attack them with nuclear weapons. What are Russia and China doing? Are they begging for mercy?

No. They are preparing to destroy the evil West, a collection of liars and war criminals, the like of which the world has never previously experienced.

It is the US, the washed-up joke of a “uni-power” that after 16 years is still unable to defeat a few thousand lightly armed Taliban in Afghanistan, that needs to ask for mercy.

The reckless and irresponsible war talk in the US government and presstitute media and among NATO and Washington’s vassals must stop immediately. Life is in the balance.

Putin has shown amazing patience with Washington’s lies and provocations, but he cannot risk Russia by trusting Washington, whom no one can trust. Not the American people, not the Russian people, not any people.

By jumping on the Deep State’s propaganda wagon the liberal/progressive/left is complicit in the march toward Armageddon.

RT

George Soros and Viktor Orbán go to war in Budapest

Bryan MacDonald is an Irish journalist, who is based in Russia

8 April 2017

Hungary’s pressure on George Soros’ Budapest university is about more than the future of one school. It’s part of an ideological battle which will dominate European and North American discourse in the coming years.

Whatever you might say about Viktor Orbán, he’s a fast and decisive mover. Last Sunday, when thousands demonstrated in Budapest against his proposal to tighten regulation on foreign universities, marchers spoke of a lengthy campaign of resistance. Two days later, it was a done deal. Orbán had rushed the bill through parliament, displaying an efficiency Angela Merkel would admire, if she didn’t distrust him for other reasons.

His target was Soros, Hungary’s wealthiest son, who has become a hate figure for nationalists across Europe. And a man who divides a country. Many Hungarians admire Soros's philosophy and see him as a benefactor. However, more again see his influence as nefarious and reject his ethos of globalist Atlanticism.

For liberals, Hungary has been a huge disappointment. Because, back in the early 90’s, it was considered the most westernized of the ex-Warsaw pact states. And only 20 years ago, the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free Democrats held an overwhelming majority in parliament. Yet, with the country facing bankruptcy, they were forced to implement a hugely unpopular austerity package that allowed Orbán’s Fidesz party to jump from 20 to 148 seats in the 1998 election. For the next decade, the two blocs fought a close battle until the latter took control in 2010, with the Socialists mortally wounded by accusations of rampant corruption, which even led to riots.

Changing his tune

Since then, Orbán used his huge 2010 majority to change the constitution and has proven himself something of a chameleon. For instance, he has simultaneously cultivated close relations with both Vladimir Putin and Poland’s hyper-patriotic government. And although Russian companies have won significant contracts in the transportation and energy sectors, every time anti-Moscow sanctions have come before the European Union, Budapest has faithfully backed them.

Inside the EU, Hungary’s attitude to migrants has often created outrage. For instance, when Angela Merkel was opening Germany’s doors, Orbán was constructing a wall to keep the newcomers out. However, Fidesz, politically connected to Merkel’s CDU movement through Brussels’ European People's Party grouping, has paradoxically proven to be its most loyal supporter in European parliament votes. Fidesz MEPs vote “98 percent with us - even more than the Germans," an EPP official told Politico this week. This displays the genius of Orbán’s double game.

Because while he’s been busy dismantling liberal democracy in Hungary, EU grant aid has kept rolling in, averaging 2.4 percent of GDP from 2004-2014. And discontent in Brussels has been measured in murmurs, rather than roars. Even the Americans seem relatively quiet, meekly observing this week how Washington is “disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting (the) Central European University.” At the same time, his government's overtures to Donald Trump, which it considers a like-minded potential ally, have been met with silence.

No Time Like Present

While everybody knows that Orbán’s obvious desire is to clip Soros’ wings, the actual legislation itself is slightly more vague. It forces foreign universities to close unless there’s a bilateral agreement in place between Hungary and their “home” government and they have a campus abroad. In the case of the Central European University, the only option is to open a mothership in the US or head for the hills. As a result, other locations, in Austria, Romania and Lithuania, have been offering themselves as alternatives.

The CEU was founded in 1991 in Prague, before former President Vaclav Klaus booted it out a few years later. Back then its stated mission was to “educate a new corps of regional leaders to help usher in democratic transitions across the region.” By the year 2000, it had moved onto “a special emphasis on democracy promotion and human rights.” Among its alumni are Azeri dissidents Ilgar Mammadov and Rashadat Akhundov, Serbian pro-NATO activist Srđan Cvijić and current Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili. Thus, many local influencers fear Budapest has been hosting its own “colour revolution” factory.

Orbán and Soros have had their share of mutual grievances. Two years ago, the Prime Minister accused the billionaire of being responsible for the migrant crisis. "His name is perhaps the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle,” he told a radio station. "These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network.”

Soros shot back, saying he was trying to “uphold European values” while Orbán’s actions “undermined those values.”

In February of this year, the feud intensified. “Large-bodied predators are swimming here in the waters. This is the trans-border empire of George Soros, with tons of money and international heavy artillery,” Orbán insisted. “It is causing trouble … that they are trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics,”

Tale of the Tape

Orbán's party is fully on board. Fidesz deputy chairman, Szilard Nemeth, said in December that Donald Trump’s US election win was a game changer: “these organisations must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think they must be swept out. And now I believe the international conditions are right for this with the election.”

As for the two heavy hitters themselves, while both are Hungarian, they couldn't be more different. Soros is a billionaire, whose $25 million fortune is worth about 20 percent of his homeland’s entire GDP. He was raised in an upper middle-class home in Budapest, his father a lawyer and his mother from a wealthy family of silk traders. At the age of 17, he left Hungary and migrated to Britain, where he studied at London’s School of Economics. Ten years later, New York beckoned and, by his late 30s, Soros had founded his own fund management company.

By contrast, Orbán is a country boy. Hailing from the rural county of Fejer, where his father worked in agriculture, he studied law in Budapest. However, such was his dislike for city life that, upon graduation, he immediately relocated to a country town, Szolnok, and commuted into the capital for work. In 1989, he spent a few months at Oxford University, ironically on a Soros scholarship, but quickly returned to Hungary to enter politics.

Soros once said he hoped that his foundation would help Hungary become “a country from which I wouldn’t want to emigrate.” It seems, at the age of 86, his mission to fashion his homeland’s politics to his own agenda has failed. That said, the majority of Hungarian voters appear to be supportive of Orbán’s ambition to create an illiberal, nationalist state, within the European Union. And there's no doubting how the politician is winning the argument.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

***

RT

Dutch MPs vote to punish schools that refuse to teach LGBT awareness

Published 13 April, 2017

© Andrea Comas / Reuters

An overwhelming majority of MPs in the Netherlands' lower house of parliament have voted in support of a motion which would allow schools to be punished if they refuse to teach LGBT awareness, according to local media.

Most MPs in the Tweede Kamer supported the motion in a Tuesday vote, according to Dutch news outlet NOS.

The proposal was put forth by Socialist Party (SP) parliamentarian Jasper van Dijk, who wants schools to be fined or face administrative action if they consistently refuse to teach their students about sexual diversity.

Van Dijk, who says that providing children with LGBT education contributes to the fight against discrimination, tweeted about the motion's success following the vote.

Although all schools in the Netherlands have been required to teach the curriculum since 2012, about 20 percent of primary and high schools do not do so, according to the Education Inspectorate. The same is true for about 40 percent of regional educational centers (ROCs).

The only parties which did not support the motion were the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Christian-right Reformed Political Party (SGP), and the right-wing Forum for Democracy (FvD) party.

VVD parliamentarian Dilan Yesilgoz said her party does not want to override the Education Inspectorate, stating that it also prefers to evaluate school curriculum as a whole, rather than focus on one part.

The motion will now be moved to the upper house of parliament.

The LGBT-friendly proposal comes after heterosexual Dutch men across the Netherlands and elsewhere held hands with other men earlier this month, in a symbol of solidarity after a hand-holding gay couple was attacked in Arnhem. Images of the movement were posted on social media under the hashtag #allemannenhandinhand (all men, holding hands).

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La Healthy Living

Baking Soda Shampoo: It Will Make Your Hair Grow Like it Is Magic

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

by Anya Vien

Have you ever read the ingredient list of your shampoo or conditioner? If you haven’t, then let me tell you this: it’s scary.

There are over 12 toxic ingredients to avoid in shampoo and conditioner, mainly because they have been linked with causing cancer, and other disease and illness.

Even shampoos labelled as containing “all-natural ingredients” aren’t safe. They still contain things like like DMDM hydantoin and ammonium laurel sulphate. Not things that sound all-natural, right? My rule is – if you can’t eat it, then you shouldn’t put it on (or in) your body.
The Solution

Try baking soda instead. It enhances the quality of your hair and eliminates the residue of shampoo and conditioners, providing a long-lasting shine of the hair. You can use it instead of your regular shampoo and enjoy its amazing effects.

If you are a fan of DIY remedies and want to avoid the harsh effects of commercial products which are loaded with chemicals, we will show you a way to prepare your own natural shampoo which will provide incredible results. Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda, 16 oz

You may find it awkward to use this shampoo at the beginning, as it does not make foam as other shampoos, but you will get used to it over time, and its effects will definitely make you choose it over commercial hair products.

How to Make Baking Soda Shampoo

In a small squeeze bottle, mix baking soda and water in a ratio 1:3.

Adjust the quantity according to the length of your hair, so if you have a long hair, mix 3 tablespoons of baking soda with 9 tablespoon of water.

Then, you can apply it on dry or wet hair, from the roots to the hair ends, and leave it to act for 1-3 minutes. Then, rinse it off with warm water.

Next, rinse the hair once more using apple cider vinegar. Mix 1 part of it with 4 parts of water. You can add some essential oil to improve the smell. Tilt the head backward in order to prevent apple cider vinegar from getting into the eyes. Tilt the head back and rinse the hair once again.

You can prepare the ACV in advance and keep it in a bottle in your bathroom, in order to use it whenever you need.

The first effects are visible after the first treatment, and after a few times, your hair will start growing with an accelerated speed, and the hair will be strong, shiny and incredibly healthy!

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

(Matthew 10:29-31)