World War 3 Could Start This Month: 350,000 Soldiers in Saudi Arabia Stand Ready to Invade Syria

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350,000 soldiers, 20,000 tanks, 2,450 warplanes and 460 military helicopters are massing in northern Saudi Arabia for a military exercise that is being called “Northern Thunder”. According to the official announcement, forces are being contributed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia and several other nations. This exercise will reportedly last for 18 days, and during that time the airspace over northern Saudi Arabia will be closed to air traffic. This will be the largest military exercise in the history of the region, and it comes amid rumors that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are preparing for a massive ground invasion of Syria.

If you were going to gather forces for an invasion, this is precisely how you would do it. Governments never come out and publicly admit that forces are moving into position for an invasion ahead of time, so “military exercises” are a common excuse that gets used for this sort of thing.

If these exercises are actually being used as an excuse to mass forces near the northern Saudi border, then we should expect an invasion to begin within the next couple of weeks. If it happens, we should expect to see the Saudi coalition storm through western Iraq and into Syria from the south, and it is likely that Turkey will come in from the north.

The goal would be to take out the Assad regime before Russia, Iran and Hezbollah could react. For the past couple of years, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have been funding the Sunni insurgency in Syria, and they were counting on those insurgents to be able to take down the Assad regime by themselves.

You see, the truth is that ISIS was never supposed to lose in Syria. Saudi Arabia and her allies have been funneling massive amounts of money to ISIS, and hundreds of millions of dollars of ISIS oil has been shipped into Turkey where it is sold to the rest of the world.

The major Sunni nations wanted ISIS and the other Sunni insurgent groups to take down Assad. In the aftermath, Saudi Arabia and her allies intended to transform Syria into a full-blown Sunni nation.

But then Russia, Iran and Hezbollah stepped forward to assist the Assad regime. Russian air support completely turned the tide of the war, and now the Sunni insurgents are on the brink of losing.

Aleppo was once the largest city in Syria, and Sunni insurgents have controlled it since 2012. But now relentless Russian airstrikes have made it possible for Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah ground forces to surround the city, and it is about to fall back into the hands of the Syrian government.

If this happens, the war will essentially be over.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have invested massive amounts of time, money and effort into overthrowing Assad, and they aren’t about to walk away now.

If the war was to end right at this moment, a weakened Assad regime would remain in power, and Iran and Hezbollah would be the dominant powers in the country for years to come. And once Assad died, it would be inevitable that Iran and Hezbollah would attempt to transform Syria into a full-blown Shiite nation. This is something that Saudi Arabia and Turkey want to avoid at all costs.

So they are actually considering what was once absolutely unthinkable – a massive ground invasion of Syria.

But if Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies go in, they run the risk of a full-blown war with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Just consider some of the comments that we have seen in recent days…

Reacting to a potential troop deployment, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said Saturday, “Let no one think they can attack Syria or violate its sovereignty because I assure you any aggressor will return to their country in a wooden coffin.”

Pavel Krasheninnikov, a deputy of Russia’s State Duma, has warned Saudi Arabia that any military ground operation in Syria without Damascus’ consent would amount to a declaration of war, Press TV reported.

We could literally be looking at the spark that sets off World War 3. I can’t believe that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are actually considering this.

And if it does happen, you can rest assured that Barack Obama gave them the green light to go in.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the decision may have already been made. Just consider what Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is saying…

“If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch a ground operation,” he added, fueling concerns that a foreign troop invasion may soon further complicate the already turbulent situation in the war-torn country.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE voiced their readiness to contribute troops for a ground operation in Syria on the condition that the US would lead the intervention. Damascus and its key regional ally, Iran, warned that such a foreign force would face strong resistance.

And in addition to all of the forces massing in northern Saudi Arabia, the London Independent is reporting that the Saudis have sent troops and aircraft to a military base in Turkey…

Saudi Arabia is sending troops and fighter jets to Turkey’s Incirlik military base ahead of a possible ground invasion of Syria.

The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, confirmed the deployment in a statement to the Yeni Şafak newspaper on Saturday, days before a temporary ceasefire is due to come into force.

There are reports that Saudi officials are saying that the decision to send in ground troops is “irreversible”, and Reuters is reporting that the Syrian government claims that some Turkish troops have already entered the country…

The Syrian government says Turkish forces were believed to be among 100 gunmen it said entered Syria on Saturday accompanied by 12 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, in an ongoing supply operation to insurgents fighting Damascus.

“The operation of supplying ammunition and weapons is continuing via the Bab al-Salama crossing to the Syrian area of Azaz,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council published by state news agency SANA.

Of course the Turkish government is not going to confirm that report, but what we do know is that Turkey is shelling Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of the border. The funny thing is that these Kurdish forces are actually being supported and supplied by the U.S. government.

So the Turks are not supposed to be doing this, but according to Reuters they have been doing it for two days in a row anyway…

The Turkish army shelled positions held by Kurdish-backed militia in northern Syria for a second day on Sunday, killing two fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Turkey on Saturday demanded the powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia withdraw from areas that it had captured in the northern Aleppo region in recent days from insurgents in Syria, including the Menagh air base. The shelling has targeted those areas.

The hostility between Turkey and the Kurds goes back a long, long way. The Syrian Kurds are not threatening Turkey in any way right now, but Turkey is using the instability in the region as an excuse to lob artillery shells at a hated enemy. It is an act of naked aggression that the Obama administration should be loudly denouncing.

In addition, it is being reported that Syrian government forces have also been getting shelled by the Turkish military…

Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish military hit Syrian government forces on Saturday, adding that the shelling had been in response to fire inflicted on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey’s southern Hatay region.

Turkish artillery targeted Syrian forces again late on Saturday, according to a military source quoted by RIA Novosti. The attack targeted the town of Deir Jamal in the Aleppo Governorate.

Needless to say, the Russians are quite alarmed by all of this.

In fact, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is warning about what could happen if things spiral out of control…

In the wake of Saudi Arabia’s proposal to send in ground troops on Thursday, the Russian Prime Minister claimed the move could spark a new world war.

“A ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war,” he told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

“The Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war.”

If Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies launch an invasion and make a mad dash to take out the Assad regime in Damascus, the Russians will inevitably respond.

And if tactical nuclear weapons are necessary to keep the invading forces out of Damascus, the Russians will not be shy about using them.

I don’t know if I have ever seen a scenario which was more likely to initiate World War 3 than the one that we are watching unfold right now.

So what has the mainstream media been saying about all of this?

Incredibly, they have been almost entirely silent. When he went looking for news about these events, James Bailey could find almost nothing on either Fox News or CNN…

I just visited the home page for Foxnews.com and found not one single mention of the insane events now unfolding in the Middle East. I could not believe it, so I used my Find tool to search for Syria and Saudi Arabia. Not one mention!

Of course that could change at any moment, but nothing there when I checked. Their stories were all about the meaningless Presidential election, which has already been decided regardless of what we think about it, and other stories about entertainment, sports, Congressional political theater, etc.

So I went to CNN and found just about the same thing with one news story about the Syrian cease fire, but when I read it there was no mention of any of the big events that have developed this week. This is truly an amazing media blackout!

But Fox News does have space to run headlines like these…

–Spanish man skipped work for 6 years, still got paid

–48 people rescued from stuck tram cars at New Hampshire ski resort

–Lovelorn elephant takes out his rage on more than a dozen cars

And CNN apparently thinks that these news stories are more important than the potential beginning of World War 3…

–Kanye West drops album, says he’s $53 million in debt

–Dutch cops train eagles to hunt drones

–Teen hands out 900 flowers to girls at school

If Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies are going to conduct an invasion of Syria, the most likely time for this to happen will be by the end of this month during these military exercises.

If we can get to March 1st and no invasion has happened yet, perhaps we can breathe a little sigh of relief.

But if it does happen, and the Russians and the Iranians decide to shoot back, it really could be the start of World War 3.

If you have not been paying attention up until now, you need to start, because this could literally change everything. (For more from the author of “World War 3 Could Start This Month: 350,000 Soldiers in Saudi Arabia Stand Ready to Invade Syria” please click HERE)

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Russia’s Prime Minister: We Are in a New Cold War

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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said his country is in a new Cold War with the U.S. and its allies, underscoring the tenuous level of trust that’s putting a day-old plan for a truce in Syria at risk.

The clash, with echoes of superpower rhetoric during the 20th century, played out at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday even as Russia, Europe and the U.S. say they’re seeking cooperation to end Syria’s civil war, resolve the armed standoff in eastern Ukraine and make progress toward lifting European economic sanctions against Russia.

Fresh from helping craft the accord for Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that the U.S. is reneging on the agreement and put the chances of success at less than 50 percent. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, addressing the meeting separately, demanded an end to Russian bombing of groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“This is a hinge point,” Kerry told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. “We hope this week can be a week of change. It is critical for all of us to take advantage of this moment to make this cessation of hostilities work.”

On stage at the international gathering of diplomats and defense officials, Medvedev set a different tone, blaming the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization for stoking conflict. Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary general, said Russia is using its nuclear arsenal to intimidate Europe. (Read more from “Russia’s Prime Minister: We Are in a New Cold War” HERE)

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Air Force Crew Refueling Plane Saves Pilot in Emergency Over ISIS Territory

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A quick-thinking refueling plane crew saved a fighter pilot who faced having to eject over Islamic State territory.

The F-16 had been trying to refuel in mid-air when the pilot discovered a malfunction with his fuel system, which meant he could only fly for 15 minutes – nowhere near enough to reach safety.

Instead of leaving the pilot to cope with the emergency himself, the US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crew managed to escort him back to its base while refueling every 15 minutes to keep the jet in the air.

US Air Force commander Lt Col Eric Hallberg said: “Over 80% of his total fuel capability was trapped and unusable.

“Knowing the risks to their own safety, they put the life of the F-16 pilot first and made what could’ve been an international tragedy a feel-good news story. (Read more from “Air Force Crew Refueling Plane Saves Pilot in Emergency Over ISIS Territory” HERE)

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Pentagon: North Korea Nuclear, Missile Threat Increasing

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North Korea poses an increasing danger of using long-range missiles capable of striking the United States with nuclear warheads and is fielding new road-mobile and submarine-launched missiles, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress made public Friday.

The Pentagon is working with South Korea, Japan and other countries to counter “the continued and growing threat from North Korea, its nuclear and missile programs, and its proliferation of related technology,” the report said, adding that the U.S. provides “extended deterrence” through both nuclear and conventional forces . . .

“North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear technology and capabilities and development of intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile programs underscore the growing threat it poses to regional stability and U.S. national security,” the 30-page report states.

“North Korea’s pursuit of a submarine-launched ballistic missile capability also highlights the regime’s commitment to diversifying its missile force, strengthening the missile force’s survivability, and finding new ways to coerce its neighbors.”

North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) program was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon. In January, the first successful ejection test of the developmental SLBM was carried out. (Read more from “Pentagon: North Korea Nuclear, Missile Threat Increasing” HERE)

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U.S. To Restore Commercial Flights to Cuba

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In just a matter of days, U.S. airlines will begin a fierce bidding war to win routes and airport slots to a destination that’s been off-limits to them for more than 50 years: Cuba.

Starting Tuesday, U.S. carriers will have 15 days to submit applications to the Department of Transportation for routes they’d like to fly between the U.S and Cuba.

The development brings airlines and travelers yet another step closer to scheduled commercial flights between the two countries.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and staff from the State Department will fly from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., to Cuba to formally sign an agreement to resume flights between the two countries. (Read more from “U.S. To Restore Commercial Flights to Cuba” HERE)

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Congress Passes Feel Good Legislation on North Korea, Waivers Galore

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It was one of those moments where both parties came together in a rare showing of collegiality and voted to strengthen sanctions on North Korea. After all, the madman in charge of North Korea just launched a long-range rocket, conducted nuclear weapons testing, and resurrected another plutonium reactor. The Senate responded by unanimously passing a sanctions bill.

Or so the media would have you believe. In reality, these moments of bipartisanship are not rare and are more the rule than the exception. This bill embodies the parties getting along well together precisely because it doesn’t really do much and won’t force Obama to do anything he is recalcitrant to pursue.

To begin with, the reason Democrats are more willing to go along with sanctions on North Korea than Iran, even though Iran is violating the terms of the nuclear agreement, is because these measures are largely symbolic. Placing real sanctions on Iran would derail the nascent treaty that Obama so fervently supports. As it relates to North Korea, the ship has already sailed because they have already acquired nuclear weapons thanks to a similar process Democrats just supported vis-à-vis Iran. It is widely believed that North Korea has up to 16 nuclear warheads.

H.R. 757 is full of directives that the White House issue reports and monitor behavior of individuals related to the North Korean regime. The only few provisions in this bill that will actually change the current reality and put the screws to Kim Jong Un are full of waivers that Obama will utilize immediately. Section 203 of the bill would require a special license to export any goods or technology to North Korea and would direct the president to cut off all aid to any country that provides “lethal military equipment” to North Korea. This provision specifically targets China. But the bill provides a waiver if the president believes it’s in “our national interest” and an exception if the assistance is “for human rights, democracy, rule of law, or emergency humanitarian purposes.”

Section 206 calls on the State Department to deny visas to anyone involved in assisting the North Korean regime’s weapons program, but this provision and many others are voided out by a plethora of waivers and exemptions in Section 208.

Everyone understands why you would insert national security and humanitarian exceptions into a piece of legislation. But that is predicated on having a president who is looking out for our interests and not siding with our enemies. To pass a new bill with so many waivers after everything we’ve seen from this president is a complete joke.

In December, Congress passed a bill requiring Iranian and Iraqi nationals with European passports to obtain a visa in order to travel to the U.S. Under current law, most European countries are exempt from the visa requirement. But they inserted a national interest waiver into the bill and within just two weeks John Kerry announced that he was exempting Iranians from the extra layer of scrutiny.

Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that the Obama administration will continue to coddle North Korea the same way it has Iran. Obama’s State Department has refused to list North Korea as a state sponsor of terror and this bill declines to force the administration’s hand. Last year, the Obama administration turned a blind eye to North Korea’s shipment of missiles to Iran in order to protect both of them from sanctions. There is nothing in this bill that will force the hand of an administration that has already demonstrated it doesn’t view North Korea as a threat. And in some ways, Obama views them as a strategic partner in forging his alliance with Iran. Besides, why make his buddies in China mad?

In 2011, Obama did nothing after China transferred transporter-erector-launchers to North Korea. As Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a letter to Obama, “[U]pon receipt of these vehicles, North Korea modified them with the ability to launch the KN-08, an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States from a road-mobile launch platform.”

It’s understandable why Republicans would jump at the opportunity to get this bill on Obama’s desk, but there was no reason for them to toss Democrats a loin cloth and block all amendments, even those with common sense provisions tightening some of the waivers. Sen. Rand Paul was prevented from offering his amendment (#3301), which would have struck the humanitarian waivers from the bill.

The next time you see Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid back-slapping each other on passing a bill that sounds meritorious, make sure to read the fine print. (For more from the author of “Congress Passes Feel Good Legislation on North Korea, Waivers Galore” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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Nation of Islam Leader Hails ‘Wonderful Revolution,’ Slams America

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By Patrick Goodenough. Visiting Iran for celebrations marking the 37th anniversary of the rise to power of the ayatollahs, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has hailed the “wonderful revolution” and said Iran was emerging from sanctions “stronger” and “more influential.”

He also took the opportunity to criticize the United States, saying African-Americans have lived under “tyranny” from the days of slavery until the present time.

Farrakhan was due to take part in a public rally in Tehran on Thursday, along with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)–Qods Force chief Major General Qassem Soleimani, and other leaders. Beforehand, he spoke to Iranian reporters after meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign affairs advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Since that [1979 Islamic] revolution, Brother Velayati explained the stages that this great nation has undergone in establishing that wonderful revolution,” Farrakhan said.

“I would hope that at this later stage, where you are now coming out from under sanctions—sanctions that were designed by the West to destroy the revolutionary spirit of the Iranian people, and cause the Iranian people to rise up against their government,” he continued. (Read more from “Nation of Islam Leader Hails ‘Wonderful Revolution,’ Slams America” HERE)

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US Navy ‘Disgusted’ by Iran’s Exploitation of Sailors’ Detention

By Patrick Goodenough. A spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said Thursday it was “disgusted by the exploitation of our sailors in Iranian propaganda,” after the regime’s state television released images of a U.S. Navy sailor apparently in tears after he and nine others were detained overnight in the Persian Gulf last month.

“As Secretary [of State John] Kerry has said, we are disgusted by the exploitation of our sailors in Iranian propaganda,” said Cmdr. Kevin Stephens in response to queries about the footage. “It’s outrageous and unacceptable that our sailors were held at gunpoint and detained.”

“We are grateful diplomacy worked at the end of the day, but it would never have come to that had the Iranian maritime forces involved behaved professionally and responsibly,” he said.

The clip aired by the IRIB state broadcaster also included images released earlier, showing the sailors on their knees at gunpoint, after their riverine command boats (RCBs) entered Iran’s territorial waters on January 12. They were released about 15 hours later, after Kerry took up the matter with his Iranian counterpart. (Read more from “US Navy ‘Disgusted’ by Iran’s Exploitation of Sailors’ Detention” HERE)

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Russia Warns of ‘New World War’ Starting in Syria

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Russia warned of “a new world war” starting in Syria on Thursday after a dramatic day in which Gulf states threatened to send in ground forces.

Foreign and defence ministers of the leading international states backing different factions in the war-torn country met in separate meetings in Munich and Brussels following the collapse of the latest round of peace talks.

Both Russia and the United States demanded ceasefires in the long-running civil war so that the fight could be concentrated against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) – but each on their own, conflicting terms.

But the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, staged their own intervention, saying they were committed to sending ground troops to the country. Their favoured rebel groups have been pulverised by Russian air raids and driven back on the ground by Iranian-supplied pro-regime troops.

They said their declared target was Isil. But the presence of troops from Gulf states which have funded the Syrian rebels would be taken as a hostile act by the Assad regime and its backers, and a sign that they were committed to staking their claim to a say in the final Syrian settlement. (Read more from “Russia Warns of ‘New World War’ Starting in Syria” HERE)

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Iran Publishes Pictures of Captured U.S. Sailors Crying

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Iran has released new photographs in which at least one of the recently captured U.S. sailors is crying, according to a series of the pictures posted on social media.

The pictures, as well as an accompanying video, were released by Iranian state-controlled news outlets and disseminated on Twitter by Iranian reporters early Wednesday.

The new photographs come on the heels of another set of pictures that showed Iranian military forces detaining the U.S. sailors at gun point and forcing them to place their hands upon their heads while kneeling on a ship.

(Read more from “Iran Publishes Pictures of Captured U.S. Sailors Crying” HERE)

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Shipment of ‘Guillotines’ Bound for ISIS Seized

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Iranian authorities have seized a cargo shipment bound for Islamic State-held territory containing multiple guillotines, the semi-official Iranian news agency FARS reported Feb. 7.

Vahid Dashtbani, director-general of Iran’s Customs Office for Transit Affairs, told an Iranian daily newspaper Sunday that the devices were “designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading.”

The tools, however, were likely not guillotines in the traditional sense (such as those used during the French Revolution), but instead industrial-strength paper cutters capable of removing heads and arms swiftly and with surgical precision.

A recently published video (edited to remove the most graphic content) showed ISIS pronouncing sentence over a thief before a crowd of townspeople. The thief then had has hand sliced off with the paper cutter, referred to in the ISIS video as a “guillotine.”

In another video (not linked here because it is too graphic), the heavy blade of the instrument was shown detached from the paper cutter and wielded like a sword to behead six captives with a single stroke for qisas or retaliation. The men were reportedly Syrian soldiers linked to a car bombing which killed “innocent” ISIS soldiers and supporters. (Read more from “Shipment of ‘Guillotines’ Bound for ISIS Seized” HERE)

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