Daily Archives: March 27, 2017

Although Britain, France, Israel, Russia and the United States voted no, while China, India and Pakistan abstained, 123 UN members said they would hold the conference to draw up a legally binding nuclear ban treaty.

Japan, which is the only country to have suffered atomic attacks, voted against the talks, saying the lack of consensus over the negotiations could undermine progress on effective nuclear disarmament.

The countries leading the effort include Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and Sweden.

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Hundreds of NGOs back their efforts, according to reports.

They say the threat of nuclear disaster is growing thanks to mounting tensions fanned by North Korea's atomic weapons program and an unpredictable new administration in Washington.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said: I expect that this will take a long time, let's not be naive.

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"But it's very important in these days when you see more of this rhetoric, and also sort of power demonstrations, including threatening to use nuclear weapons.

"Quite a high number of countries are actually interested in saying we have to break the deadlock that has been on this issue for so many years.

"So it's also the expression of frustration."

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While the major nuclear powers have made commitments to nuclear disarmament in recent years no actual progress has been made in working towards the goal set out in the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an international coalition of NGOs, said: "There was disappointment with the Obama administration, which made some pledges, but then ignored most of them.

And now there are raised worries with the new US President.

No major powers have commented on the start of the talks so far, although the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is expected to issue a statement on the sidelines of opening day.

US and French representatives explained their countries' opposition in October citing a need to make progress in stages, without disturbing the current strategic balance of weapons or jeopardising nuclear deterrence.

Ms Fihn compared such arguments to the logic of chain smokers. She said: "It's never the right time to quit.

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"But with the multipolar world, lots of countries feel like they don't have to wait for the superpowers to act.

Tensions over a possible global conflict have been rising steadily in recent months.

Donald Trump, before he became US President, was sabre-rattling in January. He wrote in a tweet: We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.

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Similarly, North Korea has been making overtures of aggression to both the US and various neighbours including South Korea and Japan.

A recent statement issued by the Korean Peoples Army said that the North Korean Army will deal deadly blows without prior warning any time.

Tensions between the West and Russia have also been escalating with both sides carrying out high profile military exercises.

Recently Russian President Vladimir Putin moved 10,000 troops to the countrys borders while Spain sent tanks and armoured vehicles, along with 350 troops to Latvia in a bid to bolster Nato forces there.

More:

WW3 FEARS: Global bid to BAN nuclear weapons over rising concerns at North Korea - Express.co.uk

Top 10 Nostradamus Predictions 2018

Michel de Nostredame, aka Nostradamus, wrote his first set of predictions using quatrains in 1555, and the books are still popular today. There is a reason for their popularity. Interpreters have shown that its possible to match Nostradamuss predictions with key historical figures and events. The Nostradamus predictions for 2018 are dire, as they include what might become World War 3 (WW3) and the end of taxes (see list below).

The Nostradamus WW3 predictions have gained traction because so many people feel helpless. They sense that the world is beyond their control and they feel that difficult times are ahead. Visionaries like Nostradamus have foreseen cataclysms and turbulent times. Nostradamus also confirms centuries-old expectations of a final battle between good and evil.

The period we are living has certainly given us many signs of this battle. the NostradamusWW3 predictions fit nicely in this framework. Thus, his predictions have gained currency and interest. Nostradamus didnt start to compile his visions until later in life in the middle of the 16thcentury, but he had started to experience visions at a very early age.

According to reports, Nostradamus would look into a bowl full of water and receive visions of the future. Nostradamus has been credited with predicting events as diverse as the 1871 Great Fire of Chicago, the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, and the rise of President Donald Trump in 2016.

For 2017, Nostradamus has predicted the start of a cataclysmic war, lasting into 2018. The source of his visions and his ability to predict the future with accuracy remain mysterious and should be taken with a few helpings of salt.

The Nostradamus World War 3 prediction is scheduled to break in 2017. Thus, a Nostradamus predictions list for 2018 should take into consideration events before and after. Abetter way to consider Nostradamus for 2018 is to look at the next four or five years, if humanity even has that much time left.

That said, beyond the individual Nostradamus future predictions 2018, there is a common theme. Negative energy will intensify and accelerate with unprecedented intensity and speed. One of the signs is the fact that society has become ever more inequitable, fueling the negative energy. This intensification of spiritual evil is what will provoke the destabilization of the world.

The culmination, according to Nostradamuss vision for 2018, will be a series of natural disasters and a third world war. While the natural phenomena might be hard to confirm, the first few months of 2017 have already sent us credible threats of war. After the Cold War ended, effectively in 1990, the world has forgotten the fear that World War 3news used to generate in our parents generation.

But World War 3 news has become current again. Thats because most people are ignoring the fact that Russia and the United States have resumed a level of tension not seen since almost 30 years ago. Instead of diffusing it, Senators and congressional representatives in Washington are fueling the risks.

1. Great eruption of Mount Vesuvius: For 2018, Nostradamus has predicted a great volcanic eruption. The volcano in question is Mount Vesuvius in Italy, and it will shake the earth every five minutes, killing between 6,000 and 16,000 people.

2. Humans will speak to animals: Nostradamus predicted that pigs will befriend humans. Those who have read Nostradamuss predictions suggest that this is a sign of scientific advancement. Genetic mutation will enable humans to communicate verbally with their animal companions.

3. Economic collapse:Not surprisingly, natural catastrophes and wars wont be good for business. Thus, Nostradamus has seen total economic collapse for 2018 or thereabouts. To this effect, Nostradamus warned that the rich would die many times over.

4. World War 3:This is the big one. Frankly, Nostradamus might get this one spot-on if Russia and the U.S. dont stop their warmongering. As Nostradamus puts it, A war will start between the two great world powers and it will last for a period of 27 years. A moment of great violence will coincide with the appearance of a comet in the sky. A nuclear terrorism and natural catastrophes will destroy our planet until a giant planet shall approach the earth.

As for World War 3, Nostradamus had predicted that one of the next few years, 2017 or 2018, will be pivotal for mankind. He announced economic collapse and World War 3 apart from the other details. These are the quatrains that sound most threatening, and that interpreters of Nostradamus are warning us about now:

Naval battle night will be overcome,

Fire in the ships to the West ruin:

New trick, the great ship colored,

Anger to the vanquished, and victory in a drizzle.

(Source: Nostradamus: Century IX, Internet Sacred Text Archive, last accessed March 22, 2017.)

The war might start at night, according to some interpretations. (Source: Nostradamus and the sequence of events leading to world war 3, Prophet666, February 6, 2012.)

Nostradamussquatrains describe a level of destruction more gruesome than anything hehad predicted earlier. It also fits with the suggestions of an Antichrist arising and of Trump fighting peoples that come from the eastISIS, for examplein the Mediterranean.

5. Worst earthquake in recent history:Judging by the fact that recent earthquakes have left tens of thousands of dead (e.g. China, Japan, Haiti, Italy etc.), Nostradamus must be referring to a cataclysmic one for the ages. But, whats more interesting to Americans is that this earthquake shall concern particularly the western area of the United States. Its power shall be felt in lands throughout the globe.

6. Right to parenthood:Those who want to have children will require a license or a permit. They wont be able to act as they please. Of all the predictions, this one makes sense in the context of the Malthusian fears that many rational economists already entertain. China has already experimented this policy, officially limiting families to having no more than one child. But theres more. Some governments and social sciences are already pushing the world to Nostradamuss prediction. (Source: Population Matters, last accessed March 23, 2017.)

7. Humans will live to be over 200:The advancements of medicine will raise humans life expectancy up to at least 200 years of age. An 80-year-old man will look just like a 50-year old. This prediction is also materializing. Life expectancy has increased to an average of over 80 years old in developed countries.

The number of 100-year old males and females still active is surprising. The 101-year-old David Rockefeller died on March 20, 2017, still active. Meanwhile, plastic surgery has made it possible for those who can afford it to look decades younger than their calendar age. Its logical to expect such trends to evolve. But to what end? Nostradamus has predicted WW3, after all.

8. Global warming: Unbelievable, but Nostradamus had predicted a climate catastrophe to suddenly burn the Earth over the next few years, if not months. The visionary warns that the King will rob the forests (uncontrolled deforestation?) and that the sky will open and the fields will burn up from the heat.

9. Language differences will disappear: Nostradamus wrote that, because of a new motor, the world will return to being as it was during the days of the Tower of Babel. Students of Nostradamus believe that the new language motor will be used as we use computers today. But Nostradamus says this is one of the signs that many world nations would cease to exist.

10. End of taxes in the West:Nostradamus may have another point here. In 2017, President Trump has promised to reduce income taxes. Meanwhile, many of the populist parties rising in Europe todaywith chances of leading electoral resultshave advocated lowering taxes as a prescription for economic growth.

Nostradamus predicts that the end of taxation will arrive via a mass revolt that will end the practice once and for all. Before you write a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), advising them of its imminent demise, remember that Nostradamus said taxation would stop only after a massive revolt. Nostradamus writes that people will simply refuse to pay the King any more taxes. Many will celebrate in a country where they have been taxing without mercy.

That could stand in for any developed country today. It may even suggest a massive tax revolt in the West in general. Nostradamus also suggests that the tax revolt might be part of an overall revolt against monarchies in countries that still have such institutions.

That could be anywhere from the United Kingdom to Spain, Norway, Sweden, orDenmark, where taxes are indeed very high.

Consider these predictions with caution, but many of these warningswith a few detail changes could certainly apply to the modern world. For the skeptics, among whom I include myself, there are doubtless some ominous-sounding Nostradamus predictions from the past to generate concern.

This one is especially noteworthy:

Songs, chants, and refrains of the slavish mob,

Whilst the Princes and King are captive in prison,

Shall be received in the future as oracles divine

By headless idiots deprived of judgment.

(Source: Oracles of Nostradamus, French Revolution, Internet Sacred Text Archive, last accessed March 22, 2017.)

Remember, Nostradamus was writing this in the mid-1500s. Yet, here he is describing an event that is eerily like what happened in his country in 1789, over 200 years later: the French Revolution. Thats when the French people decided that they had had enough of their aristocratic monarchy and revolted.

The peasants (the slavish mob cited above) took control of Paris and forced their demands on the royals and the nobility. The aristocracies (princes and king) were removed from power and locked up in the Bastille (prisons) and beheaded by the guillotine (headless idiots).

Link:

WW3? Top 10 Nostradamus Predictions for 2018 - Lombardi Letter

Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization. Our citizens think of themselves as EuropeansThats why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as the Union of Europe which will strengthen Russias potential in its economic pivot toward the new Asia. - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia and the changing world, February 2012

Therelentless demonization of Vladimir Putin is just onepart of Washingtonsmulti-prongedstrategy toroll-back Russian power in Central Asia and extinguish Putins dream of a Greater Europe. Along with the attempt to smear the Russian president as a KGB thug and dictator, the media has also alleged that Moscow intervened in the US presidential elections and that Russia is aserial aggressor that poses a growing threatto European and US national security. Themedia onslaught, which has greatly intensified since the election of Donald Trump in November 2016,has beenaccompanied by harsh economic sanctions, asymmetrical attacks on Russias markets and currency, the arming and training of Russian adversaries in Ukraine and Syria, the calculated suppression of oil prices, andaheavy-handedeffort to sabotage Russias business relations in Europe. In short, Washington is doing everything in its power to prevent Russia and Europe from merging intothe worlds biggestfree trade zone thatwill be the center of global growth and prosperity for the next century.

This is why the US State Department joined with the CIA to topple the elected governmentof Ukraine in 2014. Washington hoped that by annexing avital landbridge between the EU and Asia, US powerbrokers could control critical pipeline corridors that are drawing the two continents closer together into an alliance that will exclude the United States. The prospect of Russia meeting more of the EUs growing energy needs, while Chinas high-speed railway systemdelivers more low-cost manufactured goods, suggests that the worlds center of economic gravity is shifting fast increasing the probability that theUSwill continueonitspath of irreversibledecline. And when theUSdollar isinevitablyjettisoned as the primary means of exchange between trade partners in the emerging Asia-EU free trade zone, then the recycling of wealth into US debt will drop offprecipitously sending US markets plunging while the economy slips into a deep slump. Preventing Putin from creating a harmonious community of economies from Lisbon to Vladivostok is no minor hurtle for the United States. Its a matter of life and death.

Remember the Wolfowitz Doctrine:

Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.

Washingtons relations with Russia will always be fractious becauseRussia poses a perennial threat toUS ambitions to rule the world. Geography is fate, and Russias geography contains massive oil and gas reserves that Europe needs to heat its homes and fuel its businesses. Thesymbiotic relationshipbetween supplier and end-userwill eventually lead to the lifting of trade barriers, the lowering of tariffs, and the smooth melding together of national economies into aregion-wide common market.Thismay beWashingtons biggest nightmare, but itsalso Putins top strategic priority. Heres what he said:

We must consider more extensive cooperation in the energy sphere, up to and including the formation of a common European energy complex. The Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea and the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea are important steps in that direction. These projects have the support of many governments and involve major European energy companies. Once the pipelines start operating at full capacity, Europe will have a reliable and flexible gas-supply system that does not depend on the political whims of any nation. This will strengthen the continents energy security not only in form but in substance. This is particularly relevant in the light of the decision of some European states to reduce or renounce nuclear energy.

If Europewants areliable partner that can meet its energy needs, thenRussia fits the bill.Unfortunately, the US hasrepeatedlytried tosabotage both pipelines in order to undermine EU-Russiarelations. Washington would prefer that Europe either dramatically curtailits use of natural gas or find other more expensive alternativesthat dont involveRussia. In other words, Europes material needsare beingsacrificedfor Washingtons geopoliticalobjectives,the primary goal of which is to prevent the forming of Greater Europe.

Washingtons war against Russia is becoming increasingly militarized. Recently the Pentagon deployed more combat troops to Syria and Kuwait suggesting that US warplanners intend to shift from the current strategy of arming jihadist militias (to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad), to a more direct use of martial force to seize-and-hold territory in East Syria. There are signs of anuptick inthe violence in Ukraine too, asPresident Trump appears only-too-eager to usea more iron-fisted approach in settling regional disputes than his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Also, NATO has deployedtroops and weaponryto Russias westernflankwhiletheUS has spreaditsmilitary bases across Central Asia. NATO has continuedto push eastward eversince the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. The steadybuildup of hostile armieson Russias westernperimeter has been a source ofgrowing concern in Moscow and for good reason. Russians know their history.

At the same time the US is building a ground-based missile defense system in Romania (Star Wars) that integrates the US nuclear arsenal at a site that is just 900 miles from Moscow. TheUSmissile systemwhich wascertified for operation in May 2016,cancels-outRussias nuclear deterrents and destroys the strategic balance of powerin Europe. Putin has responded byordering appropriate countermeasures. Here are Putins comments on the subject:

It seems that NATO countries, and especially the United States, have developed a peculiar understanding of security which is fundamentally different from ourown. The Americans are obsessed with the idea of absolute invulnerability for themselves But absolute invulnerability for one nation means absolute vulnerability for everybody else. We cannot agree to this.

In the last week, the Trump administration announced that it will deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea citing a need to respond to provocations by North Korea. In truth, Washington is using the North as a pretext for its plan to hem in Russia and China at axial ends of the Eurasian heartland as a means of containing the vast landmass that Sir Halford Mackinder calledthe pivot area stretching from the Persian Gulf to Chinas Yangtze River.

Washington hopes that by controlling critical sea lanes, encircling the region with military bases, and aggressively inserting itself where necessary, it can prevent the emergence of an economic colossus thatwill diminish the United States role as global superpower. Americas future rests on its ability to derail economic integration at the center of the world and prevail inthe Great Game where others have failed. Heres an excerpt from an article by Alfred W. McCoy titledThe Geopolitics of American Global Decline which helps to shed light on thestruggle that is now taking place for control over the so called world island:

Following World War IIthe US became the first power in history to control the strategic axial points at both ends of Eurasia With fears of Chinese and Russian expansion serving as the catalyst for collaboration, the U.S. won imperial bastions in both Western Europe and Japan. With these axial points as anchors, Washington then built an arc of military bases that followed Britains maritime template and were visibly meant to encircle the world island.

Having seized the axial ends of the world island from Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945, for the next 70 years the United States relied on ever-thickening layers of military power to contain China and Russia inside that Eurasian heartland. Stripped of its ideological foliage, Washingtons grand strategy of Cold War-era anticommunist containment was little more than a process of imperial succession.

By the Cold Wars end in 1990, the encirclement of communist China and Russia required 700 overseas bases, an air force of 1,763 jet fighters, a vast nuclear arsenal, more than 1,000 ballistic missiles, and a navy of 600 ships, including 15 nuclear carrier battle groups all linked by the worlds only global system of communications satellites.(The Geopolitics of Global Decline, Alfred W. McCoy)

For the last 70 years the imperial strategy has worked without a hitch, but now Russias resurgence and Chinas explosive growth are threatening to breakfree fromWashingtons stranglehold. The Asian allies have begun tocrisscross Central Asia and Europe with pipelines and high-speed rail that willgather together thefar-flungstateletsscattered across the steppe, draw theminto a Eurasian Economic Union, and link them to an expansive andthriving superstate, theepicenter of global commerce and industry. Grand Chessboardbrain-trust Zbigniew Brzezinski summed up the importance of Central Asia in his 1997classic stating:

Eurasia is the globes largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the worlds three most advanced and economically productive regions. .About 75 per cent of the worlds people live in Eurasia, and most of the worlds physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the worlds GNP and about three-fourths of the worlds known energy resources. (The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Zbigniew Brzezinski, p.31)

A new global empire is graduallyemerging in Central Asia, and while the transformative impact of economic integration has notyet been realized, US efforts to block the embryonic alliance are getting weaker and more desperate all the time. The hyperbolicpropagandaabout thealleged Russia hacking of the presidential election is just one example of this, while the arming of Nazi militants in Kiev is another.

The bottom line is that both Russia and China are using markets, development and raw ingenuity to beatWashington, while Washington relies almost exclusively on deception, covert activity and hard power.In other words, the former communists are beating the capitalists at their own game. Heres more from McCoy:

China is reaching deep within the world island in an attempt to thoroughly reshape the geopolitical fundamentals of global power. It is using a subtle strategy that has so far eluded Washingtons power elites.

The initial step has involved a breathtaking project to put in place an infrastructure for the continents economic integration. By laying down an elaborate and enormously expensive network of high-speed, high-volume railroads as well as oil and natural gas pipelines across the vast breadth of Eurasia, China may realize Mackinders vision in a new way. For the first time in history, the rapid transcontinental movement of critical cargo oil, minerals, and manufactured goods will be possible on a massive scale, thereby potentially unifying that vast landmass into a single economic zone stretching 6,500 miles from Shanghai to Madrid. In this way, the leadership in Beijing hopes to shift the locus of geopolitical power away from the maritime periphery and deep into the continents heartland. (Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Washingtons Great Game and Why Its Failing, TomDispatch)

Washingtonis not going to letthe Russo-China plango forward without a fight.If economic sanctions, covert activity and financial sabotage dont work, then US powerbrokers willimplement morelethal strategies.The recent deployment of troops to the Middle East suggests that policymakers believe that a direct military confrontation might be the best available option, after all, a shooting war with Russia in Syria or Ukraine would not necessarily escalate into a full-blown nuclear conflagration. No one wants that. But if the fighting can be contained within Syrias borders, thenitwould be a practical way to rally theEU allies, torpedo Russias economic integration plan, and draw Moscow into a long, resource-draining quagmire. Is that what US war-planners have in mind?

Its a risky plan, but one that Washington wouldeagerly pursue if it helped to reinforce Americas global supremacy.

More:

Will Washington Risk WW3 To Block Emerging EU-Russia Superstate OpEd - Eurasia Review