Category Archives: Ww3

World War 3 fears ignited yesterday after a US-led airstrike killed Irans most decorated military leader Qassem Soleimani. The strike, which took place in Baghdad as the general left the capital citys airport in an escort, has prompted a severe reaction from Irans leadership, who promised swift revenge against US aggressors.

Iran has realised its threats of retaliation against the US by firing 22 missiles at two military bases shared by the country and coalition personnel.

The attack, which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has since taken responsibility for, is not thought to have killed anyone.

Officials continue to search the affected buildings, and Donald Trump seemed unperturbed by the attack.

Taking to Twitter yesterday he said: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq.

"Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now.

"So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well-equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I

"will be making a statement tomorrow morning."

In the wake of the US drone strike, World War 3 is trending on Twitter, with millions worried the assassination could spark a chain of events ending in full-scale combat.

General Soleimanis death was as a decisive blow for Iran, which lost both its top military strategist and one of its most influential political figures.

The general led the Quds unit of the Iranian revolutionary guard, a shadowy military intelligence outfit responsible for extending Irans influence aboard.

READ MORE:WW3: What are the chances of World War 3 happening? Has WW3 started?

Back home in Iran, he was considered second only to the countrys Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and people saw him as a viable candidate to become the next Iranian President.

Iran has reacted with severity to the loss of the treasured military leader, promising swift revenge on the US.

The countrys President, Hassan Rouhani, vowed Iran would continue to resist American expansionism and take revenge on the dead generals behalf.

The Pentagon branded the attack self-defence, claiming General Soleimani was plotting an attack on American soil.

According to analysts, the drone strike all but forces Iran to retaliate, but revenge will likely come on a smaller scale.

Counter-attacks will likely aim to damage the US via its presence in the Middle East and discourage any future insurrections against Iran.

However, they will likely fall short of all-out war, adding another notch to the tit-for-tat exchange ongoing between the country over the past four years.

American goals are equally opaque, with statements suggesting US attacks are wholly preventative, but senior officials hinting at more comprehensive objectives against the country in the Middle East.

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A future clash between Iran and the US threatens to draw in other world powers, and allies of both countries have already weighed in following Soleimanis assassination.

Russia, a strategic ally of Iran, condemned yesterdays strike amid Tehrans pledge for revenge.

Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the strike was an illegal power move.

However, Russia stopped short of pledging military backing to a future Iranian retaliation, as Mr Lavrov called for dialogue between the feuding countries.

Donald Trump insisted the airstrike would stop another war.

Speaking yesterday, the President said: What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. A lot of lives would have been saved.

Just recently, Soleimani led the brutal repression of protesters in Iran, where more than 1,000 innocent civilians were tortured and killed by their own government.

We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.

Donald Trump has since confirmed the US is ready to retaliate against any Iranian attack, stating in a Twitter post there were 52 sites the US may target in future.

He added the sites would be hit very fast and very hard.

He wrote: Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime including recently hundreds of Iranian protestors.

He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations.

Iran has been nothing but problems for many years.

Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.

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World War 3: Is World War 3 happening? Has WW3 been ...

Top 10 Nostradamus Predictions for 2019

Michel de Nostredame, aka Nostradamus, wrote his first set of predictions in the form of quatrains in 1555, yet books of his writings are still popular today. Theres 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 2019 are dire, including economic collapse, what might become World War 3 (WW3), and the end of taxes.

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 in has certainly given us many signs of this upcoming battle. The Nostradamus WW3 predictions fit nicely within this framework.

Nostradamus didnt start to compile his visions until later in life in the middle of the 16th century, but he had started to experience visions at a very early age. According to reports, he 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. Possibly for 2019, he has predicted the start of a cataclysmic war.

The source of Nostradamuss visions and his ability to predict the future with accuracy remain mysterious and should be taken with a few helpings of salt.

In particular, a Nostradamus predictions list for 2019 should take into consideration events before and after. A better way to consider Nostradamus is to look at the next four or five years.

That said, beyond the individual Nostradamus future predictions for 2019, there is a common theme. Its that negative energy will intensify and accelerate with unprecedented intensity and speed.

One of the signs is that society has become ever more inequitable, fueling negative energy. This intensification of spiritual evil could provoke the destabilization of the world.

According to Nostradamuss vision for 2019, the culmination will be a series of natural disasters and a third world war. While the natural phenomena might be hard to confirm, we have already seen credible threats of war.

Since the Cold Wareffectively ended in 1991, the world has forgotten the fear that the possibility of World War 3 used to generate.

That said, World War 3 news has become current again. Thats because certain countries have resumed a level of tension not seen since about 30 years ago. And instead of diffusing the tension, senators and congressional representatives in Washington have been fueling it.

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

2. Worst earthquake in recent history: Judging by the fact that earthquakes in recent years have left tens of thousands of people dead (e.g. China, Japan, Haiti, Italy, etc.), Nostradamus must be referring to a cataclysmic disaster 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.

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

4. World War 3: This is the big one. Frankly, Nostradamus might have gotten this one spot-on if the U.S., Russia, and other countries dont stop their warmongering.

As Nostradamus put 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.

Nostradamus predicted that this event will be pivotal for mankind. These are the quatrains that sound most threatening, and that interpreters of Nostradamus have been warning us about:

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 6, 2019.)

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.)

Nostradamuss quatrains describe a level of destruction more gruesome than anything he had predicted earlier. It also fits with the suggestions of an Antichrist arising and of Trump fighting people who come from the eastISIS, for examplein the Mediterranean.

5. Economic collapse: Not surprisingly, natural catastrophes and wars wont be good for the economy. Thus, Nostradamus has foreseen total economic collapse. To this effect, Nostradamus warned that the rich would die many times over.

6. End of taxes in the West: Nostradamus may have another point here. President Trump has already cut taxes for Americans. Meanwhile, many of the populist parties rising in Europe have advocated lowering taxes as a prescription to increase economic growth.

Nostradamus predicted that a mass revolt will end the practice of taxation once and for all. Before you write a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) advising the agency of its imminent demise, remember that Nostradamus specified that it will happen only after a massive revolt.

Nostradamus wrote that people will simply refuse to pay the King any more taxes and that people 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 include the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Sweden, or Denmarkwhere taxes are indeed very high.

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, wrote Nostradamus. This prediction has been gradually materializing. Life expectancy in developed countries has increased to an average of more than 80 years.

According to a recent estimate, there are approximately 450,000 centenarians (a person who lives to or beyond the age of 100 years) worldwide. (Source: How Many People Live to 100 Across the Globe? The Centenarian, January 14, 2019.)

Furthermore, Nostradamus predicted, An 80-year-old man will look just like a 50-year old. These days, 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.

8. 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, wrote Nostradamus. This prediction makes sense in the context of the fears that many rational economists already entertain. China had already experimented with this policy, officially limiting families to no more than one child.

But theres more. Some governments and social sciences have been pushing the world toward Nostradamuss prediction. (Source: Population Matters, Population Matters, last accessed March 6, 2019.)

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. Nostradamus says this is one of the signs that many of the worlds nations will cease to exist.

10. Humans will speak to animals: Nostradamus predicted that pigs will befriend humans. Some suggest that this was a prediction of scientific advancement, in that genetic mutations will enable humans to communicate verbally with their animal companions.

Consider these predictions with caution, but many of these warningswith a few amendments could certainly apply to the current world. Even for the skeptics, among whom I include myself, there are some ominous-sounding Nostradamus predictions 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 divineBy headless idiots deprived of judgment.

(Source: Oracles of Nostradamus, French Revolution, Internet Sacred Text Archive, last accessed March 6, 2019.)

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

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

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WW3? Top 10 Nostradamus Predictions for 2019

Chatting in front of their squeaky-clean double-deckers at a deserted bus stand, two bus drivers are waiting for passengers who never arrive.

Even though the doors are open and the services are running like clockwork, theres barely a passer-by at the interchange in Warwick. Both drivers, however, spoke of their continued love for the job despite the Covid-19 pandemic and Government lockdown bringing the country to a near-halt.

They are currently driving spotless double-deckers for Stagecoach Midlands, which is operating an enhanced Sunday service in response to the restrictions and social distancing measures.

In normal times, Matt would serve a total of around 150 passengers on his bus in the course of a day on the roads in Coventry and Warwickshire. At present, the total number is around 20.

We still enjoy driving, despite the fact its very, very quiet, he said.

Were constantly running early and even the rush hour is dead.

Ive never driven a bus in conditions as quiet as they are now, but I still love it. I still have that passion for my job, whether its busy or whether its quiet.

Bus drivers have a hardy reputation for keeping going through sleet, snow and ice and its said that not even the Luftwaffe managed to stop Londons services during World War Two. Its something the key workers are aware of as they ease along deserted roads in Coventry and Warwickshire.

They spoke on Thursday, the day before the Government announced it will cover the losses of bus companies in England for the next three months so they can stay on the road. A new 167million fund is intended to ensure that key workers in the NHS, who will be able to hop on and off for free, and other public services can get to work and people can make essential journeys, such as to pick up food.

Matt, who became a bus driver after passing his driving test as a teenager, spoke as he stood beside his empty double-decker at the collection of stands.

Bus drivers have been running services through rain, sun, sleet, snow and war, he said.

Well be out in World War Three if we have to. We like to keep the service going, especially to help elderly and vulnerable people to get out, and we feel more valued now were known as key workers.

Well keep going as long as there isnt a complete lockdown.

Despite wanting to help less mobile members of the community, the drivers have noticed not all trips appear to fall into the definition of essential travel as laid down by the Government.

Matts colleague Rachel said: We do see people going out for a bit of a jolly, getting on for a couple of stops before getting off again. I think the stay-at-home message needs to be pushed a bit harder.

But there are still people who genuinely need us and its nice to feel valued after a days work.

The drivers have been given hand gel and gloves by Stagecoach, though Matt was choosing to wear a sturdier pair he had brought from home.

Rachel said: I love my job. You hear drivers complaining or saying they end up talking to themselves when theres nobody to make conversation with, but I still enjoy driving.

"We are two drivers who love our jobs, there are others who don't. It can be lonely and dispiriting when theres nobody on your bus but its not going to stay that way forever. People will eventually be allowed back out, and they will be allowed back onto the buses.

"Its not the end of the world.

Stagecoach has told customers that it is running revised services based on the latest Government guidelines. Passengers have been asked to practise social distancing by sitting alone where possible, using contactless payments and taking newspapers home.

*Matt and Rachel were speaking under assumed names as they had not been given permission by Stagecoach to give this interview

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'We'll be out in WW3 if we have to' - bus drivers vow to plough on - Coventry Telegraph

April 9, 2020 Community News

When I bought the Tribeca Citizen from Erik just over a year ago, I never thought I would be producing daily coverage of a pandemic for weeks on end. In fact, on March 11 I was chatting on email with S. and Tom Miller about the history of a building called Hope. Thats my marker for when this all began the last post I did in the normal Tribeca. In the past month, not only has the world turned upside down, but we still dont know when it will right itself.

There is one thing I keep hearing from shopkeepers, residents, business owners: even September 11th didnt feel this way. There is a pall maybe its the uncertainty that has yet to lift. Perhaps folks in other neighborhoods are feeling the same way, but other neighborhoods were not ours nearly two decades ago and dont have that same point of comparison.

It first sunk in when I got this note from Hal Bromm on March 19, who was by then working remotely after he closed his West Broadway gallery:

These days I think back to the morning of September 11th. Walking north on the Westside Highway among the silent, stunned procession of powder-covered survivors, a ringing phone interrupted. A man near me answered his mobile, stunning us all as he shouted, Theyve just hit the Pentagon! It felt like WW3 had begun.

After ending the call, he observed to no one in particular that this day will change everything. How right he was. But perhaps that sea change to all our lives will ultimately seem small compared to the impact this will have on our lives. Who knows what life a year from now will look like?

I was not here in 2001 we moved from Chelsea in 2004 but I welcome here in comments thoughts and reflections on that time versus this one. And what we might do to make our lives look somewhat similar to the one we left behind a hundred years ago.

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Reflecting on another crisis, 19 years ago - Tribeca Citizen

Unusual Comparisons: An ED Original content style, where we take 2 very opposite and different items and show you, exactly how similar they might be.

In the beginning of 2020, rumours of WW3 surfaced with the President of the USA, Trump air-strike killing the Iranian General. Somehow the events took a different turn and we are in the middle of a pandemic. However, if we look closely, the fight against coronavirus seems to be the modern WW3, different from WW1 or WW2 but quite similar in its effects on humanity, society and economy.

War claims millions of lives, displaces families and leaves a void with every life lost. The death toll of WW2 was 85 million in a span of six years. We are just a few months into this pandemic and the death count has already surpassed 20k. Similar mass destruction would have been observed if WW3 had commenced but owing to the number of deaths we are already in a war.

Particular groups or states are put under Curfew during war which would likely be the scenario had WW3 erupted. Looking at the current scenario, it is worse than any war could have been. Australia has imposed a 6 months long lock down to escape the atrocities of coronavirus. Many other countries have also adopted the same measures but for fewer months.

Day to day activities would be disrupted during war as people cannot continue to work or keep their businesses open, causing damages to the economy. Amidst the pandemic, complete lockdown has been issued having a negative impact on the economy. IMF says we are already in recession due to Covid-19.

Due to conflict during WW3, education would have suffered as an economic crisis arises and schools would be shut. Deaths and fear has had the same effect on education today. Schools are unable to operate and most of the exams have been cancelled or postponed affecting a large population. Poor people cannot afford to keep their kids in school due to lack of earning sources as everything is shut down.

During war, soldiers play an important role and fight for their country giving up their lives in the process. Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, doctors have taken over the role of the army, fighting against the virus day and night, not caring about their own lives.

In many ways, WW3 would have been quite similar to the crisis we are in right now. The only difference is, during WW3 countries would be turned against each other whereas now every country stands united against a common enemy, COVID-19.

Lets pray we win this war and claim victory over the evil that has taken over our earth.

Image Credits-Google Images

Sources- hindustantimes.com, Business Today, World Population Review

Find The Blogger-@SharmaPrachi2

Why Pay Scales Of Nurses, Teachers & Biological Researchers Should Be More Than Sportsperson/Actors

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Unusual Comparisons Isnt The Fight Against Coronavirus Exactly Like The WW3 We Dreaded? - ED Times

Last week I offered some tips for a daily routine for the elderly in isolation which hopefully were taken onboard and tweaked to suit whoever embarked on a routine to pass the time more fruitfully in these long days of quarantine.

This time among other tips my suggestions are aimed to help you rationalise in your shopping, because we discovered that wonderful as the delivery shopping is, there is a minimum value which you can order.

For example if you were to order from two separate establishments on the same day you would probably have to spend 50 and end up buying more than what two people really need, so think carefully in order to avoid wastage and stockpiling. This is not WW3 yet by any stretch of the imagination.

If you are not on supplements yet perhaps now is a good time to think of including some to improve your health and build up your reserves at a time when we move about much less and we may inadvertently not be caring for ourselves as well as we should.

However before we take any supplements we need to check that there are no contra indications to other medicines that we may already be taking. If you are not sure and dont read up on any - dont take them.

Vitamin C is a good start and apart from your daily intake of fresh fruit which should include bananas, apples, oranges and tangerines apart from a handful of dried red fruit and nuts, a vitamin C supplement will help to support immune system.

Turmeric is an anti inflammatory which is quite beneficial as well. Cod liver oil is a fish oil supplement which can be bought with included vitamins A and D plus Glucosamine for joint support. Better than WD 40! Ive been taking all of the above for years and I noted that omega in fish oil also helps in keeping down levels of cholesterol. Our local heath shops all stock a variety of these supplements so give them a ring and discuss but dont go overboard on them.

Sensible and nostalgic cooking will keep us in good shape and remind us of a certain age about the days when there were no other menus!

Nobody eats enough greens nowadays and the easiest way to change that is to make it a point to have green salads and green beans regularly.

Green beans in glass jars can make a delicious omelette meal for two by using just a half jar of them at a time.

Simply heat up a little oil and add two finely diced garlic cloves till they start to go golden, add the drained beans and toss them around for a bit, then add two beaten eggs to make a torta de habichuelas which are a healthier substitute to the usual torta patatas any day. This serves two for a light supper. Double up on beans and on eggs and you can have four servings but not as light.

Two bunches of broccoli and a medium, chopped cauliflower can be boiled together and garnished with a little lemon juice and a touch of olive oil. The mix can be kept in the fridge and you can have regular meals with added salad for a few occasions.

Remember the old corned beef pie? Well start by mashing up four good sized potatoes into a creamy mix perhaps adding a little butter, salt and a dash of milk to taste. In an oiled pan heat up a diced onion, garlic clove and mix in the contents of a tin of corned beef into a creamy paste. Roll out a pack of frozen short crust pastry and make a bottom and a top for your pie dish.

Place the bottom layer of pastry weighted down and cook lightly in medium oven. Once ready spread the corned beef paste evenly all round and cover the top of the pastry with a brushed beaten egg for gloss. Bake until golden brown and this will serve two for a good lunch (seconds allowed). Keep the other half of the pie for next day in the fridge. Recommended for lunch.

Stuffed green peppers are also an old favourite and easy to make. Six generous peppers washed and opened at their tops. The stuffing needs breadcrumbs, a couple of eggs, two or three chopped slices of ham or luncheon meat, marjoram, grated cheese and finely chopped garlic then mash into a fairly thick paste that can be spooned into the peppers. Seal stuffed ends by dipping into flour after compacting, always leaving some space for expansion during frying.

Cook peppers in a pan with a tin of tomate frito and a carton of tomate triturado (which should first be cooked separately in the pan of oil). When both tomatoes units are blended mix in 2 teaspoons of sugar and place the stuffed peppers to cook in the tomatoe sauce for a half hour or until you can pierce them to test. If during cooking there is too much stuffing remove it before the peppers burst.

Theres enough here for one generous meal or for two light meals if you add mash or fries as a side. As with all recipes you can tweak and season with your favourite spices and add your favourite sides, however go easy because we seniors shouldnt go out to exercise during quarantine. Pimientos rellenos are recommended for lunch and not supper.

Remember we have more time on our hands and cooking is a great pastime so help out if you dont cook yourself bearing in mind that this is a part of the daily routine which you should have mapped out and be executing in order to better spend the time in isolation and come out sane and fit when we get through this. Stay safe and keep busy and positive, that too is contagious in a good way. Till next time enjoy the recipes.

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Features Helpful Tips for the elderly in Isolation ------ week two By Joe Adambery 30th March 2020 - Gibraltar Chronicle

On January 3, 2020, all other programming was suspended as the likeness of General Qasem Soleimani flashed over television screens across Iran. In the early hours of the day, the commander of the al-Quds brigade of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard had been killed by a U.S. airstrike at the Baghdad International Airport.

The reaction online was instantaneous and overwhelming.

Social media heralded the arrival of World War III, and subsequent hysteria ensued. Twitter and Instagram were flooded with posts that paradoxically satirized and validated the notion of a looming war.

Although the U.S. military draft has been abolished for almost fifty years, talk of resurgence resulted in the government website responsible for registration to crash. The U.S. Army had to issue a statement debunking widely-circulated fake texts that called conscripted Americans to Iran.

In a statement released by the Pentagon, the United States claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Soleimani, calling it an act of deterrence.

This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world, the statement read.

Official responses from news sources and experts on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) were divided into several camps. Northeastern University Political Science Professor Max Abrahms outlines three major perspectives: that the U.S. had lost credibility in the region and needed to restore deterrence against Iran; that Soleimani posed an imminent threat and needed to be preemptively eliminated; and that Soleimanis killing was an act of war that eliminated prospects of negotiation, the sentiment largely echoed by social media.

The differences between the concepts of deterrence, preemption, and war begs the question: today, what does war really mean?

War has historically been conceptualized as existing between states, fought by militaries. However, a decline in this sort of conventional warfare has been met with an increase in unconventional warfare. Political Science Professor and expert in transnational security Adel El-Adawy, of the American University in Cairo, explains:

You can be at war without having a military fighting a military you have third-party entities fighting each other on behalf of statesthere can be economic warfare, political warfare, there can be psychological warfare.

When the definition of war is broadened to include the unconventional, it can hardly be said that the United States and Iran are at risk of war; rather, it has already begun.

In September of 2019, Iran-allied Yemeni Houthis launched an attack on two oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, shutting off 5% of global oil production. In late December, the militia group Kataib Hezbollah, which has ties to Iran, launched an attack in Iraq that killed an American contractor. Trump then retaliated by ordering airstrikes on assumed Hezbollah camps in parts of Syria and Iraq. Days later, Hezbollah supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. These events ultimately increased tensions to the point of General Soleimanis assassination on January 2, only days into 2020.

War is no longer strictly characterized by boots on the ground. The above acts, reliant on proxies and carried out in third-party states, illustrate an unconventional but increasingly common war.

El-Adawy says that Soleimanis assassination was unprecedented because of his status as a state official. Although assassinations may well be considered acts of conventional war, that logic cannot be as quickly applied to a man who also has ties to unconventional modes of war. Because of Soleimanis association with Hezbollah and other proxy groups, his assassination is hampering the unconventional activities of the Iranian regime. Although the United States didnt use deterrence in the conventional sense, it effectively deterred Iran from waging unconventional war.

Yet, when the terms used to describe acts of aggression are in flux, both news correspondents and the public must be wary of their politicization. Abrahms highlights the differences in connotation between the word assassination and surgical terms like targeted killing or precision strike, the latter of which was used by the White House to describe the attack.

You can tell a lot about ones politics depending on which word is used, Abrahms told The Cairo Review. Surgical terms like targeted killing are more accepted around the world When one speaks about targeted killing, the emphasis is on connection to the militant groups under the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps command. The fact that both terms can be applied to Soleimani, who was uniquely situated as commanding both state and non-state authority, is a testament to the increasing unconventionality of warfare.

An analysis on the changes in conventional war and conflict would not be complete without also addressing the shifts in public response. Now that news breaks in real time, often through social media platforms, instantaneous reaction is the norm.

Some experts and officials may dismiss the explosion of a potential WWIII on social media sites as sensationalized, uninformed, and unimportant reactions. Insiders Andria Moore interviewed younger internet users who explained that humor is often used as a coping mechanism when faced with uncertainty.

Others believe it is merely an exaggerated but age-old human response. Abrahms explains, This is a human reaction that goes back. If you were to go back through the archives of World War II, for example, you would find humor attempts in characterizations of Stalin or Hitler.

Discussions of World War III post-Soleimani killing were hyperbolic, he continues, but maybe not entirely unfounded.

The fact that things did not escalate further do not invalidate the very legitimate concerns of a serious escalation factor that Soleimani was killedthe reason why there wasnt further escalation was left to chance.

Even if some may not believe the chance of an outright World War is high, most can agree the overwhelming response warrants a second look.

On Instagram, searching the hashtag #ww3 yields a little under 600,000 posts. An account that seemingly devoted itself to only this content has around 75,000 followers. The thread r/ww3memes on reddit surged to 40,000 members in a week. On Twitter, the top-trending hashtags the day of the assassination speak for themselves.

At the very least, internet culture (specifically meme culture, where media users insert themselves into existing narratives by combining relevant text with popular images unrelated to the topic) is a reflection of the way the younger generation understands and perceives world events.

Most of the content that surfaced online was humorous and largely theoretical. However, tangible responses like the crash of the government draft website are indicators of real fears.

An article titled The Memeification of International Security by Jamie Withorne, a Research Assistant at the Middlebury Institute in Washington D.C., looked at the trends in datasets she gathered that try to analyse this far-reaching social media response. She concluded that it was driven by generational issues, popular culture, identity politics, and more.

Wilthone discussed generational issues; the younger generations (namely millennials and Generation Z) are constantly inundated with distressing news, and tend to use self-deprecating humor to cope with widespread high levels anxiety. Popular culture references from modern video games and TV shows Friends, 30 Rock, and The Office were all woven into the memes posted about World War III.

But, to look only at the American experience is to take a narrow view of the phenomenon. At the same time that #WW3 was trending on Twitter, memes in Arabic popped up on social media users phones across the Arab world.

A Twitter user hashtags Third World War in Arabic

One user reposts a meme showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, tweeting this one looks very nice in Farsi.

However, social media users in the Middle East and in the United States inserted their geographical perspectives into their memes, as seen above. Memes were generated in both regions in response to Soleimanis death, but it remained known (though not always acknowledged) that people in the Middle East would be the most directly affected by World War III.

In general, People on social media [in the Middle East] were talking about escalation, but not reallyabout World War III, El-Adawy said.

That kind of talk usually came from people that are not really in touch with the region. he explained. Indeed, American memes references to learning Arabic (Iranians speak Farsi) and using the AUX cord in a military tank show a population out-of-touch with reality in a country where objective education in Middle Eastern studies is largely exempt from middle and high school curricula.

At its core in both spheres, social media became a manifestation of anxiety. Anxiety has been transformed into trendy and relatable content that comprises an entire genre of memes. Scrolling through Buzzfeeds 55 Memes About Anxiety That Will Make You Say Me merits pause: are meme consuming/producing millennials and Generation Z okay?

Studies argue no, in fact. Findings from a study on millennials at Berkleys Goldman School of Public Policy explains, As the first generation raised on the Internet and social media, as a generation that came of age in the wake of one of the worst recessions in modern history, and as a generation still grappling with increased economic uncertainty and worsening financial prospects, millennials are experiencing anxiety like no other generation. While there are many factors contributing to this spike in anxiety, the impact of the Internet is hard to overlook.

Social media was adapted by millennials with age as it grew and expanded. Gen Zersanyone younger than the millennials, who were aged 23-38 in 2019 according to Pew Research Centersimply do not know a world without it. While millennials grew up using the internet, Generation Z grew up engulfed in it; by the time the first iPhone came out, the oldest of this generation was 10 years old.

In the same way that millennials and Gen Z grew up with the Internet, they grew up surrounded by unconventional war. Members of Generation Z were born either after or shortly before 9/11, perhaps the most potent example of unconventional warfare. The first war that many of them experienced was the War on Terror, waged by a state against non-state groups. They dont know conventionality in war, so why would they have a conventionalserious response to it?

The next generations memeification of international crises, while humorous, shouldnt be ignored as it can tell us a great deal about the people facing conflict, and maybe even the future of conflict itself, explains Wilthone.

The Soleimani assassination, then, is part of a broader shift in the meaning of war and how we understand it. As states become embroiled in new modes of aggression, they have also developed new modes of response. In step, the public has evolved its perception of war and the methods used to cope.

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Meme-ifying World War III - The Cairo Review of Global Affairs

"Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3 degrees Celsius of global heating by the end of the century. I will not be there, but my granddaughters will. I refuse to be an accomplice in the destruction of their one and only home." Antnio Guterres, UN Secretary General

"Our house is on fire. Act like it." Greta Thunberg

As a longtime advocate for children and the Earthand in this year when my song "Baby Beluga" turns 40I feel I must speak out for the sake of my beloved fans, the "beluga grads" and their kids, on the climate emergency we all face.

People live with faith that one day will lead to another, that their future lives are not in question, that their kids can imagine adulthood. For many, that's getting increasingly difficult. As New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra said, "The future ain't what it used to be." Humanity's future is in jeopardy.

Australia is burning in unprecedented megafires. Its climate-denying government just mobilized a military response. And their summer's extreme heat will likely bring more devastation, and an even greater deployment of military support.

"We have ten years to secure the future. To do what's never been done before."

As we run out of time to respond to the existential climate emergency our world faces, I've run out of patience. Since 1989, when I first learned about the global warming danger, in my climate songs and in essays I've done my best to rouse people to action. In a 2011 essay The Right To A Future, I wrote, "Nobody can guarantee a future, but who has the right to steal it?" During the 2019 climate strikes worldwide, young people all over the world were repeatedly protesting their stolen futures.

Given the failure of the last three decades to mount effective action against global warming, given the recent failure of the UN COP25 climate conference in Madrid, and given the 2018 IPCC Report directive to reduce GHG emissions in half by 2030, I am now adding my voice and support to those who recognize the urgent need for nothing less than a wartime response to the climate emergencya massive mobilization of clean energy resources in order to make unprecedented annual GHG cuts, year after year. And I am calling this massive new effort by a solemn name: "Climate World War III."

We have ten years to secure the future. To do what's never been done before.

In a 2016 essay, A World At War, author and climate activist Bill McKibben wrote: "It's not that global warming is like a world war, it is a world war. And we are losing."

Both World War I and World War II pitted nation against nation, resulting in tens of millions killed and wounded and populations traumatized. The Climate WW3 I speak of here is entirely different. This is a truly global war, a cooperative multinational effort to safeguard the right of the world's children to a stable climate, and to speed the transition from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy. Climate WW3 involves a wartime mobilization fueled by love. For all that we hold precious.

In Canada, MP Elizabeth May has been a longtime climate crusader and in a recent stirring speech in Parliament had this to say: "I've had a ringside seat, Mr. Speaker, to decades in which we could have arrested climate change before our glaciers were melting, before we were losing the Arctic, before our forests were on fire... we had a chance in the 1990s and we blew it."

"Climate WW3 involves a wartime mobilization fueled by love. For all that we hold precious."

Who's to blame? There's plenty of blame to go around. Politicians, governments have played deaf, dumb, and blind to the climate science warnings from a number of sourcesincluding the Union Of Concerned Scientists, who issued clear calls to contain climate change before it grew impossible to do so. Decades ago, the oil and gas giant ExxonMobil knew of the possible catastrophic impacts of global heating and the greenhouse effect. They withheld the information, spent millions to cover it up, and deceived the public.

Spring forward 10 years to the year 2030.

Imagine Its 2030

How do we want to feel in 2030? What might we regret? What will we applaud?

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In 2030 I will be 82 years old. I want to feel, looking back, that during the decade of the 2020s I did all I could in the effort to stabilize global climate to secure our children's future. I want to feel that I helped fight the impending climate catastrophe with all my might.

"As a climate emergency responder, I hereby enlist myself in Climate WW3, a war of survival against runaway climate changea 10-year campaign, a decade long war."

As a climate emergency responder, I hereby enlist myself in Climate WW3, a war of survival against runaway climate changea 10-year campaign, a decade long war.

In the fall of 2019, an estimated 7.5 million people in over 150 countries took part in climate strike rallies. I recorded the rousing song "Young People Marching" to commemorate the Fridays For Future movement that the brave young Greta Thunberg made popular. This Is Zero Hour co-founder Jamie Margolin of the US and climate striker Leah Namugerwa of Uganda are two other teen leaders in a rising tide of youth voices shouting in unisonsave our future!

At the UN Climate Summit in September of 2019, Greta Thunbergs emotional "How dare you!" speech had me in tears. Its moral truth is undeniable. "The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you."

Wartime Mobilization

"Defeating the Nazis required more than brave soldiers. It required building big factories, and building them really, really fast." Bill McKibben

In both Canada and the United States, World War II brought sweeping government mandated changes to the economy. Civilian factories were ordered to change their output to military hardware: airplanes, tanks, munitions. Rationing of goods was mandated, and a steady stream of public service announcements extolled the virtues of sacrifice for the war effort. It was a massive undertaking and a huge success. (McKibben's essay is full of detailed numbers on the dollars spent and the production output.)

This year, pressure on elected leaders will grow to a fever pitch. The US presidential election may herald a total reversal of the climate denial of past years. Green New Deal legislation has already been proposed for the Congress to transform the economy.

Facing The Climate Emergency, a book by ClimateMobilization.org co-founder Margaret Klein Salamon, is one of several notable climate books due this year. Ms. Klein Salamon encourages us to feel the fright of the climate peril, so that we can effectively rise to meet the threat. She urges us to live in "emergency mode."

Living In A Long Emergency

Enlisting in Climate WW3, we're in for the long haul. As we pressure elected officials to enact World War II-style climate mobilization, we'll be living in two streams: daily life and emergency mode. At home, school and at work, we'll talk and share. We need age appropriate dialogue with kids, and climate education in the school curriculum.

"Whatever our conscience bids us to change in our personal lives to lower our own carbon footprint, this must be amplified by a commitment to actively call for systemic change."

Whatever our conscience bids us to change in our personal lives to lower our own carbon footprint, this must be amplified by a commitment to actively call for systemic change. Just as groups of friends and entire families are going on climate strikes, they can also make their views heard in other ways. Emails and calls to the regional and federal offices of our elected officials is essential. A count is kept of how many contact them and why. You do have some influence, provided you act.

For a vision of a restorative future, The Raffi Foundation For Child Honouring offers an online course in Child Honouring, based on 9 principles for conscious living. Among them are Diversity, Sustainability and Ethical Commerce. One way to feel empowered is to take the course, get energized and become a changemaker.

This year as we celebrate Baby Beluga's 40th anniversary, join memake a vow to do your utmost to help win Climate WW3 and secure the future. Enlist today.

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Forty Years After "Baby Beluga," Here's Why I'm Enlisting in War World III to Defeat the Climate Crisis - Common Dreams

After the news broke the first week of January that President Trump had ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, one of the most rapid reactions to emerge amid the surprise and confusion was the memes.

Jokes about the possible fallout of Soleimanis death were instantly everywhere. They especially proliferated on TikTok and Twitter, where hashtags like #WW3 drove major trends for several days. A member of the subreddit r/ww3memes, created over two years ago, announced on January 3, Its time for this sub to rise. Its currently got over 43,000 subscribers.

You might think this type of reaction is juvenile or dismissive, but its really just human. Memes frequently operate as exemplars of larger trends, as well as stand-ins for cultural anxieties and ways to express and alleviate fears or other emotions through humor. The collectivism of memes, too, is a crucial part of their popularity, because their rapid and visible spread helps us all figure out how were feeling about some news trend or other issue.

So what were the memes telling us, if anything, about how teenage meme makers are perceiving the Iranian conflict and the larger, more abstract idea of a third World War?

Surprisingly, many of them seem to demonstrate far less fear than you might expect. In fact, the overall tone of the memes boiled down to a kind of cheerful ambivalence about the prospect of war.

There are definite gaps in the tone and subject of the memes from platform to platform. And they may already be part of a larger tonal shift away from the wholesome meme toward something a bit more suited to an era of apocalypse: a determination to party through the hard times to come.

After the news broke of Soleimanis assassination on January 2, memes about the turn of events exploded across Twitter, TikTok, and other social media platforms. The memes proliferated ideas about the prospect of World War III; about Iran and its culture; and about the hilarity and absurdity of sending a modern generation of teens and young adults off to war.

Despite having some universal themes across platforms, most memes about the war looked and felt much, much different from platform to platform. But the vast majority of them joked about people getting drafted to fight the war.

The American government eliminated the draft in 1973, but that didnt matter to the meme makers which makes sense, because fears about the draft being reinstated have always circulated among teens and young adults. In 2016, a false claim that Trump wanted to bring back the draft circulated around the internet as a part of the larger cultural anxiety over his campaign.

As it often does, Black Twitter was the first community to drive this meme. That also makes sense, given that a recurrent fear of the draft has been especially prevalent in black culture since the Vietnam War, when black men were disproportionately affected by the draft.

In other words, despite fears of a possible draft temporarily crashing the Selective Service website, the meme makers probably werent proliferating the idea that the draft still exists out of ignorance, but out of a sense of anxiety about the country fighting another war.

That ironic sense of merriment was a crucial component in all the memes. One thing that immediately struck me about the World War III memes on both Twitter and TikTok was how lighthearted their tone was despite the seriousness of the subject matter.

What was that about?

Again and again, the predominant theme associated with the World War III memes was the idea of Gen Zs general unpreparedness to fight in a war of any kind.

This humorous anxiety took the form of jokes framing normal millennials and Gen Z-ers showing up to the war just to party, or approaching it like a typical game of Fortnite or Call of Duty:

Do you have zero skills that can prepare you for battle? Are you learning Persian via Google? The memes tell you youre not alone in being hilariously underprepared for a real global emergency.

Theres another recurring theme that accompanies all this comedic haplessness in the face of an impending global crisis. On TikTok especially, theres a subset of memes that seem to relish the excitement and pure adrenaline of going to war.

Its rare to see any TikToks of the meme that say something serious about the war they do exist, but theyre far outnumbered by attempts to represent WWIII as a party.

As CNNs Fernando Alfonso III pointed out, World War III memes have been a thing on the internet for a while, particularly as conflict escalated between Trump and North Korea in 2017. And as the Atlantics Ian Bogost pointed out, the idea of World War III itself has been a looming specter since the Cold War, along with its threat of impending nuclear disaster.

The apocryphal nature of the next world war might help explain why so many of the memes are ambivalent about whether the war itself would be a good or bad thing for the country. But theres probably a simpler reason behind the ambivalence: When we make these jokes, were not thinking too deeply about what they all mean.

Theyre not very exciting to look at, to tell you frankly, Dr. Saleem Alhabash told me in a phone interview when I asked him if hed seen the World War III memes. Alhabash, a professor at Michigan State Universitys media psychology department, studies social media and the way people use memes as intercultural communication. Part of the meme response is about glorifying the war for sure, he told me, but also not realizing what war really is and what it means. So dealing with it in a laissez-faire kind of way.

Alhabashs research shows that whenever social media users participate online, often people arent thinking too deeply about what to post or share.

None of us would see something online and look at it for five, 10, or 20 or 30 minutes and discuss what the ramifications are of posting this or not, he explained.

Were also driven to make content based on what we think other people want to see on social media which might explain why memes themselves get reified so easily: They show us what we think people want to see, so we make more of them. Alhabashs point, however, is that this can be a very knee-jerk experience, which doesnt really lend itself to reflective war memes.

Theres also an issue of jumping on the wagon the feeling that I have to be part of the conversation, I have to remain relevant on social media and be part of the general discussion at times without really understanding the issue in depth, he said.

To Alhabash, the non-linear nature of memes in spaces like TikTok has a huge role to play in shaping public discourse. Think of TikTok as a place where memes arent so much purely copied like a straightforward retweet as they are shared with additional commentary. Only the share usually involves the next user adding new personal imprints to the original footage, usually either new music to existing footage or new footage to existing music.

Theres a certain level of originality [on TikTok] and putting yourself within the narrative of that particular team, Alhabash said. You become part of the narrative and it becomes part of you.

So a meme that might start out calling attention to one idea in one way might wind up calling attention to a completely different idea in another way. By the time a meme has been shared numerous times, it might have a completely different meaning in a completely different context.

Take this changing perspective on the dancer in the memes below. In both memes, the main joke is about assimilation into the war. But in the first meme, the memes point of view is from the dancer; in the second, its from the kidnapped men around her.

These are significantly different ways of framing our relationship to Iran and its people, but theyre both equally important examples of how people are thinking about the war. Because as the memes and their narratives travel and spread, they help shape the larger cultural narrative about Iran itself just as all memes, from toxic to wholesome, help create cultural narratives.

Things just unfold and keep on unfolding. And then [the topic] becomes so dynamic that theres no way to pinpoint what is the cause of someone thinking in a particular way about the world in 2020, Alhabash said. Because, after all, theyre part of making that narrative and influencing how it evolves over time.

Despite Alhabashs reservations about how effective the WWIII memes were at making salient political points, he pointed out that the anxiety the memes expressed is real. These memes, the way that people are communicating, could be a reflection of the general feeling that people are having this uncertainty about what is going to happen, and how severe this trend is. So while they might appear humorous or [dismissive] of the seriousness, they can reflect [public] sentiment.

The memes seem to follow a recent trend of viral internet humor as a coping mechanism memes that are more overtly psychological than the usual wholesome meme, and more upfront about the touch of nihilism that drives them. There are two obvious recent references for this self-aware state of mind. The first is the are you in the right headspace? meme, which spawned last month as a deeply sarcastic response to a Twitter thread inviting people to ask their friends if theyre in the right headspace to receive information that can possibly hurt you. The resulting meme has been frequently used to ironically frame its subjects as overblown drama. World War III? No exception:

The second example is the do what you need to cope meme, which emerged near the end of 2019 and has been hugely popular into the beginning of 2020. The format usually involves a fictional character and starts with the banal canceling plans is okay only to then rapidly escalate through overdramatic plot points before coming to rest at do what you need to cope.

There are WWIII variants of this meme as well, though theyre a bit bleaker than the norm.

The basic idea here, as Alhabash points out, is that the World War III meme itself isnt just about war. Its about the larger cultural mood and the ways in which we receive, express, and amplify that mood. Alhabash expressed doubts about how self-aware this process was. But for a subset of the meme makers and their audience, the war jokes are helping quell anxiety and keep things lighthearted.

In other words, the making of memes is a form of doing what you need to cope.

Its worth noting, however, that some situations do seem to be utterly too dark to meme there are virtually no memes about the Australian bushfires, for example and that ironically might be cause for hope. If the potential global conflict is something we can joke about, then it might mean that our prevailing emotion is still hope that it wont happen.

Still, Alhabash cautioned that the memes are a kind of canary in the coal mine for a larger social media response to future emergent political situations.

In any kind of political tension, whether it is local, regional, national or global, social media is part of the warfare, he said. And this is something to look for in any future crisis.

In other words, keep your eye on the memes and not just because they might help you figure out how you feel about an increasingly complicated world.

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World War 3 memes as therapy: Coping with war and crisis through memes - Vox.com

Iran has accused the European nations of abusing the process.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: The usage of the dispute mechanism is legally baseless and a strategic mistake from a political standpoint.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the Iran nuclear deal should be replaced.

Mr Johnson has recognised US concerns that the 2015 deal was flawed, but has underlined the need for a solution to preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast he said: If were going to get rid of it then we need a replacement. Lets replace it with the Trump deal.

However, Irans President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed the proposed new Trump deal aimed at resolving the growing nuclear conflict.

He has said it was a strange offer and has criticised President Trump for breaking promises.

In a televised speech, the Iranian President told Washington to return to the 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers, adding that Iran could reverse its moves to scale back its commitments under the pact.

Given the escalated tensions between Iran, the US and Europe, it seems likely World War 3 would break out between these countries.

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World War 3 predictions: Where would WW3 be fought? Is there going to be a WW3? - Express.co.uk