Tuesday, June 17, 2014

COMMENTARY & OPINION LXXXVIII



From the desk of
Bill Ramey
6/9/14

COMMENTARY & OPINION
LXXXVIII

Greetings friends around the world: 

The following articles are simply things I feel you should know in order to make informed decisions regarding the future. 

America, Lord of the Heroin Trade
June 2, 2014 by John Little - OmegaShock.com

Today, as I went through my personal email folder, I found something sent out by Chris Duane of SilverShieldXchange.com. As I scrolled down the email, I found this:


We just observed Memorial Day last week, where we honored those who gave their lives so that we might be free. And, my family has been represented in every American war fought since at least 1776. So, it makes me sick to think of our precious boys and girls being sent out to become casualties so that the US can keep its profits in the heroin trade.

————————————–

I really was going to talk about something else, so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that – because I’m hopping mad over this.

(And yes, I do know that this is not new.)

The United States government has become the single largest trafficker in narcotics, since the ’60s and ’70s, and that thought makes me want to burn my passport. And, it all began with the coup that took over the United States government on November 22, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated.

America, The Heroin

From that moment on, it was game over. Drugs began to flow into the US from Southeast Asia on US Air Force transports. We cultivated cocaine in Central and South America. And, when Jimmy Carter signed a secret directive on July 3, 1979, giving covert aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul… well, America became heroin traffickers. We taught the Afghanis how to make heroin from opium, and exchanged it for guns. And now, 90% of the world’s heroin comes from Afghanistan.


Really? The US Air Force?


No, 99.9% of the Air Force doesn’t know that they’re flying out heroin. They’re just the unwitting drug mules for this vast operation that is netting the CIA billions and billions of dollars.

And, who is guarding the poppy fields?


However, the US Army is being pulled out of Afghanistan. But, don’t worry. The US has brought in tens of thousands of ‘private contractors’ to make sure that the poppy fiel… I mean… the government of Afghanistan doesn’t fall to those terrible Taliban – who also happen to have been created by the CIA.

Here are a couple videos to get your blood boiling:

And, there’s this one as a backdrop:

(If you want more, you’ll hafta’ get it yourself.
My stomach can’t handle much more of this.)

I was a child of the ’60s and ’70s, but while I was growing up, my country was falling. And, it makes me sick at heart. We had such promise at our birth.

There was goodness in us, but now… I find it hard to see much that is good in the land of my birth. And, I am devastated by this.

A Little History

Clan Little fled Scotland to America (and elsewhere) in the 1600s, as the English ‘pacified’ the border clans. And, the first recorded ‘John Little’ to arrive was in 1712. There was a John Little killed by the Hessians in the Revolutionary War. There have been Little Generals and Little Admirals. The Littles have been, and are, everywhere in the US.

We are a truly American family. So, it makes me sick to see how our great country has become the drug lord of the whole world.

God’s Wrath
Worse, far worse, we have invited God’s righteous wrath against ourselves. And, when God is angry with a nation, bad things happen to those who live in and around it.

Please, get as far from ‘ground zero’ as you can.

Are you ready for this?
(That’s a link. Do more than just think about .

Ramey comments:

If the above article comes as a shock to you, then you can consider yourself completely out of touch with reality.  John Little thinks the drug trade started with LBJ but he is sadly mistaken.  Our war against China in 1905 was to keep the opium trade routes into China open for the drugs the U.S. and England were peddling to them.  This kind of history you don't find in classrooms of our forced educational institutions nor in the Jesuit censored encyclopedias printed in America.  But it's out there and you can find it if you can stand the truth.  If you remember, last week's Commentary showed the fate of those who can't stand truth. 


Judge Napolitano: Obama Impeachment Now “A Very, Very Valid Argument”

"Provided material support to a terrorist organization"
by Steve Watson | Infowars.com | June 3, 2014



Libertarian pundit and and former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano has called for the impeachment of the President over the Taliban prisoner release, stating that he has aided the release of the worst terrorists in the world.

“The president may well have committed a federal crime,” Napolitano said, appearing on Fox News Tuesday.

“The president should be impeached for this,” Napolitano added. “In my view, it’s a very, very valid argument that people are going to start talking about.”

Napolitano also noted that compared to Bill Clinton’s Impeachment over “nonsense,” what Obama has done is “far, far more serious.”

“By giving material assistance to a terrorist organization. He knows — ought to have known — that that’s what these guys will do.” Napolitano added.

Napolitano has a point, which is likely why the disgraced outgoing White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to even acknowledge that the Taliban is a terrorist organisation during a press conference.

When asked by CNN Chief Washington Correspondent Joe Johns if the President considers himself above the law, Carney quickly fell back on Obama’s “signing statement”, issued when the law in question was first passed. ”To be clear, the 30-day notice requirement has appeared in NDAA bills and in other legislation in this and prior years, and we have repeatedly noted concerns with this requirement, Carney said.

“In signing statements he has — he, the president, has consistently made clear that the executive branch must have the flexibility to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers, if necessary. And that was certainly the case here.”

Napolitano noted in a separate appearance Monday “As if a signing statement, a piece of paper he signs at the time he signs the law into existence changes the law. It doesn’t under our system.”

“This is by far the lesser of the two laws that he violated. He and his team violated the federal statute which makes criminal providing material assistance to a terrorist organization. This includes money, this includes ceramic mugs, this includes maps, this includes professional services, and this includes releasing human assets back to a terrorist organization.” the former judge urged.

“President Obama’s Justice Department has successfully prosecuted people for providing material assistance to terrorist organizations and now he himself has done so by letting these five guys loose.” Napolitano added.

“He violated the law by allowing assets to go back to a terrorist organization. You can’t erect a telephone pole, you can’t repair a laptop, you can’t repair a tooth if you’re a dentist for these organizations without violating federal statute.”

Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy is in agreement with Napolitano, stating today that “The return of senior terrorists to the Taliban [is] … a high crime and misdemeanor”.

—————————————————————-

Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.


WHY NO RUSSIAN INTERVENTION IN UKRAINE

Translation of the "must read" article of worldcrisis.ru explaining why there is no Russian intervention in the Ukraine

It is with an immense and heartfelt THANK YOU! to "BM" for his translation that I have the real privilege to share with you this translation into English of the excellent article of worldcrisis.ru I mentioned in my previous post.  This is, in my opinion, the most complete and well-written analysis of the apparent Russian "passivity" and we all owe "BM" a big debt of gratitude for making it available to us on such short notice.  I especially encourage you all to circulate this translation as it is by far the best explanation of the Kremlin's policy.

The Saker
-------

Why there is no Russian military intervention in the Ukraine
Posted on worldcrisis.ru 30 Май 22:19 
опубликовал
 Сухов боец красной армии [suho]

The level of analytical discussions on the Russian Internet is perfectly described by the political scientist Simon Uralov: "To consider that the Ukrainian crisis set off only the minds of the Kievan colleagues and turned them all into bloodthirsty hysterics is fundamentally mistaken. Among the Moscow colleagues there is also an incredible number of such." The purpose of this material is to take a step back from the hysteria and coldly analyze the situation in Ukraine.
I'll start with the necessary clarifications on several emotionally important topics:

Why is there no Russian military intervention? 

If this text was written a few days earlier, a significant part of it would had to have been devoted to explaining why sending troops to Ukraine was inappropriate and just plain stupid even after the referendum. Fortunately, the head of the resistance ibn Slaviansk, Igor Strelkov, coped with this task better than I: in his video message, he very clearly described the inertness of the local population of Lugansk and Donetsk in terms of real action to protect their interests against the junta. Anticipating the arguments about the referendum, I hasten to say that a check mark on the ballot is certainly cool, but not much different from any hipster-white-ribboned (belolentochnyh) attempts "carry mode" – the “like” on Facebook. Because a "like" handle made in the bulletin doesn’t change anything. The referendum was a necessary but not sufficient action.

How much was the Kremlin prepared for events in Ukraine and how much does it improvise even now? 

I advise you to read the telegram's Wikileaks: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html , in which it is shown that Kremlin clearly pointed out to the Americans in 2008 the scenarios that we see today: "Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face."

It is logical to assume that such a development for the Kremlin was not a surprise and that we are now in even more unpleasant but less nuanced script that something like "Plan E".

In order to understand what the Kremlin will do next, let’s formulate objectives:

- Do not allow the entry of Ukraine into NATO.

- Do not allow the establishment and stabilization in Ukraine of a Russophobic regime, which assumes denazification.

- Do not allow the genocide of Russian South-East population.

Ideally this requires implementation of all three objectives while, in that interval, not breaking the Russian economy during its reorientation toward Asia and, at the same time, preventing the Americans from pulling off their economic ends at the expense of the EU.

How can these goals be realized?

Let us consider the simplest scenario and see what are the vulnerabilities and negative consequences:

So, the Russian army enters Ukraine and a few days later comes to Kiev, then captures all of Ukraine. "Patriots" are jubilant, there are parades on the Khreschatyk, etc.

It seems that all three goals have been achieved, but the following problems emerge:

1. In the EU, where the European business elite has slowly pressed on the feet of their politicians and stamped on the brakes with regard to sanctions, the "war party" (a/k/a "The Party of the United States", or rather "Party Pax Americana») clearly triumphs. Against the Russian Federation, the maximum of real sanctions cut in with terrifying effect principally for the European economy themselves, which immediately falls into a recession. But nothing to rejoice about.

Against this background, the Americans easily force the signing of their version of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade pact, which turns the EU into an appendage of the U.S. economy. Negotiations about the treaty are going on right now and, for the Americans, the entry of Russian troops in Ukraine would be a huge gift. Sanctions against Russia would destroy European business and trade barriers with the U.S. would finish it. What we have at the end: EU in a state as if after a war; the United States, all in white, joyfully absorbing European markets on which they have not and will not have competitors; the Russian Federation - not in the best shape. Does it seem to anyone that someone in this situation is the fool (лох), and that that someone is clearly not the U.S.? By the way, it is not necessary to take into account the arguments to the effect that European politicians would not allow economic suicide. Euro-bureaucrats are not capable even of this, as practice shows.

2. Besides the fact that the Kremlin will render a service to Washington, we need to look at what will happen to Russia itself.

• If the sanctions cut against Russia before the gas mega-contract for 30 years with China is signed, then China will be able to negotiate a price from a position of strength. In fact, from a position of blackmail (This shows in China’s comportment, however, but not clearly).

• If the sanctions are imposed against Russia before the oil mega-contract with Iran is initialled, through which Rosneft will be able to control an additional 500,000 barrels of oil per day, Iran will be able to negotiate a price from a position of strength.

• All subsequent attempts to build something up even to the delivery of imports we need now, will be very, very expensive.

• If sanctions cut in before the signing of the agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community, imagine what trumps Lukashenko and Nazarbayev will have to twist Putin’s arms at negotiations. A little more of this, and Moscow, in order to create the EurAsEC, will have to pay for its oil.

3. The Russian Federation would have to assume the responsibility for the restoration of the Ukrainian economy and denazification: where to get the needed number of “denazifiers” in “dusty helmets” (if anyone has forgotten, according to Okudzhava, it was the commissars in dusty helmets that bent over the dead hero of the Civil War) to fight compact groups of Ukrainian Nazis, which will enjoy support and supply from abroad. On aggregate, it is clear that this scenario greatly benefits the United States and China. Russia remains a deep sense of moral satisfaction, economic issues and future curses of the “generous” (щирых) Ukrainians who are unhappy with "life under occupation."

How are the key points in time our vulnerabilities laid out?

1. Gas contract with China - May-June (May 21 signed!)

2. Oil contract with Iran in summer (That's why the U.S. lifted the embargo, as Rosneft is very tightly seated under BP and not very under Exxon Mobil. Where does the oil flow? To China).

3. Important! Elections to the European Parliament, which will get a lot of votes Eurosceptic allies of Russia. After the election, will be assembled Evrokommissii different composition which will be much easier to work with - May 25. Even more important! Gas contract signed with China, newly elected deputies will be more amenable to South Stream.

4. Collection of all relevant documents/permits/etc., for construction of South Stream - May.

This is what is visible to the naked eye, but there are other aspects that are very important, but which are difficult to place clearly on a timetable:

1. Transition to settlements in rubles for energy. Oil and gas are not potatoes: they (are provided under) long-term contracts that cannot be altered unilaterally but require lengthy work to replace them with new ones, plus the change in current ones.

2. Transition to quoting prices in rubles for energy (for trading in rubles) on the Russian markets - it is absolutely hellish work though, if only because up until now no one has ever done anything like it.

3. Own payment system

4. Preparation of import substitution or improvement of our work with Asian suppliers (not in emergency mode).

The list can and should continue, that's what I see, and the Kremlin is much broader horizons.

Now add interesting initiatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which is not sitting idly by with its hands folded. For example, Vice Minister Karasin was in Doha on May 6 and met with all the Qatari elite. The results, in my opinion, turned out to be shocking. According to the Foreign Ministry, the Qatari emir said that he appreciates the "convincing and coherent regional policy of the Russian Federation", which is very unexpected for a country that is not just a U.S. ally and the political branch of Exxon Mobil in the Middle East and a 100% opponent of the Russian Federation in Syria. But the casket (ларчик) has simply opened: the fact is that American dreams of filling the whole world with cheap gas are a death sentence for Qatar and its elite. Without ultra-high gas prices, Qatar does not just lose any hope for regional greatness, but becomes a corpse. Doha focuses quickly and begins to offer something of interest: "At the same time, emphasis was placed on accelerating the coordination of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries (GECF)", the next summit of which (that's a coincidence!) will be held in Qatar. The Forum of Gas Exporting Countries is an organization which includes countries such as Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela, Bolivia and other exporters, and which the Kremlin, for a long time but without success, the Kremlin tried to turn into the gas analogue of OPEC. It is possible that now is the right hour for a potential gas cartel. First, the three major gas exporter: Russia, Qatar and Iran have very similar interests and should be able to work on the same side in order to share and "take over the gills" of the LNG market and pipeline gas market. Such a gas cartel, even in a reduced format (only the Russian Federation, Qatar, Iran) will control at least 55% of the world's gas reserves and have significant opportunities to strongly influence the energy markets of the EU and Asia. Of course, such a project would involve a lot of problems and it will meet opposition, no one gives a guarantee that everything will work, but it is important to see that Moscow is actively seeking opportunities for more strategic advantages in the fight against the United States.

Hopefully it is now clear on what the Kremlin is spending time, which it is trying to win out of the Ukrainian situation, and why it matters.

Let’s return to problems directly related to Ukraine and note that even the implementation of all the important foreign policy projects will not help in carrying out the denazification of Kiev and make it so that Russian troops or rebel army of Novorossia would by greeted with bread and salt even in the central region. If the army of Novorossia has problems with mobilization in Lugansk and Donetsk, then work within the zombified regions will be very, very difficult. However, it seems that on the side of the Russian Federation on the field of battle will soon appear Colonel Hunger and the Special Forces Giperok ("Hyperinflation"), which will dramatically change the balance of power.

The Ukrainian economy is finished. Given the disastrous spring sowings, the crops of vegetables destroyed (frozen), lack of credit, problems with gas, the jump in fuel prices, we can safely say that the economy will come as a northern beast, which will be full and fluffy. No one will give money to the junta, not even from the IMF, which promised something around $17 billion (exactly 50% of what Ukraine needs for this year), but built into the contract an "escape clause": if Kiev does not control all the regions, then Kiev is not to receive a cent. Hunger, cold and hyperinflation (caused by the collapse of the hryvnia) will actively work to weaken the junta and correct the minds of the “generous” (shchirykh) Ukrainians: they will surely not come to love Russia, but this is hardly necessary. It is necessary that they begin to remember the Yanukovych period as sweet, unattainable dream. The inevitable chaos and total collapse of social structures, coupled with low intensity civil war guarantees that NATO will not accept Ukraine since Europe will then itself "be on the rails", and even in the U.S., more or less moderate politicians will not make a move, which obviously would not lead to U.S. victory, but to the dragging of the country into a nuclear war.

Moreover, in the context of total economic collapse, for the miners, metal workers and other comrades who are now firmly glued to their jobs for fear of losing them and hoping to "ride it all in their huts on the edge (of the precipice)", there will no longer be such a possibility. They will have to participate in one form or another, in the political and economic problems of New Russia. And likely they will have to participate in arms.

At the same time, the-junta-named-Poroshenko, foisted (on the country) by the European Union, will have a strong incentive to negotiate with Moscow to make concessions, to offer compromises. Already, the new European Commission, which needs peace in the east and stable gas transit, will be pushing Poroshenko in this direction. Poroshenko will also be pushed in the same direction by social upheavals caused by Colonel Hunger and Hyperinflation the Saboteur.

All these factors, in sum, open up great opportunities for the Kremlin to reformat the former Ukraine into something appropriate to the interests of the Russian Federation. It is precisely this scenario that the United States is attempting to avoid, and it is because of this that the United States has serious reasons to accelerate the translation of the conflict into a hot phase with the use of troops and massive bloodshed.

If you add up the time that is needed for the action of Hunger and the time required to resolve foreign policy problems in terms of establishing work with China, Iran, untethering from the dollar, import substitution, etc. (very roughly) can come to the conclusion that you need somewhere 5-9 months (that same December, for which Yanukovych tried to negotiate) to provide solutions to Ukrainian and other issues to the maximum advantage of Russia. During this period, you must provide at least for the preservation of Ukraine in a state of civil war (i.e., support for the DNR, LNR, but it is not necessary to take Kiev too fast in order not to create unnecessary additional problems) and ideally, combined with the civil war, prolonged and sticky negotiations within Ukraine, with the participation of international observers, something like 2 +4 format, i.e., Poroshenko + Tsarev + Russia, EU, ​​OSCE, USA.

The final touch. In recent months, the U.S. has slowed down the work of its printing press, reducing the "pump-priming" (this especially simplifies the formulation) from 85 to 55 billion dollars a month. Very many expect (e.g. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/27/us-usa-fed-idUSBREA3Q08920140427), that the machine will turn off completely by the end of this year. Again, in that same December. This is due to the fact that the dollar, though it is the main international currency, cannot be printed endlessly - it is impossible. According to various estimates, the United States has almost entirely used up the "resource strength" of the dollar, which allowed them to do the naughty with the (financial) machine. Moreover, the corollary and inevitable effect of such tricks is reducing rates on U.S. bonds, which, on the one hand, helps Washington to pay less for its debts, but, on the other hand, is actually choking the entire U.S. pension and insurance system that is built on the expectation of very different returns from their portfolios bonds. Roughly speaking, by the end of the year, the U.S. will have a choice between to blowing up their social system in order to keep on printing, or greatly reducing their appetites in order to preserve any chance of stability at home. Judging by the reduction in the amount of dollars being thrown into the system, Washington has decided that preventing an explosion is more important than its foreign policy ambitions.

Now to complete the puzzle finally, let’s make our predictions:

- America will try by all means to aggravate the crisis in Ukraine, in order to weaken Russia and put the whole European market under its sway before it needs to shut down its printing presses.

- The Kremlin will try to translate the crisis in Ukraine from the acute to the chronic phase - civil war plus sluggish negotiations amid the economic collapse of Ukraine. At the same time, the Kremlin will use the time to create favorable conditions for the transition to the sharp confrontation with the United States - from the work on untethering from the dollar with China, Iran, Qatar, creating the EEC etc.

- Complete end to the crisis in December 2014, possibly earlier if U.S. desists from trying to exacerbate the hostilities.

- And if it does not desist? - Then ... a big war ... a war for resources, because shale "boom" was an ordinary bubble.

On this subject in detail in the article by William Engdahl "Washington shale boom - bust". Original Washington's Shale Boom Going Bust http://journal-neo.org/2014/05/12/washington-s-shale-boom-going-bust/

Ramey comments: 

The above article has some complex issues but I recommend you read it and digest what you can, because it really is a blueprint for the future.  Will there be surprises?  You can be sure but overall strategy is laid out here.  It is laid out without the vision of the prophets but is laid out logically in an age when logic among American diplomats seems to have been lost along the way. 

Where the rubber meets the road is that it fits hand in glove with what the prophets laid out for the days we are living in. 


FOOD PRICES

After five years of the federal government telling the public that despite a $3.5 trillion increase in monetary expansion, the inflation rate is below +2%, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) just warned the American public that the consumer price index for food is up by 10% this year. 

The DOA tried to blame food inflation on the drought conditions in California, but last year’s drought was worse and food prices fell by -6%. The real problem is Federal Reserve monetary stimulus is stimulating inflation. I reported in "Food Price Inflation Scares the Fed” two months ago that commodity food costs were exploding on the upside. Given the lag in commodity costs impacting prices on grocery store shelves, annual U.S. food inflation is now running at +22% and rising.
The DOA tried to blame food inflation on this year’s drought conditions in California that they stated may have “large and lasting effects on U.S. fruit, vegetable, dairy and egg prices.” It is true that California droughts are always agricultural issues, since 80% of the state’s freshwater supply is used by farms and ranches. This has resulted in surface water deliveries to farms and ranches from reservoirs and the California Aqueduct being cut by 32.5%, or 6 million acre-feet.
But “large and lasting effects” on agricultural production in California will be avoided this year by pumping 5 million acre feet of groundwater from underground lakes, known as aquifers. The aquifers are a relic of the era when the Pacific Ocean covered much of the state. California has over 850 million acre feet of water stored in 450 known groundwater aquifers, enough to cover the state to a depth of 8 feet.
The State of California-sponsored UC Davis/ERA Economics farm report dated May 19th stated that only about 410,000 acres, or 7.5%, of California’s 7 million acres of Central Valley farmland will be taken out of production this year. Losses for the 80,500 farms and ranches in California due to the drought will be limited to only be about $738 million, or 2%, of the state’s $42.6 billion annual agricultural revenue.
California remains number one in agriculture revenue with 11.3% of the US total. The state accounts for 15% of national receipts for crops and 7.1% of the US revenue for livestock and livestock products. As the producer of nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables, California exported $18.18 billion to other states and countries in 2012. 
California’s abundance of sun and ground water explain the state’s farming abundance but also explains the cyclical droughts. But those same cyclical forces are forming an El Niño condition in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that is expected to hammer the Golden State with torrential rain next year.
The real culprit for food inflation is the $940 billion of additional monetary stimulus from the United States Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing over the last twelve months. Inflation has been in hibernation for a long time, but it is wide awake now
The author welcomes feedback and will respond to comments by readers.                       by Taboolaby Taboola


BERGDAHL

A book was published in the 1950s entitled "None Dare Call it Treason".  I don't remember the author's name but I remember the super short introduction to the book.  It read, "Treason never prospers.  What's the reason?  Because, if it prospers, none dare call it treason."

Some two years ago I began writing this blog saying that America is just before being destroyed totally.  There will be no reclaiming the republic we never had.  There will be no nation named America (except in the history books), and there will be no one living on the real estate we call America.

This sounded pretty bizarre at the time but much less so as we witness the give away of America to Muslim.  America is financing Christian persecution and Christian massacres all around the world today. 

I do not identify with Christianity.  Nor do I identify with any other religion.  I firmly believe that religion is the tool created by Satan for the deception of the whole world (Revelation 12:9). 

Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in our world and comprise the legs of the dream image of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon some 2,600 years ago (Daniel 2).  That dream image was given as an unfurling of the tapestry of time to show the king what would be happening "… in the last days."  That is the days we are living in!

In chapter 12 of the book of Daniel, we see in verses 4 and 9 that the book is to be sealed and not understood "…until the time of the end".  In verse 10 of that same chapter, we can see who it is that will understand it when it is unsealed.  If you understand the book of Daniel, then you need to thank your Creator because that understanding was not given by men.  The efforts of men have been to keep that book sealed and hide the identity of the 4th beast of chapter 7. 

The world today is groaning under a load of humanity steep-ed in idolatry and the march is being led by America.  We consider ourselves a "Christian Nation" and indeed we are a nation of "Christian idolaters".  How many Christians have investigated to see where their religion came from?  Haven't they all assumed it came from Christ?  Before we put too much trust in religion, we should be aware of what the prophet Hosea penned in chapter 4, verse 6 of the book that is named for him.  He says, "…my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge".  Is this why America is being destroyed as we watch?   And if you are not seeing the destruction of America, then you have been asleep. 

The latest in the sellout of America appears to be the fiasco involving Sgt Bergdahl.  This whole scenario appears to have been politically engineered for getting the phrase: "Praise be to Allah", into the American media with presidential endorsement.  I said when our chief was installed into the oval office that he was put there to destroy America and I think this becomes more obvious daily. 

We need to see, from a prophetic perspective, where we are in the progression of world events.  We need to understand that the image of the beast, spoken of in Revelation 13, is America.  We need to understand that the world bank is owned by the Vatican.  We need to understand that the Israel of today is not the remnants of the Israel of yesteryear. We need to understand that the biggest military reversal in all of recorded history is just ahead. 

What shall we do?  Shall we all fast and pray for America?  Before answering that, I need to give you some background information.  In 588-587 BC, Jeremiah was a prophet to the nation of Judah and he tried to tell King Zedekiah what he needed to do in order to preserve Jerusalem and Judah.  His counsel fell on deaf ears.  You can read the story in the book of Jeremiah but what I want to call your attention to is the instruction given to Jeremiah from the Eternal.  We find it in Jeremiah 7:16, 11:14 and 14:11.  What it says is (paraphrased): "Don't pray for these people because I will not listen."

Is America today more righteous than was ancient Judah in 587 BC?  Do you need my answer to that question? 

That the greatest military the world has ever known came under the control of Islam is not happenstance but rather design.  The design is under the Luciferian jurisdiction of the world today and was allowed by the Supreme Sovereign of the universe to set the stage for the total destruction of this nation and Israel as well because of idolatry.  The design was brought about by those enriched by this nation and they will all be brought before a tribunal and tried for their treason in a court that is not under their control nor swayed by their money.  Some will make it to their hidey-holes, built at public expense, but will not escape trial as we see in Isaiah 24:21-22. 

America stands on the precipice of unparalleled destruction and it appears it will be, not only in this generation, but this administration as well.  The entire world will suffer (and has), the consequences of our rapacity.  (See Habakkuk).