Australia’s Central Bank Says It's Bust

 This is one way that global financial collapse can begin.  When people realize that paper money is only paper and is backed by “faith and confidence” in the government’s currency, they can make a run for something else.  If the other global central banks are also revealed to be bust, contagion can spread quickly.

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The central bank of Australia on Wednesday made the astonishing admission that it is, basically, bust. Its entire equity has been wiped out by pandemic-related bond buying.

Of course, the Reserve Bank of Australia is a central bank, and can print money. So it can work its way out of a situation that would bankrupt a conventional bank or company.

Still, as the U.S. Federal Reserve meets today on interest rates, it's an interesting insight into the challenges other central bankers face as they attempt to reconcile Covid stimulus with post-Covid inflation and economic emergence.

The RBA began its bond-purchase program in November 2020 as a second stimulus package in response to the pandemic. The first round of measures saw it slash rates to record lows, and set up a term funding facility offering cheap three-year funding to banks. For the bond buying, the central bank bought Australian government bonds and semi-government securities in the secondary market to lower interest rates on bonds maturing between five and 10 years out.

The program was extended, and extended, and extended yet again. Ultimately, the RBA bought A$281 billion (US$188 billion) in national, state and territory government bonds.

Now the bill has come due.

https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/global-equity/australia-s-central-bank-says-it-is-bust-16103021

Does Hurricane in Florida Have Anything to do with Israel?

 I read a book some years back that chronicled all of the devastating weather events in the US during the past 75 years and how they all lined up with something foul the US was doing in regards to Israel and their land.  Today we read this and it makes us wonder if the streak of calamities is tied to USA dividing God’s land.

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As I write this, Hurricane Ian is howling directly overhead, the power in our condo flickers on and off, and I am grateful for the battery backup that keeps my computer running uninterrupted. It was exactly one week ago yesterday that the prime minister of Israel said the Jews are ready to divide their land to create a Palestinian state. It is exactly one week ago today that both Israel and the United States stood before the United Nations General Assembly and declared their support for the Two State Solution. Hurricane Ian has decimated whole sections of the west coast of Florida, is that coincidence, or is the Lord speaking?

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” Zephaniah 3:8(KJB)

Hurricane Ian is the first hurricane to hit Florida since 2018, all the other ones either blew away or amounted to nothing. So to have a storm of this magnitude, doing the damage it is doing, exactly one week after both the US and Israel agree to the Two State Solution, to me, is no coincidence. Please pray for all the people who have been, who currently are, and who will be in the path of this deadly storm, that the Lord will be gracious and show mercy. Pray also for Israel and the Jews who, despite the witness of all the prophets, are unwittingly preparing themselves to enter into the time of Jacob’s trouble that will begin after the Rapture of the Church takes place.

https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/exactly-one-week-after-united-states-israel-agree-two-state-solution-hurricane-ian-pounds-florida/

Anti-Jew Sentiment Rises in Russia

It is incredibly interesting how there are only 13 million Jews in the entire world but no matter where they are, folks blame them for virtually everything.  Of course this fact should give us even more confidence in what the Bible tells us.  Satan, the Prince of the Earth, hates Jews so does everything in his power to make sure the nations hate Jews.  Of course God promises a blessing to those nations and peoples who bless Jews and Israel.  We believe this to be the one single reason why America has received such numerous blessings from God.

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 Anti-Semitism has become so acceptable again in Russia that think tanks also resort to it. 

The Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian conservative think tank frequently quoted by the Russian mainstream media, and also foreign media, published a vicious anti-Semitic comment about French-Jewish philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy when he visited Ukraine last week.

“This 74-year-old French citizen, born in a family of Algerian Jews, smells blood with his nose and, without delay, flies to lap it up – and for good money,” the wrote Agnia Krengel, a regular contributor for the Foundation, in an article published by the think tank. That Jews consume blood and are obsessed with money are old anti-Semitic tropes that go back as far as the Middle Ages.

According to Bronfman, it is unlikely that Putin and his government are orchestrating the rising anti-Semitism in Russia.

“The anti-Semitic rhetoric we’re seeing now, the loosening of the taboo around it, are probably not directed directly by Putin’s government. Nor was the perception that Putin cares for Jews,” Bronfman said. “These are matters of a general atmosphere. Officials and the general population are reading between the lines on how they should treat the Jews. And the message is changing.”

Nevertheless, leading officials in Russia have shown that it has become acceptable to make nasty comments about Jews. 

Earlier this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov causedoutrage in Israel and abroad when he said in an interview with an Italian TV channel, “So what if Zelenskyy is Jewish? The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood. Some of the worst anti-Semites are Jews.” 

Putin eventually apologized to Israel for Lavrov’s remarks.

https://allisrael.com/as-putin-s-war-suffers-setbacks-russian-media-discourse-expresses-increasing-hostility-to-jews

Delusional

 2 Thessalonians says that "God will send great delusion" following the rapture to those folks left behind who heard the Gospel but rejected it.  We have wondered if this delusion is being foreshadowed as so many other great events of God are?  How else to you explain society pretending that men are women?  Or that anyone else besides women can have babies and breast feed them?

In today's article regarding Russia threatening use of nukes, we find the word "delusional" so it sparks our interest.  And yes, we believe that President Biden shows signs of being delusional.  Probably not a good person to have at the helm of the ship when all hell seems to be breaking loose from many different directions.

Russia's nuclear doctrine is called "escalate to deescalate" or, more appropriately, "escalate to win," which means threatening or using nukes early in a conventional conflict.

Even if Putin is now bluffing — most analysts think he is — he is getting what he wants with threats. Biden, for instance, has been cautious and even timid in providing military assistance to a beleaguered Ukraine. Putin has obviously noticed, which is the reason he has been making more such threats.

Why, then, doesn't the United States have what it needs at this crucial moment: nuclear-tipped cruise missiles like Putin's? The arms-control community, arguing that such low-yield weapons would make nuclear war more likely, persuaded American presidents not to build them. President Trump authorized their development, but Biden cancelled the program.

Unfortunately, arms-control advocates got it backwards. As evident from today's developments, America lacking low-yield nuclear warheads on cruise missiles is making nuclear war more likely, not less.

"The United States will need to reduce its nuclear arsenal to encourage Russia to do the same," wrote Tom Collina and Angela Kellett on the 21st of this month on the Defense One site.

Entice Russia into disarmament? Been there. Tried that. Failed miserably.

Is it possible to work with Putin at this time?

Even if we can put aside the morality of talking to a genocidal mass murderer — we cannot — it is reckless to believe Putin might actually honor arms-control agreements when he has continually violated them with impunity.

Moreover, it is bad enough to argue for disarmament in peacetime, but it is the height of folly to do so during war — and when China and North Korea are making first-strike nuclear threats of their own.

America's arms-control advocates have always been naïve. Now, they are delusional.

Here;  Biden Has Opened Door to Russian Nuke Strikes :: Gatestone Institute

The world is a dangerous place filled with lots of nasty people willing to do some atrocious things.  Probably the best plan is to speak softly and carry a really big stick.

A Perfect Storm on Top of A Perfect Storm

 What did Jesus say about conditions to expect in the very Last Days?  There will be famine.  This news is no surprise as we know that drought here in America has ruined many crops and many cattle ranches.  We might be wealthy enough here in America to keep ourselves fed but already our local Food Shelves are feeling it.  The cars line up for blocks to get their box of food.  Now imagine what the 4 billion folks who live on less than $5 per day are going to do?  The Bible says that men will one day work all day long just for a quart of wheat.  It takes a quart of wheat per day to keep a working man alive.

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The United Nations’ Food chief is urging the public to prepare for famine and widespread food shortage next year amid an severe fertilizer supply shortage.

The pandemic, climate problems and the Russian, Ukranian war and inflation are crippling production of the global food supply production, World Food Program Director David Beasley told the Associated Press on Thursday.

“It’s a perfect storm on top of a perfect storm,” Beasley said. “And with the fertilizer crisis we’re facing right now, with droughts, we’re facing a food pricing problem in 2022. This created havoc around the world.

“If we don’t get on top of this quickly — and I don’t mean next year, I mean this year — you will have a food availability problem in 2023,” he said. “And that’s gonna be hell.”

 Currently, the world produces enough food to feed over 7.7 billion people, but maintaining an adequate amount of fertilizer and farmers is crucial to producing at least 50 percent of that food, Beasely argued.

“We’ve got to get those fertilizers moving, and we’ve got to move it quickly,” he admoished. “Asian rice production is at a critical state right now Seeds are in the ground.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/united-nations-food-chief-urges-warns-chaos-wide-spread-food-shortage-next-year-world-facing-perfect-storm-top-perfect-storm/

New Book Details Trump’s Transphobic and Anti-Gay Behavior

 The Left just can’t leave this guy alone.  Now, a new book out by NYT reporter is telling stories to prove that Trump was a transphobe and also a homophobe!  No!!!!!   Those sins of questioning the mental health of gays and trans folks are much worse than stealing nuclear secrets or ordering the death of an Iranian general!...in the eyes of those on the Left.  Forget about the FACT that as recently as 40 years ago the top doctors and psychiatrists in the world told us that gay and trans folks suffered from a mental disorder.  Today, they tell us, the science is in, and it’s a new FACT that people are genderless and sexless until they TELL us their identity.  No more can you ask a pregnant person, “is it a boy or a girl”.  Soon, such a question could land you in hate-crime court for asking such a genderphobic question.  Cancel culture is winning and we all need to push back or we will all lose our freedom of speech rights forever.

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Haberman presents Trump as a boorish homophobe obsessed with sexuality and appearing masculine—often to the horror of his aides—and details a number of instances, over the course of decades, when Trump’s true colors shone through.

According to an excerpt obtained by The Daily Beast, a week before the second debate unfolded in St. Louis in 2016, Trump’s close adviser at the time, Reince Priebus, presented the aspiring political figure with a question on same-sex bathrooms.

In playing the role of a female transgender student, Priebus asked Trump whether this hypothetical student could still use the girl’s bathroom.

Without missing a beat, Trump said he had a question.

“Cocked or decocked?” Trump asked.

Offering up a “blank stare,” the group was taken aback.

“Decocked?” an unspecified individual in the room responded.

Trump then began making “a chopping gesture.” “With cock or without cock?” he said.

At that moment, his advisers sitting within Trump Tower had come to understand that Trump wanted to know if the imaginary student had transitioned and undergone bottom surgery.

“What difference does that make?” an adviser in the room responded to Trump. The now-former president shot back that such a determination would impact his answer.

“What if a girl was in the bathroom and someone came in, lifted up a skirt, and a schlong was hanging out,” Trump continued, according to Haberman’s book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

Throughout the book, Haberman details how the now-former president would also frequently engage in guessing who might be gay.

For example, when the AIDS virus began spreading in New York City in the early ’80s, Trump phoned reporters to find out if people he’d met and shook hands with were gay.

But that was mild for the early Trump years.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maggie-habermans-new-book-details-donald-trumps-transphobic-and-anti-gay-behavior?ref=scroll

Biggest Crash in World History is Coming

 This headline was front page Google News...Biggest crash in world history is on the horizon.  With so much global debt and all the governments printing paper money to pay for it, it’s only a matter of time til everything implodes, says Kiyosaki.  Of course we have been saying the same thing.  We hope this happens after the rapture so life remains somewhat normal, but there is certainly no guarantee.  Kiyosaki says to buy cans of tuna, gold, silver and cattle.  Also farmland if you can.  Of course 99% of Americans can’t buy cattle or farmland.  And a few cans of tuna and silver coins aren’t gonna get you too far.  He should have said guns and ammo.

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The markets sure look ugly these days.

The S&P 500 is down 23% year to date. For the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite, the loss in 2022 has widened to an even more painful 31%.

"Rich Dad Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki, who previously sounded the alarm, stresses just how badly this downturn could turn out to be.

“This is going to be the biggest crash in world history, we’ve never had this much debt pumped up,” he says in a Kitco News interview earlier this month.

Given that Kiyosaki has previously tweeted that “Crashes are the best times to get rich,” one might think it’s time to look for bargains in the beaten-down stock market.

But that’s not what Kiyosaki is doing right now.

Food prices have been going up amid supply shortages around the world. And that’s an area investors might want to pay attention to.

“Inflation about to take off. Best investments are cans of tuna & baked beans,” Kiyosaki tweeted in June, explaining that you “can’t eat gold, silver, or Bitcoin” but you can eat tuna and beans.

And right now, he tells Kitco he’s investing in livestock as well.

“I invest in Wagyu cattle,” he says. “People talk about farmland and all that stuff, but I think cattle are great.”

Indeed, investing in farmland has been popular these days. After all, Bill Gates turns out to be the largest private owner of farmland in the U.S. And even retail investors are now getting in on the action.

It might be a little bit more difficult for retail investors to get into cattle, but the payoff can be worth it.

“You can always eat the thing,” Kiyosaki says.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biggest-crash-world-history-robert-160000143.html

Nord Stream Gas Pipeline Blown Up

 In case you missed it, someone blew up Russia’s gas pipeline to Europe.  Watch the video to see the gas bubbling to the ocean surface and making a huge disturbance.  Tulsi believes we are pushing closer to nuclear exchange.  Why?  Because whoever did this (Navy Seals?) took away Putin’s leverage over Europe.  With Nord Stream pipe functioning he could threaten to “turn your gas off if...”  Now he can’t turn it off or on and Europe is in an energy crisis.  The German economy is collapsing.

https://youtu.be/v7HPG69vIas

Turkey Moves in Russia's Orbit

 Do you remember when God told Ezekiel that in the very Last Days there would be a coalition of countries who would plan a massive attack on Israel?  Do you remember that the main players in that coalition are now called Russia, Turkey and Iran?  

After years of Turkey moving closer to the West and even joining NATO, their current leader, Erdogan, has moved them into Russia's orbit.

"Europe Should Be Grateful to Erdoğan": The quote is the praise Russian dictator Vladimir Putin bestowed upon Turkey's Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Translated into realpolitik, what Putin is saying is: "Russia is grateful to Erdoğan's anti-Western ideology." He is right. Erdoğan is bringing NATO member Turkey more and more into Russia's orbit.

Erdoğan is overtly challenging the alliance of which his country is a member. Here is a brief account of how Erdoğan steered Turkey further away from Western interests, in favor of his Eurasian adventurism, in just a couple of months:

In early July, Erdoğan told a group of top party executives that Putin, during a meeting in Tehran, suggested a deal in which Turkish drone maker Baykar, whose chief engineer is Erdoğan's son-in-law, cooperates with Russia. "Putin told me that he wants to work with Baykar," Erdoğan said.

At the end of July, a Russian state-owned company was caught transferring money to a subsidiary that is building a $20 billion nuclear power plant on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, thereby alleviating concerns that the project could be delayed by war sanctions. Rosatom Corp. sent around $5 billion to the Turkey-based builder, formally known as Akkuyu Nuclear JSC.

The beginning of August. Putin proudly announced that the trade between Russia and Turkey doubled in the first five months of 2022, and had surged 57% in the last year.

After a face-to-face meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Erdoğan said that Turkey would now pay Russia in rubles for its natural gas purchases. Meanwhile, Erdoğan happily accepted Putin's invitation to join the September meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan. The SCO, launched in 2001, consists of Eurasian member states and declares its mission as combating radicalism and other security concerns in China, Russia and four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics.

As part of the Sochi deal, Erdoğan announced, five Turkish banks adopted Russia's Mir payments system, another blow to Western sanctions on Russia. Turkey had earlier abstained from joining the U.S. and Europe's sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

In a joint statement after the Sochi summit, Erdoğan and Putin "reaffirmed their determination to act in coordination and solidarity in the fight against all terrorist organizations in Syria." Shortly after that statement, the Turkish government stepped up its lethal drone attacks against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria ahead of a threatened full-scale invasion. A Turkish drone attack was reported to have killed four people in a town on the Syria-Turkey border.

Dmitri Peskov, Putin's spokesman, said that "Military-technical cooperation between the two countries is permanently on the agenda, and the very fact that our interaction is developing in this sensitive sphere shows that, on the whole, the entire range of our interrelations is at a very high level."

A few days after Peskov's opaque statement, Dmitry Shugayev, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said that a contract had been signed to deliver a second shipment of the S-400 missile system to Turkey, with the production of some components to be localized [some parts made locally] in Turkey. Now that is a real challenge.

A senior defense procurement official also told Gatestone that "there is progress in talks for the localization of the second system." That is new news. It also has propaganda mission. Russians are happy to create a new crack, via Turkey, within the NATO alliance. And Turkey is once again blackmailing the U.S. that "it would further deepen its defense cooperation with Russia if Congress blocks its request to buy 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the U.S."

This plan might make sense to Russia and Turkey, but it does not to the Western civilization to which Erdoğan claims Turkey belongs. To put it simply, more and more Erdoğan's Islamist Turkey simply does not belong where Erdoğan claims it belongs.

When will the West, please, wake up to this shift?

Here; Erdoğan Takes NATO-Member Turkey into Russia's Orbit :: Middle East Forum (meforum.org)

When will the West wake up to this shift?  Sadly, I don't think they will.  The Democrats currently in charge seem to be suffering from delusion.  We believe this might be because God has "given them over" so they simply can't understand the most basic of things.  They spend their time trying to get black-lesbian-women and transgender-women into places of power but yet can't define what a woman actually is.  They believe that America is racist yet refuse to talk about the black communities problem of fatherlessness which leads to horrendous crime rates.  They believe that God has no place in American politics until an attack happens then they gather on the steps to sing "God Bless America".  They believe that a pregnant woman is not carrying a human baby in her stomach so want it legal to kill the baby for any reason.  They believe that little kids should have the option of removing their breasts and penises because they identify as another gender.  They believe that if a politician would campaign on his beliefs in God, family and country that he would have to be a Neo-facist-racist-homophobe.

Things look like they are setting up for the Antichrist but followers of Christ are excited and joyful for the return of Christ!

Ex-CIA Officer Says Putin is Completely Cornered. Danger of Tactical Nukes Rises

 We all know what happens when you corner a wild animal.  It will lash out and do anything it can to get out of that corner.

An ex-CIA officer said Putin has been backed into a corner over his months-long war in Ukraine. 

Robert Baer told CNN that the Russian leader is unlikely to deescalate, given all his setbacks.

Baer also said the chances that Putin turns to tactical nuclear weapons are increasing. 

As military setbacks in Ukraine force Russian President Vladimir Putin into a corner, the odds that he turns to tactical nuclear weapons continue to increase, an ex-CIA officer said.

"I think the chances of his de-escalating are close to zero ... he simply cannot give up so much ground and be seen to be losing and continue as leader of Russia," Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer, told CNN on Tuesday.

"The chances of his using nuclear weapons — at least tactical nuclear weapons —is going up by the day," Baer added.

Ukrainian forces have recently liberated thousands of square miles of territory previously under Russian occupation in counteroffensives along the war's eastern and southern fronts — a move that appears to have sparked a shift in Putin's approach to the seven-month-long conflict. 

Last week, the Russian leader delivered a rare televised address in which he announced the partial military mobilization of his country's reservists, paving the way for more troops to deploy to Ukraine. Immediately after, Russians took to the streets and protested against the war. Many fled the country by any means necessary, fearing a call-up to fight. 

Here;  Ex-CIA officer says Putin is 'completely cornered' and the chances of him using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine are increasing 'by the day' (msn.com)

We can't imagine that Putin will EVER draw back from Ukraine, give back all the territory he's trying to hold and say, "so sorry world that I put everyone through such hardship and angst!  I especially apologize for the thousands of deaths on both sides.  Again, so sorry, please forgive me."

So what happens if Putin is drawn into a corner?  What do tactical nukes even look like when they explode?  So they just incinerate a battle field and not an entire city?

Can you see how the world is quite literally coming apart at the seams on so many levels?  Does it seem like the world might soon shout for a man that can come up with some answers as to how we can fix everything?  Can you see how the stage is being set for the Antichrist to arrive?

Germany's Economy is Collapsing

Back in July of 2018, Trump was in Europe warning the Germans that "they are totally controlled by Russia".  People laughed at Trump for saying such a thing to the economic powerhouse of Europe.  You can watch Trump say this on CBS Evening News right here;  https://youtu.be/1JpwkeTBwgs

And now today we read that Germany's economy is in serious trouble and most of the pain is being caused by Germany not being in control of it's energy markets.  Sounds like Trump was right on this too.

Things are starting to get really crazy in Germany.  The Germans are dealing with the worst inflation crisis that they have seen since the days of the Weimar Republic, and meanwhile economic activity is starting to shut down all over the nation.  Of course other European countries are facing similar problems, but Germany was supposed to be the economic rock that the rest of Europe could always depend upon.  

Unfortunately, the decision by the Russians to cut off the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is hitting Germany extremely hard.  If we could just get both sides to agree to end the war in Ukraine, that would greatly help matters, but that simply isn't going to happen.  In fact, it appears that Vladimir Putin has decided to greatly escalate matters, and the western powers will inevitably greatly escalate matters in response.  

What this means is that the economic turmoil that we are witnessing in Europe isn't going anywhere any time soon.

This week, we got some inflation numbers out of Germany that are so high that it is difficult to believe that they are actually real...

German producer prices rose in August at the fastest rate since records began in 1949, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed today, pointing to a further increase in consumer prices.

Producer prices of industrial products rose by 45.8 percent compared to the same month of last year. Compared to July 2022, prices rose 7.9 percent.

Soaring energy prices on the back of Russia's war against the Ukraine remain the main driver behind rising prices.

If we continue to see monthly increases of around 8 percent, next year at this time we could be talking about a yearly jump of close to 100 percent.

Wow.

How bad do things have to get before we actually start using the term "hyperinflation"?

Energy prices are the biggest reason why inflation has gotten completely out of control, and the German government has been forced to nationalize a huge natural gas company in order to keep it from going under...

The German government is closing in on an agreement to nationalize gas giant Uniper SE, as Berlin moves to stave off a collapse of the country's energy sector.

Here;  Economic Collapse Has Arrived In Germany. Will The U.S. Be Close Behind? (prophecynewswatch.com)

We continue to believe that the world will not melt down into total chaos until AFTER Jesus returns for His bride, the church.  We know it's a point of contention even among Pre-Millennialists, but we believe Jesus said that events will be pretty normal right up to the end of the age.  Folks will be eating, drinking, planning weddings, getting married, planting crops and trees and building buildings right up until the time that Noah and his kids were sealed in the ark and then floated above the destruction of all things.  The fact that the world is very close to a total economic meltdown should be one other "sign of the times" that keeps us eagerly looking for Jesus our Savior.

What if Russia IS Fighting Against Godlessness of the West?

 What if you were the leader of a nation and you believed your enemy was supporting the very destruction of family, gender and worship of God that has held your civilization together for 1000 years?  What if you believed that if they took over your nation that they would corrupt your children into believing that gender is fluid and that kids can decide their sexual gender?  What if you believed they would push the worship of Satan upon your populace?  What if you believed that they would push gay marriage into law and jail anyone who didn’t celebrate LGBTQ?  What if you were Putin and his cabinet and you saw this going on in America and The West and believed they would push it onto Russia by shoving their ungodly beliefs into Ukraine before ultimately corrupting your country?  We don’t support Putin but we also don’t support the perversion that has taken over America and is actively fighting against Russia via Ukraine?  Think about it.

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Russia is at war with an anti-religious civilisation that fights God and overthrows the very foundations of spiritual and moral values: God, the Church, the family, gender, man. With all the differences between Orthodoxy, traditional Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism, all religions and the cultures built upon them recognise divine truth, the high spiritual and moral dignity of man, honouring traditions and institutions – the state, the family, the community. The modern West has abolished all this, replacing it with virtual reality, extreme individualism, the destruction of gender, universal surveillance, a totalitarian ‘abolition culture’, a post-truth society.

You don’t have to accept Dugin’s claims that Russia is fighting some kind of holy war against this enemy — I emphatically do not — to believe that Dugin’s description of what the West has become is pretty much on target. Why does this matter? Because all of us in the West need to think about what it is we are defending. What values we are advancing in the world. It is an ugly picture, a picture of desecration and destruction. Seeing this clearly does not make you a Putinist. It just means you can read the signs of the times. One of my sources for Live Not By Lies, a scientist and anti-communist immigrant to the US from the Soviet bloc, told me yesterday:

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/09/20/dugin-world-war-3-is-coming/

US Warns Russia of Catastrophic Consequences if it Nukes Ukraine

 The war is not going too well for Putin.  He’s calling up reserves like the draft and that has lots of Russian men fleeing the country and lots of others protesting.  The fact that we are seeing headlines like this speaking of nuclear war and what USA would do to Russia if they nuke Ukraine should be filed in the front pocket of “Wars and rumors of War”.  Putin does seem like a dude who would do something drastic rather than lose the war in Ukraine.

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The U.S. has warned the Kremlin of the devastating consequences Russia would face should nuclear weapons be used in Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.

"If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia," Sullivan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The United States will respond decisively. In private channels, we have spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean."

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he does not believe Putin was bluffing when he said last week that he would be justified in using any force necessary – implying tactical nuclear weapons are not off the table.

"He wants to scare the whole world," Zelenskyy said. "I think the world is deterring it and containing this threat. We need to keep putting pressure on him."

Sullivan also said Putin must be held accountable for the war crimes and atrocities Russian troops have committed in Ukraine, but acknowledged diplomacy will ultimately be required to end the conflict. That almost certainly won't happen until Putin's ready to negotiate.

"One man chose this war," Sullivan said. "One man is directing this war. One man is responsible for this war. That man is Vladimir Putin.''

https://news.yahoo.com/u-warns-putin-catastrophic-consequences-154432238.html