This is The Prophecy. The Prophecy is much more than seeing into the future. For The Prophecy sees without the limits of time. For The Prophecy sees what is, what was, and what always shall be.
The United States Geological Survey says the 3.3 magnitude quake hit several mikes south of the town of Ormstown, Quebec a little after 5:30 A.M. There are some slightly conflicting reports, as the Montreal Gazette reports that the quake was a 3.6 magnitude. Ormstown is located around 20 minutes north of the New York border.
The Times Union says the quake was felt as far south as the town of Ticonderoga in Essex County, and as far west as the city of Ogdensburg on the New York-Ontario border. The effects were also felt as far north as Montreal.
Some strike even closer to home. In April 2017, a 1.3 tremor occurred around two and half miles west of Pawling. In early 2016, an even smaller quake happened near Port Chester and Greenwich, CT. In the summer of 2019, a quake struck off the New Jersey coast.
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Annie Jacobsen was a high school student in 1983, when ABC television broadcast the film The Day After, about the horrors of nuclear war. She never forgot the experience. More than 100 million Americans watched and were terrified too. One of them lived in the White House. According to his biographer and his own memoirs, it helped turn Ronald Reagan into a nuclear disarmer in his second term.
Not long after, the world’s stockpile of nuclear warheads peaked and began to decline rapidly, from 70,000 to just over 12,000 currently, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
That is still enough however to reduce the Earth to a radioactive desert, with some warheads left over to make it glow. Meanwhile, the global situation is arguably the most dangerous since the Cuban missile crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinding on mercilessly and China contemplating following Moscow’s example by making a grab for Taiwan.
“For decades, people were under the assumption that the nuclear threat ended when the Berlin Wall went down,” Jacobsen said, before suggesting another reason the existential threat of nuclear weapons has been filtered out of mainstream discourse – it has been turned into a technical debate.
“Nuclear weapons and the whole nomenclature around them have been so rarefied it’s been reserved as a subject for those in the know,” she said.
In her book, Jacobsen seeks to break through jargon and details in order to tell a terrifying story in a devastatingly straightforward way. The spoiler alert is that it doesn’t end well.You want a commander-in-chief of sound mind, fully in control of his mental capacity, not volatile, not subject to anger
As the book promises on the cover, it presents a single scenario for a nuclear war, set in the present day. North Korea, perhaps convinced it is about to be attacked, launches a surprise missile strike against the US, leading Washington to respond with a salvo of 50 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). These are aimed at North Korea’s weapons sites and command centres, but in order to reach their intended targets the missiles have to fly over Russia, because they do not have the range to use any other route.
All too aware of the danger of miscalculation, the US president tries to get hold of his Russian counterpart. But the two men and the countries they run are not getting on, and he fails. Making things even worse, Russia’s dodgy satellite early warning system, Tundra, has exaggerated the scale of the US salvo, and from his Siberian bunker, the Russian president (Vladimir Putin in all but name) orders an all-out nuclear attack on the US.
The scenario is based on known facts concerning the world’s nuclear arsenals, systems and doctrine. Those facts are all in the public domain, but Jacobsen believes society has tuned them out, despite (or perhaps because of) how shocking they are.
Jacobsen was stunned to find out that an ICBM strike against North Korea would have to go over Russia, and that Russia’s early warning system is beset with glitches, an especially worrying fact when combined with the knowledge that both the US and Russia have part of their nuclear arsenals ready to launch at a few minutes’ notice. Both also have an option in their nuclear doctrine to “launch on warning”, without waiting for the first incoming warhead to land.Donald Trump meets Kim Jong-un, in Singapore in June 2018.Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
A US president would have a few minutes to make a decision if American early warning systems signaled an incoming attack. In those few minutes, he or she would have to process an urgent, complex and inevitably incomplete stream of information and advice from top defence officials. Jacobsen points out that in such circumstances the president is likely to be subject to “jamming”, a chorus of military voices urging he or she follows protocols which lead inexorably towards a retaliatory launch.
“My jaw dropped at so much of what I learned, which was not classified but had just been removed or rather sanitised from the public discourse,” she said. “I found myself constantly surprised by the insanity of what I learned, coupled with the fact that it’s all there for the public to know.”
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Ultimately, only presidents can make the decision and once it is made, no one has the authority to block it. It is called sole authority, and it is almost certainly the most frightening fact in the world today. It means a handful of men each have the power to end the world in a few minutes, without having to consult anyone.
It is not a group anyone would choose to have that responsibility, including as it does the likes of Putin and Kim Jong-un. In Washington it is a choice this year between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. They all bring a lot of human frailty, anger, fear and paranoia to a potential decision that could end the planet.
“You would want to have a commander-in-chief who is of sound mind, who is fully in control of his mental capacity, who is not volatile, who is not subject to anger,” Jacobsen said, referring to this year’s presidential election.
“These are significant character qualities that should be thought about when people vote for president, for the simple reason that the president has sole authority to launch nuclear weapons.”
Russians targeted the Dnipro hydroelectric dam in Zaporizhzhia, leaving the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant teetering on the brink of blackout across the region’s cities.
Russian troops conducted a significant assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the early hours of Friday, March 22. This resulted in several cities losing electricity, emergency schedules being implemented, and reports of injuries.
Attack on the Dnipro Hydroelectric Dam
Zaporizhzhia faced a massive onslaught, with reports of 12 missile attacks hitting the city, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration (OVA).
Preliminary information indicates that seven buildings were destroyed, while 35 suffered damage. “There are wounded, and we are in the process of confirming the number of casualties,” Fedorov said.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the exiled mayor of Mariupol, revealed that a missile struck a trolleybus traveling across the Dnipro hydroelectric dam during the Russian attack. The trolleybus was occupied at the time.
The bombing of the city has led to a complete closure of the road crossing the Dnipro hydroelectric dam.
Responding to the situation, the Center for Countering Disinformation highlighted that Russia is planning a series of Information and Psychological Operations (IPSO) following the mass attacks on energy infrastructure. False reports, including claims of the dam’s destruction and warnings of Ukraine being left entirely without electricity, are already circulating.
The Center clarified, “All this information is untrue.”
A fire has been reported at the dam, with emergency services and energy workers currently on-site.
Why the West needs to get out of its debilitating slumber, face harsh realities, and ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on the brink of blackout
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko announced on Facebook that Russia is currently executing the largest attack on the Ukrainian energy industry in recent history. He added that the attack had disabled one of the power transmission lines supplied by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
The Zaporizhzhia NPP, Europe’s largest nuclear energy site, was seized by Russian troops in the initial days of the conflict but remains powered by Ukrainian lines on its power grid.
“During a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine at 5:10 in the morning, the external overhead line connecting the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with the unified energy system of Ukraine was disconnected,” Ukraine’s atomic energy operator Energoatom reported.
“This situation poses an extreme risk and could lead to an emergency,” the message read.
Energoatom further warned that if the final power line is severed, the plant will be “on the brink of another blackout, constituting a serious breach of the plant’s safe operation conditions.”
Energy collapse in Kharkiv
Russian troops have conducted more than 15 strikes on energy facilities in Kharkiv, plunging the city into near-complete darkness.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov noted that due to the lack of electrical power at pumping substations, the city is facing water supply issues. Additionally, electric transportation, such as trolleybuses and trams, will not be available along regular routes in the morning, with buses operating according to a blackout scheme.
Following a massive rocket attack, the subway in Kharkiv is currently functioning solely as a shelter.
Emergency power outages in Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih
In Dnipro, certain areas experienced power outages due to the strikes.
A combined strike with missiles and Shahed drones by Russian forces hit Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
“Critical infrastructure has been impacted, leading to the implementation of emergency shutdown schedules in the city,” stated Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih Defense Council.
Hospitals and other essential facilities have switched to generators, with no reported casualties.
In Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region, most of the city is without electricity, according to Mayor Andrii Bilousov. Water and heat supply facilities have been affected, tram traffic halted, and today, schools operate remotely with preschools closing at noon.
Russian attacks in various regions
In the Sumy region, missile strikes on energy system objects led to the temporary introduction of emergency shutdown schedules in the Sumy, Konotop, and Shostka districts. Charging points for phones and gadgets are available, with energy workers striving to restore power.
Russian troops also attacked the Khmelnytsky region, resulting in damage to infrastructure and known casualties.
Khmelnytsky Mayor Oleksandr Simchyshyn described the morning as “terrible,” citing damage to infrastructure and residential buildings, along with casualties.
In the Lviv region, a drone strike hit an energy infrastructure facility in the Stryi district, causing a fire that firefighters are currently extinguishing. Additionally, a fire broke out in a forest massif in the Zolochiv district.
Explosions were heard in Prykarpattia during the Russian air raid, with both drones and rockets targeting the region, resulting in casualties.
Preliminary reports indicate one person was injured, with no recorded power outages in the region.
Zelensky’s Response
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, stating that Russian troops utilized over 60 Shahed drones and nearly 90 missiles of various types.
“The world witnesses the targets of Russian terrorists vividly: power plants, energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a trolleybus,” he stated.
“Russia is waging war against the ordinary lives of people. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those lost in this act of terror,” Zelenskyy added.
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Zelensky assured ongoing efforts for the restoration of electricity supply, highlighting that there are no delays with Russian missiles, “unlike aid packages to our state.”
“The Shahed drones are not hesitant, unlike certain politicians. It’s crucial to grasp the cost of delays and postponed decisions. Patriot systems must safeguard Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia; air defense is imperative to protect lives, infrastructure, homes, and dams,” the Ukrainian president said.
He reiterated the necessity of Ukraine’s partners swiftly providing essential weapons to defend against the threats posed by “these non-humans from Moscow”.
Julia Struck is a news writer and Kyiv Post correspondent who has previously worked as a parliamentary editor, journalist, and news editor. She has specialized in covering the work of Ukrainian parliament, government, and law enforcement agencies.
Ceasefire and hostage negotiation talks between Hamas and Israel resumed again in Cairo on Sunday, Egypt’s state-run media Al-Qahera news agency reports. Talks between the parties reached a stalemate earlier in the week.
An Israeli raid on Al-Shifa Hospital – Gaza’s largest medical facility – has entered the two-week mark, with Palestinians inside and around the complex reporting civilian casualties and arrests.
The bleak reality is that time is rapidly running out for concerted action to stop Iran’s march towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability. The prospect of the world’s “leading sponsor of state terrorism” armed with nuclear weapons demands serious and immediate action. (Image source: iStock)
The bleak reality is that time is rapidly running out for concerted action to stop Iran’s march towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability. The Biden administration’s response, however, has been marked by silence, massive funding of Iran and a conspicuous absence of intervention.
[T]he prospect of the world’s “leading sponsor of state terrorism” armed with nuclear weapons demands serious and immediate action.
Iran now controls four countries in the region in addition to its own — Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. With nuclear weapons, Iran will be able to “export the Revolution” with ease. It will not even have to use its nuclear arsenal; just the threat of a nuclear attack should be enough to deter push-back and secure capitulation. The regime is already establishing footholds in Latin America — Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua — from where it will be able to threaten “the Big Satan,” the United States.
It is essential to confront the nuclear threat from Iran with haste.
The ascent of Iran’s nuclear program under the watch of the Biden administration stands as a grim illustration of its failure and inadequacy. Iran’s mullahs appear to have been tacitly handed an alarming green light to pursue their nuclear ambitions with impunity. The bleak reality is that time is rapidly running out for concerted action to stop Iran’s march towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability. The Biden administration’s response, however, has been marked by silence, massive funding of Iran and a conspicuous absence of intervention.
According to the latest data from the IAEA, Iran potentially possesses sufficient material to construct many atomic bombs. With each passing day, Iran edges closer to possessing the capability to produce nuclear weapons on a scale that could destabilize not just the region, but beyond.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the IAEA, has sounded the alarm over the loss of vital intelligence regarding Iran’s centrifuges:
“The Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to [the Iranian regime’s] production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate.”
The opacity surrounding Iran’s nuclear program leaves the international community vulnerable and in the dark.
According to the Institute for Science and International Security, a long-standing observer of Iran’s nuclear endeavors, the country possesses the capability to enrich uranium for the production of up to 13 nuclear weapons, with the potential for seven more to be manufactured within the initial month of a breakout. The Institute adds that recent findings indicate a disquieting escalation; they note that Iran’s capacity for producing weapons-grade uranium has increased both in volume and speed just since the last IAEA report in November 2023, not even half a year ago.
The Institute also underscores that Iran’s combined reserves of enriched uranium and centrifuge infrastructure are substantial enough to yield the equivalent of 25 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium, enabling the production of seven nuclear weapons within one month, nine within two months, eleven within three months, and ultimately reaching a maximum of 12-13 within four-to-five months.
Despite the glaring imperative for the robust enforcement of economic sanctions to choke off Iran’s financial lifelines, the Biden administration’s approach has been desperately misguided. Instead of wielding economic leverage to compel Iran to abandon its nuclear aspirations, the Biden administration has continued to inject billions of dollars into the regime’s coffers, fueling the very program it was purportedly seeking to curtail.
The need for urgent measures to neutralize Iran’s nuclear ambitions cannot be overstated. It is crucial to explore all available avenues — yes, all — such as targeted strikes on Iran’s oil and nuclear infrastructure to forestall the emergence of an Iran armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and the will — at least — to threaten with them. The window to halt the development of Iran’s nuclear weapons arsenal is rapidly closing: the prospect of the world’s “leading sponsor of state terrorism” armed with nuclear weapons demands serious and immediate action.
In the face of Iran’s nuclear advancement and defiance of international norms, the Biden administration’s policy of capitulation is not only misguided but also perilously reckless. The time for diplomatic platitudes and half-hearted gestures has long passed. What is required now is a resolute, united response that sends an unequivocal message to Tehran: the international community will not tolerate the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue regimes.
On the Biden administration’s watch, Iran’s mullahs appear to have been granted carte blanche to pursue nuclear capabilities. Despite Tehran’s continued defiance of international oversight, and more than 150 Iran-backed attacks on US troops and assets in the region just since October, and the escalation of its nuclear program, the administration’s silence is, to say the least, both disconcerting and dangerous.
The clock is ticking towards a nuclear tipping point. Iran now controls four countries in the region in addition to its own — Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. With nuclear weapons, Iran will be able to “export the Revolution” with ease. It will not even have to use its nuclear arsenal; just the threat of a nuclear attack should be enough to deter push-back and secure capitulation. The regime is already establishing footholds in Latin America — Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua — from where it will be able to threaten “the Big Satan,” the United States.
The specter of a nuclear-armed Iran threatens to shatter even further the stability of the Middle East, Europe and the United States. It is essential to confront the nuclear threat from Iran with haste.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
Four UN peacekeepers were injured when they were hit by a blast while on patrol in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, according to the UN mission. The UN is investigating the origin of the explosion.
An expert has warned hundreds of millions would die within the first few of hours of a nuclear war – and says “no matter how it starts, it ends with everyone dead”.
Should they retaliate, which would lead to the deaths of nearly the whole world population, or should they allow one of America’s cities to be blasted off the map? Speaking to podcaster Lex Fridman, the current US doctrine of “launch on warning” means retaliation would happen before there was time for questions on why the first alert had been set off. She said: “We are one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear Armageddon and no matter how nuclear war starts, it ends with everyone dead,” she said.
“The US Defense Department has a early warning system. And the system in space is called SBIRS, a constellation of satellites that is keeping an eye on all of America’s enemies. So the moment an ICBM launches, they see the hot rocket exhaust on the ICBM a fraction of a second after it launches. And so there begins this horrifying policy called launch on warning, and that’s the US counterattack.
“The reason that the United States is so ferociously watching for a nuclear launch somewhere around the globe is so that the nuclear command and control system in the US can move into action to immediately make a counterstrike. That policy, launch on warning, is exactly like it says, it means the United States will not wait to absorb a nuclear attack. It will launch nuclear weapons in response before the bomb actually hits.”
On more than one past occasion, the order has been given for Russian or American forces to launch a nuclear strike, for it to then emerge that the command was given incorrectly. Next time, we might not be so lucky. Annie adds one former US president has shared doubts that it’s rational to unleash Armageddon based on a blip on a radar screen.
One former US president has shared doubts that it’s rational to unleash Armageddon based on a blip on a radar screen (Image: Archive Photos)
Annie said: “The best sort of hitting the nail on the head statement is in President Reagan’s memoirs. He refers to the six-minute window and calls it irrational.” The effects of a nuclear explosion are not typically understood, and the consequent mushroom cloud would pull in people from miles around and hurl them into the sky whilst they burned to death. This horror will be repeated in cities worldwide.
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