World War Definition:
What constitutes a 'world war'? How many countries need to be involved? And who decides at which point a number of regional skirmishes can be grouped together and called a World War? At the time, who called the official start of World War 1 and World War 2?And have you noticed that although the term 'World War Three' is freely used in the alternative press and on the Internet, all the major news networks have stoically avoided using any phrase reminiscent of World War.
Since it's difficult to find a definition for an event which has only happened twice in modern history, here's my attempt at an answer to the question 'what constitutes a world war'?
A World War is a military conflict spanning more than 2 continents, in which at least 20 major countries participate in an attack against a common enemy, and which has the attention of the man-in-the-street due to the significant loss of life.With that definition, we can agree that WW1 and WW2 were in fact World Wars (both wars involved some degree of participation from most of the world's then existing countries: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union). We can also agree that we are very close to achieving World War 3. The only requirement left to fulfill the start of WW3 is that of a military conflict spanning more than 2 continents. As soon as Israel attacks Palestine, or North Korea attacks South Korea or the US, or China invades Taiwan, we will have the next World War well underway.
World War 3 Timeline
These are, I believe, the stages of the planned Third World War:- Prelude - The events leading up to the start of World War Three, including Sept 11, 2001.
- Act 1 - The Middle East. Widespread conflict to bring the entire region into the flames of war, possibly triggered by Iran or militants in Pakistan using North Korean supplied nuclear arms. The first Scene in this Act is the US Invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.
- Act 2 - Israel at War -- Against her Arab neighbors, possibly Palestine. A Palestinian State will be established, so that all Israelis will be fully separated from Palestinians (listen out for mention of a 7-year treaty to be confirmed by a World Leader - probably Bush), only for Israel to viciously attack Palestine shortly thereafter.
- Act 3 - Far East -- "Hair-raising nuclear confrontation that threatens mankind's existence" - Peter Lemesurier, author of The Armageddon Script, p. 223, written in 1981. Includes China invading Taiwan and a nuclear eruption on the Korean Peninsula.
- Act 4 - Erosion of Confidence in 'The System' so severe citizens will be panicked into giving up liberties and Constitutional form of government. The plan calls for the dissolution of the US Constitution, triggered by a significant enough 'terrorist' attack. The ultimate intent is to introduce a global government and one-world religion.
- Act 5 - The collapse of the US, and other Western economies and morals.
- Act 6 - Significant population reduction using natural and man-made disasters.
- Curtain. Who can tell how this war will end?
While it would be naive to suggest a specific timeline for the events leading up to and including World War 3, we do know that the plans for World War 3 are well advanced, and our leaders involved in this secret plan are waiting only for the right signal before all-out war begins.
We are in the last stages of the preparation to so globalize the world that the Masonic New Age Christ (Antichrist) can appear to receive all the political and economic power of the world's rulers. This is the Illuminati plan and Biblical prophecy (Revelation 17:12-17).
In the words of Peter Lemesurier, author of The Armageddon Script:
"Their script is now written, subject only to last-minute editing and stage-directions. The stage itself, albeit in darkness, is almost ready. Down in the pit, the subterranean orchestra is already tuning up. The last-minute, walk-on parts are even now being filled. Most of the main actors, one suspects, have already taken up their roles. Soon it will be time for them to come on stage, ready for the curtain to rise. The time for action will have come."Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats and welcome on stage the players of this Grand Play:
World War Three!
Prelude
September 11, 1990 -- President George Bush [Senior] gives a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress entitled, "Toward A New World Order".July 12, 2001 -- A full two months before the September 11 attack, a Russian expert, Tatyana Koryagina, "a senior research fellow in the Institute of Macroeconomic Researches subordinated to Russian Ministry of Economic Development", warned of an attack in America: "Besides bombs and missiles, there are other kinds of weaponry, much more destructive ones. . . . The U.S. is engaged in a mortal economic game … There is a shadow economy, shadow politics and also a shadow history, known to conspirologists. There are (unseen) forces acting in the world, unstoppable for (most powerful) countries and even continents. There are international, 'super-state' and 'super-government' groups. In accordance with tradition, the mystical and religious components play extremely important roles in human history. One must take into account the shadow economy, shadow politics and the religious component, while predicting the development of the present financial situation. Shadow financial activities of $300 trillion are hanging over the planet. At any moment, they could fall on any stock exchange and cause panic and crash... The U.S. has been chosen as the object of financial attack because the financial center of the planet is located there. The effect will be maximal. The strike waves of economic crisis will spread over the planet instantly, and will remind us of the blast of a huge nuclear bomb." This speech has proven prescient, given the state of the global economy in 2009.
September 11, 2001 -- Eleven years to the day after President Bush's speech, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are attacked.
September 13, 2001 -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz says the retaliation would be continued until the roots of terrorism are destroyed. 'These people try to hide. They won't be able to hide forever ... They think their harbors are safe, but they won't be safe forever ... it's not simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable, but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorism.'
October 11, 2001 -- Tom Brokaw announces the world now has formed into the New World Order.
October 26, 2001 -- President Bush signs legislation into law that gives Federal Government dictatorial powers and severely -- if not fatally -- erodes individual liberties and rights.
November 2001 -- January 2002 - Bush foreign policy and security advisers, including Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and Condoleeza Rice, say Saddam poses the greatest danger to the U.S. and should be the next target in the war on terrorism. Unnamed diplomatic and Pentagon sources say through press reports that the CIA and Defense Department are making plans for an Iraqi military campaign. The president remarks that Saddam will "find out" the consequences of refusing to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to return to Iraq. [Sources: Washington Times, USA Today, New York Times and the Observer (U.K.)]
Dec. 5, 2001 -- Members of Congress John McCain, Richard Shelby, Jesse Helms, Henry Hyde, Harold Ford Jr., Joseph Lieberman, Trent Lott, Benjamin Gilman, and Sam Brownback send President Bush a letter urging military action against Iraq.
January 29, 2002 -- Bush, in his State of the Union Address, lists Iraq, Iran and North Korea as constituting an 'axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger'.
February 2002 -- Vice President Dick Cheney prepares to visit the Middle Eastern nations of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and Kuwait, all of which border Iraq. On Cheney's trip Bush remarks, "There's nothing like looking somebody in the eye and letting them know that when we say we're going to fight terror, we mean it." Also in February on a trip to Japan, Bush reportedly tells the Japanese prime minister "We'll attack Iraq. We'll do it definitely."[Sources: The Guardian (U.K.), Kyodo News]
March 11-13, 2002 -- As Cheney travels on his Middle East trip, the leaders of Turkey and Jordan, two scheduled stops on the vice president's travel agenda, warn a U.S. attack on Iraq could destabilize the region. Cheney first arrives in London, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledges support for expanding America's war against terrorism to other nations. Jordan's King Abdullah meets with Cheney and states publicly that he does not support a U.S. strike against Iraq. [Source: Washington Post]
March 14, 2002 -- President Bush gives his first press conference since 9-11 and says, "all options are on the table," including nuclear weapons, to confront states that threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein "is a problem, and we're going to deal with him." [Source: Washington Post]
May 24, 2002 -- The six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who are the highest ranking members of the U.S. armed forces, publicly criticize the president's desire for a swift strike against Iraq. The military commanders express fears that an early invasion would result in many American casualties, and that a cornered Saddam Hussein would not hesitate to use biological or chemical weapons. [Source: London Telegraph]
July 9, 2002 -- Bush tells reporters, "It is the stated policy of this government to have a regime change [in Iraq], and we'll use all the tools at our disposal to do so." [Source: Associated Press]
July - September 2002 -- On numerous occasions, former U.N. Iraqi weapons inspector Scott Ritter criticizes the Bush Administration for its Iraq policy. Ritter maintains that Saddam's military capability is negligible and Bush wants to invade Iraq for political purposes. [Sources: CNN, Washington Post, New York Times]
Aug. 18, 2002 -- Richard Perle is quoted in a Washington Post story by political reporter Dana Milbank headlined, "White House Push for Iraqi Strike Is on Hold." The subhead reads, "Waiting to Make Case for Action Allows Invasion Opponents to Dominate Debate." Perle says, "Timing is everything when you do this. If you launched [a public campaign] too far in advance and nothing followed, that would raise questions and fuel a debate that would not be helpful to the administration...If you join the debate now, but don't act for months, you pay a worse price."
Sept. 8, 2002 -- The United Kingdom's Independent reports "more than 100 U.S. and British aircraft attacked Iraqi air installations last week in the biggest raid for more than three years." [Source: The Independent (U.K.)]
September 12, 2002 -- Bush tells UN that Iraq is a "grave and gathering danger" and that the US "will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilisation with weapons of mass murder".
Sept. 13, 2002 -- Reps. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, declare Saddam's efforts to amass weapons of mass destruction pose no immediate threat to the U.S., and Bush' real motive for a military strike is to make a grab for Iraqi oil. "Oil is a factor. How much [of a factor] is anybody's guess, but to discount it as a factor is, I think, misleading," said Kucinich. "It's not a conspiracy theory to bring it in because, after all, it is the second largest oil supply in the world." [Source: CNN]
Sept. 16, 2002 -- Nelson Mandela increases his verbal offensive against the Bush Administration hawks. "What right has Bush to say that Iraq's offer is not genuine?" asked Mandela. "We must condemn that very strongly. No country, however strong, is entitled to comment adversely in the way the U.S. has done. They think they're the only power in the world. They're not and they're following a dangerous policy. One country wants to bully the world." [Source: BBC]
Sept. 19, 2002 -- President Bush submits a draft of a congressional resolution authorizing him to take military action against Iraq. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., predicts Congress will vote on the resolution before November elections. The draft resolution says, "The president is authorized to use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations Security Council resolutions [pertaining to Iraq], defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region." [Source: Washington Post]
Sept. 24, 2002 -- Tony Blair unveils a dossier of evidence on Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction. The dossier, based on British and U.S. intelligence, was criticized for not revealing convincing evidence pointing to the need for Saddam's immediate removal. [Source: Associated Press]
Sept. 27, 2002 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announces that the Bush Administration cited a non-existent report said to be from 1998 on Iraq's supposed imminent nuclear capability. "There's never been a report like that issued from this agency," said Mark Gwozdecky, an IAEA spokesman. [Source: Washington Times]
Sept. 28, 2002 -- Up to 400,000 protesters march against war in Iraq in central London.
Oct. 1, 2002 (Time approximate 12:00 EDT) - In Vienna, Hans Blix, the head U.N. weapons inspector, announces a tentative agreement with Iraq to allow inspectors to return beginning in two weeks. Search protocols of Hussein's Presidential palaces remain unresolved. Source: Washington Post]
Oct. 1, 2002 (Time approximate 16:30 EDT) -- Within hours of the Blix announcement President Bush reacts negatively to the agreement reached between Iraq and weapons inspectors. "We're just not going to accept something that is weak," he said. Bush urges the U.N. to "put some calcium in the backbone" of an alternative resolution for dealing with Iraq. On an alternative congressional resolution drafted by Senators Biden and Lugar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bush says, "I don't want a resolution that ties my hands...What I won't accept is something that allows Saddam Hussein to continue to lie, deceive the world," Bush said. "I'm just not going to accept something that is weak. It's not worth it - the United Nations must show its backbone and we'll work with members of the Security Council to put a little calcium there, put some calcium in the backbone, so this organization is more likely to keep the peace as we go down the road." [Sources: Washington Post, Associated Press]
World War 3 - Act 1: The Middle East
Scene I: Baghdad Invaded
The initial 42 day war, waged strictly 'by the numbers'.
March 17, 2003 -- At 8:15pm, EST, President Bush announces a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave the country with his sons, or suffer the invasion.
March 20, 2003 -- US starts invasion of Iraq, exactly 555 days after September 11, 2001.
April 9, 2003 -- Coalition Forces seize control of Baghdad quickly and relatively effortlessly because Saddam orders a tactical retreat.
April 12, 2003 -- "In a unique meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, the leaders of Russia, France, and Germany meet to deliver a very somber warning against President Bush. Russia's President Putin delivers the key summation: 'We are not going to export capitalist, democratic revolutions. If we do, we're going to end up on a slippery slope to non-ending military conflicts. We can't let that happen'." Putin backs up his threat by deploying the Black Sea Fleet between Syria and North Korea, in Peter the Great Bay, and conducts aggressive sea, air and land exercises from April 15-21.
April 17, 2003 -- The US issues an impossible ultimatum to Syria demanding:
- the release of all Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden by Saddam in Syria;
- the return to Iraq of all officials of the Saddam regime granted asylum;
- the disbanding of command structures of the Hizballah, Hamas, Jihad Islami and other Palestinian terrorist groups.
April 17, 2003 -- Bechtel Corp., the San Francisco construction giant, wins a contract worth up to $680 million to rebuild Iraqi roads, schools, sewers and hospitals damaged in the war.
May 01, 2003 -- President Bush lands on the aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln, at 3:33pm to declare the major combat phase in the Iraqi War over, exactly 42 days after the war started. In his speech he says, "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on... From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al Qaeda killers... The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror... Our war against terror is proceeding according to principles that I have made clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country, and a target of American justice. Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes. Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world -- and will be confronted."
World War 3 - Act I, Scene II: Victory Declared - Ongoing Hostilities
December 13, 2003 -- In one of the greatest PsyOp exercises of all time, Saddam is captured while the dreaded Patriot Act II is quietly signed into power.January 18, 2004 -- Suicide car bombing near main gate to U.S.-led coalition's headquarters in Baghdad kills at least 31 people.
February 1, 2004 -- Twin suicide bombers kill 109 people in two Kurdish party offices in Irbil.
February 10, 2004 -- A suicide bomber detonates a truckload of explosives outside a police station in Iskandariyah, killing 53 people.
February 11, 2004 -- A suicide attacker blows up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of Iraqis waiting outside an army recruiting center in Baghdad, killing 47.
March 2, 2004 -- In the deadliest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, suicide bombers strike Shiite Muslim shrines and kill 185 Iraqi religious pilgrims in Baghdad and Karbala.
March 22, 2004 -- Exactly 11 days after the Madrid bombings, Israel assassinates the quadriplegic, partially blind elderly Muslim clerical founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. In a region which has become a hotbed of political rage, could this assassination become the equivalent to the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand which ignited World War I?
March 31, 2004 -- In an apparent retaliation, nine Americans died in and around Fallujah 30 miles west of Baghdad in a particularly horrendous spasm of blood-letting Wednesday, March 31. Exactly one week after assuming responsibility for the most intractable town in Iraq in a troop rotation, the California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force suffered the loss of five men in a single attack: a bomb exploded under their vehicle in a village near Fallujah. Inside the city, gunmen attacked two civilian cars carrying four US civilian contractors. The cars were torched by a dancing lynch mob which screaming Islamic slogans dragged the bodies through the city, dismembered and decapitated them and hanged them by their feet. DEBKAfile. For extremely graphic and disturbing pictures of what happened, see rumormillnews.com
March 31, 2004 -- In the first year of war in Iraq, the military makes 18,004 medical evacuations during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Pentagon's top health official told Congress. The new data, through March 13, is nearly two-thirds higher than the 11,200 evacuations through Feb. 5 cited in February to Congress by the same official. DEBKAfile.
April 21, 2004 -- Five suicide bombings near police stations and police academy in southern city of Basra kill at least 74 and wound 160.
April 24, 2004 -- A roadside bomb hits a bus south of Baghdad, killing 13.
April 30, 2004 -- A New Yorker article appears exposing mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Soon after, similar stories start breaking about British troops engaging in the same activities. Details of prisoner abuse, torture and rape are plastered all over the media, in a seeming attempt to fulfill part of an overall plan to enrage specific Muslim sensibilities in order to provoke war. See a Timeline of events leading up to the torture.
May 11, 2004 -- A video airing on an Islamic militant website shows a man who identifies himself as Nick Berg from Philadelphia. The video shows the man being beheaded. The website says he was executed in revenge for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. All indications are that the video is purely a psy-op exercise designed to shock and scare Americans.
May 17, 2004 -- A suicide car bomber kills Izzadine Saleem, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, and eight others including the bomber outside the Green Zone.
June 1, 2004 -- A roadside bomb explodes near U.S. base in the northern town of Beiji, killing 11 Iraqis and wounding more than 22 people, including two U.S. soldiers.
June 1, 2004 -- A Sunni Governing Council Chief is named the new Iraqi President after the U.S.-backed candidate refused the post.
The Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Iraq’s new caretaker administration a few days later as a 'lackey' government at the beck and call of the United States. 'Humiliating Iraqi men, raping Iraqi women, breaking down the doors of Iraqi homes and installing a lackey government, that’s what happens when you remove the clergy from politics', Khamenei said in a keynote speech marking the 15th anniversary of the death of his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
June 6, 2004 -- A car bomb explodes near the entrance to an American-run base at Taji north of Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 30 others, including three U.S. soldiers.
June 8, 2004 -- A car bomb explodes outside a U.S. base in Baqouba, killing one U.S. soldier and five Iraqis. Fifteen Iraqis and 10 U.S. soldiers are wounded. A second car bomb explodes in Mosul, killing nine people and injuring 25.
June 13, 2004 -- A suicide car-bomber kills 12 people and wounds 13 near a U.S. garrison in Baghdad.
June 14, 2004 -- A car bomb rips through convoy in Baghdad, killing 13 people, including an American, two Britons and a Frenchman. At least 62 wounded.
June 17, 2004 -- A sport utility vehicle packed with artillery shells slams into a crowd waiting to volunteer for the Iraqi military, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 138.
June 18, 2004 -- The second apparent beheading of an American - Paul M. Johnson Jr., previously taken hostage by terrorists. Gruesome photographs were apparently published on an Al Qaeda Web site.
June 22, 2004 -- Militants behead Kim Sun-il in Iraq after Seoul refused their demand to withdraw its troops and scrap plans to send additional troops. chosun.com
June 24, 2004 -- Insurgents launched fierce attacks that killed about 100 people in five Iraqi cities, wreaking havoc just days from the handover of power. The worst attacks were in the city of Mosul, where at least 62 people died and 220 were hurt in a series of car bombings, the US military said. More than 40 people died in Baquba, Ramadi, Falluja and Baghdad, in what appeared to be coordinated attacks.
September 18, 2004 -- "Iraq had no WMD: the final verdict", by Julian Borger in Washington, (London). "The comprehensive 15-month search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has concluded that the only chemical or biological agents that Saddam Hussein's regime was working on before last year's invasion were small quantities of poisons, most likely for use in assassinations. A draft of the Iraq Survey Group's final report circulating in Washington found no sign of the alleged illegal stockpiles that the US and Britain presented as the justification for going to war, nor did it find any evidence of efforts to reconstitute Iraq's nuclear weapons programme... President George Bush now admits that stockpiles have not been found in Iraq but claimed that "Saddam Hussein had the capability of making weapons, and he could have passed that capability on to the enemy".
November 8, 2004 -- 5,000 US-led troops kick off Operation Plymouth Rock, in which 116 suspected insurgents are captured.
December 11, 2004 -- "U.S. deserter numbers reach 5,500", Big News Network.com. "Since the war started in Iraq, the Pentagon says 5,500 U.S. soldiers have deserted, with some of them seeking refugee status in Canada, CBS reported... Meanwhile, other soldiers who were denied conscientious objector status are using the Internet to locate Vietnam-era resisters who assist and even drive objectors to Canada, CBS said." No doubt because of the poor conditions coalition forces are expected to operate in.
World War 3 - Act II, Scene I: Israel & Palestine
The struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians is one of the most enduring and explosive of all the world's conflicts.
It has its roots in the historic claim to the land which lies between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river.
Israel has been a dry tinderbox in world affairs since 1948 when she became a nation once again. However, tensions have been steadily increasing since Palestine's Yasser Arafat started ordering suicide and terrorist strikes against Israel from the early 1980's. All these terror strikes, resulting in much innocent blood being spilt, has prompted various Israeli responses that have accomplished little except to stir up further hatred within the hearts of all Palestinian people.
All this terror, bloodshed, and military retaliation, has turned the entire region into a literal tinderbox, awaiting just the right spark to set the Middle East ablaze. The Muslim world intends for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be set ablaze as part of their overall effort to defeat both Israel and her major ally -- the United States. This plan was boldly enunciated by Iranian leaders in March 2002. As Coalition Forces were fighting furiously in the southern portion of Iraq, key Arab leaders in the region announced plans to use Iraq as a "swamp" in which to tie down superior American forces and then light "many fires" in the entire Middle East region, including Israel. (Jerusalem Post).
Why is this story worthy of an Act all of its own?
It's clear to see that no nation in the Middle East really wants a Palestinian State. Therefore, why have American Presidents from Nixon to George W. Bush spent so much time, energy, and diplomatic power behind trying to set up a state within a state that no one wants?
In forcefully heralding a Palestinian State, both Israel and the United States can tell the rest of the world that, if the Palestinians had just wanted peace, - and had stopped the terror attacks - they could have achieved it through the newly created Palestinian State. The US and Israel will be able to state that continued Palestinian terrorism just pushed Israel too far, and "they had it coming". This will be the excuse when Israel attacks and completely destroys Palestine.
Let's follow the play and see what happens...
March - June, 2002 -- After waves of suicide attacks early in the year, Israel re-occupied almost all of the West Bank in March, and again in June. For most of 2002, Palestinian cities were regularly raided, remained cut off from each other, surrounded and under curfew for long periods of time.
April 2002 -- Israeli forces entered and captured the refugee camp in northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Palestinians claimed massacre. The Israeli army, which took heavy casualties, said it met heavy organized resistance, and insisted that 52 Palestinians were killed.
May 2002 -- In May, a five-week standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity ended when 13 Palestinian militants were sent into exile. A large group of Palestinians had taken refuge in the church when Israeli troops moved into the town.
March 30, 2003 -- A convoy of diplomatic vehicles arrives at Sharon's house in Jerusalem at 3:30pm, local time to formally present him with a long-awaited internationally backed Mideast peace plan, which foresees a Palestinian state established within Israel's borders no later than 2005, provided the Palestinians permanently cease their terror campaign. 3:30 on 03/03/2003 - are all those threes coincidental?
March 30, 2003 -- As if to underscore the Palestinians' defiance against the Peace Plan, a suicide terror attack at the Blues cafe near the US Embassy in Tel Aviv kills 3.
April 30, 2003 -- US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to formally present him with a long-awaited internationally backed Mideast peace plan, designed to create a Palestinian state within Israel.
May 22, 2003 -- President Bush literally "orders" Prime Minister Sharon to push through Cabinet acceptance of the Road Map, which envisions a side-by-side Palestinian State with Israel. Bush orders $10 billion in US loan guarantees frozen until Israel complies, and reportedly compiles a long list of punitive actions he could take against Israel if it did not back his "Peace Plan".
May 25, 2003 -- Most Israelis are aghast at the sudden turn of events: "In 63 years I have never had a sicker feeling down deep in my Jewish soul than I do this day. To think that a Prime Minister of Israel would agree to a Palestinian State against the will of the majority of the Jewish people, not only in Israel but also around the world... It is no secret that George W. Bush along with the rest of the quartet has pressured Sharon. The question in the minds of most Israelis is what is it Bush has on Sharon that could force him to turn against his own people. For there is no doubt that he will go down in Jewish and World history as the Jew who sold out his own people and gave Israel to the enemies of God." ["It's time to stand up for the Jewish people!", Jerry Golden "REPORT", 5/25/2003]
May 27, 2003 -- Facing a firestorm of criticism from members of his Likud Party over his Cabinet's approval of a U.S.-backed peace plan envisioning a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that keeping the Palestinians under occupation harms Israel. 'This can't go on forever', Sharon tells Likud lawmakers at a stormy meeting a day after the Cabinet approved the plan. 'To keep 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation -- you can dislike the word, but what is happening is occupation -- is in my view bad for Israel, for the Palestinians and for Israel's economy', Sharon says. It was the first time that Sharon, for years a hawk and architect of the Israeli settlement drive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, had publicly used the word 'occupation' to describe Israel's military presence in those territories."
June 4, 2003 -- The Aqaba [Jordan] Peace Summit ends with profound statements from key leaders: Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas and US President Bush all refer to a Palestinian State in their closing addresses - something which has been arduously avoided and fought against for many years. What's going on? After years resisting Palestinian Independence, Israel makes a miraculous about turn and agrees to a Palestinian State.
June 6, 2003 -- In sheer disgust, the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, says it is breaking off talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen in protest at his promise to end violence against Israelis... A spokesman for Hamas, Abdelaziz al-Rantissi, tells the BBC that the prime minister's promise opens the door for Israel to kill Palestinians at will, and that Hamas is left with no choice but to continue fighting Israel.
June 10, 2003 -- IDF helicopters fire five missiles at the car of Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survives, but three others are killed. Hamas and other Palestinian leaders vow such revenge as to cause an "earthquake"!
June 11, 2003 -- A Palestinian disguised as an Orthodox Jew blows up a crowded civilian bus in Central Jerusalem, killing 17 and wounding scores. Within 20 minutes, IDF jets rocket Palestinian targets in Gaza Strip.
June 13, 2003 -- Headlines throughout the region scream that both Israel and Hamas have declared all-out war on each other, during a week in which almost 50 people were killed in various terrorist attacks.
November 16, 2003 -- The treasonous Geneva Accord, drafted in London, not Switzerland as is widely believed, is mailed to every Israeli household. Imagine this: a group of Americans, say presidential candidate Howard Dean, Senators Ted Kennedy, Fritz Hollings and Robert Byrd, go to the wilds of Pakistan and meet with the lieutenants of Usama bin Laden. They carry with them a “peace” proposal hammered out with various al Qaida supporters in the United States calling for the unilateral withdrawal of American forces from all Islamic countries. They present the proposal to terror agents representing bin Laden, work out the kinks and arrive at an agreement aimed at ending the conflict between al Qaida and the United States. What would the overwhelming majority of Americans say? In unison the outcry would be – Treason!
April 17, 2004 -- Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, head of the Hamas militant group in Gaza, is killed in a targeted Israeli attack. "Israel will regret this. Revenge is coming," another Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, told reporters. "This blood will not be wasted. It is our fate in Hamas and it is our fate as Palestinians to die as martyrs."
December 4, 2004 -- In an apparent change in long-standing policy, a top Hamas leader in the West Bank said the group would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a long-term truce with Israel. 'Hamas has announced that it accepts a Palestinian independent state within the 1967 borders with a long-term truce', Sheik Hassan Yousef told The Associated Press, referring to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day war. A true turn-around of unbelievable proportions.
January 7, 2005 -- Eleven months after unofficial coalition talks between Likud and Labor began, and five months after negotiations started with United Torah Judaism, the three parties signed coalition agreements at the Prime Minister's Office in Tel Aviv. The only way in which Israel can carry out her planned unilateral withdrawal as first envisioned by the Oslo Accord is if both major parties came together to form a government which could not be shaken by the inevitable explosion of resistance from settlers and patriots who are completely, irrevocably opposed to the idea of giving up land to the Palestinian enemy.
World War 3 - Act III, Scene I: The Far East
Hair-Raising Nuclear Confrontation
While not widely reported in the US press, war rhetoric has been escalating rapidly since late April 2003, when North Korea's military reached full war preparedness. No army prepares for war, only to remain in this state for so long. What on earth is going on?
April 21, 2003 -- North Korea calls on all its citizens to increase the country's defence capabilities, according to the state's official media. 'All officers and men of the People's Army ... always keep yourselves combat ready,' the KCNA news agency reports the North Korean military as saying. 'If enemies invade our inviolable sky, land and seas even an inch, destroy up the aggressors with merciless annihilating blows'. The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Worker's Party of Korea jointly issue the call which was carried in Pyongyang newspapers.
April 21, 2003 -- One day before scheduled talks between US and North Korean diplomats, a secret Donald Rumsfeld memorandum calling for regime change in North Korea is leaked. The paper does not call for military action against North Korea, but wants the United States to team up with China in pushing for the collapse of Kim Jong-il's bankrupt but belligerent regime.
April 24, 2003 -- American envoy James Kelly deliberately insults Chinese and North Korean diplomats by breaking off talks in Beijing without giving any notice. American embassy officials would not say where he was heading.
May 4, 2003 -- Kim Myong Chol, a Japanese-born Korean, delivers a message on behalf of the North Korean government: "North Korea has a nuclear capability. It's quite obvious. North Korea may have minimum 100 nuclear warheads, maximum 300. They all lock onto American cities... If the US attacks North Korea, North Korea will definitely use those nuclear weapons against the US mainland." Oops, shouldn't we take this threat seriously?
May 4, 2003 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refuses to rule out the possibility of war with North Korea.
June 4, 2003 -- After a fairly uneventful month, war rhetoric continues to escalate. The US announces an $US11 billion new North Korean war plan... When war breaks out, the forces will skirt the DMZ and head for Pyongyang, giving them the ability to "take down" North Korea's heavy presence on the border within an hour of war breaking out.. "This is Kim Jong-il's worst nightmare," one official said.
June 11, 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's advisory panel states that the United States should be prepared to destroy North Korea's Yongbyon reactor if necessary to keep Pyongyang from trafficking in nuclear weapons.
June 11, 2003 -- Australia considers taking a role in an international effort to intercept North Korean ships that may be carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or illegal cargoes used to finance its military programs. North Korea has always warned that a naval blockade would be a trigger for war. She cannot afford to have any interdiction of critical foodstuffs or fuel.
April 10, 2004 -- "The year to fear for Taiwan: 2006", By Wendell Minnick, Asia Times. "TAIPEI - If China ever makes the decision to invade Taiwan it is unlikely to be a large-scale Normandy-style amphibious assault. The reality is that China is more likely to use a decapitation strategy. Decapitation strategies short circuit command and control systems, wipe out nationwide nerve centers, and leave the opponent hopelessly lost. All China needs to do is seize the center of power, the capital and its leaders. If China decides to use force to reunify the mainland with what it terms a breakaway province, the window of opportunity is believed to be 2006. This would give China a couple of years to clean up the mess before the 2008 Summer Olympics. Most analysts estimate that China's military strength will surpass Taiwan's defense capabilities by 2005. So 2006 - the Year of the Dog - is clearly the year to fear."
April 22, 2004 -- A massive train explosion in North Korea claims the lives of approximately 3,000, including many children in a nearby school.
"North Korean security concludes train blast was assassination try", Special to World Tribune.com, June 1, 2004
"North Korea's state security agency has determined that April's massive train blast was a botched effort to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, a South Korean newspaper reported ... Kim's heavily guarded special train passed through Ryongchon station on his way back from China just nine hours before the explosion. This triggered speculation that the incident was an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader ... Kim vanished from public view for more than a week following the explosion and the North's normally attentive state-controlled media made no mention of his activities or whereabouts."
June 20, 2004 -- China is told to withdraw its undertaking on no first-use of nuclear weapons should Taiwan try to blow up the Three Gorges Dam. The call was made by them - as well as some who sit on the country's top political advisory body - in the wake of a US Defence Department report which suggested that Taiwan could target the dam in a pre-emptive strike.
This kind of news story just escalates the war rhetoric. War rhetoric can play a significant role in starting a war nobody really wanted. As war talk escalates, war action generally follows.
August 1, 2004 -- China's Defense Minister Cao issued a stern warning to Taiwan, saying the mainland military has the strength and determination to "smash" any moves toward independence by the self-ruled island. Cao's remarks were published on the front pages of many newspapers and followed days of escalating rhetoric and tension, aggravated by annual war games held in July by both sides to display their military prowess. Wang Zaixi, vice minister of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, warned that Beijing won't rule out war if Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian pursues his plan to adopt a new constitution by 2008.
August 25, 2004 -- All 90 passengers and crew aboard two Russian passenger jets die after both planes went down almost simultaneously in different parts of the country, raising immediate suspicion of terrorist action. The accidents took place just four days ahead of controversial elections in the separatist Russian Caucasus republic of Chechnya.
September 1, 2004 -- "MOSCOW (AP) - A suicide bomber kills 10 people in a subway station. A militant Muslim group that claimed responsibility for the crash of two Russian airliners on August 25, said it was also behind the latest attack. The attack was only the latest in a string of violence in the capital and elsewhere that the government has appeared helpless to prevent. Most of the violence has been blamed on rebels in the breakaway republic of Chechnya or their sympathizers."
On the same day, more than a dozen attackers carrying guns and wrapped in suicide-bomb belts seized a school in the Russian region of North Ossetia and held hundreds of hostages, including some 200 children. More than 340 people died, and 542 wounded.
November 17, 2004 -- Portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il disappear from some public places like the Grand People's Cultural Palace, with talk going around that this is a sign of changes in the North Korean power structure. Several possible explanations for the portrait removal readily come to mind:
- Kim Jong-il has died
- Kim Jong-il has been removed from office by a military coup
- The United States has been successful in its attempts to assassinate him in order to force a "Regime Change"
- An internal power struggle is under way and Kim Jong-il is not now in the ascendancy in that struggle.
December 27, 2004 -- China Vows to prevent Taiwan Independence. These are fighting words, and come against an island state which has seen and heard many threats from the Chinese mainland. This is all part of the rhetoric designed to increase hostilities between the two countries in the lead up to WW3.
August 31, 2005 -- China is preparing for nuclear war with the United States over Taiwan, and a conflict is likely in the near future because of divisions among Beijing's leaders, a Chinese democracy activist says. See washingtontimes.com.
World War 3 - Act IV, Scene I: Erosion of Confidence in 'The System'
An erosion of confidence in the protections provided by the government may be so severe that citizens will gradually be willing to give up their liberties and Constitutional form of government.
Look out for terrorist attacks, disruption to services, disease scares, natural disasters, corruption or scandals in western governments, all real or imagined. All will be designed to undermine our confidence in 'the powers that be'.
It appears that this phase is not yet ready to be implemented, so events are few and far between. But rest assured, this phase will start soon! When it does, events will happen with very quick succession.
November 2002 -- First reported cases of SARS. A massive media blitz attempts to create a pandemic, but by September 2003, only 780 people worldwide have died. Source: W.H.O. Compared to the Influenza Pandemic of 1917-1919 which killed 800,000 Americans and 25 million people worldwide, SARS is hardly a pandemic.
February 01, 2003 -- Space shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry over Dallas, Texas.
June 12, 2003 -- A deadly train bombing in Russia, a few days before their elections. For those following numerology, here you have an obvious 666 in the date (6+2*6), but in addition, this attack occurred 669 days after 911, which is another form of 666.
August 17, 2003 -- What began as a handful of commonplace, summertime "trips" brief transmission line shutdowns, usually due to ebbing voltage caused by anything from a bird hitting the lines to a power overload set off the biggest outage in U.S. history. Fifty million people lost power in eight states and parts of Canada.
August 28, 2003 -- In an uncannily similar event to the US blackouts, London is hit shortly thereafter. Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said at least 250,000 people were affected. "We've never had this catastrophic failure before and we clearly can't have it again," he said.
December 13, 2003 -- While the public was fixated on the external dramatics of the capture of Saddam, President Bush was quietly signing into law the most dictatorial powers act in American history. Americans had just lost their liberties and Constitutionally protected rights. As of the signing into law of HR 2417, commonly referred to as Patriot Act II, Bush has the power of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung.
January 29, 2004 -- Lord Hutton in the UK delivers the Hutton Report into whether Blair misled the British public into invading Iraq. "I am satisfied there was not a dishonourable or underhand or duplicitous strategy on the part of the prime minister and officials to leak Dr Kelly's name covertly." Even Labour MPs were taken aback by the tone of the report - some going as far as calling it a 'whitewash'. A vindicated Mr Blair immediately called on Michael Howard, the leader of the opposition, to withdraw his claim that the Prime Minister had lied. 'The allegation that I or anyone else lied to this House or deliberately misled the country by falsifying intelligence on WMD is itself the real lie," Mr Blair told the House, clearly relishing the sudden change in his political fortunes.
February 5, 2004 -- The start of severe criticism in the US of the Iraq War. "Precisely because of the qualms the administration encountered, it created a rogue intelligence operation, the Office of Special Plans (OSP), located within the Pentagon and under the control of neo-conservatives. The OSP roamed outside the ordinary inter-agency process, stamping its approval on stories from Iraqi exiles that the other agencies dismissed as lacking credibility, and feeding them to the president. At the same time, constant pressure was applied to the intelligence agencies to force their compliance. In one case, a senior intelligence officer who refused to buckle under was removed." guardian.co.uk
February 11, 2004 -- In an impromptu news conference, Bush stated that he did not know of "anybody in my administration who leaked classified information." He went on to say that he "wanted to know the truth" about the leak. cnn.com. This will later be proven to be false.
March 11, 2004 -- Madrid, Spain. Exactly 911 days after Sep 11, 2001, over 200 people are killed and thousands are injured when deadly simultaneous attacks are launched on several trains in “retaliation” for the involvement of Spanish troops in the occupation of Iraq. See Madrid Attack for details.
March 25, 2004 -- FBI Director Robert Mueller warns that terrorists may attempt to influence the outcome of November’s presidential election by launching new attacks in America and overseas. Mueller says, “We understand that between now and the election there is a window of time in which terrorists might try to influence events, whether it’s here or overseas.” Consistently throughout the summer, Federal officials kept up the drumbeat that America could expect a terrorist attack during the Presidential campaign. These rumors of war were intended
April 30, 2004 -- A New Yorker article appears exposing mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Soon after, similar stories start breaking about British troops engaging in the same activities. Details of prisoner abuse, torture and rape are plastered all over the media, in a seeming attempt to fulfill part of an overall plan to enrage specific Muslim sensibilities in order to provoke war. See a Timeline of events leading up to the torture.
June 3, 2004 -- President Bush consults with powerhouse attorney Jim Sharp, who represented Iran-contra figure retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord; Enron's Ken Lay; and Watergate co-conspirator Jeb Stuart Magruder. "This action by Bush is a rather stunning and extraordinary development. The President of the United States is potentially hiring a private criminal defense lawyer. Unsurprisingly, the White House is doing all it can to bury the story, providing precious little detail or context for the President's action…": Former White House Counsel and Watergate figure John Dean.
June 3 & 4, 2004 -- DCI George Tenet suddenly resigns on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations.
Tenet's resignation, which occurred at night, was the first "evening resignation" of a Cabinet-level official since October 1973 when Attorney General Elliott Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, resigned in protest of Richard Nixon's firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Many regard this as the watershed moment when the Nixon administration was doomed.
June 24, 2004 -- An apparent deliberate campaign designed to discredit President Bush, which appeared to start in early June, obtains a real boost when Al Gore accused President Bush of lying about a link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein and said the president refuses to back down from that position to avoid political fallout. 'They dare not admit the truth lest they look like complete fools for launching our country into a reckless, discretionary war against a nation that posed no immediate threat to us whatsoever', Gore, the former vice president who lost the presidency to Bush in 2000, said during a speech at Georgetown University Law Center.
July 23, 2004 -- A national commission probing the September 11 attacks in the US finds "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" by the United States government and recommends a sweeping overhaul of intelligence services. The foregone conclusion obviously exonerated Bush and his entire Cabinet of any responsibility in the attacks. This verdict set the stage for further encroachments upon individuals' liberties and freedoms by setting forth 41 recommendations that would "solve" these imaginary "intelligence failures". However, for a more accurate perspective on 911, see letsroll911.org and 911truthradio.com.
August 1, 2004 -- Just hours after the Democrat Party nominated John Kerry as President, the Bush Administration turned to its "incumbency advantage" to announce a terrorist alert in New York City, elevating the alert level to Orange. Immediately, the Democrats cried "foul" because such action virtually eliminated any poll "bounce" Kerry might have expected following his nomination.
November 22, 2004 -- $100,000 reward is offered to the first person to deliver a full mathematical, engineering proof of how the impact and/or fires caused any of the WTC buildings to collapse the way the government claims. It must include all the fuel, mass, critical temperatures, likely temperatures and their causes, energy needed to crush concrete into fine powder, force needed to sheer bolts and rivets, time calculations, and all the other relevant data in a detailed analysis to be reviewed by accredited engineers on a team headed by Jeff King 911review.org, engineer and doctor educated at MIT. Deadline: June 30, 2005. For application: http://www.reopen911.org/
December 1, 2004 -- The US senator leading an investigation into the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme in Iraq calls on secretary-general Kofi Annan to resign. This is the first in a number of volleys fired at Annan. It appears that Annan will not succeed as Secretary General of a future World Government, and may soon be replaced. Perhaps by Clinton?
World War 3 - Act V, Scene I: Collapse of US and Western Morals and Economies
Between 1776-1788, Edward Gibbons published a huge six volume work entitled The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. Gibbons' work was scholarly and monumental, as it thoroughly covered a period of history spanning approximately 1,200 years. His goal in producing this study was to precisely catalog the reasons for the rise of the Roman Empire and the factors leading to the decline and fall of the Empire. Gibbons was universally hailed as achieving his objective brilliantly.
But, Gibbons not only created a document which details how and why the Roman Empire rose and fell; he created a document which detailed precisely how a successful and powerful Empire could be subverted and destroyed.
Gibbons listed five basic reasons that the enormous Roman Empire was destroyed:
- The dramatic increase of divorce undermined the institution of the family.
- The imposition of higher taxes undermined the economic stability and vitality of the Empire. Taxes were raised to pay for deficit government spending, to pay for food for all in society and to pay for government-sponsored activities of diversion, such as circuses and sports. Interestingly, as the time of the final collapse drew closer, greater emphasis was placed on sports, to divert the attention of the public from the distressing news of massive trouble within the Empire.
- The drive for personal pleasure had become very intense, even to the point of obsession. Gibbons noted that, at the very end, sports had become more exciting and brutal.
- People lost their faith, both religiously and in their government. Paganism gave way to Christianity and the efficient Roman Government gave way to chaos and disintegration.
- Hidden conspirators were working within the government to secretly destroy it. They worked quietly, invisibly and deceitfully; during the entire time they were secretly dismantling the government of the Roman Empire, they publicly proclaimed their unswerving support of it.
May 28, 2004 -- The Federal Reserve raises the Money Supply (M-3) by unprecedented, almost crisis proportions, up another $46.8 billion in one week, bringing the total over the month of May to $155 billion. This equates to a $2.0 trillion annualized pace, a 22.2 percent annualized rate of growth. These numbers are huge.
May 5, 2006 -- In possibly the first casualty of the looming subprime crisis, Kirkland, Washington based Merit Financial Inc. files for bankruptcy and closes its doors, firing all but 80 of its 410 employees; Merit’s marketplace decline about 40% and sales are not bringing in enough revenue to support overhead
May 17, 2007 -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said growing number of mortgage defaults will not seriously harm the U.S. economy.
June 2007 -- Concerns grow on Wall Street as two hedge funds of the New York investment bank Bear Stearns move toward collapse due to Bear Sterns' extensive investments in mortgage-backed securities.
September 7, 2008 -- Government takes control of the mortgage giants, putting the liability of more than $5 trillion of mortgages onto the backs of U.S. taxpayers.
September 15, 2008 -- Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy. This is the largest bankruptcy filing in the history of the U.S., at almost $650 billion. After a weekend of negotiations, potential buyers such as Bank of America and Barclays walk away from the negotiating table and Lehman is left with no other option.
September 16, 2008 -- The U.S. government bails out AIG with an $85 billion loan. Feds say a failure of the company could be devastating to the financial markets as well as the economy. This is in exchange for a nearly 80% equity stake in the company
September 29, 2008 -- Dow Falls 777.68 Points. This is the largest one-day point drop in history.
Hundreds of billions of dollars effectively evaporate from the retirement accounts of the U.S. population in a single day. The index sees its largest one-day point loss ever after the House votes down the rescue plan. The S&P 500 has its largest point drop ever and second-largest percentage drop in history. October 3, 2008 -- U.S. Congress passes $700 billion bail-out (now being referred to as the "first round" of bail-outs). President Bush signs the bail-out into law.
December 23, 2008 -- New homes sold at an annualized pace of 407,000 units in November, the weakest showing in almost 18 years and further evidence that the housing market is still in distress.
December 30, 2008 -- U.S. home prices fell by 2.2% from September to October and prices are off by 18% over the previous 12 months, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing price index that tracks existing home sales in 20 major metropolitan areas.
2009 and beyond -- ???? 2009 is predicted to be a year of contraction in the global economy. Let us hope that the predictions of many well-meaning individuals who have been sounding the alarm bells for decades, such as Peter Schiff and Jim Rogers, do not come to fruition.
May 5, 2006 -- In possibly the first casualty of the looming subprime crisis, Kirkland, Washington based Merit Financial Inc. files for bankruptcy and closes its doors, firing all but 80 of its 410 employees; Merit’s marketplace decline about 40% and sales are not bringing in enough revenue to support overhead
May 17, 2007 -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said growing number of mortgage defaults will not seriously harm the U.S. economy.
June 2007 -- Concerns grow on Wall Street as two hedge funds of the New York investment bank Bear Stearns move toward collapse due to Bear Sterns' extensive investments in mortgage-backed securities.
Oct. 1-24, 2007 -- Swiss bank UBS announces losses linked to U.S. subprime mortgages. Investment bank Merrill Lynch reports losses of $5.5 billion. Citigroup announces $6.5 billion third quarter losses. Merrill Lynch announces losses to be over $8 billion.
September 15, 2008 -- Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy. This is the largest bankruptcy filing in the history of the U.S., at almost $650 billion. After a weekend of negotiations, potential buyers such as Bank of America and Barclays walk away from the negotiating table and Lehman is left with no other option.
September 16, 2008 -- The U.S. government bails out AIG with an $85 billion loan. Feds say a failure of the company could be devastating to the financial markets as well as the economy. This is in exchange for a nearly 80% equity stake in the company
September 29, 2008 -- Dow Falls 777.68 Points. This is the largest one-day point drop in history.
Hundreds of billions of dollars effectively evaporate from the retirement accounts of the U.S. population in a single day. The index sees its largest one-day point loss ever after the House votes down the rescue plan. The S&P 500 has its largest point drop ever and second-largest percentage drop in history. October 3, 2008 -- U.S. Congress passes $700 billion bail-out (now being referred to as the "first round" of bail-outs). President Bush signs the bail-out into law.
December 23, 2008 -- New homes sold at an annualized pace of 407,000 units in November, the weakest showing in almost 18 years and further evidence that the housing market is still in distress.
December 30, 2008 -- U.S. home prices fell by 2.2% from September to October and prices are off by 18% over the previous 12 months, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing price index that tracks existing home sales in 20 major metropolitan areas.
2009 and beyond -- ???? 2009 is predicted to be a year of contraction in the global economy. Let us hope that the predictions of many well-meaning individuals who have been sounding the alarm bells for decades, such as Peter Schiff and Jim Rogers, do not come to fruition.
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