MONOLOGUE WRITTEN BY CLYDE LEWIS

The mainstream media seems to all be caught up in things that usually termed “minor” in the big picture of network news. We need to understand that what they do not report is probably worthy of attention than what they do report.

It is always the lazy choice to comment on the false narratives provided by the mainstream, and so most people find themselves bogged down in minutiae. We can name off who has been caught in sexually compromising positions, but we still can’t find a motive in the Las Vegas shootings, we haven’t heard of any due process in the attacks in New York soon after and as Texans bury their dead and demolish their church in Sutherland Springs, TX, the media is back to reporting tweets of the President and talk about Russian collusion.

This is happening, all while the media is undefinedneverwhereundefined when it comes to how we appear to be sleep walking into Armageddon.

Nine countries around the globe are known to have nuclear weapons, many of them on hair-trigger alert. In at least five separate locations in the world, two or more nuclear-armed countries are in actual or proxy wars or standoffs that could escalate at any time.

Donald Trump has implied that he feels tactical nuclear weapons can be effectively employed in battle and seemed to imply in comments about Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia that he had few concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional countries.

Recent tweets between President Trump and Korean leader, Kim Jong Un sound like a shoving contest on the tetherball court. I would propose that perhaps we should focus our attention on the Middle East at the moment because what is happening there has a potential for a nuclear conflict arriving with a huge bow and wrapped up nicely for Christmas.

It is crucial that we pay attention to what is happening in the Middle East, because the situation is becoming quite serious. If things go badly, we could be facing a major regional war which would involve not only Saudi Arabia and Iran, but also potentially the United States and Israel.

This would be a war that would capture the attention of those who thing that the Armageddon clock is ticking towards some fulfillment of prophecy. We haven’t seen anything this heated for little over a decade.

A “direct conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as opposed to the proxy war they’re fighting in Yemen, looks inevitable.

The term “proxy war” has experienced a new popularity in stories on the Middle East. A proxy war is two opposing super power countries avoiding direct war, and instead supporting combatants that serve their interests. In some occasions, one country is a direct combatant whilst the other supporting its enemy.

There are so many confusing stories coming out of the Middle East because the mainstream media is ignoring it, except for a few mentions of ISIS.

On Saturday, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement vowing to defeat ISIS, after the Syrian Army had already issued a declaration that it successfully defeated the terror group.

The Syrian army’s capture of ISIS’ last main town in Syria, known as Albu Kamal, marked the end of its so-called caliphate and the final demise of its territorial ambitions.

“There [are] some fighters left but they’re few. Small numbers is all I can say,” said a Syrian army commander of the remaining militants near Albu Kamal, Reuters reported. “Some were killed and some ran away. They went towards eastern or northern villages.”

This victory sealed “the fall of the terrorist Daesh organization’s [ISIS’] project in the region,” an army statement said.

However, Reuters notes that this particular success will open up new doors for further confrontation in the country as the different entities vie for control of disputed territories. According to Reuters, “Syrian officials and a senior advisor to Iran have indicated the Syrian army will now stake its claim to Kurdish-held territory.”

Saudi Arabia and Iran have already been fighting proxy wars against one another in Syria and Iran for quite a while, but a direct military conflict between the two could literally be a nightmare scenario.

One of the primary characters in this ongoing drama is Saudi Arabia’s extremely hawkish crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. He hates Iran with a passion, and he has already said that he believes that a peace dialogue with Iran is impossible.

A Donald Trump tours the world, Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a political purge within the ranks of the royal family. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen rages on.

An air strike in northern Yemen killed more than 20 people. According to rebels, there were 29 dead, including 21 civilians. 17 other people were injured in the attack, said the health service of the Houthi rebels. The rebel agency Saba blamed the Saudi air force for the attack.

The target was a market in Sahar. The district in the northern province of Saadah borders Saudi Arabia.

In September, troops of Sunni President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi have been fighting in Yemen against the Shiite Houthi rebels supported by Iran. Since March 2015, a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia flies air strikes against the rebels and thus supports the Hadi troops. According to UN data, more than 8,600 people have been killed in the conflict so far.

A missile gets fired on the Saudi capital - a missile, which was allegedly built in Iran and smuggled to Yemen, just to be fired at Saudi Arabia.

According to initial reports, two Saudi princes died back to back in 24 hours: one in an “accidental” helicopter crash, the other during a firefight that broke out while security forces were trying to arrest him. On November 7, Saudi Arabia’s information ministry spokesman said that “Prince Abdulaziz is alive and well”. However, the prince could not be independently reached for comment by the media.

Other high-ranking members of the establishment and the royal family - the two tend to be one and the same in Saudi Arabia get arrested on charges of corruption, with their bank accounts frozen.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri unexpectedly resigns after he was summoned to Riyadh by his Saudi-backers.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of conducting acts of “direct military aggression” and accused Lebanon of “declaring war” on Riyadh by allowing Hezbollah “aggression” against the kingdom.

All this happened in a span of just a few days.

Over the past several days, events in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have moved talk of war to the front burner.

First, the kingdom squarely blamed Iran for a missile attack on Riyadh from Yemen that was thwarted by the U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile system. The Saudis called that attack “direct military aggression by the Iranian regime and may be considered an act of war.”

Second, the Saudis accused Lebanon of — figuratively at least — declaring “war” against it because of aggression from Hezbollah. That statement spurred even Saudi ally and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to publicly urge for calm.

If Saudi Arabia and Iran go to war, it is probably inevitable that Hezbollah will strike Israel at the same time, thus getting the Israelis directly involved in the conflict.

Not only that, if a major regional war does erupt in the Middle East it would almost certainly mean that the U.S. would have to get involved as well.

The Iranians and the Saudis both have nuclear weapons, and so a direct conflict between the two would seem to be unthinkable.

Unfortunately, it is not out of the question.

The conflict between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam has a long and bitter history, and the bad blood between the Saudis and the Iranians is never going to subside until one side or the other ultimately prevails.

If a civil war erupts in Saudi Arabia, we would see oil process soar.

In turn, that would cripple the weaker countries, companies and households around the world that simply cannot afford a higher oil price. And there are a lot of them.

Financial markets would destabilize as long-suppressed volatility would explode higher, creating horrific losses across the board. Very few investors are mentally or financially prepared for such carnage is a massive understatement.

The trajectory of events is headed in a direction that may well end the arrangement that has served as the axis around which geopolitics has spun for the past 40 years. The Saudis want new partners, and are courting China hard.

Summing up the recent events in the Middle East leads to the conclusion that the threat of a Saudi-Iranian war is looking increasingly credible. Pulling Israel and the United states into it sends a chill as we prepare for the holidays.

There have been reports about Saudi Arabia and Israel working together against Iran, including diplomatic cooperation and intelligence sharing among other things. Israeli media recently reported that a senior Saudi prince, possibly Bin Salman himself, paid a secret visit to that country.

Israel is worried about the situation in the Golan Heights and Gaza Strip with pro-Iranian forces to blame for rising tensions. Israel has just conducted its biggest-ever aerial military drill, just a month after its largest-ever land military exercise - both simulating war with pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

A drone was shot down over the Golan Heights on November 11, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel takes an extremely grave view of violations of its sovereignty and will counter “all provocations with a powerful response.”

Bahrain said an explosion which caused a fire at its main oil pipeline on Nov.10 was caused by “terrorist” sabotage, linking the unprecedented attack to its arch-foe Iran. “Terrorist acts witnessed by the country in the recent period are carried out through direct contacts and instructions from Iran,” the statement quoted Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa as saying.

On November 8, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit stressed that Iranian interventions in the affairs of Arab countries reflect its desire to create tension and unrest in order to exercise hegemony over other nations. He added that Iranian intervention in Arab countries is unacceptable. Aboul-Gheit also stated that Arab nations should demonstrate solidarity with Saudi Arabia in facing the serious security threats it is facing.

The same day, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi threw his support behind Egypt’s Gulf ally Saudi Arabia amid the kingdom’s mounting tensions with Iran. According to him, Iran must stop “meddling” in the Middle East and the security of Arab Gulf countries must not be threatened.

In his turn, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says that Riyadh is interfering in Yemen and Lebanon, and its allies, US and Israel, dominate to ‘plunder oil and wealth.’ In preparation for possible hostilities Tehran has conducted a major reshuffle of its military top command.

Iran has just responded to the call of French President Emmanuel Macron to hold talks on the countryundefineds ballistic missile program, firmly rejecting the idea and noting that it is solely defensive in nature.

In July, the US imposed additional sanctions on Iran to punish it for ballistic missile tests, which are not covered by the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action. Last month, President Donald Trump formally decertified the nuclear deal with Iran under US law.

All actors have hidden agendas and explanations for their actions, while the region is rapidly moving to a large-scale war.

Some are actually ready to push the Armageddon panic button.

The drumbeat of war in the Middle East has risen to a fever-pitch. Saudi Arabia has provoked both an internal domestic, and a foreign crisis to permit Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to realize his grandiose vision of the Saudi state.

Clearly, ISIS’ defeat is something worth celebrating in both the local and international spheres, but it is what is coming next that should put ISIS’ defeat in perspective. The U.S. appears to have laid the groundwork for something worse than ISIS to take its place; namely, a closer push to Armageddon out of neverwhere land.