On June 28th, 1914, Arch Duke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo. And as the saying goes—the rest is history. History, indeed, as that single incident was the spark that detonated the First World War.

The First World War began 90-years ago. The Second World War, more destructive than the original, ended over 50 years ago. Directly after the end of the last world war, mankind entered into the so-called Atomic Age, and has since lived under the ominous shadow of a world-ending nuclear war.

However, it is generally assumed by the Watchtower and Jehovah’s Witnesses that there will never be a third world war; for the simple reason that a war involving even the limited use of nuclear weapons would be so destructive that it would render the entire planet uninhabitable.

However, the Watchtower’s assumptions, which were partly based upon the Cold War policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, (MAD) as well as Carl Sagan’s theories of nuclear winter, are no longer valid.

While the super-power standoff no longer poses the same menace of mutually assured annihilation as before, the danger of another world war has not diminished; rather, it has only increased the temptation for the last remaining super-power to extend its hegemony. The Bush administration has, in fact, raised the stakes considerably by formulating a new first-strike nuclear policy directed primarily against Russia, China, and numerous lesser nations. While the United States and Great Britain maintain that the greatest threat to peace and security is terrorism, in reality, it is Anglo-American imperialism that now threatens to unleash a new world war.

Another factor that makes nuclear war more likely is the development of tactical “mini nukes.” Whereas, just one large thermonuclear warhead has more destructive power than all of the conventional bombs dropped during WWII, tactical nukes are much less destructive, and so they increase the likelihood of their being used. Ominously, the Bush administration is setting about to produce a new generation of micro-fusion mini-nukes for their “war on terror.”

One private military analyst is convinced that the United States, in an act of intimidation and provocation, has already used one such mini-nuclear bomb on Ryongchon North Korea. Perhaps it is in response to such intimidation that North Korea is now threatening to use terrorism against South Korea. As pointed out by a former American presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, imperialism begets terrorism.

As regards terrorism, one rather disturbing change in the world’s present situation was an indirect result of the collapse of the USSR. In 1996 it became public that during the Soviet era Russian scientists had already developed mini-nukes that could fit into a large suitcase; designed specifically for the purpose of terrorism. Supposedly, in the chaos of the Soviet’s demise, an unknown number of between 50 and 100 of the devices went missing and are now unaccounted for in the Russian arsenal. The fear is that these weapons have been sold by disgruntled KGB agents on the black market. The multi-millionaire terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is rumored to have acquired a number of suitcase-size nuclear weapons.

But, in a world ruled over by the one whom Jesus called the Father of the lie, who is none other than Satan the Devil, we should not suppose that anything in this world is exactly what it is appears to be—including terrorism.

While it is common knowledge that American and British intelligence originally organized and funded the Islamic Mujahideen in order to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by proxy, it is less-well appreciated that London serves as the imperial controller for many international terrorist organizations. Even the notorious Osama bin Laden has a distinctive Anglo pedigree. Lending evidence to that view is the report in London’s Guardian that British intelligence has directly aided and abetted al-Qaeda and bin Laden as recently as 1996. Some observers rightly suspect that al-Qaeda is merely a front for the financial interests that desire a pretext for war.

Regardless of whether bin Laden does or does not have nuclear weapons, or whether he is even still alive, it is a certainty that terrorists can acquire various types of weapons of mass destruction relatively easily. And in that eventuality, merely one individual with a suitcase nuke, ricin, nerve gas, a dirty bomb or some other fiendish weapon, now has the power to bring an entire nation to its knees.

Since the terrorist’s attack on the U.S. Pentagon and World Trade Center in 2001, asymmetrical warfare has undoubtedly become a growing menace. The Vice President of the United States said that the possibility of terrorists acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction is the “ultimate nightmare,” and it was not inconceivable that hundreds of thousands of Americans could perish in what he called: “A single day of horror.”

Despite the ongoing “war on terror,” most thinking people realize that the real underlying strategic motivation for war has to do with controlling the world’s dwindling oil reserves in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Caspian Sea Basin. With Iraq subdued and her oilfields ostensibly secured, rumors of war are swirling that Iran will be the next nation of the so-called Axis of Evil targeted to come under attack. The Islamic news agency, Al-Jazeerah, anticipates an October Surprise.

While the mainstream media report that Iran does not yet possess nuclear weapons, it is well-known that Russia and Iran are strategic allies, and according to the private military analyst previously cited, Russia has supplied Iran with two supersonic Sunburn nuclear missiles. In the event the Anglo-American ally, Israel, attacks Iran, Russia stands ready to provide the launch codes to allow Tehran to annihilate Tel-Aviv and Haifa. If true, an attack on Iran seems guaranteed to unleash catastrophic forces. (Keep in mind that a single bullet from an assassin’s gun ignited the First World War.)

Clearly, the signs are everywhere; the next all-out global war appears poised to erupt.

According to the well-known Doomsday Clock kept by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientist since 1949, the present “time” is seven-minutes until midnight. The clock indicates the relative nearness of nuclear war. Most recently, in February of 2002, the hands of the Doomsday Clock were moved forward from nine minutes to seven minutes till midnight. It was the third time since the end of the Cold War that the hands have moved forward. But, it may even be later than they think.

Interestingly, the Bulletin states the reasons for moving the clock’s hands forward, saying: “The September 11 attacks, and the subsequent and probably unrelated use of the mail to deliver deadly anthrax spores, breached previous boundaries for terrorist acts and should have been a global wake-up call. Moving the clock’s hands at this time reflects our growing concern that the international community has hit the “snooze” button rather than respond to the alarm.”

The observation of the atomic scientists that the world has “hit the snooze button” reinforces the apostle’s admonition to the sons of God on the eve of God’s judgment: “So, then, let us not sleep on as the rest do, but let us stay awake and keep our senses.”

The ominous clouds of war developing on the near horizon should cause Jehovah’s Witnesses to rethink our long-held assumptions about the improbability of a nuclear world war. And not only that, but with the specter of global war looming larger by the day, it is high time to reconsider the possibility of the next war being the actual fulfillment of what we presently suppose took place in 1914; namely, ‘nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom.’

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Part two will re-examine the prophecy of the kings of the north and south in order to allow the Bible to shed light on the question: Will there be a third world war?

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Copyright © 2004, by Robert King
All Rights Reserved.