If you want to know if a war is coming, don't listen to what the politicians are saying.  Instead, keep an eye on where ships, troops and equipment are headed.  Right now, there are quite a few signs that intense military preparations are being made for war in the Middle East.  By April, there will be multiple aircraft carrier groups in the Persian Gulf.  Large numbers of U.S. troops are being massed within striking distance of Iran, and it is being reported that U.S. aircraft are heading to the Middle East in numbers not seen for years.  So does all of this mean that war is coming?  Not necessarily.  Perhaps the Obama administration is just trying to scare Iran into giving up its nuclear program.  Perhaps the Obama administration is just trying to convince Syrian President Bashar Assad that it is time to step down.  But the fact that such intense military preparations are being made right now is certainly very, very interesting.  Usually wars are planned long in advance.  The truth is that military planning does not begin when the politicians stop talking.  In just about every major military conflict in modern times, forces have been moved into position long ahead of time.

So will we see a war in the Middle East in 2012?

Only time will tell.

But things certainly are starting to heat up.

The following are 7 signs that intense military preparations are being made for war in the Middle East....

#1 France is sending a nuclear aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf, and it is expected that the U.S. will have three aircraft carrier groups operating in the Persian Gulf by April.

#2 It is being reported that large numbers of U.S. troops are being positioned on two strategic islands within easy reach of Iran.  The following comes from a recent Debka article....

Debkafile's military sources report a steady flow of many thousands of US troops for some weeks to two strategic islands within reach of Iran, Oman's Masirah just south of the Strait of Hormuz and Socotra, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

#3 A major amphibious landing exercise known as "Bold Alligator" is currently being conducted along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.  Eight other nations are also participating in this drill, and many analysts believe that this drill is in preparation for an Iranian operation.  The following comes from a recent Arutz Sheva article....

The Bold Alligator drill includes 20,000 U.S. forces, plus hundreds of British, Dutch and French troops – as well as liaison officers from Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Australia.

The drill includes a beach landing and air assault supported by 25 warships, and is intended to  “to revitalize, refine, and strengthen fundamental amphibious capabilities and reinforce the Navy and Marine Corps role as ‘fighters from the sea.’”

U.S. Marines have spent a decade out of their native element in the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan, but with the Pentagon's restructuring and forward-focus on Asia, the Marines are returning to their roots.

Admiral John Harvey, head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, described Bold Alligator as “the largest amphibious exercise conducted by the fleet in the last 10 years.”

#4 There have been reports of huge numbers of U.S. aircraft moving into position in the Persian Gulf region.  The following comes from a recent Debka report....

Debkafile's military sources report that flight after flight of US warplanes and transports were to be seen this week cutting eastward through the skies of Sinai on their way to Gulf destinations, presumably Saudi Arabia, at a frequency not seen in the Middle East for many years.

#5 A helicopter carrier (the USS Ponce) that was supposed to have been decommissioned after duty in Libya is now being upgraded and is scheduled to be able to be available for service in the Persian Gulf by June.

#6 The Saudis appear to be really preparing for something.  Just check out what Debka says has been going on in Saudi Arabia....

Our military sources report that the Saudis this week wound up their own intensive preparations for war. Large forces are now deployed around Saudi oil fields, pipelines and export facilities in the eastern provinces opposite the Persian Gulf, backed by anti-missile Patriot PAC-3 batteries. American, British and French fighter-bombers have been landing at Saudi air bases to safeguard the capital, Riyadh.

#7 Someone has been moving huge numbers of tanks around by train in California.  Just check out this video.

So what do you think?

Do you believe that these military preparations are a sign that we will see a war in the Middle East in 2012?

Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

What in the world is happening over in Iran?  All of a sudden we are hearing of a lot of "mysterious explosions" at nuclear facilities and at important missile sites.  Also, in recent months quite a few Iranian nuclear scientists have been mysteriously killed.  Is someone conducting a covert campaign to take out Iran's nuclear program?  Without a doubt, open warfare with Iran would have very serious consequences and could even end up sparking World War III.  If war can be avoided, that would seem to be preferable.  So is someone secretly bombing key installations in Iran in attempt to delay or even derail their nuclear program?  Unfortunately we will not get answers to those questions any time soon, but it does appear that something really strange is going on.

One of the most recent incidents happened near the Iranian city of Malard.  A photo has been released that clearly shows that a key Iranian missile base near Malard has been essentially destroyed.

This was detailed in a recent article in the Washington Post....

Two weeks after a mysterious explosion at an Iranian missile base, a Washington-based research group has released a satellite image showing extensive damage to the site.

The image of the compound, near the city of Malard, doesn’t provide any clues as to what caused the Nov. 12 explosion, which Iranian authorities described as an “accident” involving the transport of ammunition. But it does make clear that the facility has been effectively destroyed.

Could an "ammunition accident" really cause the kind of extensive damage shown in the photo?

That seems very, very far-fetched.

Just recently, another strange explosion happened somewhere around the Iranian city of Isfahan.  It turns out that a key Iranian nuclear facility is located in Isfahan.  The following description of this incident comes from an article in Haaretz....

An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.

According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion. Residents reported that their windows shook from the explosion's force.

Authorities in Iran are blaming that blast on a "military drill".

You never know, the authorities in Iran might be telling the truth.

But lately there has been a pattern developing in Iran that has become very hard to deny.

Over the past few years, quite a few Iranian nuclear scientists have been mysteriously killed.

The following comes from an ABC News article entitled "Who Is Killing Iran's Nuclear Scientists?"....

Regardless of who is killing Iran's nuclear scientists -- the Israelis, the Americans or the Iranians themselves -- there's no question that researchers and officials linked to Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program keep turning up dead.

Since 2007, four different scientists allegedly associated with the nation's nuclear weapons program have died via bomb, gunshot or poisoning, while a fifth barely survived a car bombing.

The most recent victim, 35-year-old Darioush Rezaeinejad, was shot in the neck outside his daughter's Tehran kindergarten on Saturday by two gunmen on a motorcycle. According to an unconfirmed report in an Israeli intelligence publication, Rezaeinejad was working on a nuclear detonator, and was seen daily at a nuclear lab in northern Tehran.

If you believe that all of the events detailed above are just "bizarre coincidences", then you are being quite naive.

Someone is taking aggressive action inside Iran, but it might not be enough to avert a war.

The truth is that tensions between Iran and western powers are rapidly escalating.  On Tuesday, Iranian students stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran.  The following description of this event comes from a Reuters article....

Iranian protesters stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran Tuesday, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag during a rally to protest against sanctions imposed by Britain, live Iranian television showed.

The attacks followed the rapid approval by Iran’s Guardian Council of a parliamentary bill compelling the government to expel the British ambassador in retaliation for the sanctions, and warnings from a lawmaker that angry Iranians could storm the British embassy as they did to the U.S. mission in 1979.

Does this remind you of anything?

The truth is that this is chillingly similar to what happened to the U.S. Embassy back in 1979.

A video news report about the storming of the British Embassy is posted below....

Needless to say, the British government is quite alarmed about all of this.  UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is promising that there will be "serious consequences" stemming from this incident.  The following is a short excerpt from a recent article in the Guardian....

Hundreds of protesters surged onto two compounds this afternoon, putting the safety of staff at risk and causing "extensive damage" to property, the foreign secretary said.

"Clearly there will be other, further, and serious consequences. I will make a statement updating parliament on this tomorrow [Wednesday]."

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but what seems very clear is that the region is closer to war than it has been in a long time.

On Sunday, Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi promised that Iran would launch 150,000 missiles at Israel if a military attack on Iran happens.

As tensions have risen over the past few years, Iran has armed itself to the teeth.

Any military conflict with Iran would not be pretty.

But peace will not last forever.  Israel simply will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear program and Iran is absolutely determined to proceed with developing one.

And as I have written about previously, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually believes that a war with Israel is necessary before the Mahdi will return.

We live in very unusual times.

As we get even deeper into the times that the Bible refers to as "the last days", it is inevitable that there will be more war in the Middle East.

In the years ahead, there will be some incredibly bloody conflicts and the loss of life will be staggering.

Let us pray for peace, and let us pray that as many people as possible can be exposed to the gospel while there is still time.

So exactly just who is NATO "helping" in Libya?  Are we actually making it possible for radical Islamic jihadists to take control of Libya?  Are we now providing air cover for some of the exact same terrorists that were shooting at our soldiers in Iraq?  You might not like the answers to those questions.  Nobody is claiming that Gadhafi is not a horrible dictator and tyrant.  However, is it really in our interest to have al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood replace him?  The Scriptures tell us in the book of Ezekiel that in the last days the nation of Libya will come against Israel.  Are we making this possible by injecting ourselves into the middle of this civil war?

The mainstream media has been pushing this war really hard, and it is really easy for most Americans to simply trust the judgment of the news channels, but there are some really hard questions that we need to ask about our involvement in Libya.

For example, what in the world is Libya going to look like after all this is over?

Is it going to take a hard turn towards radical Islam and end up being ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood and/or al-Qaeda?

According to The Telegraph, the leader of the Libyan rebels is even admitting that his "troops" include jihadists that were firing bullets at U.S. troops in Iraq....

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

What type of government do you think they are going to set up once this is over?

The American people need to start demanding some answers.

Why are we on the side of al-Qaeda in Libya but against them in Iraq and Afghanistan?

CBS News recently quoted former CIA officer Bruce Riedel as saying the following....

"There is no question that al Qaeda's Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Qaddafi's biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al Qaeda/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group - 2 percent or 80 percent."

Shouldn't we have learned more about who we are supporting before we jumped in?

Are we actually using our military to support the spread of radical Islam in north Africa?

According to Webster Tarpley, a study conducted at West Point found that Libya has one of the highest concentrations of jihadists on the planet....

The most striking finding which emerges from the West Point study is that the corridor which goes from Benghazi to Tobruk, passing through the city of Darnah (also transliterated as Derna) them represents one of the greatest concentrations of jihadi terrorists to be found anywhere in the world, and by some measures can be regarded as the leading source of suicide bombers anywhere on the planet. Darnah, with one terrorist fighter sent into Iraq to kill Americans for every 1,000 to 1,500 persons of population, emerges as suicide bomber heaven, easily surpassing the closest competitor, which was Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

The more one examines the situation in Libya, the better Gadhafi looks.  The truth is that these "rebels" are not fighting Gadhafi because they want a western-style democracy.  Rather, they are fighting him because they want to set up a radical Islamic jihadist state.

The truth is that NATO knows precisely who they are arming and who they are helping take power in Libya.  As Steve Watson recently noted, there are reports that there are 1000 (or more) al-Qaeda fighters among the rebels in Libya....

A former leader of an al Qaeda linked group in Libya claims that there are around 1000 fundamentalist Islamic fighters in the country that have joined the uprising against Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s forces, a number that jives with intelligence reports and independent estimates.

How in the world is America going to be better off with al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Libya?

None of this makes any sense.

We are told that we have to have our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq for years and years in order to "fight al-Qaeda" and then we are helping them take power in Libya?

What in the world is going on out there?

We are living in the last days and weird things are going to happen.

So what do all of you think about what is happening in Libya?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

On Monday night, a "mystery missile" streaked across the sky just off the Southern California coast, and at this point the U.S. military still has no official explanation for it.  The "mystery missile" was caught on video by a local television station's helicopter camera, and the images are absolutely stunning.  The trail left behind by the missile was visible from the city of Los Angeles, and the helicopter crew that took the video estimated that the missile's location was approximately 35 miles out to sea north of Catalina Island.  So where in the world did this mystery missile off the Southern California coast come from?

At this point, nobody seems to know.  The Pentagon says that the U.S. military did not have any missile tests planned and that they do not know who fired the missile at this point.  Some are speculating that it could be the work of an amateur.  Others are claiming that it could just be an optical illusion.

Still others think that it might have been the work of a foreign nation.  For example, Robert Ellsworth, a former deputy secretary of defense and ambassador to NATO, is speculating that perhaps an Asian power is responsible....

"It could be a test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that."

A video news report about this mystery missile is posted below....

Eventually, the U.S. military will either tell us what this mystery missile over Southern California really was or they will make up a really good cover story.

In any event, all of this is rather unsettling.

The truth is that many believe that this is exactly the type of attack that is going to take down the United States in the last days.

Many, many, many people have had visions of Russian subs just off the coast striking U.S. cities with nuclear missiles in the future.

So is such a thing possible?

Yes, very much so.

Once Russia and/or China decide that war with the United States is inevitable, they will want to get in as devastating a first strike as possible before we can respond.

The very best way to do this is with submarines.

The reality is that Russia's next generation subs are so incredibly quiet that they can creep all the way up to U.S. coastlines without even being detected most of the time.

For example, the U.S. military was very surprised a while back to learn that two Russian nuclear submarines had been patrolling off the east coast of the United States.  According to news reports, two Akula class nuclear-powered submarines were lurking in international waters just 200 miles of the U.S. coast.

So did a sub from a foreign power test how close it could get to the coast of California and fire off a missile without being detected?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

In any event, this is something that a lot of people are convinced is coming in the future.

If Russian subs did sneak up to 30 miles off the California coast, they could literally be raining down nuclear missiles on U.S. cities in as little as five minutes.

That would not leave us a whole lot of time to respond at all.

So what do you think about this "mystery missile" off the California coast?

Do you think that this type of thing is a real danger?

Do you think that someday submarines could pop up off the coast and rain down nukes on all of us?

Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....

The Scriptures tell us that in the last days there will be wars and rumors of wars, and that is certainly true of the times that we are living in today.  Iran's nuclear program continues to advance, and world leaders around the globe are becoming increasingly alarmed.  In fact, even Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is now warning that Iran is close to having the potential to build a nuclear weapon.  For years, Russia has been one of Iran's most vigorous defenders on the world scene, but now even the Russian government is expressing reservations about what is going on in that country.  That should set off alarm bells for all of us.

Not only that, but now even Arab nations are expressing concern about Iran's nuclear program.  For example, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States recently said that it would be extremely difficult for his nation to coexist with a nuclear Iran and that it would support any actions the U.S. took to prevent such a possibility.

The UAE would support a U.S. military strike on Iran?

Yes, you read that correctly.

It is even being reported that both Egypt and Jordan are growing increasingly concerned with Iran's nuclear program.

It looks like Iran is running out of friends.

But Iran continues to recklessly push forward with their nuclear ambitions.

Just this past week, Iran announced that the Bushehr nuclear power plant would be ready for operation in just two months.

But does being able to produce nuclear power mean that Iran is also planning to develop nuclear weapons?

The truth is that we all know the answer to that question.

In fact, a former of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who relayed its secret operations to the CIA for 10 years says that Iran will commit the "most horrendous suicide bombing in human history" if it is not stopped from developing nuclear weapons.

So who is going to stop them?

The United States?

That seems quite likely as long as Barack Obama is running things.

Israel?

Perhaps.

For now, Israel has been trying to talk peace with the Palestinians, but they are also preparing for war.

The world has certainly been trying to push Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed interest in sitting down with them.  Netanyahu says that he believes that direct talks with the Palestinians will begin very soon and he recently predicted that they will be "very, very tough".

But on another occasion recently, Netanyahu said that he does not envision actually reaching a negotiated Middle East peace settlement within the next two years, despite his Palestinian counterpart's declared intentions to set up infrastructure for a state by 2011.

So it looks like Netanyahu expects peace talks with the Palestinians to begin soon, but he is not anticipating that they will bear any fruit in the foreseeable future.

Not that any of the other "peace agreements" with the Palestinians have ever worked out.

In the end, war always ends up breaking out again.

And war tensions are certainly on the rise in the region once again.

Debka is reporting that 20,000 Hezbollah troops have advanced and are dug into 160 new positions in South Lebanon.  Israel is believed to be "preparing something" for Lebanon and Hezbollah is on high alert to prevent it, unnamed sources in the group were quoted by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying recently.

In addition, according to the Palestinian Authority daily newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently told Arab leaders that the PA is ready to wage war on Israel if the rest of the Arab world does.  The following is what Abbas reportedly told them....

"If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor.  But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it."

To the world media, Abbas talks about peace, peace, peace, but to his fellow Arab leaders he says that the Palestinian Authority is ready for war with Israel.

What a hypocrite.

The truth is that even if a "peace agreement" is reached, and even if a "Palestinian state" is created, more wars in the Middle East are inevitable.

These are the last days, and wars are going to continue until the end.  The only time that there is going to be true peace is after the King of Kings, the Messiah, returns to this earth and sets up His kingdom in Jerusalem.

Israel is making it very clear that the next war with Hezbollah will also be a war against Syria.  For years it has been an open secret that Syria was funneling arms and sophistical weapons systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon, but now Israel is on the record as saying that they consider Hezbollah to be a division of the Syrian army.  So what does this mean?  It means that war between Israel and Syria is now closer than it has been in decades.  Just recently, Israel delivered a secret warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that it will respond to missile attacks from Hezbollah by launching immediate retaliation against Syria itself.

No longer will Syria be able to use Hezbollah to fight proxy wars against Israel.  If a repeat of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah happens, this time Israel says that it will directly strike Damascus. 

In fact, a major U.K. newspaper recently published the following "off-the-record" comment from an Israeli minister....

"We’ll return Syria to the Stone Age by crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dare to launch ballistic missiles against us."

What is raising tensions even further in the region are reports that Syria has been arming Hezbollah to the teeth in preparation for the coming war.

Just consider the following description by Debka of the kinds of advanced weaponry that Syria has been supplying to the terrorist organization....

"Surface-to-surface missiles able to reach as far as the Dimona reactor in southern Israel: They include Fajr-5, which has a range of 33 km, and the M-600, developed by Syria from the Fateh-110, whose range is 250 km. Both are precise, propelled by solid fuel and carry 500-kilo warheads of conventional explosives, as well as being able to deliver chemical, biological and radioactive materials.  This dangerous new arsenal which tops up the 40,000 rockets Hizballah was allowed to pile up since the 2006 Lebanon war."

The reality is that Syria and Hezbollah between them now have the capability of striking every single inch of Israeli territory with missiles.

No target is out of range anymore.

With all sides on edge in the region, even King Abdullah of Jordan is warning that the next war in the Middle East could break out as soon as this summer.

Meanwhile, there are increasing calls from world leaders for Israel to join the NPT and quit producing nuclear weapons.  In fact, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem is calling on all NPT member countries to sever their diplomatic relations with Israel unless it joins the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Of course Syria would love not to have to worry about Israel's nukes during the coming war, but that is not going to happen.

But even Barack Obama is pushing Israel on this issue.  Last week Barack Obama publicly declared that he is calling upon all the nations of the world to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including Israel.

But what Barack Obama should be really concerned about is trying to figure out what to do about Iran.

It is being reported that Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, warned President Barack Obama in a secret "wake-up call" memo that the White House has no effective policy for dealing with a nuclear Iran.

But at the same time, the Pentagon itself does not seem to have a sense of urgency when it comes to Iran's nuclear program.  Top U.S. military officials told Congress last week that it would take Iran at least a year to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.  Not only that, but Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said that that a U.S. strike against Iran would go "a long way" to delaying its nuclear program but that he considered doing so his "last option" right now.

Meanwhile, top Iranian officials are running around making declarations about how advanced Iran's nuclear program is.

Needless to say, Israel is not going to let Iran go down this path indefinitely.

But even before things with Iran come to a crisis point, war could break out between Israel and Syria.

Is the time soon coming when "Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins" (Isaiah 17:1)?

We will just have to wait and see.  Certainly all sides are preparing for a devastating regional war.  So let us pray for the peace of Israel and let us trust that God knows what He is doing.

More than ever, the word "nuclear" is on the lips of world leaders around the globe.  It seems like everyone is either "going nuclear" or is talking about nuclear weapons.  The truth is that the world has been extremely fortunate that nuclear weapons have not been used to destroy an entire city since the end of World War 2.  But with tensions escalating dangerously in the Middle East and around the world, how much longer will it be before nuclear weapons are used by someone to wipe out large numbers of people? 

In fact, for many terrorist organizations around the globe, the thought of going nuclear is the ultimate dream.  A handful of terrorists really can't do that much damage on their own, but one terrorist with a nuke can take out an entire major city in the blink of an eye.

Many jihadists speak openly of nuclear weapons as being the means by which they will take down the United States and Israel.  There are many jihadists who would set off a nuke in a major city today if they were able to.

And with nuclear weapons technology spreading to places such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, how much longer do you think it will be before a terrorist organization is able to get their hands on a nuclear weapon?

The truth is that nuclear weapons will almost certainly be used in the last days.  Entire cities will probably be destroyed.  Whether it is terrorists or governments who use them, the reality is that when they are used it will change the world forever. 

Leaders around the globe know how dangerous these weapons are.  Many of them understand that once Iran gets their hands on nukes it will be extremely hard to ever put the "nuclear genie" back in the bottle.  If radical Islamic terrorists are able to acquire nuclear weapons through Iran (or by any other source), all of our lives are going to change permanently.   

The threat of rogue nations and terrorist organizations going nuclear has made a lot of headlines just this past week.  Just check out some of them....

*Barack Obama said that the possibility of terrorists getting a nuclear device is the "single biggest threat" to U.S. security as he opened the international nuclear summit that included 46 world leaders from around the globe.

*Hillary Clinton said that she fears al-Qaeda is gathering material for nuclear weapons.

*According to a top Iranian nuclear official, Iran will join the "nuclear club" within a month.

*Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a new generation of domestically made nucelar centrifuges in a ceremony in Tehran marking national nuclear day.

*It is being reported by international news sources that Iran's bomb-making plutonium facilities are close to completion.

*French President Nicolas Sarkozy is warning global leaders that if the world doesn't act to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear arms, it could be responsible for a war between Israel and the Islamic republic.

*An Iranian who once worked as a spy for the CIA is saying that the only way to avoid a nuclear war with Iran is to attack them now.

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning Israel against a military strike on Iran, saying that it might lead to a global nuclear war.

*The Turkish Prime Minister is urging other world leaders to start criticizing the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

*Hillary Clinton claims that North Korea now has as many as six nuclear weapons.

We live in very dangerous times.  We all take the peace and safety we are enjoying right now for granted.  But a time is coming when that will fundamentally change.

Nations that absolutely hate the United States and Israel are arming to the teeth and are developing nuclear weapons.  Just one suitcase nuke could decimate an entire city.  We often forget about how blessed and how protected we have been, but someday that could all change in the blink of an eye.

Let us pray for peace and hope that somehow nuclear weapons can be kept out of the hands of radicals and lunatics.