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Sometime before the 2008 presidential election, and possibly much, much sooner, the United States Government will detonate a small nuclear bomb in an American city, killing 10,000 to 100,000 civilians.

The U.S. government will blame Al Qaeda or Iran, “postpone” upcoming elections, make Bush the president indefinitely (i.e. “President for Life”), suspend the Constitution, impose martial law, and the fearful American public will go along with it all.

The U.S. government will control the “investigation” of the nuclear explosion. It will control the media even more so than it does now (by suspending the Constitution), so nobody will be in a position to challenge its findings. And swooning patriotism over the desire to “get even,” combined with a renewed draft will solve the military’s problem of obtaining enough recruits.

Detroit is an ideal city to “nuke” because it’s an economically blighted city, it’s got a large Arab population that the government can accuse of being Al Qaeda aiders and sympathizers, the bomb will wipe out all those Arabs, and it will give the government an excuse to bail out the beleaguered American auto industry just like it did the airline industry after 9/11.

The government can plant several other nuclear bombs in other cities, such as San Francisco and Miami. Then after the Detroit bomb is detonated, the government can “find” these other unexploded bombs and claim that they believe there are others still lurking out there. Seeing one bomb go off, finding two others, and believing that there are still more would so terrify the public that they and congress would happily go along with suspending the Constitution and declaring martial law.

Public “analysis” (i.e. spoon feeding government lies to the media) of these additional unexploded bombs can provide weeks of infotainment while giving the government a means to taint other countries as it sees fit. For instance, the government can claim that these bombs are “crude” and thus probably the work of amateurs, such as terrorists, but bearing hallmark traits that suggest Pakistani assistance, which would sound credible. The U.S. government has already announced that it would attack Iran in the event of another major terrorist attack, regardless of Iran’s culpability, so the bomb would create the excuse for such an attack. Of course, all the government’s analysis will be completely fabricated, but people and the press will be so scared that they will accept without question whatever the government claims.

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Fast forward to today. First, I read about military nuclear terrorism exercises in Charleston, South Carolina scheduled to begin today and end February 2nd. Curious timing. There were five military exercises on 9/11 having to do with hijacked airplanes flying into buildings! That’s a pretty stunning coincidence. Then just today I learned that the Super Bowl is taking place on February 5th in ... Detroit! Detroit is the city I picked to be attacked with a nuclear weapon! Detonating a nuclear bomb in a crowded stadium would kill 70,000 people (within my stated range) while minimizing damage to the physical city.

Considering the almost certainly faked "warning" from Osama bin Laden a couple of weeks ago, that the Super Bowl would be an excellent symbolic target for would be "Islamic terrorists," that Detroit was my pick for a nuclear attack, and that in March Iran is supposedly going to launch an Oil Bourse that will trade oil for euros instead of dollars, which would likely destroy the dollar and the U.S. empire, I’m extremely worried (six margaritas worth) about the coming week, to say the least.

For months the U.S. has been ratcheting up the rhetoric against Iran, following the same playbook it used with Iraq, and clearly angling for another war. Just the other day the U.S. succeeded in getting Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council, just like Iraq. Next stop: war. Bush’s poll numbers are in a slump and his administration is in disarray, just like before 9/11. The Republican party’s image is eroding rapidly, congressional elections are approaching, and there are signs the Republicans will fare very badly in the elections. The Patriot Act is losing its momentum. And now, after over a year of silence, Osama bin Laden suddenly issues a dire "warning"? What convenient timing for Bush. Next we’ll see the major "terrorist" attack I posited, which will be attributed to Osama. Then we’ll see an attack on Iran in retaliation. The Bush administration has already stated that it will attack Iran in the event of a major terrorist attack in the U.S., regardless of Iran’s culpability. And if the "terrorist" attack in the U.S. is a nuclear one, then using tactical nuclear "bunker buster" missiles in Iran will be more justifiable, at least in the minds of the type of people who plan this stuff. Using nuclear weapons will accomplish two more goals as well. One, detonating a nuclear bomb over the civilian population of Detroit will give the entire world a refresher course in the horrors of nuclear weapons. Most people who were old enough to remember the horror inflicted on civilians in Japan in WWII are dead. Consequently, the world has become somewhat complacent about nuclear weapons. Secondly, and most important, given the coming resource wars, using nuclear weapons in an offensive manner will demonstrate the United States’ willingness to use them, as outlined in the "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," published by the Department of Defense less than one year ago. Conveniently, attacking Iran will likely destroy its plans for an Oil Bourse, extending the dollar’s life a little bit.

Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of people in the U.S. think that the economy is just fine, which makes my assertions below sound preposterous. The fact is, and I’m quoting financial experts from the likes of Morgan Stanley and Standard & Poor’s, the U.S. in on the brink of "economic Armageddon" because of its failed economic policies of the last three decades. Superficially, the macroeconomic indicators look somewhat OK, but the U.S. economy is fundamentally weak, severely imbalanced, and highly vulnerable to external variables like soaring oil prices or foreign currency reserves. While it shows no outward signs of desperation, the U.S. government is utterly desperate to survive. It knows that its visions of empire are about to be dashed by economic collapse. In fact, the only way the U.S. government can survive is as a dictatorship. Its money will soon be worthless, so it will be forced to take the resources and labor it needs by force. It is already securing Iraqi oil by military force.

The United States already makes extensive use of prison laborers who toil for slave wages and are then billed for room and board! It’s a no-brainer to expand this labor "program." In fact, as the economy comes crashing down, hordes of angry, rioting Americans will create a large pool of newly criminalized slave laborers. Rounding up and incarcerating large numbers - read millions - of Americans is not outside the realm of possibility. It is, in fact, something that’s been planned for years in the event of a national "emergency." Pretty much everything necessary to accomplish it is in place, waiting to be activated.

In addition, hordes of destitute Americans will create a large pool of potential soldiers, solving the military’s recruitment problems. Do you think American soldiers would balk at incarcerating or even shooting American civilians? I don’t. If people are fearful enough about their own prospects for survival, they will do just about anything.

The government will have to nationalize major industries such as energy, minerals, agriculture, communications, and transportation. The government may not overtly characterize it as nationalizing. By using corporations as proxies and then controlling the corporations, the government can perpetuate the facade of a market economy and pretend that it’s not a dictatorship. Did you know that many prisons in the U.S. today are, in fact, run by private corporations, who have a vested interest in expanding their "market"? The government will also confiscate everything with any international value, such as gold. It will also need to confiscate peoples’ guns. I’ve been reading about purported plans by the Department of Homeland Security to confiscate bank accounts and the contents of bank safe deposit boxes. These plans supposedly call for confiscating, in particular, gold and guns! I don’t give these claims a whole lot of credibility yet, but it is a logical and urgent step.

The other major factor that’s largely been kept out of public sight is "Peak Oil." We are probably at the peak of oil production right now, but it won’t be clear until several years after we pass the peak that we’ve done so. Thus, competition for the world’s remaining oil supplies is going to become much more intense, vicious, and violent. It’s no coincidence that the U.S. attacked Iraq and is now agitating to go after Iran. Iraq and Iran possess the world’s number two and number three largest known oil reserves and Iran possesses the worlds second largest natural gas reserves. The U.S.’s own natural gas fields are already in decline and the nature of natural gas production is that it falls off abruptly. Some experts think natural gas production in the U.S. is about to fall off precipitously starting soon, maybe even this year. One third of electricity in the U.S. is produced from natural gas. So you can see it’s a very important resource. Therefore, finding an alternative source for natural gas, such as Iran, might seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to transport natural gas from Iran to the U.S. Nevertheless, controlling Iran’s natural gas gives the U.S. a mighty lever with which to control the rest of the world, particularly Europe and India. This is also a secondary reason to control Middle Eastern oil, as Europe, India, China, and Japan are particularly dependent on the stuff, while the U.S. actually produces about half of the oil it consumes. If Peak Oil is indeed imminent, then the country that controls the bulk of the world’s oil controls the world.

I know most of you will dismiss this drivel as paranoid conspiracy theory. I admit I am paranoid - a healthy paranoia, I like to think - and that I believe in conspiracies. But being paranoid and believing in conspiracies when such thoughts are amply backed up by evidence is not an indication of insanity. After all, just because something is the product of a conspiracy doesn’t make it fictitious. And the "official" theory about 19 Muslim hijackers on 9/11 is just a conspiracy theory too.

I hesitated to even write this, since I believe almost nothing can prevent the scenarios I describe above from unfolding. Never before in my life have I hoped so much that I am wrong. Perhaps this is a warning so that people I care about can prepare themselves. I sincerely apologize if I frighten some of you. That is not my intent. But past and present facts support - no, demand - my hypotheses. Maybe if the government is listening (FBI, Carnivore, are you there?) they will realize that some people in this country are paying attention and won’t be fooled. They might be dead, but they will not have been fooled. Maybe that knowledge will dissuade the government from committing the most atrocious acts imaginable. Or maybe if something "big" does happen anyway, the people who read this will be more inclined to question the "official" story.

So in summary, there are many clues from which to predict the future:

* The U.S. government has demonstrated its willingness to kill large numbers of Americans in the past, in Oklahoma City and on 9/11.

* The U.S. government is desperate to maintain its empire, at any cost.

* The U.S. if facing imminent economic collapse. Considering the Bush administrations penchant for preemptive action, it will act to protect the empire before rather than after this collapse occurs.

* Osama bin Laden quite possibly died in 2001. It’s therefore equally possible that the various "warnings" purportedly from him over the years, occurring at politically opportune moments for Bush, are government fabrications. After all, who "analyzes" and "authenticates" these tapes?

* Iran is purportedly planning to establish an international oil trading bourse that trades in euros instead of dollars. At present, nearly the entire world oil trade is conducted in dollars, creating a huge market for American dollars. Anything that might reduce the hegemony of American dollars is an enormous threat to the empire.

* Peak Oil is coming soon and countries are already aggressively posturing for future control. Since the U.S. does not have the financial resources, like China does, to compete for the stuff in the marketplace, force, which it has in abundance, is its preferred option. Iraq has already been conquered. Iran is equally crucial.

* Above all, the empire needs labor. It cannot pay for it. So what better way to create a massive pool of voluntary and involuntary laborers than to destroy the economy? Between desperate volunteers willing to do any job to survive and plenty of newly created criminals rounded up to be slave laborers, the empire will have all the labor it needs.

* Bush is facing growing calls for impeachment. Numerous investigations of underlings are underway and may eventually lead back to Bush and Cheney, if allowed the time to reach their conclusion. A "terrorist" attack would preempt these investigations.

* The Republicans are facing difficult times ahead at the election polls. Again, a new "terrorist" attack and a new war would solidify their positions. Of course, "postponing" elections would also protect them.