MIDDLE EAST - There is no way to avoid an apocalyptic war in the Middle East now. Too much has been said and done, and both sides have pushed things past the point of no return. This war is going to look far different from anything we have ever seen in the Middle East before, and the level of death and destruction that we will witness will shock the entire globe. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against waging war on Lebanon in a televised address Wednesday, a day after a strike blamed on Israel killed Hamas’s political number two, terror chief Salah al-Arouri, in a Hezbollah stronghold in the southern Beirut suburbs. “If the enemy thinks of waging a war on Lebanon, we will fight without restraint, without rules, without limits and without restrictions,” Nasrallah said in his address.

MIDDLE EAST - Hezbollah on Saturday initiated what it announced as "an initial response" to Israel's assassination by drone of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, which happened in a south Beirut neighborhood last week. The Lebanese paramilitary group backed by Iran unleashed large salvos of missiles that bombarded military bases as well as communities in northern Israel (many of which have long been evacuated), triggering alert sirens among some 90 towns and settlements. The Hezbollah statement declared that the assault was "part of the initial response to the crime of assassinating the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri."

SOUTH KOREA - South Korea has ordered civilians on an island near the border with North Korea to evacuate to shelters, after accusing Pyongyang of firing off hundreds of artillery shells as part of a military “provocation.” The evacuation order was issued twice on Friday afternoon by local authorities, Yonhap News reported, noting that it came amid “apparent signs of a military provocation by North Korea.” “We announced the evacuation after receiving a call from a military unit saying it was carrying out a maritime strike on Yeongpyeong Island as it has a situation with a North Korean provocation,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by Yonhap. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said later that North Korea launched around 200 artillery shells off its west coast on Friday morning. The projectiles landed in a maritime buffer zone established under a 2018 deal between the countries, though Pyongyang has since withdrawn from the agreement.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea has issued an ominous warning about “the highest risk of clashes this year” between the totalitarian state and its neighbor to the south, which could end in “a nuclear strike,” according to South Korean media. Yonhap News Agency, a major media outlet in Seoul, reported on Thursday that North Korea media condemned recent Army artillery exercises and naval firing drills and exercises. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, said the exercises are “self destructive” and called South Koreans “warmongers,” according to Yonhap. North Korea has also been preparing for conflict with the United States, according to the KCNA, which recently reported that Kim ordered the North Korean military, munitions industry, nuclear weapons sector and civil defense sectors to accelerate war preparations amid, what he called, unprecedented confrontational moves by the US.

RUSSIA - The West will continue to lose influence this year, but it won’t go quietly into that good night. Predicting the future is the most thankless task when it comes to international politics. All of the genre, in fact, because it involves the interaction of living human beings. That means it is subject to chance, elementary error, and the influence of emotion. If this were not so, history would indeed go straight on “like the sidewalk of the Nevsky Prospect,” the main thoroughfare of St Petersburg.

USA - An oil tanker ploughs into a tourist beach. Planes fall from the sky. Driverless cars run amok. The internet fails and the mobile network dies. Feral instincts take over as people fight for food, water and medicine amid the ruins of civilisation. That is the nightmare vision depicted in Leave The World Behind, Netflix's recent hit film starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as a couple battling societal breakdown when the technology that underpins civilisation collapses.

USA - Southern California Weather Force has issued an Earthquake Watch effective now through the weekend into Monday for the chance of a stronger earthquake occurring on the San Andreas Fault. At 10:55am Pacific Time on January 5th, 2024, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake occurred along the junction point of the San Andreas and San Jacinto Fault zones. This area last shook with a foreshock in the 1970s, which is what this might be. At the current time, no aftershocks have been recorded. This means this very well could be a foreshock, or shock before the mainshock. If this was a foreshock, we have now to Monday to see the mainshock.

SWITZERLAND - At the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual conclave of globalist elites in Davos, Switzerland, later this month, organisers say one word is going to be central to the event: trust. The WEF has released a partial outline of just what is on the agenda at its mostly closed-door 54th annual meeting. It says it will “provide a crucial space to focus on the fundamental principles driving trust, including transparency, consistency and accountability.” The introduction goes on to detail that government officials from all over the world will be there alongside other unelected representatives from groups interested in shaping the world of tomorrow.

FRANCE - Yesterday, Macron had a telephone conversation with a member of the Israeli war cabinet, Benny Gantz, and warned that the plan to deport the Palestinians is not acceptable. Macron said that "statements related to the forced displacement of the residents of Gaza are unacceptable and contradict the two-state solution, which is the only viable solution for the return of peace and security for all," the French President's office said. He also warned of the risk of the conflict spreading, saying it was "essential to avoid any escalation, especially in Lebanon." He emphasized that France will continue to convey these messages to all stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in the processes in that area.

USA - Before our leaders drag us into the middle of World War III, perhaps we should step back and take a hard look at our own capabilities. Military recruiting has been way down, ammunition levels have fallen to dangerously low levels because of how much we have sent to Ukraine, and our enemies have developed cutting edge new weapons systems that we cannot match. But Joe Biden and his all-star team of warmongers continue to push everyone around as if this was the 1980s and everyone is still deeply afraid of the US military. It is time for all of us to acknowledge that the world has changed.

LEBANON - Nasrallah says his organization is not deterred from taking action, pointing derisively at a US warship that left the region and claiming Israel is struggling to make gains in Gaza. He says Hezbollah’s cross-border shelling of Israel starting on October 8 had prevented a broader bombing campaign by Israel in Gaza, warning that there will be “no ceilings” and “no rules” to his group’s fighting if Israel launches a war on Lebanon. He accuses Israel of being behind the assassination of Hamas Number 2, Saleh al-Arouri, in a Beirut suburb a day earlier calling it “a major, dangerous crime about which we cannot be silent.” Addressing Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Nasrallah says Israel “will not succeed in achieving the war’s goals.”

UK - Drastic shortages of sailors have forced the Royal Navy to decommission two of its warships, it was reported last night. HMS Westminster and HMS Argyll were allegedly retired so their crews could transfer to the service's new Type 26 frigates. The news comes as UK sailors were sent to the Red Sea to protect merchant vessels from Houthi rebels. The retirement of HMS Westminster is controversial as it underwent expensive repairs in 2017 and only recently returned to service. James Cartlidge, minister for defence procurement, told MPs in October that the estimated cost for refitting HMS Westminster was £100 million. The decommissioning of the ships comes as record numbers of sailors, such as navy divers and engineers, are signing off. Many have been headhunted by private sector companies who can double their wages.

UNITED NATIONS - US President Joe Biden’s administration has rejected genocide allegations against Israel made by multiple nations, including a NATO ally. Washington has insisted that it sees no indication West Jerusalem’s forces are committing atrocities as they pound Gaza in a campaign to destroy Hamas. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was more pointed in his response, saying the allegations against Israel were “meritless.” He added that the ICJ case filed by South Africa was “counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” Türkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, argued on Wednesday that by giving “unconditional support” to Israel, Western nations had lost all credibility to talk about “principles, virtue and morality.” He added, “I see that all of this is paving the way for a huge geostrategic rupture.”

USA - The truth is that what we are doing to future generations of Americans is beyond criminal. We are literally committing national suicide, but each election cycle most of the same big spending politicians just keep winning over and over again. Those on the other side would argue that it has been absolutely necessary to borrow and spend so much money. If we had not propped up the US economy with giant mountains of borrowed money, it would have collapsed long ago. In addition, spending so much money allows us to project military and economic power all over the planet. If we only spent what we brought in, America’s standing in the world would be greatly reduced. You can only borrow and spend so much before the entire Ponzi scheme collapses, and at this moment we are more than 34 trillion dollars in debt…

UK - With Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un issuing New Year threats, the West's woeful leadership crisis means 2024 could become the year of the despots. Welcome to the Year of Elections. About four billion people — roughly half the world's population — will go to the polls in 2024, from India to Mexico, America to Russia, Pakistan to the European Parliament and many places in between. We're almost certain to have a general election in dear old Blighty [UK], too. It would be comforting to regard the coming year as a great Festival of Democracy: comforting, but wrong.