On Friday evening ISIS brought war to the streets of Paris. At the time of this writing 158 innocent people are dead and many more who have been critically injured will yet succumb to their injuries. This is an atrocity of breathtaking proportions and arguably the worst violence France has witnessed within its own borders since the German invasion of the Second World War, some seventy plus years ago.
As I sat on Friday in the peace and safety of my own home watching events unfold, increasingly just as horrified as everyone else, I could not help but wonder how long it would be until an atrocity like this touches me or someone I know and love. I suspect that sooner or later horrific events like this are going to affect and touch us all, personally.
It seems evident at this point that this massacre was carried out by ISIS. Information and intelligence now seem to point to the fact that this operation was planned and ordered from within Syria itself. Israeli intelligence believe that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS personally ordered this attack in revenge for France’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.
This was not a spontaneous action carried out by a group of disillusioned Islamic extremists. This was a well-planned, well executed, sophisticated operation. At least three of the multiple terrorists directly involved in Fridays night’s atrocity were in Syria only last month, active combatants in the Syrian battlefield.
It would seem, according to early intelligence that these three individuals presented themselves in Greece as refugees only three weeks ago and from there made their way across Europe into France. Clearly this is going to have significant implications, should this be true, for the mass migration of humanity from the Middle East into western Europe. Hidden amongst them there really is a Trojan horse full of Islamic fundamentalism.
This was a well-planned, military style operation involving an unusually large number of terrorists in one action. They were well drilled and each knew their individual roles and targets in the chaos that unfolded. This required significant prior planning and preparation. It was not a spontaneous action.
Even more disturbing is that intelligence agencies now estimate up to twenty terrorists were actively involved in this one attack. At time of writing only seven have been killed. This means, ominously, that quite a number, perhaps as many thirteen terrorists are still at large in France.
There is a very real possibility that France may yet be subject to a secondary wave of attacks in coming days, as occurred 10 months ago with the Charlie Hebdo attack. This situation remains, at time of writing, far from over.
In order for so many terrorists to carry out such a well-planned and sophisticated attack, there would be necessarily a significant number of other people involved in its planning an execution. Drivers who delivered the terrorists to their attack points and then removed them; men and women who sourced and provided the weaponry involved, and spotters who planned, photographed and worked out the mechanics of the attack beforehand.
This was not a flash in the pan action. Potentially as many as 200 operatives were involved in this attack, perhaps more at varying levels – and Western intelligence had absolutely no indications any attack was imminent. It came out of nowhere and was a complete surprise. This has been, amongst other things, a truly spectacular failure of Western intelligence.
ISIS obviously represents a clear and present danger to the security of the West. This is not the first and will not be the last such attack we will witness. They are well motivated, well financed and intent on fulfilling their agenda, at whatever the cost. This we already all obviously know, especially in light of Friday night. What is truly terrifying, which few understand, is the single stated strategic aim of ISIS moving into the next decade; the acquisition of a nuclear weapon.
The very real danger moving into the future is not that there will be another attack like Paris; such a future attack is unfortunately guaranteed. The real, pressing danger, the one that keeps security agencies working late into the night is that one day soon there will be an attack on a major capital city, like Paris, London or Berlin and that city will simply cease to exist after. It will be completely or largely destroyed through the use of a suitcase nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb.
If and when this happens everything will immediately change.
In the year 2000, a leading Western world defense review publication rated the chances of a devastating terrorist attack on a major Western city as being a 97 percent likelihood. Today in 2015, after all the wars and military interventions, after all the billions of dollars spent building relations with potentially alienated Muslim populations, after all the training and all the efforts, the likelihood of another terrorist attack as successful or more than 9/11, on a leading Western capital city is not rated as being 97 percent, now it is viewed as being a 99 percent certainty.
All the money, time, effort and lives have been for nothing. Our situation is even more precarious and dangerous now than it was prior to 9/11. Paris proves this. It really is not a matter of if, but when this will happen next.
What is truly appalling and terrifying in light of the Paris attacks is the potential ease with which ISIS could acquire a nuclear weapon, or radioactive material. Nuclear weapons and radioactive material is available on the black market, of this there is no doubt. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 a significant amount of information has come into the public domain indicating that during the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Soviet military was not able to protect or keep track of their nuclear weapons arsenal.
In layman’s terms, during the chaos of the Soviet Union’s collapse (in which long established power structures immediately ceased and chaos reigned), they lost some of their nuclear weapons and materials. They were left open and unguarded and various unidentified groups gained access to these abandoned bases and simply removed the material and the weapons. To this very day the location of this deadly weaponry is still the subject of intense speculation.
To highlight the veracity of this information consider that the FBI and the CIA have recently disclosed publically that they have foiled four such attempts to acquire a nuclear weapon on the black market by Islamic fundamentalist groups in the last 18 months alone. It is only a matter of time until one transaction slips through the net.
ISIS is the single best financed terrorist transnational organization on earth. They have access to billions and billions of dollars. Acquiring a nuclear weapon or a suitcase miniaturized nuclear weapon from the former Soviet Union via the black market would not be beyond them financially. It remains their number one aim for the next decade.
What is more likely in the medium term is that ISIS will instead use a chemical weapon in a potential future attack. It is a widely held belief that ISIS have already used chemical weapons within the Syrian theatre.
It is practically a certainty that ISIS already holds these weapons, simply as a consequence of their military successes. ISIS has been, up until the recent intervention of Russia, wildly successful against the Syrian Army, in Syria. They have been so successful that they have managed to completely overrun a number of Syrian military installations and bases. In some of these bases were chemical weapons that were already weaponized and ISIS simply took them.
In the event of a chemical or nuclear attack on a western country the response would likely be the same. All borders would be immediately closed for a sustained period of time. All ports, airports, ferry terminals and international rail hubs would immediately be shut down. Martial law would be imposed, the army would be rapidly deployed to the streets and all citizenry would be militarily subjugated until the perceived danger passes. This could last for months.
Any future attack, especially involving a nuclear weapon or miniaturized nuke would wipe off $1 trillion dollars’ worth of value from the host nation’s economy instantly. The subsequent government responses, especially in closing all borders for a fixed period of time would shatter trading confidence in that nation, and would likely wipe off at least another $1 trillion dollars from the economy over the following month.
This therefore means that any successful WMD attack on any western city would almost certainly cause the instant and complete collapse of the world wide economy. Everybody would feel the economic pain of such an attack. Everybody would feel the considerable negative impact it would have on critical world trade; like the transportation of vital food stuffs, for example. chaos would ensue and causing this chaos is the number one aim of ISIS in the next decade.
We are vulnerable.
There are significant real world implications resulting from this attack; our way of life is going to change forever as these types of attacks become more prevalent and severe. There are also clear biblical implications to this escalating cycle of terrorism. The hand of restraint is being lifted from this world and evil is rushing in to fill the vacuum. The world is unfortunately going to become increasingly characterized by horrors.
It is likely that in our government’s reactions to these atrocities, the very freedoms we say we are fighting for, will be lost. As terrorist actions get more frequent and severe the situation will get more dire and desperate. More and more people will be prepared to give up their freedoms in exchange for the elusive promise of “peace and safety.” Democracy itself will be lost in the efforts to protect it.
Ultimately, this will pave the way for the coming worldwide dictatorship, headed by the Antichrist. This current chaos is preparing the way for him.
Time is short.
“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)