A top Russian security official said last week that a decision by NATO to take Ukraine into the alliance would mean World War III.

There is no indication that Ukraine is any closer to being embraced by the alliance. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reapplied for membership, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters that it was not the right time. 

Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, called Ukraine’s membership would guarantee a world war. (See “UKRAINE: ZELENSKY TRIES TO JOIN NATO AGAIN AND MAKE WWIII OFFICIAL,” “NATO WILL NOT INTERVENE IF RUSSIA USES NUKES: MEDVEDEV” and “MEDVEDEV WARNS OF ARMAGEDDON AS U.S. AND NATO RAMP UP UKRAINE WAR.”)

“Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War III,” he said. He continued, “We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world, and not only Russia and the collective West, but in general, any country on this planet. Its consequences will be catastrophic for all mankind.”

Last week, we reported that President Joe Biden said the world was closer to nuclear Armageddon than at any time since the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. (See “BIDEN WARNS WORLD THAT RISK OF NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON IS HIGHEST SINCE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS.”)

Biden made the comment during a Democratic fundraiser. He said he cannot imagine Russia using a tactile nuclear weapon without leading to nuclear Armageddon. He said Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, “is not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said, according to a pool reporter.

TREND FORECAST: NATO announced last week that it will conduct a nuclear exercise called “Steadfast Noon” this week that will include up to 60 aircraft. The jets will fly over Belgium and the North Sea and will practice deploying U.S. nuclear bombs in Europe. Reuters noted that these drills—which do not include live weapons—will coincide with Russia’s own nuclear drills called “Grom.”

NATO insisted that the drill was not prompted by any world event, but will include bombers flown in that day from North Dakota and the most advanced fighters in the world.

Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, said it would send a “very wrong signal” to cancel the event.

CNN, citing several U.S. officials, said in a report Sunday that the Pentagon is watching for any “unexpected or unusual movements of Moscow’s nuclear weapons during Russia’s exercise.”

This is pure insanity. There is no “deterrence” to a nuclear war. Life on Earth will be eliminated. 

The study by Louisiana State University’s Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences was released a day after Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s national Security Council, warned about nuclear annihilation.

Russia has been locked at war with Ukraine since its 24 February invasion. He has expressed dismay over the West’s support for Kyiv and said, the “idea of punishing a country that has one of the largest nuclear potentials is absurd. And potentially poses a threat to the existence of humanity.”

The study simulated a U.S.-Russia war and several India-Pakistan wars. The report pointed out that there are more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world controlled by nine nations.

“In all scenarios, firestorms from nuclear war would deliver soot to the upper atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing global cooling.”

Some Key Findings

• Nuclear firestorms would release soot and smoke into the upper atmosphere that would block out the Sun resulting in crop failure around the world. In the first month following nuclear detonation, average global temperatures would plunge by about 13 degrees Fahrenheit, a larger temperature change than in the last Ice Age.
• The sudden drop in light and ocean temperatures, especially from the Arctic to the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, would kill the marine algae, which is the foundation of the marine food web, essentially creating a famine in the ocean. This would halt most fishing and aquaculture.
• When the cooling event ends, Arctic sea ice is left in a new state, a sort of “Nuclear Little Ice Age.” Marine ecosystems would be highly disrupted by both the initial perturbation and the resulting new ocean state, resulting in impacts to ecosystem services worldwide, lasting for decades.

“Nuclear warfare results in dire consequences for everyone. World leaders have used our studies previously as an impetus to end the nuclear arms race in the 1980s, and five years ago to pass a treaty in the United Nations to ban nuclear weapons. We hope that this new study will encourage more nations to ratify the ban treaty,” said co-author Alan Robock, distinguished professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University.

TRENDPOST: As each day goes by with Western countries providing Ukraine with just enough weaponry to continue its fight against Russia, the world inches closer to nuclear Armageddon. Gerald Celente has said that the West is already in WWIII, but it will not be officially declared until there is a flash from a nuclear detonation.