The Storm Is Coming.

People mock doomsday preppers, and conspiracy theorists who strongly believe the world will one day descend into uncontrollable chaos. Well, the writing is on the wall if you are willing to open your eyes and see that the world is slowly heading down a dangerous path.

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Here are just a few of the warning signs:

• The U.S economy is tanking, much of the world's commerce is done in US Dollars.
• Trust in the government is at an all-time low.
• Free speech is being threatened, thanks in part to private companies with political agendas policing content for the government as we have seen with the takedown of Alex Jones.
• Private entities with government contracts rely on conflicts and disaster to make money. A world without conflict is not profitable for the companies who manufacture weapons and military technology.
• Countries are starting to close their borders, tighten checks on who goes in and out.
• Widespread surveillance of everyday citizens and political figures a la Cold War is a known activity taking place, thanks to secretive government programs with zero accountability.
• Our food is poisoned (GMO's, CRISPR, herbicides like Roundup), our water is poisoned (think Flint, Michigan water poison scare).
• We are on the brink of a war with Iran (quite possibly nuclear), which would bring Syria into the fold and others. Who knows what role Russia will play in this.
• A slow-growing conflict is building in the South China Sea as Beijing reclaims parts of the sea, and the U.S regularly sails warships past. Many agree we'll see a conflict within the next five or so years.

The chess pieces are being moved into place. Checks on borders, controls of speech, mass surveillance, the continued infiltration of private companies in governmental affairs (space, military, disaster management, supply chain).

Putting aside any bias or criticisms you may have towards the prospect of another war or global disaster, it only takes a little light reading on Google to find many stories from reputable journalistic sources like the BBC, The Guardian and others citing experts and ex-generals/military warning of another war.

War not as we know it

Unlike wars of yesteryear, it won't be solely boots on the ground. We've already heard of stories of cyber espionage and terrorism, everything is so connected that it doesn't take a warplane or few hundred thousand troops to destabilise or cripple a country.

Taking down a countries ability to connect to the internet (or at least limiting it) would in itself cause a lot of problems. Celluar networks, transportation and the entire financial system rely on internet access in 2018.

We are so used to constant connectivity and the belief of the internet never going down that we've built crucial infrastructure on top of it. I am sure you've been in a situation where your internet at home or work has stopped working and that feeling of feeling disconnected is like a hopelessness. Now imagine that 1000 times worse, that would be catastrophic.

Buses would stop working, mail would stop being processed and delivered, trains out of action, planes grounded, the inability to withdraw money from the bank or go to the store. You can possibly imagine that it wouldn't take long for cities to descend into chaos as the panic sets in.

The crazy thing about all of that is we are only talking about the internet, a series of undersea cables linking countries. While the placement of these cables is guarded and secret, you can bet that most countries know where they are located and you can also bet that they'll be targeted in the event of a conflict.

And also worth pointing out is you don't need to take the internet down entirely, just cripple it. A few undersea cables being cut would reduce bandwidth significantly, placing stress and bottlenecks on existing limited cables.

If you think that's crazy, it happens more often than you think. Ships accidentally dropping anchors and damaging cables has happened many times. Not too long ago an entire country called Mauritania lost its internet access for 48 hours.

Of the 428 undersea cables, one is damaged on average every couple of days. In 2007 a bunch of fishermen looking for scrap copper pulled up 61 miles of cabling intentionally. It didn't cut off access completely, but it crippled it for several months.

Be Ready, Learn a Skill

I am not going to tell you to buy precious metals, build a bunker or stockpile food/water. One of the best pieces of advice I recommend is learning a skill, an actual skill. In the event of a prolonged global conflict, a skill such as carpentry, the ability to grow food, preserve foodstuff (using preservation techniques), hotwire a car, build a shelter or filter water will be far more beneficial than precious metals which could be stolen or skills requiring computers or electricity.

Conclusion

Nobody truly knows if, when or what a potential global conflict will or could look like. But being informed and acknowledging that there has not been a time tensions have been this high since the Cold War will mean if something does happen, you'll be more prepared for it.