As I write this, the United States is on the brink of war. Indeed, the entire world may be on the brink of the Third World War but is too distracted by mindless entertainment to see it.

And you couldn't prove it here in America, either. The news is awash with stories about the Mueller investigation of Trump and not the fact that at this very moment, Trump is weighing military response options against Syria.

Of course, the reality is there's probably a news blackout in the United States, which always precedes a military attack. We won't know until the air raid sirens are going off in Damascus that war has begun. In the meantime, as the U.S. gets its aircraft carriers into position, the news will run stories about everything except the fact we're preparing for war.

But the fact is, this isn't Iraq. Syria is being defended by Russia and Russia is getting pretty tired of the West acting as if Russia must follow every snapped out order from the United States. Russia just might stand and fight this time. Why? Because if the West succeeds in driving Russia from Syria, Ukraine will be emboldened to join NATO and the West will start parking troops right on Russia's border. Russia will not tolerate that. Syria represents a whole lot more to Russia than meets the eye.

The reality is this: The United States cannot win a conventional war with Russia. The U.S. has known that since the Cold War. That's the entire premise behind U.S. policy regarding tactical nuclear weapons use. That being, the "no first use" policy of the United States only relates to strategic nuclear weapons, not tactical nuclear weapons. If the U.S. begins to lose a conventional war with Russia and panics, the possibility the U.S. will use a tactical nuclear weapon is very real. That was the entire strategy for defending Western Europe during the Cold War. That's why those Pershing missiles were there.

Here's the way it could play out: The U.S. always uses aircraft carriers to launch attacks in the Middle East, as well as U.S. airbases in allied (Persian) Gulf nations. But Russia has recently developed a "carrier killer" cruise missile. It's a conventional weapon, but it has the ability to sink an American aircraft carrier according to reports. Let's say U.S. warplanes begin to attack Syria. The first thing they need to do is neutralize Syrian surface-to-air (SAM) missile sites as well as the fire control radar bases that provide targeting information to those SAM crews. That's to protect the inbound attack aircraft coming to bomb infrastructure and military targets. The bombing aircraft are too heavy to try and outrun SAMs, so the SAM sites must be attacked first. One problem, though. Many of those SAM crews are Russians. If the U.S. bombs a Russian-manned SAM site, Russia will be obliged to retaliate.

How will Russia retaliate? Of course, the incoming aircraft on the mission to take out the SAM sites might just fail and be shot down themselves by the SAMs they came to destroy. There is always that possibility. But there's also another method to prevent more aircraft from coming. And that is to destroy the aircraft carriers they come from. Let the U.S. lose just one aircraft carrier, and about 7,000 military personnel go down with it. In one day, the U.S. will lose the equivalent of the Iraq War dead. This will deeply anger the United States and probably cause it to commit even more resources whereupon it might lose a second aircraft carrier.

The U.S. airbases in (Persian) Gulf nations could come under attack also. Russian Bear bombers can take off from Russia and be in the region quicker than the U.S. could marshal equivalent forces from elsewhere. Not to mention inbound U.S. Navy transport ships carrying tanks and armored vehicles will be prey to Russian submarines which are certainly operating in the region. The United States will quickly learn it has bitten off more than it can chew. Add to that the fact the president is incompetent, as are American military leadership who haven't won a war since 1945, and the U.S. could be losing yet another war much quicker than it ever has before.

The problem is what the United States might panic and do once it begins to lose this war. It may well resort to tactical nuclear weapons. It might even do something as foolhardy as massing troops in the Baltics and Eastern Europe to scare Russia with an invasion. But Russia will not be intimidated. This is not Boris Yeltsin over there. This is Vladimir Putin and what Putin already forgot would take Trump several lifetimes to learn. The West paints Putin as this scary guy but, if that's so, how does provoking him make any sense? Russia is not going to just cut and run from Syria. Russia's not going anywhere.

Russia has repeatedly warned the West to stop provoking them. People think Russia says things just to hear themselves talk. However, Russia has very valid reasons for defending Syria. Russia simply cannot afford to appear weak to the West with Ukraine testing the water to join NATO and recent NATO exercises in both the Baltics and Easter Europe. Russia will make it pointedly clear once and for all that it is not to be tested. And that might very well cost the United States a couple aircraft carriers.

The world needs to wake up and understand that the U.S. government would rather take the entire planet along with them in a nuclear war than to admit that America has no right to rule the world. The world needs to understand that just because the war in Syria is confined to that region at the moment does not mean it cannot turn into World War Three quickly. No one knew in the beginning of the First World War that a world war had begun. Nobody knew that. They thought it would be over in a few weeks or months with quick victories. No one knew in the beginning of the Second World War that another world war had begun. They had no idea it could happen again. Nor did they know a new weapon would come out of that war that could destroy the entire planet.

We need to understand right here and now that we could be on the brink of the Third World War. The countries capable of fighting a world war are either involved or becoming involved. The United States is trying to build a coalition to attack Syria. Interestingly, many are the same allies it had it World War Two. Russia certainly has allies it can call upon, too. Therefore, when several nations fight and the conflict spills into other regions, what we have is another world war. And heaven help the West if China decides to ally with Russia. Russia and China don't really need the West as much as the West likes to think they do out of Western chauvinism. It might just be time for the ascendancy of the East. Syria would be a good place from them to demonstrate that to the West.

This is where we are. The foolishness of the United States once again imperils the entire world, just as it did throughout the Cold War. The United States was willing to destroy the entire planet over a difference about economic systems. Think about that. Over a difference in economic systems, the United States was willing to incinerate the entire planet and kill every living thing upon it. And the United States is willing to do so now over differences in something it cannot fully explain to the world. Yet, the world sits spellbound and enchanted by the deceptions of the United States after the lies it told to invade Iraq became known to all! Astonishing!

But the hidden reason for this is the United States would dearly love to capture Syria and, thus, have a staging area to invade Iran. Plus, it eliminates an Iranian ally and further isolates Iran. Which, by the way, would also make Iran vulnerable to air attacks from Israel since Israel has become bolder in the air attacks it carries out right now. The Saudis appear to have signed on with this treachery and at last we can detect the swindle. This isn't truly about an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria. This is all about American imperialism, which the Saudis hope to benefit from also.

But, again, no one knew at the beginnings of both world wars that what they had inadvertently touched off were cataclysmic world wars in which tens of millions died. Again, here we have several nations involved or soon to be involved. Again, this conflict will certainly spill over from Syria as American warships are targeted elsewhere by Russian submarines and cruise missiles. Not to mention the foolish endeavors NATO will engage in to try and distract the Russians by massing troops in Europe and probably Turkey, also. All the usual suspects for another world war! Except the Russians were an ally in World War Two and now the West has fully demonstrated that it cannot be trusted even by former allies.

Maybe cooler heads will prevail. Or maybe not. But one thing is certain: The United States cannot be trusted.

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"Jack Perry is a writer who lives with his wife in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. When talking about the ambitions and goals of the United States government, Jack warns: “Always Assume It’s A Scam.” Jack writes, bakes bread, and is a Path pilgrim and wayfarer of this world."