Nightmare Scenario: January 27, 2010, President McCain dies

[GrizzlyMan]

After an 8-month battle with malignant melanoma, President John S. McCain succumbs to cancer at 11:59 a.m. January 27, 2010 at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Moments later, Sarah Palin is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. She implores Americans to keep the McCain family in their prayers as plans are made for a state funeral.

On the other side of the world, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pours over the final draft of “Operation Savage Fox” in a war room deep inside the Kremlin. The plan includes the invasion of Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria. The planning began the day McCain publicly announced he was undergoing treatment for skin cancer that has spread to his brain.

Later in the day, Russia and Iran secretly sign an alliance pact that has been under negotiation for more than a year.

Emboldened by a correctly perceived weakness of America's new leader, Putin launches the operation on January 29. 2,000 Russian tanks and 950,000 ground troops reach their final staging areas. US military intelligence has been monitoring the troop movement for some time, but are caught off guard by a late and frenetic massing of troops and armor.

In the pre-dawn hours of January 30, the Russians launch their invasion. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall within hours under heavy bombing and the lighting quick advances of Russian troops that are reminiscent of Nazi Germany‘s Blitzkreig of WWII. Within 48 hours, the Russians have over run Warsaw and Krakow. Two days later, Russian troops secure Poland.

Further south, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary surrender after a brief fight and saturation bombing of their key cities.

The same day, Iran and Russian jets blot out the sun over the Strait of Hormuz, overwhelming US and NATO forces that had been dispatched to the area six months ago. Four US warships are sunk and though the 100 F-22’s and F-16’s that had been massed in the UAE put up a fight, they are outmatched by sheer numbers. Russia and Iran control the Strait of Hormuz and cut off oil supply from the region to the West.

Two days later, Russian and Iranian troops enter Iraq. They face off against 200,000 US and coalition troops who had been deployed after a massive uptick in violence throughout Iraq engineered in part by Russia. Lacking the ability to re-supply, they are cut in half and routed.

Back in the US, gas spikes to $20 a gallon. Grocery store shelves are empty and food riots ensue in heavily populated urban areas.

The US has been brought to its knees.

Postscript
While this is (hopefully) an unlikely scenario, in my opinion it illustrates the EXTREME DANGER of this country putting Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency. Putin would be correct to assume that her presence in the White House would present his country with an important and excellent opportunity to reclaim its status as a super power equal to that, and possibly superior, to the US. With Palin as president, this country would be as vulnerable as it has been since the years leading up to WWII, possibly ever. She lacks the understanding of world affairs and the leadership necessary to defend this country in a crisis. Sarah The Barracuda is paralyzed with fear and indecisiveness.

[orestes]

1. You forgot the part

where she pushes the button to bring on the Rapture

[JeffR]

2. I'll be VP well before Sarah Palin will be.

And I'm never going to be VP.

[Stand and Fight]

7. Let's not be so sure of ourselves.

I saw this cockiness before and we lost when they stole it. No one did anything about it then, and if they do it again no one will still do nothing. So, it is best to work as if we are fighting an uphill battle -- not act as if it is ours for the taking.I don't even want to allow for the possibility of the scenario described above, because it doesn't seem like an impossibility in anyway whatsoever.

[JeffR]

10. Yes, well.

It's not cocky to refuse to visualize anything but their utter defeat.

Of course this needs to be fought tooth and nail through November, and I don't think I implied otherwise.

Just the same, neither Governor Palin nor myself will ever be Vice President. I've come to terms with that. Now it's her turn.

[GrizzlyMan]

12. I loved your last two sentences

That's how I feel as well. Confident.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. It would be nuclear war

We may forget from time to time, but mutually assured destruction is still a fundamental operational principle of international relations.

[GrizzlyMan]

6. I do agree

But I left that out of the scenario because I believe Palin would be paralyzed by indecision. Also, if say Russia decided on a simple land grab of countries around its border, and did not come into contact with US forces, there would be no use of nuclear weapons. In other words, I don't believe the US would launch of a nuclear strike on Russia in that specific circumstance. If US and Russian forces did come into contact, then yes, that would be a possible outcome.

But the purpose of this is to present the case that people like Putin would be emboldened by her presence in the White House.

[scheming daemons]

4. Geez... I didn't need to read that right before going to bed....

Thanks.

;-)

[davidinalameda]

5. and with this nut in the Oval Office, we will see mushroom clouds over Moscow

leading to mushroom clouds over the US and western Europe

China will move against India and Japan

a new Ottoman Empire in the Middle East?

[PBS Poll-435]

8. I will gladly recommend this OP because for some,

A nightmare scenario is running out of Cheetos.

No man is an island and no nation is an island, either.

World events have an impact. We must have the right team in place to deal with those world events.

And that team does not include McCaptainNeckGoiter or SexyFieryMeanLibrarian.

[GrizzlyMan]

9. Funny you mention Cheetos

I just finished off a bag, and believe it is a minor crisis as I am not near ready for bed.

[PBS Poll-435]

11. I have the gift...

:D

[gmoney]

13. self delete

[ComplimentarySwine]

14. What would Obama do differently?

The way I see it, if Russia decides that they're going to invade small countries, we're going to let them, no matter who is in the White House. McCain, Obama, Bush, Palin, or Biden, no matter who it is, IMO, doesn't automatically make us ready to go up against Russia.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. This scenario happened about 70 years ago

Except it was the Germans.

[GrizzlyMan]

18. What Obama would do is not the point

Although it's safe to say that he would be better prepared based on his knowledge of world affairs and with someone like Joe Biden who has been on the Senate's foreign relations committee for more than two decades acting as counsel.

The point is to illustrate how Palin's presence in the White House would embolden someone like Putin. I don't believe Putin would be as bold with Obama, Biden OR McCain in the WH. That's the difference

[Dammit Ann]

16. Dude. I think I have to get drunker now.

Jesus, we CANNOT let this election go wrong.

[McCamy Taylor]

17. More likely, the NeoCons would take over and invade Iran. With US forces

stretched to their max, Russia would started acquiring countries.

Indian would take the opportunity to nuke Pakistan pre-emptively figuring that Pakistan was about to strike them and the Pakis would nuke India. China would invade India in the aftermath in a "humanitarian" mission that would take them all the way to the Iranian border.

Meanwhile, Asia's financial markets (i.e. Japan, China) would suddenly flex their muscles in the U.S. letting us know who is really the boss.

Europe would do the same thing with Russia.

The world would end up divided in two---Asia-U.S., Russia-Europe. The two sides would begin positioning to see which would come out on top in the new world order.

[judasdisney]

19. Nightmare Scenario: April 4, 2015 -- Worse than you think

2008-2010: President Barack Obama is blamed for the Second Great Depression. His unpopular, destabilized presidency ignites "Bush Nostalgia." President Obama dies of an (artificially-induced) pulmonary embolism that appears to be a natural heart attack, which is ascribed to his cigarette smoking history. There is no investigation.

2011-2012: President Biden is slightly more popular than President "Change for the Worse" Obama. With the "radical Leftist" anti-DLC base, however, Biden's deep and passionate capitulation to Corporate America's demands only demolishes his Democratic base of support. He does not run in 2012.

2012: Hillary Clinton vs. Sarah Palin. Due to several additional "Third Party" candidates, neither Clinton nor Palin receive the minimum number of electoral votes. The "Election of 1824" Scenario repeats. The election is thrown into the (majority-Democratic) House of Representatives, who choose Hillary as President. Immediate cries of "illegitimate" and "authoritarian" are declared by the GOP and the mainstream media.

APRIL 4 ATTACKS UPDATE
April 5, 2015 - Reuters - President Clinton, whose term of office had labored under the shadow of the widely-disputed circumstances of her 2012 election by the Democratic House of Representatives in an arcane electoral rule, remains missing and presumed dead.

Capitol Hill clean-up teams have recovered remains of at least 318 individuals. The victims are presumed to include all 47 Democratic Senators and 224 Democratic members of the House of Representatives, along with Capitol Security, staff and building workers, Vice President Wesley Clark, Secretary of State Eric Shinseki, Homeland Security Secretary Patty Murray, and former President Bill Clinton.

GOP members of the House and Senate, who were spared in Monday's attacks because of the "Congressional Walkout" on President Clinton, remained defiant in their characterization of President Clinton's recent shutdown of the NSA over evidence of a "coup plot" and her declaration of a National Emergency. Citing the events of recent months as "a deplorable, dangerous authoritarian takeover attempt," Senate Majority Leader and acting President Elizabeth Dole stated Tuesday that the nation's most urgent need was the swearing-in of a new President and a new Congress, expected to be hand-picked by the surviving government leadership.


SARAH PALIN SWORN-IN AS 47TH PRESIDENT
April 6 - AP - In the continuing developments following Monday's attacks, Governor Sarah Palin was sworn-in Tuesday night by Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts as the nation's 47th President at midnight in a live, televised gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial. "America will rise from the ashes," declared President Palin to a cheering crowd in her brief Inaugural remarks. "I will not let these terrorists, foriegn or domestic, nor their accomplices in political office -- our domestic enemies -- ever threaten this land again."

President Palin again alluded to her 2015 campaign theme, reiterating that "America is not a home for the weak. America is a home for the strong." Many of the new President's supporters in the late-night crowd were from the "Presidency In Exile" group, which had maintained a unsuccessful demand for Vote Fraud investigations following the disputed 2012 Presidential election, in which no candidate achieved the plurality of electoral votes required.

"We have lost much, we have been through many difficult years, but we have not lost our way as a nation. We have a duty to our forefathers to rebuild their gift to us, and we have a duty to our grandfathers and fathers who died to protect that gift, the land of America and its Constitution. We shall uphold that duty. We shall not turn our backs, as some Leftists would have us do. We shall protect and defend this great nation, even in this hour of pain and sorrow. Because even in this hour of midnight in our nation's history, we understand that midnight ... is where the day begins."

The President concluded her brief remarks by indicating that "we all have a lot of work to do, to restore this great nation and its great government. We all have a role to play, to 'give proof through the night, that our flag is still there,' that we will defeat the enemy." Palin's first act as President is expected to be the signing of the New Constitution, already drafted and passed unanimously by the new specially hand-picked Congress.



DAN RATHER SUPPORTS CBS' DECISION FOR NATIONAL MEDIA ACCESS ACT
April 12, 2015 - AP - Following the reversal of CBS' decision to oppose the National Media Access Act, former news anchor Dan Rather stepped out of retirement one week after the April 4 attacks to urge his colleagues in media and journalism news to support the proposed legislation which would curb domestic media abuses by giving limited control and oversight of news and journalism to the Federal Government.

"Nitpicking is bad for America. We cannot afford the licentiousness of the past. Media has grown into an out-of-control wildfire, and the media inspirations of the perpetrators proves once-and-for-all, that we can't afford to allow wildfires anymore," Rather said in statements to the National Press Club on Monday.

Rather lauded the decisions last week of NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX News to offer President Palin live access for any reason, at any time. The networks, except for CBS and CNN, also offered the President full control of their news departments, in a show of patriotism. "Freedom of the press does not mean a loaded gun is to be waved indiscriminately. In a sense, some of the blood of this tragedy is on the media's hands," Rather stated to a solemn room of his successors in the journalism field, some of whom were willing to characterize Rather as a "fallen statesman."

"I agree with CBS's decision," Rather said, describing the National Media Access Act as an overdue remediation to a culture in distress, even challenging the motives of dissenters, notably on the Internet blogs and Salon.com. "The only question in my mind of how to protect the nation from these deluded snipers and misfits is whether or not we can contain their hostility by this legislation alone, for the greater good."

Rather's speech reaffirmed that his early values and long-standing journalistic goals were well-served by the proposed legislation. "If the media doesn't take a stand against domestic terror, then it doesn't take a stand for America." Rather predicted a "reunified and rededicated national family" in an upbeat vision of the months ahead. "President Palin and Vice President Schwarzenegger are going to restore America."


TERROR PAIR INSPIRED BY CULT FILM
April 7, 2015 - AP - In the nation's largest terror attacks since September 11, 2001, two middle-class self-described "admirers of Al Qaeda" who infiltrated the USAF with the long-term goal of flying their F-16s into the Capitol Dome appear to have achieved their "dream" with horrorific results. Described as "outsiders among the outcasts" even in the well-disciplined, tightly-knit world of the U.S. Air Force, the trail of evidence has emerged to reveal a 2006 film, "V Is For Vendetta," as one of the sources of inspiration for Monday's attacks by Senior Airman Jason Chase and Airman First Class Ki Han.

"The government has grown into a monster, both partys (sic) are feared by the people ...instead of the people being feared by the government, as it should be," wrote Chase in his last diary entry dated April 3, on the eve of the attacks. The diary and other items, found in his personal effects and leaked to FOX News just three days after the Capitol Hill attacks, reveal a troubled loner who was privately enraged by the Air Force's investigation of Chase and Han last September for an alleged homosexual incident. The diary entries appear to have encoded a plot to "erase" the entire U.S. Federal Government in one swooping Kamikaze act -- and these entries pre-date the Air Force investigation, but appear to expand with fervor following the investigation, which had concluded that both airmen had not violated any boundaries.

The cryptic red "V" which adorns the inside jacket of the Chase diary signals the fantasy world which the journal elaborately depicts. For the would-be Al Qaeda martyr and "rescuer of democracy," the diary unravels a life of unreconciled contradictions and confused impulses. Like the terrorist "hero" of the 2006 cult film, Chase identified with feelings of personal injury and estrangement from the very society he sought to "liberate," and like the protagonist of the film, Chase appears to have embraced leftist elements, Islamic zealotry, and Jeffersonian extremism.

Sources close to the investigation say that the leaked Chase diary and other items, including an iPod carrying the music of Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West and the Sex Pistols, may contain encrypted secrets of an unknown network of Al Qaeda sympathizers and operatives, extending into the highest reaches of the U.S. military. "It's probable, given that Chase was almost weeks away from being promoted to Staff Sergeant, that the Air Force and other branches, especially Iraq Veterans who have been exposed to the likes of Air America, could have established long-term plans to disable the military or even have successfully aspired to overthrow it, crafting a network of moles and dissidents, within the military and outside it," suggested one unnamed high-ranking source. "There will have to be investigations, and a purge."

[Stern21]

20. K&R for the OP and subsequent posts.

well written, peeps.

[JustAnotherGen]

21. k/r

I'm a Francophile . . . and well - I like Sarkozy. But - Sarkozy is the guy that pushes the button - bringing about not the 'rapture' - but the Glory of France. Just takes one Nuclear Arm set free and Hungary getting blitz-krieged and there ya go!


Regardless - I 100% agree RE your analysis of Putin. ;-) If he thinks its' in Russia's best interest to start a war - he is going to do so.