Nuclear War Next Year!!

By P. Lal

ONLY an year to go before catastrophe strikes the earth in July, 1999! And then, for 40 years, there would be seen no sun, followed by a spell of 40 years of rains and floods.

Nostradamus, the 16th century French seer and oracle, whose prophecies of would-be world events have come out to be remarkably true to date, would have us believe that the event might be in the form of a war unleashed by a triad of powers, one represented by the "crescent" and the other by "red". The identity of the third is left undisclosed. The invaders would be from Asia and would attack Europe. African continent will also be involved.

"In the year 1999 and seven months,

From the skies shall come the king of terror,

The Mongols’ mighty leader to raise again,

Before and after, Mars shall reign at will".

Century X, quatrain 72

The "king of terror from the skies" might, as well, be the nuclear-tipped missiles, for Nostradamus had the limitation of interpreting his visions through the words available to him to describe the 16th century world. (Roman numerals below the verses quoted in what follows denote the number of the century or book, and Arabic ones, the number of the verse or quatrain).

The effect of the future war is described thus: For 40 years, the rainbow shall not appear,

For 40 years, it shall be seen every day,

The parched earth shall wax drier and drier,

And a great flood, when it shall appear". — I. 17

Does it not raise the spectre of a "nuclear winter" when a nuclear holocaust would throw up clouds of dust, thereby obscuring the sun, and consequently, no formation of rainbow?

The "federates three" will launch the war and will trouble the world.

"Those at peace shall put down be,

By federates three, the world will be sorely troubled

The maritime city shall be seized by the enemies,

Hunger, fire, blood and plague-all the ills redoubled".

— VIII.17

The invaders would be from Asia.

"From the kingdom of Fez shall come to those of Europe,

Firing its cities and slashing with sword,

The Great One of Asia, by land and sea with a great army,

Blues, greens, crosses to death shall be driven. — VI.80

One of the "federates three" will be represented by "Lunar crescent".

"To vaunt the Lunar crescent’s victory,

The folk of Rome the Eagle high shall raise.

Milan, Pavia, Genoa disagree,

So by themselves the great king they must praise".

— VI.78

"Crescent moon" refers to Muslim countries as is made clear by Nostradamus in several quatrains.

"Through the countries of the great river Betis,

Far off from Liberia, in the kingdom of Granade,

Crosses beaten back by Mohammedan people,

One of Cordoba shall at last betray the country".

— III.20

The "red" would, however, appropriately apply to a Communist country.

"Against the reds, sects shall gather themselves,

Fire, water, iron, rope, by peace it shall be destroyed.

Those that shall conspire shall be put to death,

Except one, who above all shall ruin the world".

— IX.51

In the wake of Pakistan going nuclear in May, 1998, Muslim countries have, now, an easy access to the "Islamic Bomb". And the communist China’s support to Pakistan is no secret. Could it, therefore, be that China, and a group of Muslim countries would pact up to launch an attack on Europe the next year, some time before the month of July? According to quatrain 72, Century X, "the war shall reign before and after that month".

Mercifully, however, there is no mention of India to be involved in the nuclear conflagration, as per the prophecies of Nostradamus.

If what Nostradamus says is to be believed, the war would entail all the horrors of a nuclear warfare, but would surprisingly last as long as 29 years and six months, which will put the end of the Asiatic conflict to the year 2028. How is it, then that a war waged and fought with atom and hydrogen bombs would last that long? Maybe, that within the first few days or even hours of launching the attack, the concerned countries destroy the nuclear arsenals of each other, and thereafter, the war might proceed with conventional weapons.

The quatrains of Nostradamus which have captured the horrors of a nuclear warfare describe the missiles as "javelins" and "darts" and as "fire from the sky or heavens", in terms of the terminology available to him at the time of writing down the prophecies. Some of such quatrains are delineated below:

"The French fleet by the help of the great guards,

Of great Neptune, and his tridented soldiers,

Shall gnaw Provence by keeping great company,

Also, Mars shall plague Narbonne by javelins and darts".

— II.59

"Near Auch, Lectoure and Mirande,

A great fire from the sky for three nights fall,

A thing shall happen stupendous and wonderful,

And shortly after, the ground shall quake".

— I.46

"A thundering light at Lyons appearing,

Brightly, Malta instantly shall be put out,

Sardon shall treat Mauris decietfully,

From Geneva to London, the Cock a pretended treason".

— VIII.6

"At sunrise shall a mighty fire appear,

Its roar and glare towards the north extending;

Within the circle, death and scream they’ll hear,

Famine and death, the flames of war attending".

— II.91

"Like sun the heat shall sear the shining sea,

The Black Sea’s living fish shall all but boil.

When Rhodes and Genoa half-starved shall be,

The local folk to cut them up shall toil".

— II.3

"The dart from heaven shall make its circuit,

Some die speaking, a great execution,

The stone in the tree, the fierce people humbled,

Human noise, a monster purged by expiation".

— II.70

Eventually, the war would come to an end with the Asiatic forces being driven out of Europe by the combined efforts of Britain, Belgium and other countries, and possibly of one "who shall make Thursday its holiday", which would refer to USA, as its national holiday of Thanks-giving always falls on a Thursday. "He will clip the wings of those who Friday keep", "they shall cry out and confound the great Crescent", and "red abysms shall lie in the deep ditch", and mercifully, the world would survive.

"Down into Spain the mighty king shall sweep,

Such ill he’ll do the Crescent down to beat!

He’ll clip the wings of those who Friday keep.

By land and sea, the south he shall defeat".

— X.95

"At the fight of the great light horsemen,

They shall cry out, confound the great Crescent,

By night they shall kill sheep dressed as shepherds,

Red abysms shall be in deep ditch".

— VII.7

According to Nostradamus, peace shall, thereafter, reign on the Earth for 57 years.

"Brick walls they shall in marble reconstruct;

Of peace, seven years and 50 shall there be.

For humans, joy; rebuilt each acquaduct;

Health, honeyed time and rich fecundity".

— X.89

Nostradamus also predicts that in the wake of Asian invasion of Europe, the present Pope, John Paul II, will be forced to flee the Vatican in the year 2000, and while hiding in France, would be captured and killed at Lyon, between the two rivers, Saone and Rhone.

"Leo at Lyon shall triumphant be,

Betrayed and slaughter then on Jura’s slope,

Of thousand easterners seven score and three.

At Lyon falls down dead the slippered Pope".

— VIII.34

Michel de Nostradame was born in St Remy-de-Provence in France on December 14, 1503. Originally, the family