Having worked closely with U.S. intelligence agencies over the last two decades, James Rickards was once asked to simulate asymmetric economic attacks on the U.S. financial system. He is an expert at escalation scenarios and end games, and in a recent article at The Daily Reckoning he warns that the geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula will soon come to a head.

According to Rickards, author of The Road To Ruin: The Global Elites Secret Plan For The Next Financial Crisis, while the world concerns itself with stock bubbles, bitcoin and debt, the most imminent threat we face is military confrontation with North Korea.

And while the rogue state has been an ongoing  threat for many years, the first half of 2018 will likely see the trigger that sets the whole powder keg off:

The most important financial or geopolitical issue in the world today is a coming war between the U.S. and North Korea, probably in the next twelve weeks.

How can I be so sure about the timing? The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency told me.

In a private conclave in Washington DC on October 20, 2017, CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a small think tank group (including me) that it would be imprudent to assume it would take North Korea more than ‘five months’ to have a reliable arsenal of nuclear-armed ICBM missiles. These could strike U.S. cities and kill millions of Americans.

Five months from October 20, 2017 is March 20, 2018. That’s an outside date but the war will likely begin before then.

That would create an element of surprise — and avoid the surprise of a faster than expected deployment of strategic weapons by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Source: The Daily Reckoning via Survival and Prosperity

Interestingly, a very similar timeline was put forth by Chinese General Wang Gongguang, who indicated that hostilities could break out at anytime between now and March.

As Rickards highlights in his report, the United States has coexisted with other nuclear powers like Russia and China without any serious incidents since the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960’s. But North Korea is different, because unlike these nuclear super powers, Kim Jong Un has repeatedly threatened the destruction of the United States and killing millions of people in the process.

Some have suggested that Kim may be bluffing, but what if he isn’t?

The Trump administration has made it crystal clear that they are prepared to call the bluff and a nuclear armed North Korea, especially one with ICMB’s capable of striking major U.S. cities, will not be allowed. Rickards continues:

We relied on deterrence, containment, sanctions, diplomacy, and eventually arms treaties to avoid a nuclear war. Why not do the same with Kim?

President Trump’s National Security Advisor, General H. R. McMaster answered that question at our Washington conclave also.

He said acceptance of a nuclear-armed North Korea is ‘unacceptable’. The U.S. will stop North Korea from acquiring its nuclear capability in the first place rather than learning to live it.

Earlier this year it was reported that Japanese citizens who sit in the direct cross-hairs of the North have been building bunkers in anticipation of a potential war. In the United States, cities like San Francisco and the State of Hawaii are actively reviewing their nuclear contingency plans in the event of an attack.

As well, at the height of tensions in August, panic buying of nuclear preparedness supplies led to widespread shortages of anti-radiation pills, which have also been stockpiled in the millions by the U.S. government.

The general public may not understand the seriousness of the threat, but it appears that someone out there does.

China, Russia, the United States and North Korea are all mobilizing for a coming war.

President Trump’s national security teams have set deadlines and determined military options, including a decapitation strike on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should the order be given.

By all accounts, the world appears to be on the precipice.