The war drums can be heard even over the clamor of the 2016 presidential election campaign. NATO is gathering a hastily prepared force of 300,000 soldiers to confront Russia.

Tensions continue to rise in Syria as American and Russian forces engage only miles apart, backing opposite sides in the continuing civil war.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and her supporters continue to charge Donald Trump is a dupe of the Russian government, despite an FBI investigation finding no links between the Kremlin and the GOP nominee.

And Trump says a second President Clinton will unleash nothing less than World War III.

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Michael Savage, the fiery talk-show host and New York Times bestselling author, writes in his newest sensation, "Scorched Earth," that the world is on the brink of war, andnd a global cataclysm could start with a simple misunderstanding.

"My gravest fear is that there'll be an accidental dogfight between Russia and the United States in the Middle East or elsewhere, like when their fighters buzzed our Navy in April 2016," he writes. "A shoot-down in those circumstances would be a nightmare for all of us."

Savage blasts the Obama administration's policy of trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in favor of a so-called "democratic" opposition. Savage points to the rise of Islamic extremism in Arab nations following the "Arab Spring" as a reason for caution before engaging in schemes of regime change.

"[Assad's] a dictator, all right, and he certainly knows how to take care of the Islamists in his country, but make no mistake about it, it was the Arab Spring, initiated by Hillary Clinton and funded by George Soros, that brought about the nightmare of what's going on in Syria," Savage writes.

He accuses Obama of being a "sociopath" who has "destroyed the Middle East" as well as America's "borders, language and culture."

However, Savage has a broader critique of the direction of American policy.

Like Trump, Savage questions the supposed necessity of a hostile relationship with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

"Who is our greatest enemy in the world?" he asked rhetorically. "Is it Russia? Russia wasn't our greatest enemy until Obama messed things up and made it a personal vendetta. Russia was our ally. The Cold War was over. Things were going well. We had great trade and interaction with the Russian people and the Russian leadership. Then this bungler came along, surrounded by his dumb sorority, and now we have a Cold War turning into a hot war.

"No, it's not Russia that is our greatest enemy. It's radical Islam. The Islamist ISIS."

Savage echoes Trump's call for a Russian-American partnership to take on ISIS and credited Putin's forces for their efforts against terrorism in Syria.

"Frankly, he began to do the job that Obama said he himself was doing," Savage writes.

Indeed, the talk show titan notes that even independent pollsters have found Putin to be a broadly popular leader in the eyes of his people.

"All the media in America hate Putin, even though he's now revered by most people in the world because he's the only one with the guts to take on ISIS," Savage writes. "We have a media that is so corrupt it tries to tear down someone doing good, just because Barry from Honolulu – this thin, smoking, hostile man in the White House – is so jealous, so envious of Putin's strength and resolve and popularity, as any narcissist would be. And it's because Putin isn't an elitist: He didn't go to the best schools, and he doesn't always behave in a way the elite thinks he should behave. He's blunt to the point of crudeness.

"By the way, does this sound like anyone who is running for president? That's another reason why Barry doesn't like him.

"Most of all, though, it's because Putin and Barry are on opposite sides of the critical issue of what to do about terrorism. If you study world events the way I have done, every day of my life since I was 18, you'll see that your president is backing ISIS. Do you have to be a genius to figure that out? All the weapons ISIS uses are U.S.-made weapons that Barry ordered to be left behind."

Even more explosively, Savage says the American media's hostile coverage of the Russian president is an example of pure projection. If American reporters want to see stooges and shills of an oppressive government, Savage implies, they should look in the mirror.

"The American dunces who hate America – in other words, the entire press corps – all hate Vladimir Putin, too," Savage observes. "The official government press in the United States is ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and, by the way, Fox News.

"Let's look at America. Let's see what the opposition to Obama faces. Let's see, do the opponents of Obama face criminal cases? Oh yeah, how about that bakery case? How about all of the people who were punished by the illegal, illegitimate, fascistic IRS or EPA?"

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Savage slammed a 2015 article from NBC that accused Putin of trying to bring back the USSR.

"The article says that in Russia thugs harass opposition leaders at events," Savage said mockingly. "Are you telling me that conservatives are not harassed at every event by government thugs or by thugs in America who are working for Black Lives Matter, the National Action Network under Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson's thugs? Are you telling me that they're not thugs who are fundamentally working with and for the government? The article finishes by saying 'and officials drown their opponents in red tape.' Oh really? The IRS and the EPA don't do that in our country?

"Everything it says about Russia actually applies to America under Obama."

Savage's comments in "Scorched Earth" are likely to be controversial among conservatives, some of whom have condemned Putin's "autocracy." However, Savage suggests the true existential threat to Western nations comes from its own rulers, many of whom are willing to use force to repress patriotic dissidents.

"The world is falling apart because new world order universalists such as Barry Obama, Germany's Angela Merkel and the United Nations have been flooding the civilized world with unvetted Muslims," Savage said. "No one even talks about the rape epidemic anymore. In Germany, if German men stand up and defend their fellow citizens, they're attacked by the police. The police in Germany, who should be attacking migrants and throwing them out of the country, are attacking the nationalists who are trying to protect their women and children."

And Putin himself, out of conviction or cynicism, is also speaking against Western nations for endangering their own populations. Condemning migrant crimes against Europeans, Putin said, "A society that can't defend its children has no tomorrow."

Such comments suggest the conflict between Russia in the West is taking on ideological as well as geopolitical dimensions.

Many analysts blame Putin for escalating global tensions. But Savage argues the real source of the instability now plaguing the world lies in Washington, D.C., itself.

"My personal feeling is that at the end of the day, now that Russia is so deeply enmeshed in the Syrian civil war, that country will constrain Hezbollah," Savage said. "I think Russia will be a stabilizing force in the Middle East rather than a destabilizing force. The greatest destabilizing force in the Middle East has been Barry from Honolulu and Hillary from Chappaqua. He came into office with zero foreign policy experience and learned nothing on the job. Hillary did even worse: She ignored anything she learned as a New York senator and used the State Department to enrich foreign donors to her foundation."

Condemnation of Clinton and Obama's foreign policy is not limited to conservatives like Savage. Jill Stein of the Green Party went even further by condemning Hillary Clinton's advocacy of a no-fly zone in Syria as "basically a declaration of war against Russia."

And her assessment about a potential Clinton foreign policy should give even progressives pause, as Stein called it "a mushroom cloud waiting to happen."

An unprecedented crossroads in history. A desperate struggle for national survival. America itself is on the line. Don’t miss the most explosive book of the political season from the man leading the nationalist revolution. Michael Savage is here to tell you how to take America back in "Scorched Earth: Restoring the Country After Obama." With special autographed copies available ONLY through the WND Superstore!