The world appeared to have moved closer to the much feared and prophesied Armageddon on Tuesday as people all over the planet await Russia's response to the shooting down of one its warplanes by Turkey, a NATO-member country.
Analysts say this is what the Islamic State (ISIS) leadership wanted all along — a clash between the great powers of the world that will bring about the Final Battle.
Already, "World War III" was trending on Twitter Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Turkey's action as a "stab in the back by terrorist helpers," various reports said.
NATO envoys immediately held an "extraordinary meeting" Tuesday afternoon just hours after the incident, NBC News said.
Turkey said it warned the Russian jet 10 times that allegedly intruded into its airspace before shooting it down. Russia denies its warplane violated Turkish airspace.
Putin said Russia would "never tolerate such atrocities" and called for the international community to "fight this evil."
"Do they want to have NATO serve ISIS? I understand that every state has regional interests, and we respect that, but we would never tolerate crime like today's," Putin angrily stated.
Former CIA operative Bob Baer said he expects the situation to worsen, admitting that this is "beginning to look like World War III," according to Newsmax.
"This mosaic in the Middle East of conflict is getting out of control," Baer said Tuesday on CNN's "Out Front."
"It's not just Russia and Turkey, it's Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is expanding rather than contracting, and nobody has a strategic plan."
Baer said US President Barack Obama should step in to avoid a wider conflict between Turkey and Russia.
He said Putin is expected to respond to the Turkish action, including putting batteries or surface-to-air missiles in Syria.
"I wouldn't put it past him. He's not going to back down," Baer said.
Retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden also had a bad feeling of what would happen next. Speaking on Newsmax TV on Tuesday, he said the Turkish downing of the Russian warplane near the Syrian border created a situation in the region that is "really bad and getting worse."
"I fear, even under the best of circumstances, what we saw today was round one," said Hayden, who once headed the CIA and the National Security Agency.
"Somebody's going to paint someone else with an air-to-air radar, a fire-control radar. Someone's going to make a mistake," he told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth.
Hayden said he expects Putin to retaliate viciously because he must do so "for the crowd," both domestically and internationally.
"Restoring some sense of Russian greatness — and then doing it for the crowd globally, trying to demonstrate to everyone that Russia is once again a global player."
Hayden defended Turkey for shooting down the Russian warplane because Putin was bombing moderate Turks who oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead of ISIS terrorists.
"What the Russians were doing, not bombing ISIS, they were bombing Turkmen who are ethnically very, very similar to the Turks," he said.
"Frankly, I don't see how either side backs down," he said. "The Turks defending their brethren and the Russians trying to defend their manhood."
But despite the heated rhetoric — and fears expressed on social media — outright war is unlikely, according to analysis from IHS Janes Terrorism and Insurgency Center.
"The immediate implication of the shooting down of the aircraft is likely to remain limited to a diplomatic crisis," IHS Janes said. "However, future such incidents between Russia and Turkey are highly likely, as neither side is willing or able to back down."
