The Road to World War III – The Global Banking Cartel Has One Card Left to Play
by ilene - September 28th, 2010 2:19 am
The Road to World War III – The Global Banking Cartel Has One Card Left to Play
By David DeGraw (h/t ZH)
The following is Part I to David DeGraw’s new book, “The Road Through 2012: Revolution or World War III.” This is the second installment to a new seven-part series that we will be posting throughout the next few weeks. You can read the introduction to the book here. To be notified via email of new postings from this series, subscribe here.
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Editor’s Note: The following is Part I to David DeGraw’s new book, “The Road Through 2012: Revolution or World War III.” This is the second installment to a new seven-part series that we will be posting throughout the next few weeks. You can read the introduction to the book here. To be notified via email of new postings from this series, subscribe here.
I: Economic Imperial Operations
When we analyze our current crisis, focusing on the past few years of economic activity blinds us to the history and context that are vital to understanding the root cause. What we have been experiencing is not the result of an unforeseen economic crash that appeared out of the blue with the collapse of the housing market. It was certainly not brought on by people who bought homes they couldn’t afford. To frame this crisis around a debate on economic theory misses the point entirely. To even blame it on greedy bankers,…
Here’s The Latest On Israel’s Ongoing Gaza Flotilla Crisis
by ilene - June 1st, 2010 2:42 pm
Here’s The Latest On Israel’s Ongoing Gaza Flotilla Crisis
Courtesy of Gregory White, Clusterstock/Business Insider
Here’s The Latest On Israel’s Ongoing Gaza Flotilla CrisisThe crisis over Israel’s attack on an alleged aid boat bound for blockaded Gaza continues to worsen today, as pressure mounts on the Israeli government to take action.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit out at critics of his country’s blockade of Gaza saying it is a necessary action to prevent weapons entering the territory.
- Egypt has opened its border with Gaza, allowing refugees to spill out of Palestine into Egypt. Materials, relief or otherwise, may also be passing freely through the border.
- The Guardian reports that Israel also may have sabotaged two other relief boats bound for Gaza, prior to the attack, in an effort to stop them from reaching the shore.
- Turkey is the central critic of Israel’s attack on the convoy and its most important regional ally. Their alliance, and regional stability, may come into doubt over this crisis.
- Israeli troops claim they only fired on the activists when they were attacked.
- This analysis of the attack is one of the best we’ve seen thus far, pointing out that individuals on the ship were prepared for some sort of fight, using slingshots as a defense.
- If you are interested in a particularly vocal debate from both sides on the issue, there is a quality one from Al Jazeera which may represent a different set of opinions than U.S. media outlets.
Here’s What You Need To Know About The Israeli Flotilla Crisis
by ilene - May 31st, 2010 3:24 pm
Here’s What You Need To Know About The Israeli Flotilla Crisis
Courtesy of Gregory White at Clusterstock/Business Insider
This morning, Israel intercepted a flotilla bound for Gaza from Turkey that was, according to the Israeli military, carrying a cache of weapons. Those on the flotilla, who included members of parliaments from the region, claimed they were carrying only aid items for the Palestinians.
- At least 10 people were killed in Israel’s assault on the flotilla. Israel claims 10 of its soldiers were also injured in the attack.
- The flotilla was meant to break the blockade on Gaza, a portion of Palestine ruled by Hamas, a political party but also a terrorist organization.
- The flotilla was attacked in international waters.
- Those on the boat, and those who support their cause, claim that all they were carrying was personnel, many of whom were teachers and doctors, and items to support their aid mission. Supporting video, from Al-Jazeera:
- Israel claims the boat was housing a weapons cache and that individuals on the boat attacked their troops with weapons when they stormed it. Supporting video, from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF):
- Protests against the actions of the Israeli government have broken out in London, Cairo, and Istanbul.
- Governments in Europe have spoken out against the attacks, with President Sarkozy of France and Foreign Minister Hague of the UK calling Israel’s actions "out of line."
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his trip to the U.S. as a result of the attack, choosing to remain in Israel to deal with the problem.
- This is likely a massive political misstep for Israel, as tensions with the U.S. government were just beginning to dissolve, and now are likely to remain high.
US Making Preparations for a Pre-Emptive Strike on Iran (or Some Other Eastern Destination)
by ilene - March 15th, 2010 6:01 pm
US Making Preparations for a Pre-Emptive Strike on Iran (or Some Other Eastern Destination)
Courtesy of JESSE’S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
Although one would doubt that the US would ‘go it alone,’ one has to question whether or not they would act in support of a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Although this news piece assumes Iran is the target, other easterly destinations come to mind in the vicinity of Afghanistan.
The implications of such a strike on the world financial and commodity markets is obvious, and bears careful watching. I would doubt the US would circumvent a discussion at the United Nations. Even George W had to at least pay lip service to international support prior to his attack on Iraq.
SundayHeraldScotland
Final destination Iran?
By Rob Edwards
14 Mar 2010Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.
Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius.
The Sunday Herald reported in 2007 that stealth bomber hangers on the island were being equipped to take bunker-buster bombs.
Although the story was not confirmed at the time, the new evidence suggests that it was accurate…
Crucially, the cargo includes 195 smart, guided, Blu-110 bombs and 192 massive 2000lb Blu-117 bombs.
“They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran,” said Dan Plesch, director
Complicated Market
by ilene - January 29th, 2010 8:41 pm
Bull Market Bear Market Complicated Market
Courtesy of Random Roger
The idea for this post was my initial and apparently incorrect reading of the Jeremy Grantham letter. On first read I thought he was saying expressly the
We as investors need to assess it all and try to navigate through.
The list of risk factors is too long to come up with all of them off the top but things on my mind this week (many of which have been newsworthy this week) have included many countries facing ratings downgrades and having to answer questions about whether they are candidates for default, just about every US state has serious deficit problems, it is possible the GDP growth seen thus far might be all from stimulus, pension funds are looking back at a decade where US stocks dropped a couple of percent per year but they need growth of 7-8% per year, there are conflicting messages coming from Washington (not unique), US budget deficits will be starting for with the letter T for years, creating enough jobs to get the U-6 number down to something decent seems like a mathematical impossibility, it seems like a mathematical certainty that home foreclosures must rise a lot, and there are more.
The point of the above the paragraph is not to lay out a bearish argument for why stocks should go down because most of these issues have been around since before the rally started last March. The above paragraph does point out the complexities that we face today. When the market goes up they build the wall of worry for the market to climb and when the market goes down they become fundamental causes for a "big" decline.
That the same factors can be both the wall of worry and a reason to go down is not new but the current events are collectively a little more complicated than I think we are used to.
On Iran, oil prices and how the Hajj f$#/ed Iran
by Zero Hedge - October 28th, 2009 2:04 pm
Courtesy of Cheeky Bastard
After Iran had broken off the negotiations over its nuclear program and refused to ship some of its uranium supply to France, and other western countries, talk about the imminent attack have, once again, started to make the rounds. In his recent interview with the British Daily Telegraph , French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, expressed his deep concern ( as if ) over Israel. As you might know, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited his Russian colleague Vladimir " I can kill you with my bare hands, and I will if you don’t STFU and do as I say " Putin to discuss the potential backing of Israeli war efforts against Iran. The Jerusalem Post reported that the conversation between the two tsars …. uh, i mean, prime minister was focused on the potential Russian arms backing of Iranian military. This is the short excerpt from the article in The Jerusalem Post:
Israel Radio reported that Netanyahu leased a private jet since he knew using an Israel Air Force jet would raise the suspicions of the Israeli media. For the purpose, his office used a plane of the company Merhav, a company owned by Israeli mogul Yossi Miman, one of the shareholders of Channel 10 and EMG, an Egyptian company supplying gas to the Israel Electric Company. Miman was not directly involved in leasing the jet, as this was done through a company he owns. The PMO and Merhav refused to divulge the cost of the flight. Israel Radio further reported that the plane took off from a terminal in Ben Gurion International Airport which is mostly out of use.
Israeli media outlets speculated on the secretive nature of Netanyahu’s Russian visit. One reasoning was that Netanyahu tried to persuade Putin about not backing the Iranian military efforts with shipments of Russian weaponry to Iranian military. Some journalist even reported that Netanyahu had promised Putin, that the dispute over a defense shield in Eastern Europe will be resolved shortly, if Putin stays clear from providing any help to Iranian government. After the talks were over, president Barack Obama publicly announced that the project of an Eastern European defense shield will soon come to an end.
There was some speculation brewing over the potential pan-Arabist unification if Israel attacks Iran, and that the potential Arab block could easily halt any global