© Desconocido
The face of terrorism
The face of terrorism
Puppet Masters
© Reuters
Netanyahu and Hollande attend a ceremony at the Paris Grand Synagogue to the victims of the Paris attacks this week.
Netanyahu and Hollande attend a ceremony at the Paris Grand Synagogue to the victims of the Paris attacks this week.
Maariv today published an astonishing story. Anyone reading this blog is used to the brutishness of the Shin Bet. But usually it's reserved for Palestinians, Arab journalists, and air travelers with Arab "racial" profiles. We would never expect it to be meted out to the elected leader of a country that is an Israeli ally.
On the day of the memorial service for those slain in the kosher supermarket attack, Prime Minister Manuel Valls sought to take his seat in the synagogue with the President, Francois Hollande and Israel's leader, Bibi Netanyahu. As he approached his seat, his path was blocked by a Shin Bet agent who refused to allow him to pass until Netanyahu had taken his own seat. According to Valls, the agent grabbed his arm and forced him to wait until the Israeli had seated himself.
Valls shouted at him in French and English:
You don't make the rules here. You provide security for the prime minister of Israel, that is all.
Comment: With the spread of social media technologies in Palestine the world has seen video after video displaying Israel's criminality. With the Shin Bet accosting a French Prime Minister, and Netanyahu berating French Jews, it seems the safest place for anyone to be is as far from these psychopaths as possible. Too bad the Israel and the US have seen fit to destabilize much of the rest of the world. Their insanity has no limits.
Also see:
- Hollande didn't want Netanyahu in Paris for march, he came anyway
- Brzezinski: Netanyahu's war on Gaza endangering Israel's longer-range future
Joseph P Farrell
Comment: Farrell's speculation appears to be spot-on based on the evidence and indicates that Putin is well aware of what he is up against from the West (ie the West's Fifth Column operating in Russia).
© Reuters/Leonhard Foeger
Gold bars and a Swiss Franc coin are seen in this illustration picture taken at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna November 7, 2014
Gold bars and a Swiss Franc coin are seen in this illustration picture taken at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna November 7, 2014
One of the top-valued metal commodities and a universal monetary equivalent, gold, is heading to exceed the psychological threshold of $1,300/oz., as investors in Asia-Pacific and Europe are gravely concerned with the sudden fluctuations in the Swiss national currency's FX rate and today's crash in mainland China's stock markets.
To further exacerbate the situation, the franc is one of the five global reserve currencies, and its nearly 20% appreciation starting 15 January has painfully hit a wide variety of asset classes worldwide, putting some of them on the edge of becoming 'toxic assets'. China, at least up until recently, used to be a locomotive of global manufacturing, generating an immense demand for natural resources. Now, the financial turmoil in Shanghai and Shenzhen only adds to the bitter situation in various global commodities markets, mainly oil.
The alarming situation on global markets has prompted investors to search for safe havens for their money, and while the uncertainty in the global markets, except for the US, prevented investors from excessively buying stock in Europe or Japan, gold has become one of the most yearned-after assets.
Comment: Russia and China are both accumulating gold as a hedge against the collapse of the petro-dollar. They have also agreed eventually to trade between themselves with gold as one of the exchange instruments, and may do so with other countries such as India. Given such possibilities, the chances of gold prices going down in the long-term are slim. Owning some gold is probably a good idea. Better yet, is to stock up on basics which may be in short supply in the near future.
- Are you prepping your diet?
- Preparedness is the ultimate act of optimism
- US, Missouri: Survival Shop Reports Jump In Sales To People Preparing For "Possible Collapse"
- Why is the Treasury Department seeking survival kits for bank employees?
© newsfortherevolution.com
While Europeans are mired in debates about free speech and the role of Islam in secular societies, Israelis generally - and their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular - view the attacks as confirming Israel's place as the only safe haven for Jews around the world.
The 17 deaths in Paris have reinforced Israeli suspicions that Europe, with its rapidly growing Muslim population, is being dragged into a clash of civilisations it is ill-equipped to combat.
Comment: The question is who is doing "the dragging?" Nice of Israel to provide the snap assessment of who, what, when, where and how...unless this is of their doing and Europe has to be nudged (in a big way) to be good cattle and follow Israel's lead. But why now?
Comment: Well now, calling all Jews to return to Israel seems rather drastic, given the current influx of "home"-bound Jews from France. Is there some other reason Netanyahu wants to get all the Jews out of Europe, at least France? Six scenarios, not mutually exclusive but potential winners, come to mind:
#1. Returning Jews will bring returning wealth. This would impose a direct hit on France's/EU's financial health.
#2. It is easier to manage what new immigrants in Israel think if they are subject to ongoing propaganda in Israel...less contact with the outside world, less influence from distant relatives, less criticism of Israeli tactics and policies.
#3. Netanyahu is not the most popular or personable politician per se. The big daddy routine (bringing the prodigals home) might be an appealing soft touch: cash in the bank for his political future.
#4. If incoming Jews occupy the newly "annexed" Palestinian territories, it will be harder when the UN decides to give the Palestinians back their territory. It will also ramp up the Palestinian conflict to new levels allowing Israel to proceed with Palestinian extermination.
#5. It is the ultimate anti-semitism pity ploy that keeps the USA, UK, and such, in the fold doing Israel's bidding, such as eradication of Muslims and Arabs.
#6. Perhaps Agenda Executor-in-Chief Netanyahu knows what is in store for EU countries, like France. Given recent false flags and Bibi's threat that France will pay dearly for its independent and contrary stance on Palestine, what might France have coming once France's Jews are safe in Israel? Any who choose not to relocate might then be 'collateral damage' in the campaign to demonize Muslims and collectively blame them for further attacks. Because it is not EU Jews facing a potential, if not impending, holocaust: it is Muslims.
Prime Minister Zakharchenko giving a Ukrainian commander a piece of his mind.
Here a few highlights from the last couple days. First, a Ukrainian unit was sent to the Donetsk Airport with instructions to transport their wounded out of the terminal - thinking their forces still controlled it. This is the same terminal that has been under the control of Donetsk battalions for a week. Only upon encountering "Givi's" ambush did they realize they'd been sent like lambs to the slaughter, probably as a distraction in order for tanks to encircle the airport - tanks that were destroyed by Donetsk forces. As J. Hawk writes for Fort Russ, "It's one thing for Kiev TV stations to continue claiming the airport is held by Ukrainian formations. It's something else altogether for local commanders to not know what the situation on the ground is." The video below of Givi and Motorola with the POWs is priceless.
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." ― Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
© benfrank.net
Despite the dire state of our nation, however, you can rest assured that none of the problems that continue to plague our lives and undermine our freedoms will be addressed by our so-called elected representatives in any credible, helpful way, and certainly not during a State of the Union address.
Consider the following facts:
Our government is massively in debt. Currently, the national debt is somewhere in the vicinity of $18 trillion. More than a third of our debt is owned by foreign countries, namely China and Japan.
Our education system is abysmal. Despite the fact that we spend more than most of the world on education ($115,000 per student), we rank 36th in the world when it comes to math, reading and science, far below most of our Asian counterparts. Even so, we continue to insist on standardized programs such as Common Core, which teach students to be test-takers rather than thinkers.
Our homes provide little protection against government intrusions. Police agencies, already empowered to crash through your door if they suspect you're up to no good, now have radars that allow them to "see" through the walls of your home.
Our prisons, housing the largest number of inmates in the world and still growing, have become money-making enterprises for private corporations that rely on the inmates for cheap labor.
We are no longer a representative republic. The U.S. has become a corporate oligarchy. As a recent survey indicates, our elected officials, especially those in the nation's capital, represent the interests of the rich and powerful rather than the average citizen.
78% of 2014 capital outflow was debt repayment
Following the prophecies of doom that were going the rounds in December the rouble appears to have stabilised, the Central Bank's reserves are intact and the government looks calm and in control.
This appearance of calm appears to have annoyed some of the government's Western critics.
The economist Anders Aslund sees it as evidence that "Putin is in denial".
Most remarkably, the Economist sees the government's "Zen-like calm" as "proof" "the economic crisis has officially arrived".
This rather begs the question of what the Economist would make of signs of panic. Would that be proof the crisis is officially over?
Nobody denies Russia faces a difficult year. The sanctions are obliging Russian companies to pay off their foreign debts at the same time as the dollar price of oil - Russia's main export commodity - has halved, making repayment more difficult.
Comment: Despite wishful thinking by western nations, Russia appears to be handling the current the economic situation. With China ready to provide assistance, along with the collaboration of other Eurasian nations and the BRICS partnership, Russia is certainly not isolated.
- Paul Craig Roberts - Russia's black swan card(s) and the end of NATO
- Foreign Minister of China: "We will provide necessary assistance to Russia"
© Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland
Given the U.S. government's surveillance capabilities - from satellite and aerial photographs to telephonic and electronic intercepts to human sources - American intelligence surely has a good idea what happened on July 17, 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine killing all 298 people onboard.
Comment: The US needs the evidence for the crash hidden so that their policies against Russia won't be undermined.
For more MH17 developments:
- Ukraine shot down MH17: Ukrainian pilot passes lie detector test
- Buk system Kiev claimed rebels used to take down MH17 was under control of Ukrainian forces - Ukrainian soldier
Comment: This is a pretty blatant attempt by Israel to use bullying tactics to suppress any kind of inquiry into its war crimes committed last summer during its Operation Protective Edge. They might as well be admitting to committing war crimes.
Israel is lobbying member-states of the International Criminal Court to cut funding for the tribunal in response to its launch of an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, the country's foreign minister said on Sunday.
The ICC did not immediately respond to the news, but experts thought it unlikely that the lobbying effort was likely to persuade the countries that contribute most to the court to reduce their funding.
Israel, which like the United States does not belong to the ICC, hopes to dent funding for the court that is drawn from the 122 member-states in accordance with the size of their economies, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
"We will demand of our friends in Canada, in Australia and in Germany simply to stop funding it," he told Israel Radio. Officials told Reuters the lobbying effort would also target Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Israel.
"This body represents no one. It is a political body," Lieberman said, adding that he would raise the matter with visiting Canadian counterpart John Baird on Sunday.
Comment: The head of the organization is fictional because terrorism itself is Israel's and the US' favorite tool: