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Deutsche Bank crises: Europe's ticking time bomb

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 17:52 UTC
geiselnahme, berlin, deutsche bank
© DPA
You have no doubt heard by now about the precarious situation that Deutsche Bank finds itself in, including the impending US government fine for selling faulty mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the financial crisis. The lamestream media is busy running stories about German bailout rumors, and bank's uncanny ability to not quite die...yet. But in case anyone is tempted to draw comparisons with the 2008 financial crisis, rest assured that the failure of Deutsche Bank would be no "Lehman Bros. moment." It would be incomparably worse.

Deutsche Bank is not just one of the largest banking and financial services companies in the world (although it is that). It is also one of the most inter-connected banks in the world. As the IMF helpfully pointed out earlier this year:
"Deutsche Bank is also a major source of systemic risk in the global financial system. The net contribution to global systemic risk is captured by the difference between the outward spillover to the system from the bank and the inward spillover to the bank from the system based on forecast error variance decomposition. Deutsche Bank appears to the most important net contributor to systemic risks in the global banking system, followed by HSBC and Credit Suisse. Moreover, Deutsche Bank appears to be a key source of outward spillovers to all other G-SIBs as measured by bilateral linkages."
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Megaphone

Marine Le Pen to EU: 'You've done everything to bring down the government of Syria'


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:45 UTC
Destroyed Syrian buildings
© Abd Doumany / AFP
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front party, has accused the European Union of being responsible for the ongoing chaos in Syria. She added the EU has been too busy trying to overthrow Assad while Russia was actually fighting terrorists.

"You've done everything to bring down the government of Syria, throwing the country into a terrible civil war, while accusing Russia which is actually fighting Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL]," the right wing party leader and France's presidential candidate said, speaking at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

"You cannot hide your responsibility [...] for plunging this part of the world into an absolutely monstrous chaos," Le Pen added, noting that policies advocated by both the United States and the European Union had contributed to the state Syria is currently in, as well as neighboring Iraq.

The prominent eurosceptic politician also slammed the bloc's approach toward immigration as "irresponsible," stating that the current migrant policies only increase the number of economic migrants.

Comment: Are people listening? See also: Europe's refugee crisis is a means to furthering the elite's fascist agenda

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Arrow Down

Vice-presidential debate: A caricature matching the absurdity of US elections


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:27 UTC
Vice presidential debate
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Democratic U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine shakes hands with Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence
An honest politician can seem like an oxymoron, but two vice-presidential contenders vying to promote their candidacy required some stretching of the truth at least a few times. Here's a look at whose version of their candidate is the closest to reality.

The vice-presidential debates may not command the attention of an audience the way that presidential debates do, but that didn't stop the Democratic nominee Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Republican nominee Indiana Governor Mike Pence from mudslinging like their lives depended on it. While the Wednesday debate in Virginia covered many different topics, three involved curious omissions of truth in particular: social security, the Iran deal and immigration.

Immigration

Kaine's view of a Trump presidency involves Children of Men-like mass deportations and said Trump and Pence, "want to go house to house, school to school, business to business and kick out 16 million people."

Meanwhile, Pence presented a borderless and lawless nation under a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Whose caricature of the other's campaign was the closest to the truth? Donald Trump has repeatedly made promises to expel illegal immigrants with a priority on criminals. But what exactly defines a criminal or how to find undocumented criminal has been vague at best.

Comment: There's no deep nor complex analysis that is needed for complete and utter garbage, which is what the US elections, debates, and it's entire political systems amounts to.

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Laptop

Snowden 2.0? FBI 'secretly arrests' NSA contractor for stealing malware


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 18:01 UTC
NSA logo
© Reuters
The FBI "secretly arrested" a National Security Agency contractor on suspicion of stealing and revealing malware the NSA used to hack foreign governments, The New York Times reported, citing federal intelligence and law enforcement officials.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden confirmed the existence of the malware, which was leaked in August. Portions of the classified computer codes used by the NSA were posted online, with hacking group "ShadowBrokers" offering the full program up for sale. US officials have blamed the hack on Russia.

The contractor's name is Hal Martin, and he is a Navy veteran, said the Baltimore Sun reporter Ian Duncan, citing the man's attorney. Martin worked for Booz Allan Hamilton, the same company that used to employ Snowden, before he blew the lid on NSA operations in 2013.

Citing unnamed government officials, The New York Times reported the contractor was arrested "in recent weeks." According to Duncan, Martin was arrested in late August and has already appeared before a judge.

Comment: See also:

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Binoculars

Assad nails it: 'US seeks to enforce global dominance by unleashing war on countries who oppose it'


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 02:38 UTC
Assad
© SANA / Reuters
Syria's democratically elected leader, President Bashar al-Assad
Washington's pursuit of hegemony has fallen short of its goal, causing havoc and collapse of states, Bashar Assad said in a new interview. Syria's head believes that US meddling in the conflict aims to "save what is left" from its fading global preeminence.

In an interview to Iranian magazine Tehran Foreign Policy Studies Quarterly on Wednesday, the Syrian president argued that the US resorts to force every time it fears a challenge to its clout and ability to control the international agenda unilaterally.

"United States builds its position on hegemony over other states and it has been the case since they took advantage of the USSR collapse and established unilateral control over this world up to this day," the president said, adding that the real motive behind US military interventions into foreign countries is to coerce them to submit to American authority, as in the case with Syria.

"Today, the United States are waging wars with the only goal to cement its project of total control by launching attack on everyone, who opposes its dominance," Assad said, noting that Washington "rejects" and "refuses to acknowledge" the nascent balance of powers in the world affairs and the rise of other states.
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Chess

Washington's suspension of talks with Russia represents renewed desire to topple Assad, says former Pentagon official


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 18:36 UTC
Nusra Front fighters
© Stringer/Reuters
Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front fighters.
The US suspension of talks with Russia on a Syrian ceasefire represents a desire to go back and try to topple the Assad government, as well as a change in attitude toward Russia, former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT. On Monday the US suspended talks with Russia on the ceasefire agreement in Syria. The State Department accused Moscow of not fulfilling the obligations of the US-Russia deal.

Moscow blamed Washington for disrupting the ceasefire deal, saying the US is ready "to make a deal with the devil."

RT: What is your reaction to the action the US has taken?

Michael Maloof: That is a very unfortunate development and I think it bodes ill for any further effort on a bilateral basis between the US and Russia to try to continue the dialog to come to some conclusion toward a ceasefire, work on a ceasefire. We can't even get to the ceasefire, let alone try to talk about a transition government. I think it is unfortunate that they have suspended those talks.

Comment: Maloof makes a number of excuses for the United States under the cover of criticism. It should be quite apparent that the US was never interested in negotiation, diplomacy, or sincere talks about Syria. Russia has pushed for talks over and over again, only to be met with obfuscation, stalling, and even craven violence. There has been no change in policy. The US wants what it has always wanted in Syria: chaos and collapse. The question many have now is how far they are willing to go. They will likely follow the same course they have for decades, which would not be to directly engage in a 'hot war' but to continue pushing the boundaries through covert and cowardly maneuvers.

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Chess

If Russia wins Aleppo it's the end of American hegemony in the Middle East

M.K. Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:37 UTC
Russia's possible victory in Syria will mark the end of western hegemony over the Middle East, and historians are bound to single it out as the defining foreign-policy legacy of Obama's presidency.

On Monday, Barack Obama administration fulfilled its week-old threat to 'suspend' bilateral talks with Russia over Syrian crisis. Are the dogs of war being unleashed?

The thought may seem preposterous but tensions are palpable.
A rebel fighter stands on a lookout point in Kafr-Brisha village
© REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A rebel fighter stands on a lookout point in Kafr-Brisha village, northern Aleppo countryside, Syria October 4
The US spy planes are spotted ever more frequently in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea over Russian bases, especially Tartus and Hmeimim in Syria.

Russia has deployed SA-23 Gladiator anti-missile and anti-aircraft system in Syria, first-ever such deployment outside Russia. The western analysts see it as pre-emptive step to counter any American cruise missile attack. Russia is not taking chances.

The Defence Ministry in Moscow said the deployment is intended "to provide protection for the naval logistics facility in Tartus and the Russian Navy's task force".

Moscow factors in that US may use some rebel groups to ensure that Russian "body bags" are sent to Moscow, as threatened explicitly by US state department spokesman John Kirby last week. Moscow suspects American hand in the missile attack on the Russian embassy in Damascus - "Brits and Ukrainians clumsily helped the Americans", a Russian statement in New York said on Tuesday.

Indeed, passions are running high. There could be several dozen western intelligence operatives trapped with the rebel groups in east Aleppo. This is one thing.
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Stop

Russia temporarily suspends cooperation with US in nuclear and energy sectors


TASS
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:01 UTC
computers
© Ivan Guschin/ITAR-TASS
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on suspending an agreement between Russia and the US on cooperation in research and development in the nuclear and energy sectors. The relevant document has been posted on the Cabinet website on Wednesday.

"In connection with the imposition of restrictions on cooperation with the Russian Federation in nuclear energy by the United States of America ... to suspend the agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the United States of America on cooperation in research and development in the nuclear and energy sectors of September 16, 2013," the decree says.

Under this decree, the Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to send a written notification of the agreement's suspension to the US.

An explanatory note to the document points out that "the actions taken by the US in connection with imposing sanctions against Russia have directly affected the areas of cooperation envisaged by the agreement."

Comment: See also: Update: Putin suspends Russia-US deal on disposal of plutonium from decommissioned nuclear warheads over hostile US actions

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Hourglass

'Daesh in panic': Commanders now fleeing Mosul 'en masse' before major op by Iraqi military


Sputnik
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 17:49 UTC
Iraqi soldiers
© AP / Stringer
Daesh militants are fleeing Mosul, the group's stronghold in Iraq, since a long-awaited large-scale operation aimed at freeing the second largest city in the country is expected to be launched in the coming days, Said Mamuzini, a press secretary for the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, told Sputnik.

"As part of the operation the Iraqi Armed Forces and Peshmerga are shelling Daesh targets in the areas close to Mosul," he said. "Additional security measures have been taken on the border. According to our information, the militants are digging trenches around the city, as well as setting up traps using explosives and mines."

Comment: Watch the dregs of humanity run and scurry like rats as they command their underlings to leave droppings of deadly pestilence. A more despicable scene is difficult to find - even at these times.

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Megaphone

Zakharova: Washington's statements on Syria dictated by pre-election hysteria


TASS
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 18:54 UTC
zakharova
© Artyom Korotaev/TASS
Statements on relations with Russia, including on cooperation in Syria, that are coming from Washington are dictated by considerations of the ongoing election race, Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesperson said on Wednesday in an interview with Vesti FM radio.

"They are amid a pre-election hysteria now," she said. "I'd like to stay within the limits of the diplomatic language but there's full-blown hysteria there. Very many political scientists say this is the dirtiest campaign there, as the levels of discussion and the agenda as such are disastrously low."

In the light of it, Zakharova has called for giving a less serious treatment to the utterances that come out of Washington.
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