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"Philippines' Duterte threatens war in South China sea if troops are harmed," Newsweek warns. "Philippines draw three hard lines on China," Asia Times outlines. "Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will go to war with China if it crosses 'red lines' and claims disputed resources, foreign ministry warns," the South China Morning Post (SCMP) explains. "Duterte will 'go to war' over South China Sea resources, minister says," according to CNN.Those are indeed some shocking headlines as the last thing anyone in their right mind wants is a regional conflict, not least one that involves a rising nuclear power with the capabilities that China has.
"I made inquiries about everything I could do. I checked with previous Mossad chiefs. I checked with legal advisers. I consulted anyone I could consult in order to understand who is authorized to give instructions about the whole issue of starting a war," Pardo said, as quoted by Israeli media.Pardo even contemplated to resign if the situation got too close to the point of no return, but never had to make such choice, as the idea to strike Iranian nuclear facilities was scrapped.
"In the end, if I get an order and if I get an instruction from the prime minister, I am supposed to carry it out," he said. "I need to be certain if, God forbid, something goes wrong, even if the operation fails, that it shouldn't be a situation that I carried out an illegal action."
The demand met fierce objections on the part of Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and the head of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) Meir Dagan, who had to step down after that notorious meeting.
The former Mossad chief told Ilana Dayan that Netanyahu attempted to make the IDF attack Iran's nuclear objects in a "stealing a war' manner, in other words, without holding consultations with all 15 members of his cabinet.
After his resignation from Mossad, Dagan called that move by Netanyahu "stupid", reports AFP.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped over one percent, S&P500 dropped 0.54 percent, while the Nasdaq was 0.16 percent in the red.The sell-off was triggered by the announcement from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who said a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from its long-time allies would go into effect at midnight.
Shares of American steel companies Steel Dynamics, AK Steel and US Steel gained between 3.4 percent and 7.4 percent and aluminum producer Alcoa surged 3.4 percent. Boeing and Caterpillar were losing 1.1 and 1.2 percent, respectively.Fears of a trade war between the US and its allies are buoyed by the fact that US President Donald Trump is also seeking to levy German car makers; the tariffs would be similar to those on steel and aluminum.
"This is another negotiation tactic on the US side because there are other negotiations going on. The US wants to use tariffs as a bargaining tool for other negotiations. I think, it's very important to have a long term view and not to over trade in this kind of environment," said Zhiwei Ren, managing director and portfolio manager, Penn Mutual Asset Management, as quoted by Reuters.
"Where was Bob Iger's apology to the White House staff for Jemele Hill calling the president and anyone associated with him a white supremacist? To Christians around the world for Joy Behar calling Christianity a mental illness?
Where was the apology for Kathy Griffin going on a profane rant against the president on The View after a photo showed her holding President Trump's decapitated head?" Sanders asked reporters in the briefing room.
She added: "And where was Bob Iger for ESPN hiring Keith Olbermann after his numerous expletive tweets attacking the president as a Nazi and even expanding Olbermann's role after that attack against the president's family?"
Comment: What may be of note is that ANZ was raising capital in an attempt to meet regulatory requirements. Is that because without the fraudulent fundraiser they don't have sufficient capital to operate legally? The requirements were implemented in order to prevent a repeat of the 2008 scenario of more than a decade of ponzi schemes, resulting in the financial crash and subsequent robbery of the taxpayer to fund the banking bailouts: