Puppet MastersS


Star of David

'Theater of the Absurd': Netanyahu and His Endgame in Palestine

Ramzy Baroud
Information Clearing House
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:26 UTC
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© WikipediaThe UN headquarters in New York
During his deliberately offensive speech on September 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the General Assembly as 'the theater of the absurd.' Israel's few friends at the United Nations - led by the US delegation - listened gleefully and applauded as Netanyahu heralded a steady stream of insults.

Netanyahu then returned to Israel with vengeance, enraged by the passionate international reception of Palestinian Authority's statehood bid.

Despite every Israeli effort, the world community has long been united in its support of Palestinian rights.

For decades, Israel labored to legitimize itself, denying the very existence of Palestinians. Following its occupation of the rest of historic Palestine in 1967, it tried to validate its colonial project while concurrently targeting any political platform that represented the Palestinian people. This endeavor was unsuccessful, thanks in part to the resistance of the Palestinians themselves, but also largely due to the enduring international support.
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House

US: Foreigners' Sweetener: Buy House, Get a Visa

Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:21 UTC
Sen. Charles Schumer
© Getty ImagesSupporters of the bill, co-authored by Sen. Charles Schumer, say it would help make up for American buyers who are holding back.

The reeling housing market has come to this: To shore it up, two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.

The provision is part of a larger package of immigration measures, co-authored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), designed to spur more foreign investment in the U.S.

Foreigners have accounted for a growing share of home purchases in South Florida, Southern California, Arizona and other hard-hit markets. Chinese and Canadian buyers, among others, are taking advantage not only of big declines in U.S. home prices and reduced competition from Americans but also of favorable foreign exchange rates.

To fuel this demand, the proposed measure would offer visas to any foreigner making a cash investment of at least $500,000 on residential real-estate - a single-family house, condo or townhouse. Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out.
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MIB

We don't need a war with Iran

Dan Simpson
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:56 UTC
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© Wikipedia
But I fear the administration may be trying to drum up one

I am delighted if quick work on the part of the FBI prevented the Saudi Arabian ambassador from being assassinated in Washington. Nonetheless, the report of the incident, coinciding with Department of Defense budget concerns and President Barack Obama's political woes, makes me wonder if the Obama administration isn't laying the groundwork with the American public for a war with Iran.

It would have been a disaster if someone had killed Saudi Ambassador Adel A. al-Jubeir in Washington, particularly if the assassination had taken place in a public place frequented by Washington politicians, lobbyists and other public figures. Host governments are required to assure the safety of foreign diplomats on their soil.
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Star of David

Unfolding a Plot: Mossad at Work

Ismail Salami
Information Clearing House
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:33 UTC
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© Wikimedia CommonsMossad Seal
Despite its evidently make-believe facade, the cooked-up story of the Saudi envoy assassination plot does not seem to be something which can be easily banished from the minds of the American powers that be.

The heat over Iran in the US government is growing rapidly. Some Republican congressmen have expressed their interest in waging an all-out war against Iran, a threat they keep refreshing every time they have an excuse. They have clearly stated that Washington should not dismiss the idea of resorting to military force against Iran, an idea which is being strengthened in Congress. "I don't think you should take it off the table," Michigan Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has said.

It is quite natural that he was vehemently supported by the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator John McCain, who have always maintained an antagonistic approach towards Iran.

Hawkish Gingrich said on CNN, "Our goal should be the replacement of the Iranian dictatorship, and we have done nothing of consequence to systematically undermine the regime."
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Bizarro Earth

Gadhafi, Libya's leader for 42 years, is killed


MSNBC
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:45 UTC
'We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,' prime minister says; Gadhafi son reportedly captured too

Sirte, Libya - Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years until he was ousted by rebels in a bloody civil war, was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell.

Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril confirmed Gadhafi had been killed. "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.


Initial reports from fighters said Gadhafi had been holed up with the last of his fighters in the furious battle with revolutionary fighters assaulting the last few buildings they held in his Mediterranean coastal hometown of Sirte. At one point, a convoy tried to flee the area and was blasted by NATO airstrikes, though it was not clear if Gadhafi was in the vehicle.

NBC's Adrienne Mong, reporting from Sirte, saw a massive convoy heading west toward Misrata. Gadhafi's body was rumored to be in the convoy, she reported, but NBC could not confirm that.
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Dollar

Revealed - The Capitalist Network That Runs the World

Andy Coghlan and Debora MacKenzie
New Scientist
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:26 UTC
Superconnected companies
© PLoS OneThe 1318 transnational corporations that form the core of the economy. Superconnected companies are red, very connected companies are yellow. The size of the dot represents revenue
As protests against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

The study's assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable.

The idea that a few bankers control a large chunk of the global economy might not seem like news to New York's Occupy Wall Street movement and protesters elsewhere. But the study, by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify such a network of power. It combines the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).
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Dollar

Forget It, Let's Go Ahead and Mine the Moon


Discovery News
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:27 UTC
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© NASAApollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin stands near the leg of the lunar module on the Moon
Billionaire Naveen Jain thinks that the moon's precious minerals as well as its mystique are worth exploration.

The Gist
  • Naveen Jain wants to privatize the moon by exploring its precious minerals.
  • His company, which calls itself MoonEx, was awarded a contract as part of NASA's $10 million Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data.
The moon is made of far more valuable stuff than green cheese. And one man wants to capitalize on that fact. NASA, which ended America's space shuttle program in June, says it wants to privatize spaceflight. Naveen Jain, co-founder and chairman of Moon Express, Inc., wants to go a step further: He wants to privatize the moon itself.

Jain's company plans to piggyback on private shuttle flights, using them to carry his lunar landers and mining platforms to the moon. "People ask, why do we want to go back to the moon? Isn't it just barren soil?" Jain told FoxNews.com. "But the moon has never been explored from an entrepreneurial perspective."
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Arrow Down

EU bank failures will crash Wall Street - again

Paul B. Farrell
MarketWatch
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:48 UTC
Commentary: 8 warnings for Washington and Occupiers



Worst-case scenario's closing fast: Occupy Wall Street growing. But no political power or allies yet. Feared yes, attacked by GOP proxy tea party. Soon the Occupation will explode into a new American Revolution.

When? A string of European bank collapses is dead ahead. And like the Arab Spring, they will trigger an economic disaster for American banks.

Yes, coming soon says Martin Weiss in his "7 Major Advance Warnings," which is "bound to have a life-changing impact on nearly all investors in the U.S. and around the globe." His new Weiss Ratings warnings are the "most important" in a 40-year career. The stress on Wall Street banks will force them back to Congress for more bailouts.

Warning eight: No new bailouts. That will push the economy into a deep recession.

Then what? New Glass-Steagall? Not enough. Tax the rich? Not enough. Perp walks? Not enough. Presidential commission? Useless promises. Occupy Wall Street will fail without a fundamental constitutional change. No compromise. Or Wall Street wins, again. We go back to the same free market, deregulated, too-greedy to-fail, conservative Reaganomics policies that have been destroying democracy for a generation.
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Wall Street

Holy Bailout! Federal Reserve Now Backstopping $75 Trillion Of Bank Of America's Derivatives Trades


The Daily Bail
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:56 UTC
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This story from Bloomberg just hit the wires this morning. Bank of America is shifting derivatives in its Merrill investment banking unit to its depository arm, which has access to the Fed discount window and is protected by the FDIC.

This means that the investment bank's European derivatives exposure is now backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. Bank of America didn't get regulatory approval to do this, they just did it at the request of frightened counterparties. Now the Fed and the FDIC are fighting as to whether this was sound. The Fed wants to "give relief" to the bank holding company, which is under heavy pressure.

This is a direct transfer of risk to the taxpayer done by the bank without approval by regulators and without public input. You will also read below that JP Morgan is apparently doing the same thing with $79 trillion of notional derivatives guaranteed by the FDIC and Federal Reserve.

What this means for you is that when Europe finally implodes and banks fail, U.S. taxpayers will hold the bag for trillions in CDS insurance contracts sold by Bank of America and JP Morgan. Even worse, the total exposure is unknown because Wall Street successfully lobbied during Dodd-Frank passage so that no central exchange would exist keeping track of net derivative exposure.

This is a recipe for Armageddon. Bernanke is absolutely insane. No wonder Geithner has been hopping all over Europe begging and cajoling leaders to put together a massive bailout of troubled banks. His worst nightmare is Eurozone bank defaults leading to the collapse of the large U.S. banks who have been happily selling default insurance on European banks since the crisis began.
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Handcuffs

Citigroup pays $285M to settle SEC fraud charges


Associated Press
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:45 UTC
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© Unknown
Citigroup has agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just as the housing market was starting to collapse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that the big Wall Street bank bet against the deal in 2007 and made $160 million in fees and profits. Investors lost millions.

Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the SEC's allegations in the settlement.

"We are pleased to put this matter behind us and are focused on contributing to the economic recovery, serving our clients and growing responsibly," Citigroup said in a statement.

The penalty is the biggest involving a Wall Street firm accused of misleading investors before the financial crisis since Goldman Sachs & Co. paid $550 million to settle similar charges last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. resolved similar charges in June and paid $153.6 million.

Comment: Citigroup and the SEC, protecting Investors, while Americans go homeless!

If this Editor understands the above it sounds simply as if: In 2007 Citibank used "collateralized debt obligations" covered by junk assets to bet against mortgages that were destined to fail (due to the looming job-less market), knowing of the coming economic collapse in the housing(/job) market without investors knowing. So investors complained and the SEC got investors their money back. In the end 1,000's of people have lost their homes and gotten no help. If I'm not understanding, one thing is still obvious:
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© Unknown


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