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Tsipras may seek assistance from Moscow as looming EU debt repayment deadline stirs Greeks to withdraw $4.7B from accounts in five days


The BRICS Post
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 04:34 UTC
Grexit
© Xinhua
The shadow of a Greek exit from the eurozone looms as some begin withdrawing monies from local banks
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras described his country's impasse with its European creditors ahead of a debt repayment deadline as "the center of a storm" as many of his compatriots began to withdraw money from national banks.

According to Reuters quoting banking sources, Greeks have withdrawn some $4.7 billion in the past five days, with $1.4 billon taken out of accounts on Friday alone.


Comment: Just FYI, dear Sott readers, when the financial papers say 'Greeks' are withdrawing cash from Greece, what they're not clarifying is that ordinary Greeks are not doing this (though they might if panic spreads)... the elite foreign investors/owners of Greek debt are doing this. Kind of an important distinction, no?


Greeks, and their European counterparts, are nervous 10 days ahead of a deadline for Athens to repay over $1.75 billion to the International Monetary Fund.

Athens says it does not have the monies to do that and wants the European Central Bank (ECB) to release some $8 billion in emergency funds.

On Friday, the ECB said it would provide the Greek Central Bank with more than $2 billion in emergency funding. Two days earlier, it increased the overall total emergency liquidity fund available for Greece from $94.3 to $95.4 billion.

Analysts say that the ECB wants a way out of the impasse for Greece.

Comment: Grexit plan: The next great European financial crisis has begun

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Robot

America's escalating race war: Who benefits from a mind-controlled Charleston shooter?

Niall Bradley & Joe Quinn
Sott.net
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 10:36 UTC
Image

Screenshot from the alleged shooter's first court hearing
On Wednesday June 17th, nine African-Americans were shot to death in a church in South Carolina, allegedly by a 21-year-old white man named Dylann Storm Roof. The attack took place during evening prayers in one of the country's oldest churches, at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. The church has one of the largest black congregations in the US South.

On the same night as the Charleston shooting, persons unknown shot up another church in Memphis, Tennessee. No one was killed and wounded that attack, but this could be the start of a new 'trend' in the area of mass shootings in the USA.

South Carolina's governor said: "If this can happen in a church, then we've got more praying to do." Her statements are typical of government and media vacuous platitudes in the aftermath of such horrific events, the real message being: 'this was done to all of us by all of us, we must stay strong, stay together, and you the people must believe even harder in what your leaders are telling you.'

Was the alleged shooter motivated by hatred for Blacks? On the face of it, that would appear to be the case. He is reported to have said he wanted to 'start a race war'. But it is not everyday that white supremacists cross the line from just being mouthy racists to calmly executing people.
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Yoda

Putin: Russia is not aspiring to superpower status, just wants to be respected


RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 20:19 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin
© RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a panel discussion during the plenary meeting of the 19th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2015.
Russia is not acting aggressively and doesn't aspire for hegemony or superpower status, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said during a business forum in St. Petersburg, stressing that it just wants to be respected by its international partners.

Putin, who was speaking at a key plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, said that he doesn't agree with the comments by former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon about Russia "acting more and more aggressively."

"We do not act aggressively. We have started to defend our interests more persistently and consistently."

The president said that Russia "is not aspiring for hegemony or any ephemeral status of a superpower."

"We don't impose our own standards or models of behavior and development on anyone. We want equal relations with all participants of the international community - with the US, European and Asian partners."

Russia doesn't want to be humiliated, the Russian leader stressed.

"I always hear that Russia wants to be respected. And who doesn't [want to be respected]? Who wants to be humiliated? The question itself is strange. By asking to be respected Russia is not demanding something exclusive."

Putin at the 19th St. Petersburg Economic Forum
© RIA Novosti / Michael Klimentyev
June 19, 2015. President Vladimir Putin (center) during a working lunch with the heads of largest foreign companies and business associations at the 19th St. Petersburg Economic Forum
He warned that Washington and its allies against trying to use the language of ultimatums in its relations with Russia.

"The problem is that they [US] are constantly trying to impose their standards and decisions on us with no regard to our interests," he explained. "In essence they say: 'we are better,' as if the US knows better [than Russia] about what is good for us. Well, let us decide for ourselves what our interests and needs are as dictated by our history and culture."

Comment: When comparing Putin's words and actions, it becomes exceedingly clear that he is a man of uncompromising integrity. Unlike his Western counterparts.

See also: PRESIDENT - Putin's 15 years in power - EN Subtitles (VIDEO)

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Eye 1

"Chameleonic species"? Jens Stoltenberg: NATO's Mr Zig-Zag

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 00:00 UTC
Jens Stoltenberg
© Unknown
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, has a knack for intellectual zig-zagging. Indeed, the 56-year-old former Norwegian prime minister, can be said to have made a very successful career in public life owing precisely to his adept ability at expedient zig-zagging.

Stoltenberg's latest dubious public intervention this week was to accuse Russia of «dangerous nuclear sabre-rattling». This followed the announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was to introduce up to 40 new Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) into its nuclear arsenal, and that threats to the country would be countered by deploying modern weapons that could thwart any anti-missile system. That was a clear reference by Putin to recent American moves that intend to introduce more missile systems into eastern Europe aimed at giving the US-led military NATO alliance «first-strike»capability against Russia.
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Yoda

Putin: U.S. pulling out of ABM treaty pushing world towards new Cold War


RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 21:26 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti / Sergey Guneev
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a panel discussion during the plenary meeting of the 19th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2015.
Global decisions like the US pulling out of a treaty banning strategic anti-ballistic missile defenses are pushing the world towards a new Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Military conflicts have a far lesser impact, he added.

"Not military conflicts but global decisions like the US unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty lead to a Cold War," Putin said. "This more in fact pushes us to a new round of the arms race, because it changes the global security system."

Putin made his comments at a key plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The 1972 ABM treaty between the US and Soviet Union ensured that neither side tried to neutralize its foe's nuclear deterrence by building an anti-missile shield. The US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2002, as the Bush administration claimed it needed protection from "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iran. Moscow believes that the US is actually building a global anti-missile system to undermine the defenses of Russia and China.
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Gold Coins

Hypocrisy R Us: IMF humiliates Greece but it will keep funding Ukraine even if it defaults

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 20:58 UTC
ukraine greece IMF
One week ago, we were stunned to learn just how low the political organization that is the mostly US-taxpayer funded IMF has stooped when, a day after its negotiators demonstratively stormed out of the Greek negotiations with "creditors", Hermes' ambassador-at-large Christine Lagarde said that the IMF "could lend to Ukraine even if Ukraine determines it cannot service its debt."

In other words, as Greece struggles to avoid a default to the IMF on debt which was incurred just so German banks can remain solvent and dump trillions in non-performing loans to US hedge funds and Greek exposure, and which would result in the collapse in the living standards of an entire nation (only for a few years before an Iceland-recovery takes place, one which Greece would already be enjoying had it defaulted in 2010 as we said it should), and as the "criminal" IMF does everything in its power to subjugate an entire nation, or else let it founder, the IMF told Soros' BFFs over in Kiev, that no matter if they default to its private creditors (in fact please do since Russia is among them), the IMF would keep the debt spigot flowing.

Courtesy of the US taxpayer of course.

Fast forward one week when, with Greece one step closer to a full-blown financial collapse, the IMF comes out and tell Ukraine - which already passed a law allowing it to impose a debt moratorium at any moment - not to worry, that even in a default it will keep providing unlimited funds. From Reuters:

Comment: The only reason the IMF is willing to pay for Ukraine, it's because they see it as a way to punish Russia. In the case of Greece, they are looking to punish the country itself for daring to elect a government that opposes their plans and seeks sovereignty!

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Snakes in Suits

Greek journalists coached by IMF to promote its position in media


Sputnik
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 21:05 UTC
Image
© Flickr/ International Monetary Fund
Greece's former representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Greek journalists were "trained" to promote the policies the IMF and the European Commission had toward the country's debt.

Panagiotis Roumeliotis, speaking in front of the special parliamentary committee on Greek debt, testified:

"The IMF trained" Greek journalists so that "Greek journalists can promote the positions of the IMF and the European Commission in Greek media."

Roumeliotis said when he was in Washington he accidentally bumped into Greek journalists who told him that they were attending IMF seminars. According to him, many of the journalists bought into the IMF's misinformation campaign, ultimately omitting in their news reports that the debt was not sustainable.
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Target

$Blns Israeli gas grab at heart of 15 years war on Gaza

Sean Nevins
MintPress News
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 23:20 UTC
Gaza destruction
© www.japantimes.co.jp
The price of defiance.
When gas was discovered in Palestine in 1999, Yasser Arafat proclaimed it was a "gift from God." So what's stopping the country from exploiting that gas to the tune of an estimated $2.5 billion to $7 billion, and relieving a host of development problems?

Energy consumption in the Mediterranean is estimated to increase by up to 50 percent over the next 25 years. The heightened demand comes at a time when gas in the Levant Basin, estimated to contain 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and an average of 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, is being divvied up among nations with territorial claims to the waters, including Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, and Turkey.

With these claims, of course, comes potential for conflict. Michael Schwartz, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University in New York and author of War Without End: The Iraq War in Context, told MintPress News that conflict for these resources has already begun. In fact, he explained, energy resources are the root cause of every conflict the Israelis have had with the Palestinians for at least the last 15 years.

Schwartz argues that natural gas located off the coast of the Gaza Strip in Palestinian waters is at the heart of the last five major Israeli military actions against Palestine: Former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's orders for the Israeli navy to control Gaza's coastal waters in the early 2000s; Then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's blockade of the Gaza Strip on June 15, 2007; Operation Cast Lead in 2008; Operation Returning Echo in 2012; and Operation Protective Edge, which took place last summer.

Schwartz says an impending gas deal with Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest extractor of natural gas, was the precipitating factor behind Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip last summer, which led to the deaths of over 2,300 people and the displacement of another 500,000. Schwartz explained: "At the beginning of 2014, they [the Palestinians] had come to a preliminary agreement with Gazprom brokered by the Putin government with implicit promises that the Russian navy would protect their [Palestinian] facilities, and very explicitly saying, 'We're going to cut Israel out of it altogether.'"

Comment: Intervention - Deceit - Aggression - Invasion - War - Mass Murder - Destruction...
Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the impetus for senseless and insane acts against fellow humans. Sometimes we just have to scratch the surface to have it seep up into view. We have all heard that phrase, "its all about the oil!" When we truly examine motives for war, and acknowledge the bane-ness, singular mindset and pathology of our leadership, we come to the conclusion this simple phrase is one of the most fundamental of operative platforms. It may come disguised in more publicly-accepted packages, but the prize inside is still the unswerving, myopic power grab for resources regardless the cost, regardless the fallout. For Israel, there are no boundaries nor finesse, no conscience nor consequences. Oil: "My precious." (It may be better to be a "have not.")

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Dollar

Federal court rules top Bush-era officials can be sued for post-9/11 detentions


Sputnik
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:52 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/ Gene Boyars
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a group of immigrants can proceed with a lawsuit accusing top Bush administration officials of widespread abuses and racial profiling after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The plaintiffs are eight men who were arrested for minor immigration violations after 9/11 as a part of the government's aggressive effort to uncover terrorists. The men allege that they were held for months in New York and New Jersey solely because they were or were perceived to be Muslim or Arab.

"Detaining individuals as if they were terrorists, in the most restrictive conditions of confinement available, simply because these individuals were, or appeared to be, Arab or Muslim exceeds those limits," US District Judges Rosemary Pooler and Richard Wesley wrote in their 109-page decision.

"It might well be that national security concerns motivated the defendants to take action, but that is of little solace to those who felt the brunt of that decision. The suffering endured by those who were imprisoned merely because they were caught up in the hysteria of the days immediately following 9/11 is not without a remedy," the judges said.

Comment: Despite the fact that the majority of the Bush-ear officials should be locked up behind bars for war crimes, it's at least a little justice that these innocent victims are gaining some recompense for their victimization.

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Megaphone

Prof. Stephen Cohen: Powerful people in the West and in Kiev do not want peace in Ukraine


RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:05 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Jason Reed
Arguing that there is a peace and war party in almost every capital, Professor Stephen Cohen, scholar of Russian studies at Princeton and New York Universities, told RT he believes the war party in Washington is against the Minsk agreement.

US policies in Ukraine have failed to achieve their goals. With violence flaring up once again, and relations fraught with tensions, diplomacy seems to be the best option. But is there a consensus in the US on the acceptable terms of a political settlement, and how are the dynamics of US internal politics likely to affect its policy toward Russia, especially as the 2016 presidential race heats up?

To find answers to these questions RT's program "Worlds Apart" talked to Professor Stephen Cohen, Professor of Russian Studies and History Emeritus at NYU, and Professor of Politics Emeritus at Princeton University.

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