Puppet MastersS

War Whore

Navy admiral warns of China's growing ballistic missile threat to U.S.

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© APChinese aircraft carrier Liaoning
China's advanced cruise and ballistic missiles pose a significant threat in future conflict with the United States, the chief of naval operations (CNO) warned last week.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the CNO, also said during a security conference Friday that China is building a second aircraft carrier that could be deployed in the not too distant future.

However, China's current single carrier force is still under development and the Chinese are incapable of conducting aircraft strike operations from the refurbished Soviet-era carrier now called the Liaoning, Greenert said following a recent visit to China, where he toured the carrier.

Asked what Chinese weapons systems he is most concerned about if the United States went to war with China, Greenert noted Beijing's growing arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles.

War Whore

North Korean military official threatens to nuke White House and Pentagon after U.S. military drills raise tensions

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© AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-JeUS Marines get out from an amphibious assault vehicle during a joint military exercise with their South Korean counterparts at Pohang, on March 31, 2014
A top-ranking North Korean military official has threatened a nuclear strike on the White House and Pentagon after accusing Washington of raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The threat came from Hwang Pyong-So, director of the military's General Political Bureau, during a speech to a large military rally in Pyongyang Sunday on the anniversary of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Hwang, who holds the rank of vice marshal in the Korean People's Army, said a recent series of South Korea-US military drills, one of which included the deployment of a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier, had ramped up tensions.

"If the US imperialists threaten our sovereignty and survival... our troops will fire our nuclear-armed rockets at the White House and the Pentagon -- the sources of all evil," Hwang said in his speech broadcast Monday on state television.

Safe

The ticking time bomb of the shadow banking system

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© Texasenterprise.utexas.edu
One thing to be said for the women now heading the Federal Reserve and the IMF: compared to some of their predecessors, they are refreshingly honest. The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2nd:
Two of the world's most powerful women of finance sat down for a lengthy discussion Wednesday on the future of monetary policy in a post-crisis world: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Before a veritable who's-who in international economics packing the IMF's largest conference hall, the two covered all the hottest topics in debate among the world's central bankers, financiers and economists.
Among those hot topics was the runaway shadow banking system, defined by Investopedia as "The financial intermediaries involved in facilitating the creation of credit across the global financial system, but whose members are not subject to regulatory oversight. The shadow banking system also refers to unregulated activities by regulated institutions." Examples given include hedge funds, derivatives and credit default swaps.

Comment: Earlier this year, Sott's editors interviewed author Ellen Brown. Have a listen or read a transcript of the interview below.

SOTT Talk Radio: Interview with 'Web of Debt' author Ellen Brown - How the banking system controls the world


Pistol

Did Kiev fighter jet shoot down Malaysian MH17 after mistaking it for Putin's plane?

The tragedy of Malaysian MH 017 continues to elude any light of clarity being cast over it. The flight recorders are in England and are evaluated. What can come of it? Maybe more than you would assume. Especially the voice recorder will be interesting when you look at the picture of a cockpit fragment. As an expert in aviation I closely looked at the images of the wreckage that are circulating on the Internet.

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First, I was amazed at how few photos can be found from the wreckage with Google. All are in low resolution, except one: The fragment of the cockpit below the window on the pilots side. This image, however, is shocking. In Washington, you can now hear views expresssed of a "potentially tragic error / accident" regarding MH 017. Given this particular cockpit image it does not surprise me at all.

Gold Coins

10 major outcomes of BRICS summit

brics 2014
© Reuters / Paulo Whitaker
The 6th BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, has highlighted the increasing role of emerging countries in international affairs and their ability to share strategic interests and approaches while reaching for their development goals.

In my opinion, the top 10 outcomes of the event are:

1. The meeting started the second cycle of BRICS summits. This time it focused on sustainable solutions for inclusive growth. It confirmed common interests in broadening multidimensional cooperation, including mutual trade and investment. With combined GDP around 21% of global volume, 20% of global trade and 11% of accumulated investments, the five countries represent one of the largest markets in the world.

Comment: It will be very interesting to follow how the BRICS countries' alternative framework comes together in the face of a collapsing dollar. When the dollar goes, the other oppressive functions of a faltering US-led empire will go with it.

See also:

The birth of a Eurasian century: Russia and China do Pipelineistan

Moving towards a multipolar world: BRICS countries to set up their own IMF

The Geopolitics of the Eurasian Economic Union


Quenelle - Golden

Syrian President Assad's inauguration speech - On Gaza, the 'Arab Spring' and Arab monarchies: 'They all answer to one master'

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was sworn in on 16th July 2014 before the members of the People's Assembly.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, the President delivered a comprehensive speech. This video clip is an extract from his speech.

Note how he says it all comes down to one primary objective in the Middle East: Israel's liquidation of Gazans.

In light of the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza, perhaps it's not such crazy talk after all...


Transcript of full speech

Mr. Potato

Atlanticist pipe-dream! UK PM David Cameron wants EU to spread into Asia

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David Cameron wants to see America's EU project conquer Eurasia
David Cameron triggered a backlash yesterday after suggesting the European Union should open its doors to new members "from the Atlantic to the Urals".

The Prime Minister made the hugely provocative pro-EU speech on the day Croatia became the Union's 28th member state as he toured the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

Talking to Kazakh students in the capital Astana he said: "Britain has always supported the widening of the EU.

"Our vision of the EU is that it should be a large trading and co-operating organisation that effectively stretches, as it were, from the Atlantic to the Urals.

"We have a wide vision of Europe and have always encouraged countries that want to join."

The Urals mark the unofficial border between Europe and Asia in Russia.

His remarks indicate that he believes that Ukraine, once known as the bread basket of the USSR, should be admitted to the EU.

They come as British MPs prepare for a crunch vote on an in/out referendum this Friday.

Comment: This is the Atlantic Empire's pathetic response to Eurasian integration, as outlined in Putin's speech earlier this month regarding a "humanitarian and economic union from Lisbon to Vladivostok."

The EU extending "from the Atlantic to the Urals" is never going to happen because of the Russian-Chinese alliance, but it's nevertheless instructive regarding Atlanticists' dreams of world domination. For such a scenario to happen, for starters, they'd need to force regime change in Moscow.


Coffee

Moscow answers back: US will feel 'tangible losses' from 'destructive, myopic' sanctions

putin subtle bird
The new round of American economic sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis will only further worsen relations between Washington and Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"Washington will gain nothing from such decisions except for further complication of Russian-American relations and the creation of an unfavorable atmosphere in international affairs, where the cooperation between our countries often plays a key role," the statement by the ministry reads.

"We have repeatedly spoken about the illegitimacy and groundlessness of the US sanctions against Russia," it said, commenting on a new package of sanctions announced by Washington on Tuesday.

In addition to steps taken earlier, the US has now added four new names to the list of Russia-affiliated entities sanctioned by Washington, including the Bank of Moscow, the Russian Agricultural Bank and VTB Bank OAO, as well as the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation.

Comment: Putin blamed for #MH17 to launch attack on BRICS creation of real world bank to replace US fake world bank


Dollar

These anti-FATCA countries are giving the US the middle finger

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In just over one month, the United States government will have full implementation of one of the most arrogant and draconian assaults on sovereignty in modern human history: FATCA.

While you are likely familiar with FATCA, let's review: a few years ago, the Obama-led US government decided to go on a campaign of massive financial imperialism, passing a let that forced every other sovereign nation on earth to be an unpaid tattletale for the IRS.

Basically, the US used its unique position as a center for global movement of cash to impose a special 30% "withholding tax" on the assets of any foreign financial institution - offshore banks, brokerage houses, etc. - that refuse to turn over all financial details on US persons to the IRS.

Banks like TD Bank in Canada have reported that becoming FATCA compliant has cost them at least $100 million. For all of American liberals' complaints of "creating jobs offshore", the booming FATCA compliance industry seems to be doing just that, as banks spend billions of dollars to cater to American whims.

Comment:
"Due to the complicated and tedious requirements, U.S. citizens living in other countries are losing jobs, banking accounts, pension funds, insurance contracts, and are being turned away as clients and business associates. In addition, FATCA will financially impact citizens at home since it doesn't pay for itself. This boondoggle is creating serious backlash for the U.S. economy and goodwill abroad."

Lawmakers warn Russian banks against giving up data under US FATCA



Stock Down

Ukraine pipelines to decline 50% in value with Russian South Stream project

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© AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky

The South Stream gas pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine, may halve the value of Ukraine's gas transportation system (GTS), according to Andrey Kobolev the head of Ukraine's Naftogaz.

After the Russian - led South Stream project is complete and working at full capacity, the value of Ukraine's GTS may fall as much 50 percent from the present estimate of $25-$35 billion, RIA Novosti quotes the head of the company.

"We have no wish to lose it, and it's unreasonable," Kobolev said on a Ukrainian local TV channel.

Construction of the South Stream pipeline in Bulgaria and Serbia was suspended following pressure from the EU to comply with competition law. After a while construction resumed.

"They [Gazprom] are ready to invest their own 15 billion euro in South Stream construction ... This gas pipeline will take away from the Ukrainian transit potentially up to 60 billion cubic meters. Currently the transit carries 86 billion cubic meters," Kobolev said.

Comment: For more information see: Austria and Russia sign $45 billion South Stream gas pipeline treaty... as Gazprom seeks to bypass US-occupied Ukraine