Mother Nature was apparently determined to see out 2014 with a bang, ramping up the extreme weather and Earth Changes in December. Snowstorms buried cities in Russia's Far east and Northeastern China, where a waterfall on the Yellow River partially froze. Japan was hit with record-breaking snowfall for the second time in a year, while a deep freeze in Northern India claimed at least 150 lives.

A week of non-stop electrical storms brought hail, flooding and widespread damage to Sydney, Australia, while a huge sinkhole swallowed three cars in Melbourne. Fish and whales continue to turn up dead in large numbers on coastlines and in freshwater lakes and rivers, thanks in part to increased volcanic activity, demonstrated above ground in December via eruptions in Indonesia, Mexico, Iceland, Cape Verde, Hawaii and Japan.

Drought-stricken Sao Paulo was inundated with rain, turning streets into rivers. Waterspouts appeared in Australia and the Mediterranean, a tornado hit downtown LA for the first time in decades, while another 'unseasonal' tornado outbreak in the U.S. South killed 5 and left dozens homeless. The "worst flooding in decades" hit Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Sri Lanka, where some quarter million people had to evacuate their homes.

A trail of storms pummelled the US West Coast, with landslides, mudslides, blizzards, and flash-flooding washing away homes and roads. Across the Atlantic, a so-called 'weather bomb' hit the UK and Ireland, bringing monster waves and hurricane-force winds. This was followed by a big freeze that brought blizzards to Western Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, where Malta received its first snow in over a half-century.

Spectacular meteor fireballs were filmed over Puerto Rico, Brazil, the US, Canada, Spain, and Japan. So-called 'mystery' booms shook homes in communities from the US to the UK. An incredible UFO sighting in Santiago, Chile, and the appearance of a bright glowing 'plasma light' over Lima, Peru rang in the New Year.

Buckle up for 2015; it's gonna be 'interesting'!

In recent months it's come to light that the U.S. government and allied Western powers have arrayed all of their economic, social, political, martial, and propagandizing forces against Russia and the leadership of its president, Vladimir Putin. Some of the policies, strategies and approaches towards destabilizing Russia are out in the open. Some less so. But this is where it gets most interesting. For while it was fairly easy to spot some of the aggression aimed at Russia from without, seeing it occur even more covertly from within is another story. Which brings us to some recent news.

The western media is now carrying the story of a protest on the streets of Manezh Square in Moscow which occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. At the center of the rally was Alexei Navalny, self-proclaimed "anti-corruption" blogger and head of the largest opposition movement of the leadership of Vladimir Putin and his administration in Russia. Navalny was just convicted of defrauding a cosmetics company of about $440,000 and given a suspended sentence of 3 1/2 years. Relating to the same case, his brother, Oleg, will be sent to prison for the same period of time. In 2013, Alexei Navalny was also tried and convicted of embezzling over $500,000 from the state-owned timber company Kirovles, where Navalny worked as a volunteer in 2009.

Credit Defaut Swap (CDS), mortgage backed security (MDS), bottom-up investment, high frequency trading, naked short sale... these are the kind of complicated terminology you encounter when you start exploring the financial jungle.

But don't be mislead. This overuse of jargon is designed to confuse and destroy any motivation to explore further. Clearly 'they' don't want you to understand because they are hiding some rather dirty secrets wrapped up in apparently complicated jargon.

Scratch beyond this seemingly complex veneer however, and the reality of finance is surprisingly simple... and disgusting. The objective of this article is to explain, in layman terms, finance principles and the slavery most individuals and states are subjected to. I will also show why things might soon change dramatically and offer some sound advice for such times of financial turmoil.

Dear Readers,

2014 is about to end, and if you have been following our website closely, you will be aware that it has been one heck of a year! By paying attention to the truth behind events as they unfold on our planet, you begin to see the world more as it is rather than as you would like it to be. That knowledge can bring you a certain sense of liberation, where you finally understand what is wrong with our world. With that understanding, you can then begin to make the choices that will change your life for the better, despite the increasing chaos all around you. As we're fond of saying, 'knowledge protects'. And that is what we wish you for the incoming year: Knowledge and awareness, and hence protection.

Saying goodbye to the year 2014, we'd like to tell you a little bit about our accomplishments, since you may not be aware of them all. We have reason to be proud. There is always much more we can do, but this year, just as we thought our plates were too full, thanks to our readers' support, and the impetus from many new volunteers around the world, we have been expanding!

The SOTT Talk Radio Show has now become the SOTT Radio Network, with three different shows: "Behind the Headlines" (Sundays), "The Truth Perspective" (Saturdays), and "Atando cabos" (Saturdays, in Spanish). Listeners from all over the world listen in and participate. If you haven't tuned in yet, you're missing out! More shows are planned for 2015, including a show on health, psychology and well-being, to be launched in early January.

Some articles we picked up this year 'went viral' in 2014 (such as this one, this one and this one), and we have also been producing much more original content. In addition to our SOTT Focus articles, SOTT Exclusive articles analyze and summarize breaking news events and global trends. Meanwhile, our Earth Changes Summary monthly videos are now being translated into multiple languages, including French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Croatian, Russian, and Vietnamese. Recognizing how important these "signs of the times" are, people have been sharing them far and wide on social media.

This year we also launched SOTT WorldView, a visual, interactive map of world events that lets you read the news in a whole new way by seeing the links between different types of events for any chosen time period. Check it out, and search according to the parameters that interest you most. We have also been working hard to release, early in 2015, SOTT.net in 5 new languages: Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek and Croatian. More and more people are going to be able to read our news, without being hindered by language barriers!

In this week's show, we gave an update on the stock markets, the precarious economy and discussed how large numbers of Americans are living at or near poverty levels, with large numbers requiring federal assistance just to make ends meet. In the next part of the show we discuss the unusual number of airline mishaps that have occurred globally with an unsettling cluster happening in late December.

Next, a discussion of the increasing numbers of meteorites and comets that have been reported; how they have historically impacted the global climate and have been responsible for the demise of civilizations and what that means for us today. We then recap another hot topic that has caused much debate in the media: vaccines and their efficacy, or rather the lack thereof and the media hype over seasonal flu. Finally, a discussion of UFO sightings and the CIA's involvement and disinformation campaign surrounding the phenomenon.

Running Time: 01:46:00

Download: MP3

I want to like French economist and best-selling author, Thomas Piketty. Anyone who backhands Hollande et al by refusing the legion d'honneur on the grounds that governments wouldn't know honor if it bit them on the ass, has to be awesome.

Alas, Piketty is not so awesome. While the statement that a state has no right to decide what is, or is not, honorable is philosophically interesting and implies a mind capable of extra-ordinary thought, the idea of progressive taxation, which is what Piketty espouses, implies utter stupidity.

"So, we made it through 2012 and now, we've got another year notched on our belt in addition: we made it through 2013 and the world still hasn't ended. Or has it?

I would propose that the World As We Knew It ended on 11 September 2001, over 12 years ago. We don't live in the same reality anymore (in case you haven't noticed)."

~ Laura Knight-Jadczyk, 'Happy New Year 2014?'

2014 has been quite a year! The elites have pulled out all the stops on the drive to determine who will be (or continue to be) the "king of the hill" on the Big Blue Marble. We here at Sott.net have taken great pleasure in bringing you a breakdown of the daily intrigue, but now we'd like to take a moment to reflect on the massive changes that have occurred throughout the year.

Overall many of the trends that we've seen played out this year slide right along with what Laura Knight-Jadczyk predicted in December of 2013:

• Pandemics
• Social upheaval
• Financial meltdown
• Climate chaos

And as we look back over the year we see that many things stayed the same: Israel butchered Palestinians, NATO armed terrorist groups and financed their enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the West continued to disintegrate. Israel and NATO combined to put the lives of 15 million children in terrible jeopardy. But overall the trend towards the emergence of a new economic order seemed to arch over all of these developments "on the ground".

In concert with the political chaos, social chaos continued this year with dozens of popular anti-austerity and anti-establishment protests around the world, including major protests in the US against the pervasive police brutality that afflicts that nation.

The earth continued to groan and shake, and each of us has faced difficult decisions that have shaped our futures. In this article we'll remind you of major events in our cosmic and planetary environment, in the global geopolitical sphere and the effects it may be having on the human level. Hold on for a wild ride through the year of 2014!

Electronics and media giant Sony was hacked last month by a group of hackers calling themselves the "Guardians of Peace" or GOP. The group claims they stole over 100 terabytes of data, which has been slowly trickling out via torrent peer-to-peer software. The data ranges from employee emails and personal information to financial and other proprietary data. A lot of it is pretty funny, here's a short list:

• Hollywood Executives Think Jaden and Willow Smith Are Crazy, Too
• Leaked Emails: Sony Execs Scared of "Desperately Unfunny" Interview
• Sony Left Personal Data for Millions Unprotected

The ensuing media circus comes at a time when the US is embroiled in a bitter culture war over the way police treat and interact with everyday people. President Obama played his part by announcing the beginning of 'normalization policy' towards Cuba, and he also came out and commented on the hack itself, making sure everyone knew about it one way or another. Both stories broke on the same day and seemingly flooded the airwaves. The talking heads rejoiced; the change in the subject from the previous two weeks of cops getting away with murder, the resulting civil unrest, and gruesome details revealing that the US government (aka CIA) tortured (or rather tortures) innocent people, was quite welcome.

The sad reality is that Eric Garner and Michael Brown's deaths are merely the tip of a huge iceberg, one in which police can bully, assault, kill and/or otherwise harass individuals who are either innocent of any wrong-doing or suspected of - at worst - minor, non-violent crimes. The system is designed to protect and serve these officers. The topic is being summarily dismissed by police union chiefs and other representatives of the establishment, because if these protests continue and real reform is actually implemented, they will lose a lot of the authority they have and be held accountable for criminal behavior - something they most definitely do not want.

To wrap of 2014, The Truth Perspective reviewed some of the global trends in the world over the past year. Among the many topics discussed in this year-end show are: Israel's laws and its progression into an exclusively Jewish State, the IDF's attack of Gaza, the developments in Ferguson Missouri, police state U.S.A., flight MH17, the Ebola scare, and more. The hosts also discussed a few things about Christmas you may not know which add to the earlier program about early Christianity.

Running Time: 01:48:00

Download: MP3

In an article published on RT last month, the father of an eight-year-old boy who died in the UK in the 1980s alleged that his son may have been abducted and murdered by members of a Westminster pedophile ring, and further claims that Scotland Yard were complicit in "covering up" the crime.

Vishambar Mehrotra, a retired magistrate, said he recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that Mehrotra's son Vishal may have been abducted in the notorious Elm Guest House in southwest London in 1981. Mehrotra also said despite playing the recording for police officers, they refused to investigate allegations that high-profile judges and politicians were involved in the kidnapping of his son.

After watching the wedding procession of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in July 1981, Vishal Mehrotra was abducted as he walked home in the Putney area of London. Newspaper reports at the time claim Mehrotra's home was less than a mile from the Elm Guest House, where witnesses said a "kings and queens" party was being hosted. Part of Vishal's skeleton was found in 1982 in woodlands in West Sussex. According to coroners' reports, there was no trace of his legs, spine or clothing.

Elm House was raided in June 1982 and dozens of men with high public profiles were questioned. Although none were implicated, it is believed the raids were connected to the disappearance of Vishal, as well as another boy, 15-year-old Martin Allen.

Mehrotra told theTelegraph:

"I was contacted by a young man who seemed to be in his 20s. He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by pedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common."

"He said there were very highly placed people there. He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys."

"At that time I trusted the police. But when nothing happened, I became confused and concerned. Now it is clear to me that there has been a huge cover-up. There is no doubt in my mind."

Martin Allen's disappearance has also been linked to the notorious Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, and the alleged VIP pedophile brothel. But when the Sunday People reported that when the boy's older brother pushed for more to be done on the case, saying he believed a top level cover-up was hiding the circumstance of the teenager's disappearance, he was told to "stop talking like that, you might get hurt."

Mr Allen, 51, now believes the files relating to Martin have been destroyed or lost to avoid solving the mystery that has haunted his family for 35 years. As reported in the Daily Mail last month, he said:

"I've no faith in the police. They failed us.

Within a couple of months of Martin disappearing, my father said: 'There's something not right here.'

Police weren't doing enough. They went through the motions.

So it didn't surprise me when a senior officer warned me I could get hurt."

Mr Allen said he always believed there was 'Establishment involvement' in his brother's disappearance.

Jackie Malton, now retired from Scotland Yard, was a detective sergeant when she worked on the case and said the investigation could have been compromised by the "power of politicians" at the time. Regarding the tape recording Mr Mehrotra played for the police, she said, "the culture of policing at the time meant it was possible the recording was ignored and the murder covered up due to the alleged involvement of senior figures at Westminster." Talking to the Telegraph, Mrs Malton added:

"There was also a strong sense of the power of Parliament and of politicians. It was very much a case of 'do as you are told'," she claimed. "There was certainly a culture of disbelief among the officers, and that often didn't help to get to the truth. But the politicians were very much in power, and the police officers' voices could often not be heard. It's very different now. Back then, people were nowhere near as accountable for their actions."

Really!? If there truly is more 'accountability' nowadays - then where is the justice? Why are these sick, psychopathic perverts in positions of power never held accountable for their depraved, vile crimes? Before we look at their Modus Operandi, we first need to understand the environment (social, political, cultural, religious and business) in which these highly placed and influential individuals generally dwell - namely, the 'Establishment'.