This Is Syria’s “Kuwaiti Moment,” Comparable To Their Infamous Incubator Baby-Bashing Provocation

[American drone strikes in Pakistan have easily matched these reported numbers on Syrian child casualties and even exceeded them.  One reported strike on a madrassa in 2006 killed between 70-80 students, most of them were non-combatat children (SEE: Pakistan school raid sparks anger).]

Syria crisis: Houla child massacre confirmed by UN

UN’s Maj-Gen Robert Mood: “Deaths were an unacceptable attack” Amateur footage contained within this clip purportedly shows a mass burial

UN observers have counted at least 90 bodies, including 32 children, after a Syrian government attack on a town.

UN mission head Maj-Gen Robert Mood told the BBC the killing in Houla was “indiscriminate and unforgivable”.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would seek a strong international response to the “appalling crime” – France and the Arab League have also condemned the massacre.

Syria’s government has blamed the deaths on “armed terrorist gangs”.

This is one of the bloodiest attacks in one area since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

Activists say some of the victims died by shelling, while others were summarily executed, or butchered by the regime militia known as the “shabiha”.

France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and the Arab League also condemned Friday’s assault.

Mr Fabius said he was making immediate arrangements for a Paris meeting of the Friends of Syria group, which includes Western and Arab nations, but not Russia or China, who have blocked previous attempts to introduce UN sanctions.

Fighting in Syria has continued despite the deployment of some 250 UN observers monitoring a cease-fire brokered by UN envoy Kofi Annan – a ceasefire which the BBC’s Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says is now “pretty fictional”.

The UN says at least 10,000 have been killed since the protests began.

UN ‘refused to come’

Mr Hague said he would be calling for an urgent session of the UN Security Council in the coming days.

Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi called the assault a “horrific crime” and urged the Security Council to “stop the escalation of killing and violence by armed gangs and government military forces,” the Reuters news agency reports.

The opposition Free Syrian Army says it can no longer commit to the ceasefire unless the Security Council can ensure that civilians are protected, the AFP news agency reports.

Horrific video footage has emerged from Houla of dozens of dead children, covered in blood, their arms and legs strewn over one another. It is unverified, but our correspondent says such images would be difficult to fake.

International media cannot report freely in Syria and it is impossible to verify reports of violence.

A team of UN observers visited the town on Saturday and afterwards Maj-Gen Mood said they could confirm “the use of small arms, machine gun[s], artillery and tanks.”

But he did not say who was behind the killings.

“Whoever started, whoever responded, and whoever carried out this deplorable act of violence should be held responsible.”

Our correspondent says local people are angry that the observers failed to intervene to stop the killing.

Abu Emad, speaking from Houla, said their appeals to the monitors failed to produce action.

“We told them at night, we called seven of them. We told them the massacre is being committed right now at Houla by the mercenaries of this regime and they just refused to come and stop the massacre.”

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said more than 110 people died. The SNC’s Ausama Monajed told the BBC the regime was selecting vulnerable towns to “teach the entire country a lesson”.

“It is beyond humanity what we have seen,” he said.

Activists called a day of mourning on Saturday.

The BBC’s correspondent Paul Wood and cameraman Fred Scott report from the rebel stronghold of Rastan

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Security Council, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian opposition controlled “significant parts of some cities”.

He said that “established terrorist groups” could have been behind some of the recent bomb blasts in Syria judging from the sophistication of the attacks.

He said the situation remained “extremely serious” and urged states not to arm either side in the conflict.

Earlier this month, a bombing in Damascus left 55 dead in an attack which the government blamed on al-Qaeda. The attack came amid mounting fears that the terrorist group was taking advantage of the conflict to gain a foothold.

On Thursday, a UN-mandated panel said Syrian security forces were to blame for most abuses in the conflict, which has continued despite the presence of the UN observers.

Mr Annan’s six-point peace agreement ordered a cessation of violence on 12 April. While casualties appeared to fall after the truce, the fighting quickly resumed to previous levels.

Russian Religious Relics Transferred To Chapel On Russian 201st Mil. Base In Dushanbe

“They are the spiritual support of our troops on the eve of such a serious test ( “Peace Mission – 2012.”  ). “ 

[Why do Russian troops in Tajikistan need such a spiritual empowerment before these anti-terrorism war games?]

SCO anti-terrorist exercises held under the auspices of Sv.Matrony, power transferred to Tajikistan

Ferghana

May 25, 2012

The relics of St. Matrona of Moscow were delivered to 201 Russian military base stationed in Tajikistan , according to ITAR-TASS . In the summer of Tajikistan must pass anti-terrorism exercises SCO “Peace Mission – 2012.” It is reported that the patron saint Matron will exercise participants.

As said in the press service of the Central Military District, “the power of Matrona of Moscow directed to the church-chapel, located on a military base. They are the spiritual support of our troops on the eve of such a serious test. “ On the occasion of delivery of the relics in the church, the chapel served a prayer service and Akathist, during the day all orthodox military and civilian personnel can connect to touch the relics.

The SCO includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the status of observer organizations are Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan. Will all participants to patronize Matron exercises, participants, or Muslim or Buddhist appoint other patron saints, is not specified.

The international news agency “Fergana”

End of Turkmen gas bluff

26/05/2012 Innocent Adyasov Western investors, receiving illegal ways of the technical documentation for the development of “super-giant” fields “South Iolotan-Osman,” questioned the estimates of Turkmen specialists. Russia has gone virtually unnoticed event that can radically affect the fate of alternative pipelines bypassing Russia and greatly increase the chances of the “South Stream”.Western investors, receiving illegal ways of the technical documentation for the development of “super-giant” fields “South Iolotan-Osman,” questioned the estimates of Turkmen specialists. The field “Southern Yoloten-Osman” in the last year acquired the status of “super-giant.”(November 18, 2011, Turkmen President signed a decree ordering the name field Southern Iolotan-Osman, Minar and its surrounding field gas field “Galkynysh”). Turkmen authorities before the event liked to refer to the results of an “independent audit of gas reserves” held by the British company Gaffney, Cline & Associates, the optimal estimate of the field was 6 trillion cubic meters, which put the “Southern Yoloten-Osman” in its size at the fifth or fourth in the world. Before its opening all of the proven natural gas reserves in Turkmenistan did not exceed 3 trillion cubic meters. Recently, estimates have been confirmed by British experts state corporation “Turkmengeologiya”, which tested three new exploration wells in the field. Soon, however, revealed that the gas reserves are overestimated by several times. And the inflated results were confirmed by the auditors of Gaffney, Cline & Associates simply because they did their calculations are not based on independent analysis of the results of drilling, but on the basis of data obtained by the Turkmen specialists. Turkmen authorities are now trying to find the source of information leakage, but it is clear that for the development of the above deposit will have to conduct a new and truly independent examination. Experts have long doubted the possibility of producing gas from the field at low cost. Thus, the Russian expert Sergey Pravosudov pointed out that the gas from South Iolotan contains large amounts of hydrogen sulfide, which significantly increases the cost of its production. According Pravosudova, “this is about the same gas as the Astrakhan deposit in Russia, where the reserves are more than two trillion cubic meters. Production there – instead of 70-100 billion cubic meters of gas per year produced a total of 15 billion, because it is very expensive gas, it is very deep, at a depth of more than four kilometers.Even if all the favorable conditions of the project once implemented and Turkmen gas to Europe will fall by NABUCCO, or some other project, this gas is very expensive, at least, it will not be cheaper than the Russian, and probably even much more expensive ” . In addition, it is the largest Turkmen gas field is actually “laid” Ashgabat Chinese investors.China’s CNPC, along with “Turkmengas” – the main operator of the South Iolotan. According to experts, China’s investment in the development of this field may be more than five billion dollars. Beijing has confirmed that he was ready to take all of the export volumes of Turkmen gas by the mid 2012 shipments will increase to 30 billion cubic meters by 2015 to expand the capacity of Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan – Kazakhstan – China to 65 billion cubic meters. At the same time, South Iolotan together with the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz regarded the EU as its main resource base for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline and NABUCCO. In the framework of the “Shah-Deniz 2″ Azerbaijan will deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. At its peak, as the first stage of this gas field, the amount of stock which amounts to 1.2 trillion cubic meters, it was supposed to produce about 8.6 billion – nine billion cubic meters of gas. It is not extracted volumes were pre-contracted by Turkey, Greece and Georgia. It is expected that the peak production of the first stage of “Shah-Deniz” was supposed to go next year. But those plans went awry – in 2011 began in Azerbaijan godkov severe downturn in oil and gas. According to the SSC of the country, the amount produced in Azerbaijan in 2011 crude oil amounted to 45.4 million tons, up 10.7 percent less than in 2010. Last year it was produced only 25.7 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 2.5 percent less than in 2010. In general, the GDP of the oil sector of Azerbaijan in 2011 declined by 9.3 percent over the previous year. The fall in production and affected the “Shah-Deniz”.This is confirmed by data published by the operator of the project – the company «BP-Azerbaijan». According to these data, in the last year of the contract area, “Shah Deniz” managed to get just 6.67 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 222 million cubic meters less than in 2010. Over the past year has also dropped the amount of condensate production: it produced 1.8 million tons of condensate (14 million barrels), against 1.9 million tonnes in 2010. That is not in Central Asia or Azerbaijan are no free resources for NABOCCO (China intends to contract not only the main exports of Turkmen gas, but all the volumes of gas exports to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). As is known, the minimum required for the pipeline NABUCCO 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Under these circumstances, greatly increase the chances of the Russian project “South Stream”, which was clearly slipping in recent years. But Russia will have to find the free volumes of gas for this project because a monopoly on the transit of Turkmen in Moscow and the whole Central Asian gas, unfortunately, a thing of the past.

Source :: news agency REGNUM

Taliban Are Pak Army “Irregular Forces,” NOT Pashtun Nationalists

Taliban are Pak Army proxies, not Pashtun nationalists – VI

By Farhat Taj

If Pakistan stops backing Taliban commanders, Pashtuns will not protest

There are three groups of Pashtuns fighting the US/NATO and Afghan security forces in Afghanistan – the Peshawar Shura led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the North Waziristan based Haqqani Network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, and the Quetta Shura led by Mullah Omar. All three of them are closely linked with the military establishment of Pakistan.

A section of Hekmatyar’s party has already given up violence and is part of the current Afghan government and parliament. Many of the remaining prominent party leaders are frustrated with Hekmatyar’s rigid stance and have privately said they are willing to give up violence for a peaceful political process.

Hekmatyar’s son in law Ghairat Baheer has recently met Afghan President Hamid Karzai to speed up the process of peaceful political settlement in Afghanistan. The group is therefore likely to have a role in Afghanistan’s future political set-up. But that cannot be said about the other two groups.

The Haqqani Network is led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, but its operations are controlled by his son Sirajuddin Haqqani. The group has attacked US, NATO and Afghan forces, and is also accused of attacking Afghan civilians and development workers sent by India to help rebuild the Afghan infrastructure. The US accuses Pakistan of supporting the Haqqani Network and using it as a tool in Afghanistan.

Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani said last month that Pakistan Army had conducted more than 1,000 military operations in FATA in 2009 and 2010. Pakistan’s Air Force chief had reportedly said in Dubai that more than 10,600 bombs have been dropped on FATA since 2008. But no leading Taliban commanders have been captured or killed in FATA during this period. Those in FATA who are critical of the military establishment say Taliban are not captured or killed, but handed over to leaders of the Haqqani Network.

And while most of the media attention is on Waziristan, a lot of jihadi activities are taking place in the Pashtun belt in Baluchistan. NATO commanders have repeatedly described the area as major command centre for expanding cross-border attacks on the US/NATO and Afghans forces. The Quetta Shura have also been accused of targeted killings of Pashtun tribal leaders and clerics who advocated against Taliban militancy in Pashtun villages in Afghanistan.

Mao Tse-tung once said that guerrilla freedom fighters must live among their people as fish swim in the sea. History shows that almost all genuine guerrilla fighters have come back to fight the foreign aggression amid their people with their help after necessary training abroad. If the Afghan Taliban are so confident of the Pashtun public support in Afghanistan, why don’t they go back to Afghanistan and fight the US/NATO forces with the public support? Why do they sneak in, strike and run back?

In fact Afghans, both Pashtun and non-Pashtun, accuse Pakistan and more specifically the Punjabis of nurturing the insurgents in Afghanistan. Many of the Pashtun in FATA also accuse Pakistan Army of backing the Taliban or not supporting local anti-Taliban forces. Just because the Pakistani media is not showing Pashtun anger does not mean it does not exist on the ground.

The Pashtun nationalists and generally all other anti-Taliban Pashtun from all socio-economic statuses and statures in Afghanistan and Pakistan are well known people in their communities. Their names, faces, addresses, and tribal or family affiliations are there for the whole world to see. They stand firmly on their native soil in the face of Taliban atrocities. Contrary to this, most of the Taliban commanders and foot soldiers do not even show their masked faces in public. The Pashtun people do not even know who is behind those masks – Punjabis, Arabs, Uzbeks, culturally uprooted Muslim immigrant terrorists from the Western countries, or Pashtun outlaws?

Most of the Pakistani Taliban also do not operate in the areas they claim to belong to or represent. The popularity of Mullah Omar, the Haqqanis, Gul Bahader, Mullah Nazir and Mullah Faqir is a myth perpetuated by incompetent researchers. The same analysts had said Mullah Fazlullah was popular in Swat. But the locals welcomed his ouster. Now that he is gone, nobody is protesting. And if Pakistan stops backing other Afghan and Pakistani Taliban commanders, no Pashtuns will protest.

Syria, Yemen and America’s Quest for Imperial Dominance:

Syria, Yemen, & America’s Quest for Imperial Dominance

Neo-Imperialism by Faux-Democracy, Terrorism, & Propaganda.

At the G8 summit last week, President Obama and other officials in his administration, began utilizing the talking point of Yemen being a model to be emulated in Syria. Ostensibly, they were referring to the “peaceful” transition of power in Yemen as an example of what they would like to see in Syria.

However, the comparison goes much deeper than simply this superficial connection. The truth is that Yemen represents, in more ways than one, the blueprint that the US imperialist ruling class would like to see applied to the escalating conflict in Syria.

Puppet Regimes and Faux Democracy

The “transition” of power in Yemen, from Saleh to Hadi, is a prime example of the hypocrisy of US policy, touting it as a victory for democracy while concealing the obvious fact that it was the creation of a puppet regime.

Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has been presented as the legitimate leader of Yemen, despite the fact that he was the U.S. choice to govern that country. His legitimacy depended on the myth of a democratically elected regime; the US propagates this myth wantonly, pretending that people won’t remember that Hadi ran unopposed in February.

If the purpose of democracy is to create forms of governance accountable to the citizenry and to establish a government that is truly representative of the people’s desires, then it would be an outright lie to call the Hadi administration anything close to a democracy.

In fact, as recent developments in Yemen have shown, his regime is nothing more than a puppet government, put in power by the United States in order to allow the CIA and other shadowy entities free reign to use drones, Special Forces, and other covert operations in what is supposedly a sovereign nation.

Not only is Hadi, the former vice President under Saleh, not democratically elected, he is the antithesis of progress in a country that was on the front lines of the Arab Spring. The people who marched through the streets of Sanaa and other cities across Yemen did so with the intention of effecting change in a country which, in the eyes of many, was seen as a backwards dictatorship.

However, despite all the rhetoric about hope, change, and progress from the US State Department and the White House, President Obama and his minions, including John Brennan (counter-terrorism advisor and frequent representative of Obama in Yemen), immediately lent their support to Hadi. The betrayal came as no surprise to any informed observer as the United States was only interested in its own strategic interests in the region.

US Tactics and the Geopolitical Imperative in Yemen

US interest in Yemen is certainly not rooted in altruism or a desire to promote democratic ideals. On the contrary, it is the application of a long-standing geopolitical strategy to control international trade through the Mandab Strait and Suez Canal, access to African raw materials, and most specifically, block the expansion of Chinese economic influence in both the Middle East and Africa.

For these reasons, the United States has a keen interest in both Yemen and Somalia, desperate to maintain chaos in those countries so as to prevent stable, nationalist leaders from emerging. In so doing, Washington once again shows itself to be an imperialist aggressor, interested only in maintaining and expanding the empire.

The tactics of this strategy are myriad. First and foremost, the US, in accordance with long-standing policy dating back to the Carter administration, uses the red herring of “Islamic extremism” and terrorism, to justify any actions it deems necessary for the advancement of its own agenda. In places like Afghanistan and Yemen, the enemy is Al-Qaeda which must be fought with US military might, while in Libya and Syria, Al-Qaeda is an ally fighting against the oppressive regimes of Gaddafi and Assad. This duplicity should come as no surprise since Washington’s foreign policy is based on expanding US hegemony rather than promoting any ideals.

The second aspect of America’s imperialist strategy is the fomenting of ethnic, tribal, and other sectarian conflicts. In doing so, Washington is able to prevent the emergence of any form of nationalism that, by definition, would stand in opposition to US imperialism. One must simply look across the Mandab Strait for an example of this strategy: Somalia.

A nation of strategic and geographical importance, Somalia has been effectively destroyed by US policy over the last twenty years, having been transformed from a proud nation to a loose collection of tribal groups dominated by repugnant warlords with no regard for national identity.

In Yemen, we’ve seen this strategy employed vis-à-vis the Huthi rebellion, the propagandistic use of tribal groups as proxies of Saudi Arabia, Iran, or whomever the US wants to demonize, and countless other examples of these sorts of divisive tactics. In this way, the imperialists are able to keep Yemen fragmented, using it as a pawn on the geopolitical chessboard.

A Connection Between Yemen and Syria?

With all this talk about Yemen, the question might be, “So, what’s this got to do with Syria?” The answer to this question can be found in an analysis of the social movements of the two countries. In Syria, just as in Yemen, there is a real, pro-democracy opposition that took to the streets in hopes of forcing reforms. Both movements began with high-minded ideals and sought to end what they perceived to be the outdated rule of dictatorial leaders.

However, unlike Yemen, Syria has been under assault by West-sponsored, foreign mercenary terrorists who have usurped the title of “opposition”, thereby making the real opposition into a mere irrelevancy on the international stage. The United States and its proxies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and elsewhere are responsible for this reprehensible turn of events.

And so, when the Obama administration claims that the Yemeni model is the best course of action in Syria, what they mean is that their tactics of subversion through terrorism are simply a means to an end. Just as in Yemen, the United States seeks to topple Assad and install a puppet government, one that would be comfortable under the thumb of the imperialist ruling class.

The US has no interest in protecting the rights of the ethnic and religious minorities or the real opposition (namely the National Coordinating Committee and the Popular front) in Syria, just as they had little interest in furthering the democratic aspirations of the people of Yemen. Rather, Obama and those who control him, seek regime change in Syria in order to use that nation as a geopolitical chess piece against Iran, Russia and any other nation unfortunate enough to be deemed an “enemy” of the United States.

Eric Draitser of StopImperialism.com

This this article was first published at Land Destroyer

CNBC Predicting Bank Runs In Spain and Italy, Financial Anarchy Throughout Europe

US CNBC Predicting Bank Runs In Spain & Italy & Financial Anarchy Throughout Europe

During an appearance on Meet The Press on Sunday, Jim Cramer of CNBC boldly predicted that “financial anarchy” is coming to Europe and that there will be “bank runs” in Spain and Italy in the next few weeks.

This is very strong language for the most famous personality on the most watched financial news channel in the United States to be using.  In fact, if Cramer is not careful, people will start accusing him of sounding just like The Economic Collapse Blog.

It may not happen in “the next few weeks”, but the truth is that the European banking system is in a massive amount of trouble and if Greece does leave the euro it is going to cause a tremendous loss of confidence in banks in countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal.

There are already rumors that the “smart money” is pulling out of Spanish and Italian banks.  So could we see some of these banks collapse?

Would they get bailed out if they do collapse?  It is so hard to predict exactly how “financial anarchy” will play out, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the European financial system is heading for a massive amount of pain.

Posted below is a clip of Jim Cramer making his bold predictions during his appearance on Meet The Press.  He is obviously very, very disturbed about the direction that Europe is heading in….

But what is Europe supposed to do?  Even though “austerity measures” have been implemented in many eurozone nations, the truth is that they are all still running up more debt.  Are European nations just supposed to run up massive amounts of debt indefinitely and pretend that there will never been any consequences?

That is apparently what Barack Obama wants.  During the G-8 summit that just concluded, Obama urged European leaders to pursue a “pro-growth” path.

Of course to Obama a “pro-growth” economic plan includes spending trillions of dollars that you do not have without any regard for what you are doing to future generations.

Germany has been trying to get the rest of the eurozone to move much closer to living within their means, but as the recent elections in France and Greece demonstrated, much of the rest of the eurozone is not too thrilled with the end of debt-fueled prosperity.

In Greece, the recent elections failed to produce a new government, so new elections will be held on June 17th.

Many EU politicians are trying to turn these upcoming elections into a referendum on whether Greece stays in the eurozone or not.  If the next Greek government is willing to honor the austerity agreements that have been previously agreed to, then Greece will probably stay in the eurozone for a while longer.  If the next Greek government is not willing to honor the austerity agreements that have been previously agreed to, then Greece will probably be forced out of the eurozone.

The following is what John Praveen, the chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers, had to say about the political situation in Greece recently….

“If the pro-euro major parties fail to muster enough support to form a coalition and the radical left Syriza party and other anti-euro, anti-austerity parties secure a majority, the risk of a disorderly Greek exit from the Euro increases and could roil markets”

Right now, polls show the leading anti-austerity party, Syriza, doing very well.  The leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, has declared that he plans “to stop the experiment” with austerity and that what the rest of the eurozone has tried to do in Greece is a “crime against the Greek people“.

But the Germans do not see it that way.  The Germans just want the Greeks to stop spending far more money than they bring in.

The Germans do not want to endlessly bail out the Greeks if the Greeks are not willing to show some financial discipline.

As we approach the June 17th elections, the financial markets are likely to be quite nervous.  According to Art Hogan of Lazard Capital Partners, many investors are deeply concerned about how “sloppy” a great exit from the euro could be….

“Next week is only one of the four weeks we have to wait until the Greek election. Every utterance out of Greece makes us think about their [possible] exit and how sloppy that could be”

Most Greek citizens want to remain in the eurozone and most European politicians want Greece to remain in the eurozone, but it is looking increasingly likely as if that may not happen.

In fact, there are reports that preparations are rapidly being made for a Greek exit.  According to Reuters, “contingency plans” for the printing of Greek drachmas have already been drawn up….

De La Rue (DLAR.L) has drawn up contingency plans to print drachma banknotes should Greece exit the euro and approach the British money printer, an industry source told Reuters on Friday.

And even EU officials are now acknowledging that plans for a Greek exit from the euro are being developed.  The following is what EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht saidduring one recent interview….

“A year and a half ago, there may have been the danger of a domino effect,” he said, “but today there are, both within the European Central Bank and the European Commission, services that are working on emergency scenarios in case Greece doesn’t make it.”

When these kinds of things start to become public, that is a sign that officials really do not expect Greece to remain a part of the euro.

And Greece is rapidly beginning to run out of money.  According to a recent Ekathimerini article, the Greek government is likely to run out of money at the end of June….

The public coffers are seen running dry at the end of June, but this will depend on two key factors. First, revenue collection: In the first 10 days of May, inflows were about 15 percent lower than projected but there are fears that the slide may reach 50 percent. The GAO will have a picture for the first 20 days on May 23, while the last three days of the month are considered crucial, when 1.5 billion euros of the month’s budgeted total of 3.6 billion are expected to flow in.

Second, whether the IMF and EFSF installments are disbursed: This is not certain, as the decision will be purely political for both providers and evidently partly linked to political developments. Earlier this month the eurozone approved a disbursement 1 billion short of the 5 billion euros that were expected.

If Greece runs out of money and if the rest of Europe cuts off the flow of euros, Greece would essentially be forced to leave the euro.

So the last half of June looks like it could potentially be a key moment for Greece.

Meanwhile, the Greek banking system is struggling to survive as hundreds of millions of euros get pulled out of it.  The following is from a recent CNN article….

The Greek financial system is straining hard for cash.

Consumers and businesses are making massive withdrawals from Greece’s banks — leading to concern the beleaguered nation could be forced out of the eurozone by a banking crisis even before its government runs out of cash.

Deposits are the lifeblood of any bank, and Greeks pulled 800 million euros out of the banking system on Tuesday alone, the most recent day for which figures are available.

If Greece does leave the euro and the Greek banking system does collapse, that is going to be a clear signal that a similar scenario will be allowed to play out in other eurozone nations.

That is why Jim Cramer, myself and many others are warning that there could soon be bank runs all over the eurozone.

Sadly, the banking crisis in Europe just seems to get worse with each passing day.

For example, the Telegraph has reported that wealthy individuals are starting to pull money out of Spanish banking giant Santander….

Customers with large deposits have started withdrawing cash from Santander, the bank has admitted, as it tried to reassure concerned members of the public that their money is safe.

Round and round we go.  Where all this will stop nobody knows.

If Greece does end up leaving the euro, that could set off a chain of cascading events that could potentially be absolutely catastrophic.

Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi recently stated that the “whole house of cards will come down” if Greece leaves the euro.

And if the “house of cards” does come down in Europe, that is going to greatly destabilize the global derivatives market.

You see, the truth is that the global derivatives market is very delicately balanced.  The assumption most firms make is that things are not going to deviate too much from what is considered “normal”.

If we do end up seeing “financial anarchy” in Europe, that is going to greatly destabilize the system and we could rapidly have a huge derivatives crisis on our hands.

And as we saw with JP Morgan recently, losses from derivatives can add up really fast.

Originally, we were told that the derivatives losses that JP Morgan experienced recently came to a total of only about 2 billion dollars.

Now, we are told that it could be a whole lot more than that.  According to the Wall Street Journal, JP Morgan could end up losing about 5 billion dollars (or more) before it is all said and done….

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is struggling to extricate itself from disastrous wagers by traders such as the “London whale,” in a sign that the size of its bets could bog down the bank’s unwinding of the trades and deepen its losses by billions of dollars.

The nation’s largest bank has said publicly that its losses on the trades have surpassed $2 billion, and people familiar with the matter have said they could over time reach $5 billion.

And if Europe experiences a financial collapse, the losses experienced by U.S. firms could make that 5 billion dollars look like pocket change.  The following is from a recent articleby Graham Summers….

According to Reuters once you include Spain and Italy as well as Credit Default Swaps and indirect exposure to Europe, US banks have roughly $4 TRILLION in potential exposure to the EU.

To put that number in perspective, the entire US banking system is $12 trillion in size.

Interesting days are ahead my friends.

Let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

Pentagon Awards SAIC of McLean, VA. One-Year Contract for International Hasbara Operations

[HASBARA--national lying center, official alias for"public diplomacy"in Israel.]

SAIC Awarded Contract by Defense Intelligence Agency

Company to Provide Linguist, Operational, Translation and Management Services in Support of the National Media Exploitation Center (NMEC)

MCLEAN, Va., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)SAI +0.85% announced today it was awarded a prime contract by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to provide linguist, operational, translation and management services in support of the National Media Exploitation Center (NMEC). The single-award contract has a one-year base period of performance, four one-year options and a contract value of approximately $33 million if all options are exercised.

The NMEC provides timely and accurate collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination for intelligence, defense, homeland security, law enforcement and other U.S. Government agencies. Under the contract, SAIC will provide linguist, operational, translation and management services as required, including: translating written, electronic and multi-media material to and from English and a foreign language; editing; database administration; and providing operations support, including management of all contractor personnel and related functions.

“We are proud of our track record as one of the largest language service providers to the defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies, and look forward to providing the NMEC with high-level technical translations in support of the DIA,” said Larry Hill, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager.**

**The National Media Exploitation Center was established in late 2001 to coordinate FBI, CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) efforts to analyze and disseminate informationgleaned from millions of pages of paper documents, electronic media, videotapes, audiotapes, and electronic equipment seized by the U.S. military and Intelligence Community in Afghanistan and other foreign lands.

Special Forces Commander Wants To Accelerate the Process To Waging War

[APPARENTLY, I have lost the privilege of embedding Google Maps, unless the service is just not working for anybody at this time.  I would appreciate hearing from any of you who are having the same problem with Goog. Map embedding.]

therearenosunglasses@hotmail.com

In this May 23, 2012 photo, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Norman J. Brozenick Jr., shakes hands with I Made Sudiantara, of Indonesia, after a demonstration featuring SOF forces from ten different nations, in Tampa, Fla. U.S. and international special operations forces (SOF) demonstrated their combined combat capabilities outside the Tampa Convention Center. (AP Photo/Tamp Bay Times, Kathleen Flynn) TAMPA OUT; CITRUS COUNTY OUT; PORT CHARLOTTE OUT; BROOKSVILLE HERNANDO TODAY OUT; MAGS OUT (Flynn, Kathleen)

“This is not at all about forcing or sneaking special operations forces into a geographic combatant command but instead accelerating a process of initiation…where special operations forces might be needed.”

[The general is talking about lowering the threshold for initiating new combat, i.e., starting new wars.  Halfway through the following report, a favorite Pentagon puppet-state spokesman, Colombian Brig. Gen. Juan Pablo Rodriguez Barragan, chimes-in, extolling the thirty-year civil war visited upon his country, primarily through Special Forces and Navy Seals' trainers.  In one of those quirky twists of fate, the general's last name sounds like the name of the favorite top secret Special Forces' training ground in Colombia, Barrancón Special Forces School.  Located on a jungle island on the Rio Guaviare, that even Google Earth tries to hide from prying eyes, Barrancón is infamous for the role it played in training the Colombian "Paramilitaries" forces, especially those in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, under the command of ruthless warlord, Carlos Castaño,  many of whom were criminally indicted for the role they played in the Mapiripán massacre (SEE: Pentagon Trained Troops Led by Officer Accused In Colombian Massacre ).]

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204220286040673018849.00049c6d6d27472197572&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=4.904887,-72.432861&spn=3.830425,4.669189&z=7&iwloc=00049c6d7593014339a1a&output=embed<br /><small>View <a href=”https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=204220286040673018849.00049c6d6d27472197572&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;ll=4.904887,-72.432861&amp;spn=3.830425,4.669189&amp;z=7&amp;iwloc=00049c6d7593014339a1a&amp;source=embed&#8221; style=”color:#0000FF;text-align:left”>Colombia/American Terror </a> in a larger map</small>

  

Carlos Castaño, poster child for American Special Operations gone wild.

Raid admiral’s toughest fight: winning Washington

TAMPA, Fla. — The commander in charge of the raid to kill Osama bin Laden is defending his proposal that would give him more authority to send special operations forces overseas to address problems like terrorists or sudden Arab Spring-style unrest.

At a rare press conference during a weeklong meeting of international special operations forces, Adm. Bill McRaven said the plan would also trim some of the limits on where and how special operations troops work. But those troops would still answer to U.S. commanders overseas, not him, and missions would be coordinated with and approved by the U.S. ambassador, he said.”I really do need to clear this up because there is some speculation out there, some sensationalization,” McRaven said Thursday. He said his plan was “absolutely not about U.S. Special Operations Command running global special operations.”McRaven has been shuttling to sell his plan between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, working to dispel suggestions of a power grab by the high-profile commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden.”I worry about speed making it too easy to employ force,” a former Joint Chiefs chairman, retired Gen. Peter Pace, said last month in Washington. “I worry about speed making it too easy to take the easy answer — let’s go whack them with special operations — as opposed to perhaps a more laborious answer for perhaps a better long-term solution.”McRaven got a boost from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who appeared earlier in the week with McRaven, a tacit message that she backs his proposal.

“We need special operations forces who are as comfortable drinking tea with tribal leaders as raiding a terrorist compound,” Clinton said. “We also need diplomats and development experts who understand modern warfare and are up to the job of being your partners.”

McRaven’s plan, first reported by The Associated Press in January, is to send special operations forces to work with local forces — something they are already doing, but in smaller numbers as they’ve been tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan. The continuous interaction means the U.S. and local officers forge ties, build the local force’s skills and jointly track local threats that might include terrorists or drug traffickers.

“The only way you can neutralize terrorist action is … integrating our intelligence and working together,” said Colombian Brig. Gen. Juan Pablo Rodriguez Barragan. He noted successful joint U.S.-Colombian operations against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebel group.

Barragan was one of the officers from 97 countries who had come to learn new strategies and techniques, and see an array of U.S. special operations technology.

The weeklong gathering offered a snapshot of how McRaven hopes to make elite military-to-military relationships the glue binding the global counterterrorism fight.

McRaven’s proposed changes include allowing him to suggest sending his forces to an area where he perceives a growing threat, rather than waiting to be asked — a process supported by his predecessor, now-retired Adm. Eric Olson.

“This is not at all about forcing or sneaking special operations forces into a geographic combatant command but instead accelerating a process of initiation…where special operations forces might be needed,” Olson said in comments last month in Washington. He also noted that current rules can bar McRaven from speaking to his special operations commanders in the field without the permission of the regional U.S. military commander.

Other proposed changes involve loosening some bureaucratic restrictions like the one that only allows U.S. special operations forces to work with defense forces in a given country, while foreign elite units often work for a country’s Interior Ministry, McRaven said.

McRaven said he also wants to remove requirements that Congress regularly approve special operations assistance missions in places like Yemen and give his troops more authority to buy uniforms and supplies for troops overseas without going through the State Department aid system, which can add months to the process.

“Any use of this would require secretary of state approval,” McRaven said. “We’re not recommending anything that goes around the State Department.”

___

Online:

U.S. Special Operations Command: http://www.socom.mil/default.aspx

Video of smoke bomb egg fight in Ukraine parliament

Ukraine Parliament–Where Politicians Still Know How To Debate A Bill

Economic Collapse: The End of the World As We Know It

By Dr. Mark Sircus
theintelhub.com

As everyone is well aware, Europe is an absolute mess. The gravity of the global debt crisis is getting worse and for sure it’s the end of the world as we have known it.

EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht recently said, “The endgame has begun, and how it will finish I do not know.”

There is an implosion happening in Greece, and Spain is not far behind with Portugal and Ireland running neck and neck into the full embrace of depression and life-shattering bank runs.

Greece is a big deal and Spain is even bigger. Right now the European Central Bank (ECB) is starting to cut off funds from several Greek banks and there is a run going on at the same time.

Those banks are going down the toilet into a black hole and there will be a loud sucking sound as these banks pull hard on other banks. The Titanic is going down at the bow and just because you are at the stern (in the United States), not in Spain or Greece, it does not mean the cold waters of economic calamity are not going to come to the shores of your life.

Martin Weiss has a logical sequence that forecasts the ruin of our current way of life.

Forecast #4
The European Central Bank (ECB)
will kick its money printing presses
into overdrive and very, very soon.

“That’s the only way they know how to react to the riots on the streets, how to finance their budgets, how to rescue their banks and save their own necks politically. And if you think Europe is too far away from your hometown to matter very much—too far away from Main Street USA—think again,” says Weiss.

Chris Martenson said:

“Well, my hat is off to the global central planners for averting the next stage of the unfolding financial crisis for as long as they have. I guess there’s some solace in having had a nice break between the events of 2008/09 and today, which afforded us all the opportunity to attend to our various preparations and enjoy our lives. Alas, all good things come to an end, and a crisis rooted in ‘too much debt’ with a nice undercurrent of ‘persistently high and rising energy costs’ was never going to be solved by providing cheap liquidity to the largest and most reckless financial institutions. And it has not.”

Graham Summers, of Phoenix Capital Research, just back from Europe says:

“The situation in Europe is bad… How BAD? Well, France, Spain, and Germany have ALL implemented border controls. Spain, France, and Germany can each close their borders for up to 30 days at any point if they so choose. Why are they doing this? Because they know that when the stuff hits the fan and the EU collapses (which it will in the next few months) people are going to attempt to flee with their money… so they have made it so that no one can get it… and no one can get out,”

“A €1 billion run [$1.28 billion] on a recently nationalized Spanish bank has sparked further fears that the 17-nation eurozone is about to implode. “The U.S. media has completely ignored this story because the implications are truly horrifying: that the EU and its banking system could very easily collapse in the coming months. After all, there are already bank runs taking place in Spain and Greece. Once things pick up steam NO ONE will be immune. No less than Ben Bernanke has publicly admitted that if the EU goes down, it will potentially take the U.S. with it. Make no mistake, what’s coming will be bigger and worse than 2008. We’re talking about bank holidays, civil unrest, and the worse,” said Summers.

You think this is all to be taken lightly? The Italian government does not think so and has deployed 20,000 law enforcement officers to protect individuals and sensitive sites.

The government increased security last Thursday at 14,000 sites, and assigned bodyguards to protect 550 individuals after a nuclear energy company official was shot and letter bombs directed to the tax collection agency.

It really is the end of the world we know, or the beginning of that end. Christians believe in the end of the world as a matter of course and the world is giving them every reason to think that their beliefs are correct. Our modern civilization is vulnerable from a number of different angles and the insanity of the elite and centuries of financial manipulation and control are smashing against the wealth of the masses and the very structure of society.

I read that Homeland Security is preparing forcivil war, preparing to fight the heavily armed American people and internal security agencies have bought enough ammunition to kill everyone. Never has a public been so heavily armed so obviously the military and the police know it will take a lot to suppress Americans.

But they are not the only ones itching for war. Forty-nine headless bodies were dumped in Mexico and the idiots in Washington are still proud of their war against drugs. Modern civilization has been at war with its own people for a long while and now national governments are ready and set for war on a broader scale.

In the China Sea it’s the Philippines facing off against the Chinese and now we hear of a new unholy alliance in Israel that seems to have established a war cabinet to go full out to war with Iran.

Russia and Putin are talking rough and I don’t think they are kidding about defending their interests from the mentally deranged Europeans and Americans. Syria has joined the list of countries being torn apart by civil war.

Financial Armageddon is inching closer and closer. The future for the first world is already being written in Spain and Greece and even California, places where the money is running out big time. And the volcanoes and earthquakes just don’t stop. They just don’t stop and the reports keep coming in.

John Rubino said, “Europe’s leaders—that is to say German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the bureaucrats running the various eurozone agencies from Brussels—have looked into the abyss and don’t like what they see.

Specifically, a default and departure by even a relatively insignificant country like Greece might start a contagion that cripples or destroys the whole eurozone.

Paul Brodsky says, “The only way to deleverage is either to let credit deteriorate or to print money. Clearly the politically expedient way of deleveraging is to print money. Central banks can chatter all they want about not wanting to print money or wanting to keep the integrity of their currencies, but, at the end of the day, they don’t really have a choice.

They either have to manufacture more electronic credits and put them in the banking system or they have to let their banking system fail. That is just the reality. There is one interconnected banking system and they all have claims with each other. If German banks end up in difficulty, it presents problems for U.S. banks.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has some bad news: His cash-strapped state isn’t $9.2 billion in the hole, as projected in January; the Golden State is actually facing a yawning$15.7 billion shortfall.

The business and financial community is not paying attention to what is happening inFukushima and how that alone will ruin the plans of mice and men.

Rich or poor, it makes little difference when we are challenged beyond our capacity to respond. Assuming that life will go on as it has these past decades is perhaps one of the greatest and most dangerous assumptions most people are making today.

The mainstream news media feeds this almost universally-shared assumption, so when this greatest-of-all bubbles bursts, there will be hell to pay—that is for sure.

We are all going to have to turn our bows into more spiritual winds to manage the major upheavals headed our way. Depending on who and where you are, these major upheavals have already occurred leaving increasing millions desperate and without hope.

The illusion of growth is fast fading and what will take its place is an ugly depression with a threatened currency collapse as trillions are printed to save the world from its own stupidity.

This article originally appeared on blog.IMVA.com

100 Million Americans Without Jobs

(Note: The chart above is the Civilian Over-16 Non-Institutional Population minus the seasonally adjusted Civilian Workforce.)

Eddy Elfenbein, Crossing Wall Street

The national unemployment rates gets lots of attention, and lately more attention has been paid to the workforce participation rate since more Americans have given up looking for a job, but we can also see that an astounding 100 million Americans don’t have jobs.

Specifically, these are people who are part of the civilian over-16 non-institutional population who are either unemployed or not part of the workforce. According to the April jobs report, the number of jobless American stood at 100.9 million.

That’s an all-time record and it’s an increase of 26.2 million over the last 12 years. It’s as if we absorbed the entire adult population of Canada and not a single person had a job.

The numbers are staggering. The jobs-to-population ratio peaked 12 years ago. If we were to have the same ratio today, we would need 15.3 million more jobs, or 23.7 million fewer people.

 

Former Horn-Dog-In-Chief and His Porn Pals

Bill Clinton caught surrounded by porn stars

  

image by twitter user @brooklynleexxx

Former President Bill Clinton has been caught once again getting close with a woman in a blue dress, but this incident involves neither Oval Office sexcapades nor a White House intern. No, no, no — the ex-chief exec has graduated to porn stars.

While attending a star-studded gala in Monaco on Wednesday night, former US President Bill Clinton was photographed posing with his arms around two young women. Unfortunately for the former commander-in-chief, though, the presumably harmless photo op has gone viral after one of the co-eds cuddling up with Clinton tweeted the photo from her Twitter account.

It just so happens that the micromessage was sent from the very same social media account that Brooklyn Lee, 22, uses to promote her cinema career — one which includes starring roles in films such as Femdom Ass Worship 10 and at least 86 other adult film titles. Lee is perhaps best known, however, for recently winning the best Oral Sex Scene award at the Adult Video News awards but, as President Clinton will tell you, that’s not really sex at all.

Lee tweeted the photo of herself with President Clinton on Wednesday evening within minutes of also promoting a recent anal sex scene she shot with the pornographic production house Bang Bros. The scandal doesn’t end there, either — also flanking the president on his other side is Tasha Reign, 23, another young actress with dozens of dirty, dirty film titles on her resume.

The snapshot was captured while the president was overseas to attend the Nights in Monaco gala at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo this week. On the event’s website, the shindig is billed as an “exceptional and exclusive night in the presence of his serene highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and the honorable William J. Clinton, 42nd president of the United States.”

Tickets for the event started at $5,000 per person with proceeds going to benefit both the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the William J Clinton Foundation.