Morris: Erdogan is making loud noises, he would like a war, but his army are not
even good enough to make a buffer zone, yet his political standing in
Turkey is unrivaled. He continues to support Muslims fighting other
Muslims: Libya, Syria and Bahrain for starters. He thinks he can be an
Ottoman Pasha.
And the PKK (Kurdish fighters in Turkey) is getting stronger. Source
Submitted by Tyler Durden: One of the zanier proposals floated in the
past few weeks, yet sufficient to send Greek bonds soaring to
post-restructuring highs on hopes of a take out, was the suggestion that
Greece would repurchase its fresh-start bonds in the open market, which
recently traded in the teens, and have since virtually doubled, at a
price ~25 cents of par. Obviously since the price of the bonds had been
much lower, even the mere possibility of what is termed in the industry
as a distressed buyback, sent everyone scurrying to purchase the paper,
as if it had any intrinsic economic value (it did not), instead of mere
hopes that Greece would throw even more good money after bad (especially
since the fresh start bonds have a meaningless cash coupon and nobody
expects them to be repaid at maturity). There is also the detail that a
distressed buyback is, for the rating agencies, equivalent to an Event
of Default, but knowledge of that small fact would be demanding too much
out of those who scrambled in the latest chase for yield. Anyway, with
all that said, it now appears that the whole idea is over, with Greek
Kathimerini reporting moments ago that Greece has scuttled the proposal
for a bond buyback.
From Kathimerini:
The Finance Ministry is ditching banks’ plan for a bond swap that would have eased their recapitalization requirements.
According to sources, Minister Yannis Stournaras has rejected
the proposal that local banks presented to him, suggesting that this
would be a move that would benefit bank shareholders disproportionately.
Transcript:
Well, Mr Van Rompuy, when you first appeared here in
what proved to be a rather expensive speech, I said you'd be the quiet
assassin of nation state democracy. And sure enough, in your dull and technocratic way, you've gone about your course. But
I have to say, you're even worse than I thought you were going to be. I
thought it was just going to be a federal Europe - a federal union. But
actually it appears with every statement you make that what you now
want is the total subjugation of the states to completely undemocratic
structures based in Brussels.
I misread the bailouts. I thought
that when the bailouts happened - and I could see the panic around this
chamber, people fearing the economic meltdown. But you of course
were calm through it all, because you saw the bailouts as your
opportunity to take control. Just think how Ireland today is managed.
Greece, for that matter. The sinister-sounding Troika
[Commission-ECB-IMF] come in, 50 officials spend a few days in the
country, investigate the situation and then tell puppet prime ministers
what they may or may not do.
By Madison Ruppert: The manufactured threat of terrorism has once again been used to push what would otherwise be unthinkable. In this case, the United Nations is exploiting the irrational fear of terrorism to justify international internet surveillance.
In a new 148-page UN report released at a conference in Vienna entitled “The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes” the UN claimed that the lack of an “internationally agreed framework for retention of data” is problematic along with open wireless internet networks in public places.
The UN claims that terrorists are utilizing social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to spread what they call “propaganda.” This perspective is somewhat similar to that presented by groups like the Homeland Security Policy Institute in claiming that a major threat is the “spread of the [terrorist] entity’s narrative.”
This notion is quite dangerous because the nature of this
“propaganda” or “narrative” is never clearly outlined. Instead, the door
is left open to call anything and everything that is different from the
manufactured government account of various events “propaganda” or
something which spreads the enemy’s “narrative.”
By silverfuturist:
The masses are going broke and losing
their jobs. The are selling assets at a discount to pay their bills. Are
strong enough hands buying silver? That is for you to determine for
yourself. Do you want to know how markets work? Enter in "silver" as the keyword, and find an auction nearby and see for yourself! Source
By Karen J Greenberg: First the financial system collapses and it's impossible to
access one’s money. Then the power and water systems stop functioning.
Within days, society has begun to break down. In the cities, mothers
and fathers roam the streets, foraging for food. The country finds
itself fractured and fragmented -- hardly recognizable.
It may sound like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie or the first
episode of NBC’s popular new show “Revolution,” but it could be your
life -- a nationwide cyber-version of Ground Zero.
Think of it as 9/11/2015. It’s Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's
vision of the future -- and if he’s right (or maybe even if he isn’t),
you better wonder what the future holds for erstwhile American civil
liberties, privacy, and constitutional protections.
Last week, Panetta addressed
the Business Executives for National Security, an organization devoted
to creating a robust public-private partnership in matters of national
security. Standing inside the Intrepid, New York’s retired
aircraft-carrier-cum-military-museum, he offered a hair-raising warning
about an imminent and devastating cyber strike at the sinews of American
life and wellbeing.
Yes, he did use that old alarm bell of a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” but
for anyone interested in American civil liberties and rights, his truly
chilling image was far more immediate. “A cyber attack perpetrated by
nation states or violent extremist groups,” he predicted, “could be as
destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11.”
Mike Duffy: An Australian mint has called in the Federal Police after being shown
evidence by Seven News that its gold bars are being counterfeited.
The
investigation uncovered Chinese 'forgery factories' that will churn out
fake bullion and even Australian coins, for a fraction of their face
value.
Just one of the bars (seen below) should be worth more than $1700.
Seven News reveals counterfeit gold bars being sold at a Chinese factory.
"There
are some poor people out there who have gone and bought these products
thinking they've got a bargain and have actually been ripped off," Ron
Currie from the Perth Mint said.
At Wenzhou, in China's south
east, a suspicious discovery is made after taking a tour of one factory
that makes medals and badges - there are thousands of samples.
On the front is stamped "Perth Mint Australia", on the back are kangaroos - a close copy of the actual design used by the mint.
The worker doesn’t hold back when quizzed about the procedure.
"First we did the silver plating, then the gold plating," he said.
What should be valued at $510,000, is actually counterfeited gold bars that Seven News paid $300 for (300 pieces at $1 each).
The third debate was supposed to be focused on foreign policy, but sounded much more like a discussion on domestic policy. The
two candidates did disagree on certain points, but for the most part
Romney agreed with Obama on most key issues from Iran, Bin Laden, Egypt
to Afghanistan. The two also continually professed undying support for
Israel. Who would have thought? Source
By The Doc: In
perhaps the biggest story in gold since Hugo Chavez sent shock-waves
throughout the gold market in mid 2011 (and propelled gold up $300 to a
record $1915), the German Federal Accountability Office has ruled that
the Bundesbank must conduct an audit on German Central Bank gold
holdings, and in anticipation, has begun the repatriation of German gold from the NY Fed. The Bundesbank will request the NY Fed ship 50 tones of German gold back to the motherland a year for the next 3 years!
It appears de Germans are about to receive a crash course in the lesson He who owns the gold makes the rules (aka possession is 999/1000ths of the law).
Assuming that the NY Fed does decide to comply with the Bundesbank’s request to keep up appearances for the other central banks, we wish the cartel luck in finding 150 tons of TUNGSTEN FREE PHYZZ over the next 3 years as the Bundesbank reportedly will PHYSICALLY VERIFY THE GOLD. So much for the cartel plans to fill repatriation requests with tungsten salted phyzz.
From Spiegel (h/t ZH):
Germany has the second largest gold reserves in the world, nearly 3400 tons. Supposedly, anyway. Because stocks have never been checked for authenticity and weight. Now, the Federal Court has asked the Bundesbank to examine the gold reserves abroad regularly.
The
German central bank gold is safely stored in vaults in Frankfurt, New
York, Paris and London. Checked really but apparently no one. The
Federal Court has the Bundesbank now anyway required regular inspection and inventory of the vast gold reserves abroad.
The auditors explain this in a report on Monday has become known to the
budget committee of the Bundestag with the “high value of gold
holdings.”
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss mugging hoodies and asphyxiating
economies with cynical bank 'fiddles' and institutionalized fraud. They
also review the past 18 months in which "Barclays has been exposed for
ripping off the elderly, avoiding £500million in tax, mis-selling
payment protection insurance to the tune of £1.5billion, manipulating
crucial interest rates and now mis-selling loans to small firms." In the
second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Kwasi Kwarteng, a Member
of Parliament in the UK and author of Britannia Unchained, about the
golden egg of fraud in the City of London. Source
The difference between gold and paper money is the difference between
savings and debt. Gold represents savings and paper money represents
debt. Source
By SEAN POULTER: Nations and regions which want to stay free of
genetically-modified crops will be banned from doing so under a
devastating ruling by EU scientists.
The decision, the first from the new European Food Safety
Authority, means governments will be unable to stop the
controversial plants being grown on their soil - effectively
opening the floodgates.
It is a disastrous blow to those British consumers, farmers,
politicians and green campaigners who are fearful about the safety
of so-called Frankenstein foods.
The administrations in Scotland and Wales and many English local
authorities - particularly in the South West - oppose GM crops.
Last night, Greenpeace warned Britain is being dragged into a
vast and unpredictable experiment. Once commercial planting of GM
crops is allowed, their pollen will spread and contaminate the
entire countryside.
Former environment minister Michael Meacher has warned of gaping
holes in our knowledge about the effect of GM on human health and
the countryside. He has raised the possibility of damage to the
immune system, sexual development and the stomach lining. There are
also concerns about new allergies.
Separately, there are worries that GM pollen will taint
conventional and organic farms. And research has pointed to the
creation of superweeds.
Mr Meacher has called on the Government to postpone or ban
commercial growing of GM crops here.
