Michael Hudson: The Greek Experiment

The Road To Tehran Goes Through Damascus

From Nile Bowie’s blog .


by Nile Bowie

Between the chaos and artillery fire unfolding in Homs and Damascus, the current siege against the Ba’athist State of Bashar al-Assad parallels events of nearly a century ago. In efforts to maintain its protectorate, the French government employed the use of foreign soldiers to smother those seeking to abolish the French mandated, Fédération Syrienne. 

US-Military Logic behind Syrian Insurgency. The “Special Forces Unconventional Warfare” manual TC 18 01

From nsnbc:








In several articles nsnbc has referred to, and published extracts of a US Special forces Training Manual.
Attention was directed to the fact that it would be possible to predict the systematic, step by step development of the insurgency and attempted subversion of the Syrian Government. So far, the “predictions” based on the manual have been stunningly accurate.
The manual is

Cost of Iraq & Afghanistan Wars: The Infographic

Demon*Ocracy.info has developed a New Perspective on the Cost of War: the Infographic on the cost of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars to NATO, the US, and the UK. (not including funds made through preservation of the petro-dollar)




Click here for full page view

Doug Casey debates on anarchy on Kerry Lutz

From kerrylutz.com - FEBRUARY 14, 2012:

Dr. Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institue and Doug Casey of Casey Research joined me today for a lively discussion about the need for government and why it always turns out wrong. Amazingly, these two prominent advocates of personal freedom have never met before. They vehemently disagreed on the possibiliteis of an anarchical society; Doug believes it’s

John Williams of Shadow Stats "This is end of the world type stuff"

______-

Related:



Richard Russell: The Last Currency Standing Will Be Gold

Bamboozeled- The NDAA Trojan Horse

From VeteransToday, February 9th, 2012
by Gordon Duff



Legislation Written and Passed to be Discredited – but Why?



     … by  Gordon Duff,  Senior Editor                 … editing  Jim W. Dean




Coming to a State Near You ?


The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 has provisions in it so illegal, so unconstitutional that any moron could see it. 

Now we hear that state after state

A Must-Read On The Societal Disaster That's Happening In Greece

From The Business Insider :







PSI, bond yields, ECB involvement, IMF-demanded reforms... there's enough jargon and government speak floating around the Greek crisis that it's easy to forget the real, humanitarian cost of an economic collapse.

A new story by Russell Shorto in the NYT Magazine should help bring out the human side of the situation.

This paragraph is a punch in the gut:



By

Fiat Failure!

From Milesfranklin, 13 February 2012

By Andrew Hoffman


Today’s RANT is inspired by an article about the Mongol Empire of the 13th Century, demonstrating how civilians openly revolted against the imposition of an unwanted, unjust fiat currency system, upon penalty of death – and succeeded!  I’m sure this is not the only such instance throughout history, and probably quite common in societies

Stephen J. Lendman: Iran Declares Israel Bombed its Own Embassy

On Monday a bomb was detonated in New Delhi, India killing four people. The bomb was allegedly designed to kill members of the Israeli embassy and the Israeli Prime Minister quickly accused Iran for laying out the attacks. A second bombing attempt was foiled in Georgia and was said to target an Israeli diplomat. Although Israel claims these attacks are in retaliation to the deaths of

GoldSeek Radio Nugget: Dr. Ron Paul

From Goldseek, 13 February 2012 
By: Chris Waltzek, GoldSeek.com Radio








Dr. Ron Paul & Chris Waltzek



 
Audio Player: Click Arrow to Play

Download GoldSeek.com Radio Nugget: mp3




Dr. Ron Paul:Ron Paul 2012 | DailyPaul.com | Congressman Ron Paul


GoldSeek.com Radio:Radio.GoldSeek.com


___

 Related: 
Ron Paul could be the real winner of Maine caucus

G. Edward Griffin, "The Federal Reserve Is A Private Banking Cartel"

From CapitalAccount Feb 13, 2012:




You have probably seen the images by now. Athens on fire, the city literally burning as politicians within parliament voted to pass tough austerity measures to meet the demands of the EU and IMF, Greece's international lenders. This story is about more than just austerity and riots - it's wealth-extraction amidst economic collapse at work. The Greek economy

Let's Return to the Gold Standard

From The American Spectator:



By GEORGE MELLOAN from the FEBRUARY 2012 issue


Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman have been right all along, never more so than in this age of massive debt.



The futile search for El Dorado, the city of gold, is the stuff of legends, among them a sardonic poem by Edgar Allen Poe about a knight who wasted his life in that pursuit. At first glance, the quest for

The Greek De Facto Default

From SeekingAlpha, February 14, 2012 
by Avery Goodman

"The choice is not between sacrifice and no sacrifices at all, but between sacrifices and unimaginably harsher ones," Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told a divided Parliament, as stormy debate concerning the impending default of the Hellenic Republic continued into the night.

Fear-mongering, of course, has a fine pedigree.

Germany's nasty little game to push the Greeks until they break

From Mail Online - Euroseptic

By Mary Ellen Synon









Here is an edited version of my column in today's Irish Daily Mail --



At this point in the eurozone crisis, the only question to ask is, ‘What are the Germans playing at now?’ The Irish had better figure it out, because after the Germans get finished playing it with desperate, suffering Greece, they are going to be playing it with

Not So Fast Greece … Sunday’s Vote Only Kicks The Can … Again!

From The Fundamental View:








Reaction continues to flow following Sunday’s vote in Greece to pass austerity measures that will surely set the nation back 10 years and markedly decrease the standard of living for most Greeks for years to come.
Remember that the real problem is not with the fact that these austerity measures continue to be imposed on the population of Greece but instead,

Lew Rockwell: Greece just a new place for an old-school Financial Warfare & Occupation?

From CapitalAccount  Feb 10, 2012:



Greek negotiations do not look like business as usual anymore. Greek police unions have called for the arrest of IMF and EU officials. One of the Greek coalition leaders said on television he was given an incomplete translation of the Troika agreement to look over before signing away his country. He has refused to sign onto it. Are we seeing in real time what

List of Actions or Beliefs Which May Get You Labeled a Terrorist Grows Daily

From Washington’s Blog February 12, 2012

Every American could – literally – be labeled a suspected terrorist under current governmental criteria.

Specifically, the following actions may get a U.S. citizen labeled as a suspected terrorist today:

Speaking out against government policies


Protesting anything


Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this)

US plan-B after UN veto – deploy Al Qaeda “foreign legion.”

by Tony Cartalucci

February 12, 2012 – It is now a matter of established public record that the “Libyan rebels” the US, through the UN and NATO, funded, armed, trained, recognized politically, and even provided special forces and air support for, were in fact led by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), listed by the US State Department (page 1) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

Max Keiser interviews Dmitri Orlov

Dmitri Orlov was born in the Soviet Union, immigrated as a young teen to the United States, and then traveled between Russia and his new home, watching and documenting the collapse of the Soviet state.

Orlov then wrote a book and maintains a web-site drawing comparisons between the Soviet collapse and the ongoing collapse of the United States.



______-

Related:



Doomsday Report: THREE

Truth is winning: “The carbon market is dead”

The collapse of the Man-Made Myth continues apace. You may not read headlines as such (at least not in major dailies) but all the signs are there.


Source Barchart. The last year of carbon trading in EUR's continues to fall.(Click to enlarge).

JoNova.comFebruary 11th, 2012


People who we never would have imagined speaking against the Big Scare Campaign are now doing so. Key glaciers are not

Truly Disgusting - the West in Kosovo

From Strategic Culture, 11.02.2012

By Aleksandar Pavic



In the tantrums thrown by the Western powers in the wake of the Russo-Chinese veto of their UN Security Council resolution on Syria, the US’s UN Ambassador, Susan Rice, expressed «disgust» at these two states’ behavior.

In addition to these kinds of «hysterics» – as Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov so aptly described them – being

ROTHSCHILDS WANT IRAN’S BANKS

From American Free Press, FEBRUARY 10, 2012

By Pete Papaherakles

Could gaining control of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) be one of the main reasons that Iran is being targeted by Western and Israeli powers? As tensions are building up for an unthinkable war with Iran, it is worth exploring Iran’s banking system compared to its U.S., British and Israeli counterparts.

Greece – Economy Spirals Down the Drain, Violence Erupts

From Acting Man

By Pater Tenebrarum







Greek Government's Plan Rejected

It has turned out that the latest Greek plans in connection with the second bailout have essentially been rejected by the eurogroup. This hasn't kept the Greek government from claiming the exact opposite:


“Greek political leaders said they had clinched a deal on economic reforms needed to secure a second EU bailout

Leftist Media Resorts To ‘Conspiracy Theories’ To Sell Syria Invasion

Despite Arab League confirming opposition rebels are committing violence, Guardian blames Assad for terror attack

Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.com - February 10, 2012

Desperate to sell another “humanitarian” invasion, the leftist media in the United Kingdom has resorted to inventing conspiracy theories about events in Syria as part of a campaign to depict President Bashar Assad’s government as

10 Things That Every American Should Know About The Federal Reserve

From Theeconomiccollapseblog:


What would happen if the Federal Reserve was shut down permanently?  That is a question that CNBC asked recently, but unfortunately most Americans don't really think about the Fed much. Most Americans are content with believing that the Federal Reserve is just another stuffy government agency that sets our interest rates and that is watching out for the best

Jim Willie CB: The High Cost of 0% Rate

From GoldSeek.com, 8 February 2012

By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.Com 

The interminable extension by the US Federal Reserve on the 0% rate into 2014 represents history in the making. It is the adoption of pure heresy in monetary policy, making it mainstream. Worse, it forces foreign central banks to adopt the same destructive policy in the Competing Currency War. Once upon a time, the

This Is How Once-Great Empires End

From BusinessInsider,  Feb. 7, 2012
By Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds




The nation's ills cannot be fixed by thousands of pages of regulation or more policy tweaks. Only a profound cultural transformation can address our problems.


The mainstream view uniting the entire political spectrum is that all our financial problems can be fixed by what amounts to top-down, centralized policy tweaks

Ter·ror·ist (Noun): Anyone Who Disagrees with the Government

From zero hedge, By George Washington:









I noted in 2009:

The Department of Homeland Security and police forces label anyone who they disagree with – or who disagrees with government policies – as “terrorists”.

Don’t believe me?

Well, according to a law school professor, pursuant to the Military Commissions Act, “Anyone who … speaks out against the government’s policies could be

Introducing The Occcu - 99% Unlike Bitcoin

From Bitcoinmoney:




A new complementary currency, the Occcu, falls under the category of a “basic-income currency” which is like a form of social security paid to all individuals.  About the only thing Occcu has in common with Bitcoin is that they both can be traded person-to-person online.

A promotional flyer for the Occcu describes it as “a fair global currency”.  To prevent hoarding the

24 times more nuclear fuel at Fukushima than Chernobyl. And getting hot again.

From Washington's Blog:



Steam Seen Rising from Reactors




Temperatures are soaring within the reactor 2 containment vessel. And see this.
Tepco says that no new nuclear chain reactions are occurring … but admits that the water may no longer be able to cool the reactor. As NHK reports:

Attempts to cool the temperature in the No. 2 reactor of the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

[LOL] Merkel: We Refuse to Accept a Greek Bankruptcy

From Silverdoctors,  February 6, 2012:

 

Merkel can refuse to accept the fact that she's not a supermodel as well. Doesn't affect reality much.Greece's Nth deadline passed again today- surprise, surprise- no deal, talks to resume Tuesday.




Eurozone crisis live: Greece talks grind on as 'deadline' passes - 6 February 2012• Greek government insists talk of a noon deadline was wrongGerman

8.3% Unemployment Lie

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  6 FEBRUARY 2012 




The most recent unemployment number is a total lie, and that lie was repeated all over the mainstream media (MSM).  Two sins were committed here, and I don’t know which one is worse.  The report was a sham, and the MSM reported that information without a single question about its accuracy.  In a story carried across the MSM spectrum, the

The Economics of Incarceration

From BlacklistedNews,  February 6, 2012






By Nile BowieBLN Contributing Writer






James Nachtwey / VII


For anyone paying attention, there is no shortage of issues that fundamentally challenge the underpinning moral infrastructure of American society and the values it claims to uphold. Under the conceptual illusion of liberty, few things are more sobering than the amount of Americans who

Funny Money Of The Day: 'Worshiping Cats' Found In 100 RMB Bills

From Clusterstock: 





The interesting discovery was made by Chinese netizens, who posted on forum recently showing that there are three cats’ images on the 100 RMB bill, right besides the image of Mao Zedong. What’s really interesting is that two small cats are worshiping the big one.
Zooming in the 100 RMB bill, they found that the big cat is standing with mouth open. Its eyes are like

Chutzpah, Thy Name is Silverstein! Larry Wants More Billions for Blowing Up the WTC

From VeteransToday, February 4th, 2012
by Kevin Barrett







If you thought Andrew “assassinate Obama for Israel” Adler was the last word in chutzpah…think again.




Larry “blow up the World Trade Center for Israel” Silverstein is light-years beyond Adler.



Larry Silverstein, you may recall, is a reputed mobster who allegedly got his start in the sex services business and then oozed into

Heading for War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman, FEB 06, 2012



Washington's longstanding policy is regime change in Iran and Syria. At issue is replacing independent regimes with client ones and securing unchallenged control of valued Middle East resources.



On February 4, Russia and China vetoed a largely one-sided anti-Assad resolution. A previous article called him more victim than villain. Yet he's falsely blamed

How’s that debt deal working for you, folks?

From Gonzo Times, Aug 2, 2011






Although the Obama deal does not cut spending in the least, I do agree with the Left: it is terrible for widows and orphans, and those needing medical care — in Afghanistan, since it will create more of them there.

Of course, that is not a problem for the Left, so long as the check is in the mail, right? I mean, as long as you get single payer, who cares

As Anger Over Russian Syria Veto Mounts, Putin "Briefly" Leaves Europe In The Cold

From Zero hedge, By Tyler Durden











Yesterday we presented why when it comes to Syria, the UN Security Council can forget any attempt at "overhauling" a regime that is a cornerstone for Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean and the middle east. Today, in the aftermath of the UN reminder that it is the world's biggest collection of post-facto hypocrites, not to mention, the world's

Chart of the day: US$ True Money Supply expressed in official gold reserves

(The chart suggests to me that if we were to return to a gold standard, gold should be currently priced above 30,000 US$/ounce - provided that US gold reserve actually exists as officially reported and the money supply stops inflating)




























From Goldmoney, 2012-FEB-04

By Alasdair Macleod



The consolidation of gold’s bull phase from October 2008 to the peak last

Civilization at the Crossroads

From SilverBearCafe
By John Meyer


(Editor's Note: This is a repost of an article that came up in conversation the other day. Occasionally I am fortunate enough to come across a contemporary essay that is so concise and well written that it allows me the opportunity to crystallize and clarify my understanding of a particular subject. This work, by John Meyer, ranks among the best I have ever

Elite Campaign to Re-Elect Obama in Full Swing?

From The Daily Bell, Saturday, February 04, 2012
by Anthony Wile

 

Anthony Wile



From the Washington Post, we learn that "January job gains have economists rethinking outlooks."

Oh, really? Last I looked, the bear leg of the larger business cycle was still in full effect. Nothing's changed in other words, since 2001 – or more pertinently 2008, when according to our elvish analysis the

Friday Humor - Banco de Portugal "Wink Wink" Edition

From zero hedge By Tyler Durden









Rarely do we have two Friday Humor pieces in a row, but the following seminar announcement from the Banco de Portugal, of all places, is truly priceless...

Source: Banco de Portugal
h/t Harold

Greek Archbishop: Troika's Policies Are Destroying Greek Nation

February 3, 2012 


In an extraordinary move, Archbishop Ieronymos, Greece's highest religious authority, today issued an impassioned denunciation of the austerity policies being forced on Greece by the EU-ECB-IMF Troika. The Archbishop, who up until now has only issued guarded statements in an attempt to avoid controversy, openly stated that these policies are destroying the Greek nation and

US States seek currencies made of silver and gold

From GATA:

By Blake EllisCNNMoney, Thursday, February 3, 2012

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/pf/states_currencies/



NEW YORK -- A growing number of states are seeking shiny new currencies made of silver and gold.

Worried that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. dollar are on the brink of collapse, lawmakers from 13 states, including Minnesota, Tennessee, Iowa, South Carolina and Georgia,

WW3 news of the day

Panetta believes Israel just months from striking Iran

US Warns Iran Not To Fight Back Against Israeli Attack





















Fear and loathing in the American Gulf - By Pepe Escobar










These New Developments Could Be Paving The Way For Military Action In Iran










Israeli Minister Says Military Action May Be Needed Against Iran




Dempsey Told Israelis U.S. Won’t

Jim Rogers: Its Cheap For China to Buy Influence And Power In Europe

Back from Davos (many thanks to the numerous SD readers who volunteered to stand guard at her door) Capital Account's Lauren Lyster interviewed Jim Rogers today.  Rogers talked to Lyster about The Bernank, Europe, and China- who is finding it inexpensive to flex their muscle and greatly increase their influence in Europe thanks to the Euro crisis.




_____-



Related:


China's Wen Tamps Down

Triple Lutz Report: Credit Default Swaps Are Toast

Before the BIS redefined simple addition arithmetic, outstanding derivatives exceeded $1.26 QUADRILLION.  Should any Euro nation, or even moderately sized Western bank for that matter, ever be allowed to literally default (think Bear, Lehman), this $1.26 QUADRILLION house of cards would vaporize the financial system within 10 seconds.  This is why QE will Continue TO INFINITY...AND BEYOND!!

FASCISM, TOP FAMILIES, FALSE FLAG OPS

From aangirfan: 








Website for this imageFormer spy Annie Machon describes how the security services represent certain families.She describes how the spooks carry out false flag operations.



The people who founded the European Union have fascist origins.Fascists are not always easy to spot.Support for fascism in the 1930s came from Liberals like Lloyd George, Conservatives like Samuel

The Revolution of 1913

From Whiskey & Gunpowder, Feb 2nd, 2012

By Bill Bonner








Readers will scarcely have given any thought to the fact that they have never lived in the system of government argued for by Madison, Jay, and Hamilton in the Federalist Papers.
“It may come as a shock …” wrote John Flynn, “to be told that[you] have never experienced that kind of society which [our] ancestors knew as the American

ROTHSCHILD Wants One Single Currency

From CounterPsyOps 


Lord Rothschild speaks about his will to see a One World Currency and also about his recent investments in China in Weather Reporting Data via the Web

Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist

From Public Intelligence February 1, 2012: 



A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity.  The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address”

Currency Warfare: What are the Real Targets of the E.U. Oil Embargo against Iran?

From Strategic Culture Foundation , Feb 2, 2012
By Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA (Canada)



Who is the European Union’s so-called “oil embargo on Iran” really aimed at? This is an important geo-strategic question. Aside from rejecting the new E.U. measures against Iran as counter-productive, Tehran has warned the member states of the European Union that the E.U. oil embargo against Iran will hurt them

Milken Institute: in-depth article about Bitcoin

From The Milken Institute:
22-31MR53

Alf Field: Silver to Reach $158 in Current MAJOR WAVE 3

From Silver Doctors:

Alf Field, the technical analyst revered and quoted by the legendary Jim Sinclair, has released his revised outlook for silver due to popular demand.  Alf believes silver is currently in the early stages of MAJOR WAVE 3, which will be the longest and strongest uptrend in silver's current bull market.  Alf looks for a total gain of at least +500% in Major 3, which would put

Ellen Brown’s Public Banking

From Realcurrencies's Blog  
By Anthony Migchels

 
Ellen Brown is famous for her brilliant book Web of Debt
. But she has not stopped there. Her Public Banking initiative is a direct assault on the Money Power’s control of the money supply. Her approach is fully in the Populist spirit and although it does not solve all problems, it is eminently practical and ready for immediate

International Forecaster February 2012 (#1)

From The International Forecaster, 1 February 2012

By Bob Chapman



On Friday from the Bilderberg conclave at Davos, appointed European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi proclaimed that Europe had averted financial disaster and cited the improvement in euro zone markets in recent weeks. He said it was the ECB’s duty to guard against deflation as well as inflation. The fact of the matter is

Jim Willie: Corruption in Fascist Business Model

From Goldseek, 1 February 2012

By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.com




Few can define fascism. Many cannot recognize it. History provides shocking stories of its past episodes. But its root structural feature is the tight relationship between the state and large corporations of a nation, which permit enormous fraud and lead to grand inefficiency, even while aggression and war accompany its

European Fiscal Pact: Int'l. Financial Dictatorship

From The New American, 31 JANUARY 2012
BY BOB ADELMANN   




Monday’s meeting of the European Union in Brussels resulted in agreement of 25 of the 27 member states to inflict upon themselves and their hapless and increasingly powerless citizenry the tools of international fiscal dictatorship.

The purpose of the “fiscal pact” is to enforce “budgetary discipline” so that the present euro crisis

Jailed Sovereign Citizen Convicted For Tax Fraud, After IRS Mails $327K Refund To Prison

From TPMmuckraker :










A prison inmate in upstate New York was convicted on 11 counts of tax fraud after he filed -- and partially received -- tax returns worth around $890 million, using techniques he says he learned off of a sovereign citizen website.
Ronald Williams, dubbed the "jailhouse CPA" by the Syracuse Post-Standard, was convicted last Thursday in District Court in New York of

Diebold Releases 2012 Election Results Early

The Onion newscast announces that the Diebold voting machine company has accidentally released the winner of the 2012 presidential nomination early due to a glitch.









________-



Related:
The Criminal Plot to Stop Ron Paul

European Bailout Infographic: Presenting The Truckloads Of Cash Needed To Rescue The Insolvent PIIGS

From Zero hedge, By Tyler Durden:




...No, literally truckloads. Our friends at demonocracy.info have been kind enough to put together an infographic that explains the European bailout in simple, visual terms, that even the most innocent of FTL truckers can grasp without much exertion, for the simple reason that it shows all the bailouts amounts in terms of trucks of cash. And here is the

Michael Hudson, "In America and Europe, Crime has been Decriminalized"

From CapitalAccount 30 Jan 2012:
Eurozone leaders are meeting, again...After talking about the eurozone crisis in Davos, they've moved to Brussels for an EU summit to...talk about it some more...blah blah blah. A lot of talk. When are we going to get something legitimate? Meanwhile, governments and banks are still in bed together - tangled up in their illicit love affair three years after the

[Fail] Obama Mentions An Energy Company In His Big Speech And It Goes Bankrupt Instantly

(Traders might decide to short anything Obummer names, given the precedents):



Michael Brendan DoughertyBusiness Insider Thu, 26 Jan 2012 











Andrew Restuccia of The Hill is reporting that Ener1, a battery company that President Obama referenced in his State of The Union Speech on Tuesday as an example of successful energy investments, has just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

On the Edge with Michael Hudson

The Article Jeff Rense Doesn't Want You to Read

From HenryMakov.com, January 27, 2012
The Argument that Fukushima Was Sabotaged(Jeff Rense refused to link to this article. He thinks it is a psy-op to absolve the nuclear industry of blame for Fukushima. Fine. But when I posted it anyway so people could decide for themselves, he announced he would no longer link to my site. You will no longer be able to find my work on Rense's site. Sad that a

Secret Document: Germany Wants To Put Greece Under EU Curatorship

From The Prudent Investor:




In what will probably become a blueprint for the road to EU serfdom, Germany's government has written a so far unpublished document that requires Greece to put interest and debt payments ahead of all other needs and demands that Greece put itself under 'temporary' EU curatorship.This event comes 2 days ahead of the official signing of the authoritative European

TedBits: The Economic and Financial NO SPIN Zone

From GoldSeek.com, 27 January 2012  

Global Macroeconomic Analysis Through the Austrian Lens

By Theodore (Ty) Andros



The saga continues as we head into 2012.  That saga is the demise of Ponzi finance and an ASSET-backed economic model in the developed world.  We do not know whether the currency and financial system extinction event will occur this year or ten years from now.  The questions

Central-Bank Gold: Joining the Dots

From BullionVault, Friday, 27 January 2012



by Adrian Ash



Yes, central banks are holding more gold. But they’re holding very much more wood-pulp on top…

THE GOLD PRICE on Wednesday broke up through the downtrend starting at last summer’s record high. Or so a technical analyst studying the price chart would tell you.

But just as in late 2007 – from where gold began a 55% run inside 6

Beyond revolting: ACTA

European Parliament Official In Charge Of ACTA Quits, And Denounces The 'Masquerade' Behind ACTA



Kader Arif, the EU "rapporteur" for ACTA (a copyright treaty negotiated in secret, which contains all the worst elements of SOPA, and which is coming to a vote in the EU) has turned in his report and resigned from his job, delivering a scathing rebuke to the EU negotiators and parliamentarians, and

Who Embargoes Whom??? Iran Turns Embargo Tables: To Pass Law Halting All Crude Exports To Europe

From Zero hedge By  Tyler Durden









In what is likely a long overdue move, Iran has finally decided to give Europe a harsh lesson in game theory. Instead of letting Euro-area politicians score brownie points at its expense by threatening to halt imports and cut off the Iranian economy, the Iranian government will instead propose a bill calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to

The Trouble with Marxism (Part One)

From The People:











Well, I have just about had enough of my conversation with The Andrew Kliman, so I thought I would try to assess what it accomplished, instead.
My ‘tin-ear’ with Andrew began after a conversation with @skepoet on twitter about the odd divergence between gold and dollar measures of economic activity since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The dollar measure of US GDP

Syria: Watch the weather forecast

From RT:

Ankhar Kochneva, writer and sole foreign journalist permanently living in Syria, tells RT what is really up in the country, who funds the opposition, how international media fake images of unrest and why it is so important to watch weather forecasts.



RT: You have lived in Syria since October 2012. Media reports tell us about unrest in the country. How does the situation look from

You Exported WHAT?!? Torture and Abuse in Libya

by Stephen Lendman - JANUARY 27, 2012



NATO's alleged "responsibility to protect" was subterfuge. Months of terror bombings left Libya a charnel house.



Africa's most developed country was ravaged. Tens of thousands were killed, multiples more injured, and millions left on their own sink or swim.



When is war not war? It's when mass killing and destruction are called the right thing.

Nigeria Chaos, Geopolitical Stakes and the Curious Role of the IMF

From The Market Oracle,  Jan 27, 2012 By: F. William Engdahl


Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer, is from all evidence being systematically thrown into chaos and a state of civil war. The recent surprise decision by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to abruptly lift subsidies on imported gasoline and other fuel has a far more sinister background than mere

Michael Hudson: Banks Weren’t Meant to Be Like This

From naked capitalism:








By Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City and a research associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
A shorter version of this article in German will run in the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung on January 28. 2012

The inherently symbiotic relationship between banks and governments recently has been

Jim Willie CB: Tail Events, Isolation, New Normal

From GoldSeek.com, Thursday, 26 January 2012 

By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.Com 

The year 2012 has started out in strange ways. While celestial forces augur for rare tail events, the assurance of man-made events that stretch far into the extreme tail of probability are not only very likely but will be of a type to reflect the change in the global balance of financial power. The Paradigm

Lew Rockwell: World Social Forum and World Economic Forum are interchangeable

From RTAmerica,  Jan 26, 2012:


The annual World Economic Forum is not the only global forum going on. In Porto Alegre, Brazil the World Social Forum is trying to completely change capitalism. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has decided to attend the forum in Brazil that has brought together a medley of social movement groups. Can the World Social Forum radically change the system? Lew

EU signs ACTA, global internet censorship treaty

From Activist Post, January 26, 2012
By Rady AnandaToday, the European Union and 22 member states signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. They have now joined the US and seven other nations that signed the treaty last October.This signing ceremony merely formalized the EU’s adoption of ACTA last month, during a completely unrelated

The Buck Stops with the US President, but it starts with the Federal Reserve

From CapitalAccount 25 Jan 2012:


Angela Merkel kicked off Davos today by taking on the bond market and promising more Europe as the solution to Europe's problems. And while we've heard public concerns over the ills of crony capitalism, don't you worry, Davos has found just the man to defend it, and Lauren Lyster, live from Davos, is just the woman to do it! And back in washington, America just

Merkel Casts Doubt on Saving Greece, Insists ECJ be Empowered to Police Nannyzone; ECB insists on Profits on Greek Bonds; IMF Takes Tougher Stance; Greek Socialists Reject EU Mandates

From Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

By Mike "Mish" Shedlock









Amazingly, smack in the midst of deal to save Greece from bankruptcy, the ECB not only insists on taking no losses on Greek bonds its holds, it wants a profit on them because it bought them at what seemed at the time to be a substantial discount. The discount was imaginary. The bonds were trading at 7% at the time.

Breaking Up the Western World

From The Daily Bell, Wednesday, January 25, 2012 – by Staff Report






Isn't it just as likely that Britain will hit the rocks and break up? ... In the period immediately after the Costa Concordia hit a rock off the coast of Tuscany, the behaviour of the passengers and crew has given us all sorts of insights into the eternal glories and failings of human nature. Perhaps the most symbolically

The Truth Behind the Coming "Regime Change" in Syria

by Shamus Cooke


Global Research, January 24, 2012




After meeting again to decide Syria's fate, the Arab League again decided to extend its "monitoring mission" in Syria. However, some Arab League nations under U.S. diplomatic control are clamoring for blood. These countries — virtual sock puppets of U.S. foreign policy — want to declare the Arab League monitoring mission "a failure,”

India, Iran, Oil, and Gold

From The Mess That Greenspan Made:









The Iran oil embargo and freeze of its central bank assets approved by Europe the other day has had an interesting unintended consequence – and not just another threat by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz. According to this Debka report, India has agreed to pay for Iranian oil with gold instead of U.S. dollars and China is expected to follow suit.

A Swiss Signal to Buy Gold

From Gold News, 25 January 2012:

Shenanigans in Switzerland give clues as to who will win – and lose – from currency devaluation... 
INVESTORS WERE GIVEN a major signal to Buy Gold on December 21 2011,writes Porter Stansberry for the Daily Wealth.

It was on that day that the European Central Bank (ECB) "loaned" roughly €500 billion to Europe's major banks at 1% interest. This capital will

Detlev S. Schlichter: Paper Money Collapse

The Folly of Elastic Money and the Coming Monetary Breakdown
from FinancialSense.com:

All paper money systems in history have ended in failure. Either they collapsed in chaos, or society returned to commodity money before that could happen. Drawing upon novel new research, Paper Money Collapse
 conclusively illustrates why paper money systems—those based on an elastic and constantly

Money and Freedom

From Mises Daily, Wednesday, January 25, 2012 

by Joseph T. Salerno


[This talk was delivered at the Mises Institute conference The History of Liberty, January 29, 2000.]




The historical embodiment of monetary freedom is the gold standard. The era of its greatest flourishing was not coincidentally the 19th century, the century in which classical liberal ideology reigned, a century of

The American Debt Imperium and the Mother of all Bubbles

From Capital Account, 24 Jan 2012

Heads of state, central bankers, CEOs of multinational corporations and international financiers make up more than 1600 of the business leaders now pouring in from all over the globe to this tiny ski resort town of Davos for the world economic forum. It's invite only. High on the agenda is capitalism itself -- it's problems and it's future -- so what does this

FALSE FLAG ALERT

From The Burning Platform:

These words are from Michael Rivero of WhatReallyHappened.com:

With the collapse of the oil embargo to force Iran into a confrontation over the Straight of Hormuz, the US and Israel are looking for another way to get the long-sought war with Iran started, and more to the point, need to make it look like Iran is starting hostilities in order to make it politically

Pepe Escobar: EU needs Iran’s oil, shoots itself into feet

RussiaToday Jan 23, 2012

Reports from Iran suggest a fierce reaction to the EU’s move to impose an embargo on Iran’s crude exports. To discuss the implications of fresh sanctions against Iran, RT talks to Pepe Escobar – columnist and ‘Asia Times’ correspondent, from Bangkok






Related:



India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned 











A Rush For

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....., January 22, 2012

Hmmm Jan 22 2012

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GRAEBER

From The White Review:
By Ellen Evans and Jon Moses




SIX MONTHS AGO, WHILE PREPARING TO INTERVIEW DAVID GRAEBER, I DECIDED TO CONDUCT SOME BRIEF INTERNET RESEARCH ON THE RENOWNED ANTHROPOLOGIST AND ACTIVIST. ALTHOUGH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED IN ACADEMIC CIRCLES (HE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS ‘THE BEST ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORIST OF HIS GENERATION’), I WAS SURPRISED TO FIND RELATIVELY LITTLE ON THE MAN

[Internet Trolls Wars]: Did you know Israel pays people to post online and push a pro-Israel agenda?

FACT: Israel pays people to spread propaganda on the internet in an attempt to censor alternative points of view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LofScCiJT4c
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3744516,00.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Internet_Defense_Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaphone_desktop_tool
Related:



The goal is always to smear critics of Israel (or those who

Major Filesharing site terrified by Megaupload case, gives up

"All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally."

‘UK Press TV ban prelude to Iran war’

From PressTV:



A political analyst says the British media regulator (Ofcom) shut down Press TV in the UK to prevent the broadcast of the truth about Iran and to set the stage for an attack on the country, Press TV reports.

The British Office of Communications (Ofcom) revoked Press TV’s license and removed the channel from the Sky platform on Friday for what it claimed to be the news network’s

12,000 US troops landed in Libya

From PressTV:




The United States has sent some 12,000 soldiers to Libya, in the first phase of deployments to the oil-rich North African nation.

According to Asharq Alawsat, the troops landed in the eastern oil port city of Brega.Although the deployment is said to be aimed at generating stability and security in the region, the troops are expected to take control of the country's key

Pepe Escobar: The Myth of “Isolated” Iran - Following the Money in the Iran Crisis

By Pepe Escobar
January 17, 2012 "Tom Dispatch" 

- - Let's start with red lines. Here it is, Washington’s ultimate red line, straight from the lion’s mouth.  Only last week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said of the Iranians, “Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that's what concerns us. And our red line to Iran

Intervention in Libya was largely about gold, Rickards tells Future Money Trends

From GATA:


In a 23-minute interview geopolitical analyst James G. Rickards tells Dan Ameduri of Future Money Trends that the recent Western intervention in the civil war in Libya was likely in large part about gaining control of that nation's gold reserves and that the Federal Reserve won't let the U.S. dollar get too much stronger than the euro:

http://futuremoneytrends.com/jamesrickards.html

John Mauldin: Staring into the Abyss

From The Big Picture:









Staring into the AbyssBy John MauldinJanuary 21, 2012

~~~

Choices, Debt, and the EndgameStaring into the AbyssAn Unintended (and Very Negative) ConsequenceA Preview of Coming AttractionsHallucinogenic Data and Other Fun ActivitiesGentlemen, Choose Your DisasterWhat Europe Should DoSouth Africa and Sweden

“If we want everything to stay as it is, everything will

NDAA Is Washington’s Totalitarian Response To Political Dissent And Economic Collapse

by Saman Mohammadi
Prisonplanet.com, January 21, 2012




“In 1789, France entered a period of revolutionary change which was to see the complete restructuring of the state, the collapse of the monarchy, and its replacement by a republic. By 1793, France was riven by civil war and factional struggles and had also opened hostilities upon several neighbouring states. At home, political dissent

US financial & economic collapse-On the Edge with Max Keiser-01-20-2012

WUT?! Should Nutty-yahoo assassinate Obama-nation to start WW3?!

(This is the kind of questions currently debated in the israeli media): 



NEW YORK – The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu consider ordering a Mossad hit team to assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama so that his successor will defend Israel against Iran.



Adler, who has since apologized for his article

Mike Maloney on Credit-Based Money, Feudalism, and Financial Enslavement

from CapitalAccount:


As the US heads into the presidential primary in south carolina, the most recent republican debate featured Newt Gingrich defending his moral values — his marriage – , Mitt Romney defending his tax returns, and Rick Santorum defending his sweater vests, is there anyone is is actually making real sense in terms of dollars and cents? Is the lack of concentration and debate on

Jim Willie: Southern Europe Permanently Crippled, The Only Tool Left is Hyper Inflation

From The Market Oracle, Jan 20, 2012

By: Jim_Willie_CB

Any perusal around the world these days features Southern Europe crippled, preparing for the inevitable Greek Govt Bond default. It features a crippled US housing market, a mockery of statistical accounting in the US Gross Domestic Product, the plight of the COMEX with established veterans clearing out desks (not trading), the extreme

The Puppet, the Dictator, and the President: Haiti Today and Tomorrow

by Dr. Jemima Pierre



Global Research, January 20, 2012


Black Agenda Report








“Duvalier has been allowed to roam Haiti’s streets, even dining at the finest restaurants with the likes of Sean Penn.”





Lost amidst the heart-wrenching stories and photographs of the “poor Haitians” living in squalor and misery circulating on the second anniversary of the 12 January 2010 earthquake,

NATO Drilling For Nuclear Attack On Iran and Syria?

Tim Earl of Stirling

Activist Post, January 19, 2012

Yesterday, I carried a story on a crash between a French Air Force Mirage and a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15. The story confirmed that the Saudi pilot and the two French pilots were safe. Little additional information was available. Today, I am able to report that the two-seat Mirage was in fact either a French Air Force Mirage 2000-D or a

BBC Admits Anglosphere Destabilized Libya

From The Daily Bell, January 19, 2012 – by Staff Report



Muammar Gaddafi


Inside story of the UK's secret mission to beat Gaddafi ... British efforts to help topple Colonel Gaddafi were not limited to air strikes. On the ground − and on the quiet − special forces soldiers were blending in with rebel fighters. This is the previously untold account of the crucial part they played. The British

Boundary Conditions for the 9/11 Hijackers, Part 4: Aftermath

From American Action Report :








     In the first three parts of this series, I described the boundary conditions for the tasks laid out for the September 11, 2001, hijackers.  This, brief as it is, is the aftermath.     Within hours of the terror attacks of that day, Florida Governor Jeb Bush had Huffman Aviation's records confiscated and sent to Washington, D. C.  (link) In case you're

Silver & Gold: The TRUTH IS - There Just Ain't Enough To Go Around

From Gold Harvest Under A Silver Moon:









The US Dollar began rolling over this morning at 3:10AM est. from an over night high of 80.58 in Asia.  By 4AM est, the US Dollar was clearly beginning to trend down, and Gold exploded to the upside.  At 4:05AM est, Gold hit $1670...and promptly had it's legs kicked out from under it.Strangely, as the slide in the Dollar gained momentum, the price

The Feds Just Shut Down A Huge File Sharing Site And Charged Its Founder With Piracy

From The Business Insider:











A day after sites like Wikipedia protested SOPA, federal prosecutors have shut down file-sharing site Megaupload.com and charged its founder and others with piracy, the Associated Press reports.



The indictment puts the amount of lost revenue from Megaupload at $500 million, and says the site was once the 13th most popular website in the world.



The

How Cheap Money Will Destroy the World

from FinancialSense.com:

Leverage is an essential part of the financial system, and when used properly it allows businesses to borrow funds to invest in growth and expansion, offers opportunities for reasonably priced housing, and much more. But current imbalances in the ways in which leverage is being used by the rich and powerful in the United States and abroad have led to an alarming

Budget of an Interest Slave

From Realcurrencies's Blog 

By Anthony Migchels








The main reason why interest slavery goes largely unnoticed is because most of what we pay is invisible: it is included in prices. Producers cannot avoid capital costs and must pass these on to consumers.It has been established that 45% of prices we pay are for interest on business loans or other capital costs. No less than 50% of

Day of the Dead State

From The Dollar Vigilante,
By Jeff Berwick 


January 17th    



The
most surprising thing about the recent downgrading of nine Eurozone
countries by S&P is that anyone is surprised to hear that the
government debt of any of these countries is risky!

From the Financial Times:

The eurozone debt crisis returned
with a vengeance on Friday as Standard & Poor's, the credit rating
agency,

Bob Chapman - National Intel Report - Jan. 17, 2012

Bob Chapman - National Intel Report - Jan. 17, 2012 Bob Chapman talks about the situation in the straight of Hormuz , and the recent announcement by the Russians that if the US touches Iran they have to deal with them , the situation unfolding there is becoming very dangerous , Bob Chapman then talks about gold and silver forecasts and a range of other issues



_____-

 Related:



Spiralling

65% of Italians Think Euro Made Things Worse for Italy's Economy

From Mish - Global Economic Analysis, January 17th, 2012:



CNBC has some interesting figures on a recent poll in Italy: Majority of Italians No Longer Trust the Euro

·         65% of those polled thought the introduction of the euro has been more damaging than beneficial for the Italian economy

·         55% percent of Italians have lost confidence in the euro single currency

·         

"Let the Euro Die" Candidate Trails Sarkozy by Slight 2 Percentage Points; Will Sarkozy Survive the First Round Vote? Eurozone About to Become Unglued

From Global Economic Analysis, January 15, 2012

By Mike "Mish" Shedlock

As a refresher course in French politics, presidential elections are a two-stage process. In the first round, voters select from candidates of all the political parties. The second round pits the top two vote getters against each other.Never before in history has a sitting French president polled so low 100 days before

Obama names Jew as chief of staff. Imposes Oil sanctions on China. Japan undecided

(1) Obama places Jewish lobby ahead of relations with China, Japan, Europe
(2) Obama names an Orthodox Jew as his next chief of staff
(3) With Jack Lew's appointment, Jewish community again has a White
House address
(4) U.S. slaps sanctions on China state energy trader over Iran
(5) China denounces U.S. sanctions on company dealing with Iran
(6) Mark Dubowitz, Jewish head of Foundation for

Saxo Bank 2012 Report: "The perfect storm is coming but there is no need to panic."

Just published from one of the world's biggest investment banks. Up to now only radical libertarian analysts (like Jim Willie, Bob Chapman, Doug Casey, the crowd of The Daily Reckoning, and others) had the guts to tell things as it is such as the following:

Excerpts:

[...]
Now, we are reaching the end of the line for extend-and-pretend/kicking the
can/printing money/interventionism/

Truth About Middle East is Spreading

From The Daily Bell, Saturday, January 14, 2012 – 
by Anthony Wile

 
Anthony Wile


Zero Hedge has published an article, "Are The Middle East Wars Really About Forcing the World Into Dollars and Private Central Banking?" that mentions my theory thatMuammar Gaddafi was overthrown because he wanted to set up a private gold-currency in Africa. You can see my article here: Gaddafi Planned Gold Dinar

IRAN: US/Israeli "False Flag" attack may be underway

From JAMES FETZER 









By Jim Fetzer and Joshua Blakeney







Several warnings of an imminent “false flag” attack by the Israeli-influenced United States on one of its own warships, which will be attributed to Iran, have been reported by several reliable sources. In recent years “false-flag” terrorism has been utilized multiple times by US and Israeli political actors to provide

The Odds of all the incidents connected to the mass murder on 9/11 are not due to chance

From 911TruthInvestigation


copyrighted Jan. 14, 2012

The Odds of all the incidents connected to the mass murder on 9/11 are not due to chance

Former Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill said that Saddam was "topic A" ten days after the inauguration at the very first National Security Council meeting, and eight months before 9/11. According to O'Neill, "it was all about finding a way to do it. 

Are The Middle East Wars Really About Forcing the World Into Dollars and Private Central Banking?

From Zero Hedge:
by George Washington 01/13/2012







The Middle Eastern and North African wars – planned 20 years ago – don’t necessarily have much to do with fighting terrorism. See this,  this and this.

They are, in reality, about oil.

And protecting Israel (and read the section entitled “Securing the Realm” here).

But as AFP reports today, there is another major motivation for the

Haiti: Two Years After the Earthquake, Where Did the Money Go?

January 13th, 2012



Via: Global Post:

Where those billions went following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that left a government-estimated figure of 220,000 people dead — and at least 1.6 million more homeless — remains a confounding mystery.

…

“In the end,” says Robert Fatton Jr., professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia and a son of and authority on

Were The Precious Metals Smashed Down to Hide A US Debt/GDP of 100?

From Gold Harvest Under A Silver Moon 









"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by a deluge of bank paper, as we were formerly by the old Continental paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who instead of employing their capital, if any they have

Escaping the Criminal Caste System in the US

From The Dollar Vigilante:
By Jeff Berwick 



January 11th    



Looks like the Netherlands has a unique crime problem - it doesn't have enough criminals!  According to ncl.nl,
"The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons
and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left
many cells empty."

The
Dutch have an amazing strategy for reducing crime

China's 2012 Gold Panic

From BullionVault, Wednesday, 11 January 2011by Adrian Ash 
China's latest gold figures look unrelentingly bullish. Too bullish perhaps...SO "GROWTH has [now] replaced inflation as Beijing's top policy concern," says Qu Hongbin, Asian economics expert at HSBC in Hong Kong, forecasting three cuts to China's banking reserve requirements by July."There is developing in Beijing, I think, almost a

Jim Willie: The USDollar Paper Tiger

From GoldSeek.com Wednesday, 11 January 2012  

By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.com




Events in the last decade displayed a vigorous effort to defend the USDollar. The rogue nation of Iraq sold crude oil in Euros for three years, until they were liberated. Its tyrant was a scourge to be sure. Weapons of financial mass destruction seem to have replaced the traditional type, the new variety

Euro winner and the losers

From Clusterstock: 





From Bloomberg:

Germany was the main beneficiary from the euro in 2010, when the single currency increased the region’s wealth by 332 billion euros ($424 billion), or about 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, a McKinsey study showed.



We've talked about this a lot, but it's always good to be reminded, that for all the talk of the Germans subsidizing their poorer

The Farce of Government 'Growth'

From The Daily Bell,  January 10, 2012 – by Staff Report (Excerpt): 

France and Germany are working to draw up new budget and fiscal guidelines by March to contain a debt crisis threatening to engulf the eurozone. Greece, whose sovereign debt problems sparked the current crisis, is struggling to impose austerity measures needed to secure a second bailout to ensure that it does not default. 

Another consequence of economic decline

From Sovereign Man,By Simon Black




Notes from the Field





Date: January 10, 2012
Reporting From: Santiago, Chile



Nearly 10-years ago to the day, the government of
Argentina collapsed. Beset by weighty deficit spending and a completely

Iran Crisis: Something Fishy

From VeteransToday, Monday, January 9th, 2012 






Contrived?  Is That the Word I am Looking For?











        by Gordon Duff,  Senior Editor

From the sound of it, the US stands ready to attack Iran any day now.  Now for the funny part. 

Two days ago, I took my wife down to get a replacement ID card.  We go to our local Air Force Base, headquarters of the 180th Fighter Wing, more or

Situation in Persian Gulf Just Hit Critical! Wayne Madsen Reports

From TheAlexJonesChannel 9 Jan 2012:


Alex also talks with investigative journalist Wayne Madsen about the situation in the Persian Gulf. Madsen has written numerous articles for the alternative and so-called mainstream press, including the Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer and others. Madsen edits and publishes the Wayne Madsen Report.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Venezuela Will Not Recognize World Bank Ruling

by Daniel Wallis, Reuters:



Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his country would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp.

Exxon took Venezuela to the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, seeking as much as $12 billion in compensation after Chavez ordered

ECB refuses to hand over November 2010 threat letter sent to Brian Lenihan

From namawinelake January 9, 2012:




The story of Ireland’s bailout in November 2010 has been partly told in dribs and drabs. Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Patrick Honohan said thatthe Minister for Finance in November 2010, the late Brian Lenihan was “crestfallen” when he learned from the ECB that Ireland couldn’t default even on the unguaranteed debts of the banks. The Governor went

Complex Systems, Dysfunctional Industries, and Catastrophic Collapse

From Dollar Collapse, JANUARY 8, 2012

by JOHN RUBINO 



(Excerpt): ...But this time I had James Rickards’ new book Currency Wars on my Kindle (a device from customer-friendly Amazon that makes my life simpler and easier), and while waiting for a flight I came across this:


The third principal is that complex systems run on exponentially greater amounts of energy. This energy can take many

Greece Spends Bailout Cash On European Military Purchases

From Zero hedge, By Tyler Durden













As Greek standards of living nose-dive, loans to households and businesses shrink still further, and Troika-imposed PSI discussions continue, there is one segment of the country's infrastructure that is holding up well. In a story on Zeit Online, the details of the multi-billion Euro new arms contracts are exposed as the European reach-around would be

Doug Casey: The Governments worldwide are jumping on the Terrorism bandwagon

Doug Casey founder and chairman of Casey Research Institute, talks about the NDAA bill and how the whole world is becoming a police state : The Governments worldwide are jumping on the Terrorism bandwagon because it gives them a lot of control ..." the whole system is corrupt from top to bottom the whole system needs to collapse 

"I don’t see any prospect of improvement at all until the

Leaked Memo Says Apple Provides Backdoor To Governments

From Slashdot, Sunday January 08

Voline writes"In a tweet early this morning, cybersecurity researcher Christopher Soghoian pointed to an internal memo of India's Military Intelligence that has been liberated by hackers and posted on the Net. The memo suggests that, "in exchange for the Indian market presence" mobile device manufacturers, including RIM, Nokia, and Apple (collectively defined in

The IMF and US African Command (AFRICOM) Join Hands in the Plunder of the African Continent.... Lagos Dissents Under IMF Hegemony....

From Global Research, January 6, 2012 


Nigeria: The Next Front for AFRICOM



On a recent trip to West Africa, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde ordered the governments of Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Chad to relinquish vital fuel subsidies. Much to the dismay of the population of these nations, the prices of fuel and

Bizarre: the anti-Lisbon campaigner wants a United States of Europe

From Mail Online - Euroseptic: Mary Ellen Synon in Brussels 

By Mary Ellen Synon











This is my column in today’s Irish Daily Mail. It is a response to a proposal written by the Irish businessman Declan Ganley, one of the leaders of the No to Lisbon campaign during the Irish referenda, and Brendan Simms, another Irishman who is professor of the history of European international

Ann Barnhardt & Warren Pollock: Financial Collapse, Wall Street Financial Rape, Bank Holiday, Breakdown of Society …

From Jesse's, 05 JANUARY 2012:

Ann Barnhardt and Warren Pollock have an interesting discussion about the financial crisis, the setting of legal precedent, netting, settlement, and future trends including a possible bank holiday. They talk about MF Global as it applies to savings and commercial banking, brokerage, insurance, and commodities. They also discuss the numeric impossibility of solving

Martin Armstrong Interview and transcript Jan 5th

Link to audio
Transcript, from Financial Sense:



Jim: Joining me as my special guest on the program today is Martin Armstrong from ArmstrongEconomics.com, and Martin, in December of 2010 the US passed the HIRE Act which increased reporting requirements for US citizens holding assets overseas. It would appear to me Martin that step by step the government is implementing programs of capital

Things That Make You Go Hmmm - Such As A "Common Currency"

From Zero Hedge, by Tyler Durden 01/08/2012:



Grant Williams welcomes in the new year with the following biopic on the 10 year anniversary of the Euro:

Well, it was touch and go for a while, but here we are: January, 2012. The 10th anniversary of the euro!!!!!

Well..... that’s actually not STRICTLY true. In fact, the euro debuted as a financial unit three years prior, on January 4th 1999, but

Iran says it will close Strait of Hormuz if crude exports blocked -British Deploy Navy Warship Into Persian Gulf

From RT:









Tehran’s leadership has decided to order a blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the country’s oil exports are blocked, a senior Revolutionary Guard Commander said as reported by Iranian press.

The strategic decision was made by Iran’s top authorities, Ali Ashraf Nouri said, as cited by the Iranian Khorasan daily.

“The supreme authorities … have insisted that if

Time to wake up and smell the coffee : A Message From Infowars Wexford

From Sovereign Independent:

Infowars Wexford –  

Now that Ireland is officially under IMF ownership, it is now time for the Irish people to understand who and what is running the show. The IMF was set up in 1944 towards the end of World War 2 and was charged with overseeing the International Monetary System and providing loans to nations experiencing financial difficulties. It is a privately

THE INAUGURATION OF POLICE STATE USA 2012. Obama Signs the “National Defense Authorization Act

By Michel ChossudovskyGlobal Research, January 1, 2012

With minimal media debate, at a time when Americans were celebrating the New Year with their loved ones, the “National Defense Authorization Act ” H.R. 1540 was signed into law by President Obama. The actual signing took place on the 31st of December.

According to Obama’s “signing statement”, the threat of Al Qaeda to the Security of