Monday, November 14, 2011

MFS - The Other News



                    Morning Posting.

  • Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Indonesia 6.6 !More info here.
  • Europe - Nuclear Event in MultiCountries situation update  on Monday, 14 November.The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that traces of radioactive isotopes have been detected in the atmosphere over the Czech Republic. The State Office for Nuclear Safety in the country reported to the UN watchdog that very low levels of iodine-131 had been measured in the last few days. "It was detected by our radiation monitoring network, with probability bordering on certainty the source is abroad. It is iodine-131 and we have asked the IAEA if they know what the source could be," Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety chief Dana Drabova told Reuters. The IAEA said in a brief statement that it did not think that the amount of radioisotope in the atmosphere could harm people. The UN nuclear body also said it had learned about similar measurements in other locations across Europe. It added that the radioactive materials were not caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan.Here.

  • Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

  • Canary Islands - El Hierro earthquake and volcano eruption – Update 21.  here , Live webcams here and here.An underwater volcano near El Hierro in the Canary Islands has begun erupting near the shore, reports Reuters. The eruptions may be spectacular, but officials have also noticed that the volcano is spewing toxic gases into the air around the island. After a worker studying the volcano became ill, several of the island's beaches were closed. In the video, a local explains that the volcano is also making the island's cats act strangely and eat dead fish. The volcano, which is just over 200 feet from the surface, began erupting a week ago. The Daily Mail reports the eruption began with a 4.3-magnitude earthquake. According to the International Business Times, the volcano is shooting magma 65 feet into the air. The eruption is the first in the Canaries since 1971 and locals are already speculating that it may create a new island. Despite the beach closures and dead fish near the island, the island's human population is safe. The Telegraph reports that Spanish authorities "insist there is no major risk for the population."



  • COP: How President Obama Killed Thousands of Jobs.(DocsTalk).If Americans needed any further proof that the Obama Administration is one of the most political on record, or that, for all the recent demagoguing, it really cares only about re-election, not about job creation, then you need look no further than its cynical Keystone XL oil pipeline decision last week.Over the last several months, radical environmentalists along with Hollywood celebrity activists descended on the White House in protest, urging President Barack Obama to block the construction of the $7 billion pipeline that would bring in more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf coast. Last week, they got their wish. The Obama Administration on Thursday announced that it would delay a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election. In siding with his leftist environmentalist, big Hollywood base, President Obama’s ambition is nakedly apparent, as is his total disregard for the 14 million unemployed Americans sitting on the sidelines, waiting for Washington to get out of the way so they can get back to work. And it also shows that for him, politics is more important than achieving true energy independence for the United States.And here’s why: The Keystone pipeline would have done what the President’s hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending failed to do. It would have created thousands of jobs (tens of thousands, by some predictions), while generating $5.2 billion in property tax revenue for Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas. And it would have done it all with private dollars–not taxpayer dollars.The kicker is that despite all the hoopla from the enviro-celebrity protests, this pipeline should have been anything but controversial, even by the Obama Administration’s own findings. Heritage’s Nicolas Loris explains:
Radical environmentalists act as if this is the first oil pipeline being built in the United States. We have 50,000 miles of oil pipeline in this country that have provided massive economic benefits with minimal environmental harm.In short, building the Keystone XL pipeline is nothing new, and it’s one of the most environmentally sensible ways to transport oil. Even the Obama Administration determined it to be safe when the State Department’s recent Environmental Impact Statement found that the pipeline would pose few environmental risks.Another important point is that even if the Keystone pipeline isn’t constructed in the United States, the resource will still be tapped, and it’s going to head elsewhere. Heritage’s David Kreutzer explains that the development of Canada’s oil sands will be slowed (thereby increasing its cost), and it will be diverted to non-U.S. consumers, meaning that the Canadian oil will be shipped across thousands of miles of ocean to Chinese refineries. Kreutzer’s admonition to the Obama Administration?So, block the XL pipeline if you think the environment will be better served by shipping Canadian oil an extra 6,000 miles across the Pacific in oil-consuming super tankers and then refining it in less-regulated Chinese refineries. In addition, be aware that replacing the Canadian oil means the U.S. also must import more oil by tankers, which are less efficient than pipelines.The facts, though, don’t matter to environmentalist activists. They don’t matter to certain celebrities, and now they apparently don’t matter to the Obama Administration, either. Evidently, neither do jobs or energy independence. Following the President’s decision, actor Robert Redford applauded Obama and said, “This is American democracy at its best: a president who listens to the voice of the people and shows the courage to do what’s right for the country.” No, Mr. Redford, you’re wrong. When the President puts his job over those of tens of thousands Americans, that is politics and a presidency at its worst.Hmmm......If he really wanted to destroy America as a Superpower would he do anything different?Read the full story here.


  • Some Democrats refuse to back Obama.(Politico).Sen. Joe Lieberman was treated like an outcast back in 2008 when he broke from the Senate Democratic Caucus and openly opposed Barack Obama’s bid for the White House.Asked last week if he’d back Obama in 2012, the Connecticut independent said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”This time around, there may be more Liebermans.A number of moderate Democrats like Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar and liberals like Sen. Bernie Sanders are declining to give their unqualified support for the president, saying they’re either too focused on their own races or are calling on the White House to cater to their agendas before they will offer an endorsement. Some up for reelection in red states or in swing districts fear that even showing up on stage with Obama will give their opponents an image to seize upon — much as Democrats did in 2008 when they repeatedly flashed shots of Sen. John McCain hugging President George W. Bush.So as the president faces the dual challenges of energizing his base while wooing moderates, some Democrats in Congress are keeping their distance, with the president’s approval rating hovering in the mid-40s — and even lower in states like West Virginia, where moderate Sen. Joe Manchin is up for reelection.“I’m supporting the state of West Virginia and the people of West Virginia,” the freshman Democrat said, when asked if he backed the president’s reelection bid.Informed that West Virginia won’t be on the ballot next year, Manchin chuckled and said: “You don’t know that. You know something I don’t know?”In the House, moderate Democrats have a tough calculation to make, a product of the volatile political landscape and a still-undefined presidential race. No matter how low the president’s approval ratings get, they tend to be higher than congressional Republicans. Some Democrats in the House will wait and see whom Obama is running against before they decide whom they’ll be running against — the president or his opponent.With one year until voters decide their fate, many vulnerable Democrats are dancing around the issue of supporting the president.Of more than a dozen congressional offices POLITICO contacted in the moderate Blue Dog Caucus, only a handful were willing to comment on whether they supported Obama’s reelection bid.Indeed, for some targeted Democrats who support the president, there’s a desire to keep their distance from Obama’s legislative agenda even while they back his reelection.In these cases, red-state senators like Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana are quick to point out where they differ from Obama.“I have an election of my own, and I’m focused on that. But I believe that the president will run an outstanding reelection campaign and most likely will be reelected,” Nelson said. “It’s not about my support — I supported him last time, I still support him. We don’t have to agree on everything, and I don’t have to support him on every bill to say that I support him for the president.”“Yeah,” Tester said when asked whether he would back Obama. “Wish he changed his jobs bill a little — but yeah.”Then Tester grinned and quickly added: “We ain’t stumping for anybody; we’re focused on moi.”Read the full story here.


  • 'Chicago, Chicago that toddlin' town'- Schweizer's New Book: 80% of Energy Department's "Green Loan" Program Went to Obama's Backers.(DougRoss).Peter Schweizer's new book has received attention from across the political spectrum, including law enforcement. Even 60 Minutes reportedly leveraged the book to shine a spotlight on Nancy Pelosi's insider trades.When President-elect Obama came to Washington in late 2008, he was outspoken about the need for an economic stimulus to revive a struggling economy... After he was sworn in as president, he proclaimed that taxpayer money would assuredly not be doled out to political friends......But an examination of grants and guaranteed loans offered by just one stimulus program run by the Department of Energy, for alternative-energy projects, is stunning. The so-called 1705 Loan Guarantee Program and the 1603 Grant Program channeled billions of dollars to all sorts of energy companies......In the 1705 government-backed-loan program [alone], for example, $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers—individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party. The grant and guaranteed-loan recipients were early backers of Obama before he ran for president, people who continued to give to his campaigns and exclusively to the Democratic Party in the years leading up to 2008. Their political largesse is probably the best investment they ever made in alternative energy. It brought them returns many times over....The Government Accountability Office has been highly critical of the way guaranteed loans and grants were doled out by the Department of Energy, complaining that the process appears “arbitrary” and lacks transparency. In March 2011, for example, the GAO examined the first 18 loans that were approved and found that none were properly documented. It also noted that officials “did not always record the results of analysis” of these applications. A loan program for electric cars, for example, “lacks performance measures.” No notes were kept during the review process, so it is difficult to determine how loan decisions were made. The GAO further declared that the Department of Energy “had treated applicants inconsistently in the application review process, favoring some applicants and disadvantaging others.” The Department of Energy’s inspector general, Gregory Friedman, ... has testified that contracts have been steered to “friends and family.”..These programs might be the greatest—and most expensive—example of crony capitalism in American history. Tens of billions of dollars went to firms controlled or owned by fundraisers, bundlers, and political allies, many of whom—surprise!—are now raising money for Obama again....Hmmm.....Thugocracy in it's natural habitat?Read the full story here.



  • Obama to China behave like ‘grown up’ economy.(AlArabiya).President Barack Obama served notice on Sunday that the United States was fed up with China’s trade and currency practices as he turned up the heat on America’s biggest economic rival.“Enough’s enough,” Obama said bluntly at a closing news conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit where he scored a significant breakthrough in his push to create a pan-Pacific free trade zone and promote green technologies.Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Obama, a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao, demanded that China stop “gaming” the international system and create a level playing field for U.S. and other foreign businesses.“We’re going to continue to be firm that China operate by the same rules as everyone else,” Obama told reporters after hosting the 21-nation APEC summit in his native Honolulu. “We don’t want them taking advantage of the United States.”China shot back that it refused to abide by international economic rules that it had no part in writing.“First we have to know whose rules we are talking about,” Pang Sen, a deputy director-general at China’s Foreign Ministry said.“If the rules are made collectively through agreement and China is a part of it, then China will abide by them. If rules are decided by one or even several countries, China does not have the obligation to abide by that.”Even as Obama issued the veiled threat of further punitive action against China, it was unclear how much of his tough rhetoric was, at least in part, political posturing aimed at economically weary U.S. voters who will decide next November whether to give him a second term.Obama insisted that China allow its currency to rise faster in value, saying it was being kept artificially low and was hurting American companies and jobs. He said China, which often presents itself as a developing country, is now “grown up” and should act that way in global economic affairs.The sharp words between the U.S. and China contrasted with the unified front that Asia-Pacific leaders sought to present with a pledge to bolster their economies and lower trade barriers in an effort to shield against the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis.The members of APEC, which accounts for more than half of the world’s economic output, said they had agreed on ways to counter “significant downside risks” to the world economy.That followed an appeal by Obama, seeking to reassert U.S. leadership to counter China’s growing influence around the Pacific Rim, for a commitment to expand trade opportunities as an antidote to Europe’s fiscal woes.International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, in Honolulu to consult with APEC leaders, said the euro zone upheaval risked sweeping the world economy into a “downward spiral” that all countries had a stake in resolving the crisis.Read the full story here.


  • UN nuclear report puts Iran 'mystery man' Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in spotlight.(Ynet).The shadowy military man believed to be at the heart of Iran's disputed atomic activities likely lives under tight security and in secrecy to shield him against assassins and keep him beyond the reach of UN sleuths, Western nuclear experts say.A United Nations nuclear watchdog report this week identified Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as a key figure in suspected Iranian work to develop technology and skills needed for atomic bombs and suggested he may still play a role in such efforts.Fakhrizadeh, reportedly a senior officer in the Islamic state's elite Revolutionary Guards, was the only Iranian official named in a detailed annex of the report, which said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon. "He is viewed as extremely important," US-based proliferation expert David Albright said, referring to assessments of Western intelligence officials. Fakhrizadeh was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic activities. An IAEA report the following year also referred to him briefly. Iranian media rarely mention him. Four years ago, the semi-official Mehr News Agency described him as a scientist working for the Defense Ministry and a former head of the Physics Research Centre, a body also mentioned in the IAEA's report. Some Iranian websites said he was a university professor. But Western analysts acknowledged that little is publicly known about Fakhrizadeh, described by Albright's think tank as a nuclear engineer who has overseen a number of projects related to weaponization research and development. "He is a mystery man," an official, who declined to be named but is from a country which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop atomic bombs, said.  Greg Thielmann, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said he had never seen a photograph of Fakhrizadeh but that he may still be prominent in Iran's activities. "He was certainly central to the nuclear weapons program halted in 2003 and I assume he continued to be important in sustaining and perhaps coordinating ongoing work related to future weaponization," Thielmann said. That the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has "long been seeking to interview him, and the Iranians have been refusing, is telling," he said. A European-based proliferation analyst said he came up with a "big nothing" when he tried to write a paper on Fakhrizadeh. "He is the one sort of constant that keeps coming up but I must confess I really don't know much about him." Albright said he believed Fakhrizadeh's security was stepped up after the killings of nuclear scientists in attacks Iran blames on Israel and other foes. In July, gunmen shot dead university lecturer Darioush Rezaie in eastern Tehran, the third murder of a scientist since 2009. One was killed in a car bomb, the second by a device detonated remotely. "I would imagine he is in hiding," Albright said. "But they have to worry because Tehran is not that closed. It is not like Moscow in the Cold War." Iran denies Western accusations it is trying to acquire the capabilities to build atom bombs, saying such weapons of mass destruction are against Islam and its nuclear work aims at the peaceful generation of electric power. But the IAEA report, released last Tuesday amid media speculation of Israeli strikes against Iran, lent independent weight to suspicions in the West that Iran's nuclear program ultimately has military goals. "The report can rationally be explained only if a purpose of these Iranian activities was to develop a nuclear warhead to be delivered by a ballistic missile," a senior Western official said, adding it contained "hard evidence." Iran has dismissed the report as "politically motivated" and its findings as based on forged evidence. The IAEA document painted a picture of a concerted weapons program that was halted in 2003 -- when Iran came under increased Western pressure -- but some activities later resumed. The report does not assert that Iran has resumed a full-scale nuclear program, the Western official said. But, he added, "Since halting its comprehensive and relatively open program in 2003, Iran has continued to engage in activities that have relevance to the development of a nuclear weapon." The IAEA's report said Fakhrizadeh was executive officer of the so-called AMAD Plan, which according to its information carried out studies related to uranium, high explosives and the revamping of a missile cone to accommodate a warhead.The work stopped rather abruptly in late 2003, the agency said, citing information it had received from member states. But the data also indicated that some of the activities later re-started and Fakhrizadeh "retained the principal organizational role." One country had told the IAEA he now heads the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research. "The Agency is concerned because some of the activities undertaken after 2003 would be highly relevant to a nuclear weapon program," the IAEA document said. One Western diplomat said Fakhrizadeh was the "pervasive thread" in the UN agency's report. Citing intelligence sources, Albright said Fakhrizadeh had been "extremely upset" about the 2003 order to halt the work. But he said Fakhrizadeh had continued to receive money and run institutes, also suggesting some activities did not stop.Read the full story here.


VOA Notes The Transformation is ongoing:
Monti has never held elected office in Italy and does not represent any party. When reporters approached him as he went to church Sunday morning, he declined to comment on his prospects of becoming prime minister.Financial markets have responded positively to Monti's emergence as the likely new prime minister, with Italian borrowing costs easing from records reached earlier in the week. Italian leaders were hoping to have a new government in place before financial markets open Monday, to reassure investors that Italy's political system is stabilizing.The next government faces the challenge of implementing a major austerity package approved by parliament in the past week to reduce the country's huge public debt. EU leaders have been pressuring Italy to cut public spending to avoid becoming the latest euro zone member to request an EU bailout. EU officials worry that the Italian economy is too big to be rescued, and they fear its demise would be a major blow to the euro.In another challenge to a potential Monti government, a key member of Mr. Berlusconi's outgoing coalition said it will oppose a Cabinet led by the economist. Northern League officials said the party will decide whether to support legislation on a case-by-case basis.Mr. Berlusconi submitted his resignation to Mr. Napolitano late Saturday, hours after parliament gave final approval to the austerity package. The unpopular prime minister lost his parliamentary majority Tuesday and pledged to resign as soon as lawmakers approved the reforms. Mr. Berlusconi gradually lost the support of his governing coalition as Italy's debt crisis worsened while he faced sex scandals and legal troubles.Hmmm.....What are the odds for the other European countries in financial trouble being 'led' by Bilderberg group members?Read the full story here.

  • European Ponzi Goes Full Retard As EFSF Found To Monetize… Itself.(ZeroHedge).We have long mocked and ridiculed the Fed for being the ultimate ponzi instrument: after all, why worry, when your central bank will buy up almost three trillion in US paper in about 2 years (a very comforting fact for US politicians who never have to fear that those trillions in new porkbills, pardon fiscal stimulus programs, may end up without funding). Well, as it turns out those wily veteran bankers from across the Atlantic have just one upped America yet again.According to the Telegraph, the abysmal, and barely successful, 3 EUR billion issuance of EFSF bonds (which was originally supposed to be 10 EUR billion, on its very very gradual climb to 1 EUR trillion) had one more very curious feature to it, aside from confirming that it is Dead On Arrival as expected. It turns out that in addition to being the most convoluted and complex creation ever conceived by JPM which is advising Europe on coming up with structured finance products that are so complex nobody will ask any questions and will automatically assume someone else has done the homework, it is also the quintessential ponzi instrument.The Telegraph reports that the already reduced 3 EUR billion “target was only met after the EFSF resorted to buying up several hundred million euros worth of the bonds.” You read that right: in its first bond issuance since its transformation to the European Bank/Soveriegn Bailout Swiss Army Knife, the EFSF not only failed to raise a minimum token amount, but also had to… buy its own bonds.We can assume that the money the EFSF needed to fund said purchase came from the money growing tree, as at last check the ECB was still not funding the EFSF with crisp, new zEURq.PK equivalent binary 1s and 0s. But at least we all know what happens when the global ponzi goes full retard.More on this surreal story which will be promptly buried in the barrage of Monday headlines because an international advisor to Goldman Sachs is now in charge of Italy.
Sources said the EFSF had spent more than € 100m buying up its own bonds to help it achieve its funding target after the banks leading the deal were only able to find about €2.7bn of outside demand for the debt.The revelation will be seen as a major failure and a worrying sign of future buyers strike after EFSF officials and their bankers had spent recent weeks travelling the world attempting to persuade key investors, including China’s national wealth fund and Japanese government funds, to buy its bonds.
And just in case one monetization vertical was not enough, Europe used, well, all the other ones it could:
Other European Union funds are also understood to have supported the EFSF’s bond sale. The failure of the EFSF will increase pressure on the European Central Bank to effectively become the lender of last resort for the eurozone, a move it has strongly resisted.
At a private breakfast organised by PI Capital last week, Mark Hoban, the Treasury minister, said: “What it doesn’t do is provide the next stage of the solution, which is how do you stop this from happening again?” he said.
The move, by the European Investment Bank, will cause more disquiet among non-eurozone EU members who have become concerned about their growing exposure to the cost of rescuing the currency bloc.The explanation, for anyone whose brain just exploded, is that despite the marionette rotation at the top, the math of Europe is still not only absolutely hopeless, not to mention meaningless, but somehow just got even worse, because take away the magical powers of modern finance to be one with the ponzi, and Europe would have already imploded.It also means that our earlier observation that the EFSF is an AA+ equivalent credit instrument has to be revised: pro formaing out the ponzi, means it is at best AA if not A, and most likely D if one takes away all the magic bells and Keynesian whistles, unicorns and other end of the western financial world loopholes that modern finance is forced to resort to every single day to mask the fact that every country in the developed world is now 100% bankrupt.Read the full story here.

  • Report: Larry Sinclair Killed In Hit And Run Car Crash In Tennessee.(BirtherReport).Author of “Barack Obama and Larry Sinclair: Cocaine, Sex, Lies and Murder”, Lawrence W. Sinclair has died tonight near his home in a purported car accident. It was apparently a hit and run. Police say the other driver got away and there was no sign of the other driver or his car.In a 2009 shocker, Sinclair revealed in his book stunning revelations about Barack Hussein Obama, including that he had had a gay lover in Illinois. Shortly after addressing the National Press Club in Washington, DC in 2008, Sinclair revealed that Senior Advisor David Axelrod spearheaded a vindictive smear campaign against him, while Vice President Joe Biden and his son Beau arranged for his arrest after the NPC speech.The most shocking claim in his 2009 book was the accusation by Sinclair that Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright were involved in the murder of Obama’s former lover, choirmaster Donald Young.The mysterious circumstances around this accident will surely raise many questions. It is curious that this accident happened late on Sunday night when all the news media is in bed and not paying any attention. We’ll see if it’s reported anywhere tomorrow.According to a blog post by Larry Sinclair he is to appear on The Hillbuzz and Mrs. Fox radio show on Tuesday night.Read the full story here.More here.



  • Genetically Modified Salmon Approval Pushed by USDA with Nearly $500,000 Funding.(BlacklistedNews).By Mike Barrett.In September of 2010, a new genetically modified animal hybrid sparked mass concern as well as nationwide controversy.The possibility of having genetically modified salmon for dinner did not sit well with many independent scientists, consumer groups, environmental organizations, and especially the healthy consumer.Although the genetically modified salmon, commonly referred to as “frankenfish”, has not yet been approved for consumption, it seems that certain US organizations are determined to place the fish on your plate.Frankenfish: Funded by the USDA. It wasn’t until 2010, when the House of Representatives got involved with the approval of genetically modified salmon, was Aquabounty hit with severe critical opposition. When Aquabounty’s genetically modified salmon was in effect struck down by the House, the company was unable to receive funds from the Food and Drug Administration in order to move forward with the approval. Despite the decision made by the House, the United States Department of Agriculture recently decided to help Aquabounty’s quest for the approval of genetically modified salmon by generously funding their cause with nearly $500,000.One can only wonder why an organization like the USDA would fund research to help the frankenfish’s approval while one part of the legislative branch of government shoots it down. The question is, what could possibly cause the USDA to fund Aquabounty while there is so much controversy surrounding the salmon on a government level? Why would the USDA, an organization which stamps organic products with their seal to indicate no use of genetic modification, give money to a company to research and ultimately sell genetically modified salmon? The answers are unclear, but the actions exhibited by the USDA could very well reflect the personal goals of the members. Perhaps USDA members could have vested interest in the approval of genetically modified fish.
    It may not be long until you find unlabeled genetically modified fish on your dinner plate. With Aquabounty receiving a very generous sum of money from the USDA, who knows the time it will take for them to conduct (or perhaps manipulate) the necessary research for their frankenfish to attain approval.
    Explore More:
  1. Troubling Emails Reveal Federal Scientists Fear FDA Approval of Genetically Modified Salmon
  2. Congress Bans FDA from Approving Genetically Modified ‘Franken’ Salmon
  3. New Genetically Modified Creation Threatens Health, Environment
  4. Bill Gates’ Foundation Funded Approval of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
  5. As Predicted, FDA Will Not Require Labeling of GM Salmon
Please visit Natural Society for more great health news and vaccine information.Hmmm.........Why do i feel the Obama 'thugocracy' is behind this?Read the full story here.

  • The Noose Tightens on the Assad Regime.(Pressurepoints).By ElliottAbrams.The demise of the Assad regime in Syria is inevitable, as the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said recently.The first Arab leader to call upon Assad to step down is King Abdullah of Jordan, who today said “If Bashar had an interest in his country he would step down….If I were in his shoes, I would step down….” Given the history of close Syrian-Jordanian relations and the king’s customary restraint, this is a remarkable statement. The swing of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt against Assad is another clue that the regime’s fall is coming. Jumblatt said in late October that “the Syrian people are revolting against oppression and tyranny,” and he is a man with his finger perpetually up to measure how the wind is blowing.Worse yet for Assad was the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria, which not only isolates Assad but pushes the EU further in the direction of anti-regime actions. And today the EU sanctioned more regime insiders, only one step in a series certain to come.Assad is losing his composure. We see this not so much in his continued killing of unarmed protesters—for that has been a hallmark of the regime, under Bashar al-Assad as under his father—as in Saturday night’s assaults on the Saudi, Qatari, French, and Turkish embassies and consulates. Those attacks, which absolutely no one will believe were spontaneous, reveal a regime that is fast losing its grip not only on Syria but on reality. Attacking those Arab and Turkish missions was of course against international law but it was more importantly very stupid, as it is bound to offend even more the few governments that could possibly offer Assad a lifeline. It will now persuade them that the sooner he goes the better, and they have various means to implement such a decision—including providing money and weapons to the Syrian opposition, reaching out to the Syrian business community to turn it against Assad, and contacting Syrian military leaders to tell them the regime is finished and they should get on the winning side.So the Assad regime is finished. The collapse is likely to come more quickly than was thought just a few weeks ago, when many experts said he might hold on for another year. It is not at all clear he can hold on for another month.The sooner he goes the better, for the Assad family has given Syria a vicious, indeed murderous, kleptocracy for decades. And one can hope that the setback his fall will be for Hezbollah and Iran will over time positively affect Lebanese and Iranian politics as well. One need not romanticize the coming period in Syria, which has never had experience with democracy and has many social divisions, to applaud the departure of the Assads and their cronies.Read the full story here.




  • Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert? (GizModo).This is crazy. New photos have appeared in Google Maps showing unidentified titanic structures in the middle of the Chinese desert. The first one is an intricate network of what appears to be huge metallic stripes. Is this a military experiment?They seem to be wide lines drawn with some white material. Or maybe the dust have been dug by machinery.It's located in Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Gansu, north of the Shule River, which crosses the Tibetan Plateau to the west into the Kumtag Desert. It covers an area approximately one mile long by more than 3,000 feet wide.The tracks are perfectly executed, and they seem to be designed to be seen from orbit.Perhaps it's some kind of targeting or calibrating grid for Chinese spy satellites? Maybe it's a QR code for aliens? Nobody really knows.You can check it out yourself in Google Maps here.The second structure seems to be some kind of giant targeting grid, also north of the Shule river.If you zoom in, you can see vehicles destroyed. It's west of what seems to be a fairly big electrical station or a radio station similar to HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program located near Gakona, Alaska, and funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska, and DARPA. You can investigate here and tell us what you think in the comments.Read and more important SEE the full story here.


  • ‘Turkey in command of newly deployed Predators’ missions’.(Stratrisks).“In line with the US plan to pull out of Iraq, Predators will fly for the last time from Iraq on Nov. 22; from then onwards the four predators currently based in Turkey will be taking over surveillance missions,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying on Saturday.The foreign minister’s words came following media reports that the US had deployed four drones in Turkey. He confirmed that two of the Predators were already based at İncirlik Air Base in Adana and would be taking up surveillance in a timely manner so as not to leave any gaps after US forces leave Iraq. “The data provided by those predators will be shared in real time by a unit in Turkey and the routes for the Predators will be determined solely by the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] and our military officials,” Davutoğlu said, brushing off speculation that the US might remain in charge of the drones’ operations after they are based in Turkey.The foreign minister clarified it was Turkey that requested the continuation of drone surveillance after the US pullout as the country has greatly benefited from data obtained by the unmanned aerial vehicles in its fight against the PKK. Any gap in the gathering of intelligence by the drones could endanger Turkish forces, which often experience ambush attacks from the PKK. The timely deployment of the Predators before the US concludes its flights in Iraq is expected to enable the surveillance to go uninterrupted.The four US drones arrived at İncirlik in late October, the Taraf daily reported on Friday, as it claimed that their deployment happened days before Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed a request to purchase drones to be used in the fight against the PKK with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the recent G-20 summit in Paris.The deployment of the US drones in Turkish territory is separate from the request to purchase drones from the US. In September The Washington Post reported that Turkey sought the deployment of a fleet of US drones in its territory as a measure against the PKK following the US withdrawal from Iraq. Later in September Erdoğan said the US had agreed in principle to the Turkish request to deploy its drones on Turkish soil. In addition to hosting the US drones Turkey also intends to buy its own armed drones from the US. Turkey is seeking to purchase MQ-9 Reapers, a larger and more modern version of the Predator.Taraf reported that the drones would be used to monitor the PKK’s movements but they would not provide real-time data from their surveillance flights for Turkish authorities, and data from the drones’ flights would be sent to the US before reaching Turkish officials. Davutoğlu brushed off this claim by saying that Turkish personnel would be involved first-hand in the command of the flights and the intelligence gathered would be delivered to Turkish authorities without any delays.Pieces of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that were found in a fisherman’s net on the southern coast of Turkey have sparked a controversy as they might belong to a Heron, a trademark piece of equipment from the Israeli military that is used to gather intelligence, giving way to speculation that Israel might be conducting surveillance missions over Turkey, which maintains a closed airspace to Israeli military planes.Media reports on the discovery of debris from an UAV by fishermen fishing close to the southern coastline of Turkey’s Mersin province stirred controversy over the weekend as some media outlets reported that the pieces belonged to Israeli Herons and not to US Predators. Turkey’s airspace is closed to the Israeli air force ever since the countries entered a bitter phase in their relations in the aftermath of last year’s bloody raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship that not only claimed the lives of nine peace activists, but also caused Turkey to slam Israel with sanctions, freezing military agreements and downgrading the level of diplomatic contact sharply.On the same night of the flotilla raid, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) assaulted the İskenderun Naval Base, where seven Turkish security personnel were killed. Turkish officials at the time reacted to the timing of the assaults as being “significant” in the sense that it might reveal cooperation between the PKK and Israel, the Cihan news agency reported on Saturday. More than a year after the assault, the piece of an UAV fueled allegations of such a cooperation and raised questions whether Herons may have actually gathered information on the İskenderun base and relayed it to the PKK to enable the attack, Cihan reported.The piece from the vehicle was reportedly brought to the General Staff headquarters in Ankara for further investigation, as local authorities said they did not know for sure how the piece may have gotten to the Turkish shore. It is also speculated that the piece might have been carried by the waves across the Mediterranean before reaching the Turkish coast, but details on the exact location or time of the discovery remain unclear.Hmmm....Now that Turkey and the U.S. work together against 'terrorisme' the perfect excuse to attack Israel?Read the full story here.
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