| Puppet Masters |
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RT
2014-12-30 22:02:00
A request by US Rep. Alan Grayson to access a portion of a 2002 congressional report on the September 11, 2001 attacks was denied by the House Intelligence Committee based on political reasons, the Florida Democrat said. Grayson's request pertains to 28 pages of Congress' Joint Inquiry that were ordered to be redacted by then-President George W. Bush. The congressman said his search stemmed from proposed legislation in the House that seeks to release the classified section to the public. The censored section of the Joint Inquiry provides information on "specific sources of foreign support" for the 9/11 attackers while they were in the United States. "The role of Saudi Arabia in funding 9/11" is part of these classified materials, according to former US Sen. Bob Graham, a fellow Florida Democrat, who co-chaired the Joint Inquiry. | |
Comment: Yes, the American and world public deserve to see this report. But, even with that in mind, does anyone really believe this will 'blow the lid' on the 9/11 cover-up? If anything, it simply confirms what we already know, but what the American government refuses to publicize: that Saudi Arabia (among other vassal states) funds terrorism, and did so specifically in connection with 9/11. What will NOT be revealed is U.S. complicity in this very operation, and the fact that the CIA uses vassal states like Saudi Arabia as middlemen in their creation, funding, and training of proxy terrorists. They still do it. It's all part of the program: as Sibel Edmonds calls it, Operation Gladio B. (Speaking of Edmonds, how about releasing all the damning documents SHE had access to? That would be the day...)
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John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute 2014-12-30 20:38:00
For those of us who have managed to survive 2014 with our lives intact and our freedoms hanging by a thread, it has been a year of crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns. We've been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those representing us, tossed aside, and taken to the cleaners. As I point out in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, we've had our freedoms turned inside out, our democratic structure flipped upside down, and our house of cards left in a shambles. We've had our children burned by flashbang grenades, our dogs shot, and our old folks hospitalized after "accidental" encounters with marauding SWAT teams. We've been told that as citizens we have no rights within 100 miles of our own border, now considered "Constitution-free zones." We've had our faces filed in government databases, our biometrics crosschecked against criminal databanks, and our consumerist tendencies catalogued for future marketing overtures. We've been given the runaround on government wrongdoing, starting with President Obama's claim that the National Security Agency has never abused its power to spy on Americans' phone calls and emails. All the while, the NSA has been racing to build a supercomputer that could break through "every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world." Despite the fact that the NSA's domestic surveillance program has been shown to be ineffective at preventing acts of terrorism, the agency continues to vacuum up almost 200 million text messages a day. | |
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Boyd D. Cathey
The Unz Review 2014-12-29 19:17:00
Anyone who has followed the ongoing crisis in Eastern Europe and Ukraine knows the very hostile view that the establishment news media and Washington political class have of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his policies. In the halls of Congress and in the mainstream press - almost every night on Fox News - serious charges are proffered against Russia's president and his latest outrages. Sanctions and bellicose measures get enacted by the House and Senate overwhelmingly, with only meagre opposition and almost no serious discussion. The mainstream American media and American political leaders seem intent to present only a one-sided, very negative picture of the Russian leader. Various allegations are continually and repeatedly expressed. How do these charges stand up under serious examination? What is their origin? And, what do they say about the current political and cultural environment in America and the West? | |
Comment: Cathey provides some good evidence that the main allegations made against Putin are simply false. However, we don't think his conclusion -- that the West hates Putin because of his traditional morality -- gets to the heart of the matter. That is just the convenient reason given for their demonization campaign -- kind of like how the U.S. criticizes any country it hates on grounds of "human rights", "corruption", and "democracy". The real reason is that hinted at by Krauthammer: the U.S. wants to remain the sole superpower, in a unipolar world. Russia wants a multipolar world, not run by the U.S. Psychopaths in power swing one way or the other when it comes to public endorsement or repudiation of traditional morals; the one thing they can't abide is giving up their power.
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Vladimir Mashin
New Eastern Outlook 2014-12-23 00:00:00
The outgoing 2014 is destined, apparently, to go down in the annals of history as a special year given its share of iconic dates (note, for example, 100 years since WWI and 75 years since WWII, 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall), and due to abundance of events having worldwide significance. Today the mankind is on the verge of epochal changes in its history, which will determine the course of the world development for decades to come. 2014 was a turning point in international relations, sharply denoting the main trend of our time - the reconfiguration of the entire world system, reformatting of global structures, the shift from a unipolar to a polycentric world in which decisions on key issues should be based on cooperation and agreements between states and their associations, relying on equal participation and consideration of the interests of the whole mankind. And the contours of this world are now visible. On the surface, these processes take the form of a deep civilizational and geopolitical fault. There is a weakening of the position of the United States and the West in general as the center of gravity of the world. Many European political scientists and world known academics speak explicitly about the decline of the Western civilization. European nations are homogeneous, and the continual rise of immigration in recent decades has in fact already changed the ethnic composition of the Old World. Europe found itself unable to integrate the Muslim minority, which is already more than 30 million people, but it is also unable, due to the declining population and its aging, to maintain the current standard of living and the rate of production growth without an influx of the young foreign workforce. The European sub-ethnic group has entered the phase of obscuration and is on the verge of (according to the criteria of historical time) being absorbed by new, emerging and already prominently visible types (of sub-ethnic groups). This is the Asiansub-ethnic group - a synthesis of several types of cultures and religions. By 2020, experts anticipate a rise of the African sub-ethnic group. In the Western Hemisphere the Hispanic sub-ethnic group is being created on the basis of a huge diversity of ethnic groups and beliefs. | |
Comment: Extrapolating from all the developments in 2014, we can see that, far from the U.S. working with other countries "on the basis of equal and mutually respectful cooperation" the U.S. will continue to ramp up its world-wide campaign for domination, aggression and full-tiltdestruction; which is all it knows how to do at this point. One of the many tragedies that comprise this drama is the relative success of Western propaganda to demonize the opposing force ie. Russia, and strengthen the perception amongst the sleeping that the enemy is "over there". It will take many more, and even stronger shocks of informational awareness, for the greater numbers of Westerners to see things as they really are.
See also: Why the U.S. just can't stop | |
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RT
2014-12-30 19:17:00
Pushing down global oil prices was part of Washington's rationale to destabilize the Russian economy, US President Barack Obama said in an interview to National Public Radio, a non-profit media organization. Oil price key to Russian economy crumbling Answering a direct question whether it was the US that collapsed oil prices globally to create problems for Russia, Obama said that Russian economy "was already contracting and capital was fleeing even before oil collapsed." Obama revealed that it was a "part of our rationale" that the "only thing" keeping Russian economy "afloat" was the price of oil. Sanctions only made Russian economy more vulnerable to the "inevitable" oil price disruptions. "They'd have enormous difficulty managing it," Obama said. | |
Comment: The lies that come out of this man's mouth are just staggering.
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Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post 2014-12-30 11:19:00
When the facts surrounding the safety and effectiveness of vaccines begin to be brought into the light, the only option left for those who manufacture, promote, and/or force vaccines onto the general population is to silence the presentation of those facts. Indeed, it is also imperative that those same forces prevent any alternatives to vaccination and financially incentivized medical dogma from becoming known amongst the general public. Such was the mode of attack taken by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in a case that dates back to 2013 against the homeopathic remedies company, Homeopathy Plus. In the early part of 2013, the ACCC instituted Federal Proceedings against Homeopathy Plus after claiming that the company was guilty of being "misleading and deceptive" after posting a series of three articles on its website that presented the Pertussis vaccine as being ineffective in preventing the disease and largely unreliable. | |
Comment: For more on the whooping cough vaccine see:
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RT
2014-12-30 16:42:00
Gazprom has bought out the shares of South Stream Transport BV, a company that was in charge of the construction of the cancelled gas pipeline marine section. Italy's Eni, Wintershall of Germany, and France's EDF have decided to withdraw from the South Stream project. They have sold their shares to Gazprom, which already owned 50 percent of South Stream Transport BV. "Due to the fact that it's difficult to predict receiving permission for South Stream, and calculate the economic consequences of delaying its construction for an indefinite period, the participants decided to close the project," said Wintershall's spokesperson commenting on the decision to sell the stake. South Stream Transport B.V. was established to construct the offshore part of the South Stream gas pipeline from Anapa in Russia to Varna in Bulgaria. | |
Comment: Very interesting development. With Bulgaria "ready to issue all the necessary permits", will Gazprom continue the South Stream project?
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Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Strategic Culture Foundation 2014-12-26 11:51:00
A multi-spectrum war is being waged against Moscow by Washington. If there are any doubts about this, they should be put to rest. Geopolitics, science and technology, speculation, financial markets, information streams, large business conglomerates, intelligentsia, mass communication, social media, the internet, popular culture, news networks, international institutions, sanctions, audiences, public opinion, nationalism, different governmental bodies and agencies, identity politics, proxy wars, diplomacy, countervailing international alliances, major business agreements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights, prestige, military personnel, capital, and psychological tactics are all involved in this multi-spectrum war. On a daily basis this struggle can be seen playing out on the airwaves, in the war theaters in Ukraine and the Middle East, through the statements and accusations of diplomats, and in the economic sphere. Additionally, the debates and questions on whether a new cold war - a post-Cold War cold war - has emerged or if the Cold War never ended should be put to rest too. The mentality of the Cold War never died in the Washington Beltway. From the perspective of Russian officials, it is clear that the US never put down its war mace and continued the offensive. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, defeating the Soviets and Eastern Bloc, and seeing the Soviet Union dismantled into fifteen republics was not enough for the Cold War warriors in the US. The newly emergent Russian Federation had to be placated in their views. Petro-politics have been a major feature of this multi-spectrum war too. [1] Not only have energy prices been a factor in this struggle, but so are financial markets and national currencies. The manipulated decline in the price of energy, which has been driven by the flooding of the global market with oil, is now being augmented by a siege on the value of the Russian ruble. This is part of what appears to be a deliberate two-pronged attack on the Russian Federation that seeks to cut Russia's revenues through market manipulation via economic sanctions and price drops. It is what you would call a «double whammy». While sanctions have been imposed on the Russian economy by the US and its allies, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, and Japan, offensives on Russia's main source of revenue - energy - and its national currency have taken place. | |
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Paul Craig Roberts
Strategic Culture Foundation 2014-12-29 11:23:00
Washington is the cause of the conflict, which has been brewing for some time. Russia was too weak to do anything about it when the Clinton regime pushed NATO to Russia's borders and illegally attacked Yugoslavia, breaking the country into small easily controlled pieces. Russia was also too weak to do anything about it when the George W. Bush regime withdrew from the ABM treaty and undertook to locate anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia's borders. Washington lied to Moscow that the purpose of the ABM bases was to protect Europe from non-existent Iranian nuclear ICBMs. However, Moscow understood that the purpose of the ABM bases was to degrade Russia's nuclear deterrent, thereby enhancing Washington's ability to coerce Russia into agreements that compromise Russian sovereignty. By summer 2008 Russian power had returned. On Washington's orders, the US and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian army attacked the breakaway republic of South Ossetia during the early hours of August 8, killing Russian peacekeepers and civilian population. Units of the Russian military instantly responded and within a few hours the American trained and equipped Georgian army was routed and defeated. Georgia was in Russia's hands again, where the province had resided during the 19th and 20th centuries. Putin should have hung Mikheil Saakashvili, the American puppet installed by the Washington-instigated "Rose Revolution" as president of Georgia, and reincorporated Georgia into the Russian Federation. Instead, in a strategic error, Russia withdrew its forces, leaving Washington's puppet regime in place to cause future trouble for Russia. Washington is pushing hard to incorporate Georgia into NATO, thus adding more US military bases on Russia's border. However, at the time, Moscow thought Europe to be more independent of Washington than it is and relied on good relations with Europe to keep American bases out of Georgia. Today the Russian government no longer has any illusion that Europe is capable of an independent foreign policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated publicly that Russia has learned that diplomacy with Europe is pointless, because European politicians represent Washington's interest, not Europe's. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently acknowledged that Europe's Captive Nation status has made it clear to Russia that Russian goodwill gestures are unable to produce diplomatic results. | |
Comment: Whether there will be a nuclear conflict is hard to tell, but one thing is for certain, 2015 will be an interesting year on the Big Blue Marble, especially with China and Russia coming closer together and challenging U.S. hegemony.
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Middle East Monitor
2014-12-29 11:06:00
Mustafa Barghouti has accused Israel of using the Gaza Strip as a testing ground for new weapons. Speaking during a review of 2014 in Ramallah, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative reminded listeners that Israel is now the third largest arms exporter in the world. "There is conclusive evidence that it used the Gaza Strip as a test bed for its deadly weaponry," he claimed. The Israelis, he added, fired around 21,000 tons of high explosives at the besieged territory during its war against Palestinian civilians in July-August 2014. That's the equivalent of two nuclear bombs, noted Barghouti. "Israel has launched four devastating wars against Gaza," he added, "during which it has used internationally-prohibited weapons, including white phosphorus, as well as barrel bombs." According to the Palestinian politician, 2014 was the bloodiest year in the history of Israeli "criminality". Israel's "aggression" stretched from the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, in which it targeted Al-Aqsa Mosque, through to the Gaza Strip. Ongoing illegal settlements and the blockade of Gaza remain major issues. "The UN reports that Israel has destroyed 92,000 buildings and killed almost 2,300 people, 85 per cent of them within their own homes," said Barghouti. "Another 11,711 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli aggression." He warned that Gaza is set to "explode" unless reconstruction materials are allowed into the enclave and the blockade is lifted. Israel used live ammunition to suppress peaceful demonstrations in the West Bank, he revealed, which led to the killing of 52 civilians there in 2014. "What we are witnessing in the West Bank and Jerusalem is the appearance of a new uprising, albeit in scattered waves." Barghouti referred to the escalation of violations of the sanctity of holy sites in Jerusalem along with a significant increase in the number of attacks by armed Jewish settlers across the West Bank. Illegal settlement activity rose by 140 per cent over the figures for 2012, he said. In closing, he reminded the audience that 2014 also saw an increase in the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, rising from 4,763 to 6,500. | |
Comment: See also: UN predictions fall short: Gaza is already uninhabitable
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Peter Moskowitz
Al Jazeera 2014-12-29 01:12:00
If approved by Gov. Christie, bill would give municipalities with aging pipes right to sell systems to private companies. A bill that would allow New Jersey municipalities to sell their public water utilities to private, for-profit corporations without putting the measure to voters is awaiting Gov. Chris Christie's signature. Until now, any municipality in New Jersey that sought to sell off its water system to a private bidder had to hold a public vote. But a bill passed with bipartisan support by the state's Senate last week would allow municipalities with aging and deteriorating water systems to put their systems up for sale without holding a referendum. While supporters of the bill say privatizing water systems could save municipalities money, it allows companies to factor the purchase price of the systems into the rates they charge customers, meaningtaxpayers could ultimately be on the hook for the sale of their water systems. Many New Jersey municipalities have turned to privatization as a way to get quick cash infusions for their deteriorating water systems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the state would need $41 billion over the next 20 years to repair its water, stormwater and wastewater systems. "We're an old, industrial state, and water infrastructure was built a long, long time ago," said Lawrence Hajna, a spokesman for the state's Department of Environmental Protection, which has not taken a position on the bill. "We've spent billions on upgrading, but there's still a lot more to do." | |
Comment: Privatizing is all about money, not in improving water safety for the benefit of the population.
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Sputnik
2014-12-30 05:48:00
The United States has used "strategic patience" to steadily apply the pressure of sanctions against the Russian economy as oil prices have plummeted in recent months, US President Barack Obama said on Monday. "Part of our rationale in this process was that the only thing keeping that [Russian] economy afloat was the price of oil. And if, in fact, we were steady in applying sanction pressure, which we have been, that over time it would make the economy of Russia sufficiently vulnerable," Obama said in an interview with the National Public Radio. According to the president, the US policy toward Russia calculated that "if and when there weredisruptions with respect to the price of oil," Russia would have "enormous difficulty managing it." | |
Comment: That is very interesting to read Obama's remarks about the "disruptions" in the price of oil. Sure sounds like the US was involved somehow with the oil price manipulation.
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Christine Hong
Asia-Pacific Journal 2014-12-29 22:16:00
Representations of North Korea as a buffoon, a menace, or both on the American big screen are at least as old and arguably as tired as the George W. Bush-era phrase, "the axis of evil." Along with the figure of the Muslim "terrorist," hackneyed Hollywood constructions of the "ronery" or diabolical Dr. Evil-like North Korean leader bent on world domination, the sinister race-bending North Korean spy, the robotic North Korean commando, and other post-Cold War Red/Yellow Peril bogeymen have functioned as go-to enemies for the commercial film industry's geopolitical and racist fantasies. Explaining why the North Korean leader was the default choice for the villain in his 2014 regime-change comedy, The Interview, Seth Rogen has stated, "It's not that controversial to label [North Korea] as bad. It's as bad as it could be."1 Indeed, one-dimensional caricatures of North Korea flourish in the Western media in no small part because "[w]acky dictators sell."2 Yet when it comes to Hollywood's North Korean regime-change narratives, the line between fact and fiction, not to mention the distinction between freedom of expression and government propaganda, is revealingly thin. Whether in Hollywood or Washington, the only permissible narrative for North Korea is what Donald Macintyre, former Seoul bureau chief for Time magazine, has called "the demonization script."3 Not only have the dream machines of the entertainment industry long played an instrumental role within American theaters of war, but also, U.S. officials and political commentators often marshal the language of entertainment - for example, the description of U.S.-South Korea combined military exercises as "war games" and the Obama administration's references to the Pentagon's "playbook" with regard to North Korea - when describing U.S. military maneuvers on and around the Korean peninsula. | |
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Mikhail Khazin
Or an attempt to describe how US problems correlate with international security.The Vineyard of the Saker 2014-12-29 23:33:00
On several past occasions I have written that the United States is deliberately destroying the entire system of international security, the same system that they had built together with the USSR. Why did they start dismantling the international security system is also understandable, in the 1990s the generation of "victors" came to power in that country, these people are convinced that they had "defeated" the USSR (as our theory explains it is obviously not so, please refer to this) andbecause they are "victors" they may do anything they please. They decided that collective security arrangements are onerous, and that they need their own security system, the one that only they will have control over. If we were to evaluate rhetoric of individuals who were in charge of the states that were admitted as new NATO members in the last 20 years, then we can figure out the logic that stands behind the expansion (and perhaps a bit even farther still). "We are being threatened and the USA is our only possible protection, therefore we must all be integrated within a US-centered security structure." This was all going on while Russia, as a matter of principle, was not participating in affairs of those countries (not even in those of the Ukraine, which was abandoned to its own devices, something that has to a great extent caused the recent events in that country), Russia was not a threat to anyone(and of course it is not a threat to anyone now), the point of this all was deliberate destruction of the old global security system, in which Russia used to play a key role. | |
Comment: Not a pretty picture, but Khazin is most likely right. The only way out is down.
More from Khazin: SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Russian economist Mikhail Khazin: On gold, the imminent collapse of Western neo-liberalism, and Eurasianism | |
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RT
2014-12-29 23:25:00
Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front have been banned in Russia by the Supreme Court, which has ruled both the organizations as 'terrorist'. Once the ruling comes into force, those suspected of being involved with either Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) or Al-Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra), will face prosecution in Russia. The case against the two extremist groups was initiated by Russia's Prosecutor General and supported by the Federal Intelligence Agency (FSB). The court hearings were closed for the press, as certain documents reviewed were classified. The judge only announced the final decision. | |
Comment: We all know ISIS and Al-Nusra: they're the guys the U.S. keeps giving weapons! They might not want to pick a fight with Russia, though. Just look what happened to their ideological brethren in Chechnya.
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Press TV
2014-12-29 14:55:00
The death toll of a cold spell in northern and eastern India has reportedly exceeded 130. The cold snap in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has disrupted rail and air transportation, media reported on Monday. However, Uttar Pradesh Secretary and Relief Commissioner Leena Johri has not confirmed the number of fatalities. Citing authorities, Johri said there has been no report of death due to cold wave. Meanwhile, Delhi-based All India Radio (AIR) reported that severe cold weather and fog has caused accidents which claimed the lives of 25 people in Uttar Pradesh during the weekend. In the National Capital Territory of Delhi, as well as neighboring northern state of Haryana, and Bihar, a state in east India, 12 cold-related deaths were reported. Foggy conditions caused serious disruption in air and rail transportation. Some 137 flights were delayed and 14 more canceled at Delhi airport. The fog and low visibility have caused delays in 78 train departures as well. The potentially deadly winters in India are short and last only from December to February. | |
Comment: The death toll in India has now exceeded 150.
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RT
2014-12-30 20:54:00
A former military doctor who participated in missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan has asked the Czech Defense Ministry to take back his NATO medals, calling the North Atlantic alliance a "criminal organization" with "atrocious interests." Lieutenant Colonel Marek Obrtel, former chief of the 11th Czech military hospital in Afghanistan, who also served in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, wrote to the Czech Defense Ministry and government in an open letter. Obrtel said he was giving back four NATO medals he received for his role in international peacekeeping missions as he was "deeply ashamed" of having served in the organization, "led by the US with its monstrous interests around the world." | |
Comment: The lieutenant colonel has made a brave public gesture. It's frightening to speak the truth from the belly of the beast. More power to him.
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Lauren O'Neil
CBC 2014-12-30 18:01:00
If you've logged into Facebook at all in recent weeks, you may have been met with a prompt to "see what your year looked like" through an auto-generated timeline of photos you've shared on the social network in 2014. This annual feature, called "Year in Review," is meant to highlight your "most significant moments" over the past 12 months based on which of your posts were engaged with (read: liked, shared, commented upon) the most. For those who've enjoyed a good year, these customized social scrapbooks can serve as a pleasant reminder of everything celebrated and accomplished in 2014. | |
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Buenos Aires Herald
2014-12-21 17:41:00
An orangutan held in the Buenos Aires zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognized the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the zoo. In a landmark ruling that could pave the way for more lawsuits, the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) argued the ape had sufficient cognitive functions and should not be treated as an object. The court agreed Sandra, born into captivity in Germany before being transferred to Argentina two decades ago, deserved the basic rights of a "non-human person." | |
Comment: Zoos are little more than animal prisons. Hopefully, Sandra can live out the rest of her days in relative peace.
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Steve Hopkins
Daily Mail, UK 2014-12-30 17:25:00
A passenger on a flight to Manchester that was returned to Philadelphia after an engine problem has told how he feared for his life after seeing flames shoot out from under the plane. John Vien was on his way back to New Hampshire to visit his family for New Year's yesterday when the emergency happened. Mr Vien, who was one of 75 passengers on the plane, said the mood inside the cabin quickly went from panic to hysteria. From his window seat he filmed the flames.
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John Rubino
DollarCollapse.com 2014-12-29 00:00:00
Twelve short months ago, the immediate future looked like a lock. Overvalued equities had to fall, ridiculously-low interest rates had to rise, and beaten-down precious metals had to resume their bull market. The evidence was overwhelming. Debt in the developed world had risen to $157 trillion, or 376% of GDP, by far the highest level on record and clearly unsustainable. Long-term US Treasury rates had been falling for literally three decades and despite a recent uptick were so low that the only way forward seemed to be up. Europe and Japan were drifting into recessions that could easily morph into capital-D Depressions. The eurozone would fragment, Japanese bonds and probably stocks would crater, one or more major currencies would implode. No way to know which event would come first and in what order the other dominoes would fall, but without doubt something had to give. | |
Comment: The edge on which central economic control is walking is getting thinner and thinner - leading to an instability in which the house of cards collapses due to a (formerly) minor event. Much of the above is discussed in more detail in the following interview between Gordon T Long and John Rubino:
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John Hutchinson
Daily Mail, UK 2014-12-30 17:16:00
A plane travelling from Geneva to Manchester was diverted to Stansted due to an on-board medical emergency. The Airbus landed at Stansted Airport shortly before 10.30pm last night, just under two hours after it set off from the Swiss airport. The budget airline flight had been due to land at Manchester Airport at 11.45pm. The alarm was sounded as the plane flew over the English Channel and the pilot was forced into a rapid descent. | |
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Chris Kitching
Daily Mail, UK 2014-12-30 17:06:00
A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to London was forced to turn around and make an unscheduled landing after the plane experienced an apparent hydraulic leak. The captain decided to abort the 12-hour journey and returned to Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Thai capital due to a fault that occurred shortly after take-off. Passenger Matt Babai tweeted a photo of the plane dumping fuel as it circled over Thailand in a holding pattern, calling it an 'eerie few days for the aviation industry'. | |
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TheLocal.Fr
2014-12-30 14:45:00
One 29-year-old man was found dead in the northern city of Douai on Saturday and two others died on Sunday, one 50-year-old man in Paris and a Belgian 46-year-old in south-eastern France. All three apparently died of hypothermia, according to authorities. After an unusually warm spell of weather, France has been gripped by a sudden freeze in the past few days, with the mercury dropping to minus 14C (7F) and as low as minus 22 in the mountains. French authorities said they had offered the 29-year-old man emergency accommodation but he had "systematically declined the offer". The 50-year-old Parisian had also been approached by authorities. He was found in a state of hypothermia and died when receiving first aid. | |
Comment: A tragic consequence of high unemployment and dire weather conditions:
15,000 vehicles trapped by snow and ice in Savoy, France France unemployment total at new record high | |
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The Guardian
2014-12-30 13:58:00
Scores of Nicaraguan protesters have been arrested and dozens injured as Nicaraguan police broke up road blocks set up by demonstrators protesting this week against possible eviction from their lands due to the construction of an interoceanic canal in the country. Protesters in Rivas blocked the Pan-American Highway shortly after the official ceremony marking the beginning of construction work. Another road block on the Managua-San Carlos Highway was set up by protesters from the community of El Tule and the municipality of Nueva Guinea, which are also on the proposed canal route. Although in a recent press conference, Chinese businessman Wang Jing, the president of HKND Group, the company building the canal, promised to pay "compensation according to market principles in a fair, open and transparent way", many peasants complained of a lack of information when workers turned up to measure their land accompanied by police officers and soldiers. This has generated uncertainty among the campesino farmers affected and some have even said they won't give up without a fight. | |
Comment: Nicaragua's President, Daniel Ortega, created a socialist bank to help free the country from debt servitude to the US. This canal is another step in the same direction of freeing Nicaragua from the US' grip.
Protests have broken out over a concern for ancestral lands and possible environmental concerns. If the US' NGOs are responsible, provoking people with fears of "Chinese takeovers," then this would be no surprise. | |
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Sputnik
The passengers were forced to use emergency slides to evacuate the plane.2014-12-30 15:12:00
An AirAsia plane has overshot a runway while making a landing at Kalibo International Airport in the Philippines, The Independent reports. The Airbus A320 passengers were forced to use emergency slides to evacuate the plane. Flight Z2272 was bound from Manila to Kalibo, a city in the central Philippines. Jet Damazo-Santos, a journalist for Rappler who was onboard, posted several photos of the incident on Twitter, adding that apparently no one was hurt during the ordeal, according to The Straits Times. | |
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Sara Malm
Mail Online 2014-12-30 00:00:00
A ship carrying hundreds of passengers near the island of Corfu has issued a distress call because of armed people on board, according to the Greek shipping ministry. Several reports say the vessel, currently off the coast of Corfu, is carrying 700 passengers. Greek state television has reported that 'illegal immigrants' are involved in the situation on the ship, while other news sources say all 700 passengers are 'undocumented migrants'. | |
Comment: And this happens right after the completion of a rescue operation involving a ferry-boat traveling from Greece to Italy around the same area, that caught on fire, and the Whys and Hows still remain unanswered:
Evacuation complete, 7 dead - Ferry stricken by flames between Greece and Italy evacuated, teams helped "avoid a massacre" | |
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| Secret History |
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| Science & Technology |
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Bob King
Universe Today 2014-12-30 20:20:00
A 14th magnitude supernova discovered in the spiral galaxy NGC 4666 earlier this month has recently brightened to 11th magnitude, making it not only the second brightest supernova of the year, but an easy find in an 8-inch or larger telescope. I made a special trip into the cold this morning for a look and saw it with ease in my 10-inch (25-cm) scope at low power at magnitude 11.9. Before the Moon taints the dawn sky, you may want to bundle up and have a look, too. The charts below will help you get there. | |
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| Earth Changes |
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CTVNews.ca
2014-12-30 23:09:00
Flash floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jangmi left at least 31 people dead and seven missing in the Philippines, including in areas still recovering from last year's Typhoon Haiyan, officials said Tuesday. Jangmi, packing winds of 65 kilometres (40 miles) per hour and gusts of 80 kph, dumped heavy rains Monday on southern Mindanao Island, where floods destroyed bridges and highways, sending thousands of residents to evacuation centres. The storm then pushed its way through eastern and central islands, where most of the deaths occurred Tuesday. The government weather bureau said that as of late Tuesday afternoon, the eye of the storm was 140 kilometres (87 miles) southwest of central Iloilo City, moving west at 19 kph toward western Palawan Island. Mayor Stephanie Uy-Tan said 12 people died when a landslide buried two vans and six houses near a mountainside highway in eastern Catbalogan City. She said voices could still be heard from one of the vans and that rescue efforts were ongoing. | |
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Brian Lada
AccuWeather 2014-12-30 14:28:00
Those headed out to celebrate New Year's Eve may want to bundle up as arctic air affects much of the nation. The worst of the cold will focus on the Rocky Mountains and northern Plains, buttemperatures are forecast to dip below freezing across a majority of the nation on Wednesday night. "Temperatures will plunge well below zero from portions of the Dakotas and northern Minnesota at night through the end of 2014," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. AccuWeather.com RealFeel® Temperatures will be even lower, dropping below zero in cities such as Denver and Chicago. Florida will be one of the only spots in the entire country to evade the freezing weather with lows in the 60s in Orlando and Miami. Folks headed to outdoor venues to ring in the new year, such as Times Square in New York City, will want to dress warm to stay protected from the cold weather. | |
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A lost tourist is bringing crowds of admirers to the West Village. The Couch's Kingbird, a bright yellow bird usually not seen in the USA north of Texas and Louisiana, has been perching in Abingdon Square Park and other spots in the neighborhood, watched by dozens of bird watchers. It's thought to be the first of its species to come to New York, according to Phil Jeffrey, a scientist in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton who photographed the visitor at the weekend. On Monday morning, more than a dozen bird enthusiasts waited with cameras on the corner of Washington and Jane Streets - one of the spots where it's been seen.
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Comment: Similar recent reports of birds completely losing their way across the Northern Hemisphere: Warbler that should be wintering in western Mexico turns up in Louisiana
Bean goose from Eurasia takes a wrong turn and winds up on the Oregon Coast Four lost flamingos fly NORTH for the winter and turn up in Siberia Wrong place, wrong time: European robin turns up thousands of miles away in China Rare bird from Mongolia turns up in Wakefield, UK Wrong time, wrong place: Rare bird found in Barrie, Canada | ||
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A two-week-old B.C. girl is being treated in hospital for significant injuries she sustained in a dog attack by her family's Pitbull-Rottweiler cross-breed on Sunday. The 16-day-old infant was rushed to hospital with significant head and facial injuries after the dog attack early Sunday, police said. The incident happened in Saanich, B.C., where police say the dog had lived with the family for about 17 years. It's not known why the dog attacked the child. The dog's owners agreed to euthanize the animal, but police say they are still mulling whether to lay criminal negligence charges in the case. "Any time an attack like this happens, we have to look at the criminal side," said Const. Nawid Akbar of Saanich Police. "However, all accounts are leading to it just being an unfortunate accident. A very tragic event." Investigators have contacted child protective services.
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Catherine Holland
AZFamily.com 2014-12-30 17:18:00
A cold winter storm is bearing down on Arizona, which means possible rain for the Phoenix metro area and snow in the high country. The system will bring some "bitterly cold" air down from the northwest, according to 3TV meteorologist April Warnecke. It also will pick up some moisture as it heads our way. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for much of the state beginning tonight and running into late Thursday. Rain could start in the Valley Wednesday morning. Snow could start in the high country as early as Tuesday night. According to the National Weather Service, widespread snow will increase from west to east across northern Arizona on Wednesday, with the heaviest snowfall expected Wednesday evening. Snow levels could fall to 2,000 feet and a dusting is still possible Thursday morning in those higher elevations near the Valley like Cave Creek and Wickenburg. | |
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Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather 2014-12-30 17:07:00
A storm and cold air forecast to develop at the end of 2014 and linger into the start of 2015 will deliver snow, rain and a frost or freeze to portions of California. The coldest air of the winter months so far will settle over California during the middle and latter part of this week. At the same time, a storm will form nearby and bring snow and slippery travel to the passes and high deserts of California. While temperatures are not forecast to drop to record-low territory for much of the state, the air will get cold enough long enough to bring a frost and freeze to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, as well as part of the central coast of California. | |
Comment: For more information, see SOTT's November video on Earth Changes, see: SOTT Earth Changes Video Summary - November 2014
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Ed Vallee
Accuweather 2014-12-30 09:14:00
As cold air continues to plunge southward in the West, a storm will produce rare New Year's Eve and New Year's Day snow for Las Vegas, the Mojave Desert and the mountains in the region. Pack some warm clothes and perhaps winter boots if you are heading to the Southwest for the New Year's holiday. Motorists heading over the mountains should expect delays due to snow-covered roads. Soon after snow falls on parts of the central Rockies and Plains, a new winter storm will develop over the Southwest states. The storm will bring snow to not only the mountains of the Four Corner states, Nevada and Southern California, but also some low-elevation locations in the region that rarely receive accumulating snow. Las Vegas, which averages about 0.3 of an inch of snow per year, is forecast to receive 1-3 inches of snow during Tuesday night into Thursday morning. According to the Las Vegas National Weather Service Office, there have only been 15 snowstorms that brought greater than 1 inch of snow. Records have been kept since 1937. If 0.1 of an inch of snow or more falls on Las Vegas on Wednesday, it will become the snowiest New Year's Eve in the city's record. The last and only snowstorm on record during New Year's Day around Las Vegas was in 1974, when accumulations ranged from 2 to 5.5 inches in the area. The official New Year's Day record for McCarran International Airport is 4.4 inches. "Unusually cold air will target the southwestern U.S. by midweek. Las Vegas has not seen measurable snow since Dec. 17, 2008, when 3.6 inches of snow fell," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel. | |
Comment: To understand what's going on with our wild weather, check out our recently published book, Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection, available here. Also, check out November's Earth Changes Video Summary for more crazy weather happenings on the planet.
SOTT Earth Changes Video Summary - November 2014 | |
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Rebecca Lurye
The State (South Carolina) 2014-12-27 15:49:00
Thousands of starfish were stranded on Fripp Island on Christmas Eve, likely because of the day's stormy weather, according to a marine veterinarian. Al Segars of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources said he had not looked into the stranding, but said strong winds could have caused the creatures, also known as sea stars, to wash ashore. Christmas Day beachgoers estimated that roughly 100,000 sea stars were on the beach. The Sea Islands experienced the same thing last year, Segars said. "I wouldn't say it's anything out of the ordinary," he said. "These guys are just sitting on the bottom, so if you've got a strong wave action, they can't fight the current." George Sedberry, a science coordinator in national Office of Marine Sanctuaries, said he has not studied this stranding but offered other possible explanations for the sea stars' deaths. | |
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Sputnik
At least 29 people have been reportedly killed and 10 are missing in flash floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jangmi which is hitting the Philippines for the second day.2014-12-30 15:45:00
Flash floods and landslides, caused by a Tropical Storm Jangmi, known locally as Seniang, have left at least 29 people dead and 10 missing after hitting the Philippines for the second day running, according to AP reports. The eye of the storm was 108 kilometers southwest of central Iloilo City, moving west at 19 kph toward western Palawan Island, the agency quotes the government weather bureau as saying on Tuesday afternoon. At least 12 people died when a landslide swept away two vans and six houses near a mountainside highway in eastern Catbalogan City, said Mayor Stephanie Uy-Tan. She added that voices could still be heard from one of the vans and that rescue efforts were ongoing. Thousands were evacuated ahead of the storm's arrival, with most expected to be sent home later Tuesday as floodwaters start to recede. But some residents in vulnerable areas ignored the evacuation warnings, she said. "The rains were really strong and people thought the storm won't be too strong based on the news," The Indian Express quotes her as saying. | |
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wildlifeextra.com
2014-12-30 15:33:00
Over the past month a record number of sea turtles, most of which have been critically endangered Kemp's Ridley Turtles, have been rescued from stranding on the beaches of Cape Cod in New England, reports the Massachusett Audobon Society. Normally, around 90 sea turtles strand on the Cape on their migration from the beaches of Mexico to Cape Cod Bay. Sea turtles spend the warmer months in Cape Cod waters, then swim south to Mexico for the winter each autumn beginning in November. But some turtles get "caught" by the hook of Cape Cod. Sea turtles that take their body temperature from the environment around them and when the water temperature of the Bay gets down to 50 degrees F they become cold-stunned. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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| Health & Wellness |
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James Hamblin
The Atlantic 2014-12-28 20:05:00
Year-round warmth is a modern luxury, and one that could be affecting body weight and health. When you first put on the ice vest, you will feel cold. Not intolerably cold, but cold enough to make you think, What am I doing with my life? Or, at least, as numbness spreads across your shoulders and down your back, There must be better ways to lose weight. And there are. But as an adjunct to those better ways, the vest carries some unlikely promise. The sturdy Han Solo - style garment is loaded with ice packs, and it's inspired by a theory gathering momentum among scientists: namely, that environmental thermodynamics can be harnessed in pursuit of weight loss. The basic idea is that because your body uses energy to maintain a normal body temperature, exposure to cold expends calories. The vest's inventor, Wayne B. Hayes, an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine, claims that wearing it for an hour burns up to 250 calories, though his data are very rough. A little more than a year ago, he began selling the vest, which he calls the Cold Shoulder, out of his Pasadena apartment. Name notwithstanding, people won't ignore you when you wear it. Ken K. Liu, a principal at a hedge fund in Los Angeles, has been wearing the vest under his suit jacket on and off for about a year. He told me that some people's first reaction to the unwieldy getup is "What the hell are you doing?" As soon as Liu explains the concept, though, many of them say it sounds like a good idea. Others still think it's "stupid" - as did my colleagues, when I wore one - but Liu has not been deterred. Each morning while his coffee is brewing, he takes his vest out of the freezer and dons it without shame. Liu was never "fat," by his estimation, but he says he did carry a few extra pounds that he had trouble dropping, despite exercise and attention to diet. The Cold Shoulder closed that gap. | |
Comment: Cold therapy enhances immune system function. In this day of superbugs, unending strains of new flu virus and ebola, it only makes sense to do everything possible to strengthen it. Cold therapy is a valuable technique for improving over all health but should be approached in a gradual way. Some helpful articles:
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Jeremy Dean
Psych Central 2014-12-30 19:46:00
One gram of turmeric at breakfast has been shown by a new study to improve memory in people with memory problems. In the study itself participants were given 1 gram of turmeric mixed into their ordinary breakfasts (Lee et al., 2014). Their working memory was tested before and some time after their breakfast, and the results were compared with a placebo-control condition. Professor Wahlqvist, who led the Taiwanese study, explained the results: Diabetes and memory problems are linked because having diabetes makes it more likely that a person will also develop dementia if the diabetes is not well controlled. Turmeric is a yellow spice already widely used in cooking, especially in Asia.Its distinctive yellow colour is given to it by a substance called curcumin, which makes up between 3-6% of turmeric.It is the curcumin which is thought to have an active effect in reducing the memory problems associated with dementia. | |
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ScienceDaily
2014-12-30 19:00:00
Binge drinking in young, healthy adults significantly disrupts the immune system, according to a study led by a researcher now at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Depending on their weight, study participants drank four or five shots of vodka. Twenty minutes after reaching peak intoxication, their immune systems revved up. But when measured again, at two hours and five hours after peak intoxication, their immune systems had become less active than when sober. The study by Majid Afshar, MD, MSCR, and colleagues is published online ahead of print in Alcohol, an international, peer-reviewed journal. Binge drinking increases the risk of falls, burns, gunshot wounds, car accidents and other traumatic injuries. One-third of trauma patients have alcohol in their systems. In addition to increasing the risk of traumatic injuries, binge drinking impairs the body's ability to recover from such injuries. Previous studies have found, for example, that binge drinking delays wound healing, increases blood loss and makes patients more prone to pneumonia and infections from catheters. Binge drinkers also are more likely to die from traumatic injuries. The study led by Dr. Afshar illustrates another potentially harmful effect of binge drinking | |
Comment: Binge drinking is a very serious problem, you literally destroy and poison your own body. Being aware and having enough knowledge on how this affects your body is therefore very important.
Binge drinking 'damages memory' Binge drinkers 'risking dementia' Study: Nearly 14 million American women engage in binge drinking three times a month Regular binge drinking can cause long-term brain damage Binge drinking traps the brain in permanent adolescence | |
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Severin Carrell, Libby Brooks and Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian 2014-12-30 17:28:00
A Scottish nurse was on the way to specialist facilities in London on Tuesday morning after being diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The woman had been treated in an isolation unit in Glasgow after being diagnosed hours after arriving home from west Africa via a British Airways flight from Heathrow. She was later transferred from Glasgow airport on a military-style plane in a quarantine tent surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection suits, bound for the Royal Free Hospital in north London. A statement on the hospital's website said: "The Royal Free London can confirm that it is expecting to receive a patient who has tested positive for Ebola. "The patient will be treated in the high level isolation unit (HLIU)." The healthcare worker was admitted to Gartnavel hospital after feeling unwell with a fever at 7.50am on Monday morning, having flown into the city at 11.30pm on Sunday. She had spent the last month working as a volunteer with Save the Children in Sierra Leone to help combat the epidemic. It is the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed on UK soil. | |
Comment: For a more accurate overview on how Ebola is transmitted, check out: Ebola: Fear, lies and the evidence (VIDEO)
Ebola outbreak rages on despite little media coverage | |
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Sayer Ji
GreenMedInfo 2014-12-28 12:45:00
Why, if the vaccines work, is South Korea experiencing year after year increases in chickenpox (varicella) outbreaks as their mandated vaccine uptake (97%) reaches close to universal compliance? In 2005, the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine was mandated in South Korean for infants at 12 to 15 months of age. Despite near universal vaccine uptake (97% by 2011)[1], rather than see a reduced burden of chickenpox in South Korea as would be expected, no substantial decreases have been observed there nationwide. Quite to the contrary, the number of varicella patients reported to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) increased from 22.6 cases per 100,000 in 2006 to 71.6 cases per 100,000 in 2011. The obvious question emerges: If the chickenpox vaccine is effective, why is a population whose vaccination rates have been steadily increasing year after year seeing increasing rates of breakthrough infection? | |
Comment: For more information on the ineffectiveness of vaccines, see:
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Alliance For Natural Health USA
2014-12-23 12:59:00
Evidence points to glyphosate toxicity from the overuse of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide on our food. For over three decades, Stephanie Seneff, PhD, has researched biology and technology, over the years publishing over 170 scholarly peer-reviewed articles. In recent years she has concentrated on the relationship between nutrition and health, tackling such topics as Alzheimer's, autism, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health. At a conference last Thursday, in a special panel discussion about GMOs, she took the audience by surprise when she declared, "At today's rate, by 2025, one in two children will be autistic." She noted that the side effects of autism closely mimic those of glyphosate toxicity, and presented data showing a remarkably consistent correlation between the use of Roundup on crops (and the creation of Roundup-ready GMO crop seeds) with rising rates of autism. Children with autism have biomarkers indicative of excessive glyphosate, including zinc and iron deficiency, low serum sulfate, seizures, and mitochondrial disorder. A fellow panelist reported that after Dr. Seneff's presentation, "All of the 70 or so people in attendance were squirming, likely because they now had serious misgivings about serving their kids, or themselves, anything with corn or soy, which are nearly all genetically modified and thus tainted with Roundup and its glyphosate." Dr. Seneff noted the ubiquity of glyphosate's use. Because it is used on corn and soy, all soft drinks and candies sweetened with corn syrup and all chips and cereals that contain soy fillers have small amounts of glyphosate in them, as do our beef and poultry since cattle and chicken are fed GMO corn or soy. Wheat is often sprayed with Roundup just prior to being harvested, which means that all non-organic bread and wheat products would also be sources of glyphosate toxicity. The amount of glyphosate in each product may not be large, but the cumulative effect (especially with as much processed food as Americans eat) could be devastating. A recent study shows that pregnant women living near farms where pesticides are applied have a 60% increased risk of children having an autism spectrum disorder. | |
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Yes, hallelujah, the headline on a paper in the BMJ by Richard Smith, the previous editor of the journal. He has finally, if belatedly, come to realise that the dietary advice that has dominated western medicine for the last fifty years, or so, is complete nonsense. This damascene conversion is mainly due to the fact that he read Nina Teicholz's book The Big Fat Surprise. As he states: The amazing thing, to me, is not the Richard Smith has finally realised the diet-heart hypothesis is a complete crock. The amazing thing is that it still holds sway, despite the fact that it was neverbased on anything other than the propaganda of a power-mad egotist (Ancel Keys). Any evidence that saturated fat, or any other fat consumption, causes heart disease has always been weak at best, more usually non-existent, or just flatly contradictory. Many years ago Dr George Mann (who was running the Framingham Study at the time) stated that: And what effect did this comment have? Well, none. In 2008 the Food and Agricultural Organisation concluded the "there is no probable or convincing evidence" that a high level of fat in the diet causes heart disease. | |
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Jon Rappoport
Activist Post 2014-12-29 02:06:00
Glyphosate is the primary active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup. There is no official figure for the amount of glyphosate used every year in the world. One estimate? 650,000 tonnes, which works out to a staggering 1.3 billion pounds. Manufactured by Monsanto and a number of other companies, glyphosate use spiked after the introduction of Monsanto's |
