Thursday 18 December 2014

The European Union Times

Putin Orders Feared “Samson Defense” To Collapse US-EU Economies

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 01:01 PM PST

A chilling report published today by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) is warning of potentially “catastrophic unknown consequences” relating to President Putin’s issuance to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) of orders to initiate what is commonly known within the Kremlin as the “Samson Defense” designed to crash the Russian ruble, while at the same time insuring the economic collapse of both the United States and European Union.
The CBR’s “Samson Defense” is a Russian monetary strategy designed to economically mirror Israel’s feared “Samson Option” deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a “last resort” if military attacks threaten its existence.
In Putin’s action against the US-EU, this report says, the CBR’s stunning move earlier today in raising the interest rate to 17% from 10.5% has had its desired consequence as the ruble plunged more than 20% and to date and has now lost about 57% of its value versus the US dollar since the start of the year, which exceeds the36% plunge related to the 2008 global economic crisis.
Most importantly to note about this currency plunge, however, this report notes, are that Russia’s fiscal domestic accounts are denominated in depreciating rubles and its oil exports are invoiced in an appreciating US dollar, meaning that the fiscal blow from lower oil prices will be cushioned by a weak ruble, and was a strategy that Putin warned about earlier when he stated that the Federation was braced for a “catastrophic” slump in oil prices.
Equally as important to note, MED analysts in this report say, the CBR agreed to lend money this weekagainst 625 billion rubles (over $10 billion) of bonds freshly printed by oil giant Rosneft allowing it to hoard its export dollars and meet a $10 billion loan repayment later this month, and another $4 billion in February.
As to how catastrophically low oil prices can fall, this report continues, it notes that OPEC has already stated that they are willing to push prices as low as $40 a barrel in their bid to take on Russia and US shale, a stance which began this past September when the Obama regime reached a secret deal with Saudi Arabia in order to flood the world with oil to collapse the Russian economy, but which has now backfired on them as the Saudis seek to bankrupt US shale producers too.
With 15% of US shale gas producers are already losing money because of the Obama regimes secret deal with Saudi Arabia, this report warns, up to half of all of Americas shale operations will face financial ruin if oil prices slip below $55 a barrel leaving millions without jobs in an already collapsing economy.
To the ability of the Federation withstanding a “Samson Defense” economic war against the US and EU, this report says, it should be noted that the current debt of the US stands at a staggering $18 trillion [an amount so large it is now mathematically impossible to ever pay back] while the EU is, likewise, at a equally staggering amount of €12 trillion ($15 trillion).

Compared to the combined US-EU debt of $30 trillion, this report notes, Russia has only $678 billion in foreign debt, has very little outstanding debt and its public debt to gross domestic product ratio is 10% – an excellent figure compared to the EU’s dismal average ratio of 90.9 and the US’s 71.8%.
Likewise to note, MED analysts in this report say, is that while Russia’s debt to GDP is roughly 14%, the EU currently stands at 90.9%, the US at 80.2%, and Japan’s at 227%, meaning, simply, that the Federation can withstand any economic hardship the Western alliance puts against it.
Also, and as independent analysts confirm, Moscow‘s coffers are well-filled, giving Russia the durability to weather a double external shock – tanking oil prices and Western sanctions.
The Finance Ministry controls two sovereign wealth funds, which contained some $172 billion as of December. The money, held in foreign currency, has been accumulated during the past 15 years of high oil and gas revenues and has been earmarked as a piggy bank, primarily for the pension system.
Additionally, the CBR’s overall foreign currency reserves stood at a healthy $416.2 billion dollars in early December.
And most critical to note about the “Samson Defense”, this report concludes, is that Russia will not cut its oil production against the headwinds of collapsing prices, and may, indeed, increase its amount as the plunging ruble, combined with a rising US dollar, actually makes Federation oil the most affordable in the world.
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Whites the new minority in America by 2044

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:04 PM PST

New population projections by the US Census Bureau show that whites will become a minority by 2044. The US will be home to a youthful, growing minority population juxtaposed against an aging, slow-growing, and soon to be declining white population.
The new projections from the Census Bureau show two trends for American’s population: a long-term decline for the nation’s white population – which will make up 49.7 percent of the population by 2044 – and a growth of minorities such as Asians, Latinos, and multiracial persons.
In fact, the Latino, Asian, and multiracial populations are all expected to double in size over the next 40 years. Specifically, Latinos are projected to make up 25.1 percent of the US population in 2044, doubling that of African-Americans.
“The pace of U.S. population growth is slowing, and the population continues to become more diverse,” Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy, told Al Jazeera America. “This will produce a rich tapestry of demographic change in the U.S. over the next several decades.”
The other emerging trend is the aging of the white population, which by 2060 will make up just 44 percent of the population. Of that, 55 percent will be 65 years and older. And by 2027, more than half of America’s twenty-somethings will be racial minorities. During the 2028 presidential election, 40 percent of all eligible voters will be racial minorities.
The population changes are being brought about by higher birth rates among minority populations, mixed households, and more interracial marriages. Against those trends are the declining growth rates and rapid aging of the white population – the result of both lower birth rates among younger white Americans, and the advancing age of the Baby Boom generation.
“Thirty percent all grandparents in America have a grandchild of a different race or ethnicity, and the diversity in this country is growing in so many ways, we are just starting to get a grasp on those changes,” Guy Garcia, president of New Mainstream Initiatives for Ethnifacts, told Latin Post.
“Gay parents, when they adopt, there is a high rate of multicultural adoptions. We have all these new variation and permutations of the American family. It’s going to continue to happen, and the highest growth is coming from people of color, but they are mixing and merging and having children with people of every race, and it is going to continue to be that way.”
Garcia said that technology and social media, with its instantaneous speed and global reach, is enabling new ways of expression for inter-ethnic communities and communities that never existed before.
“That hyper-connected future includes Ambiculturals – people of colors who are retaining the values and flavors of their cultural origins as well as their American sensibilities, and fluidly exploring and advancing opportunities of both,” Garcia said.
Garcia said that in the 2010 US Census, nine million people checked multiple identification boxes. They might have checked white, Hispanic or other, and even the Census chief, Robert Groves, said they weren’t capturing how people see themselves.
Garcia said self-identification is starting to shift, with some people saying they are 100 percent Latino, Asian, or African-American, as well as 100 percent American.
Paul Taylor in his book ‘The Next America’ said the changes will produce generational competition in future decades over resources and government priorities. And according to the US Census data, later in the 21st century there will be no majority demographic group in the United States.
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Red Planet shows signs of life

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:48 AM PST

NASA’s Curiosity rover has sent back scientific data suggesting new evidence of water on Mars.
The rover released pictures indicating that the Gale Crater on Mars used to be a huge lake of water far back in history.
With the new evidence of water, the Red Planet must have been suitable for some form of life in ancient times.
NASA also maintains that Mount Sharp in Mars was shaped by sediments within a lake bed.
This interpretation of the rover’s findings suggest that the Red Planet used to have a climate which could produce long-lasting lakes at different locations, Curiosity deputy project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada, and his colleagues said in a statement.
If our hypothesis for Mount Sharp holds up, it challenges the notion that warm and wet conditions were transient, local, or only underground on Mars,” explained Vasavada, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
Curiosity project scientist, John Grotzinger, from the California Institute of Technology, also said, “We are making headway in solving the mystery of Mount Sharp. Where there’s now a mountain, there may have once been a series of lakes.”
He added, “The great thing about a lake that occurs repeatedly, over and over, is that each time it comes back it is another experiment to tell you how the environment works.”
From its 2012 landing site to its current work site, the rover Curiosity is going 500 feet or 150 meters deep into the lowest sedimentary layers of Mount Sharp, providing more data about the crater floor that gives indication of past lakes existing at about 5 miles or 8 kilometers.
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Magically rare clouds make it look like you could Walk across the Grand Canyon

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:40 AM PST

Regarded by many as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, tourists travel from around the globe to take in the breathtaking view from edge of the Grand Canyon.
Usually they can see for miles, gazing out across the 18miles-wide valley carved out by the Colorado River 17 million years ago, but not today.
A rare weather phenomenon has caused a thick sea of fog to rise from the foot of the canyon, sitting just yards from the top of the surface, creating an eerily beautiful effect.
Hikers and photographers gathered to take in the view, which was, if anything, even more spectacular than usual.
In scenes only usually seen when flying or from the top of world’s tallest mountains, the Grand Canyon appears to be sitting on top of the clouds.
The rare weather system, which only happens about once every several years, has been caused by recent rains in northern Arizona.
Warm air at the top of the canyon stops the colder air at the bottom of the valley from rising, stopping the two masses of air from mixing.
As the chillier air cools, dew caused by earlier the rain, which has now turned into fog, rises to the rim of the canyon, where the warmer air stops it from escaping.
This is known as a ‘total temperature inversion’ and only takes place at the canyon once every several years.
Despite the event only taking place around once a decade, tourists were treated to a similarly mesmerising sight at the Grand Canyon last year.
The thick clouds are expected to linger in the canyon today, eventually clearing over the weekend as warmer weather returns, according to the National Weather Service.
When the fog gathered this time last year, Grand Canyon park ranger Erin Whittaker told MailOnline that some of the tourists visiting the canyon were disappointed they couldn’t see the Colorado River below, and just figured it was a normal weather pattern.
But she and the other rangers tried to explain just how lucky they were to see the cloud-covered canyon, as locals turned out photograph the stunning view.
‘Word spread like wildfire and most ran to the rim to photograph it. What a fantastic treat for all!’ Ranger Whittaker said.
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Niger struggles with refugee influx from restive Nigeria

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:25 AM PST

Displaced women receive food aid during a distribution at the Cathedral of Yola, state capital of Adamawa, on December 4, 2014.

Niger is facing a massive influx of refugees from neighboring Nigeria, where people are fleeing deadly attacks by Takfiri Boko Haram militants, Press TV reports.
According to the UN refugee agency, the displaced population is placing a heavy burden on Diffa, a remote and economically underdeveloped Nigerien region, making it very difficult for aid agencies to provide assistance to the growing number of refugees.
“All these people you see here fled violence; there are hundreds of separated families; women who have seen their husbands killed; women who do not know where their children are; children separated from their families. So we have all types of situation here,” Azudatou Issa, a member of the International Rescue Committee, told Press TV.
Helima Ibrahim, a female Nigerian refugee, said that “I was in town with my husband and seven children when the” militants “arrived. They killed my husband. They took my two daughters. I managed to run away with only four children.”
Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said on December 10 that his country needs more international assistance to help it confront a looming food crisis compounded by an influx of refugees.
He said that Niger’s southwestern Diffa region, which borders Nigeria’s violence-wracked Borno State, has seen the arrival of more than 87,000 refugees since May 2013.
Nearly 650,000 Nigerians have fled their homes due to Boko Haram attacks and are displaced inside the country, while thousands more have taken refuge in neighboring countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says.
Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for many deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009. Over 10,000 people have so far been killed in the assaults.
Boko Haram whose name means “Western education is forbidden” says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.
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China’s controversial ray gun inflicts unbearable pain

Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:14 AM PST

Poly WB-1

China has presented Poly WB-1, a non-lethal ray gun that can be used for crowd dispersal, by making its targets feel like their skin is on fire. The US version of the weapon was shelved due to practical difficulties and the potential public backlash.
According to the authoritative Jane’s magazine, the WB-1, presented at the Airshow China 2014 in Zhuhai last month, has a current range of about 80 meters, though it can be expanded to 1 kilometer.
Using a similar principle to a microwave oven it incites movement in the fat and water molecules located just below the skin surface, making the target feel like they are burning from the inside. As soon as the target steps away from the ray, the pain ceases, purportedly leaving no damage to nerve endings and blood vessels, which are located deeper below the epidermis.
This makes it a viable weapon for crowd control, which was how the US intended to use its own Active Denial System (ADS) during its occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jane’s cited reports that China Poly Group Corporation, the secretive state-owned maker of the device, is developing a more powerful version of the gun. The upgraded version could be mounted on ships “which could allow China to escalate its use of non-lethal confrontation to enforce its maritime claims in the East China and South China seas.”
The disputed shipping lanes, which also lie over potential mineral deposits, have been the growing focus of external tension between China and its neighbors, particularly Japan. Numerous incidents have seen ships from rival nations come close to each other, most notably in the 2010 collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats, which led to a full-blown diplomatic incident between Tokyo and Beijing.
It remains to be seen if Chinese military planners have also learned the lessons from the trouble-plagued ADS.
Although touted by the US military as a more humane means of crowd control than the traditional rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons, the radical weapon failed to gain acceptance. The extreme pain belied the military’s insistence that the weapon was not harmful, despite filmed public demonstrations of ADS involving journalists and senior military commanders.
There were also practical difficulties – ADS took up to 16 hours to warm up, or required huge amounts of fuel to be in constant standby mode, meaning that it was near-useless in dispersing the spontaneous demonstrations that US forces encountered. Despite its 250 meter range, it was reportedly also hard to manoeuver and aim accurately.
Nonetheless, a report from Breaking Defense last year insisted that the US remained “bullish” about ADS, and was also contemplating remounting it on ships, to use in such hypothetical situations as a crew of an oil tanker having to repel a pirate attack.
Russia also claimed to be working on a similar ray gun in 2012, though no photographed prototypes have been revealed to the public.
As for Poly WB-1, while it is unlikely that it would have been developed without instructions from above, it is unclear whether it has been commissioned by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, whose budget and hunger for new technologies has escalated in the past decade.
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