Global News Update: Nov 28, 2014

– Gold Shortage, Worst In 21st Century, Sends 1Y GOFO To Lowest Ever… And India Just Made It Worse (ZeroHedge):

While we have covered the aberration that is a negative gold GOFO rate previously and in extensive detail in this post, an abridged version of what negative GOFO means comes courtesy of Deutsche Bank’s recent discussion on what a successful Swiss gold referendum. To wit: “It is interesting to note that benchmark gold-dollar swap rates have recently traded negative, meaning investors are paying to borrow gold. This is unusual as gold is traditionally used as a source of collateral for cash financing…. [A] number of factors may play a role, such as excess dollar liquidity or an increased demand for collateral on the back of the global regulatory developments.” In short a gold shortage at the institutional, read commercial and central bank, level. And not just a shortage but the biggest shortage in history, judging by today’s latest plunge in the 1 Month GOFO which just dropped to -0.5% and , worse, 1 Year GOFO that just hit its lowest print in the 21st century, and is also about to go negative: something that has never happened before further suggesting the gold shortage could go on for a long, long time!

The Russian navy frigate Smolny is seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire

Russian Warship Flotilla Enters English Channel For Military Exercises (ZeroHedge):

The French delivery of two Mistral ships to Russia may be postponed indefinitely (a move which ultimately would cost Hollande over $4 billion in contract breach penalty fees he simply can’t afford to pay), but that doesn’t mean the Russian navy has been hobbled or is hiding in the corner. To the contrary: according to the following tweet from the UK Ministry of Defense, Russia’s navy is getting quite bolder. “Four Russian ships escorted through Dover Strait from North Sea by @RoyalNavy HMS Tyne this morning. Ships have left UK waters.”  What happened? As Bloomberg reports, at least 4 vessels which departed the Russian Northern Fleet main base on November 20, led by anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, entered English channel for exercises that include anti-sabotage training, damage control in case of fire and water intake, state-run news service RIA Novosti says, citing statement from Navy.

 …

us TVs

The 2014 Black Friday Frenzy: America Goes Shopping, In Photos (ZeroHedge)

Black Friday

“An Unstoppable Zombie Holiday” – Humanity Shudders as America Exports Black Friday to the World (Liberty Blitzkrieg):

Greater Manchester Police said two arrests were made and injuries reported as police closed some stores to prevent more severe problems. One woman was injured by a falling television set.

The force tweeted “Keep calm, people!” at one point.

There were problems in many parts of Britain, including Wales and Scotland.

– From the Associated PressBlack Friday Chaos Hits Britain

Black Friday is one of those days when all the hope and optimism one possesses for the future of humanity is threatened by the gross, primal, in-your-face reality. I’ve written about the holiday before, specifically, in the piece, The SDR: The Same Demented Regime. Here’s an excerpt:

Government uses 225-year-old law to force companies to unlock phones (RT):

Revelations about how governments swallow up huge amounts of data have led to consumers and companies embracing encryption like never before, but feds may have found a hidden weapon within a centuries-old law now being used in court.

Late last month, a federal magistrate in New York approved a request filed by United States attorneys and compelled an unnamed cell phone maker to unlock a mobile device that had been seized by authorities pursuant to an investigation. In ordering the company to do as much, though, the judge agreed with an argument made weeks earlier by the US government in which its lawyers said the All Writs Act, a law first put on the books 225 years ago in 1789, should be evoked.

US attorneys told the court in an Oct. 10 filing that they had seized a mobile phone while investigating alleged credit card fraud and, despite obtaining a search warrant, had been unable to bypass the phone’s password-protection. With the data otherwise inaccessible, federal prosecutors said the court could order the manufacturer to provide “reasonable technical assistance” in unlocking the device by relying on the All Writs Act.

How Bloomberg’s Algo-Writers Serve The Cult Of Keynesian Central Banking (David Stockman’s Contra Corner):

If you ever needed proof that the financial press has been completely indoctrinated in the cult of Keynesian central banking consider the following…

WTF Chart Of The Day: Centrally Planned Confidence Edition (ZeroHedge):

Because nothing says “spend on Black Friday” like a fractionally positive Dow Jones Industrial Average close in the green… unrigged

20141129_EOD8

WTF!!!

About Those Eyeball-Based Valuations: “Half Of Twitter Accounts Created In 2013 Have Already Been Deleted”(ZeroHedge):

Still paying a #Div/0 valuation for Facebook or Twitter based on expectations of exponential growth in eyeballs, or rather “eyeballs“? Then perhaps read this first. “.. many of the “users” on social media sites aren’t real people at all – they’re celebrity staff tweeting on behalf of their employer, or PRs promoting a company, or even fake accounts for people that don’t exist at all. In fact, half of all Twitter accounts created in 2013 have already been deleted.”

Flood leaves Gaza in ruins, UN declares state of emergency (RT):

An estimated 100,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged as the streets of Gaza City. They were flooded with water and sewage after a week of torrential downpours, prompting the UN Palestinian refugee agency to declare a state of emergency in the area.

Forced out of their homes, thousands of Palestinians are now sleeping in classrooms and makeshift shelters after a massive weeklong storm ravaged the region, reports the Ma’an News Agency. This includes the nearly 30,000 who had been staying at emergency housing after Israel’s 51-day summer offensive.

 – The Price Of Oil Exposes The True State Of The Economy (The Automatic Earth):

We should be glad the price of oil has fallen the way it has (losing another 6% today as we write this). Not because it makes the gas in our cars a bit cheaper, that’s nothing compared to the other service the price slump provides. That is, it allows us to see how the economy is really doing, without the multilayered veil of propaganda, spin, fixed data and bailouts and handouts for the banking system.

The First Oil-Exporting Casualty Of The Crude Carnage: Venezuela (ZeroHedge):

What best shows that for Venezuela it is essentially game over, is that as the chart below shows, Venezuela’s international reserves declined $1.3 billion in the week after President Nicolas Maduro transfered $4 billion of Chinese loans to the central bank. In other words, the scrambling oil exporter was forced to burn one third of its Chinese bail-out loan to keep itself solvent. The country’s reserves dropped to $22.2 billion today, according to central bank data. As Bloomberg also notes, Maduro on Nov. 18 ordered the Chinese loan proceeds to be moved from an off-budget fund, so that they would show up in reserves and help boost investor confidence in an economy beset by the world’s highest inflation and widest budget deficit. The following day, Venezuelan bonds rose the most in six years in intraday trading. “If the plan was to calm the bondholders, then burning through a third of that money in five working days doesn’t do it in any way,” Henkel Garcia, director of Caracas-based consultancy Econometrica, said in a telephone interview.

‘Disturbing’: Arms firms dine at Tower of London days after ‘sea of poppies’ closed (RT):

The Tower of London hosted a networking dinner for global arms manufacturers, mere days after the extremely popular ‘sea of poppies’ remembrance installation closed. Tower managers have been accused of “crass insensitivity.”

The event, co-sponsored by Lockheed Martin – the world’s biggest defense firm – was billed as an “acclaimed and influential … chance to make new business connections” for senior defense manufacturers.

The guest of honor at the £240-per-head event was Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton.

What Americans Celebrate On Thanksgiving Day — Paul Craig Roberts:

When Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, they don’t know what they are celebrating.

In American folklore, Thanksgiving is a holiday that originated in 1621 with the Pilgrims celebrating a good harvest. Some historians say that this event is poorly documented, and others believe that the Thanksgiving tradition travelled to the New World with the Pilgrims and Puritans who brought with them the English Days of Thanksgiving. Other historians think the Pilgrims associated their relief from hunger with their observance of the relief of the siege of Leiden.

The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving, if it happened, might not have been the first in the New World. Historians say the Virginia colonial charter declared a Day of Thanksgiving in 1619, and other historians say the first Thanksgiving was observed by the Spanish in Florida in 1565.

‘Disturbing’: Arms firms dine at Tower of London days after ‘sea of poppies’ closed (RT):

The Tower of London hosted a networking dinner for global arms manufacturers, mere days after the extremely popular ‘sea of poppies’ remembrance installation closed. Tower managers have been accused of “crass insensitivity.”

The event, co-sponsored by Lockheed Martin – the world’s biggest defense firm – was billed as an “acclaimed and influential … chance to make new business connections” for senior defense manufacturers.

The guest of honor at the £240-per-head event was Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton.

School Expels Child Over Vaccine That Even the Doctor Refuses to Give (The Daily Sheeple):

An 8 year-old Long Island girl has been kicked out of school, and the reason is outrageous.

Ceili McNicholas was told not to return to Long Island’s Laddie A. Decker Sound Beach School after her mother Jamie refused to let her receive the T-Dap booster, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

The decision to skip the booster wasn’t solely Jamie’s idea – her daughter’s pediatrician won’t administer the shot because it is labeled for children ages 10 and over. Ceili is only 8.

Fukushima Engineer: Officials covering up how badly groundwater is contaminated — Scientist: “We’re measuring higher levels off Japan” — Radiation near California already exceeds expectations, will be rising for years to come — TV: “Cleanup can’t be done… They lied from the start, Tepco is a den of inequity” (VIDEOS) (ENENews)

Fracking toxins may be as dangerous as tobacco, asbestos & thalidomide – UK chief scientist (RT):

The effects of fracking could be as dangerous as asbestos, thalidomide, or tobacco toxins, the UK’s leading scientist has warned, claiming the government has adopted the process without considering the side effects.

In a flagship report produced by Professor Sir Mark Walport, the government’s chief advisor on science policy, it is warned that fracking could have serious negative impacts on health and the environment that could last for decades.

Foreigners ‘like seeing our children die’, can’t help with Mid-East, says Erdogan (RT):

Muslim countries are able to solve their problems on their own, the Turkish president believes. He says far from offering help, the West is actually exploiting “conflicts in the Middle East” and only cares about the region’s riches.

Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has urged Islamic countries to unite in order to solve “the biggest humanitarian and political crisis in their history,” according to AFP, citing the Turkish president’s speech in Istanbul on Thursday.

The only condition to overcome the crisis in the Islamic world is unity, solidarity and alliance,” he said. “Believe me, we can resolve every problem as long as we are united.”

Erdogan says there is no use counting on help from the Western world.

I speak openly, foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world,” he said. “They like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us.”

They look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die,” the president went on.

Switzerland Hands Out Iodine in Case of Nuclear Disaster (Blooomberg):

Switzerland is distributing iodide tablets to more than half the country’s population for use in the event of a nuclear disaster.

Pennsylvania snowfall shatters 114-year-old records (Ice Age now):

Obliterates record for both the day and the month.

Ice already forming on Great Lakes (Ice Age now):

Earliest in at least 40 years.

Tamir Rice Video Shows Cop Opening Fire On 12-Year-Old (Huffington Post):

CLEVELAND (AP) — The police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun fired within 1½ to 2 seconds of pulling up in his cruiser, police said Wednesday. During those few moments, he ordered the youngster three times to put up his hands, they said.

The city released a surveillance video that shows the shooting of Tamir Rice, who was carrying an airsoft gun that shoots non-lethal plastic pellets.

Much of the footage shows what appears to be a bored kid alone in a park on an unseasonably warm November afternoon. Tamir is seen pacing, occasionally extending his right arm with what appears to be a gun in his hand, talking on a cellphone and sitting at a picnic table with his head resting on his arms.

The gun wasn’t real. It can be bought at sporting goods stores for less than $20. Tamir’s was lacking the bright orange tip that is usually put on such weapons to indicate they’re not real guns.

BS propaganda: Thanksgiving attack: Syrian hackers strike U.S. media websites (Examiner):

American,Canadian and European news organizations claimed on Thanksgiving Day that their websites were hacked by a group identifying themselves as the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a cyber-terrorist group that is allied with Syria’s Assad regime.

 – Half-blind UK widow commits suicide after incapacity benefit cut (RT):

A partially-blind widow, who suffered crippling back pain for over a decade, committed suicide after her incapacity benefit was cut because state assessors claimed she was fit to work.

As Japanese Bankruptcies Soar, Goldman Warns “Further Yen Depreciation Could Be A Net Burden” (ZeroHedge):

It is no secret that one of the primary drivers of relentless S&P 500 levitation over the past two years, ever since the start of Japan’s mammoth QE, has been the use of the Yen as the carry currency of choice (once again as during the credit bubble of the early-2000s), whose shorting has directly resulted in E-mini levitation. One look at the intraday chart of any JPY pair and the S&P500 is largely sufficient to confirm this. Those days, however, may be coming to an end, at least according to Goldman which overnight released a note saying that the Yen is “Almost at breakeven: Further yen depreciation could be a net burden.”

Activists advocate criminal charges for child porn possession (RT)

And if you remember what Barrie Trower said, then you know that it is our governments who will upload child porn onto our computers if “need be”:

Former Royal Navy Microwave Weapons Expert And UK Intelligence Services Agent Dr. Barrie Trower: Dangers And Lethality Of Microwave Technology (Video – 2:19:36)

Former Royal Navy Microwave Weapons Expert: NWO TECHNOLOGY UPDATE – Deadly Mobile Phones & The Worst Genocide Ever Committed – The Dangers Of Wi-Fi To Women And Children (Video)

A Thanksgiving Message (Liberty Blitzkrieg):

I ended the 2012 piece with the following quote, which I want to share again today.

“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”

– Tecumseh
(1768-1813) Shawnee Chief

Who’s Making Money Off The War On Drugs?

4 thoughts on “Global News Update: Nov 28, 2014”

  1. I could be mistaken, but as a cynic, I have to write this. The falling price of oil isn’t hurting Russia, or even the excessively rich Arab nations……..it is hurting the US. Yes, falling gas prices are nice for the consumer, but people have to think. Since Obama took office, he has worked on one thing in particular……to raise US oil production to meet that of any other nation on earth. Having done that…………..now, they keep production up, oil dropped over $5.00 yesterday alone.

    The WW3 they have all been predicting has already been waged. It was started by a tiny trade organization, the South American Trade Association, in Spring of 2010. Headed by Hugo Chavez (the man who gave heating oil to poor Americans in the winter when Bush wouldn’t), it was made up of 12 of the poorest nations on the globe, including Cuba. He introduced the first electronic currency, the Sucre, for member use. For the first time, members could trade with each other using their own currency, leaving the dollar out. The Sucre translated the value of each currency at the time of transaction, making the need for any world reserve currency obsolete. The group was so small, with a GDP of about $500 million, it flew under US radar.

    Russia and China watched closely. Seeing their success, they adopted an identical system in November of 2010. They set up their own trade agreement with each other, using their own currencies, leaving the dollar out. They went on to recruit Turkey, Iran (who was already accepting most currencies), much of South and Central America, India, Japan, South Africa, and many emerging African nations, Switzerland, Canada, Qatar & others I cannot recall. New Zealand and Australia dumped the dollar in 2012. Today, over 70% of the world economies use alternative trade systems to the US dollar……the US lost its credibility, respect and trust. Once those three qualities are lost, nothing matters.

    WW3 has been economic. Started in 2010, it is now completing the process by burying the price of oil. Who gets hurt? All US greedy guts who have wasted billions for shale oil (which already proves to be unprofitable), and endless drilling for more oil…….now with a plunging price because the entire world is in a depression, thanks to the US and Wall Street.

    This could be the beginning of deflation…….I don’t know. But, what I do know is that this hurts the US more than anyone else. New jobless claims topped 300,000 this week, slipped out while they hoped nobody would notice. The real economy continues to contract, and suddenly, due to the price of oil (the most powerful indicator in this sick twisted economic indicator of ours), the truth is finally glaring into all areas of the economy.

    One would think lower gas & oil prices would help the economy…….but it has been used to mask the truth of the contracting economy for years………and now, it can no longer be hidden.

    I think this is just another chess move by Putin, regardless of the lies that lower oil prices will hurt him……….I think this is the part of the attack when one fighter finds he is surrounded on all sides……and the US is in that position. We are close to being checkmated.

    All one has to do is look at the economic alliances. Qatar openly joined Putin and Russia last week. Other middle east countries have big deals with Russia and China, and they have been playing economic games under the table for a while. Looks like they are beginning to set their cards on the table. The UAE and EU are the two economic alliances that have kept the dollar afloat. The cracks in the UAE support are really burning the US. Now, the US depends on the EU to stay afloat…….now the UK, France, and Germany are engaged in a global swapping trade system, another way to avoid the dollar.

    When one or more states in the EU choose to move away from the old economic system, the US dollar will move closer to collapse. When more states in the UAE or Saudi Arabia choose the basket of currencies instead of the petrodollar, the dollar is finished. It can happen that fast. Note I use the word When, not If. It is just a matter of time, and they will force the dollar to collapse.

    Those in Saudi Arabia and the UAE despise the US, they did 35 years ago when I went to school with some of them……….they hated us then, and I don’t think it has gotten better since. I used to tutor some of them in business and economics using graphs instead of lots of English words, they all were quick to understand graphs…….I refused to do their homework for pay, but did agree to tutor those who needed it. I had their grudging respect, but they had no other alternative but to flunk. They hated everything American then, and destroying the dollar would have them celebrating in the streets. We have NO FRIENDS there.

    When I read in US and UK publications that Iranian people like Americans, I laugh…….they don’t. Don’t be fooled. Since the US put the Shah into power in 1952, they have hated Americans. When the Iranians overthrew the Shah in 1978, they took over the American embassy, and kept the men in the embassy prisoners for 444 days. (They sent the women home.)

    The reason they did that (never mentioned anywhere on US media, newspapers, ETC) is because the Shah flew from Tehran to the US. They were so afraid the US would put him back in power, they took over the US embassy. That was the reason. Had they understood Carter, they would have realized he would never have done that……he was the last president who respected the rights of other nations. He started no wars, and for all his failings, he was the last decent man to sit in that office.

    Anyway, for all of this dialog, my point is this: Even our friends, the UK, France and Germany, are finding ways around the dollar. Putin’s sister economy, built around the US and EU, isolating both, has been a success.
    Soon, the EU will buckle, too, and the US will be left alorene with no support from anyone. The dollar will have no meaning, and the rogue nation will have to re-access itself, or crumble into nothing.

    The dollar has already lost its power. WW3 is about over, and it was won without the use of a single missile or gun……….it was economic, and we lost bitterly.

    The dollar will collapse soon. It could be weeks or months, but it won’t be years. I wonder how many people in leadership are aware this will happen.
    I wonder if any of the fools predicting WW3 understand it is already over……but the counting………?

    Reply
  2. As for Japan, their falling currency, and skyrocketing bankruptcies…….factor in Fukushima, and it all fits. I am so sick of articles that dance around the real cause of Japan’s decline, I am not going to say any more.

    Japan is finished.

    Reply
  3. Marilyn,
    You’re spot on with your appreciation of the deep feelings the Arabs have towards westerners, but we cannot really expect more after exploiting their tribal base to rape their economies for 150 years.
    Chickens come home to roost, and they’re definitely coming home, but not before there is one last explosive ‘re-alignement’ conflict in the middle east to establish the future layout.
    I believe the corrupt oil based heirarchy to be on the verge of collapse due to well overdue grass roots rebellion & revolution. israel’s involvement in manipulating the area will backfire on it, and hopefully Iran, Syria & Egypt will collude with Russia’s blessing to return to their culturally historical foundation and obliterate the zionist grasp.
    It will be nasty & even nuclear, but I believe the people’s rightful ownership of their national assets will prevail, and rightly so.

    Reply

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