Tanks, Troops, Jets: NATO Countries Launch Full-Scale War Games In Baltic

Tanks, troops, jets: NATO countries launch full-scale war games in Baltic (RT, June 9, 2014):

A major military exercise kicked off in Latvia, with 10 NATO member countries participating. The war games involve 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles. Russia sees NATO’s military build-up as a sign of aggression.

The Saber Strike ground forces exercise is being conducted for the fourth time this year and coincides with Baltic Host 2014 and Baltops 2014 naval drills.

Troops from the US, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway and the UK are taking part.

The two-week exercise is hosted by the three Baltic States, although some parts will be conducted in Germany.

Read moreTanks, Troops, Jets: NATO Countries Launch Full-Scale War Games In Baltic

East Ukraine Warzone: Demolished Houses, Fires After Heavy Shelling (VIDEOS)

E. Ukraine warzone: Demolished houses, fires after heavy shelling (VIDEOS) (RT, June 9, 2014):

Despite President Poroshenko intention to bring about a ceasefire, Kiev’s relentless military operation in the country’s east is intensifying. Slavyansk has become one of the main targets of artillery attacks, amateur videos filmed in the area show.

We must reach a ceasefire this week. Each day when people are dying, each day when Ukraine pays such a high price is unacceptable for me,” newly sworn-in President Petro Poroshenko said on June 8 after trilateral talks on eastern Ukraine with Russian and OSCE representatives.

Still, constant fire is heard in the evening hours in residential areas of Slavyansk, with frustrated people seeking shelter when the shelling erupts. A woman is heard asking a man where it’s safe to hide.

Read moreEast Ukraine Warzone: Demolished Houses, Fires After Heavy Shelling (VIDEOS)

US Riskier Than Europe For First Time Since 2010; BofA Admits ‘Good News Is Bad News’

–  US Riskier Than Europe For First Time Since 2010; BofA Admits ‘Good News Is Bad News’ (ZeroHedge, June 10, 2014):

For the first time since early 2010, the risk of European investment grade credit is lower than that of the US. As BofA notes, recall that the European sovereign crisis escalated in the first part of 2010, as Greece had to be bailed out for the first time, and concerns spread to other countries in the periphery. However, that European spreads have now recovered – after trading at times more than 60bps weaker than US spreads – reflects more on differential technicals (flows) than fundamentals (reality). Credit spreads are currently driven mainly by technicals; this is not to say that technicals in the US credit market are not strong – they are – only that European technicals are stronger. Furthermore, with now completely divergent central banks, BofAML believes that European technicals are going to remain stronger for longer. As they conclude, “relatively stronger US fundamentals lead to relatively weaker technicals,” – or put another way “good news is bad news” for US credit markets…

Read moreUS Riskier Than Europe For First Time Since 2010; BofA Admits ‘Good News Is Bad News’

Little By Little, We Went Insane

EinsteinInsanityQuote

Little by little, we went insane (Sovereign Man, June 9, 2014):

“Are we finished ? The answer is no.”

– Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, 5th June 2014, having just cut ECB deposit rates to minus 0.1 percent.

“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”

– Ernest Hemingway.

“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”

– Vladimir Lenin.

If it looks like insanity, smells like insanity, tastes like insanity, feels like insanity and struts about barking, “This is insanity”, then perhaps it might just be insanity.

“We were in the jungle. We had too much money. We had too much equipment. And little by little, we went insane.”

Not the words of Mario Draghi – yet. They are the words of film director Francis Ford Coppola in relation to his magnum opus, ‘Apocalypse Now’, a film that so outrageously exploded beyond its budget and beyond any reasonable compass that during its making it started being referred to as ‘Apocalypse Later’.

Read moreLittle By Little, We Went Insane

Russians’ Disapproval Of US Actions Hits All-Time High

Russians’ disapproval of US actions hits all-time high (RT, June 5, 2014):

Almost three quarters of Russians have a bad opinion of the United States according to research by an influential independent pollster.

The Levada center survey shows 71 percent of Russians are upset with US policies, the highest figure in modern Russian history. In the early 1990s the number of Russians unhappy with US policies was under 10 percent. Huge peaks of dissatisfaction were registered in 2003 and in 2009, but this is the largest ever.

Read moreRussians’ Disapproval Of US Actions Hits All-Time High

5 US Troops Killed By Friendly Fire In Afghanistan

Flashback:

“I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am President, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. “
– Barack Obama Campaign Promise – October 27, 2007

flag-drapped-military-coffins


5 US troops killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan (Bloomberg, June 10, 2014):

Five Americans troops were killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in southern Afghanistan, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday, in one of the worst such incidents involving United States or coalition troops since the start of the nearly 14 year war.

The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly to journalists.

The U.S.-led international coalition said the service members were killed in an apparent friendly fire incident, which an Afghan official said took place in southern Zabul province. A statement said all five soldiers died on Monday but did not give further details on the attack or the nationality of the soldiers.

Read more5 US Troops Killed By Friendly Fire In Afghanistan

Insurgents Seize Iraqi City Of Mosul As Troops Flee

Flashback:

Cheney Tells New York’s G.O.P. He Sees Success in Iraq War

At a Midtown hotel ballroom, the vice president declared that the U.S. was “succeeding brilliantly” in Iraq and assailed Democrats on taxes, gas prices and national security.
Published: May 30, 2008
Source: The New York Times


Insurgents seize Iraqi city of Mosul as troops flee (Washington Post, June 10, 2014):

Insurgents seized control early Tuesday of most of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, including the provincial government headquarters, offering a powerful demonstration of the mounting threat posed by extremists to Iraq’s teetering stability.

Fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaeda offshoot, overran the entire western bank of the city overnight after Iraqi soldiers and police apparently fled their posts, in some instances discarding their uniforms as they sought to escape the advance of the militants.

Iraq’s speaker of parliament, Osama Nujaifi, said the city that ranks as the capital of northern Iraq is now entirely in insurgent hands.

Read moreInsurgents Seize Iraqi City Of Mosul As Troops Flee

HOPING To Isolate Russia, US Woos China On Ukraine

How stupid can they get?

(I know I shouldn’t have dared to ask such a question.)

Hope

Here comes more hope …


Hoping to isolate Russia, US woos China on Ukraine (AP, June 10, 2014):

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is stepping up its attempts to court China’s support for isolating Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine.

With official comments from China appearing studiously neutral since the Ukraine crisis began, President Barack Obama spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping late Sunday in a bid to get Beijing off the fence.

Read moreHOPING To Isolate Russia, US Woos China On Ukraine

UK Bank RBS Has ‘£100 Billion Black Hole’ & In ‘Danger Of Failing’ – Bail-Ins Cometh

rbs

UK Bank RBS Has ‘£100 Billion Black Hole’ & In ‘Danger Of Failing’ – Bail-Ins Cometh (ZeroHedge, June 10, 2014):

British taxpayers risk losing their entire £45 billion stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the parent company of Ulster Bank, which is in grave danger of failing within 10 years, according to an explosive new book.

According to The Independent on Sunday, a new study of the bank, which brought the UK to the brink of financial ruin, reveals RBS still has a £100 billion “black hole” in its finances due to “five broad areas of alleged criminality and wrongdoing”.

Financial journalist Ian Fraser, who wrote Shredded: Inside RBS, The Bank That Broke Britain, said: “The result has been that, at the time of writing, RBS is probably a worse bank than it was under Fred Goodwin.”

They include the mis-selling of financial products such as payment protection insurance, the alleged duping of investors who were persuaded to plough more than £12 billion into RBS shares just before the banking crash in 2008, further fallout from the Libor scandal, and current criminal investigations into the manipulation of the £3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange markets.

Read moreUK Bank RBS Has ‘£100 Billion Black Hole’ & In ‘Danger Of Failing’ – Bail-Ins Cometh

No Drinking Water In Venezuela Until Bankers Get Paid Back

–  No Drinking Water In Venezuela Until Bankers Get Paid Back (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

2013 was a good year for Goldman Sachs investments in Emerging Markets, most notably Venezuelan bonds (as they bet on socialism and won). A year later and Goldman’s EM debt portfolio is still loaded with Venezuelan bonds… and the arrears are mounting. As Bloomberg reports, at a time when Venezuela’s record $25 billion in arrears to importers has its citizens waiting hours in line to buy drinking water and crossing borders in search of medicine, President Nicolas Maduro is using the nation’s dwindling supply of dollars to enrich bondholders.

Read moreNo Drinking Water In Venezuela Until Bankers Get Paid Back

Our Food Supply: When It’s Gone … It’s Gone

Our food supply: When it’s gone…it’s gone. (Underground Medic, June 3, 2014):

It’s often said that we are only nine meals from anarchy. The theory behind the saying is simple. Most people have no more than a three day supply of food in their homes,  and that equates to nine meals before they start to go hungry.

Some believe that many  governments would take advantage of this and use it against their own people in times of civil unrest. History shows us there is justification for holding this view.

Kissinger

 The delivery and supply chain employed by major stores across the world is very simple and designed to increase profits by reducing waste.

Read moreOur Food Supply: When It’s Gone … It’s Gone

Across America, Police Departments Are Quietly Preparing For War

the-lord-of-the-rings-the-one-ring

“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”
– Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991


MRAP teaser_0

–  Across America, Police Departments Are Quietly Preparing For War (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

At first blush, the title of this post could be perceived as somewhat hyperbolic by those who still have an impression of America’s police departments as bastions of safety, designed “to protect and to serve” the population of the “land of the free.” However, said impression would be promptly washed away upon reading an article in today’s NYT which citing Pentagon data, reveals that under the Obama administration, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.

Which begs the question: just who is America’s police force, and by extension the Obama administration, which is behind this quiet militarization of local police forces with weapons that would normally be seen in a warzone, preparing for war against?

Read moreAcross America, Police Departments Are Quietly Preparing For War

AND NOW: Obama Unveils Student Loan Debt Bubble Bailout

–  Obama Unveils Student Loan Debt Bubble Bailout (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

“The challenges of managing student loan debt can lead some borrowers to fall behind on their loan payments and in some cases even default on their debt obligation,” notes the always astute White House… and so it’s time to do something about that… by bailing the bad debtors out with US taxpayers money. As we have been vociferously warning, not only has the student loan debt bubble expanded massively (as the easiest credit substitute for real-world working and unemployment) but delinquencies on the ‘easily available’ credit is soaring with “consequences such as a damaged credit rating, losing their tax refund, or garnished wages.” Consequences, as we have been taught now, are not acceptable for this administration and so President Barack Obama will issue an executive action on Monday aimed at making it easier for young people to avoid trouble repaying student loans.

Read moreAND NOW: Obama Unveils Student Loan Debt Bubble Bailout

‘Well-Armed’ Taliban Tried To Hijack Airplane Leading To Pakistan Airport Shootout

“Well-Armed” Taliban Tried To Hijack Airplane Leading To Pakistan Airport Shootout (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

The main goal of this attack was to damage the government, including by hijacking planes and destroying state installations,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, as Reuters reports a well trained and heavily armed group of Taliban fighters attacked Pakistan’s largest airport in an attempt to hijack a plane. 27 people were killed (including 10 militants ) as the Taliban spokesman added ominously, “this was just an example of what we are capable of and there is more to come. The government should be ready for even worse attacks.” This attack comes a day after John Kerry’s dismissal of threats by some released Taliban prisoners that they will return to the battlefield and kill Americans as “a lot of baloney.”

As Reuters reports, a squad of highly trained Taliban fighters attacked Pakistan’s biggest airport in what they clearly expected to be a protracted siege.

Seven fighters were shot dead by Pakistani forces after five hours of intense gunfire at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Three died after detonating their suicide-bomb belts.

At least 27 people, including 10 militants, were killed.

Wearing Airport Security Force uniforms and armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the group shot its way into the airport after arriving at the cargo terminal in two mini-vans.

Read more‘Well-Armed’ Taliban Tried To Hijack Airplane Leading To Pakistan Airport Shootout

‘This Is A Trend’: Increasingly More Russian Companies Set To Drop Dollar, Switch To Chinese Yuan

putin smile_0

“This Is A Trend”: Increasingly More Russian Companies Set To Drop Dollar, Switch To Chinese Yuan (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

As we have been reporting (and forecasting for the past several years), the Eurasian anti-US Dollar axis is rapidly taking shape, with recent events catalyzed and certainly accelerated by US foreign policy in Ukraine, which has merely succeeded in pushing Russia that much closer, and faster, to China. The latest proof of this came overnight when the FT reported that Russian companies are preparing to switch contracts to renminbi and other Asian currencies amid fears that western sanctions may freeze them out of the US dollar market, according to two top bankers.

According to Pavel Teplukhin, head of Deutsche Bank in Russia, cited by the Financial Times, “Over the last few weeks there has been a significant interest in the market from large Russian corporations to start using various products in renminbi and other Asian currencies and to set up accounts in Asian locations.”

Read more‘This Is A Trend’: Increasingly More Russian Companies Set To Drop Dollar, Switch To Chinese Yuan

AP reporter after going to Fukushima: ‘There are really people getting sick … the fear keeps building’ – ‘It’s probably the biggest story of my life … with AP for more than 20 years’ – ‘I don’t want to sound alarmist or scare anybody, but this is real’

AP reporter after going to Fukushima: “There are really people getting sick… the fear keeps building” — “It’s probably the biggest story of my life… with AP for more than 20 years” — “I don’t want to sound alarmist or scare anybody, but this is real” (AUDIO) (ENENews, June 8, 2014):

KQED, June 7, 2014:

Excerpts from Interview with Yuri Kageyama, AP reporter

  • 3:00 in — People are worried about getting sick, and there are really people getting sick, including thyroid cancer, which is what happened after Chernobyl. But there’s no direct proof that this is from Fukushima, but we may never know because it is very difficult to link individual sicknesses with whatever caused that sickness. So the fear keeps building, the distrust keeps building, and the people are still there living every day with that uncertainty.
  • 5:30 in — I wish there were more interest because the people of Fukushima are extremely worried about being forgotten. It’s probably the biggest story of my life. I’ve been with AP for more than 20 years. And I think it’s up to the reporters to make sure this is important story is not forgotten.
  • 6:00 in — I don’t want to sound alarmist or scare anybody, but this is real.

Read moreAP reporter after going to Fukushima: ‘There are really people getting sick … the fear keeps building’ – ‘It’s probably the biggest story of my life … with AP for more than 20 years’ – ‘I don’t want to sound alarmist or scare anybody, but this is real’

Concern for ‘FULL PLUTONIUM FLASH’ at WIPP nuclear site that affects other drums and triggers spreading disaster – Plutonium-239 is a main radioactive material in drum that exploded – Anonymous Employee: The warnings were ignored … ‘They put us in danger’

Concern for “full plutonium flash” at WIPP nuclear site that affects other drums and triggers spreading disaster — Plutonium-239 is a main radioactive material in drum that exploded — Anonymous Employee: The warnings were ignored… “They put us in danger” (ENENews, June 8, 2014):

Sante Fe New Mexican, June 9, 2014: On the night of Feb. 14,  waste in an underground salt cavern in Southern New Mexico created so much heat the drum’s lid cracked. Radiation leaked out. Heavy bags of magnesium oxide stacked on top of the containers to prevent leaks shifted and disintegrated from the force of the reaction. […] The parent waste drum came from a waste stream including liquids such as hydrochloric and nitric acids, kerosene, methanol, silicone oil, nitrate salts, heavy metals and two main radioactive isotopes — plutonium-239 [the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons] and uranium-238. Ascarite, diatomaceous earth, vermiculite and kitty litter were added to soak up any liquids. […] “A lot of the drums we opened up had a lot of liquid,” said one former employee familiar with the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. […] EnergySolutions also switched from a clay-based kitty litter to Swheat, an organic kitty litter, for absorbing fluids. It is unclear why the contractor made the switch or whether LANL approved the switch, and lab officials wouldn’t comment. The former employee familiar with the repackaging process said EnergySolutions staff tried to warn the company’s administrators that the switch in kitty litter was a bad idea. The nitrate salts and the wheat-based kitty litter created a combustible mix, according to chemists. The warnings were ignored, the employee said. “They put us in danger, too,” he said. EnergySolutions did not respond to multiple requests for comment […]

Read moreConcern for ‘FULL PLUTONIUM FLASH’ at WIPP nuclear site that affects other drums and triggers spreading disaster – Plutonium-239 is a main radioactive material in drum that exploded – Anonymous Employee: The warnings were ignored … ‘They put us in danger’

Why Was The FBI Investigating Michael Hastings’ Reporting On Bowe Bergdahl?

michael-hastings

Why Was the FBI Investigating Michael Hastings’ Reporting on Bowe Bergdahl? (Vice, June 3, 2014):

Three years into the disappearance of Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan, Michael Hastings — the journalist whose reporting cost General Stanley McChrystal his job — wrote a Rolling Stonestory on the missing soldier, a piece which the magazine called “the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl.”

Hastings, who died in a car accident in Los Angeles in June 2013, had unparalleled access for that story.

Read moreWhy Was The FBI Investigating Michael Hastings’ Reporting On Bowe Bergdahl?

Doctor: Junior High School Kids Burn Nostrils With Laser To Stop Intense Nosebleeds

If these kids will not get real help ASAP, then their only wish in the not too distant future will probably be a cyanide capsule.


Jr High Kids Burn Nostrils With Laser To Stop Bleed (Fukushima Diary, June 8, 2014):

Some of the junior high school students burn the inner part of the nostrils by laser in Koriyama city Fukushima prefecture, a doctor stated.

The doctor offers health consultation in Fukushima. This was his report in the lecture delivered by Assistant Prof. Imanaka from Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute last December.

From his report, he witnessed some students having nosebleed when he took some junior high school students to convalesce outside of Fukushima prefecture.

Read moreDoctor: Junior High School Kids Burn Nostrils With Laser To Stop Intense Nosebleeds

June 8, 1967: The Sinking Of The USS Liberty (Full BBC Documentary)

USS-Liberty

Dead In The Water – The Sinking Of The USS Liberty (Full BBC Documentary):


YouTube

Description:

During the Six-Day War, Israel attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty belonging to its closest ally, the USA.

Thirty-four American servicemen were killed in the two-hour assault by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats. Israel claimed that the whole affair had been a tragic accident based on mistaken identification of the ship.

The American government accepted the explanation. For more than 30 years many people have disbelieved the official explanation but have been unable to rebut it convincingly.

Now, Dead in the Water uses startling new evidence to reveal the truth behind the seemingly inexplicable attack. The film combines dramatic reconstruction of the events, with new access to former officers in the US and Israeli armed forces and intelligence services who have decided to give their own version of events.

Interviews include President Lyndon Johnson’s Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, former head of the Israeli navy Admiral Shlomo Errell and members of the USS Liberty crew.

McDonalds Has Longest Stretch Without Rising US Sales In History

McDonalds Has Longest Stretch Without Rising US Sales In History (ZeroHedge, June 9, 2014):

Back in April when McDonalds reported its fifth consecutive decline in US comp store sales, the longest in decades, maybe ever, the excuses came fast and furious: ‘The U.S. has been difficult for them,” Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis, said in an interview. “The weather has played a role, and I think the competition is a little bit sharper. We’ve seen better results out of Burger King and Wendy’s.” “Harsh winter weather and “challenging industry dynamics” weighed on U.S. results, McDonald’s added. So only MCD was impacted by weather, not the comps? Mmmk. But more importantly, there was hope so one could just ignore the present and past:“The month of April is going to be slightly improved so there are some positives out there” according to Russo.

Read moreMcDonalds Has Longest Stretch Without Rising US Sales In History

Fukushima: Strontium-90 And Other ? Nuclides In Reactor No. 2 Groundwater Jump 1,000 Times Higher

All ? nuclide density in reactor2 groundwater 1,000 times much as before Feb / 10 times much in plant port too (Fukushima Diary, June 8, 2014):

All ? nuclide (including Strontium-90) density in groundwater jumped up by 1,000 times since this February, according to Tepco.

It is from Tepco’s report about groundwater contamination released on 6/6/2014. The location is in the seaside of reactor2.

Japan Underreports 80 Nuclear Bombs-Worth Of Plutonium To IAEA

Japan underreports 80 nuclear bombs-worth of plutonium to IAEA (RT, June 7, 2014):

Japan has failed to mention having about 640 kg (1,411 lbs) of unused plutonium in reports it submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2012 and 2013. The unreported amount is enough to make about 80 nuclear bombs.

The missing 640 kilograms Japan kept as Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, a plutonium-uranium mixture that could be burned in a reactor. It was found in an offline reactor in a nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture in the southern Japanese town of Genkai.

The MOX fuel was loaded into the No. 3 reactor of Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Genkai nuclear plant in March 2011 during its regular checkup, shortly before the Fukushima Nuclear disaster happened later that month. It was then taken out two years later as the reactor remained offline.

Read moreJapan Underreports 80 Nuclear Bombs-Worth Of Plutonium To IAEA