Politics

NATO To Boost Air, Warship Presence Around Russia; Netherlands May Deploy F-16s To Ukraine

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– NATO To Boost Air, Warship Presence Around Russia; Netherlands May Deploy F-16s To Ukraine (ZeroHedge, April 16, 2014):

If there is was one way to assure a certain escalation in Ukraine hostilities beyond what has already happened, it is for NATO to do precisely what Russia warned it should not do: build up its presence in the surrounding countries. Which is why we find it somewhat puzzling that NATO announced it would do just this when as the Guardian reported, the military alliance said it would step up its presence around Russian borders to “reassure eastern European member states.”

Read moreNATO To Boost Air, Warship Presence Around Russia; Netherlands May Deploy F-16s To Ukraine

America’s Coup Machine: Destroying Democracy Since 1953

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– America’s Coup Machine: Destroying Democracy Since 1953 (AlterNet, April 8, 2014):

U.S. efforts to overthrow foreign governments leave the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful.

Soon after the 2004 U.S. coup to depose President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, I heard Aristide’s lawyer Ira Kurzban speaking in Miami.  He began his talk with a riddle: “Why has there never been a coup in Washington D.C.?”  The answer: “Because there is no U.S. Embassy in Washington D.C.”  This introduction was greeted with wild applause by a mostly Haitian-American audience who understood it only too well.

Ukraine’s former security chief, Aleksandr Yakimenko, has reported that the coup-plotters who overthrew the elected government in Ukraine, “basically lived in the (U.S.) Embassy.  They were there every day.”  We also know from a leaked Russian intercept that they were in close contact with Ambassador Pyatt and the senior U.S. official in charge of the coup, former Dick Cheney aide Victoria Nuland, officially the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.  And we can assume that many of their days in the Embassy were spent in strategy and training sessions with their individual CIA case officers.

To place the coup in Ukraine in historical context, this is at least the 80th time the United States has organized a coup or a failed coup in a foreign country since 1953.  That was when President Eisenhower discovered in Iran that the CIA could overthrow elected governments who refused to sacrifice the future of their people to Western commercial and geopolitical interests.  Most U.S. coups have led to severe repression, disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, corruption, extreme poverty and inequality, and prolonged setbacks for the democratic aspirations of people in the countries affected.  The plutocratic and ultra-conservative nature of the forces the U.S. has brought to power in Ukraine make it unlikely to be an exception.

Noam Chomsky calls William Blum’s classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, “Far and away the best book on the topic.”  If you’re looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it.  The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011).  This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.

Read moreAmerica’s Coup Machine: Destroying Democracy Since 1953

Jordanian Warplanes Destroy Vehicles Trying To Cross From Syria

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– Jordanian warplanes destroy vehicles trying to cross from Syria: spokesman (Reuters, April 16, 2014):

Jordanian warplanes hit and destroyed several vehicles trying to cross the border from Syria, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, underlining Amman’s concern about incursions from areas controlled by Syrian rebels.

A Jordanian security source said the targets appeared to have been Syrian rebels with machine guns mounted on civilian vehicles who were seeking refugee from fighting with government forces in southern Syria.

The Syrian state news agency SANA said no Syrian vehicles were involved in the incident. “What was targeted by the Jordanian air force does not belong to the Syrian army,” a military source was quoted by SANA as saying.

Read moreJordanian Warplanes Destroy Vehicles Trying To Cross From Syria

The Science Of Unmasking Russian Forces In Ukraine

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See also:

– EU Spy Chief Rules Out Russian Military Presence In Ukraine

– The Science of Unmasking Russian Forces in Ukraine (Defense One, April 16, 2014):

Every day, the scene playing out along the Ukrainian border with Russia seems like an act of costumed theater. Russian protestors wearing balaclavas, or ski masks, armed with military-grade weapons, attempt to take over government buildings by force. The question of who is behind the masks has risen to a level of critical international importance. If the protestors are affiliated with the Russian military, Putin’s government is in violation of international treaties and laws. It’s a nearly impossible challenge, but one that the United States military, within its own sphere of operations, is also trying to solve.

Read moreThe Science Of Unmasking Russian Forces In Ukraine

US Is An Oligarchy Not A Democracy, Says Scientific Study

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– US Is an Oligarchy Not a Democracy, says Scientific Study (Common Dreams, April 14, 2014):

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question, “Who governs? Who really rules?” in this country, is:

Read moreUS Is An Oligarchy Not A Democracy, Says Scientific Study

Coast Guard In Miami Beach Unloads Bales Of Cocaine With A Street Value Of About $350 MILLION

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From the article:

“… were handed over to federal agents and will be destroyed.”

Destroyed???

Oh, sure! 

Flashback:

cia-cocaine-trafficking

– 24 Tons Of Cocaine Transported By The U.S. Air Force To Miami

– The Mena Connection: Exposing The CIA, Bush, Clinton, Iran Contra, And Drug Running (Full Documentary)

– Head of DEA Judge Robert Bonner: ‘CIA Are Drug Smugglers’ (Video)

– Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: U.S. Drug Agents Smuggling Cocaine

– AND NOW: Federal Agents Allowed Drug Cartel To Smuggle Tons Of Cocaine Into US

– Coca-Cola Imports Coca Leaves Which Are Used To Manufacture 333 Kg Cocaine In The United States With DEA Approval

– Coast Guard in Miami Beach unloads bales of cocaine with a street value of about $350 million (Miami Herald, April 15, 2014):

Wearing protective gloves and masks, members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare carried 127 bales of cocaine — with a street value of about $350 million — off the ship and into a waiting trailer Tuesday.

The 80-pound bricks, which were seized in two separate cases in Southwestern Caribbean waters, were handed over to federal agents and will be destroyed. The drugs are worth about $110 million wholesale. Street value is usually about three times the wholesale value.

Read moreCoast Guard In Miami Beach Unloads Bales Of Cocaine With A Street Value Of About $350 MILLION

I’m Confused, Can Anyone Help Me?

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An anti-government protester waves a flag in front of the seized office of the SBU state security service in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine April 14, 2014.
An anti-government protester waves a flag in front of the seized office of the SBU state security service in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine April 14, 2014. (Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov)

– I’m confused, can anyone help me? (RT, April 15, 2014):

I’m confused. A few weeks ago we were told in the West that people occupying government buildings in Ukraine was a very good thing. These people, we were told by our political leaders and elite media commentators, were ‘pro-democracy protestors’.

The US government warned the Ukrainian authorities against using force against these ‘pro-democracy protestors’ even if, according to the pictures we saw, some of them were neo-Nazis who were throwing Molotov cocktails and other things at the police and smashing up statues and setting fire to buildings.

Now, just a few weeks later, we’re told that people occupying government buildings in Ukraine are not ‘pro-democracy protestors’ but ‘terrorists’ or ‘militants’.

Read moreI’m Confused, Can Anyone Help Me?

‘Pro-Russian Separatists’ Attack Ukraine Soldiers With Guns, Molotov Cocktails, Local TV Station Reports (4 Killed, 12 Injured)

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– “Pro-Russian Separatists” Attack Ukraine Soldiers With Guns, Molotov Cocktails, Local TV Station Reports (4 Killed, 12 Injured) (ZeroHedge, April 16, 2014):

UPDATE: ABOUT 500 SEPARATISTS ATTACKED UKRAINE MILITARY BASE: TV5

As RT reports,

Four people have reportedly been injured by gunfire in a confrontation between anti-Maidan protesters and soldiers stationed at an Interior Ministry base in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

A group of several dozen protesters arrived at the base, located in the turbulent Donetsk region, on Wednesday evening.

They called on the troops to abandon the base, but the soldiers didn’t listen, the demonstrators said.

Instead, the troops opened fire at the protesters, injuring at least four people. One of them took a bullet in his chest and is in serious condition, according to protesters.

Read more‘Pro-Russian Separatists’ Attack Ukraine Soldiers With Guns, Molotov Cocktails, Local TV Station Reports (4 Killed, 12 Injured)

Moldova’s Transnistria Region ‘Approves’ Appeal To Russia For Independence

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– Moldova’s Transnistria Region “Approves” Appeal To Russia For Independence (Zerohedge, April 16, 2014):

As the EU seeks a closer association with Moldova, the 97% pro-Russian state of Transnistria (that we first warned was next here) is accelerating its move towards independence. As Bloomberg reports, despite condemnation by Moldova’s government of the “direct defiance”, the Transnistria Assembly has approved an appeal to Russia to recognize the region’s independencee. Neighboring Romania is “worried” and there are growing ‘actions’ by the so-called “Supreme Soviet” in the region’s capital.

Who is next?

Transnistira

As Bloomberg reports,

Moldova’s breakaway pro-Russian region of Transnistria has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize its independence after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The appeal by the Parliament of Transnistria, city and district council members and community associations “express the aspirations of the people of Transnistria” and is based on the results of referendums held in 1991, 1995 and 2006, the parliament of the unrecognized state said on its website.

Read moreMoldova’s Transnistria Region ‘Approves’ Appeal To Russia For Independence

General Motors Asks Bankruptcy Judge For ‘SPECIAL PROTECTION’ To Head Off Lawsuits

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H/t reader M.G.:

“GM now wants bankruptcy protection from any of their vehicles from before 2009…….pay nothing, dump it all on the people. The courts will probably go along with it, they are corporate owned and corrupt.”

Car giant wants court to shield ‘new GM’ from legal claims for problems with its cars that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy

GM
GM has said at least 13 deaths have been linked to the switch problem. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

– GM asks bankruptcy judge for special protection to head off lawsuits (Guardian, April 16, 2014):

General Motors revealed in court filings late Tuesday that it will soon ask a federal bankruptcy judge to shield the company from legal claims for conduct that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy.

The automaker’s strategy is in a motion filed in a Corpus Christi, Texas, federal court case, and in other cases across the nation that involve the defective ignition switches that have led GM to recall 2.6 million small cars.

Read moreGeneral Motors Asks Bankruptcy Judge For ‘SPECIAL PROTECTION’ To Head Off Lawsuits

BREAKING: Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead Of NY SAFE ACT Deadline

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Related info:

– New York Gun Owners Could Become Felons Over Night

Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead of NY SAFE ACT Deadline

– BREAKING: Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead of NY SAFE ACT Deadline (Bearing Arms, April 14, 2014):

The April 15 deadline to register firearms deemed “assault weapons” under Governor Cuomo’s NY SAFE Act has been met by hordes of New York Gun owners not rushing to register firearms, and the ceremonial burning of registration forms.

Unofficial estimates suggest that as few as 3,000-5,000 of the estimated 1-2 million firearms that have been redefined as “assault weapons” under New York’s utterly arbitrary and blatantly unconstitutional law
have been registered. Literally dozens of gun owners in the state of 19.57 million (2012) residents will take the opportunity to register today.

New York’s citizen control groups are taking the news as expected, with raging denial:

Read moreBREAKING: Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead Of NY SAFE ACT Deadline

NATO To Deploy Ships, Intensify Baltic & Mediterranean Patrols ‘Due To Ukraine crisis’

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– NATO to deploy ships, intensify Baltic & Mediterranean patrols ‘due to Ukraine crisis’ (RT, April 16, 2014):

NATO is strengthening its military presence in the Baltic and Mediterranean due to the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. The organization is to deploy ships and intensified aerial patrols in the region.

At a meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Brussels, NATO approved a number of measures to strengthen security in Eastern Europe in connection with the growing crisis in Ukraine.

“Our defense plans will be revised and strengthened,” said Anders Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, to press in Brussels.

He added that NATO had not yet reached a decision about the possible deployment of troops in Eastern Europe.

Read moreNATO To Deploy Ships, Intensify Baltic & Mediterranean Patrols ‘Due To Ukraine crisis’

EU Spy Chief Rules Out Russian Military Presence In Ukraine

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eu-no-russian-interference-ukraine.si
Pro-Russia protesters gather in front of a barricade outside a regional government building in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine April 11, 2014. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

– EU spy chief rules out Russian military presence in Ukraine (RT, April 16, 2014):

There is no large Russian military presence in East Ukraine, head of EU intelligence, Commodore Georgij Alafuzoff, has said. The spy chief has dismissed multiple accusations from the West alleging Russian involvement in the unrest in the region.

In an interview with Finnish national news broadcaster, Yle, Alafuzoff said the Russian military had nothing to do with the seizing of government buildings in eastern Ukraine.

“In my opinion, it’s mostly people who live in the region who are not satisfied with the current state of affairs,” said Alafuzoff, referring to the situation in East Ukraine. He went on to say that the people are worried for the welfare of those who speak Russian as their first language in the region.

Read moreEU Spy Chief Rules Out Russian Military Presence In Ukraine

‘Kiev Wants To Spark War Between NATO And Russia’

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Yoda1

… WW3 that is.

eastern-ukraine-military-operation
Ukrainian servicemen look at a Ukrainian military jet fly above them while they sit on top of armoured personnel carriers in Kramatorsk April 16, 2014. (Reuters/Maks Levin)

– ‘Kiev wants to spark war between NATO and Russia’ (RT, April 16, 2014):

The interim president of Ukraine Turchinov wants to beat the Russians into intervening and provoke war between NATO and Russia, as it’s the only reason he can hold power, foreign affairs analyst Daniel Patrick Welch told RT.

RT: Russia has called Kiev’s action irresponsible and warned that it could trigger a full-blown civil war. How far do you see the situation going?

Daniel Patrick Welch: I think it depends completely upon whether Turchinov wants to push this to the end. The dangerous thing is that the point of it is that he wants to bait the Russians into intervening and spark of war between NATO and Russia because that’s the only reason Turchinov can hold power and not to scurry back to Italy.

Read more‘Kiev Wants To Spark War Between NATO And Russia’

Dozens Of Ukrainian Troops Surrender APCs, Withdraw From Slavyansk

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Dozens Of Ukrainian Troops Surrender APCs, Withdraw From Slavyansk
Men wearing military fatigues sit by a Russian flag and a white flag reading “People’s volunteer corps of Donetsk” as they ride on an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on April 16, 2014. (AFP Photo)

– Dozens of Ukrainian troops surrender APCs, withdraw from Slavyansk (RT, April 16, 2014):

Reports from Slavyansk say that the army troops sent to the eastern Ukrainian city for an “anti-terrorist operation” are leaving en masse. Some troops are openly voicing support for the eastern Ukrainians, while others are speaking out against a war.

Follow RT’s LIVE UPDATES on military operation in eastern Ukraine

According to Interfax, citing local self-defense activists, some 300 Ukrainian troops agreed to lay down their weapons and “go home” following negotiations in Slavyansk.

“We managed to negotiate with them. About 300 military – only some of those who closed around the city – decided to lay down their arms and go home,” a self-defense activist was quoted as saying.

Read moreDozens Of Ukrainian Troops Surrender APCs, Withdraw From Slavyansk

Tanks Flying Russian Flag Enter East Ukraine City

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Armoured vehicles with Russian flags

– Tanks Flying Russian Flag Enter East Ukraine City (ZeroHedge, April 16, 2014):

Update: UKRAINE DEFENCE MINISTRY CONFIRMS THAT SIX ARMOURED PERSONEL CARRIERS SEIZED BY PRO-RUSSIAN FORCES ON WEDNESDAY… so, defected?

The latest development in the ongoing Ukraine escalation are reports that in the aftermath of yesterday’s crackdown by Ukraine special forces against “separatists” in Krematorsk and other occupied eastern cities, in an operation which involved fighter jets and helicopters, that an armored column of military vehicles flying a Russian flag and carrying dozens of heavily armed fighters motored into the city of Slavyansk early Wednesday.

Clip summarizing the situation from AP:

The WSJ adds that “it wasn’t immediately clear whether the men were Russian soldiers or local militants who had gotten their hands on military vehicles.” Curiously a soldier on one said the unit was part of the 25th brigade of Ukraine’s airborne forces that had switched sides and was joining the pro-Russian forces, but that couldn’t be immediately confirmed.”

Additional photos of the Russian-flag bearing tanks:

Read moreTanks Flying Russian Flag Enter East Ukraine City

Ukrainian PM Greets Swiss President With Danish Flag

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facepalm1

– Oh, that awkward moment: Ukrainian PM greets Swiss president with Danish flag (RT, April 14, 2014):

An official visit of Switzerland’s president to Ukraine has kicked off with a diplomatic blunder as the country’s coup-imposed authorities greeted him with Danish flag instead of the Swiss.

It was Swiss president, Didier Burkhalter, who pointed the mistake out to prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, during their meeting on Monday.

However, Burkhalter was kind enough to treat the incident as a joke, the Swiss media reports.

…

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Head Of Saudi Intelligence, Has Been Sacked

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– Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Head Of Saudi Intelligence, Has Been Sacked (ZeroHedge, April 14, 2014):

In the aftermath of the disastrous, for both the US and Saudi Arabia, false flag campaign to replace the Syrian regime with one which would be amenable to allowing a Qatari gas pipeline to pass underneath the Al-Qaeda rebel infested country, there were numerous rumors that the reign of Saudi’s infamous former ambassador to the US and current intelligence chief, Prince Bandar “Bush” bin Sultan – the man who we suggested was the puppetmaster behind the entire failed operation – had come to an end. Some two months ago, Shia Post reported that “News sources announced that the chief of the Saudi spying apparatus Bandar bin Sultan has been dismissed… Since creation of crisis in Syria by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, Bandar bin Sultan’s name has been heard time and again in tandem with the Syrian crisis.”

Prince Bandar

Moments ago, in a tersely worded statement from the Saudi Press Agency, it was indeed confirmed that, perhaps in response to his failed handling of the Syrian conflict, Prince Bandar has indeed been sacked.

Read morePrince Bandar bin Sultan, Head Of Saudi Intelligence, Has Been Sacked

New York Gun Owners Could Become Felons Over Night

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs New York's Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act into law
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs New York’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act into law during a ceremony in the Red Room at the Capitol on Tuesday.

– Deadline leaves N.Y. gun owners with a choice (USA Today, April 13, 2014):

ALBANY, N.Y. — Come Tuesday, owners of assault weapons in New York will be faced with a choice: Register those firearms with the state or potentially face a felony charge.

Some gun owners have long threatened to ignore a requirement to register assault weapons under the SAFE Act, a set of strict gun laws approved by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers last year.

With the registration deadline set for Tuesday, they’ll soon have their chance.

“We are not asking our members what they are going to do, nor are we advising them what to do,” said Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. “When someone asks me, I say it’s a personal choice and I don’t want to know.”

The consequences of ignoring the deadline are severe.

Read moreNew York Gun Owners Could Become Felons Over Night

Sheriff Richard Mack: Sources Inside The BLM And Las Vegas Metro Say Feds Are Planning A Raid On Bundy Home

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Listen to the interview here:

– Exclusive: Sources Inside The BLM and Las Vegas Metro Say Feds Are Planning A Raid On Bundy Home (Benn Swann, April 14, 2014):

Bunkerville, NEVADA, April 14, 2014– As reported yesterday, hundreds of federal agents are still at the Bundy Ranch and the area continues its status as a no-fly zone. Despite major media reports that the Nevada Bureau of Land Management is retreating, the remaining activity that still surrounds the ranch illustrates a different scenario.

Not only is the BLM not actually backing off of Cliven Bundy, Sheriff Richard Mack of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association has revealed stunning information: on Ben Swann’s radio program, Mack said that he has received intelligence from multiple, credible sources inside the BLM and the Las Vegas Metro that there is “no question” that the federal government is planning a raid on the Bundy home and the homes of their children who live on the property.

Read moreSheriff Richard Mack: Sources Inside The BLM And Las Vegas Metro Say Feds Are Planning A Raid On Bundy Home

Martial Law: Obama Confiscates National Guard Helicopters From All 50 States

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From the article:

“The Apache, which began service in 1986, is armed with a 30 mm M230E1 Chain Gun (with 1,200 rounds), Hellfire anti-tank missiles, and 70 general-purpose 70 mm rockets. In short, it is capable of fending-off any enemy, foreign or domestic.

Obviously, these helicopters could pose a substantial obstacle to say, a tyrant drunk on his own power, with an army at his disposal.”

…

Couple that with the as yet, unexplained, massive arms buildup by the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Defense Authorization Act which allows the feds to arrest and detain any U.S. citizen indefinitely without charges, and even the most establishment-minded American should be able to see what is coming.

Martial law - Obama confiscates National Guard helicopters from all 50 states

– Martial law: Obama confiscates National Guard helicopters from all 50 states (Examiner, April 14, 2014):

As if the Obama administration’s purchase of more than 2 billion rounds of ammunition, and nearly 3,000 urban tanks, along with their unprecedented (and highly illegal) domestic spying program was not enough to convince you that the federal government is about to suspend the Constitution once and for all, the man who once vowed to run “the most transparent administration in history” has just rather inexplicably, ordered the U.S. Army to seize every Apache attack helicopter currently in use by the National Guard.

In all, the Defense Department will confiscate 192 Apaches from National Guard units around the country and give them to the active duty Army.

In exchange for the heavily armed and highly maneuverable choppers, Guard units will receive 111 UH-60 Blackhawk transport helicopters from the Army, Defense One reports.

Read moreMartial Law: Obama Confiscates National Guard Helicopters From All 50 States

And The Markets Tumble, Except …

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– The S&P 500 Enters “Vertical Straight Line Up” Formation (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

The comedy from yesterday continues. Sure enough it is market open on a Tuesday (remember – the market never goes down on Tuesday) – the two most bullish catalyst to momentum ignition vacuum tubes. The rest is indescriminate panic buying history.

20140415_es1

– European Stocks Tumble As Investors Rush Into “Safe Haven” Italian Bonds!? (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

Consumer confidence slumps in the core and Ukraine fears weighed heavily on European stocks despite getting a push from the insanity in US equity markets this morning. Europe closed at their lows of the day led by Italy and Portugal stocks fading fast. It would appear that these worried investors greatly rotated into safe-havens such as Italian government bonds – which broke to their lowest yield on record today… makes sense right?

– Russell 2000 Breaks Below Key Technical Level (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

For the first time since Novemeber 2012 (when QE4EVA was kicked off in style), the Russell 2000 – that long-heralded indication that everything is great in the US economy and the indicator that stocks are great at discounting the future that is undoubtedly rosy – has broken back below its 200-day moving-average. In the meantime, an oddly dominant algorithm is swamping options markets with millions of fake orders…”rigged?”

– “Growth” Stocks Tumble To 7-Month Lows To “Value” As Bond Yields Collapse (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

It is perhaps worth reflecting on the smorgasbord of free advice given out by the talking-heads after last night’s closing ramp proclaiming the dip to be bought and that everything was fixed once again. It was not. Stocks are making fresh cycle lows and the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 are both now below the 200-day moving-average and appraoching the 10% (correction) from their highs. 10Y is back under 2.6% and the 30Y yield is back at 10-month lows… which perhaps explains why “growth” stocks are back at 7-month lows versus “value” stocks…

– Gold Tumbles Most In 4 Months On China Demand Slowdown Fears (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

Gold prices are down almost 2% this morning (over $25) as last night’s slowdown in Chinese money-supply growth and fears that China’s insatiable gold demand has become less insatiable send the barbarous relic back towards $1300. Slowing GDP expectations, increasing restrictions on shadow-banking commodity-backed financing, and a need for liquidity are all factors weighing on the precious metal this morning.

– Copper Joins Precious Metals Rout, Tumbles Below $3.00 (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

The fears over ongoing commodity-financing restrictions and slowing money supply growth are contagiously spilling over into other collateral. Copper prices are in free fall this morning, crashing through critical levels (especially Dennis Gartman’s “long punt”) and back below the Maginot Line of $3.00. These are near 3-week low levels and the biggest drop since the cash-for-commodity financing deals came under real pressure.

– Stocks moderate slide after Nasdaq nears correction territory (CNBC, April 15, 2014)

H/t reader M.G.:

“Yesterday, these stocks were darlings. They are so desperate, they are telling lies to steal pennies……”

– U.S. Stocks Decline as Tech Selloff Resumes Amid Earnings (Bloomberg, April 15, 2014)

And the ECBs buying spree continous…..

– The “Shocking” Buying Spree Of America’s Mysterious Third Largest Treasury Holder Ramps Higher (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

In summary: someone, unclear who, operating through Belgium and most likely the Euroclear service (possible but unconfirmed), has added a record $141 billion in Treasurys since December, or the month in which Bernanke announced the start of the Taper, bringing the host’s total to an unprecedented $341 billion!

White House: ‘Ukraine Has To Respond To Provocations’ – ‘Ukraine In Very Dangerous Situation’ – No ‘Lethal Assistance’ Coming

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– “Ukraine In Very Dangerous Situation”, No Lethal Assistance Coming Says White House (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2014):

First it was the Russians who repeated they are “deeply concerned by the deaths in the Ukraine,” and now it is the turn of the White House, through its  speaker, Jay Carney, to chime in as well:

  • RUSSIA DIRECTLY, INDIRECTLY SUPPORTING PROVOCATIONS: CARNEY
  • UKRAINE HAS TO RESPOND TO PROVOCATIONS IN UKRAINE, CARNEY SAYS
  • U.S. `ADMIRING’ OF RESTRAINT UKRAINE GOVT HAS SHOWN: CARNEY
  • U.S. WILL KEEP PRESSING RUSSIA ON DE-ESCALATION, CARNEY SAYS
  • UKRAINE IN VERY `DANGEROUS’ SITUATION, CARNEY SAYS

And yet, despite all the priase, Ukraine is on its own.

  • U.S. NOT CONSIDERING LETHAL ASSISTANCE TO UKRAINE, CARNEY SAYS
  • CARNEY REITERATES U.S. DOESN’T SEE MILITARY UKRAINE SOLUTION

In other words, as we said last week, if it is Ukraine’s gambit, that its allies will come to its rescue upon a lethal escalation and provocation, “it will be sorely disappointed.” It seems Ukraine is about to figure this our first hand.