Meanwhile In Gaza … Directly After An Israeli Airstrike (PHOTO)

The most moral army in the world strikes again …

“We have the most moral army in the world.”
– Ehud Barak

Update:

Stock Buyback Shocker: Companies Using Secured Bank Loans To Repurchase Stock

And I can only repeat myself …

BTFATH!

child-stacking-blocks

… because what could possibly go wrong?

From the article:

“Welcome to the new normal capital structure, where everything is upside down and nothing makes sense.

Oh, and to all those pointing to the weekly increase in the H.8 statement and screaming “look at the recovery”, our apologies: you are, as usual, wrong.”

I hope you are prepared for what is coming.


–  Stock Buyback Shocker: Companies Using Secured Bank Loans To Repurchase Stock (ZeroHedge, July 8, 2014):

It took the mainstream media a few months to catch up to the theme first revealed here that in addition to the fading QE (even if supplanted by NIRP in Europe and Turbo QE in Japan), one of the primary driving forces of the market’s outperformance in 2014 was a relentless buyback bid as corporations, lacking better uses for their cash, bought a record amount of their own shares in Q1 (and as will soon be proven) in Q2 attempting to increase the EPS by lowering the S.

It was only logical that it would take the MSM a while to follow up with the logical next connection: one which is so simple we described it back in 2012 when we showed “Where The Levered Corporate “Cash On The Sidelines” Is Truly Going” – namely, an unprecedented scramble to lever up and use the proceeds to buy back stocks, a decision which is great for existing shareholders and horrible for the economy (as it means much less spending on capital investment) for employees (as it means less cash available for wages and thus, for the all important wage inflation) and for the long-term viability of the buying back company (as it levers up the corporate balance sheet without a matching increase in revenues or cash flows, in fact, the opposite).

Which brings us to today, and specifically, an FT article titled “Bankers warn over rising US business lending” in which we read that “US lending to businesses is reaching record levels but banks are privately warning that the activity should not be seen as evidence of an economic recovery.”

And the stunner: Much of the corporate lending is going to fund payouts to shareholders, finance acquisitions and fuel the domestic energy boom, bankers say, rather than to support companies’ organic growth.

Read moreStock Buyback Shocker: Companies Using Secured Bank Loans To Repurchase Stock

Marc Faber: ‘The Asset Bubble Has Begun To Burst’ (Video)

Marc Faber: The asset bubble has begun to burst (CNBC, July 8, 2014):

It’s the question investors everywhere are wrestling with: Are asset prices in a bubble, or do they simply reflect the fact that the global economy is growing once again?

For Marc Faber, editor of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, the answer is clear. In fact, he says the bubble may already be bursting.

“I think it’s a colossal bubble in all asset prices, and eventually it will burst, and maybe it has begun to burst already,” Faber said Tuesday on CNBC’s ‘Futures Now’ as the S&P 500 lost ground for the second-straight session.

Read moreMarc Faber: ‘The Asset Bubble Has Begun To Burst’ (Video)

Israel Escalates Gaza Assault By Air, Sea; Threatens ‘Lengthy’ Ground Operation

Israel Escalates Gaza Assault By Air, Sea; Threatens “Lengthy” Ground Operation (ZeroHedge, July 8, 2014):

Following the catalysts of broken down US-sponsored peace-talks and the teenager deaths on both sides Hamas (admitting its responsibility for the first time) unleashed more than 240 rockets into Israel in the past four weeks (including 100 since yesterday), Israel has drawn the line. As Bloomberg reports, Israel struck more than 90 targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip from air and sea and PM Netanyahu suggested the option of a ground incursion was on the table. This is heaviest barrage since November 2012 and is set to worsen as Defense minister Ya’alon warned, this “will not end in just a few days,” adding that Israel “is prepared to expand the campaign by every means at our disposal.” In preparation for escalation, Israel has called up 40,000 reservists today as news hits that Tel Aviv airport has been closed due to shelling as “Operation Protective Edge” expands.

As Bloomberg reports,

  • ISRAEL CARRIES OUT ABOUT 50 STRIKES ON GAZA OVERNIGHT
  • ISRAEL LAUNCHES MORE AIR STRIKES AGAINST GAZA STRIP: JAZEERA
  • ISRAELI AIR STRIKE IN GAZA STRIP INJURES 8 PEOPLE: AL JAZEERA
  • ISRAELI STRIKES TARGET GAZA MILITANTS’ HOMES, ROCKET LAUNCHERS
  • PALESTINIAN KILLED IN ISRAELI AIR STRIKES ON GAZA: JAZEERA

More than 240 rockets have struck Israel in the past four weeks, including more than 100 since yesterday, the military said.

[Here the Iron Dome intercepts a barrage of rockets into Israel…]

Israel struck more than 90 targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from air and sea and called up more reservists for a possible ground operation to quell a barrage of Palestinian rockets into its territory.

[And IDF’s response…}

Read moreIsrael Escalates Gaza Assault By Air, Sea; Threatens ‘Lengthy’ Ground Operation

White House Dictates: $3.8 BILLION Needed To Stem The Surge Of Immigrants

Obama-Tim-Howard-cartoon

–  White House Dictates: $3.8 Billion Needed To Stem The Surge Of Immigrants (ZeroHedge, July 8, 2014):

At almost double the $2 billion that many had expected, The Washington Post reports that The White House will request $3.8 billion from Congress in emergency funding to deal with an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America. Funds would be allocated to send more immigration judges to the southern border, build additional detention facilities and add border patrol agents, to help stem the recent surge of women and children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Immigration-USA

Source: Legal Regulation Review

As The Washington Post reports,

The White House on Tuesday will request $3.8 billion from Congress in emergency funding to deal with an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America, a far higher amount that the Obama administration had previously signaled, according to a Capitol Hill source familiar with the plans.

Read moreWhite House Dictates: $3.8 BILLION Needed To Stem The Surge Of Immigrants

China Prepares To ‘Boost’ Economy By Also Revising Its GDP Definition

facepalm

China Prepares To “Boost” Economy By Also Revising Its GDP Definition (ZeroHedge, July 8, 2014):

Now that even that bedrock of the Keynesian voodoo religion, the Gross Domestic Product calculation, has become a ridiculous farce, with everyone in Europe suddenly adding the uncalculable “contribution” from drug dealers and hookers all in a mad dash to make debt/GDP ratios appear better than they are, it is truly time to unleash the clowns as none other than the country which has taken fabricating economic data to an artform, no not the US for those confused but China, is preparing to change the way its calculates its GDP, with the biggest contribution coming from, hold on to your hats, R&D. One wonders if “reverse engineering” of pirated products and services is covered in this “non-GAAP GDP” category. The end result? GDP for the country which cumulatively will be several percentage points higher once the entire fudging/recasting exercise is completed.

Read moreChina Prepares To ‘Boost’ Economy By Also Revising Its GDP Definition

US Set To Alienate Angry Germany Next, As Crackdown Shifts From BNP To Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank

Twintowers_of_Deutsche_Bank_Headquarter_in_Frankfurt_a.M.

US Set To Alienate Angry Germany Next, As Crackdown Shifts From BNP To Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank (ZeroHedge, July 8, 2014):

As we reported over the weekend in “By “Punishing” France, The US Just Accelerated The Demise Of The Dollar“, following the record $9 billion fine against French BNP, the outcry has been fast and furious, with virtually everyone in the local chain of command, from the CEO of Total to the head of the Bank of France (and ECB member) Christian Noyer, all saying that the US is now clearly abusing the reserve power of the dollar and it is time to move away from a dollar-based reserve currency (how that jives with concurrent French demands for a lower EUR is a different, incomprehensible matter entirely).

It appears that having pushed France forcefully into the Russia-China Eurasian, and anti-US camp, the US will now do the same with Germany. Because after infuriating the German population by first refusing to return their gold contained (the legend goes) at the New York Fed, and then with scandal after spying scandal, most recently involving the CIA directly soliciting a German double agent, now the time has come to “punish” Germany’s largest banks for the same kind of money laundering that BNP was engaged in. As the NYT and Reuters report, the time has come to shift away from the BNP scandal and focus on what will soon be the Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank fallout.

According to the NYT, the money laundering crackdown is “bound for another European financial center: Germany. State and federal authorities have begun settlement talks with Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest lender, over the bank’s dealings with Iran and other countries blacklisted by the United States, according to people briefed on the matter. The bank, which is suspected of transferring money through its American operations on behalf of companies in Iran and Sudan, could strike a settlement deal with the state and federal authorities as soon as this summer, said the people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The contours of a settlement, which the authorities have only begun to sketch out, are expected to include at least $500 million in penalties for Commerzbank, the people added. Although prosecutors were still weighing punishments, the people briefed on the matter said that the bank would most likely face a so-called deferred prosecution agreement, which would suspend criminal charges in exchange for the financial penalty and other concessions.

It’s not just Commerzbank – a settlement with the smaller bank will merely pave the way for the punishment of the biggest bank of all (in terms of groiss derivative notional held): Deutsche Bank.

A potential deal with Commerzbank — which is expected to pave the way for a separate settlement with Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank — would pale in comparison to the case announced last week against France’s biggest bank, BNP Paribas. The French bank agreed to pay a record $8.9 billion penalty and plead guilty to criminal charges for processing transactions on behalf of Sudan and other countries that America has hit with sanctions, a rare criminal action against a financial giant.

As NYT adds, correctly, “The Commerzbank investigation features an added twist: The bank is 17 percent owned by the German government. It is unclear whether — as in the BNP case, which led French authorities to intervene on the bank’s behalf — the settlement talks could inflame diplomatic tensions between Washington and Berlin.

Of course, since this is the ridiculous “scorched earth” diplomatic policy, if one may call it that, of the Obama administration, nobody is surprised any more that the US president is alienating one former ally after another.

As we first observed a few weeks ago when we revealed JPM’s involvement in all of this money laundering, “some critics have questioned why American authorities have set their eye on European banks. The answer, authorities say, is that American banks by and large avoided processing transactions for Iran and Sudan. But American banks are not immune from touching dirty money. Citigroup’s Banamex unit is under investigation for processing money linked to a drug cartel. And in January, JPMorgan Chase reached a roughly $2 billion deal with the authorities over ignoring signs of the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard L. Madoff, who held accounts at the bank for over two decades.”

Not only that but as we wrote over the weekend, the bank that was instrumental in facilitating BNP’s money laundering for nearly a decade was none other than JPM. One wonders if JPM also “unwittingly” was the bank that made German money laundering around the globe possible. Did we mention unwittingly?

BNP-Goldman

Still, while one can debate the idiocy of US foreign policy, eager to push European allies into the willing hands of Russia and China at the worst possible moment, when regional and civil wars and conflicts are suddenly breaking out across all key geopolitical hotspots, one wonders: in the case of BNP, the “fine” was as a result of French unwillingness to halt the Russian amphibious warship deal despite US demands. So it would be curious just what the US blackmail against German banks is for: one really does wonder just what punishment Angela Merkel deserves behind the scenes in the eyes of John Kerry et clueless al, to punish her and Germany so blatantly for the entire world to see.

One thing is clear: if the US thinks that Germany will continue to consider America its BFF and make zero contingency plans for when the alliance with the US finally crashes and burns, it will be truly surprised when the Eurasian alliance of Russia and China finally announces its final, all-important, missing link member: the manufacturing and export powerhouse that is Germany itself.

 

France Lashes Out Against US Dollar, Calls For ‘Rebalancing’ Of World Currencies

France lashes out against US dollar, calls for ‘rebalancing’ of world currencies (RT, July 7, 2014):

The French government wants to break the monopoly the dollar has on international transactions after the country’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, was slapped with a record $9 billion fine and a 1-year dollar trading ban.

Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, called for a “rebalancing” of the currencies used for global payments, saying the BNP Paribas case should “make us realize the necessity of using a variety of currencies” the Financial Times reports.

“We [Europeans] are selling to ourselves in dollars, for instance when we sell planes. Is that necessary? I don’t think so. I think a rebalancing is possible and necessary, not just regarding the euro, but also for the big currencies of the emerging countries, which account for more and more of global trade,” the finance minister told the FT at a conference over the weekend.

Read moreFrance Lashes Out Against US Dollar, Calls For ‘Rebalancing’ Of World Currencies

Israel Pounds Gaza with Airstrikes! Mayhem Breaks Loose As Homes Are Leveled! (Video)

FYI.



Added: Jul 8, 2014

Description:

Israel bombed some 50 targets in the Gaza Strip in a campaign meant to end Palestinian rocket fire. In reality , all they did was murder a lot of civilians and very few Militants! Once again, Its the people who suffer!

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/i…

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/may…

Foxconn: iPhone 6 Will Be Made By ‘FoxBot’ Robots

Minimum Wage Consequences? iPhone 6 Will Be Made By “FoxBots” (ZeroHedge, July 7, 2014):

 

First it was burgers, then waiters, traders, and recently earnings-report-writers; but now it’s iPhones. The endless pressure to raise minimum wages, demand bathroom breaks, expect to sleep, and tolerable breathing standards have finally culminated in China’s FoxConn – manufacturer of the iPhone – to use a ‘robot army’ to build the new model. As The Daily Mail reports, The firm has pledged to have a million robot workers by the end of the year – and CEO Terry Gou has revealed the robots, dubbed ‘Foxbots’, are in the final stages of testing.

As The Daily Mail reports,

It is believed Foxconn will install 10,000 robots as a test.

Read moreFoxconn: iPhone 6 Will Be Made By ‘FoxBot’ Robots

‘Abandoned’ Barrels Containing Deadly Sarin Seized In Rebel-Held Syria

Flashback:

Turkish Security Forces Find 2 Kg Cylinder With Sarin Gas Searching Homes Of Syrian Militants From Al-Qaeda Linked Al-Nusra Front

BREAKING NEWS: Turkish Police Seize 2 Kg SARIN Nerve Gas En Route To SYRIA From Al-Qaeda Linked Al-Nusra Terrorists


‘Abandoned’ barrels containing deadly sarin seized in rebel-held Syria (RT, July 8, 2014):

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon informed Security Council members on Monday that two cylinders seized by Syrian government forces in an opposition-held region appeared to contain the deadly nerve agent sarin.

According to the letter dispatched by Ban to the UNSC, on June 14 the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) analyzed the contents of the barrels, reported Reuters. The UN Joint Mission is currently overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles under the umbrella of the OPCW.

Read more‘Abandoned’ Barrels Containing Deadly Sarin Seized In Rebel-Held Syria

Typhoon Neoguri Pounds Japan As 500,000 Are Advised To Leave Homes (Video)

Officials tell the public to take shelter as Okinawa is battered by winds of more than 150mph and 46-ft-high waves



Typhoon Neoguri pounds Japan as 500,000 are advised to leave homes (Guardian, July 8, 2014):

A powerful typhoon is pounding the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa, with residents taking refuge from destructive winds, towering waves and storm surges.

Airports closed and residents were evacuated from low-lying areas and shorelines as typhoon Neoguri passed through Okinawa, with sustained wind speeds of 108 miles (175km) an hour and gusts of up to 154mph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Read moreTyphoon Neoguri Pounds Japan As 500,000 Are Advised To Leave Homes (Video)

Japan on highest alert for ‘once in decades’ typhoon — New forecasts show direct hit at Fukushima plant — Official: “Extraordinary situation… Grave danger approaching” — Record-level winds to 170mph, waves near 50ft — Military: “Can’t stress enough how dangerous… not just another typhoon” — Astronaut: It “takes up our entire view… Wow” (PHOTOS)

N_map_2000

Japan on highest alert for ‘once in decades’ typhoon — New forecasts show direct hit at Fukushima plant — Official: “Extraordinary situation… Grave danger approaching” — Record-level winds to 170mph, waves near 50ft — Military: “Can’t stress enough how dangerous… not just another typhoon” — Astronaut: It “takes up our entire view… Wow” (PHOTOS) (ENENews, July 8, 2014):

TIME, July 7, 2014: A “once in decades” storm is approaching Japan’s southern islands with winds up to 150 mph, the country’s weather agency said […] The Japan Meteorological Agency [predicted] the super typhoon will grow into an “extremely intense” storm by Tuesday. “In these regions, there is a chance of the kinds of storms, high seas, storm surges and heavy rains that you’ve never experienced before,” a JMA official said […] “This is an extraordinary situation, where a grave danger is approaching.”

Weather Channel, July 7, 2014 at 10:30p ET (emphasis added): […] sustained winds of 198 kilometers (123 miles) per hour and gusts up to 270 kph (168 mph), the Japan Meteorological Agency said [and] could be one of the strongest to hit Japan in decades, generating waves up to 14 meters (46 feet) high. “There is a risk of unprecedentedly strong winds and torrential rains” […] Agency official Satoshi Ebihara told reporters at a news conference. […] The storm’s slow movement could add to the potential damage […] leaders held an emergency meeting and urged local governments and residents to take maximum precautions.

Brigadier General James Hecker, July 6, 2014: “I can’t stress enough how dangerous this typhoon may be when it hits Okinawa […] This is not just another typhoon.”

Tweet from astronaut Reid Wiseman aboard the International Space Station: Typhoon Neoguri nearing Japan. Takes up our entire view. Wow.

Tweet from astronaut Reid Wiseman aboard the International Space Station: Typhoon Neoguri nearing Japan. Takes up our entire view. Wow

AFP, July 7, 2014 at 7:00p ET: [Japan’s] weather agency issued its highest alert. The top-level warning means a threat to life, as well as the risk of massive damage […] for Okinawa’s main island, home to around 1.2 million […] “Record-level violent winds and high waves are posing a serious danger to the Miyako island region,” Satoshi Ebihara, the Japanese weather agency’s chief forecaster, told an evening news conference. […] massive gusts and torrential rains will possibly reach mainland Japan by Wednesday […] The storm could affect an area with a 500-kilometre radius.

Watch the JMA forecast here (click ‘Play’ next to ‘Animation’)

 

Revealed: Britain’s Secret Plan For 100,000 Syria Invasion Force

Revealed: Britain’s secret plan for 100,000 Syria invasion force (RT, July 4, 2014):

Britain was considering the option of training a massive, 100,000-strong army in Turkey and Jordan to defeat President Bashar Assad, according to a plan drawn up by a leading British general. The invasion was later scrapped as too risky.

The strategy, revealed by BBC Newsnight, involved Britain training a 100,000-strong rebel army in Jordan and Turkey over a 12-month period.

The rebels would have been trained by an international coalition armed with high-quality weaponry, and would have marched on Damascus with air cover provided by Britain and its allies.

And the one and only reason why this ‘brilliant’ Libya 2.0 plan had to be scrapped is called … Vladimir Putin.

The plan echoes the ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign used in Iraq during its initial invasion in 2003.

The idea was developed two years ago by Lord Richards, the UK Chief of Defense Staff at the time. During his tenure, he actively lobbied Prime Minister David Cameron to intensify the war effort in Libya, and directly target its then-leader Muammar Gaddafi, rather than just protect civilians.

Read moreRevealed: Britain’s Secret Plan For 100,000 Syria Invasion Force

Money Will Buy …

Money will buy …
A bed but not SLEEP

Books but not BRAINS
Food but not APPETITE
Finery but not BEAUTY
A house but not a HOME
Medicine but not HEALTH
Amusements but not HAPPINESS
Religion but not SALVATION.

– Unknown

Armed Militias Planning To Take Over US Border To Thwart Illegal Immigrants

Armed militias planning to take over US border to thwart illegal immigrants (RT, July 7, 2014):

As militias vow to protect the Texas border from illegal immigrants, Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) said he believes the president has an ulterior motive for not moving quickly to prevent the overwhelming numbers of immigrants crossing the border.

Between January 1 and June 15, 2014, more than 52,000 unaccompanied alien children have been apprehended after crossing the Mexican border into the US, according to Customs and Border Patrol. The children are mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Including adults, over 181,000 undocumented immigrants who are “other than Mexicans,” or OTMs, have been apprehended along the southwest border in that time period. The majority of illegal aliens are coming through the Rio Grande Valley in southwest Texas.

Read moreArmed Militias Planning To Take Over US Border To Thwart Illegal Immigrants

400 Missiles Stolen in Benghazi … 20,000 Missiles Stolen in Tripoli … 20,000 M-16s Stolen in Kuwait … Related?

400 Missiles Stolen in Benghazi… 20,000 Missiles Stolen in Tripoli… 20,000 M-16s Stolen in Kuwait… Related? ( The Daily Sheeple, Aug 14, 2013):

By now most have probably heard about the 400 surface-to-air missiles that were stolen in Benghazi. An attorney for the witnesses/whistleblowers came out in an interview with WMAL yesterday to drop this bombshell.

WMAL reports:

“I do not know whether [the missiles] were at the annex, but it is clear the annex was somehow involved in the process of the distribution of those missiles,” said DiGenova in an interview Monday with WMAL’s Mornings On The Mall.

How did DiGenova get this information? He told WMAL that ever since he and his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, began representing the Benghazi whistleblowers last spring, they have been contacted by several people eager to share information about what really happened the night of September 11, 2012, when four Americans were killed in the Consulate attack, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

Read more400 Missiles Stolen in Benghazi … 20,000 Missiles Stolen in Tripoli … 20,000 M-16s Stolen in Kuwait … Related?

Market Top? Meet The $1 Billion Company With Zero Revenues

CYNK Technology Corp

Top of the market? Meet the $1 BILLION company that has zero revenue… (Sovereign Man, July 7, 2014):

Lord Overstone said it best. “No warning can save people determined to grow suddenly rich.”

Case in point – CYNK Technology Corp, a listed company that as of this morning has a market capitalization in excess of $1 BILLION.

According to official filings, the social media development company had one employee, no website, no revenue, no product, and no assets.

Read moreMarket Top? Meet The $1 Billion Company With Zero Revenues

‘The Real Economy Is Somewhere Between The Toilet & A Rat Hole’

We Are All Ninja Turtles Now (Kunstler, July 7, 2014):

By James H Kunstler

With lakes, swimming holes, rivers, and pools beckoning, I went to a sporting goods chain store at the mall — where else? — seeking a new bathing suit (pardon the quaint locution). The store was curiously named Dick’s. All they had were clown trunks. By this I mean a garment designed to hang somewhere around mid-calf, instantly transforming a normally-proportioned adult male into a stock slapstick character: the oafish man-child.

Read more‘The Real Economy Is Somewhere Between The Toilet & A Rat Hole’

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: ‘The US Economy’s Phantom Jobs Gains Are A Fraud’

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Virtual Economy’s Phantom Job Gains Are Based on Statistical Fraud (Paul Craig Roberts, July 7, 2014):

By Paul Craig Roberts

Washington can’t stop lying. Don’t be convinced by last Thursday’s job report that it is your fault if you don’t have a job. Those 288,000 jobs and 6.1% unemployment rate are more fiction than reality.

In his analysis of the June Labor Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, John Williams (www.ShadowStats.com) wrote that the 288,000 June jobs and 6.1% unemployment rate are “far removed from common experience and underlying reality.” Payrolls were overstated by “massive, hidden shifts in seasonal adjustments,” and the Birth-Death model added the usual phantom jobs.

Read moreDr. Paul Craig Roberts: ‘The US Economy’s Phantom Jobs Gains Are A Fraud’

Russia Rushes To Seal Ukraine-Bypassing Gas Pipeline: Lavrov Pays Bulgaria A Visit

Putin chess

Russia Rushes To Seal Ukraine-Bypassing Gas Pipeline: Lavrov Pays Bulgaria A Visit (ZeroHedge, July 7, 2014):

As we remarked two weeks ago, when observing the recent developments surrounding the suddenly all-important South Stream gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine entirely, and instead traversing the Black Sea before crossing Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and terminating in the Austrian central European gas hub of Baumgarten, we said that all of Europe is suddenly focused on if and how Russia will make headway with a project that may be the most important one for not only Europe’s energy future but the impact Russia will continue to have over Germany et al. And of course, Ukraine. Because should Russia find a way to completely bypass Kiev as a traditional transit hub for Russian gas, it would make the country, and its ongoing civil war, completely irrelevant not only for Russia, but worse, for Europe, the IMF, and Ukraine’s staunch western “supporters and allies” as well.

South Stream Map

Showing just how Europe perceives the Russian “South Stream” threat was a comment from a recent NYT article, in which Günther Oettinger, Europe’s top energy official, was quoted as saying that the Ukraine crisis “has slowed down our progress on South Stream considerably… We can’t just give in to the Russians every time.” Alas, since the Russians control the all important gas, Europe has zero choice.

This explains why even as the western media finally remembered over the weekend there was a Ukraine civil war going on following an advance by the Kiev army to retake some rebel strongholds in the Donbas region, with some wondering what if anything Putin would do in retaliation, what Putin, or rather his envoy Sergei Lavrov were actually doing, was completely ignoring the Ukraine situation (where the West has long since conceded the loss of Crimea to the Kremlin) and instead focusing on securing the successful launch of the South Stream (remember: the second South Stream goes online, Ukraine becomes irrelevant). And since Russia already signed another historic agreement with Austria in June, which positioned the AAA-country (with some surprising emerging bank troubles subsequently) squarely against its fellow European peers, it was the turn of the other South Stream countries, namely Bulgaria.

Read moreRussia Rushes To Seal Ukraine-Bypassing Gas Pipeline: Lavrov Pays Bulgaria A Visit