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Monday, March 4, 2013

Timothy

In the private sector you could never get away with this mismanagement

Will YOU Soon Be Forced To Buy Government Debt!?

Pope's Resignation, Alien belief by Vatican, Petrus Romanus

The Next Wave Of The Economic Collapse Is Almost Here




Are we running out of time?  For the last several years, we have been living in a false bubble of hope that has been fueled by massive amounts of debt and bailout money.  This illusion of economic stability has convinced most people that the great economic crisis of 2008 was just an "aberration" and that now things are back to normal.  Unfortunately, that is not the case at all.  The truth is that the financial crash of 2008 was just the first wave of our economic troubles.  We have not even come close to recovering from that wave, and the next wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching.  Our economy is like a giant sand castle that has been built on a foundation of debt and toilet paper currency.  As each wave of the crisis hits us, the solutions that our leaders will present to us will involve even more debt and even more money printing.  And each time, those "solutions" will only make our problems even worse.  Right now, events are unfolding in Europe and in the United States that are pushing us toward the next major crisis moment.  I sincerely hope that we have some more time before the next crisis overwhelms us, but as you will see, time is rapidly running out.
The following are 12 things that just happened that show the next wave of the economic collapse is almost here...
#1 According to TrimTab's CEO Charles Biderman, corporate insider purchases of stock have hit an all-time low, and the ratio of corporate insider selling to corporate insider buying has now reached an astounding 50 to 1....
While retail is being told to buy-buy-buy, Biderman exclaims that "insiders at U.S. companies have bought the least amount of shares in any one month," and that the ratio of insider selling to buying is now 50-to-1 - a monthly record.
#2 On Friday we learned that personal income in the United States experienced its largest one month decline in 20 years...
Personal income decreased by $505.5 billion in January, or 3.6%, compared to December (on a seasonally adjusted and annualized basis). That's the most dramatic decline since January 1993, according to the Commerce Department.
#3 In a stunning move, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder says that he will appoint an emergency financial manager to take care of Detroit's financial affairs...
Snyder, 54, took a step he avoided a year ago, empowering an emergency financial manager who can sweep aside union contracts, sell municipal assets, restructure services and reorder finances. He announced the move yesterday at a public meeting in Detroit.
If this does not work, Detroit will almost certainly have to declare bankruptcy.  If that happens, it will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
#4 On Friday it was announced that the unemployment rate in Italy had risen to 11.7 percent.  That was a huge jump from 11.3 percent the previous month, and Italy now has the highest unemployment rate that it has experienced in 21 years.
#5 The youth unemployment rate in Italy has risen to a new all-time record high of 38.7 percent.
#6 On Friday it was announced that the unemployment rate in the eurozone as a whole had just hit a brand new record high of 11.9 percent.
#7 On Friday it was announced that the unemployment rate in Greece has now reached 27 percent, and it is being projected that it will reach30 percent by the end of the year.
#8 The youth unemployment rate in Greece is now an almost unbelievable 59.4 percent.
#9 On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Lisbon and other Portuguese cities to protest the austerity measures that are being imposed upon them.  It was reportedly the largest protest in the history of Portugal.
#10 According to Goldman Sachs, bank deposits declined all over Europe during the month of January.
#11 Over the weekend, the deputy governor of China's central bank declared that China is prepared for a "currency war"...
A top Chinese banker said Beijing is "fully prepared" for a currency war as he urged the world to abide by a consensus reached by the G20 to avert confrontation, state media reported on Saturday.
Yi Gang, deputy governor of China's central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow.
Those fears have largely been fuelled by the recent steep decline in the Japanese yen, which critics have accused Tokyo of manipulating to give its manufacturers a competitive edge in key export markets over Asian rivals.
#12 Italy is an economic basket case at this point, and the political gridlock in Italy is certainly not helping matters.  Former comedian Beppe Grillo's party could potentially tip the balance of power one way or the other in Italy, and over the weekend he made some comments that are really shaking things up over in Europe.  For one thing, he is suggesting that Italy should hold a referendum on the euro...
"I am a strong advocate of Europe. I am in favor of an online referendum on the euro," Beppe Grillo told Bild am Sonntag.
Such a vote would not be legally binding in Italy, where referendums can only be used to repeal laws or parts of laws, but would carry political weight. Grillo has said in the past that membership of the euro should be up to the Italian people.
In addition, Grillo is also suggesting that Italy's debt has gotten so large that renegotiation is the only option...
In an interview with a German magazine published on Saturday, Mr Grillo said that “if conditions do not change” Italy “will want” to leave the euro and return to its former national currency.
The 64-year-old comic-turned-political activist also said Italy needs to renegotiate its €2 trillion debt.
At 127 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), it is the highest in the euro zone after Greece.
“Right now we are being crushed, not by the euro, but by our debt. When the interest payments reach €100 billion a year, we’re dead. There’s no alternative,” he told Focus, a weekly news magazine.
He said Italy was in such dire economic straits that “in six months, we will no longer be able to pay pensions and the wages of public employees.”
And of course government debt has taken center stage in the United States as well.
The sequester cuts have now gone into effect, and they will definitely have an effect on the U.S. economy.  Of course that effect will not be nearly as dramatic as many Democrats are suggesting, but without a doubt those cuts will cause the U.S. economy to slow down a bit.
And of course the U.S. economy has already been showing plenty of signs of slowing down lately.  If you doubt this, please see my previous article entitled "Consumer Spending Drought: 16 Signs That The Middle Class Is Running Out Of Money".
So what comes next?
Well, everyone should keep watching Europe very closely, and it will also be important to keep an eye on Wall Street.  There are a whole bunch of indications that the stock market is at or near a peak.  For example, just check out what one prominent stock market analyst recently had to say...
"Every reliable technical tool is warning of major peaking action," said Walter Zimmerman, the senior technical analyst at United-ICAP. "This includes sentiment, momentum, classical chart patterns, and Elliott wave analysis.
"Most of the rally in the stock market since 2009 can be chalked up to the Federal Reserve’s attempt to create a ‘wealth effect’ through higher stock market prices. This only exacerbates the downside risk. Why? The stock market no is longer a lead indicator for the economy. It is instead reflecting  Fed manipulation. Pushing the stock market higher while the real economy languishes has resulted in another bubble.
"The next leg down will not be a partial correction of the advance since the 2009 lows. It will be another major financial crisis. The worst is yet to come."
Sadly, most people will continue to deny that anything is wrong until it is far too late.
Many areas of Europe are already experiencing economic depression, and it is only a matter of time before the U.S. follows suit.
Time is running out, and I hope that you are getting ready.
So what do you think?
How much time do you believe that we have left before the next wave of the economic collapse strikes?
Economic Collapse

You only think you know what's coming...EXO-VATICANA (Part No.13)

From the very beginning of this arduous investigation, we knew we were facing a daunting task. To breach that labyrinthine monument to religion, the Roman Catholic Church, and to ascertain subterranean secrets concealed beneath its layers of classified documentation had been tried and failed by thousands before us.

The Vatican is impenetrable, we were warned, the very inventor of the term “above top secret.” As the world’s oldest-running bureaucracy, it is an amalgamation of secrets, vaults, and esoteric traditions dating back to the Dark Ages. Steeped in complexity and guarded by a procession of popes, cardinals, and multileveled priests, it is obsessed with maintaining “the need to know.” When spokesmen for the Church do tantalize the outside world with commentary, it often turns out to be duplicity designed to keep researchers running in circles and in the wrong direction. And yet, of late, we had heard enough consistency from Jesuit astronomers to wonder now if, for some reason, Rome was intentionally moving the religious world toward accepting a definite revelation, a period in time coupled with a momentous disclosure that somehow required specific public comments and the development of theological arguments concerning extraterrestrial intelligence that ultimately will, they believe, impact the religion of Christianity.

On this, we will be providing: 1) first-person testimonies by high-ranking authorities that agree with the assessment above; 2) documents and newly drafted scholarly papers by Vatican academics that substantiate our conclusions; and 3) the threshold of what is called in the court system “a presumption of fact.” When reading Exo-Vaticana, readers will find the number of documents and the amount of commentary evidence on the part of Rome’s astronomers and the Vatican’s emerging theology as conveyed therein to be conclusive beyond reasonable doubt that the Vatican has intentionally positioned itself to be the religious authority on, and ecclesiastical benefactor of, Official Disclosure: the imminent and authorized public admission by world governments of advanced extraterrestrial intelligence.

Why the Vatican has taken this carefully designed and deliberate course over the last few years is the greater mystery, but implies knowledge on their part of facts yet hidden to most of the world that may hold far-reaching and historic implications. It also illustrates how Rome has wittingly or unwittingly set itself up to become the agent of mass end-times deception regarding “salvation from above.” That’s because, historically, there exists a clear pattern wherein man’s psychological need of a savior is displayed during times of distress—a time like today—when people look skyward for divine intervention. As Ted Peters, professor of systematic theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, wrote, “With the constant threat of thermonuclear destruction in the post-World War II era leaving our planet in a state of insecurity and anxiety, it is no wonder many have begun to hope for a messiah to save us. The holiness of the sky and the need for a salvation converge and blend when the bright clean powerful UFO zooms up onto the horizon. Could it be our celestial savior?”[i] Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno must think so, as he assured us that if highly advanced ET saviors from outer space touch down on planet Earth soon, it will not mean what Catholics believe is wrong, but rather, “We’re going to find out that everything is truer in ways we couldn’t even yet have imagined.”[ii]

In truth, Consolmagno’s advice for the religious faithful could be leading mankind into a gigantic setup, as many religions have at least one apocalyptic myth describing the end of the world accompanied by a redeemer who appears in the sky at the last minute to rescue the chosen from annihilation or wrath. Mayans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greeks held similar beliefs, while the Hopi Indians foresee times of great hardship when they will be preserved by the “power” of a blue star, far off and invisible, that suddenly makes its appearance in the heavens. Today, even factions of the New Age look for a techno-savior to arrive in the atmosphere in the nick of time to save mankind. Although Jesus, Himself, is prophesied to appear in the clouds during an era of great earthly trials (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18), predominant among prophecy scholars is the idea that coupled with any heavenly appearing and concurrent salvation of believers from chaos will first be the materialization of a false Christ or “man of sin.” Where Hopi see a blue star and Vatican astronomers see their “space brothers” en route to guide us into the light, evangelical Christians understand the Antichrist will initially assume the role of a fabricated end-times messiah who mimics the return of Christ with a false second coming that also happens to be attended by heavenly “signs and lying wonders”(2 Thessalonians 2:8–9). Could these deceptive “wonders” be: 1) the discovery of artificial structures on another world; 2) a “contact” scenario, or; 3) maybe even something more dramatic, like a flying saucer armada piloted by creatures who appear to be advanced humanoids but who are in fact evil supernaturalism on a quest to mislead and destroy the human race? Even secular ufologists suspect demonic activity in the interaction between humans and “aliens.” Whitley Streiber, author ofCommunion and other books on the subject, once wrote: “There are worse things than death, I suspected. And I was beginning to get the distinct impression that one of them had taken an interest in me. So far the word demon had never been spoken among the scientists and doctors who were working with me. And why should it have been? We were beyond such things. We were a group of atheists and agnostics, far too sophisticated to be concerned with such archaic ideas as demons and angels” (emphasis added).[iii]

Alien Saviors, Demonic Plots, Hidden Codes

To understand what is driving Vatican scholars into such strange astro-theological territory, a subtle game of cat-and-mouse has been playing out behind the scenes over the past few months between the authors of Exo-Vaticana and the church's theologians over the need to determine why Rome's authorities suddenly need alien-friendly dogma. At times responses to inquests have come in coded replies instead of straight forward answers. For instance, Jesuit astronomer Guy Consolmagno pointed Tom to a peculiar novel published in 1958 under the title, A Case of Conscience, by James Blish. In the story, a Jesuit priest named Father Ruiz-Sanchez and a team of scientists travel to a newly discovered planet dubbed “Lithia” to study the Lithians who live there. Unknown to the science team, the Vatican secretly advises the Catholic father to investigate whether the aliens have redeemable souls. What he finds in the Lithians are intelligent creatures whose morality fits perfectly with Christianity but who are devoid of any concept of religion or God. This dilemma grows, and soon the priest is invited to visit with a Lithian family. He writes:

Here was the first chance, at long last, to see something of the private life of Lithia, and through that, perhaps, to gain some inkling of the moral life, the role in which God had cast the Lithians in the ancient drama of good and evil, in the past and in the times to come. Until that was known, the Lithians in their Eden might be only spuriously good: all reason, all organic thinking machines, ULTIMACs with tails and without souls.[iv]



Original cover of A Case of Conscience by James Blish



Because the publisher of Exo-Vaticana is giving away A Case of Conscience in the data-dvd provided with the first release of this book, we will not spoil the ending—which includes the Jesuits (described as “the cerebral cortex of the Church”) dealing with the knotty moral, theological, and organizational issues surrounding a papal proclamation and the seed of Satan—for those who want to read the novel. However, it is important to note that the fictional Father Ruiz-Sanchez warns the Vatican to classify Lithia as X-1—a planet to be forever quarantined from Earth and humans due to its potentialfor great deception.

“What we have here on Lithia is very clear indeed. We have—and now I’m prepared to be blunt—a planet and a people propped up by the Ultimate Enemy. It is a gigantic trap prepared for all of us—for every man on Earth and off it. We can do nothing with it but reject it, nothing but say to it, Retro me, Sathanas. If we compromise with it in any way, we are damned.”[v]

When Ruiz-Sanchez uses the phrase, “Retro me, Sathanas,” he is annunciating the medieval Catholic formula for exorcism, “Vade retro Sathanas” (“Go back, Satan”), a clear reckoning that the aliens on Lithia are part of a satanic plot to be avoided at all costs, an astro-theological conspiracy designed to mislead mankind. He eventually convinces the pope (Pope Hadrian in the story) of the satanic stratagem, but, ironically, he is unable to convince all of the Church’s theologians. Did the author of A Case of Conscience foresee how such great deception would eventually be embraced by the Vatican as a result of some of Rome’s celebrated scholars and astronomers? When science-fiction writer Jo Walton asked Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno (whom we also interviewed from Rome with this question and a lot more) what he made of these issues posed by Blish in his novel, Consolmagno admitted that the Jesuits are: 1) the strongest advocates of “inculturation” (allowing alien cultures to maintain their paganism while modifying expressions of Christian ideas within those beliefs); 2) accepting of “alien cultures for who they are”; and 3) willing to adapt alien “religious practices into a form and a language that can be accepted.”[vi]So, if Brother Consolmagno had been on Lithia, Walton concluded, we’d already be in contact with aliens “and finding out as much as we could about them.”[vii]

From what we have seen, Walton may not have to wait much longer for contact, which raises a hidden aspect of A Case of Conscience involving wordplay around the term “Lithia.” While Blish makes an obvious connection to the name of the planet and its inhabitants as reflecting the abundance of “Lithium” ore on the alien world (ore that could be mined and exploited for use in making nuclear weapons), mention of the goddess I-Lithia or “Ilithyia” is strangely missing from the work. This stands out as possibly a secret code in the book that specifically relates to the deductions of Father Ruiz-Sanchez and the “seed of Satan” being debated by the Church back on Earth. If the similarity between Lithia and the goddess Ilithyia is coincidental, it is extraordinary, as it was the job of this goddess in antiquity to protect the very “seed of the serpent” that in turn generates the birth of the “serpent child” and future “serpent-savior.” So important was the goddess Ilithyia’s role in ancient days as the preserver of this serpent seed toward the birth of the serpent-savior that shrines were erected to her by cult followers across Greece (including at Athens, Megara, Korinthos, Argos, Mycenae, Sparta, etc.) in which terra-cotta figures of immortal nurses were depicted watching over the divine children in whom the bloodline would survive. For example, on the mainland at Olympia, a shrine dedicated to Ilithyia (called Eileithyia by the Greeks) was witnessed by traveler and second-century geographer, Pausanias, in which a small inner chamber (cella) sacred to the serpent-savior hosted a virgin-priestess who “cared for a serpent that was fed on honeyed barley-cakes and water.”[viii] The shrine memorialized the appearance of a Marian-like woman with a babe in her arms who, “at a crucial moment when Elians were threatened by forces from Arcadia,” was placed on the ground between the contending forces and changed into a terrifying serpent, “driving the Arcadians away in flight, before it disappeared into the hill.”[ix] The message is: the messianic babe in the Marian woman's arms is secretly a serpent-savior.

Interestingly, the myth of Ilithyia is also connected in ancient history with the birth of Apollo, whose coming as “the promised seed” formed the novus ordo seclorum prophecy of the Great Seal of the United States (as thoroughly documented inApollyon Rising). This “messiah” who returns to rule the Earth in the latter days is also described (by the same name) in the book of 2 Thessalonians as the Antichrist who becomes the progeny or incarnation of the ancient seed (or spirit) of Apollo. The warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 reads: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son ofperdition [Apoleia; Apollyon, Apollo]” (emphasis added).Revelation 17:8 also directly ties the coming of Antichrist with the seed of Apollo, revealing that the Beast shall ascend from the bottomless pit and enter him: “The Beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Bottomless Pit, and go into perdition [Apoleia, Apollo]: and they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (emphasis added).


[EDITOR'S NOTE: READ MORE ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE VATICAN, WASHINGTON DC, AND THE COMING SEED OF THE SERPENT IN AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK 'PETRUS ROMANUS' HERE.]

The verses above elucidate a very important and central eschatological issue concerning how all of the Bible is really a story about the ancient and future struggle between the “seed” of the woman (Jesus) and that of the serpent. Genesis 3:15 says, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed [zera, meaning “offspring,” “descendents,” or “children”] and her seed.” Besides the pre-preaching of the Gospel of Christ in this verse (known in theology as theprotoevangelium), another incredible tenet emerges here—that Satan has “seed” and it is at enmity (hostility, hatred, antagonism) with Christ.

We believe an example of Satan’s hostile seed can be found in Genesis chapter 6, where fallen angels mingled with humans and produced Nephilim. More importantly, in Exo-Vaticana we will discuss how Church leaders including Roman Catholics from the Middle Ages forward believed the Antichrist would be spawned of this demonic seed. Saint Augustine wrote about this in the City of God,[x] and in the De Daemonialitate, et Incubis, et Succubi, Father Ludovicus Maria Sinistrari de Ameno (1622–1701) argued how the coming of Antichrist represented the biological hybridization of demons with humans. “To theologians and philosophers,” he wrote, “it is a fact, that from the copulation of humans with the demon…Antichrist must be born.”[xi] Thus, as Jesus Christ was the “seed of the woman,” the “Man of Sin” will be the “seed of the serpent.” And if the serpent seed represents the second coming of Apollo as prophesied by the Apostle Paul, not only will he be the exact opposite of Jesus (Son of God) and a forerunner of the return of these Nephilim, but a false serpent-savior who claims to be the second coming of the babe in Mary's arms.

Raidersnewsupdate.com

Food Stamp Use Hits Record Levels 47 million and counting

Central Banker In China Says Beijing Is Ready For The 'Currency War'



A top Chinese banker said Beijing is "fully prepared" for a currency war as he urged the world to abide by a consensus reached by the G20 to avert confrontation, state media reported on Saturday.

Yi Gang, deputy governor of China's central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow.

Those fears have largely been fueled by the recent steep decline in the Japanese yen, which critics have accused Tokyo of manipulating to give its manufacturers a competitive edge in key export markets over Asian rivals.

Yi said a currency war could be avoided if major countries observed the G20 consensus that monetary policy should primarily serve as a tool for domestic economy, the Xinhua report said.

But China "is fully prepared", he added.

"In terms of both monetary policies and other mechanism arrangement, China will take into full account the quantitative easing policies implemented by central banks of foreign countries."

South Korea's incoming president Park Geun-Hye has also signaled her willingness to step in to stabilize the won and protect exporters battling a stronger Korean currency and a weaker yen.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/beijing-ready-to-begin-currency-war-2013-3#ixzz2MZkvm7Mm

Brazil to get its first nuclear subs

Brazil to get its first nuclear subs

Brazil is set to join the select group of countries that have nuclear-powered submarines, President Dilma Rousseff said Friday.

Rousseff stressed Brazil was committed to peace but also needed its defense deterrent, as she inaugurated a naval shipyard in Rio de Janeiro state where the country’s first nuclear-powered sub is set to be built in partnership with France.

“We can say that with these installations we are entering the select club of countries with nuclear submarines: The United States, Russia, France, Britain and China,” said Rousseff.

Known as the Metallic Structures Construction Unit, the factory in the city of Itaguai near Rio de Janeiro is part of the ambitious ProSub program launched in 2008.

Under the scheme, France will supply Brazil with four conventional submarines and help develop the non-nuclear components of the South American powerhouse’s first nuclear-powered attack submarine.

Brazil already has the uranium enrichment technology required for producing nuclear fuel and wants to use it to power the submarine.

The 7.8 billion reais ($3.95 billion) ProSub program aims to protect the country’s 8,500-kilometer (5,280-mile) coastline and huge deep-water oil reserves.

The defense ministry said the first of the four conventional Scorpene-class subs will be delivered to the Brazilian Navy in 2017, while the nuclear-powered vessel will be commissioned in 2023.

“This alliance (with France) must be carefully watched by all those who are taking part because our mission is to ensure that this technology is transferred to us in line with the contract,” Rousseff said.

The 75-meter-long (246-foot) Scorpene is a diesel-electric attack submarine built by France’s DCNS naval defense firm for a variety of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, special operations and intelligence collection.

France is also vying to win a contract valued at between $4 and $7 billion for 36 multi-purpose combat aircraft to modernize the Brazilian air force.

The Rafale fighter, built by French firm Dassault Aviation, is up against US aviation giant Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Swedish manufacturer Saab’s Gripen.

Read more: http://www.defencetalk.com/brazil-to-get-its-first-nuclear-subs-47022/#ixzz2MZjy9OfD

Bright Comet seen in skies over Australia







Bright Comet Pan-Starrs (C/2011 L4) is now inside the orbit of Mercury, brightening as it plunges toward the sun. Observers in the southern hemisphere report say they can see Pan-STARRS with the unaided eye in the evening sunset sky. Carl Gruber photographed the comet on March 2nd over the city lights of Melbourne, Australia: “Despite bad light and smog pollution, the comet’s nucleus was clearly visible to the naked eye as well as a small part of the tail,” says Gruber. Light curves show the comet is approaching 2nd magnitude, about as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper. Several important dates are approaching. On March 5th, Comet Pan-STARRS makes its closest approach to Earth (1.09 AU), followed on March 10th by its closest approach to the sun (0.3 AU). As Comet Pan-STARRS passes the sun, solar glare will make it difficult to see even as the nucleus vaporizes and brightens. By March 12th and 13th, the comet will reappear in the sunset skies of the northern hemisphere not far from the crescent Moon.

The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

Iraq to Get Russian Weapons by June

Mi-28N

MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will deliver attack helicopters and air-defense systems to Iraq before the summer, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Monday.

Delivery of the Russian arms will start as soon as financial matters are dealt with, he added.

“I believe the first arms deliveries from Russia to Iraq will start before the beginning of the summer at the latest,” he said in an interview with Golos Rossii Radio.

Concerning Iraq’s plans to buy Lochkeed Martin F-16 fighters from the United States, Zebari said Iraq “has no problems with the Americans on this deal.”

“Deliveries are due to begin in 2014,” he said.

In November, Iraq’s acting Defense Minister Sadun Al-Dulaymi denied reports that Bagdad was annulling a $4.2 billion arms deal with Russia over concerns about possible corruption.

Russia and Iraq had announced an agreement to deliver Russian Mi-28NE attack helicopters and Pantsyr mobile air-defense systems following October’s visit to Moscow by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, during which he met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev.

An Iraqi government spokesman announced shortly afterwards that the deal was on hold pending a review. "When Maliki returned from his trip to Russia, he had some suspicions of corruption, so he decided to review the whole deal. There is an investigation going on, on this," the spokesman told AFP.

At the time the arms deal was announced in October, the Russian press had hailed it as the country’s largest since 2006.

Under the deal, Moscow is to supply 30 Mil Mi-28NE night/all-weather capable attack helicopters, and 50 Pantsyr-S1 gun-missile short-range air defense systems.

RIA Novosti

Anti-Islam protesters clash with UK cops in Manchester