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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Millennial Temple - Chuck Missler

Islamist Group in America: We’ll Impose Sharia on Christians



Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group so radical that the Muslim Brotherhood won’t even touch it, lives and breathes in America. Part of the reason it’s a fringe group in the U.S. is because it is mostly honest about its objectives. For example, one of its websites answers a question about the status of Christians in an Islamic State by frankly admitting that Sharia is imposed upon them and other non-Muslims.

“Everyone who carries the citizenship of the [Islamic] state enjoys the rights and is bound by Shari’ah obligations,” the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT) website says.

The article later reiterates that the Islamic state “implements Shari’ah upon all of those who carry the Islamic citizenship whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims…”

Of course, Islamists view this as a great aspiration, otherwise they wouldn’t believe in it. The article extols the fairness of Sharia-based governance. The “basic needs” of all Muslims and non-Muslims are guaranteed, income is redistributed and health care and education are free. Non-Muslims can even be appointed to administrative positions and file official complaints if they are abused by authorities, at least in a way that isn’t consistent with Sharia.

The description sounds swell to those that don’t notice the important caveats.

Non-Muslims have religious freedom, as long “as they are within the general system.” Non-Muslims’ attire and diet are regulated according to their own religions, as long as they are “within that which the Shari’ah rules have permitted.”

The HUT article, written by a spokesman in Lebanon, becomes vaguer when discussing the more sensitive issues. It was written in English for a non-Muslim audience, after all.

On the question of Muslims who abandon the faith, it explains, “The rule of the apostate is applied upon those who have apostatized from Islaam if they are apostates.” That means execution, but that isn’t exactly the loveliest word you want to use when promoting your ideology.

HUT then glosses over the other aspects of Sharia law:

“The state implements the rest of the Shari’ah rules and all remaining Islamic Shari’ah matters in regards to the [transactions], punishments, testimonies, ruling and economic systems amongst others upon everyone. The implementation of these matters is the same in regards to Muslims and non-Muslims alike…”

Jihad is required for the Muslim population of this Islamic State, and non-Muslim participation in this jihad is encouraged. HUT says, “Jihad is an obligation upon the Muslims and training is compulsory” for anyone over the age of 15.

Military service is mandatory for Muslims and is optional for non-Muslims. However, non-Muslims must fight “under the banner of the Muslims” and not as a separate unit and cannot participate in a war against Muslim rivals. It’s okay for Muslims to kill other Muslims in war, but it is not okay for non-Muslims to kill Muslims in war.

HUT repeatedly declares its commitment to non-violence but, again, there are important exceptions.

“[W]henever the disbelieving enemies attack an Islamic country it becomes compulsory on its Muslim citizens to repel the enemy. The Hizb ut-Tahrir in that country are part of the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them to fight the enemy and repel them. Wherever there is a Muslim amir who declares jihad, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir will respond in their capacity as Muslims in the country where the general call to arms was proclaimed,” HUT’s website explains.

When its conferences in America receive negative attention, HUT is quick to point out that it isn’t trying to transform the country into a Sharia-based state. Like other Islamists, this sweet-sounding proclamation of innocence is conditioned upon ability.

Its FAQ section says:

“In non-Muslim countries like the United States, Hizb ut-Tahrir works to cultivate a Muslim community that lives by Islam in thought and deed, whereby adhering to the rules of Islam and preserving a strong Islamic identity. The party does not work in the West to change the system of government, but works to project a positive image of Islam to Western society and engages in dialogue with Western thinkers, policymakers and academics.”

In other words, Sharia is only appropriate for Muslim-majority countries, so a Sharia-based America is a long-term goal but not a present task. HUT uses the U.S. as a launching pad to lead the worldwide Muslim community and achieve a resurrected Caliphate that can overpower the U.S.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir is determined to work within the Ummah in order to implement Islam and achieve its objective by endeavouring to gain the leadership of the Islamic Ummah so that she could accept it as her leader, to implement Islam upon her and proceed with it in her struggle against the Kuffar and in the work towards the return of the Islamic State as it was before, the leading superpower in the world,” its website says.

This isn’t any different from the 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood strategic memo that called for using the U.S. to establish a base “which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally,” ultimately resulting in “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.”

The criticism of HUT by Zaid Shakir, a popular Islamist imam in America who preaches that the U.S. Constitution is inferior to Sharia, is illuminating. He tells Muslims not to “vilify” HUT. His disagreement with the radical group is limited to its criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood and its overconfidence in the Caliphate to solve all of the Muslim world’s problems. This light treatment of HUT stands in sharp contrast to his treatment of America.

On June 21, the founder of HUT in Chicago declared in Jordan, “Let Britain, America, and the entire West go to hell, because the caliphate is coming, Allah willing.” Shockingly, the Argosy University-Chicago uses him as an adjunct professor and he is a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

On July 12, a HUT spokesperson led a rally on the Temple Mount and declared on videotape, “Allah is greater! Let America be destroyed!” and “Listen, Obama, we are a nation that does not bow down, and the Caliphate will return!”

An official from the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, describes HUT as a “very marginalized group, a very fringe group.” Even a HUT spokesman in Illinois admits, “[W]e understand that our ideas are not mainstream.”

That does not mean HUT should be forgotten about. It has a major international network that holds large rallies around the world. It even held a 1,000-strong pro-Caliphate demonstration in the Ukraine.

Its website lists branches in the U.S., Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Morocco.

HUT has expansive resources, it just hasn’t chosen to invest them heavily in America…yet.


Al Qaeda’s Chechen, fighters win Syrian air base, execute captive troops




Russian-speaking Al Qaeda fighters from Chechnya and the Caucasian seized the key northern Syrian air base of Minakh 10 kilometers south of Aleppo, from the Syrian army Monday, Aug. 5, DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal. This was the first important gain by Al Qaeda’s North Caucasian brigade, Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar, and its Chechen commander Abu Omar. They did not give the Syrian troops at the base a chance to flee. They caught and executed them by slashing their throats or beheading – in accordance with al Qaeda custom. This fate was also suffered by the Syrian air force’s chief operations officer in the north.

The assault was enabled by suicide bombings at the gate of the air base which enabled the foreign assailants to surge into the compound.

The fall of Minakh abruptly halted Syrian government air strikes against opposition-held regions in Aleppo province. Based there was a fleet of Syrian Air Force German-made MBB 223 Flamingo training craft and Russian-made Mi-8 assault helicopters. It also opened the way for Syrian rebel forces to advance on government outposts in President Bashar Assad’s Alawite heartland in the Jabal al-Akrad hills of Latakia province, and capture a number of villages.

Loyal Assad government troops have made major advances in Homs and Damascus and may be expected to wrest Minakh air base from rebel hands and return to their air strikes against the rebels. However, the appearance of al Qaeda fighters from Chechnya and the Caucasian on the Syrian battlefield is of prime significance in a wider context in a geographical region stretching from southern Russia to the Middle East and is also fraught with significance for the US war terrorism.

On July 30, a number of high-profile al Qaeda operatives in southern Russian urged their Emir Doky Umarov to pull their men back from Syria and refocus on Russian targets, specifically preparations for the Winter Olympics taking place at the Black Sea resort of Sochi next February.

The “huge flow” of jihadi volunteers heading for Syria, they said, would be better employed fighting the Russians.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence and military sources note the ramifications of this “huge flow” – and not just for Russia’s position in the Syrian war, The timing of an al Qaeda victory in Syria is relevant to current US, Israeli, Lebanese and Jordanian efforts to beat jihadist terrorism.

1. The US has been pouring all its security and intelligence resources into a global terror alert to forestall a major terror attack or attacks on US targets in Muslim countries and inside America by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). Meanwhile, al Qaeda has opened a third front from Syria using North Caucasian and Chechen adherents.
Less than five months ago, on April 15, two terrorists of Chechen origin, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, blew up the Boston Marathon Race, killing three people and injuring dozens. First, the pair murdered three young Jews by slashing their throats.

The Chechen branch of Al Qaeda is the most brutal wing of the movement and dedicated no less than the others to murdering Americans.
2. Not far from Minakh base, the Syrian army and Hizballah are massing around the nearby city of Aleppo ready to drive the rebels out of their strongholds. This battle will bring Syrian and Hizballah Shiite troops in direct confrontation for the first time with Sunni jihadis from the Caucasian, a significant moment for the Sunni-Shiite contest building up in the Middle East and also for the future of Lebanon.

3. The belligerent Russian-speaking jihadis will not be satisfied with pursuing jihad on Syrian soil. They will want to expand their operations up to and across Syria’s borders with Israel and Jordan, challenging Israeli, Jordanian and US forces based in the Hashemite kingdom with a different and fearsome kind of war savagery from that .

DEBKAfile


Image from one of the North Pole Environmental Observatory webcams, taken Monday, July 29. (Credit: North Pole Environmental Laboratory)

Like a politician whose peccadillos lead to "family time," the North Pole lake has had its fill of Internet notoriety. The stunning blue meltwater lake that formed on the Arctic ice disappeared on Monday (July 29), draining through a crack in the underlying ice floe.

Now, instead of 2 feet (0.6 meters) of freshwater slopping against a bright-yellow buoy, a remote webcam shows only ice and clouds.

Though the North Pole lake's 15 minutes of fame focused worldwide attention on global warming's effects on Arctic sea ice, the melting is actually part of an annual summer thaw, according to researchers who run the North Pole Environmental Observatory. "The formation of these ponds and their disappearance is part of a natural cycle," said Axel Schweiger, head of the Applied Physics Laboratory's Polar Science Center at the University of Washington, which helps run the observatory.

The lake, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, started forming in mid-July, LiveScience first reported on July 23. The size and timing of the lake are typical for this time of year and location, the researchers said.

However, scientists at the observatory and elsewhere are studying the Arctic's meltwater ponds to understand how global warming is changing their total extent.

"It's important to recognize that these ponds may be linked to global warming, but the questions are more: How many and how deep they are, and when they appear and when they drain," Schweiger told LiveScience.

For instance, warmer temperatures in the Arctic already cause surface melting to start earlier on the ice, so the ponds are forming sooner than they used to, Schweiger said. But other factors play a role, such as snow cover and ice thickness. "It's a very open research question," he said.

The observatory has tracked yearly ice changes in the Arctic since 2000. Every spring, scientists fly to the North Pole and anchor buoys with remote webcams into ice floes. The buoys then drift with the ice.

When the meltwater lake appeared in mid-July, the buoys were about 375 miles (600 kilometers) south of the geographic North Pole. Their journey from April to July put the buoys on parallel to the magnetic North Pole, which is currently west of Greenland.

Skye on AOL

The World - Under the DEMONIC Influence

It is a fact of history that as societies, cultures and nations become more base (degenerate) and hardened against the living God, they become increasingly vulnerable to godless and demonic (evil) influences. (Luke 4:5-6; Eph. 2:1-2; 6:12; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; Rev. 16:13-16).

 The trends in today's global climate are the workings of  Lucifer and his demonic host and they are the driving force that is setting the stage even now for the world’s final showdown against Almighty God, His sovereign authority and ETERNAL reign on earth and in heaven. This final showdown is called the Battle of Armageddon - (Psalm 2; Dan. 2:43-44; Joel 3:2; Zech. 14:2; Rev. 16:13-16)

The trends in today's global climate are the workings of  Lucifer and his demonic host and they are the driving force that is setting the stage even now for the world’s final showdown against Almighty God.

Once the Rapture of the Churchtakes place, Almighty God’s restraint will be removed (2 Thess. 2:3, 6-8). The dam - as it were - will be removed and the godless, base practices and the unbridled passions of man will be unleashed to flood the world with godlessness and lawlessness. When these awesomely horrific and turbulent times of global calamities come to be, the world will look for a "savior" and a scapegoat for all of its evils. 

The demonic world - at this time - will frantically begin to then stir up anti-Semitism and the hatred for the nation of Israel as NEVER seen before because they know that their remaining time is VERY short (Matt. 24:12; Rev. 12:17). This FINAL demonic push and agenda is the center piece of Satan's demonic strategy and blueprint in establishing his tyrannical reign over Almighty God's creation, the fallen angelic world and fallen man (Isa. 14:12-15).

It is a fact of history that as societies, cultures and nations become more base (degenerate) and hardened against the living God, they become increasingly vulnerable to godless and demonic (evil) influences.
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As Lucifer's Anti-Christ rises to power, he (who is just flesh and blood) will seek to exalt himself over ALL of this physical world and will accomplish his despotic goal (2 Thess. 2:2-4). This man will use the massive devastation, the fallout from global wars and natural disasters inflicted on this earth by Almighty God to seize unlimited power and authority over all the earth(Rev. 13). The Beast (Anti-Christ) will seek to change the times and the seasons (Dan 7:25). He will seek to rewrite Almighty God’s ETERNAL spiritual and natural laws of creation, and enact his own secular, godless agenda upon the masses of humanity. He will lead the (tangible) global assault on Almighty God, decimate all ideologies tending toward truth, and eradicate the followers of Christ/ Messiah (God’s lovers of reality and truth) - Rev. 13:7; 17:12-17; Rom. 8:36.

This has always been Lucifer's agenda since the Garden of Eden. His desire has been to go "back to Babel" and insert his demonic minion and to rule over the physical and spiritual world.

The Anti-Christ will dissolve all nations and all national identity (cultural and social) and impose on the world his mark, his idol-image and his will. In so doing he will cause ALL to worship both himself and his “father,” a.k.a. “Lucifer, the son of the morning” (Isa. 14:12); “that old serpent”(Rev. 12:9; Gen. 3:1-4); “a great red dragon”(Rev. 12:3-4); and “the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). In this, his mad attempt, Anti-Christ will ULTIMATELY SUCCEED! (2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:4, 8, 12, 16-18). This has always been Lucifer's agenda since the Garden of Eden. His desire has been to go "back to Babel" and insert his demonic minion and to rule over the physical and spiritual world (Isa. 14:12-15).

Anti-Christ will impose on the world his mark, his idol-image and his will. In so doing he will cause all to worship both himself and his 'father,' a.k.a. Lucifer.

This vile act will indeed constitute a great insanity. The whole world - which has been under the demonic influenced of Lucifer and his fallen angels - will reject their Creator to follow and worship this lawless one (Satan’s Anti-Christ) with great passion and zeal (Rev. 13:3, 8; 17:16, 17). They will do so with the veritable understanding that they are fully rejecting Almighty God and His saving grace for their lost souls (2 Thess. 2:10-12; Rev. 14:9-11). These doomed "Haters of Reality" will be quite willing to follow Lucifer's delusion through to the end and will suffer his hooriffic ETERNAL fate (Matt. 25:41,46). They will be thus damned for all ETERNITY in Almighty God’s prison and “junk yard” called the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14-15). This fate would they choose rather than to repent and honor their Creator and TRUE Savior (2 Thess. 2:10-12; Rev. 9:20-21). This “Abomination of abominations”, which the world of that day will choose to worship, only brings these Haters of Reality to an absolute and ETERNAL desolation(Dan. 9:27; Matt 24:15, Rev. 14:9-11).

In the end - for a human being marred by Adam's fall - it is absolutely hopeless without Almighty God our Creator's saving solution.

6000 years of human history has overwhelmingly demonstrated that when Almighty God and His moral absolutes are left out of the mankind's "godless" equation: death, destruction, tyranny, violence, vice, greed, lawlessness, licentiousness, oppression etc. will reign supreme and knowingly or unknowingly they will be under the tyrannical domain of Lucifer and his fallen angels (Luke 4:6-7, Rom. 1:18-32, 5:12-21, Gal. 5:19-21, Eph. 2:1-2). In the end - for a human being marred by Adam's fall - it is absolutely hopeless WITHOUT Almighty God our Creator's saving solution, which is ONLY found in His Son Jesus Christ. He ALONE is the sole propitiation for ALL humanity (John 3:16-17, Acts 4:12, Rom. 5:12-21, 1 John 2:2).

My friend, If you know not the Savior you are then Lucifer's slave and headed to the same fate as he.

My friend, If you know not the Savior you are then Lucifer's slave and headed to the same fate as he (Matt. 25:41,46, John 3:36, Eph. 2:2-3, Rev. 20:10-15). It is our sincere desire for you to see the ETERNAL picture and to understand your desperate need for redemption and deliverance from your transgressions against our ETERNAL RIGHTEOUS Creator. In these last days may you choose to be FREE and under the RIGHTEOUS INFLUENCE of Almighty God -Who LOVED you and GAVE Himself for you (John 3:16-17, 8:32,36, 2 Cor. 5:17-21, Gal. 5:22-24, Rev. 22:1-5).

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

DJP I.F.
The Ignorant Fishermen Blog

New Russian Missile Boat Starts Caspian Trials


Russia’s Caspian Flotilla

MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – A new attack missile boat has started sea trials with Russia’s Caspian Flotilla, the Southern Military District said Monday.

The Grad Sviyazhsk missile corvette is due to join the flotilla after completing all trials and state tests before the end of the year, the district's press service said.

The Project 21631 (Buyan-M) corvette has a displacement of 949 tons and maximum speed of 25 knots. It is armed with Kalibr (SS-N-27) anti-ship missiles, 100-mm and 30-mm guns, as well as Igla-1M air defense missiles.

In addition to the Grad Sviyazhsk, the Caspian Flotilla will also take delivery of an Uglich missile corvette, a Grachonok-class high-speed patrol boat, several Serna-class landing craft, and three tugboats in the near future, the strategic command’s press service said in March.

The Serna-class landing craft can carry either one tank or two infantry fighting vehicles (or armored personnel carriers), or a 92-man landing party.

The Caspian Flotilla already has several Serna-class vessels, the navy confirmed earlier, without giving a specific figure.

RIA Novosti

200,000 mandatory RFID-chipped patrons enjoy slave-training at Lollapalooza in Chi-town



Hundreds of thousands of young and old alternative music fans have lined up and willingly received RFID micro-chipped non-removable wristbands to gain entrance to the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago's Grant Park, which began Friday August 2nd.
On their website, festival organizers put a positive spin on the RFID tags, explaining "We're saving paper and saving you the hassle of redeeming a paper ticket for your wristband!"

Fans were warned that if they remove the wristbands for any portion of the three day event, they are invalidated and can not be re-used. No refunds or replacements are given. The event warns of their "crack security" team and an infamous "trouble" table if any anomalies are noticed in a wristband, which "will be confiscated" if they appear "messed with."

The Lollapalooza website confirmed the use of RFID, and in addition to mandatory RFID tags, the venue announced that everyone's bags will be searched. The list of prohibited items went a step further, explaining that "Guests and their belongings are subject to search upon entry or re-entry."

Some of the forbidden items included "Weapons of Any Kind," Fireworks, Illicit Substances, and Handbills.

In addition to the tracker tags and searches, concert-goers were given a laundry list of rules to follow. Organizers warned that they would "refuse admission or to eject any person who fails to comply with the rules of the venue, local, state or federal law or whose conduct is deemed illegal, disorderly, or offensive by Management. Despite Lollapalooza's warning that "Persons entering the facility are subject to search for contraband," Chicago Sun-Times reporter Rummana Hussain wrote that there were "illegal substances lingering in the air" and that concert goers "occasionally offer to buy" beer for underage music fans.

Perry Farrell, the front man for the rock band 'Janes Addiction' and founder of the Lollapalooza Festival, originally intended to hold this August's festival in Tel Aviv Israel before that plan was cancelled in January.

Farrell's real name is Peretz Bernstein, and unbeknownst to most fans, he is an ardent Jewish Zionist. He's raised money for the Israeli Army and in 2009 Bernstein hosted a "Stand with Israel at Ground Zero" fundraiser with Alan Dershowitz. Billed as "a benefit for victims of terror & A solidarity event for Israel," the event's announcement noted that "Larry Silverstein is graciously giving us his gleaming skyscraper for the evening which will be held on the 45th floor."

What's ironic is that Bernstein/Farrell in the past has consorted with a 9/11 truth advocate, happily posing for photos with a man wearing a '9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB' t-shirt, and didn't bat an eye. Bernstein's wife also posed for separate pictures featuring the same shirt, which carries what would ordinarily be considered an extremely offensive message to most Zionists.

The man wearing the 9/11 shirt is no stranger to controversy. He's the one and only Greg Johnson, the guy who called George H.W. Bush a "murderous, Zionist piece ofshit" in an epic youtube video shot in a Houston pizza place in 2010. The exchange made international news and the U.S. Secret Service came knocking on Johnson's door afterwards.

At a show featuring Farrell in May 2012, Johnson recorded footage which revealed a shocking mock human sacrifice and vicious baby murder taking place in the background while Farrell performs. A man on stage with what appeared to be pantyhose over his face tortured a realistic looking "baby" to death as the crowd went wild to the music and flashed devil signs.

Full details can be found in our March 18, 2013 story here:
Jane's Addiction/Lollapalooza frontman Perry Farrell confronted on Bin Laden, 9/11 by pro-Palestinian 9/11 truther
Grotesque mock baby-murder ritual plays out on stage while Farrell sings.

The Lollapalooza 2013 - Friday Highlights video featured a hideous caricature of a Catholic Bishop on stage, revealing Lollapaloozas' true nature and dark side.

[ARTICLE CONTINUES HEREhttp://libertyfight.com/2013/RFID_chipped_patrons_enjoy_slav...

Martin Hill is a Catholic paleoconservative and civil rights advocate. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Orange County Register, KNBC4 TV Los Angeles, The Press Enterprise, LewRockwell.com, WhatReallyHappened.com, Infowars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, Economic Policy Journal, FreedomsPhoenix, Haaretz, TMZ, Veterans Today, Jonathan Turley blog, The Dr. Katherine Albrecht Show, National Motorists Association, RomanCatholicReport.com, Republic Broadcasting Network, WorldNetDaily, OverdriveOnline.com, Educate-Yourself.org, Dr. Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad radio show, Strike-The-Root.com, ActivistPost.com, Los Angeles Catholic Lay Mission Newspaper, KFI AM 640, IamtheWitness.com, Redlands Daily Facts, BlackBoxVoting, The Michael Badnarik Show, The Wayne Madsen Report, Devvy.com, Rense.com, The Contra Costa Times, Pasadena Star News, Silicon Valley Mercury News, Long Beach Press Telegram, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, L.A. Harbor Daily Breeze, CopBlock.org, DavidIcke.com, Whittier Daily News, KCLA FM Hollywood, The Fullerton Observer, Antiwar.com, From The Trenches World Report, and many others. Archives can be found at LibertyFight.com andDontWakeMeUp.Org.


Italian Debt-To-GDP Worst Since Mussolini


With Italy's sovereign bond yields hovering at 3 year lows, one could be forgiven for falling for the constant stream of gibberish from EU leaders that the worst is over. However, aside from the 'promised' OMT foot on the wind-pipe of non-domestic bond vigilantes (fighting an inexorable demand from self-referential banks and pension funds bidding for BTPs), the situation remains bad at best and in terms of debt-to-GDP, the worst since 1925 when Mussoilini was proclaimed fascist dictator
With Letta and his allies forming the 64th cabinet since WWII (and 27th since 1980) his lifespan seems limited to change anything and with Italy accounting for 16.5% of the EU's GDP (and forecast to contract 1.9% next year) - the current real GDP is smaller now than in 2001. Attempts to revive growth are about to be thrown into tumult once again as Berlusconi's party threatens mass resignationAs we noted last night, do not be fooled by the apparent tranquility in Europe.

Via Bloomberg Brief (@EconomistNiraj),
Prime Minster Enrico Letta’s attempts to revive economic growth may be in jeopardy as a result of a political storm triggered by Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party is threatening a mass resignation of parliamentary deputies that will bring down the coalition government unless President Giorgio Napolitano pardons Berlusconi.
Parliament
Letta has told allies that he will quit before being pushed out if support dwindles, Italian daily la Repubblica reported on Aug. 3. His Cabinet is the country’s 64th government since World War II and the 27th since 1980. That equates to each government lasting just over a year on average. Berlusconi has been prime minister for nine of the last 20 years.
GDP
GDP data today are likely to show the recession continued for an eighth quarter. S&P downgraded Italian government debt in July to BBB from BBB+, forecasting the economy will contract 1.9 percent this year. The nation accounts for 16.5 percent of the euro-area economy and is the weakest performing G-7 nation. Real GDP of Italy is smaller now than it was in 2001.
Debt
The political turmoil may prolong the recession and prevent Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio, the second largest in the euro area after that of Greece, from falling in line with IMF forecasts. The nation’s 2 trillion euros in outstanding debt accounted for 127 percent of GDP in 2012, the highest level since Benito Mussolini won elections in 1924, and is projected to peak at 130.8 percent next year before dropping to 123.4 percent by 2018. That assumes the economy will begin to grow toward the end of 2013.
Yields
Italy’s cost of borrowing may rise as Letta’s position weakens. Ten-year yields have been below 5 percent since November, averaging 4.4 percent. Yields topped 7 percent last autumn at the height of the political crisis, leading to concerns the nation would need a bailout. Italy needs to roll over 143 billion euros of debt in the remainder of 2013. That is the equivalent in size to the combined economies of Luxembourg, Croatia, Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus.

But apart from all that... Italy is doing great!
Zero Hedge




WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE 1,200-FOOT WIDE PENTAGRAM ON GOOGLE MAPS?

So, there seems to be a giant pentagram etched into a windswept corner of Kazakhstan in central Asia.

Don’t believe us? The devilish symbol, measuring roughly 1,200 feet in diameter, shows up quite visibly on Google Maps:



(Credit: Google Maps)

It’s found on the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir where there are almost no other signs of humanity; the closest settlement is the city of Lisakovsk, about 12 miles to the east, according to Yahoo News.

Adding fuel to the proverbial lake of fire are reports that you zoom into the center of the pentagram on Google Maps, you can see two spots highlighted by previous visitors to the topographical app: “Adam” and “Lucifer”—and you know what figure that name is connected with…

But believe it or not, archaeologist Emma Usmanova has worked in the Lisakovsk area and has an answer.

“It is the outline of a park made in the form of a star,” she told LiveScience, Yahoo News reports.
The Blaze