Central Banks Buying 100% of Sovereign Debt

North Korea orders army to PREPARE FOR WAR with USA

The brutal dictator made the chilling threat after the US and South Korea staged a joint navel drill involving nearly a dozen warships.

"The prevailing situation where a great war for national reunification is at hand requires all the KPA (Korean People's Army) units to become (elite) Guard Units fully prepared for war politically and ideologically, in military technique and materially," he told troops according to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim, who commands one of the world's largest armies, told his forces to train so they can "tear to pieces the Stars and Stripes" – a reference to the American flag.

The US and South Korean drills were a prelude to an eight-week exercise called Foal Eagle which will involve air, ground and navy field training.

It will also involve some 200,000 South Korean and 3,700 US troops.

Both Washington and Seoul insist the military exercises are defence-based in their nature.

APA South Korean army K-2 tank fires during a live firing drill at a fire training field in Yangpyeong

GETTYThe US and South Korea regularly conduct war games in the Korean Peninsula

It was recently revealed that North Korea could have as many as 100 nuclear weapons by 2020.

A report released by a US research institute predicted the rogue state's nuclear arsenal could dramatically increase in the next five years.

The report's author, Joel Wit, said: "This is a pretty scary scenario."

Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, told a Washington seminar said concern over North Korean advances was driving international diplomatic efforts "to find a credible path to negotiation so that we can stop North Korea's development of their nuclear capabilities."

He said Washington was "under no illusions" about North Korea's willingness to denuclearize voluntarily and would "continue to apply pressure both multilaterally and unilaterally" though sanctions to increase the cost of failing to do so


Credit to express

As Greek Default Fears Return, Government Considers "Borrowing" Pensions To Repay IMF

Greek short-term default risk jumped over 300bps today putting the odds of a restructuring at 50-50 within the next year as the warnings we issued last week with regard Greece's imminent default on its IMF loan loom. Seeking to reassure its lenders (and avoid yet more capital flight), Reuters reportsthe Greek government said it was "exploring solutions," including delaying payments to suppliers or try to raise up to 3 billion euros by borrowing from state entities such as pension funds.   

As Reuters reports, Athens is running out of options to fund itself despite striking a deal with the euro zone in February to extend its bailout by four months. Faced with a steep fall in revenues, it is expected to run out of cash by the end of March, possibly sooner.

"The Greek government has been exploring solutions ... to ensure there won't be a single problem with repaying the IMF loan, or its funding obligations in March," Government Spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Greek radio.

So far, Athens's other funding options have stumbled upon problems.Transferring 1.9 billion euros worth of profits the European Central Bank made on buying Greek bonds will not be allowed until Greece has completed promised reforms.

Another option is the issuance of additional Treasury bills, but Athens's EU/IMF lenders have set a 15 billion euro cap on such debt and it has already been reached.

On Wednesday, Athens will go ahead with a regular six-month T-bill auction of 875 million euros to refinance a maturing issue, in a sale that will be closely watched as the government faces a possible funding gap.

When asked if Greece could cover its liquidity needs without issuing more T-bills or receiving the ECB profits, a finance ministry official said Athens had "alternatives", without specifying the options at hand.

Athens could save money by delaying payments to suppliers or try to raise up to 3 billion euros by borrowing from state entities such as pension funds though the government may already have used up part of this, a source has told Reuters.

Of course, this public pension fund 'cash' will all be repaid when Greece returns to growth and pays down its debt...

We are sure the Greek people will be enthused when they find out what the 'radical left' has in store for their funds...

*  *  *

The Greek banking index fell nearly 10 percent, while lenders National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank fell 10.0 to 11.8 percent to feature among the top decliners.

"The fears about a possible default for Greece are certainly not completely off the table," Gerhard Schwarz, head of equity strategy at Baader Bank in Munich, said.

Greek bank stocks (and bonds) are making it very clear that Greece's problems are over... now down hard from the pre-deal levels...

Credit to Zero Hedge

Jordan's King Urges "World War 3" Defeat ISIS

Lehman Moment For Austrian "Bad Bank" Means Worse Coming

Not "contained." Just six short months ago, the 2Y bonds of Austria's bank bank - HETA Asset Resolution AG - were trading well above par as the world and his mom reached for yield (~6%) in all the wrong places. Today, following the "spectacular development" over the weekend that the bank will be wound down due to the discovery of an $8.5bn "hole" in its balance sheet, the 2Y HETA bonds are trading below 50c on the dollar (at a yield of 54%). This is indeed Austria's "Lehman" moment as for the first time in the new European 'bail-in' era, senior debt is getting a massive haircut.

As we noted yesterday, the punchline, is that while the world was waiting for Greece to announce capital controls, or a bail-in over the past week, it was none other than one of the Europe's most pristeen credits (one which until recently was rated AAA/Aaa) that informed creditors a bail-in is imminent: "The finance ministry noted that creditors can be forced to contribute to the costs of winding down Heta - or "bailed in" - under new European legislation that Austria adopted this year so that taxpayers do not have to shoulder the entire burden."

Bloomberg confirms that the ministry announced that under new EU rules means creditors can be forced to share losses...

Resolution of wind-down vehicle of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International represents first bail-in of senior debt under new European regime for imposing losses on bondholders, Gildas Surry and Geoffroy de Pellegars, analysts at BNP, write in client note.

Moratorium on liabilities of Heta Asset Resolution until May 31, 2016 gives time to work out necessary haircut and reduce the risk of litigation to a minimum

Bail-in legislation in Austria implements the European framework to the letter

Other jurisdictions that follow Austria’s example can be expected to treat resolution in this sequence: point of non-viability, independent review of assets vs liabilities, moratorium, haircut

Expect senior CDS old contract to trigger on Failure to Pay,and that HETAR govt-guaranteed sub bonds will continue paying (and trade with accrued interest)

*  *  *

And sure enough, the bonds have crashed...

Remember - these are senior unsecured notes of a major bank! Contagion is now a big problem for Austria (and its banking system).

*  *  *

Of course, this being Austria, and the Creditanstalt, aka the bank which failed in 1931 under almost identical circumstances and set off the dominos that led to a global financial crisis which in turn bank fanned the flames of the Great Depression, also being Austrian, suddenly everyone is asking: "what just happened and what happens next?"

As a gentle reminder, this is what happened to Lehman... Surprise!

One thing is certain when one bank's liabilities are another bank's assets, it is that such an arrangement is simply screaming for a systemic crisis to prove to everyone just how dumb this idea was from the get go.

The question is - how long do authorities let the contagion go before they 'change' the rules on bail-ins and apply taxpayer funds once again - as a one-off of course - to stabilize what is, after all, a well funded and highly liquid banking system... It appears HETA gave markets a glimpse behind the curtain as the lies of the recovery come out.

Credit to Zero Hedge

"Iran Nuke Deal" What Will It Bring?

Total Solar Eclipse On March 20th Falls In The Middle Of The Four Blood Red Moons

The total solar eclipse on March 20th falls on Nisan 1, which is the first day of the first month of the Biblical calendar. According to Jewish tradition, a solar eclipse on Nisan 1 is a sign of judgment. And this has certainly been true in the past. 

 For example, there was a solar eclipse on Nisan 1 in 70 AD. Later that year, the Romans attacked Jerusalem and completely destroyed the Temple. What makes all of this even more interesting is the fact that the solar eclipse on March 20th falls right in the middle of the blood moon tetrad, and it also happens to fall during the Shemitah year. 

 If you are not a believer, you may be tempted to dismiss all of this as some sort of extremely bizarre coincidence. If you are a believer, you also might be skeptical. But by the end of this article, at least you will understand what so many people are talking about right now. In the Scriptures, we are told that God created the sun and the moon, and that he intended for them to act as “signs”. The following comes from Genesis chapter one…


14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

So specifically how can the sun and moon be “signs” as God originally intended?

Well, one minister has discovered that eclipses on important Biblical dates have been associated with key world events throughout history. His name is Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, and he has pointed out that total eclipses do not take place on any other planet in our solar system…

Total eclipses don’t take place on any other known planet, point out intelligent-design scientists. They only take place on Earth, the finely tuned planet where life exists that can actually view them. Biltz points out that the Bible says in Genesis that the sun, moon and stars were created specifically as signs for mankind, so His creation would know about the feasts (or appointed times) to have relationship with their Creator.

A number of years ago, Pastor Biltz discovered that a series of four blood moon eclipses would occur on important Biblical dates during 2014 and 2015. This kind of “blood moon tetrad” is very rare. It fact, it has only happened seven times before since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This current blood moon tetrad is the eighth occurrence.

And according to Jewish tradition, blood red moons are an omen of war for Israel. The following comes from my previous article on the blood red moons…


Is Israel going to be involved in a war during the blood red moons of 2014 and 2015? According to ancient Jewish tradition, a lunar eclipse is a harbinger of bad things for Israel. If that eclipse is blood red, that is a sign that war is coming. And blood red moons that happen during Biblical festivals seem to be particularly significant. There was a “tetrad” of blood red moons that fell during Passover 1967, the Feast of Tabernacles 1967, Passover 1968 and the Feast of Tabernacles 1968. And of course the 1967 war during which Israel took full control of Jerusalem took place during that time period. 

 There was also a “tetrad” of blood red moons that fell during Passover 1949, the Feast of Tabernacles 1949, Passover 1950 and the Feast of Tabernacles 1950. If you know your history, you already are aware that the Israeli War of Independence ended on July 20th, 1949. So does the blood red moon tetrad of 2014 and 2015 signal that another season of war is now upon us?

We already witnessed a war between Israel and Hamas in 2014, but personally I am convinced that more war could soon come to the Middle East. For much, much more on this, please see this article.

But what I want to talk about now is the total solar eclipse that is coming up on March 20th. The chart below comes from propheciesoftheendtimes.com, and it shows that it falls right in the middle of this series of blood red moons…



As I mentioned above, when a solar eclipse falls on Nisan 1 it is traditionally considered to be a sign that judgment is coming to the world…


“Our Rabbis taught, when the sun is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for the whole world. This may be illustrated by a parable. To what can this be compared? To a human being who made a banquet for his servants and put up for them a
lamp. When he became wroth with them he said to his servant, ‘Take away the lamp from them, and let them sit in the dark’. 

It was taught: R. Meir said, whenever the luminaries [moon] are in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel since they are inured to blows. This may be compared to a school teacher who comes to school with a strap in his hand. Who becomes apprehensive? He who is accustomed to be daily punished. Our Rabbis taught, When the sun is in eclipse it is a bad omen for idolaters; when the moon is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel, since Israel reckons by the moon and idolaters by the sun…”

—Succah 29a

Of course Jewish tradition is not Scripture, but it is very interesting to note.

And what we do know is that we have seen this kind of pattern before.

On Nisan 1 in 70 AD, there was a total solar eclipse. But that was not the only eclipse during that time period. In fact, there were a whole series of eclipses that took place on key Biblical dates before and after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The following information comes from a book authored by Pastor Mark Biltz entitled “Blood Moons“…

October 18, 69 AD (Sukkot): partial solar eclipse

March 30, 70 AD (Nisan 1): total solar eclipse

April 14, 70 AD (Passover): penumbral lunar eclipse

Temple destroyed 9th of Av, 70 AD

September 21, 70 AD (Rosh Hashanah): annual solar eclipse

October 8, 70 AD (Sukkot): penumbral lunar eclipse

March 4, 71 AD (Purim): partial lunar eclipse

March 20, 71 AD (Nisan 1): hybrid solar eclipse

September 12, 71 AD (Rosh Hashanah): hybrid solar eclipse

Now we find ourselves in the middle of a similar series of eclipses.

So could it be possible that this total eclipse on March 20th is a sign of judgment?

Or is all of this just a giant coincidence?

Either way, at least now you understand what so many people are talking about.
Credit to Endoftheamericandream.com