Blood, Death, and Carnage...Who Wins?

Bilderberg Members In Denmark Colluding To Control Economies

US military training and weapons for moderate Syrian rebels

Arab watchers around the Middle East are waiting agog for US President Barack Obama’s address at the US Military Academy at West Point Wednesday, May 28, as forecasts abound that he will unveil a major policy U-turn on the Syrian conflict.DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the new policy is in fact in motion ahead of the presidential disclosure. It is a program to expand US involvement in the war against the Assad regime and al Qaeda elements by providing moderate rebels with military training and a regular supply of sophisticated weapons, instead of the widely-spaced dribs and drabs hitherto. It may even include anti-air systems which Washington has withheld so far.

The Arab world sees Obama as moving to counteract Russian, Iranian and Hizballah intervention in the Syrian conflict. It is seen in some quarters as also payback for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

At all events, a Saudi source commented in Riyadh: “For the first time in years, president Obama is ready to take direct action against Iran’s strategic interests in the Middle East.”

The West Point speech will also be watched carefully in Moscow, where expanded US input in support of the rebels is seen as a direct assault on the Russian position in Syria. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Moscow is preparing to beef up and upgrade its arms consignments to Syria so as to arm Assad for contending with the advanced American hardware incoming to the rebels.

Obama will unveil his plan for Syria the day after announcing his decision to leave 9,800 in Afghanistan - after the US combat mission is over at the end of 2014 - to train Afghan forces and support counter-terrorism operations. That decision is contingent on the next Afghan president signing a bilateral security agreement, which the incumbent Hamid Karzai refused to do. Washington appears confident that both of the candidates facing the June 14 run-off will agree to approve the accord.

The latest DEBKA Weekly 636 of May 23 disclosed President Obama’s revised approach to US military intervention in Syria, offering details of his plan. The US military training camps are already up and running, we reported. The rebel trainees arrive through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, take the US courses and then cross into Syria.
The US army has furthermore laid out the secret routes for sending the new weapons supplies to the fighters in Syria.

By this policy reassessment, the Obama administration aims to achieve the following strategic objectives:

1. Creating a distance between the Israeli and Jordanian borders and the threats posed to those countries by the Syrian Army and its allies, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Lebanese Hizballah and Iraqi Shiite militias.

2. Keeping those hostile forces at bay additionally from US military facilities in Jordan and Israel.

3. Establishing a US military intelligence foothold on the Damascus periphery to challenge Russian and Iranian exclusivity as the only major powers with operational access to the Syrian capital.
4. US military intelligence agents on the spot would seek to establish ties with high-ranking Syrian general command officers and the field commanders of units deployed in and around Damascus.

5. Creating a barrier to stave off Al Qaeda encroachments on Damascus or the Syrian-Jordanian and Syrian-Israeli borders and so preventing the jihadis from gaining jumping-off positions for attacks inside those countries.



Credit to DEBKAfile

Japanese Retail Sales Collapse By Most On Record

Given the pre-tax-hike surge, the oh-so-smart economists around the world were expecting some give-back from dragged-forward demand but the 13.7% MoM decline missed expectations by 2 percentage points. 

This was the largest MoM decline on record. Talking heads are already blaming the tax hike (but they knew all about it?) and year-over-year was just as dismal (and less immediately prone to events) as it fell by the most since the 2011 Tsunami. Bad news (the worst) is good news though right? Well no - USDJPY is down as is Nikkei as remember, Japanese inflation pressures are building and Kuroda has pushed off any actions from the BoJ for now.

Japan Retail Sales MoM - worst on record...

and YoY this is the biggest drop since the Tsunami...

Well played Abe...no wonder you are begging rich people to sya for vacation and spend...

Japanese govt considers extending duration of stay for affluent foreign tourists to maximum 1 year from current 90 days, Nikkei newspaper reports, without attribution.

Govt plans to set income, asset and age requirements by summer and implement new measures as early as this year: Nikkei

Measures aim at boosting consumption and property investment: Nikkei

Govt aims to double no. of foreign visitors to 20m by 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics: Nikkei

Please stay and spend money... cox the Japanese people sure can't now everything they need is going up.

Perhaps Spinal Tap have th enext move for Apenomics?

Zero Hedge

Putin Says Russia, China Need To Ensure Security Of Their Gold Reserves

One week ago we reported that while Russia was dumping a record amount of Treasurys it was buying gold, or some 900,000 ounces to be precise. Today we learn that as Russia continues to purchase gold, and is likely taking advantage of the recent rout in gold prices, it certainly won't be storing its physical metal with any of the western Central Banks. According to Reuters, shortly after Russia and China announced their historic gas deal, Vladimit Putin said at the recent International Economic Forum, that Russia need to ensure its gold and currency reserves are secure. And not just Russia: China too. Because apparently when it comes to speaking for "hard" monetary policy, Putin is now authorized to speak for both nations.

From Reuters:

"For us (Russia and China) it is important to deposit those (gold and currency reserves) in a rational and secure way," he said. "And we together need to think of how to do that keeping in mind the uneasy situation in the global economy."

Putin also said China and Russia will consider further steps to shift to use of national currencies in bilateral transactions.

And while we are confident the entire world is enjoying the now 5 year long foreplay, the time may have come for the PBOC to finally reveal what its updated gold reserves are. Maybe it can use Putin for that too.




Credit to Zero Hedge

Bilderberg 2014 Agenda And Names Announced!

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