The Pacific Ocean Is Dying

Most of the world community is still unaware of the extremely profound and far-reaching effects that the Fukushima nuclear disaster has had. If the nations of the world really understood the implications of the actual ‘fallout’ – past, current and future – the current nuclear energy paradigm would be systematically shut down. For those of us who are in the know, it is incumbent upon each of us to disseminate the relevant information/data necessary to forever close down the nuclear power industry around the globe.



TEPCO photo showing tangled wreckage inside the fuel pool at Fukushima after earthquake

There is now general agreement that the state of the art of nuclear power generation is such that it was deeply flawed and fundamentally dangerous from the very beginning. This fact was completely understood to be the case by the industry insiders and original financiers of every nuclear power plant ever built. Nuclear engineers had a very good understanding of just how vulnerable the design, engineering and architecture was at the startup of this industry. Nevertheless, they proceeded with this ill-fated enterprise at the behest of who?

Therefore, this begs the question, “Why would such an inherently unsafe technology and unstable design be implemented worldwide in the first place?”

“Does anyone in their right mind believe that nuclear power plants can ever be designed, engineered or constructed to withstand 9.0 earthquakes followed by 15 meter high tsunamis? Sorry if we offend, but such a display of so deadly a combination of ignorance and arrogance must represent the very height of hubris. Particularly in view of the inevitable consequences which have manifested at Fukushima, how is it that so few saw this pre-ordained and disastrous outcome, except by willful blindness?” —Japan: A Nation Consigned To Nuclear Armageddon

Numerous headlines over the past few weeks have been relentless in trumpeting Japan’s begrudging response to this global wakeup call. For the first time since nuclear power has been used in the land of Nippon, all 55 nuclear power plants now sit idle. This is of course very good news for the people of Japan. The question now remains how to go about remediating all of these vulnerable and unsafe nuclear reactors. Particularly because of those nuclear plants that are located anywhere along the Japanese coastline is this remediation imperative an existential necessity.

International Forces Are Responsible For Fukushima; An Immediate Global Response Needs To Be Formulated

Since the very first news about the Fukushima nuclear disaster came to light, many industry researchers and various investigations have unveiled the multi-decade plot to foist nuclear power onto the islands of Japan. The many forces arrayed against the Japanese people were so formidable that this ill-fated enterprise could only come to such an unfortunate outcome. Just as humankind learned from the folly of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fukushima has served as an example of how not to implement nuclear power generation.

“Tokyo has the largest greater metro population in the world at about 34.3 million. Tokyo has the largest GDP of all major cities in the world – larger than both New York City and London. Tokyo is the economic/financial capital of the world’s 3rd largest national economy, as well as the primary economic engine of East Asia.” –

Most are not aware, even at the very highest levels of the Global Control Matrix, but as Fukushima goes, so goes Japan. Taken to its logical conclusion we can say with absolute certainty that as Japan goes, so goes the entire planet. In reality, Japan is not only a super-charged trigger point in the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is also a lynchpin for the world economy as the previous article well explains. Therefore, we would highly advise the Anglo-American power structure to take proper responsibility for this unprecedented global catastrophe and show up in great force on the Honshu coastline to remediate and de-activate wherever still possible.

There has been a steady barrage of headlines lately aimed at those who can respond to this global catastrophe with some degree of cogency. A uniquely cohesive international response is urgently required if there is to be any hope of a successful remediation. Only a fully represented international think tank and implementation team has any chance of formulating a strategy that might be successful at fixing Fukushima.

Japan has clearly shown that this disaster is way beyond their ability to manage and capacity to address in any meaningful way. Their entire culture seems to ensure that the real problems will be constantly swept under the rug. The problem this time around is that there may soon be no rug to sweep it under.

The preceding article clearly sets forth the thesis that if Tokyo requires evacuation in the future, the Japanese economy will immediately collapse. This eventuality would merely be the first domino to fall toward the collapse of the entire global economy. The prospect at this point is so real that those decision-makers at the top of the Global Control Matrix can’t afford not to inaugurate a worldwide effort to remediate Fukushima.

The Pacific Ocean Is Dying

How about the rest of the Pacific Ocean? What does the future hold in store for the largest body of water on Earth. One that circulates more water than any other ocean and possesses more coastline than all the others put together. The following headlines portend the future health of the Pacific, so all are encouraged to take serious notice.



Radioactive Seawater Impact Map (March 2012), US Dept of State Geographer Image

The upshot of each of the preceding articles is that the Pacific Ocean is extremely vulnerable to the radioactive waste being dumped into her waters at Fukushima. Should another catastrophic earthquake occur, it could create a new and more complicated nuclear disaster scenario that is truly irreparable. Even without any seismic activity affecting the nuclear sites, the current state of affairs has taken for granted that the Pacific Ocean will become a nuclear dumping ground for decades to come. It has not been lost on us that such an inevitability appears to be the only practical expedient available.

We are truly saddened by the great loss of marine life and harm to myriad aquatic and shoreline ecosystems. As the nuclear radiation is exported around the Asian Ring of Fire, genetic mutation will begin to affect every form of life — from phytoplankton to whales, from seabirds to mangroves, from dolphins to krill. Everything that lives near the Pacific will be at risk to some degree. Anyone who lives, works or plays in or around the Pacific will be compelled to evaluate their relationship to this great ocean.

What have we done to Mother Earth by siting nuclear power plants in the most seismically active region of the world?!

What in God’s Creation can possibly be done to fix it?

Never in the history of humankind has the planet been confronted with such a grave set of circumstances. Fukushima represents all that can go wrong when scientific applications and technological advancement within a crude industrial context have gone awry. Unfortunately, given the many trajectories that numerous fields of technological innovation are currently on, Fukushima and the BP Gulf oil spill of 2012 may only be the beginning of a period of accelerating technospheric breakdown which will sweep across the planet.



Here is the current flow and future map of debris pollution.

London cops get 350 mobile fingerprint scanners

Britain’s London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) will be issued hundreds of mobile-phone-sized biometric fingerprint scanners to help identify anyone suspected of committing an offence.

A total of 350 devices dubbed “MobileID” will be issued to police across 12 boroughs in London in the next year, following lengthy trials by the UK’sNational Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

West Midlands, north west of London, also deployed 70 handheld “MobileID” devices earlier this month.

The MPS said the devices would not store fingerprint data, but would accelerate the identification of suspects.

MobileID devices will cross-reference suspects' fingerprints with records held in the country’s IDENT1 database, currently run by US defence contractor Northrop Grumman.

Every person arrested for a recordable offence in England, Scotland and Wales has fingerprints stored in the database. It had over 8 million individuals 'ten-prints' in 2010.

"Mobile Identification is a technological step forward that helps police officers identify people quickly,” MPS Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

"Evidence has shown that a full identification arrest can tie-up both the subject and the police officer for several hours."

The mobile fingerprint scanners were part of the MPS Commissioner’s commitment to “making better use of technology to fight crime”.

That commitment last week caused outrage following the MPS’s adoption ofmobile device data extraction units from forensics firm Radio Tactics.

Privacy watchdog Privacy International said pushing forensics processes from the laboratory to the street was a possible breach of human rights law because it could be used to extract data before an arrest was made.


It News

The Nature of Time - Chuck Missler

How can 1.2bn people be identified quickly?

With millions of people in India living in poverty, the government hopes that new technology behind the Aadhaar scheme will make it easier to help identify all those without official ID cards and struggling to receive assistance.

India has the second biggest population in the world - in excess of 1.2 billion people - however it is estimated that 300 million Indians lack adequate forms of official identification.

In a country with large numbers of people living in poverty, official ID is considered crucial but not every Indian resident has one.

And, according to UN figures, with the Indian urban population expected to grow by another 497 million by 2050, this could be set to be an even bigger issue.

"One of the biggest problems in a country like India is that people don't have a universal ID," says journalist PK Jayadeven of the Economic Times.

"When you go and claim some sort of subsidies or some sort of benefits from the government, you need to establish that you are who you say you are.


"This is a problem."

This means that new technology features heavily in a government initiative called Aadhaar. It is designed to give a unique ID to hundreds of millions of Indian citizens.

Fingerprints and irises are scanned and this biometric data forms the basis of the ID.

A photograph is taken using a webcam then personal details are taken which are all added to the database and a universal ID can be created.

While the technology is simple the size of the population could be the main issue.

"The technology that is driving it is in some sense is rocket science and in some sense it's not," says Prof S Sadagopan, director of the International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore.

"When you do it for a hundred it's peanuts, when you do it for a thousand it's kind of nice, when you do it for a million it's a little hard and when you do it for a billion it is indeed hard - that is what makes it rocket science."

Prof Sadagopan also has concerns about India's large number of manual labourers.

"These people, who literally soil their hands and toil the fields, their fingerprints are literally gone. Of course we use other forms including the iris, the signature, the photo or multiple photos."

While ensuring the right people get the right government aid is important, the notion of centralised ID databases has raised concerns about civil liberties.

Aadhaar is an on-going project and around 200 million people across India have already been registered by the scheme.

By the middle of 2013 plans are in place to have registered around 400 million individuals.

"We are looking at it from the residents' point of view with respect to delivery of various services it is more a welfare oriented scheme than a security concern," says Dr Ashok Delwai, of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

"In a democratic country like India, this apprehension is very natural and we have been open to this particular apprehension right from day one."

The authority points to a committee of people taken from recognised society, who are said to have influenced the amount of personal data collected after worries about privacy were raised.


"They recommended - in order to respect the privacy apprehension that people genuinely feel - we should be collecting the most minimum of data regarding their personal attributes."

"They have gone into the demographic data we must collect," says Dr Delwai.

Even though the authority collects four fields of data - name, gender, date of birth with approximate age and current place of residence - there are still concerns around issues of privacy.

"I am not saying privacy is not important for many people, but for 300 million people, getting access to daily bread is more important so those people don't care too much about it," says Prof Sadagopan.

"I am not saying privacy will be compromised but there is always scope when you have data centrally accessible through a central database."

Despite this, there are already concerns around the uptake of this voluntary scheme amongst the people it aims to assist the most.

Around 50,000 Aadhaar cards have recently been returned to the agency because of untraceable addresses believed to be fake, the Deccan Chronicle recently reported.

And if it really is the case that the people aren't ready for new technology that gives their personal details to the government, it could be a long wait before all 1.2bn Indians have official identification.

BBC

Japan breaks oil embargo against Iran before Baghdad talks end

A senior official in Tokyo announced Wednesday, May 23, that the Japanese government will seek parliamentary approval for a bill allowing Japanese firms to insure tankers carrying Iranian oil to Asia if European insurers refused to do so. The new law would apply to 16 Iranian tankers in the first stage.

This decision means that any intention to stiffen the oil embargo against Iran, as Israel had expected, was virtually voided even before the resumed nuclear talks ended between the six powers and Iran in Baghdad. Instead of taking place under the shadow of tougher sanctions, the oil embargo had begun falling apart and a major disincentive for Iran to continue its drive for a nuclear bomb was fading.
Still, without any real grounds, European coordinator Catherine Ashton and IAEA head Yukiya Amano were openly optimistic about the outcome of the current round of talks. In this, they backed US President Barack Obama’s expectation of successful negotiations with Iran and his advocacy of continuing diplomacy in contrast to his earlier remarks this month that the window for negotiations was closing.

By spreading good cheer, Ashton and Amano obscured the real state of play with Iran. Amano said Tuesday that a deal for inspections would soon be signed with Iran although he didn’t know when. Now it appears that there was no deal.
And all Ashton’s spokesman would say was, "I am not going to go into the details of what we are proposing, but of course we are putting proposals on the table that are of interest to Iran."

Israeli ministers who urged the world powers to make tough demands of Iran and impose stiff penalties were clearly talking through their hats. Japan is not alone in helping Iran beat the toughest sanction, the embargo on its oil exports, India and Turkey were in there first. They were all essentially signaling Tehran that its inflexibility in negotiations would not rate serious punishment because some of the threatened sanctions are no longer workable.

No comment was forthcoming from US official sources on the developments around the Baghdad talks Wednesday. Other American sources close to the Obama administration, such as Dennis Ross, the president’s former adviser on Iran, warned Tuesday, May 22, on the eve of the resumed talks not to expect any breakthrough or dramatic progress. R

oss stressed that Tehran would get no sanctions relief until uranium enrichment is discontinued – and not only the 20-percent grade but lower levels too.
Russia and the UK, alone of the powers (the others are the US, France, Germany, China) represented in Baghdad, spoke openly about the possible failure of the meeting and the outbreak of war with Iran in consequence.
The Russians again warned Tehran that the West is using the screen of negotiations for a conspiracy to set a military trap. In London, just before the talks began, British ministers were warned of their likely breakdown and were reported to have prepared “contingency plans” for a possible conflict between Israel and Iran.
Some sources reported that under discussion was British military and diplomatic aid to Israel, in particular the deployment of Royal Navy vessels on Israel’s coast.

Van Rompuy to draft plan for deeper economic union

EU leaders have tasked council chief Herman Van Rompuy with drafting a plan on deepening the eurozone's economic union, potentially via an inter-governmental treaty.

After more than five hours of talks on the need to strengthen growth policies while sticking to the already strengthened deficit rules, EU leaders on Wednesday night (23 May) agreed to come back to these issues at a formal summit on 28 June.

"Our discussion also demonstrated that we need to take the economic and monetary union to a new stage. There was a general consensus that we need to strengthen the economic union to make it commensurate with the monetary union," Van Rompuy said during a press conference at the end of the meeting.

The former Belgian premier added he would work on a report for the June summit with the heads of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the chairman of eurozone finance ministers.

In recent weeks, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi has called for a 10-year plan on how to achieve closer fiscal and political union in the eurozone. Economics commissioner Olli Rehn has also indicated he will table ideas in this direction.

Van Rompuy explained his report would not be the definitive plan on deeper economic union, but just an outline of the "main building blocs and the working method to achieve this objective."

Back in 2010, when he co-ordinated a similar exercise on stronger sanctions for deficit sinners in the eurozone, Van Rompuy hit a wall when it came to German-led demands for an EU treaty change. With the UK vetoing a treaty change last year and the Czech Republic opting out, an inter-governmental treaty on fiscal discipline was signed in March among 25 member states.

Van Rompuy said any new legal changes would try and stick to the current EU treaties, but "other hypotheses" such as a new inter-governmental agreement were also on the table.

He placed the issue of eurobonds as part of this long-term effort of shaping a deeper economic union, a compromise stance reflecting Germany's willingness to consider this French-led idea only if a stricter economic governance is in place.

"Colleagues expressed various opinions such as eurobonds in a time perspective or integrated banking supervision and resolution and a common deposit insurance scheme," he said, noting that none of the topics was dealt with in detail.

"Tonight's meeting was about putting pressure, focussing minds and clearing the air," Van Rompuy summed up, adding that the discussion about growth and jobs is not new and neither should it lead to scrapping budget rigour and deficit reduction.

Leaders welcomed a deal between ambassadors and the European Parliament on so-called project bonds - a funding scheme to start in a pilot phase this summer, aimed at spurring investments in southern countries.

A deal on energy efficiency and the single market, as well as agreeing the one issue hampering the implementation of a single EU patent among 25 member states should also be achieved at the June summit. The patent scheme is being held hostage by bickering among France, Germany and the UK on where to have the headquarters for the patent court.

EU leaders also used the opportunity to tell Greece that they want the country to stay in the eurozone as long as it respects its commitments.

"Continuing the vital reforms to restore debt sustainability, foster private investment and reinforce its institutions is the best guarantee for a more prosperous future in the euro area. We expect that after the elections, the new Greek government will make that choice," Van Rompuy said in reference to the 17 June elections which could bring in an anti-bail-out government fuelling fears of a Greek exit from the eurozone.

Despite the message of support, eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed Wednesday reports that officials are preparing contingency plans for a Greek exit from the eurozone.

EUobserver

EU/IMF may pay Greece $50 billion euro

BRUSSELS - Each euro zone country will have to prepare a contingency plan for the eventuality of Greece leaving the single currency, euro zone sources said on Wednesday.

Officials reached the consensus on Monday afternoon during an hour-long teleconference of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG).

As well as confirmation from three euro zone officials, Reuters has seen a memo drawn up by one member state detailing some of the elements that euro zone countries should consider.

"The EWG agreed that each euro zone country should prepare a contingency plan, individually, for the potential consequences of a Greek exit from the euro," said one euro zone official familiar with what was discussed on the call.

"All the contingency plans (for Greece) come back to the same thing: to be responsible as a government is to foresee even what you hope to avoid."

"We must insist on efforts to avoid an exit scenario but that doesn't mean we are not preparing for eventualities. I believe many countries have their contingency plans for the things they want to avoid at all cost, like terrorist attacks, and to say that we don't have a contingency plan would be irresponsible," Vanackere said.

The Greek election, the second in two months, is widely seen as a referendum on whether the debt-laden country should stay in the euro zone and undertake painful reforms and austerity, or leave and try its luck with its own currency.

Polls suggest the vote could go either way.

50-BILLION-EURO GOODBYE?

The document seen by Reuters detailed the potential costs to individual member states of a Greek exit and said that if it came about, an "amiable divorce" should be sought.

It also said that if Greece were to decide to leave, the EU/IMF could give it up to 50 billion euros to ease its path.

The document said Athens would bear huge costs if it decided to abandon the currency, while other euro zone countries would have more limited costs.

But the paper said that the risk of knock-on effects that could hit other euro zone countries under market scrutiny now was underestimated.

"The markets will definitively distrust the euro," the paper said.

Germany's Bundesbank said on Wednesday a Greek exit from the euro would be "manageable".

The German central bank also said euro zone states should have a say on further payments of aid to Greece under its 130 billion euro bailout program.

So far the euro zone has disbursed 38.4 billion euros from the second bailout programme to Greece. The emergency lending is linked to conditions of tough reforms, which most Greeks oppose.

The euro zone also lent Greece 34.5 billion euros to help Athens complete a debt restructuring in which private investors had to write off almost three quarters of what Greece owed them.

"Greece is threatening not to implement the reform and consolidation measures that were agreed in return for the large-scale aid programmes," the Bundesbank said.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/2035/Greece+billion+euro+exit+document/6666902/story.html#ixzz1vnVLOrgU

Russia says it test fired shield proof missile

MOSCOW - Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile with an enhanced capability to penetrate missile defenses and commissioned a new early warning radar, the Defense Ministry said.

The first launch of the new missile was performed at the Plesetsk launchpad in northern Russia, the ministry said in a statement. It didn't give the name of the missile, but said it was fired from a mobile launcher.

Russia has viewed the planned U.S. led NATO missile defense system around Europe as a potential threat to its nuclear forces, rejecting the U.S. assurances that the shield is intended to counter an Iranian missile threat.

NATO has said it wants to cooperate with Russia on the missile shield, but has rejected Moscow's proposal to run it jointly. Without a NATO-Russia cooperation deal, the Kremlin has sought guarantees from the U.S. that any future missile defense is not aimed at Russia and threatened to take military countermeasures if no deal is reached.

The ministry said the missile's practice warhead successfully reached a designated target at a range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

"The new ICBM will strengthen the combat capability of the strategic missile forces thanks to its ability to penetrate prospective missile defense systems," the ministry said.

The military also said that it commissioned a new early warning radar on Wednesday. The Voronezh-M-type facility in Irkutsk has an improved range compared to older radars.

The military's Aerospace Defense Forces chief, Lt.-Gen. Oleg Ostapenko, praised its efficiency on a visit to the facility Wednesday, saying it would significantly enhance the military's capability to monitor missile launches.

CBS

Iran to Showcase New Attack Helicopter

Iran will demonstrate its first indigenous helicopter gunship during an upcoming drill, a top military commander said on Wednesday, Press TV reported.

Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, deputy commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces, said the Cobra Melli (National Cobra) attack helicopter will be deployed by Army airborne units in the near future, Fars News Agency reported.

“In the past, the army’s airborne units were hugely dependent on countries that built helicopters but thanks to the efforts of Iranian experts…such dependency has entirely been done away with,” Heidari said.

“We now depend on native forces to conduct all repair and maintenance work on our helicopter fleets.”

RIA Novosti

‘Creeping quakes' rumble across New Zealand

NEW Zealand's earthquake-prone landscape is being rattled by deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes.

Researchers have discovered New Zealand's is even more unstable than previously thought, recording deep tremors on its biggest fault line.

Scientists measured the so-called "creeping earthquakes" when they investigated a puzzling lack of major seismic jolts along a section of the Alpine Fault, which runs the length of the South Island.

The quakes, which caused no surface damage, occurred 20-45 kilometres beneath the Earth's crust and continued for as long as half an hour, much longer than ordinary earthquakes.

In contrast, the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 185 people in the South island city of Christchurch in February last year lasted just 37 seconds and struck at a depth of about five kilometres.

The quakes could not be measured by regular seismic monitoring devices and researchers from Wellington's Victoria University had to place sensors in boreholes 100 metres deep to pick them up.

Seismologist Aaron Wech said the research showed the Alpine Fault, regarded as New Zealand's most hazardous, did not remain still between major earthquakes but was constantly shifting.

Mr Wech said the implications for future earthquakes were unclear.

"It could be that constant tremor builds up stress and may trigger a major fault movement (earthquake) or, alternatively, the activity may decrease the likelihood of a major quake by acting as a release valve for stress", he said.

"What's important is that we find out more about these tremor events, such as where they happen and how often, so we can better predict the hazard the Alpine Fault poses."

The research was published this week in the US journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The government's GNS Science agency estimates the Alpine Fault has generated four quakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher in the past 900 years, most recently in the early 1700s, and another is overdue.

It says there is a high probability one will occur in the next 40 years, producing "one of the biggest earthquakes since European settlement of New Zealand (which) will have a major impact on the lives of many people".

The Christchurch earthquake was not caused by the Alpine Fault but a previously unknown fault line, part of a network of seismic fractures criss-crossing New Zealand, which lies on the junction of two tectonic plates.

Herald Sun

2012 Prophecy in Motion

3 new executive orders... We the world

The president has signed 3 new executive orders:

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/01/executive-order-promoting-international-regulatory-cooperation
and

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/10/executive-order-identifying-and-reducing-regulatory-burdens

and

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/15/executive-order-establishing-white-house-council-strong-cities-strong-co

This latest executive order will allow the soviet socialists in our local communities through their committees to adopt and enact United Nations regulations designed to establish absolute United Nations’ control over our every resource. The laws of the United States, individual states, counties, cities, and local municipalities, under our Constitution must be legislated. 

These executive ordersbypass the legislative process and essentially nullify our representative form of government under the guise of allowing us to voice our opinion in reference to new regulation rather than enforce our will through elected representation. If one examines these three executive orders closely, Obama’s agenda becomes clear. 

The international socialists, known as the United Nations, are worming their way into our political system at every level. Through the local socialist committees that will be assembled, local commissars will be elected.

These commissars, working in coalition with state and local agencies and sovereign nations/Indian Tribes, will attempt to initiate UN dictatorship over our lands, both private and public. And through regulation of the land, they will attempt to establish dictatorial control over the actions of we the people.

Before it's News

Gerald Celente Goldseek Radio

Germany holds a gun to Greece's head

In a blunt warning to Athens, the Bundesbank said a Greek withdrawal from the eurozone would be disruptive but "manageable", undermining claims by Greece's radical anti-austerity leader, Alexis Tsipras, that Europe would not dare pull the plug.

"When the Eurosystem provided Greece with large amounts of liquidity, it trusted that the programmes would be implemented and thereby ultimately assumed considerable risks," said the bank. "In the light of the current situation, it should not significantly increase these risks."

The German financial daily Handelsblatt said the Bundesbank was "holding a gun to Greece's head", hammering home the message that Germany will not submit to blackmail from populist politicians in Athens.

Berlin also leaked news that their member on the European Central Bank board, Jürg Asmussen, is to head an ECB taskforce to handle the Greek crisis.

There was confusion in Brussels over leaks that EMU finance ministry officials had agreed in a meeting on Monday – allegedly in the name of Eurogroup executives – that each state should draw up a national plan to cope with a Greek exit.

Athens issued an angry denial, saying the claims were false. The European Commission stressed that it was not told about the meeting, even though it is a member of the working group. "We are not preparing such a plan, though we are ready to face any eventuality," said an official.

There were suspicions that Germany had leaked its own proposal without gaining the assent of other EU states. The move has further poisoned the atmosphere, though officials played down the exit plans last night. The escalating brinkmanship between Athens and EMU's creditor powers came as European leaders gathered in Brussels last night for a "growth dinner", an agenda already overtaken by fast-moving events.

Disarray in Europe and fears of an unstoppable Greek exit sent markets into a tailspin. The FTSE 100 lost 2.53pc, and the German DAX dropped 2.3pc. Spain's IBEX slumped 3.3pc to a nine-year low. The euro tumbled almost a cent to $1.2566 against the dollar, the lowest since August 2010. Spain's 10-year bond yields jumped to 6.14pc.

The summit was a polite showdown between Germany and an emerging "Latin Bloc" led by France, Italy and Spain, determined to force a change in the Europe's strategic direction. The Latin coalition wants eurobonds to kickstart growth and mutualise debts, anathema to Germany, as well as EMU-wide deposit guarantees and an activist ECB. Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out eurobonds, although there could still be room for project bonds or short-term "euro-bills".

Spanish leader Mariano Rajoy warned that spiralling borrowing costs were pushing his country towards the brink. "Europe has to come up with an answer because we can't go on like this for long," he said. Mr Rajoy said austerity efforts were being overwhelmed by the force of the crisis, blaming the ECB for failure to contain contagion by capping yields.

"The policies that we Europeans believe in, such as controlling state spending and reforms to boost growth, ultimately have no effect," he said in Paris after a pre-summit tete-a-tete with French president Francois Hollande. Their encounter is itself evidence of Europe's changing dynamics, a break with the tradition of Franco-German axis.

Britain's David Cameron – attacked at home for austerity policies – is in the odd position of backing stimulus policies in Europe. "What we need is a decisive plan for Greece, and decisive plans to help get the European economies moving," he said before the dinner.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, ratcheted up the pressure on Greece, confirming that the fund was bracing for exit. "Officials must be prepared for all solutions," she said.

She said Greeks could not tear up the bail-out terms of the EU-IMF "Troika" and expect to stay in the euro. Yet she hinted that creditors might be willing to modify their loan terms to defuse the crisis – and help Greece's pro-bail-out parties before elections on June 17. She said euro members "may consider the integrity of the zone to be more important".

Her comments reflect thinking in the Latin states, not Germany, which has a veto on aid payments. The issue may come to a head rapidly since Greece will run out of money for state operations by mid-June, due to falling tax revenues.

Fitch Ratings said the sums needed to keep Greece on track at this stage were "pretty small" compared with the sunk costs of past rescues. "The Greeks have not run out of bargaining power," it said.

David Riley, Fitch's managing-director, said it would downgrade all eurozone states if Greece left. Europe's policymakers would have to conjure a new regime for Euroland, and a quantum leap to fiscal union to restore credibility. "They couldn't simply shrug it off," he said.

The Telegraph

Too Big To Cut: Germany fails own budget benchmark

Spain injects €9bn into ailing lender Bankia

Luis de Guindos told the Spanish parliament that the government would do whatever was needed to rescue Bankia, while stressing that the situation “shouldn’t be extrapolated to the nation’s entire banking system”.

In what amounted to an attempt to bolster confidence and prevent a run on Spanish banks, he said directors at the nationalised lender would present a plan indicating the level of capital needed to meet all regulatory requirements.

Announcing the taxpayer bailout after markets had closed, Mr de Guindos said: “The government will fully back the capital needs which result from this plan.”

He said €9bn would cover capital needs of €7.1bn to comply with two banking reforms presented by the government as well as €1.9bn of capital buffers to comply with European-wide rules.

Bankia is the country’s fourth-largest lender and was formed in 2010 by merging seven of Spain’s regional savings banks. It has the greatest exposure to toxic property assets.

The Spanish government had already been forced to part-nationalise the lender earlier this month and reports last week that customers had pulled €1bn out of the bank triggered a 30pc fall in shares.

Mr de Guindos said a total restructuring of the bank would occur after a thorough assessment and that the government would seek to sell Bankia once it has been cleaned up, as part of a strategy to restore investor confidence in the country’s banking sector.

The minister sought to ease concerns as fears about the health of the Spanish banking system have mounted in recent weeks because of their exposure to the collapsed property market. Spanish banks have an estimated €184bn of what the Bank of Spain describes “problematic” real estate-linked assets.

A week ago Moody’s slashed the ratings of 16 Spanish banks, citing the reduced ability of the Spanish government to provide support to the sector, as well as the “adverse operating conditions” created by a renewed recession.

The ratings agency also downgraded Santander UK, although it noted it has “no direct exposure to the Spanish government (or regional governments)”.

Spain has appointed consultancies Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger to carry out a stress test on the nation’s lenders, the results of which are to be published in the second half of June.

“The question is now about the long-term solvency of parts of Spain’s banking system, especially what is going to happen with mortgage loan default. This concern is not being addressed,” said Martin van Vliet, senior economist at ING.

The Telegraph