Iranian nuclear threat could result in death and destruction for the Jewish state

The spiritual leader of the Shas ultra-Orthodox party, a key faction in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, said in a sermon that the Iranian nuclear threat could result in death and destruction for the Jewish state, and appealed to God to thwart the Islamic regime’s plans.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made the remarks in a sermon on Sunday, days after he was briefed on the Iranian threat by Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror.

“Heaven forbid, they [the Iranians] could bring upon us death and destruction. May God thwart their plans,” the rabbi said.

Amidror was dispatched by Netanyahu to visit Yosef in order to win over the 92-year-old rabbi’s support — and thus the votes of Shas ministers in the government — for a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, the Kikar Shabbat Hebrew news site reported.

The report quoted Yosef as saying in his sermon, “We beg of Him [God] not to allow those evil people’s plot [to come to fruition]… to thwart their plan and ruin their thoughts, and do to them as they plan to do to us.

He reportedly likened the Iranian regime to Haman — the royal adviser in ancient Persia who, in the Old Testament Book of Esther, died at the gallows after planning to slaughter the Jews of Persia. Yosef prayed that God bring light unto the Jewish people.

Yosef called upon Jews to say slichot — prayers traditionally recited in the month leading up to Yom Kippur, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.

Amidror was accompanied to Yosef’s home by Interior Minister and Shas political head Eli Yishai, a senior member of cabinet who has been said, in some reports, to oppose an Israeli strike on Iran.

Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel believes that the program is military in nature and Netanyahu reportedly fears that Iran will soon cross a threshold after which it will be nearly impossible to stop the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons.
The Times of Israel

Creation Week - Chuck MIssler

Japanese Trade Implosion Sends Futures To Lows

Somewhat disastrous trade balance data from Japan - with exports dramatically worse-than-expected (EU exports -25.1% YoY) and imports worse-than-expected (which will come as no surprise to any ZH reader given Europe's depression and has crushed JPY crosses overnight (especially AUDJPY) which is exactly what we said at the close today was required to extend today's equity weakness. Sure enough, S&P 500 futures are down over 6 points from the close now - and trading below day-session lows.

For those too lazy to click on the hyperlink above, here again is the chart we showed earlier in the year when we gloated over the now rotting carcasses of decouplers everywhere (looks like decoupling has been "greenshot" again, hopefully this time for good), which explains why without a healthy Europe there can never be a global recovery:

Japan Exports missed by the most in a year - pretty much to their lowest since 2009.Stunningly, European exports are -25.1% YoY!

which sparked AUDJPY (and carry FX in general) to slump...

which is implictly dragging S&P futures down - below day-session lows (on decent overnight volume)...

Zero Hedge

Drone patrols for domestic use

Israel accuses Egypt of violating peace treaty

JERUSALEM – Israeli officials said Tuesday that Egypt is violating the historic 1979 peace treaty between the two countries by deploying tanks in the demilitarized Sinai desert near the Israeli border.

The officials said they have relayed their objections to the Egyptians directly and through American mediators. An Egyptian border official confirmed that his Israeli counterparts had voiced concerns.

Egypt has been building up its military presence in the lawless area since Islamic militants there attacked an army post on Aug. 5 and killed 16 soldiers.

Under the peace accord, Egypt was only allowed to have lightly armed policemen in the zone along the border with Israel. Limited numbers of tanks were permitted only in a zone on the far western side of the peninsula, within 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the Suez Canal.

Israel, which also views the Islamic militants as a threat, agreed last year to exceptions to the treaty allowing Egypt's military to deploy troops with heavier weaponry into the most sensitive zone of eastern Sinai close to the border.

Egyptian troops moved in after the Aug. 5 attack, backed by armored personnel carriers and attack helicopters, in coordination with the Israelis. However, the Israeli officials alleged that the deployment of heavier M60 battle tanks went further than agreed and violated the accord. The Israelis say they should have been consulted.

The Israeli and Egyptian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.

The peace accord has been a cornerstone of regional stability for three decades, allowing Israel to divert its resources away from the Egyptian border and focus on its fronts with Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories. It was Israel's first peace agreement with an Arab state.

Israeli officials have grown increasingly jittery following last year's ouster of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the ascension of Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The fundamentalist Islamic group has said Egypt will continue to abide by the accord but repeatedly called for changes in the treaty's limits on troops in Sinai, seen as humiliating.

The Israeli officials said the new tank deployment does not pose a direct threat to Israel, but they fear that Egypt is trying to set a precedent for future modifications in the peace deal. Morsi also recently sacked Egypt's military chief, removing a key figure in what has historically been a close security relationship with Israel.

An Egyptian security official confirmed that some M60 tanks are now located in the Sinai near the port of El-Arish. He said the vehicles are there solely to protect the city, which is roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Israeli border. The exact number of the tanks was not immediately known.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Yasser Ali denied receiving any complaints from Israeli. "Security Sinai is among Egypt's national security priorities, and nothing can stand in front of this," he said.

When asked if this means Egypt can send troops regardless of Israeli's approval or objection, he declined to answer.

But an Egyptian intelligence official confirmed a meeting with his Israeli counterparts to discuss the issue. "We sat together. They said, `We are worried about the military presence in Sinai," the official said.

The peace accord permitted "no more than one division (mechanized or infantry) of Egyptian armed forces" within 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the Suez Canal. El-Arish is well beyond that radius.

Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, said it's a joint Israeli and Egyptian interest to keep the Sinai quiet, so he didn't expect the issue to turn into a major crisis. "In the final analysis, the Egyptian military is coordinating with Israel, but I cannot say for certain when that is done or how," he said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/08/21/israel-accuses-egypt-violating-peace-treaty-in-sinai/#ixzz24F1No2BD

Russian Plant to Make Mi-171 Helicopters for China

Russian Helicopters’ Ulan Ude factory will build Mi-171E multipurpose helicopters under a recent contract with China, a high-ranking defense industry source said on Tuesday.

Moscow and Beijing signed a contract in late July on the delivery of 55 Mi-171E helicopters to China. The cost of one unit in its basic configuration is estimated at $10-12 million.

“One of the largest helicopter export contracts on the delivery of Mi-171E helicopters to China will be carried out by the Ulan Ude aircraft plant,” the source told RIA Novosti.

Mi-171E is an advanced export version of the famed Mi-8 transport helicopter capable of transporting 37 passengers to a distance of 610 km (380 miles) at a speed of 250 km/h. Its loading capacity is four metric tons.

Mi-171E was specifically designed for operations in Middle East and Asian countries, the source said.

RIA Novosti

Tehran: Israel must be destroyed.....

Iran's Foreign Minister: Israel Not in a Position to Attack

Iran's Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, dismisses the possibility that Israel will launch a military strike on his country.

Speaking in an interview with Egypt’sAl-Ahram newspaper, Salehi said, “Israel is not in a position to wage war against Iran, and Israeli papers confirm it. The hinting at the militaryoption by the Americans and Israelis shows that other options have failed. In any case, we are preparing for all possibilities.”

Salehi also described Israel as a “cancerous tumor" that is doomed to disappear, echoing remarks made last week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who last week called for "wiping the Zionist regime from humanity."

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed hope last week that Israel would be wiped off the map, saying, “The light of hope will shine on the Palestinian issue, and this Islamic land will certainly be returned to the Palestinian nation, and the superfluous and fake Zionist (regime) will disappear from the landscape of geography.”

Salehi told the Egyptian newspaper he hopes Egypt and Iran would restore normal ties after a three-decade cooling of relations.

He described Egypt as a "cornerstone" of the region and a state that enjoys a distinctive status among Arab and Islamic countries. He voiced his optimism for the future of the Islamic World despite the recent developments and crises in the Middle East and North Africa.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has signaled he will form an alliance with Iran and is scheduled to travel to Tehran next week.

Morsi will attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, now headed by Cairo and which will be led by Iran after next week.


Israel National News

Iran's leader orders terror attacks on West

According to Western intelligence officials, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the order to the elite Quds Force unit following a recent emergency meeting of Iran's National Security Council in Tehran held to discuss a specially-commissioned report into the implications for Iran of the Assad regime's overthrow.

Damascus is Iran's most important regional ally, and the survival of the Assad regime is regarded as vital to sustaining the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia which controls southern Lebanon.

The report, which was personally commissioned by Mr Khamenei, concluded that Iran's national interests were being threatened by a combination of the U.N. sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear programme and the West's continuing support for Syrian opposition groups attempting to overthrow the Syrian government.

Intelligence officials say the report concludes that Iran "cannot be passive" to the new threats posed to its national security, and warns that Western support for Syrian opposition groups was placing Iran's "resistance alliance" in jeopardy, and could seriously disrupt Iran's access to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

It advised that the Iranian regime should demonstrate to the West that there were "red lines" over what it would accept in Syria, and that a warning should be sent to "America, the Zionists, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others that they cannot act with impunity in Syria and elsewhere in the region."

The Telegraph

On the Verge of a regional full fledge Middle East War/Psalms 83 War/World War 3

Google vs Oracle: who bought more journalists?

One Nation, Under Water

Lord Jacob Rothschild, John Paulson & George Soros Are All Betting On A Financial Collapse

Are you willing to bet against three of the wealthiest men in the entire world? Jacob Rothschild recently bet approximately 200 million dollars that the euro will go down. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson made somewhere around 20 billion dollars betting against the U.S. housing market during the last financial crisis, and now he has made huge bets that the euro will go down and that the price of gold will go up. And as I wrote about in my last article, George Soros put approximately 130 million more dollars into gold last quarter. So will the euro plummet like a rock? Will the price of gold absolutely soar? Well, if a massive financial disaster does occur both of those two things are likely to happen. The European economy is becoming more unstable with each passing day, and investors all over the globe are looking for safe places to put their money. The mainstream media keeps telling us that everything is going to be okay, but the global elite are sending us a much, much different message by their actions. Certainly Rothschild, Paulson and Soros know about things happening in the financial world that the rest of us don’t. The fact that they are all behaving in a consistent manner right now should be alarming for all of us.

Let’s start with Jacob Rothschild. Apparently he believes that the euro is headed for quite a tumble. The following is from a recent CNBC article….

You know the euro is in deep water when a doyen of the banking industry, Lord Jacob Rothschild takes a £130 million ($200 million) bet against it.

The Euro’s Demise Has Been Set in Motion: Are you protected?
"Nationalism will emerge. Healthier countries will not see fit to spend their hard earned money to bail out their less responsible neighbors."

Okay, but the euro has already been falling dramatically. In mid-2011, the EUR/USD was above the 1.40 mark, and right now it is at about 1.23.

Does it really have that much more that it can fall?

If the eurozone ends up breaking apart it sure does.

If there is a Greek default, or if Germany leaves the euro, or if a new currency comes along to replace the euro those currently betting against it will end up looking like geniuses.

Another big name in the financial world that is betting against the euro right now is John Paulson. The following is from a recent Der Spiegel article….

One of these warriors is John Paulson. The hedge fund manager once made billions by betting on a collapse of the American real estate market. Not surprisingly, the financial world sat up and took notice when Paulson, who is now widely despised in America as a crisis profiteer, announced in the spring that he would bet on a collapse of the euro.

And as I noted in my last article, Paulson has also been putting billions of dollars into gold.

So just what are Rothschild and Paulson anticipating?

Could we be on the verge of a massive financial collapse in Europe?

According to the Der Spiegel article mentioned above, a lot of investors seem to be preparing for such a possibility right now….


Banks, companies and investors are preparing themselves for a collapse of the euro. Cross-border bank lending is falling, asset managers are shunning Europe and money is flowing into German real estate and bonds. The euro remains stable against the dollar because America has debt problems too. But unlike the euro, the dollar’s structure isn’t in doubt.

The financial world is starting to wake up to the fact that the globe is absolutely drowning in debt and it is not really good to be holding fiat currencies when a debt crisis erupts.

When men like John Paulson and George Soros start pouring huge amounts of money into gold, it is time to start becoming alarmed about the state of the global financial system.

The amount of money that these men are investing in gold is staggering….


There was also news last week in an SEC filing that both George Soros and John Paulson had increased their investment in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest publicly traded physical gold exchange traded fund (ETF).

Mr Soros upped his stake in the ETF to 884,400 shares from 319,550 and Mr Paulson bought 4.53m shares, bringing his stake to 21.3m.

At the current price of about $156 a share, these are new investments of about $88m of Mr Soros’ cash and more than $700m from Mr Paulson’s funds. These are significant positions.

And the central banks of the world are certainly buying gold at an unprecedented rate as well. According to the World Gold Council, the central banks of the world added 157.5 metric tons of gold last quarter. That was the biggest move into gold by the central banks of the globe that we have seen in modern financial history.

But that might just be the beginning.

According to a recent Marketwatch article, there are persistent rumors that China has plans to buy thousands of metric tons of gold….

Within the gold market, there is unconfirmed speculation that China plans to buy up to at least 5,000 to 6,000 metric tons of gold and that it will start to buy during this year, according to Kevin Kerr, president of Kerr Trading International.

If China buys this much gold, that would exceed annual, global production of gold, he said. “We do not have enough gold for China to buy that much, and it will take China time to purchase this amount of gold.”

So what comes next?

Nobody is quite sure.

Another major financial crisis could erupt in Europe at any moment.

A major war in the Middle East could start literally at any time.

Renowned investor Jim Rogers believes that things are really going to get “bad after the next election“.

Others believe that the action could start even sooner than that.

The truth is that even though we have not seen a “Lehman Brothers moment” yet, things in Europe just continue to get progressively worse. The following is from a recent article by Mark E. Grant….

Whether you turn your attention to Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal or even Ireland; it is getting worse. Nowhere on the Continent are things improving and even in France and Germany the financial strains are beginning to show. It is not a question of Euro-bear or Euro-bull; it is just the numbers as they come rolling out month after month.

There is a growing realization in Europe that the euro simply does not work. Italy is absolutely drowning in debt, the Spanish economy has basically descended into a depression, and Greece has been experiencing depression-like conditions for years at this point.

The euro is doomed. The only question is who is going to blink first.

Nobody wants to be the first to leave the euro. There are rumblings that it could actually be Finland that leaves the euro first, and that would please Germany just fine because they don’t want to look like the bad guys in all of this.

But that doesn’t mean that Germany won’t eventually pull the trigger if nobody else does. The German public is sick and tired of bailing out the weak sisters of southern Europe, and at this point it looks like it would take perpetual bailouts just to keep the euro together.

And recently there have been lots of little signs that Germany is starting to move slowly toward the exit doors. 

In fact, I found it quite interesting that a giant euro sculpture was recently removed from the Frankfurt International Airport….

A massive € sculpture (identical to the one in front of the European Central Bank) was dismantled and removed from the Frankfurt International Airport in Germany Thursday.

The official explanation is ‘the plastic parts are getting weak after 11 years and the terminal needed the space‘.

Does € sculpture’s removal from the Frankfurt Airport indicate Germany is preparing for a surprise return to the Deutsche Mark?

Sure that might just be a coincidence, but it also could be a harbinger of things to come.

Sadly, most average people living in North America and Europe have absolutely no idea what is coming. Most of them just want to be able to get up in the morning and go to work and pay the bills and take care of their families.

Unfortunately, millions upon millions of those hard working individuals are in for a very rude awakening.

A lot of people are about to have their current lifestyles totally turned upside down.

But it doesn’t have to be all bad.

In fact, I found it very interesting to read about how some young people are responding to the depression in Greece….

In the spring of 2010, just as the Greek government was embarking on some of its harshest austerity measures, 29-year-old Apostolos Sianos packed in his well-paid job as a website designer, gave up his Athens apartment and walked away from modern civilisation.

In the foothills of Mount Telaithrion on the Greek island of Evia, Mr Sianos and three other like-minded Athenians set up an eco-community.

The idea was to live in an entirely sustainable way, free from the ties of money and cut off from the national electricity grid.

The group sleeps communally in yurts they have built themselves, they grow their own food and exchange the surplus in the nearest village for any necessities they cannot produce.

I think there is a lesson to be learned there.

When the system fails, it is going to be important to be able to live independently of the system.

Governments and big banks all over the world have been rapidly preparing for the coming financial collapse.

Perhaps the rest of us should be too.

If you can believe it, 77 percent of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time.

If another major economic crisis comes along, many of those people are going to be totally wiped out.

And there are already signs that the U.S. economy is basically on life support at this point.

Just look at the velocity of money.

In an economy that is growing and healthy, money tends to circulate very, very quickly.

But when an economy is sick, money tends to circulate very slowly.

And that is exactly what is happening right now. In fact, the velocity of money is currently at the lowest level in modern U.S. history….



This is exactly what happened back in the 1930s. The velocity of money absolutely plummeted. When people are scared, credit is tight and times are hard, money does not exchange hands as rapidly.

What we are experiencing right now is rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.

Jacob Rothschild, John Paulson and George Soros are preparing themselves for the tremendous chaos that is coming.

Are you getting prepared?



ETF Daily News

Iran has begun construction of a new anti-aircraft missile base

Amid increasing talk of a possible Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, Iran has begun construction of a new, state-of-the-art, anti-aircraft missile base.

The new base, located near the city of Abadeh, in southern Iran, will cost $300 million, be home to 6,000 personnel, and host seven battalions, Iran’s Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The Deputy Commander of the Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base, Mohammad Hosseini, said the base, the largest of its kind in Iran, will also include one of the most important military training centers in the country.

Last month, a senior Iranian air defense commander asserted that all Iranian air defense units and systems are fully prepared to repel possible enemy air raids.

Also on Tuesday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled an upgraded version of a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile just weeks after it was test-fired, Iranian state media reported.

At the ceremony unveiling the Fateh-110, or Conqueror, Ahmadinejad told a group of defense officials that Iran wants to advance its defense technology “not in an aggressive context, but as a deterrence.”

“We do not seek it for conquest, domination of neighboring countries and the world. We do not want it because of defiance,” said Ahmadinejad, according to state TV.

Iran considers both the United States and Israel as potential adversaries. Neither country has ruled out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program, which they claim is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

The official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday that the new version of Fateh-110 has a quicker launch capability, a longer life and can be used in adverse weather conditions, but gave no other details. The missile has been in service in Iran over the past decade.

Iran claimed earlier in August that it successfully test-fired the missile, saying at the time that Fateh-110 has an improved accuracy to strike land and naval targets within a 300 kilometer (185 mile) range.

Since 1992, Iran has tried to set up a self-sufficient military program. The country’s military leaders have said they believe future wars will take place in the air and on sea, and Tehran has sought to upgrade its air defense systems and naval power in anticipation of such a possibility.

Iran has also been pushing to upgrade its missiles, which already can target Israel and US bases in the Middle East. The Pentagon released a report in June noting significant advances in Iranian missile technology, acknowledging that the Islamic Republic has improved the accuracy and firing capabilities of its missiles.

Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said Iran will commission a new generation of fighter jets, missiles, unmanned drones and submarines by the Iranian New Year, which falls in March 2013.

Iran’s purported military advancements are impossible to independently verify because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals or rely on equipment from major international defense contractors.

The Times of Israel

Prophecy of Floods Coming to Malta Dr Owuor

News for sale - corporations buying positive reviews