Strategic Trends 2012 Intro - Chuck Missler

America: The Unstoppable War Machine!

Warns of False Flag Event to Save Obama Election

Russia Russian Lawmaker Urges Media to Limit 'End of World' Coverage

A lawmaker in Russia’s St. Petersburg said on Tuesday that media coverage of the possible end of the world in 2012 was contributing to a rise in suicides and crime and asked the city governor to outlaw the topic from local newspapers and television.

© RIA Novosti.

Doomsday calendar
“Russian television channels have been filling their audiences with the idea that 2012 is the year of the apocalypse,” A Just Russia lawmaker Andrei Gorshechnikov wrote in a deputy’s inquiry to the city governor. “The reports usually cite the ancient Mayan calendar, which supposedly says the world will end this year.”

St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Gorshechnikov said such reports, twinned with the upcoming winter, could lead to “an increase in crime, a rise in suicides, and drug abuse and alcoholism.”

He also said that the “hysteria” could see “naïve” and “trusting” people fall victim to fraudsters an suggested city governor Georgy Poltavchenko consider introducing legislation to “limit the promotion of the end of the world.”

Popular culture has long been fascinated with the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, popularly known as the Mayan calendar, and its alleged “ending” on December 21, 2012. But scientist from a variety of disciplines have dismissed the hypothesis that the Mayans believed the world would end on this date, pointing to evidence that it was simply the final point of one of many so-called time cycles.

But Gorshechnikov stressed that he was not calling for a ban on media coverage of the topic.

"I would envisage a voluntary limit to coverage," he told RIA Novosti.

Islamic states to reopen quest for global blasphemy law

(Reuters) - A leading Islamic organization signaled on Wednesday that it will revive long-standing attempts to make insults against religions an international criminal offence.

The bid follows uproar across the Muslim world over a crude Internet video clip filmed in the United States and cartoons in a French satirical magazine that lampoon the Prophet Mohammad.

But it appears unlikely to win acceptance from Western countries determined to resist restrictions on freedom of speech and already concerned about the repressive effect of blasphemy laws in Muslim countries such as Pakistan.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said the international community should "come out of hiding from behind the excuse of freedom of expression", a reference to Western arguments against a universal blasphemy law that the OIC has sought for over a decade.

He said the "deliberate, motivated and systematic abuse of this freedom" were a danger to global security and stability.

Separately, the Human Rights Commission of the OIC, which has 57 members and is based in Saudi Arabia, said "growing intolerance towards Muslims" had to be checked and called for "an international code of conduct for media and social media to disallow the dissemination of incitement material".

Western countries have long argued that such measures would run counter to the U.N.'s core human rights declaration on freedom of expression and could even open the door to curbs on academic research.

As if to underline the point, a conference in Geneva of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which groups the world's major Protestant, Orthodox and Evangelical churches, urged Pakistan to abolish its blasphemy law, which carries a possible death penalty.

Critics say the law is widely misused to persecute non-Muslims, and cite this month's case of a Muslim cleric detained on suspicion of planting evidence suggesting that a 14-year-old girl had burned Islamic religious texts.

Pakistani Christians and Hindus at the WCC gathering said a global law against blasphemy, or "defamation of religion", would only endorse on an international scale the religious intolerance seen in Pakistan and in other Islamic countries.
Reuters

Dragon Flood Flag of the Fathers

Joseph Herrin (09-19-2012)




Depiction of Betsy Ross Sewing First Flag of the U.S.A.

A popular story told to all American school children is that of the young widow Betsy Ross being approached by three men who asked her if she could create the first flag of the United States of America. The mythology of Betsy Ross (for that is what it is) was not made public until nearly a hundred years had passed from the time she was commissioned to sew the first flag.

According to the traditional account, the original flag was made in June 1776, when a small committee—including George Washington, Robert Morris and relative George Ross—visited Betsy and discussed the need for a new American flag. Betsy accepted the job to manufacture the flag, altering the committee's design by replacing the six-pointed stars with five-pointed stars.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross_flag]

I do not contest the fact that Betsy Ross was hired to sew the first flag of the nation. It is the cute story that has arisen to describe how the flag’s design was settled upon that I doubt very much. The popular account arose from a published story of one of Betsy Ross’ grandsons presented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1870.

Below is a condensed version of the Betsy Ross story, according to [her grandson’s] paper.

Sitting sewing in her shop one day with her girls around her, several gentlemen entered. She recognized one of these as the uncle of her deceased husband, Col. GEORGE ROSS, a delegate from Pennsylvania to Congress. She also knew the handsome form and features of the dignified, yet graceful and polite Commander in Chief, who, while he was yet COLONEL WASHINGTON had visited her shop both professionally and socially many times, (a friendship caused by her connection with the Ross family). They announced themselves as a committee of congress, and stated that they had been appointed to prepare a flag, and asked her if she thought she could make one, to which she replied, with her usual modesty and self reliance, that "she did not know but she could try; she had never made one but if the pattern were shown to her she had not doubt of her ability to do it." The committee were shown into her back parlor, the room back of the shop, and Col. Ross produced a drawing, roughly made, of the proposed flag. It was defective to the clever eye of Mrs Ross and unsymmetrical, and she offered suggestions which Washington and the committee readily approved.

What all these suggestions were we cannot definitely determine, but they were of sufficient importance to involve an alteration and re-drawing of the design, which was then and there done by General George Washington, in pencil, in her back parlor. One of the alterations had reference to the shape of the stars. In the drawing they were made with six points.

Mrs Ross at once said that this was wrong; the stars should be five pointed; they were aware of that, but thought there would be some difficulty in making a five pointed star. "Nothing easier" was her prompt reply and folding a piece of paper in the proper manner, with one clip of her ready scissors she quickly displayed to their astonished vision the five-pointed star; which accordingly took its place in the national standard. General Washington was the active one in making the design, the others having little or nothing to do with it. When it was completed, it was given to William Barrett, painter, to paint.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross_flag]

This version of events was popularized when it was published in Harper’s Monthly in July of 1873. By the 1880s this account was showing up in school textbooks as historical fact. What is omitted from this account is that all three of the men who are named as engaging Betsy Ross in this work were Freemasons. Being aware of the critical role that symbols play in Freemasonry, the fabled account of the design of such an important emblem as the nation’s first flag strikes me as extremely implausible. Satan, nor the initiates into the mysteries of Freemasonry, would give so little thought to the arcane symbolism one of the premier symbols of America.

According to the traditional story, much of the design is off-the-cuff, almost whimsical, spur of the moment type of decision making that belies any esoteric meaning behind the various elements, especially that of the five pointed star. One might as well believe the Boston Tea Party was a spontaneous uprising of American Colonialists, rather than a well planned act of rebellion hatched in a Masonic lodge by Freemasons in Boston.

Why seek to obscure the fact that the five pointed star design was intentional? The truth is that this symbol holds great meaning for Freemasons and Luciferians. Below is a floor design of a Masonic Lodge.



Notice at the center of the checkerboard design is “the blazing star of Freemasonry.” You can see clearly that it is constructed of one five pointed star overlaid upon another, their points alternated. This five pointed star derives from the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for Sirius, the Dog-Star.




Egyptian Hieroglyph for Sirius

David Ovason in the book The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital shares the following:

The importance of the Egyptian star was recognized by Masons, who introduced its symbolism into their rituals, first in France and then in the United States. The American Freemason John Fellows wrote of Sirius as the “radiant star,” which was so widely used in the Masonic symbolism of America: “The Blazing Star is Anubis, the Dog-Star; whose rising forewarned the Egyptians of the approach of the overflowing of the Nile.” (John Fellows, Exposition of the Mysteries, or Religious Dogmas and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Pythagoreans and Druids, 1835)

It was scarcely surprising that the most sacred star of the Egyptians should have found its way into the Masonic mysteries, for the speculative Masons who sought out the origins of their craft seemed always to perfect their studies in Egypt. There may be little doubt that this Masonic transmission explains why Sirius should have become important for the United States of America. The new world was tied to the hermetic ancient world by several symbols, but the most sacred of these was the Egyptian star, the flaming star which Mason Napoleon Bonaparte had emblazoned on his apron.
[End Quote]

Sirius appears even in present day in corporate logos. Following is perhaps the most obvious of them all.



Sirius Satellite Radio Logo

The inclusion of the image of a dog with a five pointed star for its eye reveals the well recognized connection between the name Sirius, the heavenly body known as the Dog Star, and the five pointed star. What then did Sirius represent to the Egyptians? The Egyptians were tremendously engaged in the study of the heavens, and this was their most sacred star.

In seeking to understand the symbols associated with America’s Masonic founding, one must keep in mind the deception that is practiced among them. Those members of the lower degrees are intentionally given false meanings of their symbols, and even those at the higher levels are often deceived and practice deception. Lucifer is the god of the Lodge, and he is the great deceiver. Thus, there are those among Freemasonry who may recognize Sirius as an Egyptian symbol related to pagan deities, yet they do not perceive precisely which deity it relates to, or the evil character of that being.

This same failing is found among occult practitioners today. There are a great many men and women involved in Wicca, which is a modern form of witchcraft. Such ones are taught to believe in good magic as well as bad magic; white magic as well as black. Many see Lucifer as a kind and benevolent being, while seeing his alter ego Satan as evil.

One can discern which characteristic of the devil an occultist ascribes to, whether they are a practitioner of Wicca, or a Satan worshiper, by the five pointed star they use as a symbol of their religious belief. The Wiccans have adopted a pentacle where the point is up, whereas Satan worshipers use one where the point is down.



Wicca/Satanism

The images above reveal the distinctions in the stars alignment adopted by those who practice what they believe is a benevolent form of witchcraft (Wicca), and those who embrace all the darkness and evil of Satan. In both instances the practitioners are looking to harness spiritual power that derives from Lucifer/Satan. Wiccans speak much about light, communicating with light beings, and advancing toward the light (even as Freemasons do). The Bible declares that Lucifer masquerades as a messenger of light. Satanists, on the other hand, openly embrace the darkness and evil of Satan.

Looking back at the blazing star image on the floor of the Masonic lodge you see both the upward and downward five pointed stars together. Whether one believes they are serving, worshiping, or receiving occult knowledge from Lucifer or from Satan, there is no dividing his nature.

John 8:44
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Look again at the stars in the poster images above. Notice that they are both inscribed within the bounds of a circle. This is part of the magical geometry of both Wicca and Satanism.




Witchcraft Book Cover




Book of Shadows

The Book of Shadows is a compendium of spells, enchantments, and rituals that are practiced among Wiccan adherents. The upward pointing star of five points is ubiquitous in this association with witchcraft and occult rituals. The pentagram is sacred to witches and Satanists, and is used in their magic rites.




Illustration in a Journal of Magick

I would suggest to you that the popular story of the design of the first flag of the new Masonic nation, is a fable. It is as false as the history of America’s founding. We have observed that the Green Dragon Tavern, and especially the lodge of Freemasonry who owned the building and met in the upstairs portion, was the true headquarters of the American Revolution. Satan, the great dragon, is the head of Freemasonry, as the myriad esoteric symbols and rites of the lodge reveal.

The Betsy Ross mythology is merely a ruse to lead people away from the truth of America’s founding as Luciferian nation. The elements of the flag were chosen with great deliberation and meaning. There were thirteen stars, and thirteen stripes on the first flag. It is not coincidental that a coven must always consist of thirteen members. Following is a definition of the word coven from an occult website.

A coven is formal organization of 13 working practioners of magik. These can be witches, mages, shamans, and so on. But a coven is typically associated with a group of witches. Lead by a high priest and priestess.
[Source: http://www.paganspath.com/magik/coven.htm]

The thirteen colonies that had banded together to form a new government constituted the coven whose aim was the formation of a Luciferian nation. The first flag of the thirteen United States of America not only had 13 stars, all with five points, but as in ritual magic they were arranged in a circle.




Occult Flag of America

That the American flag is a symbol of witchcraft, is a startling discovery. Many Americans would find such a claim incredible, if not an outright offensive idea. Yet, there is more evidence that this is truly what is symbolized in the American flag. Even as the five pointed stars arranged in a circle point to a foundation in witchcraft, and even as it takes thirteen members to form a coven, so also does the number thirteen reveal another association with Satan. E.W. Bullinger, in the bookNumber in Scripture, provides the following information about the Biblical significance of this number.

As to the significance of thirteen, all are aware that it has come down to us as a number of ill-omen. Many superstitions cluster around it, and various explanations are current concerning them.

Unfortunately, those who go backwards to find a reason seldom go back far enough. The popular explanations do not, so far as we are aware, go further back than the Apostles. But we must go back to the first occurrence of the number thirteen in order to discover the key to its significance. It occurs first in Gen 14:4, where we read "Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and the thirteenth year they REBELLED."

Hence every occurrence of the number thirteen, and likewise of every multiple of it, stamps that with which it stands in connection with rebellion, apostasy, defection, corruption, disintegration, revolution, or some kindred idea.
[Source: http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/eight.htm#205]

Bullinger supplies a wealth of Biblical evidence that links the number thirteen to rebellion. He continues on to speak of the consistency with which the Gematria of the Bible associates the number 13 with the enemies of God, and specifically with Satan. For those unfamiliar with Gematria, certain alphabets, such as ancient Hebrew and Greek, use characters that serve as both numbers and letters. Thus, a word, a name, or a phrase, can have its value calculated by viewing the letters as number. Bullinger provides the following information.

The enemies of God and His people as named in Scripture are generally multiples of thirteen.

Let us begin with the great enemy himself, always remembering that though we may give the English for the sake of clearness, the gematria always refers to the original Hebrew or Greek:

• Satan, in Hebrew = 364 (13x28)
• Satan, in Greek = 2197 (133)
• "That old serpent, even Satan" (o ofiV o arcaioV...kai o SatanaV) = 2756 (13x212)
• "Ha-Seraph" (Num 21:8) = 585 (13x45)
• Beelzebub (with art.) = 598 (13x46)
• Belial - 78 (13x6)
• Drakwn (Drakon), Dragon (Rev 12:9) = 975 (13x75)
• 'OfiV (Ophis), Serpent = 780 (13x60)
• Murderer = 1820 (13x140)
• Tempter = 1053 (13x81)
• The Scape-goat = 585 (13x45)
• The Lion (Psa 91:13) = 338 (13x26)
• "As a Lion" (1 Peter 5:8) = 1885 (13x145)
• "The Power of the Enemy" (Luke 10:9) = 2509 (13x193)
• "Your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion" = 6032 (13x464)
• Fowler (Psa 91:3) = 416 (13x32)
• "Who is called the Devil and Satan" (o kaloumenoV diaboloV kai o SatanaV) = 2197 (13x169)
• "Seven Devils" = 572 (13x44)
• "Because the Prince of this world is judged" (John 16:11) = 5577 (13x429)
• "When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar" (John 8:44) = 7072 (13x544)
[End Excerpt]

Bullinger concludes that “Thirteen is the number of rebellion.” The American Revolution was an act of rebellion against the King of England. That thirteen British colonies were joined together in this rebellion imbues their union with the divine mark of rebellion. Rather than being the righteous act of a Christian people, as many champions of the religious right would have people to believe, the Revolution had Lucifer as its head, as its Masonic affiliations prove.

In further support of these conclusions, consider that Yahweh in His word has linked rebellion and witchcraft together as arising from the same spirit.

I Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft...
KJV

It seems hardly possible that it was mere coincidence, or happenstance, that the design of the first flag of the new Masonic nation would bear elements directly linked to both rebellion and witchcraft. There was certainly a spiritual hand guiding in this matter, that being the great deceiver, the god of the lodge and the coven. If the three men named did indeed approach Betsy Ross to sew the first flag, one may be assured that these Freemasons had already settled on a design that gives secret testimony to the veneration of Lucifer.

It has previously been mentioned that the rites of Freemasonry are performed as ritual magic. We have seen that the incantation spoken at Masonic cornerstone laying ceremonies includes the repetition of the phrase “So Mote it Be.” These same words are spoken by witches and Satanists.



Every government building in Washington D.C. was begun with a Masonic cornerstone laying ceremony. The corn, oil and wine was poured out as an offering to Satan in his guise as Baal (meaning “lord”). Many government buildings are marked with commemorative markers such as the following.



If you read the inscribed words with intelligence, you will perceive that “the spirit of Freemasonry” is none other than Lucifer. It is only because Satan has poured forth a flood of lies and deceit that any could read the above statement and assume that “the spirit” spoken of refers to anything, or anyone, other than Satan.

Returning to the five pointed star used by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of Sirius, we can learn some things about what this emblem meant to the Masonic founders of America. The Freemasons in their writings and symbols harken back to the mysteries of Egypt perhaps more than any other ancient people. To the Egyptians Sirius was an ill omen. The “Dog-Star” rose over the horizon and into visibility toward the end of July as “the dog days of Summer” were beginning. These were days of scorching heat.

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. It is nearly twice as bright as Canopus, the second brightest star. Sirius is fitting as a symbol of Lucifer, who is the chief leader of those angels who rebelled against Yahweh, whom the Bible refers to as stars.

Isaiah 14:12-14
How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God (the holy angels), and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'”

Revelation 12:3-4
Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon... And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

William Schnoebelen, a former Satanist who converted to Christianity, wrote of this star in his book Masonry, Beyond the Light. Sirius was called “the Eastern Star,” and it is this star that is the focus of the Masonic women’s organization known as the Order of the Eastern Star.





Order of the Eastern Star

The Great Deceiver has continued to deceive women, even as he did with Eve in the garden. Many who have joined this organization have been told that it is a Christian society. The motto of the Order of the Eastern Star seems Biblical: "We have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

The deceit in this is that the magi did not follow an eastern star. The Bible states that the magi were from the East.

Matthew 2:1-2
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."
NASU

It is evident from a careful reading of this passage that it was the magi who were in the east, and they saw the star of the King of the Jews while they were in the east. They had to travel West to arrive at Judea where the Messiah was born. They were therefore looking at a Western star. They could have done nothing else, for Judea lies on the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The magi would have had to cross the Great Sea if they were following an Eastern Star. Schnoebelen shares the following:

The phrase "Eastern Star" has a specialized meaning in occultism. It refers to the star, Sirius, which is the most significant star in Satanism! It is sacred to the god, Set. Remember Set as the evil Egyptian god who killed Osiris? Set is probably the oldest form of Satan! The Eastern Star is the star of Set...

Though most women involved in the OES doubtlessly assume they are worshiping Jesus as they kneel around a huge satanic pentagram, it is obvious that the "his" actually refers to Set's star, not Jesus' star.

In Albert Pike's commentary on this degree, we find the usual duplicity found elsewhere in the Lodge. He explains:

"To find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to Divine Providence is fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi, is to give it a meaning comparatively modern. Originally, it represented Sirius, or the Dog-star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile…"

Pike readily casts aside the bland lie of the degree and confirms that the blazing star is neither Divine Providence, nor is it Jesus' "star in the east." It is an Egyptian idol, the symbol of Sirius!...

Set (Lucifer) is the acknowledged god of Masonry. Thus, what does it mean for a Christian woman to be adopted into the Star? She is submitting herself to the spiritual authority of Lucifer.

She may not know it, but in bowing before the altar of the Star, the inverted pentagram of Baphomet, she has surrendered herself (however innocently) to the gods of Masonry. That WILL give Satan an entry point into her life, no matter how devout a Christian she may be.
[Source: Masonry, Beyond the Light, William Schnoebelen]




Baphomet

Satan is such a master of deception that he is able to persuade Christian and non-Christian women to gather around a profane symbol representing himself, thinking it is somehow related to the birth of the Son of God. Has he not done the same thing by inducing the church to celebrate Easter, which even bears the name of the pagan goddess of fertility, also known as Astarte and Ashtoreth in the Bible? Easter eggs and bunny rabbits, flowers, grass, and other associated symbols have much to do with fertility rites dating back to Babylon. They have nothing to do with Passover, which is when the Son of God was crucified.

If Christians can embrace the profane Easter ham, a meat Yahweh declared unclean to the Jews, without questioning how it is related to the pure and spotless Lamb of God, is it so hard to believe that the American flag is designed as a symbol of rebellion and witchcraft and neither the world nor the church has taken note of the fact?

This reveals the profound power wielded by the fallen cherubim who deceives the nations. Satan rules by deception. He immerses the world in a flood of lies and the world drinks it up.

Iran using dozens of ‘humanitarian’ shipments to ferry weapons to Syrian regime

AKCAKALE, Turkey — Syrian rebels seized control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey on Wednesday, ripping down the Syrian flag as the rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad expand their control of the country’s north.

Assad, meanwhile, told Iran’s visiting foreign minister that the fight against his government “targets resistance as a whole, not only Syria,” an apparent reference to countries and groups opposed to Israel’s existence. The “axis of resistance” includes Syria and Iran, along with the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Palestinian militant Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Iranian visitor, Ali Akbar Salehi, arrived in Syria after a visit to Cairo as part of an Egyptian-sponsored Syria peace initiative grouping Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — all supporters of the rebels — with Iran.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned Iran on Tuesday that its support for the Syrian regime was hurting chances of better relations between Iran and Egypt. The promise of greater rapprochement with Egypt is part of a package of incentives and efforts by Morsi to lure Iran, Syria’s staunchest regional ally, away from Damascus and find an end to the bloodshed.

After meeting with Assad on Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister pledged his country’s “unwavering support” to Syria to end the fighting, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Although 18 months of bloodshed prompted international sanctions that have isolated Assad’s government, the regime still has the support of Russia, Iran and China.

Assad, in turn, said “the success of any initiative is the truthful intention to help Syria,” SANA said. It quoted Assad as saying that the “current battle targets resistance as a whole not only Syria.” Syria is Iran’s key ally in the Arab world, and a collapse of the Assad regime would be a major blow to attempts by Shiite-run Iran to expand its influence in the region.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty ImagesA group of Syrian refugees chant slogans "freedom to Syria" as International peace envoy arrives in the Altinozu camp in Hatay city.

In Washington, the Obama administration identified 117 Iranian aircraft it said are ferrying weapons to the Syrian regime. The planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air are delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of “humanitarian” shipments, the Treasury Department said.

The airlines are already subject to U.S. sanctions: Americans cannot do business with them and any assets they have in the U.S. are frozen. But the U.S. is now listing planes individually, partly to pressure Iraq to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments to Syria via Iraqi airspace.

Baghdad insists it will not allow its airspace for arms shipments from Iran to Syria. Earlier this month, the Iraqi government said Iran had assured it that the flights to Syria were delivering only humanitarian aid, and called on the United States to prove otherwise.

SANA / REUTERSSyria's President Bashar al-Assad, right, meets Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Damascus Monday.

The conflict in Syria began with peaceful protests that were attacked by government security forces and has since evolved into a civil war. Activists say at least 23,000 people have been killed. Rebel factions have also been accused of summary executions and other abuses.

In recent weeks, Syria’s military has stepped up air attacks on rebel-held areas, but has failed to drive opposition fighters out of territories they have seized, particularly in Syria’s north, near the border with Turkey.

Wednesday’s capture of a border crossing with Turkey was a strategic boost for the rebels, allowing them to ferry supplies into the country as the fighters try to tip the balance in the civil war.

Syria’s rebels have captured several other crossings into Turkey, as well as one on the border with Iraq. The seizure on Wednesday is believed to be the first time they have overrun a frontier post in the northern province of Raqqa, which could help in the fight for control of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, about 160 kilometers away.

“I am a free Syrian!” Zisha Bargash shouted, throwing his hands in the air as he watched the takeover from the Turkish side. “This is the beginning of the end Assad. Game over.”

National Post

Celente the WWIII at the doorstep

Japan launches QE8 as 20-year slump drags on

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is to buy a further 10 trillion yen (£79bn) of bonds, bringing the total accumulated so far in its battle against deflation to 80 trillion yen, or 20pc of Japanese GDP.

Jun Azumi, Japan’s finance minister, praised the bank’s “bold” efforts to hold down the yen, lending credence to suspicions that the real motive is to counter “beggar-thy-neighbour” currency devaluations by other powers and prevent the strong yen choking Japan’s export industry.

Yunosuke Ikeda, from Nomura, said the Bank of Japan had yielded to “immense political pressure” after months of criticism. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa is a champion of orthodoxy, a soulmate of Germany’s Jens Weidmann.

Mr Shirakawa stated on Wednesday – almost with regret – that Japannow has the “easiest monetary conditions” in the rich world. “I do not think that you could argue that the BoJ is less bold than the Fed,” he said.

David Rea, from Capital Economics, said attempts to weaken the yen are doomed to failure as Japan’s safe-haven role makes it a magnet for funds fleeing the unresolved crises in the rest of the world. He expects the yen to strengthen from 78 yen to the dollar to 70 yen by late next year. It was at 125 yen five years ago. China’s yuan is pegged to the dollar so Japan has suffered a dramatic loss of competitiveness against China.


Japan’s economy clearly contracted in the third quarter as the post-Fukushima rebound stalled and trade slumped across Asia. Japan’s exports fell 8pc in July. The trade deficit reached a one-month record of $6.6bn (£4.1bn).

The fresh stimulus extends the bond-buying plan through 2013 and prevents a cut-off as Japan grapples with a budget crisis and its own version of the US fiscal cliff. Fitch Ratings said parliament’s failure to raise the legal debt ceiling had halted bond issuance and created the risk of sudden spending cuts, possibly worth 8pc of GDP. “This would probably be extremely disruptive,” it said.

Mr Shirakawa denied that the latest move is part of a concerted easing with global authorities. “I do not think any central bank would act simply because another central bank acted,” he said.

Japan blazed the trail for modern QE in 2001 and has been on monetary life-support for a decade, yet the country is still stuck in perma-slump. Critics say Japan’s actions were too half-hearted to turn the tide. “They didn’t do enough,” said Simon Ward, from Henderson Global Investors.

Japan flooded the reserves of the commercial banks in its early rounds of QE, rather than buying assets. This changed in 2010, but the BoJ predominantly bought bonds from banks. Monetarists say this does little to boost the broad money supply. If so, the stimulus is unlikely to gain traction.

The Telegraph

Apple ready to shut down your iPhone remotely

Federal Reserve accused of setting U.S. up for crash

The Federal Reserve, that private organization that determines interest rates and the availability of money in America, is going to be examined by a congressional committee whose chairman is worried it is setting the nation up “for a much larger crash in future.”

The plans for a review of Fed actions were announced today by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who heads the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee.

The hearing will focus on the Fed’s recent practice of essentially loaning money to large banks and others for no interest at all.

“The Federal Reserve is relentless in pursuing a policy of zero interest rates, as manifest by their decision last week to engage in another round of quantitative easing and keep the federal funds rate at zero for another three years,” Paul said.

There are answers to your questions about the complicated Federal Reserve issue in “End the Fed,” “No More National Debt” and“The Case Against the Fed.”

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced just days ago another round of money printing by the U.S. government.

The Fed’s third attempt at such a maneuver will involve having the government buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities per month, with no set end date.

There is a petition process set up to urge members of Congress to act on plans to audit the Fed.

The central bank’s objective is to keep interest rates low, and thus trigger more spending and more hiring. The Fed has been trying to impact the economy for the duration of Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House, but its usual tool – lowering interest rates – is ineffective now since those rates have been approaching zero for most of that time.

Paul for years has advocated a full audit of the Federal Reserve, which routinely shrouds its actions in secrecy. Just last week, the U.S. House on a 327-98 vote adopted a bill that would set an audit process in motion. It now is going to the Senate, where Sen. Harry Reid previously has been receptive to the idea, although there’s no word whether he’ll take time for it now.

“The Fed is intent on ignoring that their policy of low interest rates in the past brought us the financial crisis of 2008 and their zero interest rate policy of today is prolonging the agony while sowing the seeds for a much larger crash in future,” Paul said today.

“Their manipulation of interest rates – essentially price setting – can only ever have destructive effects on the American economy. Artificially low interest rates continue to cause malinvestment and misallocation of resources throughout the economy. Savers and investors suffer from negative real interest rates, while the federal government takes advantage of the Fed’s zero interest rate policy to run up gargantuan fiscal deficits.

“These problems cannot and will not be remedied until the Fed stops manipulating the price of money,” he said.

The hearing is called, “The Price of Money: Consequences of the Federal Reserve’s Zero Interest Rate Policy,” and will be held on Sept. 21st, at 9:30 a.m. in room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.

Among those expected to testify are James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, and Lewis E. Lehrman, senior partner, L.E. Lehrman & Co.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas

Paul long has argued that the Federal Reserve simply is illegal. Some of his concerns have revolved around Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which assigns to Congress the right to coin money.

There is no mention in the Constitution of a central bank, and it wasn’t until the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 that the Fed was created.

Paul previously has said, “Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy.”

And he’s proposed repeatedly the idea of auditing the Fed to determine exactly what it has been doing and then begin making corrections. With a book titled “End the Fed,” he’s made no secret of his ultimate goal.

That the Fed is at least partly to blame for the financial problems that have developed in the U.S. seems not to be in dispute.

It was longtime Federal Reserve chairman Ben. S. Bernanke who admitted as much.

Bernanke said it was the Fed that caused the Great Depression, the worldwide economic downturn that persisted from 1929 until about 1939. It was the longest and worst depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. While originating in the U.S., it ended up causing drastic declines in output, severe unemployment and acute deflation in virtually every country on earth. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “the Great Depression ranks second only to the Civil War as the gravest crisis in American history.”

At a Nov. 8, 2002, conference to honor economist Milton Friedman’s 90th birthday, Bernanke, then a Federal Reserve governor, gave a speech at Friedman’s old home base, the University of Chicago.

After citing how Friedman and a co-author documented the Fed’s continual contraction of the money supply during the Depression and its aftermath – and the subsequent abandonment of the gold standard by many nations in order to stop the devastating monetary contraction – Bernanke added:

Before the creation of the Federal Reserve, Friedman and [Anna] Schwartz noted, bank panics were typically handled by banks themselves – for example, through urban consortiums of private banks called clearinghouses. If a run on one or more banks in a city began, the clearinghouse might declare a suspension of payments, meaning that, temporarily, deposits would not be convertible into cash. Larger, stronger banks would then take the lead, first, in determining that the banks under attack were in fact fundamentally solvent, and second, in lending cash to those banks that needed to meet withdrawals. Though not an entirely satisfactory solution – the suspension of payments for several weeks was a significant hardship for the public – the system of suspension of payments usually prevented local banking panics from spreading or persisting. Large, solvent banks had an incentive to participate in curing panics because they knew that an unchecked panic might ultimately threaten their own deposits.

It was in large part to improve the management of banking panics that the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. However, as Friedman and Schwartz discuss in some detail, in the early 1930s the Federal Reserve did not serve that function. The problem within the Fed was largely doctrinal: Fed officials appeared to subscribe to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s infamous “liquidationist” thesis, that weeding out “weak” banks was a harsh but necessary prerequisite to the recovery of the banking system. Moreover, most of the failing banks were small banks (as opposed to what we would now call money-center banks) and not members of the Federal Reserve System. Thus the Fed saw no particular need to try to stem the panics. At the same time, the large banks – which would have intervened before the founding of the Fed – felt that protecting their smaller brethren was no longer their responsibility. Indeed, since the large banks felt confident that the Fed would protect them if necessary, the weeding out of small competitors was a positive good, from their point of view.

In short, according to Friedman and Schwartz, because of institutional changes and misguided doctrines, the banking panics of the Great Contraction were much more severe and widespread than would have normally occurred during a downturn. …

History records that in 1913 President Woodrow Wilson approved the Federal Reserve Act but later reflected that his actions “unwittingly ruined my country.”

Wilson said that since the U.S. system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few, “we have become … one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world.”

WND