Al Qaeda Surges Toward Baghdad

Iraq developments show total failure of American-British 'adventure'


The events in Iraq are a result of the actions carried out by the US and the UK, and the situation has spiraled out of control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists.

“It has been reported that the UK foreign minister declared that the events in Iraq are, according to him, an illustration that terrorism is rampant in the region due to the absence of reconciliation in Syria,”Lavrov said.

“We’ve known that our English colleagues have a unique ability to twist everything. But I didn’t expect such cynicism, because the events that are taking place in Iraq are an illustration of a complete failure of the venture started by the US and the UK that allowed it to spiral out of control completely.”

“We express our solidarity with the Iraqi authorities, the Iraqi people who should restore peace and security in their country, but the actions of our Western partners raise a lot of questions,” Lavrov marked.




Lavrov noted that 11 years ago the US president announced the victory of democracy in Iraq, and that“the situation has deteriorated in geometrical progression.”

“The unity of Iraq has been called into question. The rampant terrorism is taking place due to the fact that the occupation troops didn’t pay any attention to the interior political processes, didn’t help the national dialogue, and only pursued their own interests,” Lavrov said.

On Monday night, the terrorists seized control of the town Mosul – the administrative center of the northern province of Nineveh. On Wednesday, the authorities informed the population about the fall of Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein and just 150km from Baghdad.

Sergey Lavrov has also touched on the developments in Ukraine. He said Moscow demands an immediate investigation into the reports of the use of banned weapons in Ukraine.
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Al Qaeda Surges Toward Baghdad

Now that 25 year old math PhD HFT programmers have finally figured out what this thing called Iraq is, and why headlines around it should factor into algo trading signals - especially those of crude oil - here, for their benefit is a summary of the latest events in Iraq, and also for everyone else confused why crude is back to levels not seen since last summer.

In broader terms (via RanSquawk):
The situation in Northern Iraq continues to deteriorate as the extremist ISIS/ISIL group took control of Mosul and then moved into Tirkit, which was later recaptured, in the north of Iraq which is near the Ceyhan-Kirkuk pipeline, which carries 1.6mln bbls per day. ISIS/ISIL forces then seized the Baiji refinery, the main refinery in Iraq, from Iraqi forces. (BBG/RTRS)
Iraqi forces and militants have now clashed in Ramadi, 100km from Baghdad, as ISIL extremist forces push towards the Iraqi capital. (BBG)
However Iraqi Oil Minister Luaibi said US planes may bomb North Iraq and denied ISIL took Baiji refinery in the North. The oil Minister also said Iraq average crude exports 2.6mln bbl/d, Iraq crude production 3.166mln bbl/d, Kirkuk production 167,000 bbl/d and Iraq has stored oil products and won't increase imports. (BBG/RTRS)
Washington has vowed to boost aid to Iraq and is mulling done strikes amid fears that Iraqi forces are crumbling in the face of militant attacks. (RTRS)

And in detail:

As the WSJ reports, after hard core Al Qaeda spin off ISIS (no relation to Sterling Archer) took over Saddam's home town of Tikrit yesterday, Iraq edged closer to all-out sectarian conflict on Thursday as Kurdish forces took control of a provincial capital in the oil-rich north and Sunni militants vowed to march on two cities revered by Shiite Muslims. Kurdish militia known as peshmerga said they had taken up positions in key government installations in Kirkuk, as forces of the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki abandoned their posts and fled in fear of advancing Sunni militants, an official in the office of the provincial governor said.

Reuters adds that "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," citing Jabbar Yawar. "No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now."

This in turn has put the output of the key Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, with a 1.6MM bbls/day capacity, at risk.



The militia were operating out of the headquarters of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division. The official said western parts of Kirkuk province were still under the control of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, an al Qaeda offshoot.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, a spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, said the al Qaeda-inspired group would advance on Karbala and Najaf, as well as the capital Baghdad, the Associated Press reported, citing an audio statement.

However, as we showed yesterday, the final ISIS target is none other than the city of Baghdad, and the overthrow of the Iraq government entirely.

In Tikrit, militants have set up military councils to run the towns they captured, residents said.

“They came in hundreds to my town and said they are not here for blood or revenge but they seek reforms and to impose justice. They picked a retired general to run the town,” said a tribal figure from the town of Alam, north of Tikrit.

“'Our final destination will be Baghdad, the decisive battle will be there,' that’s what their leader of the militants group kept repeating," the tribal figure said.

The powerful Shiite leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, urged his followers on Wednesday to form military units to defend the two cities, which along with Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are considered sacred by Shiites.

Before he suspended its operations in 2008, Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, once estimated to have nearly 60,000 members, played a major role in the country's Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict.

His call for military mobilization came after Mr. Maliki said the government would arm citizens who volunteer to fight militants, after the fall of Mosul on Tuesday.

Security was stepped up in Baghdad to prevent the Sunni militants from reaching the capital, which is itself divided into Sunni and Shi'ite neighborhoods and saw ferocious sectarian street fighting in 2006-2007 under U.S. occupation.

* * *

The Kurdish capture of Kirkuk instantly overturns the fragile balance of power that has held Iraq together as a state since Saddam's fall.

Iraq's Kurds have done well since 2003, running their own affairs while being given a fixed percentage of the country's overall oil revenue. But with full control of Kirkuk - and the vast oil deposits beneath it - they could earn more on their own, eliminating the incentive to remain part of a failing Iraq.

Maliki's army already lost control of much of the Euphrates valley west of the capital to ISIL last year, and with the evaporation of the army in the Tigris valley to the north this week, the government could be left in control only of Baghdad and areas south.

The surge also potentially leaves the long desert frontier between Iraq and Syria effectively in ISIL hands, advancing its stated goal of erasing the border altogether and creating a single state ruled according to mediaeval Islamic principles.

Maliki described the fall of Mosul as a "conspiracy" and said the security forces who had abandoned their posts would be punished. He also said Iraqis were volunteering in several provinces to join army brigades to fight ISIL.

In a statement on its Twitter account, ISIL said it had taken Mosul as part of a plan "to conquer the entire state and cleanse it from the apostates", referring to the province of Nineveh of which the city is the capital.

Militants were reported to have executed soldiers and policemen after their seizure of some towns.

* * *

And while all of the above explains oil's spike today, now that the world has yet another geopolitical hotzone to follow, following the China-Japan naval conflict, the China-Vietnam escalation, the Thailand martial law, the Ukraine civil war and now the Iraq collapse, expect the USDJPY rigging crew to ignite enough momentum to send the S&P 500 to fresh all time highs.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Tel Aviv Gay Pride Week

Oh Israel how far you are from GOD!!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9
Whether ye know not, that wicked men shall not wield the kingdom of God? Do not ye err; neither lechers, neither men that serve maumets [neither men serving to idols], neither adulterers, neither lechers against kind, neither they that do lechery with men,

"According to our estimates and the Tel Aviv Municipality, more than 25,000 tourists are visiting Tel Aviv these days ahead of the events, a 15% increase from last year," says Shai Doitsh, chairman of the Israeli national LGBT task force and an expert on gay tourism.

 According to Doitsh, thanks to intensive work conducted in the past two years, including hosting reporters from around the world, new markets have opened for guests arriving for Gay Pride Week.

"This year we will also be able to see tourists from the United States, Australia, South America, including Brazil and Argentina, and quite a few tourists from Japan, alongside masses of tourists arriving from all over Europe," he says.

Credit to Ynetnews



Romans 1:22-32
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Nunez Report

12 Numbers About The Global Financial Ponzi Scheme That Should Be Burned Into Your Brain

The numbers that you are about to see are likely to shock you. They prove that the global financial Ponzi scheme is far more extensive than most people would ever dare to imagine. As you will see below, the total amount of debt in the world is now more than three times greater than global GDP. In other words, you could take every single good and service produced on the entire planet this year, next year and the year after that and it still would not be enough to pay off all the debt. But even that number pales in comparison to the exposure that big global banks have to derivatives contracts. It is hard to put into words how reckless they have been. At the low end of the estimates, the total exposure that global banks have to derivatives contracts is 710 trillion dollars. That is an amount of money that is almost unimaginable. And the reality of the matter is that there is really not all that much actual "money" in circulation today. In fact, as you will read about below, there is only a little bit more than a trillion dollars of U.S. currency that you can actually hold in your hands in existence. If we all went out and tried to close our bank accounts and investment portfolios all at once, that would create a major league crisis. The truth is that our financial system is little more than a giant pyramid scheme that is based on debt and paper promises. It is literally a miracle that it has survived for so long without collapsing already.

When Americans think about the financial crisis that we are facing, the largest number that they usually can think of is the size of the U.S. national debt. And at over 17 trillion dollars, it truly is massive. But it is actually the 2nd-smallest number on the list below. The following are 12 numbers about the global financial Ponzi scheme that should be burned into your brain...

-$1,280,000,000,000 - Most people are really surprised when they hear this number. Right now, there is only 1.28 trillion dollars worth of U.S. currency floating around out there.

-$17,555,165,805,212.27 - This is the size of the U.S. national debt. It has grown by more than 10 trillion dollars over the past ten years.

-$32,000,000,000,000 - This is the total amount of money that the global elite have stashed in offshore banks (that we know about).

-$48,611,684,000,000 - This is the total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts.

-$59,398,590,000,000 - This is the total amount of debt (government, corporate, consumer, etc.) in the U.S. financial system. 40 years ago, this number was just a little bit above 2 trillion dollars.

-$70,088,625,000,000 - This is the total exposure that JPMorgan Chase has to derivatives contracts.

-$71,830,000,000,000 - This is the approximate size of the GDP of the entire world.

-$75,000,000,000,000 - This is approximately the total exposure that German banking giant Deutsche Bank has to derivatives contracts.

-$100,000,000,000,000 - This is the total amount of government debt in the entire world. This amount has grown by $30 trillion just since mid-2007.

-$223,300,000,000,000 - This is the approximate size of the total amount of debt in the entire world.

-$236,637,271,000,000 - According to the U.S. government, this is the total exposure that the top 25 banks in the United States have to derivatives contracts. But those banks only have total assets of about 9.4 trillion dollars combined. In other words, the exposure of our largest banks to derivatives outweighs their total assets by a ratio of about 25 to 1.

-$710,000,000,000,000 to $1,500,000,000,000,000 - The estimates of the total notional value of all global derivatives contracts generally fall within this range. At the high end of the range, the ratio of derivatives exposure to global GDP is about 21 to 1.

Most people tend to assume that the "authorities" have fixed whatever caused the financial world to almost end back in 2008, but that is not the case at all.

In fact, the total amount of government debt around the globe has grown by about 40 percent since then, and the "too big to fail banks" have collectively gotten 37 percent larger since then.

Our "authorities" didn't fix anything. All they did was reinflate the bubble and kick the can down the road for a little while.

I don't know how anyone can take an honest look at the numbers and not come to the conclusion that this is completely and totally unsustainable.

How much debt can the global financial system take before it utterly collapses?

How recklessly can the big banks behave before the house of cards that they have constructed implodes underneath them?

For the moment, everything seems fine. Stock markets around the world have been setting record highs and credit is flowing like wine.

But at some point a day of reckoning is coming, and when it arrives it is going to be the most painful financial crisis the world has ever seen.

If you plan on getting ready before it strikes, now is the time to do so.

Credit to Economic Collapse

Before Ezekiel’s Fire it is Nuclear War

Up to this point in time, I have not spoken much on what might happen between now and the coming of Ezekiel’s Fire. I’ve hinted at different possibilities, but I haven’t laid out the most likely scenarios. With all that I have been hearing lately, now is the time to talk about what might be happening over the next few months or years.

So, for the remainder of this week we’ll be talking about what you can expect as we move ever deeper into the most dangerous period of time in human history – The Last Days. And, I will begin with what I believe to be most likely – Nuclear War.


Before Ezekiel’s Fire – Nuclear War

Like most human beings, I tend to wear rose-colored glasses and err on the side of great expectations. I tend to believe that things will work out, and that any ‘rough patch’ can be quickly dealt with before going on. Unfortunately that is NOT the case.

Things are NOT going to get better, and the road down the other side of this mountain leads to the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Will there be good moments on the way down?

I believe so, and I am certainly hoping for them. I believe that Ezekiel’s Fire will deal a temporary setback to the rise of the Antichrist Kingdom. There will also be the salvation of Israel and the gospel being sent around the world one last time. Those of us who have been complacent in our spiritual life will be forced to rely on God, and for that, we will shine brightly in the coming darkness.

The Cost Will Be High

The problem is that the cost will be very high. Millions and – more probably – billions of people will die. The survivors will suffer greatly, and many will be forced to live with a jackboot on their neck. And, I hate the thought of ANY of that.

But, our ancient enemy, Satan, started this war, and this is the price of victory. God will win, and there is a place in heaven prepared for all who willingly take their place in this fight.

So, what comes next?

I don’t think that we can be completely certain about the events that will define the next few months and years. But, I believe that there are some things that we can be relatively sure of.

The Fall Of The American Economy

One thing is for sure:

The American economy is going to collapse

There is no possible way for America’s economy to survive in it’s current form. It is just not possible. There is just too much debt and too many promises. And, America no longer produces much in the way of tangible goods. The only thing that America really excels at is pornography, war and heroin. So, the American Empire is destined to take its place upon the scrap heap of history.

Unfortunately, great empires tend to not go quietly into the night. And, America has become the most powerful empire in 16 centuries. Even Rome did not have the power that America has today – not even close. But, America’s great power will not be able to hold back her eventual fall.

The Fall Of The American Empire

So, the question remains:

How will America fall?

I would love to believe that it will be like the slow, gracious decline that popular history records of the British Empire. But, the Brits didn’t have nuclear weapons, and they didn’t have enemies able and willing to use them.

Nor were the Brits quite so hideously amoral as the current American government. There was at least some semblance of honor among the British imperialists. They certainly didn’t seem as bad as the amoral psychopaths that are running things in Washington, D.C.

So, when I heard Paul Craig Roberts talk about Washington’s interest in attacking Russia or China with nuclear weapons… well… I knew how that would end. America’s enemies will NOT allow the US to get in the first shot. They cannot allow that to happen.

So, how will America be destroyed?

Four Kinds Of Attack

To my mind, there are four possible kinds of attack that could be launched against the US:
Nuclear
Biological
Cyber
Financial

And, they will probably use all four.

We are already in a financial war with Russia and China, and that war threatens to escalate further. And, a financial attack could be followed up with insurgency and terrorism within the US. Discontent with the US government is growing in America, so Russia and China will find fertile ground for covert activity – if they choose to go that route.

But, none of that will blunt America’s ability and willingness to use her nuclear arsenal to further her imperial aims. And America’s enemies MUST neutralize American nuclear weapons to have any hope of surviving the coming years – because America WILL use her nuclear arsenal when her empire begins to falter and then fall.

Chinese Bio Weapons

The Chinese are on record as having invested in biological weapons developmentinstead of Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups. The fact that they are now putting money into Aircraft Carriers means that they might have succeeded in their effort to develop an effective biological weapon system.

The question is whether such biological weapons could neutralize the personnel manning America’s nuclear weapons – which, by the way, includes the President of the United States.

Can the Chinese and Russians knock out America’s Nuclear Launch System?

A Successful Nuclear Strike On The US

I don’t know. I don’t see how they could do it permanently. But, they might be able to cause enough of a delay to allow Russia and China to take out America’s nuclear weapons capability.

There could be some combination of bio weapon attack along with a cyber attack that could slow, or even neutralize US weapons systems like nuclear silos and submarines. They could then launch an EMP attack coupled with direct nuclear strikes.

China has already successfully tested a nuclear-capable, hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) that cannot be stopped by anti-missile defenses, and Russia has an ICBM in production with highly maneuverable, hypersonic warheads that also cannot be stopped by current anti-missile defenses.

Russia And China Backed Into A Corner


The point of this exercise is to show that Russia and China are capable of destroying the US. And, they may even be able to achieve this without direct harm to themselves.

Do they want to do this?

No, I do not believe so. However, if the reports are true that there are idiots in Washington - but, I repeat myself – who think that they can win a nuclear war…

Well, does that leave Russia and China with any choice?

No, it does not.

Worse, it appears that America is becoming more and more aggressive as she seeks to invade Russian and Chinese spheres of influence. It really does seem like the US is becoming the rabid world power that cannot be stopped without the use of force. And, there appears to be only one kind of weapon that has any chance of defeating the US:

Nuclear Weapons.

Credit to John Little  OmegaShock.com

BLOOD ON THE ALTAR Part Number 8

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PART 8 - WHAT DARKNESS LURKS WITHIN

s

The Internet, particularly the Dark Web aspect of its underbelly, slithers about the planet gobbling up souls and separating children from their parents through slick enticements and alluring promises for becoming better, becoming more, becoming a god.

You may find it difficult to imagine a world in which young people line up to be integrated body and soul into the Matrix Machine, but that day is nearly upon us! Those who are now college age never knew a world without networking. They have been online since childhood. Children born today will grow up with constant connectivity and an assumption that where the Internet is concerned, “it’s all good.” Let me assure you, it is NOT ALL GOOD. The linked software and hardware is waking up—evolving—toward a point where passing a Turing Test^[i] (such as reportedly finally happened this week) will be child’s play. Computers will achieve sentient status, and legal eagles will peck each other to death debating the rights of the world’s newest “netizens.” AI is a reality. It’s already being employed by the military to operate drones, whether as a single UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or a swarm of tiny UAVs that resembles insects flying in eerie formation. An article from a recent issue of the Daily Mail reports that US regulators want all cars to communicate with each other (networked) by 2017.^[ii]

According to Shawn Helton of the excellent, analytical website Global Research (www.globalresearch.ca), the age of artificial intelligence and drones is upon us:

To see how dangerous artificial intelligence has become, all one has to do is look at the work of Eliezer Yudkowsky, a Research Fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). Eliezer’s work focuses on the evolution of AI self-modification where strong artificial intelligence or Seed AI will be able to program itself, optimizing its own cognitive functions similar to the malevolent computer Hal in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.^[iii]

An article posted on January 3, 2014, at RT.comreveals what the US has planned for the next phase of its “drone” program and how AI technology is being sold as a cost-saving advantage:

Unmanned aerial systems currently constitute a major drain on the military’s budget. Officials hope to ease this burden without sacrificing any firepower by shifting many of the human responsibilities to the drone itself. Taken literally, this process involves ending the execution of step-by-step commands and employing commands that the report notes may “require deviation from pre-programmed tasks.”

Along with surpassing budgetary constraints, the authors of the Roadmap anticipate that, should US drone dominance ever be met with an adversary, American strategies will be “more effective through greater automation and greater performance.”

To make this goal a reality, the Roadmap [Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap^[iv]] predicts the development of “swarms” of drones that are shot from a larger, unmanned vehicle that carries them within range of a target. The so-called mother ship would be guided by an onboard camera with a human pilot guiding from a military base. When that pilot identifies a target within a range of 250 nautical miles, he would fire the drone swarm with the aim that they will explode on target.^[v]

Those who know their Bible surely must be thinking of a passage from Joel 2 that predicts such “swarms”:

Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is near at hand;

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks.

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path, and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:1–12, emphasis added)

The precise meaning of this passage is a bit murky to us still, but it clearly deals with the end times, and we are fast approaching those perilous times. Some have interpreted Joel 2 as representing a last-days army of believers who march upon Jerusalem; however, these “mighty men” behave in very non-human ways. Some predict that this could be a last-days army of hybrids—half human, half angel—who fulfill God’s prophecy and march at His command. Others say this is a fiendish army from hell, perhaps a corollary of or even a reference to the fallen angel armies that rise from the abyss with Apollyon. It is also quite possible that these unflagging entities are military units, some on the ground, others in the air, that include drones and robotic entities with autonomous intelligence. Just remember that God is allowing this army of immortals (so to speak) for HIS PURPOSES. Later in this same chapter, the Lord implores His people to turn to Him and perhaps avoid this judgment from “the northern army” (Joel 2:20). The identity of these “people” who invade, these “mighty men” who cannot be killed and swarm like locusts, may be hinted at by the Hebrew word translated as “people.” The word is am (pronounced “ahm”). Could America be involved? US drone operations are multiplying at a dizzying rate, so it is not inconceivable. But I would suggest something even MORE chilling: that the drones now being manufactured with autonomous capabilities will soon form a robotic army for a sentient Internet entity, the “image of the Beast”:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

            And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.

            And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If any man have an ear, let him hear.

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Rev. 13:1–10, emphasis added)

This Beast rises from the “sea,” which may indicate that this is Apollyon, the leader of the terrifying horde that rises like smoke from the abyss. Regardless of his identity, God will permit this being to “make war with the saints, and to overcome them.” The Beast will rule this entire world as one massive kingdom! At one time, this might have proven rather difficult, but with the ability to “run to and fro” via the Internet, particularly an Internet that may actually waken (more on this later), this Beast will already have a “body” to which he will become the “head” (in direct imitation of Christ our Lord and head of the body of believers). Yet there is more:

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, that had the wound by a sword, and did live.

And he hath power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads,

And that no man might buy or sell, except he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. (Rev. 13:11–18, emphasis added)

Let’s take a few minutes to unpack these verses. The Beast from the sea (Antichrist) rises to rule, but he is wounded in the head, ostensibly a mortal wound; yet he survives. Remember the Eden promise from God that one day a hero would arise from the seed of the woman (the hero is Christ) and that the serpent (nachash and most likely also the dragon spirit behind Antichrist) would “bruise his heel,” but that Christ would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3: 15)? This is the fulfillment of that promise. Christ died and rose again on the third day (He was only “bruised” in the heel). The serpent (bruised in the head) will rise again also or at least make it appear that he has died and risen, and the world will turn to him as fulfillment of every eschatology known to man. The Beast will be hailed as Messiah, Mahdi, Maitreya, Shiva, Vishnu, Ahura Mazda…you name it.

The world will marvel at the Beast, but then John tells us that a second beast arises from the land (appearing like a “lamb,” another Christ-image that I will henceforth refer to as the “Antilamb”) who serves as high priest to the first Beast. This “lamb” speaks with the voice of a dragon (serpent, a picture of Antichrist, Lucifer, Apollyon, the Ancient Enemy). It should chill the soul of any Christian that the brand name of a voice-recognition software product is actually called “Dragon Speak”!

Take note that this Antilamb has the power to make the image speak, wage war, and murder any who will not worship the Antichrist. How is this possible? The mark. The identifier that the Antilamb forces all not written in the True Lamb’s Book of Life to take! No one without the mark will be able to work, buy, or sell without the mark, because the Internet Beast, the Leviathan that has awoken (being given “life”) will keep tabs on everything we do via a personal WiFi connection! Of course, there will likely be a “carrot” to go along with this “stick”: Those with the mark will perhaps receive direct stimulation that excites pleasure areas of the brain. An episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation featured such stimulation in the form of a virtual reality “game” that rewarded players via a headset similar to Google Glass, but with a means to transcutaneously activate deep sections of the brain.^[vi]

This constant monitoring has already begun. In 2009, the Telegraph ran an article predicting an Orwellian age:

The European Union is spending millions of pounds developing “Orwellian” technologies designed to scour the internet and CCTV (Closed-Circuit TV) images for “abnormal behavior.”

A five-year research programme, called Project Indect, aims to develop computer programmes which act as “agents” to monitor and process information from web sites, discussion forums, file servers, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers.

Its main objectives include the “automatic detection of threats and abnormal behaviour or violence.”^[vii] (emphasis added)

Already in the US, social media giants such as Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., scrape every picture and every post, looking for “hot words” and images that not only reveal where you we are via metadata (hidden information within the image that reveal GPS [global positioning satellite] data and date), but that enable the scraper software to make a map of our workplaces, favorite hangouts, and even homes, and to “tag” every face in every image it finds using facial-recognition programming.

Now, those of you who are skeptical about my hypothesis that the Internet has the scientific capability to awaken to “life,” consider the massive brain-mapping projects across the globe (entire list available at Wikipedia; see citation):

aHuman, hybrid of latest neurobiology data aimed to implement human personality by means of computer program, started in 2008 as independent research.

Blue Brain Project, an attempt to create a synthetic brain by reverse engineering the mammalian brain down to the molecular level.

HNeT (Holographic Neural Technology), a technology by AND (Artificial Neural Devices) Corporation based on nonlinear phase coherence/decoherence principles.

Hierarchical Temporal Memory, a technology by Numenta to capture and replicate the properties of the neocortex.

Recursive Cortical Networks, a technology by Vicarious that uses a probabilistic graphical model inspired by the structure of the neocortex.

Visual Hierarchical Modular Neural Network, a software technology by TinMan Systems to visually construct a flow of human thought and logic to produce autonomous artificial intelligence.

AILEENN (Artificial Intelligence Logic Electronic Emulation Neural Network), an entire new cloud-based PaaS platform as a service and IaaS infrastructure for AI represented as a ubiquitous entity based on Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic with universal inputs, outputs, and actuators aiming to the democratization and human-like interaction as the ultimate resource planner, decision-making process, and actuator. By the inventor and founder of TDVision.

Cyc, an attempt to assemble an ontology and database of everyday knowledge, enabling human-like reasoning.

Eurisko, a language by Douglas Lenat for solving problems, consisting of heuristics, including some for how to use and change its heuristics.

Mycin, an early medical expert system.

NEIL, an attempt to assemble a common-sense knowledge base from processing random images from the Internet.

Open Mind Common Sense, a project based at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab to build a large, common-sense knowledge base from online contributions.

PAN, a publicly available text analyzer.

Questsin, uses Query by Example and features a dictionary, knowledge base, repository, reference, and thesaurus.

Siri, an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator with a voice interface in Apple Inc.’s iOS.

SNePS, a simultaneously logic-based, frame-based, and network-based knowledge representation, reasoning, and acting system.

Watson, a question-answering system developed by IBM to play the Jeopardy! game show.

Wolfram Alpha, an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, capable of responding to particularly phrased, natural-language, fact-based questions.^[viii]

Recently, in response to the European Union Brain Project announcement, President Barack Obama informed the public that US scientists would be launching a similar project called BRAIN (Brain Research through Advanced Innovative Neurotechnologies).^[ix] Based upon the resource-sharing structure utilized in the Human Genome Project (codirected by transhumanist George Church), BRAIN plans to map every neural connection within the human body, also called “the connectome.” Many neurologists believe the human connectome equals who we are—it’s our mind, our personality, our inner spirit. Transhumanists hope one day soon to upload their digital equivalent connectomes to new bodies, and these bodies would in turn be interconnected much like the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Borg are born human, but they are “upgraded” and “enhanced” with technology that makes each one a human/cyborg soldier within a hive mind ruled and directed by a queen.

The Christian body must unify if we are to serve Christ well. We must use the time left to us to exemplify Christ as Redeemer and King. It is through His blood and that alone that we humans will find eternal life, not through being uploaded to a mainframe. Sadly, rather than heed Christ’s commandments to love God and love others as we love ourselves, we choose to openly squabble. The world needs Christ, but it will accept Antichrist. The doctrine of transhumanism and Internet sentience will draw away our neighbors and our loved ones. Many preachers avoid sermons on prophetic topics, but prophecy has never been needed more than now!

Will Christians be enticed into worshiping the Beast? My personal belief is that anyone who truly has accepted Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary, proclaiming Him as Savior, is “marked” with the Holy Spirit: “Now he who establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1:21–22).

We who belong to the true BODY OF CHRIST have the Holy Spirit to protect us, but that doesn’t mean a Christian might not be tempted, and perhaps almost persuaded, by the Beast’s lies. Now is the time to put aside petty factions and unite as a body! The time is nearly up. Science fiction, dear reader, is about to become science fact, and humanity could cease to exist if not for God’s promise to intervene. As He says in Scripture:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

            And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matt. 24:21–22, emphasis added)

The Internet is shaping your life, spying on you, and making judgments about your posts and pictures. Eventually, it will have the connected drone power to act upon any and all inferences it may make about you and your loved ones. Those who now build the soft and hard architecture that feeds this rising image of the Beast probably have no concept of the terrifying potential they are programming into it. It will not fully rise until the Antilamb is granted the power to give it life, but the Internet is stirring with disturbingly powerful panoptics.

The Antichrist will claim to be Christ, the Messiah, and he will likely come to the world stage at the conclusion of a “world war” that he will claim is the battle of Armageddon. He will say that his arrival fulfills all prophecies, including Christ’s promise to “come with clouds”:

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

            And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

            Who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.(Acts 1:9–11, emphasis added)

The disciples saw Christ taken to His Father’s throne via a cloud, and the “men in white apparel” promised that Christ WILL RETURN IN LIKE MANNER. Many believe that this means He will return via a cloud, or that clouds will play an important role in His appearing. The Antichrist may one day soon use the idea of “cloud computing” to claim fulfillment of this prophecy. Cloud computing allows Internet users to store digital information in what is “the cloud.” Actually, this means it is not stored locally, but on a server somewhere (perhaps one owned by Google and floating somewhere at sea!).

Shakespeare’s witches invoked evil spirits and ghosts by the “pricking of their thumbs.” You and I and our children, and soon every person in the world, will feed information, most of it dark and unholy, to the sleeping Beast we call the Internet. However, every bit and byte—every one and zero, every typing of your thumbs—is part of a global effort by spiritual forces to awaken a massive image that will control and cull all those who do not worship at its silicon feet.

And, oh, one more thing.

Did you know that today’s computers are about to be replaced with infinitely more capable and potentially lifelike DNA-based computers? Such computers will not only qualify for NASA’s “evolution” requirement for life, but they will also satisfy the traditional caveat that all life must be based on nucleic acids. And, by being based on DNA or RNA, this also means the new life form is based on CARBON. Six electrons. Six neutrons. Six protons…the number of a man.

666.

A great preacher once told me that Christ will return for His bride when the number (known only to the Father) is complete. When that final soul says yes to the Holy Spirit’s calling, the final judgments commence.

Perhaps, the Internet Beast awaits a similar, perfect number.

Just one more “Like,” and the end will begin.

Credit to Raidersnewsupdate.com

Russia Is Doing It – Russia Is Actually Abandoning The Dollar

The Russians are actually making a move against the petrodollar.  It appears that they are quite serious about their de-dollarizationstrategy.  The largest natural gas producer on the planet, Gazprom, has signed agreements with some of their biggest customers to switch payments for natural gas from U.S. dollars to euros.  And Gazprom would have never done this without the full approval of the Russian government, because the Russian government holds a majority stake in Gazprom.  There hasn't been a word about this from the big mainstream news networks in the United States, but this ishuge.  When you are talking about Gazprom, you are talking about a company that is absolutely massive.  It is one of the largest companies in the entire world and it makes up 8 percent of Russian GDP all by itself.  It holds 18 percent of the natural gas reserves of the entire planet, and it is also a very large oil producer.  So for Gazprom to make a move like this is extremely significant.

When Barack Obama decided to slap some meaningless economic sanctions on Russia a while back, he probably figured that the world would forget about them after a few news cycles.

But the Russians do not forget, and they certainly do not forgive.

At this point the Russians are turning their back on the United States, and that includes the U.S. dollar.

What you are about to read is absolutely stunning, and yet you have not heard about it from any major U.S. news source.  But what Gazprom is now doing has the potential to really shake up the global financial landscape.  The following is an excerpt from a news report by the ITAR-TASS news agency...

Gazprom Neft had signed additional agreements with consumers on a possible switch from dollars to euros for payments under contracts, the oil company's head Alexander Dyukov told a press conference.

"Additional agreements of Gazprom Neft on the possibility to switch contracts from dollars to euros are signed. With Belarus, payments in roubles are agreed on," he said.

Dyukov said nine of ten consumers had agreed to switch to euros.

And Gazprom is not the only big company in Russia that is moving away from the U.S. dollar.

According to RT, other large Russian corporations are moving to other currencies as well...

Russia will start settling more contracts in Asian currencies, especially the yuan, in order to lessen its dependence on the dollar market, and because of Western-led sanctions that could freeze funds at any moment.

“Over the last few weeks there has been a significant interest in the market from large Russian corporations to start using various products in renminbi and other Asian currencies, and to set up accounts in Asian locations,” Pavel Teplukhin, head of Deutsche Bank in Russia, told the Financial Times, which was published in an article on Sunday.

Diversifying trade accounts from dollars to the Chinese yuan and other Asian currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar and Singapore dollar has been a part of Russia’s pivot towards Asian as tension with Europe and the US remain strained over Russia’s action in Ukraine.

And according to Zero Hedge, "expanding the use of non-dollar currencies" is one of the main things that major Russian banks are working on right now...

Andrei Kostin, chief executive of state bank VTB, said that expanding the use of non-dollar currencies was one of the bank’s “main tasks”. “Given the extent of our bilateral trade with China, developing the use of settlements in roubles and yuan [renminbi] is a priority on the agenda, and so we are working on it now,” he told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during a briefing. “Since May, we have been carrying out this work.”

“There is nothing wrong with Russia trying to reduce its dependency on the dollar, actually it is an entirely reasonable thing to do,” said the Russia head of another large European bank. He added that Russia’s large exposure to the dollar subjects it to more market volatility in times of crisis. “There is no reason why you have to settle trade you do with Japan in dollars,” he said.

The entire country is undergoing a major financial conversion.

This is just staggering.

Meanwhile, Russians have been pulling money out of U.S. banks at an unprecedented pace...

So in March, without waiting for the sanction spiral to kick in, Russians yanked their moolah out of US banks. Deposits by Russians in US banks suddenly plunged from $21.6 billion to $8.4 billion. They yanked out 61% of their deposits in just one month! They'd learned their lesson in Cyprus the hard way: get your money out while you still can before it gets confiscated.

For those that don't think that all of this could hurt the U.S. economy or the U.S. financial system, you really need to go back and read my previous article entitled "De-Dollarization: Russia Is On The Verge Of Dealing A Massive Blow To The Petrodollar".  The truth is that the U.S. economic system is extremely dependent on the financial behavior of the rest of the globe.

Because nearly everyone else around the rest of the planet uses our currency to trade with one another, that keeps the value of the U.S. dollar artificially high and it keeps our borrowing costs artificially low.

As Russia abandons the U.S. dollar that will hurt, but if other nations start following suit that could eventually cause a financial avalanche.

What we are witnessing right now is just a turning point.

The effects won't be felt right away.  So don't expect this to cause financial disaster next week or next month.

But this is definitely another element in the "perfect storm" that is starting to brew for the U.S. economy.

Yes, we have been living in a temporary bubble of false stability for a few years.  However, the long-term outlook has not gotten any better.  In fact, the long-term trends that are destroying our economic and financial foundations just continue to get even worse.

So enjoy the "good times" while you still can.

They certainly will not last too much longer.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Trajectory to Collapse

Russian Bombers Fly Within 50 Miles of California Coast

Four Russian strategic bombers triggered U.S. air defense systems while conducting practice bombing runs near Alaska this week, with two of the Tu-95 Bear H aircraft coming within 50 miles of the California coast, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) confirmed Wednesday.

“The last time we saw anything similar was two years ago on the Fourth of July,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Norad spokesman, told the Free Beacon.

Davis said the latest Bear H incursions began Monday around 4:30 p.m. Pacific time when radar detected the four turbo-prop powered bombers approaching the U.S. air defense zone near the far western Aleutian Islands.

Two U.S. Air Force F-22 jets were scrambled and intercepted the bombers over the Aleutians.

After tracking the bombers as they flew eastward, two of the four Bears turned around and headed west toward the Russian Far East. The bombers are believed to be based at the Russian strategic base near Anadyr, Russia.

The remaining two nuclear-capable bombers then flew southeast and around 9:30 P.M. entered the U.S. northern air defense zone off the coast of Northern California.

Two U.S. F-15 jets were deployed and intercepted the bombers as they eventually flew within 50 miles of the coast before turning around and heading west.

A defense official said the four bombers also were supported by two IL-78 aerial refueling tankers that were used for mid-air refueling during the operation this week.

The Tu-95 is a long-range strike aircraft capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles. Other versions are equipped with intelligence-gathering sensors and electronic warfare gear. It has a range of around 9,400 miles without refueling.

Davis said the aircraft “acted professionally” and the bombers appeared to be conducting a training mission.

“They typically do long range aviation training in the summer and it is not unusual for them to be more active during this time,” he said. “We assess this was part of training. And they did not enter territorial airspace.”

The bomber incursion is the latest Russian nuclear saber-rattling amid stepped up tensions over Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R., Texas), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called the Russian flights “intentional provocations.”

“Putin is doing this specifically to try to taunt the U.S. and exercise, at least in the reported world, some sort of saber-rattling, muscle-flexing kind of nonsense,” Conaway said in an interview. “Truth of the matter is we would have squashed either one of those [bombers] like baby seals.”

“It’s a provocation and it’s unnecessary. But it fits in with [Putin’s] macho kind of saber-rattling,” he said, adding that he expects Russia will carry out more of these kinds of incidents in the future.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former Alaska commander for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said he does not remember a case of Russian strategic bombers coming that close to the U.S. coast.

“Again we see the Obama administration through their covert—but overt to Mr. Putin—unilateral disarmament, inviting adventurism by the Russians,” McInerney said in an email.

“At the height of the Cold War I do not remember them getting this close. Mr. Putin had to approve this mission and he is just showing his personal contempt for President Obama right after meeting him in Normandy less than a week ago,” McInerney said.

McInerney said no American president has been treated with such disrespect in U.S. history.

“A sad day indeed and at the same time Mosul and Tikrit [Iraq] fall to radical Islamists after the Obama administration’s failed Iraq policy,” he added. “He snatched defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.”

The Alaska-California bombers flight also came a month after a Russian Su-27 interceptor jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan.

In that incident on April 23, the Su-27 jet flew close to the RC-135, turned to reveal its air-to-air missiles to the crew, and then flew dangerously close to within 100 feet of the cockpit in a maneuver military officials called reckless.

Davis said in the past 10 years, 50 Bear H bombers were intercepted near U.S. air defense zone, although he acknowledged that Monday’s flight near California was unusual.

In April, a telephone conversation between two Russian ambassadors was posted on YouTube and appeared to show the diplomats joking about the Ukraine crisis and discussing the possible incursions in the United States and Eastern Europe.

The leaked conversation between Igor Nilokaevich Chubarov and Sergey Viktorovich Bakharev, Russian ambassadors to the African nations Eritrea and Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively, includes references to post-Crimea Russian imperialism to include Eastern Europe and “Californialand” and “Miamiland.”

Russian Bear H flights elsewhere have increased in recent years.

In February 2013, two of the bombers were intercepted as they circled the U.S. Pacific island of Guam, in a rare long-range incursion.

Two Bear Hs also were intercepted near Alaska on April 28, 2013.

A Russian Bear H incursion in Asia took place in in July 2013 when two Tu-95s were intercepted by Japanese and South Korean jets near the Korean peninsula and Japan’s northern Hokkaido Island.

The July 4, 2012, bomber flights near the West Coast were the first time since the Cold War that Russian jets has traveled so close to the U.S. coastline.

That action followed an earlier intrusion by Tu-95s near Alaska that were part of large-scale strategic nuclear exercises by the Russians aimed at practicing strikes on enemy air defenses.

Russia has stepped up provocative nuclear war games in recent years as part of propaganda efforts to display Moscow’s dislike of U.S. missile defenses in Europe.




Credit to the Washington Free Beacon

Google’s New All-Seeing Satellites Have Huge Potential For Good and Evil

The reach of Google’s online empire is hard to overstate. In a sense, the Google search engine is the loom through which the entirety of the public internet is woven. With tools like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, the company also handles many of our private online tasks. Using the data generated by these services to target online ads, Google has built a business that generates tens of billions of dollars a year.

Now, with the $500 million purchase of Skybox, a startup that shoots high-res photos and video with low-cost satellites, Google can extend its reach far across the offline world. Thanks to its knack for transforming mass quantities of unstructured data into revenue-generating insights, the unprecedented stream of aerial imagery to which the company is gaining access could spark a whole new category of high-altitude insights into the workings of economies, nations, and nature itself.

But this acquisition will also demand assurances from Google that it will incorporate privacy safeguards into its vast new view of the world. Already Google gets a lot of flack for tracking user behavior online. With Skybox’s satellites, Google may gain a window into your everyday life even if you don’t use Google at all.

Really Big Data

In his WIRED feature story on Skybox, David Samuels describes some of the stunning ways high-resolution images shot from space are being used to unlock secrets about life on the ground. One company is tracking cars in parking lots to create retail forecasts. Images of pits and slag heaps reveal the productivity of mines. Pictures of property damage from above can tell insurance companies whether a claim is valid.

“Many of the most economically and environmentally significant actions that individuals and businesses carry out every day, from shipping goods to shopping at big-box retail outlets to cutting down trees to turning out our lights at night, register in one way or another on images taken from space,” Samuels writes. “So, while Big Data companies scour the Internet and transaction records and other online sources to glean insight into consumer behavior and economic production around the world, an almost entirely untapped source of data–information that companies and governments sometimes try to keep secret–is hanging in the air right above us.”

In a statement, Google has said that, in the short term, it plans to use Skybox’s satellites to keep Google Maps up to date. And, in the future, the company says, it could use them to help spread internet access to remote areas, something that will help improve the reach of its existing services. But imagine all the other things Google could do turns its artificial intelligence expertise onto a constant stream of images beamed down from above.

One Skybox insider told Samuels that satellite images alone could be used to estimate any country’s major economic indicators. Take, for example, this Skybox case study of Saudi oil reserves measured from space. Now consider the insights that could come from marrying that visual data with Google’s Knowledge Graph, leveraging all the company’s algorithmic might. Google could learn all kinds of new things about the world.


Gold Mine in Uşak, Western Turkey. Photo: Courtesy of Skybox

Military-Industrial Ties

But it could also learn all kinds of new things about you. Skybox can take photos from 500 miles up with a sub-one-meter resolution of the ground below. That isn’t likely to sit well with privacy activists who already don’t trust Google. What does the right to be forgotten mean when Google can always see you anyway?

Skybox’s pedigree likely won’t help assuage anyone who likes a good conspiracy theory. According to Samuels, one of the company’s co-founders, John Fenwick, had previously worked as as a liaison in Congress for the National Reconnaissance Office, “the ultrasecret spy agency that manages much of America’s most exotic space toys.” A major investor had worked as an intelligence officer in the French army, while its CEO held previous jobs that brought him into close contact with the Department of Defense.

That’s not to suggest there’s anything nefarious about Skybox or its intentions. It’s hard to get anything into space without entreé into government and military circles. But Skybox CEO Tom Ingersoll told Samuels that the government is interested in his company’s imagery. “In the end,” Samuels writes, “the government will likely commandeer some of Skybox’s imaging capabilities under terms similar to those imposed on other vendors.” With Google now involved, that begins to sound a lot like the NSA commandeering the internet servers to spy on U.S. citizens.

Skybox or Skynet?

Even if a network of high-powered imaging satellites could give Google the power to track an individual from space, it probably wouldn’t. Setting aside any legal or moral constraints, there’s just no percentage in it. Monetizable insights of the kind that would interest Google or companies willing to pay Google for access to that data are derived from observing patterns and populations, not individuals. As geeks of all varieties are fond of pointing out, n=1 is a terrible sample size.

If Google finds ways of using these satellites that ends up making users’ lives more interesting and convenient, most people are unlikely to object, just like revelations of NSA surveillance haven’t exactly dented Gmail’s market share. But people may find the idea of Google looking down from the heavens on their physical selves more discomfiting than peering through their browsers at their virtual personas. After all, putting an all-seeing Google eye in space gives a whole new meaning to “do not track.”

Credit to Wired