A nonsensical story of Russia's potential invasion of the Baltics has caught a second breath in Western mass media just a day after the Pentagon announced it would seek to quadruple its budget for Europe in 2017. Coincidence? Irish journalist Danielle Ryan does not think so.
Nothing hinted at any trouble in July 2015, when Financial Times finally admitted that the Kremlin is obviously not planning to rebuild the Russian or Soviet Empire in "a literal sense" anytime soon.
"A piece published by the Financial Times last July admitted that the 'consensus' among diplomats and analysts was that Putin had 'not embarked on a rampage' to recreate an empire 'as some feared last year'," Danielle Ryan, an Irish freelance journalist and media analyst, narrates in her article for RT.
"Given that new-found consensus, one might have suspected that the lull in stories about a forthcoming invasion could be chalked up to journalists deciding to put the subject to rest — but one would have been wrong. For they were back last week with a vengeance," she continues.
Ryan calls attention to the fact that a month ago, the Atlantic Council — "whose primary founding aim is to defend NATO interests" — began to bang the drums over Russia's imaginary imperial designs for the Baltic states.
"Most anxieties focus on the Baltic states as Russia's next potential military target," Stephen Blank, a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, warned.
"The piece was then re-published by Newsweek with the headline: 'Counting down to a Russian invasion of the Baltics'," Ryan points out.
North Korea has restarted a plutonium production reactor that could provide a stockpile for nuclear weapons, US intelligence chief James Clapper says.
He also said the North had taken steps towards making an intercontinental ballistic missile system.
It comes days after the North launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
Last September Pyongyang said its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon had resumed normal operations.
The reactor there has been the source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme. The North carried out its fourth nuclear test in January.
"We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor," Mr Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months."Image copyrightAPImage captionThe Yongbyon nuclear facility is North Korea's main nuclear siteImage copyrightReutersImage captionNorth Korean TV broadcast the recent launch of the rocket
Mr Clapper said that Pyongyang was also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile "capable of posing a direct threat to the United States".
He said it had publicly displayed a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system and had taken "initial steps toward fielding this system, although the system has not been flight-tested".
The Muslim infiltrator, identified only by his first name “Bassam,” was pretending to be a refugee and had been accommodated at the German taxpayers’ expense in the picturesque municipality of Sankt Johann.
The Der Spiegel magazine(h/t New Observer) had in the interim been informed by contacts in Syria that a senior IS commander had come to Germany posing as a “refugee.” That magazine sent journalists to follow up on this lead, and, after obtaining his passport and his cell phone sim card, started piecing together the IS man’s path.
Bassam was, according to the information collected by Der Spiegel, an ISIS military commander in the district west of Deir al-Zor, a town in eastern Syria. He had originally been with the “moderate” rebels supplied, armed, and financed by the US government, but had, like almost all of them, defected first to the Al Nusra front and then to ISIS.
The cell phone sim card contained deleted photographs of IS actions in Syria which were recovered, along with pictures of the IS commander and friends in various poses. One of the many pictures recovered on the cell phone was of an IS execution in which victims were burned alive in metal cages.
Some of the photographs recovered from Bassam’s cell phone sim card
Several witnesses in Syria who Der Spiegel spoke to said that Bassam had been a “notorious commander responsible for the deaths of dozens of people in Deir al-Zor and the surrounding area.”
In autumn, Bassam made it to Germany, pretending to be a refugee. Der Spiegel tracked him down and even interviewed him, before handing all their evidence over to the police, who then raided his residence.
The worst aspect of the situation is that the German security services were completely unaware of Bassam prior to the DerSpiegel investigations.
The raids were the second major police action against IS guerillas pretending to be refugees in Germany this week, after a swoop last Thursday saw several arrests in Berlin, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Bassam (circled), as a “refugee” in Germany this week
Researchers at the University of Vermont (UVM) and the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute recently published a study on the first-ever malaria parasite known to live in a deer species. According to a press release from UVM, a malaria parasite called Plasmodium odocoilei was found in whitetail deer, and these were not isolated cases. Researchers believe the parasite is actually incredibly widespread and is estimated to be present in roughly 25 percent of all whitetail deer on the East Coast. Fortunately, the parasite is not believed to be much of a threat to humans.
“You never know what you’re going to find when you’re out in nature—and you look,” Ellen Martinsen, the adjunct faculty member at UVM who first discovered the parasite, said in a press release. “It’s a parasite that has been hidden in the most iconic game animal in the United States. I just stumbled across it.”
Martinsen was collecting mosquitoes for the Smithsonian’s National Zoo when she identified a parasite containing a DNA profile she did not recognize. Further research into the parasite found that it infected whitetail deer, but in such small numbers that it had not been identified until now. Researchers behind the study noted that the parasite was first suspected to reside in deer back in 1967, but since malaria parasites did not infect mammals in both North or South America, scientists treated that report like a sighting of Big Foot. Only now with advanced techniques—and a little patience—are scientists able to prove the tiny parasite’s existence.
“It’s quite surprising to discover something about a species in our backyards, much less so about the rare and endangered species in faraway places,” said co-author Rob Fleischer in a press releasefrom the Smithsonian. “This kind of research is vital to helping us better understand wildlife health threats and potential transmission of pathogens between native wildlife and endangered animals in human care.”
The study involved a screening of more than 300 whitetail deer from across 17 states. 41 of the animals contained the parasite, but all were from eastern states. None of the animals from western states were found with the parasite. Other species tested by researchers, such as cows or elk, also did not contain the parasite.
Moments ago, in response to DB's open querry on Twitter whether the Dax is "overreacting", we highlighted DB's soaring CDS and asked if perhaps the market was not underreacting.
Minutes later the market opined, by sending DB stock to new all time lows.
"Worse than Lehman..."
And that has crushed the entire Geman stock market...
In part, this article is a case of breaking news which is really old news.
In the video below, released on February 7, 2016, the whistle-blower of doom, says he’s a teller. Ray Charles could see that this is not true. The referenced person is not a teller. The source is sophisticated enough to use an untraceable proxy server and has economic knowledge far beyond a common employee of a bank. This person’s message is that of a prominent insider who has the know-how with regard to covering his tracks and providing highly detailed insider knowledge.
How can ascertain these facts about the whistle-blower and the validity of his claims?
In the past, I have written about the credit swap derivatives exposure and the topic got very little traction. So long as people are driving to work and have some food on the table, and there is no looming crisis, most Americans will have a case of tunnel vision due to the fact that most of only live for Friday and cannot see into the future. Many of us in the independent media and even knowledgeable and respected economists such as John Williams and Joseph Meyer are all saying that we are on the verge of a complete economic collapse. And it will almost assuredly begin with a collapse of the banks. How do I know, read on, the banks, themselves, have already told you as much.
The 2016 Economic Crisis Is Worse Than 2008
The very same banks that created the last economic crisis have now created a 278 TRILLION dollar derivatives nuclear time bombthat could tear down the American economy in single and unannounced moment.
Interestingly and tragically, Wells Fargo appears to be a sound manager of its debt compared to the other banks.
Total Assets: $2,573,126,000,000 (about 2.6 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $63,600,246,000,000 (more than 63 trillion dollars)
Citibank
Total Assets: $1,842,530,000,000 (more than 1.8 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $59,951,603,000,000 (more than 59 trillion dollars)
Goldman Sachs
Total Assets: $856,301,000,000 (less than a trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $57,312,558,000,000 (more than 57 trillion dollars)
Bank Of America
Total Assets: $2,106,796,000,000 (a little bit more than 2.1 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $54,224,084,000,000 (more than 54 trillion dollars)
Morgan Stanley
Total Assets: $801,382,000,000 (less than a trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $38,546,879,000,000 (more than 38 trillion dollars)
Wells Fargo
Total Assets: $1,687,155,000,000 (about 1.7 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $5,302,422,000,000 (more than 5 trillion dollars)
Compared to the rest of them, Wells Fargo looks extremely prudent and rational.”
Confirming Data
Below are two excerpts that I wrote 15 months ago which absolutely confirms what the “teller” says in the above video. Fifteen months ago, America did not want to listen. Can you hear me now?
I. THE MONEY IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT WAS STOLEN THIS MORNING
November 16, 2014
On November 16, 2014, it was revealed that when you awakened, a new G20 policy was enacted which effectively stole your bank account. For the time being, you still have some access to some of your money. If you have $100,000 in the bank, try taking that money out today and see how fast the Federal authorities show up in your life. And if you did manage to get your money out of the bank, don’t forget about the cop on the corner poised to steal your money under the banner of “civilian asset forfeiture”. Pardon me, I digress.
All nations belonging to the G20 will immediately submit and pass legislation that will fulfill anew investment program. This new program creates a whole new paradigm and set of rules whereby banks will no longer recognize your deposits as money.
Russell Napier is declared November 16, 2014, as “the day money dies,” and according to Zero Hedge, Napier says the G-20 will announce “that bank deposits are just part of commercial banks’capital structure, and also that they are far from the most senior portion of that structure.” Pay close attention America this means that following a bank failure, “a bank deposit is no longer money in the way a banknote is.”
This G20 legislation will formally push down bank accounts through the capital structure to a position of being mere material capital risk in any ‘failing’ institution. In our last financial crisis, deposits were de facto guaranteed by the state, but beginning November 16, 2014 holders of large-scale deposits will be just another creditor fighting to regain their share of the assets of a failed bank,” according to Zero Hedge. And how much will your former money be worth when you come to make your claim? For reasons that will become apparent as you weave your way through this article and its conclusions, if you have $100,000 in a bank account, you will take home under $1200! This is why for the past 18 months I have been telling the nation to not deposit your paycheck into the bank…
II. The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England Have Already Rehearsed the Theft of Your Bank Account
November 10, 2014
The theft of the people’s money has already been rehearsed by the powers that be in the banking industry. Regulators from the United States and the United Kingdomgot together in a war room to see how they will cope when the next big bank fails.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on November 10, 2014, ran a joint exercise simulating how they would prop up a large bank (e.g. Bank of America) with operations in both countries that has landed itself in trouble. Also taking part in the “bank failure drill” was Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and the heads of a large number of other regulators, in a meeting hosted by theU.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Just like Jade Helm, if there were not going to do this, then why would they be committing so many resources to practicing to do it?
The FDIC has only about $25 billion in its deposit insurance fund, which is mandated by law to keep a balance equivalent to only 1.15% of insured deposits.
If a banking collapse were to be on the near horizon, the banksters are not going to notify you because they would not want to incite a bank run. With only 1.15% of all deposits being insured by the FDIC, your money would be left vulnerable and only the elite would be warned as they quietly transfer their money to a safer haven, such as gold.
Conclusion
This is not the part where this turns into a prepper article, although precautions should be taken on the part of every American (eg gold, guns, ammo, food, water, and alliances). This is the part of the article where I tell you to standby and wait for tomorrow’s article which shows you where this is headed. Suffice it to say that Special Operations Forces are already gearing up for what’s next.
Saudi Arabia Prepares To Send Special Forces To Syria; Will Fight As Part Of "US-Led Coalition"
As we reported yesterday, in one of the most surprising developments involving the Syrian proxy war, Saudi Arabia and U.S. presence on the ground, the latest twist is that both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are now mulling a full-scale invasion while Russia and the Syrian government continue their progress in wiping out the US and Saudi-funded rebellion. To be sure, there was confusion when CNN Arabia reported first that the Saudis may send as much as 150,000 troops into Saudi Arabia, by way of Turkey, something which Anadolu news promptly denied.
However, the denial itself was softly denied by the Saudi Press Agency, which further stirred the water earlier today when it reported that not only is Saudi Arabia ready to send a special force to fight in Syria, but that this deployment was proposed by the US, which would oversee the Saudi troops as part of the US-led coalition in Syria. To wit:
AL JUBEIR SAYS U.S. PROPOSED GROUND FORCE DEPLOYMENT: SPA
SAUDI FORCE WOULD FIGHT AS PART OF U.S.-LED COALITION: SPA
SAUDI MINISTER SAYS SENDING GROUND FORCE UNDER DISCUSSION: SPA
SAUDI ARABIA READY TO SEND SPECIAL FORCE TO FIGHT IS IN SYRIA
And so, what was until recently purely an air campaign involving all the major global powers (except China, for for the time being), is about to become a full-blown land war, involving not only Suunis and Shi'ites (especially once Iran joins the fray), but also Russian troops on one side and US and Saudis on the other.
Most notably, oil has refused to budge even an inch on what is rapidly shaping up as a precursor to World War III.
Danielle Ryan
