Monday, March 7, 2016
China’s defense budget will grow by 7-8 percent in 2016
BEIJING (Sputnik) – According to the spokeswoman, the exact military budget figures will be announced on Saturday, when China's National People's Congress will be presented with the budget draft.
"The military budget of China this year will grow again, but the rate of growth will be slower than last year. This year growth will amount to about 7-8 percent," Fu Ying said at a press conference on Friday.
Last year, China’s military spending amounted to about $135 billion, having increased by over 10 percent year-on-year from 2014. It was the slowest growth rate in five years.
In 2014, China's defense budget grew by 12.2 percent, amounting to $132 billion and ranking second in the world behind the United States.
Credit to SputnikNews.com
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160304/1035757168/chinas-military-budget-to-grow-by-7-8-percent-in-2016.html#ixzz42FcAeby5
"There's An Insurrection Coming... The American People Are Sick & Tired Of Crony Capitalism"
In a stunningly honest and frank rant, FOX News' Judge Jeanine unleashes anchor hell upon Mitt Romney and the GOP establishment hordes.
She begins:
"There’s an insurrection coming. Mitt Romney just confirmed it. We’ve watched governors, the National Review, conservative leaders, establishment and party operatives trash Donald Trump. But Mitt Romney will always be remembered as the one who put us over the edge and awoke a sleeping giant, the Silent Majority, the American people.Fact. The establishment is panicked. Mitt essentially called for a brokered convention where the Republican nominee will be decided by party activists and delegates irrespective of their state’s choice… You want a brokered convention? A primer Mitt. Whenever we have a brokered convention we lose.Dewey and Ford emerged from a brokered convention to lose the general election. So why? Because the party elites and elders want to protect us and stop of from falling into the abyss?… Most of us working two or three jobs think we’re already in the abyss. The Obama abyss…We are sick and tired of legislators of modest means who leave Congress multimillionaires, whose spouses and families get all the contracts from selling the post offices to accessing insider information so they can buy property and flip it. You’re so entrenched that you’re willing to give Hillary Clinton a win. It doesn’t matter to you which party, crony capitalism and its paradigm will not change for the elite."
And that is just the introduction... Grab a coffee (or something stronger) and watch...
Credit to Zero Hedge
"We're In The Eye Of The Storm" Rothschild Fears
As central bank policy-makers' forecasts have become more pessimistic (i.e. more realistic), Lord Rothschild is unsurprised at the current malaise: "not surprisingly, market conditions have deteriorated further...So much so that the wind is certainly not behind us; indeed we may well be in the eye of a storm." On this basis, Rothschild highlights a "daunting litany of problems," warning those who are optimistically sanguine about the US economy that "2016 is likely to turn out to be more difficult than the second half of 2015."
In my half-yearly statement I sounded a note of caution, ending up by writing that “the climate is one where the wind may well not be behind us”; indeed we became increasingly concerned about global equity markets during the last quarter of 2015, reducing our exposure to equities as the economic outlook darkened and many companies reported disappointing earnings. Meanwhile central banks’ policy makers became more pessimistic in their economic forecasts for, despite unprecedented monetary stimulus, growth remained anaemic.Not surprisingly, market conditions have deteriorated further. So much so that the wind is certainly not behind us; indeed we may well be in the eye of a storm.The litany of problems which confronts investors is daunting:
- The QE tap is in the course of being turned off and in any event its impact in stimulating asset prices is coming to an end.
- There’s the slowing down to an unknown extent in China.
- The situation in the Middle East is likely to be unresolvable at least for some time ahead.
- Progress of the US and European economies is disappointing.
- The Greek situation remains fraught with the country now having to cope with the challenge of unprecedented immigration.
- Over the last few years we have witnessed an explosion in debt, much of it repayable in revalued dollars by emerging market countries at the time of a collapse in commodity prices. Countries like Brazil, Russia, Nigeria, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are, as a result, deeply troubled.
- In the UK we have an unsettled political situation as we attempt to deal with the possibility of Brexit in the coming months.
The risks that confront investors are clearly considerable at a time when stock market valuations remain relatively high.There are, however, some influential and thoughtful investment managers who remain sanguine about markets in 2016 on the grounds that the US economy is in decent shape – outside of manufacturing – while they feel that economic conditions may be improving. To them, the decline in these markets may have more to do with sentiment than substance. Others are less optimistic but feel that the odds remain against these potential difficulties materialising in a form which would undermine global equity markets. However our view is that 2016 is likely to turn out to be more difficult than the second half of 2015. Our policy will be towards a greater emphasis on seeking absolute returns. We will remain highly selective when considering public and private investment opportunities. Reflecting this policy, our quoted equity exposure has been reduced to 43% of net asset value.There’s an old saying that in difficult times the return of capital takes precedence over the return on capital. Our principle will therefore be to exercise caution in all things in the current year, while remaining agile where opportunities present themselves. Problems have a habit of creating opportunities and I remain confident of our ability to identify and profit from them during 2016.
Perhaps Lord Rothschild is on to something...
Credit to Zero Hedge
The Prophecy of Magog and Israel
By Michael Pearl
“Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” Ezekiel 38:2 (The Israel Bible™)
There is an end-time prophecy in Ezekiel 38–39 that has fascinated me since I first started studying the Bible 55 years ago. Gog, along with Meshech and Tubal and several nations including Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, and Libya attempt to invade Israel and are supernaturally destroyed by God so that He “will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:23).
The prophet Ezekiel records the very words God spoke to him. In the “later years,” Israel will be attacked from the north through Togarmah (Turkey) by a large federation of nations under the headship of Magog (Caucasian descendants of Japheth) who dwell in the “north parts.” Magog, Meshech, and Tubal will be assisted by “a great company, and a mighty army” of “many people” from the north with three additional countries: Persia from the east (Iran), and two countries from the south: Ethiopia and Libya.
The driving force, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal, are not the names of countries, but of ethnic groups—the descendants of Japheth through his son Magog (Genesis 10:2). After Noah’s flood, Japheth’s sons begin a northwesterly migration, eventually spreading out to occupy all of Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Slavic states, Great Britain, and eventually the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc.
It is also noteworthy that whereas the prophet named the countries of Persia and Libya, he did not name a particular country as the driving force from the north; rather, he goes all the way back to the table of nations in Genesis 10, immediately after the flood, and references the Japhetic line as opposed to the Hamitic and Semitic. Genetics place the origin of Russians in the Slavic peoples, Poland, and Eastern Europe. It appears that Russia may be a significant part of the invading force, having descended from Japheth as did Europe, Great Britain, and the United States.
Ezekiel 38:6 names two more descendants of Japheth, Gomer and Togarmah (Genesis 10:3). There is no objection to the fact that Gomer refers mainly to Celtic peoples, including Gauls, Britons, and Irish, which now represent not only the Western European nations but also the United States. By the fourth century BC, they spread over much of what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland, Southern Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, and southern Russia. The prophet said, “the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee” (Ezekiel 38:6). Ancient Jewish sources list Togarmah as the father of the Turkic peoples. This fits the text’s geographic reference of the people north of Israel.
You can read Ezekiel 38–39 to see the drama unfolding. In the “latter days” a large force of many nations will come “like a cloud to cover the land” (Ezekiel 38:9). He tells of “the land that is brought back from the sword [war], and is gathered out of many people [nations where they were dispersed], . . . which have been always waste [the land was waste before the Jewish People settled it]: but it is brought forth out of the nations [United Nations], and they shall dwell safely all of them” (Ezekiel 38:8). There are six specific details in the prophecy. How could the prophet know 3500 years beforehand that Israel would be “brought forth out of the [United] nations”?
What the invading force does not realize is that God has seduced them into taking this action against His people Israel. For God says, “I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes” (38:16). God brings them against Israel so he can destroy their invading forces in such a manner that everyone knows God did it, thus glorifying Himself.
I don’t think that God intends for us to know precisely when the Magog invasion of Israel is to occur. In the past few months, conditions have rapidly aligned with the potential fulfillment of this 2600-year-old prophecy.
Credit to breakingisraelnews.com
North Korea threatens 'pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice'
North Korea has threatened to carry out an 'indiscriminate... pre-emptive strike of justice' against the U.S. and the South if the allies push ahead with a planned military drill on Monday.
The North's powerful National Defence Commission, citing the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA), made the threat just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use 'at any moment'.
However, the secretive state's ability to follow through on such a threat is not known as, while North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.
The North's powerful National Defence Commission made the threat to strike U.S. and South just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use 'at any moment'
Kim Jong-un orders North Korea's nuclear weapons to be readied
Pyongyang has issued dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military tensions of the Korean peninsula.
The order to place the country's arsenal on stand-by came in response to tough new UN sanctions imposed over the North's fourth nuclear test in January and last month's long-range rocket launch.
Today's statement was released ahead of the annual military drill carried out by South Korean and American troops in the neighbouring country.
Credit to Dailymail.co.uk
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3479594/N-Korea-threatens-pre-emptive-nuclear-strike-South-US.html#ixzz42BgtV8I0
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