Netanyahu: Iran Responsible for Soldiers' Deaths

Iran was behind the attack on an IDF patrol on the Lebanese border Wednesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu argued Thursday.

Speaking at a memorial service for late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu said that “Iran is the party that is arming, funding, and organizing the terror groups that operate on our border, in the north and the south."

“This is the same Iran that is attempting to wrest a pacifist agreement on its nuclear program from the West,” Netanyahu noted.

“They want an agreement that will allow them to continue to develop nuclear weapons. We sharply oppose this agreement. We will continue to defend ourselves from all threats, near and far.”

Nuclear negotiators of Iran and the P5+1 countries – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US, plus Germany – wrapped up their second round of talks concerning Tehran's nuclear program last week. They agreed to resume their discussions next month.

The talks, chaired by EU official Helga Schmid, are being held with the hope of achieving further progress towards a long-term comprehensive solution on the nuclear issue.

Under an interim deal, Iran's stock of fissile material has been diluted from 20 percent enriched uranium to five percent in exchange for limited sanctions relief.

Speaking Thursday, Netanyahu urged world leaders to oppose a deal with Iran that allowed Tehran to continue its uranium enrichment program.

“We must realize that the world is reaching one of the most crucial moments in history,” he said. “The question is whether the world signs a bad deal with Iran and turns its back on its responsibility, or whether it presents a united front to hold back the fanaticism of Islamic radicalism before it is too late."

"We must not have any doubts as to the dangers, and there is no doubt as to what must be done to prevent them from becoming reality. This is how we have acted in the past, and we will continue to do so.”

Two IDF soldiers, Major Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Nini, were killed Wednesday when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at two IDF vehicles in the Har Dov area.

“Those who committed these acts will pay the full price for their actions,” Netanyahu said. “For a long time Iran has been using Hezbollah to establish a terror front against us on the Golan. We are aggressively actingto prevent this.

"The government of Lebanon and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria are responsible for attacks on Israel that emerge from their territory,” he added.

Credit to Israelnationalnews.com

IS operative confesses to getting funds via US

ISLAMABAD: Yousaf al Salafi – allegedly the Pakistan commander of Islamic State (IS) or Daish – has confessed during investigations that he has been receiving funds through the United States.

Law enforcing agencies on January 22 claimed that they arrested al Salafi, along with his two companions, during a joint raid in Lahore. However, sources revealed that al Salafi was actually arrested sometimes in December last year and it was only disclosed on January 22.

“During the investigations, Yousaf al Salafi revealed that he was getting funding – routed through America – to run the organisation in Pakistan and recruit young people to fight in Syria,” a source privy to the investigations revealed to Daily Express on the condition of anonymity.

Al Salafi is a Pakistani-Syrian, who entered Pakistan through Turkey five months ago. Earlier, it was reported that he crossed into Turkey from Syria and was caught there. However, he managed to escape from Turkey and reached Pakistan to establish IS in the region.

Sources said al Salafi’s revelations were shared with the US Secretary of State John Kerry during his recent visit to Islamabad. “The matter was also taken up with CENTCOM chief General Lloyd Austin during his visit to Islamabad earlier this month,” a source said.

Al Salafi also confessed that he – along with a Pakistani accomplice, reportedly imam of a mosque – was recruiting people to send them to Syria and was getting around $600 per person from Syria.

“The US has been condemning the IS activities but unfortunately has not been able to stop funding of these organisations, which is being routed through the US,” a source said.

“The US had to dispel the impression that it is financing the group for its own interests and that is why it launched offensive against the organisation in Iraq but not in Syria,” he added.

There are reports that citizens from Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India besides other countries are being recruited by the IS to fight in Syria. Posters and wall chalking in favour of the IS have also been seen in various cities in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2015.

Credit to The Express Tribune

U.S. PASSPORTS ON VERGE OF ELIMINATION

NEW YORK – A Soros-funded group arguing to replace the U.S. passport with a North American passport appears ready to take up the mantle of championing the concept of a European Union-style regional government to supersede the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico and Canada, fulfilling the dream of the late American University professor Robert Pastor.

The future of the U.S. lies in North America, not in the United States as a sovereign nation, contends the New America Foundation, a Washington-based leftist think-tank with ties to Jonathan Soros, son of famed leftist billionaire George Soros.

Appropriately named “New America,” the foundation believes the U.S. passport should soon become obsolete and replaced with a European Union-style passport issued for all citizens of the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Citizens would be redefined by their regional identity as “North Americans,” echoing President Obama’s claim in Spanish in his Dec. 17, 2014, announcement of his executive actions to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, “Todos Somos Americanos,” or, “We are all Americans.

“The United States, Canada and Mexico are bound by a shared economic, environmental, demographic and cultural destiny. How we move forward together is key to our success,” wrote André Martinez, an editor with New America and a professor at the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University; and Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, a fellow at New America and a former adviser on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s policy planning staff, in an article titled “Why we need a North American Passport,” published by CNN.com.

“In recognition of our shared destiny, the three countries should create a North American passport that would, over time, allow their citizens to travel, work, invest, learn and innovate anywhere in North America. Work, tourist and student visas are necessities in the modern world to regulate the flow of people between sovereign states,” Martinez and Kurtz-Phelan declared.

“In the North American context, much like within the European Union, our economies and societies are far more integrated than our immigration system recognizes – and a North American passport, much like the EU passport, would align our laws with reality.”

The article authored by Martinez and Kurtz-Phelan provides additional support for the argument reported by WND for the past decade that globalists seeking to create a “North American Union” realized the EU stealth model could be replicated in North America. It can be accomplished, they believe, through establishing free-trade agreements such as NAFTA and transforming them incrementally into a regional government.

In Europe, the European Coal and Steel Agreement – signed as a treaty in Paris on April 18, 1951, and put into force on July 23, 1952 – evolved into the European Common market. The EC was created by the Treaty of Rome March 25, 1957, and ultimately became the European Union, a regional government.

“The inception of NAFTA marked an important step toward leveraging these geographic realities for a shared North American success,” Martinez and Kurtz-Phelan noted.

“NAFTA has been a boon to our growth and competitiveness. Integrated production platforms, sometimes spanning all three countries, have helped draw manufacturing back from competitors across the Pacific.”

They said, however, “the promise of NAFTA has fallen short in a critical respect.”

While trade and investment have grown, “the barriers to movement have remained too high for the people who help drive and stand to benefit from that growth.”

“As evidenced by the recent political firestorm over President Obama’s executive move to allow more undocumented workers to avoid deportation, it would take farsighted and courageous political leadership in all three countries to press for a North American passport,” Martinez and Kurtz-Phelan stressed. “But the fact is that allowing North Americans to move more effortlessly across the borders would help alleviate our contentious domestic immigration battles.”

The New America Foundation boasts millions of dollars in funding by a blue-chip list of leftist donors along with government funding in the form of a seven-figure grant from the State Department and a six-figure grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Prominent among a list of nearly 150 different funding sources is Google Inc., reflecting the participation of Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, on the New American Foundation’s board of trustees.

Also on the board is Jonathan Soros, CEO of JS Capital Management LLC, a private investment firm, also credited on the New American Foundation website as holding several board positions affiliated with the George Soros Open Society Foundations.

The president and CEO of the New American Foundation is Anne-Marie Slaughter, who previously served as the director of policy planning in the State Department, where she worked for Hillary Clinton from January 2009 through February 2011.

Slaughter is the author of the 2005 book “A New World Order,” in which she argued the structure of global governance is already in place, through international organizations and agreements, broad networks of economic markets, travel and information flow.

One year ago, WND reported Robert Pastor, a longtime proponent of North American integration, died at the age of 66 after a three-year battle with cancer. He was a professor of international relations and the director of the Center for North American Studies at American University in Washington, D.C.

Credit to WND.com
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/u-s-passports-on-verge-of-elimination/#muAUtCYceaHcLpLG.99

The New Greek Government Arrives In Its Residence: Finds No Power And No Toilet Soap

Things in Greece are bad. So bad, that the outgoing government of Antonis Samaras decided to not only leave the new inhabitants of the official residence of the Greek prime minister, the Maximos Mansion, without power, and without the WiFi password, but they decided to "borrow" all the soap in the toilet as well. 

More from Spiegel, google translated:

"We sit in the dark. We have no internet, no email, no way to communicate with each other", said an employee of the Office, who has worked for various government for years. "That's never happened before." It shows that Samaras' team have "no manners and no decency." 

Because of blackouts in the Maximos Mansion the official website of the Greek Prime Minister still shows the image and the resume of Samaras - even though since Monday, the left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is the head of government in Athens. 

It was the first time that a government handover has been so bitter, said the office staff to SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Everything was seamless and worked under Mr Samaras but he would not let Mr Tsipras benefit." 

Samaras had already demonstrated in recent days that he is a bad loser. He was absent, as Tsipras arrived after his swearing-in of the Maximos Mansion on Monday. This Samaras broke with tradition: It is common for an outgoing Prime Minister his successor in office sitting welcomes you and wishes him success for the government's work. 

The environment of the ousted conservative Prime Minister pointed out that Samaras was not required according to Greek constitution to welcome his successor welcome. 

But the lack of internet access should be the least of the problems for Tsipras and his team. Greek media report that Samaras' employees have not even left the soap in the staff toilets.

?

Maybe we were wrong to mock Greek austerity after all.

Credit to Zero Hedge

SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF PREPPERS ON THE RISE!

"Obama Meets New Saudi King Salman"

Why The Damage To The Economy Caused By The Oil Crash Is Going To Get Progressively Worse

We are really starting to see the price of oil weigh very heavily on the economy and on the stock market.  On Tuesday, the Dow was down 291 points, and the primary reason for the decline was disappointing corporate sales numbers.  For example, heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is blaming the “dramatic decline in the price of oil” for much lower than anticipated sales during the fourth quarter of 2014.  Even though Caterpillar is not an “energy company”, the price of oil is critical to their success.  And the same could be said about thousands of other companies.  

That is why I have repeatedly stated that anyone who believes that collapsing oil prices are good for the U.S. economy is crazy.  The key to how much damage this oil collapse is going to do to our economy is not how low prices ultimately go.  Rather, the key is how long they stay at these low levels. 

 If the price of oil went back to $80 a barrel next week, the damage would be fairly minimal.  But if the price of oil stays at this current level for the remainder of 2015, the damage will be absolutely catastrophic.  Just think of the price of oil like a hot iron.  If you touch it for just a fraction of a second, it won’t do too much damage.  But if you press it against your skin for an hour, you will be severely damaged for the rest of your life at the very least.

So the damage that we are witnessing right now is just the very beginning unless the price of oil goes back up substantially.

When the price of oil first started crashing, most analysts focused on the impact that it would have on energy companies.  And without a doubt, quite a few of them are likely to be wiped out if things don’t change soon.

But of even greater importance is the ripple effects that the price of oil will have throughout our entire economy.  The oil price crash is not that many months old at this point, and yet big companies are already blaming it for causing significant problems.  The following is how Caterpillar explained their disappointing sales numbers on Tuesday…

“The recent dramatic decline in the price of oil is the most significant reason for the year-over-year decline in our sales and revenues outlook.  Current oil prices are a significant headwind for Energy & Transportation and negative for our construction business in the oil producing regions of the world.  In addition, with lower prices for copper, coal and iron ore, we’ve reduced our expectations for sales of mining equipment.  We’ve also lowered our expectations for construction equipment sales in China.  While our market position in China has improved, 2015 expectations for the construction industry in China are lower”

We also learned on Tuesday that orders for durable goods were extremely disappointing.  Many analysts believe that this is another area where the oil price crash is having an impact…

Orders for business equipment unexpectedly fell in December for a fourth month, signaling a global growth slowdown is weighing on American companies. Bookings for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft dropped 0.6 percent for a second month, data from the Commerce Department showed. Demand for all durable goods − items meant to last at least three years − declined 3.4 percent, the worst performance since August.

Let’s keep an eye on the durable goods numbers in coming months.  Usually, when the economy is heading into a recession durable goods numbers start declining.

Meanwhile, a bunch of other big companies reported disappointing sales numbers on Tuesday as well.  The following summary comes from the Crux…

Microsoft lost 9.9 percent as software-license sales to businesses were below forecasts. Caterpillar plunged 7.3 percent after forecasting 2015 results that trailed estimates as plunging oil prices signal lower demand from energy companies. DuPont Co. dropped 2.8 percent as a stronger dollar cuts into the chemical maker’s profit. Procter & Gamble Co. and United Technologies Corp. declined at least 2 percent after saying the surging greenback will lower full-year earnings.

What the economy could really use right now is a huge rebound in the price of oil.

Unfortunately, as I wrote about the other day, that is not likely to happen any time soon.

In fact, a top executive for Goldman Sachs recently told CNBC that he believes that the price of oil could ultimately go as low as 30 dollars a barrel.

And hedge fund managers are backing up their belief that oil is heading even lower with big money…

Hedge funds boosted bearish wagers on oil to a four-year high as US supplies grew the most since 2001.

Money managers increased short positions in West Texas Intermediate crude to the highest level since September 2010 in the week ended January 20, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Net-long positions slipped for the first time in three weeks.

US crude supplies rose by 10.1 million barrels to 397.9 million in the week ended January 16 and the country will pump the most oil since 1972 this year, the Energy Information Administration says. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, the new ruler of the world’s biggest oil exporter, said he will maintain the production policy of his predecessor despite a 58 percent drop in prices since June.

Sadly, the truth is that anyone that thought that the stock market would go up forever and that the U.S. economy would be able to avoid a major downturn indefinitely was just being delusional.

Our economy goes through cycles, and every financial bubble eventually bursts.

For example, did you know that the S&P 500 has never had seven up years in a row?  The following comes from a CNBC article that was posted on Tuesday…

Doubleline Capital founder Jeff Gundlach, more known for his bond prowess than as an equity market expert, pointed out that the S&P 500 has never had seven consecutive up years.

Of course, records are made to be broken, and each year is supposed to stand on its own.

But in a market that faces an uncertain future regarding monetary policy, the specter of a global economic slowdown, and an oil price plunge that is dampening capital investment, Gundlach’s little factoid sparked a lot of chatter at ETF.com’s InsideETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Hmm – that reminds me of the seven year cycles that I discussed in my article yesterday.

If the price of oil stays this low for the rest of 2015, there is no way that we are going to avoid a recession.

If the price of oil stays this low for the rest of 2015, there is no way that we are going to avoid a stock market crash.

So let’s hope that the price of oil starts going back up.

If it doesn’t, the damage that is inflicted on our economy is going to get progressively worse.

Credit to Economic Collapse