1 Year Delay in Economic Reset

Rains not seen for 200 YEARS: Two dead, 22 million on flood watch and New Jersey homes already consumed by high tides in weekend storms

A record-setting 'once-in-200-years rainfall event' left 22 million Americans on the East Coast on flood watch as rains have closed down roads, waterlogged crops and showed little sign of stopping.

Meteorologist Ryan Maue of Weather Bell Analytics told NBC New York: 'It's going to be a slow-motion disaster'.

North and South Carolina have been hit the worst, with up to 12 inches of rain falling in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Friday night alone, and two deaths have been reported so far in the states.

President Barack Obama issued a state of emergency in South Carolina on Saturday and state emergency officials said flash flood warnings were issued for numerous counties and that some homes had already been evacuated, including in the coastal county that includes Myrtle Beach.

More than 15 inches of rain have fallen over the popular beach area since Friday, with more expected, the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, reported.

South Carolina could get more rain in three days than it normally gets during the entire fall.



A few hours before high tide, wind-driven waves crash into a fishing pier in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday


Tony and Sandy Mathena, from Raleigh, North Carolina, make a quick retreat up the steps to The Isles Restaurant & Beach Club as high tide come in at the west end of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina


A man walks his bicycle through high water at the City Market in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday


A vehicle navigates the flood water after high tides and heavy rains left parts of downtown Charleston, South Carolina


Dillon Christ (front) and Kyle Barnell paddled their canoe down a flooded street in Charleston, South Carolina


A man walked his dog through flood waters during high tide on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina on Saturday


Credit to Mail on line
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3258624/East-coast-storms-leave-22million-Americans-flood-watch-rain-Carolinas-kills-two.html#ixzz3ndXyupt6

A joint war room between Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

A senior Iranian military leader warned this weekend that “all U.S. military bases in the Middle East are within the range of” Iran’s missiles and emphasized that the Islamic Republic will continue to break international bans on the construction of ballistic missiles.

Much of this missile work, like the details of Iran’s advanced arsenal, remains secret, according to Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.

Hajizadeh dismissed the threat of military action by the United States, warning that all U.S. assets and allies are in range of Iran’s current missile arsenal, according to comments made Sunday in Tehran and recorded by Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency.

The threats of attack on the United States were issued as Iran unveiled new high-tech torpedoes and the formation of a joint war room along with Russia, Syria, and Iraq.

“Some of the threats by the U.S. are aimed at appeasing the Zionists, while others are for the purpose of domestic consumption (in the U.S.), but what is important is that they are aware of and acknowledge our capabilities and deterrence power,” Hajizadeh was quoted as saying.

“We do not feel any need to increase the range of our missiles and (our perceived enemy) targets are fully within the range of our missiles,” he added.

Iran will not slow down the research and construction of advanced missiles, the IRGC leader said, despite international bans on such action.

The Pentagon confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon last month that Iranian warships confront the U.S. Navy on a “daily basis.”

Iran’s renewed war rhetoric and anti-U.S. posturing comes amid reports that Iran and Russia have taken the lead in Syria, where both countries are working to bolster the embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

A senior Iranian official disclosed over the weekend that Iran, Russia, Syrian, and Iraq are working on forming a joint war room to coordinate operations in the region.

The so-called “information exchange center” would be the first step in formalizing a joint operations center to coordinate military efforts in Syria and elsewhere, according to political adviser to Iraq Mohsen Hakim, head of the country’s Islamic Supreme Council.

Meanwhile, Iran unveiled a new high-tech torpedo that it claims can hit targets both in and out of the water. The technology for the missile has been borrowed from the Russians, according to Iranian officials who spoke to Fars.

Credit to Freebeacon.com

Russia Claims ISIS Now On The Ropes As Fighters Desert After 60 Airstrikes In 72 Hours

One question that’s been asked repeatedly over the past thirteen months is why Washington has been unable to achieve the Pentagon’s stated goal of “degrading and defeating” ISIS despite the fact that the “battle” pits the most advanced air force on the planet against what amounts to a ragtag band of militants running around the desert in basketball shoes. 

Those of a skeptical persuasion have been inclined to suggest that perhaps the US isn’t fully committed to the fight. Explanations for that suggestion range from the mainstream (the White House is loathe to get the US into another Mid-East war) to the “conspiratorial” (the CIA created ISIS and thus doesn’t want to destroy the group due to its value as a strategic asset). 

The implication in all of this is that a modern army that was truly determined to destroy the group could likely do so in a matter of months if not weeks and so once Russia began flying sorties from Latakia, the world was anxious to see just how long the various rebel groups operating in Syria could hold up under bombardment by the Russian air force. 

The answer, apparently, is “less than a week.” 

On Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it has conducted 60 bombing runs in 72 hours, hitting more than 50 ISIS targets.

According to the ministry (Facebook page is here), Islamic State fighters are in a state of “panic” and more than 600 have deserted. 

Here's what happens when the Russians locate a terrorist "command center": 

According to The Kremlin, the structure shown in the video is (or, more appropriately, "was") "an ISIS hardened command centre near Raqqah." Su-34s hit it with concrete-piercing BETAB-500s setting off a series of explosions and fires that "completely destroyed the object."  

Here's RT:

Surgical airstrikes by Russian fighter jets have knocked out a number of Islamic State installations in Syria, including the battle headquarters of a jihadist group near Raqqa, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Over the past 24 hours, Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M fighter jets have performed 20 sorties and hit nine Islamic State installations,” Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, reported.

Konashenkov added that yesterday evening Russian aircraft went on six sorties, inflicting strikes on three terrorist installations.

“A bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb dropped from a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber near Raqqa has eliminated the command post of one of the terror groups, together with an underground storage facility for explosives and munitions,” the spokesman said.

Commenting on the video filmed by a Russian UAV monitoring the assault near Raqqa, Konashenkov noted, “a powerful explosion inside the bunker indicates it was also used for storing a large quantity of munitions.

“As you can see, a direct hit on the installation resulted in the detonation of explosives and multiple fires. It was completely demolished,” the spokesman said.

And here's the Russian Defense Ministry taking a page out of the US Postal Service's "neither rain, sleet, snow, nor hail" book on the way to serving notice that nothing is going to stop the Russian air force from exterminating Assad's enemies in Syria:

Twenty-four hours a day #UAV's are monitoring the situation in the ISIS activity areas. All the detected targets are effectively engaged day and night in any weather conditions.

Now obviously one must consider the source here, but Kremlin spin tactics aside, one cannot help but be amazed with the pace at which this is apparently unfolding. If any of the above is even close to accurate, it means that Russia is on schedule to declare victory over ISIS (and everyone else it looks like) in a matter of weeks, which would not only be extremely embarrassing for Washington, but would also effectively prove that the US has never truly embarked on an honest effort to rid Syria of the extremist groups the Western media claims are the scourge of humanity.

Summed up in 10 priceless seconds...

Credit to Zero Hedge

France floods: 16 dead after storms and Guatemala landslide with hundreds missing

 

Violent storms and flooding have hit south-eastern France, killing at least 16 people with three more missing, officials say.

Three elderly people drowned when their retirement home near the city of Antibes was inundated with floodwater.

Others died trapped in their cars in tunnels and underground car parks as the waters rose.

French President Francois Hollande announced a state of "natural disaster" in the affected region.

He thanked rescuers and expressed the "solidarity of the nation".

Mr Hollande offered condolences as he visited the retirement home in the town of Biot and urged residents in the region to remain cautious, saying: "It's not over."
'Terrifying'
Heavy rain hit the French Riviera, which lies on the Mediterranean coast and borders Italy, on Saturday evening.

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.Media captionLondoner Warren Greene - camping at Antibes - said the flood level rose to waist-height "within minutes"

The city of Nice is estimated to have received 10% of its average yearly rainfall in two days alone.

The river Brague burst its banks, sending water coursing into nearby towns and cities. Social media pictures showed water gushing down the streets of Cannes.

Cannes resident Katya Higham-Stoianova told the BBC: "It was terrifying. We wanted to go out but decided not to as the rain was unbelievably heavy. The level of water was rising very quickly."

Cannes mayor Davis Lisnard said: "Some cars were carried off into the sea. We have rescued a lot of people, and we must now be vigilant against looting."Image copyrightAFPImage captionA football match between Nice and Nantes had to be abandoned owing to torrential rain

Guatemala

The Guatemalan authorities say the number of people killed when a hillside collapsed on houses in the village of El Cambray, 15km (nine miles) outside the capital, has risen to 73.

They said another 350 people were still believed to be missing under tonnes of rock and earth that slipped onto homes on Thursday night.

Rescue teams were using dogs to try to reach people trapped under the rubble.

A morgue has been set up with some burials already taking place.

A government spokesperson, Julia Barrera, said they had managed to rescue 26 people so far. 

Image copyrightReutersImage captionEarthmovers were brought in to help thousands of rescue workers armed with shovels and pickaxesImage copyrightAPImage captionLocal volunteers joined rescue workers to search for survivorsImage copyrightAFPImage captionMore than 70 bodies have been found - with another 350 people believed to be missing.

More than a thousand rescue workers are working at the disaster site deploying earth movers and sniffer dogs.

Credit to BBC

Saudis Mull Launch Of Regional War

While the US has certainly made some epic strategic blunders in Syria that raise serious questions about just how “intelligent” US intelligence actually is, there’s little doubt that if one were to look behind all of the media parroting, the Pentagon and Langley understand all too well what’s going on in the Middle East. 

That is, the significance of the Russia-Iran “nexus” in Syria isn’t lost on anyone in the US military and you can bet there have been quite a few high level discussions over the past 72 hours about the best way to counter Moscow and Tehran’s powerplay before it spills over into Iraq and ends up degrading Washington’s influence in Baghdad. 

As we put it on Friday, “if Russia ends up bolstering Iran's position in Syria (by expanding Hezbollah's influence and capabilities) and if the Russian air force effectively takes control of Iraq thus allowing Iran to exert a greater influence over the government in Baghdad, the fragile balance of power that has existed in the region will be turned on its head and in the event this plays out, one should not expect Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem, and London to simply go gentle into that good night.”

Sure enough, some experts now predict Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey will move to counter Russia militarily if Moscow continues to rack up gains for Assad. Here’s The Guardian with more:

Regional powers have quietly, but effectively, channelled funds, weapons and other support to rebel groups making the biggest inroads against the forces from Damascus. In doing so, they are investing heavily in a conflict which they see as part of a wider regional struggle for influence with bitter rival Iran.

In a week when Russia made dozens of bombing raids, those countries have made it clear that they remain at least as committed to removing Assad as Moscow is to preserving him.

“There is no future for Assad in Syria,” Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned, a few hours before the first Russian bombing sorties began. If that was not blunt enough, he spelled out that if the president did not step down as part of a political transition, his country would embrace a military option, “which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power”. With at least 39 civilians reported dead in the first bombing raids, the prospect of an escalation between backers of Assad and his opponents is likely to spell more misery for ordinary Syrians.

“The Russian intervention is a massive setback for those states backing the opposition, particularly within the region – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – and is likely to elicit a strong response in terms of a counter-escalation,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

As the Syrian civil war has unfolded, Saudi Arabia has been clear about its position, say analysts. “Since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, the view in Riyadh has been that Bashar al-Assad must go. There is no indication what-soever that Riyadh will change this position,” said Mohammed Alyahya, associate fellow at the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh.

“What is clear to Riyadh and its regional allies is that the recent Russian and Iranian escalation will only create a more unstable region and spill more blood,” he said.

Riyadh has focused support on rebels in the south, say analysts, while allies Turkey and Qatar have reportedly backed northern rebels, including conservative Islamist militias such as Ahrar al Sham.

That group, in alliance with the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al Nusra, recently reached a local ceasefire deal with Assad in the north. Its success in taking on government forces is thought to have been one trigger for the Russian bombing campaign and put them among the jets’ first targets.

“Most probably, the coming efforts will focus on boosting the effectiveness of major coalitions, co-ordination and co-operation between the most influential and effective groups in Syria,” said regional analyst Ali Bakeer.

Of course that isn’t going to work. 

Say what you will about how successful guerilla/urban warfare can be when it comes to bogging down a conventional army (examples of this include Vietnam, the Soviet-Afghan war, and Somalia during the Black Hawk down debacle), but the disorganization of the Syrian resistance combined with the fact that Iran has its own well-armed militias on the ground that, in combination with Hezbollah, are providing the ground support for Russian airstrikes, means the situation is all but hopeless for the various Riyadh- and Doha-backed groups operating in Syria. 

The only way to turn the tide here would be to intervene directly. 

But just as Iran is unwilling to risk direct intervention on behalf of the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will likely be unwilling to risk direct intervention on behalf of their proxy armies in Syria. The problem for Riyadh and Doha: Syria is a lot more strategically important than Yemen. Here’s The Guardian again:

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already embroiled in an expensive and bloody war in Yemen that may limit both their military and financial resources. They have also so far deferred to western bans on transferring hi-tech weapons – including missiles that could take down aircraft – over fears that they might change hands in the chaos of the war and be used against their makers.

“The uncertain question today is the degree of power combined with efficiency that regional powers will be willing to bring to the table,” said Barnes-Dacey. “Do the Saudis now try to take matters decisively into their hands, including by providing rebels with sophisticated weaponry long denied them?

“The new [Saudi] king [Salman] has shown a willingness to be much more assertive and take measures into the kingdom’s own hands. If the Saudis see the situation slipping out of their hands, and there is a real sense that the Iranians are consolidating their position in Syria, you could see much stronger response.”

And speaking of a “strong response,” Russia continued to hit anti-regime targets for a fourth consecutive day on Sunday, making good on the Defense Ministry’s promise to step up strikes. Here’s Reuters:

Air strikes by suspected Russian jets hit targets around the town of Talbiseh in western Syria on Sunday, residents and a group which monitors the civil war in Syria said, a day after Russia promised to step up its air campaign.

Ambulances rushed wounded people to hospital in Talbiseh, north of the city of Homs, and one resident said at least five bodies had been recovered from the western part of the town.

"So far there are seven or six raids in the town," said Abdul Ghafar al Dweik, a former government employee and volunteer rescue worker.

He said he believed the raid was carried out by Russian jets. "They come suddenly... With the Syrian planes, we would get a warning but now all of a sudden we see it over our heads," he said.

We have said time and again that there’s no question Russian airstrikes will contribute to human suffering in Syria. After all, when you drop bombs on populated areas you’re bound to kill civilians (including women and children) no matter what Moscow says. However, the highlighted passages above shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you want your airstrikes to be effective, you’re not going to warn anyone about them beforehand unless of course you're dropping a nuke in which case you can tell civilians to leave ahead of time because you're reasonably sure the destruction will be so vast as to make the element of surprise a non-factor.

As for the effectiveness of the strikes, The Kremlin is out again claiming that ISIS is on its heels. Via Bloomberg and the Russian Defense Ministry (translated):

• Russian warplanes have made 20 sorties, attacked 10 ISIS targets in Syria in past 24h, Russian Defense Ministry says on website.
• Air force has attacked militant training camps in Raqqa, Idlib provinces; destroyed explosives workshop
• Warplanes destroyed at least 4 ammunition depots, several command posts
• Russian forces have broken “the management and logistics of the terrorist organization” and caused “significant damage to the infrastructure used for preparation of terrorist attacks”

And here's David Cameron repeating the Assad "butcher" accustations (again, via Bloomberg):

Russia is “backing the butcher Assad, which is a terrible mistake for them and for the world,” Cameron told BBC Television’s “Andrew Marr Show” on Sunday. “It’s going to make the region more unstable, which will lead to further radicalization and increased terrorism.”

Cameron continued: “I would say to them change direction, join us in attacking ISIL but recognize that if we want to have a secure region we need an alternative to Assad,” using an alternative designation for Islamic State. Assad “can’t unite the Syrian people.”

Yes, Assad "can't unite the Syrian people", because clearly that's what this is all about, which explains why the West has been doing anything and everything to promotedisunity among Syrians for the better part of a decade, and on that note, we close with the following excerpt from a leaked diplomatic cable penned by then-Deputy Head of Mission in Syria William Roebuck in 2006 which shows just how concerned the West is with Syrian "unity":

-- PLAY ON SUNNI FEARS OF IRANIAN INFLUENCE:  There are fears in Syria that the Iranians are active in both Shia proselytizing and conversion of, mostly poor, Sunnis.  Though often exaggerated, such fears reflect an element of the Sunni community in Syria that is increasingly upset by and focused on the spread of Iranian influence in their country through activities ranging from mosque construction to business. Both the local Egyptian and Saudi missions here, (as well as prominent Syrian Sunni religious leaders), are giving increasing attention to the matter and we should coordinate more closely with their governments on ways to better publicize and focus regional attention on the issue. 

Credit To Zero Hedge

Russia moves thermo baric warheads that INCINERATE targets into Ukraine

Russia has moved a new weapons system equipped with thermobaric warheads into rebel-held Ukraine while the world's attention remains on its airstrikes in Syria, international monitors say.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine - reports its monitors have seen a mobile TOS-1 Buratino system for the first time.

The Buratino features thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike, causing indiscriminate damage.



Deadly: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine - reports its monitors have seen a mobile TOS-1 Buratino system (pictured) for the first time

Discussions: The OSCE's findings come as President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Paris to speak with the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine in a new European push to bring peace to eastern Ukraine. Above, Putin is pictured alongside French President Francois Hollande as the talks begin at the Elysee Palace today

Only Russia produces the system and it was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict broke out, according to IHS Jane's Group and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3257396/Russia-moves-deadly-new-weapons-equipped-thermobaric-warheads-Ukraine-world-s-attention-Syria.html#ixzz3nQogkxw9