ISIS Is Taking Over Iraq Using Captured American Weapons

ISIS is marching through city after city in Iraq, and they are doing it with American weapons.  Thanks to a series of stunning victories in recent months, ISIS has captured a vast array of U.S. military equipment including trucks, Humvees, rockets, artillery pieces and Stinger missiles.  When the U.S. was pulling out of Iraq, we were extremely generous to the new Iraqi army.  We basically armed them to the teeth with equipment that U.S. taxpayers paid for.  But now that the new Iraqi army is folding like a 20 dollar suit in the face of ISIS jihadists, vast quantities of that military equipment are falling into the hands of some of the most radical jihadists the world has ever seen.  And considering the fact that ISIS also recently seized the equivalent of nearly $500 million in cash from a bank in Mosul, the leadership of ISIS won't be having much problem buying anything else that they might need either.  ISIS is getting stronger with each passing day, and they are not going to be satisfied until the Iraqi government has been toppled.  It is a geopolitical mess of epic proportions, and there don't seem to be any easy solutions on the horizon.

To say that the new Iraqi army has been incompetent would be a massive understatement.  Not only have they run away like scared kittens from these jihadists, they have also left behind staggering amounts of weaponry for them.  According to the Los Angeles Times, ISIS has captured "the weapons stores of the 2nd and 3rd [Iraqi army] divisions in Mosul, the 4th division in Salah al Din, the 12th division in the areas near Kirkuk, and another division in Diyala".  And we aren't just talking about rifles and ammunition.  We are talking about some pretty impressive hardware...

Government forces retreated en masse from the onslaught, leaving behind a military hardware bonanza, including the U.S.-made armored Humvees as well as trucks, rockets, artillery pieces, rifles, ammunition, even a helicopter. Some of the seized materiel was old or otherwise non-functioning; but a lot was promptly put to use on the battlefield.

Pictures of grinning Islamist warriors cruising in U.S. Humvees bedecked with white-on-black militant flags flooded the Internet and became the signature image of the ISIS rampage.

ISIS social-media enthusiasts even mocked the global #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign, referring to girls kidnapped by an Al Qaeda offshoot in Nigeria. ISIS sympathizers began tweeting #BringBackOurHumvee.

One of the most popular photos mocking the Obamas and the U.S. military under the #BringBackOurHumvee hashtag is posted below...

We have become a laughingstock to ISIS.  They know that we are not going to invade Iraq again.  So they are laughing at us as they use our own equipment to take over the country.

It is estimated that the military equipment that ISIS has captured so far could equip an army of 200,000 soldiers.  No wonder ISIS is recruiting more fighters so vigorously.

But wait, there's more.

As WND has documented, members of ISIS were actually trained by U.S. personnel at a secret base in Jordan back in 2012...

Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials.

The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.

The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.

So U.S. taxpayers have not just paid for their weapons.

We have also paid for their training.

Not only that, but ISIS has also captured the Al Muthanna chemical weapons facility.

According to WND, some officials are concerned that ISIS may be able to use that sarin gas production facility to start churning out poison gas...

And they also may be working with a man who’s known for his expertise in making sarin, a manmade toxin that was developed in Germany and can, according to the Centers for Disease Control,produce loss of consciousness, convulsions, paralysis and death in victims who are exposed.

The revelations comes as the State Department acknowledged that ISIS has captured a stockpile of old chemical weapons at the Al Muthanna chemical weapons production complex as its fighters sweep through Iraq’s Sunni- controlled region.

The access to a sarin poison gas production facility, and the man with the expertise to operate it, is the result of a new alliance between the brutal jihadist fighters and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was a top military commander and vice president to the deposed Saddam Hussein.

And the folks running ISIS are crazy enough to do just about anything.  They are stone cold killers that will go to extreme lengths to advance their cause.  If you are not very familiar with ISIS yet, the YouTube documentary posted below contains some footage from some of their recent triumphs...

Iraq is literally being torn to pieces by this conflict, and even young boys are getting swept up into the fighting.

For example, check out this excerpt from a recent Daily Beast article...

It was a surprising sight. The customers standing in Haj Hamdoun’s store in central Mosul watched as a masked child came into the shop, bought what he wanted without saying a word and then left again, carrying a bag containing candies and milk in one hand and a heavy machine gun, which was just about as big as him, in the other.

This was Abdullah, who appears to be the city’s youngest volunteer with the Sunni extremist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, that took control of Mosul over two weeks ago.

Abdullah is not yet 11 years old. But his older brother and his father, who was a senior member of ISIS, were killed in fighting between the group and Iraqi security forces in 2013. That’s why Abdullah joined ISIS, although he is far from the only child in its ranks.

And the photo of a 13-year-old ISIS fighter below comes from the ISIS Media Hub on Twitter...

So where does all of this end?

For ISIS, the conquest of Iraq and Syria would just be the beginning.  Ultimately, ISIS intends to establish a caliphate that will rule the entire Middle East (and eventually the entire world).

And who is going to stop them from taking over Iraq?  These radicals are more than willing to die for what they believe in, and the Iraqi army has been pretty pathetic so far.

The United States seems to have very little interest in another Iraq war, and other nations would probably be extremely hesitant to intervene as well.

So who is going to stop ISIS?

And is there a larger geopolitical agenda at work here?

Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

Credit to Economic Collapse

UKRAINE memo to martial law

Bombshell: Janet Napolitano To be Governor of FEMA Region 10

Beijing and Seoul agree to direct trade in national currencies

China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas, AFP reports.

China's central bank has authorised the Bank of Communications, the country's fifth largest lender, to undertake yuan clearing business in the South Korean capital, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.

The announcement came as Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a state visit to South Korea on Friday. China is seeking to make the yuan - also known as the renminbi - used more internationally in keeping with the country's status as the world's second biggest economy behind the United States.

A joint communique endorsed Thursday by Xi and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye also pledged to strengthen efforts to launch direct trading between the yuan and the won.

Credit to The Voice Russia
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_04/Beijing-Seoul-agree-to-direct-trade-in-national-currencies-4477/

By "Punishing" France, The US Just Accelerated The Demise Of The Dollar

Not even we anticipated this particular "unintended consequence" as a result of the US multi-billion dollar fine on BNP (which France took very much to heart). Moments ago, in a lengthy interview given to French magazine Investir, none other than the governor of the French National Bank Christian Noyer and member of the ECB's governing board, said this stunner at the very end, via Bloomberg:

• NOYER: BNP CASE WILL ENCOURAGE ‘DIVERSIFICATION’ FROM DOLLAR

Here is the full google translated segment:

Q. Doesn't the role of the dollar as an international currency create systemic risk?

Noyer: Beyond [the BNP] case, increased legal risks from the application of U.S. rules to all dollar transactions around the world will encourage a diversification from the dollar. BNP Paribas was the occasion for many observers to remember that there has been a number of sanctions and that there would certainly be others in the future. A movement to diversify the currencies used in international trade is inevitable. Trade between Europe and China does not need to use the dollar and may be read and fully paid in euros or renminbi. Walking towards a multipolar world is the natural monetary policy, since there are several major economic and monetary powerful ensembles. China has decided to develop the renminbi as a settlement currency. The Bank of France was behind the popular ECB-PBOC swap and we have just concluded a memorandum on the creation of a system of offshore renminbi clearing in Paris. We have very strong cooperation with the PBOC in this field. But these changes take time. We must not forget that it took decades after the United States became the world's largest economy for the dollar to replace the British pound as the first international currency. But the phenomenon of U.S. rules expanding to all USD-denominated transactions around the world can have an accelerating effect.

In other words, the head of the French central bank, and ECB member, Christian Noyer, just issued a direct threat to the world's reserve currency (for now), the US Dollar.

Putting this whole episode in context: in an attempt to punish France for proceeding with the delivery of the Mistral amphibious warship to Russia, the US "punishes" BNP with a failed attempt at blackmail (recall that as Putin revealed, the BNP penalty was a used as a carrot to disincenticize France from concluding the Mistral transaction: had Hollande scrapped the deal, BNP would likely be slammed with a far lower fine, if any). Said blackmail attempt backfires horribly when as a result, the head of the French central bank makes it clear that not only is the US Dollar's reserve currency status not sacrosanct, but "the world" will now actively seek to avoid USD-transactions in order to escape the tentacle of global "pax Americana."

And, the biggest irony of all is that in "punishing" France for dealing with Russia, that core country of the Eurasian alliance of Russia and China, the US merely accelerated the gravitation of France (and all of Europe) precisely toward Eurasia, toward a multi-polar (sorry fanatic believers in a one world SDR-based currency) and away from the greenback.

Or shown visually (as we have ever since 20120).

Meanwhile, somewhere Putin is still laughing.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Should the U.S. Celebrate the Resounding Failure of This Government?

Look around you … No I mean REALLY look around you, and you will see the collapse of a Republic via the mechanisms of a representative government wrought with corruption, cronyism, greed, complicity and (theatrical) infighting. This is resulting in the slow but inevitable awakening of We The People, regardless of our political affiliation or mindset, to this painful reality.

A historically large majority of Americans today no longer trust any of the triad of governance we depend on to lead this country (see attached article below). And this is not a Democrat or Republican issue as this fall from grace has been long in coming. To blame one or the other merely plays into the hands of those who wish us distracted and divided. But to not see the marked acceleration of this process since the dawn of the twenty-first century and the shift into overdrive in the last six years is to pose a blind eye to absolute reality.

A serious look at the shift in policy and conscience of this government during the stated period reveals the constant erosion of our unalienable rights, our precious freedoms, our standard of living, our respect in the global community and more. This all culminates in a country devoid of self respect.

Today we suffer the following (a partial list):

The mutation of unalienable rights into granted privileges within limitations defined by this government. A few quick examples … Government designated Free Speech Zones, yea that’s freedom of speech (chuckle) … Constant spying on US citizens, but hey, if you are doing nothing wrong, don’t worry … This government’s self-appointed power to allow or negate your right to due process (indefinite detention), etc…

A gridlocked or complicit Congress unable or unwilling (via corruption, cronyism) to grab the reins on the runaway spending, leading this country to inevitable and total financial collapse.

A congress where over seventy five percent of all bills, mandates, laws or regulations passed ultimately fall outside their realm of authority or jurisdiction as set down by the Constitution.

A congress whose bills and laws constantly ignore the will of a vast majority of the people, only to favor the mega corporations that exercise almost total control over this government (The Monsanto Protection Act) etc…

A president who constantly threatens and then facilitates illegal and unconstitutional Executive Orders and actions to … bypass Congress, thus the will of the people (actually today that last statement is an oxymoron) and blatantly brags about it while congress pouts and complains but NEVER effectively pushes back… Wait, isn’t he a Constitutional Scholar? And isn’t it the duty and purpose of congress to “check and balance” the executive branch ???

The transformation is from a Republican form of government (governance of, by, and for the people) to a Fascistic government (the blending of the power of corporations and the state). And DON’T push back against this because any idiot can see this if they choose to look at the many laws passed to favor mega corporations, while the average citizen or small business is over-regulated and excessive tax burdens are levied. This ultimately leads to the elimination of competition and absolute monopolies (illegal) for said corporations or cabals.

And lest we forget the many “Too Big To Fail” bailouts that you and your children will be paying for generations to come. So the huge mega corps are not allowed to fail … but you and I who PAY for those bailouts … ARE! Tell me again who controls this governemnt …

A run away imperialism that sees US military forces stationed (openly or covertly) in at least 150 countries across this planet having very little to do with the protection or safety of this Republic. A majority of America suffers today from budget cutbacks and reduced social program spending, while the military industrial complex grows fatter by the day. This government allots over fifty percent of its annual budget (our money) to military or military related spending, adding up to almost one and a half trillion dollars (don’t be fooled by the published military budget and do your own research). WHY? Who is there to challenge the military might of America? NOBODY! But this is no longer a mechanism of protection, and is wholly owned and controlled by those same corporations who own this government. This is now a tool or mechanism to achieve their global ambitions … FACT !!!

The untended invasion of this country by illegal immigrants to the tune of MANY millions (easily the largest invasion of any country in the history of humanity), while this government debates an issue that strains an already failing economy. This is putting a massive strain on this country’s resources at a time when so many Americans are already doing without in record numbers, and facilitating benefits to these criminals (yes they are doing something illegal making them by default Criminals) some Americans are not afforded.

While you and I are constantly spied on to insure we are not a threat to our country, massive numbers of illegals are streaming across the southern border daily … How many are criminals, murderers, drug traffickers or terrorists? Yet it is you and I, loyal American citizens, concerned only with keeping this country strong and prosperous, who are under the microscope while who knows what enters this country almost unimpeded. Does this make sense to ANYBODY not working for this out of control government?

Need I continue? Because believe me I CAN! None of this is made up, contrived or even exaggerated, and all must be seen as blights on America’s survival today. The days of Democrat or Republican are gone and the only consideration we must focus on is PRO-American or UN-American because the time runs perilously short to save this country … and a day may soon come when there will be (in the truest definition of historical significance) NO-American …

If our founding fathers were alive today they would hang their heads in same at the utter travesty we now call our government … and ask themselves why they had even bothered. We The People share some of this blame by virtue of the fact this was created as a government Of, For and By The People, and we have, through our misplaced trust, ignorance and complacency, allowed much of what we suffer … This Must End … Or America as we knew it, and dream that it can once again be, surely WILL …

We once struggled as a people to throw off the yoke of an over-imposing and tyrannical government bent on bleeding us dry of our wealth and freedoms … that was in 1776. Today history has come full circle and we again face our own government that is bent on tyranny, only this time it is not a monarchy, but what remains of a failing Republic. Is it truly time to celebrate our independence … or is it once again time to renew the struggle to regain and guarantee it

Where Do We Go from Here …

As you settle in to celebrate Independence Day this year and give thanks for all you have and how privileged you are to reside in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave … Think again … Stop freaking LYING to yourself … Wake up to REALITY … or don’t get too comfortable in your Celebration because a LIE, unless addressed, will ALWAYS come back to Bite You In The Ass …

What you will find below is the latest polling of ALL Americans, Democrat, Republican, Independent. Tea Party, Libertarian etc… and their massive dissatisfaction with the triad of governance in America today. Please read it and understand … MANY OF US ARE PISSED OFF! Now what are we going to do about it ???

Also recommended by the Author:

The 4th of July 2014: Celebrating the Death of Liberty

Credit to Common Sense

Russian Army Commanders to Receive Interactive Sensor Tables with Digital Maps

MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Special interactive sensor tables to control combat activities are currently being designed for the Russian military, Deputy Head of Development at Russia’s Central Research Institute of Economics, Computer Science and Management Systems Dmitri Petrov told RIA Novosti.

“Geo information system ‘Position’ has been designed at the university and is based on the program complex ArcGIS intended for work in secured operational systems with the preset protected system of database management. The ‘Position’ system is intended for the creation, storing, processing and generating different types of geo information data, as well as the development of specialized software and solving analytical tasks,” Petrov told RIA Novosti.

According to Petrov, the system has no portable version so far. “At the moment it exists only in the stationary format, but we are working on the issue. A tablet is not a solution – the size is wrong. We envision interactive tables that could be made in various ways,” the deputy head said.

Petrov also explained that in the battlefield, the system needs a strong hull and screen, while the stationary versions could have less solid materials.

“The working group designing such interactive tables has already been created. After consultations with the representatives of several departments, we found demand for this product. That’s why we want to initiate the development and display it,” Petrov added.

Geo information systems collect, store, analyze and graph visualizations of geographic data.

Credit to RIA Novosti