Tuesday, March 3, 2015
7 Times Obama Failed to Support Israel
Under President Barack Obama, many believe, U.S.-Israel relations have deteriorated to a historic low.
From the groundwork former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid for the high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran, to current Secretary of State John Kerry's repeated insults to the Jewish state, to the president's reported intent to have Israeli jet fighters shot down, Obama and his administration's actions have alienated America's longstanding ally.
Here are seven examples of how Obama failed to support the Jewish state.
1. Obama said he will snub Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by not attending his speech to Congress
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, invited Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress, and President Obama said ahead of the Tuesday event that he would not attend. Obama said he would not attend because he didn't want to influence Israel's upcoming elections, but Boehner suggested that the president simply doesn't support Israel.
"What I do wonder is why the White House feels threatened because the Congress wants to support Israel and wants to hear what a trusted ally has to say," Boehner said on "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
2. Last year, Obama' state department refused Netanyahu's calls for the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel as a Jewish state
"The American position is clear, Israel is a Jewish state. However, we do not see a need that both sides recognize this position as part of the final agreement," State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in March 2014.
3. Obama called for a pro-Hamas ceasefire that wouldn't disarm the Muslim terrorist group
In July 2014, during Israel's counteroffensive Operation Protective Edge, the White House said that President Obama had personally spoken with Netanyahu via telephone. Obama "made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now." Such an agreement would have left guns and rockets in the hands of Hamas, and left intact Hamas' so-called "terror tunnels" burrowing into Israel.
4. Obama threatened to shoot down Israeli planes in 2014
Israel has used airstrikes to destroy suspected nuclear reactors in Syria and Iraq in decades past, and recent reports from Middle Eastern news outlets claim that Netanyahu planned to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities last year. According to Israel National News, those same sources alleged that Israel was forced to abort the planned mission after the White House threatened to shoot the planes down as they flew through airspace in Iraq.
5. Obama supported overthrow of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an ally of Israel
In 2011, Israeli pundits were upset when Obama gave a nod to the ousting of Mubarak by calling for an "orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt, Reuters reported at the time. When Mubarak was eventually removed from power, Israel lost a strategic ally of three decades.
6. Obama has considered imposing sanctions on Israel
In December, Fox News’ Ed Henry pressed White House spokesman Josh Earnest to answer questions regarding possible sanctions on the Jewish state, and the press secretary did not deny that they were under consideration.
Speaking about construction activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Earnest stated, "We believe that settlements are illegitimate."
"So very clearly you’re not denying sanctions are on the table, even against an ally," said Henry.
"I’m very clearly not denying that we have strong concerns about settlement activity that’s underway in Israel," Earnest responded.
7. Obama called terrorist attacks on Jews at a Kosher grocery store in Paris "random"
In an interview with Vox.com, Obama said it was "entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris." This prompted harsh criticisms from the Jewish community, who said that Obama's comments trivialized and even outright denied the growing anti-Semitism across Europe.
Credit to NewsMax.com
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North Korea orders army to PREPARE FOR WAR with USA
The brutal dictator made the chilling threat after the US and South Korea staged a joint navel drill involving nearly a dozen warships.
"The prevailing situation where a great war for national reunification is at hand requires all the KPA (Korean People's Army) units to become (elite) Guard Units fully prepared for war politically and ideologically, in military technique and materially," he told troops according to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim, who commands one of the world's largest armies, told his forces to train so they can "tear to pieces the Stars and Stripes" – a reference to the American flag.
The US and South Korean drills were a prelude to an eight-week exercise called Foal Eagle which will involve air, ground and navy field training.
It will also involve some 200,000 South Korean and 3,700 US troops.
Both Washington and Seoul insist the military exercises are defence-based in their nature.
APA South Korean army K-2 tank fires during a live firing drill at a fire training field in Yangpyeong
GETTYThe US and South Korea regularly conduct war games in the Korean PeninsulaIt was recently revealed that North Korea could have as many as 100 nuclear weapons by 2020.
A report released by a US research institute predicted the rogue state's nuclear arsenal could dramatically increase in the next five years.
The report's author, Joel Wit, said: "This is a pretty scary scenario."
Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, told a Washington seminar said concern over North Korean advances was driving international diplomatic efforts "to find a credible path to negotiation so that we can stop North Korea's development of their nuclear capabilities."
He said Washington was "under no illusions" about North Korea's willingness to denuclearize voluntarily and would "continue to apply pressure both multilaterally and unilaterally" though sanctions to increase the cost of failing to do so
Credit to express
Monday, March 2, 2015
As Greek Default Fears Return, Government Considers "Borrowing" Pensions To Repay IMF
Greek short-term default risk jumped over 300bps today putting the odds of a restructuring at 50-50 within the next year as the warnings we issued last week with regard Greece's imminent default on its IMF loan loom. Seeking to reassure its lenders (and avoid yet more capital flight), Reuters reportsthe Greek government said it was "exploring solutions," including delaying payments to suppliers or try to raise up to 3 billion euros by borrowing from state entities such as pension funds.
As Reuters reports, Athens is running out of options to fund itself despite striking a deal with the euro zone in February to extend its bailout by four months. Faced with a steep fall in revenues, it is expected to run out of cash by the end of March, possibly sooner.
"The Greek government has been exploring solutions ... to ensure there won't be a single problem with repaying the IMF loan, or its funding obligations in March," Government Spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Greek radio.So far, Athens's other funding options have stumbled upon problems.Transferring 1.9 billion euros worth of profits the European Central Bank made on buying Greek bonds will not be allowed until Greece has completed promised reforms.Another option is the issuance of additional Treasury bills, but Athens's EU/IMF lenders have set a 15 billion euro cap on such debt and it has already been reached.On Wednesday, Athens will go ahead with a regular six-month T-bill auction of 875 million euros to refinance a maturing issue, in a sale that will be closely watched as the government faces a possible funding gap.When asked if Greece could cover its liquidity needs without issuing more T-bills or receiving the ECB profits, a finance ministry official said Athens had "alternatives", without specifying the options at hand.Athens could save money by delaying payments to suppliers or try to raise up to 3 billion euros by borrowing from state entities such as pension funds though the government may already have used up part of this, a source has told Reuters.
Of course, this public pension fund 'cash' will all be repaid when Greece returns to growth and pays down its debt...
We are sure the Greek people will be enthused when they find out what the 'radical left' has in store for their funds...
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The Greek banking index fell nearly 10 percent, while lenders National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank fell 10.0 to 11.8 percent to feature among the top decliners.
"The fears about a possible default for Greece are certainly not completely off the table," Gerhard Schwarz, head of equity strategy at Baader Bank in Munich, said.
Greek bank stocks (and bonds) are making it very clear that Greece's problems are over... now down hard from the pre-deal levels...
Credit to Zero Hedge
Lehman Moment For Austrian "Bad Bank" Means Worse Coming
Not "contained." Just six short months ago, the 2Y bonds of Austria's bank bank - HETA Asset Resolution AG - were trading well above par as the world and his mom reached for yield (~6%) in all the wrong places. Today, following the "spectacular development" over the weekend that the bank will be wound down due to the discovery of an $8.5bn "hole" in its balance sheet, the 2Y HETA bonds are trading below 50c on the dollar (at a yield of 54%). This is indeed Austria's "Lehman" moment as for the first time in the new European 'bail-in' era, senior debt is getting a massive haircut.
As we noted yesterday, the punchline, is that while the world was waiting for Greece to announce capital controls, or a bail-in over the past week, it was none other than one of the Europe's most pristeen credits (one which until recently was rated AAA/Aaa) that informed creditors a bail-in is imminent: "The finance ministry noted that creditors can be forced to contribute to the costs of winding down Heta - or "bailed in" - under new European legislation that Austria adopted this year so that taxpayers do not have to shoulder the entire burden."
Bloomberg confirms that the ministry announced that under new EU rules means creditors can be forced to share losses...
Resolution of wind-down vehicle of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International represents first bail-in of senior debt under new European regime for imposing losses on bondholders, Gildas Surry and Geoffroy de Pellegars, analysts at BNP, write in client note.Moratorium on liabilities of Heta Asset Resolution until May 31, 2016 gives time to work out necessary haircut and reduce the risk of litigation to a minimumBail-in legislation in Austria implements the European framework to the letterOther jurisdictions that follow Austria’s example can be expected to treat resolution in this sequence: point of non-viability, independent review of assets vs liabilities, moratorium, haircutExpect senior CDS old contract to trigger on Failure to Pay,and that HETAR govt-guaranteed sub bonds will continue paying (and trade with accrued interest)
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And sure enough, the bonds have crashed...
Remember - these are senior unsecured notes of a major bank! Contagion is now a big problem for Austria (and its banking system).
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Of course, this being Austria, and the Creditanstalt, aka the bank which failed in 1931 under almost identical circumstances and set off the dominos that led to a global financial crisis which in turn bank fanned the flames of the Great Depression, also being Austrian, suddenly everyone is asking: "what just happened and what happens next?"
One thing is certain when one bank's liabilities are another bank's assets, it is that such an arrangement is simply screaming for a systemic crisis to prove to everyone just how dumb this idea was from the get go.
The question is - how long do authorities let the contagion go before they 'change' the rules on bail-ins and apply taxpayer funds once again - as a one-off of course - to stabilize what is, after all, a well funded and highly liquid banking system... It appears HETA gave markets a glimpse behind the curtain as the lies of the recovery come out.
Credit to Zero Hedge
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