Russia Considers US Nuclear Bomb Test 'Open Provocation'

Russia is concerned that US' recent nuclear bomb test may be carried out to examine the possibility of using the B61-12 nuclear bomb with NATO fighter-bombers stationed in Europe.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On July 1, the US National Nuclear Security Administration and the US Air Force conducted a flight test of an inactive B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb in Nevada.

The United States' recent nuclear bomb test is a provocation, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Monday.

"The actions of the US side in the current situation are openly provocative, and are contrary to Washington's stated desire for complete nuclear disarmament," Antonov told reporters.

"In particular, the test was carried out using a F-15E fighter-bomber. This leads to believe that the test was carried out in order to examine the possibility of using the B61-12 nuclear bomb with NATO fighter-bombers stationed in Europe," the deputy minister said.

© AFP 2015/ HO-DOD

US to Upgrade Nuclear Arsenal as Long as Atomic Weapons Exist

Head of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation David Krieger told Sputnik on Sunday that the very fact that the United States had conducted a bomb test signified that the country disregarded the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weaponry.

The United States uses tales about the imaginary "Russian threat" to increase NATO’s military potential near Russian borders and to justify upgrading of its nuclear arsenal, Anatoly Antonov said.

"They [the tests] confirmed the US intention to maintain deployed nuclear weapons in Europe that can reach Russian territory, and to maximize their combat effectiveness. We see this as an evidence of a persistent reluctance of the United States to reconsider the participation of non-nuclear NATO members in the joint nuclear missions that are in direct conflict with the obligations taken under the NPT [the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]."

"Under the guise of the infamous and fictitious threat from the Russian side, the United States are not only building up its military capacity and the presence of NATO near the western borders of the Russian Federation, but also are modernizing its nuclear arsenal," Antonov added.

Credit to Sputnik

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150713/1024563619.html#ixzz3foRhQDgX

"The Eurozone As We Know It Is Destroyed"

Despite the euphoria in global equity markets, The FT's Wolfgang Munchau - once one of the keenest euro enthusiasts - warns regime change is coming in Europe. The actions of the creditors has "destroyed the eurozone as we know it and demolished the idea of a monetary union as a step towards a democratic political union," Munchau exclaims, fearing they have "demoted the eurozone into a toxic fixed exchange-rate system, with a shared single currency, run in the interests of Germany, held together by the threat of absolute destitution for those who challenge the prevailing order." He concludes rather ominously, "we will soon be asking ourselves whether this new eurozone, in which the strong push around the weak, can be sustainable."

As The FT reports, the best thing that can be said of the weekend is the brutal honesty of those perpetrating this regime change...

In doing so they reverted to the nationalist European power struggles of the 19th and early 20th century. They demoted the eurozone into a toxic fixed exchange-rate system, with a shared single currency, run in the interests of Germany, held together by the threat of absolute destitution for those who challenge the prevailing order.

But it was not just the brutality that stood out, nor even the total capitulation of Greece. The material shift is that Germany has formally proposed an exit mechanism. On Saturday, Wolfgang Schäuble, finance minister, insisted on a time-limited exit — a “timeout” as he called it. I have heard quite a few crazy proposals in my time, and this one is right up there. A member state pushed for the expulsion of another. This was the real coup over the weekend: regime change in the eurozone.

The fact that a formal Grexit may have been avoided for the moment is immaterial. Grexit will be back on the table when you have the slightest political accident — and there are still many things that could go wrong, both in Greece and in other eurozone parliaments. Any other country that in future might challenge German economic orthodoxy will face similar problems.

The implications for the rest of the eurozone are at least as troubling...

We will soon be asking ourselves whether this new eurozone, in which the strong push around the weak, can be sustainable. Previously, the strongest argument against any forecasts of break-up has been the strong political commitment of all its members. If you ask Italians why they are in the eurozone, few have ever pointed to the economic benefits. They wanted to be part of the most ambitious project of European integration undertaken so far.

But if you take away the political aspiration, you may end up with a different judgment. From a pure economic point of view, we know that the euro has worked well for Germany. It worked moderately well for The Netherlands and Austria, although it produced quite a degree of financial instability in both.

But for Italy, it has been an unmitigated economic disaster.

The euro has not worked out for Finland either. While the country is considered the world champion of structural reforms, its economy has slumped ever since Nokia lost the plot as the world’s erstwhile premier mobile phone maker. France has performed relatively well during the euro’s early years But it, too, is now running persistent current account deficits. It is not only Greece where the euro is not optimal.

In such a system, someone, somewhere, will want to leave sometime. And the strong political commitment to save it will no longer be there either.

The FT columnist Wolfgang Munchau deserves some credibility... (as detailed in 'Guilty Men')

For many years he was one of the keenest enthusiasts for the single currency. As late as September 2006 he declared: I expect that Eurozone to be exceptionally stable in the long run... make no mistake, the Eurozone is here to stay

Four years later, Munchau had performed his acrobatics. ‘Whichever scenario you choose,” wrote the Financial Times columnist in March last year, “the Euro is going to be weak.”

And now, he is full euroskeptic...Such willingness to diverge from status quo thinking and candour has been all too rare among political and economic writers...

"A few things that many of us took for granted, and that some of us believed in, ended in a single weekend."

Credit to Zero Hedge 

Greek crisis: surrender fiscal sovereignty in return for bailout, Merkel tells Tsipras

European leaders have confronted the Greek government with a draconian package of austerity measures entailing a surrender of fiscal sovereignty as the price of avoiding financial collapse and being ejected from the single currency bloc.

A weekend of high tension that threatened to break Europe in two climaxed on Sunday night at a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels where the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and President François Hollande of France presented Greece’s radical prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, with an ultimatum.


Greek debt crisis: deal reached after marathon all-night summit - as it happened
EU leaders have reached agreement that paves the way to a third Greek bailout, if Athens parliament approves tough austerity measures

In what a senior EU official described as an “exercise in extensive mental waterboarding” to secure Greek acquiescence to talks on a third bailout in five years worth up to €86bn (£62bn), the two leaders pressed for absolute certainty from Tsipras that he would honour what was on offer.

Two days of high-stakes negotiations between the finance ministers of the currency bloc resulted in a four-page document that included controversial German elements leaked on Saturday. Those measures included Greece leaving the euro temporarily by taking a “time-out” from the currency bloc if it refuses terms for talks on the new bailout or, in the event of agreement, that Greece sets aside €50bn worth of assets as collateral for new loans and for eventual privatisation. Both passages, however, did not enjoy a consensus among eurozone leaders.

Under the terms set before Tsipras on Sunday night, the Greek parliament has to endorse the entire package on Monday and then pass several pieces of legislation by Wednesday, including on pensions reform and a new VAT regime, before the eurozone will agree to negotiate a new three-year rescue package.

Credit to The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/12/greek-crisis-surrender-fiscal-sovereignty-in-return-for-bailout-merkel-tells-tsipras

Russia Working To Resume Tu-160 Nuclear Bomber Production

Russian authorities are working to relaunch production of the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" supersonic nuclear bomber, a Russian defense ministry official reportedly said Friday.

"We are already working quickly [on the project], we have created a working group, scheduled monthly meetings with the Industry and Trade Ministry on how the work is progressing and appointed chief designers," Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov told RIA Novosti, cited by the Moscow Times.

Only 16 of the Soviet-era aircraft were built before production ceased in the 1990s. The Blackjack is an advanced supersonic bomber designed to deliver nuclear payloads.

The Russian air force currently operates a dozen Blackjacks, of which only five are combat capable, and only one has been modernized. The country announced in May that it would purchase at least 50 more Tupolevs once production resumes, although experts say the plan is unfeasible.

Russian officials have said that the production of the Tu-160s will not interfere with the manufacture of Russia's new PAK DA aircraft, which is expected to make its first flight in 2019.

The move comes at a time of heightened military tensions with the West. On Friday, several Russian bomber patrols near or over NATO borders, including over California and Alaska, earned international condemnation. Moscow announced in January that it would build 40 new nuclear missiles, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has made several references to the country's nuclear arsenal, including placing nuclear weapons in the annexed Crimean territory.

U.S. officials have previously termed Russia's nuclear gestures as "playing with fire" and NATO head Jens Stoltenberg has denounced Russia's "sabre-rattling."

Credit to Ibtimes.com

http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-working-resume-tu-160-nuclear-bomber-production-report-2004285

China's Financial War on the U.S.

America's day of reckoning just 60 days away?

Two months from now the biblical Shemitah year will have played out and only then will we know whether it has left any significant event in its wake.

In the past, this seven-year cycle has brought collapsing stock markets, tumbling currencies and the shaking of nations and empires.

This period of early autumn was the most crucial time on the biblical calendar for the ancient Israelites, with the end of the seven-year cycle described in Deuteronomy as the Shemitah or Sabbath year. All farmland was to be left in a state of rest and the people were to focus on God and His will for their nation and their lives.

This year on Sept. 13, the Shemitah reaches its peak on the last day on the Hebrew calendar, Elul 29, known as the “day of nullification.” All debt and credit were to be wiped away on this day as described by author Jonathan Cahn in his New York-Times bestseller, “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” published in September 2014.
But the Shemitah can be a game-changer not only for economies and stock markets but also in geopolitics.

Are America’s days as world leader numbered?

There is no arguing the fact that the United States of America has been the most powerful “empire” on earth since the end of World War II. Its corporations have been the engine that drives the global economy and its politicians have set the tone for the world order. It’s no coincidence the United Nations is based in New York City, the seat of global financial power.

But even as the nation’s economy flounders and it has gone from the world’s largest creditor to the world’s largest debtor, American culture has also drifted farther and farther from God. Some believe it has drifted beyond the point of return, into full-blown rebellion, with the June 26 landmark Supreme Court decision on marriage being only the latest symptom of a nation that has come unhinged from its foundational belief system. Obergefell v. Hodges was the biggest shock to Judeo-Christian moral sensibilities since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Both decisions came down in Shemitah years.

In the oft-quoted words of American political philosopher F.P. Dunne, “the Supreme Court follows the election returns.” If that’s true, such monumental shifts in the court’s rulings should not be viewed in a bubble. The five justices who decided to radically alter the legal definition of marriage could not have ruled that way unless they felt the majority of Americans were ready to accept their decision, if not totally agree with it. Thus far it does not appear that they miscalculated. The overwhelming majority of county clerks are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and those who have refused are being replaced by more obedient bureaucrats.

The 20th century’s greatest Christian thinkers, men like Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Francis Schaeffer, believed that a civilization could not continue indefinitely apart from the will of God. Soviet communism fell, Nazi Germany fell, the British Empire disintegrated. And many scholars see the whole of Western civilization as in decline now that it has rejected the very Christianity that made it great. It has succumbed to the pressures that have warred against it from the beginning.

Shemitah shakes empires

One of the chapters in Cahn’s book “The Rise and Fall of Nations” shows how the ancient Shemitah mystery is linked to massive changes of world history – world wars, the rise and fall of nations and empires.

Global problems in our day seem to be spinning out of control. Lawlessness is on the rise. The current order in the Middle East, in place since the end of World War I, has been turned on its head.

“What we are watching now is a massive destabilization throughout the world – from ISIS, to the war in Syria, to the collapse of Greece, the collapse of the Chinese stock market, the destabilizing of the European Union, the issue of nuclear weapons and Iran, the moral and spiritual transformation of America, the deterioration of relations between America and Israel, and more,” Cahn told WND.

In the financial realm, the markets have been expanding since 2009. Cahn believes the Shemitah, if it follows its pattern of the past two seven-year cycles, will bring a shaking in the financial realm first.

“And just now as we approach the climactic last part of the Shemitah, we see the sudden destabilization of the global financial realm,” said Cahn, who authored “The Harbinger,” which became a New York-Times bestseller in 2009.

“Added to this, the Greek crisis specifically deals with issues of debt and debt relief – the central issue of the Shemitah,” he added. “Whether or not the crisis finds a resolution, the very fact that such sudden destabilization of the global financial realm has taken place, and having to do with the issue of debt and credit and the issue of relief, just as the Shemitah nears its climactic period, warrants our attention. And as the Shemitah deals with the wiping out of financial accounts, we now witness China’s financial (stock market) losing 30 percent of its value in less than a month, is more than striking.”

States falling into line even before court’s edict

But it will not stop with the financial realm.

“The Shemitah also can mean ‘the fall.’ And we are watching the greatest, most rapid moral and spiritual fall in American history,” Cahn said. “In the year of the Shemitah, the number of states that struck down the biblical definition of marriage went from a small minority, in the teens, to the majority, and then at the end of June, came one of the most momentous decisions in American judicial history – and history itself – the striking down of the biblical and historic definition of marriage.

“This is a pivotal event with colossal ramifications, and one that draws America one step closer to judgment.”

When Obergefell v. Hodges was being argued before the Supreme Court in March, Cahn said he saw a woman holding a sign that read “Don’t Cross this Line.” He stopped and prayed with her.

Holy matrimony was the first covenant between God and man in the Garden of Eden, when God gave Eve to Adam and the two, male and female, were to become “one flesh” with God as their witness. In the New Testament, marriage is further revealed as a type, a foreshadow, of the relationship between God and his Church, which is called the “Bride of Christ.”

Now man has taken what is holy before God, the marriage covenant, and redefined it in a way that appears right to man in his humanistic way of thinking devoid of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. A line has been crossed, Cahn said, and so the only prayer left to pray is one for repentance and mercy.

America is heading for judgment. Whether that judgment entails a stock market collapse, a collapse of the dollar, or something further down the road that is even worse, Cahn is also praying that the individual Christians that make up the body of Christ in America will get right with God and repent of their sins.

For judgment always starts “in the house of the Lord.”

Credit to WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/americas-day-of-reckoning-just-60-days-away/#FmwFem8QA377OLIe.99

EX-CIA GOLDMAN ANALYST: 'We are in an extraordinarily dangerous time right now'

The Russia-NATO confrontation is becoming one of the defining aspects of the global strategic landscape. And according to the head of Goldman Sachs's Office of Global Security, the situation is going to remain tense — or even intensify.

Robert Dannenberg, who is also a 24-year CIA veteran, believes that Russia is the top strategic threat from a US perspective.

"We are in an extraordinarily dangerous time right now because both Russia and NATO are starting to exercise substantial military activity in close proximity to each other in Eastern Europe and the Baltics," Dannenberg said in an interview included in a July 9 Goldman Sachs analyst note.

Dannenberg believes that there's a high risk of an unintended escalation, and notes that "many of the channels of rapid military and intelligence communications that were carefully constructed during the Cold War have been dismantled, lamentably, mostly from the US side."

The conflict between the US and Russia stems largely from Russian policies in Ukraine.

A February ceasefire has succeeded in freezing the separatist and Ukrainian frontlines, but it hasn't completely halted the violence. Firefights across the front lines are common; one Ukrainian soldier was killed in a shootout on July 9.

Analysts believe that Russian-backed militants may be mobilizing for an attempt to take the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol, thus providing a connection between mainland Russia and the occupied Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in March 2014.

The opposition between Russia and NATO hasn't cooled either, with Russia carrying out provocative overflights and naval deployments around NATO territory and sending additional military assets to the Kaliningrad enclave, which borders the NATO states of Poland and Lithuania.

Credit  to Businessinsider.com
Read more:  http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-analyst-and-ex-cia-agent-we-are-in-an-extraordinarily-dangerous-time-right-now-2015-7#ixzz3fmajr0eA