Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have been victim of a plot


Editor's Note: Was I right? or was I right. I predicted this outcome back on May 15,2011. Watch the video below, then read the article.


Paul Harris
Guardian.co.uk
November 26, 2011
New questions have been raised about the events in the New York hotel room where the former International Monetary Fund head and leading French politician, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was alleged to have sexually assaulted a hotel maid.
The case against Strauss-Kahn was eventually dramatically dropped by a Manhattan court, but the scandal forced him to resign his IMF post and destroyed his chances of becoming the leading leftwing candidate to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency.
An exhaustively researched article in the New York Review of Books, published by veteran American investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein, has cast fresh doubt on exactly what happened in the Sofitel hotel room on 14 May between Strauss-Kahn and his accuser, Guinean-born maid Nafissatou Diallo.

Senate Moves To Allow Military To Intern Americans Without Trial


NDAA detention provision would turn America into a “battlefield”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Arrest Americans
The Senate is set to vote on a bill next week that would define the whole of the United States as a “battlefield” and allow the U.S. Military to arrest American citizens in their own back yard without charge or trial.
“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself,” writes Chris Anders of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor Monday, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the bill.
The bill was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA bill.
“I would also point out that these provisions raise serious questions as to who we are as a society and what our Constitution seeks to protect,” Colorado Senator Mark Udall said in a speech last week. One section of these provisions, section 1031, would be interpreted as allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on U.S. soil. Section 1031 essentially repeals the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by authorizing the U.S. military to perform law enforcement functions on American soil. That alone should alarm my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but there are other problems with these provisions that must be resolved.”

Bankers have seized Europe: Goldman Sachs Has Taken Over





On November 25, two days after a failed German government bond auction in which Germany was unable to sell 35% of its offerings of 10-year bonds, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Germany might retreat from its demands that the private banks that hold the troubled sovereign debt from Greece, Italy, and Spain must accept part of the cost of their bailout by writing off some of the debt. The private banks want to avoid any losses either by forcing the Greek, Italian, and Spanish governments to make good on the bonds by imposing extreme austerity on their citizens, or by having the European Central Bank print euros with which to buy the sovereign debt from the private banks. Printing money to make good on debt is contrary to the ECB’s charter and especially frightens Germans, because of the Weimar experience with hyperinflation. 



Obviously, the German government got the message from the orchestrated failed bond auction. As I wrote at the time, there is no reason for Germany, with its relatively low debt to GDP ratio compared to the troubled countries, not to be able to sell its bonds. 
If Germany’s creditworthiness is in doubt, how can Germany be expected to bail out other countries?  Evidence that Germany’s failed bond auction was orchestrated is provided by troubled Italy’s successful bond auction two days later.



Strange, isn’t it. Italy, the largest EU country that requires a bailout of its debt, can still sell its bonds, but Germany, which requires no bailout and which is expected to bear a disproportionate cost of Italy’s, Greece’s and Spain’s bailout, could not sell its bonds.



In my opinion, the failed German bond auction was orchestrated by the US Treasury, by the European Central Bank and EU authorities, and by the private banks that own the troubled sovereign debt. 



My opinion is based on the following facts. Goldman Sachs and US banks have guaranteed perhaps one trillion dollars or more of European sovereign debt by selling swaps or insurance against which they have not reserved. The fees the US banks received for guaranteeing the values of European sovereign debt instruments simply went into profits and executive bonuses. This, of course, is what ruined the American insurance giant, AIG, leading to the TARP bailout at US taxpayer expense and Goldman Sachs’ enormous profits.



If any of the European sovereign debt fails, US financial institutions that issued swaps or unfunded guarantees against the debt are on the hook for large sums that they do not have. The reputation of the US financial system probably could not survive its default on the swaps it has issued. Therefore, the failure of European sovereign debt would renew the financial crisis in the US, requiring a new round of bailouts and/or a new round of Federal Reserve “quantitative easing,” that is, the printing of money in order to make good on irresponsible financial instruments, the issue of which enriched a tiny number of executives.



Certainly, President Obama does not want to go into an election year facing this prospect of high profile US financial failure.  So, without any doubt, the US Treasury wants Germany out of the way of a European bailout.

Media Lies Used to Provide a Pretext for Another “Humanitarian War”


Protest in Syria: Who Counts the Dead?
Julie Lévesque
Global Research
Friday, November 25, 2011
According to numerous reports from the Western media, human rights organisation, as well as the UN, countless peaceful civilians have been killed by the Syrian forces since the beginning of the unrest in the country in mid March. But where do the numbers come from?

Many media reports on the alleged deadly repression by the Syrian government fail to mention the sources of their information, which are very often referred to solely as “human rights groups” or “activists”:
“Rights groups said Sunday that troops cracking down on pro-democracy protesters killed eight people in northern Idlib province and four more in central areas near Hama. (Syrian Forces Kill 12 as ICRC Head Visits Damascus, Voice of America, September 4, 2011.)
These protests are an unprecedented challenge to President Bashar al-Assad — and his family, which has ruled the country for more than 40 years. The cost has been high: at least 200 deadaccording to human rights groups, and many cyber activists have been jailed. (Deborah Amos, Syrian Activist In Hiding Presses Mission From Abroad, NPR, April 22, 2011.)
At least 75 people have been killed today in Syria during mass protests, local human rights activists told Amnesty International [...]
Thirty were killed in the southern town of Izzra’, 22 in Damascus, 18 in the Homs area and the rest in other towns and villages, activists said [...] (Scores killed in Syria as ‘Great Friday’ protests are attacked, Amnesty International, April 22, 2011.)

Syria Misses Arab League Deadline as Sanctions Near

Editor's Note:  "..And that no one should be able to buy or sell except he that has  the mark or the name of the beast..." Revelation 13:17

Syria missed an Arab League deadline Friday to allow hundreds of observers into the country, prompting the bloc to consider economic sanctions against Damascus for its eight-month crackdown on dissent, a senior diplomat said.

The Arab League had given Syria 24 hours to agree to the observer mission, a humiliating blow to a nation that was a founding member of the Arab coalition.

But the Friday afternoon deadline passed with no word from Damascus, said Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli. Now, the bloc will meet Saturday to decide on sanctions that could include a freeze on financial dealings and assets.
Read the entire article

Report: U.S. carrier sent to Syrian coast as tensions flare


November 23, 2011

The USS George H.W. Bush, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, has reportedly parked off the Syrian coast. The move comes as the U.S. embassy in Damascus urged Americans to “immediately” leave the country.
“The U.S. embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available,” began a statement released Wednesday on the embassy website. “The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights.”
In addition to urging citizens to leave the country, CBS News reports that Ambassador Robert Ford, who was recalled from Syria last month due to what the Obama administration called credible threats to his safety, will not return to the country later this month as planned.
Syria’s government has been strongly condemned by the international community following months of state-sponsored violence against political activists protesting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The violence is said to have left thousands dead in the country, which is a close ally of Iran and a sponsor of the Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah.
Adding to the sense of danger, Turkey, a NATO member and fierce critic of Assad’s government, recently warned its citizens to avoid traveling through the country after Syrian troops fired on at least two buses carrying Turkish Muslims returning from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Some Arab publications have reported this week that a no-fly zone will soon be put in place over Syria — similar to the one implemented over Libya last spring. And while such reports in the Arab press are often met with skepticism by western observers, the financial news service ZeroHedge flagged down a report from the respected private intelligence company Stratfor stating that CVN 77, better known as the George H.W. Bush, had left the strategically vital Straits of Hormuz for the Syrian coast.
The idea of imposing a no-fly zone over Syria — an increasingly hot topic in Washington, D.C. — was discussed at Tuesday’s CNN Republican debate. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has said he would “absolutely” propose a no-fly zone for the country, but when asked if they would do the same, other Republican presidential candidates remained hesitant.
“This is not the time for a no-fly zone over Syria,” said Romney.
UPDATE: Reuters reports that the George H.W. Bush will continue moving through the Mediterranean en route home to the United States.


On 9/11, the U.S. Military Was Preparing for a Simulated Nuclear War


9/11 Blogger
November 20, 2011
While September 11, 2001 is well known as the day when the U.S. suffered its worst terrorist attack, what is little known is that it was also a day when large sections of the armed forces around the nation had been preparing to fight a simulated nuclear war, as part of major training exercises being conducted at the time. In their annual exercises “Vigilant Guardian” and “Global Guardian,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the United States Strategic Command (Stratcom) were scheduled to carry out what has been described as a “simulated air war,” a “full-blown nuclear war” exercise, a “fictional nuclear war,” and a “practice Armageddon.”
No official attempts have been made to fully investigate these exercises and what effect they had on the military’s response to the 9/11 attacks. But evidence indicates they caused at least some confusion over what was “real-world” and what was simulation, and they may also have been a factor behind the communication problems experienced by military personnel that day. Other evidence suggests that some actions that have been presented as reactions to the terrorist attacks may actually have been related to these exercises–actions such as raising the alert status of American armed services to Defcon 3 and closing the huge “blast doors” to NORAD’s operations center in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. There is also evidence that other “practice Armageddon” exercises were being conducted at the time of the 9/11 attacks, but details of these are unknown.
AMERICA’S AIR DEFENDERS WERE SET TO FIGHT A ‘SIMULATED AIR WAR’ ON SEPTEMBER 11
Perhaps the most important exercise to consider is NORAD’s exercise called “Vigilant Guardian.” Close examination of this exercise is imperative due to the crucial role NORAD had to play in responding to the 9/11 attacks.
NORAD is the military organization responsible for monitoring and defending U.S. airspace. It was created during the Cold War, to protect North American airspace against nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union. Its Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC) in Colorado, where numerous staffers were involved in Vigilant Guardian, was described by the BBC as “the nerve centre of North America’s air defense.” [1] The center’s role, according to the Toronto Star, was “to fuse every critical piece of information NORAD has into a concise and crystalline snapshot.” [2] And NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York, which was also participating in the exercise, was responsible for trying to coordinate the military’s response to the hijackings on September 11. [3]
Vigilant Guardian, described as a “Cold War-style training exercise,” was held annually by NORAD. It was reportedly scheduled to last two weeks and was several days underway on September 11. [4] All of NORAD, including its subordinate units, was participating in the exercise that day. [5] NORAD’s CMOC was fully staffed for the exercise, with more than 50 members of staff in the Battle Management Center taking part. [6] According to Ken Merchant, NORAD’s joint exercise design manager, the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the Pentagon–which also played a key role in the military’s response to the 9/11 attacks–regularly contributed to NORAD exercises. It was therefore presumably set to play a role in Vigilant Guardian on September 11. [7]
EXERCISE SIMULATED A ‘FULL-BLOWN NUCLEAR WAR’ AGAINST RUSSIA
Full details of Vigilant Guardian are unknown, but various accounts have given indications of what it involved. The 1st Air Force’s book about the 9/11 attacks described Vigilant Guardian as a “simulated air war” and as “an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States.” [8] It was a “transition to wartime operations command post exercise,” according to an information page for exercise participants. [9] Ken Merchant called Vigilant Guardian a “full-blown nuclear war” exercise. [10] According to the Denver Post, it would involve “ever-escalating scenarios, from strained diplomacy to the outbreak of conventional warfare that headed inexorably toward nuclear conflict.” [11]
Lieutenant Colonel William Glover, the commander of NORAD’s Air Warning Center on September 11, said Vigilant Guardian involved NORAD “simulating war,” with “attacks coming from the outside, Soviet-style bombers coming in, cruise-missile attacks, that type of thing.” [12] The 9/11 Commission Report said the exercise “postulated a bomber attack from the former Soviet Union.” [13] According to Merchant, it included “bomber response and intercontinental ballistic missile response.” [14]

Iran hit with new sanctions over IAEA report

 on Nov 22, 2011




Iran has been hit with new sanctions by the United States, Britain, and Canada.

The latest wave of international sanctions target the nation's banks and the companies comprising its oil and gas industry.

The move was preceded by a November 8 report from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which stated that Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be secretly carrying out related research.

Al Jazeera's Rosalind Jordan reports from the US Department of State in Washington, DC.

Anger mounts as MF Global clients see $3 billion still stuck


Reuters
November 22, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three weeks after MF Global's collapsed, furious former customers are still fighting for access to billions of dollars as they question why as much as two-thirds of their money is still stuck.
While authorities have touted the fact that they are returning 60 percent of the collateral and cash that had been frozen in the wake of the broker's October 31 bankruptcy, a closer look shows that in fact only about 40 percent of customers' total funds have been authorized for release so far.
The remainder, more than $3 billion, ostensibly remains on hand to cover a shortfall originally estimated by MF Global to regulators at just $600 million.
Because the bankruptcy trustee, regulators and exchanges have made no comment on the missing funds in weeks -- and have given no information as to how much cash they are retaining -- customers are left guessing exactly how much might end up in the creditors' process of the bankruptcy.
After weeks of intense lobbying by customers and exchanges, trustee James Giddens last week won court approval to release another $520 million in funds from MF Global accounts that contained only cash as of October 31.
But that has still left thousands of customers in an uproar. Clients who had a mix of cash and trading positions have yet to see a dime of their excess funds, they say. The trustee is planning a third cash transfer to cover these clients, but no timing for that tranche has been announced.

U.S. Shifting Military Forces Closer to China


All Gov
November 21, 2011
In an effort to counterbalance China’s growing military prowess, the U.S. is working to station naval and Marine forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
The most controversial move, as far as the Chinese are concerned, is the decision to base some of the U.S. Navy’s most modern combat ships, littoral combat ships, in Singapore, which possesses strategic importance for shipping.
Singapore sits along the Straits of Malacca, through which thousands of ships pass each year between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It’s also located on the southern edge of the South China Sea, over which Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries have ongoing territorial disputes.
The Department of Defense is still negotiating with Singapore officials to station Littoral Combat Ships at the seven-year-old Changi Naval Base. The vessels can handle missions ranging from anti-piracy to submarine tracking to special operations.
In addition to the naval plans, the U.S. is preparing to permanently base anywhere from 250 to 2,500 Marines in northern Australia. The decision will allow the U.S. to more quickly deploy front-line military forces in the region in the event of a crisis.
The U.S. has already deployed anti-missile systems in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

President Obama's Hopeless 'Malaise' Moment


Forbes
November 22, 2011

President Obama seems frustrated these days – lashing out emotionally, intensifying his rhetoric against money-makers, doubling down on his demagoguery, and claiming that heartless GOP rivals want dirty air, unsafe water, poisoned food, and no health care. Mr. Obama blames Congress for not enacting yet more of his destructive “stimulus” schemes, even as the CBO this week reiterated its prior estimate that Obama’s first stimulus scheme ($787 billion, February 2009) will have a net negative impact on GDP over the coming decade.
Mr. Obama says he’ll spend $1 billion on his coming campaign for re-election – gathered, no doubt, from the corporate “fat cats” he likes to denounce – and that thematically he’ll be running against a “do nothing” Congress. In fact, if Congress did nothing for Obama over the coming year, it would be doing him a favor.
More pathetic still has been Mr. Obama’s recent resort to blaming others – as usual, the innocents among us – for the abject failure of his own policies. For some inexplicable reason, he said in Orlando last September, Americans have “gotten a little soft” and “didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades.” In late October he told a gathering inSan Francisco that “we’ve lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Finally, at the APEC meeting last weekend Obama complained to an audience of American CEOs that “we’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades . . . We aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America.” Mr. Obama’s use of the collective “we” is an attempt to soften what’s really a bullying, despicable insult – equivalent to this: “You much-vaunted money-makers, those I demonize, you aren’t working very hard, aren’t hiring enough, or earning enough to render to me the tax revenues I need.”
In just three years Mr. Obama has been such an inspiring leader, confidence-builder, political organizer, and policy-maker that he simultaneously faces a do-nothing Congress, a do-nothing business community, and a do-nothing economy. No wonder most Americans these days tell pollsters they’re dissatisfied with his presidency.

Establishment Working to Remove Free Online Version of The Obama Deception


Editor's Note: If you have not watched this film, then you need to!
November 21, 2011
Comments posted today on the full-length free YouTube version of Alex Jones’ The Obama Deception reveal an effort to discredit the film, its message, and portray supporters as violent miscreants celebrating the would-be assassination of the president.
Following an article Sunday in The New York Times describing alleged White House shooter Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez as inspired by the film after he viewed it on the internet, comments began to appear on the YouTube version today.
“You will be missed forever in our hearts. RIP 1961-2011,” states one post. “RIP obama, the good people die so young!” declaress another. The growing number of comments appear to be part of an effort to encourage YouTube and its parent Google to shut down the free version of the film and prevent it from being used as an educational tool as the 2012 election draws near.
Since appearing online, The Obama Deception has been viewed over 35 million times. It appears on both the popular YouTube site and its former rival Google.
In July of 2010, the film was blocked on YouTube by a hacker. “This was a criminal act, and YouTube needs to investigate, track the IP and find out who did it,” Alex Jones said. “The Obama Deception was getting more and more popular, and the establishment doesn’t like the fact that it exposes the Left-Right paradigm and identifies Obama as a puppet.”
It was eventually restored along with the number of views.
“The Obama Deception has drawn fierce attacks since its release in March 2009 – not only strong words attempting to discredit the powerful information the film puts forward, but in attempts to limit and block the film online,” Aaron Dykes wrote at the time. “Nevertheless, an estimated 25 million have seen the film worldwide [now over 35 million], thanks to hundreds of online versions and DVDs handed out by dedicated activists.”
We fully expect YouTube and Google to pull down The Obama Deception now that the establishment media has tried to link it to the schizophrenic Ortega-Hernandez and operatives are posting comments praising the alleged attempt to assassinate Obama.
The establishment is afraid of The Obama Deception because it is a Rosetta Stone. It expertly reveals Obama for what he is – a mere teleprompter reading puppet working for the bankers and the global elite. The film traces the effort of the globalists to takedown the economy and establish a planet-wide dictatorship.
If the elite are going to realize their dream, The Obama Deception cannot be allowed to exist online, especially now that we are entering the 2012 election season. Operatives will continue to provide YouTube with an excuse to remove it and claim it has violated their community standards and terms of service.
Please link to the film and work to educate people on the reality of Obama and the ever more brazen deceptions of the ruling elite as they move to once again deceive the public with their political sleight of hand.

Tampa Police Roll Out A TANK To Deal With A Few Dozen Protesters


Henry Blodget
Business Insider
November 20, 2011
According to The Daily, the Tampa police produced this vehicle to deal with some protesters.
Overkill, much?
(As many folks have observed on Twitter, these sorts of responses are playing right into the protesters’ hands.)
UPDATE: It’s not actually a “tank,” of course, though it certainly looks like one. It’s a “12-ton armored personnel carrier.” It is supposedly for “rescue” operations, though why it needs to be armored to do that is not clear.
Tampa Tank

Hypersonic weapon: New US bomb kills long before you hear it



Published: 18 November, 2011, 19:46
Edited: 19 November, 2011, 13:00
Like the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, the Pentagon's Falcon HTV-2 hypersonic plane is part of the Prompt Global Strike program (AFP Photo / Handout / Darpa)
Like the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, the Pentagon's Falcon HTV-2 hypersonic plane is part of the Prompt Global Strike program (AFP Photo / Handout / Darpa)
TAGS: ArmsMilitaryUSAWar

The US Army has tested a hypersonic missile, which travels six times faster than the speed of sound. It is part of a larger plan to have the capability to strike any place on the planet within an hour.
The missile, called the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW), was launched from Hawaii on Thursday, the Pentagon reported. A rocket delivered it to suborbital altitude, after which the glider went for its target on the Marshall Islands, some 3,700 kilometers away.
It hit less than 30 minutes later, which means its speed was at least 7,400 kilometer per hour, or about Mach 6. An aircraft must be able to fly faster than Mach 5, to qualify as hypersonic.
A Mach number is used to describe the speed of an object or a fluid in comparison to the speed of sound in that medium. Mach 1 means the object travels at the same speed as sound. However the speed of sound may vary depending on such conditions as temperature and composition, so the speed expressed in Mach number is also variable. The now-retired Concorde supersonic passenger planes used to fly at a cruising speed of about Mach 2.
The test was aimed at gathering data on "aerodynamics, navigation, guidance and control, and thermal protection technologies," the Pentagon said.
The AHW is one of several projects of the Prompt Global Strike program. It is aimed at developing several weapons which can be launched from American territory and reach their destinations within an hour.
On August 11 the US Air Force tested another hypersonic glider called the HTV-2. It is faster than the AHW, with speeds reaching 27,000 kilometer per hour. But unlike the Army’s vehicle, it does not work well – the test was aborted due to a technical failure.
The Soviet Union developed ramjet engines capable of hypersonic locomotion and even tested one design, which successfully reached Mach 5.7. The work was stalled by the collapse of the USSR, and no weapon using this technology was ever produced.