Accused U.S. Spy Crucified for Placing Drone Sensors in Yemen

Melissa Melton
Infowars.com
August 31, 2012

Shocking video published online by extremist Yemeni group Ansar al-Shariah shows a man being crucified on a utility pole as a spy for his alleged U.S. sympathies. The man, along with two others, was executed for supposedly attempting to aid U.S. forces in carrying out drone strikes.

According to the Times of Israel, a sign above the crucified man’s head reads verse 5:33 from the Koran: “The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter.”

A translated Lebanon Today reportexplains the jihadist group took over Yemen’s Azzan region, imposing Islamic Shariah law and subsequently crucifying three men. According to WND, an Ansar al-Shariah leader claimed the men were put to death for “putting sensors on cars that belong to al-Qaeda leaders to be targeted by the drones.” One of the men was reportedly crucified at the entrance of Abyan province’s Jaar for three days in accordance with Shariah law so he could be witnessed by passersby coming and going from the city.

Seemingly no American mainstream media outlets are reporting on this horrific development. Because of the graphic nature of this video, we will not post it here but it can be viewed at this link.

In addition, a few weeks earlier Arabic Sky News relayed that Muslim Brotherhood members were also crucifying Christian dissidents to Egypt’s first Islamic President Muhammed Mursi by hanging them naked from trees in front of his palace. Images have also recently surfaced of NATO-backed rebels mockingly dressing in religious garb and desecrating and destroying Christian churches across Syria.

Although WND has reported previously on these instances of modern crucifixion in the Middle East, other media outlets have challenged the reports, including Jonathan Kay of Canada’s National Post who claimed assertions of recent crucifixion were nothing more than a “hoax” and an “instant Internet myth.”

Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com have provided ample evidence that Al-Qaeda is nothing more than a U.S. government-created front used to serve the military-industrial complex’s purposes when needed, first helping to put the Muslim Brotherhood in power in Egypt, and most recently in a plot to overthrow Syria‘s President Bashar al-Assad. Yemen has been the target of U.S. drone attacks for years as part of an ongoing covert war.

As the Middle East is continuously and purposely destabilized under the guise of the Arab Spring, and increased radicalism is funded and fueled, it is obvious conditions are only getting worse by design. This latest gruesome development serves to highlight the fact that there is nothing “humanitarian” about the U.S. and NATO’s humanitarian interventions or regime changes.

Islamist rebels seize control of Douentza

Fox News
September 1, 2012

Islamist extremist rebels seized control of Douentza, moving much closer to government-held territory in central Mali.

Douentza was taken early Saturday morning by the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (known by the French acronym MUJAO). Douentza is 120 miles north of Mopti, a central town held by the Mali army.

Islamist leader Oumar Ould Hamaha said the MUJAO fighters entered Douentza and forced the surrender of the Gandakoy militia, who are secular rebels.

The seizure of Douentza was confirmed by residents contacted by phone from Bamako.

The fall of Douentza shows that Islamist forces are gaining territory and moving closer to southern Mali.

The United Nations reports that an estimated 440,000 people have fled the conflict and are in need of emergency food and shelter.

What Now for Ron Paul Libertarians?

The Real News
August 30, 2012




Editor's Note: Ron and Rand Paul's endorsement of Romney has upset many of Ron Paul's supporters.
See related video: Left-Right Paradigm and the Coming Election

The Low-wage, No-raise Economy

Oped News
August 30, 2012

The Obama administration hailed Friday's jobs report from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming that the 163,000 net new jobs in July represented a positive development after three months, April through June, in which US payrolls increased by less than half that number. The American media took a similar view in its coverage, and the stock market responded favorably, with its third-largest rise of the year.

What they were celebrating, however, is far from a genuine recovery in the labor market. Wall Street regarded the jobs report as providing sufficient momentum to avoid an uncontrolled economic collapse, while ensuring that the conditions facing the working class remain so precarious that there will be no significant pressure on corporations to raise wages. The White House no doubt takes a similar view.
The actual share of the adult population that is employed fell from 58.6 percent to 58.4 percent in July, while the broadest measure of unemployment, counting both those who are discouraged and have stopped looking for work and those working part-time involuntarily, rose from 14.9 percent to 15 percent--nearly one in every six workers.

There is ample reason to doubt whether the jobs report accurately describes the real situation in the labor market. A separate report by the Labor Department, based on its survey of households, found a decline of 195,000 jobs in July. Moreover, the BLS figure of a rise in 163,000 jobs was based on raw data showing a decline of 1.2 million jobs, which was seasonally adjusted to yield an increase. This may well be overstated because the historical pattern for July is heavily influenced by the traditional auto industry changeover period, which did not take place this year.

More significant than the exact number of jobs created or lost in July is the quality of those jobs. The vast majority of the new jobs created in the course of 2012 have been part-time or low-paying or both. Full-time jobs have actually declined by 750,000 since March.

At the same time, wage rises are virtually nonexistent. Since March 2010, when official employment figures hit bottom, non-supervisory workers have seen a weekly raise of just 3 cents an hour, when inflation is taken into account. This is the product of two processes: the inability of workers to press for wage increases when they have no job security, and the disproportionately low wages being paid to those who have obtained new jobs during the past two years.

According to a report issued recently by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 28.3 percent of all workers are receiving poverty-level wages today, and that figure is projected to be virtually unchanged, at 28 percent, in the year 2020. Based on employer surveys of where jobs will be created in the next eight years, the EPI found that an amazing 25 percent would not require even a high school education, even though barely 8 percent of the work force falls into that category.

In other words, despite the incessant claims that getting a college education is essential to getting a decent job, American capitalism has something very different in store for the new generation of the working class: low-wage jobs in industries like retail, health care, office temps and food service, where the bulk of new workers will make the minimum wage or slightly more.

The Labor Department reported that the ratio of job-seekers to jobs available was 3.7 to 1, down somewhat from the 6 to 1 figure during the worst of the slump, but far worse during the present "recovery" than during previous recessions. During the 2001 recession, for example, the highest figure for the job seekers to jobs ratio was 2.9 to 1.

While these figures document the failure of American capitalism to provide work for vast sections of the working class, the political representatives of big business propose nothing to address the crisis. Neither President Obama nor his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have offered any policy for creating jobs, except the inevitable tax cuts for corporations and business.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate adjourned for their five-week-long August recess without any action on the social crisis. And the Federal Reserve Board, the US central bank, has limited its response to providing cheap credit for business to drive up stock prices and profits.

Obama's rose-colored presentation of the report and his barely disguised indifference to the plight of the working class conceal a calculated policy of high unemployment that is being pursued by his administration and the Federal Reserve, in service to corporate America. The US ruling elite is carrying out an historic and permanent lowering of wages, job conditions and working class living standards.

The stagnation and outright decline in real wages is not a calamity as far as the Democratic and Republican politicians are concerned, but rather a positive good. They welcome the deteriorating living standards of working people because it has produced record profits for American corporations despite the ongoing economic slump. Indeed, US gross domestic product has returned to the level before the 2008 financial crash, but with five million fewer workers employed.

Only one campaign in the 2012 elections takes as its point of departure the defense of the jobs, living standards and social benefits of working people: the Socialist Equality Party and our candidates for president and vice president, Jerry White and Phyllis Scherrer. Only the SEP campaign fights for the political mobilization of the working class on the basis of a socialist program to carry out a radical redistribution of the wealth from the super-rich to working people and to reorganize economic life to serve human needs, not corporate profits.
Crossposted at wsws.org

Patrick Martin writes for the World Socialist Website (wsws.org), a forum for socialist ideas & analysis & published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).

Bashar al-Assad blames foreign powers for the unrest

Press TV
August 30, 2012




Bashar Al-Assad blames foreign powers for the unrest in Syria.

Kidnapped Marine Speaks Out Against Government Tyranny

 TheAlexJonesChannel
August 30, 2012

 TheAlexJonesChannel

In his first public comments since being kidnapped by authorities over political posts on Facebook, former Marine Brandon Raub tells John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute that he is scared for his country.
[Full Interview]
http://youtu.be/N5dA1N3S9Es
Raub's case went viral on the Internet earlier this month when on August 16, the former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was kidnapped from his home by police, FBI and Secret Service agents and forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric ward by authorities in Virginia in response to Facebook posts which the FBI deemed "terrorist" in nature.

Raub was released after a week when a judge concluded that the original petition ordering him to be detained contained no information whatsoever on the reasons behind Raub's incarceration.

Raub explained that one of his main concerns in being publicly vocal about his concerns with the activity of the U.S. government was executive orders that allow the state to seize dictatorial power in a time of crisis, including the seizure of private property, communications and the institution of forced labor camps.

Raub explains how he set up a Facebook group with his brother and sister which was based on the Illuminati card game, which contextualizes some of the comments that the FBI dubiously claimed were "terrorist" in nature, including a reference to Raub 'sharpening his axe'.
http://www.infowars.com/marine-kidnapped-over-facebook-posts-i-am-scared-for-...
by Paul Joseph Watson

Marine Brandon Raub speaks with Adam Kokesh about his ordeal while he was in custody at John Randolph Medical Center.

Video Shows Cop Kicking Defenseless Man in the Throat

New police brutality clip hits You Tube

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, August 30, 2012

A new police brutality video shows a St. Paul police officer kicking a defenseless man in the throat while he lay on the ground.

The clip, which was uploaded to You Tube yesterday, begins with the man prostrate on the floor. According to the man filming the footage, he has already been tased and maced in the face.

The victim asks the cop over and over again what he is being arrested for but the officer refuses to answer.

“Can you tell me what’s going on? You don’t have a warrant for my arrest,” the man pleads as he coughs as a result of being pepper sprayed.

At the 1:15 mark in the video, the cop kicks the man in the throat for no apparent reason.

The man is then handcuffed before the officer punches him in the head. He is then slammed onto a patrol car and held down as his hair is pulled back.

As officers struggle to put the man in the patrol car, other cops try to intimidate the man recording the video.

From the video it appears as if around ten police officers are involved in the arrest of one man.

Details surrounding the incident, which took place at the corner of Woodbridge and Milford streets, have now been released. The victim of the assault was named as 30-year-old Eric Hightower, who was arrested for terroristic threats, damage to property and obstruction of the legal process, but crucially has not been charged.

The officer responsible for the assault – Jesse Zilge – has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.

St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith told CBS Minnesota that the department has “serious concerns” about the officer’s use of force in the video.

This footage again illustrates how police brutality has become endemic in America – particularly targeting black people.

Earlier this month we reported on the case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter, who Jonesboro Police claim shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.

Despite being placed in double-lock handcuffs and having been searched, police claim Carter took his own life with a .380 caliber handgun, an explanation the man’s mother claims is a cover-up for murder.

As police brutality in America escalates to new heights of violence and abuse, more and more unprovoked deaths are occurring, but punishments for officers who shoot victims dead are often miniscule.

In January 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot in the back by policeman Johannes Mehserle as he lay on a platform at a railway station in Oakland California. Mehserle was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he claimed he had meant to use his Taser and not a gun and ended up serving just two years in jail for killing Grant.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Obama Has Stolen $5.3 Trillion From Our Children In Order To Make Himself Look Good

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Aug 30, 2012

Barack Obama has destroyed the future of America in order to improve his chances of winning the next election.  Under Obama, 5.3 trillion dollars has been ruthlessly stolen from our children and our grandchildren.

That money has been used to pump up the debt-fueled false prosperity that we have been experiencing.  When the U.S. government borrows money that it does not have from someone else (such as China) and spends that money into the economy it is going to make our economic numbers look better.  Even if the government spends that money on incredibly stupid things, it still gets into the hands of average Americans who in turn spend that money on food, gas, clothes, etc.  If we were to go back and take that extra 5.3 trillion dollars out of the U.S. economy, I guarantee you that we would be in a rip-roaring depression right now.  We would look a lot like Greece at this point.  For several years Greece has been raising taxes and cutting government spending in an attempt to balance the budget and these austerity measures have resulted in an unemployment rate of over 23 percent and an economy that has contracted by close to 25 percent.  Most Americans don’t want to go through pain like that so they are okay with continuing to financially rape our children and our grandchildren.  Just imagine how you would feel if your parents died tomorrow and you found out that they had left you with a million dollar debt that you were legally obligated to pay off.  How would you feel, knowing that you had just been sold into debt slavery for the rest of your life?  Well, that is how our children and our grandchildren are going to feel.  We are destroying the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen, we are accumulating the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and the coming economic collapse that we have caused is going to wipe out the promising future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.  If they get the chance, future generations of Americans will curse us bitterly and will spit on our graves.  What we are doing to our children and our grandchildren is the kind of stuff that horror movies are made of.  You should beashamed of yourself America.

The federal budget deficit for 2012 will be larger than the entire U.S. national debt was 30 years ago.  In 1982 Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the U.S. national debt was considered to be a tremendous national crisis.  But somehow we have allowed our national debt to grow from about a trillion dollars back then to approximately $16,000,000,000,000 today.

By the end of Obama’s first term, the U.S. national debt will have grown more than it did from the time that George Washington became president to the time that George W. Bush became president.

That is hard to believe.

Obama is going to outdo all the presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton in just one term.

Amazing.

At this point, the U.S. national debt is more than 22 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.

Read the entire article

Americans shot in Mexico were CIA operatives

msnbc
August 29, 2012

Forensic personnel check a U.S. diplomatic vehicle attacked with gunfire in the Tres Marias-Huitzilac highway in Morelos, Mexico, on August 24, 2012. Officials said Tuesday that the two Americans wounded in the attack were C.I.A. operatives.

MEXICO CITY — The two Americans who were wounded when gunmen fired on an American Embassy vehicle last week were Central Intelligence Agency employees sent as part of a multiagency effort to bolster Mexican efforts to fight drug traffickers, officials said Tuesday.

The two operatives, who were hurt on Friday, were participating in a training program that involved the Mexican Navy. They were traveling with a Mexican Navy captain in an embassy sport utility vehicle that had diplomatic license plates, heading toward a military shooting range 35 miles south of the capital when gunmen, some or all of them from the Federal Police, attacked the vehicle, Mexican officials have said.

2 US government employees wounded by Mexican police

The Mexican Navy said Tuesday in a statement that an American was driving the vehicle and that during the attack the captain, who was handling logistics and translating for the men, remained in the back seat calling for help on his cellphone.

The men were wounded, the Navy said, when the rain of bullets managed to tear through the car’s protective armor. It was unclear if the Americans, who officials said were unarmed, were specifically targeted, if the shooting was a case of mistaken identity or if there was some other reason that the vehicle was ambushed. Mexican prosecutors have detained 12 federal police officers and have said no theory can be ruled out.

Mexico's Zetas cartel rewrites drug war in blood

The C.I.A. declined to comment. But American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information, said no evidence had emerged so far that the Americans were targeted because of their affiliation.

Read the entire article

Military Helicopters Harrass Downtown Minneapolis

12160.INFO
August 28, 2012

Leave it to RussiaToday to inform us of secret military ops/training going on in our own country... "US Special Operations Command decided that downtown Minneapolis would be a perfect location for military games involving Black Hawk helicopters and dozens of troops.

Low-flying Black Hawk helicopters conducted military training exercises in downtown Minneapolis Monday night, hovering majestically outside of apartment windows of surprised local residents.

Some Minneapolis residents have taken videos of the Army's utility helicopters as they passed over bridges, hovered outside their windows and flew over the city.

"Yep, that's the view outside my window," said one YouTube user as two of the giant vehicles stopped outside his 28thfloor window for 10 seconds before soaring down Marquette Ave.

The helicopters were on an urban environment training assignment ordered by the US Special Operations Command. The exercises will continue until early September, but the military is refusing to give out exact training locations to prevent crowds from gathering to watch." Read more:http://rt.com/usa/news/black-hawk-downtown-helicopters-766/

Will The Election in 2012 Bring any real Change?

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!! News
Mark Matheny
August 29, 2012

This is a rant I recorded after working a 12 hour shift. I was quite tired.

Zero effective policy and stalling QE3 – Why QE3 will have little financial impact if implemented. Deposits at US commercial banks quickly approaches $9 trillion.

MyBudget360
August 28, 2012

The markets eagerly await the words of central bankers over the next few days.  The markets are on the fence waiting to see if Ben Bernanke gives the green light for QE3.  What many fail to realize is the Fed already has other mechanisms to force banks to lend in the current marketplace.  First, there is no need to pay interest excess reserves.  Even the European Central Bank has dropped interest paid on excess reserves down to zero.  So the Fed already has some alternatives to what QE3 would provide.  It is also the case that deposits at US commercial banks are already nearing $9 trillion.  Banks have the means and ability to lend if they only had the desire to do so.  In spite of the US public bailing out the entire banking edifice, they have little faith in the American public.

Deposits at US commercial banks

Anytime the market has sneezed, the Fed has been right there to step right in with a handkerchief.  This has been very positive to the stock market but has done very little for the bottom line of most Americans.  While the stock market has recovered most of its losses, the typical American family has seen their net worth evaporate by 40 percent.

Those that think QE3 is baked in the cake may fail to realize that the banking system already has the means to lend.  Simply adding more risk into the already debt laced system is not exactly a smart move.  Take a look at deposits at US institutions:

Deposits at US commercial banks (source: Fed Reserve)

The above already demonstrates that banks have a deep enough base of funds to make loans against.  This is the nature of fractional reserve banking.  Yet banks are more concerned with shoring up tattered balance sheets and investing in other lucrative ventures instead of lending to Americans.  Even with the housing market, most loans are being backed by the government so the banks do not even have faith in the American Dream cornerstone of housing.  Yet what were all those bailouts for then?

Fed comes in whenever market sneezes

The Fed seems to pop in every time the market hits a snag in the road:

Source:  Dshort.com

The market is now addicted to this easy monetary policy.  Much of this policy has not helped the typical American.  Sure, it has allowed the financial sector to continue on their methodical rent seeking path of taking productive dollars out of the economic system.  Yet Americans are in a worse position even in this supposed recovery.  Wages continue to drop.  46 million Americans are still on food stamps.  Fuel, education, and healthcare all are facing spiraling costs.

So in the next week you will have central bankers in the US and Europe speaking with vague sentences that only can be deciphered by their banking colleagues.  Just realize if QE3 takes place it will have very little impact on the financial well being of your middle class family.

Consumer Confidence In U.S. Declines By Most Since October

Bloomberg
August 28, 2012

Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in August by the most in 10 months as households grew more pessimistic about their employment prospects and the economic outlook.

The Conference Board’s index decreased to 60.6 from a revised 65.4 in July, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. The 4.8-point decrease was the biggest since October. The reading was less than the most- pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey in which the median projection was 66.

Rising gasoline prices, a jobless rate that’s been above 8 percent since the start of 2009 and limited income gains are keeping consumers glum. Persistent pessimism raises the risk of a pullback in household purchases that account for about 70 percent of the world’s biggest economy.

“The consumer is still very cautious,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics Ltd. in Valhalla,New York, who projected a drop in sentiment. “The labor market is still relatively weak. There’s a lot of uncertainty about policy ahead of the election” and fuel costs have accelerated, he said.

Read the entire article

Lancaster to launch aerial radar surveillance over neighborhoods

Los Angeles Times
August 26, 2012

The city of Lancaster plans to launch a new aerial surveillance system to monitor neighborhoods for crime.

The technology, called the Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System, will be attached to a piloted single-engine Cessna.

It's basically a radar system that will give deputies a bird's-eye view of what's happening on the ground.

The tool is similar to drones that are used by the military to survey war zones, with the difference that those are remote-controlled rather than attached to a plane.

Authorities say the technology will prove invaluable for the city because it's so large and spread out, and deputies can't be everywhere at once.

It could also help during natural disasters like fires or earthquakes by providing an aerial view of the situation.

Opponents have expressed concerns about government snooping, but city leaders insist that the surveillance will only be used to fight crime.

The Sheriff's Department plans to deploy LEAPS for 10 hours a day, at a coast of about $300 an hour.

That adds up to about $90,000 per month and more than $1 million per year -- a hefty price tag in the cash-strapped city.

But city officials say that it's worth the investment to combat a recent spike in crime.

Army soldiers allegedly bought $87K worth of weapons to kill Obama

Raw Story
August 27, 2012

 

Prosecutors alleged Monday that four Army soldiers arrested for killing a former soldier and his girlfriend were plotting to assassinate the President and overthrow the government.

The Associated Press reported that the four soldiers, part of a Georgia-based militia called Forever Enduring Always Ready (FEAR), had spent at least $87,000 on guns and bomb components.

“This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk,” prosecutor Isabel Pauley said. “Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans.”

The militia planned to take over Fort Stewart in Georgia as well as bomb a number of targets, including a dam in Washington state. The plot was uncovered during a murder case involving the killing of former Army soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend Tiffany York in December.

Pfc. Michael Burnett said in court that the former soldier and his girlfriend were executed after the militia feared Roark had betrayed them. Burnett has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Burnett and the other defendants — Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon — have been charged with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony.

German minister rejects more time for Greece

Boston.com

August 27, 2012

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s economy minister has rejected calls for Greece to get more time to implement economic reforms, saying in an interview Sunday that Athens needs to respect the bailout deal reached with its international creditors.

Philipp Roesler’s comments to ZDF public television come after a visit by Greece’s prime minister to Berlin on Friday, during which Antonis Samaras told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his country needs ‘‘time to breathe’’ before it can make all the budget cuts and reforms demanded as part of its €240 billion ($300 billion) bailout packages.

‘‘What the Greeks have asked for, half a year or two years, that’s not doable,’’ said Roesler, who is also the vice chancellor in Angela Merkel’s coalition government. He added that ‘‘time is always money’’ and all parties had agreed that additional funds for Greece weren’t up for debate.

Roesler, the leader of Germany’s pro-business Free Democratic Party, has long taken a hard line on Greece. Last month, he caused an outcry in Greece by suggesting the idea of the country leaving the 17-nation eurozone had ‘‘lost its horror.’’

Those comments appeared to put him at odds with Merkel, who has always insisted that Greece should remain in the euro.

But his latest views on the need for Greece to stick to the agreed time plan for reforms were echoed by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who told a newspaper in comments published Sunday that ‘‘more time generally means more money and that quickly means a new (bailout) program.’’

Merkel has so far shied away from making new promises to Greece. On Sunday, she dodged questions on the subject during an interview with German public TV station ARD. Instead, she insisted that ‘‘we are at a crucial moment in the fight against the debt crisis and that’s why I think we should all weigh our words carefully.’’

The question of how to avert a Greek debt default, which could spark a chain reaction among other ailing European economies, has preoccupied EU leaders as they return from their traditional summer break.

French President Francois Hollande urged Greece on Saturday to do more to show its commitment to reforms, and offered the country no immediate hope for relief from its current regime of painful austerity measures. Like Merkel, Hollande said further decisions on Greece need to wait for a report next month by the country’s debt inspectors.

Meanwhile, the respected German weekly Der Spiegel reported in its latest edition that Merkel wants EU leaders to forge ahead with deeper political integration within the unwieldy 27-nation bloc.

Merkel has long advocated closer political integration as a means of preventing the European project from unraveling under the strain caused by the eurozone crisis.

Asked about her plans, the chancellor told ARD television Sunday: ‘‘Our task now is to remove the founding mistakes of the currency union, namely the lack of political cooperation, and that’s what we are going to discuss in the coming months.’’

She suggested that EU member state could be subject to closer budget scrutiny, and that measures such as tax harmonization could be up for discussion.