Sunday, July 20, 2014

Jacob Rothschild? Could Bankers Have Anything to Do With Two Malaysian Airline Tragedies?                  


You do not challenge the world banking elite and you try not to get in their way. Could it be that the reports of MH17 being mistaken for Putin’s plane are true?
Or could it simply be an attempt to frame Russia?
Maybe Russia is responsible but it certainly looks like there is an aggressive attempt to frame them. The video that is being used for evidence had a time stamp/creation date that, unless faulty, proves that the video was created before the plane was shot down.
Though direct Russian involvement can not be ruled out, it is clear that many in the West are eager to lay the blame at their feet. Though I can offer no definitive answers of what happened today, I do think we need to think about who might benefit from BOTH events.
Though the events may be unrelated, it would seem to reason that whoever is ultimately blamed for MH17 might be heavily scrutinized for potential involvement in MH370. It certainly seems that there may be more than a coincidence at work here.
The story didn’t really seem to gather much attention last week but there was a huge international story regarding BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) moving away from the establishment world banking system.
If we are to believe that world leaders are puppets, and that they answer to bankers, then this is not a small news story. The Daily Sheeple’s Lily Dane wrote an article that we republished here at D.C. Clothesline on Wednesday. This was barely 24 hours before the Malaysian Airliner was shot down:
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Five nations forming their own world bank: Is this the new New World Order?

BRICS
Five countries are tired of US dominance of the global financial system and are building their own versions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The group is called BRICS, and the members are all developing or newly industrialized countries that are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs.
From the AP:
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -the so-called BRICS countries – are seeking “alternatives to the existing world order,” said Harold Trinkunas, director of the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution.
At a summit Tuesday through Thursday in Brazil, the five countries will unveil a $100 billion fund to fight financial crises, their version of the IMF. They will also launch a World Bank alternative, a new bank that will makeloans for infrastructure projects across the developing world.
The five countries will invest equally in the lender, tentatively called the New Development Bank. Other countries may join later.
The BRICS powers are still jousting over the location of the bank’s headquarters – Shanghai, Moscow, New Delhi or Johannesburg. The headquarters skirmish is part of a larger struggle to keep China, the world’s second-biggest economy, from dominating the new bank the way the United States has dominated the World Bank.
The BRICS grouping’s first formal summit was held in Yekaterinburg in June 2009. Afterward, the nations announced the need for a new global reserve currency, which would have to be “diversified, stable and predictable.” While they did not directly address the perceived “dominance” of the US dollar – something that Russia has done in the past –  the statement did spark a drop in the value of the dollar against other major currencies.
On Tuesday, the group’s 6th summit began in Brazil. On the agenda: the creation of a $100 billion development bank and a $100 billion dollar reserve fund, designed to boostinvestment in BRICS economies and reduce the power of the Western-dominated World Bank and IMF.
Thomas Wright, a fellow at Brookings’ Project on International Order and Strategy, told the AP that the BRICS countries “want a safety net if they fall out with the West.”
Congress has refused to approve legislation to provide extra money to help the IMF provide more loans to troubled countries. The most recent conflict between the BRICS countries and the US was at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington in April when an agreed reform of the IMF failed because of a veto by Congress.
That veto caused an increase in strained relations between Brazil, and the US, reports DW:
Following the surveillance scandal revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff distanced herself from Washington, promptly cancelling her planned meeting with US President Barack Obama in September 2013.
Growing trade among emerging markets resulted in China replacing the US as the primary buyer of Brazilian products in 2009. Since 2012, the Chinese have also been Brazil’s most important import partner.
When the World Bank or IMF lends money, strings are usually attached – strings which reflect the values and interests of the US and its allies.
The BRICS countries are seeking to free themselves from that US dominance, and want to have more influence in global economic policy. They now account for 21 percent of global economic output and have contributed more than 50 percent of world economic growth inthe past decade, reports Aljazeera.
As of 2013, the five BRICS countries represent almost 3 billion people with a combined nominal GDP of US$16.039 trillion and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves.
Russia will attempt to persuade other BRICS emerging market nations to agree to measures to prevent “sanction attacks” by the US to “harass” countries opposing its policies, President Vladimir Putin told The Moscow Times:
Putin said he would urge Brazil, China, India and South Africa to draw “substantive conclusions” from sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in the Ukraine crisis, and said it was time to dilute the dominance of the U.S.-led West and the U.S. dollar by boosting the role of the BRICS on the global stage.
“Recently Russia has been exposed to a sanction attack by the U.S. and its allies,” Putin told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
“Together we should think about a system of measures that would help prevent the harassment of countries that do not agree with some foreign policy decisions made by the U.S. and their allies, but would promote a civilized dialogue on all points at issue based on mutual respect.”
Putin wants the emerging powers to play a bigger role in world affairs to counter U.S. influence.
“The international monetary system … depends a lot on the U.S. dollar, or, to be precise, on the monetary and financial policy of the U.S. authorities. The BRICS countries want to change this,” he said.
The BRICS countries also have suggested the impacts their system will have on the US dollar:
In July 2014, the Governor of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the “BRICS partners the establishment of a system of multilateral swaps that will allow to transfer resources to one or another country, if needed” in an article which concluded that “If the current trend continues, soon the dollar will be abandoned by most of the significant global economies and it will be kicked out of the global trade finance. Washington’s bullying will make even former American allies choose the anti-dollar alliance instead of the existing dollar-based monetary system.” (source)
BRICS headquarters will likely be in Shanghai, China. President Xi Jinping said the country will dedicate itself to “perfecting” the role developing countries play in international affairs to give them better representation and a greater say, Reuters reports:
Xi, in an interview with South American media released by China’s Foreign Ministry, said China would try to better play the role of a responsible major power and promote the rights of the developing world.
“We will … dedicate ourselves to perfecting the international system of governance and proactively push for expanding the representation and right to speak for developing countries in international affairs,” he said.
“We will come up with more Chinese proposals and contribute China’s wisdom,” Xi added, without elaborating.
James Rickards, author of Currency Wars, told RIA Novosti that the summit of major emerging “BRICS” economies in Brazil is the latest sign of the decline of the US dollar as the standard global currency for reserves and trading:
“We see the BRICS’ desire to shift away from the dollar, a unified Eurozone with a sovereign bond market waiting in the wings and a requirement onthe International Monetary Fund to re-liquefy the world when the next financial crisis hits.
“Put all that together and you see that the dollar’s days are numbered,” he added.
“BRICS share one common goal in that they have all voiced objections to the dollar as the principal reserve currency and the impact of US Federal Reserve policy on emerging markets, which the Fed pays very little attention to.
“By shifting its policies, the Fed massively affects foreign currencies and makes it difficult for them to plan investments. BRICS members share a desire to end dollar hegemony. It’s easier said than done, but they’re trying,” concluded the analyst.
The US economy is already teetering on disaster. Will this push it over that edge?
And does BRICS represent a new New World Order – one that is shutting the US and its superpower allies out?
Lily Dane is a staff writer for The Daily Sheeple. Her goal is to help people to “Wake the Flock Up!”
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Do you think that such a bold move, by five very large economies, might be enough to make the world banking elite angry?
What if those world banking elite might have been involved in the disappearance of MH370?
Would this give them a chance to kill two birds with one stone?
After all, if this was somewhat of a pre-planned false flag, it does seem to offer the opportunity to not only lay the blame of MH17 on Russia, but also potentially shift public opinion for Russia being responsible for both tragedies. If nothing else, this might put a guilty party in the clear.
Below you will find an article that was previously printed at Voltairenet.org under a creative commons license. I am not saying that the world banking elite, and specifically Jacob Rothschild were involved in the disappearance of MH370, but if they were then it might certainly tie a lot of this together.
This article is for truth seekers. Let us draw no conclusions too early and debunk whatever we can. But let’s also not accept everything we hear in the mainstream media.
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Blackstone and Jacob Rothschild, beneficiaries of Malaysia Airlines flight disappearance ?

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Jacob Rothschild, chairman of RIT Capital Partners and Advisory Board member of Blackstone. He also serves as Honorary President of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
In the post-Crimea tripolar, geostrategic world of the US, Russia and China, it is imperative to test the West’s overwhelming disinformational news campaigns, against reports from the Russian government’s almost indispensible multimedia website, Russia Today (see pages published on 3/22/14)
As often happens in mysterious “accidents,” the unusual disappearance of flight MH 370 Malaysia Airlines – whose various explanations failed to fully satisfy anyone, least of the Chinese persons affected – has given rise to innumerable speculations, some, rather wild and disturbing.
While the war of sanctions by the United States and the European Union against Vladimir Putin was raging on, in a compelling article Russia Today wrote that four days after the disappearance of flight MH 370, a patent for a semiconductor was approved by the U.S. patent Office [1]. Has a patent war been unleashed?
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According to Russia Today, the assignee of the semiconductor patent is Jacob Rothschild, of the controversial and much-legendary dynasty of bankers.
The patent was shared among five principal holders, owning 20 percent each: Freescale Semiconductor Company, located in Austin, Texas, with the other four holders being Chinese nationals hailing from the Chinese city of Suzhou, all of whom worked for the company and were aboard the plane, along with 16 other employees of this same company.
The Russian outlet pointed out that if any patent holder dies, the other owners would share equally the dividends of the deceased, provided that the will is not contested.
With the four Chinese patent-holders now missing and/or killed, this now leaves 100 percent ownership of the patent in the hands of the Texas-based Freescale Semiconductor Company, which, in turn, is partially owned by the shadowy Blackstone Group, a New York-based Private Equity-Investment Banking firm, owned by Israeli-British banker Jacob Rothschild [2].
The inventors and the applicants were the four missing Chinese and the recipient is none other than Freescale Semiconductor. What luck!
Emphasis is laid on the invisible identity of Blackstone, its interconnection with BlackRock and its partnership with Evercore Partnership which, coincidentally, is behind the privatization of PEMEX (Mexican Petroleum Company) [3].
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It emerges that Blackstone begot BlackRock, which is run by double U.S.-Israeli national Larry Fink [4]. Beyond the interconnectivity at the upper echelons between, on the one hand, Blackstone, BlackRock, Rothschild, George Soros, Scotiabank, Evercore Partnership, Protego, and, on the other hand, Kissinger Associates and the controversial AIG insurance group, whose president is the US-Israeli Maurice Hank Greenberg, the corporate identity of Freescale Semiconductor warrants close scrutiny.
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Also intriguing is that among the 239 passengers, 20 were employees of the Pentagon, in addition to the fact that four of the passengers were using dubious passports.
Beyond the inevitable speculations, what is relevant is that these 20 Pentagon employees were likely well-versed in the art of electronic warfare, such as the avoidance of detection by military radar systems [5].
A curious fact as well is that 20 of the missing passengers aboard flight 370 are employees of Freescale Semiconductor, 12 originating from Malaysia and 8 from China.
Freescale Semiconductor boasts that its devices have a wide-range of applications in communications on the battlefield, avionics, missile guidance, electronic warfare and identification of friend or foe.
The controversial Texas company at issue is one of the first semiconductor of its kind in the world, having begun as a division of Motorola, from which it and was then acquired in 2006 by Blackstone, the Carlyle Group and TPG Sovereign Capital.
The Carlyle Group embodies the dynastic nepotism of the Bush family and cronies Frank Carlucci (former National Security Adviser and former Pentagon Secretary) and former British Prime Minister John Major [6], whose representative in Mexico is the controversial Luis Téllez Kuenzler, now in charge of the stock exchange, where a number of odd share price interferences have taken place.
TPG Capital is a powerful investment firm based in Fort Worth, Texas chaired by Israeli-American David Bonderman, whose extravagant excesses include paying US$7M to the Rolling Stones to celebrate his 60th birthday, in 2002.
Freescale Semiconductor specializes in electronic warfare and stealth (“cloak”) technology, using strategies of electronic countermeasures (ECM) applied to radars: 1) radar interference; 2) changing targets and; 3) changing the electric power properties of the air.
According to The Daily Beast, an Israeli attack on Iran would go one better than air strikes and probably let loose an electronic war against Iran’s entire electrical system; the Internet, mobile and cellular network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and policemen.
The The Daily Beast further asserts that Israel has developed a weapon capable of mimicking cellular maintenance signals, which effectively stops the transmissions [7]. In the past decade, Israel has amassed a wide range of high-tech weapons worth billions of dollars that would enable it to jam, blind and deafen Tehran’s defenses, in the event of a preemptive air strike.
Better yet: there is a new stealth technology that renders the aircraft invisible to radar and hides it from the human eye, while the high-tech camouflage can create electromagnetic fields, as discussed in military.com [8].
China has accused the U.S. for an escalation in hacking attacks [9], at the same time as Beijing and Washington are each stepping up the arms race in cloak technology for making planes invisible.
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Lee Hamilton, chairman of the Wilson Center. This former Democratic Congressman rescued Ronald Reagan from political disaster during the Iran-Contra scandal. In 2000, he contributed to forging the colonial concept of “responsibility to protect”. He co-chaired the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on September 11 that diverted the attention away from the coup focusing only on the attacks. In 2006, he co-chaired the Baker-Hamilton Commission, which had decided on a military halt in the Middle East.
The powerful British military company BAE Systems – linked with the NSA, DHS and the ominous Wilson Center and implicated in the stinking Al-Yamamah scandal – owns the Swedish-founded Adaptiv Program, another firm specializing in cloaking technology designed to hide motor vehicles, extending to boats and helicopters.
Should we see behind the black box of flight MH 370 the machinations of the dismal Blackstone / Rothschild BlackRock financial duo?




[1] “United States Patent n°8671381 B1”, March 11, 2014.
[3] “BlackRock: el mayor inversionista del mundo detrás de la privatización de Pemex“, by Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, La Jornada, 11 December 2013.
[4] “Lessons From Blackstone for BlackRock”, by Jeffrey Goldfarb, The New York Times, January 23, 2014.
[5] “Malaysia jet hidden by Electronic Weaponry? 20 EW defense-linked passengers”, by Deborah Dupre, Examiner, 9 March 2014.
[6] See our file “Carlyle Group“.
[7] “Israel’s Secret Iran Attack Plan: Electronic Warfare” by Elie Lake, The Daily Beast, 16 November 2011.
[8] “Invisible Planes: China, US Race for Cloaking Tech”, by Gene J. Koprowski, Fox News, 17 December 2013.
[9] “China points finger at US as hacking attacks soar”, Shanghai Daily, 29 March 2014.
Social and political sciences Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His columns on international politics feature regularly in the Mexican daily La Jornada and weekly magazine Contralínea. His latest book is El Híbrido Mundo Multipolar : un Enfoque Multidimensional (Orfila, 2010).
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When our government is so eager to lay blame it immediately raises a red flag for many. It is no secret that the United States was instrumental in inciting the strife in Ukraine and installed its own puppet government there. Let’s not forget that there are unconfirmed reports that Blackwater (now called Academi) is operating in Ukraine.
Let’s also not forget that Poland borders Ukraine and they are a very amenable ally to the United States. They opened the door to America to advance its European missile shield there. It is my understanding that those plans have been halted but there is no doubt that they are willing to work with us.
Could it be that the United States is pulling the strings while having its own strings pulled by the bankers?
These are the most powerful men in the world.
Their power transcends borders and nations.
It’s just something to think about. I am drawing no conclusions as of yet and you should not either.
Update: I am not a big fan of Anonymous, however, I found a video that some of you might find interesting. It talks about Jacob Rothschild and his possible connection to MH370.

Anonymous - Jacob Rothschild Malaysian Airliner MH 370

US Empire Reaches Breaking Point. “Greatest Threat to Humanity”. Time To End It

Region:

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The people of the United States must work to end the interventionist violence of the U.S. Empire.
This is Part I of a two part series on American Empire. Part II will focus on the Empire Economy and his it is failing to work for most Americans as well as most people of the world.
The historian who chronicles US Empire, William Blum, issued his 130th Anti-Empire Report this week.  In it he notes that the US, by far, is seen by the people of the world as “the greatest threat to peace in the world today” with 24% taking that view. Only 2% see Russia as such a threat, and 6% see China.
 This should not come as a surprise since, as this map shows, much of the world has been bombed, had their democratically chosen government overthrown and has been occupied by the United States.  Blum follows these interventions closely and has reported that since the end of World War II, the United States has:
 * Attempted to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, most of which were democratically-elected.
* Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.
* Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.
* Attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20 countries.
* Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries, according to Chapter 18 of his book Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower.
 It seems the people of the world are factually correct when they label the United States the greatest threat to peace in the world.
Yet, despite this mass public opinion about the United States, US leaders seem oblivious. As Blum points out, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “In my travels as secretary of state, I have seen as never before the thirst for American leadership in the world.”
 And, potential future leaders show support for the path of military intervention. The Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 2012, Paul Ryan (R-WI) said: “We need to be reminded that the world needs American leadership.” And the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton has said “The United States can, must, and will lead in this new century.”
 A more accurate appraisal comes from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Vietnam era when he said: “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I cannot be Silent.” The people of the United States must follow the lead of Dr. King and work to end the interventionist violence of the United States Empire.
Reviewing the Hottest Spots in US Empire
The US is involved in military disputes around the globe, conflicts each could lead to a much broader war.  The US role seems to encourage violence, rather than minimize it; to intervene, rather than allow people in the country or region resolve disputes. The breadth of Empire is costly in financial and human terms as well as to the respect of the United States and its people. Is the US Empire spread so thin at a time of a struggling economy that this is a moment where people can come together and build a movement to end Empire?
 There are multiple hot spots where US Empire is participating, supporting and approving of escalating violence. Here’s a quick review:
Israel-Palestine: Even before its founding Israel was entangled with violence – the violence of removing Palestinians from their homes to create the “Jewish State.”  Former Secretary of State and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Alexander Haig perhaps most honestly described what Israel is to the United States when he aptly called Israel America’s “unsinkable battleship in the Middle East.”
The US battleship Israel is now involved in another slaughter of the Palestinian people of Gaza.  We could write this entire article on the atrocities of this attack and the lies on which it is based, but we will be brief (for more see here). As we write this article, Israel is expanding the ground invasion of Gaza moving from the “iron dome to the iron fist.”  The last time there was a ground attack on Gaza was January, 2009 during Operation Cast Lead when 1,400 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, were killed.
There have been protests throughout the United States see e.g. Boston, Detroit, Washington, DC at the White House  as well as the Israeli Embassy). This week, when local politicians expressed their fealty to Israel in New York City, protesters showed up to express a different viewpoint.  In addition, students are organizing protests across the country and the international boycott and divestment movement against Israel grows. There are massive protests around the world.
The government of the United States supports Israel at all costs. Even when Israel kills children playing on a beach, the United States incredibly blames the Palestinians. The US never talks about the people of Gaza defending themselves from daily brutalization by Israel – that has gone on for decades – but always talks about Israel having the right to defend themselves. Social media is helping to show the reality of this manipulated and lopsided conflict. The veil is lifting.
As is common in military intervention hot spots, the US and Israeli public are treated to false, inaccurate and biased reporting. This has been especially on display in the current military attack on Gaza.  One recent effective propaganda ploy reported widely in the US was the so-called cease fire brokered by the anti-Hamas government of Egypt with Israel. The Palestinians were not part of the negotiations and it would have reduced their rights, but Israel used the failure as an excuse to expand their war to a ground invasion. Imagine if the tables were turned and Syria negotiated a cease fire with Hamas that gave Hamas all it asked for – would Israel agree? Here’s the truth about the phony propaganda cease fire.
Major media outlets have been caught in lies and misrepresentations. ABC News may have been the most blatant when it showed video of Palestinians running for their lives and said they were Israelis.  ABC was forced to admit the obvious lie, but that does not change their bias. The NY Times was caught changing the headline about the horrific killing of four young Palestinian boys playing on the beach. The pro-war bias of the Times is evident on many fronts of war. NBC has also become embroiled in controversy around its reporting as it removed a journalist who has been reporting on what is occurring in Gaza, and who witnessed the four children being killed by Israel at the beach just before the ground invasion began. The pressure grew so quickly that NBC was forced to reinstate the reporter.  It is evident the US media cannot be trusted when it comes to their reporting on what is actually occurring in Palestine.
Ukraine: We have been reporting on developments in Ukraine for over a year. And, as with Israel there have been many instances of biased reporting in the US media.  Robert Parry writes that “MSM outlets have been feeding Americans a highly biased narrative of the crisis non-stop from the beginning.” He points to the failure of the media to report on the right wing extremist role in the new Kiev government, describing the Russian “invasion” of Crimea – an invasion where no troops crossed the border, the harsh austerity plan agreed to by the new US supported leaders, the failure to report a secret visit to Ukraine by the head of the CIA among other false narratives and omissions.
Another important item not reported in the corporate media is how the two leaders chosen since the US supported and funded coup – the coup of an elected president to supposedly bring democracy to Ukraine – are consistent with US wishes. A Wikileaks document describes the president as “Our Ukraine (OU) insider Petro Poroshenko,” and shows how he has been working as an agent of the US government since 2006.  And, former intelligence official, Ray McGoven, points out how US officials were caught on a telephone call saying the current Prime Minister, Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk, a former banker, was the US choice. These two leaders have gotten Ukraine deeply into debt with Western bankers and have done as Western powers wanted including accepting major austerity requirements.
The horrible shooting down of a passenger plane seemingly by a missile is causing controversy now.  We published two stories on the event, one from the NY Times and the other from Russia Today to show the stark contrast. RT reports that Kiev moved missiles that could shoot down a plane to the region and ten years ago shot down a Russian aircraft to demonstrate Kiev has the technology. This is not being reported in the US media which has ruled out the possibility that Kiev fired the missile and is debating whether Russia or the Eastern Ukrainian separatists fired the shot.
 Both Kiev and the Eastern Ukranians have denied the shooting. Vladimir Putin has blamed the catastrophe on the ongoing attacks by Kiev against Eastern Ukraine and has urged a ceasefire, Obama joined in the call for a cease fire a day later. There have been aerial bombardments of Eastern Ukraine by Kiev. All the facts have not come in as we write this, so at this stage we just note the disparity in reporting. It would be wise not to make any assumptions but to wait for the evidence and certainly not use this as an excuse for direct involvement by the United States or escalation of hostilities. Putting in place a cease fire and finding a peaceful solution to the conflict is the approach we hope Ukraine takes.
 Also notable is the lack of reporting on Ukraine. There are some incredible stories in the Russian media about atrocities being conducted by right wing extremists in Eastern Ukraine. We have not seen any western media deny the stories. One horrible story is of a child who was allegedly crucified by Ukrainian extremists while his mother was forced to watch and then she was dragged through the square by a tank until she died.  Some describe what is occurring as genocide with the targeting of civilian buildings. International lawyer, Francis Boyle, said in an interview that the US was aiding and abetting genocide.
Iraq: After military attacks and economic embargoes of Iraq by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the country is a mess.  The government is in chaos, a new Muslim group, ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), has taken many of the major cities by military force and there is talk of dividing the country into multiple parts. Obama has already sent hundreds of troops to Iraq, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Martin Dempsey, has not ruled out a large US troop presence saying if “our national interests drive us there” we will send more troops. Too many in government do not realize that the cause of the problems in Iraq was the US invasion and occupation and that more of the same will not solve the problem, but is likely to make it worse.  As Chris Hedges writes, ISIS is “the final answer to the collective humiliation of an occupied country, the logical outcome of Shock and Awe…”
 We are pleased to see growing bi-partisan opposition to military involvement in Iraq by members of Congress who are urging Obama to get authorization from Congress as required by the Constitution. This letter, authored by Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Scott Regall (R-VA) ended up with 103 members of Congress signing on.
Once again the corporate media played its usual role of propagandizing Americans to drum up support for another war in Iraq. They consistently aired people who advocated prior attacks and occupations of Iraq while never allowing war opponents on the air.  The media also exaggerates sectarian divisions, divisions the US made worse to control the population during the occupation. Despite mass propaganda, a majority of the American public oppose military intervention in Iraq and only 20% support it.
Those who oppose another Iraq War quickly organized protests throughout the country.  Usually war propaganda works long enough to start the attack. For a new war with Iraq and an attack on Syria, the public has shown greater immunity to propaganda.
As William Blum notes, Hillary Clinton now admits she made a mistake in voting for the authorization for the use of force in Iraq. But, she is equally wrong on its outcome. Blum reports that in 2007 Clinton said, “The American military has done its job. . . the American military has succeeded.” Can the American public trust someone who is so mistaken in her hawkish, pro-militarist judgments?
Afghanistan: The longest war in US history is supposedly winding down at a very slow rate.  President Obama agreed to draw down troops in 2016. This slow draw down may change now that a president who is friendlier to the US has been elected in Afghanistan.  And, the leading candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, says she would be open to keeping U.S. military forces in Afghanistan past 2016. Clinton notes that with the new president there might be a “legal basis” for the US staying.
One thing that has not closed is the secret Bagram prison in Afghanistan officially known as the Detention Facility in Parwan. This prison, informally known as the Afghan Guantanamo, holds 40 secret “detainees.” These prisoners are held without charges, many for years. The prison is reportedly believed to be holding Pakistanis, Yemenis, Tunisians, Uzbeks and Russians. Bagram prisoners have even less rights than prisoners at Guantanamo and much less is known about their conditions. They do not have a right to a lawyer or to challenge their detention.  This week it was reported that the prisoners in Bagram have been on hunger strikes which indicates there are serious issues at the prison.  If the US presence in Afghanistan continues, these prisoners are likely to continue to be held.
The Asian Pivot: The centerpiece of President Obama’s foreign policy is the pivot to Asia. This massive shift of forces to Asia is meant to focus the US military on China, which the United States sees as its only economic rival; and a country that presents an alternative to big finance capitalism.
The pivot has led to major changes in many countries in the region as well as increasing tensions. Japan may be the most important as it is the third largest economy and has a long history of militarism.  Japan has a large military and has worked with the United States for decades, buts its “pacifist” constitution has a clause that forbids it from engaging in foreign war. Article 9 of the Constitution says:
 “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
“In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”
Ret. Col. Ann Wright points out that the US has been pressuring Japan to change that restriction.  The United States wrote Japan’s constitution, but once China became a communist nation, the US wanted Japan to participate in militarism in the region. As William Blum reports, on July 1, Prime Minister Abe gave the US its wish. Without changing a word, he reinterpreted the constitution to mean that Japan could not attack another nation on its own, but it could do so in allegiance with another nation. (Hmm, we wonder what country he had in mind?) This unilateral change was made despite strong opposition in Japan, including a protester who burned himself to death.
Already there have been tense moments between China and Japan with its ally, the US. Last November there were multiple challenges as Japan and the US violated the “Air Defense Zone” of China resulting in China scrambling fighter jets over the East China Sea in response.  Tensions will likely rise as the US has now brought drones into the Asian Pacific which are housed on military bases in Japan.
The United States has also entered into new agreements with Australia, resulting in former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser warning his country may be drawn into a war against China as a result of how intertwined the US and Australian military’s have become.  Similarly, new military agreements between the Philippines and the US, protested by the Philippine people, create a situation where some see their country as once again becoming a US colony.
There have also been ongoing protests in South Korea as that country becomes more entangled with the Asia Pivot. The “Peace Island” of Jeju, South Korea has been a special focus as the country which was devastated by a US puppet government is being forced to accept a naval base that is inconsistent with the nonviolent views of the population.
 Bruce Gagnon, who has worked with the people of Jeju Island to stop the navy base and who is active with Veterans For Peace, warns that the US is looking for trouble with China. And Nile Bowie warns that the peace movement should spend more focus on China. There are a lot of hot spots in the world, but the future of military conflict is likely to emanate from Obama’s Asian Pivot.
 These are just the current hot spots. The US is also increasing it militarism in Africa. AfriCom has rapidly grown under President Obama. Tom Dispatch reports the US military is active in Algeria and Angola, Benin and Botswana, Burkina Faso and Burundi, Cameroon and the Cape Verde Islands, Senegal and the Seychelles, Togo and Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. “From north to south, east to west, the Horn of Africa to the Sahel, the heart of the continent to the islands off its coasts, the US military is at work. Base construction, security cooperation engagements, training exercises, advisory deployments, special operations missions, and a growing logistics network, all undeniable evidence of expansion—except at US Africa Command.”
 Then, of course, there is Iran where things seem to no longer be on the edge of war, but Iran is a nation the United States has been at odds with since the CIA put in place the Shah in a coup in 1953 and was thrown out in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Since that time there has been constant conflict. While there are tenuous nuclear negotiations right now, Iran always has the potential to become a hot spot as it has refused to become part of the US Empire.
Is US Empire Collapsing?
The US Empire is the largest in world history with more than 1,100 military bases and outposts around the world.  To put that in perspective, compared to two other large empires, there were 37 Roman bases at that empire’s peak in AD 117 and 36  British bases at empire’s peak in 1898.  Not only is the US Empire the largest in history but it has been the most destructive.
Each of the conflicts described in this article could escalate until a much larger war where US ground troops become enmeshed in war. The faltering US economy can no longer afford the expensive US military. The people of the United States no longer support war and the people of the world are rebelling against US rule.  People are beginning to mobilize (see. e.g. World Beyond War) to finally put an end to US militarism and Empire.
Next week: How the Empire Economy
This article is produced by Popular Resistance in conjunction with AlterNet.  It is a weekly review of the activities of the resistance movement.
Kevin Zeese, JD and Margaret Flowers, MD are organizers of PopularResistance.org; they co-direct It’s Our Economy and co-host Clearing the FOG. Their twitters are @KBZeese and MFlowers8.

UND HEUTE GEHOERT UNS BNP PARIBAS, UND DANN COMMERZBANK UND DEUTSCHE BANK, UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT!

Ok…as promised, I am finally getting around to some “geopolitics”, the “wider context” of all this craziness going on, but as always, with the caveat that everyone remembers I’m just a hack from South Dakota who researches and writes exceedingly bizarre books of high strangeness.
Most of you are aware that I, along with many other commentators on international affairs with far more expertise than I (Dr. Paul Craig Roberts for example), have been sounding the alarm about the crazy course of geopolitical suicide that certain factions in Washington seem to be embarked upon. I say “certain factions” because it has always been one of my working assumptions that not everyone in the federal government is ipso facto evil, corrupt, or as colossally stupid as this particular faction seems to be. Indeed, this is the problem, for Washington’s heavy handed “unipolarism” (Dr. Craig blames it on the Wolfowitz doctrine, I simply call it crazy counter-intuitive geopolitics) in the long run, is allowed to continue, will ultimately drive traditional allies and friends – the two major European powers, France and Germany, come to mind – away from the USA.
As background to today’s high octane speculation, recall that the US government slapped France’s major bank, BNP Paribas, with billions of dollars in fines for its role in France’s sale of its Mistral class amphibious landing aircraft carriers to Russia, a sale that France politely indicated to Washington that it would honor, in spite of US imposed sanctions on Russia over the latter’s intervention in the Crimea, which, you’ll recall, was at the Crimea’s request. The Crazy Faction’s response was, of course, to slap France (and it’s largest bank) in the face with fines.
Now Germany’s two major banks, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, are in the Crazy Faction’s crosshairs, and Zero Hedge’s analysis here is, in my opinion, spot on:
US Set To Alienate Angry Germany Next, As Crackdown Shifts From BNP To Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank
Note the opening two paragraphs once again:
“As we reported over the weekend in “By “Punishing” France, The US Just Accelerated The Demise Of The Dollar“, following the record $9 billion fine against French BNP, the outcry has been fast and furious, with virtually everyone in the local chain of command, from the CEO of Total to the head of the Bank of France (and ECB member) Christian Noyer, all saying that the US is now clearly abusing the reserve power of the dollar and it is time to move away from a dollar-based reserve currency (how that jives with concurrent French demands for a lower EUR is a different, incomprehensible matter entirely).
It appears that having pushed France forcefully into the Russia-China Eurasian, and anti-US camp, the US will now do the same with Germany. Because after infuriating the German population by first refusing to return their gold contained (the legend goes) at the New York Fed, and then with scandal after spying scandal, most recently involving the CIA directly soliciting a German double agent, now the time has come to “punish” Germany’s largest banks for the same kind of money laundering that BNP was engaged in. As the NYT and Reuters report, the time has come to shift away from the BNP scandal and focus on what will soon be the Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank fallout.”
Germany, you’ll recall, recently expelled the US CIA station chief in that country over the ongoing NSA spying scandal, and this fact, along with Merkel’s recent anti-Russian diatribe, should alert people to what’s going on:Merkel’s government is saying the Washington-dictated script, but doing quite another, in the old time-honored chancellorial tradition.
But Zero Hedge’s final paragraph pretty well sums it up:
“Still, while one can debate the idiocy of US foreign policy, eager to push European allies into the willing hands of Russia and China at the worst possible moment, when regional and civil wars and conflicts are suddenly breaking out across all key geopolitical hotspots, one wonders: in the case of BNP, the “fine” was as a result of French unwillingness to halt the Russian amphibious warship deal despite US demands. So it would be curious just what the US blackmail against German banks is for: one really does wonder just what punishment Angela Merkel deserves behind the scenes in the eyes of John Kerry et clueless al, to punish her and Germany so blatantly for the entire world to see.
“One thing is clear: if the US thinks that Germany will continue to consider America its BFF and make zero contingency plans for when the alliance with the US finally crashes and burns, it will be truly surprised when the Eurasian alliance of Russia and China finally announces its final, all-important, missing link member: the manufacturing and export powerhouse that is Germany itself.” (Emphasis added)
I can only add my own “hear hear” to that analysis, but it raises, once again, the significant question. Why, really, is American foreign policy so counter-intuitive? Why, really, are the two most powerful nations in Europe seemingly being deliberated alienated to the ultimate detriment of the tapestry of post-World War Two security arrangements from NATO to ANZAC?
Here’s a troubling thought by way of a high octane speculation answer: someone wants the USA geopolitically, economically, and militarily isolated. The USA has tried, and failed, to dictate policy to Russia. It cannot dictate policy to China. It is alienating the two most powerful nations in Europe. But dictate policy to Russia and China and India and Brazil and France and Germany (and presumably soon to be Argentina?)
Ausgeschlossen!

France Finds a Spine: First Country to Ban Pro-Terror Palestinian Protests

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AFP Photo/ Anti-Israel protesters in France.
The protests by Palestinian supporters throughout the world are gaining momentum and sadly it is due to hype more than reality. However, while England is being overrun with such protestsFrance has decided to step up to the plate and ban pro-Palestinian protests. Why? It’s because they are not protests, they have become violent exhibitions of Islam, i.e. terrorism.
The Daily Mail reports:
France’s Socialist government provoked outrage today by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine.
In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted.
Mr Cazeneuve said there was a ‘threat to public order,’ while opponents said he was ‘criminalising’ popular support of the Palestinian people.

On Friday night, lawyers for a number of groups hoping to campaign on behalf of Palestine on Saturday lodged an appeal against the ban in a Paris court.
The move by the French followed violence at protests in Paris last week. Seeing that thousands more were scheduled to protest this weekend, the government decided to ban the protests.
What kinds of penalties will be enforced? Those who violate the ban will be fined 15,000 euros. If they are wearing masks or hiding their face in any way, the fine can be increased three-fold to 45,000 euros with an additional three years in jail. However, the law doesn’t just govern those who are involved in the protests. It also imposes a fine of 15,000 euros and up to one year in prison for publishing details of an illegal rally, which can escalate to 100,000 euros fine and seven years in prison if the postings lead to more violence.
These protests claim to be peaceful and against the killing of children. However, take a look at a vigil in Canada for the three Jewish schoolboys who were kidnapped and murdered. Notice how things were peaceful till the Palestinian supporters showed up. I didn’t see any of those Palestinian supporters protesting those young men’s deaths, did you? Notice the bowing to sharia that the police engaged in.
While many of these protests are based on alleged killing of children and genocide by Israel, the reality of what is taking place is quite different. Not only is Israel warning the people of Gaza before they attack, but there are even reports of Israeli pilots abandoning attacks due to the fact they believed children to be in targets they were to destroy.
Second, Hamas, organized Islamic terrorists that were elected by the Palestinian people, are telling the people not to leave their homes when Israel warns them.
Third, there is no genocide going on. How can I say that? At least one fifth of Israeli citizens are Arab. More than one fifth of those living in the West Bank, under Israeli control, are Palestinians without voting rights. Then there are those that choose not to be a part of Israel at all who are in Gaza and have been raining down rockets on Israel.
By the way, some of the most ridiculous things have been said about those rockets, such as Israel has no right to go and attack Gaza because those rockets aren’t killing anyone and they rarely hit people. So, if someone stands in the road in front of my house and shoots at my house, but because they have a defective weapon and are too stupid to actually hit the house or any of my family, I should just let them do it and not return fire, seeking to eliminate the threat of the foolish attacker? That is the logic going on here.
There is no genocide going on. There is elimination of a threat, which is what they are after. Palestinians have had multiple opportunities for peace and tranquility, living alongside Israel, but that is not what those in Gaza want. In fact, a brief glance at the Palestine National Charter of 1964 to see who is really after genocide. According to the charter:
We, the Palestinian Arab people, who believe in its Arabism and in its right to regain its homeland, to realize its freedom and dignity, and who have determined to amass its forces and mobilize its efforts and capabilities in order to continue its struggle and to move forward on the path of holy war (al-jihad) until complete and final victory has been attained.
I clearly believe in a people having the right to defend themselves, but what is taking place in Gaza are people provoking another people against them, not self-defense. Their “complete and final victory” will be when Islam takes over the world, not merely removing Israel from a postage stamp piece of land.
However, remember that charter was in 1964. In 1988, Hamas formed its own covenant in which it cites Imam Hassan alBanna:
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
Do you understand that people? George W. Bush was wrong, we are not at war with radical Islam and neither is Israel. We are at war with Isalm. The charter goes on to state:
Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realised.
Then there is this little tidbit:
“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by alBukhari and Moslem).
The charter also claims, “In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.”
The issue for Palestinians is the extermination of the Jews, plain and simple. It’s in black and white. That has not be the issue for Israel, whose population is made up of Palestinians and Arabs.
As Joshua Charles pointed out recently, the people of Gaza are in the mess they are in, not because of Israel, but because they believe their lying leaders. Sadly, America and England are doing the same thing. We are in a mess because we have chosen to believe lying leaders and have sought to appease Islam, rather than stand for truth, law and the Creator God.
Tim Brown is the Editor of Freedom Outpost.