Possible New Oil Spill 100 By 10 Miles Reported in Gulf Of Mexico (Update: Spill Photos)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 23:28 -0400

Black Swan Clusterflock +1. As if earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns and war was not enough, the Examiner now discloses that a replay of the BP oil spill could be in the making, sending WTI to the (super)moon, the economy collapsing, and Ben Bernanke starting the printer in advance of QE 666. To wit: "The U.S. Coast Guard is currently investigating reports of a potentially massive oil sheen about 20 miles away from the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last April." There are no definitive reports yet, but we should now for sure within hours, if the Keppel FELS built TLP is indeed the culprit: "According to Paul Barnard, operations controller for the USCG in Louisiana, a helicopter crew has been dispatched to the site of the Matterhorn SeaStar oil rig, owned by W&T Offshore, Inc." And if preliminary reports are correct, BP will have been the appetizer: "Multiple reports have come in of a sheen nearly 100 miles long and 10 miles wide originating near the site." If confirmed, Obama can kiss tomorrow's Rio golf outing goodbye.

Governments Have Been Covering Up Nuclear Meltdowns for Fifty Years to Protect the Nuclear Power Industry 

Stratfor On The Libyan War

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 20:53 -0400

The Libyan war has now begun. It pits a coalition of European powers plus the United States, a handful of Arab states and rebels in Libya against the Libyan government. The long-term goal, unspoken but well understood, is regime change — displacing the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and replacing it with a new regime built around the rebels. The mission is clearer than the strategy, and that strategy can’t be figured out from the first moves. The strategy might be the imposition of a no-fly zone, the imposition of a no-fly zone and attacks against Libya’s command-and-control centers, or these two plus direct ground attacks on Gadhafi’s forces. These could also be combined with an invasion and occupation of Libya. The question, therefore, is not the mission but the strategy to be pursued. How far is the coalition, or at least some of its members, prepared to go to effect regime change and manage the consequences following regime change? How many resources are they prepared to provide and how long are they prepared to fight? It should be remembered that in Iraq and Afghanistan the occupation became the heart of the war, and regime change was merely the opening act. It is possible that the coalition partners haven’t decided on the strategy yet, or may not be in agreement. Let’s therefore consider the first phases of the war, regardless of how far they are prepared to go in pursuit of the mission. 

 

 

 

UAE And Qatar Pledge Aircraft In Libya Conflict, As Iran Calls On Saudi, UAE To Leave Bahrain Immediately

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 18:48 -0400

According to the BBC, the Gulf Cooperation Council has just gotten involved with the UAE pledging 24 aircraft and Qatar - 4 to 6. It is still unclear if Saudi Arabia will now lead a two front war following its invasion of Bahrain last week. Additionally, Al Jazeera reports that the Libyan authorities had detained one of its reporting teams several days ago when working in west Libya. The channel said, in a report on its website, that the team included two correspondents, one Tunisian and another Mauritanian, and two cameramen, one Norwegian and one British. But most troubling is that per Gaddafi's earlier address to the people he would start arming the civilian population to defend Libya. From Reuters: "Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Saturday he will arm civilians to defend Libya from what he called "colonial, crusader" aggression by Western forces that have launched air strikes against him. "It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honour of Libya," Gaddafi said in a speech broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began. "We call on the peoples and citizens of the Arab and Islamic nations, Latin America, Asia and Africa to stand by the heroic Libyan people to confront this aggression, which will only increase the Libyan people's strength, firmness and unity," he said." Whether that means that UN forces will treat every civilian as a possible enemy combatants will be seen upon the land incursion which should commence within a few days. Unclear if Xe will be involved this time. 

 

 

 

Summary Of The Military Assets In Play In Operation "Odyssey Dawn"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 17:24 -0400

Allied warplanes in a coalition led by France and backed by Arab nations have gone into action to stop Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces attacking the rebel-held city of Benghazi. U.S. and British ships and submarines fired more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets to take out their air defences, although no U.S. aircraft were flying over Libya. Following are assets that are being used, or could be used, in action against Muammar Gaddafi's troops and those belonging to his military. 

 

 

 

Interactive Timeline Of Middle-East/North Africa Turmoil

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 17:23 -0400

Feeling overwhelmed by all the news coming out of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? With at least 12 different countries now on the verge of full blown violent rioting, or already having succumbed to a revolution of some form, it is easy to lose track of all the ins and outs. Luckily, the WSJ has compiled a handy real time interactive timeline that highlights the increasing escalation in events in the MENA region, broken both chronologically and cartographically. Bookmark the following link to be always up to date on all the most recent events. 

 

 

 

Charting The Ten Year Prelude To The Keynesian Endgame

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/19/2011 17:23 -0400

Alas, one hundred years of the government’s attempts to mute the natural business cycle are slowly and painfully coming to an end. A period where the government proactively encouraged consumption until it became 70% of the economy, we produced very little, and our savings rate reached zero. A period where home ownership was promoted as the ultimate supreme goal until the last citizen that could fog a mirror yet was least able to afford it was suckered in. As this leveraged consumption pyramid is finally ending, the government and central bank have embarked on one final mission to prop it up using the same tools that got us here in the first place: more leverage. Only this time on a logarithmic scale. Unfortunately, the scale is so large that it will not only guarantee an endgame, but it will accelerate it. The visual below contains a few pieces of evidence that seem to confirm this, namely that over a ten year period: the consumer is stuck with an underwater balance sheet and the Fed’s attempt to create yet another bubble is only making it worse; outside of government efforts, the economy is unable to generate sustainable job growth; and finally, the leverage scheme is so large that it no longer has a positive impact on growth (“debt saturation”). 

 

 

 

Lear Capital: The Gold IRA - A Good Strategy For Long Term Savings and Retirement

Submitted by Zero Hedge on 03/19/2011 17:21 -0400

Regardless of your traditional investment preferences, tangible assets like gold and silver can help make the profitability and safety of your retirement portfolio far more attainable.

Simply put, gold can reduce the volatility of your retirement savings.  Historically, gold has moved counter to the direction of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  Technically speaking, precious metals are "negatively correlated" to stocks.