Monday, May 28, 2012

Tsipras: "If Greece Is Destroyed, It Would Be Merkel's Fault"

The person who has caused global stock markets so much consternation by daring to play chicken with Germany until the bitter end conducts a  no holds barred interview with Germany's Spiegel. There is little love lost between the Syriza leader and the Germans, who were quite surprised to find a political leader who is willing to play blink with Germany, with the ECB, and the developed world until the very end, or June 17, whichever comes sooner. Tsipras' bottom line: "We're trying to convince our European partners that it's also in their interest to finally lift the austerity diktat." Alas, the European "partners", as evidenced by Lagarde's Guardian interview this weekend, have an image of Greece as a bunch of lazy tax evaders, who only seek to mooch on the German teat, resulting in 60% of Germans now pushing for Greece to be kicked out of the Euro, consequences be damned. Nothing new there. What is curious is Tsipras' answer to the question everyone wants to ask: "If Greece ultimately exits the euro, you will also bear some of the blame. You promised your voters the impossible: retaining the euro while breaking Greece's agreements with the rest of Europe. How can such a plan find success?" His response: " I don't see any contradiction in that. We simply don't want the money of European citizens to vanish into a bottomless pit...we think these resources should also be put to sensible use: for investments that can also generate prosperity. Only then will we in fact be able to pay back our debts." Yet the line that will draw the most ire out of the already exhausted German taxpaying public is the following:
"if our economic foundation is completely destroyed and the decisions of an elected Greek government are not responsible for it but, rather, certain political forces in Europe. Then they too will be guilty, for example Angela Merkel."
Well, in the US, it is all Bush's fault; in Greece, it appears to be Merkel's.




Behind the Scenes With Harry Schultz

by Jim Sinclair, JS Mineset
Dear CIGAs,
The following intel came from Harry Schultz this morning: Euro bears be warned. There is more, but this is all I dare post.
Harry remains the main man in gold, currency and economic intel. Bravo to you Harry.
Behind the scenes at the G-8 and NATO summit meetings, some significant decisions were made that will impact over the coming weeks.
The critical decision at the G-8 meeting and several of the bilateral meetings that took place on the sidelines of the Camp David gathering centered on the decision to plunge ahead with the bailout of the European banks in an effort to save the Euro system, with Greece still inside.
Read More @ JSMineset.com





Rationale for holding gold better now than 5 or even 10 years ago

by Ross Norman, MineWeb.com

Gold is currently doing what every other business sector is doing – just ‘sitting on its hands’ as shellshocked politicians and economists try to unravel the complexities of the global economic meltdown..
It would be tempting to ask whether gold really is still a safe haven asset. With events of epic proportions taking place in financial markets gold sits relatively mute with a price action defined by narrow ranges and declining volumes and volatility. Hardly what many would expect but then many things are behaving out of character.
The best explanation of gold’s modest gyrations is quite simply that it is very simply trading inversely with the US dollar to the exclusion of almost every other influence that normally comes to bear on it. Prevailing dollar strength manifests itself best perhaps in India where prices are at or near all time highs. The fact that gold anomalously mirrors the Euro and equities is an indirect result of something else – and that is the dollar … end of.
Read More @ MineWeb.com




Gold Bar Demand in China Surged 51% to 213.9 Tons In 2011

from Silver Doctors:
A reminder of the sharp increase in demand for gold and silver, particularly store of wealth demand, in recent years was seen in the figures released by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association in Shanghai today. China’s gold consumption rose 33% to 761 tons in 2011 and China’s silver consumption rose 6.8% to 6,088 tons last year. China’s gold consumption rose 190 metric tons last year to 761 tons, Wang Shengbin, China Gold Association Vice Chairman, said in a speech in Shanghai as reported by Bloomberg. China’s jewelry consumption jumped 28 % to 456.7 tons last year, gold bar consumption surged 51% to 213.9 tons and gold coin consumption gained 25% to 20.8 tons, Wang said. China’s silver consumption, including industrial use, jewelry and coins, rose 6.8% to 6,088 metric tons last year, the vice chairman said. The amount shows a surplus given China’s output of 12,348 tons last year, which gained 6.3%, Wang said.
Read More @ SilverDoctors.com




Paper gold pitfalls

by James Turk, Gold Money:
Last year’s disastrous collapse of MF Global has impacted financial markets around the world in many ways. Given that it was one of the largest brokers of leveraged products, it is no surprise that this area has felt the full force of MF Global’s collapse.
For example, futures trading volume on US exchanges has dropped noticeably, mainly for two reasons. First, MF Global customers who are still waiting for their money to be returned are not trading. Second, customers of other brokers have understandably become worried about the safety of their money and withdrawn funds from those firms, which has reduced their capacity to trade.
Gold has not been spared from the MF Global fallout. One of the biggest impacts has been to bring about a better understanding of the risks of owning paper gold. Customers who stored their gold at MF Global received a nasty surprise.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com





Unelected European President Holiday Humor

For an unexpected dose of holiday humor, and a surprisingly spot-on prediction of the future of Europe's monetary system, we go to none other than unelected head of Europe, Herman van Rompuy himself.




RANsquawk EU Market Wrap - May 31st Irish Referendum Preview - 28/05/12






Memorial Day 2012: Hey Banksters, We Are Fully Awake

Memorial Day 2012: To the International Banksters, We the people know your crimes. We mourn the fallen heroes you took from us through your contrived wars. But we celebrate the heroes who are still with us. Heroes like Dr. Ron Paul who have the courage to stand against you. And like Dr. Paul, we the people stand against you. We stand for Liberty. We are fully awake.



Phony ‘Houla Massacre’: How Media Manipulates Public Opinion For Regime Change in Syria

Intelligent skeptics should see through the media’s smoke screen in order to work out what is really going on in Syria
by Patrick Henningsen, Infowars:

If you are still needing an academic tutorial on exactly how the mainstream media is able to generate a completely phony public consensus to support foreign intervention projects, you need look no further than the dangerous, fictional narrative currently being rolled out regarding Syria.
This past Saturday and Sunday morning, almost every major corporate mainstream newspaper and TV network in North America and in Europe ran with the average headline, “Massacre of the children as Syrian forces hit rebels”, giving hundreds of millions of readers and viewers to artificial impression that it was Syrian government forces – and not western-backed terrorist groups, who carried out a massacre on children and others days ago – even though, the true culprit of these attacks has not yet been determined – a fact which was only briefly mentioned later on in these very same media reports.
One of the UK best-selling weekend papers and most widely read online journals, Guardian media group’s The Observer, ran such a headline – one which shamelessly implied that the Syrian government carried out a massacre in Houla. This was used to shape public opinion in Europe, a reality which is later shaped for the North American market.
Read More @ Infowars.com




IMF Hypocrisy & Greek Misery: Looted, suicidal, desperate

from RussiaToday:

Facebook fury has forced the head of the International Monetary Fund to express sympathy with Greece’s financial struggle. Christine Lagarde caused outrage by saying she had more sympathy for poor African children than Greeks suffering economic problems. She suggested that the Greek culture of tax evasion was the main cause of their hardship, prompting tens of thousands of furious messages on her page. For more on the story RT talks to George Katroungalos, attorney and professor of international law.




MSNBC HOST: ‘Uncomfortable’ Calling Fallen Military ‘Heroes’

from Fabian4Liberty:

On this Memorial Day the elites once again are using political propaganda to divide We The People. The MSM is making this a HUGE story. Is this guy right or wrong? The real story that the MSM has not been talking about though is the FACT that the Pentagon is using their propaganda tools to attack American citizens.




Massachusetts GOP Attempting To Invalidate Caucus Results!

from Matlarson10:





Who’s Winning and Who’s Losing from Facebook’s Botched IPO

by Adam J. Crawford, Casey Research:
In less than a week’s time, the Facebook IPO has gone from the most-hyped technology event since Google went public into “blame-storming” mode. Details concerning the stock’s sudden drop, the market’s inability to process orders, and the (mis)behavior of insiders are starting to emerge. And it doesn’t look good.
The Scandal
When any stock drops as much out of the gate as Facebook has – down as much as 25% peak to trough in the days since the public premier of the stock – people start asking big questions… even more so when that stock carries a $50-billion-plus market cap, meaning the loss triggered billions in paper losses. Add on the fact that the Nasdaq market computers crumbled under the activity, and the scrutiny is intense.
What’s been uncovered so far is painting a picture of poorly managed expectations and questionable ethics.
Read More @ CaseyResearch.com




FBI Secretly Creates Internet Police

Russia Today via Lew Rockwell.com:
The FBI was rather public with its recent demands for backdoor access to websites and Internet services across the board, but as the agency awaits those secret surveillance powers, they’re working on their own end to have those e-spy capabilities.
Governmental agencies have been searching seemingly without end for ways to pry into the personal communications of computer users in America. Congressional approval and cooperation from Internet companies could be an eternity away, of course, but the FBI might be able to bypass that entirely by taking the matter into their own hands.
Read More @ LewRockwell.com




Merkel Prepares to Strike Back Against Hollande

from, Spiegel International:
France’s new president, François Hollande, has put the German chancellor on the defensive with his growth agenda. Now Angela Merkel is planning to strike back. She is calling for structural reforms to save the euro with a six-point plan aimed at harmonizing austerity and growth in Europe once again.
The more European leaders talked at a dinner last Wednesday, the grimmer Angela Merkel looked. One after another, they spoke out in favor of the joint assumption of debt and against the strict austerity course Berlin is calling for. The chancellor stared silently at the man who was responsible for this change of mood — France’s new president, François Hollande, who noted with satisfaction that there was “an outlook for euro bonds in Europe.”
Read More @ Spiegel.de




Greek Elections: The Fear of Uncertainty

by Dan Denning, DailyReckoning.com.au:
The old Wall Street adage that ‘trees don’t grow to the sky’ is another way of saying that all good things must come to an end. Come to think of it, all bad things must come to an end too. Everything in life has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In financial markets, figuring out where you are in this life cycle is the difference between making money and losing it.
We are closer to the end of Europe’s experiment with a common currency than we are to the beginning. The end of the story will almost surely include a smaller euro with a few nations at the core. But the middle can be dragged out for a long time. Between the middle and the end, you can choose whether to watch or to trade…or to begin building your bunker out in the bush.
Read More @ DailyReckoning.com.au




Police Seize Record Haul Of Counterfeit Coins

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Yahoo News:
More than £4m worth of fake one pound coins have been seized by detectives.
The haul is thought to be the biggest ever in the UK and follows raids on properties around London.
The Metropolitan Police received information from a member of the public that led to raids at addresses in Enfield, Essex and Hertfordshire.
The vast majority of the coins were found in a 40ft freight container in Waltham Abbey, Essex.
Detective Inspector Bruce South said: “This seizure is a significant blow to the network behind it – individuals clearly intent on undermining the UK monetary system by producing counterfeit currency on an industrial scale.
Read More @ YahooNews.com




Three Trends Which Rule The Precious Metals Market, Part I

by Jeff Nielson, Bullion Bulls Canada:
 It is bad enough watching the talking-heads of the mainstream media undermine the precious metals sector with their insipid and invariably flawed analysis. However, what is positively infuriating is when these drones manage to influence the market through parroting “fundamental” factors which (at present) are simply irrelevant.
Understand that in normal markets (and normal market conditions) that there would/should be a host of variables which influence the precious metals market – as with any other market. However, what has been completely lost in all the white-noise coming out from the mainstream media is that conditions have literally never been less normal.
Read More @ BullionBullsCanada.com




I wonder how long before their government is overthrown...

Haiti pins hopes on newly found Gold

from Bullion Street:
LONDON(BullionStreet): Caribbean island nation Haiti eagerly await the prosperity gold and other precious metals can bring to it’s shattered economy.
The nation, ravaged by earthquakes and disease, welcomed the breaking news of significant discovery of gold and other precious metals in it’s Northeastern mountain range.
Analysts said once mining gets under way in about five years, the revenues will offer the resources needed to transform a country beset by poverty.
Read More @ BullionStreet.com




Bill Moyers & Company: Reckoning With Torture

from Jesse’s Café Américain:
“Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary.”
David H. Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command
“The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security.”
Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence
“If it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon…Essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system…and it’s causing us far more damage than any good we get from it.”
Read More @ Jesse’s Café Américain:




SNL SPOOF OF INVESTMENT ADVISORS

[Ed. Note: Here's a page straight from the Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citi, and all the rest of the TBTF "prop desk". And all the good sheep applaud.]
from American Kabuki:





Iran designs alternative system for SWIFT: CBI

from, Press TV

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mahmoud Bahmani says the country has designed and implemented a new system for conducting international transactions.
Bahmani said on Saturday the new system, which has already been activated, would replace Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)
On March 15, SWIFT CEO Lazaro Campos said in a statement that the society has decided to discontinue offering services to Iranian banks which are subject to financial sanctions imposed by the European Union.
On January 23, the EU foreign ministers approved new sanctions on Iran’s financial and oil sectors, which prevent member countries from importing Iranian crude or dealing with its central bank.
Read More @ PressTV.com



Hackers Take Down Largest Survival Web Site; Threatening Email Sent Prior to Attack

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:
[This report has been updated below]
SurvivalBlog.com, the most widely visited survival web site on the internet became the target of a Denial of Service (DoS) Attack which rendered the site inaccessible on the evening of May 26. According to an email published at The Orange Jeep Dad Blog,  Lily Rawles, the wife of founder and author James Rawles, says the attack “appears to have been a “pinging” DOS attack.”
The Survival Blog main server, which is located in Sweden, is unavailable by using its www.SurvivalBlog.com URL (uniform resource locator) or direct IP address http://95.143.193.148/.
As of Sunday May 27 @ 21:30 efforts are underway to redirect the domain name servers to the US-based mirror web site at the following currently available IP address: http://64.92.111.122/
A threatening letter sent to the web site anonymously this week via email demanded that the site remove all hyperlinks to various other web sites that were interlinked from Survival Blog. It also threatened to openly publish James Rawles books on pirated web sites.
Read More @ SHTFPlan.com


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