Watchman Newsletter

What the UN isn’t telling us: The Luciferian roots of global governance

Blaze Media Return (Link) - Cooper Williamson (October 25, 2024)

This is the first part of a three-part investigation into the United Nations’ origins and plans for the future of the world.

The United Nations has become a target of increased scrutiny in recent years. As the United Nations announces more and more plans for humanity’s future, it seems like we should ask ourselves where the United Nations came from and where it thinks humanity is going. Most inquiries about the United Nations end up explaining its functions, but the question of its long-term goals is harder to answer. It is necessary to explore the origins of the United Nations and the key figures behind this shady international organization.

The United Nations “came into existence” on October 24, 1945. However, if we want to understand its full purpose, this is not the beginning of the story. One place to start is the founding of another organization called the Lucis Trust.

Alice and Foster Bailey founded the Lucis Trust in New Jersey on April 5, 1922. It was started as a “vehicle to foster recognition of the universal spiritual principles at the heart of all work to build right relations.”

Alice and Foster Bailey were members of the Theosophical Society. Isobel Blackthorn, who has a Ph.D. in Western esotericism, characterizes the beliefs of theosophy: “Central to Theosophy are: a belief in the existence of the soul, reincarnation and the interconnectedness of all existence; an epochal view of evolution that includes consciousness; the transmission of an Ageless Wisdom from master to disciple; and a commitment to humanitarianism.”

Report: Saudi Arabia has decided to normalize relations with Israel

Cleveland Jewish News (Link) - Joshua Marks (April 30, 2024)

Saudi Arabia has decided to normalize relations with Israel and is debating the timing of the announcement, a foreign diplomat familiar with the details told Haaretz on Monday.

According to the source cited in the article by the daily’s diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Lis, Riyadh is discussing whether to make the move in the coming weeks or after the U.S. presidential election this November, in which either Democrat Joe Biden will continue to lead the country or his challenger Republican Donald Trump will return to the White House.

“The question is when, and the decision on the timing should be made within days,” the diplomat said.

While the Biden administration has been pushing to connect a pathway to Palestinian statehood as part of the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords, the source said that the kingdom would only demand guarantees on progress towards achieving that goal in return for establishing diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.

How Israel May Respond to the Iran Attack

Time (Link) - Anna Gordon (April 15, 2024)

Israel’s leaders met today during a war cabinet meeting to discuss the country’s response after Iran launched a combination of 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles towards Israeli soil in the early hours of Sunday morning. It was the first time the Islamic Republic, long hostile to the Israeli state, directly attacked Israel after decades of proxy conflict.

Iran says that its attack was launched in response to an Israeli strike Apr. 1 on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed a senior individual in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards along with eight other officers. So far, Iran’s attack seems to have caused minimal damage. No deaths have been reported, though one 7-year-old appears to be in life threatening condition after shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian missile fell directly on her home.

Israel had support from American, British, and French partners who helped it thwart “99% of Iranian aerial threats,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Jordan also intercepted some of the Iranian projectiles that flew over its territory, despite fiercely criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed at least 33,00 people including 13,000 children.

Iran says it gave warning before attacking Israel. US says that's not true

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Reuters (April 15, 2024)

Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said on Sunday that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but US officials said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage.

Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.

Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighboring countries and Israel's ally the United States 72 hours' notice it would launch the strikes.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had spoken to both Washington and Tehran before the attack, adding it had conveyed messages as an intermediary to be sure reactions were proportionate.

Gantz: Israel will respond when time is right, must continue to strengthen regional alliances after successful defense against Iran

The Times of Israel (Link) - Sam Sokol (April 14, 2024)

Israel must strengthen the “strategic alliance and the regional cooperation” that allowed it to weather yesterday’s Iranian attack, war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz declares in a statement.

“Iran is a global problem, it is a regional challenge and it is also a danger to Israel, and yesterday, the world clearly stood together with Israel in the face of the danger. Israel against Iran, the world against Iran – this is the result. This is a strategic achievement, which we must leverage for Israel’s security,” he says.

“This event is not over – the strategic alliance and the regional cooperation system that we built and stood its significant test need to be strengthened precisely now. Israel proved yesterday that it is an anchor of military and technological power, and an anchor of security in the Middle East,” he continues. 

“Faced with the threat of Iran – we will build a regional coalition and exact the price from Iran, in the way and at the time that suits us. And most importantly – in the face of the desire of our enemies to harm us, we will unite and become stronger,” Gantz adds, seemingly indicating that he does not support immediate retaliation against Iran itself.

“Even today, we must remember that we have not yet completed our tasks – primarily the return of the hostages and the removal of the threat against the residents of the north and south. We will continue the campaign, with determination and responsibility. And together – we will win.” †

Federal Reserve announces July launch for the FedNow Service

Federalreserve.gov (Link) - Press Release (March 15, 2023)

The Service will Debut with Financial Institutions and the U.S. Treasury on Board

CHICAGO – The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service will start operating in July and provided details on preparations for launch.

The first week of April, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants for launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system.

Certification encompasses a comprehensive testing curriculum with defined expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to confirm readiness for the July launch.

"We couldn't be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution," said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive. "With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service."

Many early adopters have declared their intent to begin using the service in July, including a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.

Islamist Super-Bloc Begins Forming in the Middle East

The Clarion Project (Link) - Ryan Mauro  (November 6, 2013)

A monumental strategic shift is taking place in the Middle East as an Islamist super-bloc is forming. Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood are making up with Iran and Hezbollah. Egypt and the Gulf states are forming their own alliance. The U.S. outreach to Iran and the Brotherhood has left it missing from the equation.

The Syrian civil war has pitted the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey against Iran, Hezbollah, Iraq and the Syrian regime since 2011. Now, with a bloody stalemate resulting in consequences each side fears, the two sides are looking for ways to make amends.

Turkey has been trying to move its relationship with Iran past the ancient Ottoman-Persian rivalry for years. The Erdogan government gave secret U.S. intelligence to Iran and in early 2012, informed Iran about ten of its nationals meeting with Israeli intelligence inside Turkey.

One of the architects of the Turkish-Iranian relationship is Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, who the Israeli Defense Minister described as a “friend of Iran.” Some Israeli officials privately refer to him as the “station chief in Ankara” for Iranian intelligence.

These statements about Fidan’s role is not hype. The recent U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq, James Jeffrey, put it this way: “Hakan Fidan is the face of the new Middle East.”

Obama Plans To Force Israel To Accept A Palestinian State With Jerusalem As The Capital

The Truth Wins (Link) - Michael Snyder  (November 5, 2013)

If Israel and the Palestinians do not agree on a “two state solution” by the end of this year, the Obama administration plans to propose its own solution and force it on the two sides in early 2014.  For Obama, the goal is to have this agreement in place in time to influence the November 2014 mid-term elections.  Unfortunately for Israel, the Palestinians have absolutely no incentive to move off of their current demands because Obama has been promising them a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital since very early in his presidency.  So the Palestinians have no motivation to negotiate in good faith since they already know that they are going to get what they want in the end anyway.  Ultimately, Obama plans to force Israel to give up the West Bank, East Jerusalem and control over the Temple Mount in exchange for a “promise of peace” that is not even worth the paper that it will be printed on.

When it comes to Israel, the arrogance that Obama is displaying is absolutely appalling.  For example, Obama made the following statement about Israel earlier this year...

“Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.”

Oh, but Obama does?

Not only does Obama believe that he knows what is best for Israel, he also plans to force them to do it.

Palestinians: U.S. Paving The Way For Third Intifada

Gatestone Institute (Link) - Khaled Abu Toameh (July 24, 2013)

More than three years after he decided to boycott peace talks with Israel, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas finally agreed last week to return to the negotiating table.

Abbas’s decision came after a series of meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who took it upon himself, ever since he assumed office, to revive the stalled peace talks.

Kerry’s dramatic announcement last Friday in the Jordanian capital of Amman about the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks did not come as a surprise to many Palestinians, especially those familiar Abbas’s performance.

By agreeing to resume the peace talks with Israel, Abbas is taking a big gamble.

The Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core

The Economic Collapse Blog (Link) - Michael Snyder (July 22, 2013)

The pension nightmare that is at the heart of the horrific financial crisis in Detroitis just the tip of the iceberg of the coming retirement crisis that will shake America to the core.  Right now, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are hitting the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen every single day until the year 2030.  As a society, we have made trillions of dollars of financial promises to these Baby Boomers, and there is no way that we are going to be able to keep those promises.  The money simply is not there.  Yes, I suppose that we could eventually see a “super devaluation” of the U.S. dollar and keep our promises to the Baby Boomers using currency that is not worth much more than Monopoly money, but as it stands right now we simply do not have the resources to do what we said that we were going to do.  The number of senior citizens in the United States is projected to more than double by the middle of the century, and it would have been nearly impossible to support them all even if we weren’t in the midst of a long-term economic decline.  Tens of millions of Americans that are eagerly looking forward to retirement are going to be in for a very rude awakening in the years ahead.  There is going to be a lot of heartache and a lot of broken promises.

What is going on in Detroit right now is a perfect example of what will soon be happening all over the nation.  Many city workers stuck with their jobs for decades because of the promise of a nice pension at the end of the rainbow.  But now those promises are going up in smoke.  There has even been talk that retirees will only end up getting about 10 cents for every dollar that they were promised.

Anti-US Violence Spreads Across Mideast Region

Israel National News (Link) - Chana Ya’ar and AFP (September 13, 2012)

Anti-American violence is spreading across the Middle East, with mobs rioting at US missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.

Hundreds of protesters rioted outside the U.S. embassy in Tunisia on Wednesday night. Police in the capital of Tunis were forced to fire teargas canisters at the mob when some 300 rioters stormed the American embassy compound. The rioters, however, were pushed back. Up to that point, the demonstration had been relatively peaceful, with demonstrators brandishing black and white Salafi Muslim banners.

Throughout the Middle East, United States embassies have been warning American citizens to avoid crowded places, and to “remain alert at all times.” Even demonstrations that appear to be peaceful “can turn suddenly violent,” the embassy alert warned citizens living in Arab countries throughout the region.

The Fuse is Lit: European Perils

Mcalvany Financial (Link) (May 21, 2012)

With the acceleration of economic and monetary events here is the first of 3 short films in 2012. Our focus is the US dollar, notably its status as the world’s reserve currency. The monetary greed and mountains of debt in recent years has deeply impaired the dollar’s justification to hold this prestigious and privileged position. We believe the US dollar’s tenure as the world’s reserve currency is rapidly approaching its end. We first explore the EU in that context. The fuse is lit! †

24 Signs That We Are Getting Dangerously Close To A Major War In The Middle East

The American Dream (Link) (February 6, 2012)

Is 2012 the year when we will see a major war in the Middle East? For years we have heard about rising tensions in the Middle East, and for years we have heard politicians express concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, but now things really do seem to be reaching a boiling point. In just the past few days, the U.S. government has imposed tough new sanctions on Iran and has totally shut down the U.S. embassy in Syria.

The truth is that we are getting dangerously close to a major war in the Middle East. So will Israel strike Iran at some point in the next few months? Will the U.S. military intervene in the rapidly escalating conflict inside of Syria? If a major war does erupt, it could send the price of oil skyrocketing and there is the potential that the war could broaden very quickly.

Hezbollah has already indicated that it will side with Syria, and there is always the potential that Hamas could as well. Russia and China have both stated that they are completely opposed to military action by the United States against Iran and Syria, and they have even hinted that they would possibly even help defend those countries. As the nations of the world take sides, there is even the potential that we could see World War III develop. Let us hope that it never comes to that, but with the world as unstable as it is right now, you never know what may happen.

What makes war so much more likely now is that nobody has shown any signs of backing down.

Warning Signs That We Should Prepare For The Worst

The Economic Collapse Blog (Link) (January 18, 2012)

The warning signs are all around us. All we have to do is open up our eyes and look at them. Almost every single day there are more prominent voices in the financial world telling us that a massive economic crisis is coming and that we need to prepare for the worst. On Wednesday, it was the World Bank itself that issued a very chilling warning. In an absolutely startling report, the World Bank revised GDP growth estimates for 2012 downward very sharply, warned that Europe could be on the verge of a devastating financial crisis, and declared that the rest of the world better “prepare for the worst.” You would expect to hear this kind of thing on The Economic Collapse Blog, but this is not the kind of language that you would normally expect to hear from the stuffed suits at the World Bank. Obviously things have gotten bad enough that nobody is even really trying to deny it anymore. Andrew Burns, the lead author of the report, said that if the sovereign debt crisis gets even worse we could be looking at an economic crisis that could be even worse than the last one: “An escalation of the crisis would spare no-one. Developed- and developing-country growth rates could fall by as much or more than in 2008/09.” Burns also stated that the “importance of contingency planning cannot be stressed enough.” In other words, Burns is saying that it is time to prepare for the worst. So are you ready?

But of course it isn’t just the World Bank that is warning about these things. The chorus of voices that is warning about the next great financial crisis just seems to grow by the day.

Some of these voices were profiled in a Bloomberg article the other day entitled “Apocalypse How? Dire ’12 Forecasts.” The following is just a sampling of quotes from that article....

Israeli conflict becomes major issue in GOP debate

WorldNet Daily (Link) - Drew Zahn (December 11, 2011)

Earlier this week, Newt Gingrich told an Isreali TV station the Palestinians are an “invented” people out to destroy Israel, a statement that prompted significant disagreement between the candidates in this weekend’s GOP debate on whether it is better to exercise “truth” or “prudence” in the Middle East.

When asked about the comment, Gingrich was completely unapologetic for his controversial remarks.

“Somebody ought to have the courage to tell the truth,” Gingrich insisted. “[The Palestinian power groups Fatah and Hamas] are terrorists. They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say, ‘If there are 13 Jews and 9 Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?’ We pay for those textbooks through our aid money. It’s fundamentally time for somebody to have the guts to stand up and say, ‘Enough lying about the Middle East.’”

He went on to say, “Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes. … The fact is, the Palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story. Somebody ought to have the courage to go all the way back to the 1921 League of Nations mandate for a Jewish homeland, point out the context in which Israel came into existence, and ‘Palestinian’ did not become a common term until after 1977. This is a propaganda war in which our side refuses to engage. … You’re not going to win in the long run if you’re afraid to stand firm and stand for the truth.”

Ron Paul Warns of Coming Global Meltdown

Nolan Chart (Link) - Jake Morphonios (December 10, 2011)

In Des Moines, Iowa, Congressman Ron Paul gave a stark warning: “The world is facing a major, major crisis. I personally believe it’s worse than anything that’s ever existed in the world before.” The Republican presidential candidate delivered his grim economic message on the Iowa campaign trail, warning of a global financial meltdown if drastic measures aren’t quickly taken to get on top of the U.S. debt problem.

“As a physician, let me tell you, what we do with our economy, with our money, the monetary system, with the spending and the inflating, it’s very similar to treating a drug addict by just giving him another fix, not getting him off the drug,” he said to employees of Principal Financial. “The drug of spending and borrowing and printing money and deficit just delays the inevitable.” Dr. Paul said that the US addiction to debt is like an alcoholic with a failing liver who refuses to save himself by changing his bad habits.

The Texas congressman expressed dismay that other Republican presidential candidates have treated the crisis so lightly, supporting fed plans to simply print more money and try to “kick the can down the road.”

“Cataloguing Palestinian Duplicity”

Palestinian Media Watch (Link) (December 9, 2011)

“Just this week an important new book [Deception] arrived that details in exhaustive fashion the duplicity of the PA, under President Mahmoud Abbas, in speaking to the West of its recognition of Israel while at the same time spreading hate speech and glorifying terrorists at home.” [The Jewish Week, Dec. 6, 2011]

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, and human rights leader Robert L. Bernstein hosted a press conference Tuesday launching Deception: Betraying the Peace Process.

Authors Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik document numerous breaches in the Palestinian Authority’s commitments to recognize Israel, to cease hate incitement and to reject violence and terror - requirements established by the international community and accepted by the PA.

The authors and human rights leaders warned that the hate speech and incitement against Israel by PA leaders is the fundamental impediment to achieving peace.

Evolution Securities Warns Of “Total Carnage And Meltdown” As European Bank Sales Of CDS On European Sovereign Debt Soar

Zero Hedge (Link) - Tyler Durden (December 9, 2011)

As much as we hate to say it, Europe is now without a shadow of a doubt the new AIG, only this time such heretofore considered insane (in retrospect) activities as doubling down to infinity on ones TBTF status are out in the public record for all to see. At least AIG conducted Joe Cassano’s “made in London” $2.7 trillion bet on home prices never dropping in the shadows of Curzon 1. Whereas two days ago we made it clear [16]how the unwind of trillions in rehypothecated securities could be the avalanche that buries first Europe and then the world, we explicitly excluded the impact of synthetic products such as CDS. Now it is time to bring the picture full circle, and put CDS front and center. As Bloomberg reports,

“BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, sold a net 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) of credit- default swaps on the nation’s sovereign debt, according to data compiled by the European Banking Authority. UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest lender, and Banca Monte dei Paschi SpA are net insurers of more than 500 million euros each of their government’s bonds, and Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG, the Austrian lender which has yet to pay interest on 1 billion euros of state aid received in 2009, has guaranteed a net 839 million euros of its national debt, EBA data show.” (EBA source - link [17]).

For those confused by the above, here is the explanation: European banks, in order to generate modest cash flow from collecting on the pariodic interest premiums owed to them in order to plug increasingly large capital shortfall holes that otherwise would simply keep growing ever larger, have sold and continue to sell massive amounts of default protection on their very own host countries! As a reminder, it was precisely this that destroyed AIG when the illusion of the credit bubble burst.

Egypt and the Idealist-Realist Debate in U.S. Foreign Policy

Stratfor Global Intelligence (Link) - George Friedman (December 6, 2011)

The first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections has taken place, and the winners were two Islamist parties. The Islamists themselves are split between more extreme and more moderate factions, but it is clear that the secularists who dominated the demonstrations and who were the focus of the Arab Spring narrative made a poor showing. Of the three broad power blocs in Egypt — the military, the Islamists and the secular democrats — the last proved the weakest.

It is far from clear what will happen in Egypt now. The military remains unified and powerful, and it is unclear how much actual power it is prepared to cede or whether it will be forced to cede it. What is clear is that the faction championed by Western governments and the media will now have to accept the Islamist agenda, back the military or fade into irrelevance.

One of the points I made during the height of the Arab Spring was that the West should be careful of what it wishes for — it might get it. Democracy does not always bring secular democrats to power. To be more precise, democracy might yield a popular government, but the assumption that that government will support a liberal democratic constitution that conceives of human rights in the European or American sense is by no means certain. Unrest does not always lead to a revolution, a revolution does not always lead to a democracy, and a democracy does not always lead to a European- or American-style constitution.

Israel and Syria brace for regional war between mid-Dec. 2011 and mid-Jan 2012

DEBKAfile (Link) (December 5, 2011)

The actions and words of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in the last 72 hours indicate they are poised for a regional war, including an attack on Iran, for some time between December 2011 and January 2012.

In their different ways, both have posted road signs to the fast-approaching conflict as DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources disclose:

1. Saturday, Dec. 3, Syria staged a large-scale military exercise in the eastern town of Palmyra, which was interpreted by Western and Israeli pundits as notice to its neighbors, primarily Turkey and Israel, that the uprising against the Assad regime had not fractured its sophisticated missile capabilities.

DEBKAfile’s military sources advise attaching more credibility to the official Damascus statement of Sunday, Dec. 4: “The Syrian army has staged a live-fire drill in the eastern part of the country under war-like circumstances with the aim of testing its missile weaponry in confronting any attack.”

Iran says downed US drone; threatens response ‘outside our borders’

YNet News (Link) - Reuters (December 4, 2011)

Iran’s military said on Sunday it had shot down a US reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran, a military source told state television.

“Iran’s military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran,” Iran’s Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted the unnamed source as saying.

“The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces.”

The source said Iran’s response to the downed US drone’s violation of its airspace will not be limited to the country’s borders.

“The Iranian military’s response to the American spy drone’s violation of our airspace will not be limited to Iran’s borders any more,” Iran’s Arabic language Al Alam television quoted the military source as saying, without giving details.

Clinton presses Netanyahu to release frozen Palestinian tax funds

Haaretz (Link) - Barak Ravid (November 23, 2011)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night and demanded that he release Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has frozen for more than a month after UNESCO accepted the Palestinians as a member.

A senior U.S. official and an Israeli source familiar with details of the conversation say Clinton called Netanyahu after messages relayed to him in recent weeks on the tax money were not answered positively.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Clinton called but said the subject was new sanctions that the United States would impose on Iran.

Israel holds $100 million in Palestinian Authority tax revenue collected in October as part of economic agreements between the two sides. Should the freeze continue through the end of November, the sum will reach $200 million.

According to the Israeli source, Netanyahu rejected Clinton’s request, saying he lacks a majority in the cabinet on the issue.

Abbas Going for Broke, Gunning for Unity with Hamas

Israel National News (Link) - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (November 20, 2011)

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is to meet with Hamas leaders in Cairo Thursday to sum up a unity deal based on “resistance,” a Palestinian Authority state based on the temporary 1949 Armistice Lines and non-recognition of Israel.

Abbas, head of the rival Fatah faction, formally signed a formal unity agreement with Hamas in May, but it quickly became nothing more than a ceremonial act following disagreements.

The failure of the Palestinian Authority to gain admittance as a full member in the United Nations has been a game-changer. Following the American and Israel decision to cut off funds to the PA after it won membership on the U.N.’s UNESCO agency, Abbas has made it clear he considers the Obama administration an obstacle to his plans for Palestinian Authority statehood.

Spokesmen for Hamas and Abbas have confirmed this week’s meeting will be full of substance as Abbas had apparently decided to bank on Asian and pro-Arab countries in Europe to give him the diplomatic backing he has lost with the United States.

A Scary Prediction for the Collapse of Paper Money

The Globe and Mail (Link) - Neil Reynolds (November 15, 2011)

What should U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke do next? London-based economist Detlev Schlichter says, succinctly: “Abdicate.” What should U.S. President Barack Obama do next? Mr. Schlichter says, succinctly: “Abdicate.” With Mr. Schlichter, you aren’t left with much doubt about his position. He says the world’s major currencies are destined to crash. “The dollar, the euro and the yen are locked in a race to the bottom,” he writes on his website, papermoneycollapse.com. The only question is which one crashes first.

Mr. Schlichter argues that we are only part of the way through the market meltdown – and that the worst is still to come. How much worse? Considerably worse, he says, than the Great Depression.

U.S. industrial production is 12 times higher now than it was in 1929, he says; but the amount of U.S. dollars in circulation is 200 times higher.

The U.S. net debt was 150 per cent of GDP in 1973, when then-president Richard Nixon took the country off the gold standard; yet its net debt reached a record high in 2010: 370 per cent. The United States will fall further, Mr. Schlichter insists, because it has further to fall.

We Are in ‘Worse Situation’ Than in 2008: Roubini

CNBC (Link) - Catherine Boyle (September 2, 2011)

The world’s developed economies are trapped at the “stall speed” of low growth and need to have greater fiscal stimulus and less austerity to kick-start growth, leading economist Nouriel Roubini told CNBC Friday.

Speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum on the shores of Lake Como, near Milan, Roubini said in an interview: “We are in a worse situation than we were in 2008. This time around we have fiscal austerity and banks that are being cautious.”

Roubini, known for his bearish views on the world economy, thinks that there is a 60 percent chance of a second recession imminently. Economic data of recent weeks presents a mixed picture.

On Thursday, the US government announced that jobless claims dropped by 11,000 to 409,000 last week. Friday’s employment report in the US is expected to show a gain of only 75,000 nonfarm jobs during August, with the unemployment rate steady at 9.1 percent.

Recent surveys point to slumping business and consumer confidence across the developed world.

25 Signs That The Financial World Is About To Hit The Big Red Panic Button

Economic Collapse Blog (Link) - Michael (August 31, 2011)

Most of the worst financial panics in history have happened in the fall. Just recall what happened in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Well, September 2011 is about to begin and there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to hit the big red panic button. Wave after wave of bad economic news has come out of the United States recently, and Europe is embroiled in an absolutely unprecedented debt crisis. At this point there is a very real possibility that the euro may not even survive. So what is causing all of this? Well, over the last couple of decades a gigantic debt bubble has fueled a tremendous amount of “fake prosperity” in the western world. But for a debt bubble to keep going, the total amount of debt has to keep expanding at an ever increasing pace. Unfortunately for the global economy, sources of credit are starting to dry up. That is why you hear terms like “credit crisis” and “credit crunch” thrown around so much these days. Without enough credit to feed the monster, the debt bubble is going to burst. At this point, virtually the entire global economy runs on credit, so when this debt bubble bursts things could get really, really messy.

Nations and financial institutions would never get into debt trouble if they could always borrow as much money as they wanted at extremely low interest rates. But what has happened is that lending sources are balking at continuing to lend cheap money to nations and financial institutions that are already up to their eyeballs in debt.

For example, the yield on 2 year Greek bonds is now over 40 percent. Investors don’t trust the Greek government and they are demanding a huge return in order to lend them more money.

Pentagon Report Exposes China Menace

Human Events (Link) - Robert Maginnis (August 31, 2011)

A new Pentagon report indicates China’s sustained military investments are destabilizing and exposes the Marxist giant’s global ambitions. The free world had better wake up to the security threat posed by this hegemonic menace.

Last week the Pentagon issued its annual report to Congress, which warns, “China’s rise as a major international actor is likely to stand out as a defining feature of the strategic landscape of the early 21st century.”

But the report “mischaracterizes and minimizes that threat,” according to Steve Mosher, a social scientist who worked in China and is author of numerous books on the country. The report “does a disservice to the truth,” Mosher said.

The truth about China’s emerging global threat becomes obvious when Beijing’s intentions, behavior and military modernization are properly exposed.

Bernanke Blames Lawmakers for Economic Woes

Christian Post (Link) - Joseph Perkins (August 26, 2011)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today that the weakened state of the U.S. economy is attributable, in large part, to the dysfunctional process by which the nation’s lawgivers make fiscal decisions.

“The quality of economic policy-making in the United States will heavily influence the nation’s long term prospects,” he told an audience of central bankers, economists and academics attending an economics conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., hosted annually by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The Fed chief’s remarks were much anticipated by the financial communities here and abroad, which wondered whether Bernanke would offer a hint of a major new Fed initiative, as he did at last year’s conference.

But there was no such hint today, which signaled to conference attendees that there will be no third round of bond-buying by the Fed, which purchased more than $2.5 trillion in longer term securities during two previous rounds of “quantitative easing,” the most recent of which ended this past June.

Quake rocks Washington area, felt on East Coast

Yahoo! News (Link) - AP - Bob Lewis (August 23, 2011)

The most powerful earthquake to strike the East Coast in 67 years shook buildings and rattled nerves from South Carolina to Maine on Tuesday. Frightened office workers spilled into the streets in New York, and parts of the White House, Capitol and Pentagon were evacuated.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, but fire officials in Washington said there were at least some injuries.

The National Cathedral said its central tower and three of its four corner spires were damaged, but the White House said advisers had told President Barack Obama there were no reports of major damage to the nation’s infrastructure, including airports and nuclear facilities.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered magnitude 5.8 and was centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond, VA.

Obama set to beat Bush debt-aggregation record

Hot Air (Link) - Ed Morrissey (August 23, 2011)

In 31 months of Barack Obama’s presidency, according to the Treasury and CBS News, the US has added $4 trillion to its national debt. That approaches the presidential record set by George W. Bush of $4.9 trillion, but there’s a catch to that. Bush set that record in two terms — in 96 months:

The latest posting by the Treasury Department shows the national debt has now increased $4 trillion on President Obama’s watch.

The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.

It’s the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. president.

The national debt increased $4.9 trillion during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. The debt now is rising at a pace to surpass that amount during Mr. Obama’s four-year term.

Let’s cast this by month rather than by year. Bush added an average of $51 billion a month to the national debt. In his 31 months in office, Obama has added to the national debt at an average monthly rate of $129 billion. That is 152% more per month than Obama’s predecessor.