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$1.5 Quadrillion Time Bomb
by Stephen Lendman
When investing becomes gambling, bad endings follow. The next credit crunch could make 2008-09 look mild by comparison. Bank of International Settlements(BIS) data show around $700 trillion in global derivatives.
Along with credit default swaps and other exotic instruments, the total notional derivatives value is about $1.5 quadrillion - about 20% more than in 2008, beyond what anyone can conceive, let alone control if unexpected turmoil strikes. The late Bob Chapman predicted it. So does Paul Craig Roberts. It could “destroy Western civilization,” he believes. Financial deregulation turned Wall Street into a casino with no rules except unrestrained making money. Catastrophic failure awaits. It’s just a matter of time.
Hamas: No free information on missing Israelis
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
Israel has finally officially
acknowledged that two Israelis were being held in the Gaza Strip, presumably in Hamas's custody.
Israel had hoped that Hamas would disclose information on the matter, which would help Israel repatriate the two men in return for a non-costly price or at no price at all.
But Hamas has acted smartly by remaining tight-lipped on the matter for the past 12 months.
Hamas should continue this wise policy as giving free information of any kind to Israel would be self-defeating and immensely harmful for the Palestinian cause, especially the cause of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners and resistance detainees languishing in Israeli jails and detention camps.
Greece and the European Union: First as Tragedy, Second as Farce, Thirdly as Vassal State
James Petras
Introduction
The Greek people’s efforts to end the economic depression, recover their sovereignty and reverse the regressive socio-economic policies, which have drastically reduced living standards, have been thrice denied.
First, the denial came as tragedy: When the Greek majority elected Syriza to government and their debts increased, the economy plunged further into depression and unemployment and poverty soared. The Greek people voted for Syriza believing its promises of ‘a new course’. Immediately following their victory, Syriza reneged on their promise to restore sovereignty – and end the subjugation of the Greek people to the economic dictates of overseas bankers, bureaucrats and political oligarchs. Instead Syriza kept Greece in the oligarchical imperialist bloc, portraying the European Union as an association of independent sovereign countries. What began as a great victory of the Greek people turned into a tragic strategic retreat. From their first day in office, Syriza led the Greek people down the blind alley of total submission to the German empire.
Israel Attacks Islam’s Third Holiest Site
by Stephen Lendman
Nothing is too outrageous for rogue states run by racist criminals. Cold-blooded murder, vicious assaults, mass arrests and imprisonments for political reasons, torture and other forms of abuse are institutionalized practices.
Israel gives Judaism a bad name. More proof came Sunday morning. Soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at nonviolent worshipers to clear way for extremist Jews to access Islam’s third holiest site where they don’t belong. Israel has no shortage of synagogues for worshipers to pray any day of the year for any reason. Forcibly entering a Muslim holy place with plenty of supportive military muscle constitutes a criminal act.
Pope Francis, Alison Weir and the Sanhedrin
By Gilad Atzmon
Alison Weir has recently joined the long list of Goyim who have been charged by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement's Sanhedrin Court. Alison, however, should cheer up, Pope Francis has also been charged in a Sanhedrin court in a different jurisdiction. This time it is the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, pretty much the same Jewish Judicial entity that charged Jesus before he was brought up in front of Roman Governor Pontius Pilate.
An Israeli media outlet reported last week that The Jerusalem Sanhedrin –a Jewish religious ‘High Court composed of 71 sages’, has declared that it is putting Pope Francis on trial unless he retracts his statement that the Jews have no right to the land of Israel or to Jerusalem.
Perhaps This Is Obama’s Grand Strategy
Eric Zuesse
Washingtonsblog’s anonymous founder and principal commentator is one of the most deeply knowledgeable writers on current events, and on July 19th he headlined "Governments Worldwide Will Crash the First Week of October … According to 2 Financial Forecasters.” He noted that both Martin Armstrong and Larry Edelson, two of the most respected stock-market predictors, are independently of each other predicting that "virtually all governments worldwide will be hit with a gigantic economic crisis in the first week of October 2015,” due to “a collapse of government solvency” as ricocheting government defaults spiral each other downward; and, because the U.S. won’t be forced to crash as quickly as Europe and Japan, there will then be a temporary worldwide rush into U.S. corporate stocks and bonds, especially stocks, as the short-term safe haven for investors fleeing from sovereign (government) bonds.
Assad Vows to Defend Syria’s Homeland
by Stephen Lendman
Syria is one of many direct and proxy wars Obama continues waging - breaching his campaign pledge to restore peace.
His agenda is polar opposite - raping, pillaging and destroying one country after another, new targets always in mind, perhaps directly confronting Russia and/or China before leaving office.
Bodies piling up worldwide attest to his barbarity - a rogue leader risking global conflict, even nuclear confrontation, influenced by neocons infesting his administration and Congress - deploring peace, wanting endless wars. On Sunday, Assad addressed officials and members of public organizations, vocational syndicates, as well as industrial, trade, agriculture and tourism groups.
Whitewashing Sandra Bland's Murder
by Stephen Lendman
Every 28 hours on average, a Black man, woman or child is murdered by killer cops in America. Sandra Black is one of their victims - a high-profile one, unlike countless nameless, faceless, unreported victims of US police brutality, at times resulting in unaccountable murders routinely whitewashed when investigations are conducted.
Police traffic stops, even violent ones, followed by wrongful short-term detentions, aren't reasons for suicides - unless perhaps victims are so mentally ill and unstable their behavior is unpredictable.
Bland was a young Black civil rights activist - a vocal Black Lives Matter movement exponent, outspoken against police brutality in America.
Was she targeted for this reason? Was she violently assaulted by a cop on assignment to get her arrested on false charges - then murdered in custody to silence her? She was eagerly looking forward to her new job at Prairie View A&M, her alma mater. She had every reason to live, not die. Media reports on her case are scandalous - ignoring the most important issues needing exploring and explaining.
Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis
by Stephen Lendman
Officially called a “Free Associated State or Commonwealth,” Puerto Rico has been exploited as a US colony since 1898. Its elected governor is powerless - little more than a potted plant ruled by Congress with America’s president its head of state.
Washington never granted islanders control of their lives, welfare and destiny. They have no say over foreign relations, commerce and trade, their air space, land and offshore waters, immigration and emigration, nationality and citizenship, currency, maritime laws, military service, US bases on its territory, constitutionality of its laws, jurisdictions and legal procedures, treaties, radio and television, communications, agriculture, its natural resources and more.
The Great Satan
by Stephen Lendman
No nation deserves this designation more than America - the world's leading global menace. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is right condemning it. US policies speak for themselves. They include:
● waging endless direct and proxy wars of aggression against invented enemies threatening no one;
● risking WW III by recklessly challenging Russia and China;
● imposing illegal sanctions on targeted countries unilaterally or jointly with other Western nations bullied to go along (what only the Security Council is authorized to do);
● serving monied interests exclusively at the expense of popular ones;
● allying with many of the world's most ruthless despots;
● partnering with Israeli wars of aggression as well as supporting occupation harshness - by supplying billions of dollars in annual (mostly) military aid and much more;
● governing under a homeland police state apparatus targeting Muslims, poor Blacks, Latino immigrants, environmental and animal rights activists, whistleblowers exposing government wrongdoing, as well as anyone challenging ruthless policies no one should accept.
Millions of corpses attest to America's barbarity - a rogue state threatening world peace.
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