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Israel and Gaza are on edge after an Israeli airstrike took out a senior Islamic Jihad commander in the Strip early Tuesday. Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants have since fired some 150 rockets into southern and central Israel, resulting in the closure of schools and public buildings, even in Tel Aviv.

Dozens of rockets have been reported hitting towns and cities throughout Israel after the rare targeted assassination of Islamic Jihad’s Baha Abu al-Ata. The Israeli army is now signalling preparations for war: “We are prepared for several days of battle with an aerial defense shield, including in the center of the country,” IDF spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said.

“Approximately 150 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip at central and southern Israel on Tuesday as of 1 p.m., according to unofficial tallies,” The Times of Israel reports. “Soldiers operating the Iron Dome missile defense system shot down some 60 of those incoming projectiles.”

Israel’s security cabinet held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to mull a response as things escalate quickly. This after Israel expanded its anti-Palestinian militant operations into neighboring Syria, where Israeli strikes additionally targeted another senior Islamic Jihad official, Akram Ajuri.

Large rocket fired from the southern part of Gaza City just now pic.twitter.com/koC1BFStTs

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) November 12, 2019

Reports note that this is the first time in a few years that such a string of high level assassinations have been carried out by the IDF. Drones are still said to be active over Gaza, and Palestinian health authorities have cited multiple civilian deaths and injuries. 

Militants in Gaza also said they are “going to war” against Israel: “Palestinian Islamic Jihad declared Tuesday that it was preparing for war with Israel after the IDF carried out a dawn assassination of one of the terror group’s senior leaders in the northern Gaza Strip,” according to local reports.

A follow-up IDF statement said further: “We are ready for various scenarios, both offensive and defensive. We are not interested in escalating the situation.” Israeli officials, in an apparent attempt to excuse the mounting civilian casualties, also accused the Islamic Jihad commander who was targeted as surrounding himself with women and children. 

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said “millions” are now seeking the safety of bomb shelters as rockets from Gaza rain down. 

“We tried to send a message to Abu al-Ata and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that we are aware of his actions and to persuade him to stop these attacks. Obviously, these warnings were not successful,” said the IDF. 

“Over the last week, we have been waiting for the opportune moment to conduct the surgical strike,” the IDF spokesman added.

Chaos has gripped Israeli cities and towns especially in the south, where missile warning sirens are blaring and hospitals are on high alert. 

According to the Jerusalem Post, southern Israel is currently under a mandatory emergency advisory: 

All non-essential work has been cancelled. Those working in life-saving jobs, such as healthcare workers, are not under the advisory.

The Health Ministry opened an emergency situation room and is working with emergency services, including the Home Front Command, the IDF and Magen David Adom.

Additionally, the ministry announced that all health institutions are prepared for a potential influx of patients.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office of the successful operation against the Islamic Jihad leader that he was “responsible for many terrorist attacks and the firing of rockets at Israel in recent months and had intended to carry out imminent attacks.”

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

A study says Ignoring women costs $700 billion dollars a year in lost profits. I say bullshit…

Obvious Bullshit

Please consider an article by Emily Cadman, on Bloomberg, Ignoring Women Costs the Financial Industry $700 Billion a Year.

The male-dominated finance industry is missing out on more than $700 billion a year in revenue by failing to listen to or tailor products for women, according to management consultancy Oliver Wyman.

“Women are arguably the single largest under-served group of customers in financial services,” Jessica Clempner, the report’s lead author, said in a statement Tuesday. “Firms are leaving money on the table by not listening to and understanding their women customers.”

No Link to Study

The article did not post a link to the study. Bloomberg seldom does. This makes it hard to see what the report really said or how.

Only Two Costs Cited

There are the only two cost examples mentioned in the article.

• If insurers sold life policies to women at the same rate as to men, they could generate $500 million in new premiums, Oliver Wyman estimated.

• Women also tend to hold more of their assets in cash rather than stocks and bonds, costing wealth and asset managers a potential $25 billion in fees.

The Math

Assuming those numbers are accurate, they total $25.5 billion a year.

Where the hell is the other $674.5 billion?

Please don’t tell me that the $500 million was supposed to be $500 billion because I will not believe that either. Besides, if women are more cautious perhaps they a a bit smarter. Other than term-life, most insurance schemes are pure garbage.

And as for the $25 billion, with trading fees down to zero, I am more than a bit suspicious of that number as well.

OK. Let’s lure women into new women-designed ETFs.

Q: Did the author propose one?

A. No

Q: Did Jessica Clempner, the report’s lead author?

A. Who the hell knows because there is no link to the report.

But seriously, are ETF’s and services designed for women going to bring in the other $674.5 billion?

Nonetheless, this story is likely to go viral because of the preposterous claims. Few will realize what happened. The parrots at Yahoo! Finance already picked it up, without comment or additional links, but did leave out the link to the Oliver Wyman advertisement.

Click-Bait Infomercial

There is no study, wild numbers, and a missing $674.5 billion out of an amazing $700 billion claim.

Instead there is a link to an Oliver Wyman advertisement.

What is this all about?

Cadman’s article smacks of a paid-for infomercial, not so cleverly disguised with hype clickbait.

President Trump isn’t the most popular individual right now over at the Chamber of Commerce. That’s why a planned talk at the Economic Club of New York Tuesday afternoon could be really interesting.

The planned topic of Tuesday’s talk is US trade policy, and it’s a guarantee that markets will be hanging on every word.

With Trump’s trade war one of the biggest issues for markets, the audience at Tuesday’s speech certainly wouldn’t respond well to talk of more tariffs.

If he wants to bring the house down, Trump could announce some progress with China (though at this point everybody knows to take the administration’s trade-deal rhetoric with a grain of salt), or delay a decision on whether to slap tariffs on EU-made cars and auto parts.

One White House spokesman told Reuters that Trump will focus on how his policies, like tax cuts and deregulation, helped bolster one of the longest economic recoveries.

“You can expect the president to highlight how his policies of lower taxes, deregulation, and fair and reciprocal trade have supported the longest economic recovery in U.S history with record low unemployment, rising wages, and soaring consumer confidence,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said. He declined to give further details.

Even if Trump doesn’t say much about the partial “Phase 1” trade deal that the US and China are reportedly on the brink of signing, markets will be on the lookout for anything positive Trump has to say about the trade talks, even if he doesn’t offer much detail.

Watch his speech live below. He’s slated to begin around noon.

Authored by Vanand Meliksetian via OilPrice.com,

The global economy has been going through a remarkable period of growth especially due to China’s open-door policy since the late seventies. Also, other major Asian economies have contributed to what some analysts believe will become the ‘Asian Century’. The region is about to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) treaty which is the largest free trade agreement in the world comprising 3.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $22.6 trillion.

At the center lies Southeast Asia which is going through a rapid process of modernization and industrialization. The region is quickly becoming a manufacturing hub due to the low costs of labor and external factors such as the U.S.-China trade war. Two underlying factors of economic expansion are pushing energy consumption: a growing population and higher levels of welfare.

Some of the region’s massive energy demand is met by wind and solar power. Until 2040 renewables will triple. Despite the dramatic drop in prices of wind turbines and photovoltaic cells, Southeast Asia is set for a much dirtier future than some were hoping for. Approximately 100 GW of coal-fired power plants is planned of which 30 GW is already under construction. 

The region is a major market for coal producers due to the significant number of planned power plants. Asia in general accounts for 85 percent of the word’s top 20 coal-producing countries of which Indonesia is the largest net exporter globally. However, the Asian country will be overtaken by Russia until 2040 due to rising domestic consumption, which will reduce exports.

Beijing has taken an interest in Southeast Asia’s energy requirements because of rising consumption and the need for investments. Although China is the world’s largest investor in renewables, the country is also a big exporter of coal-fired power plants. The China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank last year invested $25.6 billion in energy projects abroad of which a big share went to coal-fired power plants in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

The IEA expects demand for coal in Southeast Asia to double to almost 400 million tons by 2040. Its estimate is 2.5 percent higher than two years ago. According to Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director, “coal is rather resistant because it is affordable. It is really hard for Southeast Asian countries to move away from affordable coal immediately.”

Although it is forecasted that renewables will be installed twice the rate of coal by 2040, the relatively low costs of coal strengthen the fuel’s competitiveness. Also, its relative abundance across the region makes it a safe alternative for improving energy security. Countries such as Indonesia can rely on a steady and reliable flow of coal production not affected by external factors that could hamper transport.

Although the global narrative concerning coal is largely negative with dropping consumption in Europe and North America, coal’s revival in Asia is largely offsetting those declines. According to Wood Mackenzie’s research associate Jacqueline Tao, “the reality of rising power demand and affordability issues in the region means that we will only start to see coal’s declining power post-2030.”

Also, much hinges on the regulatory environment of the concerning countries. Whether coal consumption will remain growing or alternative sources are promoted depends on the focus of governments. Currently, coal-generated power is subsidized which makes it an attractive source of electricity production. Also, tariffs on the import of wind turbines and solar panels in some countries hamper growth.

Geography is another factor that impedes the rapid integration of alternative sources of energy. The region’s most populous country and consumer of energy, Indonesia, is the world’s largest archipelago making infrastructure connectivity expensive. Large scale renewable projects benefit from a high level of integration to mitigate the problem of intermittency. Southeast Asia is not well situated to make use of interconnectors due to geographic and political reasons.

For the region to wean itself of polluting coal, governments need to install the right regulatory frameworks to attract the kind of investors that will propel these countries into the 21st century. Coal’s financial advantage is not indefinite as the rapid improvement of in competitiveness of renewables has shown. Wind and solar power are already cheaper than fossil fuels in regions with high potential such as coastal areas and sunny countries. Prices for renewables will decrease even further in the foreseeable future making investments in new coal-fired power superfluous and financially illogical.  

Have Turkey’s floodgates begun to open? For months now the question of what to do with foreign jihadists which flooded Syria over the course of the eight-year long war has been intensely debated. President Erdogan has shocked European officials by repeatedly threatening to unleash them along with some three million Syrian refugees on Europe if his ‘Operation Peace Spring’ does not gain support, and if the EU rejects his ‘safe zone’ offer. 

But as of Monday Turkish officials announced plans to begin sending hundreds of the some 1200 plus ISIS detainees and other jihadists it has in its custody back to Europe, saying Turkey “is not a hotel for jihadists” — to quote an Interior Ministry statement from last week. 

“Turkey deported three foreign jihadists on Monday, with more than 20 Europeans including French and Germans in the process of being expelled to their countries of origin,” the AFP reported. This after Turkish officials have repeatedly lashed out at European capitals for refusing to repatriate their citizens caught fighting for ISIS. 

The AFP also reported a “foreign terrorist fighter” from the United States has also been expelled along with others from Germany and Denmark. More are expected to follow in the coming days, amid reports that most are from France. 

The reaction of a number of European countries, including Britain, has been to strip suspected terrorists of their citizenship, leaving them as stateless and thus unable to be repatriated to their country of origin.

President Trump previously expressed a desire for the Europeans to deal with their fighters, many of which are still in US-SDF custody in northeast Syria. “The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go…” the president said earlier this year. 

….The U.S. does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go. We do so much, and spend so much – Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019

Crucially, President Erdogan in a speech Tuesday contextualized the new transfer of ISIS detainees as a punitive action against Europe, per The Guardian:

“You should revise your stance towards Turkey, which at the moment holds so many Isis members in prison and at the same time controls those in Syria,” Erdoğan told European countries in remarks to reporters in Ankara on Tuesday.

“These gates will open and these Isis members who have started to be sent to you will continue to be sent. Then you can take care of your own problem.”

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu put the Europeans on notice last Friday, saying provocatively “There is no need to try to escape from it, we will send them back to you. Deal with them how you want,” and further that “Turkey is not a hotel for Daesh members.”

He also revealed Turkish forces had recently captured nearly 300 more ISIS terrorists during operations in northern Syria, where mass prison breaks have been reported amid the fighting, and as Kurdish-led SDF fighters are forced to abandon their posts at make-shift prisons and refugee camps with known ISIS family members in them. 

Though the Islamic State has been driven underground at this point, its media wings have recently put out a series of statements threatening Europe and the US with terror attacks, including calling on followers to start wildfires and other acts of destruction, as one new message said last week in follow-up to others. 

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

James Le Mesurier, the founder of the White Helmets, has died. He was found to have plummeted from a height to the street outside his home, and authorities are reportedly calling it a suicide.

Le Mesurier has a history with British military intelligence and was fundamentally involved with an extremely shady narrative management operation geared toward manufacturing support for yet another imperialist military intervention in yet another Middle Eastern nation, so obviously any claims of suicide should be taken with a grain of salt no smaller than a Buick. But it is worth noting that according to Middle East Eye, Le Mesurier’s wife told police that he’d been struggling with psychological issues for which he was taking medications and had previously been hospitalized. Le Mesurier’s home was reportedly only accessible by fingerprint and no video footage of anyone besides Le Mesurier and his wife entering or leaving has been found.

Establishment narrative managers, for their part, have been floating the possibility that the White Helmets founder was murdered by the Russian government. The Washington Examiner has published an article titled “Did Russia kill White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier?”, calling to mind Betteridge’s law of headlines which states that “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The BBC’s Mark Urban tweeted out and then deleted a thread (screenshots here) in which he cites an anonymous source who claims to have known Le Mesurier’s flat well enough to be sure that it’s not possible to “fall” from his balcony, then meaningfully pointing to a “black propaganda campaign by Russia and Assad media” against Le Mesurier. He apparently didn’t consider the possibility of suicide until later, saying he deleted his thread due to “new information”.

For more info on Le Mesurier and his White Helmet mates, I highly recommend watching this excellent half-hour video by James Corbett. It’s full of primary-source video footage indisputably confirming the organization’s ties to western governments and to violent extremist factions in Syria, and explaining how an allegedly “neutral” organization on the ground has been used to control the narrative about what’s been happening in Syria.

Pundits who’ve built their name on Syria narrative management have been expressing grief over Le Mesurier’s death, including Eliot Higgins, Charles Lister, Julian Röpke and Oz Katerji. Katerji, an especially aggressive imperialism proponent, was particularly stricken, acknowledging that this pervasively corrupt operative was actually a dear friend of his.

“It is with a deeply heavy heart that I do this, but I can confirm my friend James Le Mesurier, founder of Mayday Rescue of White Helmets fame, died at his home in Istanbul last night,” Katerji tweeted.

“I am profoundly saddened by this, Jakes was a brave and decent man who saved countless lives. I will miss him. I am at a loss for words.”

Janine di Giovanni, who in 2016 authored a fawning puff piece on Le Mesurier and the White Helmets for Newsweek, tweeted,

“Terrible news. James was funny, smart, brave,committed. He stood up to bullies. On the right side of history. Believed in the White Helmets, their mission, their drive for good. A loss to humanity.”

Journalist Jonathan Cook criticized di Giovanni’s gushing hagiography, tweeting,

“This is what access journalism looks like: prize-winning war correspondents like Janine di Giovanni hanging out with ‘funny’ spooks like James Le Mesurier who’ve been responsible for stoking the very wars they report on — wars that have destroyed whole societies.”

On the death of James Le Mesurier, western governments’ organiser of logistics support and propaganda for the fanatical jihadists in Syria, it is no surprise that today “Philip Cross” makes 48 edits to his Wikipedia page.https://t.co/qei9MnbgRC

— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) November 11, 2019

Former UK ambassador Craig Murray has flagged the fact that Wikipedia’s imperialist narrative manager “Philip Cross” has made dozens of edits to Le Mesurier’s Wiki page since his death. Cross, who I’ve reported on previously, has made a more-than-full-time job of constantly managing the Wikipedia pages of both pro-establishment and anti-establishment media figures in a very pro-establishment slant; an article by Five Filters which you can read by clicking here documents how the “Philip Cross” account has been working morning to night with precisely zero days off toward this endeavor.

An article published by Murray last year documents the curious fact that although the serial Wikipedia editor had only about 200 followers on Twitter, he was followed by many high-profile narrative managers from huge British news media outlets like The Guardian, The Times and the BBC, as well as none other than James Le Mesurier himself.

Murray wrote at the time:

“Why then does James LeMesurier, founder of the ‘White Helmets’, follow Philip Cross on twitter? Why does ex-minister Tristram Hunt follow Philip Cross on Twitter? Why does Sarah Brown, wife of Gordon, follow Philip Cross on twitter? Why then do so the following corporate and state journalists follow ‘Philip Cross’ on twitter?”

To these questions I would add, why was Le Mesurier seen defending “Philip Cross” from someone voicing suspicion of him on Twitter after George Galloway offered a reward for information about the account? These questions have never been satisfactorily answered. And now this same account is frantically editing the Wikipedia page of his late fan James Le Mesurier. Some excerpts from the editing notes Cross has made to the page (note: according to Wikipedia, “RS” is short for Reliable Source):

• not WH alone: “Unfounded conspiracy theories latched onto the White Helmets’ foreign funding and ties to Mr. Le Mesurier” and (earlier in the article) “who has been the target of repeated online disinformation campaigns”

• Alternet is not considered RS, the article is by Max Blumenthal

• this is the Assadist line which has no usable sources & should not be given undue credibility

• rumour/conspiracy theory spread by non-RS

The article also has an editorial discussion section about whether or not it’s appropriate to have a “criticisms” section on the page, and how much any criticisms should be limited. Cross is of course intimately involved in this discussion as well.

There is an immense narrative management campaign dedicated to controlling what people think about what’s happening in Syria, aimed not solely at advancing the longstanding regime change agenda of the US-centralized empire but at protecting the credibility of the warmongering government and media institutions who the public is growing increasingly skeptical of in a post-Iraq invasion information age.

If people become doubtful in the propaganda machine which greases the gears of war, then warmongering itself will become impossible to carry out without waking the masses up from the narrative control matrix they’ve worked so hard to lull us into. Without endless war, the empire will crumble.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. Narrative control comes before any other priority the empire might have; before resources, before land, before even war itself. Our rulers and their goons will protect their ability to control the story of what’s happening tooth and claw. It’s up to us to see through their lies and bring an end to the lie factory.

*  *  *

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