“Events Today Could Lead To The Last War In The History Of Mankind”, Veteran Putin General Warns

The fallout from the Salisbury nerve agent attack reminds us of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which was the most immediate catalyst – of many parallel narrative and sequences of events – that ultimately resulted in World War I. We are not alone in this reasoning, as one high-level retired Russian general warns the Salisbury poisoning could lead to the “last war in the history of mankind.”

Ret. Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinsky — who served in the Russian Armed Forces for more than forty years — said relations between Russia and Washington could become “worse” than the climax of the Cold War and “end up in a very, very bad outcome” following the nerve gas attack in the United Kingdom.

More than 150 Russian diplomats have been expelled from 25 countries — including 23 from the United Kingdom since western nations accused Russia of being the sole actor responsible for using deadly chemical weapons on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in their Salisbury home.

Buzhinsky, who is now the senior vice president of the Russian Center for Policy Studies (PIR Center), told BBC Radio Today program:

“Please, when you say the world, you mean EU and United States and some other countries … you see it’s a cold war, it’s worse than the Cold War because if the situation will develop in the way this (is) now, I’m afraid that it will end up in a very, very bad outcome.”

Nicholas Robinson, a British presenter on the BBC’s Today program pressed Buzhinsky on what he meant by “worse than a cold war,” to which the Ret. Russian Lieutenant-General responded with this bombshell: today’s current situation is spiraling out of control and could develop into a “real war.”

The Daily Express shares a chilling transcript of Buzhinsky’s conversation on BBC:

He said: “Worse than a cold war is a real war. It will be the last war in the history of the mankind.”

“Not the Salisbury poisoning but all the actions.”

“You see the pressure from the United States, that you say the pressure is going to continue, what are you going to achieve? You are going to achieve the regime change, it’s useless. You don’t know Russians. The more external pressure, the more the society is solidified around the President.”

When asked how the dispute would lead to a real war, Mr Buzhinsky accused the UK of not wanting to discuss the Salisbury attack.

“Let’s start discussing,” he said. “You don’t want to discuss. You say Russia should change its behaviour, it’s not the kind of talk or compromise we need.

“Okay, you expelled diplomats. We expelled diplomats. You further expel, what is the next step? The breach of diplomatic relations.”

“After that, I said it may lead to nowhere. Actually, you are cornering Russia. To corner, Russia is a very dangerous thing.”

Mr Buzhinsky claimed it was “nonsense” Russia was behind the attack as President Vladimir Putin had no benefit out of the attack, which took place before the Russian Presidential election. The comments come after Mr Putin’s foreign minister accused Theresa May of “resorting to open lies”.

He said: “I believe that our Western partners, I mean primarily the United Kingdom, the United States and some countries that blindly follow them, have cast away all decency, they are resorting to open lies, blatant misinformation.”

Between cold, proxy and trade wars, as time moves on in the Trump era, it seems like the world has gone haywire.  While history tends not to repeat itself – but rather rhymes – the fatalistic opinion of a veteran Russian expert and observer such as Buzhinsky has to be taken seriously. We can only hope that his forecast for a “last war” is wrong.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2EulWvs Tyler Durden

Private Equity Firm Offers Cash-Strapped Connecticut $2BN For Government Buildings

Given the precarious financial circumstances of Hartford, Conn. – not to mention the state as a whole – it’s hardly surprising that private investors sense an opportunity to buy up valuable state- and city-owned properties at a good price.

And in the first of what we imagine could be a flood of offers, A Chicago-based private equity firm specializing in real-estate investment has sent letters to the city and to the state of Connecticut offering to spend $2 billion to purchase publicly owned office buildings, health-care facilities and trasit-related properties – and anything else the state and municipal governments might be willing to part with.

However, there’s one catch: The firm is insisting that it secures a 7.25% annual yield on its investment by raising rents and leasing the properties back to their former owners, according to Bloomberg.

For the record, that’s nearly double the 3.43% yield Connecticut pays on 20-year general obligation bonds sold in January. And a recent $550 million state bailout for the beleaguered capital city has inspired Moody’s Investors’ Service to boost its rating on Hartford’s GO bonds to A2 from Caa3 – the same level as the state, according to the Bond Buyer.

Terms of the deal as it’s proposed may favor the buyer, according to Jim Costello, a senior vice president for property-research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. Capitalization rates — net operating income as a share of the purchase price — are in the mid-6 percent range now for single-tenant sale-and-leaseback office deals, he said.

“Obviously, the details of every deal are different, but buying in at 7.25 percent, the buyer is getting a better initial yield than the market on average,” Costello said.

Capitol

Still, the firm believes Connecticut might be interested in its offer, considering that the state and city could use the money to help balance out their badly underfunded pensions.

As we’ve pointed out time and time again, the state is in the middle of a taxpayer exodus.

Last year, the state experienced a net adjusted gross income drain of $2.7 billion as wealthy residents fled the state. The average adjusted gross income of those leaving Connecticut last year was $123,377 – the highest in the country.

Oak Street has said it would take any buildings the state would be willing to part with.

Oak Street closed fundraising for its fourth real-estate fund – the Oak Street Capital Real Estate Fund IV – in October, raising $1.25 billion over six months, according to Pensions & Investments. Several state pension funds invested in the Oak Street fund, including the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Illinois Teachers Retirement System.

The firm’s offer was assembled by a local politician from Westport – a wealthy Fairfield County suburb – who is a mangaing partner at K Property Group, which specializes in identifying properties with “untapped potential.”

“I just want to see our state make a smart decision,” said Gregory Kraut, a managing partner of K Property Group who is also an elected member of Westport’s town government. “And with my real estate and financial background, I have some options for them.”

Kraut, who put together the offer, said he’s acting as a concerned citizen and isn’t taking a commission or a fee from Oak Street. He suggested the state might use the money from real estate sales to reduce its unfunded pension obligations, and Hartford could reduce its debt load.

The state also has the highest net tax supported debt per capita in the US. It also has fewer jobs than it had a decade ago as the post-crisis recovery has largely passed it by. And recently, two of its largest companies – General Electric and Aetna – announced they would soon move their headquarters out of the state.

Conn

Still, with the ruling Democrats in danger of losing the governorship after Gov. Dannel Malloy said he wouldn’t seek a third term, reestablishing the party as pro-business and pro-fiscal responsibility could be a major boon during the 2018 election cycle.

Of course, as we’ve pointed out time and time again, while politicians might try and repair pension related shortfalls, the reality is the American pension system is probably already too far gone to salvage. It’s so bad, Congress recently had to step in, quietly forming a committee to use federal funds to bail out as many as 200 “multi-employer” pension plan. They did this because the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) – the pension equivalent to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – is completely insolvent.

Think about that: Not only are pension funds heading for insolvency, the backstop meant to bail them out in the event of insolvency is also itself insolvent.

The upshot, is that regardless of whether the state rejects or accepts this offer, if you’re a young teacher or government employee hoping that your state-supported pension fund will be there for you in retirement, think again.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2ICeb90 Tyler Durden

Surviving The Next Great Depression

Authored by Tom Chtaham via Project Chesapeake,

Numerous economists and investors are warning of another great financial crisis to come but few people want to listen to them. No crisis is ever exactly like the last one and the next great depression will be different from the last one. In the last depression those who had money were in a good financial position to ride it out but the next depression will see those with fiat money drowning in it as it becomes worthless.

Very few Americans have any significant savings today. Most live on credit and those with savings have it stored in financial instruments that will be wiped out as the bankers collapse the system to hide the theft they have been involved in for decades. Those who think they will retire with their IRA, pensions or social security will suddenly find them all gone never to return leaving them with no means to care for themselves.

The west line has moved to Asia. This means that North America is no longer the shipping center of the world. The consequences of this for Americans will be disastrous. This means our economy in the future will be smaller and slower and will result in a standard of living far below what it currently is.

Those that own very few assets free and clear will become the new homeless as they become jobless and default on all of their credit obligations.

All of the social safety nets that exist now to keep people fat and happy will fail leaving mobs of people to roam the streets to seek out what they need to survive.

One only has to look at Venezuela today to see where this will all lead.

The basic minimum wage in Venezuela today is $7 dollars a month. Not a day or a week but a month. Those that hold local currency see it devalue on a daily basis making things increasingly worse as time goes on. Had any of these people stored some of their wealth in gold they would have the ability to live a little easier as the economy collapses. One ounce of gold in the hands of a Venezuelan today would last them for years. This is a lesson we all need to heed.

Simply storing some of your wealth in gold and silver is no cure all but it is part of a bigger strategy to insure you do not have to suffer as many will in the coming years due to their blind faith in their belief the government will care for them. Keep in mind that the government is actually controlled by the same people that will destroy your standard of living so why would they care about your suffering.

Understanding what will likely happen and insuring you have a plan to deal with it is the only hope you will have of coming through the coming bad years in tact. Those who trust in government or only live for today will reap what they sow and it will be unpleasant at best if they survive at all. A simple strategy to insure you do not suffer does not have to be expensive or complicated. The best plans are simple and allow you to adapt to the changing times. If you invest in a simple, inexpensive plan and the world somehow goes on as normal, you will not be any worse for the investment but if things takes an unexpected turn and your plan becomes necessary, it will allow you to survive the crisis much better than the bulk of the population.

The strategy I outlined in The American Dream Lost is a basic plan that will work for just about anyone but is mainly designed for those that have only a few thousand dollars to draw on in an emergency. That is to say it is designed for the majority of Americans that have little money. It is important to understand that a plan of this type is an insurance policy against bad times that can do great harm to you and your family and needs to be understood in that light.

One of the worst problems people have is that when something bad begins to happen they attempt to continue living as they always have and ignore the future consequences until it is too late to do anything meaningful about it. If a person loses their job they continue to live as they always have using up their small savings in the hope that things will change for the better before they run out of money. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, it depends on how lucky they are. This type of mentality often leads people to the point where they run out of money and only then do they try to come up with a plan. The problem is, by then they have no resources left to enact a plan with. This is what you need to avoid.

When your economic situation suddenly changes for the worse you need to immediately sit down and determine what the future is likely to look like. It is good to be optimistic but if the chances of finding a new job are not very good you need to decide how best to use what resources you have to maintain a decent living standard. You may have to make some very difficult choices but the option of doing nothing could be very harmful in the long run. For those that decide radical steps may be needed to continue caring for their family the following list is a good place to start.

Buy a years supply of basic foods and supplies that store easily

Buy some durable clothing for future use

Buy an older vehicle for cash that can pull a trailer

Buy a good used camper trailer for cash that can house your family

Buy a weapon and ammo for protection and hunting purposes

Buy a few rolls of silver coins to preserve wealth and act as an emergency fund

What this gives you is the ability to continue caring for your family even in the worst of situations if everything is lost to creditors. They will have food, shelter, clothing, transportation, security and the ability to buy critical items that are needed at some future time. Convincing your family they have to move to a camper for a while would not be easy but the alternative of being homeless would make it an easy choice. The fact that thousands of people all across America are at this very moment living in tents near large population centers is proof enough it can happen.

Depending on your shopping skills all of these things can be secured for under $5,000 dollars and much less if you have time to look for bargains. Your plan may be slightly different depending on the resources and skills you have. You may have access to a small piece of land you own somewhere that a cabin can be built on or you may have the skills to retrofit a van body truck or enclosed trailer for living in. In situations like this skills are worth as much as gold coins.

When the next great depression hits it will be unlike anything we have lived through before. Nothing will be as it seems and only those that have the resources to adapt will come through it whole. Preparation is the key to adapting to future events and those without resources will reap a bitter harvest as they struggle to survive. No announcements will be made, no warnings will be given by the establishment, it will just suddenly happen out of the blue and everyone will say it was unpredictable. But those who prepared will know better.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2HhkL5u Tyler Durden

India Builds Over 14,000 Bunkers In Preparation For War With Pakistan

The Government of India is planning to construct 14,460 bunkers for civilians in five border districts in Jammu & Kashmir – Samba, Poonch, Jammu, Kathua, and Rajouri – which reside along Line of Control (LoC) and the international Indo-Pakistani border, reports The Times of India.

The state-owned National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) will build these bunkers in populated regions that rest within 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the de facto border between the two countries, which have experienced an increasing amount of incursions by the Pakistani Army.

In February, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti announced during a State Assembly that 41 civilians had been killed in ceasefire violations along the LoC by Pakistan between 2015 and 2017. To safeguard civilians from Pakistani shelling across the border, NBCC will build 13,029 small bunkers and 1,431 more massive community bunkers. The Times of India said the construction program would cost around 4.157 billion rupees (US$63.8 million).

Oneindia News: India builds bunkers along the LoC with Pakistan for villagers

The chairman and managing director of NBCC, A K Mittal, told The Times of India that “pre-cast construction methodology” would be used for the bunkers.

“Strategically located casting yards will be used to fabricate RCC components, which shall be transported by trailer/ tractors and the bunkers will be erected by cranes and labourers. We will plan in such a way that each bunker is completed in maximum 2-3 days,” he added.

The Times of India provides insight into the specific locations where the individual and community bunkers will be built.

“In Samba, 2,515 individual and eight community bunkers will be built. Similarly, in Jammu 1,200 individual and 120 community bunkers will be constructed. A maximum of 4,918 individual and 372 community bunkers will be built in Rajouri. In Kathua, 3,076 individual bunkers will be constructed. Poonch will get the maximum number of 688 community bunkers and will get another 1,320 individual bunkers.”

In addition to building thousands of bunkers, The Times of India indicates NBCC has already started erecting border fencing along the India-Pakistan border.

“It’s a prestigious and challenging project for us. We will meet the time line, which will be set by the J&K government. While we are building World Trade Centre in South Delhi we are also engaged in road and fencing works in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura on Indo-Bangladesh border and in Gujarat on Pakistan border,” Mittal said.

Despite the 2003 ceasefire agreement, violence has recently erupted between both countries on the LoC, which marked 2017 as the bloodiest year since the ceasefire agreement came into effect.

Earlier this year, we reported on 40,000 Indians fleeing the Jammu and Kashmir region, as intense military shelling from the Pakistani military turned the region into a war zone.

“Along the 786 km-long Line of Control (LoC) which divides the State of Jammu Kashmir between India and Pakistan, sporadic cross-border military gunfire between both countries is not that unusual. However, this weekend, in the region of Noushera, Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors of Jammu and Kashmir, more than 40,000 Indians have fled their homes and shops amid the fourth consecutive day of intense shelling from Pakistani military forces, the Economic Times reports.”

The sporadic cross-border military skirmishes between both countries have led to fears of another Indo-Pakistani war breaking out. According to government statistics, there were some 860 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan military forces along the LoC in 2017, compared with 221 the prior year. As India prepares to build thousands of bunkers for its civilian population before the next conflict breaks out, Western media outlets have ignored this dire situation and would rather focus on unverified claims of a Russian nerve gas attack in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the LoC could very well be the epicenter of “World War III,” said the Daily Express.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2Jrp92p Tyler Durden

Chris Hedges: “U.S. Citizens Are Living In An Inverted Totalitarian Country”

Submitted by Erik Sandberg of NewsVoice

Chris Hedges

The mainstream media deflects attention from where power resides: corporations, not with the leaders of the free world. The arguments posed by Chris Hedges, that the U.S. is neither a democracy nor a republic but a totalitarian state that can now assassinate its citizens at will, are pertinent ones. Scary ones. Especially as consecutive governments seem equally as impotent to invoke any real change for the States. If the media won’t stand up to the marionettes who pull the strings of the conglomerates causing deep, indelible polarisation in the world abound; then so we must act. Together.

Listen to the full interview in our weekly Newsvoice Think podcast.

We were delighted to have Chris Hedges on an episode of the Newsvoice Think podcast as we seek to broadcast perspectives from all sides of the political spectrum. Right, left, red, blue and purple.

In our interview with Chris, we discussed a range of topics facing the U.S. today as the Trump administration looks back at a year in power, and forward to the November ’18 midterms where Democrats will be looking to make gains. Chris was scathing of that party describing them as a “creature of Wall Street, which is choreographed and ceased to be a proper party a long time ago.”

As a columnist with Truthdig, and a big advocate of independent media. Chris Hedges was the perfect interviewee for us to draw on the benefits of crowdsourced journalism and the challenges facing sites at the mercy of Facebook, Google and Twitter algorithms.

Chris’s ire against the corporate interest of Facebook et al didn’t let up saying dissident voices were being shut down and that corporate oligarchs were only too happy to let them. The neutralisation of the media platforms that seek to provide independent opinion on U.S. current affairs is in full pelt.

North Korea was the hot topic in 2017. Commentators said it was like a return to the days of the Cold War. But Hedges pointed that we need to remember what happened during the Korean War — how the North was flattened by U.S. bombs — and that as a result they, as a nation, suffer from an almost psychosis as a result. Trump, he said, is an imbecile and only deals in bombast, threats and rhetoric.

Not surprisingly, Trump got it hard from Hedges. Describing his administration as a “kleptocracy” who will seek to attack immigrants and up the xenophobia stakes as it distracts and covers for the unadulterated theft of U.S. natural resources.

As young people look to estimable journalists, activists and politicians in the States to help give them a voice, Hedges sees the democratic system as utterly futile. Encouraging mass civil disobedience instead, the ex-NY Times foreign correspondent states that railroads should be blocked and shutting down corporate buildings, for example, is the only way forward.

The perennial argument between Republicans and Democrats is just that; is the U.S. a Republic or a Democracy? Hedges thinks neither. He told Newsvoice that the States is an inverted totalitarian country where the government regards the public as “irrelevant”.

Unlike Ben Wizner from the ACLU who sees hope in delaying Net Neutrality, at least until a new administration is in power, Chris feels it is hopeless — that it is a dead duck, and as Net Neutrality slows down independent media platforms, the public will be at the behest of corporate social media sites such as Facebook who’ll increasingly deem what you do and don’t read or see.

You can read more of Chris’ work at Truthdig where he has a weekly column every Monday.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2qeVuRi Tyler Durden

Inside El Chapo’s Lair: Plastic Furniture, Ornate Weaponry And Cocaine Bananas

By the time DEA agent Drew Hogan arrived in Mexico City in 2010, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman had already been on the run for nine years – having escaped from a prison in Southwest Mexico in early 2001 – reportedly hiding in a laundry basket.  

After Hogan established his base of operation, he picked up the trail for the Sinaloa cartel chief by “looking at the details,” he said. 

It was in the details – in the numbers,” Hogan told NBC‘s “Today” show on Wednesday while discussing his book “Hunting El Chapo.”

The phone numbers don’t lie,” Hogan said. “And I was able to pair up with a crack team of Homeland Security investigative agents, and we began intercepting members of Chapo’s inner circle and starting to dismantle layers within his sophisticated communications structure until we got to the top, where I had his personal secretary’s device, who was standing right next to him, and I could ping that to establish a pattern of life to determine where he was at.”

Hogan, his partner “Brady” and a team of 50 Mexican marines would stumble upon a safehouse used by El Chapo in February 2014, only to find the Cartel boss had already left the lair hidden behind six-inch thick steel doors.

The DEA agent filmed the hideout on his mobile phone – revealing among other things: 

  • A black sack filled with hundreds of green bananas intended for smuggling cocaine into the United States. 
  • A jewel-encrusted semiautomatic pistol adorned with El Chapo’s initials
  • Lots of cocaine
  • A cache of weapons, including a tripod-mounted machine gun

[insert: 4AE38DA500000578-5586785-image-a-66_1523036688323.jpg ]

Hogan says he was shocked by the squalor of the place. “I was surprised, he really afforded himself no luxuries. Each safehouse was the same type of construction, very basic.” 

“They had Walmart-style plastic tables and chairs, none of the trappings you would expect from a drug lord.”

 El Chapo was eventually tracked down to the beach resort of Mazatlán in late 2014. 

For the first face-to-face meeting Hogan wore his very own black baseball cap, and ran up to the drug lord and yelling: ‘What’s up, Chapo?

Hogan said from that moment he knew he was going to tell his story at some point, and chose to write about the exhaustive and enthralling hunt in a new book, called ‘Hunting El Chapo.’

On Wednesday he spoke about the book for the first time publicly in an interview on the Today Show, and will give further details during Dateline on Sunday.

He also shared a personal photo from those thrilling years of his life of the moment he caught El Chapo, in which the drug lord can be seen frowning with Hogan and another agent behind him and posing for the camera.

The former DEA agent called that day he met El Chapo a ‘souvenir of the hunt,’ explaining he plucked it from another place where Chapo had been hiding out. –Daily Mail

Within 16 months, however, El Chapo would escape from prison – tunneling below the shower in his cell at a Mexican maximum security prison. 

[insert: 4AD2DB7C00000578-5578631-image-a-36_1522863896995.jpg ]

“This tunnel that went underneath the prison was the same type of tunnels that went under the safe houses, the same tunnels that were at the US/ Mexico border,” said Hogan.

Six months later, Chapo was captured again – with the aid of informants, satellite images and intercepted cell phone communications. The drug lord was extradited to the United States on January 19 of this year to stand trial on charges of running the largest drug-trafficking enterprise in the world – said to be responsible for hundreds of murders in North America. He is wanted in Chicago, San Diego, New York City, New Hampshire, Miami and Texas – and has pending indictments in seven different U.S. federal courts. 

El Chapo is currently sitting in the maximum-security wing of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. His trial is set to begin in September. 

via RSS https://ift.tt/2uZViLg Tyler Durden

When Germany Arrests Madrid’s Opponents, The Parallels Are Too Eerie To Dismiss

Authored by Wayne Madsen via The Strategic Culture Fundation,

The arrest by Germany of Catalonia’s exiled former President, Carles Puigdemont, follows on a German tradition of tracking down and imprisoning political opponents of the “regime du jour” in Madrid since the fascist putsch launched by Generalissimo Francisco Franco in 1936.

Puigdemont, who had been living in exile in Belgium since being deposed by Spain’s right-wing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in October 2017, was arrested on March 25 by police in Schleswig-Holstein. Puigdemont’s detention by German police was based on a European arrest warrant issued by Spain, a warrant that had been conveniently ignored by authorities in Finland, where Puigdemont had spoken after traveling to Helsinki from Brussels by automobile; Denmark, where Puigdemont was transiting en route to Belgium; Sweden, via which, Puigdemont transited by ferry to and from Finland; and Belgium. The Spanish arrest warrant was similarly ignored by Denmark, during a previous trip by Puigdemont to Copenhagen, and by Swiss authorities when Puigdemont traveled there to address a conference. The Spanish extradition request for Puigdemont was based on Spanish government draconian charges of “rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds in relation to Catalonia’s declaration of independence from Spain following a plebiscite in the region that favored separation from Spain.

“Rebellion” is not a crime under German law. If it were, Germany would have long ago extradited several of secessionists based in Germany wanted for “rebellious” activities in their home countries. These include Kurds, who are members of groups favoring independence from Turkey and Iraq and who are strong in Berlin and Frankfurt; Chinese Uighurs, whose secessionist World Uighur Congress is based in Munich; Tibetans, whose exile organization is based in Bonn; Chechen separatists, who are numerous in Berlin; members of the Baloch National Movement, numerous in Hamburg and Berlin; members of the Ambazonia Liberation Movement; and Oromo secessionists, mainly found in and around Frankfurt. Many of these secessionists are wanted by their homelands for sedition and rebellion in, respectively, Turkey, China, Russia, Pakistan, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. More recently, these separatists have been joined in a welcoming Germany by Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, West Papuans, and a few Zanzibaris from Tanzania and Rehoboth Basters from Namibia.

What separates the diverse secessionists receiving asylum and support in Germany from Catalan leaders like Puigdemont is the fact that the US Central Intelligence Agency, for years, has relied on Germany to provide a base of operations to Uighur, Tibetan, Chechen, and others it sees as “freedom fighters.” Catalonian independence has never been on the “approved list” of independence movements at CIA headquarters in Langley or at the German Federal Intelligence Service or “Bundesnachrichtendienst” (BND).

Given the close cooperation that exists between the US National Security Agency, the BND, and the Spanish National Intelligence Centre (CNI), the geo-tracking of Puigdemont’s traveling companions’ mobile phones and the homing device attached to the Renault Espace, in which Puigdemont was traveling, put a very large “FIVE EYES” signals intelligence bullseye on the Catalan leader.

The UK “Guardian” reported that twelve CNI agents were involved in tracking Puigdemont and his party of from Belgium to Helsinki and on the return trip. The paper reported that the vehicular tracking device was placed on the Renault in Waterloo, Belgium, where Puigdemont had been living in exile. Arrested in Germany with Puigdemont were his confidante, Josep María Matamala Alsina, a Catalonian businessman; Josep Lluis Alay Rodríguez, a commissioner for international relations of the city government of Barcelona; and Xabier Goicoechea Fernández and Carlos de Pedro López, members of the Catalan “Mossos d’Esquadra” police force.

Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, a modern-day version of the Spanish Inquisition’s infamous grand inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada, at least when it comes to prosecuting Catalonian freedom seekers, was considering charging Puigdemont’s four companions with rebellion and sedition and seeking their extradition by the Germans to Spain. Llarena has imprisoned five former members of the Catalonian government, including ex-Vice President Vice President Oriol Junqueras, for sedition and rebellion and he plans to charge as many as 25 Catalonian political leaders for what he considers crimes against the antiquated Bourbon monarchy and the Francoist prime minister, Rajoy, who governs Spain on behalf of King Felipe VI. The King, who ascended the throne after the 2014 abdication of his corrupt father, King Juan Carlos I, accused the Catalonians of violating the “rule of law and national sovereignty.”

Felipe was really accusing the Catalonians of violating “lèse-majesté,” the feudalistic legal concept that the Catalonians had committed an offense against the “dignity of a reigning sovereign.” The French revolutionaries set the stage for relegating “lèse-majesté” to the dustbin of history when, in 1793, they guillotined the French King Louis XVI, a distant ancestor of Felipe.

Germany placed Puigdemont in a 97-square feet jail cell in Neumünster prison in Schleswig-Holstein, a detention center once used by the Gestapo. Puigdemont’s cell had only a dingy cot; a toilet, shower, and sink; a television; a desk and chair; and a small wooden chest of drawers/wardrobe combination. Internet and outgoing phone calls are prohibited.

On April 6, a court in Schleswig-Holstein ruled that the Spanish charge of “rebellion” did not constitute grounds to either hold Puigdemont or extradite him to Spain. It should be noted that in ordering Puigdemont freed on a usurious $90,000 bail, the German court stipulated that Puigdemont’s extradition to Spain was only “suspended,” not vacated. The court ruled that Spain’s charge that Puigdemont used public funds to hold the Catalonian independence referendum could still constitute a reason to extradite him to Spain. In addition, the German court said it would consult with Spanish and federal German authorities on this point.

The German Foreign Ministry has cited the “independence” of the Spanish judiciary in the prosecution of Catalonian leaders. Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that she hopes Puigdemont’s extradition to Spain “goes ahead.” It appears that some in Germany still treasure past German support for the Francoist traditions of Spain’s court system and other anti-Catalan and anti-Basque “instruments” of government in Madrid. Spain’s national police force, the “Guardia Civil,” took lessons from Heinrich Himmler and the Gestapo during and after the Spanish Civil War. The “Guardia,” feared under Franco’s dictatorship, preserves many of the Nazi SS’s basic surveillance traditions in its age-old battle against the Catalonians and Basques. It is the “Guardia” upon whom the modern-day Torquemada, Judge Llarena, relies upon to round up Catalonian leaders for prosecution and imprisonment. Under the Hendaye Agreement of 1940 between Nazi Germany and Spain, German intelligence helped keep tabs on members of the Spanish Republican government-in-exile, as well as veterans of the International Brigades who fought for the Spanish loyalists during the civil war. German Abwehr military intelligence agents identified members and supporters of the Spanish, Catalonian, and Basque governments-in-exile in places as far afield as Havana, Mexico City, Montevideo, Bogota, Santiago, Panama City, Caracas, Buenos Aires, Santo Domingo (then called Ciudad Trujillo), and New York City.

When France fell to the Germans, the Gestapo scoured French police files for information on Spanish expatriate residents in France who supported the loyalist government. These included many Catalonians and Basques, some of whom had fled to France after the brutal suppression of the Catalonian rebellion of 1934, as well as the Basque government-in-exile in Paris. Franco’s intelligence service also sent agents to Axis Power-occupied and neutral territory to “neutralize” or arrest Catalonian and other dissidents. Spanish nationalist agents fanned out to Rotterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, Zurich, and Geneva in search of Catalonian, Basque, and Spanish enemies of Franco and his Falangist Party.

Spanish Republican President Manuel Azaña, exile in France, was arrested by the Vichy authorities after the Nazi occupation of France. Azaña died while under arrest at the Montauban internment camp. Merkel and her government, who support the arrest and extradition of Puigdemont, have much in common, and not in a good way, with the Vichy authorities who arrested Azaña.

Instead of Franco and his spies, it is now Rajoy and CNI that sends agents out across Europe. In the case of Puigdemont’s delegation, these Spanish agents were dispatched to Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany to apprehend the Catalonian leadership. Adolf Hitler assisted Franco in tracking down enemies of the Madrid government. Today, it is Merkel who is providing similar assistance to Rajoy.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2IDaHmH Tyler Durden

Retail Real Estate Bubble Turns Manhattan Into A “Shopping Wasteland”

The Fed loves to repeat how necessary and vital inflation is for economic prosperity, but in the case of midtown Manhattan’s “prime” retail real estate, it is doing nothing but helping cause once extremely prominent shopping areas become the very same “ghost towns” they turned into during the 2008 housing crisis.

Mayor DeBlasio’s asinine solution to this issue created in part by faulty government policy: more government and more regulation.

So much for the recovery.

As if brick and mortar retail didn’t have enough problems to deal with being methodically decimated by the ever growing behemoth that is Amazon, store owners are now facing rent that is simply so high it makes it impossible for most to open retail stores and do business in once prominent areas of downtown Manhattan.

On Saturday, the New York Post wrote an article confirming our writeup from late March suggesting that high prices are driving businesses out of town:

If you want to see the future of storefront retailing, walk nine blocks along Broadway from 57th to 48th Street and count the stores.

The total number comes to precisely one — a tiny shop to buy drones.

That’s right: On a nine-block stretch of what’s arguably the world’s most famous avenue, steps south of the bustling Time Warner Center and the planned new Nordstrom department store, lies a shopping wasteland.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that Amazon and other online retailers have had a profoundly negative effect on traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. One look at the recent Chapter 11 retail bankruptcy filings and it becomes obvious why one year ago the CEO of Urban Outfitters said that “the retail bubble has now burst

This is the narrative that has been playing out for the last couple of years as we have watched retail stocks like Sears, JCPenney and Macy’s get destroyed while online shopping names have performed extraordinarily well.

But what may come as a surprise to some is the fact that the constant need to keep prices of real estate and rent rising, regardless of traditional supply and demand, is exacerbating things to a degree where some of the most sought after real estate in the world has now become deserted and barren. The article continued:

The same crisis blights the rest of Manhattan. The people invested in storefront retailing — real-estate developers, landlords and retail companies themselves — tell us not to worry. It’s a “transitional” situation that will right itself over time. Authoritative-sounding surveys by real-estate and retail companies claim that Manhattan’s overall vacancy is only just 10 percent.

But they are all wrong. Bricks-and-mortar retail is shrinking so swiftly and on such a wide scale, it’s going to require big changes in how we plan our new buildings and our cities — although nobody wants to admit it.

And yet, it’s scary to think that one of the city’s great pleasures, window-shopping — which also ensures vibrant, crime-deterring sidewalk life — will become a thing of the past except at certain locations.

At this rate, we face a future where streets will be mostly dark at sidewalk level for miles on end. Third Avenue in the East 60s, Broadway north of Lincoln Center, many blocks in the supposedly thriving Meatpacking District are halfway there already.

What is “progressive” Mayor DeBlasio’s solution to the problem of rising rents as a result of government policy? More regulation and more government, of course! He wants to actually fine landlords who keep spaces empty until they fine tenants. Talk about the blind leading the blind:

Few retailers can afford to pay more than $250 per square foot annually in rent — yet landlords persist in asking $400 a square foot and up to $2,000 a square foot in prime zones like Fifth Avenue and Times Square.

Mayor de Blasio wants to fine landlords who keep spaces empty until they find tenants who’ll pay astronomical rents. But there’s no fair way to judge who’s actually guilty. Would he punish the owners of the small corner building at 1330 Third Ave. at East 76th Street, who slashed the “ask” from $420,000 a year in 2016 to $360,000 in April 2017 and still can’t find a tenant?

In other words a socialist mayor wants to find capitalist merchants as punishment for policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (whose direct debt and deficit monetization also has extensive socialist components).

To be sure, none of this comes as a surprise to us – or our regular readers – because in late March owe recalled our own 2009 tour of Madison Avenue to discover that it also had turned into a ghost town. Just a week ago we told our readers that the ghost town that was New York’s “Golden Mile” was not surprising: after all the US economy had just been hit with the worst recession since the Great Depression, and only an emergency liquidity injection of trillions of dollars prevented a global financial collapse.

What is more surprising is why nearly 9 years later, at a time of what is supposed to be a coordinated global recovery, a walk along Madison Avenue reveals the exact same picture.

And aside from us and the New York Post, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also noticed the disturbing trend, stating at the company’s Annual General Meeting:

Now, as a result of what we’re witnessing, we’re also seeing something else and that is, there is a proliferation around the country right now of empty storefronts. We took a walk in New York two weeks ago from 59th street to 79th on Madison Avenue, and we lost count of how many empty storefronts there were in ManhattanIt reminded me of the cataclysmic financial crisis in 2008. But what’s happening is very simple, the rent structures for the last 5 to 10 years, have been rising at historic rates and retailers do not have the amount of  customers they had during these last 5 to 10 years and could no longer economically survive.

So they’re closing stores and as a result of this, I can promise you just like I predicted in 2014 that rents are coming down and landlords are going to have to get religion, or else their stores are going to stay empty. And we’re already beginning to see a different level of reception in terms of what we believe the cost of occupancy should be. And this is going to bode extremely well, specifically for us. We’re adding almost 700 new Starbucks stores a year. And so we are going to take full advantage of the economic reality of this situation. And as we go forward two, three, four, five years out even though labor is going up in terms of cost of labor, we believe rents are going down and the economic model of Starbucks is going to be enhanced as a result of this macro situation. And we’re just at the beginning of this trend.

So the hilarious irony of Keynesian theory once again rears its ugly head as New York’s current retail apocalypse and prime real estate exodus has, in effect, caused some of the most traversed city streets to look like they did during the financial crisis of 2008 once again.

Needless to say, this is the direct result of force-engineering a “recovery”, instead of letting the free-market recover on its own: you get a “recovery” that is anything but, and only works as long as the source of endless funding – the Fed – keeps pumping. Meanwhile, the Fed and its fawning media supporters have always been able to duck behind the outperforming stock market as a false indicator of the health of the economy as a “scorecard” for the recovery. But with the market now topping out and reaching levels of significant volatility, and the March jobs number handily missing expectations, how can the Fed justify that their policy continues to make sense when it is putting a good portion of Manhattan into the very same shackles and chains it was in during the crisis we are “recovering” from 10 years ago?

via RSS https://ift.tt/2GGGvXj Tyler Durden

“You Failed Us”: Parkland Shooting Hero Slams Broward Sheriff After Emerging From Hospital

Parkland shooting victim Anthony Borges slammed Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Superintendent Robert Runcie for failing “on so many levels” leading up to the February 14 massacre that left 17 students and teachers dead, reports CBS Miami via The Red Elephants

“To Sheriff Israel of the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Robert Runcie, the Superintendent of schools in Broward, I want to thank you for visiting me at the hospital, but I want to say that both of you failed us, students, teachers and parents alike, on so many levels,” read Borges’s attorney Alex Arreaza.

Borges is being hailed as a hero for saving the lives of 20 classmates for attempting to close and lock a classroom door during the shooting – taking five bullets in the process.

The 15-year-old shooting victim also criticized school officials for allowing self-confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz to continue to attend school even after realizing he was a threat. 

I want to ask you today to end your policy and agreement that you will not arrest people committing crimes in our school,” read Borges’s statement, a reference to the Broward County’s “Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Support & Education Program” (PROMISE) – designed to allow students who commit crimes to receive counseling and other treatment instead of facing jail time. While Cruz was not part of the PROMISE program, the Borges family expressed  concerns over its existence.

Borges also wrote to the families of the deceased;

“They were not as fortunate to survive as I was. I don’t know why I survived and they didn’t but I will tell you that my family and I will dedicate our lives to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. To the other injured, I hope you are recovering well. We have the responsibility to tell the world what happened here.” 

While the Borges’s say they are grateful for the hero label bestowed upon Anthony, they would like to see that end. Instead, the family would like people to focus on the failures within the system that allowed law enforcement to miss warning signs on Cruz.

Failures at multiple levels

Between the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, school officials, and others involved with Nikolas Cruz and his brother, authorities had clear and specific warnings that Cruz intended on shooting up a school.

In February, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) noted that the FBI never contacted YouTube parent Google – after it was reported that suspect Nikolas Cruz, under his own name, wrote “I’m going to be a professional school shooter” in a YouTube video comment last September.


When the uploader of the video, Ben Bennight, contacted the FBI shortly after Cruz left the comment, officials spoke with him for 20 minutes, after which there was no follow up until the same agent or agents came to his home on Wednesday after the shooting. 

In a March press conference, Special Agent Robert Lansky who is in charge of the Miami FBI division said that the FBI received the tip, however they were “unable to further identify” the person who made the comment, despite conducting “database reviews” and “checks.”

“No other information was included with that comment, which would indicate a time, location or the true identity of the person who made the comment,” Lasky said. “The FBI conducted database reviews, checks, but was unable to further identify the person who actually made the comment.”

Had they simply followed up, agents would have also discovered from Florida’s state social services agency that Cruz intended to buy a gun, and that he had been cutting his arms on snapchat. 

FBI investigators could have then called the Broward County Sheriff’s department and found out about the 23 times deputies responded to Cruz’s home over a seven year period for emergencies including a “mentally ill person, ” “child/elderly abuse”, “domestic disturbance,” and “missing person.” The last call received by Broward County Sheriff’s office on November 30, was a warning a caller who warned that  Cruz is collecting guns and knives. Concerned he will kill himself one day and believes he could be a school shooter in the making.”

To top things off, a young woman close to Cruz warned the FBI she was concerned he would “get into a school and just shoot the place up,” according to a leaked transcript of her call to the bureau’s tip line one month before the massacre.

The transcript can be seen here.

“You know, its just so much,” said the caller. “I know he’s going to explode.” The woman said she was making the call because she wanted a clear conscience if he takes off and, and just starts shooting places up, according to the transcripts which were reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. 

There were plenty of other incidents along the way which contributed to Cruz’s ability to conduct his shooting spree. For example, had Cruz been properly arrested and prosecuted for holding a gun to his brother and mother’s head, threatening their lives – he would have likely been charged with a felony and been unable to legally obtain weapons.

Meanwhile, Parkland school officials and a sheriff’s deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility for a mental evaluation, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. Under the law, having been committed would have made it more difficult, if not impossible for Cruz to have legally obtained firearms. 

The documents, which are part of Cruz’s criminal case in the shooting, show that he had written the word “kill” in a notebook, told a classmate that he wanted to buy a gun and use it, and had cut his arm supposedly in anger because he had broken up with a girlfriend. He also told another student he had drunk gasoline and was throwing up. Calls had even been made to the FBI about the possibility of Cruz using a gun at school. –AP

A psychological assessment service initiated by Cruz’s mother, Henderson Behavioral Health (HBH), reveals that high school resource officer and Sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson along with two high school counselors recommended that Cruz be committed for mental evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act – which allows for the involuntary commitment of a person for at least three days. Florida law would have allowed Peterson to unilaterally commit Cruz. 

Peterson notably resigned after his failure to enter the building as shots rang out, with many dubbing him the “Broward Coward” following the incident. 

Speaking at a press conference, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said the on duty officer at Stoneman “never went in.” Israel said he was “devastated” after watching the video showing the deputy taking a position outside the Western side of Building 12 while shots rang out, “and he never went in” despite having a clear view of the entrance.

“I think he remained outside upwards of four minutes,” Israel said.

Of note, Judicial Watch uncovered Broward County Sheriff’s Office training and operation manuals which specifically dictate that the first one or two officers on the scene of an active shooter incident “will immediately go to confront the shooter.” 

History shows when a suspect is confronted by any armed individual (police, security, concealed carry person) they either shoot it out with that person or kill themselves. Either way, the shooting of innocent bystanders must stop. Now, the first officer or two officers on scene will immediately go to confront the shooter. Military tactics work well in this situation. The two man “bounding overwatch” is our response.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said during a news conference that “What I saw was a deputy [Peterson] arrive … take up a position and he never went in.” Israel said Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.”

The lesson plan clearly states: “If you are on scene or in the area and hear gunshots, you should immediately access what you have and prepare to respond. Remember, every time you hear a gunshot in an active shooter incident; you have to believe that is another victim being killed.

The training materials also state that the first officers on the scene will “engage the suspect,” which Peterson did not do. “There are now three teams during Active Shooter Incident [Contact, Extraction and Rescue Task Force]: Contact Team: Is first on scene, 1-4 deputies, they will be actively engaging/searching for suspect (HOT ZONE).” –Judicial Watch

Meanwhile, aside from Parkland survivor Kyle Kashuv and now Anthony Borges – the nation has been swept up in a discussion on gun control, instead of the multiple failures of authorities to prevent the clearly mentally ill Nikolas Cruz from murdering 17 people. 

via RSS https://ift.tt/2GKhXgc Tyler Durden

Which Political Party Does Corporate America Love The Most: Here’s The Visual Answer

President Trump has already started his reelection campaign for 2020 and he’s well on his way to raising a lot of money for the effort. Fortunately, candidates are required to publicly disclose campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission, which in turn makes the data available to the public. This disclosure process includes where the donors work, allowing HowMuch.net  to create our new visual.

Source: HowMuch.net

Zippia, a career advice website, gathered the data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Zippia analyzed contributions from employees at the 250,000 biggest companies in the country and found well over 30 million donations records from 2007 through 2017. We took the 30 most politically active companies on the Fortune 500 and ranked them in order of their campaign contributions over the last ten years. The bars represent the total contributions ($M) given to candidates in each party. We added the total figures and the percentage breakdown for Democrats and Republicans for easy reference.

Several fascinating trends immediately jump out from our visual.

First off, there’s a lot more blue than red on the graph, indicating that Democrats rake in most of the political cash from corporate America. Keep in mind that these contributions are coming from employees who work at these companies, not the corporations themselves. It’s actually illegal for corporations to make contributions directly to candidates. Republicans received more than 50% of the donations from only nine of the 30 companies, most of which tend to be grouped toward the bottom.

Additionally, almost all of the bars include a tiny sliver of green, representing contributions to independent candidates. These contributions are there but they definitely don’t amount to much overall. Ultimately, it is fair to say that employees of these big companies have spent the bulk of their political cash on Democrats over the last decade.

Let’s take a closer look at the top of the list. Financial institutions dominate the marketplace for political donations, making up six of the top ten companies. Goldman Sachs is in first place by a long shot, shoveling $11.5M to members of both parties. The bank’s money is split almost evenly across the aisle—possibly showing an effort to hedge against whichever party controls the levers of power. Charles Schwab provides an interesting contrast with Goldman in that the discount broker spends almost 70% of its political donations on Democrats. Microsoft and Apple also crack the top ten, but both companies clearly favor Democrats a lot more than Republicans, pumping 80% and 88%, respectively, of their political money into candidates on the left.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about our visual is what it doesn’t show. Where is Walmart, the top ranked company on the Fortune 500? Or Berkshire Hathaway, McKesson, United HealthGroup, or CVS? What about other behemoths like Google or Amazon? Maybe their business models aren’t as reliant on politicians for their business models to work. On the other hand, if so many major companies are missing from the list, why do employees at these particular companies spend so much on political campaigns? A new piece of legislation or a change in the regulatory environment could drastically affect the bottom line for big banks. Utilities like Comcast and AT&T are heavily invested in the ongoing debate around net neutrality. Other companies rely directly on government contracts for business, like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In short, what’s a couple million dollars spent on a political campaign if it means the government will stay out of your way? Political contributions might be one of the smartest investments some workers can make for their own job security.

via RSS https://ift.tt/2ID3Ppz Tyler Durden