An Iranian warship confronted an American warship in the Gulf and warned it to stay away from a damaged Iranian fishing boat, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, but the U.S. Navy denied any direct contact with Iranian forces. The incident took place when Iranian fishing boat Shams suffered an engine malfunction 72km off the coast of the Iranian port town of Jask, near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran news agencies reported on Sunday.
The vessel was requesting the navy’s help, and Iranian missile-launching warship Falakhan was sent on a rescue mission.
Shortly after the distress signal, a US warship “with the body number 02” approached the boat, but “it was shooed away after receiving a warning” from the Iranian missile-launching warship, Falakhan, according to Fars. As Reuters adds, “the American vessel turned away after the warning from the Iranian ship, which belonged to the naval branch of the Iranian army. The Iranian military vessel then towed the fishing boat, which had sent out a distress signal after taking on water, back to shore.”
Iranian media did not specify when the incident, close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, took place.
Later on Sunday, the US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) denied any direct contact with Iranian forces, Reuters reported. According to the US Navy, the USS Tempest, the second Cyclone-class patrol ship, which was operating in the Gulf of Oman September 6, received a distress call from an unidentified vessel. The boat was 75 nautical miles (138km) from the US vessel.
Coastal patrol craft USS Tempest (PC-2)
At the same time the motor vessel Nordic Voyager, much closer to the boat in distress, offered help and had made visual contact with it. The Nordic Voyager, a crude oil tanker, is currently sailing under the flag of the Cayman Islands, according to vesselfinder.com.
The Tempest offered to support the Nordic Voyager which declined the offer, NAVCENT said. Following the radio traffic from a distance, USS Tempest heard the Nordic Voyager coordinate additional Iranian Navy help for the vessel in distress to tow it back to Iran.
“At no time was there any direct contact between the US and Iranian maritime forces,” NAVCENT spokesman Chloe Morgan said, as cited by Reuters.
* * *
In recent months, tensions have been on the rise between the Iranian and U.S. military in the Gulf.
In August, an unarmed Iranian drone came within 100 feet (31 meters) of a U.S. Navy warplane as it prepared to land on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, a U.S. official said at the time. In July, a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots when an Iranian vessel in the Gulf came within 150 yards (137 meters) in the first such incident since President Donald Trump took office in January, U.S. officials said.
Also in July, the USS Thunderbolt fired several warning shots from a heavy machine gun in response to an Iranian vessel’s “provocative actions,” according to Pentagon officials.
In March, American officials claimed that US warships were “harassed” by Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington then said that the Iranians had their weapons uncovered, manned, and armed.
During the presidential campaign last September, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harass the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of the water.”
While a full scale oil embargo against North Korea is unlikely, the reality is that North Korea would be able to survive such a measure with comparative ease.
The United States has recently suggested a global oil embargo against North Korea, something both China and Russia oppose. The DPRK’s neighbours to the north support UN sanctions against Pyongyang, but have firmly opposed unilateral US sanctions against North Korea.
Russia and China have made a commitment never to support sanctions against Pyongyang which could negatively impact on the civilian population of their neighbour and this would almost certainly include a full-scale oil embargo.
On the contrary, Russia’s plan to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula is to develop trilateral economic initiatives linking South and North Korea to Russia. Given the realities on the peninsula, Russia’s ‘carrot’ is seen as preferable on both sides of the 38th parallel to Washington’s increasingly bellicose ‘stick’.
But even if Donald Trump was somehow able to convince the world to engage in an oil embargo against North Korea, North Korea would appear to have enough domestic oil reserves to make up for the loss of imports.
In addition to large reserves of domestic coal and the increased reliance on green energy in the form of hydroelectric power , North Korea’s domestic oil reserves are likely far greater than previous conservative estimates have indicated.
Even prior to the new threat of sanctions, North Korea has been increasingly self-sufficient in beginning to tap its still largely unused oil reserves.
In 2015, when relations between the DPRK and the rest of the world were somewhat better than they are at present, independent oil exploration expert Michael Rego investigated North Korea’s oil potential.
The results of his report paint a broadly positive picture for North Korea, a state which has always striven towards economic self-sufficiency, a principle implicit in the Juche idea of the DPRK’s founder Kim Il-Sung, which remains Pyongyang’s guiding political programme.
An summary of Rego’s report, first published in GeoExPro, was published by The Maritime Executive. The key elements are as follows, with bold lettering added to emphasise the most pertinent findings.
“China conducted surveys off the west coast (of North Korea) in the 1960s. Subsequently, Russia has also conducted surveys along with Taurus Petroleum in Switzerland and Malaysia’s Petronas.
NK News reports Rego saying that the West Sea definitely has oil and has flowed oil at reasonable rates from at least two exploration wells.
However, the country’s political climate, including sanctions currently in force, and water depths of up to 2,500 meters off the east coast present barriers to development. A shortage of funds is likely to further hamper development. In the 1990s, North Korea couldn’t provide food for its population, and it continues to struggle to meet the energy demands of its population, generally falling short even in providing electricity to its capital city.
Despite the possible hurdles, some companies appear undaunted, reports NK News. The China Railway Investments Group recently said they were planning large scale investment in North Korea including the oil and gas sector.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) states, as of July 2015, that the country has no proven oil reserves or petroleum and other liquids production. During North Korea’s industrial peak in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the country was able to import oil from China and the Soviet Union at below market prices. Following the end of the Cold War, these deals ended, and North Korea’s oil consumption dropped from 76,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 1991 to 17,000 b/d in 2013.
It is difficult to get an exact estimate of the amount of oil imported into North Korea each year, states the EIA. Some estimates report that North Korea imports more than half of its oil from China and some volumes from Russia. North Korea has the capacity to refine 64 thousand barrels a day, however as a result of the economic decline, has utilization rates below 20 percent. Despite this, North Korea is able to refine enough crude oil to meet some of their domestic demand.
North Korea is currently under international United Nations economic sanctions due to its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs. These sanctions restrict North Korea’s access to international banking, trade and travel. North Korea is also under economic sanctions from individual nations such as the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan”.
The report clearly indicates that in spite of sanctions limiting some of North Korea’s ability to extract its own oil, the country does have enough proven reserves, which as of 2015, the country was able to refine in order to meet the needs of domestic consumption. These needs have not changed significantly since 2015.
In 2004, the UK company Aminex PLC estimated that a North Korea oil shelf off the Sea of Japan which was first explored in a joint effort between the DPRK and another British company in 1998, contains 4-5 billion barrels of crude oil.
“Simultaneously, the Mongolian company HBOil conducted exploration activities in the area south of Pyongyang and drilled 22 wells. Most of wells contained crude, allowing the DPRK to extract an average of 75 barrels per day from each of them”.
As Rego’s report stated, in spite of lacking the means (due primarily to sanctions) to purchase modern drilling/extracting equipment from abroad, North Korea still has it within its capabilities to extract enough oil to supply domestic needs.
While most of North Korea’s drilling equipment as of 2015 was purchased from Romania dating back to the Ceausescu period, the country also possesses more widely produced Soviet equipment.
Most experts believe that North Korea has the ability to reverse engineer its existing imported equipment to build contemporary versions without the need to import any specific supplies.
While North Korea’s detractors often focus on what the country lacks in terms of foreign made technological devices, both in the civilian, military and energy sectors, the reality is that considering this artificial deprivation, North Korea has done remarkably well in designing its own computer systems, weapons systems and in many ways most importantly, energy extraction systems.
Based on North Korea’s own claims as well as those of independent experts and contractors who have no reason to exaggerate North Korea’s oil wealth, it is simply a matter of North Korea utilising existing oil extraction systems more effectively combined with building additional new systems based on reliable old models, in order to be largely embargo-proof when it comes to energy.
In any event, the political tensions Donald Trump has created between the US on one hand and China and Russia on the other, means that such an oil embargo is unlikely in any case. But given the tense political atmosphere and the traditional North Korean emphasis on understanding Autarky in positive terms, North Korea may well be immune to such threats sooner rather than later, in any case.
As we noted on Friday, sea-level analytics firm Climate Central had created a simulation based on the National Hurricane Center’s Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment storm surge and wave modeling that illustrated the devastating flooding in Miami that could result from Hurricane Irma’s storm surge. By overlaying the NHC data with a three-dimensional visual of the city obtained using Google maps, the firm created a realistic visual of what the city would look like under between seven and 11 feet of water.
Luckily, in the last minute the Hurricane shifted westward, but the concerns remain.
Given the expected intensity of the flooding, some readers might assume that the dreaded surge would be the result of tsunami-like waves overwhelming the city’s beaches. But that’s not the case. As the Associated Press explains, the hurricane-force winds draw in water not just form the ocean, but other nearby bodies of water as well. However, forecasters say surges kill more people than the strong winds.
As Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned, the surge "will cover your house." Already, at least three Floridians have died in the Keys.
“It's not a wall of water or a tsunami. Simply put, hurricane winds push water toward shore. It can happen quickly and far from a storm's center, inundating areas that don't typically flood.
Storm surge doesn't just come from the ocean. It can come from sounds, bays and lakes, sometimes well inland.”
And with a category four Hurricane like Irma, the water can rise quickly, creating a potentially lethal surprise.
“Large hurricanes tend to create greater storm surge over a broader area, and coastal features such as bays can act like funnels and back water up into rivers and canals, said Jamie Rhome, head of the U.S. National Hurricane Center's storm surge unit.
‘This is going to sneak up on people,’ Rhome said.”
But while the surge levels in Miami could be potentially life threatening, the threat to the Florida Keys, where Irma this morning made landfall at Cudjoe Key, is even more severe.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts water levels up to 15 feet (4 meters) above ground for the chain of islands and parts of the Gulf Coast, which are also expected to receive up to 25 inches of rain. And according to the Associated Press,the flooding threat could extend far beyond the path of Irma's eye. The Atlantic coast from Miami to Isle of Palms, South Carolina, could see up to 6 feet (2 meters) of storm surge.
Irma’s surge could ultimately flood 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of coastline from Tampa Bay to the mid-South Carolina coast. Much of that land is less than 10 feet (3 meters) above sea level.
Much of Florida's southwest coast is uninhabited swampland, including a large section of Everglades National Park, but scientists warned the Everglades wouldn’t stop the flooding of affluent communities nearby, including Naples, the home of Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Forecasters say the surge will kill more people than the strong winds. Scott said it "will cover your house."
"The Everglades won't stop the potential flooding to inhabited areas," Rhome said.
In fact, some forecasters believe the storm will leave Naples underwater.
“The hurricane center's storm surge maps, showing deep inundation for Naples, worried Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
‘Look at Naples, the entire town of Naples is underwater,’ Klotzbach said. ‘That is horrible. God that looks awful.’”
North of Naples is the Tampa Bay area, which is also at risk of extensive flooding related to the surge. About 3 million people live in the area, which has a Busch Gardens theme park and baseball spring training grounds for the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.
Already, the tide in Tampa Bay is going out, setting up the shoreline for a massive surge as Irma approaches.
Over the past fifty years, storm surges have accounted for about half of the deaths from hurricanes, tropical storms and cyclones in the US over the last half-century, according to a hurricane center study.
During the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, the surge helped destroy nearly half the structures along a 40-mile (64 kilometer) stretch of the Florida Keys, killing more than 400 people, including World War I veterans working on a railway project. During Hurricane Katrina, storm surge flooding of up to 28 feet above normal tide directly or indirectly causing at least 1,500 deaths. Hurricane Sandy, which was technically classified as a post-tropical cyclone when it made landfall in New Jersey in 2012, was still large enough to drive catastrophic storm-surge related flooding along the New Jersey and New York coastlines.
* * *
With Irma having made landfall in the Keys just hours ago – though the first hurricane force squalls were felt late last night as the storm approached – Bloomberg is reporting that Florida Power & Light Company said that nearly 1.1 million customers statewide were without power Sunday morning, according to Bloomberg. About 574,000 of those outages were in Miami-Dade County, while there were 360,000 in Broward and nearly 136,000 in Palm Beach County. The effects are being felt far from the center of the storm, due to its size.
Just before Irma’s landfall, Enki Research disaster modeler Chuck Watson said the storm’s trek up Florida’s coast could cost $192 billion and threatens $2 trillion of property. Total losses from Katrina reached $160 billion in 2017 dollars. Irma is “easily on track to be the new No. 1 storm unless intensity collapses,” Watson said. President Donald Trump said Irma is “a storm of enormous destructive power” while discussing preparations with his Cabinet.
It is Sunday which means Eric Peters, the CIO of One River Asset Management, has published his latest weekly assortment of anecdotes and vignettes selected from the life of a hedge fund manager (always in the 3rd person), which today focuses on the quandary facing the Fed (hiking rates hurts Wall Street, but does it help Main Street?), portfolio positioning (does mean-reversion spell the end of the two best trades of the year, long EM and equities), trapped central banks and the Stockholm Syndrome (the inability by Sweden and ECB to tighten even as they forecast economic growth) and China’s ongoing nationalization of its financial system. In a subsequent post we will also present his 4 anecdotes on the life of a CIO from the perspective of everyday events.
So without further ado, here is Eric Peters with his latest weekend notes.
Real Wealth:
“The irony is that the people who are least sensitive to interest rates are the most affected by low interest rates,” said the CIO. “In most cycles, the collapse in interest rates would have sparked a massive real estate cycle, driven particularly by those who need loans.” But not this time.
“The real activity has been in places like NYC where people are least in need of mortgages.” But their wealth has exploded indirectly through low rates via the rise in asset prices. “I wouldn’t bank on that lasting for much longer, though I’m not sure what’s next.”
“The real economy hasn’t gotten over-leveraged as a result of low rates,” continued the same CIO. “But the financial economy sure has.” Corporate debt issuance, share buybacks, financial engineering of all stripes. “But what is the Fed going to do? Hike rates to hurt rich people?” he asked.
“Maybe that helps restore a sense of social fairness over a 20yr timeframe, but I’m not sure that it helps anyone in the near-term.” He fired up his Ferrari, heading to the Hamptons. “High rates hurt Wall Street, but how do they help Main Street?”
Old Dogs:
“Examine portfolios that have worked,” said the CIO. “And then mean-revert them to see how they make you feel.” Dogs of the Dow was a well-known example of a mean-reversion system. “Long emerging markets and long equities are the portfolios that have worked this year.” Short bonds and long dollars are the 2017 losers. “So do you still want to be long EM and equities from here? And do you want to be short bonds and long dollars?” Sometimes it’s helpful to look at the world simply. “From here, do you want to remain long crap? And short quality?”
Stockholm Syndrome:
Sweden’s central bankers left overnight rates at -0.50% and forecast no hikes until Q3 2018. They did, however, lift 2017 GDP forecasts +1.0 to +3.2% and 2018 GDP +0.3 to +2.7%. Industrial production is surging +5.3% annually, and services output is rising +4.1%. Inflation is right on target at 2%. The economy is booming. Real rates are deeply negative, in desperate need of normalization.
But you see, European central bankers have set overnight rates at -0.40%. And the Swedes are hostage to fears of a strong krona.
Big Brother:
“China completely renationalized its financial system,” said the CIO. “They turned their backs on markets.” For a time, the PBOC had come to accept the West’s belief in the wisdom of free markets. No more. “They closed their capital account and have no plans to even reconsider the decision until 2020.” Perhaps much later.
“Allowing markets to determine exchange rates and interest rates is not part of Chinese culture.” No nation in Asia really believes in free floating financial markets.
“They can continue running this game until they open up.”
A chicken in every pot, and a unicorn in every garage. That’s the progressive dream.
No, seriously, they are dreaming, and they must have smoked something crazy before bed.
I almost couldn’t even write about this subject because I just kept staring at my computer screen wide-eyed and shaking my head. Really? Is this seriously being passed off as economics and news?
The larger the universal basic income, the greater the benefit to the economy, according to the report.
A $1,000 cash handout to all adults would grow the economy by 12.56 percent after eight years, the study finds. Current Congressional Budget Office estimates put the GDP at $19.8 trillion. The cash handout would therefore increase the GDP by $2.48 trillion. (Vox first did this extrapolation in their coverage of the report, and Steinbaum confirmed the accuracy of the extrapolation to CNBC Make It by email.)
Wow! You’re saying that by the U.S. government simply creating money out of thin air, we can increase the amount of money in existence! Why didn’t we think of this before? Why are we only $20 trillion in debt! why not go $200 trillion in debt. Why not $900 trillion?! Who cares, it just boosts the economy.
The super-serious-legitimate-intellectual study found that the larger the handout, the more the economy grows! Hear that? We can all be millionaires! It’s easy street from here on out.
We can all quit our jobs at the factories, farms, grocery stores, and office buildings. Things will keep being produced, sold, and organized according to the report.
What they didn’t add is that in order to finance these handouts without taxation, the U.S. would add $24 trillion of debt. The already insane national debt would more than double in 8 years.
The factor that other models emphasize which is not present in the Levy Model is “potential output”—that the size of the macroeconomy is theoretically limited by supply constraints, and that once these bind, the effect offurther expansion in aggregate demand is primarily to increase inflation.
I love it. “Theoretically” the economy is limited by the supply of goods.
The grocery store has 100 loaves of bread, so theoretically, they can only sell 100 loaves of bread. Good thing only 100 people want to buy a loaf of bread.
But this study adds 1,000 more people who want to buy that bread. They conclude that this will not increase the price of the bread and that the extra 1,000 people who want bread will not be constrained by the fact that there are only 100 loaves.
It is utter nonsense! They are basically saying that they can drastically increase the consumption of goods without having to increase supply, and without the price of the goods rising.
And why do they believe this baloney? Because they are still using Keynesian economics, explained in the image below.
At very least the study concluded that raising taxes would have no net benefit to the economy. So they understand that taking from one person and handing to another would not grow the economy.
These estimates are based on a universal basic income paid for by increasing the federal deficit. As part of the study, the researchers also calculated the effect to the economy of paying for the cash handouts by increasing taxes. In that case, there would be no net benefit to the economy, the report finds.
But they apparently don’t believe that demand is enabled by supply. Have they tried to consume something that doesn’t exist? It’s a difficult task.
And they also don’t believe in inflation. But when the supply stays the same, and the demand grows, prices will rise. If the demand is enabled by increasing the monetary supply by going into more debt, that means that the value of the new dollars is derived from the old dollars. Every dollar gets a little bit more worthless because nothing about the real physical economy has changed. Supply has not grown to match increased demand.
And finally, maybe they don’t want to finance the universal basic income with taxation, but how are they going to pay the interest on the extra debt? Currently, it costs almost half a trillion dollars per year just to pay the interest on the $20 trillion national debt. They want to more than double that in just eight years. Who in their right mind would keep lending the U.S. money?
You can play with numbers, but you can’t change reality. This model would DESTROY the economy in 8 years, not improve it. Yes, there will be more money in supply, and therefore the economy has “grown” if you don’t factor in real purchasing power, which will collapse.
It would be a transfer of wealth from people with savings, to people in debt.
This trash is clearly being sold so that idiots can cite a study that says a universal basic income is a good thing. The chorus grows in the media, training the sheep how to sing their song of ignorance.
The Syrian Army continues to make rapid gains against ISIS in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor since breaking the years long terrorist siege earlier this week which had 100,000+ Syrian civilians trapped. On Saturday the army reached its most important goal in the campaign to date – the liberation of Deir Ezzor military airport which had been completely surrounded by ISIS for nearly a year. The army's full control of the airport means that most of Deir Ezzor's western half is now under the control of the government as all regime neighborhoods are now linked up for the first time with ISIS lines cut.
The Syrian foreign ministry said the liberation of the military airport "foreshadowed the end of terrorism". Indeed control of the base has long been considered key to the city's fate. ISIS fighters reportedly began fleeing areas surrounding the base once the army got the momentum, especially as areas adjacent to the base are open fields with little natural cover. The turning point came after the army captured the strategic hilltop of Tal Rubiyat, which overlooks the Ta'meen Base located northwest of the sprawling airport.
Celebrations ensued among Syrian officers and troops the moment Deir Ezzor's most important strategic section was liberated from ISIS on Saturday.
For much of the past year the airport was besieged while over 5000 civilians along with Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters were trapped inside the base. According to various reports from correspondents on the ground, it was defended from near daily ISIS attacks by starving base residents, and supplied from government air drops. Many lost their lives just attempting to access some of the hard to reach airdrops on which the base's survival depended.
The weekend victory means we could see the entire liberation of Deir Ezzor City wrap up more quickly than anyone expected. As the military airport is now able to ramp up operations and become the army's most well fortified forward operating base in the country's east, it will serve as a "launching pad to expand military operations in the region," according to a statement issed last week by the Syrian Army.
Map source: South Front
Though ISIS lines are crumbling, US presence in the area threatens to complicate the Syrian military's forward momentum in the eastern provinces of Deir Ezzor and Hasakah. On the very day the Syrian government celebrated this key victory, US coalition 'Operation Inherent Resolve' announced its own advance on ISIS held territory in Deir Ezzor through its allied partners on the ground, including the Kurdish and Arab SDF ('Syrian Democratic Forces'). The SDF is the Pentagon's favored (largely Kurdish) proxy in the East. At times it has clashed with Syrian troops, while at others has displayed some level of tacit and loose coordination.
The US coalition/SDF force is calling its own operation – which is occurring simultaneous to regime advances – “Operation Jazeera Storm". A coalition statement issued the very day of the military airport's liberation reads as follows:
The Combined Joint Task Force Coalition welcomes the announcement by the Syrian Arab Coalition of the commencement of their offensive to defeat ISIS in the Khabur River valley, dubbed “Operation Jazeera Storm,” north of Dayr Az Zawr in eastern Syria, Sept. 9.
…Coalition forces will support the SAC during the Khabur River valley offensive as part of their ‘advise and assist’ mission, providing equipment, training, intelligence and logistics support, precision fires and battlefield advice.
The Khabur River valley lies north of Deir Ezzor. Reportedly the coalition statement at first designated Deir Ezzor city itself as the target of new operations (instead of the broader area of the "Khabur River valley") while also making reference to "anti-Syrian regime forces". But the statement was quickly altered on the coalition's press page to read the less overtly provocative sounding "Syrian Arab Coalition".
US coalition released statement Sat. saying SDF pushing into Deir Ezzur, then pulled it back, saying push was Khabur River valley 1/3
Meanwhile the SDF did make an advance in Deir Ezzor city from the north side of the Euphrates. It looks increasingly like US-backed SDF forces and the Syrian Army could be set to clash as both roll back ISIS lines from either side of the Euphrates. The SDF's surprisingly rapid advance Friday and Saturday was assisted by US and coalition airstrikes and was further made possible by the Syrian Army's weakening of ISIS defenses on the southeast side of the river.
Map source: Syrian Civil War Maps
The airspace over Deir Ezzor is potentially growing even more dangerous as there are substantial rumors that the US coalition has declared a no fly zone (NFZ) over the north side of the Euphrates. In the meantime, Syrian and Russian air operations in the area will only increase with Deir Ezzor military airport's returning to full service.
It was nearly one year ago that the US coalition launched a massive air attack on Syrian government troops in Deir Ezzor at the very moment they were fighting ISIS. The US characterized it as a case of mistaken identity while Syria accused the US coalition of directly aiding ISIS by the attack. The incident did allow ISIS to become entrenched around the contested air base. A report by military analysts John Dolan and Mark Ames (creators of "The War Nerd" podcast) summarizes the attack as follows:
"On September 17, 2016 (just about a year ago), the USAF led a huge air strike on Deir ez Zor, featuring USAF A-10s, Australian F/A-18s, Danish F-16s, and British Reaper drones.
They blasted SAA troops around Deir ez Zor, killing about 100 of them and wounding hundreds more. The attack lasted more than an hour. During that time, Russian liaison officers were screaming “Stop! Stop!” to their USAF counterparts. No response.
At first the US denied everything, dragging out well-known Humanitarian Interventionist Samantha Power to call the Russian accusations a “…stunt—a stunt replete with moralism and grandstanding…” Well, folks, if there’s two things Samantha knows, it’s moralistic grandstanding. So you’d think she must’ve been right.
But no. The raid happened, just the way the Russians said it did. Eventually the USAF apologized, sort of.
Luckily, the media managed to be stoical about the actual death of SAA soldiers in a way it failed to maintain about fictional massacres and rapes in places like Aleppo — so the damage was easily contained, at least on the media front. As food ran short in the city, the same brave indifference characterized the response of all but a few media outlets.
On the actual battle front in Deir ez Zor, the damage was more real. After the USAF & co. softened up the enemy for them, IS attacked and took several strategic hills overlooking the town. Like most victories during the long siege, though, the advantage was brief. With Russian air power helping, the SAA retook most of the ground they’d lost.
This stalemate is the most remarkable thing about the war in Deir ez Zor. How do you explain it?"
As ISIS continues to rapidly collapse in its last two strongholds (Raqqa and Deir Ezzor cities), the competition for recovery of territory seems in full gear between the US-SDF and Syria-Russia alliances. Deir Ezzor province happens to be Syria's most oil-rich territory, which means the future of some of Syria's largest oil fields remains up for grabs.
(GLOBALINTELHUB.COM) — 9/9/2017 As Hurricane Irma approaches US borders, investors should note the forces of the ‘invisible hand’ in nature and not only in markets. As we explain in our groundbreaking work Splitting Pennies, the financial markets are not ‘as seen on TV’ and in fact, are the subject of constant manipulation, and this storm is no exception.
Weather Modification technology is simple and has been around for a long time, starting with the use of dry ice, evolving to use of ‘supersonic booms’ and finally aerosols. The Pentagon has technologies that are far, far, far more advanced than weather modification. See an extensive list of weather modification patents here.
Hurricane Harvey brought an abrupt and catastrophic end to the 12 year long major hurricane landfall drought in the US. Were climate engineering programs a factor in the Harvey disaster scenario? Available data has already made clear the answer is yes. How much decimation will the manipulation of Hurricane Irma inflict? The US government has been actively engaged in hurricane modification programs for a minimum of 70 years, historical documents prove this fact conclusively. Yet, the power structure controlled circles of academia (and corporate media) continue to fuel total denial of the climate engineering hurricane modification reality, this should not be a surprise. How much decimation have global geoengineering / weather warfare programs already caused? What are the primary objectives and agendas? How much worse will it get? The short video below provides verifiable data to confirm that climate engineering is a reality, and exposes some of the primary objectives.
Exposing and halting the ongoing climate engineering / weather warfare / biological warfare assault is the great imperative of our time. The best chance we have of accomplishing this monumental task is by raising an army of the awakened, by reaching a critical mass.
Environmental modification techniques have been applied by the US military for more than half a century. US mathematician John von Neumann, in liaison with the US Department of Defense, started his research on weather modification in the late 1940s at the height of the Cold War and foresaw ‘forms of climatic warfare as yet unimagined’. During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The US military has developed advanced capabilities that enable it selectively to alter weather patterns. The technology, which is being perfected under the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), is an appendage of the Strategic Defense Initiative – ‘Star Wars’. From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction, operating from the outer atmosphere and capable of destabilising agricultural and ecological systems around the world.
The technology clearly exists, but as it is ‘classified’ having any smoking gun evidence without a Snowden whistleblower is impossible; it’s a paradox, as evidence by CIA’s FOIA request if they are investigating us:
This really is an intelligence agency, their logic is impeccable. They cannot confirm or deny if information does or does not exist. So let’s go with what we know.
NOAA is the official US Government agency that monitors the weather, and provides official information at nhc.noaa.gov – anyone from Florida knows this URL and has gone through the agonizing wait for the next update which can mean a big change of plans.
Like most of the US Government, it’s actually not ‘NOAA’ that provides us this valuable data it’s Raytheon, black ops corporate master – the largest defense contractor in the world, with 60,000 + employees and a market cap of 50 Billion. See their product info here, and their interesting note in bold:
Owned and operated by NOAA, JPSS is an “end-to-end” system that includes sensors; spacecraft; command, control and communications; data routing; ground based processing and dissemination of weather data to users around the globe, such as NOAA’s National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. The data provided by Suomi NPP and the JPSS satellites contribute to NASA’s study of earth climate trends.
JPSS polar orbiters carry a complement of advanced imaging and sounding sensors, which increase NOAA and DoD capabilities to monitor the entire planet and produce weather and climate predictions at a much higher fidelity and frequency. These advanced capabilities enable NOAA to better fulfill its mission to protect lives and property by increasing the timeliness and accuracy of public warnings and forecasts of weather and climate events.
JPSS CGS DELIVERS CRUCIAL DATA FOR NATIONAL WEATHER FORECASTS
Raytheon brings more than four decades of high-availability, reliable, precision-based, command-and-control systems experience to Suomi NPP and future JPSS missions. Suomi NPP is the bridge between existing polar-orbiting satellites and the launch of JPSS-1, scheduled for 2017. Providing critical data for Earth observation, Suomi NPP data is used to generate environmental data products, such as measurements of clouds, vegetation, ocean color and land and sea surface temperatures — all significant inputs to improve weather forecasting capabilities.
VALUE TO THE PUBLIC
While Suomi NPP and JPSS will not prevent severe weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes or blizzards from occurring, Raytheon’s advanced technologies enable meteorologists and forecasters to make more timely and accurate weather predictions that support NOAA’s “Weather Ready Nation” campaign and help save lives, protect property and decrease the devastating economic impacts caused by severe weather.
Raytheon’s proven radars and sensors work together to help experts see further, track longer and prepare smarter.
Our Air and Missile Defense Radar stacks together like building blocks to increase detection ranges and accuracy on naval destroyers. Our VIIRS sensor — famously known for its ”Blue Marble” photo of Earth — orbits the planet to provide meteorologists with unparalleled environmental data. And our Multi-Spectral Targeting System combines lasers with infrared sensors to enable pinpoint military operations.
Raytheon Company is a technology company, which specializes in defense and other government markets. The Company develops integrated products, services and solutions in various markets, including sensing; effects; command, control, communications, computers, cyber and intelligence; mission support, and cybersecurity. The Company operates through five segments: Integrated Defense Systems (IDS); Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS); Missile Systems (MS); Space and Airborne Systems (SAS), and Forcepoint. The IDS segment develops and produces sensors and mission systems. The IIS segment provides a range of technical and professional services to intelligence, defense, federal and commercial customers. The MS segment is a developer, integrator and producer of missile and combat systems. The SAS segment is engaged in the design, development and manufacture of integrated sensor and communication systems for missions. The Forcepoint segment develops cybersecurity products.
Interestingly, a small uptick on Irma. For the uninformed, a hurricane is a military operation however you look at it, in the aftermath when there’s no power, only the military (and in partnership with FEMA) has the logistic resources to swoop in and restore order. During Hurricane Andrew strange rumors persisted about the quarantine and control of information that the Army imposed around the devastated areas. This is a great resource with photographic evidence, and they suggested that even it may have contributed to George Bush losing the election later that year. The government seemed helpless to do anything to battered Miami. And it was after Andrew that Hurricane manipulation efforts went into overdrive.
So why now, after so long with no major hit to Florida? Are they gunning for Trump? Or Trump ordered it, to distract the population from what’s really going on and as a means of control? (Remember that the one strong power Trump has is leader of the Military, the US President has almost no political power). We’ll never know.. but let’s look at the big picture.
After World War 2 the US “Military Industrial Complex” or “Iron Triangle” (Government, Defense Contractors, Wall St.) hasn’t really had an enemy. Hitler and Japan were real enemies, although funded and allowed to grow by US companies, the fact remains that if Hitler wasn’t stopped we’d all be speaking German and eating poor tasting frankfurters and drinking beer. WW2 was the peak of show of industrial power and how factories could make bombs that would destroy infrastructure. The “Marshall Plan” and other post WW2 economic plans led the intellectual Elite (who were hired by the now rich military contractors) to create several doctrines that would keep them in business with or without an enemy (with all the happiness of the 50’s they probably thought – what if there is no more Hitler? How will we make money? War is good for business… ) hence we have the Report from Iron Mountain MUST READ BOOK – to explain plainly, companies like RAND corporation have created enemies most notably “Russia” and most recently “Terrorists” but their plan is so deep, they are not to rely on a single artificial enemy, so they resort to the most basic Earth element, the weather. What does this mean? A group of scientists hired by these corporations post WW2 (you can call them pseudo economists) created studies and reports showing that investing $1 in the Military equalled $2 in economic output. This is the most ridiculous and twisted thinking, based on this logic if we firebomb Los Angeles we’ll be the richest economy in the world. But remember, twisted or not – this is their doctrine. A great example of this in practice was during the Ford days when the CIA was tasked with the job of collecting intelligence on Russia – did they pose a security threat to the United States? The CIA found no evidence of any capability sufficient of posing even a limited threat, nor any motive or evidence of irrational intent to attack the US or any other country (and Russia has a history of never invading any country- only defending themselves). This report was released and Donald Rumsfeld famously retorted that “Just because the CIA didn’t find any weapons doesn’t mean that they don’t exist” – Rumsfeld went on to make a fortune consulting for defense contractors. During this period one General really believed the Russians were hiding a missile base on the dark side of the moon. The US Military is big business, and business is good. But threats change and the battlefield changes. Contractors, planners, developers, and many others will make a fortune rebuilding South Florida. And it’s a lot closer than Iraq. And heck, is it really so bad? Raytheon (RTN) employs 60,000 people and the US Government itself is the largest employer in the world. People need to put food on their families (-George W Bush).
There’s a number of reasons humans would want to control the weather:
To make it rain
For military purposes
Pollution control
Terraforming (For example what they are doing in UAE)
Cloud seeding is the opposite of cloud busting. For one thing, it’s a real thing. The process has been replicated numerous times both in the lab and in the field and is backed up by years of peer-reviewed scientific research. For another, it impregnates clouds to instigate the precipitation process rather than magically gathering them using dark energies. Cloud seeding is currently used all over the world—including throughout the United States, China (where it is used to clear smog in Beijing), India, and Russia—to enhance precipitation, both rain and snow, while inhibiting hail and fog. And it actually works.
The UAE’s Ionizers: Tearing the Sky a New One
The United Arab Emirates is a land rich in wealth but poor in precipitation. That’s why president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has had the nation’s top scientific minds secretly toiling for years to create a new means of weather manipulation that would work more effectively in the region’s extreme temperatures. The result: The biggest Ionic Breeze on Earth.
Ionic Breeze devices are giant ionizers mounted atop tall steel poles and were built by the Swiss company, Metro Systems International. The devices generate massive ionic fields, positively charged ions ground back to the Earth while the negatively charged ions rise into the atmosphere. As they rise, the negative ions (electrons) collect particles of dust on the way up. These flecks act as seeds for ice crystal formation, much as silver iodide does except without the need for clouds. As long as the atmospheric humidity is at least 30 percent, the system supposedly works even in clear skies.
In the summer of 2010, 100 such emitters were spread over five sites in the Al Ain region. During July and August alone, when the area typically receives zero rainfall, it reportedly rained on 52 separate occasions, often with gusting winds and sometimes hail. The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology monitored the project and backed the study’s findings. This could be huge for the Middle East, where water is often in short supply and desalinization plants are nine-figure investments (and another eight-figures a year to run). The ionizers reportedly only cost $10.5 million to build and $8.9 million a year to operate.
$10 Million to make it rain, literally. So what does a multi-billion dollar black budget get us in USA? Think about the positive economic impact of Hurricanes for a moment, such as the obvious Billions in rebuilding and reconstruction projects. But there’s also a political benefit and military benefit, the military can test their logistics and new non-lethal crowd control weapons, as well as the general population control (those evacuating south Florida are not likely to participate in right wing anti-government protests, for example). Confuse, obfuscate, and conquer has been the mantra of the world’s leading Elite for centuries “Divide and Conquer” – and there’s no better Fog of War than a Hurricane most intelligently because 90% of the population will not believe that it’s controlled. It’s pure genius.
There’s not any proof that this is manufactured or controlled, but like many things with the government – if they have spent millions developing weather modification technology including Hurricane manipulation technology (both to create Hurricanes and divert Hurricanes or weaken them) – what are they doing with it if not using it? Clearly, there have been strange phenomenon at play in the region over the past 20 years that are not explainable as ‘Global Warming’ – which would mean more frequent stronger storms, not a 20 year + lull.
Traders from FL enjoyed the free money Lowes and Nov FCOJ pop that always comes with a slight delay after the announcement that a storm is headed for central FL where the majority of Orange Juice is grown. But this is really a perception trade, as OJ is grown in many places around the world and the increase in Lowes purchases are not really relevant. Also note that unlike other disasters, there are usually few human casualties in Hurricanes. Remember even during Katrina, it was only the people who refused to evacuate that were trapped on rooftops, and even they were mostly saved. It’s not as if the Military is ‘killing’ people – although that IS what they do during WAR (including US Citizens, not only the enemy).
What is the conclusion of this information, simply that:
The weather is controlled, USG owns the tech for years, this is likely organized by Raytheon (RTN) although there’s no public information to prove this (it’s classified)
There can be political motivations for storms, for hitting or not hitting populated rich areas like Miami or Tampa. There is a clear economic and military benefit to such operations as PsyOps and as logistic tests of population control, i.e. FEMA camps and other new systems to be tested
Finally, there’s an elephant in the room – the bubble of bubbles.. South FL real estate. There’s literally groups of investors waiting for the big crash to come, but no one is buying – there isn’t panic selling yet, but there is a glut of Miami real estate. Investors are so called ‘hot money’ from foreigners who have never been to Miami but think it’s a good solid investment because real estate ‘always goes up’ – but the city of Miami is spending $500 Million to build levees and dams Dutch style around low lying areas.
After this event no matter how small the damage, it will do much bigger damage to the perception of FL real estate. Many investors will now think twice about FL as the golden ticket to USA investing success. FL residents damaged by the storm, many of them will take their checks and move to higher, more defensible ground. Suddenly, with one storm, the argument of Preppers in the Cumberland Plateau all makes sense. Real Estate in the mountains just doubled in value.
All the development in South FL is based on one axiom – no Hurricanes. The same could be said about Los Angeles and Earthquakes. But there are thousands of places in USA with reasonable property values that have no natural disasters, but they aren’t good ‘locations’ in ‘trendy’ places. Of course if you work online or from home then it doesn’t matter where you live, so it would be logical to choose such a place vs. the over inflated FL which is a disaster zone. Although New York City is also on the ocean, NYC is mostly built on bedrock and has elevations as high as 33 feet, comparing with Miami’s 6 feet, that’s a big difference. FL is a big swamp mostly that was turned upside down by developers. Unlike cities that formed by natural geo-politics and economics, Miami and most of FL is an artificial construct like Las Vegas. The point is that it was poor investment decisions leading to a mass of capital flooding the development of FL but this will stop likely or slow down to a trickle after this storm. A giant wall could be erected around the state but at what cost? All of these hidden costs and risks are now exposed as realities, and we will see how the re-insurers handle failing insurers already suffering from Harvey.
The positive effect on the markets is that these storms will likely pop the first and possibly the biggest real estate bubble which is the most frothy, south FL. That’s because unlike other markets, FL doesn’t have such a robust ‘natural’ industry, as for example seen in Chicago or San Francisco. In fact real estate is an industry in itself in FL and something like 60% of home ownership is by vacationers. Money will flow elsewhere, into other projects, and investors will think different.
The reason is simple – it’s one thing to ‘tell’ someone that the market is going to crash, or Miami is sinking into the sea, but having a devastating event happen, going through the process whatever your involvement in FL (As Jimmy Buffett says, everyone has a cousin in Miami).. this event will change your thinking about FL investing and doing business. Miami was a happy sleepy beach town before this boom, alligators and old folks and flamingoes.
Markets are manipulated, storms are too. So what? We live in a fake world with fake people who stare into a Fake book. If you’ve read through this article you should congratulate yourself and take pride in knowing you are part of the real one percent, the one percent that understands how the world really works; the real global elite – the emergent intelligentcia.
With just hours left until landfall, sometime on Sunday morning, Hurricane Irma is edging ever closer to Florida and has started to batter the state with Hurricane force winds as millions brace for the impact of the most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade.
According to ABC and AP, the National Weather Service measured a 74-mph gust in the Florida Keys on Saturday night, marking the beginning of hurricane-force winds that forecasters say will steadily intensify in the coming hours.
As of about 10 p.m. Saturday, Irma was 100 miles southeast of Key West with sustained winds of 125 mph. It was moving west, and is expected to turn north and head up the western coast of Florida, making landfall on Sunday.
Hurricane Irma approached Florida, Sept. 9, 2017.
A live feed tracking the hurricane is shown below, courtesy of ABC:
The National Hurricane Center on Friday cautioned that Irma’s winds would likely be strong enough to uproot trees, bring down power poles and rip off the roofs and some exterior walls of well-built frame homes. “Obviously Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States,” Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said at a press conference Friday morning. “We’re going to have a couple rough days.”
Several counties and cities in south Florida have issued a curfew as the storm draws near. Broward County set a curfew for 4 p.m. Saturday and said no unauthorized vehicles will be allowed on the roads. Charlotte County and the City of Miami Beach will enter one later tonight. Palm Beach County has issued a curfew to prevent looting and other criminal activity as the storm approaches, according to a press release. The curfew goes into effect Saturday at 3 p.m. It is unclear when it will be lifted.
Some 10,000 flights have been cancelled in anticipation of Irma, about 7,000 of them in Florida alone.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott called the storm unprecedented. “This is a life-threatening situation,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Saturday. “Our state has never seen anything like it.” The governor stressed the dangers of what he called a “deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge.”
President Trump tweeted a video from a Cabinet meeting Saturday, telling people to “get out of” Irma’s way. “Property is replaceable but lives are not. and safety has to come first. Don’t worry about it, get out of its way,” Trump said.
Meteorologists from ABC News are forecasting storm surges of 10 feet in Tampa and Sarasota, and 10 to 15 feet from Fort Myers to Naples. Somewhat lower storm surges of 3 to 6 feet may occur from Miami to Key Largo. Winds were already picking up in Florida early Saturday, with gusts between 40 and 60 mph, as the following clip shows:
Hurricane-force winds with gusts over 115 mph are possible in the Keys by daybreak Sunday. More tornadoes are also likely and a tornado watch was issued Saturday for southern Florida.
According to ABC, Florida state residents should anticipate days-long power outages, FEMA said. Ahead of Irma’s arrival in the Sunshine State, the last flights departed Friday night from Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Miami’s airport officially remains open, while Fort Lauderdale’s airport is closed for Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, many ATM machines across southwest Florida were out of cash by late Friday night after people stocked up in case Hurricane Irma causes power outages that make debit and credit card transactions impossible, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, as millions evacuate, Germain Arena, a large shelter between Naples and Fort Myers along Florida’s west coast, is already at capacity Saturday as hundreds of people were in line waiting to get in. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez said Saturday morning about 25,000 residents are sheltered in Miami-Dade alone, a number he called “unprecedented in our history.”
Traffic streaming out of Florida creeps along northbound Interstate 75 after a vehicle accident in Lake Park, Ga., Sept. 6, 2017.
“We must remain vigilant,” Giménez said. “The storm will still strengthen … and we will be impacted.”
All day Saturday, South Korea braced for a possible new missile test by North Korea as the provocative northern neighbor marked its founding anniversary, just days after its sixth and largest nuclear test rattled global financial markets and further escalated tensions in the region. Throughout the week, South Korean officials warned the North could launch another intercontinental ballistic missile, in defiance of U.N. sanctions and to further provoke the US. As Reuters reports, Pyongyang marks its founding anniversary each year with a big display of pageantry and military hardware. Last year, North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on the Sept. 9 anniversary.
Ultimately, September 9 came and went, and North Korea did nothing, perhaps signalling its eagerness to de-escalate. Or perhaps not, and Kim is simply looking to surprise his adversaries with the ICBM launch date. Experts have said the rogue, isolated regime is close to its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, something Trump has vowed to prevent.
Celebrating its founding anniversary, a front-page editorial of the Saturday edition of North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun said the country should make “more high-tech Juche weapons to continuously bring about big historical events such as a miraculous victory of July 28.”. The July date refers to the intercontinental ballistic missile test (Juche is North Korea’s homegrown ideology of self-reliance that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather).
* * *
Meanwhile, South Korean nuclear experts, checking for contamination, said on Friday they had found minute traces of radioactive xenon gas but that it was too early to link it to Sunday’s explosion. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) said it had been conducting tests on land, air and water samples since shortly after the North Korean nuclear test on Sunday. There was no chance the xenon “will have an impact on South Korea’s territory or population”, the agency said.
What is more concerning, however, is a Friday report on NBC, according to which Trump is readying a package of diplomatic and military moves against North Korea, including cyberattacks and increased surveillance and intelligence operations, after the nation’s sixth and largest nuclear test.
Trump’s top national security advisers walked him through a range of options over lunch in the White House on Sunday, just hours after North Korea’s latest test, officials said.
According to NBC, Trump is also seriously considering adopting diplomatically risky sanctions on Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang and upgrading missile defense systems in the region, administration officials said. In addition, the administration is not ruling out moving tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea should Seoul request them, a White House official said, though many consider such a move a nonstarter. It would break with nearly three decades of U.S. policy of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
U.S. officials have also made the case to China that if Beijing doesn’t take stronger steps against North Korea, such as cutting off oil exports, South Korea and Japan are likely to pursue their own nuclear weapons programs and the U.S. won’t stop them, the official said. “It’s more a message for China than North Korea,” the official said.
The U.S. has adopted sanctions aimed at Chinese entities that conduct business with North Korea, but has so far held back on broadly targeting China’s banking system. China has told U.S. officials it would protest such a move diplomatically and retaliate, according to the senior administration official.
So what happened on Sunday? According to NBC, Trump’s national security advisers presented him with U.S. military options, including pre-emptive strikes, and nuclear capabilities should America be called on to abide by its treaty obligations in the region, White House and defense officials said.
The president’s advisers have made the case, however, that military strikes on North Korea could have serious repercussions, senior defense officials said, and the most glaring among these is that China has told administration officials that if the U.S. strikes North Korea first, Beijing would back Pyongyang, a senior military official told NBC.
This is not the first time China has warned the US not to escalate: on August 11, Beijing, through the state-owned media, cautioned the US president on Friday that it would intervene (militarily) on North Korea’s behalf if the US and South Korea launch a preemptive strike to “overthrow the North Korean regime,” according to a statement in the influential state-run newspaper Global Times.
“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” it said.
At the same time, the Chinese regime made it clear that its preferred outcome would be a continuation of the status quo, warning Kim Jong Un, or perhaps Trump, that it would “remain neutral if North Korea were to strike first.”
As we said almost one month ago:
“not surprisingly, analysts have compared the standoff between the two nuclear powers (the North is a recent, if untested, member of this club) to a modern day Cuban Missile crisis. “This situation is beginning to develop into this generation’s Cuban Missile crisis moment,” ING’s chief Asia economist Robert Carnell said in a research note. “While the U.S. president insists on ramping up the war of words, there is a decreasing chance of any diplomatic solution.“
Since then, the potential risks, mutual threats and near-hostilities have grown exponentially. China – which is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 92% of two-way trade last year, and also provides hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil and fuel to the impoverished regime – has only dug in deeper, explaining repeatedly that it wants a peaceful de-escalation and that it would not side with the US in case of a military conflict.
* * *
What happens next? Well, on one hand, after today’s lack of launch, there is hope that things will indeed de-escalate. A headline that just hit from Yonhap may accelerate this:
SOUTH KOREA SEES NO SIGNS OF IMMINENT ADDITIONAL PROVOCATIONS BY NORTH KOREA THAT COULD LEAD TO ANOTHER MISSILE OR NUCLEAR TEST: YONHAP
On the other hand, what the US does next may be a sufficient provocation to force Kim to lob another ICBM. Earlier today, Reuters reported that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier left its home port in Japan for a routine autumn patrol of the Western Pacific, a Navy spokeswoman said. That area included “waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.” North Korea vehemently objects to military exercises on or near the peninsula, and China and Russia have suggested the United States and South Korea halt their exercises to lower tension.
Another imminent escalation is due on Monday.
That’s when the United States told the U.N. Security Council that it intends to call a meeting to vote on a draft resolution establishing additional sanctions. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said last Monday that she intended to call for a vote on Sept. 11 and then the United States circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member council on Wednesday.
The United States wants the Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and to subject Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how North Korean allies China and Russia would vote, but a senior U.S. official on Friday night expressed scepticism that either nation would accept anything more stringent than a ban on imports of North Korean textiles. Chinese officials have privately expressed fears that imposing an oil embargo could risk triggering massive instability in its neighbor.
Meanwhile, tensions are also growing between China and South Korea. The two countries have been at loggerheads over South Korea’s decision to deploy the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system, which has a powerful radar that can probe deep into China. Shares in South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor and key suppliers slid on Friday on worries over its position in China after highly critical Chinese state newspaper comments. Recently Hyundai auto sales in China have crashed as local suppliers and potential customers have shied away from the company due to nationalistic prerogatives. The military section of China’s Global Times newspaper on Thursday referred to THAAD as “a malignant tumor”.
The good news, for markets, is that this Saturday’s widely anticipated ICBM launch from North Korea did not take place; the bad news is that said launch was at best delayed, and if and when it comes, the US will have to choose: do nothing again, and appears increasingly weak on the global diplomatic arena, or retaliate, and risk dragging China into the conflict, potentially precipitating the appearance of mushroom clouds around the globe.
The United States shows the world such a ridiculous face that the world laughs at us.
The latest spin on “Russia stole the election” is that Russia used Facebook to influence the election. The NPR women yesterday were breathless about it.
We have been subjected to ten months of propaganda about Trump/Putin election interference and still not a scrap of evidence. It is past time to ask an unasked question:
If there were evidence, what is the big deal? All sorts of interest groups try to influence election outcomes including foreign governments.
Why is it OK for Israel to influence US elections but not for Russia to do so?
Why do you think the armament industry, the energy industry, agribusiness, Wall Street and the banks, pharmaceutical companies, etc., etc., supply the huge sum of money to finance election campaigns if their intent is not to influence the election?
Why do editorial boards write editorials endorsing one candidate and damning another if they are not influencing the election?
What is the difference between influencing the election and influencing the government?
Washington is full of lobbyists of all descriptions, including lobbyists for foreign governments, working round the clock to influence the US government. It is safe to say that the least represented in the government are the citizens themselves who don’t have any lobbyists working for them.
The orchestrated hysteria over “Russian influence” is even more absurd considering the reason Russia allegedly interfered in the election. Russia favored Trump because he was the peace candidate who promised to reduce the high tensions with Russia created by the Obama regime and its neocon nazis—Hillary Clinton, Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power. What’s wrong with Russia preferring a peace candidate over a war candidate? The American people themselves preferred the peace candidate. So Russia agreed with the electorate.
Those who don’t agree with the electorate are the warmongers—the military/security complex and the neocon nazis. These are democracy’s enemies who are trying to overturn the choice of the American people. It is not Russia that disrespects the choice of the American people; it is the utterly corrupt Democratic National Committee and its divisive Identity Politics, the military/security complex, and the presstitute media who are undermining democracy.
I believe it is time to change the subject. The important question is who is it that is trying so hard to convince Americans that Russian influence prevails over us?
Do the idiots pushing this line realize how impotent this makes an alleged “superpower” look. How can we be the hegemonic power that the Zionist neocons say we are when Russia can decide who is the president of the United States?
The US has a massive spy state that even intercepts the private cell phone conversations of the Chancellor of Germany, but his massive spy organization is unable to produce one scrap of evidence that the Russians conspired with Trump to steal the presidential election from Hillary. When will the imbeciles realize that when they make charges for which no evidence can be produced they make the United States look silly, foolish, incompetent, stupid beyond all belief?
Countries are supposed to be scared of America’s threat that “we will bomb you into the stone age,” but the President of Russia laughs at us. Putin recently described the complete absence of any competence in Washington:
“It is difficult to talk to people who confuse Austria and Australia. But there is nothing we can do about this; this is the level of political culture among the American establishment.
As for the American people, America is truly a great nation if the Americans can put up with so many politically uncivilized people in their government.”
These words from Putin were devastating, because the world understands that they are accurate.
Consider the idiot Nikki Haley, appointed by Trump in a fit of mindlessness as US Ambassador to the United Nations.
This stupid person is forever shaking her fist at the Russians while mouthing yet another improbable accusation. She might want to read Mario Puzo’s book, The Godfather. Everyone knows the movie, but if memory serves somewhere in the book Puzo reflects on the practice of the irate American motorist who shakes a fist and gives the bird to other drivers. What if the driver receiving the insult is a Mafia capo? Does the idiot shaking his fist know who he is accosting? No. Does the moron know that the result might be a brutal beating or death? No.
Does the imbecile Nikki Haley understand what can be the result of her inability to control herself? No. Every knowledgeable person I know wonders if Trump appointed the imbecile Nikki Haley US ambassador to the world for the purpose of infuriating the Russians.
Ask Napoleon and the German Wehrmacht the consequence of infuriating the Russians.
After 16 years the US “superpower” has been unable to defeat a few thousand lightly armed Taliban, who have no air force, no Panzer divisions, no worldwide intelligence service, and the crazed US government in Washington is courting war with Russia and China and North Korea and Iran.
The American people are clearly out to lunch in their insouciance. Americans are fighting among themselves over “civil war” statues, while “their’ government invites nuclear armageddon.
The United States has an ambassador to the world who shows no signs of intelligence, who behaves as if she is Mike Tyson or Bruce Lee to the 5th power, and who is the total antithesis of a diplomat. What does this tell about the United States?
It reveals that the US is in the Roman collapse stage when the emperor appoints horses to the Senate.
The United States has a horse, an uncivilized horse, as its diplomat to the world. The Congress and executive branch are also full of horses and horse excrement. The US government is completely devoid of intelligence. There is no sign of intelligence anywhere in the U.S. government. Of or morality. As Hugo Chavez said: Satan is there; you can smell the sulphur.
America is a joke with nuclear weapons, the prime danger to life on earth.
How can this danger be corralled?
The American people would have to realize that they are being led to their deaths by the Zionist neocon nazis who, together with the military/security complex and Wall Street, control US foreign policy, by the complicity of Europe and Great Britain desperate to retain their CIA subsidies, and by the harlots that comprise the Western media.
Are Americans capable of comprehending this? Only a few have escaped The Matrix.
The consequence is that America is being locked into conflict with Russia and China. There is no possibility whatsoever of Washington invading either country, much less both, so war would be nuclear.
Do the American people want Washington to bring us this result? If not, why are the American people sitting there sucking their thumbs, doing nothing? Why are Europe and Great Britain sitting there permitting the unfolding of nuclear armageddon? Who murdered the peace movement?
The World and the American people need desperately to rein in the warmonger United States, or the world will cease to exist.
An International Court To Preserve Life On Earth needs to be assembled. The US government and the war interests it serves need to be indicted and prosecuted and disarmed before their evil destroys life on earth.