from Jenna Orkin:

Oil Price Cannot Remain at Low Level: Iraq Oil Minister
A Look at Economic Developments Around the Globe
Morgan Stanley Predicts Economic Collapse Worse Than Depression

Russia's New Best Friends
Russia Opens Gas Plant To Supply Asian Markets
Indian Cosmonauts in Russian Spaceships
Italy Hands Church to Russia, Hoping to Ease 1000 Year Schism
It's about time.
Kyev Hails Russian Proposal on Cooperation in Black Sea Fleet Emergencies
Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter
Clinton Vows to Bring Russia Back in from NATO Cold
Putin: Ruble Will Not Collapse
Russians Mourn Stalin

...and old enemies:
Russian Jet Fighters: Formidable Oponents of Western Technology
Alleged Arms Smuggler Says US Framed Him

From the birthplace of democracy:
Attackers Throw Firebombs at Bank in Athens
Gordon Brown Bankrupting Britain as Taxpayer Liabilities Soar
Austria Default Risk Passes Italy's as East Bet Sours

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch:
The Greatest Depression Underway
The Bottomless Economic Pit
Or: Fox News Grows Integrity During Democratic Administration.
US Financial System is Effectively Insolvent
Frontline: Inside the Meltdown
Downturn To Be Deeper Than IMF Forecast
Pension Liabilities to Hit Local, State Governments, Buffett Says
Economic Collapse Leads to Courthouse Cuts in Several States
LAPD Force Grows to Record Levels
Fed Expands Tools
Chase Becomes Third Largest Bank in World
Mounting US Debt Burden Threatens Poorer Nations
Wall St. Spent $5 Billion for Political Influence
The authors don’t blame either political party, noting that roughly 55 percent of the donations went to Republicans and 45 percent to Democrats. In the 2008 election cycle, they note, Democrats received slightly more than half of the financial sector’s contributions.

They also say that 142 of the lobbyists employed by 20 “leading financial firms” during this period “were previously high-ranking officials or employees in the Executive Branch or Congress.”
Abruptly, Expatriate Bankers Are Cut Loose
Indian, Chinese Immigrants Go Home for Better Life
Census of Agriculture Shows Disappearance of Midsize Farming
Fakes Enrich Dangerous Criminals
For Indian Tribes, Economic Necessity Collides with Tradition

Thanks to Wikileaks for the following four links.
Intelligence Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
RAND study
NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative
DHS Targets Respected Conservation Groups with Terrorism Label
Obama Administration Expands DOD Budget Secrecy - Wait; What?

Mexican Peso Falls to Record
Mexico Under Siege Amid War on Drug Cartels
20 Killed in Riot at Ciudad Juarez Prison
Venezuela Short of Money and Food
Riots in Suriname (Over Fake Toni Braxton)

US Hands Over Nine Suspected Pirates to Somalia
US Delivers Seven Somali Pirate Suspects to Kenya

South Korea Tackles Financial, Economic Crisis
South Korea, Iraq Sign $3.5 Billion Oil for Aid Deal
Nikkei Touches New Low
Indonesian Central Bank Lowers Key Rate to Record Low
NATO May Ask China for Support in Afghanistan
Pakistan Formally Demands Chenab Water From India
Mumbai Police Get FBI Evidence Linking Pakistan to 26/11
External Elements are Responsible for the Unrest in Swat
Unrest Among Indian Engineering Students
Worsening Sri Lanka Violence
Tibet Governor Dismisses Unrest Reports as Rumor

Australia: SBS in Funds Pitch to Stave Off Social Unrest

Coming Soon: Mass Migrations Spurred by Climate Change
The Making of the Age of Stupid Climate Change Film

Congratulations to All Cassandras On Y/our Pyrrhic Victory


from Jenna Orkin:


Russian Scholar Says US Will Collapse Next Year
Deja vu. Resurgence of the prediction that made the rounds a few months ago.
Beginning Now, the Panic Phase of the Collapse
Shock and Awe Economics
With about the same degree of success as in Iraq.
Dow Could Hit 4000
Buffett Says Economy in Shambles; Promises Recovery
Buffett Warns America of Onslaught of Inflation
What a sport.

Record Euro Zone GDP Fall as ECB Meets
German Industry Suffers Collapse in Demand
EU Pledges Eurozone Rescue
European Central Bank to Set Record Low Rates
ECB Cuts Rates to Record Low as Economy Sinks, Job Losses Mount
Europe's Freefalling Property Markets
European Manufacturing Contracts at Record Pace
Economic Crisis Threatens the Idea of One Europe
Eurex to Focus on Europe for Clearing of Credit Default Swaps
Bank of England's Printing Presses Ready to Roll


Ukraine's Naftogaz: Armed Men Enter Headquarters
Infighting Behind Raid
Iran Oil Bourse May Use Russian Ruble
Russia: A Bank Run [October] and Fear of a Repeat
Georgia Appeals to West Over Russian Bases
Russia: Armored Vehicles to the Palestinian Authority


Does New Zealand Face the Fate of Iceland?

Court Issues Warrant for Arrest of Sudan President
Bissau President Killed; New President Installed
South African Manufacturing Declines to Record Low


South Korea's Exports Drop 17.1% on Global Recession
South Korean Won Drops to 11 Year Low
SKorea Reports Record Fall in Industrial Output


India: RBI Rate Cuts Fail to Prop Markets
Citibank Applies for More Branch Licences

Economic Crisis Raising Specter of Public Unrest
World's Most Dangerous Countries
Time to Take the Blame for Unrest
China to Announce Stimulus as Fears of Social Unrest Arise
Where'd they come up with that novel idea?
Riots in Algeria
Armenia Riots
120 Thousand Take to Streets in Ireland
Unrest in Medina
India Pakistan Cricketers Attacked Reax
Where's the Evidence of India Hand in Lahore Attack? Pakistani Media (Hindu News)
Pakistan's Democracy in Peril
Power Play Behind Bangladesh's Mutiny
Gujarat Riots
Malaysia Unrest
Kenya Riots
Deal Ends Weeks of Unrest in Guadeloupe
Racial Unrest in Paris Texas


Half of World's Population Owns a Mobile Phone: UN Study
See MCR's last entry on necessity of land line

Surveillance Self-Defense
Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low in January
Construction Activity Falls at Record Pace in February
Bank of America Charges May Surge as Mortgages Marked to Market
Enron redux? On steroids?
Stock Doom and Gold Boom

Quote of the day:


Put the feds together with state and local hacks, altogether they will consume 40% of the nation's total output. Whoa...that's put it close to the levels of such free-market bastions as Zimbabwe and Algeria, both with 43% of spending done by government...and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, where the government spends 41% of GDP.By contrast, in France, that socialistic, bureaucrat-saturated country with the croissants, 53% of GDP is spent by the government.






But wait...in France healthcare is a government industry and so is the passenger train system. In America, 17% of GDP is spent on healthcare. As for the passenger trains...forget it...in America, we scarcely have any. So, if you add the 17% spent on private healthcare to the 40% you actually get a total higher than that of France. www.dailyreckoning.com

CARNAGE

by Michael C. Ruppert

March 2, 2009 -- I think almost everyone who hasn't, started to come out of denial today. Today's 300 point hit might be the best day this week. AIG and Citi are both teetering and it looks like bailouts are becoming an endangered species. Besides, who could take them seriously anymore. It's now time to make things real simple.

NEW GUIDELINES FOR COMMENTS -- Effective immediately I am instructing Jenna to limit comments to those that further the discussion of survival and whatever we can assemble through this blog's incredible collective wisdom. We all need to focus. It's perfectly OK to post things about music or other things that this family has enjoyed as mood lifters and/or comic relief. I'm making the announcement this way so as to make it clear that it was my call. So don't get mad at Jenna if you don't see your comment. I trust her judgment completely and she also has a wicked sense of humor. She's taught music history at Julliard so she damn well knows how to arrange. She is the conductor and we are all composers.

As the rest of the world gets looser, we must get tighter.

SURVIVAL TIP -- For everyone who thought it was a good thing to get rid of your land line telephone and just use your cell, think again. The real serious hits are coming PDQ. Major telecoms (all of which trade on Wall Street) have been and will inevitably cut back on repairs. Suppliers will stop shipping parts, labor cut back, etc... you know the rest. Satellites will go down. Cell towers will have intermittent failures. And all those gadgets will be heading the way of the dinosaurs over the next five years. Landlines are an excellent way to have redundancy and also avoid the eavesdropping technology that is all over the place and legal. It still takes a warrant to tap a land line. When the cell towers go down, or satellites fail, if you have a land line you will become a VIP in your neighborhood. It is good to be needed... and we all need to be good.

I am fine. Very busy. And deeply involved in my current mission. I check on you guys and miss the banter. I know I don't need to tell you what's happening and that gives me warm fuzzies. I am just so proud and honored by what I see here.

REALLY BAD FUCKING NEWS -- There is one story that really stuck out today. It seems that someone at Baxter Pharmaceuticals "accidentally" mixed H5N1 bird flu with a human virus into one vaccine and sent it off to Eastern Europe where it was injected into humans. For those who have been with me a long time you know what kind of investigative journalism we did on biowarfare and how it would be used to reduce population eventually. You know how well we documented the relentless quest for gene-specific bioweapons. Well, the only thing that was saving us from H5N1 bird flu was that it was generally considered not transmittable to humans. (Of course we known that it already has been on a small scale.) But here's a pharmaceutical company that we have written about at FTW (I think also in Rubicon) that's accomplished what nature couldn't. This story has zero credibility for how the screw up occurred because even the most basic lab protocols would prevent it. Combine DNA from H5N1 with a human viral DNA, inject into a human, and then watch the perfect mutation take place... The mother of all superbugs. I don't have time to rewrite what I have already written. In fact none of us have time to slow down for those who don't get it or who slow us down. (Combat veterans know this attitude very well.) Go to Rubicon and go to FTW and search for biowarfare or Baxter.

For about seven years now I have warned that an event like this would confirm that the die-off was planned... and underway. This sounds like a starting bell. Combine what we know about events in eastern Europe and this makes very sick sense. I don't think the elites will be able to control this anymore than they can fully control the collapse; or than Warren Buffet could control getting his clock cleaned... But then again, Buffet may be screaming louder than he's actually hurt.

OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE HOW BIRD FLU VIRUSES WERE SENT TO UNSUSPECTING LABS

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jJ4CmDnp1pP1ZqHShBeayzTuzsEA
On every front the real carnage is just beginning. Sharpen those senses of humor. I saw three people at the bank today have the ATM machine snatch their card. One happened right in front of me and two others were on their cell phones begging... This is also what was planned and PROMIS appears to be alive and well.

Now is an excellent time to find someone you really, really care about and make some serious, passionate love. If you don't have someone then do it to yourself...

If you don't love yourself, stay away from my dog.

MCR
*********************************************************************************

from Jenna Orkin:

Markets Dive as World Economy Reels
Merkel, EU Reject East Europe Bailout
Help for East Europe on Country Basis
European Central Bank to Pioneer Record Low Rates
Record High Jobless, Record Low Inflation
Bank of England Starting Pistol for Quantitative Easing aka Printing Money
The Longer Lloyd's Is Left, The Worse Things Will Get
AIG Reports Loss of $61.7 Billion as US Gives More Aid
Eastern Europe is dead. Long live AIG

Russia Cuts Gas to Ukraine But Not Rest of Europe
Anti-Presidential Rally in Crimea
The collapse of small, out of the way Iceland and Latvia are one thing. Ukraine, on the other hand, is the linchpin between Europe and Russia.
Lacking Fuel, Tajikistan Slides Into Darkness
Europeans Seek US Energy Drilling Know-how

Basra Oil Exports Down Due to Depleted Stocks
...and as the European Union disintegrates:
Southeast Asian Nations Talk of Economic Union
Shanghai Cooperation Council Urges Diplomacy on Iran Issue
Over Two Thirds Of Chinese Economists Favor Gold Over US Bonds
China Steel Lockdown Hits Exports
Meltdown Response: Ecuador Erects Trade Barriers
Riot and Northern Nigeria
Foreigners Answer Call to US Service

Pakistan in the Frame Over Bangladesh Uprising
The Pakistani intelligence services are suspected of being involved last week's Dhaka massacre of at least 77 Bangladesh Army officers.
Pakistan Unrest Over Court Ruling Barring Sharif
UK Government Urged to Help Ban WMDs in Sikh Homeland
Military experts have warned that Punjab will be the theatre of war and the conflict is likely to involve nuclear weapons resulting in millions of casualties.
Obama Team Lays Out New Afghan/Pakistan Approach

Buffett's Mea Culpa
Despite its record losses, Berkshire Hathaway still has about $25 billion of cash on hand and has been buying preferred shares of General Electric and Goldman Sachs,
Bad News on Jobs Forecast
Bank of America Loans Valued at $44 Billion Less Than Books Say
Bank of America To Bail Out NBA with $175 Million
JP Morgan Says Now Cutting 14,000 Employees
Why the IMF and Fort Knox Won't Put the Hurt on Gold

Why I Garden

from Jenna Orkin:

The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy
Economy Shrinks At Staggering Rate
Failure to Save East Europe Will Lead to Worldwide Meltdown
How the Economy Was Lost
This article has been described by GATA as, among other things, an ex-Treasury official's confirmation of the suppression of the price of gold.

In Europe, Breaking Up Is So Easy To Do
Ukraine's Collapse
Ukraine Shuts Soviet Radar as Russia Launches New One
To Counter Ukraine's Claims of Genocide, Moscow Admits to Mass Murder
So you see, Ukraine, it really wasn't personal; it was equal opportunity genocide. - JO
Russia's Putin Warns Against Protests
Hungary Seeks $230 Billion in Aid to Eastern Europe
Russian Bomber Neared Canada Before Obama Visit
Kyrgyzstan Leader Plays Russians Against Americans
South Korea "Hit by Lightning" By East Europe Concerns

Royal Bank of Scotland Reports Record Loss

"The Royal Bank of Scotland has posted the largest annual loss in UK history, and it will receive a further $28 billion of taxpayers' cash.

RBS was once one of the top five banks in the world."

Perhaps it still is, as they all now race in the opposite direction, towards the bottom. - JO
ECB President Stands to Gain More Powers
EU Confidence Drops on Unemployment

US Economy Shrinks 6.2 Per Cent
The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) fourth-quarter reading was far worse than the 5.4 percent rate expected by most analysts
US Stocks Slide on Citigroup Rescue, Worse-Than Expected GDP
What Will Happen If The US Dollar Is No Longer a Safe Haven?
Is America Becoming a Chinese Puppet State?
Chinese Finding US Real Estate a Real Bargain
Huge Increase in US Military Aid to Pakistan
Dividend Cuts Coming for Morgan Stanley and Goldman?
See February 26 blog's links on dividend cuts at JP Morgan et al.
JP Morgan Cuts 12000 Jobs in WaMu Merger
BofA May Be Next, Credit Analysts Say
Breach of Fiduciary Duty at Bank of America?
Re the Merrill Lynch acquisition
Bank of America's CEO Subpoenaed for List of Who Got Bonuses

Next Oil Shock Will Be Far Worse Than $147 A Barrel

India Joins Club of Nations Capable of Building Battleships

Apart from India, only the US, France and Russia have the capability to build warships of 40,000 tonnage capacity.

World Faces Last Chance to Avoid Fatal Warming
How to Survive the Coming Century

Article on climate change with interactive map.
Best Mushroom Products

Comment sent to the blog:

In response to the comment about where is the best place to store one's "survivalist seeds," the answer is "in your garden beds." It takes some practice to get good at growing food, especially if you depend on it (and it's not just a hobby). If the collapse takes some years to fully materialize, then there will be (barely) some time to practice. Some varieties will do better in your location than others. It takes some time to improve your soil with compost and mycellium (see www.fungi.com). You'll want to trade with others for things you can't grow or don't have space to grow. When you harvest the plants and seeds, the seeds should be stored in a dark, dry, cool place.

On the Road to 9/11, There Was 9/16

Sept. 16 was the culmination of a violent struggle between extreme elements of the American left and Wall Street-bankrolled capitalists, as the government shredded civil rights laws and emboldened its foes with its harsh tactics...


It is a story that overflows with fascinating characters. There is J. P. Morgan’s son Jack and the firm’s resident spin doctor, Thomas Lamont, who also owned The New York Evening Post. How convenient. One can only imagine the field day that today’s aggressive media would have with that. Morgan and Lamont were joined by the steel magnate Henry Clay Frick and the coal baron John Markle, both of whom survived anarchist assassination attempts.


But Ms. Gage also presents a Who’s Who of the American left — many of whom, of course, did not condone violence. Still, she says, it’s unsettling today to hear how some of them debated whether violence might be necessary to achieve their ends.


Against a backdrop of police action against strikers — and the deaths of so many workers in industrial accidents — “it was not unusual to hear the use of dynamite praised as a justifiable reaction to capitalist tyranny and a weapon of working-class self-defense,” she writes. “And that talk did, at least on occasion, translate into action.”

from Jenna Orkin:

Central Banks Have to Coordinate Efforts or Face Global Collapse
CIA Adds Economy to Threats
US, Russia, Plan to Destroy Chemical Weapons Imperiled By Crisis
FBI Fears Home-Trown Terrorism After US Citizen's Somalia Strike
FBI Director: Mumbai Attack Raises Questions of Terrorism in US
Mumbai Attackers Phones Traced to Italy
Mexican Drug Cartel Violence Spreads to U.S.
Bank Bailouts Around the World
Wall Street Drops on Misgivings About Obama Speech
Pentagon Officials Must Sign Budget Secrecy Pledge
The Next Domino: The Credit Card Debt Crisis
Ssh. No one mention Treasuries.

China Prepares to Buy Up Foreign Oil Companies
Oil for Money, China Style
The BRIC brigade
China Breaks Its Silence on Afghanistan
Thailand's Economy Joins Asian Slump
South Korea Sees Lumpy Road for Won, Slowing Bank-Debt Sale

Non-OPEC Oil Production Peaked in 2004
US Nuclear Supercarrier Sent To Fight Somali Pirates

Eastern European Tinderbox: How Explosive Could It Get?
Crimea Scene Investigation
Anti-NATO Protest in Crimea
Tajikistan Going Up Against Moscow Again
Scroll past first article to synopsis from Stratfor.
Bosnia Unraveling
Bank Bond Risk Soars to Record in Europe On Payment Concerns
EU Planning 200 Billion Euro Package for Eastern Europe
Latvia's Credit Rating Cut to Junk; Ratings Companies Warn of "Major Crisis" Brewing in Eastern Europe
Former Estonian Official Convicted of Treason
ECB Adds Voice to Warnings on Irish Public Pension Levy

Citibank Dumber Than Your Spam Filter
Terrorists in Athens Plant Bomb at Citibank
The 60 kilogram device, assembled with ammonium nitrate fuel oil - the explosive used in the Oklahoma City bombing - could have destroyed the four-storey building and killing hundreds.
Bank of America Robber Still on the Run
Bank of America Official Sentenced For Sending Stolen Money to Casino
JP Morgan Slashes Dividends 87 Per Cent
Prospect of Canadian Bank Dividend Cuts No Longer Seen Unlikely
Speculation Rises Over Wells Dividend
Fed Issues Guidelines on Bank Dividends
Following Bailout Money to Tax Havens

Quote of the Day:

"The Cato Institute estimates Zimbabwe's inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion percent...."

Putting that into perspective, the official count of stars in the universe is about 70 sextillion, apparently... http://www.dailyreckoning.com/
************************************************************************************

From Rice Farmer:

Soros Sees No Bottom for World Financial Collapse
Gone in Sixty Days: Citi and Bank of America Won't Live to See May
Taliban Bombs Made With British Electronics: Report

I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY

I have known for a long time that this day would come; the day when events would catch up with the map. For the time being I've got nothing to say; nothing I can say. All I want you guys to do -- the way we trained you -- is to just watch the news closely now. We have accomplished so much with our research and analytical skills. Those who have been with me and FTW for a long time will understand this perfectly. Take whatever you can glean and analyze on a daily basis and, if possible, figure out a way to make that apply locally. If it isn't relevant... fuggedaboudit.

Every day one of this list's stalwarts sends a select few an amazing culling of global news stories. I'd like to ask that person's permission to have those stories posted here every day on the main page. Those will help you more than anything I can say now... those of you who have learned how to read the map. You are my family. Those who don't get it won't have much time to play catch up. It's getting to be the time when the lifeboats must leave the wreck. It won't be a clear demarcation, but at some point what will happen is that those in the lifeboats will start caring only or mostly for each other until the imminent danger has passed.

I'm not going away. The Creator has timed this perfectly as I take care of other very important business for us. I am not leaving the field... not now.

MCR
***********************************************************************************

JO adds:

In view of Mike's recommendation above, the blog is going to become more restrictive with respect to comments published, focussing only on what is immediately relevant.

Taxpayer Takeover of Citi Should Bring More Fear
JP Morgan Chase To Issue Debit Cards For Unemployment Benefits in Alaska
DOD Officials See Terrorist Threat to America Brewing in Canada
Russia To Respond To Militarization of Arctic
Russia, Japan Should Boost Trade Ties, Medvedev Says
Ukraine-India Headed For Defense Cooperation Agreement
World Bank President: Eastern Europe Must Not Fail (Latvia Just Did)
EU Mulls Action as Ukraine Crumble Triggers Fears of Contagion for Europe
Gazprom Withholding Gas From Poland
CEE Banks in Unprecedented Verbal Intervention
Secret Report Reveals How Members of the European Parliament Make Millions
Tunnels Between US and Mexico
Afghanistan Slipping Out Of Control
Seeking a New Road from Afghanistan to the Sea - Through Iran
Zardari Wants China To Be Arbitrator For India/Pakistan Disputes
Growing China To Stay Hungry For Brazil's Resources
Dirty Bomb Parts Found in Slain Man's Home
Indian Buyers Dump Gold, Buy Platinum

Career Options for Ex-Wall Street Workers: Butler, Clown, Shredder
...or any combination therefrom

THE AMBULANCE

by Michael C. Ruppert

Russia and China just signed a $25 billion energy deal. Uhhhhh.... all that money that CNBC says the Chinese are going to use to buy T-Bills and such... Well, in spite of the fact that there are around 29 million unemployed (many of them displaced) in China; in spite of the fact that China is having its worst drought in 50 years, threatening its wheat crop (also hit by a fungus); in spite of the fact that this guarantees a catastrophic famine; in spite of the fact that widespread civil unrest is the worst-kept secret in China... I don't think there's much chance China's going to be buying much of anything from us, let alone our very-questionable debt. And now by signing an energy deal with Russia, China is signalling where it's going to be spending its money.

Locally.

Well, that leaves Japan to finance our debt...

Doh!

GM is about to go under and gold is ready to rocket through $1,000 an ounce. Remember that last September I predicted that gold will be around $2,000 an ounce by March? Remember that I predicted that GM or Chrysler would be gone by the spring? We put all this solidly on the map at FTW and in "Rubicon". So many great writers and thinkers have been building this map from many directions in stark detail for so long. Why is it that TPTB can't see us? Why can't they see what's coming like we can? We're invisible to them... but only for a short while longer. And they can't see what we see (or even us) because we are out of their box and we have glimpsed over their ever-diminishing dinosaur horizons. We know where the paths lead... The dinosaurs are starting to become alarmed.

Europe is absolutely imploding economically, especially Eastern Europe... It won't be long now...

Bring it on. We're ready.

The beginning of the end indeed... Everybody in the PeakOil/Sustainability movement needs to start getting their tracks shoes on and their heads right. Hydrate and get your shit together. The world's being beaten to death and we're the ambulance.
*************************************************************************************

Jenna Orkin adds:

Warning for the West as Crisis Spills Onto the Streets
US Refinery Delays May Spur Supply Crunch
Mystery Deepens Around Ukrainian Gas Firm
"I think what matters most for the Ukrainian government is not the gas price," Putin said during a meeting with reporters, "but rather the opportunity to retain certain intermediaries to use the dividends for private purposes, to accumulate personal wealth and obtain financial resources for further political campaigns."
Russia in Latam Push with Bolivia Gas pipelines
Coordinated Inflation Could Bail Us All Out
A rising tide lifts all boats!

The influence of Dr. Gono shines forth from the pages of the Financial Times
World Heads For Water Bankruptcy
JP Morgan Employee Survived Six Floor Leap

CIA Helped Pakistan, India Share Info in Mumbai Case
UN Crime Chief Says Drug Money Flowed Into Banks
US Official Says Drones Use Pakistan Base
What about Cracking the Benazir Case?
[T]here are fears that giving unfettered access to international investigators could create complications of its own if they were to come across evidence that implicated Pakistan as a state in terrorist activities....

[Former Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokar] also expressed the concern that India would now put up a “laundry-list” of more demands for Pakistan to meet that could create more tensions between the two countries, especially as New Delhi had declared that in Pakistan, it did not see a distinction between non-State actors and the State.
Israel Now India's Top Defense Supplier
Iran Rethinks Gas Supply Security for India
Obama and the Afghan Narco State
US To Send Pirates to Kenya

THE BEGINNING OF THE END
A Letter to President Barack Obama

by Michael C. Ruppert
(C) Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved. Michael C. Ruppert

FEB. 17, 2009, 11:00 PM PST

Dear Mr. President:

Today, as you signed your recovery package into law, you said that this was "the beginning of the end."

No shit!

The death and collapse of the U.S. and global economies has been inevitable for some time. The collapse of industrialized civilization cannot be prevented by any plan or scheme invented by any political party operating in the current economic paradigm. There are alternatives and options that can save hundreds of millions, if not billions, of lives, but they are outside the box that you think in. I and many others have foreseen and accurately predicted these events for years. We are known as the Peak Oil/Sustainability Movement. Because of our incredible accuracy in predicting events to this point, over decades, you might want to pay attention to what we and a growing number of honest business reporters are saying about what is coming next.

With all respect, when you said "beginning of the end" with that sincere smile, transmitting hope and confidence, it sent a shudder down my spine. All you are doing is buying time to prevent the collapse of totally dysfunctional marriage where the mother (the government) kills the children (us) to save her relationship with the father (the way money works). The time has come to admit to the people the catastrophic event horizon before us and all of humankind. I cannot believe that you do not see this. And, if you do see it, then what you said today was the biggest Hail Mary pass in American political history. Those, Mr. President, are words that will come back to haunt you and it scares me to think that you might be cynical enough to try and sell it to us.

Mr. President, what you said today was a "tell" of desperation. There are those who want to help you, who are eager to help you. But you must look at us and call us by our name. Otherwise it will not be long before one of two things happens. Either you and the government of the United States will be compelled to listen to us, or else the people will stop listening to you.

The President we need now is not Abraham Lincoln.

It is Thomas Jefferson.


Sincerely,

Michael C. Ruppert
*************************************************************************************

The Man Behind the Curtain Revealed

by Jenna Orkin


As we all lunge towards Wikipedia to figure out what it is about Thomas Jefferson that makes him such an apt mentor, I believe Mike's referring to two things:

1. Jefferson's emphasis on local rather than federal government. This is going to play out anyway in the coming years, whether TPTB like it or not.

2: His resistance to the establishment of a central bank that was not beholden to the people whose taxes maintained it. Hamilton won the argument by conceding that the bank would have to retain a gold reserve.

The rest, as they say, is history. As are we about to become, when the end President Obama mentioned we're at the beginning of, arrives in force.

But even as we players strut on the stage in the final act of whatever drama this is, it's gratifying at last to understand our role and to learn the name of the author.

Turns out, the drama's The Wizard of Oz.

First revealed by school teacher Henry Littlefield in 1964, and explicated superbly by Ellen Hodgson Brown in Web of Debt, the fable was written c. 1900 to protest events which would culminate in the establishment of the Federal Reserve. Author Frank Baum did not trust gold which is in notoriously short supply; hence the failure of the yellow brick road to get Dorothy where she wanted to go. In the original story, the magic slippers that finally did the trick were silver.

The scarecrow represented farmers who felt intimidated by the city slickers setting up the Fed. The tin man represented factory workers. And the cowardly lion was William Jennings Bryant whom Baum was trying to enCourage [sic] to fight the good Populist fight.

So the wizard, as we always suspected, was the Alan Greenspan of his day. Fittingly, at the end, he goes off in a hot air balloon which is what Mr. Greenspan was always so full of.

Brown doesn't mention it, but I wonder if the tornado that got the story off the ground, so to speak, was a vortex of inflation or the crash of 1873.

Perhaps all this was clear to audiences when the book was first published. Or perhaps, in the spirit of Baum's contemporaries, Messrs. Freud and Jung, the characters were simply intended to resonate with the archetypal Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the collective unconscious.

As for Oz, that stood for 'ounces.'


Top of the Agenda: US Troop Boost in Afghanistan
Just in time for the unemployment crisis. Note the article further down: Mysterious Attack on presidential palace in Equatorial Guinea.
Russia Restricts Gas to Poland
Over-exposed to Emerging Europe
"It is quite likely that the emerging-markets exposure of European banks exceeds even that of US lenders to Alt-A [Alternative-A] and sub-prime loans."

"I don't think that the EU will let any of these big banks fail," Deuber says. But if they do have to recapitalise their subsidiaries with sizable amounts, he continues, they and their governments will regard those new EU members such as Poland and the Czech Republic as more like core markets, while those countries less integrated with the EU and worse hit by the crisis, such as Ukraine, could be let go.
Crisis Tops G7 Agenda

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB had not drawn any particular conclusions after discussions with other central banks.
"I have said that I did not exclude additional non-standard action, but no decision has been taken yet on top of the non-standard action we have already decided to do and we will see," he said on Saturday.

Why does that language sound so familiar? Oh yes: That's how Gideon Gono used to describe his actions as Finance Minister of Zimbabwe.
Eastern Europe Could Dump Gold
Despite Obama Pledge, Justice Defends Bush Secrets
JP Morgan Launches Gold-Linked CDs
"The payout will... be around 30%." In other words, they're capping it.
JP Morgan Sees $6.4 Billion Capital Shortfall at Deutschebank
Russia's State Arms Exporter has $20 Billion in Foreign Orders

Germany, France, May Face Bailout of Nations, Not Just Banks
“I would be very reluctant to say: ‘O.K., let Ireland or Greece default, the market will sort it out, punish them for their irresponsibility of the past,’” said Thomas Mayer, co-head of global economics at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “They tried it with Lehman and realized that was not a good idea.”

When push comes to shove, Maastricht Treaty be damned. -- JO

Eastern Europe Is About To Blow
Could the Eastern Bloc Bring Down Europe?
Geithner Joins G-7 as Europe Economy Tanks
Is Ireland the Next Big Bomb in the Global Debt Crisis?
Biggest Fall in Japan's GDP in 35 Years
"There is no question that this is the worst economic crisis since the end of World War II," said economy minister Kaoru Yosano.
BRIC Goes Bust?
Strikes Similar to Mumbai
In Afghanistan, of all places.
NATO Chief: More European Troops in Afghanistan
Russia to Help US in Afghanistan for a Price
U.S. Regrets Russia's Plan For Establishing Bases in Abkhazia, S. Ossetia
Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World
US Intelligence Chief Calls Economic Crisis a Security Threat
Derivatives for Dummies

Quote of the day:
So you see, dear reader, how deliciously the plot turns? In the bubble years, the bankers ripped off the public...pretending to make them rich, of course...while the regulators looked the other way. Now, the politicians create a distraction, pretending to punish the bankers, while together they pick the public’s pocket for $3 or $4 trillion more. The bankers are judged guilty; but the audience hangs.
(The Daily Reckoning)

--JO