Charlie Echo

Connecting the Dots Behind the Curtain. This should answer with certainty any doubt this is all about covering the Corruption, Treason and conspiracy to commit.. Hang them all. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/connecting-the-dots-behind-the-curtain/

Basel III Share What is 'Basel III' Basel III is an international regulatory accord that introduced a set of reforms designed to improve the regulation, supervision and risk management within the banking sector. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published the first version of Basel III in late 2009, giving banks approximately three years to satisfy all requirements. Largely in response to the credit crisis, banks are required to maintain proper leverage ratios and meet certain minimum capital requirements.

I resemble that short video... Ha!!!

Saw this after Cranan post... Very interesting.

MGM is in crisis as hundreds of Las Vegas shooting victims accuse the Mandalay Bay of missing red flags "If Congress isn't regulating gun ownership, it is going to be private parties ... who end up regulating their own premises," Feldman said. The hotel industry has no national standards for security, and hotels aren't typically held accountable for guests' behavior. But if any of the hundreds of victims suing Mandalay Bay win their case, it could set a new precedent for the way hotels handle security. http://www.businessinsider.com/mgm-and-mandalay-bay-could-be-held-liable-for-las-vegas-shooting-2017-11 Why has this story been kept so quiet.... It is right in front of us folks... Gun control or More control put in place in our country... Black Ops , False Flag operation...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-hawija/islamic-state-driven-out-of-last-stronghold-in-northern-iraq-idUSKBN1CA0FJ BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces announced on Thursday they had captured Islamic State’s last stronghold in northern Iraq, leaving the militant group holed up near the Syrian border as its self-proclaimed “caliphate” shrinks further. The town of Hawija and the surrounding areas fell in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops and Iranian-trained and armed Shi‘ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation. Some fighting took place to the north and east of the town where the militants were surrounded. With the fall of Hawija, which lies near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, the only area that remains under control of Islamic State in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria, where the militant group is also in retreat. The capture of Hawija was a boost for the Iraqi government, which faces a separate crisis in the north of the country, where the Kurdish minority last month voted overwhelmingly in support of independence for their autonomous region. In Hawija, state TV showed footage of Iraqi forces raising flags in one of the town's squares while Humvees patrolled empty streets littered with car wrecks, houses riddled with bullets and shattered storefronts. (Graphics on 'Iraqi Kurds' independence push' - here) “The army’s 9th armored division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and ... Popular Mobilisation liberated Hawija,” said a statement from the joint operations commander, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah. Thick black smoke rose from areas surrounding Hawija, from oil wells set on fire by the militants to prevent air detection. The capture of Hawija brings Iraqi forces into direct contact with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who control Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Kirkuk shaped up as a flashpoint last month when the KRG included the city in the referendum on Kurdish independence in northern Iraq. “We don’t want any aggression or confrontations but the federal authority must be imposed in the disputed areas,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a news conference in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron offered to mediate between the Iraqi government and Kurdish regional authorities, and promised to maintain a military presence there until Islamic State was defeated.

Kurdistan 92.73% ‘yes’ for independence: preliminary official results People of Kurdistan headed to the polls on Monday, September 25, despite the opposition of the regional and international countries. Photo: AFP/Safin Hamed ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An overwhelming majority of the people of Kurdistan have voted for independence, the election commission announced on Wednesday, releasing preliminary figures that 92.73 percent of voters cast ‘yes’ ballots. Out of 3,085,935 valid ballots, 2,861,471 votes were for independence and 224,464 were against, 7.2 percent. The electoral commission announced that 79,379 votes were spoiled and a further 170,611 were disregarded after reviewing complaints. The figures also include e-votes cast by the diaspora. Handren Mohammed, the head of the commission, told reporters that the process was “successful” and international observers who witnessed the “historic” vote have testified that it was held in a proper way. He said the results will be considered final when approved by the Kurdish Court of Appeal. The electoral commission has not yet released a breakdown of the votes by cities and provinces. Iraq Deploys Troops To Kirkuk After Kurdistan "Yes" Vote; Turkey Threatens Blockade Immediately on the heels of the Iraqi Kurdistan "yes" vote, the Iraqi parliament approved sending troops to the disputed Kirkuk region to prevent the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from taking full control of the oil-rich area. Preliminary official results out Wednesday indicate a 92% vote in favor of Kurdish independence. A written statement produced by Baghdad said the decision aims to protect Iraqi citizens residing in the contested area between Baghdad and Erbil. But the decision is also no doubt motivated by protection of Kirkuk's multiple oil and gas fields, which Baghdad has now ordered the KRG to hand over, including all other oil facilities throughout northern Iraq. The KRG held its deeply controversial referendum on Kurdish independence Monday, which as expected resulted in a "yes" vote to declare the autonomous Iraqi region a new state. Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani announced the results of the referendum on live TV Tuesday, while attempting to ease tensions by urging "serious dialogue" with the Baghdad government instead of threats of sanctions and troop presence. Barzani further warned Iraqi Kurds of "facing hardships" while also pleading with world powers to “to respect the will of millions of people”. Currently, Israel is the only country which has voiced public support for Kurdish independence - something which has earned the condemnation of Turkey, Iran, and others in the region. Israel stands accused of using the Kurds of to Balkanize Iraq and the broader Arab region. Turkey for its part has come close to warning Israel that it could cut diplomatic ties should Israel continue in its public support of an independent Kurdistan. This week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned, “If they do not review, we cannot take a lot of steps that we were about to take with Israel” - to which Israeli lawmakers responded that such threats were "empty". Kurdish-Iraqi disputed regions of Iraq. The tan areas are disputed but are officially under the control of the Iraqi government. The pink sections are disputed but part of the KRG since 1991. Map source: Wiki Commons But Erdogan had more direct and harsher words for Kurdish leadership, saying in a televised speech Tuesday that, "If Barzani and the Kurdish Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war." While referencing what appears to be an emerging Israeli-Kurdistan open alliance and mutual support, Erdogan further stated, “Who will recognize your independence? Israel. The world is not about Israel. You should know that the waving of Israeli flags there will not save you.” Both Iran and Turkey have amassed troops and significant military hardware along their borders with Kurdistan, including tanks which are participating in war games as a show of force. Iraqi troops have reportedly joined Turkish troops in conducting joint military exercises in the region. As we previously reported, Iran immediately closed its airspace to the two international airports located in territory administered by the KRG, and Baghdad has demanded that these be handed over as well. The Baghdad government has further declared closure of airspace over Kurdish northern Iraq, prompting some regional carriers to indefinitely suspend flights into Erbil. Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) was the first to announce it would be suspending flights "until they solve the issue." And Royal Jordanian, FlyDubai, Turkish Airlines and EgyptAir are among the latest to join the growing list. Iraqi PM Abadi has given the KRG three days to surrender not only the airports, but all land crossings as well. Border crossings into Syrian Kurdis areas of Syria have reportedly been kept open by the KRG and/or Kurdish militias administering the crossings. Image source: Iraq Energy Institute But more significant is Turkey's threat of blockade on the region. Kurdistan's Ministry of Trade and Industry estimates business exchanges with Turkey and Iran exceed $10 billion per year. Kurdistan imports 95% of its agriculture needs from Turkey and Iran and depends on Turkey to export its oil. Turkey has long been a key economic and trade lifeline to landlocked Iraqi Kurdistan. By the numbers, the KRG controls over 20% of Iraqi oil (Iraq produces around 4.35 million barrels per day and Kurdistan 900,000 b/d), its energy reserves are estimated around 45 billion barrels of oil and 150 trillion cubic meter of gas, and it exports around 600.000 b/d via Turkey. Oil has long been the source of dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, and is especially contested when it comes to fields along the conventional disputed "borders" of Kurdish Iraq, of which Kirkuk is part. Kirkuk fell under the control of Kurdish forces in 2014 after ISIS took control of large swathes of the country. As ISIS was defeated and retreated from some areas, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters moved in. On Wednesday Abadi told Iraqi lawmakers that that he will “enforce the rule of the federal authority in the Kurdish region with the power of the constitution,” while adding that he doesn't want “a fight between the Iraqi citizens.” Though Baghdad has signaled on multiple occasions that it will avoid military confrontation and has "ruled out use of force" while seeking dialogue, it is unclear what will actually happen once Iraqi and Kurdish forces attempt to maintain control of the same disputed city. In the meantime Baghdad has formally requested that the KRG rescind the referendum - something unlikely to happen - and has warned that meaningful dialogue would not be possible until such a step be taken.

If you can read a chart... enough said... There's nothing fancy here, just the basics of moving averages, RSI, stochastics and MACD. There's not much to encourage Bulls in the daily chart: every attempt to regain the support of the 20-day moving average has failed, and triggered another leg down. RSI and stochastics are oversold, but as this chart illustrates, oversold conditions can continue for quite some time. MACD may be setting up the beginnings of a divergence/reversal, but maybe not. At this point, betting on a reversal might be a case of catching the falling knife. The weekly chart is even more dramatic. Judging by the steep decline this year, the world is ending--at least for the USD. RSI is oversold for the first time in 2+ years, stochastics have been deeply oversold for months, and MACD is in a cliff-dive that could end in a belly-flop. The only shred of bullish hope is the decline has finally reached key support/resistance at the 200-week moving average (MA) around 92, a level that also happens to be support going back 2+ years. A definitive plunge below this support would suggest the freefall has more to go, while a defense of this level would offer some initial stirrings of support for an eventual reversal. A quick glance at the open options a couple months out on the USD ETF, UUP, finds significant volumes clustered around strike 24 puts--bets UUP will drop below its current level around 24-- and strike 25 calls--bets that the USD will recover in a sharp rally. Punters seem well-positioned to hedge a big move up or down--just what we'd expect after months of steep decline to a key support zone. Is the Eurozone economy and banking sector fixed, and all the EU political tensions resolved? Is the Eurozone doing much better than the U.S. on all fronts? The sharp gains in the euro seem to suggest so. Skeptics might want to keep an eye on the USD charts for a market-sentiment read of these political-social-financial trends.

John Embry: “One issue that is being discussed with greater frequency, although never mentioned in the mainstream media, is the subject of de-dollarization. Stephen Leeb has done an excellent job discussing the subject. However, the true ramifications of this for the Western world cannot be understated. The U.S. has benefitted enormously from their privileged position of providing the world’s reserve currency since the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944. The U.S. has abused this privilege terribly, living far beyond its means while flooding the world with increasingly more worthless U.S. dollars. But the rest of the world is waking up to this unpleasant reality and taking steps to address it. When the U.S. dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency, and that day is rapidly approaching, the implications for the vastly over-indebted bottom 75 percent of the American public are horrifying. At least half the population is already living day-to-day, with a virtual inability to meet an unexpected expenditure and absolutely no retirement savings to speak of. Thus, the Western central banks are working overtime, in unison, to extend the current fantasy as long as possible. Interest rates are being held at ridiculously low levels, which are totally at odds with the rapid debasement of all global fiat currencies. Stock markets are being supported at historically overvalued levels. And real estate continues to be a major beneficiary of these developments. When this ends, and it most assuredly will, the living standards in the West will be devastated, and then we will find out how well Western society holds together. As part of this whole exercise, gold and silver are being relentlessly suppressed in the paper markets in London and the United States. You could see the recent takedown coming as Open Interest on the Comex grew relentlessly as the bullion banks, who are acting as agents for the Western central banks, shorted enormous quantities of paper contracts in order to halt the rally. At the same time, they trotted out their agents in the media and elsewhere to spread their usual disinformation. But the Eastern hemisphere is on to this fraud being perpetrated by the Western central banks and they are relentlessly buying physical gold, while rapidly taking steps to dethrone the U.S. dollar. When the dollar is finally dethroned, investors who have large physical gold and silver holdings as well as their respective shares will be the ones who survive because these assets will be one of the few ports in a violent financial storm.” One must ask the question. If the US dollar is decreasing in value, how does this effect the realation or valuation of the IQD. After all, questions sometime are more important than answers. Charlie Echo

Has Iraq Stopped Cheating On The OPEC Deal? OPEC’s no.2 Iraq is currently producing 4.32 million bpd of oil, below the 4.351 million bpd ceiling it had pledged in the production cut deal, Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Friday, in what is the first sign that one of the worst-compliant producers so far may have finally started to stick to its commitment—a couple of months after the original agreement was set to expire. Despite Iraq’s optimism, its central government doesn’t yet have the full picture of the oil exports of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Al-Luaibi said after meeting with Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Moscow. Iraq’s oil exports are up to 3.23 million bpd, Al-Luaibi told reporters, adding that Kurdish crude exports are at between 300,000 bpd and 350,000 bpd. According to data on tanker traffic compiled by Bloomberg, total exports from Kurdistan—including production of some fields in the region that are governed by the central government—averaged 581,000 bpd in August, up by 31,000 bpd over July and the highest since May. Iraq was the worst compliant producer in the first half of 2017, with output averaging 69,000 bpd over its quota between January and June, according to S&P Global Platts OPEC survey—which is one of OPEC’s secondary sources. Concerned with slipping compliance, OPEC held a meeting with some of the producers in early August and cited its members Iraq and the UAE, as well as non-OPEC signatories to the deal Kazakhstan and Malaysia, as laggards in compliance. Now Iraq is telling the market that it not only complies, but exceeds its compliance rate, and “is really committed” to the deal, according to Al-Luaibi’s remarks in Moscow today. Related: Russia’s Comeback In The LNG Race Referring to a possible extension of the cuts beyond the current end-date of March 2018, the Iraqi oil minister reiterated the position of other officials of OPEC’s heavyweights—it’s too early to discuss it now and a decision whether to further extend the pact will be made in November. The oil market is moving in the right direction towards rebalancing, but all options, including extending the cuts beyond March 2018, are left open, the joint OPEC/non-OPEC committee set up to monitor compliance with the cuts and the state of the oil market said last week. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Has-Iraq-Stopped-Cheating-On-The-OPEC-Deal.html

China Readies Yuan-Priced Crude Oil Benchmark Backed By Gold The world’s top oil importer, China, is preparing to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan and convertible into gold, potentially creating the most important Asian oil benchmark and allowing oil exporters to bypass U.S.-dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan, Nikkei Asian Review reports. The crude oil futures will be the first commodity contract in China open to foreign investment funds, trading houses, and oil firms. The circumvention of U.S. dollar trade could allow oil exporters such as Russia and Iran, for example, to bypass U.S. sanctions by trading in yuan, according to Nikkei Asian Review. To make the yuan-denominated contract more attractive, China plans the yuan to be fully convertible in gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges. Last month, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary Shanghai International Energy Exchange, INE, successfully completed four tests in production environment for the crude oil futures, and the exchange continues with preparatory works for the listing of crude oil futures, aiming for the launch by the end of this year. ? “The rules of the global oil game may begin to change enormously,” Luke Gromen, founder of U.S.-based macroeconomic research company FFTT, told Nikkei Asia Review. The yuan-denominated futures contract has been in the works for years, and after several delays, it looks like it may be launched this year. Some potential foreign traders have been worried that the contract would be priced in yuan. ........... http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/China-Readies-Yuan-Priced-Crude-Oil-Benchmark-Backed-By-Gold.html

A new report from Amnesty International suggests that companies including Apple, Samsung and Sony are profiting from child labor in Africa — and no one should be surprised. It’s been public knowledge for years that electronics are stuffed with minerals that come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a war-torn place rich in must-have materials that are rarely found elsewhere. Less well-known, however, is how these sometimes blood-soaked metals move from the DRC into the supply chains of some of the world’s richest and most powerful tech companies. While these companies carry considerable influence and are aware of the controversy surrounding their supply chains, a number of complicating factors make it difficult — if not impossible — for them to solve the problem of child labor. ...... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cobalt-batteries-child-labor_us_569e5121e4b0cd99679b510c This is why all the bleeding heart liberals want to save the planet by buying a battery powered car... but never mind the children. hypocrites.

Iraq’s PM Hails Victory over ‘Brutality and Terrorism’ in Mosul http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/07/11/iraqs-pm-hails-victory-brutality-terrorism-mosul/ With that being said.... one brick at a time... hurry up and wait.

As corruption runs rampant, hope dimmers for Iraq's future http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13986/As-corruption-runs-rampant-hope-dimmers-for-Iraq-s-future

It’s an unfortunate historical anomaly that people think about the paper in their wallets as money. The dollar is, technically, a currency. A currency is a government substitute for money. But gold is money. Now, why do I say that? Historically, many things have been used as money. Cattle have been used as money in many societies, including Roman society. That’s where we get the word “pecuniary” from: the Latin word for a single head of cattle is pecus. Salt has been used as money, also in ancient Rome, and that’s where the word “salary” comes from; the Latin for salt is sal (or salis). The North American Indians used seashells. Cigarettes were used during WWII. So, money is simply a medium of exchange and a store of value. By that definition, almost anything could be used as money, but obviously, some things work better than others; it’s hard to exchange things people don’t want, and some things don’t store value well. Over thousands of years, the precious metals have emerged as the best form of money. Gold and silver both, though primarily gold. There’s nothing magical about gold. It’s just uniquely well suited among the 98 naturally occurring elements for use as money…in the same way aluminum is good for airplanes or uranium is good for nuclear power. There are very good reasons for this, and they are not new reasons. Aristotle defined five reasons why gold is money in the 4th century BCE (which may only have been the first time it was put down on paper). Those five reasons are as valid today as they were then. When I give a speech, I often offer a prize to the audience member who can tell me the five classical reasons gold is the best money. Quickly now—what are they? Can’t recall them? Read on, and this time, burn them into your memory. Money If you can’t define a word precisely, clearly, and quickly, that’s proof you don’t understand what you’re talking about as well as you might. The proper definition of money is as something that functions as a store of value and a medium of exchange. Government fiat currencies can, and currently do, function as money. But they are far from ideal. What, then, are the characteristics of a good money? Aristotle listed them in the 4th century BCE. A good money must be all of the following: Durable: A good money shouldn’t fall apart in your pocket nor evaporate when you aren’t looking. It should be indestructible. This is why we don’t use fruit for money. It can rot, be eaten by insects, and so on. It doesn’t last. Divisible: A good money needs to be convertible into larger and smaller pieces without losing its value, to fit a transaction of any size. This is why we don’t use things like porcelain for money—half a Ming vase isn’t worth much. Consistent: A good money is something that always looks the same, so that it’s easy to recognize, each piece identical to the next. This is why we don’t use things like oil paintings for money; each painting, even by the same artist, of the same size and composed of the same materials is unique. It’s also why we don’t use real estate as money. One piece is always different from another piece. Convenient: A good money packs a lot of value into a small package and is highly portable. This is why we don’t use water for money, as essential as it is—just imagine how much you’d have to deliver to pay for a new house, not to mention all the problems you’d have with the escrow. It’s also why we don’t use other metals like lead, or even copper. The coins would have to be too huge to handle easily to be of sufficient value. Intrinsically valuable: A good money is something many people want or can use. This is critical to money functioning as a means of exchange; even if I’m not a jeweler, I know that someone, somewhere wants gold and will take it in exchange for something else of value to me. This is why we don’t—or shouldn’t—use things like scraps of paper for money, no matter how impressive the inscriptions upon them might be. Actually, there’s a sixth reason Aristotle should have mentioned, but it wasn’t relevant in his age, because nobody would have thought of it…it can’t be created out of thin air. Not even the kings and emperors who clipped and diluted coins would have dared imagine that they could get away with trying to use something essentially worthless as money. These are the reasons why gold is the best money. It’s not a gold bug religion, nor a barbaric superstition. It’s simply common sense. Gold is particularly good for use as money, just as aluminum is particularly good for making aircraft, steel is good for the structures of buildings, uranium is good for fueling nuclear power plants, and paper is good for making books. Not money. If you try to make airplanes out of lead, or money out of paper, you’re in for a crash. That gold is money is simply the result of the market process, seeking optimum means of storing value and making exchanges.

By dropping charges against major arms targets, the administration infuriated Justice Department officials — and undermined its own counterproliferation task forces. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/24/obama-iran-nuclear-deal-prisoner-release-236966

Listen to all but talk about the IQD not happening is around the 32:40 area.... sounds like we have all been on a long con game.... FIAT currencies always fail. Always.

Why do we not see a correlation between the increased value of the US $ in the FX markets when it comes to comparatives of USD/IQD. The valuations never seem to move in a percentage value when the changes occur with either upward or downward pressure. It seems to me the value of the IQD is abstract at best.

The RV is on hold indefinitely due to the BREXIT effect and the downturn in worldwide economic conditions. Rail traffic is down half, trucking is down 46% (goods sold and demand is lowest since 1984) Dry Baltic rate is at the lowest since it has been measured (shipping) speaking of shipping tankers are at capacity with nowhere to unload their oil. Prices are artificially up and if Iraq is waiting for prices to stabilize, they are being manipulated just like all other commodities in the world through ETFs or paper contracts. Deutsche Bank has been busted for price fixing and manipulation of commodities and stocks for the last 20 years. Will be naming other banks (JP Morgan, Bank of America, USB, or others) which are all in on the game to keep the prices at a level where their derivatives contracts will continue to pay enormous profits (.86 for every dollar sold) The end game for the fiat currencies is at an end... remember the Weimar Republic's Reichsbank, Rudolf von Havenstein warning about the same type of situation in Germany.. only this time it is world wide. Greece, Austria, Cyprus... Venezuela is in a major crisis. Guy's. this isn't going to end well and we may be for a long period of "bank holidays",so be prepared. The IQD may be a currency in the future that comes into it's own, but for now, I just can't see it happening.. hope I'm completely wrong... This is why we probably won't see anything at all this year.... don't you agree Adam?

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org, On Saturday night, Omar Mateen was a loner and a loser. Sunday, he was immortal, by his standards, a hero. Mateen had ended his life in a blaze of gunfire and glory. Now everybody knew his name. He had been embraced by ISIS. His face was on every TV screen. His 911 call to Orlando police identifying with the Islamic State and the Tsarnaev brothers of the Boston Marathon massacre was being heard across America. He was being called the most successful Islamist terrorist since 9/11. A hater of homosexuals, Mateen had, all alone, massacred more than four dozen patrons at a *** Florida nightclub, wounded 53, and driven deeper the wedges breaking up America. When it was learned that he used an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, America’s gun wars were reignited. And make no mistake. There are out there in society some few looking at what Mateen did, and how he left this world, not in revulsion and disgust but admiration and awe. Omar Mateen will not lack for emulators. While we see him as a sick and crazed mass murderer, some will see him, as he surely saw himself, as a warrior for Islam and Muslim martyr who earned paradise. Yet, Hillarious Clinton and Barack Obama seemed either unable to recognize the roots of Mateen’s malice, or they were inhibited from identifying those roots by the commands of political correctness. The president called this “an act of hate,” but declined to name the source of the hatred or motive for the massacre. Where did Omar Mateen learn to hate not just homosexuality but the homosexuals themselves? Where did he come to believe that they deserved to die and he had a right to kill them? Where might he have gotten such ideas? Who teaches this? Well, not only do the Taliban and ISIS hurl homosexuals off buildings and stone them to death but 10 nations — Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Yemen and Pakistan — impose the death penalty for homosexual acts. Peoples of these nations approve, for such laws find sanction in the holy book, the Quran. Sharia teaches that homosexuality is a vile form of fornication, punishable by death. Clinton declared that we must redouble our efforts to work with “our allies and partners” to go after international terror groups. Did she have in mind the Saudis and Gulf Arabs? For they have on their books laws calling for beheading the same sort of people Mateen shot to death at the Pulse club in Orlando, and for the same reason — what it is they do. A co-worker said Mateen had an abiding rage over the behavior of American women. Where did Mateen get that idea? After San Bernardino, where an ISIS-adoring Pakistani woman and her husband perpetrated a massacre, Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, until they could be better vetted, and we “can figure out what the hell is going on,” This was regarded as quintessentially un-American. But “refugees” from the Syrian war have been found abetting Islamist atrocities in Paris. Terror cells containing “refugees” from Syria’s civil war have been discovered in Angela Merkel’s Germany. We are learning that second-generation Muslims like Mateen seem susceptible to Islamist imams preaching terror against the West to advance the restoration of the caliphate. Does this not suggest a pause, and a long hard look before we continue with a policy of warmly welcoming all refugees fleeing the half-dozen wars roiling the Islamic world? After World War II, we vetted German and East European migrants to ensure they were not fleeing Nazis or Soviet saboteurs or spies. No one seemed to regard that as outrageous. Devout Muslims believe there is “no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet.” Logically then, Muslim nations reject a “First Amendment” in their own societies that would protect a right of Christians to convert Muslims, or any “freedom of speech” that permits the mockery of Muhammad. The iconoclasts at Charlie Hebdo learned that the penalty for blasphemy against Islam or insulting the prophet can be severe. “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat.” So wrote Kipling. Islam, not only in its extremist forms but in its pure form, is incompatible with modern Western democracy. And the conflict appears irreconcilable. The policy that should result from this reality is that while we fight side-by-side to annihilate our common enemies, ISIS and al-Qaida, the West should give up the idea of democratization and secularization of the Islamic world. And those who believe Islam is the one true faith, to which all of mankind must eventually submit, should be told that they are welcome as visitors — but not as immigrants. For that would ensure endless conflict. The more Islamic the West becomes, the less it remains the West.

Submitted by Jeff Berwick: We continue to report on important mainstream investors, professional and private, who have warned about an impending, global financial catastrophe. Now, add Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to that list. George Soros, Stanley Druckenmiller, and Carl Icahn among others have all made dire statements. They’ve also reconfigured their portfolios and taken positions in gold and silver and shorted the market. The latest to join this list of doomsayers is Japanese Prime Minister Abe. This past Thursday at the G7 meeting he warned about the upcoming global crisis. Abe was trying to generate support for global fiscal stimulus, according to reports. He told G7 members that the present times reminded him of the “post-Lehman era” in 2008. Lehman went bankrupt in September of that year and by the end of 2009, stock markets lost as much as half their value. He even displayed a number of charts supporting his position that we are on the cusp of a massive collapse. Commodities have now sunk 55%, the exact same amount they fell during the last crisis, during the Shemitah year, 2008. Emerging market growth have slowed to near 2008 levels as well. Abe wanted the rest of the G7 to issue a public warning about what he believes is going to happen to his country and to the world from an economic standpoint. Instead, Abe’s comments received a near media blackout. Some media mentioned it but certainly not as headline news. We didn’t even hear about it until today, five days later. You’d think this would be pretty big news. The Prime Minister of one of the biggest economies in the world just made a presentation saying we are on the brink of collapse not only in Japan but worldwide and it was mostly swept under the rug. Mainstream media explained that Abe actually needed to raise the alarm because he wanted to put off a significant tax increase in Japan. But as we pointed out recently, billionaire bond investor Bill Gross concurs with Abe, certainly when it comes to Japan. He said in an interview that Japan is not really solvent anymore and that Japan’s central bank needs to buy Japanese public debt and retire it. Imagine if Barack Obama made a dire plea at the G7 that everyone should prepare for economic Armageddon and even brought up facts and data to support his position… it’d send world stock markets plunging. Instead, Barack touts that anyone saying the US economy is doing poorly is “peddling fiction”. http://www.silverdoctors.com/headlines/world-news/japanese-prime-minister-abe-predicts-global-economic-catastrophe-is-imminent/#more-67728

Unfortunately, settlement of stocks is an open ended deal. Every day over 300,000,000 stocks are not settled. This is a secret of the Market controlled by the Exchange Stabilization fund. This is an arm of the Treasury Dept. started in 1934 during the confiscation period of gold. The treasury dept made their selves a tidy sum of $8Billion . This fund has been used since that time to destabilize countries, currencies, commodities and dictatorships. So to address an earlier post of the 3 days, actually, nothing is ever settled, It takes longer now to trade stocks and transfer funds than ever before. 50 to 75 days to settle to cash a mutual fund and transfer to a new account. The financial markets of the world are toast. Just one click of the mouse and the Treasury dept can put us all on bank holiday. The only thing keeping the US going is our ability to print money. The certainty of trade through the FX or banks when or if this becomes a reality may be determined by a total reset of all currencies and debt worldwide. This will be a long stagnant period for everyone and you will need a minimum of 3 months extra provisions and cash on hand. Just like in Greece, we will be at the mercy of the banking system and limited on our withdraw from our own accounts. This is all thanks to the bail out, Dodd-Frank Law and the derivatives in excess of $700 trillion. Hope the can is not bent so much that it can't be kicked down the road more. This could all happen at the same time. Just wait until you hear the words, "bank holiday"... it could be a long holiday.

Financial writer Bill Holter says there is a good reason some are pushing the idea of doing away with cash. Holter contends, “It’s not about the drug trade. It’s not about tax evasion. It’s really about capital controls. It’s about corralling the public’s funds into the banks. Then you go one step further, and they already put bail-in legislation into effect pretty much throughout the West. So, what they are doing is ring fencing your capital. If they really do away with all cash and all your funds have to be in the banking system, then basically you are completely controlled. . . . Individuals can be shut off because the state doesn’t like them.” So, when will the powers try and go cashless? Holter thinks, “I don’t think the public would accept it if all of a sudden ‘boom’ they flip the light switch and say that’s the end of cash. . . . I think the public would revolt, and it’s not doable. I also don’t think there is enough time left in the markets to get it done. The cashless society will result from either a war or a collapse in the system. It will be part of the new system. That’s how they will implement it. It will be after something big happens.” Holter says that “something” is going to be a global financial calamity worse that the Depression. Holter explains, “The whole system is going to collapse. We are going to have a bank/financial system holiday where institutions are outright closed. You are going to see bankruptcies and bonds going poof—just going away. This is what 2008 would have been had the Fed not spread $16 trillion all over the globe and probably much more than that. Now there is no central bank on earth that can ride in and save the system like they did in 2008. They have already shot all their ammunition. . . . When this collapse comes, there is nothing there to reflate the system. This is the greatest fear of central bankers since the 1930’s, and that is to have a deflation they can’t reflate.” It gets worse because cashless will also mean negative interest rates. Holter says, “If we are in a cashless society, where are you going to go. You won’t be able to get your money out. . . .Banks will recapitalize themselves with bail-ins. If they would go to negative interest rates with a society that still has cash, then you would have people pulling cash out of their bank and putting it under their mattress. These central banks that are talking about negative rates are telling you they want to, and have to, debase the currency.” On more rate hikes from the Fed, Holter says, “That’s true rocket science, no more rate hikes. Look what happened with just one rate hike. The wheels are coming off the car with just a quarter of a point hike.” On gold, Holter says, “If you go back and look at it on a chart, gold and silver began their upward movement right about the time Japan started negative interest rates. The big scare was the Fed is going to tighten. The Fed is going to tighten, which is ridiculous. Even if they tighten 3% or 4%, which they can’t do because they would kill the economy, it’s still not competition for real money. You are looking at a currency that is debasing by that amount per year. Negative interest rates are telling you, you’ve got to get your money out of the banks because it’s a guaranteed loss.” Some of that money is finding its way into precious metals. The question for us is... when we get IQD RV, will our cash be controlled and or taken to pay the taxes. Just shows my rambling thoughts weren't that far off.