Turk - Frightening Situation, The World Is On A Knife’s Edge

With continued volatility in global markets, today King World News interviewed James Turk out of Europe. Turk told KWN, “The world is on a knife’s edge.”  He also stated, “Monetary history shows that currencies under political control are always destroyed -- always.  And the dire result is economic chaos.”  Here is what Turk had to say about what he termed the, “frightening situation”:  “Europe had its big meeting last week, and one conclusion is clear, Eric, Europe still has to learn that bailouts are not a solution.  When a government or a bank, or any borrower for that matter, has too much debt -- more debt than they can handle -- adding more debt just worsens the problem.  This ultimately has the effect of making the inevitable bust that much more difficult when it eventually arrives.”

“There are other serious problems here as well.  For example, there are several countries in Europe, of which Germany is the largest, that want to pursue a monetary policy in which the euro maintains its purchasing power.  They want to make sure the currency is not debased by inflation or other bad monetary steps, such as the ECB purchasing debt/bonds of countries, to enable those countries to fund their operating expenses.

In other words, this group of countries wants the euro to be managed like the deutsche mark was managed, which, after all, is what the rules of the eurozone provide.  But these rules are being broken left and right, with the result being that the euro is just like all of the other fiat currencies around the world -- completely at the mercy of politicians, and that is a frightening situation....

“Monetary history shows that currencies under political control are always destroyed -- always.  And the dire result is economic chaos, which is then followed by political chaos and the opportunity for a demagogue to rise to power by promising order.  Given its history, is it any wonder that thinking Europeans do not want to go down that path?

But it is clear that the central planners are now in charge in Europe, Eric. It is a dangerous road for Europe to take.  I keep going back to one of my favorite Margaret Thatcher quotes:  ‘The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.’  Europe ran out of money long ago.  Sadly, this reality is still being ignored in Europe, and for that matter, in every socialist country, which today is just about everywhere in the world.”

Turk also added: “The precious metal markets feel just like the summer of 2010.  In fact, this weekend I spent some time going through the KWN archives and listening to my interviews from that time period (2010).  It was eery, because just about everything I was saying back then also applies to our present situation, particularly sentiment being at rock bottom.

We had big rallies in both gold and silver starting in the summer of 2010.  These are the rallies that took gold over $1900 and silver to $50.  Last week's big move should mean that massive rallies are starting again, and because the banking and economic situation is so much worse today, on this new rally, gold and silver are going to break their old highs.

The world is on a knife’s edge, Eric.  The geopolitical situation is worrying.  Economic activity around the world is rapidly deteriorating, and this is having the effect of putting more and more people out of work.  It is noteworthy that the eurozone jobless rate, in May, hit a record-high of 11.1%.  If we then factor bank runs into this toxic brew, the opportunity for the fear event I have been worrying about seems all the more likely.

As that fear event begins to manifest itself, physical gold and silver will be your best safe-haven.  It is extremely important that KWN readers, around the world, position themselves into the metals ahead of the coming chaos.”

Reinventing the European Dream

On July 1, Nicosia took the rotating presidency of the EU. Gas, relations with Turkey, Middle East policy: Europe should take this opportunity to set a new major Mediterranean project, argues the American political scientist Anne-Marie Slaughter.

The euro crisis and Queen Elizabeth’s recent Jubilee seem to have nothing in common. In fact, together they impart an important lesson: the power of a positive narrative – and the impossibility of winning without one.

Commenting on the Jubilee’s river pageant and horse parade, historian Simon Schama talked to the BBC about “little boats and big ideas.” The biggest idea was that Britain’s monarchy serves to connect the country’s past to its future in ways that transcend the pettiness and ugliness of quotidian politics.

The heritage of kings and queens stretching back across more than a millennium – the enduring symbolism of crowns and coaches, and the literal embodiment of the English and now the British state – binds Britons together in a common journey.

Hope and purpose

Cynics might call this the old bread-and-circuses routine. But the point is to fix eyes and hearts on a narrative of hope and purpose – to uplift, rather than distract, the public. Are Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, and other Europeans really supposed to embrace an austerity program imposed on them because prevailing wisdom in Germany and other northern countries considers them profligate and lazy? Those are fighting words, creating resentment and division just when unity and burden-sharing are most needed.

Greece, in particular, now needs a way to connect its past with its future, but no monarch is forthcoming. And, as the cradle of the world’s first democracy, Greece needs other symbols of national renewal than scepters and robes. It is through Homer that virtually all Western readers first encounter the Mediterranean world: its islands and shores and peoples knit together by diplomacy, trade, marriage, oil, wine, and long ships. Greece could once again be a pillar of such a world, using its current crisis to craft a new future.

Politics intervenes

That vision is more plausible than one might think. Natural-gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean are estimated to hold up to 122 trillion cubic feet, enough to supply the entire world for a year. More gas and large oil fields lie off the Greek coast in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, enough to transform the finances of Greece and the entire region. Israel and Cyprus are planning joint exploration; Israel and Greece are discussing a pipeline; Turkey and Lebanon are prospecting; and Egypt is planning to license exploration.

But politics, as always, intervenes. All countries involved have maritime disputes and political disagreements. The Turks are working with Northern Cyprus, whose independence only they recognise, and regularly make threatening noises about Israel’s drilling with the Greek Cypriot government of the Republic of Cyprus. The Greek Cypriots regularly hold the EU hostage over any dealings with Turkey, as has Greece. The Turks will not let Cypriot ships into their harbours and have not been on speaking terms with the Israelis since nine Turkish citizens were killed on a ship that sought to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Lebanon and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.

In short, the riches, jobs, and development that would flow to all countries in the region from responsible energy exploitation may well be blocked by the insistence of each on getting what it regards as its fair share and denying access to its enemies.

The vision of a Mediterranean Energy Community thus seems destined to remain a pipedream. Yet July will bring the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, which established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) among France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg only six years after the end of World War II. During the previous 70 years, Germany and France had fought each other in three devastating wars, the last two of which ruined Europe’s economies and decimated its population.

'Unthinkable and materially impossible'

These countries’ mutual hatred and suspicion was no less bitter and deep-seated than that afflicting the Eastern Mediterranean. Yet French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, with the assistance of his counsellor Jean Monnet, announced a plan for the ECSC in 1950, only five years after German troops had left Paris, with the aim of making “war not only unthinkable but materially impossible.” Schuman proposed putting Franco-German coal and steel production under a common High Authority, thereby preventing the two sides from using the raw materials of war against each other, and powering a common industrial economy. The ECSC became the core of today’s European Union.

The EU today is on the ropes, but only a few concrete steps by European leaders might open the door to similarly bold diplomacy that could restore EU and Mediterranean economies and transform the energy politics of Europe and Asia. If the European Parliament and the European Council were to take steps to make direct EU trade with northern Cyprus subject to qualified majority voting rather than consensus (and hence veto by Cyprus), the EU would be able to begin trading with northern Cyprus, and Turkey could begin trading with Cyprus as a whole. These steps could lead in turn to a Turkish, Cypriot, and Greek energy partnership that would provide positive incentives for Turkish-Israeli reconciliation.

The Schuman Plan took two years to crystalize and a decade to implement. But it gave war-torn and desperately poor Europeans a positive vision of a new future, something that Greece and Cyprus, not to mention Middle Eastern and North African countries, desperately need. Europe’s leaders will not surmount this crisis by pounding their citizens with bleak demands for austerity. They must take concrete steps, with Greece as a full and equal partner, to create a vision of real rewards from a rejuvenated EU.

The EU does not have a Queen Elizabeth. What it needs is another Schuman and Monnet.

Assad to Kremlin: I can finish the revolt in two months, replaces army chiefs

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

In a phone call to the Kremlin Sunday, July 1, Syrian President Bashar Assad said he needed just two months to finish off the revolt against his regime. “My new military tactics are working,” he said in a secret video-conference with Russian intelligence and foreign ministry officials who shape Moscow’s policy on Syria.

Reporting this exclusively, debkafile’s intelligence sources also register the fleeting life span of the new plan for ending the Syrian war which UN envoy Kofi Annan announced had been agreed at a multinational Action Group meeting in Geneva on Saturday, June 30. Within 24 hours, the principle of a national unity transitional government based on “mutual consent” was rejected by the regime and the Turkish-based opposition leaders alike, as the violence went into another month.

On the first day of July, 91 people were reported killed in the escalating Syrian violence after a record 4,000 in June.

The new military tactics to which Assad referred are disclosed here:

1. The sweeping removal of most of the veteran Syrian army commanders who led the 16-month bloody assault on regime opponents and rebels. They were sent home with full pay to make way for a new set of younger commanders, most of them drawn from the brutal Alawite Shabiha militia, which is the ruling family’s primary arm against its enemies.

The regular commanders had shown signs of fatigue and doubts about their ability to win Assad’s war. Their will to fight on was being badly sapped by the mounting numbers officers and men going over to the opposition camp in June.

One of the tasks set the new commanders is to stem the rate of defections.

To keep the veteran commanders from joining the renegades and reduce their susceptibility to hostile penetration, the officers were not sacked but retired on full pension plus all the perks of office, including official cars.

2. But a higher, unthinkable level of violence is the key to Assad’s “new tactics.” He has armed the new military chiefs with extra fire power - additional tank and artillery units, air force bombers and attack helicopters - for smashing pockets of resistance and unlimited permission to use it. Already the level of live fire used against the rebels has risen to an even more unthinkable level which explains the sharp escalation of deaths to an average of 120 per day.

On the Syrian-Turkish border, tensions continue to mount. Monday morning, Turkey was still pumping large-scale strength including tanks, antiaircraft and antitank guns, artillery, surface missiles and combat helicopters to the border region.

Saturday, half a dozen Turkish jets were scrambled to meet Syria helicopters approaching their common border.

In Tehran, Brig. Gen. Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Iran’s IRGC Aerospace Division, warned Ankara that if its troops ventured onto Syrian soil, their bases of departure would be destroyed. The threat was made during Hajizadeh’s announcement of a three-day missile exercise starting Monday in response to the European oil embargo. He reported that long-, medium- and short-range missiles would target “simulations of foreign bases in the northern Semnan Desert,” without mentioning any specific nation except Turkey.

Al Qaeda 'plot to blow up passenger jet' in run up to Olympics uncovered by security forces•Terrorist group recruited a western Islamic radical in an attempt to evade security procedures

By Daily Mail Reporter

A terrorist plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet timed to coincide with the Olympics has been uncovered by security agencies, according to intelligence sources.

Al Qaeda intended to use a radicalised Norwegian Islamic convert to attack U.S. planes in the build-up to the London Games - which start in 26 days on July 27 - it is understood.

The plan centred on using the so-called ‘clean skin’ – a terrorist with no previous criminal record and are unlikely to raise suspicions among the security services – in order to evade airport security.

‘If you are blowing up aeroplanes you are likely to be killing Brits or having a big impact on the European or British economy. [So it] would in effect be an attack against Britain,’ a Whitehall official told the Sunday Times.

It is believed the suspect tasked with the attack uses the Islamic name Muslim Abu Abdurrahman, had converted to Islam in 2008, and was recruited in a terrorist training camp in Yemen, sources told the Sunday Times.

It is not thought to have been aimed specifically at the Olympics in London, but security forces protecting the Games said intelligence on any possible threat was constantly reviewed.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'We have planned against the four main areas of threat: terrorism, serious and organised crime, public disorder and natural hazards.

'We are working closely with Games organisers to deliver an end to end operation to ensure everyone is safe and secure. Alongside LOCOG’s in venue security operation, police will be present for the detection and prevention of crime.

'Our intelligence is kept under constant review. For operational reasons we do not discuss the exact detail of how we monitor any individual or group.'

Terrorists from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), based in Yemen, are understood to be behind this latest plot.

The same group were revealed to have been behind at least four other attempted attacks in the last four years.

Nigerian-born British student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was ordered to carryout a suicide mission for AQAP when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants as the plane, en route from Amsterdam, approached Detroit.

It failed to fully detonate aboard the flight, which was carrying nearly 300 people, but caused a brief fire that badly burned his groin.

Passengers pounced on Abdulmutallab and forced him to the front of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 where he was held until the plane landed minutes later.

In 2009, months before the attack, he travelled to Yemen to see Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and one of the best-known al Qaeda figures, according to the government.

In February, this year, a U.S. court jailed him for life without parole.

AQAP were said to be responsibility for a sophisticated attempt to blow up a cargo plane with bombs hidden in ink cartridges.

At least one of the bombs planted on cargo planes heading for Chicago was primed to explode once the aircraft reached the U.S. mainland.

The terror plot was thwarted after the two devices - hidden inside printer cartridges - were intercepted at airports in Nottingham and Dubai on October 29, last year.

Both bombs contained quantities of the powerful explosive PETN. The device discovered in the UK contained 400 grams of the lethal ingredient – 50 times more than needed to punch a hole in the aircraft’s skin – and was wired to a mobile phone.

The device, discovered at East Midland airport, was timed to explode during flight after it entered U.S. air space, Scotland Yard officials said at the time of the plot's discovery.

In May, this year, it was revealed security agencies had thwarted another AQAP plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner.

The attack was prevented because the intended bomber was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide mission, it was revealed.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency placed the undercover operator inside AQAP where he convinced his handlers to give him the new type of non-metallic bomb.

The agent, who was in Yemen, was liaising with the CIA before handing the device over to intelligence services.

Noriega finds God - ready to forgive and apologize

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Panama’s former dictator, Manuel Antonio Noriega has converted to Christianity and is ready to apologize to the Panamanian people says a missionary evangelist.

The Rev. Jorge Raschke, one of the few people able to visit the former strongman since he was extradited from France last December, made the statement on the web site “Cry of God”. He gave permission to La Prensa to publish the information

The Puerto Rican missionary evangelist, ,said he has visited Noriega in El Renacer prison and the Santo Tomas hospital.

He said that the conversation occurred at Santo Yomas in May, after Noriegsm wasm admitted for hypertension problems, colds and bronchitis.

The pastor of the Pentecostal Assembly of God church said he had the testimony of Noriega's conversion to Christianity.

"I took the opportunity to emphasize that confirmation of his conversion would be his willingness to forgive and apologize to the Panamanian people, and anyone who was offended and hurt during his government," Raschke said on its Web site Facebook.

He also indicated that Noriega told him that "My life is over, now I started, it could be an instrument of the Lord to bring the feet of Christ to millions of people, with written and spoken testimony."

He added that the "General thanked me for my friendship of many years”.

"I want to join in prayer for him, his family, and staff of The Rebirth," said the missionary.

Raschke met Noriega in 1982, when he visited him in the late Central Barracks, headquarters of theb defunct Defense Forces.

A second meeting between Raschke and Noriega took place when the former dictator was being held in prison in Homestead, Miami, serving a sentence for drug trafficking after being ousted by the U.S. military in December 1989.

Noriega, 78, has bren in El Renacer prison since December 2011, after being extradited by the French authorities to face convictions against him for the murder of doctor Hugo Spadafora (1985) and Giroldi Moses (1989).

The former dictator has two appeals on trial in the courts of Chiriqui for the murders of Clayton Everett Kimble, who died in 1968, and Luis Quiros, who died in 1969.

In addition, the Second Court of Justice is pending the hearing of the murder of political leader Heliodoro Portugal, who died in 1970.

Meanwhile, members of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared Hector Gallego said Noriega should reveal the whereabouts of the disappeared during the dictatorship.

Maritza Master, spokeswoman for the organization, said that Noriega handled the intelligence agency (G-2) and retains much information.

"Repentance is a step, but the purpose of amendment is the truth of what happened during the dictatorship. If this is not true, repentance isno good, " he said

"We are not moved by the spirit of revenge, we just want to know the truth," he said.