“Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.”
(Isaiah 5:20)
Good Evil

Dear Friends,

Greetings! When one looks at the world today, if you are like us, one is tempted to just go “whew”!

Never in our life time, and possibly any lifetimes except the the one before the Flood, has there been such a fulfillment of what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter five verse twenty of the book of Isaiah: “Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter”.

As we, and others have said, we are living in an age of, except for the grace of God through Jesus, of overwhelming deception.

Although we may be shocked by what we see, should we really be that surprised. After all what did the devil tempt Jesus in Luke chapter four: “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine”.

Jesus on the other hand said: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence”.

Jesus however did teach his disciples to pray “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”.

And someday, soon, it will come when “The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”. Revelation 11:15

We are beginning this week, somewhat a little differently, with two videos showing profiles of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton followed by an article from SuperStation95 titled “ICE Agent Commits Suicide in NYC; Leaves Note Revealing Gov't Plans to Round-up & DISARM Americans During Economic & Bank Collapse”.

Superstation95 is somewhat of a controversial media outlet whose veracity has been questioned. There is however enough information in the article that we have studied over the years that has been verified

reputable witnesses.

This and two other articles, one from The Blaze: “Obama to Howard Graduates: Profound Changes Lie Ahead for Nation’s Economy, Society” and the other from InvestmentWatch: “Executive Order 13603 – Obama authorizes SLAVE LABOR on a large scale on American soil', if true, paint a very disturbing picture of what life will soon be like in the United States.

It was said by Joseph de Maistre, a Savoyard lawyer, diplomat, writer, and philosopher: "Every country has the government it deserves (Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite".

After watching the two videos we must ask ourselves is this a fulfillment of a quote from Vladimir Lenin - “The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves”, and could millions of US citizens openly identified themselves as members of the opposition.

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SuperStation95

ICE Agent Commits Suicide in NYC; Leaves Note Revealing Gov't Plans to Round-up & DISARM Americans During Economic & Bank Collapse

Item Author Post by Newsroom Date created - May 12, 2016

May 10 After writing a lengthy suicide note exposing terrifying plans the government has for American citizens, a US Customs Agent walked onto a pier in NYC and blew his brains out.

Sources inside the New York City Police Department have revealed to SuperStation95, the contents of a suicide note found on the body and they are utterly frightening.

The note, which says it was written over the course of a full week in advance, outlines why the officer chose to shoot himself:

"The America I grew up in, and cherished, has been murdered by its own federal government. Our Constitution has become meaningless and our laws politicized so badly, they are no longer enforced except for political purposes" the note said. "Our elected officials are, to a person, utterly corrupt and completely devoid of any love or respect for the country which pays them. To them, everything is about getting and keeping power, and making illicit money from backroom deals."

The 42-year-old U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer shot himself with a 40 caliber service pistol inside Pier 40 in Hudson River Park at around 11 am. (1)

A source at the scene described how the officer calmly walked into the park, took out his pistol and shot himself in the head.

A ICE federal agent fatally shot himself in the head at waterfront Chelsea park (pictured) in New York Friday

The 42-year-old worked as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer and his offices were nearby to the scene of the shooting.

He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital but doctors were unable to save him. (2)

ICE released a statement Friday afternoon: 'Tragically, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officer from the New York field office suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and has passed away.'

It added: 'The agency is not releasing further details pending notification of the officer's next of kin.

According to the suicide note, the Officer said:

"I was hired to enforce the law; to capture and deport people who come to this country against our laws. But now, if I dare to do that, I face being suspended or fired because our President refuses to faithfully execute the duties of his office. Instead, I come to work each day, and collect a paycheck twice a month, for intentionally doing little to nothing. I cannot and will not be party to this fraud; to this usurpation of the law, or to the despicable politicians betraying our nation" the note continued.

ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the matter and coordinating with the New York Police Department on the investigation.

The agent worked at a field office in lower Manhattan, just blocks away from the scene of the shooting.

MENTIONS "FEMA CAMPS" FOR AMERICANS (3)

In the suicide note, the officer revealed what he claimed are terrifying plans the feds have been finalizing:

"If the American people knew what this government is planning, they would rise-up and overthrow it. If I or anyone else in the federal government revealed what is coming, we would be killed anyway, so now I will reveal what I know.

We in federal law enforcement have been drilling for several years to control riots and uprisings from a coming financial collapse and widespread bank failures. The drills involve life-sized images of American men, even women and children, whom we are told to shoot for "practice" and to "get used to it."

We have been told that the economy is terminally ill and will fail in 2016. We are also told the banks are all insolvent and the FDIC doesn't have nearly enough funds to bail out depositors. We are told these events are unavoidable and it is imperative that the government survive when people rise-up over this.

When the collapse takes place, detention camps created under the FEMA REX-84 program in the 1980's to house illegal aliens whom we were going to deport, will instead be used to imprison American Citizens whom the government feels constitute a "threat." American citizens will be rounded-up without warrants and imprisoned without trial for God knows how long.

These camps have been equipped to carry out Hitler-scale killings! An actual "purge" of Americans citizens by the very government which they, themselves, created and pay for! I cannot be party to this."

The Note goes on to say talk about state-level national guard being disarmed by the feds (4) and over 1 Billion rounds of ammunition purchased by the feds (5) and the Military over-deployed and being shrunk(6):

"The government knows the military will rise-up to stop this, so our military is being deployed overseas, intentionally involved in foreign fights, and deliberately shrunk in size so they cannot be here or help Americans! This is why certain ammunition and weaponry has been removed from state-level National Guard Armories and over a Billion rounds of hollow point ammunition has been bought by the federal government. The states themselves have been disarmed of military-grade firepower so they cannot defend themselves from the federal activities. This is also why local police departments have been militarized and provided with armored vehicles and weapons of war" the note says.

"When the inevitable collapse begins to take place, electric power to the entire country will be shut off, as will all forms of communication. All banks will be immediately closed; no one will be able to get any money because all ATM's will be offline. Credit, Debit and EBT cards will not function. Anyone without cash will have no way to get any. The Emergency Alert System will be used to takeover all broadcast stations and tell the public this is a result of a cyber attack.

But while the American people patiently await things to get back to normal, the government will unleash round-ups of citizens they deem militants or dangerous. With all civilian communications out, and all TV and radio stations taken over by the Emergency Alert System, by the time word spreads of what is taking place, the government will already have the upper hand.

Federal Prisoners to be GASSED TO DEATH

The note goes into a wide array of very specific plans and does so in extremely specific detail about what the feds are allegedly planning. For instance, it talks about federal prisons:

"Every federal prison has been outfitted with lethal gas systems. When things go bad, all prisoners in all prisons will be placed in their cells on lock-down. Prison staff will depart the facility, and a certain designated person will trigger a lethal gas system. All federal prisoners, regardless of their crime or their sentence, will be gassed to death in their cells. Once the gas clears, the dead will be removed and the prisons will then be used to house citizens who fight against the federal onslaught."

PRIESTS RECRUITED TO QUELL OPPOSITION (7)

The note makes mention about Priests, Rabbis and Clerics from various religious denominations having been recruited and trained to quell resistance:

"So intent is the government to succeed they have recruited priests, rabbis and clerics from various religions to quote appropriate Scriptures about "obeying government." They are being trained to tell people not to fight back and that their best hope is to pray."

EXECUTIVE ORDER 13603(8)

The suicide note goes to great lengths about Executive Order #13603 signed by President Obama on March 16, 2012. The note details:

Executive order 13603 about “National Defense Resources Preparedness.”

This 10-page document is a blueprint for a federal takeover of the economy. Specifically, Obama’s plan involves seizing control of:

* “All commodities and products that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals”

* “All forms of energy”

* “All forms of civil transportation”

* “All usable water from all sources”

* “Health resources – drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment”

* Forced labor ( or “induction” as the executive order delicately refers to military conscription)

Moreover, federal officials would “issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources.”

SuperStation95 took a look at this Executive Order from the Government Printing Office (GPO) web site and, sure enough, everything contained in the Officer's suicide note about this Executive Order is true!

To be sure, much of this language has appeared in national security executive orders that previous presidents have issued periodically since the beginning of the Cold War.

But more than previous national security executive orders, Obama’s 13603 seems to describe a potentially totalitarian regime obsessed with control over everything. Obama’s executive order makes no effort to justify the destruction of liberty, no effort to explain how amassing totalitarian control would enable government to deal effectively with cyber sabotage, suicide bombings, chemical warfare, nuclear missiles or other possible threats.

There’s nothing in executive order 13603 about upholding the Constitution or protecting civil liberties.

In what circumstances, one might ask, would a president try to carry out this audacious plan?

Executive order 13603 says with ominous ambiguity: during “the full spectrum of emergencies.”

DATABASE OF PREPPERS

The suicide note touches on the subject of "Preppers:"

"We in federal law enforcement have also been told that the government has a full database of all so-called "Preppers." Those people will be dealt with first -- by armed federal agents coming to take their guns, then their food stocks, so food can be re-distributed as the government sees fit."

If the dead Officer's claims about an unavoidable economic and banking collapse are true, would it then follow that the Executive Order put in place by Obama, might be activated? Would all of us find ourselves in forced labor, while the government takes OUR food and re-distrubutes it under the Executive Order's paragraph about "allocating resources?" This is terrifying stuff!

There is much more to the suicide note and SuperStation95 is considering how much more to publish. As such, this is a developing story and readers should check back for further updates.

THESE COULD SIMPLY BE INSANE RAMBLINGS

It is not our intent to cause panic or alarm and while we expect readers to be intelligent enough to discern this on their own, we feel compelled to point out that these could simply be paranoid ramblings of an insane person who killed himself.

On the other hand, these could also be revelations by a person who was so distraught over the ugly truth, that he killed himself. We at SuperStation95 just don't know.

We urge everyone to stay calm, think rationally, and decide whether or not to take any action to prepare, in case this person's suicide note is telling the truth.

SOURCING / CORROBORATION

(1) ICE Agent Suicide in NYC: NY Daily News

(2) Taken to Lenox Hill Hospital NY Post

(3) REX-84 FEMA CAMPS Wikipedia

(4) National Guard being stripped of Crew-Serviceable Weapons and communications gear - Republic Broadcasting, John Stadmiller

(5) Dept. of Homeland Security Orders 1.6 BILLION rounds of ammunition Forbes Magazine

(6) US Army over-deployed and intentionally shrunk ARMY TIMES

(7) Clergy Recruited by Gov't to quell opposition KSLA-TV Channel 12

(8) Executive Order 13603 White House US Government Printing Office

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The Blaze

Obama to Howard Graduates: Profound Changes Lie Ahead for Nation’s Economy, Society

May. 7, 2016 10:45am Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is advising Howard University graduates that profound changes lie ahead for the nation’s economy and society.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama is set to deliver the keynote address at Howard University’s commencement Saturday.

Obama’s spokesman says the president’s remarks will acknowledge the “unique opportunity” the graduates had to attend one of the finest historically black colleges and universities in the country. Obama also will observe that the graduates are entering an economy and society that’s undergoing profound changes.

The speech at Howard is the first of three commencement addresses Obama has scheduled this season.

The others are May 15 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and June 2 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The speeches are Obama’s final commencement addresses as president.
(As we have speculated in the past it would seem that part of the “rules” is that they have to let us know in advance as to their intentions. “they shall forecast devices..., they shall devise plans...” Daniel 11:25)

InvestmentWatch

Executive Order 13603 – Obama authorizes SLAVE LABOR on a large scale on American soil.

Submitted by IWB, on June 23rd, 2015

President Obama signed his own executive order which allowed for the President to enact slave labor, on a large scale, on American soil.

For the Americans who have been targeted for FEMA camp detention, most will voluntarily self-incarcerate in order to avoid starvation for both them and their families. The following excepts from EO 13603 will be enacted.

Third world population control, using food as one of the primary weapons, has long been a matter of official covert US national policy and a portion of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO 13603) is a continuation of that policy. Americans will be the new third world and your food will be withheld in order to enforce compliance with the planned slave labor in support of the WW III production needs.

Most Americans will report for duty on a voluntary basis in order to avoid starvation. Duty for what?

Slave Labor Force


According to Executive Order 13603, the President, or the head of any federal agency that he shall designate, can conscript “persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation,” in both “peacetime and times of national emergency.” I can hear the Obama supporters now as they will write to me and say, “Obama would never do that, you are drinking from the Kool-Aid”. Well, here it is, you can read it for yourself.

Sec. 502. Consultants. The head of each agency otherwise delegated functions under this order is delegated the authority of the President under sections 710(b) and (c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(b), (c), to employ persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation and to employ experts, consultants, or organizations. The authority delegated by this section may not be redelegated.

This means that Obama, and his fellow communists, can seize any resource, property, or person at any time for any reason, including being able to force that person to perform assigned labor without being paid.

There is only ONE word for forced, “uncompensated employment”. That word is slavery. Congratulations to President Obama, he has effectively repealed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Section 601 of the act specifies, in part, how far the government can go in terms of making you their slave.

Sec. 601. Secretary of Labor. (a) The Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other agencies, as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, shall:

(1) collect and maintain data necessary to make a continuing appraisal of the Nation’s workforce needs for purposes of national defense;

(2) upon request by the Director of Selective Service, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, assist the Director of Selective Service in development of policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services;

(3) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order, consult with that agency with respect to: (i) the effect of contemplated actions on labor demand and utilization; (ii) the relation of labor demand to materials and facilities requirements; and (iii) such other matters as will assist in making the exercise of priority and allocations functions consistent with effective utilization and distribution of labor;

(4) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order: (i) formulate plans, programs, and policies for meeting the labor requirements of actions to be taken for national defense purposes; and

(ii) estimate training needs to help address national defense requirements and promote necessary and appropriate training programs.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparednessObama Executive Order 13603 Authorizes Slavery In The US

Logos Apologia

Pope Francis’ New Humanism

05/09/2016

In the final book of the Petrus Romanus series, The Last Roman Emperor the Islamic Antichrist the Last Crusade our investigation exposed the pope’s marxism. A recent Op-Ed: “A popular Pope, a divided church, and the power struggle at the heart of Catholicism” quotes Pope Francis saying that he dreams of a new “European humanism,” involving “a constant work of humanisation” and calls for “memory, courage, a sound and humane utopian vision.”[1] It sounds eirely similar to Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Utopianism aside, humanism is a secular ideology and is usually adopted alongside political Marxism (socialism, communism). Googling “define humanism” yields:

* an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.


*a Renaissance cultural movement that turned away from medieval scholasticism and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought.
noun: Humanism



*(among some contemporary writers) a system of thought criticized as being centered on the notion of the rational, autonomous self and ignoring the unintegrated and conditioned nature of the individual.
In The Last Roman Emperor the Islamic Antichrist the Last Crusade, we documented that Pope Francis was not only steeped in liberation theology (created by the KGB) as a Jesuit in Argentina but has openly been promoting the global “redistribution of wealth” as pope. The following is from the speech he delivered to the United Nations during his recent visit to the United States:

Consequently, I do not hesitate to state, as did my predecessors (cf. JOHN PAUL II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 42-43; Centesimus Annus, 43; BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 6; 24-40), that equitable economic and social progress can only be attained by joining scientific and technical abilities with an unfailing commitment to solidarity accompanied by a generous and disinterested spirit of gratuitousness at every level. A contribution to this equitable development will also be made both by international activity aimed at the integral human development of all the world’s peoples and by the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.[2]

The writing is on the wall for the pope’s new humanism is remarkably comparable to the origin of the idiom “writing on the wall” (Daniel 5).

““This is the explanation of the matter: ‘Mene’—God has numbered your kingdom and brought an end to it. “ ‘Tekel’—you have been weighed on scales and you have been found wanting. “ ‘Peres’—your kingdom has been divided …’ ” (Daniel 5:26–28)

Has the pope’s kingdom been divided? Indeed, it has…

[1] Russell Pollitt, “Op-Ed: A popular Pope, a divided church, and the power struggle at the heart of Catholicism,” Daily Maverick, May 8, 2016, http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-05-08-op-ed-a-popular-pope-a-divided-church-and-the-power-struggle-at-the-heart-of-catholicism/#.VzEZ9sfouRw accessed May 9. 2016.[2]

[2] Pope Francis “Address of Pope Francis to the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination,” Libreria Editrice Vaticana, May 9, 2014, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/may/documents/papa-francesco_20140509_consiglio-nazioni-unite.html accessed October 7, 2015.

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WND

FRANKLIN GRAHAM DECRIES OBAMA'S 'MONUMENT TO SIN'

Blasts planned taxpayer-funded display as sign of nation's demise

Published: May 6, 2016

CHERYL CHUMLEY

The Stonewall Inn in New York City

Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and of the international aid organization, Samaritan’s Purse, took to Facebook Friday to issue a strong condemnation against President Obama’s plans to declare a national monument in New York City in recognition of the “gay”-rights struggle.

“A monument to sin? That’s unbelievable,” Graham wrote, of the Obama administration’s announced plans to declare the nation’s first “gay”-rights monument at a Greenwich Village spot loosely known as the birthplace of the LGBT liberation movement, as WND previously reported.

The spot, Stonewall Inn, was a noted “gay” bar and hang-out area that was the site of violent 1969 protests against police intervention.

Just days ago, the Obama administration announced an intent to declare the area a taxpayer-funded historical national monument, under the umbrella of National Parks Service oversight.

Graham slammed the plan, calling it a smack in the face of others who were much more worthy of the recognition.

“War heroes deserve a monument,” he wrote. “Our nation’s Founding Fathers deserve a monument, people who helped to make America strong deserve a monument – but a monument to sin?”

Graham also said such a monument only shows how far the nation has fallen from its Judeo-Christian start, and from God.

“It’s no surprise that the three officials who represent the area and support the monument are all openly gay,” Graham wrote. “I can’t believe how far our country has digressed. I hope that the president will reconsider. Flaunting sin is a dangerous move. God’s Word tells us, ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.'

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BREITBART

Harvard Prof Urges Liberals to Treat Evangelical Christians Like Nazis

by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.10 May 2016

A Harvard Law professor is telling his fellow liberals that the culture wars are over and the victorious Left should treat conservative Christians the way the allies treated Germany and Japan after World War II, offering no quarter or clemency.

In an online post, the 70-year-old professor Mark Tushnet (pictured), a surviving member of the old guard of 1960s liberal elites, advises his like-minded minions to unabashedly take up “aggressively liberal positions,” because they will no longer meet resistance, especially after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Since “they lost, we won,” Tushnet confidently announces, it is time to press the liberal advantage and abandon any defensive positions.

In his post, titled “Abandoning Defensive Crouch Liberal Constitutionalism,” Tushnet urges more radicalism, not less, insisting that now is the time to overturn “key cases” that have hindered the liberal cause.

So confident is Tushnet in his victory, that he reckons the main issue at the moment has nothing to do with military strategy, but rather how to mop up the mess and deal with the “losers” of the culture wars—America’s conservatives.

“For liberals,” Tushnet writes, “the question now is how to deal with the losers in the culture wars. That’s mostly a question of tactics. My own judgment is that taking a hard line (‘You lost, live with it’) is better than trying to accommodate the losers.”

“Trying to be nice to the losers didn’t work well after the Civil War, nor after Brown,” he notes, whereas “taking a hard line seemed to work reasonably well in Germany and Japan after 1945.”

As author and commentator Ryan Anderson observes, Tushnet depicts the “losers” of the American culture wars—meaning primarily Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics and Evangelical Christians—as “the functional equivalent of racists and Nazis.”

“Tushnet blames what he calls the ‘culture wars’ on conservatives, and he says liberals should now make conservatives pay,” Ryan adds.

Tushnet argues that “when specific battles in the culture wars were being fought, it might have made sense to try to be accommodating after a local victory, because other related fights were going on, and a hard line might have stiffened the opposition in those fights. But the war’s over, and we won,” he asserts.

This means jettisoning even erstwhile allies who may have been useful for a while, but are no longer needed. Tushnet sums this up rather neatly in his pithy phrase: “fuck Anthony Kennedy.”

Placing himself firmly in the camp of the “Looney Left,” the septuagenarian professor says, “Our models are Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, not David Souter or John Marshall Harlan.” He goes so far as to suggest that liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not liberal enough, since she has occasionally been cowed into a defensive position “in her sensitivity to the possibility of backlash.”

The curious thing about these rantings of a gray-haired establishment hippie is that they ring of desperation rather than victory. As much as he crows of having won, his words betray the insecurity of someone who knows he will die before he ever really sees the complete liberal triumph that he dreams of.

One of the oldest tricks in combat is the bluff of declaring yourself the victor, in the hope that your adversary will concede a loss.

That is not going to happen. By their very nature, conservatives invest in the long game, while Tushnet and his ilk seem to be in a terrible hurry. Yes, conservatives have lost precious ground, but the war is far from over.

For others, however, time is running out. The revolution sought by the sixties generation never quite happened the way they expected.

At least they are good enough to tell us how they would treat us if they actually won.

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

You Can't Leave Home Without It: A Temporary Tattoo Could Replace Your Credit Card

James LaDue May 9, 2016 (0)

If you’ve ever been to a music festival, sports stadium or any other crowded event, you may have been concerned about carrying a purse or wallet, which can not only be cumbersome, but can make you the target of pickpockets. And the alternative of carrying a solitary plastic credit card isn’t much better since they can easily slip out of your pocket.

Those concerns might disappear in the not-so-distant future, thanks to technology being developed for ultra-thin, contactless payment stickers similar to temporary tattoos.

MC10, a healthcare technology company, is developing tattoo wearables that can affix to a payer’s body as a breathable, waterproof NFC, or near-field communication, payment solution. Think of it as a tattoo that can give you far more than just street cred.

The wearables are designed to pair with a smartphone, which can then allow them to make payments to a merchant using an NFC reader. The “tattoos” are also designed for limited use — once the wearer removes it, it’s rendered useless.

MC10 was originally designed to measure individual UV exposure, but the company hopes to find traction in the payment arena, striking a balance between convenience and security. According to Ben Schlatka, MC10 VP of Corporate Development and Co-Founder, “[The only client] with the platform so far is L’Oréal’s [for its] My UV Patch, a sensor designed to help users monitor their sun exposure.”

Developers will be working with third-party brands to customize the patch and are working on designs for hotel room access, event registration, event admission and to expand to the payment arena.

“Brands will be able to customize the sticker for unique, interactive experiences that both simplify commercial transactions and engage consumers to build loyalty,” Schlatka said in an email.

According to the MC10 marketing department, the chip ensures secure transmission of user data to a smart reader with 32-bit data protection. The devices are pre-programmed with a 7-byte unique ID and contain a unique signature for secure tokenization.

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RT

Netanyahu to lecture UN after it failed to recognize Jewish ties to Temple Mount

Published time: 7 May, 2016 12:35

Following UNESCO’s resolution failing to acknowledge Israel’s historic ties to the Temple Mount, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited all UN personnel working in the country to attend an open seminar on Jewish history at his office.

“Two weeks ago, I was shocked to hear that UNESCO adopted a decision denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site. It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone an organization tasked with preserving history, could deny this link which spans thousands of years,” Netanyahu posted on his official Facebook page on Friday.

“It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone an organization tasked with preserving history, could deny this link, which spans thousands of years,” he said.

UNESCO published its resolution in which it condemned Israel for security restrictions and other measures at the holy site on April 11. In response, Netanyahu dubbed the document as “absurd,” stressing that the UN “ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount.”

“That is why today I am announcing a seminar on Jewish history for all UN personnel in Israel,” the Israeli PM said in a statement, adding that he would “personally host” the lecture at his office.

The lecture will be delivered by a “leading scholar of Jewish history,” Netanyahu said.

According to Reuters’ sources, the lecture could take place next week. It is not clear how many UN personnel are planning to attend the event.

The resolution adopted by the UN cultural body refers to Israel as an occupying power in Jerusalem’s Old Town and uses the Arabic names Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, never calling it the Temple Mount, as the Jews call it. The document also refers to the cities of Hebron and Bethlehem as “integral part of Palestine.” The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan. The document has been authorized by the UN executive board’s Programme and External Relations Commission.

The resolution was approved by 33 nations, among them France, Russia, Spain and Sweden. Seventeen countries abstained, two were absent and six countries voted against the resolution, namely the US, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

In a recently issued protest letter to all the countries that supported the UNESCO decision, Israeli Foreign Ministry’s director Dore Gold lashed out at the document and stressed that Jerusalem is a 3,000-year-old capital of the Jewish people.

“While the UNESCO decision has no practical validity, we will not allow international sources to blur the connection of the Jewish nation to its eternal capital,” Gold said.

In response to the backlash from Israeli officials, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova later called for “respect and dialogue.”

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theguardian
Israeli military chief backtracks from 1930s Germany comparison

IDF deputy chief says he did not intend to compare Israel to Nazi Germany in Holocaust memorial day speech citing ‘nauseating trends’

Maj Gen Yair Golan’s original remarks were praised by Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog: ‘This is what morality and responsibility sound like’. Photograph: Fema Photo Library

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem

Thursday 5 May 2016 08.10 BST

Last modified on Friday 6 May 2016 00.10 BST

The deputy head of the Israeli military has been forced to backtrack after appearing to compare some attitudes in present-day Israel to “nauseating trends” in 1930s Germany.

In a hard-hitting Holocaust memorial day speech on Wednesday evening, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deputy chief of staff, Maj Gen Yair Golan, made remarks that he felt compelled to clarify overnight on Thursday, insisting he had not “intended to compare Israel to Nazi Germany”.

Both the timing – on the day that marks the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis – and the perceived comparison, touch on the most sensitive of issues in Israel.

Golan told an audience including a government minister and survivors of the Holocaust: “The Holocaust must lead us to think about our public lives, and even more than that, it must guide anyone who has the ability, not only those who wish to bear public responsibility.

“Because if there is anything that frightens me in the remembrance of the Holocaust, it is discerning nauseating trends that took place in Europe in general, and in Germany specifically back then, 70, 80 and 90 years ago, and seeing evidence of them here among us in the year 2016.

“After all, there is nothing simpler and easier than hating the foreigner, there is nothing easier and simpler than arousing fears and intimidating, there is nothing easier and simpler than becoming bestial, forgoing principles and becoming smug.”

His remarks immediately provoked outrage on Twitter, particularly for referring to the case of an Israeli soldier who shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron after he had ceased to pose a threat.

Among Golan’s critics was Israel’s far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett, who was in the audience.

“A moment before our soldiers are compared to Nazis, with ‘endorsement’ from up high – the deputy chief of staff has erred and must rectify it immediately,” Bennett said on Twitter.

Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog, however, praised Golan as a “courageous commander” adding: “The crazies who will now start screaming against him should know: this is what morality and responsibility sound like.”

In a statement on Thursday morning, however, Golan insisted: “It is an absurd and baseless comparison and I had no intention whatsoever to draw any sort of parallel or to criticise the national leadership. The IDF is a moral army that respects the rules of engagement and protects human dignity.”

Golan’s point in his address appeared to be that – like the Israeli religious holiday of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement – Holocaust memorial day should be an opportunity for atonement and reflection.

“On Holocaust remembrance day, it is worthwhile to ponder our capacity to uproot the first signs of intolerance, violence, and self-destruction that arise on the path to moral degradation,” Golan said.

Apparently referring to the case of Sgt Elor Azaria, and the support for the soldier including among Israeli ministers, he said: “Improper use of weapons and violating the sanctity of arms have taken place since the IDF’s founding.

“The IDF should be proud that throughout its history it has had the ability to investigate severe incidents without hesitation. It should be proud that it has probed problematic behaviour with courage and that it has taken responsibility not just for the good, but also for the bad and the inappropriate.

“We didn’t try to justify ourselves, we didn’t cover anything up, we didn’t whitewash, we didn’t make excuses, and we didn’t equivocate. Our path was – and will be – one of truth and shouldering responsibility, even if the truth is difficult and the burden of responsibility is a heavy one.”

Despite the release of a statement by the Israeli military insisting Golan was not comparing Israel with Germany in the 1930s, his remarks drew wide attention from columnists in Israel’s morning papers.

Yossi Yehoshua, in Yedioth Ahoronoth, described the speech as problematic, writing: “The comparison to the Holocaust, at the time and place it was made, will only serve to make him the object of criticism and will dull the message that he wanted to convey.”

Yoaz Hendel, in the same paper, was even more forthright: “The Holocaust is different because it involved a racial doctrine, a hatred of the other, popular support and an extermination mechanism that was directed against a minority that did everything in its power to integrate into society. It was absolute evil.

“There is no similarity between what happened then and trends on the fringes of Israeli society – no matter how fraught our debates here about warfare morality or the state of discourse in the social networks become.”

***

WND

ISLAM TIGHTENS HOLD ON EUROPE WITH ELECTION VICTORY

London to be run for the 1st time in history by Muslim

Published: May 7, 2016

The results from this week’s that will leave the capital of the United Kingdom under the rule of a Muslim – for the first time in history – is evidence of Islam’s tightening grip on Europe, critics say.

The vote gave the Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan a victory over the Conservative Party’s Zac Goldsmith.

The highly divisive campaign reflected the growing ethnic and religious divisions within the city, where many areas are set to be majority Muslim within a matter of years.

Khan’s controversial past became an important issue in the campaign, as a video from 2009 surfaced in which Khan appeared to characterize moderate Muslims as “Uncle Toms.”

Khan also repeatedly spoke on the same platform as various Islamic extremists, including Yasser al-Siri, a convicted terrorist and confidante of the notorious preacher Yasser al-Siri. According to Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, Khan also shared a platform nine times with the imam Suliman Gani, who is alleged to be a supporter of the Islamic State.

As the campaign proceeded, other embarassments for Khan surfaced, including that he followed people on Twitter who posted propaganda for the Islamic State and that his former parliamentary assistant was posting homophobic and misogynistic messages as well as pictures of himself with guns.

Khan’s former brother-in-law Makbool Javaid was also linked to the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which praised both the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the July 7, 2005, attacks in London.

For his part, Khan has denied he shares any extremist views with those he’s associated with in the past.

Nonetheless, the Labour Party has avoided taking a defensive stance on the accusations.

Labour Members of Parliament screamed accusations of “racism” against Conservative David Cameron when the British prime minister decried Khan’s links with extremists on the floor of the House of Commons.

Khan has apologized for his remarks about “Uncle Toms” but coupled his mea culpa with further criticism of Zac Goldsmith.

Pamela Geller, an internationally renowned activist against Islamic extremism, WND columnist and the author of “Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance,” said westerners should be very concerned about Khan becoming the mayor of one of the world’s greatest cities.

“A Muslim who renounced jihad, Shariah, Islamic Jew-hatred, Islamic misogyny, and all the rest and backed up his words with his actions would be fine as a mayor,” Geller told WND. “But Sadiq Khan is not that man. Americans should indeed be worried.”

G.M. Davis, a PhD from Stanford University and the author of “House of War: Islam’s Jihad Against the World,” called Khan’s victory historic. And he warned the British people, and all Westeners, not to be deceived by Khan’s supposedly liberal views.

“Sadiq Khan’s victory in this week’s London mayoral election is a watershed moment for Islam’s growth in Western Europe,” Davis told WND. “Perhaps just a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable that a major Western capital would elect a Muslim head of government — with the support of a major political party.

“While Khan advertises himself as a liberal and eschews orthodox Islamic positions such as Shariah law, he nonetheless represents the thin end of the wedge in the mounting political presence of Islam in Europe both within and without conventional political channels. A liberal Muslim candidate will in time give way to more orthodox candidates advocating Islam and all it stands for: polygamy, brutality against women and homosexuals, repression of non-Muslim religious groups, and all the hallmarks of Shariah that have marred Islamic history through the ages.”

Geller also argued Khan’s longtime association with radical Muslims shows his dedication to liberal values is suspect.

“Though he is a Muslim, he supports gay marriage and is not a supporter of Shariah, at least he says he is not,” she commented. “But his associations show his genuine allegiances.”

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post said the campaign was largely driven by “identity politics” rather than policy differences between Goldsmith and Khan.

The 2011 census reported one in eight city residents is a Muslim and more than a third of the city’s population was born in another country.

Davis said Western politicians can continue to ignore the issue, but such sweeping demographic changes will revolutionize politics across the Continent.

“If the Western nations refuse to amend their immigration policies, then it can only be a question of time before all the great cities of Western Europe fall under Muslim leadership,” he warned. “We have already seen Muslims elected to the heads of multiple municipalities. But even the ‘moderate’ Muslims, whether they know it or not, are paving the way for hardliners and their programs of jihad and Shariah, which have left such devastation wherever Islam has gained a foothold in the course of its 14-century history.”

Geller was more blunt. “Without any doubt, this will be the fate of every major European city if mass immigration continues,” she argued. “Shariah supremacists will use our democratic process in order to destroy democracy.”

The campaign also comes at a time when the UK Labour Party is gripped in a crisis over anti-Semitism.

Several members of Labour have been suspended for anti-Jewish posts on social media and party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been forced to issue a statement promising not to tolerate anti-Semitism within the party. Former London mayor Kevin Livingstone, a fiery member of the Labour Party nicknamed “Red Ken,” was recently suspended after he alleged Adolf Hitler was a supporter of Zionism before the Holocaust.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis recently blasted Labour for having a “problem” of anti-Semitism. However, Rabbi Mirvis was unlikely to give his opinion of Labour at the polling station after he and many others were unable to vote following a reported “administrative effort” which plagued a Conservative-voting borough with a large Jewish population.

However the Labour Party responds, Davis says as it becomes more reliant on Muslim voters it will naturally become more anti-Jewish.

“Islam itself is profoundly anti-Jewish,” Davis charged. “Islam sees Jews as inherently disobedient to Allah and to proper conceptions of right and wrong. Jews are Muslims’ inveterate enemies, even more so than Christians. Whatever the purported anti-Semitism of some of the Labour establishment, bias against Jews in general can only increase as Islam establishes a footing in London and throughout British politics.”

Geller also believes the Labour Party has jettisoned its moral compass in return for Muslim votes.

“It’s sold out entirely to the Islamic supremacist point of view,” she charged. “The left is a servant of the jihad agenda.”

***

THE WHOWHATWHY TEAM

IS NATO’S ISLAMIC ANCHOR HEADED FOR A COUP?

President Erdogan’s Reach for Unlimited Power Rouses Opposition

MAY 6, 2016

Recep Tayyip Erdogan with John Kerry and Joe Biden. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State / Wikimedia

Turkey’s increasingly dictatorial president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, scored yet another domestic victory Thursday, with the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, his former ally who nominally holds the reins of the country.

Erdogan is now free to push for a change in the constitution that would transfer more power to himself. But this act also highlights his growing political isolation, which many believe will spell the end his career — an outcome of great concern to the US and its European allies.

Western leaders desperately need Turkey to remain stable. As a key NATO ally in a volatile region — NATO’s second-largest army, in fact — and the country that is supposed to protect Europe from another flood of refugees, a lot is riding on Turkey’s stability. But the oppressed half of the country does not share the same sentiments, and talk of a possible coup against Erdogan is growing louder.

Perhaps the surest sign of trouble for his political future is the sarcasm pouring in on Erdogan from all sides — from the cover of the leading German magazine Der Spiegel to an “Insult Erdogan” contest sponsored by a prominent British magazine to homegrown social media.

Put simply, Erdogan may be turning into more of a liability for the West than a solid defender of NATO’s eastern flank that he was once touted to be.

Of course, his fate will be decided not in Washington or Berlin or Brussels but in the Byzantine politics of Erdogan’s palace court. His political survival instincts have proven themselves time and again in the past. But now either a political coup or a military intervention may be in the offing because Erdogan has polarized the country to a breaking point while at the same time removing, one by one, all legal means available for people to dissent.

At home, his failed policies have resulted in a string of bloody terror attacks in Turkey’s major cities that have claimed hundreds of lives over the past few months. He has repeatedly ignored the country’s constitution, defied the top court, fired police and prosecutors investigating his allies for corruption, reignited a bloody civil war with the Kurds in the country’s southeast, and steamrolled over free speech.

Internationally, he stands accused of supporting Islamist extremists (possibly all the way up to colluding with ISIS), helping Iran avoid international sanctions, trying to maneuver NATO into a conflict with Russia, and extorting European leaders over the refugee deal. More recently, he has even tried to persecute critics in Germany and elsewhere.

Newsweek unleashed a political storm in Turkey when it republished the analysis of a former Pentagon official who concluded that, should elements in the Turkish military stage a coup, they would “get away with it.” The mere utterance of the word coup in a country that has a long history of them sent shockwaves through the Turkish establishment.

The country’s military, its memories fresh of the time Erdogan jailed the equivalent of an entire army college of top officers for allegedly plotting against him, issued an uncharacteristic denial. Nevertheless, just days ago, the top appeals court released all 275 suspects in that affair, possibly elevating the army’s political fortunes once again.

For the moment, though, outside experts see little chance of a military takeover.

“It seems clear that the military command is firmly in the hands of the government,” said Jenny White, a prominent Turkey analyst at Stockholm University. At the same time, she cautioned that the thinking of Turkey’s military leaders remains opaque.

Meanwhile, Erdogan seems locked in an ever-escalating cycle of paranoia and vengeance. He has had thousands of journalists, academics and even school children arrested for criticizing him. His son is under investigation for corruption in Italy as part of a scandal that Erdogan tried to sweep under the rug back in 2013 and 2014 when he fired police and prosecutors.

Another suspect in the same corruption scandal, Reza Zarrab, was arrested in Miami on charges that he helped Iran avoid US sanctions. Many analysts believe that Zarrab, shaken by the hanging of his business partner in Iran, probably struck a deal with the FBI to get a lighter sentence and US protection in exchange for information that could be greatly damaging to Erdogan.

The Turkish president himself is now the target of protests in almost every Western country he visits. Scenes of his bodyguards beating protesters, as they do at home, or making loud animal sounds to drown out the condemnations pouring in on him have made him even more toxic and embarrassing to his Western counterparts. Far from being the “valued ally” that he was back in 2013, an Op-Ed in the New York Times noted, his reception when he visited Washington DC this year was “the diplomatic equivalent of a handshake after a romantic date.”

All this is important because, having fallen out with Russia and most of its neighbors, thanks to Erdogan’s policies, Turkey is now as dependent on the West as the other way round. US support was arguably key to Erdogan’s ability to avoid another coup threat back in 2007 when he was still branding himself a moderate Islamic democrat. And the top brass of Turkey’s army, according to many Turkish analysts, is still often closer to its counterparts in the US and NATO than to the political leadership of the country.

With the political situation so polarized, even some of Erdogan’s closest former allies are grumbling.

“We are seeing opposition figures within the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party]… raising their voices against Erdogan,” said Ege Seckin, a Turkey expert at the London-based analysis firm IHS.

Turkey is still officially a parliamentary republic and Erdogan was forced to formally surrender both the executive power and control over the ruling party when he was sworn in as president in 2014. Although he has installed figureheads to govern AKP, he is clearly nervous about the possibility of an internal party coup.

“People are very wary of taking on Erdogan,” said Seckin. “But then again, you have to bear in mind, these things — it would all happen at the blink of an eye. … As soon as people see, wow, he is losing power, there will be a rush of support away from Erdogan.”

And if that happens, all bets are off for the larger regional picture.

***

Mirror

Russia to test unstoppable 'Satan 2' stealth nuke capable of wiping out an ENTIRE NATION

09:01, 10 MAY 2016

UPDATED 17:17, 10 MAY 2016

BY JASPER HAMILL

Russia is preparing to test-fire a nuclear weapon which is so powerful it could reportedly destroy a whole country in seconds.

The "Satan 2" missile is rumoured to be the most powerful ever designed and is equipped with stealth technology to help it dodge enemy radar systems .

This terrifying doomsday weapon is likely to strike fear into the hearts of Western military chiefs, as current missile defence technology is totally incapable of stopping it.

Its official name is the RS-28 Sarmat and it will replace aging Soviet R-36M missiles, which NATO military experts nicknamed "Satan".

"In this sense, the Sarmat missile will not only become the R-36M's successor, but also to some extent it will determine in which direction nuclear deterrence in the world will develop," the Russian

The missile is expected to be capable of delivering up to a dozen warheads, allowing to effectively destroy an area the "size of Texas or France", the broadcaster continued.

It is expected to have a range of 10,000 km, allowing Moscow to attack European cities including London as well as major cities on America's west and east coasts.

***

WND

RUSSIA THREATENS TO MAKE ROMANIA 'SMOKING RUINS'

Missile defense installation prompts promise to 'ensure the necessary level of security'

Published: May 12, 2016

Russian officials in a report on Thursday speculated that a nuclear war could leave Romania a “smoking ruins” just as Britain said it intercepted several Russian transports that refused to identify themselves as they approached the Baltic States.

The amped up talk of death and destruction could, analysts warn, return the world to the hair-trigger tensions that shadowed America and the Soviet Union both in the years before President Ronald Reagan demands of Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

It was the New York Times that said American officials were celebrating the opening of a missile defense system in Europe this week while the discussion in Moscow turned dark.

“We have been saying right from when this story started that our experts are convinced that the deployment of the ABM system poses a certain threat to the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters in a conference call.

“Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of security for Russia,” he said. “The president himself, let me remind you, has repeatedly asked who the system will work against.”

U.S. officials say the system, Aegis Ashore, would protect against attacks from “rogue” operations such as Iran, but do nothing for Europe or the U.S. regarding Russia’s arsenal. It’s set up under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, commanded by an American officer, the report said.

But Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow, “We still view the destructive actions of the United States and its allies in the area of missile defense as a direct threat to global and regional security.”

The Times reported she claimed the system’s launchpad was nearly the same as one used on Aegis warships for launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Analysts also said the site may violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which banned land-based missiles with a range from 300-3,400 miles.

The problem is there would only be a time frame of minutes for Russia to respond before a strike.

The report said Russian President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia “has warned that an American antimissile deployment in Eastern Europe could prompt Russia to withdraw from the treaty. The United States last year accused Russia of violating the treaty by failing to declare the true range of two missile types.”

At the same time, there was a report from Reuters that British Typhoon jets intercepted three Russian military transport aircraft heading to the Baltic States.

The jets were scrambled from Estonia, but few other details were available. The report said the airplanes “were not transmitting a recognized identification code and were unresponsive.”

It was only about six months ago that there were reports President Obama was sending an “expeditionary force” of U.S. military special operators to raid ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

At the time, one Democrat warned of a potential nuclear war with Russia.

Last summer, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan noted congressional plans to provide weapons to Ukraine.

“If the Pentagon is indeed moving U.S. troops and heavy weapons into Poland and the Baltic States, and is about to provide arms to Kiev to attack the rebels in East Ukraine, we are headed for a U.S.-Russian confrontation unlike any seen since the Cold War,” he warned.

And earlier in 2015, a WND source reported Moscow could be preparing to move nuclear weapons into the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed, and also position them around the strategic Russian enclave of Kaliningrad near the periphery of NATO countries.

A source who has worked in past U.S. administrations on nuclear-weapon issues told WND then that such a buildup in Crimea could include nuclear weapons, and there is a question whether it would be a violation of the 2010 START treaty, since Crimea has been annexed by Russia.

If not strategic nuclear weapons, Moscow could move tactical nukes into Crimea, the source said.

At the time, Peter Vincent Pry, former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, said Moscow has been preparing for a nuclear war, but its intentions have been largely unreported by the establishment media.

“For years, Russia has been embarked on a massive program modernizing its strategic and tactical nuclear forces,” Pry said

***

Ron Paul Insitute

US Ambassador to Hungary: Overthrow Assad, Let in Refugees, and Fight Russia...or Else!

written by Daniel Mcadams

Friday May 6, 2016
US Ambassador to Hungary, Coleen Bell

If anyone wants a short course on what's wrong with US diplomacy look no further than US Ambassador to Hungary Coleen Bell's speech Friday to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament. In typical diplo-speak there was plenty of flowery language about shared values, fish swimming together in the same water (?), sappy poetics like "together, out of that winter, we would force the spring," and talk of together being "part of the world’s greatest military and political alliance."

But make no mistake: Inside Ambassador Bell's velvet glove is an iron fist, poised to strike should Washington's annoyingly independent-minded Fidesz-led government step out of line on the big issues. And by "big" issues it should be understood that the US means the issues it considers in the interests of its own foreign policy, not those in Hungary's interest.

Message to Hungary: do as we say or you will be sorry.

Ambassador Bell's previous job was as a television soap opera producer, but raising more than two million dollars for the election of Barack Obama "earned" her the position of top US diplomat in Hungary.

The former television producer does know how to deliver her lines, though. She lectured the Hungarians about Syria, explaining to them that ISIS and Assad are both equally evil and both equally to blame for the disaster that is Syria.

ISIS has flourished in Syria, she told the Hungarians, because it "exploits the chaos of civil war in Syria, a conflict that has now claimed more than 250,000 lives." But she does not mention that it was US backing for "regime change" in Syria -- beginning at least in 2006, as we learn from a critical Wikileaks-released US Embassy Damascus memo -- that created that very chaos she blames for the rise of ISIS.

In fact it is propaganda to call what is happening in Syria a "civil war," as the forces battling the Syrian government are all sponsored by foreign powers like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the US. It is a proxy war against the Syrian government, not a civil war.

She then tells the Hungarians ISIS will never be defeated in Syria until Assad is overthrown:

[W]e know we won’t be able to defeat Daesh in Syria unless we also deal with the civil war and particularly with Assad. Because as long as Assad is there, he remains the most powerful magnet for foreign fighters and recruits to Daesh.

Does she assume Hungarians are so stupid that they believe that by attacking and beating ISIS back nearly to Raqqa (with Russian assistance), the Syrian government of Assad is actually benefitting ISIS? Attacking ISIS means Assad is on the side of ISIS?

"Since February, the cessation of hostilities reduced the violence in Syria, allowing millions of Syrian civilians to take the first steps toward reclaiming a normal life," says the Ambassador, without even mentioning what brought the ceasefire about in the first place: Russian participation along with the Syrian army in the decimation of al-Qaeda and ISIS positions in northwest and central Syria. In fact it is absolutely bizarre that in the world of Ambassador Bell (and the State Department hacks who drafted her speech), the Russian intervention against al-Qaeda and ISIS simply never took place or was too inconsequential to mention.

Is any Hungarian so ill-informed that he would believe such nonsense?

Bell used the tragedy in Syria to pressure Hungary on the (largely American-made) refugee crisis. Hungary's firebrand prime minister, Viktor Orban, has, along with several of his central European counterparts, stood up to Brussels' (and Washington's) demands that Hungary take in tens of thousands of migrants who heeded German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call to come to Europe and enjoy lots of free stuff.

Last month Orban told Hungarian Radio that if he accepts the EU migrant resettlement plan, “it would be determined not in Hungary but in Brussels who we have to live together with, and how the ethnic composition of the country will look in future.” He has rejected such a notion.

"Every sovereign nation has the right and an obligation to protect its borders," Bell told the Hungarian Parliament, "But every nation, as a part of the international community, also has a fundamental obligation to help refugee populations seeking safety."

Translation: your sovereignty is not determined by you, but rather by us. It is a practice articulated by Orwell in 1984 whereby a person can think two completely contradictory thoughts at the same time seemingly without any mental conflict.

But here is where the iron fist inside Bell's velvet glove glints in the sun. She pointedly condemned the Hungarian government position by praising those in Hungary who hold the opposite view, i.e. the Hungarian opposition:

We commend the humanitarian spirit of Hungarian leaders, law enforcement and military personnel, and ordinary citizens who are responding to this crisis with generosity and compassion.

Then she gives Hungary Washington's marching orders:

We continue to stress that any solution to these migration challenges should focus on saving and protecting lives, ensuring the human rights of all migrants are respected, and promoting orderly and humane migration policies. That includes the support of all Member State governments for the refugee agreement forged between the EU and Turkey.

Translation: Hungary must support the EU agreement with Turkey which would see tens of thousands of migrants settled in EU member countries, including Hungary itself. The problem is that the Hungarian parliament explicitly rejected Brussels' forced migrant settlement plans for Hungary and plans to hold a nationwide referendum on the subject. Bell is saying here that Hungary's elected representatives and even the Hungarian voter must be ignored and Brussels' dictate obeyed.

When it comes to Russia, Ambassador Bell also has some instructions for Budapest: Moscow is your enemy and don't you forget it.

She told Hungarian parliamentarians:

As many Hungarians have reminded me, you need no introduction to the nature of Russian aggression. Your response has always been to show resolve. Our best weapons, in fact, are resolve and solidarity.

Weapons? Quite a loaded word.

Orban has been seen in Washington as insufficiently enthused about sanctions on Russia, which hurt Hungarian trade and business interests. Ambassador Bell makes it clear that Hungary must adhere to US demands of Russia, even if they are completely incoherent:

As the United States and Hungary have both stated many times, Russia has a simple choice: fully implement Minsk or continue to face sanctions. Russia must withdraw weapons and troops from the Donbas; Russia must ensure that all Ukrainian hostages are returned; Russia must allow full humanitarian access to occupied territories; Russia must support free, fair, and internationally-monitored elections in the Donbas under Ukrainian law; and most important, Russia must restore Ukraine’s sovereignty.

That last point should be taken to mean that Russia must ignore the will of the people of Crimea who voted in overwhelming numbers to re-join Russia after just 25 years as part of independent Ukraine.

Not to worry, Ambassador Bell is confident that Budapest will do everything Washington tells it to do:

More than this, Hungary is equal to the great challenges of our times, and the United States is counting on you.

To stiffen their spine, US Ambassador Bell reminds the Hungarians that they are part of "our global order" and touts the great examples set by the US, including:

Our system of international economic, political, and social norms and institutions have kept the peace and fostered prosperity for decades. Whether it is international law, environmental protection, trade regulations, anticorruption laws, child labor laws, human rights safeguards, the nonproliferation regime, public health systems, international financial institutions, UN peacekeeping, or a robust civil society – these norms and institutions give life and stability to our global order.

In the era of NSA spying on innocent Americans, Guantanamo, CIA torture, weapons sales to the world's worst dictators (Saudi Arabia for one), destruction of the environment by the US war machine, "regime change" operations that violate the sovereignty of other states, and outright aggression in opposition to US and international law (Libya, etc.), Bell's suggestion that "our global order" is the pinnacle of civilization should get a laugh out of most Hungarians. In fact, from Libya to Syria to Ukriane to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the US interventionist attempt to forge a global order with blood and bullets will go down in history along with the authoritarianisms of the 20th century as one of humanity's darkest chapters.

Here is the short version of Ambassador Bell to Budapest: "to be our partner means you do what we say whether or not it is in your interest."

Funny, that was Moscow's message to Budapest from 1948 to 1989.

***

SPUTNIK (Edited from longer article.)

Hungary Takes Matters Into Own Hands, Agrees on EU Migrant

11.05.2016

Hungary's Parliament has voted in favor of holding a referendum to ask citizens if they want be forced by the European Union to join its resettlement program for refugees.

MPs decided with 136 'yes' votes against five 'no' votes to go ahead with the referendum asking:

"Do you want the European Union to be able to require the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary without the consent of the National Assembly?"

The European Commission (EC) is still hoping to fairly distribute 160,000 refugees among EU member states.

However, many Eastern European countries are refusing to take part, including Hungary which continues to fight against the EC over its plan to ease the burden of refugees from Italy and Greece.

Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, Peter Szijjarto claims the referendum is to give the people of Hungary the choice — not the European Commission.

"The Hungarian government initiated a referendum on illegal migration precisely so that the Hungarian people decide their destiny and not the Foreign Minister for Luxembourg," Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.

Taking a swipe at Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, Szijjarto accused him of acting with "usual arrogance" and "rating those who don't agree with him as second class Europeans."

***

RT

Austrian Chancellor resigns amid party split fueled by huge far-right gains

Published time: 10 May, 2016 02:26

Edited time: 10 May, 2016 02:43

Austria’s Werner Faymann has unexpectedly resigned both as Chancellor and as leader of the Social Democrats two week after his party suffered serious losses to the anti-immigration Freedom Party during the first round of presidential elections.

“Do I have full cover ..., strong support within the party? I must say the answer is no. I draw the consequences from this low level of support and step down from my positions as party leader and federal chancellor,” Faymann said in a resignation statement, according to Reuters.

“This country needs a chancellor who has the party’s full support,” he added.

Faymann who has been in office since 2008, has faced criticism within his Social Democrat party after the far-right Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer won the first round of presidential elections last month.

The chancellor initially stood in favor of Germany’s open-door policy regarding refugees who have been fleeing war in the Middle East to head for Europe and even refused to set a caps on the number of migrants that may come. However, after a while Faymann had a change of heart and joined his coalition partner of the center-right Austrian People’s Party Reinhold Mitterlehner who spoke in favor of border restrictions.

Mitterlehner who serves as Vice Chancellor said there is no need for snap elections, APA news agency reported. With the far-right parties currently maintaining high support, the move seemed logical, as otherwise the Social Democrat party ran the risk of losing the chancellorship.

The next general elections in Austria are scheduled for 2018.

“For us it was a big surprise as we believed the personnel debate at the Social Democrats had been done,” Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling told reporters in Brussels.

A successor to Faymann in the Social Democratic Party is set be found at a meeting next week. Until that moment, Michael Haeupl, the mayor of Vienna, has been asked to take office. Haeupl shrugged off the possibility of going after the chancellor’s post, saying that he has “no intention of becoming it.”

Faymann’s resignation should not come as a big surprise to most of the observers, believes Reinhard Kreissl of Vienna Center For Social Security, since “the party is split.”

“Some stick to the old socialist ideas… while the others try to sing the song of the Freedom Party, more right-wing populist party,” Kreissl told RT. “Faymann didn’t have the guts to reconcile these two factions.”

The two most likely candidates to be appointed as an interim chancellor are Christian Kern, the head of Austrian rail operator OBB, and Gerhard Zeiler, former head of public broadcaster ORF and now president of Turner International.

***

Zero Hedge

Poland Refuses To Accept Any Refugees "As They Pose A Threat To Security", Will Not Comply With European "Blackmail"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/09/2016 13:17 -0400

Seemingly unfazed by the recent European Commission proposal to punish countries which refuse to comply with "fair" refugee allocation quotas with fines as high as €250,000 per asylum seeker, the head of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party and former PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that no refugees will be accepted in Poland "as they pose a threat to security" adding that Poland will oppose any law forcing EU members to pay €250,000 per refused refugee.

"After recent events connected with acts of terror [Poland] will not accept refugees because there is no mechanism that would ensure security," Law and Justice (PiS) chair Kaczynski said on Saturday, as quoted by Radio Poland. Needless to say, Poland is also vocally opposed to the abovementioned proposal, announced last week, which would force EU member states to pay €250,000 per refused refugee. The common complaint voiced not only by Poland, but all Eastern European nations who would suffer the most from Europe's aggressive refugee reallocation proposal is that the goal of the EC is to redistribute the weight of the refugee crisis from countries such as Greece by introducing automatic asylum quotas for each EU member state.

Protesters hold flags as they gathers during anti-immigrant rally in Warsaw

"Such a decision would abolish the sovereignty of EU member states – of course, the weaker ones. We don’t agree to that, we have to oppose that, because we are and we will be in charge in our own country,” Kaczynski said adding that "this is the position of the prime minister and the whole of PiS… From the beginning we felt that this issue should be resolved, assisting refugees outside the EU."

Others agreed. The Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said last week that the quota system is “a bad system...it makes no sense."

Poland has been very vocal in its opposition to accepting migrants. According to the European Commission proposal, Poland, which has an existing quota of 6,500, would have to pay over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) if it were to refuse to accept any refugees, according to Financial Times. Kaczynski also addressed the recent anti-government protest Warsaw, stressing that the demonstrators tried “to impose on us the forced acceptance of immigrants.”

Hungary and Slovakia have also lashed out at the European Commission’s quota system. "Regarding the fines proposed by the European Commission, it is blackmailing,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said last week. Szijjarto called the quota system a “dead-end street” and asked the Commission not to follow through with it.

The Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak also opined saying that the timing of the Commission’s proposal was difficult, given efforts to reach consensus on closing migrant routes and reaching a deal on refugees with Turkey. “In the middle of these very sensitive talks, a proposal is put on the table that sets us back nine months and does not reflect reality in some aspects,” he said.

What is surprising is the curious carrot-stick approach that has emerged in Europe: carrot when interacting with Turkey, by paying the country's increasingly despotic leader Erdogan billions to keep as many refugees within Turkey's borders, and stick when dealing with EU member states, threatening punishment if they refuse to offload some of the refugee burden borne by countries like Germany. The irony, of course, is that it was the insistence of Merkel in 2015 to open Europe up to millions of Syrian refugees in hopes this may end up boosting domestic economic growth, only to see a huge popular revulsion to the influx of immigrants which as we reported earlier today cost the Austrian Chancellor his job and has led to Germany's AfD anti-Muslim party soaring to third place in the political polls.As RT adds, solving the migration problem is a top priority for the EU, as it continues to face the worst refugee crisis since World War II. According to a February report compiled by the International Organization for Migration, more than 100,000 people have arrived in Greece, and 7,507 in Italy, since the beginning of the year. It is troubling that as part of the solution, Brussels is facing not only a collapse of the Schengen customs union, but even greater alienation between core European nations and the more recent, and far poorer, Eastern European entrants who rightfully see themselves as secondary actors in an increasingly unequal and crumbling "union" in which just a handful of top power countries call the shots.

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CNN

Dilma Rousseff: 'I'm the victim of a great injustice'

By Catherine E. Shoichet and Euan McKirdy, CNN

Updated 1549 GMT (2349 HKT) May 12, 2016

(CNN)Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff didn't mince words as she began the fight of her political life Thursday.

"It's a coup," she told reporters, speaking out publicly for the first time since senators voted to begin an impeachment trial against her.

It took Brazil's Senate about 20 hours of debate to reach a decisive result early Thursday: The country's first female president must step aside while an impeachment trial against her gets underway.

It took Rousseff less than an hour to make two speeches slamming the vote: One to reporters inside the presidential palace, and one to crowds outside after she was kicked out.

"I'm the victim of a great injustice," Rousseff told cheering supporters.

She delivered an impassioned speech from a podium set up outside -- stopping several times to ask people around her to move so she could see the crowd.

She shook hands, kissed a baby and hugged people afterward.

"My government has been the objective of sabotage," Rousseff said, decrying impeachment proceedings as a betrayal and an injustice.

"I have made mistakes, but I have not committed any crimes. I am being judged unjustly, because I have followed the law to the letter," she said.

President says she'll keep fighting

Rousseff vowed to keep fighting efforts to impeach her, and called for her supporters to join her.

"To all Brazilians who are against the coup, I call on you to keep united and in peace," she said. "The fight for democracy does not have an end date. It's a permanent fight and it demands from us total dedication. ... I will never give up fighting."

The past few months have been a roller coaster for the embattled leader, who's accused of breaking budget laws. And while there are some procedural steps we know are coming, given the country's volatile political landscape, what will happen next is anyone's guess.

This much is clear: Rousseff will be suspended for up to 180 days. That means she could be on the sidelines, fighting for her political future, when the Olympics come to Latin America's largest country in August. Vice President Michel Temer is now Brazil's interim president. As Rousseff spoke, he posted a photo on his official Twitter account of the moments when he took power.
(Could Brazil being part of the BRICS be the real reason behind this!? The vice President Michel Temer is known for his extreme corruption.)

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PRESSTV

World on brink of existential crisis: Analyst

Thu May 12, 2016 7:33AM

Press TV has interviewed Mike Billington, with the Asia desk of the Executive Intelligence Review, about the United States activating missile systems across Europe, despite Russia’s warnings against the move.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you feel about this latest move by the US?

Billington: Well, the world is sitting on the brink of an existential crisis. We are looking square in the face of the very near-term prospect of a thermonuclear war for which Obama has openly deployed the necessary forces believing insanely that a preemptive strike against Russia or China could take out the nuclear response capacity of those nations. This is insane but it could in fact lead to a war.

The idea that the US could in fact defeat Russia is ludicrous. Putin who unquestionably is the most brilliant strategic strategist of the current era, of the modern era, has kept one step ahead of Obama at every step of this way. They have hypersonic weapon capacity which can overcome any anti-ballistic missile system. They know that these missile systems not only in Europe but also in Asia where they are attempting to deploy the high altitude THAAD missile system in Korea which is only aimed at China and Russia and that this is preparation for prompt global strike, the US strategic policy of a first strike whose actual intent here is not to meet any aggression from Russia and China which do not exist but to take out the BRICS alliance to prevent the emergence of the new world paradigm.

Mr. LaRouche has repeatedly identified Putin as one of the most brilliant leaders in the modern time as best exemplified by the extraordinary concert given in Palmyra, the sister city of Saint Petersburg under Valery Gergiev, a concert done in the midst of a country and a city which had been absolutely destroyed in honor of those who had fought against ISIS, against terrorism and what the Russians are doing is mobilizing a global force against the scourge of terrorism and by having gone into Syria the way they did and so forth have identified the fact that Obama is actually on the side of terrorists in order to achieve the regime change policy that he has promoted from the beginning of his administration as did George Bush before him.

So we are now at an existential crisis, nothing short of removing Obama for his crimes which include this crime of deploying these unnecessary missile systems into Romania, Poland and into the Baltic states potentially, nothing short of that is going to prevent the drive for a nuclear war which these desperate bankrupt Western financial interests now see as their only hope against the emergence of this New World Order, one which in fact is showing the world that there is another way, there is a way based on progress, on development, on going to space, on building industry, on collaborating with the new Silk Road of Xi Jinping as many European countries are now beginning to do against the insistence of the British and Obama.

So this is the last dinosaur in his last desperate ploy trying to provoke a war which would mean the end of civilization. There would be no winner in such a war and it is our duty here in the United States under Mr. and Mrs. LaRouche’s leadership to galvanize the US support for the BRICS nations, for what Russia and China are doing in creating a new world paradigm and transforming America from its current self-destruction into a kind of nation which participates in nation-building and not nation-destroying around the world.

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CNN

Man who foresaw oil crash bets against Saudi Arabia

by Matt Egan

May 9, 2016: 12:44 PM ET

Two years ago, Zach Schreiber correctly predicted the epic oil crash. Now he's warning of a looming financial disaster in Saudi Arabia.

When Schreiber speaks, people sit up and pay attention. His 2014 prophesy reportedly led to a $1 billion profit for his firm.

"If you're long, I'm sorry for you," the CEO of hedge fund PointState Capital said when he made the bet two years ago and oil was over $100 a barrel.

Oil's eventual crash to as low as $26 a barrel this past February has created headaches for Saudi Arabia and other countries that rely on oil to make their budgets. Saudi Arabia has already slashed spending and is racing to raise cash. This past weekend, the country fired its longtime oil minister.

Schreiber believes things are about to get a lot worse.

"Saudi has two to three years of runway before it hits a wall," Schreiber said at the 21st Annual Sohn Investment Conference last week, returning to the scene of his 2014 oil call.

Schreiber predicted Saudi Arabia will be "structurally insolvent" by that point because it faces the twin threats of huge spending commitments and cheap oil.

"No wonder they're now issuing tons of debt," he said.
After years of raking in huge sums of oil money, these days Saudi Arabia is pulling out all the stops to raise cash. The kingdom is reportedly planning to take out a $10 billion loan from a group of banks, possibly paving the way for its first international bond sale.

The problem is Saudi Arabia needs oil prices at over $100 a barrel to break even on its budget. The kingdom spends heavily on perks for its huge population of nearly 30 million. Now it's being forced to reverse some of those gifts, as highlighted by the recent 50% gas price hike.

Saudi Arabia's "lavish social spending program is on a collision course" with cheap oil, Schreiber said.

The kingdom also has a massive military budget that reflects the tough neighborhood in the Middle East it lives in, ongoing rivalry with Iran and the threat of civil uprising. Still, the Saudis cut their defense spending by 3.6% this year amid the oil crash.

"Saudi is the last bastion of stability, but they hold that position at ever-expanding salary cost," Schreiber said.
Saudi Arabia's central bank is sitting on almost $600 billion -- a massive rainy day fund that is helping it cope with the financial storm. But the Saudis have burned through $140 billion between the end of 2014 and February. The IMF too recently warned the Saudis could eventually run out of cash.

And Schreiber argues that Saudi Arabia's balance sheet is "overstated and misunderstood." He points to nearly $340 billion of liabilities that minimize the size of that rainy day fund.

These concerns may help explain why the Saudis are planning to sell off a 5% stake in the country's crown jewel: state-owned oil behemoth Aramco.

"If they sell the golden goose, how do they fund anything? It's insane. Saudi is mortgaging away its future to buy time," said Schreiber.

At the same time, Schreiber is bearish on oil prices in the medium to long-term. He pointed to the risk the U.S. dollar regains strength, making commodities like oil that trade in dollars more expensive for overseas buyers. Schreiber also cited the rising popularity of electric cars and the "explosion of debt" in China that is unsustainable and poses a threat to future demand.

All of this explains why Schreiber is telling people to buy the U.S. dollar while "shorting," or betting against, the Saudi riyal. The kingdom's currency is pegged to the dollar but Schreiber thinks it will have to repeg it at a lower value to help deal with these ongoing financial headaches.

"Let's hope for the best, and hedge for the worst," Schreiber said.

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RT

India air pollution kills half a million per year, costs hundreds of billions – study

Published time: 11 May, 2016 17:45

Air pollution in India is leading to half a million premature deaths a year and is costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a new study.

The research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that around 570,000 premature deaths in India were caused by exposure to fine particulate matter in 2011, and 12,000 were caused by exposure to ozone.

Fine particulate matter, found in smoke and haze, consists of tiny particles or droplets in the air that are 2.5 micrometers or less in width. Ozone, meanwhile, is known to cause respiratory problems.

The most affected part of the nation was the Indo-Gangetic region, which includes the northern strip of the country.

The research relied on computer simulations of outdoor pollution levels throughout India, using national inventories on pollutant emissions.

From there, researchers used a model based on previous research on human health response to pollution to estimate the number of premature deaths. All of the simulations were based on 2011 data.

The new study follows separate research published by Greenpeace in February, which found that India had surpassed China in the amount of fine particulate matter pollution.

Comparing the two countries' capitals, that study found that New Delhi came to about 128 micrograms per cubic meter, compared to Beijing's 81. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that countries aim for an annual average of 10 micrograms per cubic meter.

It is important to note, however, that there is no concrete way to determine who has actually been killed by air pollution. Instead, studies rely on statistical algorithms to develop estimates about a population's response to pollution exposure, using previous observations on pollution and public health.

The results of the research come less than two months after a study found that air pollution was linked to 16,000 premature births in the US, costing the country over $4.3 billion.

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