“These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another.”
Zechariah 8:16

Speak The Truth

Dear Friends,

Greetings! This week we are doing something we generally do not do, that is republishing a paper that has been previously used.

The reason for this is because we are developing material for next week, God willing, which will be more easily understood if you are familiar with the material in " The Coming Temple" .

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Our first article this week is from the London Telegraph titled “'Europol' to be given new internet watchdog powers”. This article reveals something we have been posting for some time. Because of the recent events in Paris, and beyond “Europol” Europe's equivalent of “Interpol” is being given power to police the Internet. Here are some quotes from the article.

“The EU is planning to give Europe’s police intelligence agency, Europol, new powers to become a European internet watchdog and censor, according to a secret policy document...A new unit in Europol would be given a centralised role in “monitoring and analysis of social media communication on the internet” in search of jihadist and other undesirable content...These often go further than national legislation and can therefore help to reduce the amount of radicalising material available online.”

Find the entire article below.

This will soon be coming to the US, as we posted in a recent article, as well as other areas of the world.

In the meantime have a great week ahead.

“I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.” ~ John Wycliffe

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The Telegraph (We mentioned over a year or more ago that this was coming, and here it is.)

Europol 'to be given new internet watchdog powers'

Confidential proposals, to be discussed by Theresa May and other European interior ministers next week, would create EU internet monitoring unit

A new unit in Europol would be given a centralised role in “monitoring and analysis of social media communication on the internet” in search of jihadist and other undesirable content

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels

11:42AM GMT 22 Jan 2015

The EU is planning to give Europe’s police intelligence agency, Europol, new powers to become a European internet watchdog and censor, according to a secret policy document.

The measures also include controls to have internet content removed as a key part of a Europe-wide response to terrorism after the Paris attacks two weeks ago.

The confidential proposals, to be discussed by Theresa May and other European interior ministers next week, would create an EU internet monitoring unit charged with combing the web for “illegal content”.

“The amount of information transmitted to Europol doesn't match the threat. Political will is needed to increase the use of Europol – the biggest shortcoming has been the lack of information provided by national CT (counter-terrorism) authorities,” said the paper.

A new unit in Europol would be given a centralised role in “monitoring and analysis of social media communication on the internet” in search of jihadist and other undesirable content. (Our emphasis.)

“Consideration should be given to a role for Europol in either flagging or facilitating the flagging of content which breaches the platforms’ own terms and conditions,” said the confidential EU document.

“These often go further than national legislation and can therefore help to reduce the amount of radicalising material available online.”

Under the proposals the EU “should examine the legal and technical possibilities to remove illegal content and make proposals for a common approach, in full compliance with fundamental rights”.

Statewatch, the European civil liberties watchdog, has warned that the new powers could lead to censorship of the internet, damaging free speech across Europe.

“In a climate ripe for massive overreaction, the EU should focus on improving the implementation of existing measures instead of pushing for new and arbitrary powers,” said Ben Hayes, a specialist in counter-terrorism for Statewatch.

“Just a week after EU leaders marched under the banner of free speech, the idea that Europol should become the arbiter of acceptable and unacceptable “radicalising” internet content while the European Commission explores the legal and technical possibilities to remove such material is profoundly disturbing.”

Paul Nuttall, the deputy leader of Ukip, said: "Ukip is in favour of greater cooperation between nation states through the agency of Interpol but will not accept an EU-led spyfest such as Europol having greater access to peoples' private details. In the struggle against terrorism we must not compromise our basic freedoms....otherwise the Islamists will have won."

The paper also sets out plans for a new era of travel surveillance expected to be introduced after the attacks, which reinforced concerns that the EU’s free movement zone makes it harder for security services keep an eye on jihadists with links to Syria or Iraq.

Using Europol, which has new powers to collect information on people who have never been convicted of a criminal offence, the EU is planning to create a more centralised system of intelligence sharing allowing security services to monitor and track suspects throughout the EU’s 28 countries.

Existing border control databases will be combined with a future air travel PNR scheme to “ensure maximal use of passenger data processing” to create a new surveillance system covering people travelling both within and outside the EU.

Britain, along with Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, is pushing the EU to introduce border checks on suspected Islamists returning to their home countries in Europe.

MEPs will come under intense pressure next week to drop their opposition to security databases of passenger name records (PNR), information that includes credit card details, travel itineraries and the dietary choices made on flights.

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RT

Top Google executive predicts end of the internet

Published time: January 23, 2015 07:35

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, speaks during the session "The Future of the Digital Economy" in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos January 22, 2015 (Reuters / Ruben Sprich)

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Google guru Eric Schmidt gave an answer regarding the evolution of the web. “I will answer very simply that the internet will disappear,” Schmidt said on Thursday.

“There will be so many IP addresses, … so many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with that you won’t even sense it, it will be part of your presence all the time,” he explained. “Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic. And with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room.”

“A highly personalized, highly interactive and very, very interesting world emerges,” Schmidt concluded.

At the panel, dubbed “The Future of the Digital Economy”, he was speaking with Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Vodafone’s Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao agreed with Schmidt, comparing the internet with “water, oxygen” in an “ultra-dense connectivity situation.”

However, a group of Harvard professors depicted a much more grim Orwellian world, AFP reported on Thursday.

“Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible... How we conventionally think of privacy is dead,” said Margo Seltzer, a professor in computer science at Harvard University.

Sophia Roosth, a Harvard’s genetics researcher, said: “It's not whether this is going to happen, it's already happening... We live in a surveillance state today.”

Depicting a terrifying world, where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of people’s DNA, she said, “We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism,” referring to “witch-hunts” during Second Red Scare in the 1950s in America.

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RT

First mass media warning over religious cartoons issued in Russia

Published time: January 20, 2015 10:24

Edited time: January 20, 2015 14:44

Russian state media watchdog Roscomnadzor has issued the first official warning to a news site that has published several cartoons on religious topics.

The “Respublika” informational and analytical portal has featured several cartoons targeting a particular religious faith, the agency’s spokesman Vadim Ampelonskiy was quoted as saying by TASS. “From the point of view of the Law on Countering the Extremist Activities such actions must be considered instigation of racial, ethnic, social or religious hatred,” the official stated.

Respublika is based in Moscow but mostly concentrates on events in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

According to Russian laws, an officially registered mass media organization can receive up to two warnings from the state in one year – more violations would lead to the outlet losing its mass media license.

Ampelonskiy also said that Roskomnadzor considered Respublika’s actions a deliberate provocation.

Last week, Roskomnadzor issued an official explanation to Russian journalists telling them that releasing any cartoons on religious topics could be considered a violation of the law. The document was posted on the agency’s website and forwarded to all registered mass media, according to the spokesman.

The notice also stated that the official position on the issue had been formed some time ago and its implementation had been approved by the journalistic community and law experts. Warnings and bans over religious cartoons were issued as far back as 2006 and 2008.

However, Respublika’s senior editor and founder Irina Petrushova wrote in Facebook comments over the incident that her company hadn’t received any explanations or letters from Roskomnadzor, and that no official documents concerning cartoons could be found on the agency’s website.

On Friday last week, the head of the Russian Council of Muftis, Ravil Gainutdin, addressed the country’s prosecutor general with a request to launch a major probe into mass media and internet sites “in order to disclose any reports or pictures that blacken the image of the Prophet and insult the feelings of believers.” There has been no official reply to the mufti’s request.

On Monday, the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, personally led a rally in the region’s capital Grozny, protesting against insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, in particular by the Charlie Hebdo magazine in France. According to local police, more than 1 million people attended the Grozny meeting.

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RUSSIA AND CHINA ‘FURIOUSLY’ BUYING UP GOLD AS “A GLOBAL CURRENCY CRISIS – ALBEIT UNSTATED – IS UNDERWAY”

Are you prepared? Is anyone? Brace yourself…

Image Credits: Giorgio Monteforti / Flickr

by MAC SLAVO | SHTFPLAN.COM | JANUARY 21, 2015

A larger global currency shift is underway…

And it may be happening much more quickly than anyone has realized.

Things are definitely in motion. Call it a game of musical chairs, or an exercise in rearranging chairs on the Titanic, or just that a tilting balance of power. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking this is all routine.

The absolutely stunning decision by the Swiss National Bank to decouple from the euro has triggered billions of dollars worth of losses all over the globe.

[...]

And these are just the losses that we know about so far. It will be many months before the full scope of the financial devastation caused by the Swiss National Bank is fully revealed. But of course the same thing could be said about the crash in the price of oil that we have witnessed in recent weeks. These two “black swan events” have set financial dominoes in motion all over the globe. At this point we can only guess how bad the financial devastation will ultimately be.

The key to understanding how the hammer will fall may lie in: gold.

In the material world that governs politics and economics, there has always been one golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.

Put China at the top of the next generation of rule makers, then.

China has been quietly stockpiling gold for years now. In fact, it is stockpiling so much gold that many have speculated that it may be building a gold-backed yuan currency that would make the Dollar pale in comparison on the global market.

Bottom line: no one knows just exactly how much gold China has amassed:

Buying surreptitiously allows Beijing to buy bullion at bargain prices; if the world knew how much gold China was really amassing, a run on gold the likes of which the globe has never seen would likely ensue.“We believe China is controlling the gold price because it is buying in such a way so as not to push prices up.” That’s the opinion of respected precious-metals analyst Julian Phillips of The Gold Forecaster, along with a host of other informed sources.

It is widely believed that China has accumulated larger – possibly much larger – reserves since.

Lots of other countries are rapidly buying up gold, too, including – Serbia, Greece, Ecuador, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

But reportedly no one is buying gold at a faster pace than Russia.

Back in August it was reported that:

Russia’s increase is the most dramatic, according to the recent report from the IMF. The Russian central bank has almost doubled its gold holdings within the last 5 years to 1,094.8 tonnes in June of this year. China’s Central Bank followed with an increase of 75% from its holdings in 2009.

Bloomberg reported in November:

The country has tripled its gold reserves since 2005 and is holding the most since at least 1993, IMF data show.

There is little doubt that gold plays a major factor in Russia’s posturing during a global showdown that involves proxy war and military tensions in the Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and other parts of the globe.

Moscow’s purchase of bullion and the assault on the bank can be seen as tactics of a single strategy designed to break the monopoly of the dollar. Gold is Russia’s hedge against that hegemony; it can’t be hacked.

More than that, Putin has been positioning his motherland to team up with China to solidify the emerging BRICS system which aims to thwart decades of Anglo financial dominance with a un-dollar currency system that will also include a development bank.

Russia’s response has been to buy gold and turn east, cementing deals with China and, it would seem, firing the opening salvos in a cyber currency war with the U.S.

Warnings have sounded about a tipping of the global balance:

Russia is also increasing its gold reserves. China and Russia have been exchanging their U.S. dollar reserves and buying physical gold. Last year we speculated that this dynamic would create a shortage in gold leading to much higher prices. Russia and China now rank in the top ten countries by gold reserves.

With Russia now in what appears to be a currency war with the U.S., they may find a willing partner in China to create an alternative international financial system that does not rely upon or use the dollar. Irrespective of either country’s intentions, their physical gold buying sprees continue unabated.

To that end, Russia has been amassing as much gold as possible, in a bid to outmaneuver its enemies in a silent economic war to hold onto its independence and further project its status.

Nearly every bit of gas and oil that Russia sells to neighbors in Europe and Asia is converted from dollars into gold reserves – and even with the collapsing oil price, that amount could still be staggering.

Many have pointed to the gold and oil trade off as Putin’s grand chess strategy:

Thus, the Western world, built on the hegemony of the petrodollar, is in a catastrophic situation. In which it cannot survive without oil and gas supplies from Russia. And Russia is now ready to sell its oil and gas to the West only in exchange for physical gold! The twist of Putin’s game is that the mechanism for the sale of Russian energy to the West only for gold now works regardless of whether the West agrees to pay for Russian oil and gas with its artificially cheap gold, or not.

If it ever comes to throwing down the gold and putting everyone’s cards on the table – ounce for ounce, and ton for ton, China and Russia will be major contenders in the global system, worthy of the kind of respect that equates both sovereignty and diplomatic power.

Keep in mind that China is also the world’s leading gold miner, producing more than 420 metric tons in 2013 numbers, with Russia ranked behind the U.S. as the fourth largest with 220 tons produced each year.

BRIC by BRIC a new system is being erected.

China has quietly declared war on the U.S. worthless dollar but can you blame them? They already have in place Chinese Yuan Swap facilities, which started the non U.S. dollar trade practice years ago. In 2012 China completed trade agreements with most nations they trade with called BRICS. They also have a BRIC Development Fund with a reported $200 billion already funding infrastructure needs and to deal with their toxic U.S. T Bonds. They will be busy replacing these bonds with gold and the chartered bank (Bank of China, Peoples Bank of China) will compete with the IMF and World Bank.

The strings that come with IMF and World Bank loans give the U.S. and Europe leverage over developing countries, and thus, control. With a competing development bank, China and Russia will literally be building the infrastructure for growing global control.

Germany Has Already ‘Called’ – The World Second Largest Holder of Gold Has Demanded Repatriation of Its American Holdings

The elephant in the room of this entire affair is, of course, the United States. Ostensibly, they are far and away the world’s largest holder of gold, officially holding more than 8,000 tons of gold, and further housing thousands of tons of gold for various allies – especially in Europe.

However, very serious speculation has arisen about the veracity of U.S. claims to gold possession. No audit has taken place of Fort Knox, where the gold is held, since the Eisenhower administration, and many believe that significant portions have been lent or sold on the market to meet other obligations. Conventional wisdom, touted by such official mouthpieces as CBS, asserts that despite lacking confirmation of this gold through an audit, the question of who holds the gold just doesn’t matter anymore:

Fort Knox began losing its luster when the United States went off the gold standard in 1971. Before that, gold bars packed into a secure vault gave people faith in the country’s currency. Today, however, Fort Knox’s gold is now an asset on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, not a key part of our monetary system.

With decades of the U.S. dominating world finance through the petrodollar, no one was in a position to demand answers to this plaguing question, including the European nations with substantial deposits there.

However, things have changed since the 2008 financial crisis. The petrodollar is fading, and with it, American hegemony. Numerous European countries are now demanding, politely or not, to repatriate their gold.

For Germany, it has become an important question economically as well as politically. Nominally, it is the world’s second wealthiest in gold reserves, with more than 3,300 tons. However, the vast majority of its holdings have been kept in New York and London, due to post-World War II spheres of influence in Europe. With worries about the future of global economics, and a keen eye on the demise of the dollar, Germany has become decisive about keeping its gold closer to home.

Despite a 2012 decision in Germany to repatriate more than 600 tons of gold being held by the New York Federal Reserve, only 5 tons had actually been transferred across the Atlantic at the start of 2014, with the Bundesbank reassuring the German people that all is well, despite delays in the process.

Was their gold actually there, or have the delays been due to the need to buy back physical gold to meet demands on their ‘call’?

While this remains officially unclear, a fresh report yesterday claimed that Germany’s gold repatriation was still underway, and supposedly ‘on schedule’:

“The Bundesbank successfully continued and further stepped up its transfers of gold,” the central bank said in a statement.

“In 2014, 120 tonnes of gold were transferred to Frankfurt from storage locations abroad: 35 tonnes from Paris and 85 tonnes from New York.”

According to the German central bank’s own data, 1,447 tonnes are stored at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, 438 tonnes at the Bank of England in London and 307 tonnes at the Banque de France in Paris.

Under the Bundesbank’s new gold storage plan in 2013, it decided to bring back 674 tonnes from abroad by 2020 and store half of its gold in its own vaults.

The Dutch were apparently more successful in quickly repatriating some 122 tons of gold from the New York Fed back in November:

As the debate regarding whether or not Switzerland should keep the bulk of its gold reserves at home on Swiss soil reaches it’s climax – the referendum takes place on Sunday – it is telling that the Dutch announced on Friday that they have just secretly repatriated 122 tonnes of their sovereign gold reserves from New York back to Amsterdam.

The Dutch Central Bank went so far as to state that the action was designed to install public confidence in the ability of the central bank to manage crises. The prospect of further shipments from the U.S. remains open as they are keeping the logistical details secret.

Meanwhile, during this silent drama, the Ukraine has been rapidly emptied out of its gold reserves.

Following the coup in Ukraine, the nation’s gold reserves mysteriously plummeted to “near zero”, with reserves depleting from from about $1.8 billion in gold reserves to “near zero,” raising speculation that it was transferred to the U.S. Meanwhile, some $874 million in gold was officially sold in October 2014 to service its debts. Did the Federal Reserve steal Ukraine’s gold to meet calls on its lacking gold reserves?

And Now the Swiss…

The recent shock announcement that the Swiss are decoupling from the Euro is the latest domino to fall, and could set off the long-feared chain reaction.

Many are asking if it signals the end of the Euro as a currency… and if so, what else after that?

The Swiss had vowed to not allow the franc to rise beyond 1.20 francs per euro. With the removal of that cap, the franc soared as much as 30% against the euro on Thursday, an unheard-of move in the currency markets.

It tells the world loudly that a global currency crisis – albeit unstated – is underway… that Western economies and Western sovereign debt is so out of whack that the only ammo left in the arsenal is currency.

Currencies are now being sacrificed in an effort to save economies. And the only winner in that environment is gold.

If possession is said to be 9/10ths of the law, and he who has the gold makes the rules, what does that tell you about fiat currencies, digital currencies and the balance of global power?

Are you prepared?

Is anyone?

Brace yourself…

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The Economic Collapse

This Is The Beginning Of The End For The Euro

By Michael Snyder, on January 22nd, 2015

The long-anticipated collapse of the euro is here. When European Central Bank president Mario Draghi unveiled an open-ended quantitative easing program worth at least 60 billion euros a month on Thursday, stocks soared but the euro plummeted like a rock. It hit an 11 year low of $1.13, and many analysts believe that it is going much, much lower than this. The speed at which the euro has been falling in recent months has been absolutely stunning. Less than a year ago it was hovering near $1.40. But since that time the crippling economic problems in southern Europe have gone from bad to worse, and no amount of money printing is going to avert the financial nightmare that is slowly unfolding right before our eyes. Yes, there may be some temporary euphoria for a few days, but it is important to remember that reckless money printing worked for the Weimar Republic for a little while too before it turned into an utter disaster. Now that the ECB has decided to go this route, it is essentially out of ammunition. The only thing that it could potentially do beyond this is to print even larger quantities of money. As the global financial crisis begins to unfold over the next couple of years, the ECB is pretty much going to be powerless to do anything about it. Over the next couple of months, we can expect the euro to continue to head toward parity with the U.S. dollar, and eventually it is going to go to all-time lows. Meanwhile, the future of the eurozone itself is very much in doubt. If it does break up, the elite of Europe will probably try to put it back together in some sort of new configuration, but the damage will already have been done.

Over the next 18 months, the European Central bank will create more than a trillion euros out of thin air and will use that money to buy debt. The following is how this new QE program for Europe was described by the Telegraph…

“The combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities will amount to €60bn euros,” said Mr Draghi at a press conference following a meeting of the ECB’s governing council.

“They are intended to be carried out until end-September 2016 and will in any case be conducted until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation,” he added, meaning the package will amount to at least €1.1 trillion.

Mr Draghi’s package of asset purchases, including bonds issued by national governments and EU institutions such as the European Commission, is intended to boost the eurozone’s flagging economy and to ward off the spectre of deflation.

When you print more money, you drive down the value of your currency. And the euro has already been crashing for months as you can see from the chart below…

As I write this, the euro is down to $1.13. And most analysts seem to agree that it is likely heading even lower.

How low could it ultimately go?

One prominent currency strategist recently told CNBC that he believes that it is actually heading beneath parity with the U.S. dollar…

The euro plunged to an 11-year low on Thursday, after the European Central Bank announced that it would begin a 60-euro monthly asset purchasing program. But it could still have a ways to fall.

Brown Brothers Harriman global head of currency strategy Marc Chandler predicts that the euro, which fell as low as 1.1362 on Thursday after trading near 1.4000 in May, is heading below 1.0. That widely watched level is the point at which it will just take a single U.S. dollar to purchase a euro, a condition known in the currency markets as “parity.”

I totally agree with Chandler.

In fact, I believe that the euro is ultimately going to break the all-time record low against the dollar.

I also believe that the current configuration of the eurozone is eventually going to fall to pieces. The euro may survive as a currency, but Europe is ultimately going to look a whole lot different than it does right now.

In fact, we could see things start to come apart for the eurozone as soon as Sunday. If Syriza wins a decisive victory in the upcoming Greek elections, it could create all sorts of chaos…

The polls put Alexis Tsipras and Syriza ahead of the ruling New Democracy party of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Tsipras has vowed to convince the ECB and euro zone to write down the value of their Greek debt holdings to allow him to increase public spending and stimulate job growth.

“There is a good chance they could win, and if they begin moving away from fiscal austerity, other members of the EU are going to say: ‘No more lending, no more life support.’ On Monday morning you’ll know,” De Clue said.

But of course Europe is far from alone. Financial problems are erupting all over the planet, and central banks are getting desperate.

Over the past week, seven major central banks have made moves to fight deflation. But the more that they cut interest rates and print money, the less effect that it has. And eventually, the people of the world are going to seriously lose confidence in these central banks as they realize what a sham the system really is.

I think that these recent words from Marc Faber are very wise…

“My belief is that the big surprise this year is that investor confidence in central banks collapses. And when that happens — I can’t short central banks, although I’d really like to, and the only way to short them is to go long gold, silver and platinum,” he said. “That’s the only way. That’s something I will do.”

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Natural News

Russia throws down the gauntlet: energy supply to Europe cut off; petrodollar abandoned as currency war escalates

Friday, January 16, 2015

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) There are some big moves taking place on the global stage that you need to know about, as this could all lead to World War III.

Yesterday Russia cut off its natural gas supply to Europe, "plunging the continent into an energy crisis 'within hours' as a dispute with Ukraine escalated," reports the Daily Mail. [1]

"This morning, gas companies in Ukraine said that Russia had completely cut off their supply. Six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas shipped via Ukraine today, in a sharp escalation of a struggle over energy that threatens Europe as winter sets in."

Alternative media warned about this weeks ago

This was all predicted in advance as a move toward World War III. The website All News Pipeline summarizes the predictions which were widely printed across the alternative media weeks ago.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts had also warned in advance of a "Black Swan Event" such as Russia cutting off energy supplies to European nations as a prelude to war.

Europe depends heavily on natural gas supplies from Russia which are piped into the region via Ukraine. This is especially true in the winter when gas is needed for heat.

Russia pulls out of the petrodollar

In addition to cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe, Russia has also "just pulled itself out of the petrodollar," reports Zero Hedge. [2]

The story quotes Bloomberg.com stating that Russia "may unseal its $88 billion Reserve Fund and convert some of its foreign-currency holdings into ruble."

This is further explained by Mac Slavo at SHTFplan.com who explains, "What we are seeing are the strategic moves that will eventually catalyze the next great war. And make no mistake, this is exactly what's in store for the world should these escalations continue."

An escalation into war?

What's happening here is a radical escalation of the global currency war in which Russia and China are attempting to route the U.S. dollar and ultimately destroy the U.S. empire.

Part of this strategy involves dumping the petrodollar as a global reserve currency and reverting to alternative currencies backed by something more than just hot air. Further evidence of this strategy is found in the explanations on King World News which states that China is moving to back its Yuan currency with gold!

This explains why China has been buying up the world's physical gold supplies. The U.S., meanwhile, has empty gold vaults and a fiat paper currency backed by nothing but hot air, empty promises and endless debt. The whole world knows this, and nations like Russia are positioning themselves to take advantage of the massive currency collapse that's eventually coming to the dollar.

Just yesterday, the Swiss franc skyrocketed 30% in mere minutes as the central banks controlling the Euro neared announcing their own massive money printing scheme that would flood the global markets with Euros. As Associated Press wrote, "Bowing to the inevitable, Switzerland has ditched an increasingly expensive policy to limit the export-sapping rise of the Swiss franc -- a decision that propelled the currency a whopping 30 percent higher against the euro within minutes." [3]

Oil prices manipulated as an act of economic warfare

As part of the U.S. effort to wage war on Russia, oil prices have been artificially lowered with the help of the Saudis (who have strong ties to the Bush family and whose royalty was magically evacuated out of the U.S. on private jets during the 9/11 terror attacks) working in conjunction with U.S. forces. The aim is to devastate the Russian economy, harm the Russian currency and even cause damage to Venezuela where food supplies are now wiped out and grocery stores are being guarded by armed government military personnel.

Of course, you won't hear a word of this from the hypnotic, droning mainstream media which tells you everything is just fine. It isn't. Massive geopolitical strategies and schemes are being unleashed right now, behind the scenes, and a currency war is under way at the highest levels.

The days are numbered for the dollar as the world's reserve currency

The world, it seems, is fed up with the U.S. abusing its reserve currency status by pumping up the money supply with billions of dollar a month in new fiat money. (Courtesy of the Federal Reserve and its bankster bailouts.) The world is also fed up with the U.S. meddling in international affairs in Ukraine, the Middle East and hundreds of individual nations where the U.S. empire maintains a military occupation of one kind or another.

Right now the Russians are targeting NATO countries with the energy cut-offs, sending a message that any nation which allows its soil to be used by western forces to host missile systems will find its economy crushed by a lack of available energy.

The U.S., meanwhile, has dangerously backed Putin into a corner from which we can only expect an aggressive backlash engineered to protect the national interests of Russia itself.

Remember how the U.S. was drawn into World War II?

You may or may not recall that it was a U.S.-led energy blockage against Japan in the 1940's that ultimate forced Japan to launch its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In a similar pattern, the U.S. and NATO nations are currently forcing devastating economic sanctions onto Russia, driving the nation into a rapidly-dwindling set of defensive options, one of which includes the deployment of nuclear weaponry.

This situation is beyond "serious." It is at red alert levels, and you need to be monitoring websites like www.SteveQuayle.com to catch the headlines you won't find in the mainstream media.

Steve Quayle has consistently been decades ahead of everyone else with his predictions on biological weaponry, currency wars and much more. His foresight is so far-reaching, in fact, that it's almost a curse because a society blinded by the distractions of current affairs will never value the accurate warnings of a man who sees a decade or more into the future. Western culture is far too short-sighted and self-possessed to take seriously the words of a man who warns that the good times buoyed by debt and delusion won't last forever.

In a world of deceit, all truth-tellers are condemned

Even now, we are living in a time when all truth-tellers are condemned as heretics. Any person quoting accurate economic statistics, for example, is called a "doom and gloomer." Anyone questioning the sanity of a government that's $18 trillion in debt and spending wildly on ballooning entitlement programs is labeled "anti-government." We are living in a time that's so bizarre, almost everything the average American believes to be true is factually false. The mainstream news is the wool that's pulled over their eyes to blind them from the truth, to paraphrase The Matrix.

The real truth is that our world is headed straight into unprecedented crisis and conflict. When you wake up tomorrow, realize you are living in the run-up to a collapsed economy that exists in a world where the most powerful nations on the planet have already declared a covert war on the U.S. empire (and can't wait to bring it down).

The artificially-inflated luxury lifestyle currently experienced by the U.S. population -- complete with welfare state entitlement programs -- will come to an end for the simple reason that it's all funded by artificial money creation. That artificial money creation, in turn, is only possible because the dollar is currently the world's reserve currency, providing a very large money supply base ("buffer") that insulates America from the more immediate effects of fiat currency creation. But as the world abandons the petrodollar, the ability of the U.S. to print its way to bigger government, bigger entitlements and bigger debt will utterly collapse.

Something big is "fast approaching" - Ron Paul

It is not a coincidence that bankers keep showing up "suicided" (i.e. killed off) lately. It is also not a coincidence that the U.S. domestic police forces have been arming up with military weapons from the front lines of all-out war in the Middle East. Law enforcement is arming up for something big. Really big.

As Ron Paul recently wrote in a widely-cited column, "A major geopolitical or economic event, greater than the crisis of 2008, is fast approaching. The precipitating event will be a surprise to the majority of politicians and economists. There are many "next shoe to drop" possibilities, and one could happen any time or any place."

Ron Paul goes on to explain:

Sanity will not return to US leaders until our financial system collapse -- an event for which they are feverishly working... Debt in all categories will continue to increase at unsustainable rates...

The riots to come

Everyone at the highest levels of the U.S. government knows that the current entitlement state debt system is wildly unsustainable. They also know that the day after the EBT cards (food stamps) stop working, every U.S. city will collapse into under chaos and mass rioting.

Although this event could still be years away, its arrival is inevitable. And when it does happen, it will happen suddenly, without warning. That means most people will be completely caught off guard. And when they are caught off guard, they will panic.

I pity the people who do not realize what's happening on the global stage. All those people obsessed with Hollywood movies, celebrities, fashion and television will be completely taken by surprise when the currency war escalates. They have no idea how close they are to helplessness, hunger and desperation. They have no awareness of reality, no real-world skills and no ability to take care of themselves.

That's why I recently declared 2015 to be the Year of Self-Reliance. This is the year when it's becoming increasingly urgent to learn and practice skills for living away from the systems that are subject to failure. This is a time to learn how to augment your current lifestyle with some home food production, water collection and storage, off-grid energy sources, home-based medicine production and more.

Interestingly, many Russians already have these skills, so if economic devastation strikes both the USA and Russia, there's no question that the Russian citizens will do far better in terms of survival and self-reliance. Russia, even with all its own problems, at least does not criminalize home gardening, fresh cow's milk and home-produced herbal remedies.

Sources for this story include:

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1106...

[2] http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-14/rus...

[3] http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150115/eu-...

***

Zero Hedge

Russia's Modest Proposal To Greece: "Exit Europe And We Will Lift The Food Import Ban"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/17/2015

It has not been a good week for Greece: first we learned that its treasury has run dry as Greece have stop paying all taxes ahead of the elections (and likely after), making further reforms virtually impossible as the government simply does not have the cash to promote economic changes; then we found out that first two then all four of the largest Greek banks have submitted Emergency Liquidity Assistance requests to the ECB to preserve liquidity in light of a deposit run that is picking up pace. And yesterday, adding insult to injury, Spiegel leaked that while seeking preapproval from Merkel for his QE program to be announced next week, Draghi told the Germans that Greek bonds won't be among the securities monetized by the ECB.

It almost makes the Greeks wonder what's the point of staying in the Eurozone and keeping the Euro if all it leads to is 50% youth unemployment, 25% total unemployment, and unprecedented pain and suffering as a result of the internal devaluation that will continue indefinitely since Greece, courtesy of the Euro, is unable to engage in an external one.

Of course, the Greek population will be able to voice its opinion next Sunday when it holds general elections, which will almost surely be won by Tsipras who has threatened on numerous occasions to renegotiate the Greek bailout, something Germany has made quite clear is not a topic for debate, and that a Grexit is assured if Greece thinks it can hold Europe hostage with threats of Eurozone collapse.

And just to make things interesting, overnight Russia told a beleaguered Greece, and specifically its hurting farmers, that it "may lift its ban on food imports from Greece in the event it quits the European Union" according to Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov who spoke in Berlin on Friday.

“If Greece has to leave the European Union, we will build our own relations with it, the food ban will not be applicable to it,” Fyodorov said as reported by Tass.

In other words, Russia has casually thrown out feelers to Greece (and any other peripheral European country) and given it the option of joining the greater Russian sphere of influence (because the USSR 2.0 and satellites is still not trademarked), should it decide that 5 years after the first Greek "bailout" things for the country caught in an endless depression are as good as they will get with a bunch of Goldman bankers in charge.

Fyodorov also said that European Union countries, which felt discomfort from the slump in proceeds from exports of foods to Russia, were asking Russia to cushion the impacts of the Russian food import ban by expanding other types of imports. “We are looking at such possibility,” he said, adding that these countries offer new formats of cooperation in those areas that are not covered by the Russian food sanctions.

One such format apparently is the "hint" that should the European Union finally implode after years of kicking the can, then Russia will be more than happy to pick up the pieces.

Insanity? Perhaps, but just 48 hours ago crazier things happened, when a central bank which until Monday telegraphed the rock solid determination of its monetary policy not to mention the Swiss Franc's floor, shocked the world when it became the first western bank to admit defeat in currency wars which have cost it a balance sheet the size of its GDP.

The ball is now in Greece's court.

***

Business New Europe

India Is Crucial to Russia's Pivot East

The Russian-India bond is nearly as important as the emerging Russsia-China relationship

Liam Halligan (Business New Europe)

Since Russia sanctions have only grown closer

Russia’s recent “pivot East” has become a geopolitical cliché. It’s now widely understood that one of the most significant consequences of sanctions imposed by the US and (less enthusiastically) the EU has been significantly to strengthen relations between Moscow and Beijing.

Enemies for much of the Cold War, Russia and China have been building serious commercial and diplomatic ties across their 2,700-mile border for well over a decade.

Since 2002, their bilateral trade has grown seven-fold, to almost $100bn annually, as both sides recognize the economic synergies between the world’s largest energy exporter and the biggest and most populous manufacturer on the planet.

Such Sino-Russian co-operation, though, has lately accelerated as Moscow seeks to lessen the commercial impact of Western sanctions by deepening trade relations to the East.

Far from shunning the Russians, the People’s Republic has become closer to its vast neighbour since EU/US travel bans, assets seizures and other trade restrictions were imposed on Russia last spring.

Back in June, following the annexation of Crimea, Western politicos and business bosses boycotted Russia’s flagship St Petersburg summit. The Chinese, though, very publicly turned up to sign a $400bn, 30-year gas deal with President Vladimir Putin.

That was followed by another Russia-China bilateral energy contract, sealed at November’s Apec summit in Brisbane, despite the presence at that meeting of President Barack Obama himself.

Moscow and Beijing, in fact, struck no less than 17 bilateral deals at Apec – involving not just energy, but also electricity generation, insurance and import-export credits, while extending non-dollar settlement of the growing trade between them.

So, amid ongoing claims of “Russian isolation,” these two eastern giants spent 2014 getting on with business, making crystal clear their shared interest in rejecting any notion of a US-dominated “unipolar” world.

All this is now well recognized in the West, if not widely commented upon.

Far less understood has been the warming of post-sanctions relations between Russia and that other eastern giant – India.

Putin’s passage to India

In late November, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Putin to New Delhi. While the Russian delegation was looking to further diversify eastern interests, the Indian hosts were keen to talk, above all, about burgeoning domestic energy needs.

It was a visit involving considerable diplomatic bonhomie, with Modi thumbing his nose at any Western distaste about doing business with Moscow.

“Times have changed, but our friendship has not,” proclaimed Modi’s Twitter account, in Russian, as he entertained Putin. “The importance of this relationship and its unique place in India's foreign policy will not change… we stick together through thick and thin.”

Amidst the niceties, commercial contracts worth over $100bn were signed, including a $50bn oil-and-gas agreement, a $40bn nuclear energy tie-up and deals in other sectors ranging from defence to fertilizers and space travel.

State-controlled Russian energy monolith Rosneft agreed a 10-year fixed-price contract to supply India with oil. Zarubezhneft and Oil India also signed a deal on joint exploration, production and transport.

Rosatom, meanwhile, is to build 12 nuclear reactors on the Indian subcontinent over the next two decades, while Russia and India will also cooperate on the production of 400 advanced twin-engine Ka-226T military helicopters.

Over 20 agreements were announced, including with Russia’s Alrosa diamond-mining group, which wants direct access to India’s huge cutting and polishing industry that now processes nine-tenths of all polished diamonds sold worldwide.

Putin and Modi ended the summit by predicting bilateral Russian-Indian trade will reach $30bn by 2025 – small by Sino-Russian standards, but still representing a three-fold increase over 10 years.

While there’s been little discussion of the growing détente between Russia and India in the Western media, it could prove of similar significance to that between Russia and China.

The two countries were Cold War quasi-allies, of course, with India a leading member of the “Nonaligned Movement” of Soviet-sympathizing developing nations.

During the late 1960s and 70s, India saw the USSR as its main supporter on the UN Security Council and there was extensive collaboration across the scientific and defence sectors, with warm relations developing between Soviet and Indian elites.

The collapse of the USSR, then, was traumatic for India, leading to a surge of economic cooperation with the US, as business between India and Russia withered.

That trend is now being reversed. Bilateral trade is expanding fast despite – or even partly because of – Western sanctions against Russia.

Modi went as far as to declare his “opposition to sanctions imposed on Moscow without UN endorsement” during his summit with Putin, openly chiding the EU and US.

He even expressed interest in joining the Russia-dominated Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – an increasingly important trade and security organisation linking China, Russia and the Central Asian former Soviet states.

Many arms of Vishnu

Defence will definitely feature heavily in the growth of Russian-Indian trade, building on shared history. India, which bought its first MiG fighter jet from the USSR in 1963, is now the world’s biggest arms importer.

Already, during the four years to 2013, two-fifths of Russia’s weapons exports were sold to the Indian subcontinent. That very substantial defence sector trade is now developing into co-production and technology-sharing agreements.

Russia and India have previously teamed up to develop a fifth-generation fighter jet. And this most recent round of agreements will see specialized Russian production facilities moving to India to build state-of-the-art helicopters in situ, a $3bn deal that is part of Modi’s flagship “Make-it-in-India” scheme.

Putin clearly views weapons, one of Russia’s few internationally-competitive export sectors, as a way partially to replace energy export revenues in the wake of lower oil prices. Closer Russian defence ties work for Modi too, given India’s need not only for security but also weapons technology often denied to it by the West.

It’s noteworthy that all three branches of India’s armed forces have conducted joint exercises with Russia since sanctions came into force. “Even as India's options have increased,” said Modi during Putin’s visit, “Russia will remain our most important defence partner.”

India’s newfound audacity – as shown by Modi’s embrace of Russia and general West-baiting – stems from growing economic clout. With 1.2bn people, and already the world’s tenth-largest economy, India is on course to rank second behind China by 2040 – with the US by then coming in third.

On a purchasing power parity basis, adjusting for living costs, India is already the third-largest economy on earth.

Back in 2013 India looked vulnerable, with spiralling inflation, stagnating growth and an external deficit approaching 7% of GDP. Since then, the country’s headline performance has been transformed.

The world’s third-biggest crude importer behind the US and China, India is benefitting from oil prices that have fallen to a five-year low. That’s eased inflation, narrowed the external deficit and flattered the budget balance.

A new UN report just forecast Indian growth of 5.9% in 2015, up from 5.4% last year, rising to 6.3% in 2016 – rates of economic expansion over twice those predicted for the US and four-times those of the EU.

In elections last May, Modi’s BJP broke the rule of India’s Congress party, which had held power for most of the time since independence in 1947. After campaigning as a pro-business candidate, vowing to tackle rampant corruption and India’s stultifying civil service, Modi now leads the first majority government in three decades.

As a result, and boosted by lower oil prices, India is experiencing a strong feel-good factor, a wave of domestic hope it can grow strongly and take its development to the next level. Recent deals with Russia, not least on energy security, will do little to harm that cause.

Back in 1770, as the Western world’s industrial revolution began, India accounted for no less than 15% of global output. Over the next one or two decades, the subcontinent, with its burgeoning population, tech-savvy business elite and ubiquitous shopping malls will become an economic superpower once more.

The EU and US have tried to punish Moscow with sanctions that have triggered steep drops in the ruble against the dollar and euro. Yet Modi, like China’s President Xi Jinping, has decided to ignore the West and use the sanctions as an opportunity to strengthen commercial and diplomatic relations with Russia instead.

The growing bond between China and Russia, given their shared interests, is among the mega-trends of our time. The deepening relationship between Russia and India isn’t far behind.

***

PRESSTV

Putin playing with fire in Europe: Brzezinski

Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:46PM

US foreign policy pundit Zbigniew Brzezinski says Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing with fire in Europe, adding that the United States and its allies should deploy troops to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to stop Russia from capturing them.

Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that Putin might attempt to take over Baltic countries in a sudden attack.

The three northern European countries are called the Baltic states because they are located east of the Baltic Sea.

Brzezinski, known for his animosity towards Russia and its leaders, said a nightmare scenario could be that "one day -- and I literally mean one day -- he [Putin] just seizes Riga and Tallinn,” referring to the capitals of Latvia and Estonia.

"And then we'll say how horrible, how shocking, how outrageous. But, of course, we can't do anything about it," said the Polish American geostrategist, the author of The Grand Chessboard.

Brzezinski also called on Washington to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons to deter Russia.

He said that by not providing that assistance to Ukraine "simply increases Russia's intentions to escalate tensions. In Europe, Putin is playing with fire, financing and arming a local rebellion."

"We need to do something to make Putin question before he escalates," he said.

Brzezinski went on to say that "I do recommend pre-positioning of some forces," in the Baltic countries.

The US accuses Russia of arming troops fighting alongside pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies any involvement in the fighting.

Amid escalating US-Russia tensions over Ukraine during the past months, the Pentagon in April 2014 sent hundreds of troops to the ex-Soviet Baltic states and Poland.

US President Barack Obama also travelled to Estonia in September to meet with the leaders of Baltic states.

European NATO allies have sent hundreds of troops for exercises to the Baltic region in recent months. The alliance has also boosted its air force presence in the region.

***

21stCENTURYWIRE

Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah DEAD, Time For Revolution?

JANUARY 22, 2015 BY STUART HOOPER

Stuart J. Hooper

While undergoing treatment for pneumonia, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died. Crown Prince Salman has been named as the new King.

This event comes at a challenging time for Saudi Arabia. Oil prices are dive bombing and it is widely understood that the Kingdom can only sustain such low rates for a certain period of time, before it approaches economic catastrophe. Saudi Arabia is what is known as a ‘Swing State‘, meaning that it has the ability to swing the price of oil, literally overnight, by either cutting or enhancing production by around two million barrels of oil per day. It is believed that U.S. pressure, the de facto driver of Saudi foreign policy, is swinging the price down in an attempt to subsequently attack Russia’s oil-dependent economy; after it has failed to do so on all other fronts.

The Saudi Royal Family is known to suffer from fierce internal rivalries and power struggles. The loss of a leader, although somewhat expected, still, opens the door to political conflict. The likelihood of political conflict occurring in Saudi Arabia is therefore at an all time high if the aforementioned economic problems begin to become a prominent issue.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015.

These economic problems run parallel with legitimacy problems currently facing the House of Saud. The recent flogging of a Saudi Arabian blogger, who questioned said legitimacy, has received vast international attention and posits the Kingdom for domestic upheaval. Saudi Arabia’s legitimacy issues fall back to its claim to be the true representation, and defender, of Islam. This claim was initially challenged by the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw a new state, namely Iran, lay claim to such a position. So while Saudi Arabia and Israel may appear to be strange bedfellows, they both have a common enemy in Iran; an external actor that may look to take advantage of the Kingdom’s negative geopolitical situation.

If there was ever a case for an ‘Arab Spring‘, Saudi Arabia would be a prime candidate. Refusing to sign onto the UN Declaration of Human Rights has led to vast humanitarian issues concerning torture, execution, corporal punishment and equal rights for all; so Saudi Arabia certainly appears to be in need of domestic change. Will a political faction within the Kingdom take advantage of the currently negative geopolitical situation facing Saudi Arabia’s rulers? Or will an external, foreign faction look for change covertly?

With the huge potential for economic problems of extraordinary magnitude, combined with the international outcry against the Kingdom’s domestic practises and potential for foreign involvement, change may be on the horizon for Saudi Arabia; whether the ruling family like it or not. The death of King Abdullah truly could not have come at a worse time for the House of Saud.

Zero Hedge

Obama's "Partners" In Yemen Overthrown As Presidential Palace Falls To Local Militiamen

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/20/2015 10:56 -0500

It seems like an eternity ago when Obama delivered the following extensively choreographed "Statement by the President on ISIL", in which he praised US anti-terrorist tactics, giving Yemen and its "partners" as an example of "successful" US foreign intervention. To wit:

Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. And any time we take military action, there are risks involved –- especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order.

He may want to scrub that statement because just 4 months after reading that from the Teleprompter, America's "partners on the Yemen front lines" have officially fled quietly into that good night, abandoning the control of the nation to local Shiite militiamen.

From Reuters:

Houthi fighters entered Yemen's presidential palace after a brief clash with the compound's security guards, witnesses and security sources told Reuters, a day after some of the worst battles in the capital in years. Guards at the presidential palace housing the main office of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said they handed over the compound to Houthi fighters after a brief clash. Witnesses said there was a brief clash between a Houthi force and palace guards.

Witnesses also said they saw the Houthis seize armoured vehicles that had been guarding the entrances to the palace. The Houthis on Monday fought artillery battles with the army near the presidential palace, in some of the most intense fighting in Sanaa in years, and surrounded the prime minister's residence.

The WSJ adds that there is no information on the current whereabouts of the Yemen president:

The whereabouts of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi were unknown. The number of casualties was also unknown.

The Houthis are demanding a greater say in the government and in the drafting of Yemen’s new constitution. They oppose Mr. Hadi’s recommendation that the constitution stipulate the division of Yemen into six federal states.

And with oil-prices plunging once again, which means social instability in the middle east is about to explode making the Arab spring of 2011 seem like child's play by comparison, things around the globe are about to take a dramatic turn for the worse.

EXPRESS

EXCLUSIVE: 80 per cent of Britons want to quit EU in biggest poll for 40 years

BRITAIN is marching towards the EU exit door today after eight out of 10 people voted to leave in a historic poll.

Published: 00:05, Wed, January 21, 2015

By MARTYN BROWN

JONATHAN BUCKMASTER/GETTY

Tory MPs Peter Bone, Tom Pursglove and Philip Hollobone counted the ballot papers

The biggest vote on this country’s ties to Brussels for 40 years saw 80 per cent say they no longer want to be in Europe, the Daily Express can reveal.

It marks a huge leap forward in this news paper’s crusade to get Britain out of the EU.

Some 14,581 people voted – 11,706 of them want the UK to quit compared with 2,725 who want to remain part of the EU.

The mini-referendum – the first on the issue since 1975 – was organised by two senior Tory backbenchers and a prospective Tory MP.

They believe the overwhelming result, which will be presented to David Cameron today, will force him to bring forward his planned in-or-out vote on the UK’s future in Europe to next year instead of 2017.

The landslide result heaps further pressure on the Prime Minister to act as it comes just days after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker compared British membership of the EU to a doomed romance and suggested it was time for Britain to get a divorce.

The Tory poll was organised across three neighbouring parliamentary constituencies by Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering, and Tom Pursglove, who is standing as Tory candidate for Corby and East Northamptonshire at this year’s general election.

The results of the poll confirm that an in-or-out referendum is necessary in 2017, if not earlier

Following the count, carried out in the London offices of the Daily Express yesterday, Mr Bone said: “Eight out of 10 people who took part want to come out of Europe – that is extraordinary.

"It is very, very, very clear they want to come out.”

The turnout, he added, shows there is a “huge interest” in having a nationwide referendum.

“People actually bothering to put X on a ballot paper clearly shows that people have been bothered to take part in a referendum and there is a huge interest in it,” he added.

“Only the Conservatives will give us the referendum.

"Ukip can’t and Labour and the Lib Dems won’t.”

Mr Hollobone said he expected the result would be reflected nationwide.

“My gut feeling is that there would be a majority of people voting to leave across the country,” he said.

“Maybe not on the scale we have seen in North Northamptonshire but a majority nevertheless.

"That is something I wouldn’t have said 10 years ago.”

We will not support a Government that does not want a referendum

Peter Bone

Mr Pursglove said: “In North Northamptonshire people are sick to death with the EU superstate.

"We saw from the doorstep that people are very worried about Europe.

“This is the first, hard, concrete evidence of people in Middle England wanting to come out of the EU.”

Along with the result the three Conservatives will deliver an open letter to the Prime Minister when they go to Downing Street today.

It will make clear that, if elected, they will only support a Government that promises a referendum by the end of 2017 – if not earlier.

Mr Bone said: “We will not support a Government that does not want a referendum.

“If there was a coalition with the Conservatives being formed and they said we should drop the referendum pledge in the national interest we would not support that.”

Meanwhile former Tory prime minister Sir John Major warned Mr Cameron that he should avoid negotiating with his European partners “through a megaphone” and be ready to make concessions in order to achieve meaningful reform.

The voting exercise was the biggest poll on the issue since the national referendum in June 1975.

Ballot papers were delivered to 100,000 households in the three constituencies between May and the end of last year.

There were a total of 150 spoiled papers.

***

The underside of this recently flipped iceberg is glassy and free of debris. (Alex Cornell)

An Iceberg Flipped Over, and Its Underside Is Breathtaking

On vacation in Antarctica, filmmaker and photographer Alex Cornell captured an unusual sight

By Melissa Wiley

SMITHSONIAN.COM

JANUARY 22, 2015 10:20AM

Snow-covered icebergs dominate the scene near the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the icy south polar region. Between the sun, the water and icy peaks, the beauty can be quite literally blinding.

“Everything is reflective and everything’s white,” recalls filmmaker Alex Cornell, who vacationed there last month with his family. “People had said that the first time you go, you’re kind of so overwhelmed that you take a lot of pictures of your feet and you don’t really know what’s going on … I definitely felt that,” he says with a laugh.

While exploring Cierva Cove, a glacial bay off the peninsula, a scientist aboard Cornell's boat became excited by one iceberg in particular. “Everything I was seeing was pretty exciting,” Cornell admits. “This particular iceberg at the time kind of blended in with all the crazy stuff we were seeing.”

But as they approached the mass, which rose about 30 feet out the water, Cornell understood his guide’s excitement. Whereas most iceberg tips are covered in snow or have been weathered by the elements, this one was free of debris, exposing glassy, aqua-green ice with water flowing through it—“almost like an ant colony,” he says.

Cornell’s guide suggested that the iceberg had recently flipped. Icebergs form when chunks of freshwater ice calve—or break off—from glaciers and ice shelves, as well as other icebergs. Because of the varying densities of ice and saltwater, only about 10 percent of an iceberg will ever show at the surface, and that protruding tip will gather dirt and snow. Melting can trigger calving, but it can also change the equilibrium of an iceberg, causing it to flip.

In the case of this jewel-like iceberg, the ice is probably very old. In glaciers, years of compression force out air pockets and gradually make the ice denser, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. "When glacier ice becomes extremely dense, the ice absorbs a small amount of red light, leaving a bluish tint in the reflected light, which is what we see.” In addition, minerals and organic matter may have seeped into the underwater part of the iceberg over time, creating its vivid green-blue color.

***

***

Natural News

8,000 scientific papers link refined white sugar to chronic disease

Wednesday, January 14, 2015 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) One of the worst things you can do to your body is feed it sugar -- not necessarily natural sugar like the kind found in fruit, but refined sugar. A team of scientists from the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) recently pored through more than 8,000 scientific papers on how sugar affects the body and came to the conclusion that it not only makes people fat but also makes them sick.

The project, which has been dubbed SugarScience, exposes sugar as a primary culprit in the formation of metabolic disease, which can lead to conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Lead author Laura Schmidt, a UCSF School of Medicine professor, says her team's findings are comprehensible -- sugar is highly toxic to the body and vital organs, including the liver.

According to their investigation, nearly three-quarters of all packaged and processed foods contain added sugar. This sugar is typically listed under 61 different names, including things like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), dextrose, evaporated cane juice and sucrose. It is often difficult to identify added sugar because of this, and current regulatory requirements don't mandate that suggested daily values of both natural and added sugar be identified.

A full listing of the 61 common names for sugar is available at the following link.

SugarScience.org.

The result is millions of people regularly consuming far more sugar than they should be, leading to metabolic syndrome, a classification of risk factors associated with a host of chronic illnesses. If left to run its course, metabolic syndrome can lead to early death in the form of liver failure, heart attack, blood clots and various other life-threatening conditions.

"Too much sugar causes chronic metabolic disease in both fat and thin people," said pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, a member of the SugarScience team and author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, pointing out that obesity is an entirely separate issue from the extensive bodily damage caused by sugar consumption.

"And instead of focusing on obesity as the problem, we should be focusing on our processed-food supply."

SugarScience project exposes "all calories are equal" myth as scientific fraud

Part of the problem is that many people still don't realize just how much sugar they're actually consuming. According to Medical Xpress, the average American consumes nearly 20 teaspoons, or about 78 grams, of sugar daily, which is far more than the maximum level recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA).

A single 12-ounce can of soda pop contains as much as 9 teaspoons, or 36 grams, of added sugar, which is the AHA's maximum recommended daily level for adult men. Adult women, says the group, should consume no more than 6 teaspoons, or 24 grams, of sugar daily, while children should limit themselves to between 3 and 6 teaspoons, or 12-24 grams, daily.

The best way to consume sugar is naturally, of course, whether it be in fruit, vegetables or unprocessed dairy products. Fruits and vegetables contain dietary fiber and other nutrients that help buffer how quickly sugar is processed, protecting organs like the pancreas from having to work overtime to produce insulin, which can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes.

SugarScience's research also reiterated that not all calories are the same, as is commonly believed in the mainstream.

"SugarScience shows that a calorie is not a calorie but rather that the source of a calorie determines how it's metabolized," explains Lustig.

To learn more about the dangers of sugar and how to avoid it, be sure to visit SugarScience:

SugarScience.org.

Sources:

http://medicalxpress.com

http://www.sugarscience.org

http://www.lef.org

http://science.naturalnews.com

***

PreventDisease.com

Blueberry Powder Outperforming Pharmaceuticals In Reducing Blood Pressure

JANUARY 15, 2015 by MAE CHAN

Blueberries have been championed for their high antioxidant potential and anti-inflammatory properties. They are recognized as a good source of flavonoids, especially anthocyanins, which have strong antioxidative activity, some of which have antioxidant activity shown in laboratory studies. New research shows they can reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and potentially better than pharmaceuticals.


The blood pressure relief comes from pterostilbene, a compound found in both grapes and blueberries. This antioxidant is chemically related to reservatrol, another heart-healthy compound that is found in the skin of grapes. Various studies have shown pterostilbene to have possible anti-cancer and anti-diabetes properties.

A growing body of research is also establishing blueberries as a potential ally to protect against diseases such heart disease and Alzheimer's -- so it's no surprise that more and more people are picking blueberries than ever before!

Blood Pressure Benefits

Eight weeks of consuming a daily dose of 22 grams of freeze-dried blueberry powder resulted in 5.1% and 6.3% reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, wrote the researchers in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

"The potential is enormous," said Dr. Anais Archambeault commenting on the study. "Many patients on antihypertensives experience less than a 5% decrease in overall blood pressure and here we clearly have a natural product that may eventually outperform well known drugs," she said.

Dr. Archambeault claims that with the right nutriceutical prescription, blueberry powder in combination with other antioxidants may prove very effective for patients who don't react well or benefit from blood pressure medication.

The benefits were also linked to an increase in levels of nitric oxide (NO), which were found to increase from 9.11 to 15.35 micromoles over the course of the study. NO is a potent vasodilator, helping to relax the walls of blood vessels and lower blood pressure.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects of blueberries on arterial function as was done in this study, as well as in this study population," said corresponding author Bahram Arjmandi, PhD. "These findings suggest that blueberries may prevent the progression to full-blown hypertension."

"Considering the prevalence of hypertension in the US, preventive strategies such as dietary modifications (e.g. functional foods and dietary supplements) that aim to improve hypertension and its related complications are warranted."

Growing Interest Based on Research

"Compelling" data published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated that blueberry flavonoids could boost endothelial function and enhance heart health.

Endothelial dysfunction may play an important role in the increases in blood pressure that occur after menopause. Further, endothelial dysfunction is known to increase arterial stiffness, which is involved in the development and progression of both hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

The exact way in which flavonoids affect the brain are unknown, but they have previously been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after dietary intake.

An acute dose of blueberries (300 grams) was found to be associated with an 18% decrease in DNA damage to blood cells due to oxidative stress, according to findings published in Nutrition Research.

A study appearing in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that that although there are over 600 species of blueberries and blueberry-like fruits growing in Mexico, Central and South America, two types of neotropical blueberries were extreme super fruits -- they had significantly more antioxidants than a type of blueberry commonly sold in U.S. supermarkets stores. The researchers say that these neotropical blueberries "have the potential to be even more highly promising edible fruits."

Study Details

The Florida State researchers recruited 48 women to participate in their eight-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 22 grams per day of freeze-dried blueberry powder or 22 grams of a control powder for eight weeks. This dose was equivalent to one cup of fresh blueberries.

The data showed that the blueberry powder was associated with significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

"The changes in blood pressure noted in this study are of clinical significance as they demonstrate that blood pressure can be favorably altered by the addition of a single dietary component (e.g. blueberries)," said lead author Sarah Johnson, PhD.

In addition, improvements in brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity were also reported. Pulse wave velocity is a non-invasive method for assessing arterial stiffness and has been shown to predict future cardiovascular events. In the current study, brachial ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), which is a composite measure of central (aortic) and peripheral arterial stiffness, was significantly reduced after eight weeks in the blueberry-treated group, whereas there were no changes in the control group.

On the other hand, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), the best measure of aortic stiffness, did not change in either group. This suggests that peripheral arteries may be more responsive to dietary interventions than central arteries.

"This [study] suggests that regular consumption of blueberries over the long term could potentially delay the progression of hypertension and reduce cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women," concluded the researchers.

The study was supported by the US Highbush Blueberry Council and the US Department of Agriculture.

Sources:

andjrnl.org

The JB Bardot Archives

USC Researchers Discover How To Regenerate Your Entire Immune System In 72 Hours

Posted by JB Bardot

Written by Nick Meyer

The immune system is something that is highly misunderstood not just by everyday people but also by the many conventional doctors who we depend on for health advice.

Most people resort to things like synthetic vitamins and medicines (ignoring better natural alternatives) to deal with colds and improve immunity, but the cycle of sickness always seems to continue.

For people with compromised immune systems, there are many natural options, and now researchers have discovered what could well be one of the best ways to reset and recharge your immune system; one that happens to be free and is believed to work even in the elderly as well.

Three Days to a Whole New Immune System

According to researchers at the University of Southern California, the act of fasting for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in elderly people.

The researchers said that fasting helps the body’s stem cells to begin producing new white blood cells, which help to fight off infection.

They added that the discovery could be especially effective for people suffering from damaged immune systems, including chemotherapy patients, who were protected from the toxic impacts of the treatment during the fasting period (note: we personally don’t recommend chemotherapy; consult a holistic doctor for more information).

Flipping a “Regenerative Switch”

As the researchers noted, the act of fasting for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in elderly people.

“Fasting gives the ‘OK’ for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system,” Prof. Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California, told the UK’s The Telegraph.

He added that the body actually removed parts that were damaged, old or inefficient during the fasting process, creating “literally, a new immune system.”

According to Dr. Longo a person’s system recycles unneeded immune cells, especially damaged ones, in order to create energy while they are fasting.

Over the course of his study’s trials, participants were asked to regularly fast between 2-4 days over a 6 month period.

The study was released in June and Dr. Longo said that clinical trials must still be completed, but added that the research looks “very promising.”

You can read the full study in the journal ‘Cell Stem Cell’ by clicking here.

Sources:

http://www.realfarmacy.com/usc-researchers-discover-regenerate-entire-immune-system-72-hours/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10878625/Fasting-for-three-days-can-regenerate-entire-immune-system-study-finds.html

http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/abstract/S1934-5909%2814%2900151-9

Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“When ye fast...”
(Matthew 6:16)