23rd Century Science-Fiction becomes reality in the 21st century: Autonomous US stealth drone completes 1st test launch

Top Gun meets Terminator: Autonomous US stealth drone completes 1st test launch (VIDEO, PHOTOS) 

 

The US Navy has executed the first launch of a stealth drone set to be the first robot aircraft piloted by artificial intelligence. The “killer robot” might be the next step in the development of machines with the power to decide who lives or dies.
­Landing on a flight deck just might be the most difficult thing a naval pilot can do. But if the United States Navy has its way, it might be an operation no pilot ever has to complete again.
After five-years in the making, the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first land-based catapult launch, “marking the start for a new era of naval aviation,” the navy announced on Thursday.
With a wingspan of 62-feet (18.9m), the subsonic drone will be the first tailless aircraft ever to land on a carrier.
"The X-47B shore-based catapult launch we witnessed here today will leave a mark in history," the navy quotes Vice Adm. David Dunaway, NAVAIR commander, as saying.
"We are working toward the future integration of unmanned aircraft on the carrier deck, something we didn't envision 60 years ago when the steam catapult was first built here," he continued.
Engineers had originally planned 50 test flights from the X-47B, but after performing beyond expectations, they stopped after 16 trials.
Following the dozen-plus successful trials, the next step came on Monday, when the drone was hoisted on to the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman.
After a series of upcoming sea trials planned for 2013, the X-47B is set to become the world’s first unmanned aircraft piloted by artificial intelligence rather than a remote human operator.
— RT

Read More: Top Gun meets Terminator: Autonomous US stealth drone completes 1st test launch (VIDEO, PHOTOS) 

The Giant Currency Superstorm That Is Coming To The Shores Of America When The Dollar Dies

The Giant Currency Superstorm That Is Coming To The Shores Of America When The Dollar Dies
y recklessly printing, borrowing and spending money, our authorities are absolutely shredding confidence in the U.S. dollar.  The rest of the world is watching this nonsense, and at some point they are going to give up on the U.S. dollar and throw their hands up in the air.  When that happens, it is going to be absolutely catastrophic for the U.S. economy.  Right now, we export a lot of our inflation.  Each year, we buy far more from the rest of the world than they buy from us, and so the rest of the world ends up with giant piles of U.S. dollars.  This works out pretty well for them, because the U.S. dollar is the primary reserve currency of the world and is used in international trade far more than any other currency is.  Back in 1999, the percentage of foreign exchange reserves in U.S. dollars peaked at 71 percent, and since then it has slid back to 62.2 percent.  But that is still an overwhelming amount.  We can print, borrow and spend like crazy because the rest of the world is there to soak up our excess dollars because they need them to trade with one another.  But what will happen someday if the rest of the world decides to reject the U.S. dollar?  At that point we would see a tsunami of U.S. dollars come flooding back to this country.  Just take a moment and think of the worst superstorm that you can possibly imagine, and then replace every drop of rain with a dollar bill.  The giant currency superstorm that will eventually hit this nation will be far worse than that.
Most Americans don't realize that there are far more dollars in use in the rest of the world than in the United States itself.  The following is from a scholarly article by Linda Goldberg...

Read More: The Giant Currency Superstorm That Is Coming To The Shores Of America When The Dollar Dies

Brace yourselves: Arab Winter is coming (Op-Ed) — RT

Brace yourselves: Arab Winter is coming (Op-Ed) — RT

 

Egypt is erupting once again. Syria is in flames. Libya is broken and leaderless and Tunisia’s ‘new’ government is struggling to reinvent its country. Protests are once again the order of the day. Is this proof the Arab Spring has failed? ­Rarely do ‘revolutions’ fade away unnoticed. But what is unfolding across the Arab world is nothing short of a disaster. Hope for real change has been violently replaced with despair and frustration.

Anti-Mursi protesters chant anti-government slogans in Tahrir Square in Cairo November 27, 2012. (Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)

 

Read More: Brace yourselves: Arab Winter is coming (Op-Ed) — RT

WAR IS PEACE! UK lord suggests neutron bomb on Afghan-Pakistan border

Nuke 'em for Peace! UK lord suggests neutron bomb on Afghan-Pakistan border - YouTube

British ex-Defense Minister, Lord Gilbert, has threatened militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan with a neutron bomb. The UK could create "cordons sanitaire along various borders where people are causing trouble", he said. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/ruwqiu

South Africa heading the way of Zimbabwe? Farm murders highlight apartheid's toxic legacy in South Africa | Reuters

FARM MURDERS HIGHLIGHT APARTHEID'S TOXIC LEGACY IN SOUTH AFRICA

(Reuters) - In a country cursed by one of the world's highest murder rates, being a white farmer makes a violent death an even higher risk.Whether attacks have been motivated by race or robbery, a rising death rate from rural homicides is drawing attention to the lack of change on South Africa's farms nearly two decades after the end of apartheid - and to the tensions burgeoning over enduring racial inequality.

Some of South Africa's predominantly white commercial farmers go as far as to brand the farm killings a genocide. On the other side of the divide, populists are seizing on the discontent among the black majority to demand a forced redistribution of white-owned farms along the lines of neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Read On: Farm murders highlight apartheid's toxic legacy in South Africa | Reuters

• ·           GENOCIDE LOOMS FOR WHITE FARMERS

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – The eyes of the world were on South Africa two decades ago as the apartheid era came to an end and Western governments helped bring the communist-backed African National Congress to power. Last month, however, when Genocide Watch chief Gregory Stanton declared that white South African farmers were facing a genocidal onslaught and that communist forces were taking over the nation, virtually nobody noticed. Few outside of South Africa paid attention either when, earlier this year, the president of South Africa began publicly singing songs advocating the murder of whites. The silence is so deafening that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn’t even publicly mention the problems when she was there last week. Instead, she was busy dancing, pledging billions of dollars and praising the ruling government. “I find that quite disturbing, as if Afrikaner lives do not count for the Obama administration,” Dan Roodt of the Pro-Afrikaans Action Group, PRAAG, told WND.He says the situation is rapidly deteriorating.

Read More:  GENOCIDE LOOMS FOR WHITE FARMERS

·         GENOCIDE WITH FARM KILLINGS IN SOUTH-AFRICA: A SHOCKING TESTIMONY 

Division in the ranks for US' Israel policy? US won’t follow Israel “like a stupid mule” - Brzezinski: Is Brzezinski giving voice to Obama's implicit policies?

US won’t follow Israel “like a stupid mule” - Brzezinski — RT

Leading US strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski rejects Israeli pressure to form American national security policy by beating the drum for war on Iran. Washington would not blindly follow Tel-Aviv if Israel chooses to unilaterally strike Iran, he said. Brzezinski said he would not advise President Barack Obama to back military action against Iran if Israel initiates a war. The observation was made at a conference hosted by the National Iranian American Council and the Arms Control Association. In the event that Israel attacks Iran before Iran crosses the US red line, Zbigniew Brzezinski does not think there is any “implicit obligation” for the US “to follow, like a stupid mule, whatever the Israelis do.” “If they decide to start a war, simply on the assumption that we will be automatically drawn into it, I think it is the obligation of friendship to say “you’re not going to be making national decisions for us”, declared Brzezinski. “I think the US has the right to have its own national security policy. I think most Americans would agree with that. And therefore clarity on this issue is important and especially if we commit ourselves, explicitly and bindingly, to Israel’s security,” the strategist said. Brzezinski explained that he advocates a formula “designed to freeze any threat into a non-threat.”

Read More: US won’t follow Israel “like a stupid mule” - Brzezinski — RT

Democracy came to Iraq (and Libya and Syria and Egypt and...)! 32 killed, some 100 wounded in Iraqi bomb attacks

32 killed, some 100 wounded in Iraqi bomb attacks — RT

A car bomb and two roadside bombs in Iraq killed at least 32 and wounded dozens more on Thursday. All the blasts were targeting Shiite-populated areas south of Baghdad. Two roadside bombs in the city of Hilla blew up a group of Shiite pilgrims, leaving at least 26 people dead and several dozen wounded. The bombs struck a commercial area of the city during a busy period. Another attack happened in the shrine city of Karbala, 90 kilometers to the south of Baghdad. A car bomb killed 6 civilians and wounded 20, some of them police officers.­
A police spokesman said all roads to Karbala are closed and police are searching the city for another car bomb.
Every year millions of pilgrims visit the city of Karbala for Ashura commemorations, marking Hussein’s death in 680 AD. This year commemorations fell on November 25. Ashura commemorations are followed by a 40-day mourning period which also attracts thousands of pilgrims to Karbala. The majority of the Iraqi population are Shiite Muslims. Insurgents from the Sunni minority are regularly targeting Shiites in terror attacks.
On Tuesday three car bombs, targeting Shiite places of worship and a funeral in the Shuala district of Baghdad, killed 23 civilians.

Read More: 32 killed, some 100 wounded in Iraqi bomb attacks — RT

 
Residents inspect the site of a bomb attack in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, November 29, 2012 (Reuters / Stringer Iraq)

Disney, Sears and other global retailers implicated in Bangladesh factory tragedy!

Disney, Sears and other global retailers implicated in Bangladesh factory tragedy — RT

Major US and international retailers, including Disney and Sears, are implicated in the Bangladesh factory fire that claimed the lives of 121 people. Evidence of clothing clearly labeled with various big name brands has been found among the debris.
On Wednesday an Associated Press reporter found garments with logos of a host of brands, including Disney, Sears’ Faded Glory and French company Teddy Smith, as well as account books depicting many retailer names.
The garment factory was apparently making clothes for a range of international retailers, some of which claim they had already stopped doing business with the manufacturer.

Read More: Disney, Sears and other global retailers implicated in Bangladesh factory tragedy — RT

Bangladeshi firefighters stand in a burned out bulding as they try and control a fire that broke out at a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka on November 26, 2012 (AFP Photo / Str)

 

Welcome to the Currency War, Part 5: The Dollar Gets Serious Competition

Welcome to the Currency War, Part 5: The Dollar Gets Serious Competition

Not so long ago the dollar was the world’s only reserve currency. Everything else was one (or several) steps down in terms of safety and liquidity, and major financial institutions acted accordingly, accumulating dollars for the risk-free parts of their portfolios. Global demand for dollars was, as a result, effectively infinite, which meant the US could borrow whatever it wanted, secure in the knowledge that the Treasury bonds it created would find willing buyers. But quietly, over the past couple of decades, the dollar has been joined at the top by the euro, yen, pound sterling and Swiss franc. And now the list of legitimate reserve currencies has expanded to include Canadian and Australian dollars:
Aussie, Canada dollars termed reserve currencies
LONDON (MarketWatch) — The Australian and Canadian dollars, the world’s leading commodity-rich currencies, are being formally classified as official reserve assets by the International Monetary Fund, marking the onset of a multi-currency reserve system and a new era in world money.
In a seemingly innocuous yet highly portentous move, the IMF is asking member countries from next year to include the Australian and Canadian dollars in statistics supplied by reserve-holding nations on the make-up of their central banks’ foreign exchange reserves. The technical-sounding measure, reflecting growing diversification of the world’s $10.5 trillion of reserves, is likely over time to exert wide-ranging impact on world bond and equity markets.

Read More: Welcome to the Currency War, Part 5: The Dollar Gets Serious Competition

US middle class' net worth lowest in decades — RT

US middle class' net worth lowest in decades — RT

A new report shows that the gap between the rich and the poor in the US is significantly wider than it used to be, with the annual median wage falling to $26,364 in 2010 while the high-earners increased their wealth by 71 percent.
The New York University report found that in 2010, the median net worth in the US reached its lowest point since 1969 at $57,000. Conducted by Professor Edward Wolff, who has studied Americans’ net worth since 1983, the report provided some surprising revelations about the extent of the income inequality.
While the middle class lost 18 percent of their net worth as a result of the the housing crisis, the top one percent of the richest Americans increased their earnings by 71 percent, thereby widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Each of the one percent is on average worth 288 times the value of a middle class American, the Economic Policy Institute recently reported.
The annual median wage decreased in 2010 to $26,364, hitting the lowest level since 1999. A 2011 Gallup poll also found that 20 percent of Americans rated their financial situation as “poor”, which is more than the 16 percent of Americans who viewed their finances this way during the housing crisis.

Read More: US middle class' net worth lowest in decades — RT

Legal to film cops: Supreme Court Rules Cops Can be Filmed

Editor's Note: Being Public Servants with mottos like 'To Serve and Protect', why should the Public not have the right to observe and record the actions of their so-called public servants like the Police?

Supreme Court Rules Cops Can be Filmed :

RT / November 27, 2012
Smile for the camera, coppers — the US Supreme Court has decided to let stand a lesser ruling that allows citizens in the state of Illinois to record police officers performing their official duties.
Up until just last year, an anti-eavesdropping legislation on the books across Illinois meant any person within the state could be imprisoned for as much as 15 years for recording a police officer without expressed consent.
In August 2011, a federal appeals court struck down the law, but an Illinois prosecutor has asked the Supreme Court — unsuccessfully — to challenge that ruling.
On Monday, the top justices in the US said that they would not hear the case and will instead rely on last year’s ruling where a federal appeals court in Chicago agreed that the eavesdropping law, as written, “likely violates” the First Amendment.
“The Illinois eavesdropping statue restricts a medium of expression commonly used for the preservation and communication of information and ideas, thus triggering First Amendment scrutiny” and that the “statute restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opined previously.
Under that ruling and thanks to the Supreme Court’s refusal to weigh in this week, last year’s decision to not allow the enforcement of that law will stand, essentially making it for once-and-for-all perfectly legal at the highest level to tape record cops on the job.

Read More: Supreme Court Rules Cops Can be Filmed :

BLACK FRIDAY 2012: THE MADNESS OF A LOST SOCIETY 3

THE MADNESS OF A LOST SOCIETY 3 - YouTube

Another 'Black Friday' has come and gone. And it has left us with further evidence of the complete madness of the populace of our nation. America has been dealt a fatal blow by corporate greed, Bankster malfeasance and the insidious nature of collectivism -- and it's all been done to us by design.

The once proud and independent people of the United States have, in large part, been reduced to servants of the State. As Aldous Huxley famously noted, "People can actually be made to LOVE their servitude."

Featuring Mike Krieger, Rob Kirby, Chris Duane, Gerald Celente, Bill Murphy and many others, 'Madness 3' offers one last 'fair warning' for those with the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

My websites:
http://www.SGTreport.com.com/
http://www.TheLibertyMill.com.com/

Civilian Casualties: The New face of War! 50 Children Killed and 450 Injured in Israeli Attack on Gaza

50 Children Killed and 450 Injured in Israeli Attack on Gaza - YouTube

We Are Witnessing Unprecedented Hunger In America!

What Was Once Unthinkable, Is Now Happening: We Are Witnessing Unprecedented Hunger In America While The Fed Still Printing Money To Push Food Price Inflation Even Higher! | Alternative

“One in six people in Maine don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or skip a meal so their kids can eat, or have to choose between paying for prescriptions and food, or fuel for your car and food,” Hall said. “What’s amazing is that food is always the first thing to go from your budget. It’s staggering, the choices people have to make.”…
The following are 20 facts about hunger in America that will blow your mind…
#1 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”
#2 In October 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. By August 2012 that number had risen to 47.1 million Americans.

Read More: What Was Once Unthinkable, Is Now Happening: We Are Witnessing Unprecedented Hunger In America While The Fed Still Printing Money To Push Food Price Inflation Even Higher! | Alternative

At least 29 dead, scores injured in string of Iraq car bombings (PHOTOS) — RT

At least 29 dead, scores injured in string of Iraq car bombings (PHOTOS) — RT

At least 29 people were killed and 126 others wounded after eight car bombs hit Shiite and Kurdish areas across Iraq. Many of the attacks appear to have targeted religious processions.
The car bombs rocked the northern city of Kirkuk, as well as several sites inside and outside Baghdad, reports CNN. One of the three blasts in Kirkuk destroyed the local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and all of them targeted the mainly Kurdish northern area of the city.
In Baghdad, three blasts took lives of at least 19 people and injured 72 others, an interior ministry official told AFP. Bombs went off almost simultaneously outside mosques in the Shulla, Sbaa-Abkar and Hurriya neighborhoods. Dozens of Shiites gathered there for the Day of Ashura, which marks the climax of the mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but car bombs may indicate Sunni insurgents who often carry out attacks against Iraq's Shiite majority. Other reports suggest al-Qaeda in Iraq might be behind the bombings.
MORE DETAILS SOON

A Kurdish security officer stands guard next to the destroyed headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) after a bomb attack in Kirkuk, some 250 kms (155 miles) north of Baghdad, November 27, 2012 (Reuters / Stringer)

Security personnel inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250 kms (155 miles) north of Baghdad, November 27, 2012 (Reuters / Stringer)

Signs of Impending Doom for the World: Why God's Judgment must come upon the world!

This is an older article that is worth reading again as the days foreshadowed by this article draw ever closer!
UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS OF ‘JUDGMENT UPON THE WORLD’

As we approach the days of the Apocalypse, known in the Bible as ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD’ (Joel 2, Isa. 13), ‘THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD’ (Isa. 61), ‘THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH’ (Revelation 6), and many other such terms that signify God’ great and sore displeasure with man’s evil upon earth, we can expect certain prophesied events to transpire that will signal the end of the world as we know it. The greed of man is insatiable, and as man’s greed increases, so does his insanity, so do his activities that are destroying both the planet and life on the planet. After sending warning after warning after warning, the hammer will finally drop and man will discover that he is but a weak vessel of clay that can no more resist or oppose God than a paper boat survive a 100 foot tsunami.
 God will send judgment upon man to reward the weak and powerless (with eternal life), and to punish the rich and powerful who destroy His creation with impunity, to punish those who rob the labor of the poor that slave in their factories, and to punish those who launch wars that kill millions, all for the sake of profit. Throughout the Bible God warns leaders, both political and religious, to protect the weak, to not take away the rights of the poor, to nourish the widows and the fatherless (the weakest members of society.) Despite all their high sounding rhetoric of helping the poor and disenfranchised, of forming a just society, politicians of all nations do exactly the opposite; the rich and powerful get away with murder while the poor and weak are murdered with impunity. The poor are crushed with the weight of unbearable poverty while the wealthy dine on $1000 Kobe steaks and $10,000 bottles of French wine, more money than many poverty ridden humans make in a lifetime, and that after slaving from sun up to sun down every day of their lives, sometime from age 4 and up. The poor are traded like commodities, like cattle in a meat market even while the greed of commodities traders in Chicago and New York drive up the prices of grains and cereals, so that even the most basic of food stuffs are priced out of the reach of millions. In essence they trade the lives of people; people themselves become commodities so that a select few can collect billion dollar bonuses at the expense of millions of lives.

Vietnam's Empty Office Towers show the real problems in our world: Overproduction of goods and Massive Real Estate Construction!

EDITOR's NOTE: China produces more TVs, computers, cell phones, clothes, and other goods than the world can possibly buy. Real Estate construction across the world from China to Australia to Canada and the US not to mention Spain and Ireland, and across much of Africa has been on a tear; far more than found at any time historically. Since there is not enough Capital saved to pay for these things, the only way to consume them is through debt. But as the debt taps are being shutoff worldwide, what is being left behind in the wake are empty shells of buildings and factories. And the process of getting rid of excess production has just begun; wait another year or two and witness the carnage that's coming!

___________________________________________________________________

Vietnam Empty Office Towers Show Dreams Turned to Rubble - Bloomberg

From afar, the gleaming metal and glass edifices of Hanoi’s EVN Tower illustrate Vietnam’s rapid economic development. Up close, the rubble-strewn entrance and missing windows tell another story: one of loose lending and property speculation that now hangs over the country’s banks.State-run monopoly Vietnam Electricity began construction of the 33- and 29- story dual-tower development in 2007, a year when 54 percent credit growth helped fuel the fastest economic expansion since 1996. Now, the economy has slowed, banks are struggling with an increase in bad debts, and unfinished property projects, empty offices and lower rents risk adding to the pile of non-performing loans.“Banks were far too eager to lend and a lot of the projects that have been built haven’t been well-thought through,” said Stephen Wyatt, managing director for real estate broker Knight Frank Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. “A number of developments are on hold, purely because they have run out of funding. Banks are no longer willing to fund these massive developments.”

When boys will no longer be boys and girls no longer girls! Swedish toymaker publishes 'gender-neutral' children's Christmas catalogue!

Editors' Note: STOP THE WORLD - I WANT TO GET OFF! The world gets more insane by the day! Gay marriages, Gender Neutral kids, what next - marriages with pet goats? Sadly these are major signs of a decaying world. When sexual perversions, gender role reversals, pedophilia, and bestiality become acceptable practices in a society, that society's days are numbered. We are a generation or two at most away from going the way of Ancient, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome! These policies also reveal the perverted sick mentality of the world's elites who have always been degenerate

__________________________________________________________

Swedish toymaker publishes 'gender-neutral' children's Christmas catalogue — RT

image from http://viewer.zmags.com

One of the largest toy chains in Sweden published a gender-neutral Christmas catalogue, which pictured boys playing with dolls and girls holding toy machine guns. The move has reignited a debate in Sweden over the proper place of gender roles. Top Toy has produced children’s Christmas catalogues in Denmark and Sweden for both Toys R Us and BR. Though the catalogues' page layouts are the same in both countries, the gender of the pictured kids is reversed in the Swedish edition.
"With the new gender thinking, there is nothing that is right or wrong. It's not a boy or a girl thing, it's a toy for children," Top Toy director of sales Jan Nyberg told TT news agency. The Danish catalogue showed a boy wielding a toy machine gun, which was replaced by a girl in the Swedish version. The "Hello Kitty" page of the Swedish catalogue also replaced a girl with a boy, and a one girl's pink t-shirt was turned into light blue.

Read More: Swedish toymaker publishes 'gender-neutral' children's Christmas catalogue — RT

Floods sweep UK, killing 4 and damaging hundreds of homes

Floods sweep UK, killing 4 and damaging hundreds of homes

Four people were killed and 800 homes were damaged by raging floodwaters across Britain. The country’s south has been spared the worst of the heavy rains and high winds, as the midlands, west and north brace for the brunt of the storm.
­Around 300 flood alerts were issued during the last few days for England, Wales and Scotland. Four people died over the weekend, and one person was declared missing. A 21-year-old woman, reportedly homeless, was killed in Exeter on Saturday when a tree fell on her tent. Two other men were injured in the incident. In Cambridgeshire, a 70-year-old man was pulled underwater when his car plunged into a swollen river that evening. A bystander dragged him to the shore, but the man was later pronounced dead by paramedics.On Saturday, 50-year-old Kevin Wilkinson died after stumbling into the river Colne amid thick fog in Hertfordshire. On Thursday, an elderly man was killed when his truck was pulled under a bridge in Somerset. Police are also searching the river Thames for 91-year-old Franciscus van de Gender, who went missing in Berkshire. Rescuers in Somerset managed to save a 12-month-old baby from a car.

Read More: Floods sweep UK, killing 4 and damaging hundreds of homes (PHOTOS, VIDEO) — RT

China flexing its Naval Power muscles? China lands high-tech J-15 jet on new carrier!

In-depth video: China lands high-tech J-15 jet on new carrier - YouTube

China has successfully landed a jet on its first aircraft carrier. The new J-15 fighter touched down on the Liaoning, refurbished Soviet-made ship which was delivered to the People's Liberation Army Navy in September - READ MORE http://on.rt.com/bo91fa

Is Gaza conflict a prelude to war with Iran? Israel may strike at ship allegedly carrying Iranian rockets to Gaza

Israel may strike at ship allegedly carrying Iranian rockets to Gaza

Israel has reportedly vowed to destroy rockets and other weapons being sent to Gaza by Iran. Tel Aviv issued this threat despite a recent ceasefire following eight days of bitter conflict between Gaza and Israel.
Israeli spy satellites spotted a cargo vessel in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas that was allegedly Gaza-bound and carrying arms, the Sunday Times reported.
“Regardless of the ceasefire agreement, we will attack and destroy any shipment of arms to Gaza once we have spotted it,” an Israeli defense official told the newspaper.
The vessel reportedly began its voyage last week just as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire ending eight days of violence in Gaza, in which over 150 Palestinians died. The cargo is believed to include Fajr-5 rockets, similar to those used by Hamas in the conflict, and Shahab-3 ballistic missiles.
Read More: Israel may strike at ship allegedly carrying Iranian rockets to Gaza – report — RT

Sacrifing human lives on the altar of PROFITS: The true cost of cheap Walmart clothing

Fire at Bangladesh clothing factory kills at least 121 (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

 

At least 121 people have been killed in a fire at a multi-story clothing factory in Bangladesh. Night shift workers jumped out of the building's windows after fire blocked off escapes and the factory became filled with suffocating smoke.
­The death toll from the blaze on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka rose after rescuers discovered more bodies in the ruins.
“We've found 112 dead bodies this morning,” Mohammad Mahbub, a fire brigade director, told AFP. “We resumed our search this morning and found the bodies lying on different floors of the factory building.”
Fireman battled the flames for over five hours after the fire broke out late Saturday. The inferno began on the ground floor, trapping night workers inside the seven-story building.
The workers' relatives frantically searched for their loved ones. Sabina Yasmine, a worker at another factory, told AP she found her daughter-in-law dead, but couldn’t locate her son.
“Oh, Allah, where's my soul? Where's my son?” Yasmine wailed. “I want the factory owner to be hanged. For him, many have died, many have gone.”
Read more: Fire at Bangladesh clothing factory kills at least 121 (VIDEO, PHOTOS) — RT

RELATED STORY

Burned alive: Over 300 killed in Pakistan factory fires (PHOTOS)

Deadly fires have gutted two factories in Pakistan, killing at least 314 people. In both incidents, the blazes trapped many employees. Police are raiding homes searching for the factories' owners.

Another massive urban explosion in US: Springfield Massachusetts Gas Leak Explosion RAW Video

Springfield Massachusetts Gas Leak Explosion RAW Video - YouTube

 

18 people were injured in the explosion including firefighters, policeman, utility workers and strippers…   none are life threatening.

End of the Petrodollar? The world looking for a substitute for US dollar!

Goodbye Petrodollar, Hello Agri-Dollar? | ZeroHedge

When it comes to firmly established, currency-for-commodity, self reinforcing systems in the past century of human history, nothing comes close to the petrodollar: it is safe to say that few things have shaped the face of the modern world and defined the reserve currency as much as the $2.3 trillion/year energy exports denominated exclusively in US dollars (although recent confirmations of previously inconceivable exclusions such as Turkey's oil-for-gold trade with Iran are increasingly putting the petrodollar status quo under the microscope). But that is the past, and with rapid changes in modern technology and extraction efficiency, leading to such offshoots are renewable and shale, the days of the petrodollar "as defined" may be over. So what new trade regime may be the dominant one for the next several decades? According to some, for now mostly overheard whispering in the hallways, the primary commodity imbalance that will shape the face of global trade in the coming years is not that of energy, but that of food, driven by constantly rising food prices due to a fragmented supply-side unable to catch up with increasing demand, one in which China will play a dominant role but not due to its commodity extraction and/or processing supremacy, but the contrary: due to its soaring deficit for agricultural products, and in which such legacy trade deficit culprits as the US will suddenly enjoy a huge advantage in both trade and geopolitical terms. Coming soon: the agri-dollar.

But first, some perspectives from Karim Bitar on CEO of Genus, on what is sure to be the biggest marginal player of the agri-dollar revolution, China, whose attempt to redefine itself as a consumption-driven superpower will fail epically and very violently, unless it is able to find a way to feed its massive, rising middle class in a cheap and efficient manner. But before that even, take note of the following chart which takes all you know about global trade surplus and deficit when narrowed down to what may soon be that all important agricultural (hence food) category, and flips it around on its head.

Read on: Goodbye Petrodollar, Hello Agri-Dollar? | ZeroHedge

European Protests continue unabated! Revolución? Catalonia anger blooms, Spain break up looms

Revolución? Catalonia anger blooms, Spain break up looms - YouTube

While Europe struggles to find a common way forward, some regions are looking for ways to go it alone. In Spanish Catalonia people are set to go to the polls to elect a regional government, which could see a referendum on its independence. 

LIBYA 2 coming to Syria? ‘Syria may witness a humanitarian intervention scenario’

‘Syria may witness a humanitarian intervention scenario’ — RT

NATO’s potential deployment of the Patriot missile system in Turkey near the Syrian border is clearly meant for a larger scale intervention – and potentially to secure a no-fly zone, political activist Yazan Abdallah told RT.
­Furthermore, if the conflict escalates, it would be “a military intervention based on the humanitarian crisis.”
RT:If the request is granted, is it the first step towards implementing a no-fly zone?
Yazan Abdallah: It could well be a sign that there could well be some kind of limited intervention, especially that we’ve been hearing the EU countries – especially Britain and France – advocating such intervention recently, where they have been talking about limited scale intervention. However, how comprehensive and how an all-out war style this is going to be, I think this is not going to be a war style. It will be a war of attrition that is not going to threaten the Syrian government with sudden intervention. They know very well this is going to ignite a response from the Syrian side that may trigger a lot of chaos in the region.
RT:NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that any possible deployment of Patriot missiles would be "purely defensive." But, with an increasing amount of Western political backing for the rebels in Syria, do you think it could eventually lead to military intervention?
YA: Well, whether it is defensive, we heard what Mr. Lavrov said – it was interesting to listen to his theatric analogy today, when he said when we see a gun in the first act in the theater of the play, then it’s very likely to shoot by the third act.
Read More: ‘Syria may witness a humanitarian intervention scenario’ — RT

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22.11, 15:19 49 comments

Lavrov: Patriot missile deployment in Turkey will lead to further regional destabilization

The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed strong reservations after Ankara said it would request that NATO deploy Patriot missiles along the Turkey-Syria border.
Syria-Turkey

22.11, 14:33 45 comments

Syria presents foreign fighter list in bid for UN to acknowledge terror acts

Syria has presented the UN Security Council a list of 143 foreign citizens killed in Syria fighting government troops. Damascus hopes the move will force the UN to declare the presence of foreign nationals in Syria to be international terrorism.
 

Terminators & Robocops: “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots,”

Ban ‘Killer Robot’s” Before it’s too Late :

hrw.org
November 23, 2012
Governments should pre-emptively ban fully autonomous weapons because of the danger they pose to civilians in armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These future weapons, sometimes called “killer robots,” would be able to choose and fire on targets without human intervention.
The 50-page report, “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots,” outlines concerns about these fully autonomous weapons, which would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians. In addition, the obstacles to holding anyone accountable for harm caused by the weapons would weaken the law’s power to deter future violations.

Read On: Ban ‘Killer Robot’s” Before it’s to Late :

Bravo! 2 News Anchors Get Fed Up With Political Propaganda and Quit Jobs on Air

2 News Anchors Get Fed Up With Political Propaganda and Quit Jobs on Air :

By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com
November 23, 2012
Two news anchors in Bangor, Maine quit their jobs on the air this week, after becoming frustrated with management over the course of many years.  The reporters also complained of being forced to put forward “unbalanced” political information.
According to Bangor Daily News:

“News co-anchors Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio announced their resignations at the end of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. newscast. Michaels and Consiglio, who have a combined 12½ years’ service at WVII (Channel 7) and sister station WFVX (Channel 22), shocked staff members and viewers with their joint resignations Tuesday evening.”

The news anchors decided not to tell anyone about their departure before making the announcement on the air because they feared that management would not allow them to say goodbye to the audience after they resigned.
Michaels explained to the local newspaper one of the main reasons for their frustration, saying that:

“It’s a culmination of ongoing occurrences that took place the last several years and basically involved upper management practices that we both strongly disagreed with,” she explained. “It’s a little complicated, but we were expected to do somewhat unbalanced news, politically, in general.”

Read On: 2 News Anchors Get Fed Up With Political Propaganda and Quit Jobs on Air :

Israeli soldiers kill 1 Palestinian, injure several 2 days after ceasefire

Israeli soldiers kill 1 Palestinian, injure several 2 days after ceasefire - YouTube

•  One adult has been killed and at least 10 teenagers injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire at the Gaza-Israel border, Gaza medical authorities claimed. The incident happened east of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/77srpi

Quantitative easing a time bomb: Stephen Roach - Reuters TV

Reuters TV | Quantitative easing a time bomb: Stephen Roach - Fast Forward

• Quantitative easing a time bomb: Stephen Roach - Fast Forward (6:03) Economist Stephen Roach worries that the Federal Reserve's approach to stimulating the economy will lead to a bubble. Roach also discussed with former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and other panelists at Rand Corporation's Politics Aside conference in Santa Monica, Calif., whether the government will resolve the fiscal cliff. (November 23, 2012)

No agreement on EU budget: will lead to 'much deeper recession'

No agreement on EU budget will lead to 'much deeper recession' — RT

European leaders are not likely to compromise on a budget this year causing more turbulence in the global economy, experts warn.
­Two days of talks saw European leaders in a deadlock over the EU's 2014-2020 budget. A decision could come towards the second quarter of the next year, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib bank warns, and economies across the world would feel the negative impact.
“Now the Eurozone is in a relatively mild recession. If we didn’t get agreement on the budget and we were to go all the way, then you are looking at several percentage points further into recession in Europe during 2013. And that’s of course there will be a contagion, and not the least of which will hit commodity producers such as Russia,” Chris Weafer told RT.
If the battle runs into next year it might coincide with February discussions over the US budget in Congress. Chris Weafer believes it will boost uncertainty.
“There has been a lot of focus on the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ towards the end of the year, but come early February and the White House is going to have to submit its budget to the congress and that is going to open the whole new world of pain in terms of disagreements and argument between the two branches of government,” he says. “So we are going to be looking at this parallel in Europe and the US about budget uncertainty, a lot of uncertainty about where both economies are going. And there is no doubt emerging markets countries like Russia will definitely be in for collateral damage.” 
Read On: No agreement on EU budget will lead to 'much deeper recession' — RT

Nigel Farage: Europe split in every way possible - YouTube

Disillusionment with the European project has brought more support in Britain for the UK Independence Party, which believes only pulling out of the EU will do. What's more, recent polls show over half of Britons agree. RT talks to party leader and Euro MP Nigel Farage.

Cold War heating up again? Communists propose Russia-led Eurasian unity vs. imperialist globalization

Communists propose Russia-led Eurasian unity vs. imperialist globalization

Leading Asian countries and Russia should unite in their efforts to counter-balance the “American-style globalization,” says the leader of Russian Communist Party (KPRF) Gennady Zyuganov.
Russia has historically been the centre of Eurasia, linking European and Asian civilizations, Zyuganov pointed out.

Leader of the Communist Party of the the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov speaks at a rally in honor of the 95 anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.(RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich)

“We propose to restore in a new shape the “Eurasian bridge” with the closest and most efficient cooperation between our peoples, countries and continents. Russia – which for millennia has been actively participating in the life of both Europe and Asia – is ready to fulfill its historic mission and be a link between the main centers of modern civilization in this most difficult moment of its development,” the KPRF chairman stated at the Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Capitalism is rotten: all its spheres from production and politics to culture and morality have been affected. A whole range of European countries are on the verge of bankruptcy, the Russian Communist leader observed, as cited on the KPRF official website.
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union life on Earth has become a lot more difficult and dangerous,” Zyuganov stated.
In recent years the world has seen numerous devastating bloody conflicts, including the recent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
“The colonial strategy of the US and Western countries that depend on it put the humanity on the brink of a world war,” the Russian Communist leader believes.
Read On: Communists propose Russia-led Eurasian unity vs. imperialist globalization — RT

Giving Thanks for Food Stamps: Americans to pay for Thanksgiving dinner with food stamps in record numbers!

Americans to pay for Thanksgiving dinner with food stamps in record numbers

While some will spend Thanksgiving and days after it feasting on turkeys, 13 percent of Americans will rely on food stamps to avoid going to sleep hungry this holiday season. About 42.2 million Americans will eat on a budget of $1 to $1.25 per meal this Thanksgiving as the number of people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program remains high, found a new report by The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit government watchdog group. The number of Americans relying on food stamps this Thanksgiving is equal to the populations of California and Connecticut combined. The latest data from the US Department of Agriculture shows that 47.1 million Americans relied on food stamps in August – the highest number yet. Since 2007, participation in the food stamp program has skyrocketed, increasing by 70 percent. The cost of feeding the approximately 44.7 million Americans who relied on food stamps last year cost the US government a record $72 billion. But the high number of Americans dependent on the nutrition assistance in a struggling economy is not the only problem the US faces this Thanksgiving. This past summer’s record-breaking drought has taken a toll on the food industry, causing prices to skyrocket while supplies remain low – making it even more difficult to provide Thanksgiving-style food to low-income families. In Framingham, Mass., a turkey shortage at a food pantry will leave some families without a typical Thanksgiving feast, CBS News reports. Food pantries, or food banks, are non-profit, charitable organizations that distribute food to people in need.
The Pearl Street Cupboard and Café, a food bank that delivers, is facing a turkey shortage and the highest demand it has ever seen. Requests from low-income individuals are up by 400 percent since last year.
 Read On: Americans to pay for Thanksgiving dinner with food stamps in record numbers

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12.11, 02:11 12 comments

Post-election report shows record surge in Americans using food stamps

The number of Americans relying on food stamps to stay fed has been steadily on the rise, hitting an all-time record this year, with more than 47.1 million Americans using government assistance to obtain food.

09.08, 19:38 76 comments

Over 100 million US residents on welfare

Government handouts are designed to help the needy across America, but how many US residents actually reap those benefits? According to a presentation to be delivered in Washington this week, it might be way more than you thought.

22.07, 21:40 5 comments

US poverty to hit highest level since 1965

Poverty in the US is projected to spread at record levels unseen since the 1960s, affecting many groups including underemployed workers, suburban families and the poorest of America's poor.

28.01, 03:47 24 comments

Hungry and poor in the Big Apple

One-in-five children in the US are currently living in poverty. RT’s Anastasia Churkina takes a look at a harsh reality of America’s recession that many wish to avoid.

The Day the World Ended - WW3 Simulation - YouTube

The Day the World Ended - WW3 Simulation - YouTube

Conflict along the Gaza Strip: Ceasfire for now but will it last? Was this a prelude to war with Iran?

Conflict along the Gaza Strip | Page 33 | Liveblog live blogging | Reuters.com

GAZA/JERUSALEM - A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold on Thursday after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last.

Ceasefire: Egypt Manages the Crisis; More US Arms for Israel 

 

Truce Hurts: Gaza gutted after Israeli attacks, Iran next?