Rebels demand 'No-Fly' Zone over Libya - oops I meant over Syria!

It's  Déjà vu  all over again as a 'No-Fly' zone will soon be imposed over Syria due to mounting civilian casualties (or so we are told) to be followed by a liberation of the poor oppressed Syrians by US / NATO armies. I could swear that I have heard this story before - Oh yeah! it happened in Libya earlier this year. Libya was liberated by the wonderful freedom loving armies of the West and out of the goodness of their hearts they will willingly launch a few billion dollars worth of missiles and bombs to liberate Syria soon, and possibly Iran and Pakistan and Yemen and Bahrain and..... O what noble souls occupy the seats of power in this world, peace and good-will is certainly flourishing this holiday season. I wonder if President Assad has studied the Col. Gaddafi exit from this world or will he follow his Egyptian counterpart Mubarak into the sunset?

Activists say 111 killed in Syria's "bloodiest day"

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT | Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:33pm EST

(Reuters) - Syrian forces killed 111 people ahead of the start of a mission to monitor President Bashar al-Assad's implementation of an Arab League peace plan, activists said on Wednesday, and Francebranded the killings an "unprecedented massacre."

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 111 civilians and activists were killed on Tuesday when Assad's forces surrounded them in the foothills of the northern Jabal al-Zawiyah region in Idlib province and unleashed two hours of bombardment and heavy gunfire.

Another 100 army deserters were either wounded or killed, making it the "bloodiest day of the Syrian revolution," he said.

"There was a massacre of unprecedented scale in Syria on Tuesday," said French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. "It is urgent that the U.N. Security Council issues a firm resolution that calls for an end to the repression."

The United States said it was deeply disturbed by reports of indiscriminate killing and warned Assad the violence must stop. Britain said it was shocked by the reports and urged Syria to "end immediately its brutal violence against civilians."

Events in Syria are hard to verify because authorities, who say they are battling terrorists who have killed more than 1,100 soldiers and police, have banned most independent reporting.

Tuesday's bloodshed brought the death toll reported by activists in the last 48 hours to over 200.

The main opposition Syrian National Council said "gruesome murders" were carried out, including the beheading of a local imam, and demanded international action to protect civilians.

The escalating death toll in nine months of popular unrest has raised the specter of civil war in Syria with Assad, 46, still trying to stamp out protests with troops and tanks despite international sanctions imposed to push him onto a reform path.

Britain preparing for collapse of Euro and chaos across the Eurozone

British Prepare Evacuation Plans Ahead of Spain and Portugal Collapse

Mac Slavo December 19th, 2011 SHTFplan.com

British Foreign Office personnel have proposed emergency evacuation plans for their citizens living throughout Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal. As tensions over the survivability of the Euro mount, the government warns that a collapse of the banking sector and the European monetary unit may make it impossible for those with assets in affected countries, including bank deposit accounts and homes, to access their funds and evacuate to Britain.

The drastic proposals emerged as a former Security Minister warned expats could be left stranded and destitute by the break-up of the single currency.
Brits who invested their savings in their adopted countries may not be able to withdraw cash and could even lose their homes if banks call in loans, worried ministers are warning.
The Foreign Office is preparing to bring them back from Spain and Portugal if the two countries are forced out of the euro, triggering a banking collapse.
…
Commenting on the evacuation plans, she added: “I think they are right to be doing that. I think this is a real contingency that they need to plan against – very, very worrying.”
Officials are braced for a nightmare scenario where thousands end up penniless and sleeping at airports with no means of getting home. Planes, ships and coaches could be sent, with some expats being brought out through Gibraltar.
The Foreign Office could offer small loans while piling pressure on the banks to give Brits access to their funds.
Spanish and Portuguese banks guarantee the first 100,000 euros deposited by savers but many put limits on withdrawals in a crisis.
Source: Mirror

Still think a European collapse is implausible?
The British would not be making these plans if they didn’t expect the entire system to devolve into chaos. We’re not just talking about inaccessible bank accounts here, but political and social upheaval. The kind that topples governments.
This is serious. Entire nations are collapsing.
Hat tip Silver Bean

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Author: Mac Slavo
Date: December 19th, 2011
Website: www.SHTFplan.com
Copyright Information: Copyright SHTFplan and Mac Slavo. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.shtfplan.com. Please contact us for permission to reproduce this content in other media formats.

Inviting Martial Law - O please come save us from the big bad criminals!

Official Calls For National Guard On Streets 'We Are At War In New Orleans'

Cities being declared 'War Zones', terms like 'Urban Warfare' being waged in American cities is now being used by 'Officials'. They are calling for the military on their streets - is that not Martial Law? Be careful what you wish for Councillor, your citizens will not like the results!

It's Back - like a B horror movie, Avian influenza keeps coming back

From The Extinction Protocol
Hong Kong culls chickens at market, bans trade, as H5N1 found

Posted on December 21, 2011 

December 21, 2011 – HONG KONG – Workers began culling 17,000 chickens at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong on Wednesday after a dead chicken there tested positive for the deadlyH5N1 avian virus, a government spokesman said. The Hong Kong government also suspended imports of live chickens from mainland China and the trading of live chickens for 21 days in a bid to prevent any spread of the disease, which is normally found in birds but can jump to humans. “We do not know if the dead chicken was imported from China or if it’s a local chicken,” the government spokesman said, adding that the market would be emptied of birds and thoroughly disinfected. People do not have immunity to the H5N1 virus and researchers worry it could mutate in humans into a form that would spread around the world and kill millions of people. The virus passes easily among birds and has becomes active in various parts of the world, but especially in east Asia, over recent years, especially in the cooler months of the year. The current strain of H5N1 is highly pathogenic, kills most species of birds and up to 60 percent of the people it infects. The last two large poultry culling exercises in Hong Kong took place in June 2008, after checks uncovered H5N1 in chicken fecal samples, and in December 2008 when the virus killed scores of chickens at a chicken farm. In 1997, six people died from the H5N1 virus in the territory and 1.3 million chickens were culled. Hong Kong’s last recorded human case of H5N1 was in November 2010 — the 59-year-old woman, who came down with the illness after returning from a trip to mainland China, survived. Since making its first laboratory-confirmed appearance in Hong Kong in 1997, it is now endemic in many places in Asia and also Egypt. Since 2003, it has infected 573 people around the world, killing 336. The virus also kills migratory birds but species that manage to survive can carry and disperse the virus to new, uninfected locations. The virus can kill birds and humans in a matter of days but can survive far longer durations in a moist, cool environment. The ban on trading of live chickens in Hong Kong for 21 days is to ensure that the virus runs through its full lifecycle. –Yahoo News 

Biological weapon: The virologist who created a potentially dangerous, mutant strain of the deadly bird flu virus has agreed to omit methodology details from his published reports on the new strain. The decision came after the U.S. government warned Tuesday that published details of the experiment could be used to create a biological warfare weapon. Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said he created the contagious form of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain “easily” by mutating a few genes within the strain. Officials feared the virus could kill millions if it were unleashed. The study results were to be published in the U.S. journal Science, but in an unprecedented move, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, an independent committee that advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies, recommended against full publication after it determined the risks outweighed the benefit. “Due to the importance of the findings to the public health and research communities, the NSABB recommended that the general conclusions highlighting the novel outcome be published, but that the manuscripts not include the methodological and other details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm,” the committee said in a statement Tuesday. The researcher has doubts about the U.S. recommendation but will observe it. -ABC   excerpt

UN Issues 'Dire Warning' About World Economy

My comment: Constant Growth seems to have become the mantra of Economists everywhere in the past decade. However constant growth is a mathematical impossibility. And growth always comes with real human cost such as an unprecedented growth in the number of 'Slave' laborers worldwide, in China, India, Vietnam, Mexico and other nations so that a few developed nations could enjoy the fruits of growth without paying the real cost of growth. Perpetual Economic growth is an illusion that never benefits the masses, only the wealthy few. In an egalitarian society, what is required is opportunity for all and to maintain price stability by not inflating the money supply recklessly which the US in particular has been earnestly engaged in since the 1970's to fuel its own growth at the expense of all other nations. As was inevitable such growth was unsustainable and the price will now be paid by the whole world especially by developing and third world nations as noted by this gentleman towards the end of this article.

Lisa Schlein | Geneva

 

Photo: Reuters

Economist Heiner Flassbeck speaks during a Swiss Social Democrats party meeting in Aarau, Switzerland, October 2008. (file photo)

www.voanews.com/

The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development says the outlook for the world economy is very bleak. UNCTAD warns Europe is facing a full-fledged recession next year, and the best the United States and Japan can look forward to is a period of stagnation.

The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development is urging nations to move away from austerity measures toward policies aimed at stimulating growth. UNCTAD Director on Globalization and Development Strategies Heiner Flassbeck said that unfortunately, all governments in the world have decided to do just the opposite.

He said political leaders are choosing restrictive fiscal policies over economic stimulus measures. He warned this decision is creating a situation in which everyone is in danger of falling into recession.

“You see that there is everywhere a slowdown, at least, if not an outright fall of industrial production and things like that. So, there is no escape," said Flassbeck. "If the three big developed regions are not able to stimulate the economies, than we will fall all into a deep recession or at least a permanent stagnation… and deflation where you never get back on growth, on a growth path.”

Flassbeck notes Japan’s economy has been in a deflationary situation for 20 years. He said it has resulted in two lost decades.

The UN economist said private consumption is the most important overall component of growth in Japan, the euro zone and the United States. He added there will be no revival if consumption cannot be revived in these areas.

He said there appears to be a political consensus that fiscal policy should stay on an austerity path. Some politicians, he said, erroneously argue that the only way to regain confidence is by cutting deficits.

“But, the fact of life is that we will not cut public deficits. It is only an attempt to cut public deficits. Governments are too big. They are just too big just to cut their expenditure and expect that their revenues will remain as they were before. They will not. They will fall. Revenues will fall and with falling revenues you will see that you cannot reduce a deficit. And, if you cannot reduce a deficit, you cannot regain confidence. So, the whole idea is flawed from the very beginning,” said Flassbeck.

UNCTAD economist Flassbeck said it will take a bit longer for the recession to hit developing countries. But, when it does, he said there will be severe consequences for the developing and least developed countries.

He said nations apparently have not learned the lessons of the 1930s when recession was in full bloom. He said it is frightening to see that nations cannot agree upon a coordinated plan of action for stimulating world growth.

State of calamity declared in the Philippines due to tropical storm Washi

The Extinction Protocol: State of calamity declared in the Philippines as death-toll nears a thousand- 50,000 left homeless

Posted on December 20, 2011 

December 20, 2011 – PHILIPPINES – Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity on Tuesday, as authorities work to recover the bodies of those killed by flash floods on the southern island of Mindanao. Disaster agency officials said Tuesday that 957 people have died so far as a result of the floods which began in the early hours of Saturday, while 49 others remain missing. Officials said most of the damage was done in the southern port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, where mass graves are being prepared for hundreds of unidentified victims. Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz told the Reuters news agency the mass graves are necessary to prevent the spread of disease as a result of the decomposing bodies. Officials have also reported a shortage of water and food at the island’s overcrowded, makeshift evacuation centers. Almost 50,000 people who lost their homes remain in public shelters. The flooding was caused by tropical storm Washi, which swept through the southern Philippines Friday evening, dropping a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours. Romeo Lozano, a farmer who reportedly saved 200 lives, told the Associated Press how people escaped the fury of the floods by rushing to his house rooftop. About 143-thousand people were affected in 13 southern and central provinces. The Office of Civil Defense says some seven thousand houses were swept away, destroyed or damaged. -VOA

Max Keiser and Gerald Celente discuss MF Global bankruptcy fraud

In this edition of the show Max interviews Gerald Celente from trendsjournal.com. 

Gerald Celente is a trends forecaster who was recently defrauded by MF Global run by former New Jersey governor, Jon Corzine, who was also former head of Goldman Sachs. 

When MF Global collapsed, client cash was taken and apparently transferred to creditors, like JP Morgan. 

This commingling of funds has violated the very foundation of the futures market and we talk to Celente about whether he will ever invest money with a brokerage again?

MF Global bankruptcy-On the Edge with Max Keiser-12-16-2011

Hundreds die as tropical storm Washi sweeps across Philippines

At least 430 people have died and hundreds more have gone missing after the tropical storm Washi swept across the southern Philippines.

At least 200 people have died and hundreds more gone missing after a tropical storm Washi swept across the southern Philippines  Photo: AP

By Telegraph reporter and agencies in Manila

3:22PM GMT 17 Dec 2011

The major ports of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, on the north coast of the island of Mindanao, were worst hit by tropical storm Washi.

Many of the dead were swept out to sea. Others were buried alive as mud cascaded down mountain slopes. Water levels rose three feet in less than an hour, forcing thousands to climb on to the roofs of their homes where they huddled against wind speeds reaching 55 miles per hour.

Lawrence Cruz, mayor of Iligan, said: “It’s the worst flood in the history of our city. It happened so fast, at a time when people were asleep.”

Officials said 20,000 soldiers had been mobilised in a huge rescue and relief operation to assist 100,000 people who fled their homes.

Marlyn Manos, an Iligan resident, recounted how she and her children watched in terror from their rooftop as floods washed away neighbours’ homes.

British Defense Forces Chief warns of coming civil disorder in Europe

Eurozone crisis poses military risk, warns defence chief General Sir David Richards

Defence chiefs are drawing up plans to cope with the potential military fallout from the eurozone crisis, according to General Sir David Richards. 

It is understood that Armed Forces planners are looking at the possibility that a new global financial crash could undermine the defence forces of key British allies.

The head of the Armed Forces warned that economic issues pose a “strategic risk” to Britain.

Senior British commanders and officials are concerned that US plans to cut defence spending will be followed by other allies in Europe and elsewhere.

Reductions in allied military capabilities could put a greater burden on Britain’s stretched forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere, it is feared.

The military planning work has come to light after The Daily Telegraph disclosed last month that British embassies in the eurozone have been told to prepare emergency plans for the demise of the euro and the possible civil disorder that could follow.

2012 may slay the Chinese Economic Dragon

2012: The year of the Dragon set to become the year the dragon will be slain (economically speaking)

Chovanec Says China Faces Harder Landing Than... by Bloomberg

• Reuters Special report: China's debt pileup raises risk of hard landing

(Reuters) - When China announced a nearly $600 billion package to ward off the 2008 global financial crisis, city planners across the country happily embarked on a frenzy of infrastructure projects, some of them of arguable need.

Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province, answered the call for stimulus action with a bold plan for a railway hub modeled after Waterloo railway station in London.

Except London's Waterloo was not ambitious enough.

"I was shocked when I finally got to visit Waterloo. It was so small," said Chen Jun, a director at Chengdu Communications Investment Group, which built the new Chinese terminal. "I realized we would probably need a station a few times bigger to meet the demands of our city."

In a manner typical of many infrastructure projects in China, Chengdu more than doubled the size of its planned transport hub, borrowed 3 billion yuan ($473 million) from a state bank to finance it, then set out on a blistering construction timeline that saw the finishing touches put on the project two years later.

But instead of getting the accolades they expected for helping to stimulate the economy, Chengdu Communications and many of China's 10,000 local government financing vehicles (LGFV) have now come under a harsh spotlight for the grim side-effects of the construction binge.

China's local governments have piled up a mountain of bad debt, some of it to finance bridges to nowhere and other white elephant projects, which now threatens to constrict growth at a time when the global economy is sputtering. It is adding to other systemic risks in China, including a sharp downturn in the property market and a rapid rise in problematic loans.