In the news:

1. Quakes

Quake-Hit New Zealand City Hit

The New Zealand city of Christchurch has been hit by another series of strong tremors, four months after 181 people died when an earthquake damaged thousands of buildings.

The first quake to strike was measured at a magnitude of 5.2 and caused buildings to be evacuated.
An hour and twenty minutes later, the US Geological Survey measured the biggest tremor at 6.0.
It struck at a depth of 5.6 miles and some nine miles from the country's second largest city.

Christchurch struck by aftershocks

In New Zealand a series of powerful tremors have shaken the city of Christchurch. In February 181 people died after a strong earthquake caused buildings to collapse.

Workers were moved out of office buildings as people feared a repeat on the scale the quake four months.

2. Iran's Middle East Influence

'Iran helping Syria to crush anti-government protests'

British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of helping Syria quell anti-government protests, providing "equipment" and logistical support on how to crush the opposition, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. Hague criticized Iran's "hypocrisy in world affairs."

The UK foreign secretary's comments come after Britain's top diplomat in Iran was summoned last Thursday in Tehran to reject similar a accusation the UK government had made about Syria-Iran ties during the upheavals in Syrian cities from Damascus to Jisr al-Shughur.

UK: Iran is helping Syria crush protestors

Hague called on the United Nations Security Council to make a "clear statement" to the Syrian government with a resolution condemning its crackdown of anti-regime protesters.

Syria has strong links to Russia, and the inter-connections between the Syrian government and Lebanon – the current Arab representative on the Security Council – had made it "impossible for the Lebanese government to take a clear position on this", Hague added.

3. The Epicenter

'Dozens of missiles could hit TA and Jerusalem in next war'

Dozens of medium-range missiles could fall in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the next war, Homefront Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan said in a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee conference on Monday.

"The threats are not just limited to one zone. They are spread throughout the country, with a greater extent of weapons," Golan explained at the conference on emergency preparedness, which was organized in cooperation with the Union of Local Authorities in Israel.

Golan added that the next war will probably be longer, because "our enemies have a larger weapons inventory than they had before."

"The way their arsenal has developed is a dramatic threat," he explained, adding that Israel could face attacks on power stations and water treatment facilities. "The threat has become more significant," Golan said.

Turkish Election: Islamism Triumphant

The stealth Islamist party, Justice and Development (AKP), received almost exactly 50 percent of the vote. Under the Turkish system this will give them an estimated 325 members of parliament, or about 60 percent of the s

Now is this good or bad?

The AKP got almost–remember that almost–everything it wanted. It will be in power for four more years, infiltrating institutions, producing a new constitution, intimidating opponents, altering Turkish foreign policy, and shifting public opinion to dislike Americans and Jews more.

What all this means is that the AKP is entrenched in power and can now proceed with the fundamental transformation of Turkey.

4. The World's Economic Collapse

'Perfect Storm' May Threaten Global Economy

A “perfect storm” of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.

“Everybody’s kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier, and bigger on debt, and all these problems may come to a head by 2013 at the latest.”

Elevated U.S. unemployment, a surge in oil and food prices, rising interest rates in Asia and trade disruption from Japan’s record earthquake threaten to sap the world economy. Stocks worldwide have lost more than $3.3 trillion since the beginning of May, and Roubini said financial markets by the middle of next year could start worrying about a convergence of risks in 2013.

5. American Decline

Is the U.S. headed for another Great Depression?

If a depression by any other name would feel as bleak, what do you call the current state of the U.S. economy? A number of influential American economists are no longer mincing words: They argue that deficit-obsessed politicians in Washington are setting the United States up for a repeat of the 1930s.

For economists of the Krugman-Baker school, 2011 is shaping up to look worryingly like 1937. Then, as now, politicians and policy makers mistook the absence of negative growth for a nascent recovery. They turned to slashing deficits and snuffing out the perceived threat of inflation. That Mistake of 1937 drove the economy back into the red.

Politicians on Capitol Hill seem strangely impervious to warnings of 1937 redux. Neither the news that the U.S. economy grew at an anemic 1.8 per cent in the first quarter, nor the fact that job creation in May was four times below the rate needed to keep up with population growth, tempered calls for spending cuts.

An American Descent Into Hell

It’s hard not to see the signs all around us that America has begun a cataclysmic downward spiral in finances and morality. It’s like watching a slow motion murderous wreck, all the while denying that it is actually occurring. I assure you, what is unfolding in the US now is all too real. It’s a reality that is about to smack Americans full frontal in the face and many will never even see it coming until it is way too late.

It is hard for me to imagine how people cannot see what is happening in finances and in politics in their own country. It is in the news if you look at all… It is on the Internet for all to see… It is whispered by many all around us if you just listen.

Giddy up folks, because this fake ‘recovery’ is about to get very interesting indeed. And what will be even more enlightening is how Americans react to tough times coming our way. Gone are the days of our parents when it was a given that you helped your neighbor. The future in America is beginning to resemble more of a free-for-all. The Economic Collapse site has some pretty horrifying signs

Crony Capitalism and Obama's Anti-Coal Crusade

Barack Obama has long sought to bankrupt the coal industry. But, Cook County politician that he is and always will be, the relevant question is: who benefits from his plans wreck a major portion of our economy while also boosting electricity prices across America?
A clue: he and his pals from Chicago have incestuous ties to the one company whose prospects will be boosted by Obama's policies

He told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle on January 17, 2008 of his plans:

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

He also promised that under his plans to transform the energy industry "electricity prices would necessarily skyrocket."

6. Bilderberg Meeting

Awareness of Bilderberg Cabal Explodes in 2011

The amount of publicity garnered by the secretive Bilderberg conference this year in St. Moritz, Switzerland, far surpassed the coverage afforded to past gatherings of the elite cabal, with major media outlets and international news wires finally reporting on the yearly event after refusing to do so for over five decades. Protests, the alternative media, and anti-Bilderberg politicians played an important role in spreading the news.

By any objective standard, a meeting of over 120 of the world’s most powerful individuals would seem to be extraordinarily newsworthy. But until recently, the confab rarely attracted even a passing mention in the establishment press. The eerie silence fueled deep suspicion and innumerable theories about what the group may be plotting in secret. This year, however, was different, at least in terms of media coverage.

7. Pestilence

Germany's E-Coli Outbreak Investigations Indicate 'The Plague' DNA

Germany’s E. coli epidemic, which has killed as many as 15 people so far, has alarmed doctors, who have never seen such an aggressive intestinal bacteria before. Epidemiologists are desperately searching for the origin of the deadly bacteria.

The eeriest thing of all, according to Rolf Stahl, is the way patients change. “Their awareness becomes blurred, they have problems finding words and they don’t quite know where they are,” says Stahl. And then there is this surprising aggressiveness. “We are dealing with a completely new clinical picture,” he notes.

The bacterium that is currently terrifying the country is an enterohemorrhagic strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli (EHEC), a close relative of harmless intestinal bacteria, but one that produces the dangerous Shiga toxin. All it takes is about 100 bacteria — which isn’t much in the world of bacteria