In the news:

Global Financial Crisis Threatens To Drag The World Back To The 1930s

The financial crisis threatens to drag the world back to the dark days of the 1930s and wipe out the gains of globalisation, a hard-hitting report said tonight.

In its annual assessment of the global economy, the World Economic Forum warned of a rising tide of protectionism, nationalism and protests as seen during the Great Depression.

It warned that without action to tackle youth unemployment and support an ageing population the world would become ‘a place where life is full of hardship and devoid of hope’.

Dollar Power On The Wane, New Reserve System Likely

The days of the US dollar as a global currency, with its overarching charisma as a brand to measure everything from hamburger prices to trade between remote nations could be on the wane, says Nobel-prize winning Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz expects a new world reserve system to evolve at the next meeting of the G-20 group of the world’s leading economies.

“I am for a new global reserve system because money is moving in the wrong direction – from poor to rich countries. China and Russia pushed for a new reserve system at the last G-20 meeting but the United States did not agree to let the dollar be replaced,” Stiglitz said. “Hopefully, there will be a consensus on a departure from the dollar-dominated regime.”

Stiglitz, a staunch critic of economic globalisation, feels a new global monetary order is imminent in view of the slide in the US economy and China’s emergence as a major economic power. The weakening of the euro was also a factor, he said.

Iranian Paper Calls For Retaliation Against Israel After Killing Of Nuclear Scientist

A hard-line Iranian newspaper called Thursday for retaliation against Israel, a day after the mysterious killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran with a magnetic bomb attached to his car.

Provocative hints from Israel reinforced the perception that the killing was part of an organized and clandestine campaign to set back Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the U.S. and its allies suspect are aimed at producing weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.

However, the day before the attack, Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz was quoted as telling a parliamentary panel that 2012 would be a "critical year" for Iran - in part because of "things that happen to it unnaturally."

The blast killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the centerpiece of Iran's expanding program to make nuclear fuel.

IDF Official: Iran, Hezbollah Stepping Up Efforts To Save Assad Regime

Iran and Hezbollah are strengthening their efforts to ensure the survival of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria, Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi said on Wednesday.

"They are providing [Assad] with knowledge, weapons and other means and recently with active involvement," Kochavi said.

Kochavi also said that the face of the Middle East is changing in such a way that it is no longer recognizable.

"It may be that the winds of change carry opportunities and promise, but in the short and medium term the risks are increasing," he stated.

"Assad and the Syrian regime may have a hard time acting against us in the short-term, but we also need to take into account that Syria has advanced weapons systems. They have advanced Russian arms such as Yakhont missiles."

The IDF chief said that he was not sure whether the Golan Heights, on the border with Syria, will remain quiet in the near future.

Three U.S. Warships To Patrol Waters Near Strait Of Hormuz

A total of three US warships will patrol the waters surrounding the Strait of Hormuz following confirmation that a third aircraft carrier strike group is being sent to the Arabian Sea as tensions with Iran rise.

"Another carrier strike group, led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, concluded a port visit to Thailand on Tuesday and was now in the Indian Ocean. It is on track to join the Vinson in the Central Command area of operations, which begins in the neighboring Arabian Sea,” reports Reuters.

Iran is set to conduct a “massive” new naval drill over the next two weeks that will coincide with a major US/Israeli wargame exercise in the same region, increasing the chances that a war provocation manufactured by either side could take place.

The announcement followed an escalation in rhetoric after the United States sent the massive battleship USS John C. Stennis sailing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz amidst Iranian wargames based around closing the Strait, a key oil choke point.
Iran responded by firing off missiles during the drill and ordering the US aircraft carrier to “stay out of the Persian Gulf”.

In a related development, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Russian news agency Interfax that Israeli pressure on the United States to attack Iran was building.

Video: Iran's Straits Of Hormuz Threats 'Provocative And Dangerous'

Rio +20 Earth Summit Will Tie Population Into Green Knots

The United Nations is not giving up its assault on the economic and political future of our country and of our planet. The first installment of the United Nations to control the globe environmentally and economically was “The Convention on Biological Diversity,” held in Rio in 1992. The UN Bruntland Commission released its official UN Agenda 21 that same year, following the Conference on Human Settlements in 1976 and the 1987 report, “Our Common Future.”

President Clinton signed Executive Order 12852, creating the President’s Council on Sustainable Development to translate UN Agenda 21 into U.S. public policy called “ecosystem management,” administered by the federal government.

The President’s Council created “Sustainable America” with 16 “we believe” statements. The ultimate goals were to abolish private property, control education, control and reduce population, and control the economy. Currently, every federal government agency has a sustainable UN Agenda 21 plan. (fedcenter.gov)

In June 20-22, 2012, participants will sign on to 10 new sustainable development goals for the planet and promise to build a global green economy in order to reduce consumption and poverty. (The Guardian)


The new United Nations Rio +20 conference in June 2012 will demand:


-Universal access and right to information and communications technology
-Poverty eradication
-Integration of local governments into all levels of decision making in sustainable development
-The need to reflect the views of children and youth
-No new trade barriers
-No new conditions on aid and finance
-No subsidies
-Green technology in the public domain for all to share
-Global policy framework requiring all listed and large private companies to integrate sustainability information within UN required reporting cycles
-Move the entire world to low-carbon development
-The UN-established specialized agency for the environment with universal membership should be located in Nairobi
-Regular review of the state of the planet and Earth’s carrying capacity
-Global trade should be regulated by World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and regional development banks
-Development and implementation of integrated water resource management
-Efficient human settlements
-Restoration and enhancement of natural capital
-Sustainable land and water management practices
-Family farming, ecological farming, organic production systems
-Sustainable forest management
-Rational use of biodiversity for economic purposes
-New markets linked to renewable and unconventional energy sources
-Green job creation/green economy
-Promote education for sustainable development
-It looks like the greenologists and the third world dictators at the UN have a lot of work to do between now and June, determining how to better steal our wealth, technology, to indoctrinate impressionable youth into the religion of Gaia, and replenish their bank accounts with U.S. and western money and economic aid under the “wise” United Nations global governance and the guise of eradicating poverty.

Obama To "Take On" Netanyahu After Election?

The Obama administration asked the Palestinian Authority not to make any major demands until after the presidential election in November, a senior PA official told WND.

The PA official, speaking on condition his name be withheld, said that Obama promised to renew stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders, meaning an Israeli withdrawal from eastern sections of Jerusalem as well as from Judea and Samaria, also referred to as the West Bank.

“After elections, the negotiations will be renewed on basis of the Clinton plan and Obama’s speech in Cairo of the 1967 borders,” the official said.

The Clinton plan is a reference to the formula used during the Camp David negotiations in the summer of 2000 that saw sections of Jerusalem in which Jews predominantly live go to Israel, while areas inhabited by Arabs would become a Palestinian state. The negotiations also called for a nearly complete Israeli evacuation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

This is not the first time the PA claimed the Obama administration asked it to hold off until after this year’s election.

Last September, WND quoted a top PA official saying the Obama administration told the Palestinian Authority it cannot significantly help advance a Palestinian state until after the election.

The official, however, said the U.S. will press for a Palestinian state quickly if President Obama is reelected.

Earlier this month, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said he expected Obama to “take on” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a second presidential term.

Appearing as a panel member on the syndicated “Chris Matthews Show,” Ignatius stated: “What I hear from the White House is looking towards a second term on foreign policy, which I cover, as an opportunity to do the broad things that would establish an Obama agenda. He came into office passionate about the Middle East, about the Palestinian issue. I’d see him taking another really strong crack at that.”

“Go head to head with Netanyahu again?” Matthews then asked, according to a transcript provided by the media watchdog Newsbusters.org.

“Yeah, and I think, this White House thinks … that he’s had success, that that’s an area. Who would have said that an anti-war President, candidate, four years ago, could run on a strong foreign policy record?”