In The News: Wars And Rumors Of War

Today's news is all about preparing for new wars or escalating current wars:

Iran Said Advancing 'At Murderous Pace', Could Have Bomb By July

Iran could have the capability to build a nuclear bomb by July, unnamed security sources said in a report published Friday.

The sources added that Israel’s leadership had been mollified by US President Barack Obama’s visit earlier this month, which saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly cotton to Washington’s later timeline on when Iran could have a nuclear bomb.

The security sources, said to be close to Netanyahu’s talks with Obama, claimed that after seeing North Korea wield nuclear weapons despite heavy Western opposition, Tehran’s leadership had also decided to break out toward the bomb, which could be ready between July and September.

“The Iranians aren’t messing around after North Korea. What Kim Jong Un has Ahmadinejad has,” a source told the Israeli daily Maariv, referring to North Korea’s and Iran’s respective leaders. “At the end of 2012 the Iranians carried out a simulation of a nuclear explosion and since then have been advancing at a murderous pace every day.”

Last year, Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly that Iran could have the bomb by spring 2013, but Israeli officials have revised the assessment several times to later dates. Obama, who visited Israel last week to discuss cooperation on Iran, among other things, seemed to convince Netanyahu to go along with the US timeline, which holds that Iran is still a year away and has not yet decided to race full-speed to a nuclear weapon.

However, the sources said Obama’s charm offensive had managed to “buy” Netanyahu — and Israel ended up losing out, with Jerusalem’s hands now tied on Iran.

“The president threw sand in our eyes and now we are reaping the storm,” one source said. ”They bought us with flattery and displays of friendship, but managed to evade any responsibility for a strike.”

UN Sees Syrian War Spilling Into Israel

It's no longer only Israel that is concerned that the Syrian civil war could cross borders. Now UN officials, too, are warning that the bloody conflict might spill into the Jewish state sooner rather than later.

"The members of the [UN] Security Council expressed grave concern at all violations of the Disengagement of Forces Agreement" that created the demilitarized buffer zone between Israel and Syria following the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

The council further noted that both Syrian army forces and rebel fighters have been entering the buffer zone with no regard for signed agreements.

Finally, the council took both sides in the Syrian conflict to task for endangering the lives of the 1,000 UN peace keepers stationed in the buffer zone to monitor the disengagement.

Already cross-border fire from Syria has forced Israel to retaliate. Until now such incidents have remained contained. But all feel it is only a matter of time before an explosion occurs.

It should also be noted that both sides in the Syrian civil war are enemies of the Jewish state, and would presumably have no problem bloodying Israel's nose as part of their conflict with one another.

The regime of embattled dictator Bashar Assad is still officially at war with Israel, and has for decades sheltered and aided anti-Israel terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Syrian rebels are composed largely of Islamist groups, many affiliated or allied with the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, both of which ultimately seek the destruction of the "Zionist regime."

As the fighting inches ever closer to the border, the situation is understandably very tense, and a cause for great concern in Israel.

Israeli Intel: Iran Has Deployed 50,000 Troops In Syria

 Israel’s intelligence community has determined that Iran
deployed 50,000 troops in Syria.

Israeli military intelligence commander Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Iran
has taken over much of the Syrian campaign against Sunni rebels. Kochavi
said Iran deployed Hizbullah and Shi’ite fighters in Iraq to protect the
regime of President Bashar Assad, whose military dropped from 220,000 to
50,000.

In an address to the Herzliya Conference on March 14, Kochavi cited a
much greater level of Iranian military involvement than acknowledged by
NATO. The military intelligence chief said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps and Hizbullah formed a special force assigned to protect the
regime in Damascus.

“They support Assad operationally on the ground, with strategic
consultation, intelligence, weapons,” Kochavi said.

Kochavi said the 50,000-man force built by Hizbullah and Iran was
separate from that of Assad’s military. He said the Iranian-sponsored force,
called the “People’s Army” would soon reach 100,000 fighters amid repeated
failures by Assad to mobilize Syrians. So far, only 20 percent of required
recruits have reported for Syrian military duty.

At the same time, the Syrian Air Force has also expanded operations.
Kochavi said the air force was conducting between 40 and 50 sorties a week
and other units were firing the Scud-B and M-600 missiles.

The Assad regime has also fired at least 600 rockets with a conventional
payload of 250 kilograms. Kochavi said Assad fired 70 Scuds and M-600s
during the two-year revolt.

DHS Arms Build-Up: 'Who Are They Going To Shoot, Us'?

Televangelist Pat Robertson has become the latest prominent conservative to question why the Department of Homeland Security is engaged in an apparent arms build-up, asking if the 1.6 billion bullets purchased by the federal agency will be used against the American people.

Speaking on his CBN broadcast yesterday, Robertson characterized the DHS ammo purchase and itsacquisition of armored vehicles as “like something out of science fiction: long trains of full or armored vehicles, personnel carriers with armor.”

“What are they for, the Army going into battle against the enemy?” asked Robertson. “They’re used by Homeland Security against us!”

Robertson then quoted Ronald Reagan, “The most fearful statement in the English language is ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’.”

“Imagine what Homeland Security is doing, it’s just awful,” he continued. “We’re going to talk about how much ammunition they’re stockpiling. Who are they going to shoot? Us?”

Robertson’s concern is similar to that expressed by retired United States Army Captain Terry M. Hestilow, who last week sent a letter to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) warning that the ammo purchases represent “a bold threat of war by that agency (DHS), and the Obama administration, against the citizens of the United States of America.”

The website responsible for uploading the Pat Robertson video clip, Right Wing Watch, echoed other liberal news outlets by erroneously claiming that, “The conspiracy about secretive ammo stockpiling is completely unfounded.”

Their source for that judgment is a February 14 Associated Press report which quotes a single DHS official who claims the bullets are being bought in bulk and are for training purposes only. Apparently, citing the glib statement of one government official is enough to “debunk” concerns about government activity which are now shared by over a dozen members of Congress.

However, as we have exhaustively documented, the notion that the ammo is being purchased in bulk to “save money” is completely erroneous since most of the bullets are hollow point rounds, which are almost twice as expensive as regular full metal jackets and therefore unsuitable for training purposes.

As former Marine Richard Mason told reporters with WHPTV News in Pennsylvania earlier this month, “We never trained with hollow points, we didn’t even see hollow points my entire four and a half years in the Marine Corps.”

In addition, the article derides the issue as a “baseless” conspiracy theory yet fails to mention the fact that over a dozen members of Congress have demanded answers from DHS chief Janet Napolitano, only to be stonewalled.

Earlier this week, a weapons manufacturer who supplies ammunition to the federal government told the nationally syndicated Savage Nation radio show that the ammo purchases were an attempt to “control the amount of market that’s available on the commercial market at any time,” by forcing manufacturers to hold back stock.

Although the DHS has not physically purchased the full amount of 1.6 billion rounds of ammo (althoughhuge quantities are being acquired and delivered to DHS facilities on a regular basis), it has signed contracts forcing manufacturers to set aside that amount of bullets, creating a squeeze on the market.

Ammunition is in short supply across the country, with police departments being forced to barter between themselves to meet demand while gun stores across America have resorted to bullet rationing. Ammunition is now so hard to get that crowds have started forming outside gun stores when new shipments of bullets are being delivered.

While happy to take pot shots at people easy to portray as “right-wing” demagogues, such as Pat Robertson and Sarah Palin, the liberal media continues to portray the DHS arms build-up as a “conspiracy theory” by ignoring the fundamental flaw in the DHS’ explanation for the huge bullet buys – that the “saving money” excuse doesn’t stand up and therefore there must be another reason for the purchases.

North Korea Rockets 'Ready To Hit US Bases'

North Korea's leader has told rocket units to be on standby for an attack on US bases, according to state media.

The country's KCNA news agency said Kim Jong-Un had signed off on the order to train sights on American bases in South Korea and the Pacific after a midnight meeting with top generals.

The move was followed by reports of increased activity at North Korea's mid to long-range missile sites, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

It comes after two American stealth bombers flew over South Korea in a show of force to Pyongyang, following an escalation of rhetoric from the North's young leader.

Both China and Russia have appealed for calm.

Moscow said the heightened military activity was slipping into a "vicious cycle" that could get out of control, implicitly criticising the US bomber flights.

KCNA reported that Mr Kim had "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists in view of the prevailing situation".

The agency said: "He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA, ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may strike any time the US mainland, its military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea."

North Korea Plan To Attack U.S. Mainland Revealed In Photographs

The photos appeared in the state-run Rodong newspaper and were apparently taken at an "emergency meeting" early on Friday morning. They show Kim signing the order for North Korea's strategic rocket forces to be on standby to fire at US targets, the paper said, with large-scale maps and diagrams in the background.

The images show a chart marked "US mainland strike plan" and missile trajectories that the NK News web site estimates terminate in Hawaii, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.

The meeting of the Pyongyang's senior military leaders was called after two US B2 bombers, flying out of bases in Missouri, carried out simulated bombing raids on North Korean targets on an island off the coast of South Korea.

Cyprus Updates:

So, What's It Like To Have A Business In Cyprus Right Now?

The most of circulating assets on our business Current Account are blocked.
Over 700k of expropriated money will be used to repay country's debt. Probably we will get back about 20% of this amount in 6-7 years.

I'm not Russian oligarch, but just European medium size IT business. Thousands of other companies around Cyprus have the same situation.

The business is definitely ruined, all Cypriot workers to be fired.
We are moving to small Caribbean country where authorities have more respect to people's assets. Also we are thinking about using Bitcoin to pay wages and for payments between our partners.

Cyprus-Style 'Bail-Ins' Are Proposed In The New 2013 Canadian Budget - Things To Come?

The politicians of the western world are coming after your bank accounts.  In fact, Cyprus-style "bail-ins" are actually proposed in the new Canadian government budget.  When I first heard about this I was quite skeptical, so I went and looked it up for myself.  And guess what?  It is right there in black and white on pages 144 and 145 of "Economic Action Plan 2013" which the Harper government has already submitted to the House of Commons.  This new budget actually proposes "to implement a 'bail-in' regime for systemically important banks" in Canada.  "Economic Action Plan 2013" was submitted on March 21st, which means that this "bail-in regime" was likely being planned long before the crisis in Cyprus ever erupted.  So exactly what in the world is going on here?  In addition, as you will see below, it is being reported that the European Parliament will soon be voting on a law which would require that large banks be "bailed in" when they fail.  In other words, that new law would make Cyprus-style bank account confiscation the law of the land for the entire EU.  I can't even begin to describe how serious all of this is.  From now on, when major banks fail they are going to bail them out by grabbing the money that is in your bank accounts.  This is going to absolutely shatter faith in the banking system and it is actually going to make it far more likely that we will see major bank failures all over the western world.

So if the banks take extreme risks with their money and lose, "certain bank liabilities" (i.e. deposits) will rapidly be converted into "regulatory capital" and the banks will be saved.

In other words, the banks will just be allowed to grab money directly out of your bank accounts to recapitalize themselves.

That may sound completely and utterly insane to us, but this is how things will now be done all over the western world.

In fact, some European politicians are openly admitting as much.  According to RT, the European Parliament will soon be voting on a new law which will make Cyprus-style bank account confiscation a permanent part of the solution when major banks fail throughout the EU...

The other day when I said that "The Global Elite Are Very Clearly Telling Us That They Plan To Raid Our Bank Accounts", I was not exaggerating.

And for those in Cyprus with deposits of over 100,000 euros, the news just keeps getting worse and worse.

When the crisis first erupted, they were told that 10 percent of all deposits over 100,000 euros would be confiscated.

Then a few days later they were told that it would be 40 percent.

Now, according to the Washington Post, those with deposits over 100,000 euros at the second largest bank in Cyprus may lose as much as80 percent of those deposits...

How would you feel if someone came along and wiped out your life savings so that banks that took incredibly reckless risks could be bailed out?

Needless to say, a lot of people in Cyprus are very, very angry right now.  The following reactions from outraged depositors in Cyprus are from Sky News...

"They have stolen our money," Milton Loucas told Sky News.

"I have been working for 60 years. I am 80 years old. I cannot work again for my living - they have cut the lot.

"Our money, our social insurance - they have cut them. How are we going to live?"

Another Cypriot, Stelios, came out of the bank empty handed.

"I tried to get my February wages and they gave me a piece of paper only," he said.

"I have two children in the army and they asked for money - I don't have money to give them.

"The Government didn't pay anybody. My old parents didn't get their pension."

The global elite are fundamentally changing the game.  From now on, no bank account on earth will ever be able to be considered "100% safe" again.  This is going to create an atmosphere of fear and panic, and no financial system can operate normally when you destroy the confidence that people have in it.