Global Stock Markets Down, Quiet On The Gaza Front - The Good And The Bad

Global Stock Market Crash Goes Wild As Fed Goliath Dies

Suddenly, forecasts of doom and gloom are everywhere

Says MarketWatch,

Market bears roared last week. What now? Chart watchers have offered up predictions on what’s next for US stocks after assessing the damage from last week. The drop ranked as the worst five-day start to a year ever for both the S&P and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Is it time to jump back in, especially if the market rebounds this week? Don’t plan on that technical analysis suggest.

Even the normally bullish JP Morgan says,

Our view is that the risk-reward for equities has worsened materially. In contrast to the past 7 years, when we advocated using the dips as buying opportunities, we believe the regime has transitioned to one of selling any rally…. Clearly, equities are unlikely to keep falling in a straight line, with periodic rebounds likely. However, we believe that one should be using any bounces as sellingopportunities.

In other words, Get Out! Yes, JP Morgan is stating openly that it is shifting now away from its seven-year bullish position. JP isn’t the only normally bullish massive organization joining the prophets of doom and gloom by saying, Get out quick:

RBS has advised clients to brace for a “cataclysmic year” and a global deflationary crisis…. The bank’s credit team said markets are flashing the same stress alerts as they did before the Lehman crisis in 2008…. Andrew Roberts, the bank’s credit chief, said both global trade and loans are contracting, a nasty cocktail for corporate balance sheets and equity earnings, and uncharted waters given that debt ratios have reached record highs…. “Equities and credit have become very dangerous, and we have hardly even begun to retrace the ‘Goldilocks’ love-in of the last two years.” This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small…. RBS … accuses the U.S. Federal Reserve of “playing with fire” by raising rates into the teeth of the storm…. RBS said the epicentre of global stress is China, where debt-driven expansion has reached saturation. The country now faces a surge in capital flight and needs a “dramatically lower” currency, a fresh leg of the rolling global drama that is likely to play out fast and furiously…. The next action by the Fed may be a humiliating volte-face and a rate cut…. The sell-off could become self-fulfilling and quickly metamorphose into the next global crisis. (Financial Post)

All’s quiet on the southern Gaza front -- and that’s bad

While the northern portion of the Gaza Strip has seen intermittent rocket launches, regular violent demonstrations and, most recently, an attempted bombing attack against Israeli troops, the southern end of the coastal enclave has been quiet — deceptively quiet, a senior IDF official said recently.

In the southern Gaza Strip and across the border in Egypt lie two different but looming threats: Palestinian terror and the Islamic State.

Neither Hamas nor the Islamic State want to go to war with the IDF today, according to army estimates, but that is the direction both are heading for the future, the officer said.

Within the Gaza Strip, Hamas is working tirelessly to construct new tunnels, amass more materiel and train fighters for the next round of violence with Israel. In Sinai, the Islamic State-affiliated group Wilayat Sinaa is currently occupied with a bloody, daily war with Egyptian forces, but they have Israel in their sights

The threat from Islamic State is not imminent — it’s not going to necessarily happen “tomorrow or next year,” the officer said — but the army believes that the terrorist groups will eventually move against Israel, if Egypt does not succeed in defeating them first.

In Gaza, the situation is more complicated. It is easy to consider the Gaza Strip as one unified body ruled by Hamas, but within the 365 square kilometers (141 sq. mi.) region, there are a variety of groups, each with its own aim and plans to achieve it.

Though Hamas may want to wait until it is adequately prepared before taking on the IDF, the more radical and often Iran-supported Salafist groups are chomping at the bit to renew hostilities with Israel.

Nearly every attack against Israel by these groups, however, results in an IDF counterstrike against Hamas, which Israel holds responsible for any violence emanating from the coastal enclave. Hamas, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, is therefore left with the unusual task of preventing those groups from carrying out attacks against Israel.

But in the south, Hamas commanders maintain better discipline over the more extreme Salafist groups, keeping such attacks to a minimum.

That discipline in the south translates into fewer small-scale skirmishes with the IDF and fewer rockets launched against the Israeli communities nearby, notably Sufa and Holit, which enjoy more quiet than their neighbors in Sha’ar Hanegev.

But it also means that there are more preparations for future battles with the Jewish state, in the form of intelligence gathering and tunnel construction, the officer said.

Analysis: For deterrence and the second nuclear strike - Israel News

According to foreign reports, Israel has upgraded the submarines to conform to its own unique needs, turning them into platforms to launch nuclear-tipped missiles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, obsessed with his Holocaust fears and motivated by his political agenda, could not resist Tuesday hinting what has been so clear to the rest of the world for two decades – the fact that the Israeli submarine fleet was mainly established for the purpose of deterrence and, according to foreign reports, to grant Israel the capability of a second nuclear strike.

On Tuesday, the Israel Navy’s fifth submarine anchored at Haifa Port after a 3,000 kilometer voyage from the German shipyards in Kiel where it was built.

“Above all, our submarines serve to deter enemies that aspire to destroy us,” Netanyahu stated at the ceremony.

The decision to build a significant submarine fleet was a result of strategic thinking and advantage of the circumstances.

According to foreign reports, Israel has upgraded the submarines to conform to its own unique needs, turning them into platforms to launch nuclear-tipped missiles.

Navy experts, led by the late admiral Avraham Botzer, estimated that it would require at least nine subs to make the Israeli navy strategically effective. They argue that at any given moment three subs will be on routine missions, three at docks for maintenance and three always available to carry out strategic assignme

Christian CEO on Why the Term ‘Islamic Extremism’ Absolutely Must Be Used — and His Dire Warning About the ‘Theology of Death’

An expert who monitors Christian persecution across the globe told The Church Boys podcast this week that it is absolutely essential for society to call Islamic extremism out for what it is, as a failure to do so does little to advance the fight against militants’ “theology of death.”

“Here’s what you have to understand about the term ‘Islamic extremism’ — you have to identify that it is within the realm of Islam,” said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. “Because to say that it’s not suggests that there’s nothing that you can do as a Muslim to fight this theology of death — and we know that there is something that can be done.”

Listen to him explain this dynamic below:

Curry, whose organization released its annual “World Watch List” of the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians around the world on Wednesday, said that moderate Muslims have been standing up, and he’s hopeful that more will start to speak out.

He cited the recent example of Muslims who helped save Christians on a bus in Kenya after Al-Shabab militants boarded and attempted to separate passengers based on their faith — a situation that could have ended very badly for the Christians had Muslims on board decided not stand up and protect them.

“The Muslim faith has to address the extremism within its ranks,” Curry reiterated, explaining that Islamic extremism continues to be the primary source behind the increasing persecution of Christians around the world.

The Open Doors CEO also detailed how his organization began to produce the “World Watch List,” explaining that staffers have been studying trends in persecution for decades, noticing how they greatly differ per country.

Now, the annual report — which has been produced for decades — looks in-depth at the ins and outs of the issue.

“[It] starts at the grassroots level,” he said, saying that he believes the organization has brought “humanity to some statistics.” “We’re there on the ground in these countries talking to pastors, talking to people who have been affected by these instances.”

In the end, Curry warned that people need to realize that the persecution of Christians is happening at a dramatic “unprecedented rate” — one that “we haven’t seen since the first-century church.”

He warned of difficulties ahead in light of the startling growth of persecution, especially considering that he believes that there is statistical evidence showing that some Islamic extremists — including Islamic State militants — have solidified footholds in various regions.

Read more about the “World Watch List” here.

Curry’s comments come as President Barack Obama, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and others have avoided using the term “Islamic extremism” when discussing violent events that are unfolding across the globe.