Germany and France Push for Fiscal Union

Source: AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off a crunch week of talks on saving the euro by laying out a vision Friday for a “fiscal union” in Europe, ahead of a pivotal summit of EU leaders.

A day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that Europe needed to be “refounded” in response to a crisis that has threatened the very existence of the EU, Merkel insisted that progress had been made.

Speaking in a hotly awaited speech in the German parliament, Merkel said Europe was “on the verge” of creating what she called a “stability union” for the 17-nation eurozone, with greater budgetary discipline and control.

“Anyone who had said a few months ago that we, at the end of 2011, would be taking very serious and concrete steps toward a European stability union, a European fiscal union, toward introducing (budgetary) intervention in Europe would have been considered crazy,” she said.

She said she would be holding talks with “almost everyone” in the run-up to a summit in Brussels next Friday that many commentators have dubbed the last chance to save the single currency, introduced with such euphoria a decade ago.

And she confirmed she would be heading to Paris for talks with Sarkozy on Monday to thrash out a joint Franco-German position on changing the EU founding texts ahead of the summit.

Highlighting the challenges that face Europe’s leaders, around 17,000 people demonstrated in Athens on Thursday in a bid to force the new government to abandon austerity measures.

The sixth general strike this year in Greece shut down public services and crippled train and ferry services.

Towards Economic Collapse: Europe’s Debt Crisis has Spiraled out of Control

Source: The International Forecaster
Bob Chapman

As Chancellor Merkel and PM Sarkozy search for a solution that doesn’t exist they continue to lose credibility. Nothing of substance has been agreed upon that is legal and can be implemented. At the IMF Christina LeGarde is frantically waving her arms like a cheerleader telling anyone that will listen that if the six sovereigns in financial trouble are not aided the euro will fail and peace in Europe will disappear. The elitists are frantic because they cannot find a solution. LeGarde says without help there will be ten years of depression. She obviously hasn’t done her homework. Try 30 or more years. Sarkozy, Merkel and Jans Weidmann council member of the ECB has said the ECB cannot bail out governments by printing money. He is also head of the Bundesbank and said a key lesson of what is being proposed is the hyperinflation in Weimer Republic, which followed WWI. Over in Italy PM Berlusconi, who looks and acts like Benito Mussolini has been unseated and as a result the Italian bond market is on the edge of collapse. There is big pressure downward in stock and bond markets as a result and the US Treasury again attacks gold and silver hoping they can keep gold from breaking about $1,800. The PPT’s ability to achieve this is more than questionable.

At Cannes PM Sarkozy and President Obama discuss what a liar Israel’s PM Netanyahu is. Their candor was accidentally picked up by a supposedly muted speaker. What is now realized is that euro zone government bonds contain unexpected credit risks. All the European politicians and bureaucrats want to save the euro, but their promises and solutions are not worth the paper they are written on. They are so believable that China won’t lend them money. These characters have been kicking the can down the road since last spring with little or no long-term solutions, and no solutions to affect a recovery and create jobs. Austerity has replaced growth and that is expediting a failing economy, even in Germany. If economies don’t grow tax receipts fall and the ability to service debt is impaired. Big euro zone banks are broke just as their counterparts in NYC are. As this proceeds we ask how long can the ECB buy Italian and Spanish bonds?

In Greece a coalition has been made and Mr. Samaras has shown his true colors by backing Trilateral-Bilderberg Lucas Papademos, as interim PM. We hope Greek citizens realize that Papademos will sell them out. It is only a matter of when. The debt deal will probably be ratified, but at what price? Will it bring revolution or a coup? Who knows, but under the circumstances anything goes. 60% to 65% of Greeks oppose the bailout, but 71% want to stay in the euro, which is impossible.

Gaddafi's Gold-money Plan Would Have Devastated Dollar

Source: The New American
Alex Newman

It remains unclear exactly why or how the Gadhafi regime went from “a model” and an “important ally” to the next target for regime change in a period of just a few years. But after claims of “genocide” as the justification for NATO intervention were disputed by experts, several other theories have been floated.

Oil, of course, has been mentioned frequently — Libya is Africa‘s largest oil producer. But one possible reason in particular for Gadhafi’s fall from grace has gained significant traction among analysts and segments of the non-Western media: central banking and the global monetary system.

According to more than a few observers, Gadhafi’s plan to quit selling Libyan oil in U.S. dollars — demanding payment instead in gold-backed “dinars” (a single African currency made from gold) — was the real cause. The regime, sitting on massive amounts of gold, estimated at close to 150 tons, was also pushing other African and Middle Eastern governments to follow suit.

And it literally had the potential to bring down the dollar and the world monetary system by extension, according to analysts. French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly went so far as to call Libya a “threat” to the financial security of the world. The “Insiders” were apparently panicking over Gadhafi’s plan.

"Any move such as that would certainly not be welcomed by the power elite today, who are responsible for controlling the world's central banks,” noted financial analyst Anthony Wile, editor of the free market-oriented Daily Bell, in an interview with RT. “So yes, that would certainly be something that would cause his immediate dismissal and the need for other reasons to be brought forward [for] removing him from power."

Israel Could Be Forced To Go It Alone On Iran Attack

Source: Infowars
Paul Joseph Watson

Developments over the last 24 hours suggest that Israel could be forced to go it alone in launching a military assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the United States and NATO backing away from becoming involved in a conflict that would spark economic and geopolitical turmoil.

During a private conversation with Barack Obama at last week’s G20 meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was overhead by journalists to say, “I cannot bear Netanyahu, he’s a liar.” Obama responded by remarking, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”

The comments were caught after a microphone was accidentally left on following the conclusion of the conference.

“A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments, which were relayed by a French internet outlet on Tuesday,” reports Haaretz.

The exchange highlights a deepening gulf between western powers and Israel over plans to attack Iran, with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe making it clear today that France does not support a military campaign.

“If the IAEA report, due out this week, indicates Iran is building atomic weapons capabilities, then France would firmly back further UN sanctions, he said, but would do all it can to stop military action,” reports the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has reportedly backed away from plans to impose new economic sanctions on Iran, fearing, “Severe penalties against Iran’s central bank and its fuel exports would exacerbate the turmoil on international financial markets,” reports DebkaFile.

With Russia and China also expressing their opposition to an attack, it seems likelier that Israel will exploit a contrived pretext to prove that Iran represents an imminent threat to its security, an event that will carry far more shock value than the text of an IAEA report.

Should Israel wish to stage a Gulf of Tonkin-style provocation, it will call on Mossad agents to pose as terrorists and carry out attacks that will be blamed on Iran, similar to how Palestinian militants were offered cash and weapons by Israel to pose as an Al-Qaeda cell and carry out bombings in 2002.

Even if Israel is forced to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities without the support of the United States and other NATO powers, don’t expect them to not get involved at some point.

The inevitable reprisal attacks that Iran will launch through its proxies like Hezbollah will be seized upon by the establishment media (‘how dare they defend themselves’) and cited as a pretext for US involvement to ‘maintain security in the region’ – and America will find itself embroiled in yet another conflict.