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The Armageddon Looting Machine: The Looming Mass Destruction from Derivatives
by Ellen Brown
Increased regulation and low interest rates are driving lending from the regulated commercial banking system into the unregulated shadow banking system. The shadow banks, although free of government regulation, are propped up by a hidden government guarantee in the form of safe harbor status under the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act pushed through by Wall Street. The result is to create perverse incentives for the financial system to self-destruct.
Five years after the financial collapse precipitated by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, the risk of another full-blown financial panic is still looming large, despite the Dodd Frank legislation designed to contain it. As noted in a recent Reuters article
, the risk has just moved into the shadows:
[B]anks are pulling back their balance sheets from the fringes of the credit markets, with more and more risk being driven to unregulated lenders that comprise the $60 trillion “shadow-banking” sector.
UN Inspectors Gas Attack Report: A Manipulated Fraud
by Stephen Lendman
A separate article explained. Crime scene evidence was manipulated. Doing so made it worthless.
UN inspectors mentioned problems. They didn't highlight them. Their summary fact sheet ignored them. So did major media reports.
Nothing links Syrian forces to Ghouta's attack. Plenty suggests insurgents were responsible. Rockets were launched from territory they held.
Pro-government supporters were targeted. They were civilian men, women and children. Why would Assad attack his own people? Why would he do it with UN inspectors close by? Why would he shoot himself in the foot?
Many questions remain unanswered. Why did UN inspectors rush to meet an artificial deadline? Why did they agree to operate under opposition control?
Washington and Israel Conspire to Oust Assad
by Stephen Lendman
On September 15, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said his government "views with great seriousness the Russian-US deal."
It intends to observe it to the letter, he stressed. It's "committing itself to whatever comes from the UN. We accept the Russian plan to get rid of our chemical weapons."
"In fact, we've started preparing our list. We are already documenting our papers, and we have started to do our job."
"We don't waste time. For 40 years, Syria has always been trusted once it has committed itself." Syria will "absolutely" grant UN inspectors access to storage sites.
It "respects and honors what (the agreement) says. We take (it) very seriously."
Whither Occupy Wall Street?
by Stephen Lendman
It’s second anniversary arrived. Observers ask what happened to what emerged in New York's Zucotti Park. It's located in Wall Street's financial district.
On September 17, 2011, OWS began. Activists said:
"The one thing we all have in common is: "We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."
Saying "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired," civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 - 1977) said it her way.
Today, we're all sick and tired of corrupted officials letting Wall Street crooks steal public wealth. They're doing it at the expense of millions. They're ripped off to enrich them lavishly.
East/West Cracks on Syria
by Stephen Lendman
Weekend Geneva smiles appear headed for frowns. A fundamental East/West disagreement exists.
John Kerry, Britain's William Hague and France's Laurent Fabius met in Paris.
They want tough Security Council resolution language. They want UN Charter Chapter VII authorization. They want it for military force if Assad reneges on US/Russia agreed on terms.
According Fabius:
"We want concrete, verifiable acts and all options must stay on the table if these are not done."
Hague added:
"A resolution, in our view, should create a binding commitment for the regime to give up its chemical weapons within a specific time frame and to credibly, reliably and promptly place them under international control for destruction."
Anti-Assad Media War Continues
by Stephen Lendman
Throughout months of conflict, media scoundrels mocked Assad's good faith efforts to end it.
He wants peace. He deplores war. He agreed to whatever measures may end what everyone should oppose.
He's done so without preconditions. He justifiably insists international law provisions be complied with. Nothing less is acceptable.
In February 2012, Syrians overwhelmingly supported constitutional reform. They did so by national referendum.
Despite opposition boycotts and violence, 89.4% of eligible voters approved it. Another 9% opposed. A slim 1.2% of ballots were invalided.
Obama's War Plans on Syria Unchanged
by Stephen Lendman
Longstanding US regime change plans remain firm. Previous articles explained.
Washington targets all independent governments. Replacing them with subservient pro-Western puppet ones is policy. Pretexts are created to do so. War is America's option of choice. It's a national addiction. Post-9/11 ones rage. New ones are planned.
Syria remains in the eye of the storm. Obama's war plans are delayed. They're not deterred. Another false flag ahead is likely. What better way to launch war. John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva. On Saturday, they concluded three days of talks. They announced an agreed on six-point plan:
(1) Syria will place its chemical weapons under international control.
(2) In one week, it will provide a "comprehensive" CW list.
“Go Tell It on the Mountain, From the Peaks of Qasioun!”
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Damascus.
At the height of the war scare here in early September, a group 9 primarily Sunni, Christian, and Alawite students and activists, led by a charismatic and agnostic pro-Hezbollah Lebanese Shia woman from Hermel in Lebanon’s North Bekaa Valley, set up a Human Shields and Observers camp to protect the Syrian TV channels, radio and communication towers situated at the crest of Mount Qasioun which rises up 1,151 meters (3,776 ft) at its crest. The small community has the air of a sit-in as well as a teach-in. Within a few days, their numbers exceeded 200, and at weeks end the “Ala agsadona” (“over our dead bodies”), website was hosting thousands of visitors every day.
“We are prepared to take the first cruise missile with our bare chests,” explained one young man, an architecture student at Syrian University, a relatively expensive private institution which offers majors in French, English, German, Italian and other western languages.
Obamacare Rips Off Americans
by Stephen Lendman
Earlier articles called it a scam. It's a healthcare rationing scheme. It's a boon to predatory providers. It's a plan to enrich insurers, drug companies, and large hospital chains.
It's market-based for profit. It lets providers escalate costs. It's regulation light. Loopholes let profiteers game the system. They let business benefit at the expense of ordinary people.
Tens of millions are left uninsured. Millions more are underinsured. On August 12, The New York Times headlined "A Limit on Consumer Costs Is Delayed in Health Care Law," saying:
Obama delayed a "significant consumer protection." He did so until 2015. He did it secretly. He did it last February.
Ban Ki-moon: Imperial Tool
by Stephen Lendman
UN Secretary-Generals pledge to uphold UN Charter provisions. Under Chapter XV, Article 100, they're mandated "not (to) seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization."
"Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities."
On December 14, 2006, Ban Ki-moon was sworn in as UN Secretary-General. He pledged to:
- be accountable to meet global challenges;
- heal the divide and distrust that affects "too much of the UN's work;"
- to be "a man on a mission" to restore trust; and
- work to strengthen the UN's three pillars: "peace, development and human rights."
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