“This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”
(Daniel 4:17)

Basest Of Men

Dear Friends,

Greetings! The multitude of news agencies are delivering what can only be described as a flood of propaganda, some true, some false, many times a combination of the two. As one person wrote us recently and commented, “so many voices”.

We, at 'People of the Keys' are reminded of a verse out of Daniel 4:17, “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”

The English Standard Version instead of using the basest used the word, “lowliest of men”.

The English translation of the Greek Septuagint uses the term, “...will set up over it that which is set at nought of men”.

'Nought' when used in this context according to Definitions.net means “ a thing or person of no worth or value; nil, good for nothing; worthless, wicked, immoral”.

Except for the very rare exception, the type of people that rule the nations of this world today could be described as having base, low, good for nothing, wicked, and immoral personality traits.

Now is it any wonder the world is in the state it is in today. Not only that, these people are not necessarily working in cooperation with one another but in competition with each other.

Daniel 11:27 is a perfect example of this: “And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table.” This verse is speaking of the antichrist and one of his adversaries. Isn't it amazing how politicians today even talk about coming to the table or bringing to the table or sitting at the table.

Jesus, when speaking to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew, chapter twenty-three, described this situation perfectly when He said: “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

Many of these people are even described as public servants.

When the disciples of Jesus were arguing as to whom would be the greatest amongst them Jesus made it very clear in Luke, twenty-two, how this was to work.

“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.”

Is it any wonder why Jesus will have to rule with a rod of iron, during His thousand year reign, the millennium, over the nations that remain of the world. Psalm 2

From –Albert Einstein, 1949 “Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital, the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.”

Have a great week ahead knowing He is coming soon to set up His Godly government based on Godly truth and fair principals.

***

CHARISMA NEWS

Franklin Graham: Are We in the Last Hours Before Christ's Return?

6:00AM EDT 9/3/2014 FRANKLIN GRAHAM

Franklin Graham (BGEA)

As you watch the news, do you feel as I do—that it seems the world is coming apart at the seams? There appears to be no end to the bad news. The killing of Christians by Muslims from Indonesia to Bangladesh to Pakistan. China tearing down church buildings. Christians tortured, beheaded and crucified in Iraq, with villages burned and churches destroyed, and much the same in Syria.

American pastor Saeed Abedini is still imprisoned in Iran for his faith. Throughout Northern Africa, the Middle East, and many parts of the world, the church of Jesus Christ—and anyone or any group who bears His Name—is under attack. In our own country as well, there is great opposition to the church of Jesus Christ. We see this throughout the media, the entertainment industry, government and politics.

Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 24 when they asked Him about the signs of the end of the age. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes and pestilence. He told them, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake" (Matt. 24:9, KJV).

As I read the news, I can't help but wonder if we are in the last hours before our Lord Jesus Christ returns to rescue His church and God pours out His wrath on the world for the rejection of His Son. I don't know if we have hours, days, months, or years—but as Christians, God calls us to take the truth of the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Our job is to warn sinners of the consequences of sin and show them that God is loving and gracious, willing to forgive if we come to Him in repentance and faith. We have to accept God's provision for our sins—the shedding of Christ's Blood on the cross. This is what we preach at BGEA—Jesus Christ, dead, buried and risen! Ultimately this is what matters most in this world.

We have seen firsthand the pestilence of Ebola. This year the virus has already claimed the lives of over 1,000, making it the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. A medical doctor serving with Samaritan's Purse in Liberia was infected with this deadly virus, but through the prayers of many righteous, God spared his life. All this reminds me of the urgency of preaching the gospel while we have the opportunity. Jesus tells us, "As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4, NIV).

I have just completed a major evangelistic Crusade in Pittsburgh, and we have another coming up in Toronto, Ontario, and then Erie, Pennsylvania, where the Good News will be proclaimed to thousands and broadcast over the Internet to reach even more. This fall we have a powerful new My Hope film being released with a never-before-seen message from my father about heaven. This is a great chance for you and your church to partner in My Hope 2014 with Billy Graham and invite your friends and loved ones to hear the Gospel. Plan to show it to people you know and encourage your church to show it as well.

Whether we are holding evangelistic Crusades in stadiums or reaching the lost in closed countries in the Middle East through the Internet as they search for answers to questions like "What happens after I die?" or "Who is Jesus?"—through whatever means we are able to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, your prayers and financial gifts make this ministry possible. We are grateful for your partnership and your heart for the gospel.

Franklin Graham, son of iconic evangelist Billy Graham, is the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse.

This article originally appeared on BillyGraham.org

***

CHRISTIANHEADLINES.COM

"Blasphemy Challenge" Encourages People to Curse God

Amanda Casanova | Religion Today Contributing Writer | Wednesday, September 03, 2014

"BLASPHEMY CHALLENGE" ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO CURSE GODe

An internet challenge is calling upon people to post a clip of them cursing God or rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. The so called "Blasphemy Challenge” is a way to promote atheism, according to promoters.

Promoters are even sending free DVD documentaries against Christianity to teens who complete the challenge and post their video online. "It (the blasphemy challenge) exposes the crock that is Christian doctrine,” one of the project's organizers told Fox News.

The challenge comes from Mark 3:29 when Jesus says, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Biblically, blasphemy was a term used against the leaders who personally encountered Jesus and refused to call him Messiah and they accused him of a worker of Satan.

"The online atheists and teens who are into the blasphemy challenge are almost exclusively opposed to Christianity," said Perri Frost, a high school senior. "There are almost no complaints against other faiths. Virtually all of the atheists rail against Christianity only."

***

HAARETZ

Abbas, in protocol of Doha meeting: PA will give Israel authority of West Bank if border talks fail

Protocol from meeting quotes Palestinian president's message to Israeli official in August; during meeting, Abbas reportedly accused Hamas' Khaled Meshal of breaching reconciliation and orchestrating coup.

By Jack Khoury | Sep. 1, 2014 | 8:38 PM

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal arrive for a meeting in Doha, August 21, 2014. Photo by Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly told Israel that if negotiations with the United States about establishing a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines fail, he will transfer responsibility of West Bank lands to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The report emerged Monday in the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar, citing transcripts of a meeting in Doha between Abbas and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The newspaper published a photograph of the document, which appeared to come from the emir’s office.

According to the published protocol, Abbas conveyed this messages to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with an unnamed Israeli defense official in his Ramallah offices around two weeks ago.

Abbas reportedly told his counterparts at the Doha meeting that he told the Israeli official: "The peace process failed after 20 years, so our new strategy is that the United States and Israel agree to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital in a limited amount of time, and that both sides immediately begin determining the borders.

“If both sides agree,” Abbas continues, "we will continue the talks about the rest of the core issues. And if not, we will take the following measure: Cessation of the security coordination and transfer of responsibility for PA territory to Netanyahu, who will bear the responsibility for them.”

During the Doha meeting, which was also attended by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, Abbas reportedly blasted the leader of the Islamist group for breaching the reconciliation agreement. Meshal, for his part, slammed Abbas for not questioning the information received by Israel.

According to Al Akhbar, Abbas was very angry during the meeting in Doha. The main part of the conversation, most of which focused on Hamas’ behavior toward the Palestinian Authority, was what Abbas characterized as Hamas’ attempted coup in the West Bank. “We agreed on a unity government in elections, but it seems that it will not go into effect. You are smuggling money and ammunition into the West Bank, not for a confrontation with Israel but to carry out a coup against me,” Abbas said. “All of this went on until the Israeli intelligence commander came to me [it is not clear whether he is referring to Yoram Cohen or a different intelligence official].”

“A security official came to me two weeks ago [in early August] and told me about the cell that had been arrested, which had been planning a coup against me," Abbas added. "That cell is connected to a person named Jawad who is staying in Jordan. That person reports to Saleh al-Arouri [a high-ranking Hamas operative living in Turkey].”

Throughout the protocol there was an argument between Meshal and Abbas, in addition to Moussa Abu Marzouk and Khalil al-Hayya, high-ranking Hamas operatives who were also at the meeting and quarreled with Abbas for having adopted the Israeli version of events and believing everything Israel told him.

Meshal: “I don’t know anything about reports from the Israeli Shin Bet,” referring to Israel’s security service, “and nobody knows about it. Since the meeting started, you have been irritable and I understand your anger, but you must not build a theory or base a position on an Israeli story that talks about a coup. You come to meet with us, but you don’t trust us.”

Abbas answers: “I believe Israel’s reports.”

Abbas said that the kidnapping of the three teenagers in the West Bank in June was a wrong action whose purpose was to hurt the Palestinian Authority, and that despite Meshal’s energetic denials, Arouri had admitted during a conference in Istanbul that Hamas had perpetrated the kidnapping.

Abbas also complained about the relations Hamas was cultivating with his rival, Mohammed Dahlan, and about how the purpose of this cooperation was to hurt Abbas and the PA.

Abbas also complained about how Hamas had taken a policy that did not agree with the Palestinian national consensus. Hamas, he said, was acting as if it were the only one in charge, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and intended to turn him into a fig leaf.

At this point, Abbas spoke about the behavior of the Palestinian delegation that had conducted the talks with Israel in Cairo, during which Hamas delegates had attacked Fatah delegates, saying that since they were the ones on the battlefield, they would decide what to do.

According to the protocol, Palestinian negotiations chief Saeb Erekat interrupted, urging the high-ranking Hamas operatives to adopt a policy of a unified Palestinian decision. “We are at a crossroads and in the same boat,” Erekat said. “The Americans and the Europeans are asking whether you want a state at the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, according to the UN Security Council resolution. Is Hamas part of this plan, and does it accept this decision? We want to tell the world that Hamas is not the problem. Rather, Hamas is part of the solution.”

The protocol indicates that the meeting concluded with raised voices and mutual accusations. Then the emir of Qatar intervened, asking that the meeting end and that another meeting be held that night. After the meeting, more meetings took place.

***

ARUTZ SHEVA

Op-Ed: Interview: Anti-Semitic Elements in the New Testament

Manfred Gerstenfeld interviews Prof. Pieter van der Horst: "The most effective demonization is calling the Jews ‘Children of the devil’ and having Jesus say this himself", as written in the Gospel of John. This cost millions of Jews their lives.

Published: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 8:30 AM

“The New Testament contains some anti-Semitic passages. One finds these only in the latest documents. The main example is in the Gospel of John. It was written after the split between Christians and Jews had occurred. The anti-Jewish sentiment permeates the whole book, and it contains the most anti-Semitic verse in the New Testament.

“John has Jesus distance himself completely from the Jewish people. He lets him speak about the Jews, their laws and festivals, as if he himself is no longer one of them. Worst of all, in a dispute between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, John has him say: ‘You have the devil as your father.’ In later Christian literature, that expression is picked up.”

Professor Pieter van der Horst studied classical philology, literature and theology. He was a Professor of Jewish Studies and other subjects at Utrecht University.

“This fatal short remark has had lethal consequences over two millennia. It cost tens of thousands of Jewish lives in later history, especially in the Middle Ages. This verse was taken by Christian Jew-haters as a license to murder Jews. These murderers believed: ‘If Jesus said that Jews have the devil as their father, we should eradicate them as best as we can.’

“All New Testament scholars agree that this is not Jesus’ position, but that of John. When one religious group breaks away from its mother religion, it has to create its own new identity. The sociology of religion teaches us that, in its first phase, the new group always begins to attack the old religion fiercely.

"The most effective demonization is calling the Jews ‘Children of the devil’ and having Jesus say this himself. Unfortunately however, the Gospel of John is one of the most popular books in Christianity.

“The anti-Jewish texts in the Gospel of Matthew fit into a picture that is not in itself anti-Semitic. Only in this Gospel’s narrative of the passion of Jesus does one find that Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, says ‘I do not see anything evil in this man.’ Pilate then washes his hands as a token of his wish to have nothing to do with Jesus’ execution. Pilate’s wife says, ‘I had a dream about this man. Don’t touch him because he is completely innocent.’.

"Everything we know from other sources tells us that Pilate was thoroughly unscrupulous and ruthless. The idea that he would save a person from capital punishment because he thought him innocent is not historical, and almost ridiculous.

“Mathew’s text has to be understood in the context of his time, around the 80’s of the first century. In the middle of the 60’s CE, under the Emperor Nero, the first persecutions of Christians had begun, followed later by further minor persecutions on a local level. This frightened the Christians.

“For political reasons, Matthew was keen that his writings should give the Romans the impression that Christians were not a danger to them. If Pilate, a highly respected Roman magistrate, says about Jesus ‘This man is completely innocent,’ it implies that Romans do not have to fear Christianity. This in turn leads to the story of the Jews supposedly shouting, ‘Let his blood come over us’—which means, ‘We take the responsibility for his death.’

"Shifting the responsibility for Jesus’ death to the Jewish people is at odds with what Matthew says in the earlier parts of his Gospel to the effect that Jesus enjoyed immense popularity with the masses, that is, with the majority of the common Jewish people.

“There is also an isolated case of an anti-Jewish outburst by the Apostle Paul. In one of his letters to the Thessalonians, the Christian community in the Greek town of Thessalonica, he reports that the Jews strongly opposed his preaching. Paul then works himself into a fury and says, ‘These Jews killed Jesus and the prophets and for that reason they displease God and are the enemies of all mankind.’

“This is the only text in the New Testament that says the Jews are the enemy of the rest of mankind. This motif derives from pre-Christian pagan anti-Semitism, where it appears many times. It stands in complete opposition to what Paul says at length about the Jewish people in his Epistle to the Romans. In three chapters— 9, 10, and 11—Paul paints a far more positive picture of the Jewish people. There is no mention of their being the enemy of humanity; nor is there any in Paul’s other letters.

“In his later letter to the Romans, Paul said, ‘We Christians should realize that the olive tree is the people of Israel and we are only grafted into this olive tree.’ His one case of an anti-Jewish outburst seems to be that of someone who did not always control his emotions.”

"Only in later centuries did Christianity attack the Jewish religion as fiercely as it could, including by demonization.”

***

***

ZERO HEDGE

THIS IS HOW ISIS IS BUILDING AN AIRFORCE

ISIS forces Syrian pilots to train militant fighters to fly stolen aircraft

by ZERO HEDGE | AUGUST 31, 2014

The Islamic State is nothing if not ambitious.

Despite no record of current ‘airplane’ assets in their annual reports, ISIS has begun detaining and forcing Syrian pilots to train militant fighters to fly stolen aircraft. According to CNN Arabic, the pilots (and their planes and helicopters) were abducted when the terrorist group gained control of Tabqa military base. It appears that if beheadings, executions, and whippings are not enough to strike fear into the hearts of the locals, then (just as America is trying to do), an air assault will greatly demoralize. We can only imagine how this changes Obama’s strategy (and just where are all the rest of Syria and Iraq’s airplanes stored?)

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said in a recent tweet it is forcing detained Syrian pilots to train militant fighters to fly stolen aircraft, CNN Arabic reported on Saturday.

In an account reportedly associated with the militant group, ISIS said in a tweet the pilots were abducted when the group gained control over the Tabqa military airbase in Raqqa Province.

ISIS seized the airbase earlier this month. The major airfield houses warplanes, helicopters, tanks and other artillery and ammunition, which were also confiscated by ISIS, according to several media reports.

ISIS did not provide any information about the nature of the training, according to CNN Arabic.

***

THE BLAZE

Is this the Big One? Central Bankers from the World Over Warn of Impending ‘Perfect Storm’

Aug. 25, 2014 11:00am

John Horvat

John Horvat II is a scholar, researcher, educator, international speaker, and author.
His writings have appeared worldwide including in The Wall Street Journal as well as other publications and websites.
For more than two decades he has been researching and writing about the socio-economic crisis inside the United States that has culminated in the ground-breaking release of his new book Return to Order.

There is a major financial storm brewing on the horizon.

Such dramatic statements have long been the staple of naysayers for decades. Usually these warnings are dismissed by the financial establishment as the ravings of fringe analysts. Yes, crashes do happen, but the naysayers are never seen as prophets, but just opportunists who happened to be right much the way a broken clock is right twice a day.

But maybe this storm is different.

There are still plenty of naysayers weighing in on the major problems with the traction-less, hobbling “recovery.” However, they are now joined by important players in the financial establishment who fear something big might be coming down the line. Indeed, this one might prove to be the big one.

There is a major financial storm brewing on the horizon.

The concerns come from the latest annual report issued by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) that meets in Basel, Switzerland. The exclusive, invitation-only group is composed of bankers from all the world’s main central banks. If anyone knows what’s going on in the economy, it should be these bankers. And their findings are hardly guarded behind closed doors. If anyone wants to see the report, it is readily available to the public.

What these bankers now see are turbulent times ahead.

The language in the 2014 edition of the annual report is unusually direct with warnings that the world could be hurtling itself toward a new crisis. With a note of déjà vu, it claims the climate is now more fragile and volatile than the buildup to the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2007.

The same old signs are there. Not much has changed. Debt levels remain high everywhere, encouraged by low interest rates. Dangerous new asset bubbles are forming.

What makes this storm different is that it is not only the developed countries that are out of balance but emerging nations have joined the party. Debt ratios in the developed countries have now risen to as much as 275 percent of gross national product, while the emerging economies of China, Brazil, Turkey and others are gorging themselves on private credit booms of their own, increasing their debt ratio significantly.

If banks and government don’t pay attention to warnings, bank vaults might go empty and the entire world could face another economic disaster. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Chris Clark)

It would be wrong to put the blame on abstract economic indicators, financial instruments or debt ratios. The real blame falls upon the actual people engaged in the markets. So many players in the game have thrown caution to the wind and participate in what might rightfully be called the “frenetic intemperance” of the times.

Investors are ignoring the risks of monetary tightening and are engaged in the voracious hunt for yields. Assuming low interest rates, the constant search for higher returns is compelling investors to snap up ever more risky junk bonds and stocks. Equity markets have been termed “euphoric,” calling to mind the “irrational exuberance” of the Greenspan era.

Not only are investors operating at full throttle, but they are not taking the right measures to avoid collisions.

Banks should be raising more capital as a cushion against risk. Large firms should be looking for ways to add productive capacity but are buying back shares or engaging in mergers and acquisitions instead.

Of particular concern is China’s unbridled and frenzied credit growth over the last five years. Many fear that the state-controlled banking system lacks the flexibility to avoid a hard landing that will lead to a financial day of reckoning for China with worldwide repercussions.

“The temptation to postpone adjustment can prove irresistible, especially when times are good and financial booms sprinkle the fairy dust of illusory riches,” the BIS report warns. “The consequence is a growth model that relies too much on debt, both private and public, and which over time sows the seeds of its own demise.”

The message from the central bankers is that the world has forgotten the lessons of recent years. Unfortunately, those who forget the lessons of history are often condemned to repeat them.

Thus, there is a major financial storm brewing on the horizon.

This is the conclusion not of fringe economists, but of world-class bankers. The result may well be not just an ordinary storm but a perfect storm with all major indicators converging.

Indeed, this might be the big one.

John Horvat II is an scholar, educator, researcher, international speaker and author of the book, “Return to Order.” He lives in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, where he serves as vice president for The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.

As we have said before, it seems the the powers that be forcast what is about to happen.
If the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is predicting a financial crisis this is something to really take note. This is the most important bank in the world.

***

xeaminer.com

Jim WIllie: Saudi's are on the verge of joining Russia in non-dollar oil sales

Photo by U.S. Navy/Getty Images

Kenneth Schortgen Jr

August 31, 2014

Last week, Russia announced an game changing shift for energy in which they are now allowing the sale of oil and natural gas to be done in both Roubles and Yuan, bypassing the dollar and cracking the 40 year old petro-dollar system. And on Aug. 31, Dr. Jim Willie reported during an interview with TFMetals Report that this break away from U.S. hegemony over the purchasing of oil is not being limited to just Russia, but that the foundational country of petro-dollar origin, Saudi Arabia, is in talks with the Eurasian energy giant to join them in a partnership that will also disconnect the Arab Kingdom from the dollar, and open energy sales within the OPEC nations to be done in Roubles, Yuan, and perhaps even the Euro.

While speaking with Craig 'Turd' Ferguson of the TFMetal Report, Dr. Jim Willie also pointed out that while Russia was not fully ready to use the Rouble as a primary currency for a large portion of their oil sales, the inclusion of the Yuan by Gazprom will allow multitudes of nations to bypass the dollar, and allow them to purchase oil directly from Russia without having to be enslaved to SWIFT and the financial mechanisms of the reserve currency that the U.S. has used not only for profit, but as a financial weapon.

Jim Willie: So what happened with Russia? They did in May the holy grail energy deal between themselves and China, and this is a long term, 20-30 year agreement. As well, back in May, April, and March I said watch Russia accept Yuan as a temporary device for energy sales.

Russia isn't fully ready to do just Rouble sales. In Europe I think they are going to do Euro and Rouble sales, and with China they are gong to do exclusively Yuan sales.

So watch the Saudi's... watch OPEC... watch the deals that Russia starts to integrate with the Person Gulf nations.

And kiss goodbye this petro-dollar. - TFMetals Report, Aug. 31

In validation to Jim Willie's assertion of a growing partnership being formed between Russia and Saudi Arabia over currencies and oil sales, an interesting event took place a little less than two weeks ago that according to the Guerrilla Economist, had to do with the theft of confidential documents a Saudi Royal was carrying that were tied to negotiations between Russia and the Arab Kingdom over oil sales and the future of the petro-dollar.

The robbers, said to number between five and eight, seized the Mercedes and its three occupants – as well as €250,000 and what Le Parisien newspaper described as sensitive documents.

Soon afterwards the robbers released the hostages and abandoned the vehicle, which was found an hour later in Saint-Mesmes, a village in the Ile-de-France region north-east of Paris, along with one of the BMWs. Both vehicles were burnt out. - The Guardian

The ability for major nations such as those in Europe, the Middle East, and in Asia to begin using the Yuan as the primary currency to purchase oil from the world's leading energy producer is already available as more than 23 countries have established swap lines which can facilitate the exchange of their sovereign currencies into Yuan. And the benefit of this over use of the dollar is that nations can disconnect themselves from the SWIFT system of transfers, and alleviate much of the inflation that is currently being exported to their countries by the U.S. as the Federal Reserve continues to devalue the dollar through massive money printing programs.

The days of the petro-dollar being the sole currency for energy and commodity transactions is quickly coming to a close, and as such, the U.S. is not going to go down without a fight. And the more policies that come out of Washington which threaten the global financial system through economic sanctions and attempted 'red lines' that have far reaching effects for trade and sovereign economies, the faster the world will flee the old system, and more further into Russia and China's camp which is outside the dollar, and dedicated towards a new free trade foundation.

***

Paul Craig Roberts

Warning to the world: Western insanity

US President Barack Obama (L) speaks next to Prime Minister Taavi Roivas of Estonia to US and Estonian members of the military at a hangar at Tallinn Airport in Tallinn, Estonia, September 3, 2014.

Thu Sep 4, 2014 8:27AM GMT

Herbert E. Meyer, a nutcase who was a special assistant to the CIA director for a period during the Reagan administration, has penned an article calling for Russian President Putin’s assassination. If we have “to get him out of the Kremlin feet-first with a bullet hole in the back of his head, that would be okay with us.”

As the crazed Meyer illustrates, the insanity that Washington has released upon the world knows no restraint. Jose Manual Barroso, installed as Washington’s puppet as the European Commission’s president, misrepresented his recent confidential telephone conversation with Russia’s President Putin by telling the media that Putin issued a threat: “If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks.”

Clearly, Putin did not issue a threat. A threat would be inconsistent with Putin’s entire un-provocative approach to the strategic threat that Washington and its NATO puppets have brought to Russia in Ukraine. Russia’s permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said that if Barroso’s lie stands, Russia will make public the full recording of the conversation.

Anyone familiar with the disparity between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries knows full well that it would take the Russian military 14 hours, not 14 days, to take all of Ukraine. Just remember what happened to the American- and Israeli-trained and -equipped Georgian Army when Washington set its stupid Georgian puppets on South Ossetia. The American- and Israeli-trained and -equipped Georgian army collapsed under Russian counterattack in 5 hours.

The lie that Washington’s puppet Barroso told was not worthy of a serious person. But where in Europe is there a serious person in power? Nowhere. The few serious people are all out of power. Consider the NATO Secretary General, Anders Rasmussen. He was a prime minister of Denmark who saw he could rise beyond Denmark by serving as Washington’s puppet. As prime minister, he strongly supported Washington’s illegal invasion of Iraq, declaring that “we know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.” Of course, he didn’t know any such thing, and why would it matter if Iraq did have such weapons. Many countries have weapons of mass destruction.

According to the rule that anyone who serves Washington is elevated, the cipher Rasmussen was elevated.

The problem with elevating unprincipled fools is that they risk the world for their career. Rasmussen has now put the entirety of Eastern and Western Europe at risk of annihilation. Rasmussen has announced the creation of a blitzkrieg spearhead force capable of a blitzkrieg attack on Russia. What Washington’s puppet calls “the Readiness Action Plan” is justified as a response to “Russia’s aggressive behavior in Ukraine.”

Rasmussen’s “lightening spearhead force” would be wiped out along with every European capital. What kind of idiot provokes a nuclear superpower in this way?

Rasmussen asserts “Russia’s aggressive behavior” but has no evidence of it. Russia has stood on the sidelines while Washington’s puppet government in Kiev has shelled and bombed civilian housing, hospitals, schools and issued a constant stream of lies against Russia. Russia denied the requests of the now independent eastern and southern provinces of Ukraine, former Russian territories, to be reunited with Russia. As readers know, I regard Putin’s decision as a mistake, but events might prove me wrong and that is OK with me. For now, the fact is that every act of aggressive behavior is the result of the US and EU support of the Kiev nazis. It is the Ukrainian nazi militias that are attacking civilians in the former Russian territories of eastern and southern Ukraine. A number of regular Ukrainian military units have defected to the independent republics.

Yes, nazis. Western Ukraine is the home of the Ukrainian SS division that fought for Hitler. Today, the militias organized by the Right Sector and other right-wing political organizations wear the nazi insignia of the Ukrainian SS divisions. These are the people that Washington and the EU support. If the Ukrainian nazis could win against Russia, which they cannot, they would turn on the West, just as has the Washington-funded ISIS that Washington unleashed on Libya and Syria. Now ISIS is remaking the Middle East, and Washington appears helpless.

William Binney, a former high-level official in the US National Security Agency, and colleagues from the CIA and military intelligence services have written to German chancellor Merkel advising her to beware of Obama’s lies at the upcoming NATO summit in Wales. The US intelligence officials advise Merkel to remember Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” and don’t again be deceived, this time into conflict with Russia.

The question is: who does Merkel represent? Washington or Germany? So far, Merkel has represented Washington, not German business interests, not the German people, and not Germany’s interests as a country. Here is a protest in Dresden, where a crowd prevents Merkel’s speech with shouts of “kriegstreiber” (warmonger), “liar, liar,” and “no war with Russia.”

My Ph.D. dissertation chairman, who became a high Pentagon official assigned to wind down the Vietnam war, in answer to my question about how Washington gets Europeans to always do what Washington wants replied: “Money, we give them money.” “Foreign aid?” I asked. “No, we give the European political leaders bagfuls of money. They are for sale, we bought them. They report to us.” Perhaps this explains Tony Blair’s $50-million fortune one year out of office.

The Western media, the largest brothel on earth, is desperate for war. The editorial board of the Washington Post, now a trophy newspaper in the hands of Amazon.com’s billionaire owner, ran an editorial on August 31 that projected all of Washington’s (and the Post’s) lies upon Putin.

Amazon.com’s owner might know how to market products on the Internet, but he is hopeless when it comes to running a newspaper. His editors at the Washington Post have made his trophy a worldwide laughing stock.

Here are the mindless accusations against Putin from the editors that the billionaire put in charge of his trophy newspaper:

Putin, bitterly resentful at the loss of power from the Soviet collapse, has “resurrected the tyranny of the Big Lie” in order to reconstitute the Russian Empire.

“Russian sponsored militias in Ukraine” are responsible for the “shoot-down of the Malaysian airliner in July.” The “Russian state-controlled media” lied and misrepresented to the Russian people the party responsible for downing the airliner.

“In the absence of independent and free reporting, few Russians realize that Russian soldiers and armaments are in action in eastern Ukraine, albeit (as in Crimea) in uniforms and vehicles stripped of their identifying insignia and license plates. With no free media, Russians are left to fend for themselves against a firestorm of falsehoods.”

“Mr. Putin’s Big Lie shows why it is important to support a free press where it still exists and outlets like Radio Free Europe that bring the truth to people who need it.”

As a former Wall Street Journal editor, I can say with complete confidence that such extraordinary propaganda posing as an editorial would have resulted in the immediate firing of all concerned. In my days on the Congressional staff, the Washington Post was regarded as a CIA asset. Today, the Post has sunk far below this status.

I have seen much media propaganda in my day, but this Washington Post editorial takes the cake. The editorial shows that either the editorial writers are completely ignorant or they are completely corrupt and also assume that their readers are completely ignorant. If Russian military units were in action in eastern Ukraine, the situation would be precisely as Alexander Zakharchenko and Dmitry Orlov describe. Ukraine would no longer exist. Ukraine would again be part of Russia where it was for centuries prior to Washington taking advantage of the Soviet collapse to tear Ukraine away from Russia.

The question before us is: how long will Russia’s patience last with the West’s enormous lies and provocations? No matter how restrained Russia is, Russia is accused of the worst. Therefore, Russia might as well inflict the worst.

At what point will the Russian government decide that Washington’s mendacity, and that of its European puppets and corrupt Western media, render hopeless Russia’s efforts to resolve the situation with diplomacy and un-provocative behavior? As Russia is constantly accused falsely of invading Ukraine, when will the Russian government decide that as Western propaganda has established that Russia has invaded Ukraine and has imposed sanctions and new military bases on Russia’s borders because of the alleged invasion, Russia might as well go ahead and rid themselves of the problem Washington has brought to Russia and invade Ukraine?

There is nothing that NATO could do about it if Russia decides that Ukraine in Washington’s hands is too much of a strategic threat to Russia and reincorporates Ukraine again into Russia, where it has resided for centuries. Any NATO force sent would start a war that NATO can’t win. The German population, remembering the consequences of war with Russia, would overthrow Washington’s puppet government. NATO and the EU would collapse as Germany departed the absurd construct that serves Washington’s interest at the expense of Europe.

Once this happens, the world will have peace. But not until.

For those who care to understand how the land of lies works, Washington’s puppet government in Kiev attributes the defeat of its military forces by the Donetsk Republic to the presence in the Donetsk army of Russian military units. This is the propaganda that has gone out to western Ukraine and to the presstitute western media, a collection of whores that echo the propaganda without any investigation whatsoever. However, Kiev has a different story for the IMF. Kiev cannot receive IMF money with which to pay off its Western creditors if Ukraine is at war. Therefore, Ukraine tells the IMF the opposite story: Russia has not attacked Ukraine.

The Western media remains uninterested in any facts. Just the lies. Only the lies.

The Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, Fox “news,” Die Welt, the French press, the British press all plead: “please Washington give us more sensational lies that we can trumpet. Our circulation needs it. Who cares about war and the human race if only we can regain financial stability.”

PCR/HJL

***

CRYPTOGON

WHY IS VLADIMIR PUTIN REFERRING TO EASTERN UKRAINE AS ‘NEW RUSSIA’?

Image Credits: Remy Steinegger via Wikimedia Commons

AUGUST 31, 2014

Western elites stole Ukraine from a deranged dictator with a bogus populist uprising. Now, kleptocrat Putin is stealing it back with irregulars, mercenaries, and tanks.

Don’t come to the conclusion that Putin is some sort of good guy. Putin is just like Western elites, but with a more direct approach, and what amounts to a personal arsenal of nuclear weapons. There are no good guys here. Murders? Yes. Thieves? Yes. And on both sides.

I very seriously doubt that the U.S.-led gang will do anything real about this. Putin could roll over the whole of Ukraine in a day if he wanted to. Obama just keeps golfing because he has probably been advised that this isn’t worth a thermonuclear exchange. You win some you lose some. Move on, pick another victim. Protip: Make sure the next victim doesn’t have a competing gang with nuclear weapons.

Putin said it himself yesterday, “It’s best not to mess with us… Thank God, I think no one is thinking of unleashing a large-scale conflict with Russia. I want to remind you that Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers.”

Yep, the managers of that idiot Obama better make sure he remains on the golf course this time. Or maybe point and click the drones to go take out some of those ISIS maniacs. It’s only costing $7.5 million per day to bomb a problem that the U.S. created in the first place. Bargains, bargains.

All of that said, here’s what I wrote to a family member with a Russian girlfriend:

“I’d seriously consider getting her and her money out of there ASAP. You wouldn’t want her to be in Putin-Land or holding Putin-Bucks if this thing gets any worse.”

Via: IB Times:

In a new statement, the Kremlin has detailed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to pro-Russian separatists battling Kiev’s force in eastern Ukraine, which referred to the rebels as “the militia of New Russia” or “Novorossiya”.

This term is not a new addition to the Russian leader’s personal lexicon. In a televised question and answer session in April in the midst of the Crimea crisis, Putin told the audience, in reference to the restive eastern regions of Ukraine: “It’s new Russia.”

This phrase has raised fears about Putin’s territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union but what does this term really mean?

“Novorossiya”, which translates as New Russia, is a historical term for a region conquered by the Russian empire in the 18th century and controlled by Tsarist Russia in the 19th Century.

ENENEWS

TV: “Surge in marine mammal strandings” on US West Coast — Scientists: “This is very weird”; “My biggest fear is if this… is everywhere” along coast — Whales, dolphins, sea lions, birds recently washing up in large numbers — Many thousands likely dead — Violent seizures shown on news

AlterNet

Permanent temps: What your life as an ‘elderly migrant’ worker will be like when you can’t retire

By Lynn Parramore

Saturday, August 30, 2014 11:21 EDT

In a must-read article in the current issue of Harper’s magazine, journalist Jessica Bruder, adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, adds a new phrase to America’s vocabulary: “Elderly migrant worker.” She documents a growing trend of older Americans for whom the reality of unaffordable housing and scarcity of work has driven them from their homes and onto the road in search of seasonal and temporary employment across the country. Packed into RVs, detached from their communities, these “Okies” of the Great Recession put in time at Amazon warehouses, farms and amusement parks, popping free over-the-counter pain reliever to mask the agony of strained muscles and sore backs. And when they can’t hold up any longer? The RV sometimes becomes a coffin.

Since the financial crisis ripped the security out from under millions of people, the bulk of our politicians, including President Obama, actually tried to reduce, rather than increase, Social Security. The absence of pensions, along with the inadequacy of 401(k)s, skyrocketing healthcare and job insecurity and unemployment, are sending more and more people scrambling to figure out a way to keep body and soul together. Even grandparents are joining the ranks of those for whom life has become a game of Survivor. In an email interview, I asked Bruder about this alarming trend and what it means for the country, now and in the future.

Lynn Parramore: In your recent article in Harper’s, you describe a trend of downwardly mobile elderly folks traveling the country in RVs in search of temporary and seasonal work. How many people are we talking about? How fast has this trend been emerging?

Jessica Bruder: Though no one keeps an official tally of how many older Americans are doing this kind of work, their ranks appear to be growing rapidly in the wake of the housing bust and market crashes.

Amazon first hired a handful of migrant full-time RVers in 2008 through a program the company later named “CamperForce.” As of 2014, it had expanded to employ some 2,000 workers, according to a recruiter I met in Quartzsite, Arizona. The American Crystal Sugar Company taps the same labor pool each fall to staff its annual sugar beet harvest, and their recruitment numbers are up, too. This year, they’re hoping to recruit 600 “workampers,” up from 450 the year before.

LP: What’s the gender breakdown among these traveling workers? What kinds of work are men and women doing?

JB: I was impressed by how many older, single women I met among the working nomads, from a tarot reader living in a former convict labor van she’d transformed into a roving gypsy boudoir, to an ex-medical technician who managed to fit her whole life—along with a Shih-Tzu, a lovebird and a loquacious African Grey parrot—into a 10.5-foot Carson Kalispell sport trailer.

The gender breakdown was roughly even. Employers don’t discriminate when doling out hard or dirty work, whether it’s scrubbing campsite toilets or walking 15 miles a day on a concrete warehouse floor to pack Amazon’s holiday orders.

LP: Amazon’s ads for CamperForce Associates sound so upbeat about the opportunities for older workers: recruiting “flexible and enthusiastic RV’ers with a positive, can-do attitude to join us in our warehouses,” with an emphasis on “fun” stuff like prizes and “community activities.”

What’s the reality of the actual work experience, based on your investigation?

JB: The ads are surreal. They sound like an invitation to summer camp, and not just the ones for Amazon jobs. “Feel like a kid again!” and “Hey workamper, it’s time for fun!” are a couple slogans used by recruiters for Adventureland, a theme park in Altoona, Iowa where migrant workers run the rides, games and concessions for $7.25 to $7.50 an hour. Recruitment materials for the beet harvest, with 12-hour overnight shifts in subzero temperatures, refer to the work as “an unBEETable experience!”

This stuff is propaganda, pure and simple. It panders to the illusion that older Americans are free to retire, working only for fun, rather than acknowledging the reality that many folks need to keep bringing in money to survive.

Much of the work is hard and physically taxing. Several people I met dropped out of the Amazon program after a few weeks because their bodies just couldn’t take it. Others suffered from “trigger finger,” a tendon condition that can be caused by repetitive movements like UPC scanner use. Many RVs I visited looked like mobile apothecaries, stocked with Icy Hot pain-relief gel, foot-soaking tubs with Epsom salts, and bottles of Aleve and Advil.

LP: What kinds of social services are these people able to get when they’re moving around? How do they get Social Security checks, or state-based Medicaid, or Obamacare?

JB: Many traveling workers establish permanent addresses in states like Texas and South Dakota, where residency requirements are lax and taxes are low, so they’re still eligible for many social services and can get their mail forwarded to wherever they’re stationed.

But there are challenges. For example, states often require Medicaid recipients to visit local doctors, which doesn’t work when you’re on the road. And I met folks who simply couldn’t afford to have an extra $100 deducted each month from their social security to get Medicare coverage. Many rely on the cheap medical services they can get in places like Los Algodones, Mexico, known for cut-rate dentists and eye doctors.

LP: What happens to these people when they are too sick to work?

JB: They get by the best they can, relying on each other or their families. I met a lot of parents and grandparents who hated the idea of leaning on the next generation, but would do it in an emergency. For some, there’s no good answer to this question. I heard a couple harrowing stories of older migrants who died in their RVs.

LP: What does this trend reveal about the changing nature of work in America, and the direction in which many of us are headed?

The social contract is falling apart. With the death of pensions and the increase of short-term, temporary jobs bearing no benefits, we’re moving toward a winner-take-all economy with no safety net to help people weather hard times.

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HEALTHY DEBATES

Mineral Deficiency: Linked to Every Disease & Sickness

(IR) Mineral depletion over the last century or so has been terrible, which in turn has effected the natural mineral levels in our soils, and therefore natural mineral levels in the food that we consume. Over recent decades, this problem has only gotten worse, as we continue to strip the soil around the world of up to 80 trace minerals that are essential for optimum health.

As it turns out, every ailment or sickness that you experience is due to a mineral deficiency. Therefore, if you have sufficient levels of all of your minerals, you are the closest you will ever get to “perfect health.”

“You can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency.”

- Dr. Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel Prize winner

“The lack of minerals is the root of all disease.”

- Dr. Gary Price Todd

How Important is Mineral Consumption?

With these vital minerals being the most basic of building blocks for proper health and nutrition, the above statements can hardly be considered exaggerations. To put it plainly, in a world with no minerals, nothing works. Enzymes and amino acids won’t work, therefore nutrients and vitamins can’t be broken down and absorbed. The world population would have major deficiencies in both minerals and vitamins. The final result would be a disease-stricken world full of poor health, where nothing biologically really works as it should… a world we are quickly making a reality.

“In the absence of minerals, vitamins have no function. Lacking vitamins, the system can make use of the minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.”

- Dr. Charles Northern, researcher and MD

Nature works in a way that is best described as “everything returns to the Earth.” Root systems of trees will pull minerals from deep in the soil, die, and then decompose. This process returns these minerals to the soil, but at a much higher depth that animals and even humans can benefit from. Animals that consume these minerals will also die, decompose, and be returned to the soil. On a similar level, human and animal waste matter is also returned to the soil.

In our modern and present-day world, humans have disrupted this natural “circle of life”, lowering mineral replenishment by removing most waste and dead animals, clear-cutting trees and forests to make land for crops, and over-farming virtually all soils without allowing nature the time for micro-organisms to convert any remaining minerals into a usable form for plants. As a result of the addition of petro-chemical fertilizers, today we really only return nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the soil, which might bring lush growth, but growth that is lacking nutrients on a major level.

“The alarming fact is that fruits, vegetables and grain now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us-no matter how much of them we eat. No man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health because his stomach isn’t big enough to hold them.”

- Senate Document 264 regarding mineral deficiencies affecting U.S. farmland, (issued in 1936)

Minerals & Nutrition: Those Were the Days

We’ve applied herbicides and pesticides that actually kill off vital micro-organisms, that are responsible for converting remaining minerals into usable forms for plants, which as a result, effects animal and human mineral consumption.

As a result of extended use of “maximum yield” farming methods and fertilizers, North American soil content has had an average of 85% mineral depletion spanning over the last 100 years, making it the most depleted of any continent on Earth.

Just to offer an example, spinach we eat today contains maybe 15% of the nutrition that the same spinach would have contained 60 years ago. In the end, our society today is that much more unhealthy, and it’s obvious everywhere that you look.

Is My Body Trying to Tell Me Something?

Obesity is another major area where mineral deficiency shows its ugly face, in addition to poor immune system support and poor overall health. In the same way that cats and dogs eat grass when they know by instinct that they are either deficient in minerals and vitamins, or need a little extra to combat an illness or infection — it is believed that the human body sends similar instinctive signals that it is missing vital minerals and nutrients. However, it seems that we no longer recognize what it is our bodies are telling us and where to find what we need to silence these signals.

The confusion over some of these signals often leads to cravings, which results in eating and eating to satisfy them, but what our bodies really crave is the missing minerals and nutrition. Rather than turn to a healthy way to furnish minerals, (such as an organic liquid vitamin and mineral supplement like IntraMIN or IntraMax), we continue with the S.A.D. diet (Standard American Diet), which include nuked meals, junk food, sweets, fast foods, etc. A lot of us can relate to the familiar scenario of eating to the point of nearly getting sick, yet still feeling hungry for “something”. That something is most likely missing minerals.

Conclusion

Think of all of the money you have ever spent on “healthy products” over the years trying to better yourself. If you are eating well, dieting, popping vitamins, or working out every day in pursuit of “perfect health,” your attempts will fall short without the help of natural minerals as a part of your diet. You won’t understand until you experience sufficient mineral levels for yourself.

The depletion of these minerals throughout the world has made it extremely difficult to maintain sufficient levels of the minerals that your body requires. Consider a natural & organic liquid mineral supplement to maintain these levels. The amount of money you will spend on fruits and vegetables alone trying to acquire the same minerals will be astronomical.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“The principal things for the whole use of man’s life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of wheat, honey, milk, and the blood of the grape, and oil, and clothing.”
(Ecclesiasticus 39:26)