– As Syria distracts, here’s what else is happening while no one is looking… (Sovereign Man, Aug 29, 2013):
By Simon Black
As everyone is now completely distracted with the looming prospect of yet another illegal war to be waged by the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, let’s look at a few other things going on while no one is looking.
Gun control
Today, the Obama administration announced fresh measures to restrict the availability of firearms in the Land of the Free.
This time around, they want to ban the re-importation of firearms that have been exported from the US to allied nations. They also want to raise the bar on federal background checks.
But rather than go through Congress, the Obama administration is simply going to create a new ‘rule’.
‘Rules’ are a type of regulation created directly by agencies within the Executive Branch. They’re not laws, but they carry the same weight and effect as laws, complete with criminal and civil penalties.
Oftentimes, hundreds of new rules are proposed every single day in the Land of the Free. It’s the easiest way for the President to circumvent the Constitution and simply decree whatever he wants.
Debt ceiling
The US government is once again danger close to defaulting.
Bear in mind, at the start of the ‘credit crisis’ six years ago, US federal debt was just $8.9 trillion. Today, US federal debt stands at $16.738 trillion– 88% higher.
Curiously, the statutory debt limit is $16.699 trillion… so the US government already breached its limit 39 billion dollars ago.
For the last few months, the Treasury Department has been resorting to ‘extraordinary measures’ in order to avoid default (i.e. things that you and I would go to jail for).
But Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is about out of bullets. So the US could be in danger of defaulting at any moment, especially if an unexpected fiscal ‘surprise’ should arise… like, uh, war.
That’s the funny thing about war– they tend to be expensive. And starting another war might very well be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
No inflation to see here
As I write this letter, fast food workers across the US are protesting, demanding higher wages. Crazy. Apparently you can’t live on $7.25/hour anymore.
Someone needs to tell these people that there’s no inflation, and that the Grand Wizard himself, Ben Bernanke, has everything under control.
Outright Collapse in many Emerging Markets
From India to Mexico, South Africa to Indonesia, emerging market currencies have practically been in freefall in the latest sign that the fiat experiment is drawing to a rapid close.
This movement has massive implications for gold– that ‘barbarous relic’ that people are scooping up in bulk right now as a means to preserve their savings.
It’s gotten so bad in India that the government there is imposing severe capital controls and gold restrictions– setting the standard for other nations in the future. Is confiscation to follow?
So much for Cameron and Hague, then!
…and Obama, as well – if true!
Question everything!
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Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack
Militants tell AP reporter they mishandled Saudi-supplied chemical weapons, causing accident
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
August 30, 2013
Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press journalist Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.
“From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families….many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack,”writes Gavlak.
Rebels told Gavlak that they were not properly trained on how to handle the chemical weapons or even told what they were. It appears as though the weapons were initially supposed to be given to the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra.
“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” one militant named ‘J’ told Gavlak.
His claims are echoed by another female fighter named ‘K’, who told Gavlak, “They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”
Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of an opposition rebel, also told Gavlak, “My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” describing them as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.” The father names the Saudi militant who provided the weapons as Abu Ayesha.
According to Abdel-Moneim, the weapons exploded inside a tunnel, killing 12 rebels.
“More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government,” writes Gavlak.
If accurate, this story could completely derail the United States’ rush to attack Syria which has been founded on the “undeniable” justification that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack. Dale Gavlak’s credibility is very impressive. He has been a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press for two decades and has also worked for National Public Radio (NPR).
Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in providing rebels, whom they have vehemently backed at every turn, with chemical weapons, is no surprise given the revelations earlier this week that the Saudis threatened Russia with terror attacks at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi unless they abandoned support for the Syrian President.
“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” Prince Bandar allegedly told Vladimir Putin, the Telegraph reports.
The Obama administration is set to present its intelligence findings today in an effort prove that Assad’s forces were behind last week’s attack, despite American officials admitting to the New York Times that there is no “smoking gun” that directly links President Assad to the attack.
US intelligence officials also told the Associated Press that the intelligence proving Assad’s culpability is “no slam dunk.”
As we reported earlier this week, intercepted intelligence revealed that the Syrian Defense Ministry was making “panicked” phone calls to Syria’s chemical weapons department demanding answers in the hours after the attack, suggesting that it was not ordered by Assad’s forces.
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