GOVERNMENTS: PART H: Rumors of War
The shadow on the wall
Tells me the sun is goin' down.
Ruby (Don't Take Your Love to Town)
Kenny Rogers and the 1st Edition
The shadow of the End Times is on the wall for all to see. If you believe in prophecy. If you believe the word of God is true in every prophecy. If you have spiritual advisers for anything other than reinforcement of a love of money and focus on power. Then a President might think twice about his aid to Russia in Syria:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ap-sources-us-russia-reach-deal-on-syria-ceasefire/2017/07/07/0ed5d2a6-632e-11e7-80a2-8c226031ac3f_story.html?utm_term=.08f98d9d42d8
HAMBURG, Germany — The United States and Russia struck an agreement Friday on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, crowning President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is the first U.S.-Russian effort under Trump’s presidency to stem Syria’s six-year civil war.
The cease-fire goes into effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, according to U.S. officials and the Jordanian government, which is also involved in the deal.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who accompanied Trump in his meeting with Putin, said the understanding is designed to reduce violence in an area of Syria near Jordan’s border that is critical to the U.S. ally’s security.
It’s a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield,” Tillerson told reporters after the U.S. and Russian leaders met for more than 2 hours on the sidelines of a global summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Of the agreement, he said, “I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”
And this circulates underneath:
U.S. Support for Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels Undermines Syrian Ceasefire
By Michael Hughes
"The United States needs to do more than wag its finger at Syrian rebel groups for “comingling” with Al Qaeda-affiliated Salafist jihadists or else an already tenuous ceasefire accord between government and opposition forces is destined to collapse.
"Earlier this week, the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) co-chaired by the U.S. and Russia agreed to render persistent violators of the ceasefire as “fair game” on the battlefield, relegating them to the same status as the Islamic State and Jabhat-al Nusra, or the Nusra Front, which is Al Qaeda’s franchisee in Syria.
"On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson John Kirby expressed concerns that U.S.-backed Syrian opposition factions such as Ahrar al-Sham have been cohabitating with the Nusra Front. However, Washington has doggedly resisted calls to add the Al Qaeda collaborators to the UN terrorist list - claiming it would damage the ceasefire - which journalist Finian Cunningham sees as an “unwitting U.S. admission” about who is really leading the Syrian “rebellion.”
"Ahrar al-Sham along with Jaysh al-Islam, another Western-sponsored faction, not only have zero inclination to respect the ceasefire, they have aspirations that completely contradict the U.S. stated goal of ushering in a Jeffersonian democracy to replace Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"Both organizations, according to University of Ottawa extremism specialist Kamran Bokhari, share the common goal of instituting an Islamic state governed by sharia law. Further, Bokhari argues, the real reason the U.S. opposes designating them as terrorists is because they are proxy groups supported by American allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Hence, it has nothing to do with concerns about the ceasefire.
"Moreover, on May 12, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Ahrar al-Sham collaborated with the Nusra Front in an assault on the Alawite-majority village of al-Zara, killing at least 19 civilians, including women and children. Point being, the attack provided clear evidence that Ahrar al-Sham is doing more than intermingling with Al Qaeda’s Syria branch.
"Three days later, The New York Times reported that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri plans to create an alternate headquarters in Syria to “lay the groundwork for possibly establishing an emirate through Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front,” which some experts claim complicates Washington’s support for the rebels even further.
“The United States has placed itself in a very difficult situation because many of the rebel groups that it wants to become principal holders of state power in Syria work hand and glove with Al Qaeda,” University of Oklahoma Center for Middle East Studies Director Joshua Landis told Sputnik on Monday.
"Islamists are not only leading the Syrian opposition’s charge on the military front, they are dominating its role in the peace talks in Geneva as well. The rebel political delegation is being led by Jaysh al-Islam and other Islamist parties while the secular Syrian Kurds have been excluded, a surreal development fully sponsored by the United States.
"During the early stages of the intra-Syrian talks in January, Washington Kurdish Institute Director of Media and Policy Yousuf Ismael said without the Kurds the creation of an Islamic system of government in Syria was inevitable based on the current constitution of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
"Even more disconcerting is the lack of outrage or any major objections to U.S. policy emanating from either Congress, the media or the public at large. American media outlets, including CNN, the Associated Press and the Washington Post, among others, have consistently propagated the fictional narrative that the United States is supporting “moderate opposition forces” on the battlefield and in the peace talks in Geneva. Not to mention the media’s primary focus has been on Syrian government ceasefire violations with little attention paid to opposition transgressions.
"Secretary of State John Kerry has long claimed that the United States is committed to seeing a “whole, unified, pluralistic, nonsectarian Syria,” which is hard to believe given the State Department’s objection to classifying these two organizations as what they truly are: jihadist terrorist groups that should be excluded from any cessation of hostilities.
Which prompts a fair question that goes beyond simply upholding a fragile ceasefire: How in the world does the U.S. government believe for a second that a post-Assad regime in Syria will be secular to any degree based on the current makeup of the opposition’s negotiating team, whose members by and large have openly proclaimed that they want to establish an Islamist state?
The unfortunate answer is that the U.S. government has never absorbed the lessons of previous policies based on the credo, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Washington is following the exact same playbook employed during the jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s, in just one example, wherein we supported the most radical and virulently anti-Western factions within the mujahideen to achieve geopolitical ends at all costs, leading to the well-documented blowback known as Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
"Despite all this, Washington’s love for jihadists has apparently not waned. As a result, the tragic irony is we are now facilitating the resurgence of these very same elements - in some cases literally the same figures - all in the name of a secular and unified Syria."
So the President continued to examine that hot potato and dropped it with no concessions from Mr. Putin.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/cia-syria-anti-assad-rebels/index.html
(CNN)US President Donald Trump has ordered the CIA to discontinue a program of arming and training anti-Assad rebels in Syria, according to a report in the Washington Post which cites unnamed US officials.
The move is seen as controversial, given Russia's opposition to the rebels and Moscow's strong support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
"It's a strategic mistake.... (support for the rebels) was a pressure point on Assad and a pressure point on the Iranians... and the Russians," according to Bob Baer, CNN Intelligence and security analyst and former CIA operative.
"It looks like, to me, that he just gave that as a gift to Vladimir Putin for no quid pro quo and that's not the way diplomacy works. We should've used this, we should've demanded, for example, safe zones so the Sunnis wouldn't get hit from the air... so this is just inexplicable, why he would do this.
"He's lost his pressure point... it's crazy, frankly, I've never seen anything like it."
"Former US President Barack Obama signed the covert directive in 2012, US officials told CNN at the time.
"The then-administration said it would step up its assistance to the opposition in the wake of a 2012 failure by the UN Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Russia and China vetoed those measures.
"CIA-funded weaponry started flowing to Syrian rebel groups the following year.
"The Obama administration had resisted arming the rebels, citing concerns about the infiltration of extremists groups who could possibly use those weapons against other targets, CNN reported at the time."
Now consider the disaster capitalism scenario in nearby Iraq which is essentially fighting the same ISIS enemy. Recent shots of Mosul shown on July 16 on CBS reveal a totally smashed city with talk of dead citizens under the wreckage. Mosul, by the way, was built across the river from Nineveh. In fact, Iraq itself is being destroyed in need of a rebuild. An America allied with a new joint government that owes it something in yet another country would be in position for the big business capitalists to profit again from the shock of war disaster. Not long ago war was looked at as the enemy of capitalism because the instability would make business iffy.
But the disaster rebuild has actually been going on since Desert Storm "succeeded".
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/12/20/new-us1485-billion-package-to-support-iraqs-drive-to-counter-cost-of-war-low-oil-prices
WASHINGTON, December 20, 2016- 'The World Bank Group has endorsed a new US$1.485 billion package to support reforms to improve public service delivery and transparency, stimulate private sector growth and support job creation. Iraq continues to face a large humanitarian crisis with 10 million people, over one quarter of the population, estimated to be in need of assistance, of which 3.4 million are internally displaced people and 240,000 refugees.
"The institution’s Board of Directors approved today the Second Expenditure Rationalization, Energy Efficiency, and State-Owned Enterprise Governance Development Policy Financing (DPF) Project, for a total of US$1.443 billion including guarantees from the governments of the United Kingdom (US$371.82 million) and Canada (US$72 million), a testament of strong international support to Iraq. The DPF’s key development objectives focus on: (i) supporting expenditure rationalization; (ii) improving energy efficiency; and (iii) enhancing the transparency and governance of state-owned enterprises.
“Despite an ongoing war and low oil prices, Iraq is undertaking bold transformational reforms that will safeguard economic stability and lay the foundations for longer term private sector development and inclusive growth for all Iraqis” said Ferid Belhaj, World Bank Director for the Middle East. “The reforms will help build trust between Iraqi citizens and their government, by making the management of public funds more efficient and transparent and expanding social safety nets to reach the most vulnerable segments of the population.”
(Please recall that perfunctory speech long ago which we mentioned last time by the US oil exec who assured young Saudi's they would always have job which severed as the final straw in the nationalization of the oil company in Saudi Arabia. Readers in the USA can easily see the word "jobs" has become hallowed ground to US neo-cons who tell people they will get more jobs if all the regulations are taken away. We to remember the Very big businesses involved in taking over economies and using people for cheap labor are NOT smart; they are merely very rich and use those riches to get their way like cavemen with very big clubs. Like members of a rich family in the USA they think they can get away with flouting any law simply because they can remake the laws or misuse them and no one has ever stopped them, because, frankly, no one can stop them so long as they can influence elected officials with bribes masked as "campaign contributions." Or if they have driven a country so far in debt it must obey. When we wonder why they act this way we inevitably circle back to those days of Eden and that seduction: "You can be like God." Please recall that idea always ends badly. The book of Revelation says it eventually ends badly on a global scale. W.)
"Separately, the Bank’s governing body also endorsed a US$41.5 million operation for the Modernization of Public Financial Management Systems, which supports the overall objectives of the DPF series and aims to support Iraq’s public financial management system.
“This operation is complementary to the objectives of the DPF and will support the Government in its goal to improve transparency in the management of public funds and financial information and modernize public procurement practices across many federal and governorate agencies” said Robert Bou Jaoude, the Bank’s Country Manager for Iraq.
"Today’s overall financial assistance package is aligned with the Government’s recovery blueprint for 2015-2018. It is also in line with the World Bank’s Strategy for the Middle East and North Africa, which calls for renewing the social contract in fragile states, supporting regional cooperation, bolstering the resilience to refugee crises, and initiating reconstruction and recovery programs where needed.
(Please recall or reread how those "recovery" programs go to our previous postings. W.)
"With the new package, the World Bank’s present engagement in Iraq rises to nearly US$3.4 billion, including multi-sectoral support to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas recently recovered by Government forces and a transport corridor investment.
"In addition, the Bank is providing wide-ranging technical assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government.
(Note that the Kurds are loved by no one. especially the Turks. See below. W)
"In parallel, the Government of Iraq requested the Bank to support reconstruction in areas liberated from ISIS. In response, the Bank developed an Emergency Operation for Development to provide funding for reconstruction efforts in seven cities in Diyala and Saladin. This project is currently under implementation.
"The WBG also provided a US$1.2 billion development policy financing loan to support Iraq as the country faces fiscal pressures from the fall in oil prices and a mounting humanitarian crisis."
Perhaps every message sent between US and Iraq governments contains the message; "You owe me."
With previous relations in Syria, the World Bank will be ready to "help" and will really be encouraging a success in Syria. Any form of settlement that establishes a "stable" investment area then becomes viable. We can see the Kurds and their people being sacrificed like pawns as the USA did in the Vietnam era, leaving behind many who allied with them for the resistance of Communism in Laos, Cambodia and even Vietnam itself.
There was important Christian news concerning the Kurds in 2017. The first every publication of a Bible in the Sorani dialect of Kurdish. https://www.biblica.com/articles/first-ever-sorani-kurdish-bible-published/ Opening doors for evangelizing there.
Today, The Kurds live in what they call Kurdistan and what everyone else resists naming in an area of northern Iraq and Iran, eastern Syria, and eastern Turkey and just touching on southern Armenia. They have separate status from the rest of Iraq. The Kurds have their own government and military. The Kurds are descended from thise the bible called the Medes. They managed to maintain their geographic and nationalistic identity despite being depicted merely as a "tribe" by news media and their enemies. Resembling in that way the Jews who were held together across vastly larger geography and also preserved by God for these times.
About the Kurds and Bible prophecy:
https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/with-prophetic-implications-the-kurds-known-as-the-medes-in-the-bible-seize-oil-rich-region-of-iraq/
Ultimately, many Kurds want to create an independent country of their own, uniting Kurds living in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Yet each of those national governments strongly oppose the creation of an independent Kurdistan.
What’s fascinating is that the modern Kurdish people were known in ancient, Biblical times as the Medes. Here is where things get interesting.
Bible prophecy indicates that in the End Times, as we get closer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, God will allow the Medes to gain power, even as the Lord allows the Arabs to gain power and rebuild the kingdom of Babylon in the heart of Iraq.
The Book of Revelation, for example, tells us that Babylon will be the epicenter of evil in the last days of history, and will eventually face the judgment of God. The Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel tell us this, as well, indicating Babylon will be completely destroyed and when the judgment is complete, Babylon will be completely uninhabitable. Indeed, Isaiah 13:20 says of Babylon, “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.”
"What’s more, Bible prophecy indicates that God will raise up the Medes — that is, the Kurdish people — to be an instrument of judgment against Babylon.
Isaiah 13:17 — “Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them [the Babylonians]….”
Jeremiah 51:11 — “The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the Lord….”
Jeremiah 51:28-29 — “Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion. So the land quakes and writhes, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants….”
How exactly will these eschatological prophecies come to pass? It’s too early to say for certain.
"But after studying these prophecies, traveling four times to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, meeting with senior Kurdish leaders — including Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani — and tracking developments there over the past decade or so, I think it is fair to say we may be seeing some of the prophetic battle lines developing:
"The hatred of the Kurds/Medes against the Arabs, and vice versa, is steadily growing.
The Kurds/Medes and the Arabs are in a continued struggle to control the oil resources that will make either or both of them enormously wealthy and powerful in the End Times.
The Kurds/Medes are, step by step, forming into their nation, and possibly their own country.
The Kurds/Medes are developing an increasingly effective military force that is able to overpower the Iraqi Arabs at times.
"Please keep the Kurdish people in your prayers. There are a growing number of truly born again Christians living in Kurdistan, including many MBBs, Muslim Background Believers. Please pray that they would boldly preach the Gospel, and be able to make many disciples, and help the believers that grow deep in their faith in Christ, especially amidst all the chaos and carnage."
If you look at that map and you understand that Russia will forge an alliance with Turkey, Syria and Iran in prophecy, you now understand the critical role the Kurdish populations play. At the time Rosenberg wrote the article above in 2014, the Kurds had seized the rich oilfields in Kirkuk and were gaining riches for their "tribal" armies. That seizure has led to new animosities as US and Iraqi forces have driven ISIS out of the area:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-02/how-a-squabble-at-iraq-s-oldest-oil-field-can-roil-world-supply
April 2, 2017, 1:00 PM EDT
Giant Kirkuk field producing at less than half its capacity
Local rivalries bubble up as Islamic State militants retreat
A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway, even as U.S.-backed forces prepare what could be a decisive blow against Islamic State militants in the nearby city of Mosul. Kirkuk, where Iraq first discovered oil in 1927, can produce more than 1 million barrels a day but is pumping at less than half its capacity while competing ethnic and political groups scramble to control its 9 billion barrels of reserves.
1. What’s behind the tensions in Kirkuk?
"Lying near a disputed city of the same name, the Kirkuk field is a tinderbox for potential conflict between the central government and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurds, both of whom have for decades claimed it as their own. More recently, it also became became a flashpoint for rival Kurdish political parties and their heavily armed supporters. “As Islamic State becomes less of a pressing threat, a lot of these tensions that had been subsumed into the common fight are inevitably going to come back to the surface,” says Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.
2. Who controls the Kirkuk field?
"Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government both pump oil from different wells at the field, which straddles their respective areas of control. Kurdish forces took control of territory around Kirkuk in June 2014 after the Iraqi Army fled from Islamic State militants, but the federal government in Baghdad doesn’t recognize Kurdish control of the area. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, which leads Kirkuk’s local government and maintains the city’s security, is a rival to the Kurdistan Democratic Party that dominates the KRG and controls most of its oil revenues.
3. How much oil is Kirkuk producing?
"Kirkuk and nearby fields are producing about half a million barrels of oil daily, according to data supplied by the Oil Ministry and the KRG in September 2016. Most of the crude is exported through a Kurdish-controlled pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The KRG produces about 350,000 barrels a day, and the state-run North Oil Co. approximately 150,000. The two sides reached a deal in August 2016 allowing North Oil to export through the Kurdish pipeline. In return, the KRG takes a cut of the revenue and gets to export its own share of crude from Kirkuk. Iraq, the second-biggest OPEC member, pumped a total of 4.44 million barrels a day in February, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Oil prices fell more than 2 percent after the agreement as it was expected to increase exports by about 150,000 barrels.
4. Why is the deal at risk?
"The export deal doesn’t address the competing claims to Kirkuk’s oil, or the larger dispute over the KRG’s right to produce and export oil independently of the central government. The deal also left out Kirkuk’s PUK-led provincial government, stoking tensions between the two main Kurdish parties. On March 2, soldiers loyal to the PUK stormed North Oil’s main pumping facility at Kirkuk and briefly halted exports of more than 100,000 barrels a day. They threatened to cut off those exports permanently unless Iraq’s Oil Ministry agreed to share revenue from crude pumped there and to develop local energy projects.
5. Why the chilly relations between the two Kurdish parties?
"The KDP and PUK are uneasy coalition partners in the KRG, having fought a civil war with each other in the 1990s. They mobilized independently against Islamic State in 2014, a year when oil prices plunged by half, straining the KRG’s budget. Tensions between them are at their highest level since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, says Shwan Zulal, managing director of Carduchi Consulting: “Since the money ran out, there’s been a bit of a fight for resources.”
6. How is Iraq’s government handling the dispute?
"Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi reached an agreement with the PUK in emergency talks on March 7, prompting the party to lift its immediate threat of shutting in exports. PUK officials said the prime minister had promised to implement an accord reached in January under which the Oil Ministry would give Kirkuk a share of oil revenues, develop local refineries and power plants, and also supply them with oil.
7. What happens if the deal collapses?
"A collapse of this accord could cut off North Oil’s access to the KRG’s export pipeline and immediately remove at least 100,000 barrels a day from world markets. Perhaps more importantly, it could push the central government back into open dispute with the KRG, throwing up legal hurdles for anyone wanting to produce or transport crude from the Kurdish region itself. “If the government doesn’t abide by its commitments to Kirkuk, people across all communities and parties could rise up again,” says Ahmed Al-Askari, head of the Kirkuk assembly’s energy committee and a PUK member."
I reprint all that to let you see that Russia, with no alliance with the Kurds, could, as a pretense to helping the world get more oil reserves at a cheaper rate, once ISIS is strategically eliminated, invade Iraqi to "free" the pipeline and "guarantee" an oil supply. And the World bank. already lending that "nation" money would definitely see the value of another conflict in the area.
I am NOT a prophet, but as Carly Simon once added to it in a song "I do know nature's way." It seems more likely that this will form the key clause on a peace accord likely brokered by and with the US. The US already has a relationship with Iraqi plus a puppet government to maneuver almost any way the US wishes since it is in the US's best interest to wants so it's logical for Putin to work out an agreement to destroy ISIS, give some of the US backed forces over for swift revenge or a place in the Syrian government and, as a quid pro quo demand their help in reducing the Kurds claim to territory, perhaps by even giving them a place in Iraq to call home, brokering it through a Islamic dominated UN, all in the name of peace. The World Bank gave out a lot of loans to countries based on higher oil prices and they will want to start cashing in. Venezuela for instance would immediately profit from a rise in oil prices. US oil companies which have been laboring to give an excuse to lower oil prices and hence cripple ISIS' main source of income would again begin to raise prices stating oil shale depletion and the tenuous state of the Kurkish oil pipeline. providing a reason for the settlement agreement with the Kurds or at least one of their parties, perhaps leaving guerrilla forces from the other party but still being seen by observers as a real move for peace.
Add t that that Putin, in any effort to sweep out of syria south to an Israel almost no one will back, then into Egypt and the Suez canal.
In short, ISIS is the chip God played to start this all in motion. Inspired by the bin Laden axiom that a person can declare his own Jihad, in other words, can call a war against a non-Muslim country by himself, kill himself while attacking that country and therefore insure his way to heaven, ISIS took it to the next level and inspired self-created martyrs. When you live in a society that tells you you have to follow every rule every day and pray for forgiveness several times a day and you find those goals almost impossible in societies which are not Muslim, which willingly indulges every vice plus has come to look upon you as a inhuman killing machine already and doesn't feel the need to meet your moral imperative, the offer of a way to heaven without the burdens of working so hard for it seems enticing, even at the cost of your own life.
The Syrian conflict could reopen that door for the World Bank as well.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/mena/brief/world-banks-response-to-the-syrian-conflict-september-2016
"Prior to the start of the crisis, the Bank was providing support to Syria through technical assistance, advisory services and policy advice on private sector development, human development, social protection and environmental sustainability. (These areas sound familiar? W.) Due to the deterioration of the security situation in Syria, all World Bank operational activity and missions to Syria were halted in early 2011.
"The Bank’s response in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is mainly focused on addressing the impact of the Syrian conflict on neighboring countries, and in particular, Lebanon and Jordan, where the Bank has conducted fundamental analytical work on the social and economic impact of the refugees in the neighboring countries, rapidly prepared projects to assist hosting communities, and mobilized substantial grant funding from donor partners to be channeled towards these efforts. (Notice that the World bank does not give the grants, in fact implies the grants will be used to finance THEIR projects. Will) For Syria, a remote, in-conflict damage assessment using satellite imagery and social media analytics is assessing the state of damage in six cities and six sectors.
"In addition, the Bank is currently leading with a wide range of partners and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on two new financing mechanisms under the MENA Financing Initiative. The first is a mechanism that offers countries affected by the Syrian conflict more favorable financing on concessional terms. The main Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries coping with large inflows of refugees—Lebanon and Jordan--are middle-income, and therefore do not have access to development financing on concessional terms. These countries face increased development financing needs given the costs of providing basic services to the refugee population (such as in the education, health, water and solid waste sectors). By combining grants from donors with loans from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), this instrument provides concessionality on loans from MDBs to middle income countries hosting an influx of refugees. The second financing mechanism is to leverage guarantees from supporting countries to issue World Bank bonds that can provide financing for recovery and reconstruction projects in countries affected by conflict.
"More specifically, the Bank has a robust program in the Mashreq countries bordering Syria."
"In collaboration with a wide range of partners and international financial institutions, the Bank led the establishment of the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF), a mechanism that offers middle-income countries affected by an influx of refugees more favorable financing for development needs by combining grants from donors with loans from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)."
Meaning that they don't give any of their own money but do get loans going, supporting Ms. Klein's writings on profiting from disaster, but also creating more debt and therefore reliance on the World Bank and permitting undue influence in their choices of government. And further destabilizing situations with debt pressure.
Syria then looks very much like another cow to be milked unless Putin wants to be the one with his hands on the udder directly or indirectly with the help of his favorite oil company and it's Iranian contacts.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/04/03/russias-darth-vader-asks-putin-to-allow-for-j-p-morgan-loans/#730762fe5f32
It's never good to be associated with the Russians these days. But at least one American investment bank -- J.P. Morgan -- has spent more than a decade doing business with some of the more notorious characters in Russia, like Igor Sechin, the CEO of oil giant Rosneft who is known locally as "Darth Vader." On Monday, Rosneft filed a notice with the Russian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of the Economy to allow for the company to get financing from international investment banks with subsidiaries in the country. J.P. Morgan Bank International made the cut.
Russia allowed for Rosneft to utilize foreign subsidiaries of a number of foreign banks, Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday, including banks that are sanctioned from doing business there, like BNP Paribas and HSBC. Others included Sumitomo Mitsui of Japan, Credit Agricole of France and the Bank of China to name a few.
JP Morgan is no stranger to Rosneft. In 2006, it was part of the underwriters that worked on a Rosneft public offering, splitting the lion's share of the $120 million in fees with four firms, including American bank Morgan Stanley. The IPO was highly controversial at the time, and would be a hot-button issue in today's headlines because part of the deal included the acquisition of a gas entity owned by Yukos Oil, the once great private oil firm owned by oligarch-turned-anti-Putin lobbyist Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
JP Morgan also has at least $716 million invested in Russian equity, including in the sanctioned companies, through its Hong Kong-based asset manager. All American emerging market mutual funds that track the MSCI Emerging Markets index have investments in Russian securities.
"In mid-February, Rosneft CEO Sechin asked President Vladimir Putin to change the list of foreign banks allowed to work with state-owned enterprises deemed strategic to the Kremlin. The list of foreign subsidiaries working with the oil firm has decreased from 136 to 60 since sanctions were imposed by Europe and the U.S. in the summer of 2014. Rosneft is asking for more banks to choose from following the adoption in September 2016 to increase five-fold its capital requirements.
"The foreign subsidiaries of these banks have been allowed, however, to do business with Russian energy and financial institutions. But some European lenders have strayed from the practice in particular for fear of being caught up in lawsuits. BNP Paribas, for example, was fined billions for providing financing to Iran during sanctions. These lenders, including JP Morgan, could be gun shy.
(Because money and the loss of money are seen as power and the loss of power. W)
"The Russian government banned subsidiaries of foreign banks from working with strategic state companies in September. According to Kommersant, at least one of the top managers from a foreign firm was trying to convince the government to allow it to continue working with Rosneft. Subsidiaries often provide capital for Rosneft to carry out international projects."
J.P. Morgan has an intimate relationship with the World Bank, providing funding for a number of it's projects. And providing advisers.
http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/World-Bank-Prices-USD-4-Billion-5-Year-Global-Benchmark-Bond.html
http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/World-Bank-Announces-New-USD-280-Million-Green-Bond-California-State-Treasurers-Lead-Order.htm
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-damskey-5a438310
https://books.google.com/books?id=FGeCDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=JP+morgan+connections+with+world+bank+group&source=bl&ots=cj37Q_IX66&sig=-5LY4HcN8HKVwBcjrREZMuufwx0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisopXHo5DVAhVEzRQKHVr0B4QQ6AEIPzAF#v=onepage&q=JP%20morgan%20connections%20with%20world%20bank%20group&f=false
The last reference stresses the "revolving door" connecting private lending institutions with the World Bank Group. Everyone knows everyone else and they give jobs to one another. And. as we have shown are tied not just to "Western Imperialism." but to all many of governments, disguised as democracies to provide the Big Lie that the people want this.
I will risk boring you one more time. These are the member nations just in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, all 189 nations.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/members
These member, indeed, any country which is a member must join the IMF, the International Monetary Fund.
http://www.imf.org/en/About
"The IMF, also known as the Fund, was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 countries at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation to avoid a repetition of the competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930's.
(When we consider the global monetary crisis of eight years ago you have to ask the question:'And how's THAT going for you folks?" W.)
"The IMF's responsibilities: The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other. The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability."
Seriously, this quick study points out the mechanisms are now in place for a world leader to impose a global currency either the bitcoins we mentioned or some other and have at least 189 countries fall in line seeing it as a sensible means of stability and the leader could leverage it selling it as a way out of the massive debt disaster capitalism has imposed. It will especially appeal to oligarchic and big business capitalism because it will make books easier to keep and eliminate the exchange rates being figured into transactions.
Simply put, the big business financial community has been playing Go. from Wikkipedia:
"Go (traditional Chinese: 圍棋; simplified Chinese: 围棋; pinyin: About this sound wéiqí; Japanese: 囲碁; rōmaji: igo[nb 2]; Korean: 바둑; romaja: baduk[nb 3]; literally: "encircling game") is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent.
"The game was invented in ancient China more than 2,500 years ago, and is therefore believed to be the oldest board game continuously played today.[2][3] It was considered one of the four essential arts of the cultured aristocratic Chinese scholar caste in antiquity. The earliest written reference to the game is generally recognized as the historical annal Zuo Zhuan[4][5] (c. 4th century BCE).[6]
"Despite its relatively simple rules, Go is very complex, even more so than chess, and possesses more possibilities than the total number of atoms in the visible universe. Compared to chess, Go has both a larger board with more scope for play and longer games, and, on average, many more alternatives to consider per move.[7]
"The playing pieces are called "stones". One player uses the white stones and the other, black. The players take turns placing the stones on the vacant intersections ("points") of a board with a 19×19 grid of lines. Beginners often play on smaller 9×9 and 13×13 boards,[8] and archaeological evidence shows that the game was played in earlier centuries on a board with a 17×17 grid. However, boards with a 19×19 grid had become standard by the time the game had reached Korea in the 5th century CE and later Japan in the 7th century CE.[9]
"The objective of Go—as the translation of its name implies—is to fully surround a larger total area of the board than the opponent.[10]"
Recall that American business has been teaching The Art of War in business schools for decades. Coupled with libertarian "I'm-the-only-one-who-matters-and-I-do-charitable-work-for-my-own-image-benefit", it has governed thinking now in politics because money bought pols then used them to create a system that required them to get money all the time to have enough money to succeed. So many don't actually govern. They merely spew back what they have learned.
That lure of "jobs" and the constant economic instability makes it less likely that the people will take to the streets, will rebel so long as they follow a carrot of lotto, or real estate or stock market or small business success dangled in front of them and fail to notice that the carrot keeps shrinking or that it is really a hologram. With the illusion of democracy, voters can be lured to vote for someone who seems to be above the system and tells them he will get them jobs. Not careers. Not refined education. Neo con s moved to gut the public education system in the US because they couldn't keep "liberal" ideas out of it. They fed the public with images of super heroes who surpass the system, of Batman who is the ultimate rich man who really works for them behind the scenes. And they have indeed used the US as a model, not the model of democracy and hope, but as the model of the way to deceptively create a false government that favors the very rich and tells the very poor it will give them a chance to get up by eliminating government oppression even as it does it's best to remove every government restriction that kept the rich from totally misusing them. The government is only seen by them as an oppressor so long as it seeks to hold them in check. In this they miss the Bible's statements about rulers:
Mt 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.
25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
(KJV)
Those rulers actually were kings. And were the rich. People who call themselves Christians, are perhaps saved and misdirected, and are in leadership positions should not pretend as some have that they are representing their constituents because the large firms give them money and are, therefore their constituents. That is Pharisee thinking. The need is then to wonder at the idea of division, that a healthy environment must be sacrificed for jobs, that a system people have paid money into their entire lives to insure an adequate retirement could be viewed as lacking funds and an encouragement to workers to give a portion of their paychecks to the stock market which one wealthy little investor called "Las Vegas East."
But I seriously digress
The pressure to make money and the need for instability, disaster, war, means that at least some of the entities involved WANT war to make money. As Trump said when he was "running" Trump University:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-2007-i-m-excited-housing-market-crash-n578761
"Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was “excited” for it to end because of the money he’d make.
“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”
Disaster capitalism on the real estate market.
Using game theory again, the Russians excel at Chess and Putin has placed his pieces as the Bible said he would. Let me prompt your memory:
http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/Warning%206%20Russia%20Iran%20Invasion.html
GOD warns Iran (Persia), with Russia (Magog), and a coalition of allies (including Turkey, Libya, Sudan) will go to war and will invade Israel. In Ezekiel 38-39 the Bible warns this coming war between Iran (Persia) and Israel will take place sometime after Israel has been re-gathered into Her land as a nation (which was fulfilled on May 14, 1948) ... this prophetic war has never yet taken place
As you can see, Israel is represented by the OPT meaning this map has a somewhat Muslim slant.
You will immediately note that Egypt is a missing quantity in this war. Muslim nation or not, they will not be involved. Though, with Libya in it, a land invasion of Egypt from that side in a pincer operation to get the Suez may occur.
Next note that the alliance with Sudan gives Russia a guardian over the Red Sea and a port on it for the transport by tanker of oil supplies. The Libyan presence lets them guard the Mediterranean and establish a naval presence there for the first time in history, and gives them another easy strike place from which to attack Europe with ground troops.
One thing not mentioned in this war: capturing Israel would give the King of the North, Putin or another, a direct ground line to attack Egypt and capture the jewel he needs to assure the oil supplies: the Suez Canal. One thing to point out:
http://www.hoover.org/research/united-states-and-future-egyptian-russian-relations
"It is since the 2013 coup and the increasing strains with the United States, however, that Egypt has systematically sought to deepen ties with Russia. This has been partly driven by Egypt’s deteriorating relationship with the United States and its desire to visibly hedge relations while suggesting both an air of independence and alternative sources of support. It has also been driven by Egypt’s relative isolation, particularly as Egypt’s strongest post-coup relationships, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have suffered in recent years. Further, while the initially critical European approach to Egypt in the immediate aftermath of the coup has fragmented and softened, Egypt’s relationship with perhaps its strongest southern European partner, Italy, has come under severe strain in the wake of the 2016 murder of the Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, which appears to be linked to organs of the Egyptian state. In this turbulent setting and amidst the notable cooling of relations with the United States, outreach to Russia and a deepening of ties represented one of the few avenues for enthusiastic diplomatic engagement. The Sisi regime has also sought to seize upon nostalgia for previous eras, and the rekindling of bilateral ties has been pushed forward by a romanticized memory of relations with Russia during the Nasser era."
But that tenuous relationship seems small compared to the World Bank relationship:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-loans-idUSKBN16R23O
#BUSINESS NEWS
MARCH 20, 2017 / 1:28 PM / 4 MONTHS AGO
"CAIRO (Reuters) - The World Bank has disbursed another $1 billion in financial assistance to Egypt out of its $3 billion loan program with the country, the bank said in a statement on Monday.
"Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports and hampered its recovery.
"The government has taken important steps in implementing key policy and institutional reforms that are laying down the foundations for accelerated job creation and inclusive growth," said Dr. Asad Alam, World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti in the statement.
"The World Bank issued the first $1 billion tranche of the loan in 2015, with two more installments of the same size to follow, linked to additional reforms that the government planned.
"Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Egypt began a series of painful economic reforms and has taken steps to lower fuel subsidies, introduced a new value-added tax (VAT) and let its currency float freely in the foreign exchange market in November to attract foreign inflows.
"Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s minister of investment and international cooperation, said in a statement that the second tranche will help spur private sector investment and development projects and services, which should help improve people's standard of living.
"Hafez Ghanem, the World Bank's vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters this month that Cairo's next set of economic reforms should focus on making its bureaucracy more transparent for investors."
Nothing like having your banker tell you how to live.
One more thing: the suggestion of Israel becoming a natural gas exportation giant and stepping on Putin's toes to speed and invasion may be a bit off since it seems they may not have that much natural gas:
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/exporting-israel-s-natural-gas-bounty-could-thwart-bid-to-lower-fuel-prices.premium-1.472395
For whatever reason, Egypt may seem like a certain ally but will then seem like at target when the northern king invades Israel.
Now look again at the recent US initiatives.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/827077/julian-assange-lead-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-cyber-security-unit-wikileaks-g20-summit
…
‘He has best CIA stuff’ WikiLeaks nominates Assange to run Trump’s 'US-Russia cyber unit'
JULIAN Assange has been tipped to head up the US-Russia cybersecurity unit proposed by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin when they met for the first time in Hamburg at the weekend.
This was a tongue-in-cheek offer from their founder since he is rumored to have Russian ties himself, but it underlines the STUPITY of the original idea.
I somehow doubt the efficacy of the Russian fox guarding the US security hen house. Is this the most politically tone deaf idea ever?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/putin/
Trump backs off idea for joint US/Russian 'impenetrable Cyber Security unit'
Goes from #MAGA to 'can't happen' in eight tweets
By Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor 10 Jul 2017 at 02:22 SHARE ▼
"US president Donald Trump has revealed that he and Russian opposite number Vladimir Putin discussed creation of a joint “impenetrable Cyber Security unit” at the G20 Leaders summit, but then displayed Modern Presidential behaviour by quickly dismissing the chances of the unit ever materialising.
"Trump was a bit late to reveal the talks, as Putin's Saturday-dated official transcript of his end-of-G20 press conference revealed that he and Trump discussed security collaboration as follows:
"The US President and I have agreed to establish a working group and make joint efforts to monitor security in the cyberspace, ensure full compliance with international laws in this area, and to prevent interference in countries' internal affairs. Primarily this concerns Russia and the United States. We believe that if we succeed in organising this work – and I have no doubt that we will – there will be no more speculation over this matter.'
(Trump is engaged here in the speaking of a thing into existence. The name it and claim it beliefs essentially taken from Napoleon Hill and not the Bible, are sacred to Trump. When you see him denying reality, he is actually creating a new reality in his own mind and willing it into being. W.)
“This matter” is Russia's alleged interference in last year's US elections.
(But then if they actually did help in the election they would surely seem to him to be great allies. The problem is that Putin wants to control everything and intends to bend reality to HIS will. The US will be great folks so long as he needs them. Putin will be a great guy to the World Bank so long as he keeps creating ares they can stabilize after his incursions. As we mentioned above. W.)
"On Sunday, US time, Trump popped out this Tweet.
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
7:50 AM - 9 Jul 2017
20,018 20,018 Retweets 82,797 82,797 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The White House Briefing Room was silent on both Trump's meeting with Putin and offered no details of the “unit”.
But Trump weighed in again thirteen hours after his first Tweet with this one.
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did!
8:45 PM - 9 Jul 2017
19,700 19,700 Retweets 90,654 90,654 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Why the turnaround? Your idea's as good as anyone's, dear readers, although perhaps US senator Marco Rubio's opinion on the unit was typical of Republican sentiment on the idea.
Follow
Marco Rubio ✔ @marcorubio
Partnering with Putin on a "Cyber Security Unit" is akin to partnering with Assad on a "Chemical Weapons Unit". 2/3
8:14 AM - 9 Jul 2017
17,195 17,195 Retweets 44,298 44,298 likes
The United States already has a “no-hack pact” with China, although it's been described as a “joke” by one analyst. ®
Whether in fact, the Kurds can be used to break the ice in US-Russian relations which Trump and Putin seem eager to thaw or the Russian investigation fails to evolve into impeachment material or something happens to Putin, recall ISIS is the chip God played to start this all in motion. Inspired by the bin Laden axiom that a person can declare his own Jihad, in other words, can call a war against an non-Muslim country by himself, kill himself while attacking that country and therefore insure his way to heaven, ISIS took it to the next level and inspired self-created martyrs. When you live in a society that tells you you have to follow every rule every day and pray for forgiveness several times a day and you find those goals almost impossible in societies which are not Muslim, which willingly indulge every vice plus where many have come to look upon you as a inhuman killing machine already and don't feel the need to meet your moral imperative, the offer of a way to heaven without the burdens of working so hard for it seems enticing, even at the cost of your own life. And the philosophy inspires an army which will fight to the death with the full assurance they are going to heaven because they have declared he jihad, because they are "the masters of their fate and the captains of their ship". Even as they are manipulated by people who think they are pawns, they do not think of themselves as pawns. Just as the people playing nations chess do not think of themselves as pawns. Just as the ones who play nations Go do not see themselves a being manipulated by greed. Again.
But those Middle Eastern places aren't the only ones with the debt problem. The King of the East, the home of the 200 million man army has a sight debt problem also:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/25/news/economy/china-debt-economy/index.html
China's massive debt burden is back in focus. Credit rating agency Moody's downgraded China this week, warning that the country's financial health is suffering from rising debt and slowing economic growth. It's the first time the agency has cut China's rating in nearly three decades. Fears about debt levels in the world's second-largest economy have been flagged before. The International Monetary Fund pushed Beijing to "urgently address" the issue last year.
So just how bad is China's debt problem? Here are the key things to know:
The problem has been years in the making
As growth in the West collapsed following the global financial crisis of 2008, China's local governments and state-owned companies borrowed heavily to build cities and roads, invest in businesses and bolster financial markets.
That spending spree has resulted in a domestic debt hangover, particularly among some of the country's bloated and inefficient state-owned companies. Corporate debt in China soared to around 170% of GDP in 2016, roughly double the average of other economies, according to the Bank of International Settlements.
In 2008, China's figure stood at about 100%.
Beijing is trying to solve it ...
The Chinese government is well aware it has a problem.
Authorities have introduced a series of measures in recent years to tackle local government debt and bad bank loans. They have also tried to reduce the economy's dependence on credit as a way to fuel growth.
"Many experts say more needs to be done. But efforts by regulators in recent weeks to clamp down on risky debt in the country's financial system have unsettled investors.
"China is still taking a "softly, softly" approach to reducing debt as it attempts to keep economic growth steady.
Some economists support that stance, arguing that by moving too quickly, Chinese authorities could trigger a financial crisis.
Chi Lo, senior China economist at BNP Paribas, said a swift cut in the country's debt to GDP ratio would be implausible. "This could crush the economy before the benefits of deleveraging could even emerge," he said in a recent research note.
Still, it could be worse
"China has plenty of ammo left. One option is a bank bailout that could push government debt from 55% to 90% of GDP, according to Capital Economics. "That is high, but still lower than the debt burdens of many other governments," Mark Williams, the consultancy's chief China economist, said in a note on Wednesday. "China's government also has far more assets than most of its peers."
"The Moody's downgrade leaves China on the same rating as Japan, which has a far bigger government debt load, BNP's Lo pointed out. Massive systemic defaults are far less likely when the bulk of debt is owed by a public sector with a strong balance sheet, which is the case with China, he said."
The need to expand and add more countries to the main countries income base led to China's entry into the "colonization" race. Led to them creating more buyers for their product, more sources It led to Putin, faced with the debt accrued from the dissolution of the USSR, becoming more aggressive in his attempts to "reunify" the old republics. The game of economic Go, acquiring more countries by getting them in debt can work only so long because those countries are a limited resource. But acquiring countries by conquest and making them satellites can actually create a new country to get into debt.
After the first settlement of the "dispute" in the Minsk Accords, the Ukraine got over $2 billion dollars in loans but 1.9 billion of that is still left on the World Bank coffers.as "undisbursed". Someone taking over the Ukraine would have access to that money. Or somene settling the major dispute. Also the the interest o the accrued debt, but till, 1.9 billion? But, more interesting, if the separatists get their country nestled next to Russia giving Putin a buffer zone, they could also petition for billions for their entirely new nation. Start up money. Certainly the Kurds set precedent by getting their funds from the world bank. And a much smaller Ukraine remains as still the fastest way for Russia to get into Europe for a ground invasion. And look at that article again. They may demand TWO countries be formed.
There is a way out of this worldwide mess: someone could step forward with the idea of cancelling or forgiving those debts. It would remove the incentives for all the new countries, seem to remove the economic need for aggression to acquire "colonies." This would fir the Dominion believers. It would be popular. You recall how Bernie Sanders, a nobody socialist, got all manner of support for the democratic Presidential candidacy by saying he would cancel the debt on student loans.
But it would also gut the power of the World Bank, of banks in general and, since the US dollar is the "gold standard", would end the US's most powerful influence.
Bringing to mind this:
Re 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: {to receive: Gr. to give them}
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
(KJV)
So that pressure will stay in place until some massive reason for the change becomes evident. Now we can see somewhat clearly the effect if the economics on the coming King of the North invasion and on many of the countries involved.
Eze 38:14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? {by: Heb. by the hand of}
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. {steep...: or, towers, or, stairs}
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
(KJV)
The shadow on the wall
Tells me the sun is goin' down.
Ruby (Don't Take Your Love to Town)
Kenny Rogers and the 1st Edition
The shadow of the End Times is on the wall for all to see. If you believe in prophecy. If you believe the word of God is true in every prophecy. If you have spiritual advisers for anything other than reinforcement of a love of money and focus on power. Then a President might think twice about his aid to Russia in Syria:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ap-sources-us-russia-reach-deal-on-syria-ceasefire/2017/07/07/0ed5d2a6-632e-11e7-80a2-8c226031ac3f_story.html?utm_term=.08f98d9d42d8
HAMBURG, Germany — The United States and Russia struck an agreement Friday on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, crowning President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is the first U.S.-Russian effort under Trump’s presidency to stem Syria’s six-year civil war.
The cease-fire goes into effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, according to U.S. officials and the Jordanian government, which is also involved in the deal.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who accompanied Trump in his meeting with Putin, said the understanding is designed to reduce violence in an area of Syria near Jordan’s border that is critical to the U.S. ally’s security.
It’s a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield,” Tillerson told reporters after the U.S. and Russian leaders met for more than 2 hours on the sidelines of a global summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Of the agreement, he said, “I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”
And this circulates underneath:
U.S. Support for Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels Undermines Syrian Ceasefire
By Michael Hughes
"The United States needs to do more than wag its finger at Syrian rebel groups for “comingling” with Al Qaeda-affiliated Salafist jihadists or else an already tenuous ceasefire accord between government and opposition forces is destined to collapse.
"Earlier this week, the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) co-chaired by the U.S. and Russia agreed to render persistent violators of the ceasefire as “fair game” on the battlefield, relegating them to the same status as the Islamic State and Jabhat-al Nusra, or the Nusra Front, which is Al Qaeda’s franchisee in Syria.
"On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson John Kirby expressed concerns that U.S.-backed Syrian opposition factions such as Ahrar al-Sham have been cohabitating with the Nusra Front. However, Washington has doggedly resisted calls to add the Al Qaeda collaborators to the UN terrorist list - claiming it would damage the ceasefire - which journalist Finian Cunningham sees as an “unwitting U.S. admission” about who is really leading the Syrian “rebellion.”
"Ahrar al-Sham along with Jaysh al-Islam, another Western-sponsored faction, not only have zero inclination to respect the ceasefire, they have aspirations that completely contradict the U.S. stated goal of ushering in a Jeffersonian democracy to replace Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"Both organizations, according to University of Ottawa extremism specialist Kamran Bokhari, share the common goal of instituting an Islamic state governed by sharia law. Further, Bokhari argues, the real reason the U.S. opposes designating them as terrorists is because they are proxy groups supported by American allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Hence, it has nothing to do with concerns about the ceasefire.
"Moreover, on May 12, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Ahrar al-Sham collaborated with the Nusra Front in an assault on the Alawite-majority village of al-Zara, killing at least 19 civilians, including women and children. Point being, the attack provided clear evidence that Ahrar al-Sham is doing more than intermingling with Al Qaeda’s Syria branch.
"Three days later, The New York Times reported that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri plans to create an alternate headquarters in Syria to “lay the groundwork for possibly establishing an emirate through Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front,” which some experts claim complicates Washington’s support for the rebels even further.
“The United States has placed itself in a very difficult situation because many of the rebel groups that it wants to become principal holders of state power in Syria work hand and glove with Al Qaeda,” University of Oklahoma Center for Middle East Studies Director Joshua Landis told Sputnik on Monday.
"Islamists are not only leading the Syrian opposition’s charge on the military front, they are dominating its role in the peace talks in Geneva as well. The rebel political delegation is being led by Jaysh al-Islam and other Islamist parties while the secular Syrian Kurds have been excluded, a surreal development fully sponsored by the United States.
"During the early stages of the intra-Syrian talks in January, Washington Kurdish Institute Director of Media and Policy Yousuf Ismael said without the Kurds the creation of an Islamic system of government in Syria was inevitable based on the current constitution of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
"Even more disconcerting is the lack of outrage or any major objections to U.S. policy emanating from either Congress, the media or the public at large. American media outlets, including CNN, the Associated Press and the Washington Post, among others, have consistently propagated the fictional narrative that the United States is supporting “moderate opposition forces” on the battlefield and in the peace talks in Geneva. Not to mention the media’s primary focus has been on Syrian government ceasefire violations with little attention paid to opposition transgressions.
"Secretary of State John Kerry has long claimed that the United States is committed to seeing a “whole, unified, pluralistic, nonsectarian Syria,” which is hard to believe given the State Department’s objection to classifying these two organizations as what they truly are: jihadist terrorist groups that should be excluded from any cessation of hostilities.
Which prompts a fair question that goes beyond simply upholding a fragile ceasefire: How in the world does the U.S. government believe for a second that a post-Assad regime in Syria will be secular to any degree based on the current makeup of the opposition’s negotiating team, whose members by and large have openly proclaimed that they want to establish an Islamist state?
The unfortunate answer is that the U.S. government has never absorbed the lessons of previous policies based on the credo, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Washington is following the exact same playbook employed during the jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s, in just one example, wherein we supported the most radical and virulently anti-Western factions within the mujahideen to achieve geopolitical ends at all costs, leading to the well-documented blowback known as Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
"Despite all this, Washington’s love for jihadists has apparently not waned. As a result, the tragic irony is we are now facilitating the resurgence of these very same elements - in some cases literally the same figures - all in the name of a secular and unified Syria."
So the President continued to examine that hot potato and dropped it with no concessions from Mr. Putin.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/cia-syria-anti-assad-rebels/index.html
(CNN)US President Donald Trump has ordered the CIA to discontinue a program of arming and training anti-Assad rebels in Syria, according to a report in the Washington Post which cites unnamed US officials.
The move is seen as controversial, given Russia's opposition to the rebels and Moscow's strong support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
"It's a strategic mistake.... (support for the rebels) was a pressure point on Assad and a pressure point on the Iranians... and the Russians," according to Bob Baer, CNN Intelligence and security analyst and former CIA operative.
"It looks like, to me, that he just gave that as a gift to Vladimir Putin for no quid pro quo and that's not the way diplomacy works. We should've used this, we should've demanded, for example, safe zones so the Sunnis wouldn't get hit from the air... so this is just inexplicable, why he would do this.
"He's lost his pressure point... it's crazy, frankly, I've never seen anything like it."
"Former US President Barack Obama signed the covert directive in 2012, US officials told CNN at the time.
"The then-administration said it would step up its assistance to the opposition in the wake of a 2012 failure by the UN Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Russia and China vetoed those measures.
"CIA-funded weaponry started flowing to Syrian rebel groups the following year.
"The Obama administration had resisted arming the rebels, citing concerns about the infiltration of extremists groups who could possibly use those weapons against other targets, CNN reported at the time."
Now consider the disaster capitalism scenario in nearby Iraq which is essentially fighting the same ISIS enemy. Recent shots of Mosul shown on July 16 on CBS reveal a totally smashed city with talk of dead citizens under the wreckage. Mosul, by the way, was built across the river from Nineveh. In fact, Iraq itself is being destroyed in need of a rebuild. An America allied with a new joint government that owes it something in yet another country would be in position for the big business capitalists to profit again from the shock of war disaster. Not long ago war was looked at as the enemy of capitalism because the instability would make business iffy.
But the disaster rebuild has actually been going on since Desert Storm "succeeded".
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/12/20/new-us1485-billion-package-to-support-iraqs-drive-to-counter-cost-of-war-low-oil-prices
WASHINGTON, December 20, 2016- 'The World Bank Group has endorsed a new US$1.485 billion package to support reforms to improve public service delivery and transparency, stimulate private sector growth and support job creation. Iraq continues to face a large humanitarian crisis with 10 million people, over one quarter of the population, estimated to be in need of assistance, of which 3.4 million are internally displaced people and 240,000 refugees.
"The institution’s Board of Directors approved today the Second Expenditure Rationalization, Energy Efficiency, and State-Owned Enterprise Governance Development Policy Financing (DPF) Project, for a total of US$1.443 billion including guarantees from the governments of the United Kingdom (US$371.82 million) and Canada (US$72 million), a testament of strong international support to Iraq. The DPF’s key development objectives focus on: (i) supporting expenditure rationalization; (ii) improving energy efficiency; and (iii) enhancing the transparency and governance of state-owned enterprises.
“Despite an ongoing war and low oil prices, Iraq is undertaking bold transformational reforms that will safeguard economic stability and lay the foundations for longer term private sector development and inclusive growth for all Iraqis” said Ferid Belhaj, World Bank Director for the Middle East. “The reforms will help build trust between Iraqi citizens and their government, by making the management of public funds more efficient and transparent and expanding social safety nets to reach the most vulnerable segments of the population.”
(Please recall that perfunctory speech long ago which we mentioned last time by the US oil exec who assured young Saudi's they would always have job which severed as the final straw in the nationalization of the oil company in Saudi Arabia. Readers in the USA can easily see the word "jobs" has become hallowed ground to US neo-cons who tell people they will get more jobs if all the regulations are taken away. We to remember the Very big businesses involved in taking over economies and using people for cheap labor are NOT smart; they are merely very rich and use those riches to get their way like cavemen with very big clubs. Like members of a rich family in the USA they think they can get away with flouting any law simply because they can remake the laws or misuse them and no one has ever stopped them, because, frankly, no one can stop them so long as they can influence elected officials with bribes masked as "campaign contributions." Or if they have driven a country so far in debt it must obey. When we wonder why they act this way we inevitably circle back to those days of Eden and that seduction: "You can be like God." Please recall that idea always ends badly. The book of Revelation says it eventually ends badly on a global scale. W.)
"Separately, the Bank’s governing body also endorsed a US$41.5 million operation for the Modernization of Public Financial Management Systems, which supports the overall objectives of the DPF series and aims to support Iraq’s public financial management system.
“This operation is complementary to the objectives of the DPF and will support the Government in its goal to improve transparency in the management of public funds and financial information and modernize public procurement practices across many federal and governorate agencies” said Robert Bou Jaoude, the Bank’s Country Manager for Iraq.
"Today’s overall financial assistance package is aligned with the Government’s recovery blueprint for 2015-2018. It is also in line with the World Bank’s Strategy for the Middle East and North Africa, which calls for renewing the social contract in fragile states, supporting regional cooperation, bolstering the resilience to refugee crises, and initiating reconstruction and recovery programs where needed.
(Please recall or reread how those "recovery" programs go to our previous postings. W.)
"With the new package, the World Bank’s present engagement in Iraq rises to nearly US$3.4 billion, including multi-sectoral support to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas recently recovered by Government forces and a transport corridor investment.
"In addition, the Bank is providing wide-ranging technical assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government.
(Note that the Kurds are loved by no one. especially the Turks. See below. W)
"In parallel, the Government of Iraq requested the Bank to support reconstruction in areas liberated from ISIS. In response, the Bank developed an Emergency Operation for Development to provide funding for reconstruction efforts in seven cities in Diyala and Saladin. This project is currently under implementation.
"The WBG also provided a US$1.2 billion development policy financing loan to support Iraq as the country faces fiscal pressures from the fall in oil prices and a mounting humanitarian crisis."
Perhaps every message sent between US and Iraq governments contains the message; "You owe me."
With previous relations in Syria, the World Bank will be ready to "help" and will really be encouraging a success in Syria. Any form of settlement that establishes a "stable" investment area then becomes viable. We can see the Kurds and their people being sacrificed like pawns as the USA did in the Vietnam era, leaving behind many who allied with them for the resistance of Communism in Laos, Cambodia and even Vietnam itself.
There was important Christian news concerning the Kurds in 2017. The first every publication of a Bible in the Sorani dialect of Kurdish. https://www.biblica.com/articles/first-ever-sorani-kurdish-bible-published/ Opening doors for evangelizing there.
Today, The Kurds live in what they call Kurdistan and what everyone else resists naming in an area of northern Iraq and Iran, eastern Syria, and eastern Turkey and just touching on southern Armenia. They have separate status from the rest of Iraq. The Kurds have their own government and military. The Kurds are descended from thise the bible called the Medes. They managed to maintain their geographic and nationalistic identity despite being depicted merely as a "tribe" by news media and their enemies. Resembling in that way the Jews who were held together across vastly larger geography and also preserved by God for these times.
About the Kurds and Bible prophecy:
https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/with-prophetic-implications-the-kurds-known-as-the-medes-in-the-bible-seize-oil-rich-region-of-iraq/
Ultimately, many Kurds want to create an independent country of their own, uniting Kurds living in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Yet each of those national governments strongly oppose the creation of an independent Kurdistan.
What’s fascinating is that the modern Kurdish people were known in ancient, Biblical times as the Medes. Here is where things get interesting.
Bible prophecy indicates that in the End Times, as we get closer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, God will allow the Medes to gain power, even as the Lord allows the Arabs to gain power and rebuild the kingdom of Babylon in the heart of Iraq.
The Book of Revelation, for example, tells us that Babylon will be the epicenter of evil in the last days of history, and will eventually face the judgment of God. The Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel tell us this, as well, indicating Babylon will be completely destroyed and when the judgment is complete, Babylon will be completely uninhabitable. Indeed, Isaiah 13:20 says of Babylon, “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.”
"What’s more, Bible prophecy indicates that God will raise up the Medes — that is, the Kurdish people — to be an instrument of judgment against Babylon.
Isaiah 13:17 — “Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them [the Babylonians]….”
Jeremiah 51:11 — “The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the Lord….”
Jeremiah 51:28-29 — “Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion. So the land quakes and writhes, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants….”
How exactly will these eschatological prophecies come to pass? It’s too early to say for certain.
"But after studying these prophecies, traveling four times to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, meeting with senior Kurdish leaders — including Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani — and tracking developments there over the past decade or so, I think it is fair to say we may be seeing some of the prophetic battle lines developing:
"The hatred of the Kurds/Medes against the Arabs, and vice versa, is steadily growing.
The Kurds/Medes and the Arabs are in a continued struggle to control the oil resources that will make either or both of them enormously wealthy and powerful in the End Times.
The Kurds/Medes are, step by step, forming into their nation, and possibly their own country.
The Kurds/Medes are developing an increasingly effective military force that is able to overpower the Iraqi Arabs at times.
"Please keep the Kurdish people in your prayers. There are a growing number of truly born again Christians living in Kurdistan, including many MBBs, Muslim Background Believers. Please pray that they would boldly preach the Gospel, and be able to make many disciples, and help the believers that grow deep in their faith in Christ, especially amidst all the chaos and carnage."
If you look at that map and you understand that Russia will forge an alliance with Turkey, Syria and Iran in prophecy, you now understand the critical role the Kurdish populations play. At the time Rosenberg wrote the article above in 2014, the Kurds had seized the rich oilfields in Kirkuk and were gaining riches for their "tribal" armies. That seizure has led to new animosities as US and Iraqi forces have driven ISIS out of the area:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-02/how-a-squabble-at-iraq-s-oldest-oil-field-can-roil-world-supply
April 2, 2017, 1:00 PM EDT
Giant Kirkuk field producing at less than half its capacity
Local rivalries bubble up as Islamic State militants retreat
A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway, even as U.S.-backed forces prepare what could be a decisive blow against Islamic State militants in the nearby city of Mosul. Kirkuk, where Iraq first discovered oil in 1927, can produce more than 1 million barrels a day but is pumping at less than half its capacity while competing ethnic and political groups scramble to control its 9 billion barrels of reserves.
1. What’s behind the tensions in Kirkuk?
"Lying near a disputed city of the same name, the Kirkuk field is a tinderbox for potential conflict between the central government and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurds, both of whom have for decades claimed it as their own. More recently, it also became became a flashpoint for rival Kurdish political parties and their heavily armed supporters. “As Islamic State becomes less of a pressing threat, a lot of these tensions that had been subsumed into the common fight are inevitably going to come back to the surface,” says Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.
2. Who controls the Kirkuk field?
"Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government both pump oil from different wells at the field, which straddles their respective areas of control. Kurdish forces took control of territory around Kirkuk in June 2014 after the Iraqi Army fled from Islamic State militants, but the federal government in Baghdad doesn’t recognize Kurdish control of the area. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, which leads Kirkuk’s local government and maintains the city’s security, is a rival to the Kurdistan Democratic Party that dominates the KRG and controls most of its oil revenues.
3. How much oil is Kirkuk producing?
"Kirkuk and nearby fields are producing about half a million barrels of oil daily, according to data supplied by the Oil Ministry and the KRG in September 2016. Most of the crude is exported through a Kurdish-controlled pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The KRG produces about 350,000 barrels a day, and the state-run North Oil Co. approximately 150,000. The two sides reached a deal in August 2016 allowing North Oil to export through the Kurdish pipeline. In return, the KRG takes a cut of the revenue and gets to export its own share of crude from Kirkuk. Iraq, the second-biggest OPEC member, pumped a total of 4.44 million barrels a day in February, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Oil prices fell more than 2 percent after the agreement as it was expected to increase exports by about 150,000 barrels.
4. Why is the deal at risk?
"The export deal doesn’t address the competing claims to Kirkuk’s oil, or the larger dispute over the KRG’s right to produce and export oil independently of the central government. The deal also left out Kirkuk’s PUK-led provincial government, stoking tensions between the two main Kurdish parties. On March 2, soldiers loyal to the PUK stormed North Oil’s main pumping facility at Kirkuk and briefly halted exports of more than 100,000 barrels a day. They threatened to cut off those exports permanently unless Iraq’s Oil Ministry agreed to share revenue from crude pumped there and to develop local energy projects.
5. Why the chilly relations between the two Kurdish parties?
"The KDP and PUK are uneasy coalition partners in the KRG, having fought a civil war with each other in the 1990s. They mobilized independently against Islamic State in 2014, a year when oil prices plunged by half, straining the KRG’s budget. Tensions between them are at their highest level since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, says Shwan Zulal, managing director of Carduchi Consulting: “Since the money ran out, there’s been a bit of a fight for resources.”
6. How is Iraq’s government handling the dispute?
"Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi reached an agreement with the PUK in emergency talks on March 7, prompting the party to lift its immediate threat of shutting in exports. PUK officials said the prime minister had promised to implement an accord reached in January under which the Oil Ministry would give Kirkuk a share of oil revenues, develop local refineries and power plants, and also supply them with oil.
7. What happens if the deal collapses?
"A collapse of this accord could cut off North Oil’s access to the KRG’s export pipeline and immediately remove at least 100,000 barrels a day from world markets. Perhaps more importantly, it could push the central government back into open dispute with the KRG, throwing up legal hurdles for anyone wanting to produce or transport crude from the Kurdish region itself. “If the government doesn’t abide by its commitments to Kirkuk, people across all communities and parties could rise up again,” says Ahmed Al-Askari, head of the Kirkuk assembly’s energy committee and a PUK member."
I reprint all that to let you see that Russia, with no alliance with the Kurds, could, as a pretense to helping the world get more oil reserves at a cheaper rate, once ISIS is strategically eliminated, invade Iraqi to "free" the pipeline and "guarantee" an oil supply. And the World bank. already lending that "nation" money would definitely see the value of another conflict in the area.
I am NOT a prophet, but as Carly Simon once added to it in a song "I do know nature's way." It seems more likely that this will form the key clause on a peace accord likely brokered by and with the US. The US already has a relationship with Iraqi plus a puppet government to maneuver almost any way the US wishes since it is in the US's best interest to wants so it's logical for Putin to work out an agreement to destroy ISIS, give some of the US backed forces over for swift revenge or a place in the Syrian government and, as a quid pro quo demand their help in reducing the Kurds claim to territory, perhaps by even giving them a place in Iraq to call home, brokering it through a Islamic dominated UN, all in the name of peace. The World Bank gave out a lot of loans to countries based on higher oil prices and they will want to start cashing in. Venezuela for instance would immediately profit from a rise in oil prices. US oil companies which have been laboring to give an excuse to lower oil prices and hence cripple ISIS' main source of income would again begin to raise prices stating oil shale depletion and the tenuous state of the Kurkish oil pipeline. providing a reason for the settlement agreement with the Kurds or at least one of their parties, perhaps leaving guerrilla forces from the other party but still being seen by observers as a real move for peace.
Add t that that Putin, in any effort to sweep out of syria south to an Israel almost no one will back, then into Egypt and the Suez canal.
In short, ISIS is the chip God played to start this all in motion. Inspired by the bin Laden axiom that a person can declare his own Jihad, in other words, can call a war against a non-Muslim country by himself, kill himself while attacking that country and therefore insure his way to heaven, ISIS took it to the next level and inspired self-created martyrs. When you live in a society that tells you you have to follow every rule every day and pray for forgiveness several times a day and you find those goals almost impossible in societies which are not Muslim, which willingly indulges every vice plus has come to look upon you as a inhuman killing machine already and doesn't feel the need to meet your moral imperative, the offer of a way to heaven without the burdens of working so hard for it seems enticing, even at the cost of your own life.
The Syrian conflict could reopen that door for the World Bank as well.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/mena/brief/world-banks-response-to-the-syrian-conflict-september-2016
"Prior to the start of the crisis, the Bank was providing support to Syria through technical assistance, advisory services and policy advice on private sector development, human development, social protection and environmental sustainability. (These areas sound familiar? W.) Due to the deterioration of the security situation in Syria, all World Bank operational activity and missions to Syria were halted in early 2011.
"The Bank’s response in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is mainly focused on addressing the impact of the Syrian conflict on neighboring countries, and in particular, Lebanon and Jordan, where the Bank has conducted fundamental analytical work on the social and economic impact of the refugees in the neighboring countries, rapidly prepared projects to assist hosting communities, and mobilized substantial grant funding from donor partners to be channeled towards these efforts. (Notice that the World bank does not give the grants, in fact implies the grants will be used to finance THEIR projects. Will) For Syria, a remote, in-conflict damage assessment using satellite imagery and social media analytics is assessing the state of damage in six cities and six sectors.
"In addition, the Bank is currently leading with a wide range of partners and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on two new financing mechanisms under the MENA Financing Initiative. The first is a mechanism that offers countries affected by the Syrian conflict more favorable financing on concessional terms. The main Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries coping with large inflows of refugees—Lebanon and Jordan--are middle-income, and therefore do not have access to development financing on concessional terms. These countries face increased development financing needs given the costs of providing basic services to the refugee population (such as in the education, health, water and solid waste sectors). By combining grants from donors with loans from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), this instrument provides concessionality on loans from MDBs to middle income countries hosting an influx of refugees. The second financing mechanism is to leverage guarantees from supporting countries to issue World Bank bonds that can provide financing for recovery and reconstruction projects in countries affected by conflict.
"More specifically, the Bank has a robust program in the Mashreq countries bordering Syria."
"In collaboration with a wide range of partners and international financial institutions, the Bank led the establishment of the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF), a mechanism that offers middle-income countries affected by an influx of refugees more favorable financing for development needs by combining grants from donors with loans from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)."
Meaning that they don't give any of their own money but do get loans going, supporting Ms. Klein's writings on profiting from disaster, but also creating more debt and therefore reliance on the World Bank and permitting undue influence in their choices of government. And further destabilizing situations with debt pressure.
Syria then looks very much like another cow to be milked unless Putin wants to be the one with his hands on the udder directly or indirectly with the help of his favorite oil company and it's Iranian contacts.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/04/03/russias-darth-vader-asks-putin-to-allow-for-j-p-morgan-loans/#730762fe5f32
It's never good to be associated with the Russians these days. But at least one American investment bank -- J.P. Morgan -- has spent more than a decade doing business with some of the more notorious characters in Russia, like Igor Sechin, the CEO of oil giant Rosneft who is known locally as "Darth Vader." On Monday, Rosneft filed a notice with the Russian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of the Economy to allow for the company to get financing from international investment banks with subsidiaries in the country. J.P. Morgan Bank International made the cut.
Russia allowed for Rosneft to utilize foreign subsidiaries of a number of foreign banks, Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday, including banks that are sanctioned from doing business there, like BNP Paribas and HSBC. Others included Sumitomo Mitsui of Japan, Credit Agricole of France and the Bank of China to name a few.
JP Morgan is no stranger to Rosneft. In 2006, it was part of the underwriters that worked on a Rosneft public offering, splitting the lion's share of the $120 million in fees with four firms, including American bank Morgan Stanley. The IPO was highly controversial at the time, and would be a hot-button issue in today's headlines because part of the deal included the acquisition of a gas entity owned by Yukos Oil, the once great private oil firm owned by oligarch-turned-anti-Putin lobbyist Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
JP Morgan also has at least $716 million invested in Russian equity, including in the sanctioned companies, through its Hong Kong-based asset manager. All American emerging market mutual funds that track the MSCI Emerging Markets index have investments in Russian securities.
"In mid-February, Rosneft CEO Sechin asked President Vladimir Putin to change the list of foreign banks allowed to work with state-owned enterprises deemed strategic to the Kremlin. The list of foreign subsidiaries working with the oil firm has decreased from 136 to 60 since sanctions were imposed by Europe and the U.S. in the summer of 2014. Rosneft is asking for more banks to choose from following the adoption in September 2016 to increase five-fold its capital requirements.
"The foreign subsidiaries of these banks have been allowed, however, to do business with Russian energy and financial institutions. But some European lenders have strayed from the practice in particular for fear of being caught up in lawsuits. BNP Paribas, for example, was fined billions for providing financing to Iran during sanctions. These lenders, including JP Morgan, could be gun shy.
(Because money and the loss of money are seen as power and the loss of power. W)
"The Russian government banned subsidiaries of foreign banks from working with strategic state companies in September. According to Kommersant, at least one of the top managers from a foreign firm was trying to convince the government to allow it to continue working with Rosneft. Subsidiaries often provide capital for Rosneft to carry out international projects."
J.P. Morgan has an intimate relationship with the World Bank, providing funding for a number of it's projects. And providing advisers.
http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/World-Bank-Prices-USD-4-Billion-5-Year-Global-Benchmark-Bond.html
http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/World-Bank-Announces-New-USD-280-Million-Green-Bond-California-State-Treasurers-Lead-Order.htm
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-damskey-5a438310
https://books.google.com/books?id=FGeCDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=JP+morgan+connections+with+world+bank+group&source=bl&ots=cj37Q_IX66&sig=-5LY4HcN8HKVwBcjrREZMuufwx0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisopXHo5DVAhVEzRQKHVr0B4QQ6AEIPzAF#v=onepage&q=JP%20morgan%20connections%20with%20world%20bank%20group&f=false
The last reference stresses the "revolving door" connecting private lending institutions with the World Bank Group. Everyone knows everyone else and they give jobs to one another. And. as we have shown are tied not just to "Western Imperialism." but to all many of governments, disguised as democracies to provide the Big Lie that the people want this.
I will risk boring you one more time. These are the member nations just in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, all 189 nations.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/members
These member, indeed, any country which is a member must join the IMF, the International Monetary Fund.
http://www.imf.org/en/About
"The IMF, also known as the Fund, was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 countries at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation to avoid a repetition of the competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930's.
(When we consider the global monetary crisis of eight years ago you have to ask the question:'And how's THAT going for you folks?" W.)
"The IMF's responsibilities: The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other. The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability."
Seriously, this quick study points out the mechanisms are now in place for a world leader to impose a global currency either the bitcoins we mentioned or some other and have at least 189 countries fall in line seeing it as a sensible means of stability and the leader could leverage it selling it as a way out of the massive debt disaster capitalism has imposed. It will especially appeal to oligarchic and big business capitalism because it will make books easier to keep and eliminate the exchange rates being figured into transactions.
Simply put, the big business financial community has been playing Go. from Wikkipedia:
"Go (traditional Chinese: 圍棋; simplified Chinese: 围棋; pinyin: About this sound wéiqí; Japanese: 囲碁; rōmaji: igo[nb 2]; Korean: 바둑; romaja: baduk[nb 3]; literally: "encircling game") is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent.
"The game was invented in ancient China more than 2,500 years ago, and is therefore believed to be the oldest board game continuously played today.[2][3] It was considered one of the four essential arts of the cultured aristocratic Chinese scholar caste in antiquity. The earliest written reference to the game is generally recognized as the historical annal Zuo Zhuan[4][5] (c. 4th century BCE).[6]
"Despite its relatively simple rules, Go is very complex, even more so than chess, and possesses more possibilities than the total number of atoms in the visible universe. Compared to chess, Go has both a larger board with more scope for play and longer games, and, on average, many more alternatives to consider per move.[7]
"The playing pieces are called "stones". One player uses the white stones and the other, black. The players take turns placing the stones on the vacant intersections ("points") of a board with a 19×19 grid of lines. Beginners often play on smaller 9×9 and 13×13 boards,[8] and archaeological evidence shows that the game was played in earlier centuries on a board with a 17×17 grid. However, boards with a 19×19 grid had become standard by the time the game had reached Korea in the 5th century CE and later Japan in the 7th century CE.[9]
"The objective of Go—as the translation of its name implies—is to fully surround a larger total area of the board than the opponent.[10]"
Recall that American business has been teaching The Art of War in business schools for decades. Coupled with libertarian "I'm-the-only-one-who-matters-and-I-do-charitable-work-for-my-own-image-benefit", it has governed thinking now in politics because money bought pols then used them to create a system that required them to get money all the time to have enough money to succeed. So many don't actually govern. They merely spew back what they have learned.
That lure of "jobs" and the constant economic instability makes it less likely that the people will take to the streets, will rebel so long as they follow a carrot of lotto, or real estate or stock market or small business success dangled in front of them and fail to notice that the carrot keeps shrinking or that it is really a hologram. With the illusion of democracy, voters can be lured to vote for someone who seems to be above the system and tells them he will get them jobs. Not careers. Not refined education. Neo con s moved to gut the public education system in the US because they couldn't keep "liberal" ideas out of it. They fed the public with images of super heroes who surpass the system, of Batman who is the ultimate rich man who really works for them behind the scenes. And they have indeed used the US as a model, not the model of democracy and hope, but as the model of the way to deceptively create a false government that favors the very rich and tells the very poor it will give them a chance to get up by eliminating government oppression even as it does it's best to remove every government restriction that kept the rich from totally misusing them. The government is only seen by them as an oppressor so long as it seeks to hold them in check. In this they miss the Bible's statements about rulers:
Mt 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.
25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
(KJV)
Those rulers actually were kings. And were the rich. People who call themselves Christians, are perhaps saved and misdirected, and are in leadership positions should not pretend as some have that they are representing their constituents because the large firms give them money and are, therefore their constituents. That is Pharisee thinking. The need is then to wonder at the idea of division, that a healthy environment must be sacrificed for jobs, that a system people have paid money into their entire lives to insure an adequate retirement could be viewed as lacking funds and an encouragement to workers to give a portion of their paychecks to the stock market which one wealthy little investor called "Las Vegas East."
But I seriously digress
The pressure to make money and the need for instability, disaster, war, means that at least some of the entities involved WANT war to make money. As Trump said when he was "running" Trump University:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-2007-i-m-excited-housing-market-crash-n578761
"Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was “excited” for it to end because of the money he’d make.
“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”
Disaster capitalism on the real estate market.
Using game theory again, the Russians excel at Chess and Putin has placed his pieces as the Bible said he would. Let me prompt your memory:
http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/Warning%206%20Russia%20Iran%20Invasion.html
GOD warns Iran (Persia), with Russia (Magog), and a coalition of allies (including Turkey, Libya, Sudan) will go to war and will invade Israel. In Ezekiel 38-39 the Bible warns this coming war between Iran (Persia) and Israel will take place sometime after Israel has been re-gathered into Her land as a nation (which was fulfilled on May 14, 1948) ... this prophetic war has never yet taken place
As you can see, Israel is represented by the OPT meaning this map has a somewhat Muslim slant.
You will immediately note that Egypt is a missing quantity in this war. Muslim nation or not, they will not be involved. Though, with Libya in it, a land invasion of Egypt from that side in a pincer operation to get the Suez may occur.
Next note that the alliance with Sudan gives Russia a guardian over the Red Sea and a port on it for the transport by tanker of oil supplies. The Libyan presence lets them guard the Mediterranean and establish a naval presence there for the first time in history, and gives them another easy strike place from which to attack Europe with ground troops.
One thing not mentioned in this war: capturing Israel would give the King of the North, Putin or another, a direct ground line to attack Egypt and capture the jewel he needs to assure the oil supplies: the Suez Canal. One thing to point out:
http://www.hoover.org/research/united-states-and-future-egyptian-russian-relations
"It is since the 2013 coup and the increasing strains with the United States, however, that Egypt has systematically sought to deepen ties with Russia. This has been partly driven by Egypt’s deteriorating relationship with the United States and its desire to visibly hedge relations while suggesting both an air of independence and alternative sources of support. It has also been driven by Egypt’s relative isolation, particularly as Egypt’s strongest post-coup relationships, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have suffered in recent years. Further, while the initially critical European approach to Egypt in the immediate aftermath of the coup has fragmented and softened, Egypt’s relationship with perhaps its strongest southern European partner, Italy, has come under severe strain in the wake of the 2016 murder of the Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, which appears to be linked to organs of the Egyptian state. In this turbulent setting and amidst the notable cooling of relations with the United States, outreach to Russia and a deepening of ties represented one of the few avenues for enthusiastic diplomatic engagement. The Sisi regime has also sought to seize upon nostalgia for previous eras, and the rekindling of bilateral ties has been pushed forward by a romanticized memory of relations with Russia during the Nasser era."
But that tenuous relationship seems small compared to the World Bank relationship:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-loans-idUSKBN16R23O
#BUSINESS NEWS
MARCH 20, 2017 / 1:28 PM / 4 MONTHS AGO
"CAIRO (Reuters) - The World Bank has disbursed another $1 billion in financial assistance to Egypt out of its $3 billion loan program with the country, the bank said in a statement on Monday.
"Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports and hampered its recovery.
"The government has taken important steps in implementing key policy and institutional reforms that are laying down the foundations for accelerated job creation and inclusive growth," said Dr. Asad Alam, World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti in the statement.
"The World Bank issued the first $1 billion tranche of the loan in 2015, with two more installments of the same size to follow, linked to additional reforms that the government planned.
"Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Egypt began a series of painful economic reforms and has taken steps to lower fuel subsidies, introduced a new value-added tax (VAT) and let its currency float freely in the foreign exchange market in November to attract foreign inflows.
"Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s minister of investment and international cooperation, said in a statement that the second tranche will help spur private sector investment and development projects and services, which should help improve people's standard of living.
"Hafez Ghanem, the World Bank's vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters this month that Cairo's next set of economic reforms should focus on making its bureaucracy more transparent for investors."
Nothing like having your banker tell you how to live.
One more thing: the suggestion of Israel becoming a natural gas exportation giant and stepping on Putin's toes to speed and invasion may be a bit off since it seems they may not have that much natural gas:
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/exporting-israel-s-natural-gas-bounty-could-thwart-bid-to-lower-fuel-prices.premium-1.472395
For whatever reason, Egypt may seem like a certain ally but will then seem like at target when the northern king invades Israel.
Now look again at the recent US initiatives.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/827077/julian-assange-lead-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-cyber-security-unit-wikileaks-g20-summit
…
‘He has best CIA stuff’ WikiLeaks nominates Assange to run Trump’s 'US-Russia cyber unit'
JULIAN Assange has been tipped to head up the US-Russia cybersecurity unit proposed by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin when they met for the first time in Hamburg at the weekend.
This was a tongue-in-cheek offer from their founder since he is rumored to have Russian ties himself, but it underlines the STUPITY of the original idea.
I somehow doubt the efficacy of the Russian fox guarding the US security hen house. Is this the most politically tone deaf idea ever?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/putin/
Trump backs off idea for joint US/Russian 'impenetrable Cyber Security unit'
Goes from #MAGA to 'can't happen' in eight tweets
By Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor 10 Jul 2017 at 02:22 SHARE ▼
"US president Donald Trump has revealed that he and Russian opposite number Vladimir Putin discussed creation of a joint “impenetrable Cyber Security unit” at the G20 Leaders summit, but then displayed Modern Presidential behaviour by quickly dismissing the chances of the unit ever materialising.
"Trump was a bit late to reveal the talks, as Putin's Saturday-dated official transcript of his end-of-G20 press conference revealed that he and Trump discussed security collaboration as follows:
"The US President and I have agreed to establish a working group and make joint efforts to monitor security in the cyberspace, ensure full compliance with international laws in this area, and to prevent interference in countries' internal affairs. Primarily this concerns Russia and the United States. We believe that if we succeed in organising this work – and I have no doubt that we will – there will be no more speculation over this matter.'
(Trump is engaged here in the speaking of a thing into existence. The name it and claim it beliefs essentially taken from Napoleon Hill and not the Bible, are sacred to Trump. When you see him denying reality, he is actually creating a new reality in his own mind and willing it into being. W.)
“This matter” is Russia's alleged interference in last year's US elections.
(But then if they actually did help in the election they would surely seem to him to be great allies. The problem is that Putin wants to control everything and intends to bend reality to HIS will. The US will be great folks so long as he needs them. Putin will be a great guy to the World Bank so long as he keeps creating ares they can stabilize after his incursions. As we mentioned above. W.)
"On Sunday, US time, Trump popped out this Tweet.
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
7:50 AM - 9 Jul 2017
20,018 20,018 Retweets 82,797 82,797 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The White House Briefing Room was silent on both Trump's meeting with Putin and offered no details of the “unit”.
But Trump weighed in again thirteen hours after his first Tweet with this one.
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did!
8:45 PM - 9 Jul 2017
19,700 19,700 Retweets 90,654 90,654 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Why the turnaround? Your idea's as good as anyone's, dear readers, although perhaps US senator Marco Rubio's opinion on the unit was typical of Republican sentiment on the idea.
Follow
Marco Rubio ✔ @marcorubio
Partnering with Putin on a "Cyber Security Unit" is akin to partnering with Assad on a "Chemical Weapons Unit". 2/3
8:14 AM - 9 Jul 2017
17,195 17,195 Retweets 44,298 44,298 likes
The United States already has a “no-hack pact” with China, although it's been described as a “joke” by one analyst. ®
Whether in fact, the Kurds can be used to break the ice in US-Russian relations which Trump and Putin seem eager to thaw or the Russian investigation fails to evolve into impeachment material or something happens to Putin, recall ISIS is the chip God played to start this all in motion. Inspired by the bin Laden axiom that a person can declare his own Jihad, in other words, can call a war against an non-Muslim country by himself, kill himself while attacking that country and therefore insure his way to heaven, ISIS took it to the next level and inspired self-created martyrs. When you live in a society that tells you you have to follow every rule every day and pray for forgiveness several times a day and you find those goals almost impossible in societies which are not Muslim, which willingly indulge every vice plus where many have come to look upon you as a inhuman killing machine already and don't feel the need to meet your moral imperative, the offer of a way to heaven without the burdens of working so hard for it seems enticing, even at the cost of your own life. And the philosophy inspires an army which will fight to the death with the full assurance they are going to heaven because they have declared he jihad, because they are "the masters of their fate and the captains of their ship". Even as they are manipulated by people who think they are pawns, they do not think of themselves as pawns. Just as the people playing nations chess do not think of themselves as pawns. Just as the ones who play nations Go do not see themselves a being manipulated by greed. Again.
But those Middle Eastern places aren't the only ones with the debt problem. The King of the East, the home of the 200 million man army has a sight debt problem also:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/25/news/economy/china-debt-economy/index.html
China's massive debt burden is back in focus. Credit rating agency Moody's downgraded China this week, warning that the country's financial health is suffering from rising debt and slowing economic growth. It's the first time the agency has cut China's rating in nearly three decades. Fears about debt levels in the world's second-largest economy have been flagged before. The International Monetary Fund pushed Beijing to "urgently address" the issue last year.
So just how bad is China's debt problem? Here are the key things to know:
The problem has been years in the making
As growth in the West collapsed following the global financial crisis of 2008, China's local governments and state-owned companies borrowed heavily to build cities and roads, invest in businesses and bolster financial markets.
That spending spree has resulted in a domestic debt hangover, particularly among some of the country's bloated and inefficient state-owned companies. Corporate debt in China soared to around 170% of GDP in 2016, roughly double the average of other economies, according to the Bank of International Settlements.
In 2008, China's figure stood at about 100%.
Beijing is trying to solve it ...
The Chinese government is well aware it has a problem.
Authorities have introduced a series of measures in recent years to tackle local government debt and bad bank loans. They have also tried to reduce the economy's dependence on credit as a way to fuel growth.
"Many experts say more needs to be done. But efforts by regulators in recent weeks to clamp down on risky debt in the country's financial system have unsettled investors.
"China is still taking a "softly, softly" approach to reducing debt as it attempts to keep economic growth steady.
Some economists support that stance, arguing that by moving too quickly, Chinese authorities could trigger a financial crisis.
Chi Lo, senior China economist at BNP Paribas, said a swift cut in the country's debt to GDP ratio would be implausible. "This could crush the economy before the benefits of deleveraging could even emerge," he said in a recent research note.
Still, it could be worse
"China has plenty of ammo left. One option is a bank bailout that could push government debt from 55% to 90% of GDP, according to Capital Economics. "That is high, but still lower than the debt burdens of many other governments," Mark Williams, the consultancy's chief China economist, said in a note on Wednesday. "China's government also has far more assets than most of its peers."
"The Moody's downgrade leaves China on the same rating as Japan, which has a far bigger government debt load, BNP's Lo pointed out. Massive systemic defaults are far less likely when the bulk of debt is owed by a public sector with a strong balance sheet, which is the case with China, he said."
The need to expand and add more countries to the main countries income base led to China's entry into the "colonization" race. Led to them creating more buyers for their product, more sources It led to Putin, faced with the debt accrued from the dissolution of the USSR, becoming more aggressive in his attempts to "reunify" the old republics. The game of economic Go, acquiring more countries by getting them in debt can work only so long because those countries are a limited resource. But acquiring countries by conquest and making them satellites can actually create a new country to get into debt.
The leader of a rebel-held breakaway region in eastern Ukraine has announced a plan to abolish the country and replace it with the new state of “Malorossiya”, in the latest blow to faltering peace talks aimed at ending a more than three-year conflict.
Kiev dismissed the announcement by Alexander Zakharchenko, the pro-Russia leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), as political provocation.
Ukrainian and Russian officials warned that the proposal was in breach of the Minsk peace deal aimed at ending the fighting between Moscow-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces that broke out after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, said the suggestion was a “personal initiative” and that Moscow “remains committed to the Minsk agreements”. He had earlier said the proposal “should be subject to reflection and analysis”.
"Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the separatists are set to meet in Minsk on Wednesday to discuss ways to resurrect the peace accords brokered by France and Germany in 2015. Meanwhile, daily shelling and gunfire continues to add to a death toll estimated by the UN at more than 10,000.
"We agree that the new state shall be called Malorossiya, as the very name of Ukraine has discredited itself
"We believe that the state of Ukraine cannot be reinstated the way it used to be,” Mr Zakharchenko said. “We . . . are declaring the establishment of a new state, which would be the successor to Ukraine. We agree that the new state shall be called Malorossiya, as the very name of Ukraine has discredited itself.”
Mr Zakharchenko also unveiled a flag for the imagined state and a map of its borders, encompassing all of Ukraine except Crimea, with its capital in Donetsk, Russian media reported.
A senior official from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, also held by pro-Russia rebels, said it had not agreed to support the proposal.
“Malorossiya” is the tsarist-era name, meaning “Little Russia”, used to describe a large part of modern-day Ukraine when it was part of the Russian Empire, and is offensive to many Ukrainians.
Moscow and the rebels have demanded that Kiev grant the breakaway regions broad autonomy, including on foreign policy issues, instead of the decentralised form of government other regions have.
Mr Zakharchenko’s intervention is a blow to renewed efforts by the US to enforce a lasting peace deal. Last week, Rex Tillerson, secretary of state, visited Kiev and accused Russia of stonewalling efforts to reach a solution to the conflict, which erupted after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Yevhen Marchuk, a former prime minister representing Ukraine in the Minsk talks, warned that the proclamation could block the negotiating process. “This announcement is done before tomorrow’s meeting in Minsk and it could turn out that we will have nothing to discuss,” he said.
Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s envoy to the peace talks in Minsk, said that the proposal “does not fit with the Minsk process”.
"I see it merely as an invitation for discussion. This announcement does not entail any legal consequences,” he added.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, said that Mr Zakharchenko was “a puppet transmitting the Kremlin messages”.
“The Novorossiya [New Russia] project has been buried,” he said, referring to previous calls by Russia-backed separatists for a new country encompassing Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.
Russia denies widespread accusations that it supplies weapons and troops across the border to the rebels that control the regions in the country’s largely Russian-speaking east.
Leonid Slutsky, head of the international relations committee in Russia’s parliament, said the words used to describe the land in question were not important.
“Whether it is Novorossiya or Malorossiya, this does not change the essence of the matter. What is important is that people in the DPR and the LPR live by their own laws in the Russian-language environment,” he told news agency Interfax."
There is a way out of this worldwide mess: someone could step forward with the idea of cancelling or forgiving those debts. It would remove the incentives for all the new countries, seem to remove the economic need for aggression to acquire "colonies." This would fir the Dominion believers. It would be popular. You recall how Bernie Sanders, a nobody socialist, got all manner of support for the democratic Presidential candidacy by saying he would cancel the debt on student loans.
But it would also gut the power of the World Bank, of banks in general and, since the US dollar is the "gold standard", would end the US's most powerful influence.
Bringing to mind this:
Re 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: {to receive: Gr. to give them}
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
(KJV)
So that pressure will stay in place until some massive reason for the change becomes evident. Now we can see somewhat clearly the effect if the economics on the coming King of the North invasion and on many of the countries involved.
With everything fallen into place, inevitably, Putin or his successor will likely move to finish the plans in Syria and the need to feed the military machines of all the countries involved will result in what seems to be a logical well reasoned outcome of the continued march toward a checkmate of the EU.
And another Prophet about that invasion:
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? {by: Heb. by the hand of}
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. {steep...: or, towers, or, stairs}
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
(KJV)
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