China and US on collision course for war over South China Sea

A QUIET battle lingering over the South China Sea just got a whole lot more dangerous after reports China tested hypersonic glide vehicles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The vehicle, dubbed the WU-14, was the fourth test of the missile in 18 months, RT News reports.

The weapon is extremely advanced and can travel at 10 times the speed of sound.

And it’s ticking off the Americans.

The US has labelled the testing as an “extreme manoeuvre” amid tensions in the South China Sea, theSouth China Morning Post reports.




This artist's rendering, provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), shows a Hypersonic Technology Vehicle. Picture: AFP Source: AFP



But China has been quick to dismiss any suggestion the tests were anything other than a normal exercise.

“The scheduled scientific research and experiments in our territory is normal, and those tests are not targeted at any country and specific goals,” the ministry told the Post.

Tensions between the two military superpowers have been increasing due to a cluster of tiny islands in the South China Sea.

And the US and China have been doing a lot of peacocking about them.

US Secretary of Defence Ash Carter has previously warned the US would not shy away from confronting Beijing about the continued expansion.

The problem is also placing Australia in an awkward position over who it would be better off being best buddies with.




A Chinese flag, red-coloured, flies from one of the two concrete structures on the Mischief Reef off the disputed Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea. Picture: AP Photo/Aaron Favila Source: AP


War paradise

The tiny man-made islands popping up in the South China Sea have been dubbed a “flashpoint” of war due to the land grab they inspire.

The Chinese have used dredging engineering to create the islands from what were previously reefs — and it claims it has the sovereign right to do this, despite some of them being 1400km from China’s mainland or on the continental shelfs of the Philippines and Vietnam.

Militarisation of those islands could very well result in conflict between China and US, which runs its ships through the area.

That would drag Australia firmly into the war muck — Australia needs China for trade, but the US is one of its closest defence allies.

As well as US military interests in the area, countries including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have a stake in the region.

As each island appears, China stakes a claim in the sea around it and this is the crux of the issue for China’s neighbours.

About 1500 hectares of land has been reclaimed by the Chinese. It gives the country another 12 nautical miles of territory at each new border, and also creates 200 extra miles of economic zones to dig for oil, gas and to fish in.

The deputy dean of global studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Professor Joseph Siracussa, told news.com.au that the two nations were “spoiling for a fight”.

Despite the economic ties between China and the global economy, he said it wouldn’t stop a war.

“Economics mean very little at the end of the day,” said Prof Siracussa, who is an expert in human security and international diplomacy.

“Once you militarise a problem, you don’t get a diplomatic solution.

“The [US] Secretary of Defence’s job is to think about the next war and how to beat them up.

“The trigger is there, it’s just waiting to happen,” he said.

During a “Re-assessing the Global Nuclear Order” conference in January, Prof Siracussa said discussions about “inevitable” war between the US and China were quite open and on the table.

“They were discussing the inevitable war with China,” he said.

“This will happen. This is about power.

“The American pentagon is on a collision course with China.

“So the South China Sea has become a flashpoint for war.”

Credit to news.com.au

Rare Inscription from King David Discovered in Jerusalem Hills

Ancient city at Khirbet Qeiyafa and shards that were discovered from the period of King David.
Photo Credit: Skyview Company and Tal Rogovsky

A previous version of this article contained incorrect Biblical references by the archaeologist.

A rare inscription from the time of King David was discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafain the Elah Valley, southwest of Jerusalem and near Beit Shemesh.

A ceramic jar approximately 3,000 years old that was broken into numerous shards was found in 2012 in excavations. Letters written in ancient Canaanite script could be discerned on several of the shards, sparking the curiosity of researchers, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Its artifacts department glued together hundreds of pottery shards to form a whole jar and solved the riddle – the jar was incised with the inscription, ” Eshbaʽal Ben Bada.”

Professor Garfinkel and Ganor said:

This is the first time that the name Eshbaʽal has appeared on an ancient inscription in the country. Eshbaʽal Ben Shaul, who ruled over Israel at the same time as David, is known from the Bible.

It is interesting to note that the name Eshbaʽal appears in the Bible…only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the tenth century BCE. This name was not used later in the First Temple period.

They added that the correlation between the biblical tradition and the archaeological finds indicates this was a common name only during that period. “The name Bedaʽ is unique and does not occur in ancient inscriptions or in the biblical tradition,” they added.

The fact that the name Eshbaʽal was incised on a jar suggests that he was an important person, according to the researchers. He apparently was the owner of a large agricultural estate, and the produce collected there was packed and transported in jars that bore his name.

The researchers stated:

This is clear evidence of social stratification and the creation of an established economic class that occurred at the time of the formation of the Kingdom of Judah.

Khirbet Qeiyafa is identified with the biblical city Shaʽarayim. During several seasons of excavation, a fortified city, two gates, a palace and storerooms, dwellings and cultic rooms were exposed.

The city dates from the time of David – the late 11th and early centuries BCE. Unique artifacts that were previously unknown were discovered at the site.

According to Garfinkel and Ganor:

In recent years four inscriptions have been published: two from Khirbet Qeiyafa, one from Jerusalem and one from Bet Shemesh. This completely changes our understanding of the distribution of writing in the Kingdom of Judah, and it is now clear that writing was far more widespread than previously thought.

It seems that the organization of the kingdom required a cadre of clerks and writers and their activity is also manifested in the appearance of inscriptions.

 Credit to Jewishpress.com

AT CALAIS: Nervous Tour Bus passengers film Muslim illegal alien rioters

Bus driver says ‘Don’t panic guys, we have locked all of the doors. Try not to panic guys.’ One of the shocked passengers asks: This is hardcore man. Do they not police this? Someone replies: ‘No.’

UK Daily Mail (h/t Terry D) The ones who couldn’t get into the lorry, surround the bus and a burly passenger is asked to come to the front apparently to help guard the door. Behind the coach, many of the illegals began to climb over the car of a solo elderly woman which must have been very traumatic. One woman who caught some of the action on camera had to stop filming when one of the Muslim thugs sees her filming and threatens to throw a rock through the window Moments after the video ends the Muslims began to flee as French police arrived in riot gear.

Credit to Barenakedislam.com

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2015/06/16/france-terror-at-calais-nervous-tour-bus-passengers-film-muslim-illegal-alien-rioters-smashing-their-way-onto-a-lorry-headed-for-the-uk/

Bilderberg Evil In Their Own Words

Russia warns will retaliate if US weapons stationed on its borders

Moscow: A plan by Washington to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia's border would be the most aggressive US act since the Cold War, and Moscow would retaliate by beefing up its own forces, a Russian defence official said on Monday.

The United States is offering to store military equipment on allies' territory in eastern Europe, a proposal aimed at reassuring governments worried that after the conflict in Ukraine, they could be the Kremlin's next target.


A Russia-backed rebel rests after fighting near Donetsk airport, in eastern Ukraine on Friday. Photo: AP

Poland and the Baltic states, where officials say privately they have been frustrated the NATO alliance has not taken more decisive steps to deter Russia, welcomed the decision by Washington to take the lead.
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But others in the region were more cautious, fearing their countries could be caught in the middle of a new arms race between Russia and the United States.

"If heavy military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries and other equipment really does turn up in countries in eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," Russian defence ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said.


US army soldiers look on during the multinational NATO exercise Saber Strike in Adazi, Latvia in June 2015. Photo: Reuters

"Russia will have no option but to build up its forces and resources on the Western strategic front," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

He said the Russian response was likely to include speeding up the deployment of Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania, and beefing up Russian forces in ex-Soviet Belarus.

"Our hands are completely free to organise retaliatory steps to strengthen our Western frontiers," General Yakubov said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said: "We hope that reason will prevail and the situation in Europe will be prevented from sliding into a new military confrontation which may have dangerous consequences."

The Pentagon said on Monday the military was in the process of deciding where to store a battalion's worth of military equipment in Europe. The decision is part of a long-term effort to maintain equipment for a heavy brigade in the region to facilitate rotational training with NATO allies.

"This is purely positioning of equipment to better facilitate our ability to conduct training," said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, noting that two battalions of equipment already were stored there.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of the Army in Europe, told Reuters in December the equipment set for the full brigade would be about 160 M-1 tanks plus M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers. A Pentagon official said on Monday the total number of vehicles would be about 220.

Officials said a proposal under review envisages storing a company's worth of equipment, enough for 150 soldiers, in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Enough equipment for a company or possibly a battalion, or about 750 soldiers, would also be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary.

The idea was that, in the event of an attack on NATO's eastern border, the United States could quickly fly in troops who would use the equipment, cutting out the weeks or months it would take to transport convoys of gear overland across Europe.

However, the proposal could cause tensions within NATO, an alliance that often struggles to accommodate more hawkish members such as Poland or Lithuania alongside other states that want to avoid a military stand-off with Russia at any cost.

Speaking after talks in Warsaw with the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said he expected a final decision on the equipment within a few weeks.

"They know how important this is to us, because we want to build a permanent presence, the allied army here on the Polish territory," Siemoniak told reporters.

"It seems to me that such enterprises, that is equipment warehouses, are a very crucial step when it comes to building such a presence."

A spokesman for Lithuania's foreign ministry, Kestutis Vaskelevicius, said any increased NATO presence was intended to improve the security of the Baltic states. "(It) is not directed against anyone, and it does not threaten anyone," he said.

Since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and a rebellion by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states - countries with a history of Russian occupation - have pushed NATO for a muscular response.

But proposals for a permanent NATO combat presence in eastern Europe were blocked by Germany and some other alliance members. Instead, NATO intensified exercises, rotating troops through the region and set up a command headquarters for a rapid reaction force in north-west Poland.

Sources close to the government in Poland, and other states in the region, said that response persuaded them they could not fully rely on NATO, and that their best bet in the event of an attack was that the military would come to their aid.

At a NATO summit in Wales last year, agreement was reached on "pre-positioning" military equipment in eastern Europe, but the Pentagon's plan appeared to go further and faster than measures envisaged by the alliance.

The initiative could force some former Warsaw Pact countries now in NATO to make uncomfortable choices.

Bulgaria and Hungary both say they are committed members of the alliance, but they have maintained close cultural and commercial ties to Moscow, and may not want to jeopardise those links by storing military equipment on their soil.

Rosen Plevneliev, the Bulgarian President, said it was too early to say if his country would join the Pentagon's initiative.

"At the current moment there is no proposal whatsoever to the Bulgarian government upon which we can start discussions," he said.

Credit to smh.com.au

America Is An Occupied Nation As Record Numbers of Troops Are Taking Up Positions

Formerly a WW II detention center for Japanese-American citizens is now home to security detention training for what is popularily called “FEMA camps”.

In the past 36 hours, my email has exploded with new information regarding massive troop and military hardware domestic deployment. There is a huge uptick in citizen reports regarding nefarious activities which relate to civilian internment inside of FEMA camps.

Pastor Williams Speaks Out

In an ominous email sent to both myself and my colleague, Paul Martin, Colorado talk show host, Randy Yarbrough, sent a summary of a communication he recently had with Pastor Lindsay Williams.

Guys,
Talked to Pastor Williams this morning.  He is concerned with: 1) currency reset sometime between now and the end of the year.  2) The town he lives in Fountain Hills, AZ. (EDITOR’S NOTE: FAR NORTHEASTERN SEMI-RURAL SUBURB OF PHOENIX) has a large number of retired military.  A general made the comment that many of them would not be in the city past Sept 1st.  No word on where they would go.  3) His elite friends have been urging him to leave the country or at the least have a “safe” place to go to.  4) He is not doing radio for the time being ,but said to stay in touch and he would call me if he had new info.
That’s about it.
Randy Y

___

To conclude that something big is about to go down would be putting it mildly. Should we, as Pastor Williams intimates in the abovementioned communication, prepare to leave the country by Labor Day, is open for debate. However, for the first time, many of us are left wondering if there are safer places than America.

National Guard Civilian Internment Training At Mock FEMA Camp at Ft.Drum

Ask yourself why this drill is even necessary. What conditions presently exist that would make this a needed training exercise? Or, what is coming that would make this drill an important training tool?

In a training activity at Ft. Drum, approximately 60 soldiers from the 102nd Military Police Battalion’s Headquarters Detachment practiced detaining American citizens simulated detention center. Should we be surprised? Training activities include biometric scanning of detainees, searching for contraband and dealing with unruly prisoners. The activity also consisted of constructing a makeshift detention facility from very sparse detention resources.

New FEMA Camp In Lima, Ohio

In Lima, Ohio, a FEMA detention camp has appeared almost over night as this was brought to my attention by Kristie Caton as she revealed the emergence of suspicious activities in her community in the following email.

Hi Dave,

     I go to your website every day.  When I first heard about the FEMA camps I had to investigate especially since I heard there was one located in my home town of Lima Ohio. I have read articles about it being in one of the prisons (we currently have Lima Correctional Institute, closed, and Allen County Corrections). I know several people that work there.  In fact I did ask one employee if anything weird has happened there. This person stated (well trusted) that the state has put a new entrance to the closed state hospital that is located between both the prisons on same land. The state spent millions of dollars on the entrance alone. They also said that there was a crew working on the inside getting it in shape but the drills kept breaking supposedly so they stopped. (EDITOR’S NOTE: ARE WE TO BELIEVE THAT THE STATE OF OHIO SUSPENDED RETROFITTING OPERATION BECAUSE A FEW DRILL BITS BROKE?). My question is why all that money for a hospital that hasn’t been open in decades and why give up???… But recently with the Jade Helm going on I decided to look up that area on a satellite image (which I have done several times in the past) to my surprise for the first time ever. The map showed Lima Clown College/FEMA Recruitment Center.  The only thing that surprised me was it actually showed up on the map. Of course I took a picture (attached) then I decided to look up the name on the internet (attached) it comes up with that name for Movie Theatre. Hum…….so then I decided to reserve lookup the phone number for that “movie theatre” because I didn’t recognize the area code. It said Puerto Rico (attached)  just wanted to share my find because I know a lot of people have questioned where exactly the Lima FEMA camp is located. Im pretty sure this is the location of it. I will keep you updated as new things surface here. By the way I recently noticed that our Wal-Mart’s now have cameras on the roofs and several on many of the light posts facing 4 directions.  I haven’t seen any military around not even with a tank plant in our city either and I do know for a fact that military and civilians work there. 

Hiding in plain sight.

More Trouble In Michigan

Less than a week after loud explosions and livw 50 caliber machine gun fire, courtesy of Jade Helm, Michigan is back in the news again.This time, Port Huron, MI. is the scene of the latest and invasive intrusion by Jade Helm forces. This time, a building was damaged in a military drill on the city’s main street.

Hi Dave,

Just wanted to let you know there was a military drill conducted in Port Huron Michigan last night.  We are about an hour east of Flint and right on the Canadian border.  They damaged a building on our main street with the  choppers and then conducted a drill in the empty School Administration Building. Go to TimesHerald.com Port Huron and there are pictures and video of the choppers landing and the troopsmoving through the Administration building.  I heard the choppers going till at least 3:00 am this morning.  Very troubling.

There is more news from Camp Grayling, a known FEMA camp in northern Michigan.

This FEMA camp facility in Grayling, MI., is the sight of martial law training for the Michigan National guard.  This facility also houses hundreds of UN military vehicles.

Dear Dave Hodges,

My husband is an Army Reservist in Michigan. He is home this weekend after training at Camp Grayling. He know that I am writing to you but please don’t use our names. His unit is training in the processing of Americans into detention camps.He was told by his CO that they would be processing American actors posing as American citizens. Part of their training was the removal and disposal of dead bodies. My husband said he will not participate when the time comes to do so. Please keep getting the word out Dave you are making a difference

I wish every American soldier could read this email.

Concentrated Military Activity In Arizona

The first contact is from Quartzsite, AZ. Something to keep in mind, Quartzsite would be the site of refugees fleeing California from the LA Basin. This is something that was foretold over two decades ago, on the Art Bell Show when Michael David Scallian had visions of massive amounts of refugees setting up camp on the California-Arizona state line.

Hi Dave,
   My name’s Ern Cunningham and I live in La Paz county, AZ. I thought you might be interested in these photos my girlfriend took today. We were on our way to my work this Saturday evening in Quartzsite – we had just turned off exit 17 on I-10 at about 5:50pm when we spotted a group of military vehicles parked on an empty lot across from Love’s truck stop. They must have just finished parking when we spotted them, as we saw several uniformed men walking from the vehicles and gathering at the truck stop. Didn’t see any tanks or anything like that but I was still surprised to see this collection of vehicles. I’ve never seen them do this in Quartzsite before in the three years I’ve lived around here.
   We left Quartzite at 11:30pm and drove past Love’s again on our way out of town. The vehicles were still parked there but we didn’t see any people around, so they’re definitely there for the night.
   My girlfriend and I are in Quartzsite several times a week, so I’ll be checking to see if they’re still there later this week. 
   Keep up the good work! I read your articles often. I only wish more people did.
   Photos are attached to this email.

   Sincerely,
   Ern

More reports from the Flagstaff, AZ. area regarding massive troop movements.

Hello Dave!
…There has been quite a bit over the past couple months as would be expected with Jade Helm. I’ve seen many convoys of various types on I-40 and I-17 as well. Camp Navajo at Belmont between Flagstaff and Williams has had a lot of extra activity also. I don’t know if anyone else north of you has mentioned any of this but it is getting quite frequent around here. Thank The Lord Jesus I’m washed in His blood!
God Bless!

Massive Troop Movements in Virginia

I received three reports about this activity in Virginia from concerned citizens. The activities are unprecendented and highly unusual.

Mr. Hodges,

I was traveling on Interstate 81 in Virginia this past weekend and spotted this military convoy at a rest stop right before exit 264 on 81.  After getting back on the highway, I also encountered another convoy on the road… Use these pictures as you see fit. 

Conclusion

None of this should be surprising in light of the following:

In February of 2010 the Internment and Resettlement Operations (FM 3-39.40) was leaked, a U.S. Army manual outlininghow to process detainees into FEMA camps.

In 2009 the National Guard posted advertisements for job as they were looking for Internment and Resettlement Specialists (31-E) to work in “civilian internee camps”.

he National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011, which was signed by Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve of 2011 and it allows for permanent detention without due process oflaw.

Civil Disturbance Operations (FM 3-19.15), describes the “operational threats of the civil disturbance environment,” the “general causes for civil unrest,” weapons deployment, the legal considerations of “control force operations,” the legal considerations of “apprehension, search, and detention,” and recording the “number of cadre and inmates injured or killed.”  The manual contains rules of engagement regarding the use of “deadly force” in confronting “dissidents,” which were made disturbingly clear with the directive that a “warning shot will not be fired.” This is a shoot to kill document.

Could it be anymore clear? And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Credit to Common Sense

Vatican speaker and California Governor in push for massive depopulation...

(NaturalNews) The depopulationists are on the move again, pushing hard for the elimination of six billion people on planet Earth in order to bring the planet down to what's being touted as its "sustainable carrying capacity of one billion people."

But this time, the depopulation agenda may be codified by the Vatican. Professor John Schellnhuber has been chosen as a speaker for the Vatican's rolling out of a Papal document on climate change. He's the professor who previously said the planet is overpopulated by at least six billion people. Now, the Vatican is giving him a platform which many expect will result in an official Church declaration in support of radical depopulation in the name of "climate science."

"The teaching document, called an encyclical, is scheduled for release on June 18 at Vatican City," reports Breitbart.com. "Perhaps with the exception of the 1968 encyclical on contraception, no Vatican document has been greeted with such anticipation."

A new Planetary Court to hold power over all nations... one ring to rule them all

Schellnhuber daydreams about a "Planetary Court" guided by a new "Earth Constitution" which would hold power over every nation and government on the planet. As he explains himself in this document on HumansAndNature.org, he's a proponent of an all-powerful, climate-focused world government that would rule over the planet... a literal "science dictatorship" based on whatever "science" the climate change proponents can fudge together each year.

As Schellnhuber says:

Let me conclude this short contribution with a daydream about those key institutions that could bring about a sophisticated -- and therefore more appropriate -- version of the conventional "world government" notion. Global democracy might be organized around three core activities, namely (i) an Earth Constitution; (ii) a Global Council; and (iii) a Planetary Court. I cannot discuss these institutions in any detail here, but I would like to indicate at least that:

- the Earth Constitution would transcend the UN Charter and identify those first principles guiding humanity in its quest for freedom, dignity, security and sustainability;

- the Global Council would be an assembly of individuals elected directly by all people on Earth, where eligibility should be not constrained by geographical, religious, or cultural quotas; and

- the Planetary Court would be a transnational legal body open to appeals from everybody, especially with respect to violations of the Earth Constitution.

Schellnhunber, in other words, believes a new world government can create "freedom" for humanity by dictating to it with a new Planetary Court guided by an Earth Constitution which will no doubt begin by declaring the planet can only sustain one billion people. The other six billion or so simply have to go. So instead of a Bill of Rights, this new Earth Constitution will be founded on a Bill of Deaths and a global government that might order the extermination of billions of human beings in order to "save the climate."

"In an unprecedented encyclical on the subject of the environment, the pontiff is expected to argue that humanity’s exploitation of the planet’s resources has crossed the Earth’s natural boundaries," reports The Guardian. "...[T]he world faces ruin without a revolution in hearts and minds."

The Guardian goes on to report:

The pope is "aiming at a change of heart. What will save us is not technology or science. What will save us is the ethical transformation of our society," said Carmelite Father Eduardo Agosta Scarel, a climate scientist who teaches at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires.

California Governor worried that too many people exist

Interestingly, California Governor Jerry Brown might welcome such a depopulation agenda organized under a new world government. He recently tweeted about California having too many people, saying, "At some point, how many people can we accommodate?" Gov. Brown goes on to say that climate change is the reason the current drought is so much more worse than anything they've seen in the past.

Apparently, California has too many people, Gov. Brown says, and that means California needs to be deliberately depopulated.

Credit to Natural News
Learn more:  http://www.naturalnews.com/050075_Vatican_climate_science_world_depopulation.html#ixzz3dEw9gdhJ

Russian Pivot: Greek PM Schedules Putin Meeting Ahead Of "Lehman Weekend"

Earlier this month, we reported that Greece is prepared to sign an MOU of political support for Gazprom’s Turkish Stream Pipeline, when Alexis Tsipras visits St. Petersburg for the International Economic Forum this week. 

The deal is a blow to Washington, which attempted to persuade Athens to support an alternative pipeline. In April, US State Department envoy Amos Hochstein met with Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotzia to pitch The Southern Gas Corridor, a project which, when complete, will  allow the EU to tap into Caspian gas via a series of connecting pipelines running from Azerbaijan to Italy. The corridor is aimed at breaking Gazprom’s stranglehold in Europe. 

(Turkish Stream)

(Southern Gas Corridor)

Greece, defiant in the face of US pressure and no doubt intent on preserving the last bit of leverage it has in negotiations with European creditors, contended that it did not view the two pipelines as competitors and would pursue participation in both projects. Greece will not, Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said, be swayed by pressure from The White House:

“We do not considered them to be rivals. On the contrary, we think they both contribute to energy supply of European countries.That’s why it is odd that the Russian project is raising concern and doubts in the US and the European Union. We will not submit to the interests and wishes of any third country. Greece is nobody’s property. We move based on the interests of our people and our national interests. The country must become a development hub for Europe’s energy supply."

Since then, the situation between Greece and its creditors has deteriorated meaningfully. Athens is now reportedly set to delay a June 30 IMF payment for six months and faces the imposition of capital controls over what could end up being a “Lehman Weekend.” With his back against the wall, and with Syriza party hardliners apparently no closer to backing concessions, Tsipras looks set to once again play the ‘Russian pivot” card because as Kathimerini reports, a “working meeting” between the Greek PM and Russian President Vladimir Putin is now scheduled for Friday in St. Petersburg:

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to travel to Saint Petersburg on Friday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Tuesday.

"A working meeting has been scheduled with Alexis Tsipras on Friday, July 19, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum," Peskov was quoted as saying.

The Kremlin spokesman did not reveal what the two men would be talking about.

If we had to venture a guess, the two leaders will be talking about options for Russian aid in the event the relationship between Athens and Brussels continues to deteriorate in the coming weeks. 

There are a number of possibilities, including a multibillion euro advance on Greece’s Turkish Stream revenue and the arrangement of a loan from the BRICS bank. Note that this is a perfect time for Greece to explore the BRICS option. As we've noted on serveral occasions, Russia has invited Greece to join and reports indicate Athens could be eligible for a loan immediately and would be allowed to tender its paid in capital in installments to ease the financial burden of joining. Further, Russia will host this year's BRICS summit in Ulfa on July 8-9 where the $100 billion bank will officially be launched along with a $100 billion currency reserve, meaning Greece could serve as a kind of pilot project for the new fund.

All of the above serve to underscore Angela Merkel's insistence on going to extra mile to keep Greece in the euro even in the face of staunch opposition both from lawmakers and from the German finance ministry. In short, the Chancellor fears the geopolitical ramifications of a Grexit could, in the long run, prove more detrimental than the economic consequences, especially considering the situation in Ukraine. 

*  *  *

Summing up the above in one picture...

Credit to Zero Hedge

America Vulnerable To EMP Attack