As we noted last night, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA made principal and interest payments of $2.2 billion today, avoiding default yet again despite what Vice President Tareck El Aissami called a “ruthless economic war” being waged against the Maduro government.
That’s the good news, the bad news is that PDVSA has $62 billion more in principal and interest due over the next few years…
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Apr 13, 2017.
.@Judgenap: Three intel sources have disclosed that Pres. Obama turned to British spies to get surveillance on Trump pic.twitter.com/IghCFm7qhO
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 14, 2017
Roughly a month ago, during the height of the mainstream media mania over Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on Fox and Friends with a startling new revelation, namely that President Obama circumvented U. S. law and employed a British intelligence agency to conduct surveillance of the Trump campaign. Despite Napolitano’s assertion that the information had been confirmed by 3 separate sources, the Obama administration and foreign intelligence agencies issued immediate denials and the mainstream media was all too happy to trash the latest ‘conspiracy theory’ of their competitor network. Here’s what he said:
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Apr 13, 2017.
Real solutions have two parts: changes in values and operational changes in habits and processes. While it’s certainly good sport to mock “snowflakes,” not all Millennials are snowflakes. Many are homesteading, buying affordable homes and building communities that get stuff done. I discuss these trends with Drew Sample, who is living them in Ohio. ( hear a 60-second excerpt or listen to the full podcast on Drew’s site.) Although the mainstream media focuses on bubble-priced Left and Right coast homes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, there are perfectly serviceable houses that can be had for $50,000 or less elsewhere in America. Drew just bought one, and rather than go through a bank for the mortgage, he arranged (with the help of a real estate attorney) for a family member to put up the mortgage. This arrangement is win-win: the family member earns a much higher return on the cash than a savings account or equivalent, the loan is secured by the property, and Drew cuts out the bank/lender.
This post was published at Charles Hugh Smith on THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017.
And so Donald Trump flips on yet another issue.
One day after the President reversed his core stance on a broad range of policies including the US Dollar, interest rates, the futures of Janet Yellen, the Ex-Im bank, the obsolescence of NATO and whether China is a currency manipulator, on Thursday afternoon he took aim at Wikileaks and Julian Assance, when CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, in his first public appearance since taking the top intel post in the Trump administration, called the whistleblower organization a “non-state hostile intelligence service” abetted by state actors like Russia.
“It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia” Pompeo said.
“WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service,” Pompeo told an audience at a Washington think tank, adding that Russia’s GRU intelligence service had used the anti-secrecy group to distribute hacked material during the 2016 U. S. presidential election.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Apr 13, 2017.
Though old as history itself, thou art fresh as the breath of spring, blooming as thine own rose bud, and fragrant as thine own orange flower, Damascus, pearl of the East.’
-Mark Twain ‘The Innocents Abroad’
DAMASCUS – The first thing you notice while driving over Mount Lebanon is how close Beirut and Damascus are, and yet their respective situations could not be further apart.
Last month, the war on Syria entered its sixth year. However, thirty years ago, Lebanon was where Syria finds itself today – embroiled in a painful and protracted not-so-civil ‘civil war,’ with numerous regional and global powers angling for influence, each pressing for their own agenda.
There’s a noticeable difference once you pass from Lebanon into Syria – the highway is paved and smooth, concrete bollards are neatly arranged, and there are no manhole ditches to avoid in the middle of the road. Images Bashar and his father Hafiz are prominently displayed along the Damascus Road.
As one would expect in a country at war, checkpoints are numerous and security is extremely tight along the rural highways, as well as in the city. Still, life goes on in the capital. Couples are walking, mothers are shopping, children playing and the restaurants are serving.
This is Easter week in Syria. In normal times, the week following Palm Sunday would see major processions and festivities, as families take off work and get together to celebrate over an extended weekend. That’s still happening, but with an air of caution. Church volunteers are still out displying their Easter decorations, and you can hear the voice of choir hymns gently echoing through the narrow streets of the Old City. Even with the cloud of conflict looming over the city, the spiritual vibration is still undeniable.
This post was published at 21st Century Wire on APRIL 14, 2017.
One day after the Trump administration demonstratively used the GBU-43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb (MOAB, also known as Mother Of All Bombs) the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal in Afghanistan, in a clear show of force meant to send a signal to North Korea, it released a video of the explosion.
Afghan officials said 36 militants were killed in the strike in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border, where the US military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters. There were no civilian casualties, according to the Ministry of Defense statement, which also said several ISIS caves and ammunition caches were destroyed. U. S. officials said precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties. The ISIS commander in the area was among the dead, Afghanistan’s presidential palace said.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Apr 14, 2017.
The classic movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High offers a crash course in geopolitics.
One of the characters plays on the high school football team and drives a fancy sports car. At one point, his little brother’s friend accidentally trashes the car.
Terrified, they come up with a clever plan to shift the blame. They decorate it in the rival football team’s colors to make it look like the rival team vandalized the car.
Their plan works.
This post was published at International Man
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