Petrodollar end looming
CHINA - Beijing has announced plans to start a crude oil futures contract priced in yuan and convertible into gold. The step might lead to the emergence of a new Asia-based crude oil benchmark to compete with Brent or West Texas Intermediate futures. RT talked to investing guru and financial commentator Jim Rogers to understand how much of a game changer this could be for an industry dominated by the dollar.
“This is just another step in that direction. Many people do not like using US dollars because if the US gets angry at you, they just set enormous pressure on you that can even get you out of business. China, Russia, and other countries understand this, and they are trying to move world trade and world finance away from that,” said Jim Rogers.
As China is the world’s biggest crude buyer, the new contract may allow exporters to avoid US sanctions by trading oil in yuan. Such countries as Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, China and many other Asian countries are interested in that, according to the expert.
Venezuela ditches dollar for oil payments
VENEZUELA - Caracas has ordered oil traders to convert crude oil contracts into euro and not to pay or be paid in US dollars anymore, according to sources close to the matter as quoted by WSJ. The measure is aimed at bypassing US sanctions against the country. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA reportedly asked joint venture partners to open euro accounts and to convert existing holdings into the European currency, the sources said. Last month, the White House sanctioned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials after the election of a new legislative body to rewrite the country’s constitution. The measure bans both US businesses and citizens from buying Venezuelan debt as well as from making any deals with PDVSA. Caracas claimed the step as an attempt to embargo Venezuela, which is currently in the middle of an economic crisis.
German AfD leader urges 'pride' in wartime troops
GERMANY - German politicians voiced outrage Friday after a leader of the rightwing populist AfD party said Germany should be proud of its soldiers who fought in two world wars. Alexander Gauland, 76, a top candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany in September 24 elections, also said the country had sufficiently atoned for its crimes and should "reclaim its past". The Social Democrats' Thomas Oppermann said such comments "expose Gauland as an ultra-right militarist", while Greens lawmaker Volker Beck labelled his statements "ever more disgusting". Gauland called for an end to German guilt over the Nazi era, saying that in Europe, "no other nation has so clearly dealt with its wrongful past as Germany". "We have the right to reclaim not just our country, but also our past," he said.
Venezuelan plan to encourage rabbit-eating amid food shortages goes awry
VENEZUELA - Nicolas Maduro has revealed a plan to combat Venezuela's food crisis by encouraging people to breed rabbits for meat, but acknowledged a "setback" when participants in a pilot project adopted the bunnies as pets.
Unveiling "Plan Rabbit", the Venezuelan president described it as an "extremely good" initiative to provide an alternative source of animal protein, "because rabbits breed like... rabbits."
The scheme - designed to resist the "economic war" Mr Maduro says is being waged by the "empire" - had however suffered teething difficulties. The minister for urban agriculture, Freddy Bernal, had handed out baby rabbits to 15 communities as part of a trial, Mr Maduro recounted to much laughter from assembled ministers.
"When he returned, surprise! The people had the bunnies with little bows and they were keeping them as pets," he said.
'We will redeem Jerusalem, Rome, and India'
MIDDLE EAST - Al-Aqsa preacher promises to take revenge on 'heretics,' crush all those who oppose Islam. An imam at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount attacked the Muslim world's silence regarding the atrocities committed by Myanmar (Burmese) authorities against the country's Muslim minority.
"The Muslim world suffers from a lack of caliphates," the imam said, noting that this situation allows "heretics" such as Buddhists and those who serve the cow, pig, and donkey, to act 'arrogantly' and authoritatively towards Muslims. According to the imam, Muslim children "are burning" because of the failure of the Muslim world to act.
At the end of his speech, the imam promised to take revenge on heretics and the "soldiers of Satan". This revenge, he said, will include the creation of Islamic caliphates which will follow the ways of Mohammed. It will also include the "redemption" of Jerusalem, Rome, and India, and will crush all those who came out against Islam.
The imam then prayed to Allah to expedite the reestablishment of the caliphates.
North Korea proves it CAN hit Guam
NORTH KOREA - North Korea has fired another test missile over Japan, leading to global condemnation amid already high tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear warhead tests. The missile flew over the northern island of Hokkaido, where thousands were awoken by air-raid sirens for the second time in just three weeks, and landed some 1,240 miles off the cape of Erimo just before 7am local time (10pm Thursday GMT). The rocket, believed to be a intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), flew for about 19 minutes over a distance of about 2,300 miles, according to South Korea's military - far enough to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam, which is 2,100 miles from North Korea.
Rapper XXXTentacion: Music video showing him HANGING a white child
CommentUSA - A black rapper has sparked outrage after his latest video showed him lynching a white child. Hip hop artist XXXTentacion released the video for his latest track "Look At Me!" yesterday and has already been blasted on social media for the "outrageous" video. In shocking scenes the rapper can be seen leading a black child and white child up to a swinging noose in a blacked out room. The Florida rapper, born Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, can then be seen slipping the noose over the white boy's head. He then pulls a rope and the boy is raised into the air as his legs can be seen twitching as he is lynched. The video has sparked outrage on Twitter with users branding the clip "hateful"...and calling for his YouTube account to be demonetised.
Amazon Web Services Host the Defense Department’s Most Sensitive Data
USA - Amazon Web Services has a new market for its cloud computing, analytics, and storage services. This week, the Defense Department granted the cloud computing giant a provisional authorization to host Impact Level 5 workloads, which are the military and Pentagon’s most sensitive, unclassified information. “This further bolsters AWS as an industry leader in helping support the DoD’s critical mission in protecting our security,” the company said in a statement. “The AWS services support a variety of DoD workloads, including workloads containing sensitive controlled unclassified information and National Security Systems information.”
Google, Facebook are 'surveillance states' and risk more regulation
USA - Even though he was once an executive at Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, favors investing in Amazon instead, he told CNBC's "Fast Money: Halftime Report" on Thursday.
President Donald Trump has been a critic of Amazon, tweeting his disdain for coverage from The Washington Post, which is a personal holding of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. But Palihapitiya said he thinks that Facebook and Google face more regulatory risk, given the many retailers that compete with Amazon.
"Amazon is a microscopic portion of global consumption today, so ultimately I think it has more room to grow before it invites regulatory overview," Palihapitiya said. "On the other hand, Facebook and Google effectively are surveillance states. And they have so much personal, private information about so many citizens of so many countries."
Juncker's plan for Undemocratic EU
EUROPE - After listening to more than an hour of Jean-Claude Juncker's self-agrandising State of the Union speech, Farage’s laser-guided attack took just seconds to dismantle almost every plan, proposal and pontification made by the former Luxembourg politician turned European Commission President.
He called Jean-Claude Juncker’s plans to hugely expand the powers of the EU without a vote “extremely worrying” and shouted: “Thank God we’re leaving! You’ve learned nothing from Brexit!”
The former Ukip boss, and champion of Brexit, added that Juncker and his colleagues were appointing powerful unelected people in positions of huge power including “a finance minister who intervenes when he feels it necessary” and plans for “a European army with a more aggressive foreign policy.”
“And all this to be done without the consent of the people.” Mr Farage was clearly appalled by Junker’s earlier claim that the EU could appoint pan-European ministers with unprecedented powers without any form of electoral process.
Senate: Bill that could lead to spying on US citizens
USA - A Senate panel may be stealthily trying to give federal law enforcement a new tool to go after the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks and its US collaborators. A one-sentence “Sense of Congress” clause was tacked onto the end of a massive 11,700-word bill that was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee and is likely to come before the full Senate later this month.
The clause says that WikiLeaks “resembles a non-state hostile intelligence service” and that the US government “should treat it as such.” The intended target might not be Julian Assange, the Australian-born founder of WikiLeaks who has been holed up at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012.
Federal law enforcement, experts say, is likely targeting anyone collaborating with his organization. “You need to show that someone is an agent of a foreign power,” said Deitz, who teaches at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. “It’s possible that Assange has colleagues in this country that they need to focus on,” Deitz said, noting that such action can only be done under court order.
Breaking News of Saudi Crown Prince's "Secret" Visit To Israel
ISRAEL - Clearly the war in Syria and the international push for regime change against Assad has created strange alliances in the Middle East over the past few years. Among the strangest bedfellows are the Israelis and Saudis. It's no secret that the common cause in Syria of late has led the historic bitter enemies down a pragmatic path of unspoken cooperation as both seem to have placed the break up of the so-called "Shia crescent" as their primary policy goal in the region.
But that's perhaps why few pundits seemed overly shocked when Israeli media late last week began reporting that a Saudi prince made a secret visit to Israel, in spite of the fact that the kingdom does not recognize the Jewish state, and the two sides do not have diplomatic relations.
Last Wednesday (9/6) Israel's state funded Kol Yisrael radio service made cryptic reference to the "secret" yet historic visit while withholding names and specifics. "An emir of the Saudi royal court visited the country secretly in recent days and discussed with senior Israeli officials the idea of advancing regional peace," the station reported. It added further that, "Both the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the issue."
Whether or not it was in fact Crown Prince Salman that himself went to Israel, the timing of the high level delegation's visit is simply impossible to ignore. Simply put, Syria was without a doubt discussed... and shortly thereafter Syria was bombed. Such direct and closer relations among perennial enemies could be a sign of more escalation and desperate measures to come in the region. This is certainly not - as Israeli media reported - a sign of regional peace.
Leftists now pursuing “Reign of Terror”
USA - Leftists now pursuing “Reign of Terror” tactic to blacklist all non-liberal websites, corporations and individuals. One after another, fanatical anti-Trump extremists are diving head first off the deep end into the pool of psychosis. In one of their most recent displays of lunatic behavior, an extremist group known as “Color of Change” has decided to blacklist all conservative-leaning news and information websites, claiming that they all represent “white supremacy,” and thus must be barred from the stream of conscious thought.
Founded by “9/11 Truther” and former communist Van Jones, Color of Change recently circulated a list of organizational names that it says are in lockstep with “white supremacists.” Color of Change distributed these names to PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express in the hopes that these financial entities will stop doing business with everyone on the list – in other words, a blatant attempt by Color of Change to implement leftist fascism against its political opponents.
“Behind Color of Change’s racism smears are rich white leftists,” writes Daniel Greenfield for FrontPageMag. “Its money comes from George Soros, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, the Ford Foundation and the WK Kellogg Foundation.”
Why Are US Universities Arming Themselves With Grenade Launchers?
USA - A program that supplies university police with surplus military equipment is enjoying a renaissance under Trump and Sessions. Most of the military gear is going to campuses in states with the highest poverty rates, where the weapons will be used not only to repress student protests but also to perpetuate racial and class divides between campuses and their surrounding communities.
As part of the program, throughout the US, in total nine armored vehicles were exchanged - some being armored pickup trucks, and others being "Mine Resistant Vehicles." MRAPS, as they're known, were originally designed to withstand improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. The University of Florida was one of the recipients of an armored truck.
Across the country, numerous universities also received guns and ammunition. These include small arms (pistols) and rifles (M-14), as well as assault rifles (M-16). And two universities - Hinds Community College and University of Central Florida - obtained grenade launchers. For scale, the 2014 report states that 930 guns were provided in total to 87 different universities.
Academia is now becoming an even more direct part of the violent controlling arm of the neoliberal state apparatus by enmeshing itself in the military-industrial complex. Nowhere is this more clear than in the continuation of Program 1033, where "money savings" is used as a way of introducing the military to campus, and where administrators oversee the elaboration of a system whereby dissent is quelled by a show of direct force. For what else is an armored vehicle besides a show of force? Bringing the military to campus is providing students an education in living in a police state, and giving them a front-row seat in the classroom of neoliberal politics in the 21st century.
Britain: the second 'most powerful country in the world'
CommentUK - In a study conducted by the Henry Jackson Society, Britain’s economic power, technological prowess, military strength and cultural prestige means that the UK is in a “remarkably strong” position post-Brexit.
The Henry Jackson Society’s executive director Dr Alan Mendoza said the findings debunked a widespread “narrative of decline” in which Donald Trump’s victory and the Brexit vote are presented as signs of both countries losing their global power.
Dr Mendoza said: “For all the doom and gloom surrounding the implications of Brexit, the reality shines through that the UK remains a leading global power nation, with immense soft and hard power capabilities. The lesson of this report is clear: our future is what we choose to make of it.”
The United States scored 100/100 due to the country’s “vast and overwhelming resources and capabilities, with the means to extend them pervasively in all regions of the world." The other countries were calculated compared to the United States.
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The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
