The Heritage Foundation, an influential Republican think-tank, says that none of the branches of the US armed forces is strong enough to deal with threats to Washington’s interests, whether actual or perceived, coming from around the world.

A new report entitled ‘2017 Index US Military Strength’ assesses the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, giving them a collective grade of “marginal” for total capability, checked against a top score of “very strong.” The Army, the backbone of the US military, has been branded “weak.” 

While Fillon sees Margaret Thatcher as a role model in fiscal policy, he is a socially conservative Catholic who supports family values, wants to confront Islamist extremism, control immigration, restore France’s historic identity and end sanctions on Russia. “Russia poses no threat to the West,” says Fillon. But if not, the question arises, why NATO? Why are US troops in Europe?

As Le Pen is favored to win the first round of the presidential election and Fillon the second in May, closer Paris-Putin ties seem certain. Europeans themselves are pulling Russia back into Europe, and separating from the Americans. Next Sunday, Italy holds a referendum on constitutional reforms backed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. If the referendum, trailing in the polls, fails, says Renzi, he will resign.

Opposing Renzi is the secessionist Northern League, the Five Star Movement of former comedian Beppe Grillo, and the Forza Italia of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a pal of Putin’s. “Up to eight of Italy’s troubled banks risk failure, if Renzi’s government falls”, says the Financial Times. One week from today, the front pages of the Western press could be splashing the newest crisis of the EU.

Yet US policy seems set in concrete by war guarantees and treaty commitments dating back to the time of Truman and Stalin and Ike and John Foster Dulles. America emerged from the Cold War, a quarter century ago, as the sole superpower. Yet, it seems clear that we are not today so dominant a nation as we were in 1989 and 1991.

We have great rivals and adversaries. We are deeper in debt. We are more divided. We’ve fought wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen that availed us nothing. What we had, we kicked away. America is at a plastic moment in history. And America needs nothing so much as reflective thought about a quarter century of failures – and fresh thinking about her future.

His remarks come as one of the contenders to become Austrian president has threatened to hold a referendum if the EU integrates further. Norbert Hofer, who will become Europe's first far-right head of state since the Second World War if elected on Sunday, has promised a ballot if the EU becomes more centralised following Brexit. Asked about the Freedom Party candidate's pledge, Mr Juncker told Euronews: 'We can't deny or take away the people of Europe's right to express their views.

'Regarding referenda on EU membership, I think it is not wise to organise this kind of debate, not only because I might be concerned about the final result but because this will pile more controversy onto the huge number already present at the heart of the EU.'

Asked about whether Britain would be made an example of to discourage other countries from leaving the EU, Mr Juncker said: 'It is not really a question of that. I am not looking for revenge when it comes to the UK. The British have had their say by universal suffrage. I hope others do not do the same. But, regarding the UK, we must not come at this in the spirit of revenge. We must sort out the problems this has caused for the UK and for Europeans.'

German President Joachim Gauck told Germany's "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper that he was worried that not all of the EU's 508 million citizens had the capability or the willingness to keep pace after decades of European integration.

He urged politicians to not only campaign for a united Europe based on peace, freedom, security and democracy but also for a sense of being at home and a sense of belonging. "As a whole, we should think about a pause during which we discuss which goal we want to reach and at what speed," Gauck said, while praising the European project.

So why are so many among the elite preparing for an imminent “apocalypse” when tens of millions of other Americans are anticipating a new era of peace and prosperity?  Are they smarter than most of the rest of us, or are they simply being paranoid?

This is all very odd, because among the general population interest in “prepping” has hit a multi-year low.  In fact, sales of emergency food and supplies are way down at the moment across the entire industry. So once again the question must be asked – do the elite know something that the rest of us do not? If they don’t, why are they spending so much time, effort and money on such extraordinary preparations?

So many people are crying “peace and safety” right now, and yet we are right in the middle of what I have labeled “the danger zone”. Our world is becoming more unstable with each passing day, but there is so much apathy among the American people at the moment. I just don’t understand it.

The self-destructive behavior that we are engaging in as a nation is a recipe for national suicide, and the warning signs are all around us, but because disaster has not struck yet most people seem to believe that the warnings that they have been hearing are not true.

Breakdown:-

Mike Pence, self-described "evangelical Catholic".

Chris Christie, Roman Catholic.

Newt Gingrich, Roman Catholic, Council on Foreign Relations.

Michael T. Flynn, Roman Catholic.

Rudy Giuliani, Roman Catholic, 9/11 coadjutor, alleged Knight of Malta.

Jared Kushner, fan of the Count of Monte Cristo ("Count of the Mount of Christ;" story about the Jesuit General getting revenge on all of the Order's enemies during its suppression).

Steve Bannon, chief strategist and Senior Counselor for the Presidency of Donald Trump, former executive chair of Breitbart News, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown.

Lou Barletta, Roman Catholic.

Chris Collins, Roman Catholic.

Tom Marino, Roman Catholic.

Devin Nunes, Roman Catholic.

Anthony Scaramucci, Roman Catholic, Council on Foreign Relations.

Eric Trump, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown and serves as board member of Georgetown's Business, Society, and Public Policy Initiative.

Ivanka Trump, attended Jesuit Georgetown for two years.

David Malpass, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown, Vice President of the Council for National Policy, leading appointment selections for positions involving economic issues.

Keith Kellogg, trained by Jesuit at Santa Clara University, leading appointment selections for positions involving national defense issues.

Michael Catanzaro, trained by Jesuits at Fordham University and St Ignatius High School, leading the policy implementation team for energy independence.

Andrew Bremberg, graduate of Catholic University of America Executive Legal Action Lead.

James Carafano, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown University, reported to be the primary aide to the State Department of Trump administration transition team.

Ed Feulner, Roman Catholic former President and founder of Heritage Foundation; Jesuit-trained from Regis and Georgetown Universities.

Ken Blackwell, Jesuit-trained from Xavier University, leading appointment selections for positions involving domestic issues.

Boris Epshteyn, Trump's foremost spokesman; Jesuit-trained from Georgetown.

[“The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington DC. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership. Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in US public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States.” wikipedia.org]

The problem with all of this focus on feelings is that logic seems to go out the window. And the hypocrisy that goes along with it is frustrating to watch.

In World War II, the average age of a soldier was 26, with many men serving at a younger age. These men stormed the beaches at Normandy, fought the German, Italian and Japanese armies, faced horrific challenges, watched their friends die and killed the enemy, and the vast majority of them somehow managed to make lives for themselves in the post-War era without spending time whining about the nightmares and after effects that must have surely followed them home. 

There was an attitude of “OK, that’s it, it’s over, let’s move on with life” that does not seem to exist today. We have created a generation that acts as though something is owed to them simply because they exist. And if their poor little feelings get hurt, all hell breaks loose in society around them. Can you imagine a WW2 veteran coming home and demanding a healing circle? Or the Germans demanding a recount and a do-over after losing the war?

Perhaps we can blame social media, at least in part. Facebook launched when founder Mark Zuckerberg created a program to judge the attractiveness of his Harvard University classmates. For many, Facebook has been the tool with which they have reconnected with old friends, family members from around the world and create a network for their work and social lives. The ugly downside to Facebook and Twitter is that the vast majority of the site’s participants appear to be social justice warriors who badger and bully anyone who disagrees with their view of the world.

These snowflakes seem to feel that their opinions are the only ones that matter and when faced with opposition of any kind, they cry foul play. Or, in most cases, they scream that they have been the victims of rampant homophobia, racism, sexism, ageism and any other ism they can think of accusing someone with. In short, they perpetuate the same bullying that they accuse others of committing against them.

The 77-year-old told Politico the organisation has morphed from a “union of minorities” to a “coalition of states” which has changed how the EU works and plans for its future. Mr Prodi said: “During my time at the Berlaymont, one just had to turn on a news channel of a European country and it was all about the Commission. Today, it’s all about the Council.”

Headed by Donald Tusk the Council brings together member states to set the EU’s political agenda with the Commission, overseen by chief Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker, acting as the executive as the EU promoting its general interest. The EU’s endless departments and institutes of bureaucracy are being overthrown by national governments who are now more important in determining European affairs, said Mr Prodi with Germany dominating the EU. He said: “The resolution of the Greek crisis was not a Brussels-Athens decision, it was a Berlin-Athens decision.” 

As the EU becomes smaller, the future of the leaders of the Commission and Council were rocked last week when European Parliament president Martin Schulz announced he would step down from his post as he returns to frontline German politics. The move is expected to spark a fundamental sea-change in the EU’s political balance, with a shift in favour of the centre-right groups weakening current Commission president Mr Juncker’s position and also cast doubt on Donald Tusk, 59, the President of the European Council. The rise of member states coupled with anti-EU referendums has also weakened the Commission. 

In a completely bonkers move this week, the EU Parliament approved a resolution to counter “Russian propaganda” and the “intrusion of Russian media” into the EU. The resolution was adopted with 304 MEPs voting in favor, 179 MEPs voting against it and 208 abstaining. The most bizarre part, however, is that the resolution lumped Russian media in with Islamist propaganda of the kind spread by terror groups like the so-called Islamic State. Thus Russian media is put on the same level with videos of ISIS beheadings and incitements to mass murder.

According to the resolution, Russian media exists to “undermine the very notion of objective information or ethical journalism,” and one of its methods is to cast all other information “as biased or as an instrument of political power.”

The real hypocrisy here is that this last part almost exactly describes how Brussels regards any media critical of its own actions. The resolution criticizes channels like RT for casting other news sources as biased or as instruments of political power while smearing anyone who associates with the Russian media as Kremlin puppets, bought and paid for by Vladimir Putin — and yet the irony appears completely lost on them.

The totally barmy resolution also “notes with regret” that Moscow uses meetings with EU counterparts only for propaganda purposes, rather than for establishing a “real dialog” with Brussels. Another statement ripe with irony, given Brussels just a couple of weeks ago hosted an EU-Russia summit, the aim of which was to foster “mutual understanding” between Russia and the EU — without inviting any representatives of the Russian government. Instead, they asked obscure and practically unknown opposition figures with zero power or influence inside Russia.

As noted by RT columnist Bryan MacDonald, this would be like Brussels hosting a summit to discuss the future of the United States and inviting the Green Party’s Jill Stein while ignoring the two parties that actually hold power. Under Brussels’ own definition, one could easily argue that the EU is trying to “undermine political cohesion” in Russia just as it accuses Moscow of doing in Europe.

Russian news services are under attack from the EU and Western presstitutes as purveyors of “fake news.” Abiding by its Washington master’s orders, the EU actually passed a resolution against Russian media for not following Washington’s line. Russian President Putin said that the resolution is a “visible sign of degradation of Western society’s idea of democracy.”

As George Orwell predicted, telling the truth is now regarded by Western “democratic” governments as a hostile act. A brand new website, propornot.com, has just made its appearance condemning a list of 200 Internet websites that provide news and views at variance with the presstitute media that serves the governments’ agendas.

President Obama is heading into his administration's final weeks with a full agenda of new draft orders to consider, even though his successor has vowed to scale back job-killing regulation and cancel "all illegal and overreaching executive orders."

Despite the likelihood that US President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress would kill any controversial late-in-the-game moves by Mr Obama, federal agencies under the Democratic president are pushing for a flurry of so-called "midnight" regulations on everything from the environment to transportation and financial marketplaces.

The White House was reviewing as many as 98 final regulations, as of November 15, that could be implemented before Mr Trump takes office, including 17 with an estimated annual economic impact of $100 million or more, Politico reported. But lawmakers have warned agency heads to avoid rushing to finalize rules or regulations before Obama leaves office.

"Should you ignore this counsel, please be aware that we will work with our colleagues to ensure that Congress scrutinizes your actions – and, if appropriate, overturns them," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Republican) of California, wrote in a letter last week.

Republicans who hope to undo segments of Obama's legacy have a powerful tool to do so in the Congressional Review Act of 1996. The law will enable Congress in January to repeal, with a simple-majority vote, any agency rule completed after May 30, 2016, as Politico reported. After blocking any rule with that mechanism, the agency would be barred from enacting anything that is "substantially the same." And some Republicans are pushing to bolster the tool by enabling Congress to repeal groups of regulation wholesale, instead of dismantling it piece by piece.

"Up until now, I have seen no argument for the sanctions against Russia being immediately lifted. I would like to have an agreement with Russia that goes beyond the ordinary framework, bearing in mind that without Russia, there is no security architecture in Europe," he said.

According to Juncker, "Russia must be treated as one big entity, as a proud nation." "We have a lot to learn about the depths of Russia, we are very ignorant about it at the moment. I would like to have discussions on a level footing with Russia," he said, adding that "Russia is not, as President Obama said, ‘a regional power’," and calling it "a big error in assessment."

They all focused on large dry-bulk vessels, tankers, and containerships. But this year, orders for tankers globally plunged 80% and for container ships 84%.

Global trade, which collapsed during the Financial Crisis but then recovered in a V-shaped manner, was expected to continue soaring. Instead, it has languished over the past few years. Carriers that transport these goods in dry-bulk vessels, tankers, and container ships, face rampant overcapacity and crushed shipping rates. Smaller ones have sunk. In August, Hanjin, the sixth largest carrier and a formerly too-big-to-fail company in South Korea, was allowed to fail. And they all stopped ordering ships.

However, orders at European shipyards have jumped 45% through the first eight months this year. On the global scale, they’re small players, accounting for only 9.3% of the order book. But they focus on the smaller thriving market for cruise ships, ferries, and tugs.

Globally, orders for ships plunged 77% so far this year through October. But 2015 had already been down 13% from 2014. And 2014 had been down 26% from 2013, the first good year since before the Financial Crisis. In 2007, orders had peaked at 92 million compensated gross tons (CGT). So far this year, orders are down to 10 million CGT.

At this rate, 2016 will be the worst year in BIMCO’s data series going back to 1996. Even back then, orders amounted to 18 million CGT. No industry can survive for long when orders collapse at these rates. But next year might be worse, according to Peter Sand, BIMCO’s chief shipping analyst.

This kind of trade policy bluster coming from the newly elected president is generating unease in Berlin. The German government is concerned that Germany could soon fall into Trump's sights as well.

There are plenty of reasons for that. Germany's current account surplus has never been as high as it is this year and never before has that surplus represented such a significant share of the country's gross domestic product. Making matters worse is the fact that the US is the largest consumer of German exports.

According to German government calculations from October, the current account surplus is set to climb to 8.9 percent this year, which would be larger than ever before and higher even than China's. Such a surplus comes about when a country produces more than it consumes and receives more revenues from overseas than it invests.

As high as it is, though, the current surplus is likely to continue growing. The recent fall in the euro's value relative to the dollar following Trump's election makes German products and services even more competitive.

States in central Europe and the Balkans have been put on red alert for another massive wave of asylum seekers after Recep Tayyip Erdogan handed the extraordinary blackmail note to EU leaders. And now Serbia has revealed it has drawn up emergency plans to follow in the footsteps of neighbours Bulgaria, Macedonia and Croatia in constructing a huge barrier which would seal off most of the continent. 

The extraordinary measure was leaked by Government insiders who said ministers fear Islamist despot Erdogan is about to unleash a “tsunami” of three million migrants on Europe. They told the state-owned Novosti newspaper that the already prepared “Plan B” could be enacted within a short timeframe to protect the country from any further refugee chaos. 

The number of migrants travelling along the Balkans route has been reduced from a flood to a trickle in recent months after the EU signed a deal with Turkey to stem the flow. Under the terms of the agreement Ankara takes back all migrants who do not apply for asylum in Greece, or whose applications are rejected, and in return Europe takes in another Syrian from a camp in Turkey. 

However, relations between president Erdogan and European leaders have become increasingly strained in recent months, with the Turkish leader accusing the EU of reneging on its promise to give his people visa-free access in return.