Miscellaneous News

Blackstone

Brigadier
Sinzo Abe seems to be having some political problems at home. I don't believe the part about Abe resigning, but I'm concerned as he becomes more and more unpopular, he'll get desperate and rabble rouse nationalism against China to stay in power.

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Just weeks ago it seemed as if little could stop Shinzo Abe.

The Japanese leader, fresh from a historic speech to the US Congress, appeared strong, decisive, and – most of all – ready to enable his country's armed forces to take their first offensive role outside Japan in seven decades.

Abe’s ruling coalition has large enough majorities in both houses of the Diet to pass laws that would allow soldiers to fight alongside allies on foreign soil for the first time since the end of World War II.

The moment seemed ripe to start defining Mr. Abe’s tenure as an assertive new kind of prime minister.

But Abe, whose grandfather was a prominent figure in Japan’s wartime cabinet, now faces real opposition.

Mounting public disapproval, sharp questions by constitutional experts, and a storm created by an extraordinary attack on the media by Abe’s own allies have rattled the conservative leader – and may yet trigger his resignation.

The controversy centers on a series of bills to reinterpret – but not actually revise – Article 9 of Japan’s postwar Constitution, which forbids its military to engage in collective self-defense.

Abe’s policies could give Japanese forces the right to fight alongside US forces, provided the conflicts are defined as a threat to Japan’s own national security.

DEFENDING AGAINST NEW THREATS

Abe has invested considerable political capital in recasting Japan’s strictly defensive posture of the past 70 years. He wants an Army better prepared to defend against new threats from Islamist terrorism, an expansionist China, a nuclear-armed North Korea, or other threats that any normal nation would need to challenge.

During his visit to the White House and Congress in April, Abe promised to ensure the bills’ passage by the end of the summer. Pentagon officials who want Japan to play a more active role in bilateral security ties were delighted.

At home, though, opposition to Abe in a nation that became deeply pacifist after the war, has intensified.

Approval ratings for Abe's cabinet fell to 47 percent, down three points from May, according to a new poll by the Nikkei business paper.

Many voters cited the security legislation as the source of their discontent. Some 56 percent opposed ending the ban on collective self-defense. Only 26 percent were in favor; 81 percent said Abe had yet to properly explain the bills.

Earlier, three scholars invited by Abe’s own Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to testify before a Diet committee veered off message in front of the cameras to say the proposed changes would violate the Constitution. The view is shared by 132 of 151 academics just surveyed by Asahi TV.

Then there is ongoing bullying of the media by Abe supporters. Over the weekend, the government was accused of attacking press freedom after MPs loyal to Abe trained their sights on negative coverage of the security bills. One lawmaker called on corporations to pull their ads from sections of the media. (The reaction caused one of the MPs to be sacked as leader of the LDP’s youth wing, and three others to be reprimanded.)

GROWING DISARRAY IN ABE CAMP

Senior party figures warned that similar disruptions could derail the bills altogether. "One careless mistake could become a fatal one," the LDP’s secretary general, Sadakazu Tanigaki, told reporters.

Another MP told Kyodo News that his wayward colleagues had “done things that could affect the deliberations of the bills at an important time.”

Opposition parties sense an opportunity to use growing disarray in the Abe camp to prevent lawmakers from moving to a vote before the prime minister’s September deadline.

Closer scrutiny of the bills has prompted questions about the exact circumstances under which Japanese troops could fight overseas – questions that Abe’s critics say he has failed to answer.

Under pressure to leave more time for scrutiny, Abe extended the current Diet session to Sept. 27.

Whatever happens to the bills, persuading voters that they are constitutionally watertight is an “impossible task,” says Koichi Nakano, a professor of politics at Sophia University in Tokyo.

“The last resort for the government would be to fan fears of Chinese expansionism and other security threats and argue that those who insist on protecting the Constitution would fail to protect the country,” he says.

Prof. Nakano believes that rather than buying himself time, Abe’s decision to extend the Diet session could backfire, since it would give a newly energized opposition more time.

“It is likely that [the LDP’s] performance will continue to give the critics the ammunition to point out that the bills are not only unconstitutional, but also full of flaws and inconsistencies,” Nakano says.

Abe, though, has some allies among constitutional experts. Osamu Nishi, professor emeritus at Komazawa University, said the proposed security changes were "clearly within the allowable range" of the Constitution because they placed limits on Japan’s right to engage in collective self-defense.

Akira Momochi, a professor at Nihon University, said that coming to the defense of an ally under attack, even when Japan is itself is not attacked, is the "inherent right" of any country under international law.

Ultimately, Abe could settle for a quid pro quo by offering his resignation in return for safe passage of the legislation, says Nakano.

“I think that a scenario in which Abe is kicked out of power before the end of the year is now within the realm of possibility,” he adds.
 

mankyle

New Member
Registered Member
There has been a crash in Indonesia where a Herc has crashed into a hotel. 30 dead

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Fox News said:
MEDAN, Indonesia – An Indonesian air force transport plane carrying military personnel and their families plowed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city of Medan shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, killing more than 70.

Rescue teams were using heavy machinery to remove the mangled wreckage of the C-130 Hercules as they searched the rubble of a building shattered by the impact. Witness accounts suggest the plane suffered an engine fire before crashing.

Air force spokesman Rear Marshal Dwi Badarmanto said 74 bodies have been recovered so far. He said about 30 of the dead have been identified and include air force personnel and members of their families.

Air force officials say there may have been more than 100 people on the C-130. They say there is little hope of finding survivors. It is unclear how many people on the ground were killed.

The crash of the transport plane, which had been in service since 1964, occurred not long before midday and just two minutes after it took off from Soewondo air force base.

Air force chief Air Marshal Agus Supriatna said the pilot told the control tower that the plane needed to turn back because of engine trouble.

"The plane crashed while it was turning right to return to the airport," he said.

Many passengers were families of military personnel. Hitching rides on military planes to reach remote destinations is common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that spans three time zones.

Indonesia has a patchy civil aviation safety record and its cash-strapped air force has also suffered a string of accidents. Between 2007 and 2009, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe because of safety concerns. The country's most recent civilian airline disaster was in December, when an AirAsia jet with 162 people on board crashed into the Java Sea en route from Surabaya to Singapore. There have been five fatal crashes involving air force planes since 2008, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks aviation disasters.

Medan resident Fahmi Sembiring said he saw the gray Hercules flying very low as he was driving.

"Flames and black smoke were coming from the plane in the air," he said.

Sembiring said he stopped not far from the crash site and saw several people rescued by police, security guards and bystanders.

Another man, Janson Halomoan Sinagam, said several of his relatives were on the plane when it left Medan.

"We just want to know their fate," he told MetroTV, weeping. "But we have not yet received any information from the hospital."

The plane's manifest showed there were 50 people on the flight from Medan in Sumatra to the remote Natuna island chain, according to North Sumatra police chief Eko Hadi Sutedjo, but the actual number was higher.

Supriatna, the air force chief, said there were 12 crew and more than 100 passengers on the plane before it reached Medan. It had traveled from the capital, Jakarta, and stopped at two locations before arriving at Medan.

The C-130 accident is the second time in 10 years that an airplane has crashed into a Medan neighborhood. In September 2005, a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 crashed into a crowded residential community shortly after takeoff from Medan's Polonia airport, killing 143 people including 30 on the ground.

On Twitter, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he and his family extend "heartfelt condolences" to the families of victims.

After the emergency response is complete, the government will evaluate the age of air force planes and other important military equipment, he said.

Aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said numerous nonfatal accidents involving air force planes this year are worrying and suggest there could be shortfalls in areas such as training.

Previously, the air force's safety record was marred by low flight hours and parts shortages that stemmed from a U.S. ban on defense sales to Indonesia, but that situation no longer applies with the lifting of those restrictions more than five years ago.
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
Breaking: Tsipras says the referendum will go ahead and will support a 'No'

The PM has taken to Greek television. We're relying on translations but he is remainng defiant. Some flashes:

“Tsipras says creditors shifted blackmail from goverment to citizens

Tsipras says Europe should give time and space to Greeks

Tsipras not backing down, says Greece received better proposals for debt after referendum call

for `no' vote in July 5 referendum

: 'no' means pressure for a viable deal w/debt relief - mni

''no vote is a choice for a better deal on Monday


If positive development in eurogroup we will respond”


lwCd9X4.jpg

Protesters gather in front of the Greek parliament in Athens on Tuesday
Picture: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP


TcU8B12.jpg
A Greek riot police officer adjusts his helmet as he takes position in front of the Bank of Greece during demonstrations in Athens on Tuesday


gN9512a.jpg

There have been chaotic scenes outside bank branches in Athens on Wednesday as people try to withdraw money
Picture: ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU/EPA

This reminds me of Argentina in 2001


Back to bottling my Grenache and selling my Euros
 

delft

Brigadier
it is clear that the debts of Greece are much larger than can be paid off. There are even rumours that the debts are considerably larger than acknowledged. The money is likely embezzled by Greek oligarchs and foreign financial organizations like Goldman Sacks, the organization that "rearranged" the Greek books to allow Greece to become a member of the Euro zone. So now EU, ECB and IMF are damaging the Greek economy - unemployment among young people is higher than 50% - and want to lend more on condition that Greek pensioners are robbed. The solution must be to write of a large part of the Greek debts, so the Greeks can start producing more. Alternatively Greece should disallow the debts to the "Troika". Get out of EU and seek economic relations with other countries.

Breaking news: a few seconds ago my Dutch radio station, BNR, told me that the finance minister Dijselbloem has said in the Dutch parliament that if the Greek referendum results in a NO there will be no place for Greece in the EU.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
I think there are deep, fundamental flaws with the way current top-level economic policy are drawn up and implemented in the west, which in term impact on the conduction of western dominated financial institutions.

The root cause of the problem is the power "too big to fail" financial institutions and their agents have in determining western governmental financial policy.

These big banks and hedge funds wield enormous power in western halls of power, both directly through official channels, but just as, if not more importantly, indirectly via lobbyists, sponsored think tanks, and even top level government officials who are increasingly former top dogs are those banks and financial institutions.

For decades, western financial institutions have abused their power to profit at an astronomical rate through world bank and IMF crisis loans and restructuring deals with developing economies.

In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, western banks and financial institutes oversaw and directly profited from a fire-sale of the most valuable parts of the financial institutions and assets of those faltering economies, and they were hailed as heroes by all in the west.

Such practices are only gaining attention and notoriety in recent years in the west because those same banks and financial institutions did something a little similar during the 2008 western financial crisis to manipulate their power and influence to save themselves and pass much of the consequence of their misdeeds onto others, often the western taxpayer, who did not like what they saw at all.

However, if you contrast the deep and fundamental restructuring, break-ups and sell offs (often at a fraction of the value) Asian banks and financial institutions were forced to endure and accept as part of the conditions of the IMF and World Bank bail outs with the national treasure special protection western banks and financial institutions received in 2008, the difference could not be greater!

The Greek deal are more akin to what the Asian countries were forced to accept rather than the golden parachute other western banks, institutions and economies got. So its no wonder there is so much popular rage in Greece over the "raw deal" they got.

In addition, it did not help at all that western leaders and politicians were using the crisis to score ideological points, with the famous clash between austerity and quantitative easing.

In my view, the austerity approach was fundamentally flawed. You do not dig yourself out from under a mountain of debt by saving pennies, you have to make more money, and you can't do that if you make short sighted cuts that damage the medium and long term growth prospects of your country and economy to save a quick buck now.

How could Greece's fortunes improve when so much of its workforce is sitting around jobless and ideal and claiming benefits rather than paying taxes?!

That is the result of typical bankers' short sightedness at play as they are only interested in the next quarterly figures and how that impact their bonus pool rather than 5, 10 years down the line when they will probably have changed several jobs by then.

Governments and international financial institutions cannot think and behave like that, but unfortunately too often they do.

From a macro, long game POV, the west simply cannot allow Greece to default and exit the Eurozone.

If they allow that to pass, it will be a true turning point in history and mark the beginning of the end of the western dominated financial world.

If I was in charge in China, I would hope that Greece would not default and leave because of the massive losses that would inflict on Chinese holdings and investment.

However, neither would I offer any sort of rescue package for Greece, as under the current rules and norms, all that would do is pay the bonuses of western bankers for the next decade, and we will be right back here again in no time. But it will be far less of an issue then for the west then, since it will "only" be Chinese money on the line, so they will probably allow a Greece default, and shove all the losses on China and give Greece a clean slate with zero real consequence.

Instead I would be preparing a post-default and "Grexit" rescue package to massively increase investment in Greece to create jobs and boost productivity with long term economic development milestones as the key performance targets and benchmarks, rather than cuts as it is now.

I would use that as a case study to promote the superiority of Chinese led financial institutions and values as an alternative to the current system.
 

delft

Brigadier
I think there are deep, fundamental flaws with the way current top-level economic policy are drawn up and implemented in the west, which in term impact on the conduction of western dominated financial institutions.

The root cause of the problem is the power "too big to fail" financial institutions and their agents have in determining western governmental financial policy.

These big banks and hedge funds wield enormous power in western halls of power, both directly through official channels, but just as, if not more importantly, indirectly via lobbyists, sponsored think tanks, and even top level government officials who are increasingly former top dogs are those banks and financial institutions.

For decades, western financial institutions have abused their power to profit at an astronomical rate through world bank and IMF crisis loans and restructuring deals with developing economies.

In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, western banks and financial institutes oversaw and directly profited from a fire-sale of the most valuable parts of the financial institutions and assets of those faltering economies, and they were hailed as heroes by all in the west.

Such practices are only gaining attention and notoriety in recent years in the west because those same banks and financial institutions did something a little similar during the 2008 western financial crisis to manipulate their power and influence to save themselves and pass much of the consequence of their misdeeds onto others, often the western taxpayer, who did not like what they saw at all.

However, if you contrast the deep and fundamental restructuring, break-ups and sell offs (often at a fraction of the value) Asian banks and financial institutions were forced to endure and accept as part of the conditions of the IMF and World Bank bail outs with the national treasure special protection western banks and financial institutions received in 2008, the difference could not be greater!

The Greek deal are more akin to what the Asian countries were forced to accept rather than the golden parachute other western banks, institutions and economies got. So its no wonder there is so much popular rage in Greece over the "raw deal" they got.

In addition, it did not help at all that western leaders and politicians were using the crisis to score ideological points, with the famous clash between austerity and quantitative easing.

In my view, the austerity approach was fundamentally flawed. You do not dig yourself out from under a mountain of debt by saving pennies, you have to make more money, and you can't do that if you make short sighted cuts that damage the medium and long term growth prospects of your country and economy to save a quick buck now.

How could Greece's fortunes improve when so much of its workforce is sitting around jobless and ideal and claiming benefits rather than paying taxes?!

That is the result of typical bankers' short sightedness at play as they are only interested in the next quarterly figures and how that impact their bonus pool rather than 5, 10 years down the line when they will probably have changed several jobs by then.

Governments and international financial institutions cannot think and behave like that, but unfortunately too often they do.

From a macro, long game POV, the west simply cannot allow Greece to default and exit the Eurozone.

If they allow that to pass, it will be a true turning point in history and mark the beginning of the end of the western dominated financial world.

If I was in charge in China, I would hope that Greece would not default and leave because of the massive losses that would inflict on Chinese holdings and investment.

However, neither would I offer any sort of rescue package for Greece, as under the current rules and norms, all that would do is pay the bonuses of western bankers for the next decade, and we will be right back here again in no time. But it will be far less of an issue then for the west then, since it will "only" be Chinese money on the line, so they will probably allow a Greece default, and shove all the losses on China and give Greece a clean slate with zero real consequence.

Instead I would be preparing a post-default and "Grexit" rescue package to massively increase investment in Greece to create jobs and boost productivity with long term economic development milestones as the key performance targets and benchmarks, rather than cuts as it is now.

I would use that as a case study to promote the superiority of Chinese led financial institutions and values as an alternative to the current system.
Exactly. And no doubt Russia would help too. That's why I fear military intervention in Greek politics as in the colonels' regime of 1967. NATO has never had problems with undemocratic members. Portugal was a fascist dictatorship for the first quarter century of its membership.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
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000 yard.jpg

Fox News said:
WASHINGTON -
U.S. Park Police say that they are investigating reports of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Reports of the shooting came in around 7:30 a.m. Here are the latest updates into the FOX 5 newsroom as we get them:

UPDATE - 8:55 a.m.
No shooters found inside building after reports of 2 shooters on second floor of building 197. Police continue to search buildings in Navy Yard complex.

UPDATE - 8:48 a.m.
DC Police close roads M St SE from S. Capitol to 11th St SE/11th St from M St to Virginia/.

UPDATE - 8:42 a.m.
Lt. Commander speaks to FOX 5 and says he was in building 197 – sheltered until escorted out by police.

UPDATE - 8:35 a.m.
FOX 5’s sources report 2 possible shooters seen inside building – 1 black male – 1 white male – armed, inside building - one victim.

UPDATE - 8:31 a.m.
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order to lock down/shelter in place.

UPDATE - 8:27 a.m.
Police are inside building 197 searching for possible gunman - possible victim. This is the same building as the 2013 shooting.

UPDATE - 8 a.m.
The Navy Yard, and locations around the area on M Street, are on lock down.

FOX 5's Assignment Manager Doug Buchanan says multiple sources confirm that there was a shooting at the location just after 7:30 a.m.

FOX News reports that an employee inside the Washington Navy Yard reports that alarms are sounding inside the buildings.

On September 16, 2013, gunman Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command inside the Washington Navy Yard.

This is a breaking news situation - stay with FOX 5 for the latest.

A friend told me the following on another forum I frequent:

Friend said:
I’m at the Navy Yard now. We’re on lockdown, shelter in place. Locked in our room now and waiting further instructions. Peeked my head out of our area and saw many SWAT team members.

This is ongoing right now.

USA Today is reporting:

USA Today said:
WASHINGTON — The Navy Yard, located less than a mile south of the U.S. Capitol, was placed on lockdown Thursday following an unconfirmed report of an active shooter.

District of Columbia fire officials say there are no injuries from the incident,
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.

The 41-acre facility was the scene of a mass killing by a lone gunman in 2013.

The U.S. Navy said on Twitter that a lockdown and shelter-in-place is in effect, but said no incident had yet been confirmed.

NBC News quotes Pentagon sources as saying a sweep of the facility turned up no evidence of a shooter or shooting incident. As a precaution, NBCNews reports, security officials are making a second sweep of the buildings.

Lt. Commander Scott Williams, chief engineer for the Navy's guided missile program, said his building at Navy Yard was evacuated around 7:30 a.m. He said he heard someone screaming.
 

Broccoli

Senior Member
Different news sites report that North-Korean scientist is in Finland and has over 15 gigabytes worth of information about human experimentation and other information.

Korean Times what reported it first has gone down.
U9JM0AX.png


Finland's largest newspaper reports that "Lee" is going to testify in European parliament later this month.
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Hoax or not?
 
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