Peter Boockvar – What Is Really Happening In China May Surprise People
On the heels of a failed coup attempt in Turkey and continued uncertainty in global markets, Peter Boockvar notes that what is really happening in China may surprise people. Here is what Peter Boockvar wrote today as the world awaits the next round of monetary madness: I have to admit, a Turkish coup or even an attempt at one was not on my list of focus. I’ll leave the consequences for others to discuss but realize that most geopolitical events are not market relevant for more than a few days and this may very well be just a Turkish thing. That said, disgust with the ruling class is being seen again. As we get bombarded over the next few weeks with Q2 earnings, I’ll say what I seem to say quarterly. Expect about 70% of companies to beat earnings estimates. That is the benchmark so a beat rate around that level should not be considered good, it should be referred to as normal. The pound is rallying again after BoE member Martin Weale said an August ease is not set in stone. “For there to be a case for easing policy I will need to expect weakness in output to be large enough more than to compensate for any overshoot in inflation.” They only have 50 bps to play with as most on the MPC don’t believe in negative interest rates. The line of the day though from Weale was this, “The old Lady of Threadneedle Street is not a nurse to markets.” We’ll see if he means it because any further amount of easing will not result in one bit of benefit to their economy as only costs are being built up. The ECB meets on Thursday and no added policy changes are expected. After all, Mario Draghi is already killing his banking system, starving the region’s pension systems and bankrupting insurance companies for no discernible benefit. At what point does a central banker say “We’ve gone too far”? What Is Really Happening in China May Surprise People The number of price gains in 70 China cities surveyed moderated on a m/o/m basis. For new apartments, prices rose in 55 cities in June vs 60 in May and 65 in April. In December there 39 cities that saw price increases. For existing apartments prices rose in 48 cities, down 1 from May and down 3 from April. In December it was at 37. On a y/o/y basis for both new and existing apartments however, prices grew in even more cities than the month prior. Price gains are still out of control in the major cities with Shenzhen seeing a 47% y/o/y increase but that is actually down from 53% in May. Prices in Shanghai were up 28% vs last year, the same pace as the prior month and they were higher by 20% in Beijing. Acknowledging the bubbles, these cities have taken steps to curb the enthusiasm by raising down payment requirements for 2nd homes among other things. Prices in 2nd tier cities slowed. Bottom line, Chinese government policy remains all about managing the excesses that have built up over the past 7 years in order to slow the pace of growth in an orderly manner. Smoke and mirrors is how they are doing it but the process continues. Either way, as seen in the US, it is taking more and more debt to generate the same level of economic growth. The Shanghai property stock index fell .7% in response to the m/o/m price slowdown while the Shanghai comp was lower by .4%. The yuan was also softer with it now above 6.70 vs the US dollar for the 1st time in 5 yrs. The H share index though was up by .5% with most of Asia modestly up. Copper is down about 1%.
The sun appears to take a dizzying flip in a new video captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft . SDO did a full somersault on July 6 over the course of about 7 hours, taking pictures of the sun every 12 seconds all the while. These photos, which SDO team members combined into a video, are pretty wild. The video seems "to show the sun spinning, as if stuck on a pinwheel," NASA officials wrote in an image description Friday (July 15).
The sun appears to do a somersault in these images captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft on July 6, 2016 — but SDO was the one doing the spinning.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Joy Ng SDO does such a somersault twice a year to help its Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument take good measurements of the sun's outer edge. "Were the sun perfectly spherical, this would be a much simpler task. But the solar surface is dynamic, leading to occasional distortions," NASA officials wrote. "This makes it hard for HMI to find the sun’s edge when it’s perfectly still. HMI’s biannual roll lets each part of the camera look at the entire perimeter of the sun, helping it map the sun’s shape much more precisely."
China Warns The World: America Is The "Greatest Threat To Peace & Stability"
It is no secret that the relationship between the United States and China has been strained for quite some time. Earlier this month when the US sailed its guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, it ended in China scrambling of two fighter jets and three warships to shadow the destroyer and convince it to leave the area. The US admitted that it sailed the USS William P. Lawrence by the disputed island in order to "challenge excessive maritime claims" made by China. In turn, China had this to say about the US effort: "This action by the U.S. side threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability." As the US meddles in the South China Sea disputes, China has been increasingly vocal about its displeasure, and that came out very directly in recent comments made on Thursday.
The United Nations is getting ready to rule on a maritime dispute between China and the Philippines, and in discussing that potential ruling Yang Yujun, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said at a briefing that US involvement in these types of disputes is the greatest threat to the region. From Russia Today
On Thursday, China said that it would not recognize the UN verdict on the issue, unless China’s claims are honored. “No matter what kind of ruling the Court makes, China will not accept nor recognize the adjudication,” Yang Yujun, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said at a briefing. “This is China’s right conferred by the international laws. By doing so we are actually abiding by and observing the international laws.” The tension is being exacerbated even further by a continuously growing American presence in the region, whose many allies also lay claims to the islands. China has called the US involvement in the dispute the “greatest” threat to the region. “Certain countries outside the region frequently show its military strength in the South China Sea area and this is actually the greatest threat to peace and stability in the region. We urge them to stop stirring up a storm in a teapot and stop sowing seeds of discord so as to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, which conforms to the common interests of all parties,” Yang said.
Yang went on to say that "in essence, the root cause for security hazards and potential accidents in the air and at sea between China and the US is the long term, large-scale and frequent close-in reconnaissance activities against China by the US military vessels and aircraft."
Hidden Microphones Exposed As Part of Government Surveillance Program In The Bay Area OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed. Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn’t even need a warrant to do it. Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations. Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there’s microphones that are planted in places that people don’t think about, because that’s the intent!” FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011. Federal authorities are trying to prove real estate investors in San Mateo and Alameda counties are guilty of bid rigging and fraud and used these recordings as evidence. Harp said, “An agent can’t just go out and grab a recording device and plant it somewhere without authorization from a supervisor or special agent in charge.” The lawyer for one of the accused real estate investors who will ask the judge to throw out the recordings, told KPIX 5 News that, “Speaking in a public place does not mean that the individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy…private communication in a public place qualifies as a protected ‘oral communication’… and therefore may not be intercepted without judicial authorization.” Harp says that if you’re going to conduct criminal activity, do it in the privacy of your own home. He says that was the original intention of the Fourth Amendment, but it’s up to the judge to interpret it.
The buying and selling of America, it is on going, this is just a drop in the bucket
Chinese pour $110bn into US real estate, says study Investment is set to double in the next five years as wealthy rush to get their money into overseas assets, especially houses.
Chinese nationals have become the largest foreign buyers of US property after pouring billions into the market in search of safe offshore assets, according to a study.
A huge surge in Chinese buying of both residential and commercial real estate last year took their five-year investment total to more than $110bn, according to the study from the Asia Society and Rosen Consulting Group. The sheer size of that total has helped the real estate market recover from the crash that began in 2006 and precipitated the 2008 economic crisis, they said. Chinese investment in propertyhas also helped to inflate prices in other developed countries, notably the UK and Australia in the wake of the dip in world stock markets in 2015. And despite a slowdown due to Beijing’s subsequent clampdown on capital outflows, the figure for the second half of this decade is likely to double to $218bn, the study said. “What makes China different and noteworthy is the combination of the high volume of investment (and) the breadth of its participation across all real estate categories,” including a “somewhat unique entry into residential purchases,” the study said. The authors of the study said their numbers, based on public and real estate industry data, understate the total. They necessarily miss purchases made by front companies and trusts that do not identify the sources of the funds. Big deals such as the Anbang insurance group’s $2bn purchase of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York last year and its failed $14bn offer for the Starwood group in March have made headlines. But the study said Chinese buying of US homes far outpaces its investment in commercial land and buildings. Between 2010 and 2015, Chinese buyers put more than $17bn into US commercial real estate, with half of that spent last year alone. Unlike many countries, there are very few restrictions on what foreigners can buy in the US. But during the same period at least $93bn went into US homes. And in the 12 months to March 2015, the latest period for which relatively comprehensive data could be gathered, home purchases totaled $28.5bn. That took the Chinese past Canadians, who have long been the biggest foreign buyers of US residential real estate. Geographically, Chinese buyers are concentrated in the most expensive markets: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Property in Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas is also popular. That focus means they pay well above the average US home price: last year, Chinese buyers paid on average about $832,000 per home in the United States, compared with the average for all foreign purchases of $499,600. The motivations are broad: some are buying second homes, some are buying as they move to the United States on EB-5 investor visas; some are investing for rental and resale. Most of the money in US homes, the study noted, is private wealth, not corporate. “This familiarity of utilizing real estate as an investment or wealth preservation tool is more prevalent in China and reflects the broader comfort of purchasing second homes in the United States by Chinese individuals and families,” the study noted. Since last year, there has also been the motivation to get money outside China and into dollar assets amid worry about the continued fall in the yuan, which was devalued slightly against the US dollar in August. The study says it expects a lot more commercial real estate buys in the United States by Chinese companies. Last month, Chinese conglomerate HNA announced it would buy the 1,400-hotel group Carlson Hotels, owner of the Radisson brand. “Anbang is not the only firm looking at these assets. Other Chinese entities were originally interested in acquiring Starwood in 2015 before Marriott reached an initial deal, including Jin Jiang Hotel Group, which had already acquired a European hotel chain in 2015, and CIC, the sovereign wealth fund,” the study said. In Australia, the government recently blocked an attempt by Dakang Holdings to buy the Kidman farmland empire whose assets cover 1.3% of the Australian land mass.
WaterandPower:ChinaEyesOffshoreExpansionViaFloatingNuclearPlant China is pushing ahead with its construction of a first-ever floating nuclear power platform, which is expected to add to Beijing's ever-increasing clout in the South China Sea, according to the Chinese newspaper Global Times.
The construction of China's first maritime nuclear power platform in the South China Sea is due to be completed by 2018 and be put into operation by 2019, the Chinese newspaper Global Times reported. The newspaper quoted analysts as saying that such a platform could boost the efficiency of China's ongoing construction work on islands in the South China Sea considerably. In a recent interview with the Global Times, Liu Zhengguo, head of the general office of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) which is responsible for designing and assembling the platforms, said that the CSIS is "pushing forward with the work."
"The development of nuclear power platforms is a burgeoning trend. The exact number of plants to be built [by the CSIC] depends on market demand. Judging by various factors … the demand is pretty strong," he said without elaborating.
Earlier this month, it was reported that China plans to construct at least 20 maritime nuclear power platforms "in the future."
According to the Global Times, the platforms "will play an important role in China's long-term South China Sea strategy." The newspaper cited Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, as saying that the platforms will add to reliable power supplies for lighthouses, rescue and relief equipment as well as airports and harbors on the South China Sea islands.
"Given the long distance between the Nansha Islands and the Chinese mainland and the changing weather conditions, transporting fuel could be an issue, which is why developing the maritime nuclear power platform is of great significance," he said.
Sun Qin, board chairman of the China National Nuclear Corporation, said last month that the country will start the construction of a floating nuclear power station by the end of this year. According to him, the facility, which is designed to power offshore oil and gas drilling as well as island development and remote areas, is set to be put into operation in 2019. Right now, there are 30 nuclear power generating units in operation in China, with another 24 units under construction, all on land, media reports said.
Second State employee refuses GOP questions on Clinton server
A State Department staffer who oversaw security and technology issues for Hillary Clinton is refusing to answer Senate investigators’ questions about the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server — marking the second time an ex-State employee has declined to talk to lawmakers. John Bentel, a now-retired State employee who managed IT security issues for the top echelon at the department, declined to be interviewed by GOP staff on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.
The chairmen of both committees, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), are now threatening to consider other ways to compel him to discuss the matter. “We are troubled by your refusal to engage with the committees even after repeated overtures of accommodation,” the letter to Bentel and his lawyer reads. “We need to speak with you. … We would, of course, prefer that you meet with us in a voluntary and informal manner, but we will consider other options if faced with a continuing lack of cooperation.” Bentel’s lawyer, Randy Turk of Baker Botts in Washington, did not reply to a request for comment, but the recent letter notes that Bentel told House Benghazi investigators last year he did not recall the server matter, according to the Senate letter. And in email correspondence between the panel and Bentel's laywer, which was reviewed by POLITICO, Turk lamented that Bentel had already talked to the House Benghazi panel “about precisely what the committtees’ letter states is the subject of their investigation.” “Mr Bentel… is understandably not inclined to go through that process again since he has already been questioned at great length about what he knows and what he recalls about that subject,” Turk wrote to Senate investigators in an email last Thursday. "[I]t seems to me that what is really fair here would be for you and the committees to respect Mr Bentel’s decision not to be interviewed a second time about the same subjects he has already been interviewed about at great length." As Clinton continues battling with Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, this latest missive from Grassley and Johnson shows that the email scandal isn’t going away. Republican investigations into the server will continue through the spring, if not longer, as the FBI conducts its own investigation into whether classified information was mishandled by Clinton’s setup — a probe that is ongoing but could wrap up as soon as this summer. The campaign did not respond to request for comment for this story. Bentel is now the second former State staffer to decline an interview request from congressional investigators. Last year, Clinton’s top IT staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who personally maintained her server at State, also refused to answer questions. He asserted his Fifth Amendment right before the House Benghazi Committee last September and rebuffed Judiciary and Homeland requests for interviews for their investigations. Pagliano, who worked for Clinton on the campaign trail before following her to State, was recently reported to have been granted immunity from the FBI so he can discuss the email issue without fear of prosecution. Law enforcement is investigating whether Clinton’s unusual setup ever put classified information at risk — or whether anyone unlawfully forwarded classified intelligence to her unsecured account. State has discovered more than 2,000 classified emails that passed through the server, including about two dozen that were “top secret.” Clinton maintains they were not marked classified at the time they were sent. The Senate committees are also investigating the issue, though with a slightly different focus. While also probing the security of the server, the panels are questioning whether Clinton or her top staff ever intentionally sidestepped record-keeping laws under the Freedom of Information Act. That law requires all emails from public officials that mention work issues to be preserved and available for public request. The FOIA question is also being litigated through federal courts, where conservative group Judicial Watch just won a major victory after a judge approved the group’s request to question Clinton’s closest staffers about whether they were intentionally hiding correspondence. According to his LinkedIn profile, Bentel joined State in 1974. He served as director of information resources management in the office of the executive secretariat, which includes the secretary and top staff as well as the deputy secretary and undersecretaries. The office also handles State’s relations with the White House, National Security Council and other agencies. His position, according to the letter, would have made him responsible for Clinton’s information management and information technology needs, including perhaps her BlackBerry use. On Dec. 4, 2015, Judiciary and Homeland investigators reached out to Bentel’s lawyer to schedule an interview. But Turk told them Bentel had already been asked about the matter when he sat before the House Benghazi Committee. Turk said Bentel told the committee he had “no memory of knowledge” of the server issue and there was “little point” in telling another committee the same thing, according to the letter. But both Senate panels say Bentel may have been aware of the sever, noting that their investigators have been told that some of Bentel’s subordinates knew about the home setup: “It appears that you were an integral figure in the operations of the Executive Secretariat and that you would have particular and unique knowledge relevant to the committees’ inquiry. Indeed, Department personal have noted that your subordinates in the Executive Secretariat’s office, who reported directly to you, had knowledge of Secretary Clinton’s private email server, which leads one to conclude that you were likely made aware of the server.” The panels also want to ask Bentel about how FOIAs were handled in the office of the executive secretariat. After Turk initially rebuffed the panel’s request last winter, the committee continued to try to convince him that speaking to Bentel was necessary and offered to do a phone interview since he no longer lives in Washington, D.C. “It is worth noting that the committees’ line of questioning would most certainly be different from the Benghazi Committee, since the respective committees are examining different issues,” they wrote. Their last communication on Jan. 20, 2016, however, went unanswered until last week, when his lawyer reiterated that he was unwilling to answer questions. “We have spoken to Mr. Bentel and there has been no change in what we have told you previously on several occasions now, both on the phone and in several emails, in response to your prior requests to interview him,” Turk said in the Thursday email to the committee.
A friend used this scenario in several stories and another friend warned about this years ago. I worry more about them buying up things here.
Unease over Chinese investors buying farms Down Under
SYDNEY: With Chinese buyers eyeing farm land in Australia and New Zealand, authorities are coming under growing pressure to balance the need for foreign investment against accusations of “selling out.” Currently up for sale is the S. Kidman and Co. Limited cattle empire — a vast Outback estate which covers 1.3 percent of Australia’s land mass and has an average herd of 185,000 cattle. Treasurer Scott Morrison blocked its sale to all foreign investors in November, including from China, saying it was contrary to the national interest given part of the holding overlaps with a military testing range. But Morrison recently approved the sale of Australia’s largest dairy farming business to a Chinese buyer, despite criticism that businessman Lu Xianfeng’s Aus$280 million ($210 million) purchase of Tasmania’s Van Diemen’s Land Company could impact food security. In a statement headed “Sell Out,” independent Senator Nick Xenophon labelled the decision “wrong, wrong, wrong” saying Morrison failed to give sufficient weight to an alternative Australian bid. “It’s certainly a very emotive issue,” said Hans Hendrischke from the University of Sydney Business School. “The anxiety about Chinese ownership is part of a larger anxiety with demographic change, with economic change, it is part of Australia having to cope with the idea... that we are coming much closer to Asia economically,” he said. Hendrischke, who last year co-authored a KPMG report which found that agribusiness accounted for only 1.0 percent of Chinese direct investment in Australia in 2014, said while the Middle Kingdom was not yet a major foreign investor in Australian farmland, politicians were wary of a public backlash as its stake grows. It is a similar story in New Zealand, where a KPMG report last year found the US was the biggest buyer of that country’s dairy land, purchasing almost five times as much as China, although Chinese purchases tend to attract more attention. Such is the concern about valuable assets passing into foreign hands, Australia last year tightened scrutiny on overseas investment in agricultural land — lowering the level at which investments are screened to a cumulative total of Aus$15 million ($11.3 million). Previously only purchases over Aus$252 million were screened. The government is also creating a foreign ownership register of farming land, after politicians with rural constituencies warned against selling farms to overseas investors, including to top trade partner China. The National Farmers Federation’s Tony Mahar said such a register would “remove the emotion or the hearsay” by showing exactly how much land was owned by Chinese interests. “You know, 10 or 20 years ago it was Japanese investment, prior to that it was UK investment, it was Canadian investment... so the country for us is to some extent irrelevant,” Mahar said. “The issue for us is making sure that we continue to attract investment.” In New Zealand, the world’s largest dairy exporter, critics say the government has shown an inconsistent approach to Chinese ownership of farmland, bowing to populist pressure from political opponents. China is the biggest foreign investor in the South Pacific country’s dairy industry, which includes milk processing, according to the New Zealand-China Council. In 2012, Prime Minister John Key strongly defended the right of China’s Shanghai Pengxin to buy the 16-property, 8,000-hectare Crafar farms group in a deal reportedly worth NZ$210 million ($142 million). While opposition parties labelled it a “land grab” and “economic betrayal,” Key said Chinese investors deserved the same treatment as those from elsewhere. Yet Key’s government last September blocked Shanghai Pengxin’s NZ$88 million ($59 million) bid to buy another farm, the 13,800-hectare Lochinver Station, despite the Overseas Investment Office recommending it go ahead. Australia’s Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce has acknowledged while his preference was for domestic ownership, foreign bids had to be considered. Last month Joyce told local media that “people would be screaming at me” if he let all bids through, but if he blocked them “they’d rightly say I was parochial and xenophobic.” “I think we’re trying to find a happy medium.”
Received an email from a friend, I did not see it in the news, they must be trying to keep it quite
Feb 20, 2016
The Saudis just made a shocking admission made in the international press. During an interview on RT Arabic, Dahham Al Anzi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, discussed why the Arab world feel the need for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be removed from power. He also reaffirmed the need for a ground invasion to accomplish that goal.
China Is Buying Up American Companies Fast, and It’s Freaking People Out
Here’s a story you’ll be hearing about a lot this year. Chinese companies have been buying up foreign businesses, including American ones, at a record rate, and it’s freaking lawmakers out. There is General Electric’s sale of its appliance business to Qingdao-based Haier, Zoomlion’s bid for the heavy-lifting-equipment maker Terex Corp., and ChemChina’s record-breaking deal for the Swiss seeds and pesticides group Syngenta, valued at $48 billion. Most recently, a unit of the Chinese conglomerate HNA Group said it would buy the technology distributor Ingram Micro for $6 billion.
Homeland Security deployed hi-tech spy plane which scoops up tens of thousands of phone calls at one time above San Bernardino for days after massacre
Federal investigators looking into the San Bernardino massacre deployed a spy plane overhead after the attacks in an apparent attempt to find additional suspects, Daily Mail Online can reveal.
The Department of Homeland Security is said to have put up the single engine craft over the California city and ordered it to make repeated circles overhead.
The craft would likely have been equipped with 'Dirtbox' technology which can scan tens of thousands of phones in one go to identify suspects.
The report adds to the intrigue about whether or not there were accomplices in the San Bernardino attacks, which took place last Wednesday and were the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11.
Sofrep, which first reported the plane's use, said the use of the spy plane showed that law enforcement was 'actively searching for other members of a terrorist cell.
Spy planes have been deployed by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI before, such as over the protests in Baltimore in August in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray.
A story by the Wall Street Journal described in detail how the two foot wide 'Dirtbox' allows an astonishing level of surveillance once it is up and running.
The device works by pretending to be a cell phone tower - mobiles automatically connect to the nearest one so latch onto the box - and can sweep up data on tens of thousands of phones in one go.
The operator is able to locate a person's location quickly although they are not able to listen to calls.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, has written about the spy planes and called them 'not your parents' surveillance aircraft'.
He described how fixed-wing aircraft are making use of another surveillance technique known as 'Wide-Area Surveillance' which involved a super high resolution camera being fitted onto the undercarriage of a plane.
It can monitor an entire city and can track a pedestrian's entire journey and the route taken, allowing investigators to track all of their movements.
The question of whether or not there were more suspects in the San Bernardino massacre has never been fully resolved.
Farook's neighbors said they saw a number of men coming and going from his house in the weeks up to the attack but did not say anything for fear of being accused of racial profiling.
San Bernardino police initially said that there was a third suspect but changed their minds and said the shooting had been carried out by just Farook and Malik.
However, they later said that a third person had been arrested, Farook's neighbor, Enrique Marquez, 24, who CNN reported had helped him plan to carry out a plot in 2012.
Marquez also bought the assault rifles that the couple used in the shooting.
The addition of the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft to the Homeland Security fleet was reported by Aviation Week as far back as 2004, though the fleet has grown since.
The company's website talks of its 'adaptability to perform a wide range of missions' and an interior which has been designed by BMW Designworks.
There is a 'a fully enclosed flushing lavatory', a baggage area and, unlike other spy planes, the floor is completely flat.
The website states: 'With the ability to integrate this airplane into both your business and personal life, some people have come to call it the ultimate aerial SUV.'
Nobody from Pilatus and the Department of Homeland Security were available for comment.
Mike Adams and Dave Hodges Are Predicting a Three-Pronged Chinese Invasion of the United States ISIS, the drug cartels and MS-13 have formed a 5th column to attack and disrupt America. The economy will suffer and vital national defense resources will be expended in fighting this threat. On the heels of this 5th column invasion, that has already begun, the Chinese will make their move on the US. The Chinese and their assets have already been pre-positioned. A few months ago, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, was stating that based on evidence derived from Chinese dissidents, that the Chinese, in response to the American space-based attack upon Tianjin, will launch a three-pronged attack from the United States from 7,000 miles away. The attack will consist of the following strategies:
Layer #1) An attack on the dollar and U.S. debt instruments. Layer #2) A massive cyber warfare attack on the U.S. infrastructure. Layer #3) An attack on U.S. military satellites to maximize the disruption of military communications, banking transactions, emergency services and other systems that depend on satellite communications.
I have written extensively on how the Chinese have already demonstrated the ability to engage in attacks, upon American, in all three domains described above. Mike Adams assertion that the Chinese are capable of, and will employ, attack strategies from all three of these areas is correct and have already happened, at least in a Beta test mode. I need no convincing that Mike Adams is correct, but I do not believe that these three areas of attack represent an end game strategy and I am not sure that Mike believes that either. I have a slightly different take as I am convinced that these attacks are the military equivalent of a long-range military bombardment designed to weaken American for the final kill. The utilization of these three modes of attack can and will bring America to her knees as the economy is collapsed. The three pronged attack will be followed up by Chinese occupation troops operating under the UN flag.
The Effects of a Three-Pronged Chinese Attack
I have written about various alphabet soup agency people and their families who have gone into hiding in specially prepared enclaves with their colleagues in anticipation to what is coming. Many, including one FEMA family that I knew personally, have repeatedly spoken about the taking down of the power grid. Taking down the power grid is not the Chinese first option towards their goal of subjugating America. They would prefer the infrastructure to be intact as they assume control over the country as repayment for the massive debt they are owed by the people of this country. However, we cannot discount the fact that the Chinese were allowed to participate in GRID EX II, which was a simulated take down of the power grid, in November of 2013 as we undoubtedly showed them how to taken down the grid. Subsequently, I believe that taking down the grid through an EMP attack is the default position of the Chinese. It is not their primary intention at this time. The Chinese are determined to take over this country, one way or another. However, if the Chinese elect to not take down the American power grid through employing an EMP, the Mike Adams described Chinese attacks will collapse the American economy. Please make note of the fact that each and every one of these three attacks are single point in time attacks. This means that you could literally go to bed on a Sunday night and wake up in chaotic “Mad Max” world on Monday.
On that fateful Monday, you will awaken to the fact that your bank account is gone along with your 401k, pension and job. All hell has broken loose. THERE WILL BE ROUNDUPS BECAUSE THERE WILL BE TOO MANY AMERICANS ROAMING THE STREETS LOOKING FOR THEIR NEXT MEAL. PEOPLE WILL STARVE AND BECOME VICTIMS OF THE ENSUING VIOLENCE.
The country will be under martial law on the evening of the first day. Nobody will be safe including law enforcement. What will you do? Have you prepared? Do you have the mental toughness to survive? Your present level of action/inaction has already answered that question. If the Chinese employ the three-pronged strategy reported on by Mike Adams, what would be their end game goal?
America Is Not Broke
Contrary to what the power brokers would have you believe in order that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life that people live in a third world country, the globalists want you to believe that your nation is broke and there is nothing you can do about it. America is not broke, in fact the opposite is true. The United States of America is awash in an unimaginable amount of mineral wealth. What belongs to the people has been transferred, in the greatest theft in world history, from the workers and consumers to the government as well as the banks and the portfolios of the criminal elite gangsters which control the politicians with insider-trading and outright bribes. The American underemployment and unemployment rate is now around 25% according to John Williams of Shadowstats who appeared as a guest on The Common Sense Show. Today just 400 Americans have more wealththan half of all Americans combined. Despite these grim statistics which reveals the wealth imbalance in this country, our nation has never been wealthier.
Deep Beneath the Earth
Far beneath the ground, the federal government and its bankster puppeteers, own the rights to mineral and energy leases, from which they receive royalties, rents, and bonus payments, states the Institute for Energy Research, an industry group. According to their estimates, government states that the assets are worth $128 trillion. That’s almost eight times the national debt. “These resources could be leased to third parties and could subsequently earn the state and national government huge royalties, rents, and bonus payments that estimates could total almost $150 billion over 10 years, just for the oil and gas leases alone”. Then why isn’t this being done? Simple, ask yourself who would lose money if this were to come to fruition? These vast resources have been promised to the Chinese and they are moving to take possession. Already, the Chinese, have been and are in Hawaii to take possession of what gold America has left. Speculation abounds that this is why Obama is now living in Hawaii and he is personally supervising the transfer and to arrange for the transfer of mineral wealth.
The Bundy Ranch and Other BLM Land Seizures Are Being Done On Behalf of the Chinese
The Bundy Ranch confrontation, along with many other unreported BLM land grabs on behalf of the Chinese are being carried out in preparation for a total resource hand off to the Chinese. My military sources and researcher, Vicky Davis tell me that a series of international “inland ports” are being created in conjunction with known mineral rich areas and control of these areas will be handed off to the Chinese. Further, the Chinese military will be stationed around these inland ports to ensure safety and security of the Chinese investment and its mining and geological personnel. The Chinese are doing this under the guise of creating solar energy, which they are. However, their energy companies are owned by the Chinese military. This will be the foothold of their invasion force. Further, solar zones are near planned international corridor highways (e.g. Canamex and NAFTA Super Highways) for easy transport of these soon-to-be mined mineral resources for shipping back to China. When the three pronged attack occurs, the American economy will be in chaos and the Chinese will be in the midst of acquiring vast mineral resources for which they have prepositioned their covert military assets in this country. Chinese troops will soon be a common occurrence on American soil. This will constitute only the beginning of the short-range take over the Chinese have planned for America. These Solar Energy Zones are appearing in multiple locations in such places as Southwestern Arizona, Barstow, CA. and Victorville, CA., and now I am receiving on the ground reports from Colorado and Utah as well. These designated Solar Energy Zones have very similar variables in common. The following chart indicates that the debt compensation will consist of complete control of the solar industry and will be expanded to other energy sources (e.g. hydroelectric and nuclear power). This practice has been happening in Indian reservations as well.
The control of solar energy, locating the “solar farms” along planned international highways and the implantation of future Chinese troops nears an major American military base were the goals of the Bundy Ranch takeover. The Bundy Ranch Affair exposed the agenda and the handing off of the country to the Chinese. Chinese Solar on Bundy’s RanchArizona Solar Farm
Chinese money backing project
Chinese money involved in project
Creation of Agenda 21 “Solar Energy Zone”
Creation of Agenda 21 “Solar Energy Zone”
Located near a Canamex Highway (I-15)
Located near a Canamex Highway (1-10)
Located near a major energy source (Hoover Dam)
Located near a major energy source (Palo Verde Nuclear Plant)
Located near a major military base (Nellis AFB)
Located near a major military base ancillary facilities (Luke AFB)
And these planned facilities are always located near known mineral rich resources buried underground and waiting to be mined. And this strategy is not limited to these Chinese Solar Energy Zones.
The Farah article also made mention of a series of Chinese incursions into the American energy domain as reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 6, 2012. The state-by-state list of the $17 billion in oil and natural gas equity interests CNOOC and Sinopec have acquired in the United States since 2010.
“Colorado: CNOOC gained a one-third stake in 800,000 acres in northeast Colorado and southwest Wyoming in a $1.27-billion pact with Chesapeake Energy Corporation.
Louisiana: Sinopec has a one-third interest in 265,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale after a broader $2.5-billion deal with Devon Energy.
Michigan: Sinopec gained a one-third interest in 350,000 acres in a larger $2.5-billion deal with Devon Energy.
Ohio: Sinopec acquired a one-third interest in Devon Energy’s 235,000 Utica Shale acres in a larger $2.5-billion deal.
Oklahoma: Sinopec has a one-third interest in 215,000 acres in a broader $2.5-billion deal with Devon Energy.
Texas: CNOOC acquired a one-third interest in Chesapeake Energy’s 600,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale in a $2.16-billion deal.
Wyoming: CNOOC has a one-third stake in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming after a $1.27-billion pact with Chesapeake Energy. Sinopec gained a one-third interest in Devon Energy’s 320,000 acres as part of a larger $2.5-billion deal”.
How symbolic is this photo?
Still not convinced that they Chinese will soon be our up close and personal landlords? Then you may want to review this BLM document and apply its principles to the Chinese takeover of this country. The above document was created just prior to the Bundy Ranch Affair and it spells out how our land is being taken over by foreign interests. The term, “foreign interests”, is an euphemism for Chinese and their allies, the Russians.
Long Beach
I want to stress that I am NOT abandoning my position that the Chinese could and would employ weapons against the American grid resulting in catastrophic consequences. If the Chinese cannot bring America to her knees using the three-pronged strategy, they will not hesitate to bring down this country through the application of an EMP attack. Regardless of the Chinese mode of attack, one can rest assured that the Chinese will show America no mercy. At this point, I am offering a corollary to the Mike Adams report of the three-pronged attack by the Chinese upon America. Following the Chinese caused collapse of the American economy, they will need to militarily occupy America in order to reap its vast mineral resources. To do this, they will need occupation troops. If one thinks that the location of these Solar Energy Zones next to a Canamex, or planned Canamex Highway Corridor system is a coincidence, they should take a close look at what is happening at Long Beach, CA. These international corridors would provide excellent transportation routes in order to control what is left of American commerce as well as deploying its occupation troops across the country. The control of the American transportation system is no more pronounced than it is in Long Beach, CA. The deep water port at Long Beach is the only of its type on the West Coast. And this country’s government has GIVEN AWAY the Long Beach deep water port to the Chinese in one of the biggest acts of treason in this country’s history. The giveaway of both the military installation and the deep water port is going live this year, in 2015.
Unfortunately, this article is not concluded as there is more grim news. The Chinese are in the process of taking over our financial system as well. As some insiders have told me, it is likely that many of us have our home mortgages under Chinese control.
More Chinese Takeout: The Chinese Are Buying Up the Federal Reserve
At the end of January 2009, the month President Barack Obama was first inaugurated, Communist China owned $744.2 billion in U.S. government debt and the Fed owned $475.129 billion. of U.S. debt. In May of 2012, theFederal Reserve approved applications by three big Chinese government-controlled banks to set up branches and take stakes in US banks after deciding they were adequately regulated in their home market. The Chinese ownership of U.S. debt, compared to the Federal Reserve, appears to be unchanged in 2014. However, the Chinese are slowly but surely acquiring the Federal Reserve and thus, are acquiring a greater amount of U.S. government debt. Therefore, much of the debt owned by the Federal Reserve, is now owned by the Chinese and their new partners consisting of two large Spanish banks, a German bank and the Chinese. The complete Chinese takeover of our economy is silent but undeniably insidious. It would be appropriate to think of this development as the United States government doing a debt consolidation of all its treasury bonds because it can no longer pay or service the debt and the Chinese and their partners are acquiring the assets of America for pennies on the dollar. It will soon be announced that China is in the process of purchasing major Western banks (e.g. Bank of America, Wells Fargo) and physical assets. These banks make up the majority owners of the Federal Reserve. By purchasing these banks as distressed properties, the Chinese, will in effect, have purchased the Federal Reserve because these banks own the Federal Reserve. For the naysayers that will write to me and say there is no way that this will ever take place, I will respond by telling you that you are a day late and a “distressed dollar” short with your anxiety over the future of the American economy. Our economy is breathing its last breath. Two years ago, China purchased the JP Morgan building in Manhattan for $725 million. This was a symbolic move like planting the U.S. flag on top of Iwo Jima’s Mount Surabachi during the famous WW II battle. This signified that the Chinese have laid claim to all assets in the United States. One might reason that the Chinese have in fact purchased all of JP Morgan. When this happens in earnest, it will come in the midst of a dollar devaluation, or collapse and we are well on the way to this happening as evidenced by the fact that in preparation for the event, the G20 declared that bank accounts are no longer considered money. As a result, all account holders go to the bottom of the line and will not be compensated when the banks collapse. And where will the bank deposits go? Well, of course, they will go the holders of the derivatives debt and to the Chinese which explains why the Chinese are buying up the Federal Reserve. DOES THE CHINESE/RUSSIAN LED BRICS WAR AGAINST THE DOLLAR MAKE A LITTLE MORE SENSE NOW?
Who owns your mortgage note on either your business property or your personal residence? Answer: The banks. Who is on their way to completely controlling the U.S. banking system? Answer: The Chinese. What does this mean? Answer: The Chinese own you.
Lastly, you need to realize that the Chinese will have help. You need to ask yourself, how much do you believe in coincidences? Do you think, North Korea’s attack upon South Korea, the current Chinese/Russian joint war games exercise and the fact that Russia just moved 50,000 troops to Ukraine all in the past three days are coincidental?
I doubt the Russian thing going on in Syria will amount to much, I believe they learned from Afghanistan. But China is a different animal, just imo
China will not allow violations of its territorial waters
China said on Friday it would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation, as the United States considers sailing warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea.
A U.S. defense official told Reuters the United States was mulling sending ships within the next two weeks to waters inside the 12-nautical-mile zones that China claims as territory around islands it has built in the Spratly chain.
China claims most of the South China Sea, though Washington has signaled it does not recognize Beijing's territorial claims and that the U.S. navy will continue to operate wherever international law allows.
"We will never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing.
"We urge the related parties not to take any provocative actions, and genuinely take a responsible stance on regional peace and stability," Hua said in response to a question about possible U.S. patrols.
The United States and its allies in Asia, including Japan, have called on Beijing to halt construction on its man-made islands and the issue is central to increasingly tense U.S.-China relations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said China has no intention of militarizing the islands, but Washington analysts and U.S. officials say Beijing has already begun creating military facilities there.
Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told the Aspen Security Forum in July that China was building hangars on one of the reefs - Fiery Cross - that appeared to be for tactical fighter aircraft.
In May, the Chinese navy issued eight warnings to the crew of a U.S. P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft that flew near China's artificial islands, according to CNN, which was aboard the U.S. aircraft.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
(Reporting by Adam Rose Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.
License Plate Reader Technology Looks At Faces Police and private companies link facial recognition software to databases that track motorists. The leading suppler of automated license plate reader technology in the US (ALPR, also known as ANPR in Europe) is expanding its offerings to law enforcement. Vehicle owners have already had their movements tracked by the company Vigilant Solutions, which boasts 2 billion entries in its nationwide database, with 70 million additional license plate photographs being added each month. Now passengers can also be tracked if they hitch a ride with a friend and are photographed by a camera aimed at the front of the car. The Livermore, California-based firm recently announced expanded integration of facial recognition technology into its offerings. "The new Vigilant Mobile Companion app expands the benefits of license plate recognition and facial recognition technologies to all areas of the agency," a Vigilant Solutions press release claimed. "Using many of the new analytic tools that Vigilant has released in its Learn product over the last couple of years, the app makes these tools even more easy to use and accessible on a mobile device. The app also features Vigilant's Facesearch facial recognition which analyzes over 350 different vectors of the human face." Though primarily intended for fixed security camera installations, the software could allow police to identify the occupants of vehicles when the system is supplied with a clear photograph of a car's interior. In states such as California and Arizona where red light cameras and speed cameras photograph the front of a car, the video stream can be analyzed in "near real time" to catalog and identify the driver and anyone in the passenger seat of passing vehicles, flagging any "person of interest." The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently acknowledged the ability of standard ANPR systems to track a vehicle using the Vigilant Solutions online database that goes by the name National Vehicle Location Service, which has been fed with license plate images from law enforcement and private sources since 2008. "A subsequent investigation revealed that a 2012 black Range Rover is registered to Eduard," the court wrote on December 17 in the case United States v. Loz. "A search of the National Vehicle Location Service's database also showed that this Range Rover had been spotted eight times near the closest intersection to Eduard's Forest Hills residence." Only a handful of states have laws in place to regulate automated license plate reader technology.
Gmail blocked in China Google’s Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world’s biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the country’s “great firewall” was to blame. Large numbers of Gmail web addresses were cut off in China on Friday, according to GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group. Users said the service was still down on Monday. “I think the government is just trying to further eliminate Google’s presence in China and even weaken its market overseas,” said a member of the group who uses a pseudonym. “Imagine if Gmail users might not get through to Chinese clients. Many people outside China might be forced to switch away from Gmail.” Google’s Transparency Report, which shows real-time traffic to Google services, displayed a sharp dropoff in traffic to Gmail from China on Friday. “We’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end,” a Singapore-based spokesman for Google said in an email. Almost all of Google’s services have been heavily disrupted in China since June, but until last week Gmail users could still access emails downloaded via protocols like Imap, SMTP and Pop3 that let people communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone’s Mail and Microsoft Outlook. China maintains tight control over the internet, quick to act against any signs of dissent or challenges to the ruling Communist party’s leadership. The country has the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship mechanism, known as the “great firewall of China”. Critics say China has stepped up its disruption of foreign online services like Google over the past year to create an internet cut off from the rest of the world.
The Google disruption began in the runup to the 25th anniversary of the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Gmail’s setback could make email communication difficult for companies operating in China that use Google’s Gmail for their corporate email system, said GreatFire. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know anything about Gmail being blocked, adding that the government was committed to providing a good business environment for foreign investors. “China has consistently had a welcoming and supportive attitude towards foreign investors doing legitimate business here,” she said. “We will, as always, provide an open, transparent and good environment for foreign companies in China.” One popular way for companies and people to get around China’s internet censorship is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows unhindered access to blocked sites and services. “It’s becoming harder and harder to connect and do work in China when services like Gmail are being blocked,” said Zach Smith, a Beijing-based digital products manager at City Weekend magazine. “Using a VPN seems to be the only answer to doing anything these days online in China.”
