“Dot connecting class is now in session. We have a whole string of dots, but do follow along and you can connect them as we go…”
In an article back on Monday, November 25th, I had a crazy dream described in “Winds of Noumenon” that related to Harriers on carriers, sitting on the deck. I thought it was a goofy, although potentially revealing dream at the time about what’s ahead.
Two days later the news stories begins to increase around the word Harrier. As in “Harrier by Jonathan Glancey, review” and lots of others.
Heck, the word pops up all over the place. Shows up as a video game (Space Harrier for Nintendo 3DS) and it’s the name of an oil exploration ship the Sea Harrier which is on the move.
But while things like this slowly come up in the language surveys from our www.nostracodeus.com project, we also can’t seem to put down the idea that maybe there’s a war out there on its way. Mid to late 2014.
OK: Where? As of this morning we have two leading candidates.
Our first nominee for Harriers to be used (thus fill some more headlines) would be in the Central African Republic which (since trumped-up Syria didn’t work out so well) is coming in as the stealth replacement war to keep the West solvent based on war spending.
Two French soldiers, for example, has been killed in fighting there, as detailed in this BBC report. And, since your tax dollars have made it possible for us to wage war everywhere, the US has ordered support for the efforts to disarm people in the Central African Republic, (CAR) as well.
As soon as that was done, US SecDef Chuck Hagel put out the world to start moving war materiel to the region.
OK…why? Well, a check of the CIA World Factbook tells us (among other things and to borrow from their work (paid for with tax money, so WTF)…
Timber and diamonds account for most export earnings, followed by cotton. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR’s landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies. Factional fighting between the government and its opponents remains a drag on economic revitalization. Since 2009 the IMF has worked closely with the government to institute reforms that have resulted in some improvement in budget transparency, but other problems remain. The government’s additional spending in the run-up to the election in 2011 worsened CAR’s fiscal situation. Distribution of income is extraordinarily unequal. Grants from France and the international community can only partially meet humanitarian needs. In 2012 the World Bank approved $125 million in funding for transport infrastructure and regional trade, focused on the route between CAR’s capital and the port of Douala in Cameroon. After a two year lag in donor support, the IMF’s first review of CAR’s extended credit facility for 2012-15 praised improvements in revenue collection but warned of weak management of spending.
We could also toss in that China is looking to expand its influence and ties with Africa and (look surprised here) this is likely a new front in my (hypothesized but real-looking nevertheless) Manufacturer’s Resource Wars with even more at stake than Afghanistan. Cheap labor and resources plus diamonds.
Oh, and you did catch the involvement of the IMF which – if you’re read John Perkin’s The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World, ought to have caught your eye. Wars for banks and industries, eh?
Well, seems to me that Harriers would be well-suited to a country which may not have a lot of long airstrips. So maybe this is where things point?
The other war-in-the-making is the one between Japan (or what’s left of it post Fukushima) and China. This one, says our resident war gamer, could be a dandy:
“George,
The headline sure is an attention grabber! “China-Japan Could Lead To WW III. warns former UN Ambassador!”
Lots of ingredients in this messy mix: a worried U.S. ally in Japan, which America raised from the ashes of WWII and protected over the years with economic and Military assets; a nuclear N. Korea led by an unstable megalomaniac backed by a ruthless military regime; and a hugely nuclear Communist China, patiently waiting for the opportune time to flex its regional and perhaps global superpower muscles.
Oh, U.S. policy and military leaders completely understand the dynamic – they have since Nixon and Kissinger reached out to the Great Dragon – and that is precisely why the strategic focus of America now more than ever before is quickly moving away from the Middle East and toward the Pacific.
War with China? What a great way erase all that messy U.S. debt China currently owns, eh!
Cheers, Warhammer
Like his view, or not, Warhammer is a real-deal war-gamer who used to work for the flying mils before going academic. I take his views as serious as a heart attack.
So here’s the sad economic picture, as near as I can figure it:
- The US markets are poised for (maybe) one last blow-off to the upside in January.
- After that, the minimum decline level might be something like 12,500 on the Dow, but it that gives way, then the ride to a retest of the 2009 lows starts to show up.
- Which all means the long-ranger computational wizards are likely already modeling what we see, which would be the need or a major economic stimulus sometime in 2014 but which could be modulated (up or down) according to how things like out there when uncertainty backs out of the model.
- Thus, we need to credible war candidates (since wars force production up, helping employment and such) and so we have two good candidates in the wings fading in before your very eyes…with just enough detail to be present, but not so much as to make you question (my dear cheese-hamster, lol).
All of which would might seem terribly conspiratorial if we didn’t have a template and a few facts to plug in.
The template is Report from Iron Mountain (on the accessibility and desirability of peace) which points out that in order to keep a country under control, government needs a REASON to steal people blind and keep them compliant.
The botched Obamacare roll-out has increased the odds of a major distractor being introduced.
Oh, and the last one, planned for this period? Well, that was supposed to be the war with Syria, but since the Internet (and good reporters all around) kept that scam from rolling, the PowersThatWantToKeepIn Control have done all they can to keep more people from recognizing what’s really going on.
Such as? Um… “New Yorkers, Washington post Passed on Seymour Hersh Syria Report” and care to guess why? Didn’t fit a corporatist agenda, perhaps? Can’t have The People knowing they were being played in Syria. So far, it’s worked.
That leaves us with the Dow set to open down just 60 points, or so as we look around the tax-driven economy and wonder “What to do, oh, what to do?”
The obvious answer is “Tax the hell out of human-replacing technology” at a rate equivalent to income tax to create jobs for humans. Let humans, not corporate big dogs benefit from machines.
But since THAT ain’t gonna fly with the lobbyist cabal in control of Washington, that leaves us where? Why, with this morning’s headline, of course:
Pick a war. Any war.
More after this:
Watch Gold on Turnaround Tuesday
Fear war? Fear Inflation? OK, so you’re rational after all. Good for you. There’s hope.
Gold is going through the roof this morning, up $25 bucks on the futures when I looked, and Silver is up 3% and up comfortably over $20-bucks an ounce for a change..
What’s going on here is what? I mean besides people going Scrooge McDuck on metals?
Well, it isn’t just metals. There’s a minor panic and sphincter tightening over the idea that the bottom of interest rates may be in and things could get worse in a big hurry. Oil has jumped over $98 a barrel where just a couple of weeks back it was knocking on $92. And heating oil and gas are up, too. Thanks, no doubt to the cold winter…which isn’t even supposed to be here yet. 11-days to go, yet.
The 30-year bond and the 10-year note are both up: .52 and .30 percent, respectively. Are we on the verge?
After a nice rally from last Thursday, the reality of Europe, down about half a percent this morning, may be spreading. Ain’t no happy ending in sight.
Unless you’re a bear or a gold bug, of course. For them, it’s not an end – it’s the beginning.
Does This Tell You…
….something about imperial presidency and made-up “regulations” about healthcare? “Former Clinton aide John Podesta to join Obama White House.”
Remember? Podesta was Bill C’s man when there was impeachment talk about.
I don’t know about where you are, but “Impeach Obama” bumper stickers are being spotted around here now…
Time to Exercise!
BBC report over here says that exercise plays a significant role in reducing the risk of dementia according to a long-term study.
Since 65 is almost is almost upon me, I may as well have started this morning’s column with this as the lead item–since it’s about the worst news I’ve read in weeks. Between naps, that is.
Lost in the Mountains
Not a good time to go winter-outing in the northwest part of Nevada with all the cold weather sweeping though. There’s a massive search on for a Nevada family of six up around Lovelock, Nevada. Pershing County area.
That area’s about 120 miles (air) east of infamous Donners Pass off I-80..
Speaking of Winter
Big snows this morning in Philadelphia this morning ruining rush hour.
Although I may have mis-typed. Rush hour is by its very nature self-ruining. Except this one has snow…so there you have it. A double-ruin doin’,
Last But Not Least
How can I find a publicist to do what the Kardashian’s does? I wouldn’t mind being famous – honest!
Still, it’s yet another interesting real estate story…just not at our end of the market.