Weekly News Wrap-Up 6.8.12
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The UN says that civil war in Syria is “imminent.” It looks to me it’s been imminent for months. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the uprising which, at its core, is a fight between Shia and Sunni. That’s the Hatfields and McCoys to you and me. There is mounting pressure from the U.S. calling for regime change, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed that call, again, this week. There is covert support of the rebels from the west, but no official military intervention–yet. The EU debt crisis is bad and getting worse. Spanish banks have openly asked for a bailout, but the entire Euro-zone appears to be in trouble. Still, the leaders of the Western world want to keep it together no matter what. Barack Obama and David Cameron (UK) have been involved with EU leaders to try to continue to bail it out and keep the monetary union together.
Massive money printing will be necessary according to Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nigel Farage, who says buy gold and expect very big inflation. Germany is being asked to carry the bailout weight, but it doesn’t want to take on all the debt. If it does, it will be asking to be in control of most of Europe. It tried that before in WWII. Meanwhile, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke says he will provide more stimulus but isn’t giving up any details. The Fed meets in a couple of weeks to decide the money printing course. Record lows are being recorded with mortgage interest rates and Treasury rates. Some say it is a flight to quality, but others say it is, at least in part, the Federal Reserve suppressing interest rates behind the scenes.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker survived an attempt to kick him out of office over cutting the benefits of some public worker unions. This is a bad sign for the public unions everywhere. I think you can call this the beginning of a nationwide taxpayer revolt. The big story on Capitol Hill this week is Attorney General Eric Holder and the “Fast and Furious” debacle that ended with the death of a border patrol officer. He was shot with assault rifles given to Mexican drug cartels by the ATF. It was a sting operation that went very bad. Congress was grilling Holder about it yesterday but should have been asking him why there have been zero prosecutions of big bankers for trillions of dollars in fraud in the financial meltdown. Oh, both Republicans and Democrats got bought off; I mean, got campaign money from Wall Street. So, I guess we should forget that.
Finally, the biggest distraction of the week for serious news is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s crack down on big sugary drinks in New York City. This story seemed to get way more coverage than all the stories I just mentioned. Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com gives his take on these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.
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About the Author
Greg Hunter
Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
>>> is a fight between Shia and Sunni. <<<
That is what the Syrian government is trying to turn it into and would like the world to believe. The real reason is an uprising of people to regain their freedom from a tyrant that has suppressed and killed any form of free expression. All aspects of life are closely controlled by this totalitarian regime, which makes daily living activities a struggle.
Western governments love those middle-eastern dictators because they kill any initiative to achieve self-sufficiency. I'm not surprised you would side with a government suppression of this revolution, like you did with Mubarak and Gaddafi before.
Mohammed
I am most certainly not siding with Bashar al-Assad or his regime but this is a civil war and it does , at it’s core, come down to Shia and Sunni. That said, both sides are being exploited by Iran and Russia on one side and U.S., UK and Saudi Arabia on the other. It is a terrible situation and much blood had been spilled. I hope there is freedom from dictators and a true democracy in the future there and not just trading one bad government for a different bad government. Thank you for weighing in.
Greg
Bomb shell, Rand Paul backs Romney, a radio show by Vets for Vets are piss off big time. I know we live in strange times where nothing seems real, but this has a story behind the story. It’s a sad day for Ron Paul’s supporters! More to follow.
Greg, yours truly is siding with the Syrian people against the “killing” regime; guns, bombs, and ammo for the rebels, open and above board. At least here, although you can’t believe a word out of our politicians & our government mouths and the MSM who serves them, they haven’t commence taking us away in the middle of the night (yet!). My hats off for the rebels, Russia be damned, send the guns and let them whip the governments asses. Probably will become an anti American rebel regime when all is said and done but at least they know in their hearts we were with them, and I think that might make a difference in the long run there.
As to “print to hell” of the FED’s policy, its in play now, hell you can’t get a coke for a dollar, my God, what in world could make the American working people believe we haven’t been thrown to the wolves by the FED, Wall Street, and the elite already? If you don’t believe that then go ahead and try to find a fifty cent cup of coffee.
Lastly, how about curtailing the “meth” in mega doses around here instead of a law against a simple large soda; how naive these rich bastards are, its frankly not believable anyone that rich could be that stupid!
Good reporting for another week Greg, thinking people are out there, just not in the numbers one would think.
The big picture of what is happening in Syria,Egypt,Tunisia,Yemen,Pakistan,Iraq,Afghanistan,Somalia,the Islamic hatred of Israel being the bloody connection.
God keeps His word !
Judgment day on the Islamic world has only begun.
Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.
Ezekiel 35
Since when would ANY fair and loving God choose one group of His people over another? That would be like choosing one YOUR children over the others. Fair? Loving? Just? Recommended practice? Doesn’t sound like it to me.
And don’t get me started on the character traits of any group of people who might CLAIM to be “God’s chosen people”.
dejayajay,
I am pretty sure this comes straight from the Bible and not the Jewish people.
Greg
We have lost the Excecutive branch. We have lost the Legislative branch. We have lost the Judicial. Is there not an Army to intervene?
Win whoever wins, we lose…
Is horrible violence in Syria, whether by terrorists armed by NATO and by the aggressive response of the Syrian State.
In history not there is good or bad, only there are interests.
Everything they do for money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XRMrMdn0NQ
Blood-stained democracy has become a big industry.
My MX country, the Government official condemns foreign Governments by violence, but never accepted that the strategy for the fight against the drug trafficking is incorrect.
Still remember the shock of the crisis and violence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP591bZNc0I
I used translator…
Thanks Greg Hunter you did a great analysis.
Greetings and my respect.
Thank You Mr. Gonzalez.
Greg
Greg,
Sanctions and talks failed to stop North Korea, how silly for anyone to think Iran wants to bow to the ‘great Satan’.
War with Iran
http://youtu.be/AVHmHpvHJy8
I’m to understand that Blackwater (can’t recall its reconstituted name)and other soldiers for hire are instigating the civilian massacres. In order to incite western sympathy to demand NATO intervene and bring down the Bashar al-Assad administration.
The idea is to install Israeli friendly regimes in neighboring countries who will no longer be a threat to its security.
Stan,
Academi it the name you are looking for. Thank you for the comment.
Greg
Contrary to what has been reported, it appears it was not Assad who was responsible for the massacre that occured last week, I believed it was Assad, but the UN is now reporting it was not.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/302261/report-rebels-responsible-houla-massacre-john-rosenthal#
“It was, in the words of U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, the “tipping point” in the Syria conflict: a savage massacre of over 90 people, predominantly women and children, for which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed by virtually the entirety of the Western media. Within days of the first reports of the Houla massacre, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, and several other Western countries announced that they were expelling Syria’s ambassadors in protest.
But according to a new report in Germany’s leading daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which have been largely supportive of Assad. For its account of the massacre, the report cites opponents of Assad, who, however, declined to have their names appear in print out of fear of reprisals from armed opposition groups.
According to the article’s sources, the massacre occurred after rebel forces attacked three army-controlled roadblocks outside of Houla. The roadblocks had been set up to protect nearby Alawi majority villages from attacks by Sunni militias. The rebel attacks provoked a call for reinforcements by the besieged army units. Syrian army and rebel forces are reported to have engaged in battle for some 90 minutes, during which time “dozens of soldiers and rebels” were killed. […]
The FAZ report echoes eyewitness accounts collected from refugees from the Houla region by members of the Monastery of St. James in Qara, Syria. According to monastery sources cited by the Dutch Middle East expert Martin Janssen, armed rebels murdered “entire Alawi families” in the village of Taldo in the Houla region.”
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no doubt Assad has committed many atrocities also, but this is a civil war, which means BOTH sides are commiting atrocities.