Free Republic

After dozens of separate interventions, manipulations, and central-planning machinations over the past three weeks, China resorted to threats overnight when it called for the arrest of "hostile short sellers." The reason they went full Orwell, this is the great loss of 'wealth' in China's history... China's $2 trillion loss in 17 days is the equivalent of 1 India, or... China has lost 15 Greeces in market cap in three weeks In other words, China has to stop the bleeding before it loses another India... or the socially-unrest citizenry will demand gambling returns elsewhere or, absent hope, demand change...

Global Reset Soon? Let's recap the anomalies in the the last 24 hours. 1) Pope calls for one world government. 2) Chinese stock trading halted. 3) U.S. stock exchange halted. 4) Banks closed in Greece. 5) US mint suspends sale of American Eagle coins. 6) United Airlines flights grounded. 7) Web sites like Wall Street Journal (financial web site) and Zerohedge (financial web site) shut down. 8) Possible Cyber Attack? Feel free to add to the list. Can we connect the dots, or is this just a coincidence?

If Greece continues with austerity, it would be depression without end As the Greek saga continues, many have marveled at Germany’s chutzpah. It received, in real terms, the largest bailout and debt reduction in history and unconditional aid from the U.S. in the Marshall Plan. And yet it refuses even to discuss debt relief. Many, too, have marveled at how Germany has done so well in the propaganda game, selling an image of a long-failed state that refuses to go along with the minimal conditions demanded in return for generous aid.

<p>Even for Ukrainians hardened by more than a year of war here against Russian-backed separatists, the appearance of Islamic combatants, mostly Chechens, in towns near the front lines comes as something of a surprise — and for many of the Ukrainians, a welcome one.</p>

So your moment has come, and frankly if you have the courage you should lead the Greek people out of the Eurozone with your head held high. Get back your democracy; get back control of your country. Give your people the leadership and the hope that they crave. Yes it will be tough in the first few months but with a devalued currency and with friends of Greece all over the world, you will recover.

Uploaded on Oct 18, 2011 Professor Varoufakis proposes a decentralized system for europe in order to transform it before the crisis of the system crashes Europe. He studies all the different possibilities of actions that can be taken and explains why his proposal is the best option. Studied mathematics at Essex University, received an MSc in mathematical statistics from the University of Birmingham and then, curiously, completed a PhD in... economics at Essex University. Between 1982 and 1988 he taught at the Universities of Essex, East Anglia and Cambridge. From 1988 to 2000 he lived in Sydney, where he lectured...

Whether you like him or not, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is now a political legend. Here’s why: 1. The way he communicates With his blog and his Twitter account , he speaks directly to the people, his fans and his detractors, when he wants, how he wants it, without the media filter. Non-verbal communication is important too. The infamous video of Varoufakis ‘flipping his middle finger’ to Germany, which caused uproar in German media, may or may not have been faked by a German satirical TV show. In the end it doesn’t really matter. He may have an...

Israel has been rapidly expanding ties with leading Asian nations even as threats of boycotts continue to emanate from Europe, and a major breakthrough regarding Israel's presence in Asia appears to be imminent as the state moves towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China. Chinese media began discussing the prospect of a FTA with Israel last December, and on Monday Economics Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) met in Jerusalem with Chinese Ambassador to Israel Zhan Yongxin for the first time to discuss establishing a free trade zone. In the meeting Deri expressed Israel's strong desire to establish a free trade...

After more than a week of sustained protests over increasing electricity prices, Armenian activists have demonstrated a new sense of empowerment in the face of an increasingly embattled government. But it is actually the broader implications of this unrest in Armenia that is much more significant, for two distinct reasons. First, although this wave of protests is clearly rooted in a set of underlying problems reflecting the unique socioeconomic and political conditions of Armenia, the discontent and dissent in Armenia have already reverberated well beyond the borders of this small, landlocked country. More specifically, the trajectory of the protests have...

If the Greeks were to vote ‘No’ what would happen next? Well no one can say. But here is a quick thought on what I hope the Greek government might have been exploring if they are excluded from the euro. It’s just food for thought nothing more. They have to be prepared to have a currency that does not depend on Europe supplying Euros. So they will need another currency – hopefully their own. I think we can be sure no western company has been printing them. There are few such companies and there is, I think, no possibility that...

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you think it is right for the US to send heavy weaponry to Eastern Europe and the Baltic states? Brzezinski: Do you think it is right to send troops and weapons into a sovereign country and start up a limited war after having seized a larger portion of it? SPIEGEL ONLINE: You are talking about Russia's actions in Ukraine. Brzezinski: You have to see both sides. It's a question of action and reaction. I don't want a war, but I'm not going to be intimidated by the argument that if we respond symmetrically to unilateral actions by...

MOSCOW/WARSAW (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it was outraged by Poland's destruction of a Soviet war monument, warning Warsaw of the "most negative consequences" after what it said was a flagrant violation of an agreement between the two countries on protecting memorial sites. Poland has been one of the most vocal critics of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Russia and Poland share a history of conflicts and the disagreement over war memorials is likely to add to tensions. "Warsaw must finally understand that the 'war of monuments' unleashed in Poland may have the most negative consequences,...

Euro zone countries tried in vain to stop the IMF publishing a gloomy analysis of Greece's debt burden which the leftist government says vindicates its call to voters to reject bailout terms, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday. The document released in Washington on Thursday said Greece's public finances will not be sustainable without substantial debt relief, possibly including write-offs by European partners of loans guaranteed by taxpayers. It also said Greece will need at least 50 billion euros in additional aid over the next three years to keep itself afloat. Publication of the draft Debt Sustainability Analysis...

Fighting between the government of Bashar al-Assad and various opposition forces continues to intensify in Daraa province, in southern Syria. For religious minorities, the rising conflict means living in fear of persecution. By either side. “In my village, Namir, there is no difference between Christians and Muslims,” Nour, 28, who studied English literature and fled with her parents during a regime assault, told Syria Deeply. “We all had to leave.” Since the emergence of hard-line armed groups such as the Islamic State and the Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), several minority groups – among them Christians, Alawites, Shiites, Druze and others...

In this fiercely pro-Western nation that fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, few thought the Kremlin could ever regain a toehold. But with the West backing away from Georgia’s path to E.U. and NATO membership after a year of conflict in Ukraine, pro-Russian sentiments are on the rise. The former Soviet nation’s leaders are warning that Russia may yet prevail if Georgia is shut out from Western clubs. Wary of further provoking Russia, Western politicians have quashed talk of NATO and the European Union expanding eastward any time soon. Russia has stepped into the vacuum, increasing its presence...

Tanked-up Ukranian troops are crammed into small metal cages as a punishment for getting drunk. Video footage of the soldiers being shoved into the cages to sober up in eastern Ukraine has been published online. The men are forced to sit on the floor of the metal enclosure as it is not high enough for them to stand. The disgraced men are only released when they have sobered up. War reporter Andrei Tsaplienki explained the reason these soldiers were punished so harshly. 'In some army units, alcoholism has come to the level of an epidemic,' he said. 'So, radical measures...

It was in August 2014 that the real danger began, and that we heard the first warnings of war. That month, unmarked Russian troops covertly invaded eastern Ukraine, where the separatist conflict had grown out of its control. The Russian air force began harassing the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are members of NATO. The US pledged that it would uphold its commitment to defend those countries as if they were American soil, and later staged military exercises a few hundred yards from Russia's border.Both sides came to believe that the other had more drastic intentions....

A Ukrainian group that backs the government in Kiev on Tuesday published video captured by drone aircraft and said it shows a Russian military encampment in eastern Ukraine, bolstering claims that Moscow has expanded its military actions there. The video was posted on YouTube by Dnipro-1, a volunteer defense force, and highlighted on the Daily Beast. It includes English subtitles, and claims the encampment is in the village of Solncevo, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. That’s found here:

Russia to review 1991 decision to recognise independence of Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithunia were occupied by the Soviet Union for decades Russia is examining the legality of the decision to recognise the independence of the Baltic republics in 1991 by the State Council of the USSR - according to Russia's state news service Interfax. The decision to review recognition of the independence of EU-member Baltic nations follows the Russian Prosecutor General's Office ruling last year that Crimea was illegally handed to Ukraine in 1954; and is certain to alarm the small Baltic NATO-member nations of Lithuania, Latvia and...

(Reuters) Vladimir Putin with Jose Maria Aznar, then Spain's prime minister, at Moncloa Palace on June 13, 2000. One of Russia's largest organized-crime syndicates allegedly operated out of Spain for more than a decade with the help of close allies of President Vladimir Putin, then the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Bloomberg reports. Prosecutors in Madrid have filed a 488-page petition to charge 27 people with money laundering and fraud in connection to the St. Petersburg-based Tambov crime syndicate's setting up shop in Spain in 1996. Vladislav Reznik, now the deputy head of the finance committee in Russia's lower house...