MAG:
Putin Didn't Save Obama, He Beat Him... { Indeed he did that and more! }
Damascus agrees to
cede chemical weapons to intl control – Syria FM
Obama wants UN to hear
Russia’s plan for Syrian chemical weapons
Intl experts have
strong proof images of chemical victims fabricated – Moscow
Chemical
attack was Syria rebel provocation, former hostages say
Syria
Intelligence Being Manipulated EVEN MORE than in Iraq War Posted by :
George Washington Post date:
09/09/2013 - White House – NOT U.S. Intelligence
Agencies – Prepared Report about Syrian Chemical Weapons
The Obama
administration is manipulating intelligence about Syria in exactly
the same ways that the Bush administration did to justify the Iraq war.
Specifically,
the Obama administration is copying Bush’s playbook of trying to kick
UN weapons inspectors out of the target country so they can’t finish their
investigation.
The Bush
administration also famously “stove piped” information from the war hawks
directly to the president – cutting
out the normal vetting process by intelligence agencies.
Likewise, IPS reports today:
Contrary to the general impression in Congress and
the news media, the Syria chemical warfare intelligence summary released by the
Barack Obama administration Aug. 30 did not represent an intelligence
community assessment, an IPS analysis and interviews with former
intelligence officials reveals.
The evidence indicates that Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper culled intelligence analyses from various agencies
and by the White House itself, but that the White House itself had the
final say in the contents of the document.
***
Former intelligence officials told IPS that that the
paper does not represent a genuine intelligence community assessment
but rather one reflecting a predominantly Obama administration influence.
In essence, the White House selected those
elements of the intelligence community assessments that supported the
administration’s policy of planning a strike against the Syrian
government force and omitted those that didn’t.
In a radical departure from normal practice
involving summaries or excerpts of intelligence documents that are made public,
the Syria chemical weapons intelligence summary document was not released by
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence but by the White House
Office of the Press Secretary.
It was titled “Government Assessment of the Syrian
Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013.” The first sentence
begins, “The United States government assesses,” and the second sentence
begins, “We assess”.
The introductory paragraph refers to the main body
of the text as a summary of “the intelligence community’s analysis” of the
issue, rather than as an “intelligence community assessment”, which would have
been used had the entire intelligence community endorsed the document.
A former senior intelligence official who asked not
to be identified told IPS in an e-mail Friday that the language used by the
White House “means that this is not an intelligence community document”.
The former senior official, who held dozens of
security classifications over a decades-long intelligence career, said he had
“never seen a document about an international crisis at any classification
described/slugged as a U.S. government assessment.”
The document further indicates that the
administration “decided on a position and cherry-picked the
intelligence to fit it,” he said.
“The result is not a balanced assessment of the
intelligence.”
Greg Thielmann, whose last position before retiring
from the State Department was director of the Strategic, Proliferation and
Military Affairs Office in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told IPS he
has never seen a government document labeled “Government Assessment” either.
“If it’s an intelligence assessment,” Thielmann
said, “why didn’t they label it as such?”
Former National Intelligence Officer Paul Pillar,
who has participated in drafting national intelligence estimates, said the
intelligence assessment summary released by the White House “is evidently an
administration document, and the working master copy may have been in someone’s
computer at the White House or National Security Council.”
Pillar suggested that senior intelligence officials
might have signed off on the administration paper, but that the White House may
have drafted its own paper to “avoid attention to analytic differences
within the intelligence community.”
Comparable intelligence community assessments in the
past, he observed – including the 2002 Iraq WMD estimate – include indications
of differences in assessment among elements of the community.
***
[A] “senior administration official” indicated that
DNI Clapper had “approved” submissions from various agencies for what the official
called “the process”. The anonymous speaker did not explain further to
journalists what that process preceding the issuance of the White House paper
had involved.
***
That article suggests that the administration had
originally planned for the report on intelligence to be issued by Clapper
rather than the White House, apparently after reaching agreement with the White
House on the contents of the paper.
But Clapper’s name was not on the final
document issued by the White House, and the document is nowhere to be found on
the ODNI website. All previous intelligence community assessments were posted
on that site.
The issuance of the document by the White House
rather than by Clapper, as had been apparently planned, points to a refusal
by Clapper to put his name on the document as revised by the White House.
Clapper’s refusal to endorse it – presumably because
it was too obviously an exercise in “cherry picking” intelligence to
support a decision for war – would explain why the document had to be issued
by the White House.
Efforts by IPS to get a comment from the Office of
the Director of National Intelligence suggest strongly that Clapper is
embarrassed by the way the Obama White House misrepresented the Aug. 30
document.
***
Opponents of the proposed U.S. strike against Syria
could argue that the Obama administration’s presentation of the intelligence
supporting war is far more politicised than the flawed 2002 Iraq WMD
estimate that the George W. Bush administration cited as part of the
justification for the invasion of Iraq.
Remember,
Clapper is the guy who blatantly lied to Congress and the American people about NSA
spying. And even he wouldn't touch this thing with a 10-foot pole.
In addition,
Daily Caller noted recently:
The Obama administration has selectively used
intelligence to justify military strikes on Syria, former military officers
with access to the original intelligence reports say, in a manner that
goes far beyond what critics
charged the Bush administration of doing in the run-up to the 2003
Iraq war.
According to these officers, who served in top
positions in the United States, Britain, France, Israel, and Jordan, a Syrian
military communication intercepted by Israel’s famed Unit 8200 electronic
intelligence outfit has been doctored so that it leads a reader to just
the opposite conclusion reached by the original report.
And Fairness and
Accuracy in Reporting points outthat - as bad as the Iraq war propaganda was -
at least Colin Powell actually played the
intercepted communications:
Recall that Powell played tapes of Iraqi
officials supposedly talking about concealing evidence of banned
weapons from inspectors–which turned out to show nothing of the
kind. But Powell at least played tapes of the intercepted
communication, even as he spun and misrepresented their contents–allowing
for the possibility of an independent interpretation of these messages.
Perhaps “mindful of the Iraq experience,” Kerry allows for no such
interpretation.
Indeed, the U.S.
government itself admits that it doesn’t have clear evidence that Assad
was behind the chemical weapons attack, high-level intelligence officials think
it might have been the rebels who used such
weapons, Congress members who have seen the classified intelligence from the
U.S. government are not impressed, and top chemical weapons experts are skeptical.
BONUS:
Pearl
Harbor Was Also Just a Limited Air Strike with No Boots on the Ground
U.S.
Desperately Tries to Justify Syrian War … After Everyone Agrees to a Peaceful
Solution
NEW
DOCUMENTS DETAIL HOW FEDS SEIZE LAPTOPS AT BORDER...
Putin to RT: Syria
chem arms handover will work only if US calls off strike
'WARmerica':
Protesters in New York rally against strike on Syria
Submitted
by williambanzai7 on
09/09/2013 17:23 -0400 Touch-Move Rule: J'adouboKerry In serious play, if a player
having the move touches one of their pieces as if having the intention of
moving it, then the player must move it if it can be legally moved...If a
player wishes to touch a piece with the intention of adjusting its position on
a square, the player must first alert their opponent of their intention by
saying J'adoube or "I adjust". There have been occasions in chess
history when a player has uttered j’adoube after making a losing move in order
to retract it, thus attempting to avoid the touch-move rule. Such behaviour is regarded as
cheating. The Yugoslav Grandmaster Milan Matulovi? was nicknamed
"J’adoubovic" after such an incident. Source: Wikipedia
[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch-move_rule] One of these Kings is a mess He's feeling a great deal of
stress He came with his pecker To play the game checkers But Putin is now playing chess The Limerick King 9/11
Commission Chair: Director of Intelligence James Clapper Should Be Indicted for
Perjury regarding NSA Spying Posted by :
George Washington Post date:
09/11/2013 - Hamilton Says Americans Should Be More
Outraged About Spying Abuses THE GaMe: J'aDouBoKeRRY...
.
Presented
with little comment aside to ask just how levered the market is when a 'twitch'
lower in VIX smashes the entire S&P 500 index up by 0.3% in 15 minutes...
Policy
officials believe that growth and inflation would fix the problem of large
debts, but growth fueled by public spending that is financed by debt or central
banks is not sustainable. Like most Ponzi schemes, it doesn’t end
well. Reducing total debt was always a better solution, but it would have
resulted in even slower economic activity and lower living standards. However,
in the long run, the system would have been purged of
unsustainable excesses. ‘Short term pain’ for ‘long term gain’ is often shunned
for fear of electoral defeat and lobby group pressure. Now, we are stuck with
financial repression. Investment is being directed toward funding the public
sector. Policy rewards debtors over creditors. Such policy cannot go on
forever. In reality, “unlimited” rarely means unlimited, because
imbalances become too great. The Fed’s current quagmire has
aspects resembling the Triffin Dilemma. The recent adverse spillover from Fed
policies in emerging market economies and currencies may be the first hint
of cracks in the global monetary system. At a minimum, foreign
central banks have deviated from good policy in order to prevent sharp
destabilizing fluctuations in the value of their currencies and to arrest
volatile inflows and outflows of capital.
AAPL's
demise was shrugged off by a broader market as VIX was slammed lower
once again to 14.00% stirring the S&P to its 7th green day in a row and
best run in 2 months. The Dow outperformed on the day (absent the AAPL drag)
but stocks tyraded amid very low volumes once again and weakened into the
close. Treasuries were well bid (along with stocks) as a very healthy
10Y auction and some negative chatter over Syria saw a modest safety
bid. The USD was monkey-hammered against all the majors - EUR most notably but JPY
strength was entirely ignored by stocks (as we point out once again - it was
VIX that drove us). So bonds bid, stocks bid, USD offered, oil and
gold modestly bid, and VIX offered - smells a lot like a market that is
absolutely not pricing in a Taper. It appears that VIX 'war-hedges' have
now been fully unwound - where's the ammo for the next leg higher?
While
the unemployment rate has been falling, currently at 7.3%, it has not been
because of a strongly increasing workforce. Rather it has been a
function of people leaving the workforce. This, of course, brings up the
obvious question of how these people are live if they aren't working. A
recent trip to Walmart answered that question... 
"I
estimate the US fiscal gap at US$200 tn, 17 times the reported US$12 tn in
official debt in the hands of the public.... Our country is broke.
It’s not broke in 50 years or 30 years or 10 years. It’s broke today. Six
decades of take as you go has led us to a precipice. That’s why almost the
entire economics profession is talking as one at 
Perhaps
Obama's 'Pause' in Syria is to give the US enough time to raise the required
'war' start-up funds... here is the "kickstarter" pitch... from "The
Americans for Whatever Barack Obama Wants, did you know he's friends with
Jay-Z?" society...
Apple
is down over 5% - no worries. The 10Y auction was very well bid and rates are
surging lower - sounds good. The USD is collapsing - well
that's great news. And sure enough stocks are up for the 7th day in a row (even
as Oil rises - not falls - following Obama's 'pause'). We are sure it all makes
sense somewhere - even as JPY carry is unwinding... for now it
seems VIX is the lever being used to crank on stocks.
For
the last few days we have been bombarded with words that appear 'peaceful' and
problem-solving from Russia with love. Of course, 'no change' benefits mother
Russia the most as his government's gas revenues (and political power) will
continue to flow from Europe (a quarter of Russian government income comes
from being Europe's gas supplier). So it will come as no surprise that
amid the Mother Theresa acts, The Telegraph reports that Putin is
readying delivery of more S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran and will
continue to discuss "working together in the nuclear energy spehere."
Combine that with 
Whether
it was out of spite, or for whatever reason, it seems that whoever did not get
their requested allocation in today's Verizone deal decided to dump all that
cash in today's just concluded 
'War-Drums',
'told-you-so-dance' on chemical weapons, or 'this was the cunning plan all
along and the Russians played along perfectly' - we wonder which script will
hit the teleprompters first tonight... and should we still be fearful
of North Korea and Iran sending Sarin into the US? We are sure there
will be something for everyone in this speechapalooza...
Whenever
something bad happens – Iran moving closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, North
Korea firing another missile, civilian deaths reaching another grim milestone
in Syria’s civil war, satellites revealing an alarming rate of polar-ice melt –
some official or observer will call upon the international community to act. There
is only one problem: there is no “international community.” In short,
those looking to the international community to deal with the world’s problems
will be disappointed. This is not reason for despair or grounds for acting
unilaterally. But so long as “international community” is more hope than reality,
multilateralism will have to become more varied.
With
an hour until yet another "most important speech of his Presidency",
we thought it useful to reflect on the nation's support. While we already know
the nation's "representatives" were absolutely not behind him on the
Syria vote, it appears the people themselves - poor lowly serfs though they are
- are not approving in general. In fact, Obama's approval rating is
practically at all-time lows - and consequently disapproval near all-time highs.
Will a 'we-are-strong-but-diplomacy-won' speech help tonight? Or will Obama
press the 'Strike' and risk a further collapse in his approval (with 63% of
Americans against getting involved in Syria)?
In
the first three parts (
In 
"I
think it’s pretty damning," notes on complainant after receiving
the detailsof the NSA's action over the last few years, adding "This shows
a larger pattern that a lot of times the NSA doesn’t alert the court to serious
privacy violations, whether they are intentional or unintentional, for
years down the road." As Bloomberg reports, intelligence officials were
forced to admit that The NSA for about three years violated restrictions on
checking U.S. telephone records for surveillance and misled judges on how the
data was used. Between 2006 and 2009, of the 17,835 phone numbers checked
against incoming phone records, only about 2,000 were based on that reasonable
suspicion standard, officials said. Despite Gen. Alexander's statement that
"this is not a program where we are out freewheeling it," adding in
June that "it is a well-overseen and a very focused program," it is now
clear that "there was nobody at the NSA who had a full understanding of
how the program worked," as one intelligence official noted.
While
the world is currently glued to the events surrounding Syria; the reality is
that such an event has very little to do with the real economy. The
surges in expectations by business is very interesting given the actual demand
that drives the real economy. 
As
long as you ignore AAPL, today was a good day for all the bright shiny happy
people who own stocks. Trannies finally snapped higher catching up to the other
major indices with their best day in 6 weeks, Nasdaq closed at its
highest since Nov 2000 (despite selling off for the afternoon as
AAPL disappointed with pretty colored plastic stuff) with a 6-day
winning streak. All sectors are now green post-Kerry's 8/36 speech
with homebuilders surging from worst (-4%) to first (+2%) in the last few days.
The exuberance (if not the volume) is palpable. Hedgers were once more
disabused as VIX collapsed and stock indices close well above
technical levels. The USD did absolutely nothing even as AUD sold off for most
of the day. Treasuries were smashed higher in yield after diverging lower in
yield from the open through lunch. 10Y was oddly correlated to AAPL's drop as
the yield pushed up to 2.97% (and AAPL fell 2.4% by the close). Silver
and Oil were hammered lower (-3.75% and 3% respectively from Friday)
though we note Gold (which is down 1.9% from Friday) pushed higher from the US
day session open today. All-in-all, the equity market seems convinced that
Europe, China, and Japan are all good and Syria is a dud (oh and Taper - who
cares!)
At
1615ET, DoubleLine's Jeff Gundlach will begin his firm's latest presentation of
his market views. 
In a
not-so-shocking turn of events, the Syrian 'opposition' is disappointed by the
apparent shift in the US administration's warmongery. As Bloomberg reports,
Najib Ghadbian, special representative of the Syrian opposition
coalition, explained that they "definitely want this strike;
we're using the words and decisive and strategic," adding that the strike
"is a necessary step" to make the Assad regime agree to a political
solution. In a separate discussion, Farah Al-Atassi - a Syran coalition member
- said Russia's proposal to isolate and destroy Syria's chemical
weapons was not sincere. Oh, but of course, they concluded that,
"we definitely want it to lead to a democratic solution." In the
meantime, Syrian people's resentment grows, "Why is there
silence?" Abu Abdu asks. "Is it because we're Muslims? Is our blood
cheaper than yours?"
Five
years after the financial crisis former Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson says "the world shouold prepare for a new financial crisis"
in tomorrow's Handelsblatt newspaper. His view, based on the
"unacceptable" nature of too-big-to-fail banks and the lack of reform
of the GSEs and the shadow-banking industry, stands in direct opposition to the
leader of one of those TBTF banks. James 'not Jim' Gorman, CEO
of Morgan Stanley, told Charlie Rose last week that "the
probability of [it] happening again in our lifetime is as close to zero as I
could imagine." Who would you trust?
One
reason why the US has been able to extend its true "drop dead" cash
exhaustion date has been due to an increase in tax revenues due to the payroll
tax cut as well as cash inflows from the GSEs (which are set to reverse and
become outflows once the latest housing dead dog bounce reverses), and cash
remittances from the Fed. However, the capacity under this extended
"revolver" is rapidly running out, and as of August 31, 2013,
approximately $108 billion in extraordinary measures remained available for
use. In a report released today, the Bipartisan Policy Center has released
another analysis of just when the US will hit the "X Date" or the
date on which the Treasury will not have sufficient cash to pay all of its
bills in full and on time. Should there be still no deal on the debt ceiling by
this date, the Treasury will be forced to prioritize payments to avoid a debt
default. According to this estimate, the X Date falls anywhere between
November 5 to as recently as October 18, or just over a month from now (and
there has been zero real discussion in Congress over the debt ceiling hike with
all the excitement over Syria).
So totally
unexpected:
