The United States of Debt: A Ticking Time Bomb (Source cbn.com) The debt exceeded for the first time $18 trillion. We have been in the red in all but four of the last 40 years. That’s $18,000,000,000,000. We all know that $18 million is a lot of money. This is $18 million times another million. The number is so gigantic we won’t or can’t try to fathom it. In just the last seven years — the last under George W. Bush and the first six under Obama — the debt has increased by roughly $7.4 trillion. That’s 10 times the entire debt incurred in our first 200 years as a nation. This is one of the first times in American history (the post-Vietnam War era is the other) that we have opened up the flood gates on borrowing even at a time when we’ve severely slashed the military budget. Here is the biggest worry about an $18 trillion debt. What happens if/when interest rates start to drift back upward? Answer: this is the economic equivalent of the nuclear option. Each one percentage point rise in rates causes the U.S. deficit to rise by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. So a 300 basis point rise in rates – nothing more than a return to normalcy – would mean about $5 trillion in federal deficits. If that happens, the debt servicing costs grow astronomically and interest payments would become the biggest expense item in the budget. We start to pay more and more taxes just to finance past borrowing. This is what happened in Detroit; look at how that turned out.

From Energy War to Currency War: America’s Attack on the Russian Ruble (Source globalresearch.ca)

Some may think that the drop in the Russian ruble’s value is a result of the market acting on its own while others who recognize that there is market manipulation involved may turn around and blame it on the Russian government and Vladimir Putin. This process, however, has been guided by US machinations. It is simply not a result of the market acting on its own or the result of Kremlin policies. It is the result of US objectives and policy that deliberately targets Russia for destabilization and devastation. Putin stated that the drop in the value of the Russian ruble was obviously provoked primarily by external factors. It is clear that Russian business and trade ties have been redirected to the People’s Republic of China and East Asia. On the occasion of the Sino-Russian mega natural gas deal, this author pointed out that this was not as much a Russian countermove to US economic pressure as it was really a long-term Russian strategy that seeks an increase in trade and ties with East Asia. From the perspective of Russian Presidential Advisor Sergey Glazyev, the US is waging its multi-spectrum war against Russia to ultimately challenge Moscow’s Chinese partners. According to Presidential Advisor Sergey Glazyev, Washington is trying to destroy and weaken Russia, causing it to fragment, as they need this territory and want to establish control over this entire space. We have offered cooperation from Lisbon to Vladivostok, whereas they need control to maintain their geopolitical leadership in a competition with China, he has explained, pointing out that the US wants lordship and is not interested in cooperation. Alluding to former US top diplomat Madeline Albright’s sentiments that Russia was unfairly endowed with vast territory and resources, Putin also spoke along similar lines at his December 18 press conference, explaining how the US wanted to divide Russia and control the abundant natural resources in Russian territory. The currency war eventually will rebound on Washington and Wall Street. The energy war will also reverse directions. Already, the Kremlin has made it clear that it and a coalition of other countries will de-claw the US in the currency market through a response that will neutralize US financial manipulation and the petro-dollar. In the words of Sergey Glazyev, Moscow is thinking of a systemic and comprehensive response aimed at exposing and ending US political domination, and, most importantly, at undermining US military-political power based on the printing of dollars as a global currency.

Israeli digging causes collapse near Western Wall (Source iran-daily.com) Israeli excavations under the al-Aqsa Mosque have caused collapse just meters away from the Western Wall of East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The wall is located at the foot of the western side of Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, one of the most important religious sites in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem), Press TV reported. The collapse came in an area in Silwan south of al-Aqsa where the tunnels dug by the Israelis start. Following the incident, the Israeli police sealed off the site and forbade anyone from approaching it. The Palestinian archeological community has accused Tel Aviv of purposefully damaging Islam’s third-holiest mosque. “The strong can force their will. Look at the Roman Court in Jerusalem al-Quds. The Israelis turned it into a temple, although, it is not related to Judaism,” said Palestinian archeologist Ibrahim al-Fanni. “The Israelis invented their own history and the Palestinians failed to look into their own past. Israelis continue with their excavations to create historical identity for themselves.” Palestinian officials are worried about the political implications and how the excavations could affect the Palestinian main street. They have warned about outburst of violence should anything happen to al-Aqsa Mosque. “This was expected. Experts have always warned of such an outcome and there is a real possibility of damage to al-Aqsa Mosque,” said Esmat Mansour, expert on Israeli affairs. “If these activities harmed the mosque in any way, the entire region will be set on fire because protecting al-Aqsa is a duty for every Muslim and Arab citizen.”