Baltic Dry Index. 569 -08 Brent Crude 54.04
LIR Gold Target in 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
"The history of paper money is an account of abuse, mismanagement, and financial disaster."
Richard M. Ebeling
We open today focusing on under reported events in the Ukraine, Russia
and back of beyond Georgia, where US led NATO is seemingly preparing for a new
front encircling Russia. But first this ECB surprise nuclear attack on Greece.
Default looms closer. From London it looks like the ECB is now trying to force
an imminent Greek exit from the euro.
"Sooner or later both the Greek population and international creditors will tire of fighting a losing battle, leading to a break-up of the currency union as Greece pulls out, probably followed by other countries"
Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre of Economics and Business Research.
ECB cancels soft treatment of Greek debt in warning to Athens
By John
O'Donnell and Jan
Strupczewski
FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS
(Reuters) - The European Central Bank abruptly canceled its acceptance of Greek bonds in return for funding on Wednesday, shifting the burden onto Athens' central bank to finance its lenders and isolating Greece unless it strikes a new reform deal.
The move, which means the Greek central bank will have to provide its banks with tens of billions of euros of additional emergency liquidity in the coming weeks, was a response to what many in Frankfurt see as the Greek government's abandoning of its aid-for-reform program.
The decision came just hours after Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis emerged from a meeting with ECB President Mario Draghi to claim that the ECB would do "whatever it takes" to support member states such as Greece.
In stark contrast, the ECB move, which required the support of a majority of central bank chiefs across the euro zone, shows widespread dismay with the new Greek government's plans not only in Frankfurt but across the 19-country bloc.
The ECB announced its decision, which will take effect from Feb. 11, after those governors met in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
It means that the tens of billions of euros of Greek government bonds as well as bank bonds guaranteed by Athens will no longer qualify as security in return for ECB funding to those banks.
Instead, it will now be up to Greece's central bank to provide those banks with Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), a step it takes at its own risk, ringfencing those banks' funding problems from the rest of the euro zone.
Were the central bank to run into difficulties as a result, it would be up to the debt-strapped Greek government, which can ill afford it, to step in.
The unexpected move followed an appeal from Greece's new leftist government to the ECB to keep its banks afloat as it seeks to negotiate debt relief with its euro zone partners.
The ECB has now effectively refused this request, adding to Greece's problems as Germany rejected any roll-back of agreed austerity policies.
----However a document prepared by Germany for a meeting of EU finance officials on Thursday made clear Berlin wants Athens to go back on promises to raise the minimum wage, halt unpopular sales of national assets, rehire fired public sector workers and reinstate a Christmas bonus for poor pensioners.
"The Eurogroup needs a clear and front-loaded commitment by Greece to ensure full implementation of key reform measures necessary to keep the program on track," the document, seen by Reuters, said in reference to euro zone finance ministers.
More
What you need to know about ECB’s Greek collateral decision
Published: Feb 4, 2015 6:13 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The European Central Bank just
cranked up the pressure on Greece’s new antiausterity government as it attempts
to renegotiate the terms of its bailout, telling Athens that Greek banks can no
longer use the country’s sovereign debt as collateral for ECB-provided
liquidity.
----Here’s what you need to know:
More
Now back to the coming red hot war coming in the Spring. Stay long fully paid up physical precious
metals held outside of the larcenous reach of John Bull and Uncle Scam. With
Spring to arrive next month, and US mercenaries already on the front lines
against the Russian speaking Minutemen in the Donbas, look for a major
escalation in the Ukraine war soon. World War Three is just one hair trigger
miscalculation away.
Up first, America’s puppet government in Kiev tries to forecasts the
future. NATO wants Georgia in on the action and moves another pawn on the
chessboard against Russia.
Oh, people can come
up with statistics to prove anything, Petro. 14% of people know that.
The Chocolate King,
with apologies to Homer Simpson.
Ukraine will not be a federation but will remain a unitary state — Poroshenko
February 03, 22:03 UTC+3
85% of Ukrainians are in favor of Ukraine’s going on as a unitary state, Poroshenko told a briefing in Kharkiv
85% of Ukrainians are in favor of Ukraine’s going on as a unitary state, Poroshenko told a briefing in Kharkiv
KIEV, February 3. /TASS/. Ukraine will remain a unitary state, President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday.
"Ukraine will never be a federation, it will remain a unitary state," he told a briefing in Kharkiv.
Poroshenko claimed 85% of Ukrainians were in favor of Ukraine’s going on as a unitary state. He said he was confident of that choice of the nation and was ready "to put this matter for a referendum."
More
Donetsk Claims Shooting Down Two Ukrainian Su-25 Military Jets
Two Su-25 military jets were downed near the
contested town of Debaltseve. Both pilots ejected, with one of them landing on
the DPR territory.
DONETSK, (Sputnik) — The deputy head of armed
militia from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)
in eastern Ukraine said Tuesday that his troops had shot down two
Ukrainian Su-25 military jets near the contested town of Debaltseve.
According to Eduard Basurin, one of the Su-25s was downed near the village of Komissarivka while the second — near the village of Chernukhine.
Both pilots ejected, and one of them landed on the territory controlled by DPR militia, Basurin said.
Debaltseve
has seen some of the fiercest clashes in the past few days
as the warring parties fight for control of this key rail and
road juncture. Militias claim to be in control of the town's
western outskirts, including three commanding heights near the highway.
Pro-independence forces in the neighboring Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) said earlier in the day they had downed a Ukrainian warplane near the town of Irmine, 35 miles away from the regional capital Luhansk. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not confirm this report.
More
NATO confirms plans to open training center in Georgia
February 03, 20:53 UTC+3
The alliance also plans to hold
military drills in Georgia starting this year, its spokesman told a news
briefing ahead of NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on February 5
BRUSSELS, February 3. /TASS/.
NATO is moving forward with plans to set up a training center in Georgia.
A NATO spokesman told a news
briefing ahead of a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels on
February 5: "NATO is planning to open a military training center in
Georgia for NATO members and partner states."
The issue would be discussed at a
session of the NATO-Georgia Commission, due to be held in the Belgian capital
during the defense ministers’ meeting, the spokesman said.
He added that the alliance also
planned to hold military drills in Georgia starting this year.
"NATO will hold exercises in
Georgia this year," he said. "We will hold periodic military
exercises in
Georgia as part of our cooperation with that country next
year."
On January 30, Georgian Defense
Minister Mindia Janelidze and NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow
visited the Vaziani military base, located some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from
the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
Janelidze said Vaziani had been
considered as one of the possible locations for a NATO training center to be
based in the former Soviet republic.
More
Meanwhile in Russia, preparations are far advanced at thwarting
the western sanctions imposed after the botched US War Party coup in Kiev. Russia ponders backing Greece’s claim against
Germany for WW2 reparations.
Domestic MasterCard: 5 Russian banks begin new National Payment System
Published time: February 03, 2015 13:44
Edited time: February 03, 2015 16:25
Russia’s new National Payment System is up and running. The first five
Russian banks processed their initial payments via MasterCard on January 30,
according to Russia’s Central Bank.“On 30 January 2015, the first five banks, including regional ones, started processing some Russian domestic MasterCard card transactions via the National Payment System (NPS) processing center implementing settlements on these transactions via the Bank of Russia,” the bank said in a press statement Tuesday.
The transfer of Russian domestic transaction processing of international payment system cards to the NPS will be implemented in stages, and should be complete by March 31, 2015.
Although the bank’s statement didn’t list which banks were the first five to successfully process payments, previously it has been reported that Gazprombank, Rosbank, Alfa Bank, Bank Rossiya, SMP Bank, and Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development were contenders to pioneer the flagship program.
The domestic step is the first to eventually developing an international payment platform.
Russia started an alternative to the SWIFT international payment clearing system in December amid worsening relations with the West. Moscow thought there was a threat the EU would order Russia removed from the global interbank SWIFT system, as it did with Iran in 2012 over the nuclear dispute.
More
Number of Ukrainians of conscription age seeking refuge in Russia up by 20,000 in a week
February 02, 22:08
According to the Russian
Federal Migration Service, about 2.5 million Ukrainian nationals, including
1.193 million men of conscription age, are staying in the territory of Russia
MOSCOW, February 2 /TASS/. Ukrainian men of conscription age are seeking refuge in Russia in numbers that increased by 20,000 in one week, the press service of the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) said on Monday.
"About 2.5 million Ukrainian nationals, including 1.193 million men of conscription age, are staying in the territory of Russia," the FMS told TASS. More than 850,000 people have arrived from Ukraine’s south-eastern regions.
"About 440,000 people who were forced to leave south-eastern Ukraine have applied for a refugee status, temporary shelter or temporary residence permit," the FMS press service went on to say.
Russia has 531 temporary refugee centers in its territory for 27,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Russian lawmakers will reevaluate Germany's reparations for WWII damage
February 03, 2:48
Lawmaker Mikhail Degtyaryov
believes the final amount of reparations to be paid to Russia, which is the
legal successor to the USSR, will stand at €3-4 trillion
MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Deputies of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament are setting up a workgroup that will calculate the damage that Germany inflicted on the Soviet Union during World War II, Izvestia daily said in an article published on Tuesday.
Upon the completion of computations, the workgroup plans to issue a demand to Germany for reparations.
The initiative was brought forward by Mikhail Degtyaryov, a member of the supreme council of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). He said Germany had paid practically no reparations for the devastation and carnage during World War II.
The USSR got some German assets, furniture, clothes and manufacturing equipment under Yalta agreements from the Soviet sector of control. And although an agreement on cessation of reparations was signed with the German Democratic Republic, no such agreements were ever signed with the Federal Republic of Germany before or after reunification.
Mikhail Degtyaryov believes this issue remains open and quite topical, all the more so that today's Germany continues inflicting damage on Russia as it presses forward with unlawful sanctions on the part of the EU.
He believes that the final amount of reparations to be paid to Russia, which is the legal successor to the USSR, will stand at €3-4 trillion.
Russian experts say, however, that although claims against Germany are well-grounded, repayment of reparations is possible only upon an interstate agreement and it is practically unrealistic to recover any reparations seventy years after the end of the war.
New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earlier spoke about a possibility of making reparation claims for the damage his country sustained during World War II but Germany made it clear it was not going to pay anything.
More
Greek Defense Minister Invited to Discuss Military Cooperation in Moscow
ATHENS (Sputnik) — New Greek Defense Minister has
received an invitation to visit Moscow to discuss military
cooperation, the Greek Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
Kammenos met earlier on Tuesday with Russian Ambassador Andrey Maslov to discuss strategic cooperation, including contacts between the Greek and Rusian defense ministries.
"I received an invitation from the Russian defense minister [Sergei Shoigu] to visit Moscow in the near future," the ministry quoted Kammenos as saying after the meeting.
On January 25, the deputy chief of an economic policy committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, Mikhail Emelyanov, said that Russia and Greece would have new opportunities for developing bilateral ties following the victory of the left-wing party Syriza in the Greek parliamentary election.
Back in December 2013, the two countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on defense cooperation relating to the supply of arms and military hardware. Shoigu and then-Greek Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos also discussed the possibility of joint personnel training events.
More
Greek PM Says Greece, Cyprus May Become ‘Peace Bridge’ Between Russia, EU
MOSCOW, February 2 (Sputnik) – Greece and Cyprus could mediate a
dialogue between the European Union and Russia, the newly-elected Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Monday.
During his official visit to Cyprus, Tsipras said that the two
countries must work together to develop "a bridge of peace and
cooperation between Europe and Russia," the Cyprus Financial Mirror
newspaper reported.The prime minister said that Athens does not consider loans from Russia to be a possibility.
---- Relations between Moscow and Brussels significantly deteriorated following Crimea's reunification with Russia in March 2014. The EU, the United States as well as a number of other countries imposed several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, accusing it of interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs.
On Sunday, European Parliament President Martin Schulz expressed concern over the new Greek government's pro-Russian stance. Members of the left-wing Syriza party, having recently won parliamentary elections, have repeatedly criticized the West's sanctions against Russia, saying that they damage the Greek economy also, particularly agriculture.
More
"We are not discussing the exit of Greece from the euro area. This is a stupid idea and an avenue we would never take."
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed Luxembourg Prime Minister, former president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers, Liar and current EC President.
At the Comex silver depositories Wednesday final figures were: Registered 67.79 Moz, Eligible 110.23 Moz, Total 178.02 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
No crooks, bent politicians, nor grubby central
banksters rigging markets today. Today
just an update on graphene and our arriving New Carbon Age that will eventually
get our world out of the Great Nixonian error of fiat money casino capitalism.
Assuming America’s War Party doesn’t start World War Three over its botched
coup in the Ukraine first.
Flexible graphene-based LED clears the way for flexible displays
Researchers from the University of Manchester and University of Sheffield have developed a new prototype semi-transparent, graphene-based LED device that could form the basis of flexible screens for use in the next-generation of mobile phones, tablets and televisions. The incredibly thin display was created using sandwiched "heterostructures", is only 10-40 atoms thick and emits a sheet of light across its entire surface.The University of Manchester has a long history of working with graphene, with Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov first isolating the material of single-atom thickness at the University via mechanical exfoliation (using adhesive tape) back in 2004. Since then, research has also branched out into other promising 2D material structures, including boron nitiride and molybdenum disulphide.
The culmination of these areas of experimentation is the new 2D LED semiconductor built by a team led by Novoselov using a combination of metallic graphene, insulating hexagonal boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers. It is this construction using LEDs engineered at an atomic level that allowed the team to produce their breakthrough device. As such, the work shows that graphene (combined with other flexible 2D materials) is not just limited to simple electronic displays, but could be exploited to create light emitting devices that are not only incredibly thin, but flexible, semi-transparent, and intrinsically bright.
---- This inherent elasticity and translucence also means that the device shows promise as an alternative to current LCD or conventional LED technology, potentially offering everything from modest lighting products to multifaceted graphical displays.
"We envisage a new generation of optoelectronic devices to stem from this work, from simple transparent lighting and lasers and to more complex applications," said Freddie Withers, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at The University of Manchester.
The heterostructures (or van der Waals heterostructures, to give them their full name) are made by joining different materials, usually in layers, and with the materials joined directly at the atomic level. The heterostructures used in the new device essentially create an electron attractive force that the researchers have used to construct quantum wells to control the movement of electrons and make the device emit light.
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"When it becomes serious, you have to lie"
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed Luxembourg Prime Minister and ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar. EC President.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished January
DJIA: +124 Down. NASDAQ: +220 Down. SP500: +178 Down.
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