Spain is About to Enter a Full-Scale Collapse

Be..  What's Spanish for afraid?  Be that.  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

Spain is about to enter a full-scale Crisis.


A few facts about Spain:
• Total Spanish banking loans are equal to 170% of Spanish GDP.
• Troubled loans at Spanish Banks just hit an 18-year high.
• Spanish Banks are drawing a record €316.3 billion from the ECB
(up from €169.2 billion in February).


Things have gotten so bad that Spanish citizens are pulling their money out of Spain en masse: €65 billion left the Spanish banking system in March 2011 alone.


As bad as they are, even these data points don't do justice to the toxic sewer that is the Spanish banking system.


Case in point, over HALF of all Spanish mortgages are owned by Spanish cajas.


If you're unfamiliar with the caja banking system, let me give you a little background...


Until recently, the caja banking system was virtually unregulated. Yes, you read that correctly, until about 2010-2011 there were next no regulations for these banks (which account for 50% of all Spanish deposits). They didn’t have to reveal their loan to value ratios, the quality of collateral they took for making loans… or anything for that matter.


So, with Spain today, we have a totally unregulated banking system sitting atop HALF of ALL Spanish mortgages after a housing bubble that makes the one that happened in the US look like a small bump.

Aye carumba..

Earthquake swarm on Iran-Iraq border continues

Strange.  The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

5.1 and 5.0 earthquakes are the latest in a swarm of about six earthquakes that have erupted along the convergent plate boundaries between the Arabian and Eurasian plate. The swarm is about 528 km (328 miles) SW of TEHRAN, Iran. The epicenter of the earthquakes is located on the convergent boundary where the two tectonic plates are colliding along the border of Iraq and Iran in what’s known as the Alpide Belt. Three moderate earthquakes have erupted along the epicenter in less than 20 hours. Most of the volcanoes in Iran lie in the north and south of the country, so this region outside the Tigris River is not considered a high-risk region for magma intrusion. Might this be the precursor to some event?

The coincidental location of this fault adds to the intrigue/tension of Iraq/Iran border.  No, they aren't actively cultivating border tension, but when you fight with someone non-stop for eight years only ending a little over 24 years ago..  You remember.  "You" being either Iraq or Iran. 

Depending on the magnitude, an earthquake event could, could destabilize the entire region rather quickly, or quite the opposite:  A Great Earthquake could have the effect of resolving Iraq and Iran's tensions; also rather quickly.  People tend to extremes of behavior in extreme situations:  Extremes in calm or anxiety, Service to Other or Service to Self, Violence or Compassion..  And depending on response, different events are also set in motion, which also play out in the future.. 

If it were to happen, of course.  As with everything else, we individually or collectively, determine our outcome in response to the sum of all our circumstances, planned or unplanned, alone, or All Of Us.  Our responses have significant impact in the direction of future circumstances. 

Right now?  It's still an earthquake swarm, and for me personally, an excuse to tangent.

EXCLUSIVE: First photos of Colombia escort in explosive Secret Service hooker scandal

New York Daily News.  Excerpts:


According to the story Suarez has told friends and the press, the still-unnamed agent kicked her out of his room the next morning with only $28 in cab fare.



She caused a ruckus in the hallway, demanding her full payment, while the agent remained locked in the locked hotel room and wouldn’t come out.


Soon Cartagena cops got involved and while the payment dispute was ultimately settled by a whip-round among some of the other Secret Service agents(What?), word reached the US Embassy.The men were ordered home, put on leave and stripped of their security clearances.



Three Secret Service agents, including two supervisors, were ousted Wednesday.


Yeah, I have a hard time with this explanation.  From just a little background reading, it would be obvious that in Catholic dominated Colombia where prostitution is illegal, our heroine would probably Not "cause a ruckus" in a high-end hotel with high-level American operatives to attract the attention of Colombian law enforcement, would she?  From the article, she seems like she understands decorum when it comes to her clientele, and leads an otherwise quiet life.  Why risk that with powerful foreigners aligned with her government?  Getting burned is one thing, but getting burned by those with Diplomatic Immunity is quite another!  Yes, a high end, Colombian call-girl may or may not be smart, but, in order to survive, she is probably quite cunning, and would probably choose another course of action, like cutting her losses and heading home, head intact.  This integral part of the whole story feels awkward and confabulated.


These events feel more..  International and Serious in its Back-Channel implications.  And no, I will not cite other sources, and no, I will not be more specific.  If crazy-ass Earth Changes weren't enough, this election season's going to be balls-out crazy!  Stock up on popcorn!  Happy 2012, everyone..

Scientists can’t seem to find mysterious dark matter

Agence France-Presse via The Raw Story.  Excerpts:

To explain: the team were looking for evidence of dark matter, the substance that is believed to comprise 83 percent of matter in the Universe.



But it cannot be detected by the naked eye or by existing astronomical techniques.


Instead it is detected indirectly, from the gravitational pull that it exerts on other phenomena.

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said they had expected to spot evidence for dark matter swirling around the Sun after they mapped the motions of more than 400 stars in the Milky Way.


But they found nothing.


“The amount of mass that we derive matches very well with what we see — stars, dust and gas — in the region around the Sun,” team leader Christian Moni Bidin of Chile’s University of Concepcion said in a press release.


“But this leaves no room for the extra material — dark matter — that we were expecting. Our calculations show that it should have shown up very clearly in our measurements. But it was just not there!

We are very close now, to a very large and complete transformation how we see Everything.  Everything.  That Science should have to ask more specific, or radically different questions is not a bad thing at all;  A wrong corridor eliminated brings us one step closer to the right one.  But the ways this transformation will effect us all, at the moment, have no context. The beginnings of these changes?  They are already here.

The fascination for me is watching the entire process play out, our species collectively walking the tightrope towards Enlightenment, no net to protect us, Apocalypse always a mis-step away..  Kinda thrilling, even with the unforgiving consequences of failure, yeah?  Glory?  Or Burn?  We are all about to find out!

Pentagon chief: 'We're within an inch of war almost every day’

Jeremy Herb for The Hill.  Excerpts:

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta offered a blunt assessment of the threats facing the United States on Wednesday, saying the potential for another war breaking out remains high in places like North Korea.



“We’re within an inch of war almost every day in that part of the world,” Panetta said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, in response to a question about the threats in the Korean Peninsula. “And we just have to be very careful about what we say and what we do.”


Blitzer then asked Panetta, who joined with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for an interview during the secretaries’ NATO meeting in Brussels, whether the North Korean threat kept him up at night.



“Unfortunately, these days there’s a helluva lot that keeps me awake,” Panetta responded, listing Iran, Syria, the Middle East, cyber warfare and weapons of mass destruction as other insomnia-inducing issues.

It's interesting he didn't mention India/Pakistan.  And wouldn't it have been quicker to say Fukushima?

Phht.. North Korea.. Somethin' Somethin' Nuclear Test.. Somethin' Somethin' U.S. Retaliation..

US: Strike on N. Korea Possible if Nuclear Test Held  KBS World (found it on Godlike Productions).  Excerpts:

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command says the U.S. may launch a surgical strike against missile bases and nuclear test sites in North Korea if it conducts a third nuclear test.



Admiral Samuel Locklear explained the U.S.'s position on Tuesday at a meeting with South Korean defense journalists at the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul.

Locklear said Washington is closely watching the North in relation to the possibility of a third nuclear test, adding the U.S. and South Korea are looking at all options including a surgical strike.


This feels like talk, for now.  I think Kim Jong Un is too new, and it doesn't seem like his Generals want to throw down just yet, not after Missile-Go-Launch-BOOM!, but they might later.  And the U.S. is setting a boundary.  Yes, the situation could escalate, but I'm more inclined to think Israel/Iran or India/Pakistan-China will flare first..  The biggest concern still being Fukushima, rendering all other speculation moot.

Tupac Shakur came back from the dead as a hologram at Coachella

From IO9  Excerpts:

Given that we live in an era when Japanese pop groups build synthetic singers using preexisting members' facial features, this shouldn't be all that surprising. At the Coachella Music Festival last night, Tupac Shakur — who has been dead for almost 15 years — was resurrected by means of an unnervingly realistic hologram. The rapper performed "2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and "Hail Mary" alongside not-deceased stage mates Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.



To make matters all the weirder, the digital Tupac greeted concertgoers at a festival that didn't even exist when he died.

Super amazing holographic technology!  But Tupac never really died, so..

Are earthquakes destabilizing tectonic plates across the globe?

From Croatian Times via The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

A leading earthquake scientist has warned that the planet could be cracking up after a series of massive quakes in just 48 hours. Expert Gheorghe Marmureanu – from Romania’s National Institute of Earth Physics – says 39 quakes had hit the globe within two days. The series started with two massive quakes in Indonesia measuring 8.6 and 8.2 on the Richter scale rapidly followed by three more only slightly smaller in Mexico within hours.
..
 With the Indonesian quake for example, statistically, there should be one big earthquake in this part of Asia every 500 years. However, since 2004, there were already three quakes with a magnitude of over 8, which is not normal.

Another from The Extinction Protocol..

Moderate 5.5 earthquake and aftershocks rattle southern Greece

A moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted southern Pelopponese in Greece on Monday noon, local media cited the Euromediterranean Seismic Institute as saying. The earthquakes were followed by 4.8 and 4.7 aftershocks.

Then there's the strange case of the "Fabiangropen," or "Fabian Pit," Sweden's very scary sinkhole..  If I were a Swedish bird owner living next to this awakening Earth Monster, I'd definitely teach my parrot the phrase "Portal to Hell!  Portal to Hell!"  Anything to mask the horror, you know..   Check out the pictures;  The rising smoke is a nice touch, no?  It's also loud, with tremors lasting up to 45 minutes. 

And just now:  6.5 - Chile..

Paging Patrick Geryl; Telephone call for Patrick Geryl..

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 4's Slowly Changing Look: Photos from March 2011 to March 2012

EX-SKF.  Click the link and check out the pictures, now over a year into this bullshit.  As the article says, "It's so slow that nothing seems to have been happening."

If we live long enough to write about this in future history books, I wonder how TEPCO's unfailing ineptitude will be treated.  Hopefully, harshly, but without the sentence, "By the time the world became fed up with TEPCO and Japan's incompetence handling this global nuclear crisis, it was too late; the damage was done."  And yet, I know it's already too late..

Speaking Of Global Powderkegs..

Guest Post: Pakistan And India To Go To War Over Water?  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

A peaceful and stable Pakistan is integral to western efforts to pacify Afghanistan, but Islamabad’s obsessions with its giant eastern neighbor may render such issues moot.



Since partition in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought four armed conflicts, in 1947, 1965, 1971 (which led to the establishment of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan) and the 1999 Kargil clash.


With the exception of the 1971 conflict, which involved rising tensions in East Pakistan, the others have all involved issues arising from control of Kashmir.


But now a rising new element of discord threatens to precipitate a new armed clash between southern Asia’s two nuclear powers – water.


Lahore’s “The Nation’ newspaper on Sunday published an editorial entitled, “War with India inevitable: Nizami,” the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief and Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust Chairman, Majid Nizami, asked his fellow citizens to prepare for a war with India over water issues. Nizami told those attending the “Pakistan-India relations; Our rulers- new wishes” session at Aiwan-e-Karkunan Tehrik-e-Pakistan, which he chaired, “Indian hostilities and conspiracies against the country will never end until she is taught a lesson.”


While The Nation is a conservative daily, part of the Nawa-i-Waqt publishing group, with a circulation of roughly 20,000, it has a website, and what’s more, close ties to Pakistan’s highest military circles, so Nizami’s comments should hardly be rejected out of hand.
And:
At issue are Pakistan’s concerns over India’s ongoing construction of two hydroelectric dams on the upper reaches of the Indus River. Islamabad is concerned that the 45 megawatt, 190-foot tall Nimoo-Bazgo concrete dam 44 megawatt Chutak hydroelectric power project will reduce the Indus River’s flow towards Pakistan, as they are capable of storing up to 4.23 billion cubic feet of water, violating the terms of the bilateral 1960 Indus Water Treaty. The Indus, which begins in Indian-controlled Kashmir, is crucial to both India and Pakistan, but is currently experiencing water flows down 30 percent from its normal levels. The Indus is Pakistan's primary freshwater source, on which 90 percent of its agriculture depends. According to a number of Pakistani agriculture and water experts, the nation is heading towards a massive water shortage in the next couple of years due to insufficient water management practices and storage capacity, which will be exacerbated by the twin Indian hydroelectric projects, as they will further diminish the Indus’ flow.



So, if push comes to shove, who’s got Pakistan’s back?

China.


During the Boao Forum for Asia, on China’s southern Hainan island on 1 April, Pakistan and China agreed to support each other “in all circumstances” and vowed to uphold their sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs. Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told Chinese Executive Vice Premier Li Keqiang, “China’s friend is our friend, and China’s enemy is ours,” adding Pakistan considers China’s security as its own security and supports China’s position on Taiwan, Tibet and Xinqiang. Li replied that China would support Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in every situation, telling Gilani, “No matter what changes take place at international level, we will uphold Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”


It might be noted here that in October 1962, coinciding with the Cuban missile crisis, India and China fought a brief but bitter war along their disputed Himalayan border.


Fifty years later, China and India have yet to resolve their border issues over Kashmir and China continues to claim most of India's Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas in the absence of any definitive treaty delineating the border. Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas).


No guesses therefore as to whom Beijing might back should Pakistani-Indian tensions continue to rise.


Seriously:  Can't anyone fucking get along?  As Rage Against The Machine so eloquently states..  "There'll be no shelter here;  The front line is everywhere.."  So..  Fuck Diplomacy:  Let's Rock.

 

Another Russian Chartered, German Ship Intercepted Delivering Weapons To Syria

The Back Channel Prelude to WW3 continues..  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

Two months ago we explained very diligently, why courtesy of the strategic Russian Naval base in Tartus, Syria, the Russian regime will never, repeat never, let the Syrian government be replaced by various insurgent forces (very much like in other parts of MENA(Middle East/North Africa), which now are suffering from an absolute political vacuum and even greater corruption in the aftermath of the Arabian Spring). Granted, while Ambassador Rice may say she is "disgusted" with the subsequent Security Council vote which courtesy of Russia and China halted a intervention in Syria based on unbiased media reports showing one side of the story, one can only imagine how disgusted the rest of the world may have be with the stupid placement of Iran in such close proximity to all those US army bases. Subsequently there were various reports of Russian troops arriving in Tartus, both confirmed and denied by Russia, which were promptly forgotten: after all distractions from other, far greater problems can not become too repetitive or else the general audience will habituate.



But all that was a month ago, and attention spans these days are short, so it is time to once again escalate, and sure enough yesterday the AP reported that Obama has approved an aid package to the Syrian rebels. Naturally, since this whole theater is all about severing strategic Russian national interests in the Mediterranean, and thus, into the Suez, Arabian Gulf, and ultimately Persian Gulf, German Spiegel reports of the immediate tat to America's tit..  as apparently yet another Russian-chartered, German ship has been intercepted carrying military equipment and munitions into Syria.

 
As the geo-political rankings continue to shuffle and re-shuffle, Syria remains near the top of the standings for "The country that, directly or indirectly, officially lights the fuse to all-out war."  Congratulations, Syria;  Your friends AND enemies must be so proud of their efforts!

Lindsay Lohan Looks Like She Might Die Soon..

Lindsay Lohan Now Says Maybe She Was Not At Home Watching Television.  Crazy Days And Nights.  Excerpts:

Ever since this drama happened last week about whether Lindsay Lohan beat some woman at The Standard Hotel, Lindsay has been repeatedly saying she was at home watching television that night and there is no way it could have been her. It has been like a mantra. Now all of a sudden after the third person has filed a report corroborating the woman's story and the police are about to interview Lindsay about the whole thing her story has changed ever so slightly.
..
Turns out Lindsay can't keep her days straight. You would think that nights she does not go out would be firmly implanted in her mind because they are so rare..

In the past, I've bitched about the media covering her shenanigans to the detriment of more pressing issues, but this poor thing looks like she's already deteriorating past the point of no return.  Make no mistake, I take no happiness from her troubles..  She might be a celebrity, but I don't think she ever had a chance..  Baby Girl is only 26..  Look at her; She looks horrible!  One of the comments at the link mentioned that Lindsay's 27th birthday is in July, and that she might become a member of the "27 Club."  I'm not sure she'll make it that long.  But I'm not rooting for either outcome.  She's in NoseDive.  Can she pull out of it?

TheMystery boom and shaking reported around San Diego County

The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

A loud boom and shaking was reported around 8:45 a.m. Friday and was heard and felt all by 10News viewers from all around San Diego County. Sallene Leang was working at a Seaport Village store when she felt the shaking. “What I heard this morning … just the doors rattling; I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t think it was an earthquake because the ground wasn’t shaking,” said Leang.
..
“All at once there was a knocking noise and a rumbling vibration on my kitchen window,” Hill said. One person said: “We felt it in Coronado but it did not feel like an earthquake. We thought it felt like an explosion or something.”
And:
Earlier today, local news erroneously reported that there wasn’t an earthquake at the time. But USGS does confirm to news that a neighboring earthquake did strike around that time. But the quake wasn’t substantial. And it wasn’t precisely in San Diego either. A 1.4 magnitude quake struck Friday April 13, 2012, USGS reports to news, at roughly 8:18 AM PST. The quake was ninety-three miles from San Diego.

This doesn't really sound like an earthquake, does it?