[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYoh7XhYe1k 450 300]

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRlIGEIBuA 450 300] [youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmNV8_VBGX0 450 300]

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ma6Uv5jbKk 450 300]

Quick Syrians, ignore the madmen who’ve been butchering you, “mysterious, outside forces” are coming to get you…

Istanbul (CNN) — Turkey scrambled fighter jets three separate times Saturday as Syrian helicopters neared the border between the two countries, Turkey’s military said Sunday.

The helicopters were in Syrian airspace, but were getting close to the border, the armed forces statement said.

The jets were scrambled twice out of Incirlik, and once out of Batman, it said.

The incident underscores rising tensions between the two nations in the wake of Syria’s downing a Turkish F-4 Phantom jet on June 22.

Both Syria and Turkey acknowledged the plane strayed into Syrian airspace, but Turkey said the incursion was accidental and quickly corrected.

Turkey’s National Security Council said last week the nation would act against “hostile action” by Syria. Turkey also bolstered its forces along the border.

Also, Turkish Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan said his country was changing its military rules of engagement and would treat a military approach toward its borders by Syria as a potential threat that “will be dealt with accordingly.”

The downing of the jet drew sharp condemnation from NATO, but the alliance did not promise any action in response to the incident. Turkey did not invoke the NATO article calling for collective defense of members, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh has said.

Read more here:

Calls for Dimon’s resignation get louder….

Full article

This is going to go down in history as one of the biggest military blunders of all time. Why the hell did Syria attack their neighbor? They were going to be left free to essentially commit genocide with zero consequences. Now, they’re going to get carpet bombed.

It makes no sense…no?

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the whole military alliance.

The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the incident. Despite deep frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on an increasingly armed popular uprising has killed 14,000 people, it’s highly unlikely the military alliance will take armed action against the Arab state.

The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down a mile inside international airspace on Friday, and two Turkish pilots are still missing, the Turkish government says. It has insisted the plane was not spying on Syria.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also said for the first time Monday that Syrian forces had opened ground fire on a CASA search and rescue plane shortly after the downing, but did not say if that plane was hit.

Arinc said Turkey retained its right to “retaliate” against what he called a “hostile act,” but he added, “We have no intention of going at war with anyone.”

Still, he added that Turkey will push NATO to consider the jet’s downing under Article 5 in a key alliance treaty. Article 5 states that an attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members.

The North Atlantic Council — which includes ambassadors of the 28 NATO countries — works by consensus and all members must approve any action. The meeting Tuesday comes after Turkey requested it under Article 4 of the treaty, which allows a NATO ally to request such a consultation if it feels its territorial integrity or security has been threatened.

Asked if Turkey will insist on the activation of Article 5 of NATO, Arinc said, “No doubt, Turkey has made necessary applications with NATO regarding Article 4 and Article 5.”

Read more:

(CNN) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military may have more cracks in its armor as dozens more soldiers, including a general and two colonels, have defected across the border, Turkish media reported Monday.

The 33 army defectors entered Turkey and were sent to a camp in southern Hatay province, the Anadolu news agency said, citing authorities.

Malik el Kurdi, the deputy commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, speaking to CNN by telephone from the Apaydin refugee camp, said that within the past week a general and three colonels had arrived, but he had not seen a group of more than 30 new deserters.

The refugee camp houses the proclaimed leadership and other members of the FSA, the opposition force made up of Syrian army defectors.

“I receive soldiers daily,” el Kurdi added. “There are rumors, but I haven’t received anyone in that number.”

The defections included a Syrian general and at least four other officers, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry official and a commander in the Free Syrian Army camp in Turkey.

All were from the Syrian city of Homs, the commander said.

Both officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity.

More than 33,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey to escape the violence in their country, Anadolu reported.

Read more here:

How is that for reform ?

Full article

Feel the gravity of Europe’s woes as France is on deck for debt problems unless the EU decides to create a banking union.

Full article

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has spent much of the political capital he won seven months ago in the biggest landslide in 30 years, floundering against a crisis that risks making Spain the first $1 trillion economy to need a sovereign bailout, investors and analysts say.

Rajoy, singled out by leaders at the Group of 20 summit, has been taunted by opposition lawmakers and commentators as borrowing costs soared to a euro-era record even after Spain’s banks received a 100 billion-euro ($127 billion) lifeline. Rajoy called the rescue a victory that solved lenders’ problems.

“He clearly doesn’t get it,” said Gary Jenkins, founder of Swordfish Research Ltd. near London, who has tracked bond markets for more than 15 years. “Spain needs someone who can come in and grasp the seriousness of the situation and react to that, not just pretend everything’s okay.”

The Spanish-bank bailout made Italy the next potential investor target. Together, they could overwhelm the sums committed to safeguard the 17-nation currency bloc. Southern Europe’s two major economies have 2.8 trillion euros of government debt, four times the total of Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

“A rescue for Italy is pretty much impossible without a major change in German borrowing costs, a major change in overall euro-zone levels of inflation, a major change in the level of the euro, or a major change in the structure of the euro zone,” Jamie Stuttard, Fidelity Investments’s head of international bond portfolio management in London, said in a telephone interview on June 19.

Rome Summit
Rajoy, 57, who was told by Germany’s Angela Merkel at the G-20 in Mexico June 19 to spell out the depth of his banks’ needs “as soon as possible,” will be under scrutiny today when he faces Merkel and French President Francois Hollande at a meeting in Rome hosted by Italy’s Mario Monti.

MADRID (AP) — Spain says the size of the bank bailout it requests from the other eurozone countries will be determined and published July 9.

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos says that on that day Spain and its single currency partners will reach agreement on the terms of the loan, such as the interest rate. He estimated the rate would be around 3-4 percent.

De Guindos spoke in Luxembourg after a meeting with other eurozone ministers. He said a letter formally requesting the loan will be delivered Monday but it will be only two paragraphs long, with no mention of terms or amount.

Read more here:

(Reuters) – Spain’s medium-term borrowing costs spiraled to a euro-era record on Thursday and independent auditors said Spanish banks may need up to 62 billion euros ($78 billion) in extra capital, to be filled mostly by a euro zone bailout.

Euro zone finance ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss how to channel up to 100 billion euros ($126 billion) in rescue aid to Spanish lenders weighed down by bad debts from a burst property bubble.

Many in the markets see the package as a mere prelude to a full program for the Spanish state, which Madrid vehemently denies it will need.

“We have already started working on the design of the aid with the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters as he arrived for the talks. “We will present the request in the next few days.”

READ THE REST HERE AT REUTERS.COM 

LMAO

Full article

The Cato Institute released a study entitled, The Independent Payment Advisory Board: PPACA’s Anti-Constitutional and Authoritarian Super-Legislature, authored by Diane Cohen and Michael Cannon, which states that once the “unelected government officials on this board submit a legislative proposal to Congress, it automatically becomes law.”

The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is comprised of “doctors and patient advocates would be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.”

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), a.k.a. Obamacare, requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (SHHS) implement the proposal. Denying its execution would necessitate the House, Senate and President agree on an alternate plan.

The IPAB’s plan would become law without Congressional approval, oversight, or even be subject to a presidential veto. Once this proposal is submitted, it is law.”

Full article

Classic form for a folly ridden scenario. Guess you have to find ways to change perception when action does not work.

Full article

What a crazy statistic this is…

Full article 

Off balance sheet problems are plaguing every balance sheet known to local, state, and sovereign governments. A confidential report by JPM explores the details.

Full article

Merkel will not budge at all to help relieve tensions in Europe. She is officially shitting on Greece…again.

Full article

NEW YORK (AP) — The unthinkable suddenly looks possible.

Read the article here.

* Upstart leftist and establishment heir neck-and-neck

* Election amounts to referendum on punishing bailout

* Anti-bailout victory could tip Greece towards euro exit

* Central banks readying arsenals for post-election turmoil

Read the article here.