May 2016: Will Deutsche Bank Survive This Wave Of Trouble Or Will It Be The Next Lehman Brothers? - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

May 2016: Will Deutsche Bank Survive This Wave Of Trouble Or Will It Be The Next Lehman Brothers?

Posted: 23 May 2016   Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

If you have been waiting for “the next Lehman Brothers moment” which will cause the global financial system to descend into a state of mass panic, you might want to keep a close eye on German banking giant Deutsche Bank.  It is approximately three times larger than Lehman Brothers was, and if the most important bank in the strongest economy in Europe were to implode, it would instantly send shockwaves rippling across the entire planet. 

Those that follow my work regularly know that I started sounding the alarm about Deutsche Bank beginning last September.  Since that time, the bad news from Deutsche Bank has not stopped pouring in.  They announced a loss of 6.8 billion euros for 2015, Moody’s just downgraded their debt to two levels above junk status, and they have been plagued by scandal after scandal.  In recent months they have gotten into trouble for trying to rig precious metal prices, for committing “equity trading fraud” and for their dealings in mortgage-backed securities.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

A month after admitting to rigging precious metals markets, Deutsche Bank has been hit with a double-whammy of more alleged fraudulent behavior today and the stock is sliding. First, Reuters reports that the bank took a charge of 450 million euros for “equity trading fraud,” and then Bloomberg reports that The SEC is looking into Deutsche’s post-crisis mortgage positions.

This is a bank that is steadily bleeding money, and so the last thing that it needs is for government agencies to be putting immense pressure on it.  Unfortunately for Deutsche Bank, the SEC seems determined to kick it while it is down…

Troubled Wall Street giant Deutsche Bank is under another investigation, this time by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the pricing and reporting of certain mortgage-backed securities.
The SEC wants to know whether the Frankfurt, Germany-based bank artificially raised the value of mortgage-backed securities in 2013 and later hid those losses for an extended period of time, Bloomberg first reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

But even if there were no scandals and no government investigations, the truth is that Deutsche Bank would be a deeply troubled bank anyway.

At one point, it was estimated that Deutsche Bank had 64 trillion dollars worth of exposure to derivatives contracts.  That is an amount of money that is approximately 16 times the size of the GDP of the entire nation of Germany.

So nobody wants to see Deutsche Bank fail.  It would be a financial disaster unlike anything the world has ever experienced before.

But right now things are not looking good.  As you can see from this chart, the steady decline of Deutsche Bank’s stock price is eerily similar to what happened to Lehman Brothers during the months leading up to the time when it finally completely collapsed…



Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank’s stock price set a new record low, and since that time it has been hovering just above that record low.

Clearly it is no secret that Deutsche Bank is having big problems, and the outlook for the immediate future is not good.  I included the following quote from Berenberg analyst James Chappell in a previous article, but I think that it bears repeating…

Too many problems still: The biggest problem is that DBK has too much leverage. On our measures, we believe DBK is still over 40x levered. DBK can either reduce assets or increase capital to rectify this. On the first path, the markets do not exist in the size nor pricing to enable it to follow this route. Going down the second path also seems impossible at the moment, as the profitability of the core business is under pressure. Seeking outside capital is also likely to be difficult as management would likely find it hard to offer any type of return on new capital invested.

In the end, I believe that Deutsche Bank will ultimately implode, but it won’t be the only one.

Meanwhile, we just got some more very disturbing news out of Asia.  According to Bloomberg, Japanese exports have now fallen for seven months in a row…

Japan’s exports fell for a seventh consecutive month in April as the yen strengthened, underscoring the growing challenges to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to revive economic growth.
Overseas shipments declined 10.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 9.9 percent drop. Imports fell 23.3 percent, leaving a trade surplus of 823.5 billion yen ($7.5 billion), the highest since March 2010.

When your imports are 23 percent lower than they were a year earlier, that is a clear sign that consumer demand is way, way down and that your economy is in the process of imploding.

So I will repeat what I have said a number of times before…

Watch Germany and watch Japan.

I believe that they are going to be two of the biggest stories as this new global financial crisis begins to play out.

*About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*

Palestinian PM Praises Nazi-Aligned Muslim Leader - Israel Today Staff

Palestinian PM Praises Nazi-Aligned Muslim Leader

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

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Palestinians

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Rami Hamdallah, stated earlier this month that he views former Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini as a “pure-hearted son” of the “Palestinian nation.”

Hamdallah made his remarks at a conference in Ramallah where he accused Israel of trying to erase the “Arab identity” of Jerusalem.

As most are aware, Haj Amin al-Husseini, as leader of the local Arab population during World War II, infamously sided with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime.

Al-Husseini met numerous times with Hitler, and helped the Nazis recruit Muslim troops in the Balkan states. He also agreed with the Nazis on the extermination of all Jews in the Holy Land following Germany’s expected victory over the Allies.

Speaking at the same conference, Yusuf Ida’is, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of holy sites, declared that the Palestinians today “walk in [al-Husseini’s] path according to the instruction of President Mahmoud Abbas.”

Abbas is held aloft by Israeli and Western leaders as a “moderate” and genuine peace partner, despite his apparent continued affinity for the Nazis and what they did to the Jews.

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More Evidence of Jerusalem's Glorious Past - Israel Today Staff

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More Evidence of Jerusalem's Glorious Past

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

The IAA excavated the former Schneller army base ahead of the planned construction of residential buildings on the site.

Various discoveries were made during the dig, including a large winery from either the Roman or Byzantine period, around 1,600 years ago. Archaeologists found a white mosaic surface surrounding a pit that was part of the wine press used to extract juice from grapes.

Eight structures around the press were probably used for storing grapes and possibly to blend wine. Archeologists surmised that the press was part of a large manor house whose residents may have traded in wine.

"Whenever one turns over a stone, ancient artifacts will be found related to Jerusalem's glorious past,” said archaeologist Alex Wiegmann, excavation director on behalf of the IAA. “The archaeological finds discovered here help paint a living, vibrant and dynamic picture of Jerusalem as it was in ancient times up until the modern era.”

Remains of a bathhouse were also found, including terra cotta pipes used to heat the bathing facility and clay bricks stamped with the title of the Tenth Roman Legion, one of the four legions that took part in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Units of the legion remained garrisoned in the city until around 300 CE.

The close proximity of the Schneller site to the International Conference Center, where the remains of a large pottery and brick production center were previously found, led archaeologists to believe that Schneller was an auxiliary to the main site.

Excavations and investigations indicate that the remains of a Jewish community at the Schneller compound dated from the late Second Temple period, around the time of Jesus.

During its more recent history, the site housed the Schneller orphanage from 1860 until World War II. During the British Mandate its German occupants were expelled and it became a military base. In 1948 it was taken over by the Haganah — the precursor to the IDF — and it later became an IDF military base that was active until it was closed in 2008.

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Mega-Christian Leaders Having Private Meeting With Donald Trump - TODD STARNES CHARISMA NEWS

Mega-Christian Leaders Having Private Meeting With Donald Trump

 5/23/2016 TODD STARNES  charisma news

Donald Trump has agreed to meet privately with some of the nation's most prominent Evangelical leaders. (Reuters)

Donald Trump has agreed to meet privately with some of the nation's most prominent Evangelical leaders—a meeting seen as critical to garnering support from social conservatives, Fox News has learned.

"Our goal is to be able to have a conversation that could lead to a better understanding of what Donald Trump has to offer to the country," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Perkins is one of the key conservative leaders spearheading the gathering—set for June 21 in New York City. Perkins, along with Bill Dallas of United in Purpose, worked with Dr. Ben Carson to arrange the meeting.

As many as 500 conservative leaders from around the nation are expected to attend the invitation-only event.

The meeting was convened by a who's who among evangelicals—including Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Penny Nance, Bob McEwen, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Kelly Shackleford of First Liberty and mega-church pastors Jack Graham and Ed Young.

"I want to be actively supportive of a candidate who can help turn this nation around," Perkins told me. "With Trump, I'm not there yet. I hope to be there—but I'm not there right now."

Perkins said Trump will not be delivering a speech. He will be there to answer questions. There will be no straw poll. There will be no endorsement from the conservative leaders.

"There is no preconceived outcome here," he told me. "I'm hoping we can have a conversation that could lead to helping conservative leaders make a decision about what to do in this election."

The meeting comes as a small but vocal number of Christian leaders are urging people of faith to stay at home on Election Day.

And that's why Tony Perkins is worried.

"Our goal is to be able to have a conversation that could lead to a better understanding of what Trump has to offer to the country," he said. "If we don't try, the outcome is not going to be good."

Specifically, the leaders want to hear detailed plans on potential Supreme Court nominees and the vetting process. They also want to hear about Trump's policies regarding religious liberty, pro-life issues and possible vice presidential candidates.

"A vice presidential pick is going to be very crucial," Perkins said. "Mr. Trump doesn't have a track record—so I am going to rely very heavily on who he is going to pick as a running mate."

Floyd, the president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination, said he just wants to do the right thing.

"The vast majority of Southern Baptists are very much where I am today—we're trying to figure this out," he told me. "We're trying to navigate through these waters that are very uncertain and very difficult."

Floyd had strong words for Christian leaders who are suggesting voters should simply stay home.

"We cannot change what exists or even alter it or adjust it sitting on the sidelines and prognosticating about the situation," he said. "We have a biblical responsibility, but we also have a responsibility as citizens of the United States to express the privileges afforded to us—that men and women have died on the battlefield to give us—and I'm not walking away from that."

Floyd said the conversation with Trump is a way for Christians to share their hearts with him.

"None of us have endorsed Mr. Trump, nor have we condemned Mr. Trump," he said. "This is about the possibility of being able to appoint the next four Supreme Court justices. This is about the dignity of human life from the womb to the tomb. This is about religious freedom. I'm not about to sit at home and not express something. I'm accountable to God, and I believe I'm accountable to my fellow Americans."

But at the same time, he acknowledged that many people of faith are struggling to come to terms with some of Mr. Trump's past statements—statements that are contrary to biblical teachings.

"Could you vote for him? That's the question at hand," Floyd said.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

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Peace: A Deceptive, Dictatorial Word for Israel - MARTIN SHERMAN CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Peace: A Deceptive, Dictatorial Word for Israel

 5/23/2016 MARTIN SHERMAN  charisma magazine

Will peace continue to be elusive for Israel? (Reuters file photo )

After a long absence, "peace" is back in the headlines, due in large measure to this week's visit to Israel by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who came to try to promote a new French initiative that somehow, by as yet unspecified means, would resuscitate the moribund "peace process."

Perversely planned to take place without either Israel or the Palestinians, the principal protagonists, the conference has now fortuitously been delayed to accommodate the schedule of U.S. Secretary of State Kerry, who apparently had better things to do than take part in yet another doomed charade to forge "peace" in the Middle East.

However, despite its ill-conceived rationale and dauntingly dim prospects, the planned summit can and should serve one constructive purpose: to focus attention not only on what the quest for the elusive condition of "peace" really entails, but on the even more fundamental question of what is actually meant, and what can realistically be expected, when we talk of "peace" as a desired goal, particularly in the context of the Middle East and particularly from an Israeli perspective.

Indeed, the need for such clarification becomes even more vital and pressing because of recent reports of possible Egyptian involvement in attempts to initiate "peace" negotiations with Arab regimes teetering on the brink of extinction and involving a perilous Israeli withdrawal to indefensible borders. All this in exchange for grudging recognition as a non-Jewish state by a partially no longer existent, partially disintegrating, Arab world.

A Dictatorial Word

It takes little reflection to discover that, in fact, "peace" is a word that is both dictatorial and deceptive.

It is dictatorial because it brooks no opposition. Just as no one can openly pronounce opposition to a dictator without risking severe repercussions, so too no one can be openly branded as opposing peace without suffering grave consequences to personal and professional stature.

Life can be harsh for anyone with the temerity to challenge the tyrannical dictates of the politically correct liberal perspectives. As British columnist Melanie Phillips remarked several years ago in an interview on Israel's Channel 1: "Believe me, it [failing to abide by political correctness] has a very chilling effect on people, because you can lose your professional livelihood, your chances of promotion, you lose your friends."

In a surprisingly candid admission, The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof wrote that "universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological. ... We're fine with people who don't look like us, as long as they think like us."

This peer-imposed doctrinaire uniformity has had a debilitating impact on the quality of intellectual discourse in general, and on the question of "peace" in the Middle East in particular.

A New York Times opinion piece by Arthur C. Brooks cautioned: "Excessive homogeneity can lead to stagnation and poor problem solving." Citing studies that found a "shocking level of political groupthink in academia, he warned that "expecting trustworthy results on politically charged topics from an ideologically incestuous community [is] downright delusional."

A Deceptive Word

The considerable potential for defective analysis in the intellectual discourse on such a politically charged topic as "peace" also accounts for another detrimental attribute of the word.

Not only is it rigidly dictatorial, but, perhaps even more significantly, "peace" is a grossly deceptive word. It can be, and indeed is, used to denote two disparate even antithetical political situations. On the one hand, "peace" can be used to describe a state of mutual harmony between parties, but on the other hand, it can just as aptly be used to characterize an absence of violence maintained by deterrence.

In the first meaning, "peace" entails a situation in which the parties eschew violence because they share a mutual perception of a common interest in preserving a tranquil status quo. In the second meaning, "peace" entails a situation in which violence is avoided only by the threat of incurring exorbitant costs.

The significance of this goes far beyond semantics. On the contrary. If it is not clearly understood, it is likely to precipitate calamitous consequences.

The Perilous Pitfalls of 'Peace'

It is crucial for practical policy prescriptions not to blur the sharp substantive differences between these two political realities. Each requires different policies both to achieve and, even more importantly, to sustain them.

The misguided pursuit of one kind of peace may well render the achievement—and certainly the preservation—of the other kind of peace impossible.

Countries with the mutual harmony variety of "peace" typically have relationships characterized by openness and the free movement of people and goods across borders. As in the relationship between Canada and the U.S., there is little or no effort needed to prevent hostile actions by one state against the other. Differences that arise are not only settled without violence, but the very idea of using force against each other is virtually inconceivable.

By contrast, in the second, deterrence-based variety of peace, such as those between the U.S. and USSR during the Cold War or between Iran and Iraq up to the 1980s, the protagonists feel compelled to invest huge efforts in deterrence to maintain the absence of war.

Indeed, whenever the deterrent capacity of one state is perceived to wane, the danger of war becomes very real, as was seen in the Iraqi offensive against an apparently weakened and disorderly Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In this type of "peace," there is no harmonious interaction between the peoples of the states. Movements across borders are usually highly restricted and regulated, and often prohibited.

It is not surprising to find that peace of the "mutual harmony" variety prevails almost exclusively between democracies, since its characteristic openness runs counter to the nature of dictatorial regimes.

The perils of pursuing one type of peace (mutual harmony) when only the other type (deterrence) is feasible were summed up over two decades ago by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his acclaimed book "A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World." In it, he calls for making a clear distinction between the "peace of democracies" and the "peace of deterrence."

"As long as you are faced with a dictatorial adversary, you must maintain sufficient strength to deter him from going to war. By doing so, you can at least obtain the peace of deterrence. But if you let down your defenses ... you invite war, not peace," he wrote.

For the remainder of this article, visit israelhayom.com. 

Dr. Martin Sherman is founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. He was a ministerial adviser to Yitzhak Shamir's government and lectured for 20 years at Tel Aviv University in Political Science, International Relations and Strategic Studies.   

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You’ll Never Guess How Signs of Messianic Days are Manifesting in Modern Technology By Rivkah Lambert Adler - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

You’ll Never Guess How Signs of Messianic Days are Manifesting in Modern Technology

By Rivkah Lambert Adler May 23, 2016  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.” Genesis 11:1 (The Israel Bible™)

A US-based technology company released a video earlier this month about a new wearable translation device. With the help of this device, an English-speaking man is able to communicate with a French-speaking woman in whom he has a romantic interest. In just two weeks, the video had over a million views on Facebook .

“This wearable uses translation technology to allow two people to speak different languages but still clearly understand each other,” Andrew Ochoa, Founder and CEO of Waverly Labs, which produces the device, explains in the video,

The Tower of Babel (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

Upon watching this technology in action, it’s natural that the curse of the Tower of Babel would occur to the Bible-minded.

Originally, all humans spoke a single language and were easily able to understand one another.

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Genesis 11:1

A later verse in Genesis chapter 11 describes how God dispersed the people all over the earth and gave them different languages. He did so in order to disrupt their plan to build a high tower from which to wage war against God Himself.

Therefore was the name of it called Bavel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9

There is a prophecy about the restoration of a single human language at the End of Days. The prophecy comes from the Book of Zephaniah, a prophet whose central theme is the events surrounding the world’s final judgement, sometimes known as The Great Day of the Lord. Zephaniah is one of the 12 minor prophets believed to have prophesied around the time of Jeremiah, who wrote the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.

Zephaniah prophesied that, after the final judgement, God will restore a safa b’rurah, a single pure language, to all people remaining on earth.  

For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the LORD to serve Him with one consent. Zephaniah 3:9

In a comment on Genesis 11:1, The Israel Bible teaches that “Jewish tradition maintains that the “pure language” (safa b’rurah) that Zephaniah promises is the language of Hebrew and that in future times the world will begin to learn Hebrew, the language of Creation.”

Rabbi Alon Anava, a former Jewish atheist who came close to God and became an Orthodox rabbi after he had a near-death experience, speaks to audiences all over the world about the imminent Redemption. He told Breaking Israel News, “I see a beautiful connection that this device is another siman, another sign, that Moshiach (Messiah) is extremely close, that the Nations will be back, united as one, and will be able, with the Jews, to serve Hashem (God) as a unity together and not be separated from each other and obviously not be separated from Hashem.

“I see a very big connection. I see how Hashem is throwing us hints, constantly, through technology, and through anything, that the geula (redemption) is coming. The signs of the geula [are] being manifested into the world in the language of technology.”

In his comments to Breaking Israel News, Rabbi Anava compared GPS technology, which uses “satellites in space that track us and see where we’re going and guide us” to “the concept of having Hashem above us, guiding us and watching us and overseeing us.

“So we see that constantly, in the last 20 years, the knowledge of Hashem and the signs of Moshiach are manifesting in technology, so we can start relating to what’s going to happen when Moshiach comes. Every couple of months, a new invention comes to show us that the geula is coming.

“What we need to learn from that is that we really have to get with the program and understand that with every day that passes, we’re getting one day closer to the geula. Hashem is basically preparing the ground so we can relate with Godly concepts, and so that we can see with our own eyes. The world is even evolving to a different dimension.

“Hashem is telling us and the rest of the world, ‘Get ready. Moshiach is coming. I’m going to fix the world. The world is going to go back to its original state, which is called Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden).’”

Waverly Labs plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help manufacture the translation device, currently named “The Pilot”. According to information shared with Breaking Israel News, the software for the device will initially include “European-based Romance and Germanic languages, followed by other world languages, including Slavic, Semitic, Hindi and East Asian.”