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Wednesday 19 August 2015

Bitcoin Battered After "Governance Coup"

Naysyers are warning that the recent plunge in Bitcoin prices - from almost $318 at its peak during the Greek crisis, to $221 yesterday - is due to growing power struggle over the future of the cryptocurrency that is dividing its lead developers. On Saturday, a rival version of the current software was released by two bitcoin big guns. As Reuters reports, Bitcoin XT would increase the block size to 8 megabytes enabling more transactions to be processed every second. Those who oppose Bitcoin XT say the bigger block size jeopardizes the vision of a decentralized payments system that bitcoin is built on with some believing the split could spell the end of bitcoin. However, the turmoil in the price also coincides with some rather notable global macro eventsfrom Asia (where Bitcoin is extremely popular).
 

 

 

So while the price action is serious - we have roundtripped from the beginning of the peak of the Greek crisis. However, as Reuters reports, the split in cryptocurrency developers could spell the end of Bitcoin...

 

 

On Saturday, a rival version of the current software was released by two bitcoin big guns:Gavin Andresen, who was chosen by the currency's elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, as his successor when he stepped aside in 2011, and Mike Hearn, who along with Andresen is one of five senior developers.

 

For months Andresen and Hearn have been locked in an argument with the other three lead programmers over whether the "blocks" in which bitcoin transactions are processed should be enlarged from their current 1 megabyte, so as to enable more than three payments to be processed per second.

 

The new version, which calls itself Bitcoin XT, would increase the block size to 8 megabytes, which would allow up to 24 transactions to be processed every second. That is still a fraction of the 20,000 or so that VISA can process, but would increase every year, so that bitcoin could continue to grow.

 

Those who oppose Bitcoin XT say the bigger block size jeopardizes the vision of a decentralized payments system that bitcoin is built on, as the extra computer memory needed would shut out many of the thousands of individual "nodes" that currently power the network.

Some reckon the split could spell the end of bitcoin. But Hearn, speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, said that whether or not Bitcoin XT was adopted, the crypocurrency would live on.

 

 

Andresen and Hearn argue that it was Nakamoto's intention for bitcoin to be scaled up as technology developed so that it could widen its reach. But opponents argue that bitcoin was never intended as a rival to traditional payments systems.

"I have followed this from the beginning & I agree that it is an attempted governance coup,"tweeted Jon Matonis, founding director of the Washington, D.C.-based Bitcoin Foundation, of which Andresen himself is chief scientist.

 

"Bitcoin was designed to be protected from the influence of charismatic leaders, even if their name is Gavin Andresen, Barack Obama, or Satoshi Nakamoto," the user wrote.

We leave it to the reader to decide which is more responsible for the recent crash as one lead developer noted,

 

 

"If we thought it might be the end of bitcoin, we wouldn't do it,"

*  *  *

Finally, we note that add that the biggest winner from this is gold

 

 The flight to central bank loss of control safety "pet rock" will never have governance problems.

Israel "Drills" Ground Incursion In Syria; Pretext Fighting Terror Israel Helped Create



According to reports coming from both Israel and Europe, the Israeli Defense Forces appear to be preparing for a ground incursion of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights area.

Whatever the plans of the IDF, the Israeli military clearly engaged in wide-scale maneuvers on the border with Syria on Sunday which simulated an incursion into Syrian territory and the evacuation of Israelis currently residing in border towns.

Yoav Zitun of YNetNews describes the drills by writing,

Military exercises in the area over the last two weeks have focused primarily on a scenario of offensive operations inside Syrian territory in response to possible action from the Syrian border such as the infiltration of dozens of terrorists armed with anti-tank weapons, machine guns, grenades and light weapons into one of the communities along the border.

The exercises included possible IDF responses to such infiltrations with troops firing at fixed points on the Syrian side of the border. Simultaneously, officials expect a barrage of mortar bombs to be fired at communities in the Golan Heights during such a scenario.

Commanders in the field put theoretical defensive plans into action using aircraft and combat helicopters alongside tank-fire, artillery guns and even hundreds of reserve fighters who participated in the exercise.

The justification for the concern over the Golan border area is that “Iran has opened a new front against Israel on the Golan Heights.” This accusation is leveled repeatedly throughout the articles detailing the drills and preparations being made by Israel yet neither the media outlets nor the Israeli government has offered credible evidence to buttress their claims.

The source for claims that Iran has opened a new offensive against Israel seems to be rooted in a recent clash between IDF forces and four Druze villagers who allegedly attempted to detonate explosive devices at three locations along the border fence. Israel blames the alleged bombing attempt on Iran, claiming that the Persian nation recruited the four Druze villagers to conduct terrorist attacks against Israel.

Without pointing out that much of the Golan Heights was stolen by Israel decades ago and represents yet another illegal Israeli occupation, it is also important to note that not one shred of evidence has yet been provided to back up Israel’s claims regarding the Iranian involvement.

Yet, while the maneuvers are being undertaken under the guise of preparation for the possibility of an errant terrorist organization engaging in attacks inside Israel, the true target of the preparations appear to be the Syrian government, Iran, and Hezbollah.

After all, Israel has long supported the “rebels” and ISIS, 

neither of whom have launched attacks

 against Israel despite being located only miles away from the Zionist settler state.

From providing medical aid, military training, and outright military assistance, the so-called state of Israel has been a much better friend to Muslim terrorists than any of the regimes it claims as its enemy.

For instance, it has been well known for quite some time that Israel has been providing wounded Syrian rebels with medical treatment inside Israel so that they can continue the Jihad against the secular government of Bashar al-Assad.

According to Colum Lynch of The Cable

 (the news wing of the Council on Foreign Relations Foreign Policy),

In the past three months, battle-hardened Syrian rebels have transported scores of wounded Syrians across a cease-fire line that has separated Israel from Syria since 1974, according to a 15-page report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the work of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (

UNDOF

). Once in Israel, they receive medical treatment in a field clinic before being sent back to Syria, where, presumably, some will return to carry on the fight.

U.N. blue helmets responsible for monitoring the decades-old cease-fire report observing armed opposition groups “transferring 89 wounded persons” from Syrian territory into Israel, where they were received by members of the Israel Defense Forces, according to the report. The IDF returned 21 Syrians to armed opposition members back in Syria, including the bodies of two who died.

Later in the article, the writer mentions the fact that Israel has provided such medical assistance to Syrian rebels since at least as far back as February. Realistically, however, such assistance was being provided even further back. Lynch writes that Israel provided the medical treatment for at least a year.

Indeed, in February, 2014, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually visited one of the medical facilities in which the Syrian rebels were being treated and even 

posed for a photo op

 shaking hands with a death squad fighter.

More notable than even the medical services, is the fact that Israel has provided military support to the terrorist death squads in the form of artillery and air force bombing campaigns. These attacks have generally come after the Assad government seems to be making considerable gains on the ground against the Western-backed fighters.

For instance, on October 30, 2013, 

Israel attacked and completely destroyed

 a Syrian air defense base in Snobar Jableh, Syria which is located near Latakia, a port city on the coast of the Mediterranean. The base was 

alleged to have housed

 a surface to air missile battery.

Of course, this was not the only time where Israel inflicted an injury against the enemies of Islamic extremists during the course of the Syrian conflict. It is known that Israel launched attacks against Syrian forces and military convoys 

at least four times

 prior to the October 30 attack.

In June, 2014, Israel 

launched a series of airstrikes

 against Syrian military positions under the pretext of retaliation for a cross-border attack which was almost certainly initiated by death squad fighters whose logistical inadequacy spilled over into Israeli occupied territory in the Golan Heights. Given the questionable circumstances surrounding the justifying incident – the killing of yet another Israeli teenager by an alleged anti-tank missile – one would be justified in questioning the Israeli story.

Even as recently as April, 2015

, Israel launched airstrikes on its Golan border with Syria in order to kill four Druze who allegedly were attempted to place bombs at a border fence. 

The recent uptick

 in Druze animosity towards Israel comes as a result of open Israeli support of ISIS and other related terrorists.

While the occasional attack on Syrian territory is bad enough, the fact is that Israel has apparently coordinated these attacks with the death squad directors on the ground so as to provide cover fire and diversions for death squad “swarming” and jihadist invasions.

For instance, in May 2013, WABC host and best-selling author Aaron Klein stated that an Israeli airstrike in Syria was closely coordinated with Turkey which, in turn, helped coordinate the death squad attacks to occur at the exact same time as the Israeli airstrikes. The sources speaking to Klein came from Jordanian and Egyptian intelligence agencies.

Klein wrote

,

Israel’s air strike in Syria today was coordinated with Turkey, which in turn coordinated rebel attacks throughout Syria timed to coincide with the Israeli strike, according to Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence sources speaking to KleinOnline. The sources said the rebels did not know about the Israeli strike in advance but instead were given specific instructions for when to begin today’s major assaults against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. “Almost the moment the Israel Air Force departed was the moment the rebel advance began,” added the Egyptian intelligence source. Multiple reports have noted how the Syrian rebels consist in large part of al-Qaida-linked jihad groups. The Egyptian and Jordanian sources described how immediately after today’s Israeli air strike the jihadist rebels used access roads to advance toward Damascus and began heavy clashes with Syrian military forces throughout the country.

Israel was even documented in 2011 as hosting and directing a terrorist mercenary training camp inside the country in order to produce mercenaries tailor-made to be used in the Arab world.

What’s more, the Israeli establishment 

does not seem to feel the need to hide its support

 for terrorism which, in this specific instance, tends to take the form of mercenaries. Indeed, the Israeli terrorist trainers actually appear to be quite open about their efforts.

In a 2011 

report conducted by The Media Line

,[1] an international news organization which focuses on the Middle East, Arieh O’Sullivan was able to film an Israeli-run terrorist mercenary training camp, complete with interviews, on-scene narration, and ample video footage of actual training taking place.

As the report begins, one can see a multicultural group of men – Arabs, Africans, Europeans, etc. – dressed in typical Arab clothing, riding camels, and taking part in tactical training.

“The men on these camels have been training for the past week to operate in the Arab world,” O’Sullivan says. “They dress as Arabs, even take a ride on a desert Ferrari [camel] and learn rudimentary phrases that will allow them to do their job. They have come to Israel to learn from former members of the country’s secret services.”

The report continues by saying,

On this training base, run by the International Security Academy Israel, they are tapping into Israel’s unique experience in dealing with these threats and learning counterterrorism techniques in convoy and [VIP? ] protection. The changes in the Middle East may be dubbed the Arab Spring but, to continue with another metaphor, it’s about to get hot.

Out here far away from prying eyes, a group of personal protection specialists have come to Israel to learn about the Israeli tactics. Their background is diverse – from police to military officers – even a former French Legionnaire. They will go on to work for governments and private security contractors.

In an interview with one of the “students,” the future mercenary stated, “Only the best can train here with the best. I have this feeling that I was . . . something like was bringing me here . . . something was like ‘Go. Go and do it now.’”

Another mercenary who was interviewed, stated, “Well, I learn a lot because Israel have bring up a standard of training that everyone in the world will have to emulate from them. And, with this, as I’m going back, I think I will take what I have learned in Israel, to impart on my fellow colleagues.”

The narrator then adds, “But it’s an expensive program, costing upwards of $2,000 Euros a week. But this can be a lucrative profession, earning thousands of Euros a day. Just don’t call them mercenaries.” Still, O’Sullivan ends by saying, “This line of work is one of the oldest in the world. Still, it seems like it is always in demand.”

A mercenary who appeared to be from Singapore, named Venky Raman, also chimed in. “Some of those dictatorships governments have fallen basically. And that’s going to create new chaos and confusion in the market. And that’s also going to create some instability in the market. So that’s why I think we’re getting more of these incidents and terrorist attacks and such going to happen.”

While the individuals seen in the clip mentioned above are largely mercenaries who train the dupes and deviants who take on the role as cannon fodder for Jihad, only engaging in limited combat operations themselves, it is clear the only allegiance they have is to the 

almighty dollar

.

Ironically, however, the individuals who make up the bulk of death squad invasions across the Arab world – religious fanatics, savages, and the criminally insane – maintain an open hatred for Israel. That is, those death squad members at the bottom who are either ignorant of the fact that Israel itself is a major backer of their own movement or those wholly incapable of understanding anything other than what their faction leader has told them are caught somewhere between tragedy and farce.

Yet Israel is not only involved in directed and implementing Islamic terrorism in other countries. On its own soil, Israel has been documented as 

creating “fake” al-Qaeda groups

 to justify its treatment of the Palestinian people.

Israel’s arch nemesis, Hamas, was created by Israel itself for the purpose of splitting the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and Fatah, the leading outfit for the Palestinian freedom and resistance movement.

For all this, however, there may be one more reason that Israel is rattling its sabres on the Syrian border - the attempt to create what the Brookings Institution labeled as a "multi-front war" that will keep the Syrian military off balance as it attempts to fight off multiple threats from jihadists, Israelis, and Turks.

As Brookings wrote in their 2012 report "

Assessing Options For Regime Change

,"

An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which would have to be backed by limited military power. This would, of course, fall short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its efforts.

[…]

In addition, Israel’s intelligence services have a strong knowledge of Syria, as well as assets within the Syrian regime that could be used to subvert the regime’s power base and press for Asad’s removal. Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training. Such a mobilization could perhaps persuade Syria’s military leadership to oust Asad in order to preserve itself. Advocates argue this additional pressure could tip the balance against Asad inside Syria, if other forces were aligned properly.

Taking into consideration the fact that Israel has provided military and medical support to the most bloodthirsty and brutal Islamic extremist terrorists in the world and the fact that it has created Hamas from the very beginning, the answer to the question of “Why aren’t organizations like Nusra, al-Qaeda, and ISIS attacking Israel?” is quite simple – because Israel is partly responsible for funding and directing them.

With all of this in mind, any claims of victimhood by Israel should immediately be discarded. Indeed, this portrayal of self-defense and endangerment should especially be discarded when one considers the history of the state itself.

Israel has made its own enemies by virtue of its colonial nature, its foreign and domestic policy, and even by direct organization and funding. It is thus wholly accurate to say that Israel’s enemies are literally those of its own making.

In the end, the information presented in this article is simply one more window into the realm of the Anglo-European-American-Israeli intelligence apparatus and the depths to which the rabbit hole goes in terms of international terrorism. The script which is being acted out across the Middle East and the rest of the world is clearly being directed by a force unseen by the vast majority of the world’s population.

Reference: [1] “Arab & Western Mercenaries Train at an Israeli Security Academy.” YouTube. Posted by AnonMI SR. Posted on December 30, 2011. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ZWijzG6qQ