Turkey coup attempt raises fears over safety of US nuclear stockpile
The attempted coup in Turkey on Friday and the subsequent closure of the Incirlik airbase in the south of the country have raised fresh questions about the wisdom of the US stationing the biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe at such a vulnerable site.
Even before the abortive putsch, the potential terrorist threat to the base, 68 miles from the Syrian border, led to a significant upgrade in the security perimeter around the designated Nato area, where an estimated 50 B61 nuclear bombs are stored in 21 vaults. Friday’s events have increased concerns over whether any such security enhancements can mitigate the risks of holding on to such a dangerous arsenal in such a volatile location.
The Turkish government claimed that some of the coup plotters were based at Incirlik and flew aircraft out of the shared base. It consequently closed air traffic out of the base and cut off its power supply, temporarily stopping US air operations against Islamic State extremists in Syria.
“I think the key lesson is that the benefits of storing nuclear weapons in Turkey are minimal but the risks have increased significantly over the past five years,” said Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists. “I would say that the security situation in Turkey and in the base area no longer meet the safety requirements that the United States should have for storage of nuclear weapons. You only get so many warnings before something goes terribly wrong. It’s time to withdraw the weapons.”
There are thought to be a total of 180 B61 bombs in Europe, in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands as well as Turkey. The tactical weapons are legacies of the cold war and largely seen as militarily obsolete. However, in the absence of a Nato consensus on removing them, they remain in place as tokens of US commitment to Europe’s defence. Recently they have been earmarked for an expensive upgrade as the era of post-cold-war non-proliferation comes to a halt.
Ian Kearns, the director of the European Leadership Network thinktank, said: “If they are stationed at a place base that intelligence suggests is a target of terrorists attacks and prone to instability, it is no longer reasonable to keep them there.”
The coup and the involvement of Incirlik also raises wider questions about Turkey’s role in Nato.
“It says a lot about the ability of Turkey to operate in coalition operations if its army can’t be trusted,” said Aaron Stein, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council thinktank. “To have rogue air force commanders flying around Turkey poses a lot of scenarios that Nato hasn’t planned for.”
Stein added: “The fundamental understanding of Turkey as of 48 hours ago was that it was a difficult ally to work with, with a risk of autocratic backslide, but it was stable. Now its a difficult ally, with the autocratic backslide maybe going into fast-forward. And it’s unstable.”
None of this dangerous nonsense would be possible if the US pokemon populace would demand the end to Nato and that the empire leave the Middle East and take the military bases with it.
ReplyDeleteNato and Washington brought us the Libyan disaster and we are tied to what is now the permanent Islamist State of Turkey.
You can thank Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama and their neocon pay clerks for that.
There will come a time, if we are not already there, when an Islamist regime will be in total charge of Turkey.
When that day arrives, when our rulers and masters demand the return of “our” nuclear weapons, the assholes in charge will find that there is nothing we could do to force the Islamic State of Turkey to do it.
While I don't know for certain, I really doubt that our nuclear weapons in Turkey are under anyone's control but our own. I imagine all we'd have to do is fly them out.
DeleteThe nuclear weapons my cousin guarded in Germany were clearly under our control, on a US Army base there.
Demanding the end of NATO is nutz, and we are not an 'empire'.
Other than that one can't argue with the assertion that Hillary owns Libya.
We all know that O'bozo is directly responsible for the rise of ISIS.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYou guess incorrectly, Robert "Draft dodger" Peterson.
DeleteI've been posting on this for years, the nukes are at a Turkish Airbase, surrounded by the Turkish Army.
You remain easily confused.
WHILE ROME BURNS:
ReplyDeleteThe Week Pokémon Go Took Central Park | Jul. 17, 2016 | 2:33
This week, Central Park earned a new distinction on the city’s grid: It became the go-to hunting ground for swarms of people playing Pokémon Go.
Pokémon makes me want to puke.
DeleteBuckle your seat belts for Melania's speech to the Republican National Convention tonight !
ReplyDeleteIt's most likely to be a real ripper....given by most likely the nation's first nude model First Lady !
It's all good !
(when we The People can all see the First Lady's privates, or at least nearly so, depending on one's definition of privates, who among us can deny progress is being made in Our Great Nation ?!)
DeleteANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the attempted military coup in Turkey (all times local):
ReplyDelete1:05 p.m.
Germany says negotiations for Turkey to join the European Union would end if the Turkish government decides to revive the death penalty following a failed coup.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin Monday that the EU is a "community of values, therefore the institution of the death penalty can only mean that such a country could not be a member."
For the moment, he says that Germany and other EU countries are watching the internal Turkish debate on whether to institute the death penalty, but that the EU's position is clear.
Iraqi shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has told his followers to target US troops who are to be deployed in Iraq as part of Washington’s alleged fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that 560 more US troops will be sent to Iraq as part of an upcoming operation aimed at retaking the key city of Mosul from Daesh.
A comment was posted on Sadr’s official website after one of his followers asked for the cleric’s response to the announcement.
"They are a target for us," replied Sadr, without further elaborating, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The move to increase the number of US troops comes despite growing concerns among the Iraqi public that the US is planning to use battle against Daesh as a pretext to return to Iraq. US forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple long-time dictator Saddam Hussein but the large-scale military operation deteriorated security in the Arab country and gave birth to various militant groups.
TRUMP WANTS THE OUT - SADR WANTS US OUT
ReplyDeleteERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Addressing thousands of his supporters gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said that “Sunni and Shiite will not sell their homeland.”
“Today I came to attend the protest, and to support you demands,” Sadr said to his supporters. “You must ask that Baghdad be free and the US must leave Iraq.”
According to Rudaw’s correspondent at Tahrir Square, protesters were chanting “Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites are one, and Iraq is for all.”
Rudaw’s Bahman Hassan added that protesters were threatening to storm Baghdad’s secured Green Zone again, saying “Today we are at Tahrir Square and tomorrow we will be inside the Green Zone.”
Hassan added that Iraqi security forces that had been on duty in Tahrir Square have left the square. Security is now being provided by a Shiite militia group.
“Some 7,000 gunmen belonging to Saraya al-Salam, the military wing of Sadr’s Mahdi army, are securing the protest,” Hassan said.
n April, protesting supporters of Sadr broke down the concrete barriers of the fortified Green Zone, which houses the Iraqi government buildings and foreign diplomatic missions, and stormed the parliament building. Demonstrators demanded an end to the endemic government corruption.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had asked people not to heed Sadr’s call to demonstrate on Friday but to stay united in the ongoing war against the Islamic State.
Protests against Abadi were reignited after a car bombing in the Karrada neighbourhood of Baghdad killed nearly 300.
Milwaukee cop shot while sitting in squad car...DRUDGE
ReplyDeleteWe can’t protect our own security forces, but we are on a crusade to save the World.
DeleteThere is no end to this. Ash is correct, get out and stay out.
ReplyDeleteAs patriotic Americans, shouldn't we follow the lead of our President ? -
DeleteFLASHBACK OBAMA: 'If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun'....DRUDGE
;)
O'bozo, after making a decent statement the other day, immediately returns to The Narrative, and blames it all on the white cops -
DeleteObama: Police Can 'Make the Job of Being a Cop a Lot Safer' by Admitting Their Failures
Craig Bannister | July 11, 2016 1:44pm ET
America's police will be safer when they admit they have a problem, Pres. Obama declared on Sunday at a bilateral event with the prime minister of Spain in Madrid on Sunday.
Fielding a question about the violence against police in Dallas, Texas last week, which left five officers dead, Obama said police officers will be safer once they acknowledge their failures:....
http://www.mrctv.org/blog/obama-police-can-make-job-being-cop-lot-safer-admitting-their-failures
OBAMA TELLS COPS: ADMIT....DRUDGE
It's really sad.
Obama, have black, half white, was perfectly positioned to heal, rather than exacerbate race relations....
Worst President ever....
Hitting the road.
Don't fail to watch Melania speak at the Convention today !
Cheers !
Showered and out the door, but first this, dedicated to Rufus -
DeleteHIGHEST RANKED BALTIMORE COP NOT GUILTY IN GRAY DEATH....DRUDGE
Ms Mosby is in deep shit.
Cheers !
Mosby -
Delete0 - 3
One hung jury.
Time for her to 'get out of Dodge'
Bench trial -
DeleteJudge is black.
bobal Thu Nov 13, 01:29:00 AM EST
Delete... the best thing to do is let the niggers abort, abort, abort themselves.
They do a good job of that.
Interesting that Jack doesn't submit a clickable link...
DeleteSomething he scolded everyone of us for not doing...
Jack, since you didn't abort the daughter you fathered, choosing to abandon it instead, do you ever regret not aborting her?
DeleteMeanwhile,
ReplyDeleteStrikes in Syria
Bomber, attack, ground-attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed two ISIL oil wellheads.
-- Near Manbij, 11 strikes struck eight separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 22 ISIL fighting positions.
Strikes in Iraq
Rocket artillery and attack and fighter aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL beddown location and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.
-- Near Beiji, a strike destroyed three ISIL tunnel entrances and an ISIL tunnel vent.
-- Near Mosul, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL security headquarters and destroyed two ISIL vehicles.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL mortar systems, 14 ISIL rocket rails and an ISIL vehicle and denied ISIL access to terrain.
-- Near Ramadi, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.
-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed an ISIL mortar system and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL headquarters.
The Dogs Bark, but Obama just keeps killing Head-cutters
And, yesterday,
DeleteStrikes in Syria
Bomber, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted nine strikes in Syria:
-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Raqqah, a strike struck two ISIL oil pump jacks.
-- Near Manbij, seven strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL tactical vehicle and a house ISIL had rigged with explosives.
Strikes in Iraq
Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Mosul, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL supply cache, two ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL bunker and an ISIL vehicle-borne-bomb facility and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.
-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed two ISIL mortar systems, 11 ISIL oil tankers, an ISIL supply cache and an ISIL assembly area.
-- Near Ramadi, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system and an ISIL bulldozer.
-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb.
(IraqiNews.com) ANBAR – The commander of the Seventh Army Division in Anbar province, Maj. Gen. Naumann Abdul- Zobaie on Monday announced about liberating al-Doulab and raising the Iraqi flag there.
DeleteZobaie, in press statement, said, “The troops of the Seventh Army Division along with the tribal fighters and International Coalition Aviation liberated al-Doulab today. al-Doulab is 70 km west of Ramadi.”
“Our forces also gunned down 73 ISIS fighters, destroyed three wheels and dismantled 500 explosive devices,” Zobaie further added in the statement.
It may be mentioned here that army troops of Seventh Division and tribal fighters began al-Doulab’s liberation operation on Sunday. The area is situated west of Heet city.
(IraqiNews.com) NINEVEH- A local source in Nineveh province announced on Sunday that armed clashes have erupted between Mosul denizens and ISIS members and further informed that the denizens raised the Iraqi flag and killed about four ISIS members.
DeleteInforming in details about the incident, the source seeking anonymity said, “The residents of Bab al-Jadid in the center of Nineveh, this evening, took up arms against the ISIS members and killed two of its members apart from destroying two cars of the organization.”
Informing more, the source said, “The residents of Hamam al-Alil city clashed with ISIS fighters in the city center-25 km south of Nineveh-and gunned down three fighters.”
67 Percent of Independent Voters oppose Trump's plan to drive over U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants with a 20 ton truck.
ReplyDelete- Zuckerberg Research Group
.
ReplyDeleteWould Turkey Be Justified in Kidnapping or Drone-Killing the Turkish Cleric in Pennsylvania?
Would Turkey Be Justified in Kidnapping or Drone-Killing the Turkish Cleric in Pennsylvania?
Glenn Greenwald
July 18 2016, 9:23 a.m.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan places the blame for this weekend’s failed coup attempt on an Islamic preacher and one-time ally, Fethullah Gulen (above), who now resides in Pennsylvania with a green card. Erdogan is demanding the U.S. extradite Gulen, citing prior extraditions by the Turkish government of terror suspects demanded by the U.S.: “Now we’re saying deliver this guy who’s on our terrorist list to us.” Erdogan has been requesting Gulen’s extradition from the U.S. for at least two years, on the ground that he has been subverting the Turkish government while harbored by the U.S. Thus far, the U.S. is refusing, with Secretary of State John Kerry demanding of Turkey: “Give us the evidence, show us the evidence. We need a solid legal foundation that meets the standard of extradition.”
In light of the presence on U.S. soil of someone the Turkish government regards as a “terrorist” and a direct threat to its national security, would Turkey be justified in dispatching a weaponized drone over Pennsylvania to find and kill Gulen if the U.S. continues to refuse to turn him over, or sending covert operatives to kidnap him? That was the question posed yesterday by Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor of Guantánamo’s military commissions who resigned in protest over the use of torture-obtained evidence:
That question, of course, is raised by the fact that the U.S. has spent many years now doing exactly this: employing various means — including but not limited to drones — to abduct and kill people in multiple countries whom it has unilaterally decided (with no legal process) are “terrorists” or who otherwise are alleged to pose a threat to its national security. Since it cannot possibly be the case that the U.S. possesses legal rights that no other country can claim — right? — the question naturally arises whether Turkey would be entitled to abduct or kill someone it regards as a terrorist when the U.S. is harboring him and refuses to turn him over.
{...}
{...}
DeleteThe only viable objection to Turkey’s assertion of this authority would be to claim that the U.S. limits its operations to places where lawlessness prevails, something that is not true of Pennsylvania. But this is an inaccurate description of the U.S.’s asserted entitlement. In fact, after 9/11, the U.S. threatened Afghanistan with bombing and invasion unless the Taliban government immediately turned over Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban’s answer was strikingly similar to what the U.S. just told Turkey about Gulen:
The ruling Taliban of Afghanistan today further complicated the status of Osama bin Laden and rejected the ultimatum of the United States that he and his lieutenants be handed over to answer for their suspected role in last week’s terrorist attacks in the United States.
The Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said at a news conference in Islamabad, “Our position in this regard is that if the Americans have evidence, they should produce it.” If they can prove their allegations, he said, “we are ready for a trial of Osama bin Laden.”
Asked again whether Mr. bin Laden would be surrendered, the ambassador replied, “Without evidence, no.”
The U.S. refused to provide any such evidence — “These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion,” said President George W. Bush at the time — and the U.S. bombing and invasion of Afghanistan began two weeks thereafter, and continues to this day, 15 years later. The justification there was not that the Taliban were incapable of arresting and extraditing bin Laden, but rather that they refused to do so without evidence of his guilt being provided and some legal/judicial action invoked...
{...}
ReplyDelete{...}
Nor are such U.S. actions against individual terror suspects confined to countries where lawlessness prevails. In 2003, the CIA kidnapped a cleric from the streets of Milan, Italy, and shipped him to Egypt to be tortured (CIA agents involved have been prosecuted in Italy, though the U.S. government has vehemently defended them). In 2004, the U.S. abducted a German citizen in Macedonia, flew him to Afghanistan, tortured and drugged him, then unceremoniously dumped him back on the street when it realized he was innocent; but the U.S. has refused ever since to compensate him or even apologize, leaving his life in complete shambles. The U.S. has repeatedly killed people in Pakistan with drones and other attacks, including strikes when it had no idea who it was killing, and also stormed a compound in Abbottabad — where the Pakistani government has full reign — in order to kill Osama bin Laden in 2010.
U.S. drone kills of terror suspects (including its own citizens) are extremely popular among Americans, including (in the age of Obama) those who self-identify as liberal Democrats. Yet it’s virtually certain that Americans across the ideological spectrum would explode in nationalistic outrage if Turkey actually did the same thing in Pennsylvania; indeed, the consequences for Turkey if it dared to do so are hard to overstate.
That’s American Exceptionalism in its purest embodiment: The U.S. is not subject to the same rules and laws as other nations, but instead is entitled to assert power and punishment that is unique to itself, grounded in its superior status. Indeed, so ingrained is this pathology that the mere suggestion that the U.S. should be subject to the same laws and rules as everyone else inevitably provokes indignant accusations that the person is guilty of the greatest sin: comparing the United States of America to the lesser, inferior governments and countries of the world.
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/18/would-turkey-be-justified-in-kidnapping-or-drone-killing-the-turkish-cleric-in-pennsylvania/
.
I could just see CNN crews over on Kunklestown Road where the Turk Drone hit the wrong van carrying school kids on a bible study trip.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDelete<<>> SPECIAL SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: FRAUD ALERT <<>>
This is a special service warning for the old and gullible at the EB
Last week while watching CNBC, I was surprised to see a commercial pop up on the screen for a Binary Options company. The reason for my surprise was that I'm actually familiar with what the term 'Binary Options' can mean in practice.
Since March, the Times of Israel has been publishing a series of articles exposing the binary options scam. They have probably put out 6 or 7 different articles with the last one printed below.
The reason the TOI is interested in the scam is that it seems to be focused in Israel, primarily out of Tel Aviv and in their words "The dizzying scale of the binary options fraud, and the failure of the authorities to tackle it, constitute a tangible threat to Israel's financial reputation, and thus to ongoing international investment and business development here."
The binary options scam uses high tech electronic and marketing tools to target the old and gullible in countries around the world. Recent Israeli laws are designed to prevent these firms from preying on Israeli citizens; yet, they perversely allow the firms to prey on individuals in other countries. The scale of this scam is huge with estimates of the take in the billions.
13 sickening truths about Israel’s huge binary options fraud
{...}
Delete{...}
Op-ed: Far too slowly, Israel is waking up to the massive theft being perpetrated worldwide by a criminal industry shamefully allowed to fester here. It’s been snowballing for a decade. Every day, it ruins more lives
By David Horovitz July 18, 2016, 9:44 am 50
Slowly, far, far, too slowly, Israel is waking up to the gigantic fraud being perpetrated from here by binary options crooks: to the scale of the crime; to the heartlessness of the criminals; to the staggering lack of will by the regulatory authorities, the police and the political leadership to tackle what may well be the single greatest corruption scandal in the history of modern Israel (in terms of how much money is being fleeced from duped “investors” all over the world).
The Times of Israel has been writing about the fraud, article after article, for the past three months. We were not the first Israeli media outlet to cover it; we are the only Israeli media outlet that has made exposing the despicable industry an ongoing editorial priority. Slowly, as I said, some parts of the Hebrew media are starting to catch up.
Most notably in this regard, Israel’s Channel 2 — the nation’s most watched news broadcast — last week carried a lengthy report on the crime. Its reporters, commendably, interviewed workers in this industry of theft who made plain that there are no innocents among the thousands, possibly tens of thousands who work for the corrupt companies, since rookie trainees are told on day one that they’ll have to leave their consciences at the door.
Commendably, too, the report included an on-camera interview in which an insider acknowledged that 96% of customers lose their money. What the TV report failed to state explicitly is that, far from investment, or even regulated gambling, the industry is engaged in outright theft — a theft it perpetrates largely, though not solely, by rigging its trading platforms.
{...}
Delete{...}
For those of you who are hearing for the first time about the vast and pernicious binary options fraud industry that Israel hosts, and that Israel’s authorities have refused to tackle, I want to summarize the key evils. For those of you who have read our coverage to date, this makes for a handy, grim recap.
Yoni Avital, of Tradesmarter, tells a recent conference that, in Israel, the binary options industry has become a world of trading platforms that manipulate the prices, aggressive salespeople, and money laundering (YouTube screenshot)
1. Terms like “binary options” and “forex” trading can have legitimate connotations. In the Israeli context, however, “binary options” has largely been co-opted by a fraudulent industry that has snowballed in the past decade and become increasingly reckless and vicious, dedicated to stealing as much money as possible from as many people as possible, all over the world, by duping them into thinking they are making potentially lucrative short-term investments. A rare public summation of the Israeli industry was provided at a recent conference by one expert, Yoni Avital, about 6 minutes into this video clip.)
2. Earlier this year, the flaccid Israel Securities Authority, which is supposed to regulate the country’s financial trading environment, finally managed to stir itself into banning the fleecing of Israelis by the local fraudulent binary options firms. In other words, the industry today, according to Israel’s own regulations, can only steal from people abroad. A shameful reality, that is, of Israelis stealing from foreigners with the tacit consent of the Israeli government.
An ex-employee told us just last week that her company turns a monthly profit of $10 million, or $120 million per year.
3. The scale of the industry is hard to assess, but it is vast. The Times of Israel believes there are well over 100 Israeli or Israel-connected binary options companies (many of them trading under multiple names) operating out of office buildings in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Herzliya, Caesarea and beyond. We know that many of these firms employ hundreds of people. We have been told by some insiders that the industry employs thousands of Israelis; others speak of tens of thousands. An ex-employee told us just last week that her particular requirement was to make 150 calls per day to “leads” — potential clients around the world, from a data file supplied by the firm — and to bring in $100,000 in deposits each month, a target she easily surpassed. She said her company turns a monthly profit of $10 million, or $120 million per year. Insiders have given us estimates ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion for the annual profit of the industry. By way of comparison, Israel’s total annual exports are in the order of $65 billion.
{...}
I've wondered where my money went, but I'd forgotten about this.
Delete{...}
ReplyDelete4. The industry is not unsophisticated. When speaking to clients, the salespeople whose job is to persuade them to part with their money use false names, cite false qualifications and expertise, claim to be in false locations — telling whatever cover story is most effective in building trust. The single goal of the sales and retention crooks is to persuade the mark to believe in them, and then to entrust them with real money. That’s why immigrants, especially from French- and English-speaking countries, are so sought-after by the Israeli firms. (Israeli Arabs too; the Israeli firms are ripping off the Arab world as well.) And the more unscrupulous the better.
The technical coding involved in rigging the platforms was described to The Times of Israel by one ex-employee who actually wrote some of the code.
The online trading platforms to which the marks are given access look legitimate. In fact, however, the platforms are rigged by the fraudulent firms, so that the numbers flashing across the screen can be manipulated to ensure that the customer cannot profit. The fraudsters can and do rig the numbers so that customers think they are making money on their trades for a while, and are thus inveigled into depositing still more; the losses come when the victim is deemed to have been milked dry. The technical coding involved in rigging the platforms was described to The Times of Israel by one ex-employee who actually wrote some of the code. Again, therefore, this is not investing. With these fraudulent firms and their duplicitous sales teams, nobody is purchasing a legitimate, conventional option to buy or sell a commodity. The clients, rather, are being played for fools — their funds manipulated as they are expertly squeezed and then cynically discarded.
5. The big-fish companies that supply the trading platforms to smaller binary options firms are therefore central to the fraud. In some cases, we have been told, these big-fish firms charge a 20% fee to the smaller firms for the use of the platform. In one case, we have been told, one such supplier has recently been given a government grant to expand its operations to a major world power with which Israel is working to boost trade — the government using our taxpayer shekels, unwittingly, to finance the potential further global expansion of Israeli binary options fraud.
{...}
Delete{...}
10. When it comes to the impact on the victims, the personal consequences of this mammoth fraud can only be imagined. We were told by one ex-salesman that he quit the industry, finally, after years of silencing his conscience, when he heard a colleague call a client whose wife answered the phone and said her husband was not available; he had just committed suicide because of their binary options losses. Other ex-traders told us they knew of other suicides. We have spoken to victims who told us they were considering suicide, and to victims who told us they have had to sell their homes and cannot see how they will ever recover financially. Again, were these victims just foolish gamblers, addicted to self-destructive financial decisions, one would have less sympathy. But these are trusting people who had been sweet-talked into parting with their savings by men and women using false names, making false promises, claiming to be enabling them to make wise investments, and then stealing their money.
11. The Israel Securities Authority, belatedly protecting Israelis from their fellow citizen-crooks, claims to lack the authority to prevent Israeli firms stealing from people abroad — an interpretation of its mandate that some experts contend is incorrect. The Israel Police, for its part, has told overseas victims that it cannot handle complaints by email or phone, and that they need to fly to Israel and register a complaint at an Israeli police station. An effort by former Knesset member Einat Wilf to have the industry shut down went nowhere. The Times of Israel has been told of powerful lobbying efforts by well-connected individuals to ensure that the industry is allowed to continue to flourish. The Times of Israel has also been told horror stories about corruption in high places ostensibly central to the failure of the authorities to intervene, but we have no hard evidence of this.
12. While the Israeli authorities have failed to take action, however, class action suits are now being prepared in London, raids have been taking place involving Israeli suspects in Romania, French investigators have visited Israel to probe complaints on behalf of French nationals, and Canadian regulators are digging into the corrupt Israeli firms. The US, Canada, Australia and other countries issue watchlists and warning notices that highlight Israeli firms. Overseas media is taking increasing note. The implications for Israel are grave. Israel has attracted an enviable reputation as a stable environment for business and finance. The dizzying scale of the binary options fraud, and the appalling failure of the Israeli authorities to tackle it, constitute a tangible threat to that hard-won reputation, and thus to ongoing international investment and business development in Israel.
{...}
Delete{...}
13. If that were not serious enough, however, there is the matter of morals and ethics — the bitter reality that Israel is a world leader in a cynical industry of theft. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of largely young Israelis get up and go to work each day to commit robbery. Some of them brag about it. Some of them love ringing that bell and basking in the applause of their fellow crooks when they extract a big new deposit from some dupe on the phone. Some of them brag that they earn more than their parents. They love the foreign trips the firms sometimes provide. They love those salaries. Some of them blame the clients for allowing themselves to be fooled. Some of them say it’s not so bad, since they’re only stealing from foreigners. (This claim was actually made on camera in the TV report last Tuesday night.) Some of them are being eaten up inside with the knowledge of the crime they are perpetrating, but carry on doing so regardless.
Last week, after my colleague Simona Weinglass and I had met with an insider who recently, finally, walked away from her job duping marks into giving her their money, we happened to pass a building where a company that writes marketing materials for a binary options firm has its offices. A young man was emerging, about to head into the traffic on his electric bicycle. I asked him if he worked for the firm; he said he did. I told him he should be ashamed of himself. He told me he had turned down “you don’t know how many offers” to work for the thieving firms themselves, directly stealing the money, but that he had to make a living, and this was a lesser evil. I asked him if his mother knows what he does for a living. The argument grew louder, and then became more civil. As he rode off, I called after him to please find another job. Every day that the fraudulent binary options industry continues to thrive is an affront to the values we should all hold dear.
I hope he does. I hope everybody reading this who, directly or indirectly, is facilitating this vast blight — as an employee of the industry, or of its related industries, or of the authorities that ought to have long since shut this all down and sent the perpetrators to jail — sobers up and remembers that little commandment: Thou Shalt Not Steal.
This is not what Israel was revived for. This is not what Israelis daily protect this country from its enemies for. Every day that the fraudulent binary options industry continues to thrive is an affront to the values we should all hold dear. Every day that the enforcement authorities in this country allow it to thrive is an affront to the values they are charged to uphold.
.
You bolded the wrong line, Q
Delete... Israelis stealing from foreigners with the tacit consent of the Israeli government.
I hope they bankrupt everyone in your family, oh that is not possible..
DeleteYou are the end of your genetic line...
Alone in the universe...
Quirk, I hope every Israeli that is stealing from anyone is arrested, convicted and imprisoned.
DeleteBut as Jack will tell you, ONLY Israel has a criminal population, whereas no other peoples in the world have such issues.
Delete.
DeleteQuirk, I hope every Israeli that is stealing from anyone is arrested, convicted and imprisoned.
I don't doubt it.
.
Quirk, you show do a thread on the show American Greed.
ReplyDeleteIt's stunning how many people are ripping off people in America, let alone the rest of the world for BILLIONS...
The scams are unfathomable.
not making any excuses for a ring of crooks in Israel.
But it seems that there are so many of them, from so many nations it would keep your head spinning..
Remember Bernie Madoff? he targeted the Jewish community...
DeleteStole billions.
Go ahead, Jack would love a thread "Israeli thieves and crooks"
DeleteI am sure he'd literally drool on his keyboard..
.
DeletePrior to March, I had never heard of binary options. However, I've watched the Times of Israel series on binary options since it started in March. As I've said they usually have a couple a month. They outline the horror stories associated with the industry, and it is an industry, it rakes in $ billions each year. And the scam continues.
However, I put up this latest article for a couple of reasons.
One, while the article doesn't go into the specific horror stories of the older people or those who have lost their jobs or had other misfortunes and then lose their entire life savings to the the binary options, it does give a summary of the various issues associated with the scam.
Two, as I also mentioned, I actually recently saw an ad on CNBC for one of these company's. I was a little surprised.
As for the Madoff issue or the other American Greed episodes you mention, there is an obvious difference. In the US, Madoff and the others may commit the crime. The crimes they commit may be just as bad as the binary options scam. However, in most countries in the world (as noted in the earlier Times of Israel articles) the respective agencies that prosecutes these types of crimes do so regardless of which countries the victims are in. In Israel, the authorities will prosecute crimes by these companies against Israelis but when it comes to victims in other countries they say 'Not our problem'.
.
Quirk, I am sorry, neither you nor I are international law experts.
DeleteBut since the issue was published IN THE Times of Israel
There might be hope to resolve the issue.
That's what a free press does.
Expose things like this.
The advertising game is itself a fraud, nothing more, nothing less.
ReplyDeleteLooking for an honest advertiser ?
Might as well search for a jumbo shrimp.
Excellent day out this way today.
ReplyDeleteWhen's Melania coming on ?
hoo haa !
Although Incirlik probably has more nuclear weapons than any other nato base, it does not have any American or Turkish aircraft equipped to deliver them.
ReplyDeleteThe bombs simply sit at the base, underground, waiting to be used or misused.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-h-bombs-in-turkey
Why? How much does it cost? What are the benefits to the US public, not the corporation or defense contractors?
DeleteWhat could possibly go wrong? It is unimaginable to comprehend.
Rudy Giuliani is tearing it up.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteMichael Flynn's speaking style is as annoying as Hillary Clinton's staccato presentation.
.
He reminded me of a gungho light colonel at a commander’s call.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteI believe the best observation I saw was Megyn Kelly's observation that Trump's entrance looked like something out of the WWE.
No doubt farmer Bob will complain about the ostentation has he has so many times about Obama's columns.
.
.
ReplyDeleteMy view, Melania was very nice, a good speaker, and though all she really offered was that she loved her husband it was still enough.
For the rest of it, it seemed pretty dull.
.
I speculate the rest 'seemed pretty dull' to you because 99.75% of your mentation is given over to beautiful women in these your elder years....
DeleteWould it have been enough if she looked like Hillary?
DeleteDang it. I had to run what turned into an extensive errand and missed it.
ReplyDeleteMelania is responsible for the term The Donald. When first here she often put the article 'the' before saying his name, due to her unfamiliarity with out language, and it stuck.
I think she is lovely, and has him wrapped around her little finger, for now at least.
I can well imagine Giuliani ripping it up. He would have made a good VP pick.
I hope The Donald has America's Mayor running the Department of Homeland Security.
I don't know what our Advertising Man is referring to with his 'out of the WWE'.
I assume it is some insider's phrase from the advertising racket, perhaps some fraudulent tactic or other used to con a more than usually resistant buyer out of his hard earned money.
This, which I missed too, must have been good to see as it happened -
DeleteVIDEO: Mother of Benghazi victim declares 'Hillary belongs in stripes'....
That mother certainly has it right.
Hillary For Prison 2016 !
She is not in the clear yet, even though Comey turned crapper on the e-mails.
A Judge is about to rule on whether or not she has to testify under oath soon in a case brought by Judicial Watch, for instance.
And the investigations are still ongoing into the frauds committed by the 'Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Foundation'.
One type of earthly heaven would to be to see all the members of this loving family behind bars together....
Judge Says Ruling On Clinton Deposition Coming 'Soon'....
DeleteQandeel Baloch’s brother Waseem Azeem not only confessed to killing his sister in a so-called “honor killing,” but he also bragged to police that he is “proud” that he killed her. According to CNN, in his confession, Azeem stated that he killed his sister because “girls are born to stay home.”
ReplyDelete...
Every year, there are more than 5,000 honor killings worldwide, according to the Honour Based Violence Network. BBC News reports that 1,100 women were killed in honor killings in Pakistan alone last year, and these are just the reported numbers.
a voice from Mount Olympus.....echoes in the hearts of the American people
ReplyDelete!! ho ho !!
Lou Murray
Why Donald Trump will win
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/07/17/why-trump-will-win/qQSwYvfpN5mWFaslAS3LwI/story.html
"The Donald wants da prosperity for all da Americans!"
DeleteMelania
(I contrast this with The Quirk, who wants da prosperity of da ad firm)
for da ad firm, and not just any old ad firm, but Quirk's ad firm, dat gets da prosperity
DeleteI say all tonight's speakers, Sheriff Clarke was there too, were The Success, and we should hire them all for The Success, The Prosperity, The Safetyness, and The Greatness.
ReplyDeletePokémon Go is NO GO
ReplyDeleteMuslim cleric says Pokemon Go is un-Islamic
By Robert Spencer on Jul 18, 2016 06:50 pm
Muslim cleric says Pokemon Go is un-Islamic
“Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. […]
Read in browser »
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/07/muslim-cleric-says-pokemon-go-is-un-islamic
No "Q"Nits:USA to put up today.
An odd day....
Gulen and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were once allies, but had a falling out over 2013 corruption investigations in Turkey, which the Turkish leader blamed on Gulen.
ReplyDeleteThe exiled Gulen has also criticized Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule, while the Turkish leader has carried out a broad campaign against Gulen's movement in the country, purging civil servants, seizing businesses and closing some media organizations.
The government has accused the 103 generals detained so far for their alleged involvement in the coup attempt of belonging to what the authorities call the Fethullahci Terror Organization, purportedly led by Gulen.
Update from BernieZuela -
ReplyDelete120,000 VENEZUELANS CROSS BORDER SHOPPING FOR SCARCE FOOD...
Liquidate; Stockpile...
INFLATION: 1,640%....DRUDGE
Inflation was only about 1,000% a couple of weeks ago so things are heating up.
Venezuela will be entering ZimbabweLand soon....
100,000 Venezuelans cross the border to shop for groceries
Deleteposted at 5:21 pm on July 18, 2016 by John Sexton
The number of Venezuelans crossing the border for food went up this week. Last Sunday President Maduro opened the border with Colombia for 12-hours and about 35,000 Venezuelans made the crossing. This Sunday the border opened again and the Associated Press is reporting 100,000 people crossed.
The AP focuses on one married couple, Tebie Gonzalez and Ramiro Ramirez. Despite having good jobs, Tebie and Ramiro are unable to find enough food for their family in their own country. They decide to drain their emergency savings and spend the money on food across the border in Colombia. Ramirez tells the AP, “It’s scary to spend it, but we’re finding less food each day and we need to prepare for what’s coming.
After withdrawing huge rolls of cash, the couple drove to the border carrying several suitcases they planned to fill with food. When they reach the border, the couple spends 2 hours packed together with thousands of other Venezuelans. From the AP:
Gonzalez cried behind her oversized aviator glasses.
“I thought the crossing would be easier. It made me feel so humiliated, like I was an animal; a refugee,” she said.
“But look how different things are on this side. It’s like Disneyland,” responded Ramirez. Not only was the town filled with prized groceries, but everything was much cheaper than on Venezuelan black market, now the only alternative for people who don’t have time to spend in the hours-long lines for scarce goods that have become the most salient feature of the oil country’s economic crisis.
A week ago I wrote that Venezuelans crossing the border acted as if it was the opening of Disneyland. And here you have someone quoted by the AP saying entering Colombia where food is plentiful is “like Disneyland.” This is how desperate even middle-class working people in Venezuela have become. Just the sight of shelves stocked with food brings them joy.
The AP included this photo of the couple exchanging their worthless wad of currency.
Tebie and Ramiro have jobs, a nice apartment and children to worry about. But how long will the food they picked up on this emergency shopping trip last? What will they do in another month or so when they have no more food and no emergency cash? By then the cash they do have will be worth significantly less thanks to triple-digit inflation.
At one point in this story the couple sees the the crowd of people on the bridge they just crossed being broadcast on television. What if President Maduro decides to close the border again because stories like this are making his country look like the starving wreck it really is? Maduro won’t starve for his misplaced pride, but others might. Even if the border remains open, what if so many desperate people show up next week or the week after that that this couple can’t get across? What if they get robbed carrying a suitcase full of cash?
It’s hard to imagine the unenviable choices left to people in Venezuela. This couple has bought their family a little more time, maybe a month at most. But the situation in Venezuela only seems to be getting worse with every passing day. The next set of choices for people like Tebie and Ramiro seems likely to be even more desperate.
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/18/100000-venezuelans-crossed-the-border-sunday-to-shop-for-groceries/
In praise of Quirk -
DeleteHe has not, as some here have, bought into Bernie Sanders, least as far as I know.
He is way too experienced, too knowledgeable of the ways of our world, to do that.
Hence, in the final accounting of things, he may make angelhood.
(on the other hand, considering the amount of non sense he has spouted about Israel, he may not....purgatory ?)
Delete.
DeleteI already have my wings, picked them up in a foreclosure sale in 2008.
Just waiting for an appropriate event to wear them.
.
.
DeleteHere is an example of one WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) entrance theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcpnl2kuPGQ&list=PL6BE48F0C6D99EAC1&index=32
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dQKo_EV0c&list=PL6BE48F0C6D99EAC1&index=42
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myi31nxDkNk&list=PL6BE48F0C6D99EAC1&index=57
.
.
But the EU agreed to speed up its membership bid and give visa-free travel to Turks as part of a migrant crisis deal in which Ankara agreed to take back people landing in the Greek islands.
ReplyDeleteFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that "the rule of law must prevail".
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders also urged restraint, saying: "It's normal to punish those involved in the coup, but it's (also) normal to ask for respect for the rule of law."
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteShock!
ReplyDeleteWife Swap!
Hillary could become America's first four time First Lady!
Bill promises not to cheat on Mel.