As if to those of us who have researched into them, it wasn't already a widely known fact that Rockefeller's JP Morgan Chase Bank is merely an American branch of the Rothschilds' operation. Now, they're simply publicly declaring what was already a fact. Guess there's no need for 'secrecy' when they're stealing everything before the coming collapse.

Daniel Schäfer in London | Two of the best-known business dynasties in Europe and the US will come together after Lord Jacob Rothschild’s listed investment trust and Rockefeller Financial Services agreed to form a strategic partnership. RIT Capital Partners is to buy a 37 per cent stake in the Rockefeller’s wealth advisory and asset management group for an undisclosed sum, giving Lord Rothschild’s London-listed trust a much sought-after foothold in the US. The transatlantic union brings together David Rockefeller, 96, and Lord Rothschild, 76 – two family patriarchs whose personal relationship spans five decades.

The Obama administration has converted once unthinkable government claims into permanent political fixtures. - There is one important passage from yesterday’s big New York Times article on President Obama’s personal issuance of secret, due-process-free death sentences that I failed to highlight despite twice writing about that article. The fact that I did not even bother to highlight it among all the other passages I wrote about is itself significant, as it reflects how rapidly true extremism becomes normalized:

That record, and Mr. Awlaki’s calls for more attacks, presented Mr. Obama with an urgent question: Could he order the targeted killing of an American citizen, in a country with which the United States was not at war, in secret and without the benefit of a trial? The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel prepared a lengthy memo justifying that extraordinary step, asserting that while the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process applied, it could be satisfied by internal deliberations in the executive branch. Mr. Obama gave his approval, and Mr. Awlaki was killed in September 2011, along with a fellow propagandist, Samir Khan, an American citizen who was not on the target list but was traveling with him.

Please just re-read that bolded part. This is something that we already knew. [...] [O]nce something is repeated enough by government officials, we become numb to its extremism. Even in the immediate wake of 9/11 — when national fear and hysteria were intense — things like the Patriot Act, military commissions, and indefinite detention were viewed as radical departures from American political tradition; now, they just endure and are constantly renewed without notice, because they’ve just become normalized fixtures of American political life.

Glenn Greenwald: The Authoritarian Mind
Glenn Greenwald: America's regression

As the risk intensifies that Assange may be prosecuted for his journalism, it is vital to remember what's at stake.

“Just in time to spoil the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the Obama Justice Department is trying to do what Richard Nixon couldn’t: indict a media organization. . . . Charging Julian Assange with ‘conspiracy to commit espionage’ would effectively be setting a precedent with a charge that more accurately could be characterized as ‘conspiracy to commit journalism‘” — James Goodale, General Counsel of The New York Times during its Pentagon Papers fight with the Nixon administration, writing in The Daily Beast, June 12, 2011.

● IOF use force to disperse peaceful protest organized by Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
● A Palestinian civilian was wounded by IOF in the central Gaza Strip.
● IOF conducted 50 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and two limited ones into the Gaza Strip.
● IOF continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip.
● Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
● IOF have continued efforts to create a Jewish demographic majority in East Jerusalem.
● IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

Two Israeli oil companies have signed 2 year contracts which will supply all of the gasfuel requirements of the West Bank and Gaza Strip thus extending Israel's monopoly and strategic leverage over the Palestinian Authority and the lives of Palestinians. - The Paz Oil Company Ltd has extended the Palestinian Authority gas supply contract by two more years. The contract is worth an estimated NIS 1.8 billion annually, or 11.6% of Paz' total sales, and constitutes 50% of the total gas demand within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. CEO Yona Fogel said: “This is an important client for us. I see the renewal of the contract as an achievement and which will mark seven years of the relationship between the two sides”. He added: "We were never the sole supplier, and as part of our new contract, we've reduced the credit terms of the client." The other part of the contract was won by Oil Refineries Limited (BAZAN) who announced that it will directly supply fuel products to the Palestinian Authority for a period of two years beginning in October 2012. Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL), located in the bay area of Haifa, is Israel's largest Oil refinery. Paz Oil is owned by a number of investors although in the past it was state controlled by Israel.

The US has hinted at taking actions against the Syrian regime bypassing the authority of the UN Security Council. This comes as pressure is piling up on Damascus following massacre in Houla that claimed over 100 lives. - US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice has said that if the council does not take swift action to pressure Syrian authorities to end 14-month crackdown on the anti-government uprising, the Security Council members may have no choice but to consider acting outside the UN. "Members of the international community are left with the option only of having to consider whether they are prepared to take actions outside of the Annan plan and the authority of this council,” Rice said on Wednesday after the 15-member council met in a closed door session to discuss last week’s massacre. The United Nations is conducting its own investigation of who exactly is responsible for the bloodshed in the town of Houla. However the US and its allies seem to have come to their own conclusion, saying that the Assad government is solely responsible for the violence. Rice did not specify what “actions” she meant. However the US and European countries had earlier imposed their own sanction on Syria outside the UN. So there are fears that her words could mean the threat of military action.

Stephen Lendman: Obama Plans War on Syria

Xymphora: 'Journalists' as terrorists - "West's Houla Syria Narrative Crumbles, Expels Syrian Diplomats Anyway" - Remember the original Official Story, told in lockstep by all the western mainstream media, was that the atrocity had to have been committed by the Syrian army as the deaths were caused by artillery shells and the Syrian army was the only player with artillery shells. After the initial wave of lies, it is now clear that the great majority of, if not all, the deaths were caused by execution by small arms and knives. This killing makes no sense for anybody working for the Syrian government.

UN Human Rights Council ‘own’ sources? - The Houla Massacre is to be brought to a rare gathering of the UN Human Rights Council. But what kind of findings will be presented? Anti-war campaigner Marinella Corregia is concerned the UNHCR Commissioner talks only to its sources: the opposition. The meeting, set for Friday, has been called by 21 of the 47 council members. The request was officially submitted by Qatar, Turkey, the US, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Denmark and the EU. The UN top human rights body says most of the 108 victims of the massacre in the Syrian town of Houla were summarily executed – while less than 20 killings “can be attributed to artillery and tank fire.” It also appears that entire families were shot in their homes. Local residents have blamed the executions on Shabbiya, a paramilitary group that "essentially supports the government forces," says Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Council.

In North Yorkshire County, United Kingdom, the US missile defense system is hard to ignore. Several golf ball-shaped structures are seen in the distance, each housing spy satellites that reportedly tap into more than 120 countries' communication networks. The base has been around since the 1960s, but now some say the base that promotes intelligence-based warfare has gone too far.

Former senior U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross confirmed for the first time on Tuesday night that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has explicitly warned the U.S. that if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia will seek to do so as well. - “If they get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons,” Abdullah told Ross during a meeting between the two in April 2009. [Abdullah appears to be comfortable with Israel having the bomb.] Ross said he responded to the King’s assertion with a lengthy appeal against nuclear proliferation, but after hearing him out, the king responded by repeating the same line: “If they get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.” Ross’ on-the-record confirmation of Abdullah’s threat was made in a joint public appearance with Washington Institute researcher David Makovsky at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The two co-authored a book on the Middle East peace process entitled Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East. Ross’ direct quote of the Saudi king appears to be the first public confirmation of the Saudi position and the threat of a Middle East nuclear arms race if Tehran acquires a nuclear bomb. It was reported previously, though not confirmed, that Abdullah had made a similar assertion in his February 2007 summit in Riyadh with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

US President Barack Obama personally approves the names to be put on the "kill lists" of the targeted killing operations performed by the country’s assassination drones, The New York Times reports. - According to the report published by the paper on Tuesday, every week or so, more than 100 members of the country’s national security team gather via secure video teleconference run by the Pentagon and go over the biographies of suspects in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, and "nominate" those who should be targeted in the attacks. The identities of the nominees are then provided to Obama, who signs off on every strike in Yemen and Somalia and on especially complex and risky strikes in Pakistan.

New York Times: Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
Jason Ditz: Officials Confirm: Obama Decides Who Lives and Who Dies
Chris Woods: Analysis: How Obama Changed Definition of ‘Civilian’ in Secret Drone Wars
Glenn Greenwald: Militants”: media propaganda