KIM

Just because the imminent launch of a North Korean rocket along a trajectory which will likely force Japan to strike it down, something which Pyongyang said would be equivalent to an act of war, was not enough, it now appears that South Korea has commenced the hunt for Red Pyongyang or four, as it is now "searching for four North Korean submarines that disappeared after leaving their bases on the tense peninsula." ABC News reports that "A military source quoted in a South Korean newspaper says up to four North Korean submarines slipped out of port in recent days and have so far avoided detection. The source was also quoted as saying that Pyongyang has stepped up submarine infiltration drills as the weather has warmed." As a result, "Seoul is now on alert for a possible strike against a South Korean naval ship." This won't be the first time a North Korean sub is implicated in potential wrongdoing: "The South accuses the North of using a midget submarine to sink the corvette the Cheonan two years ago, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead."

There are a nine prevalent myths and false arguments that bankers and their puppet commercial investment firms have used to precent people from buying physical gold and physical silver over the years

The nine bankster propagated myths about gold (and silver) that everyone needs to know.

• Greek PM does not rule out new bailout package (Reuters)
• Euro zone agrees temporary boost to rescue capacity (Reuters)
• Madrid Commits to Reforms Despite Strike (FT)
• China PBOC: To Keep Reasonable Social Financing, Prudent Monetary Policy In 2012 (WSJ)
• Germany Launches Strategy to Counter ECB Largesse (Telegraph)
• Iran Sanctions Fuel 'Junk for Oil' Barter With China, India (Bloomberg)
• BRICS Nations Threaten IMF Funding (FT)
• Bernanke Optimistic on Long-Term Economic Growth (AP)

All you need to read and more.

Moments ago Japan's Kyodo reported that the upcoming North Korean missile launch has entered a "full-fledged state of action." While not immediately clear what this means, it is not all that surprising: after all this is precisely what Un has said he would do, and so he will. What is more important is that according to VOA Japan is now actively preparing for "countermeasures" and is "preparing for contingencies" should the missile veer off course. Because if Fukushima taught us something is that gusts of wind around Japan always somehow point toward Tokyo. To wit: "The Japanese parliament has approved a resolution condemning North Korea's planned missile launch, and the country is also preparing contingencies should the missile veer off course and pose a threat to Japan. Speaking in Tokyo Friday, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said the Japanese military will be prepared for any eventuality. Tanaka says he is ordering officials to prepare deployment of PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles and Aegis destroyers carrying a state-of-the-art anti-missile system that could attempt to shoot down the rocket." Of course, by the time the shooting is over, ES will be at least limit up: consider the upside GDP potential resulting from rebuilding the world in the aftermath of armageddon.

Buying gold is not just a way to resist the tyranny of banksters, but if bankster-run governments call for citizens to turn over their gold, as has now happened in Turkey, citizens should respond not by acquiescing to these suicidal calls, but by converting more of their fiat currency into gold. 

All you need to read.

What a difference two months of record high gas prices make. After Obama unceremoniously killed the Keystone XL pipeline proposal in January, and has since seen his popularity rating slide in inverse proportion to the surge in gas prices, which as noted yesterday have now passed $4 (still quite a bit better than Europe's $9.81 average/gallon), he is now actively seeking to fast-track its approval. Or at least half of it. Per Reuters: "President Barack Obama will issue a memo on Thursday directing federal agencies to prioritize permitting of TransCanada's southern leg of the Keystone oil pipeline, a senior White House official said on Wednesday. With his Republican opponents hammering away at the president over high gasoline prices, Obama will visit Cushing, Oklahoma on Thursday to promote his energy policies, which include support for the southern leg of the pipeline." In the meantime, enviromentalists just realized they were Corzined.

US Army General Wesleyl Clark stated one month after 9/11 that the US had already planned to invade Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Iran. But could the real driving force behind these invasions not be about oil but about the almighty US dollar and gold?

While not quite as dramatic as Kim Cattrall in a cheongsam, the recent group-think of 'heads bulls win, tails bears lose" on the back of seemingly ever-rising strike prices on central bankers implied-puts is becoming crescendo-like. Nowhere is this more evident in China currently, as the world views every inflation, growth, and lending print as either positive because of more stimulation or positive because of global growth. Of course all of this ignores the 'trap' that is/has already sprung in Japan (ZIRP, deflation, and zombification), US (ZIRP, addiction, and energy prices), and Europe (print, subordinate, and alienate foreign bond purchasers) and the care with which even insane printers must tread for fear of upsetting the world economy. Tonight we hear from China's Premier Wen that, via Bloomberg, China seeks to establish social democracy and much to Chuck Schumer's chagrin we pre-suppose, that the Yuan is close to equilibrium levels. Furthermore the veiled threat that China-US cooperation is better than confrontation, which brings us to four charts we found interesting in their potential to upset the euphoria of a global race-to-the-bottom which apparently makes US stocks invincible.

Today, almost every financial journalist that is published in the mainstream media prefers to be steered by their controlling interests into being a “cleaner”, scrubbing clean the facts and hard evidence of every financial crime scene and of inherent risks that lurk everywhere, and instead, opting to present a rosy, unrealistic, fantasy outlook of stock markets and the global economy.

All you need to read.

Here's the video of my original interview, recorded on Monday, February 27, 2012, about gold and silver price manipulation on the Keiser Report with Max Keiser.

• Germany Crisis Role in Focus After G-20 Rebuff (Bloomberg)
• G20 to Europe: Show us the money (Reuters)
• Draghi’s Unlimited Loans Are No Panacea (Bloomberg)
• Geithner says Europe has lowered risks of "catastrophe" (Reuters)
• Gone in 22 Seconds (WSJ)
• Gillard beats Rudd to stay Australian PM (FT)
• Brazil Will Continue Reducing Interest Rates, Tombini Says (Bloomberg)
• China to Have ‘Soft Landing’ Soon: Zoellick (Bloomberg)
• China To Be Largest Economy Before 2030: World Bank (Reuters)
• Obama pressed to open emergency oil stocks (FT)