Submitted by Bill Holter via Jim Sinclair's Mineset blog,

What a tangled web the global geopolitical situation has become. Geopolitics and finance have always been interrelated but recently much more so. As many readers know, I havespeculated we would be hit over the head with a “truth bomb” from the East and most likely from Mr. Putin himself. Just this week Britain has alleged Mr. Putin personally ordered a “hit” on an ex KGB agent for calling him a pedophile. Another story came out that Turkey shot down a NATO helicopter which made no press coverage at all in the West. Also, Victoria Nuland recently travelled to Russia and was refused an audience by Mr. Putin. This, after John Kerry had a meeting where he went into it saying “Assad must go” and came out saying Mr. Assad can stay … Why all of this now? I would simply say this reeks of desperation and also a VERY dangerous strategy to attack Mr. Putin personally. I say “dangerous” because it raises the likelihood of a response from him. Can you imagine the outrage were Russia to accuse president Obama or the Prime Minister Cameron of Britain for ordering the murder of someone who called them a pedophile?

Before going any further, I believe nearly ALL of what we are seeing is centered by and on the “petrodollar”. Will it survive or be replaced? In my opinion it is no longer “if”, but “when” and by “what” will it be replaced with? Just over the last two weeks we have seen three very important yet interrelated events.

It is not tough to tie all of this together. I ask you this, what would the world look like the day following a “truth bomb” dropped by Mr. Putin and the Chinese. Would Americans even notice if he documented several false flags or frauds embedded in U.S. finance such as outright monetization of U.S Treasuries? No, most certainly not. Americans would however notice if financial markets collapsed or were shut down. Russia and China know full well the situation in the West. It is a bankruptcy waiting to happen as everything is fractional reserve and running on maximum margin while the underlying system is shrinking and no longer supplying enough liquidity. The way I see it, the stage is truly set for a financial attack on anything and everything American. Is it implausible for the Saudis to announce they will sell oil in yuan to China? Or Iran to withdraw their funds from U.S. institutions and then bid for gold with these funds? If the East does in fact have jamming or hacking capability of Western technology, is it far fetched for them to show it very publicly in one or several situations? How would the “bookies” react if they saw a prize fighter enter one of the later rounds with his hands tied behind his back?

You can laugh at the above speculation if you choose but it is all quite plausible and actually probable if you look at where things are and what posturing has already been done leading up to this. Western markets, ALL markets are a fraud. Our Treasury market is one where the biggest buyer is “our self” …the Fed and the ESF. We have already seen $1 trillion of foreign reserves offloaded with no effect on yield nor the dollar itself and NO ACCOUNTING ANYWHERE as to “who” bought these offloaded central bank reserves.Accounting fraud and no rule of law here, nothing to see …please move along! You can laugh if you want and say Saudi Arabia will never move toward the East … Saudi Arabia is now in very dire straits financially, who do you think they will side with when Western markets melt down? Do you really believe they will go down trying to support our dollar?

The stage has already been set. The East knows the West has bankrupted. They know we have no gold left because they have it! They can see the finances of the various cities, states and federal government. They know the situation in derivatives is one giant mountain of dynamite waiting for a spark. They know our rule of law is gone and bail ins of depositor funds is next. We are monetizing their sales of Treasury securities. “We” are fooling no one except ourselves. And by “ourselves” I am talking about the vast majority of the population who have grown to rely on the government for everything. Everyone knows we are broke, yet ask anyone and the odds highly favor you will hear “the government will never let it happen”. Even if you are silly enough to believe this you must ask yourself, what are the ramifications when markets become “make believe”?

A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York August 31, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury has indicted two anti-abortion activists in a case involving covert videos on fetal tissue procurement talks with Planned Parenthood and found there was no wrongdoing on the part of the health group, a district attorney said on Monday.

The grand jury decision was a result of a probe launched last year under Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who accused Planned Parenthood of the "gruesome harvesting of baby body parts." No evidence was provided by Texas to back the claim.

The videos released last summer led Texas and several other Republican-controlled states to try to halt funding for local Planned Parenthood operations.

"After a lengthy and thorough investigation by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the Texas Rangers, and the Houston Police Department, a Harris County grand jury took no action Monday against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," the Harris County District Attorney's office said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood has denied the accusation and called the probe politically motivated.

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David Daleiden discusses the campaign on 'Hannity'

David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt have been indicted by the grand jury for tampering with a governmental record, said prosecutors for the county in which Houston is located.

The two were involved in covert videos last year in which a discussion was held with a Planned Parenthood official on the procurement of fetal tissue.

Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress that released the videos, was also charged with violating a prohibition on the purchase and sale of human organs, a misdemeanor, the Harris County District Attorney said.

The videos purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to negotiate prices for aborted fetal tissue. Under federal law, donated human fetal tissue may be used for research, but profiting from its sale is prohibited.

Shortly after the release, Texas, the most populous Republican-controlled U.S. state, said it would launch a probe of Planned Parenthood.

"These people broke the law to spread malicious lies about Planned Parenthood in order to advance their extreme anti-abortion political agenda," said Eric Ferrero, vice president of Communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

"As the dust settles and the truth comes out, it's become totally clear that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are the criminals behind this fraud, and we're glad they're being held accountable," he said.

The Texas governor said: "Nothing about today’s announcement in Harris County impacts the state’s ongoing investigation."

In October, Texas raided several Planned Parenthood facilities in the state.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Bernard Orr)

Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli woman stabbed by two Palestinians in a West Bank settlement has died of her wounds, a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem said on Tuesday.

Another woman who was less severely wounded in the same attack Monday at a grocery store in Beit Horon settlement, northwest of Jerusalem, was being treated at another hospital.

The two attackers were shot dead by security guards. Israeli police said one was in his early 20s while the other was a teenager.

The attack was the third inside a West Bank settlement since January 17, when an Israeli woman was stabbed to death at the entrance to her home in Otniel.

According to public radio, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the army to submit a "comprehensive plan" to better ensure the security of settlements.

Violence since October 1 has killed 159 Palestinians and 25 Israelis, as well as an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers, while others have been shot dead by Israeli forces during protests and clashes.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Scientists behind a "Doomsday Clock" that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm are set to announce Tuesday whether civilization is any closer or farther from disaster.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is expected to unveil the minute hand on the metaphorical clock in Washington, D.C. The clock reflects how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies, according to the bulletin.

California Gov. Jerry Brown will join former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry for a discussion at Stanford University after the unveiling.

The scientists behind the bulletin adjusted the clock from five minutes-to-midnight to three minutes-to-midnight last year, citing climate change, modernization of nuclear weapons and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals as "extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity."

The minute hand is assessed each year. It has also previously stayed the same and been adjusted in the opposite direction. Most recently in 2010, bulletin scientists cited nuclear talks between the U.S. and Russia and agreement to limit a rise in global temperature for a change from five minutes-to-midnight to six minutes-to-midnight.

This year's clock is expected to consider tensions between the United States and Russia and the recent North Korean nuclear test.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons. The clock was created two years later, with midnight symbolizing apocalypse.

The decision to move or leave the clock alone is made by the bulletin's science and security board, which includes physicists and environmental scientists from around the world, in consultation with the bulletin's Board of Sponsors, which includes 17 Nobel laureates.

The closest the clock has come to midnight was two minutes away in 1953, when the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb that followed a U.S. hydrogen bomb test.