While the US keeps repeating, "The attack in Libya was not premeditated" as if it were a chanting mantra, evidence everywhere suggests otherwise. Not only did the Egyptians warn the US nearly a week before, but the Libyan president says there's no doubt the attacks were pre-planned starting months ago and officials warned the US 3 days before the attack (a Libyan Security official met with diplomat in the city 3 days before the attack to warn them), again refuting the popular theory that an anti-muslim film was the reason behind a protest that turned deadly as the US would have us believe, yet if you look around the world at the numerous protests, even the violent ones are largely rocks, bottles and the like, not Rocket propelled grenades and artillery pieces as well as automatic weapons.
As details become more clear, there were in fact ex-Seal Team members among the Benghazi dead, this team arrived at an airport in Libya and was escorted to the safe house I mentioned where some embassy staff members escaped to, which also came under attack. The heavily armed seal team (or ex-seal team in civilian clothes) was picked up at the airport and accompanied in to the fight by a Libyan militia group and were ambushed again by RPGs and mortars as soon a they arrived. The Libyan militia was instrumental in the rescue of the staff in the safe house, two of which were killed.
As mentioned, Libyans have condemned the attacks and stage solidarity protests saying the attacks did not represent the Libyan people.
Protests and attacks at embassies and other diplomatic missions in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia (Arab Spring countries) as well as Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia continue. Causalities have been reported at many of the protests.
In Afganistan a recent string attacks by militants who have infiltrated police and other security organizations has left 4 US troops dead this morning, this marks the 3rd such attack in 3 days killing 8 US troops thus far and a similar attack killed two British troops yesterday. The US/NATO response was bombing of an area in which insurgents were thought to be in hiding, which led to the death of 8 women and young girls. Villagers drove the bodies to the provincial capital and chanted, "Death to America". The civilian casualties have caused a deep divide between the Afghan government and NATO and the US led ISAF forces, it appears a break down in cooperation is in the making. The point of al of this is not the individual events, but the seeming coordination invoking muslim rage against the West, which when looked at with a broader perspective, all seems to be very intentional.
Israel condemned the US for not recognizing the rise in militancy, instead choosing to ignore it. This is very similar to the long term analysis right here on our own pages as the Arab Spring saw very weak governments after the fall of the establishment governments. In fact the ruling party in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, the same group I had mentioned which was being aided by militants who crossed the border in to Egypt during the Mubarak crisis, back then I warned they were preparing the Muslim Brotherhood to step in to the power vacuum. The bigger picture presented in that analysis was looking at Iraq and Afghanistan as a model for the Arab Spring nations, the main point being that after a decade and with strong international and US military presence, neither countries governments can project power outside of their capital, even with all of the US/NATO military support. The ugly question was, "What happens to the Arab Spring Nations? What radicals step in to the power vacuum there?"
Meanwhile in China, anti-Japanese protests have swelled, engulfing dozens of cities and attacks have been carried out against Chinese people themselves for driving Toyota's or other Japanese cars. The Chinese owners of such cars are now covering the brand with Chinese flags and stickers. The Chinese have stepped up Naval operations since 6 Chinese "observation" ships crossed in to the Japanese territorial waters surrounding the disputed islands and refused for some time to turn back when confronted by the Japanese Coast Guard. Since then, starting today, Chinese naval assets have begun military drills in the East China Sea, also known as the West Japanese Sea.
In what can only be called, "strange coincidence" for the time being, the new Japanese designated ambassador to China was found unconscious in the streets of Tokyo as he was walking from home to work, he later died in a hospital today with no apparent or as of yet released cause of death.
In Europe, first it was the Spanish marching/protesting austerity measures imposed by the government, today somewhere around 150,000 Portuguese took to the street protesting austerity measures imposed by the EU and IMF in exchange for a bailout. A 20-year old Portuguese protestor was taken to the hospital after trying to set himself ablaze, echoing the event in Tunisia that marked the start of the Arab Spring uprisings. The protestors are calling on the government to step down after austerity measures have pushed unemployment to its highest ever at 15% with even greater tax hikes planned.
In other flair-ups, the protests turned violent by South African miners saw a return to escalating violence as negotiations over the weekend failed to halt a planned strike to start today among the miners. There has already been violence in these protests, today the police fired rubber bullets at miners/protestors.
To tie it all together, the massive naval armada from 25 nations is growing larger in anticipation of an Israeli strike on Iran, with the US aircraft carrier, The Stennis, is en route. To really stir things up, Iran has announced their elite Revolutionary Guard is now "boots on the ground" in Syria!
Things are going from bad to worse at a frightening rate. We'll see tonight how the futures market is handling all of the sudden and escalating crisis around the world.
