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Wednesday 06.19.2013

P.M. Kitco Roundup: Gold Lower, Hits 4-Wk Low,
on Long Liquidation, Tech. Selling Ahead Of FOMC Result
By Jim Wyckoff - Forbes.com
(Kitco News) - Comex gold futures prices ended the U.S. day session with solid losses Tuesday, pressured by technical selling, including pre-placed sell stop orders being triggered. Weak-handed long liquidation was also featured ahead of results from a very important U.S. central bank meeting. Comex August gold last traded down $16.70 at $1,366.40 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted down $17.60 at $1,367.50. July Comex silver last traded down $0.113 at $21.645 an ounce.
The higher U.S. stock market Tuesday was also a bearish element for the precious metals, as it pulled in investor funds at the expense of other investment assets, including safe-haven gold. The recent stock market strength not only in the U.S. but in other major world stock markets has kept buying interest in gold and silver limited.

Theory of Interest and Prices in Paper Currency Part III (Credit)
BY KEITH WEINER - FinancialSense.com
In this third part, we look at how credit comes into existence (via arbitrage, of course) with legitimate entrepreneur borrowers. We also look at the counterfeit credit of the central banks (which is not arbitrage). We introduce the concept of speculation in markets for government promises, compared to legitimate trading of commodities. We also discuss the prerequisite concepts. Marginal time preference and marginal productivity are absolutely essential to the theory of interest and prices. That leads to the last new concept resonance.

Bitcoin In IRS Crosshairs, Says Government Report
Robert W. Wood, Contributor - Forbes.com
Bitcoin is virtual currency with no central bank or government. What does the federal government think of it? The IRS could do a better job telling people they have to pay tax on Bitcoin transactions, says a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The report gives a few simple examples too:

• Bill is a Bitcoin miner. He successfully mines 25 Bitcoins. Bill may have earned taxable income from his mining activities.
• Carol makes T-shirts and sells them over the Internet. She sells a T-shirt to Bill, who pays her with Bitcoins. Carol may have earned taxable income from the sale of the T-shirt.

Obama Says Bernanke Has Been at Fed 'Longer Than He Wanted'
By Craig Torres & Rich Miller - Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has stayed in his post "longer than he wanted," one of the clearest signals the central bank chief will leave when his current term expires next year.
"Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job," Obama said in an interview with Charlie Rose that aired yesterday on PBS, when asked about nominating him for another term subject to Senate approval. "He's already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to."

Ben Bernanke Gets Another Chance to Explain Himself
By Peter Coy - BusinessWeek.com
Ben Bernanke has been chairman of the Federal Reserve since 2006, so he should know by now that every syllable that passes his lips is worth billions of dollars to the bond market. But Bernanke seemed to step on his own message in congressional testimony last month when he said the Fed could "take a step down in our pace of purchases" in the "next few meetings" if it sees continued and sustainable improvement in the economy. Bond prices instantly fell and 10-year Treasury yields are now around 2.2 percent, vs. 1.9 percent before he spoke. Mortgage rates rose as well, potentially chilling the housing recovery.

Whenever Margin Debt Goes Over 2.25% Of GDP
The Stock Market Always Crashes
By Michael Snyder -TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What do 1929, 2000 and 2007 all have in common? Those were all years in which we saw a dramatic spike in margin debt. In all three instances, investors became highly leveraged in order to "take advantage" of a soaring stock market. But of course we all know what happened each time. The spike in margin debt was rapidly followed by a horrifying stock market crash. Well guess what? It is happening again. In April (the last month we have a number for), margin debt rose to an all-time high of more than 384 billion dollars. The previous high was 381 billion dollars which occurred back in July 2007. Margin debt is about 29 percent higher than it was a year ago, and the S&P 500 has risen by more than 20 percent since last fall. The stock market just continues to rise even though the underlying economic fundamentals continue to get worse. So should we be alarmed? Is the stock market bubble going to burst at some point? Well, if history is any indication we are in big trouble. In the past, whenever margin debt has gone over 2.25% of GDP the stock market has crashed. That certainly does not mean that the market is going to crash this week, but it is a major red flag.

Stock-Market Crashes Through the Ages –
Part III – Early 20th Century
by Pivotfarm - ZeroHedge.com
The 20th century could be categorized as THE century when communications took off and we started living in each other's pockets. Lives had been ruined by war, trouble and strife. Wealth had been redistributed beyond belief. There were no longer just a few that were making the profits, but there were growing classes of people that wanted recognition.
They might not have got it until the second half of the 20th century, but the way things unraveled in the first half meant that people were not prepared to sit back and let things go into the hands of the rich landlords and the factory owners.

Sudden Stock Crashes
Usually Caused by Human Error, SEC Says
By Sam Mamudi - Bloomberg.com
Concern that American stock markets have become more susceptible to split-second crashes due to computerization isn't supported by the data, a Securities and Exchange Commission official said.
Most "mini-flash crashes," a term sometimes applied when an individual U.S. stock briefly surges or plunges for no obvious reason, are the result of human errors, not broken software, said Gregg Berman, head of the SEC's Office of Analytics and Research.

Biggest Bond Bubble In History Is Turning Into Carnage
By Wolf Richter - ZeroHedge.com
"We've intentionally blown the biggest government bond bubble in history," confessed Andy Haldane, Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, to Members of Parliament in London last week. The bursting of that bubble was a risk he felt "acutely," he warned. There have already been "shades of that." And he saw "a disorderly reversion in the yields of government bonds" as the "biggest risk to global financial stability."
And "shades of that," as Haldane put it with classic British humor, namely understatement, are visible everywhere.

NSA-Style Intelligence Comes
To Financial Services Communications
By Tom Groenfeldt, Contributor - Forbes.com
Monitoring electronic conversations just got a lot more powerful with the alliance of Digital Reasoning and OP3Nvoice, announced at SIFMA today.
Digital Reasoning, with roots in defense and intelligence, can search and understand structured and unstructured data and use it to build a view of underlying entities, facts, relationships and discover geospatial and temporal patterns. OP3Nvoice can monitor audio, video and text conversations across channels including fixed lines, mobile and Skype and search and locate conversations very fast.

The Cyprus Bail-In Blows Up:
President Urges Complete Bailout Overhaul (Full Letter)
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades has realized (as we warned), too late it seems for the thousands of domestic and foreign depositors who were sacrificed at the alter of monetary union, that the TROIKA's terms are "too onerous." Anastasiades has asked EU lenders to unwind the complex restructuring and partial merger of its two largest banks leaving EU officials "puzzled", according to a letter the FT has uncovered, as "essentially, he is asking for a complete reversal of the program." The EU officials claim that the failure to prepare for the bailout's impact was partially the fault of Mr Anastasiades' government, which voted down a first agreed rescue before succumbing to a similar deal nine days later.
The FT goes on to note that although the letter does not request it explicitly, Mr Anastasiades is in effect asking for further eurozone loans on top of the existing EUR10bn sovereign bailout – something specifically ruled out by a German-led group of countries at the time. The return of beggars-can-be-choosers we presume - or just token gestures to recover some populist support as the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Opponents slam Internet sales tax bill
By Tim Devaney-The Washington Times
Opponents of an Internet sales tax bill on Tuesday called it a "21st century version of taxation without representation," warning it raises the prospect of taxing online retailers in jurisdictions where the owners of those businesses cannot vote.
Strongly supported by state governments, the "Marketplace Fairness Act" sailed through the Senate last month on bipartisan support, and already has dozens of co-sponsors in the House. Backers say it will level the playing field for traditional retailers by forcing Internet rivals to also collect state sales taxes.

Marketplace Fairness Act Would Be Bad For Small Businesses
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate join together to emphasize damage bill would do to independent biz
BY: Ellison Barber - FreeBeacon.com
Grover Norquist and Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Rand Paul (R., Ky.) joined a group of Republican House members to say the Marketplace Fairness Act would stifle growth and unduly harm small business owners.
"The reason it passed, and it passed with significant margins in the Senate, is because you've got a lot of very powerful lobbyist in Washington, D.C. who are supporting this bill. The giant corporations … are united behind this bill because it helps all of the giant companies," Cruz said.

Obamacare Won't Bring Don't Costs
Experts say ACA fails to address problem
of skyrocketing health care costs
BY: Daniel Wiser - FreeBeacon.com
President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act fails to address the problem of escalating health care costs, according to testimony by health care experts at a committee hearing Tuesday.
Steven Brill, a health care writer and contributing editor to Time, told members of the Senate Finance Committee that while the act, more commonly known as Obamacare, may extend coverage to some currently uninsured Americans, it does not include measures to curb rising insurance premiums or the cost of providing medical services.
"Obamacare does not address the fundamental problem, which is the high prices," Brill said.

A Return To 10 Percent Down Payments
By Zillow, Contributor - Forbes.com
After virtually disappearing for years, the 10 percent down payment is back.
Around the U.S., some lenders are offering 90 percent financing again on all loan types. For example, San Francisco-based RPM Mortgage resumed offering "piggyback" loans in the first quarter of 2013 after discontinuing them during the height of the credit crisis in late 2007, according to Vice President Julian Hebron. (A piggyback loan enables a home buyer to put only 10 percent down without having to buy mortgage insurance. This is done by getting two loans totaling 90 percent.)

Real Estate Investing: Is Now the Time
to Take Advantage of the Current Buyer's Market?
By Dennis Miller - GoldSeek.com
While I spent well over three decades writing books and teaching the subject of negotiations, some of the best lessons I learned on the subject came from luck.
Many investment pundits recommend taking full advantage of the current buyer's market in real estate. Lenders are foreclosing on many properties, often selling them at a loss. At the same time, many private sellers are listing their property on the market well below what they paid for it. This presents wonderful buying opportunities for those who can take advantage of them. If you are going to buy property, you want the best price you can get.

Truckers push Obama to delay mandate
for 70-hour driving week
By Ben Goad - TheHill.com
Industry officials and House Republicans on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to pull back regulations that would limit the amount of time that truck drivers can spend behind the wheel.
Beginning on July 1, the new rules would slash the hours per week commercial drivers can spend on the road to 70 per week, while adding new requirements for rest periods.

Unions eyeing fight on role of federal contractors
By TARINI PARTI and BYRON TAU | Politico.com
Unions representing federal employees are gearing up for a battle against government contractors after the revelation that the National Security Agency leaks came from a 29-year-old at Booz Allen Hamilton.
More and more work has shifted from the federal government to contractors in recent years in an effort to cut down the size of government, and the unions hope they can use Edward Snowden, the source of the NSA leaks, as an example for the need for reform — and to fight off proposals on Capitol Hill to expand federal contracting.

10 Disturbing Tales From The Side Streets
And Dark Alleys Of America
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Every night Americans prove that they are willing to do absolutely horrible things to their fellow human beings. Most of the time, we never even hear about the sick and twisted things that happen on the side streets and dark alleys of America. Once in a while a particularly twisted story will get picked up by the news, but usually most Americans are pretty much able to isolate themselves from the depravity that is happening all around them. Unfortunately, the social decay that is eating away at our society like cancer is spreading. It is getting harder and harder for average Americans to keep the darkness at bay. When it suddenly reaches out and touches your family, it can be absolutely shocking. America is not the kind, loving and gentle place that is portrayed in our movies and on our television shows. The sad truth is that America is becoming colder and meaner with each passing day. Yes, there are definitely some Americans that are kind and compassionate, but they are in the minority. As our economic decline becomes even more severe, the hearts of even more Americans are going to grow cold. And people with cold hearts can do some absolutely terrible things. The following are 10 disturbing tales from the side streets and dark alleys of America…

Biden's gun control vow: 'We will get it'
By David Sherfinski-The Washington Times
Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday the fight for Congressional action on gun legislation is far from over as he outlined a subset of executive actions the Obama administration has taken to reduce gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings in December.
The address was simultaneously a summary of what President Obama has been able to do since the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and a rallying cry to remind voters and lawmakers that neither he nor Mr. Obama will let the issue fade from public memory.

Pope Francis commands Christians
to love those who 'bomb and kill'
By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times
Pope Francis exhorted the faithful in a Tuesday homily to love one's enemy — even when the enemy is a terrorist who blows up other people.
It's what Jesus teaches, he said, the Catholic News Agency reported. The forgiveness principle and the biblical command to love all is all-encompassing, he said. At the same time, he admitted that obedience to the teaching is tougher in certain circumstances, CNA reported.

Singularity's vision or pie-in-the-sky?
Dmitry Itskov Wants To Live Forever.
(He Wants You To Live Forever, Too.)
By Carol Pinchefsky, Contributor - Forbes.com
At the Global Future 2045 conference (GF2045) in New York City on June 15-16, 2013, emcee Philippe van Nedervelde said, "It used to be that the only sure things are death and taxes. Soon, it will just be taxes. And if we get to live and prosper forever, perhaps even taxes will one day go the way of the Dodo too." His statement was met with laughter.
Who wants to live forever? The attendees of the GF2045 do, and these neuroscientists, neuroengineers, and futurists are dedicating their considerable resources to everlasting life. But no one is more dedicated than Dmitry Itskov, the Russian entrepreneur who founded GF2045, as well as a public science project dedicated to exceeding the natural lifetime warranty of the body…then replacing the need for a body altogether.

China's Other Nuke Program
Nuclear power plants coming online in China
as plans in U.S. have stalled
BY: Bill McMorris - FreeBeacon.com
China is building four new nuclear plants, and has nearly completed construction on two of them, in the Zhejiang and Shandong provinces over the past five years, while similar plants in the United States have only just begun construction. Westinghouse, an American nuclear power company, is in charge of construction on both sets of plants.
"By January 2013, all major components were installed on site," Westinghouse Vice President of Strategy Michael Latsko said at the 2013 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Conference. "We will turn over the main control of the plants later this year and we're training operators … so China will be self-sufficient."

Methane Leaks Threaten the Future of Shale Gas
By Joao Peixe - OilPrice.com
The development of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has enabled a boom in the production of shale gas in the US. Supporters of the fuel make boasts about its cheap and abundant nature, whilst also claiming that it is good for the environment as it is a low carbon fuel compared to other fossil fuels.
The problem is that there are other side effects to natural gas usage that could actually negate the environmental benefits of its low carbon nature.

US Refineries are set to become the Gem of the Oil Industry
By Tom Armistead - OilPrice.com
Shifting commodity prices are a given in the oil and gas industry, but sometimes the industry landscape changes in unexpected ways. In this interview with The Energy Report, Oppenheimer & Co. Managing Director and Senior Energy Analyst Fadel Gheit discusses the effect of Middle Eastern geopolitical issues on oil production, dissects the changing oil and gas production situation in the U.S. and explains how the shift in natural gas prices has turned the refinery business from the industry's perennial ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

Extreme Energy, Extreme Implications:
Interview with Michael Klare
Interview by James Stafford of Oilprice.com
If oil and gas is a profoundly dynamic phenomenon, then so too must be environmental risk and conflicts over natural resources—and we are not getting the full picture from the mainstream media, according to Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, TomDispatch blogger, and author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Metropolitan Books, 2008). As risk multiply, conventional sources evaporate and we are left with "extreme" energy, renewables may be the only way to avoid war and disaster.
In this Tom Dispatch exclusive interview with Oilprice.com, Klare discusses:

• Why we are talking about a "resurgence" of American power
• Why the issue of US natural gas exports is a geopolitical dilemma
• Why Myanmar is important but not critical to the US Asia-Pacific "pivot"
• Why Myanmar IS critical to China
• Why India and Japan are key to the US' evolving Asia policy
• Why the shale revolution is the number topic around the world
• Why unconventional oil and gas has the unfair advantage
• Why WE don't need Keystone XL, but the tar sands industry is desperate
• Why the renewables are the only way forward

The Web Cookie Is Dying.
Here's The Creepier Technology That Comes Next
By Adam Tanner, Contributor - Forbes.com
It may raise hackles to think that U.S. intelligence officials might be monitoring your telephone and Internet communications, but for most of us it's only the marketers who are really interested in our everyday online activities. And with many billions of dollars at stake, companies are increasingly turning to more sophisticated techniques to identify potential clients and deliver relevant advertising.
Many Internet advertisers rely on cookies, digital code stored on your browser. Some websites place multiple cookies when you visit, allowing them to track some of your activity over time (you can see who is tracking you by installing an application such as Ghostery or Abine's "DoNotTrackMe").

The Bill Clinton paradox
By JOHN F. HARRIS and MAGGIE HABERMAN | Politico.com
Listen to Bill Clinton's speeches this spring and you would have heard him talk at a father-of-the-year event about the satisfactions of parenting — "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
There was the commencement speech at Howard University, where he gave a roaming discourse on the country's changing racial composition, insights gained from studying the human genome and approaching the future with "open hands" versus "closed fists."

Reid: House will face pressure to approve immigration reform
By Alexander Bolton - TheHill.com
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the House will face enormous pressure to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Reid said he's told the four Democrats in the bipartisan group that drafted the Senate bill to ignore Boehner's statements and to not worry about the House.

Senate rejects border fence
By Stephen Dinan-The Washington Times
Senators on Tuesday rejected building the 700 miles of double-tier border fencing Congress authorized just seven years ago, with a majority of the Senate saying they didn't want to delay granting illegal immigrants legal status while the fence was being built.
The 54-39 vote to reject the fence shows the core of the immigration deal is holding. The vote broke mostly along party lines, though five Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio and the rest of the bill's authors, voted against the fence, and two Democrats voted for it.

Democrats defy Issa,
release full transcript from IRS investigation
By Peter Schroeder and Bernie Becker - TheHill.com
House Democrats on Tuesday defied Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) by releasing a full transcript from the congressional investigation into the IRS's targeting of conservative groups.
The more than 200 pages released brought no major revelations into the scandal, but represented an escalation in the increasingly bitter battle between Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the Oversight panel's ranking member.

NSA director describes surveillance as 'limited,
focused' in House hearing
Keith Alexander testifies to Congress that programs revealed by Edward Snowden have stopped 'more than 50' attacks
By Spencer Ackerman in Washington - The Guardian
Some of the most senior intelligence and law enforcement officials in theUnited States strongly defended the National Security Agency's broad surveillance efforts on Tuesday, saying they had disrupted more than 50 terrorist plots around the world.
General Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, told a rare public hearing of the House intelligence committee in Washington that the programs were "critical" to the ability of the intelligence community to protect the US.

NSA chief cites 50 foiled plots in defense of spying programs
By Carlo Muñoz - TheHill.com
Domestic intelligence programs run by the National Security Agency (NSA) have "disrupted" more than 50 potential terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies, NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander told Congress on Tuesday.
The plots included a previously undisclosed plan to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, Alexander said.

Congress forgets checks and balances
Congress has become a rubber stamp for the NSA
By Dana Milbank - WashingtonPost.com
The Founders created a system of checks and balances. Those overseeing the nation's spying have switched to a system of cheers and bouquets.
This was the impression given by members of the House intelligence committee as they held an open-to-the-public hearing Tuesday on the National Security Agency's snooping into Americans' phone and Internet records.

In Obama they trust much less these days;
Snowden is among the disillusioned
By Dave Boyer and Shaun Waterman-The Washington Times
A string of scandals and fresh concerns about government overreach from the Internal Revenue Service to the National Security Agency have soured voters on President Obama and left many questioning his honesty and trustworthiness.
On a day when NSA leaker Edward Snowden stepped up his assault on government surveillance programs in a lengthy Internet chat, Mr. Obama was confronted with some of the worst poll numbers of his presidency. A CNN/ORC survey released Monday found Mr. Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 45 percent, a drop of 8 percentage points in one month, as the administration is besieged by negative news reports about its secretive and broad surveillance programs.

NSA Implementing 'Two-Person' Rule
To Stop The Next Edward Snowden
By Andy Greenberg, Forbes Staff
The next Edward Snowden may need a partner on the inside.
On Tuesday, National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander told a congressional hearing of the Intelligence Committee that the agency is implementing a "two-person" system to prevent future leaks of classified information like the one pulled off by 29-year-old Booz Allen contractor Edward Snowden, who exfiltrated "thousands" of files according to the Guardian, to whom he has given several of the secret documents.
"We have to learn from these mistakes when they occur," Representative Charlies Ruppersberger said to Alexander in the hearing. "What system are you or the director of national intelligence administration putting into place to make sure that if another person were to turn against his or her country we would have an alarm system that would not put us in this position?"

Obama stumbles defending security programs
By Dave Boyer-The Washington Times
President Obama has had difficulty finding his footing and has been late to the game in defending federal intelligence surveillance programs as a valuable weapon for thwarting terrorist plots, national security analysts say.
When Mr. Obama appeared on TV with PBS interviewer Charlie Rose Monday night, it was his first high-profile comment on the secret phone and Internet surveillance since the story broke on June 5, nearly two weeks earlier. And even then, the president's remarks were seen even by supporters of the programs as muddled.

This country is worth dying for…
Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower answers reader questions
The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history answered your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations
Guardian.co.uk
Edward Snowden Q&A
It is the interview the world's media organisations have been chasing for more than a week, but instead Edward Snowden is giving Guardian readers the exclusive.
The 29-year-old former NSA contractor and source of the Guardian's NSA files coverage will – with the help of Glenn Greenwald – take your questions today on why he revealed the NSA's top-secret surveillance of US citizens, the international storm that has ensued, and the uncertain future he now faces. Ask him anything.

Obama Goes to Germany
Obama expected to face questioning on surveillance, drone strikes, pivot to Asia in meeting with Merkel
BY: Bill Gertz - FreeBeacon.com
President Barack Obama arrived in Germany Tuesday night for his first official visit as president to a key European ally where he is expected to face questions from German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday amid new disclosures about widespread U.S. electronic surveillance.
Other issues expected to be raised during the summit are the role played by U.S. military bases in Germany in drone strikes against terrorists and a U.S. pivot to Asia that has Europeans worried about diminished U.S. attention on the continent.

Russia's Putin hangs tough on Syria at G-8 summit
By Rowan Scarborough-The Washington Times
Outnumbered at the just-completed G-8 conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not give an inch on Syria, preferring to maintain one of Russia's most valuable, though unpopular, alliances.
While President Obama and the leaders of six other Western democracies want a framework that would lead to Syrian President Bashar Assad relinquishing power, Mr. Putin views Mr. Assad as a unique ally, analysts say.

Putin dashes G8 hopes for Syria breakthrough
Russian leader insists he cannot support peace talks convened on the assumption that Bashar al-Assad will step down
By Patrick Wintour - Guardian.co.uk
Hopes that the G8 summit would set out a clear route map to end the bloody civil war in Syria have been dashed after Vladimir Putin, insisted he could not back a peace conference convened on the assumption that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would step down.
The prime minister, David Cameron, had been hoping for "a moment of clarity" at the summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, so that world leaders could agree the terms of a peace conference leading to a transitional government with executive powers.

U.N. Troops On the March
Experts warn that the mission could have difficulties,
question the use of U.N. forces
BY: Alana Goodman - FreeBeacon.com
The United Nations is in the process of deploying a 3,000-strong intervention force in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight armed rebel groups in a move that some foreign policy experts say sets a dangerous precedent and could do more harm than good in the region.
While the United Nations already has over 17,000 peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are allowed to use force to protect civilians under immediate threat, the intervention troops, who will be part of the existing mission, will have more flexibility when it comes to fighting rebel groups.

Obama: You Can't Fathom 'Complexities' of Syria Policy
'If You Haven't Been in Situation Room'
Obama: I hear folks saying, "Katie, bar the door,
let's just go in and knock out Syria."
BY DANIEL HALPER - WeeklyStandard.com
Charlie Rose last night asked President Obama his new Syria policy. The president first objected to it being called a new policy. "I'm not sure you can characterize this as a new policy. This is consistent with the policy that I've had throughout," he said.
Obama then explained the goal is regional stability, and especially in Syria. "Really, what we're trying to do is take sides against extremists of all sorts and in favor of people who are in favor of moderation, tolerance, representative government, and over the long-term, stability and prosperity for the people of Syria," said Obama.

Senators pledge 'full support'
for 'decisive' military action in Syria
By Julian Pecquet - TheHill.com
Senators from both parties on Tuesday urged President Obama to immediately send weapons to the Syrian opposition and take out President Bashar Assad's air forces.
Syria is at a "critical juncture" and the United States must do what it can to reverse Assad's recent gains on the ground, the chairmen of the Foreign Relations and Armed Forces panels, Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.), wrote in a letter to Obama along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

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