Washington state reader S.A. starts out today's story with this blog from yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal.

As European officials meet in Luxembourg Sunday in a two-day bid to halt a spiraling Greek debt crisis, unsettling parallels can be found with a weekend gathering of U.S. officials three years ago.

As is now etched into popular memory, the frantic deal-making at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Sept. 14-15, 2008, failed to prevent the troubles of another single borrower, Lehman Brothers, from throwing the entire world’s financial markets into turmoil. Could the same happen again? Might the struggle to save Greece suffer from the same failure of best intentions?

It's not a long read...and the link is here.

Here's a Roy Stephens offering that was posted over at spiegel.de yesterday.

A deal isn't yet in sight for the next Greek rescue package, but Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel sought to express unity during a Friday meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin. Both, however, now agree that bank participation should be voluntary.

What this means is that the European taxpayer will pay the shot...and the banks won't lose a nickel. But it's not over 'till it's over...and I'm sure there will be fur flying on this issue for a long time to come. The link is here.

Here's another spiegel.de story from yesterday...this one is from Roy Stephens as well

Greece needs help, but what should that help look like? The question has deeply divided Europe this week, with many concerned about Berlin's demands for private sector involvement. A compromise emerged on Friday, but German editorialists are split over the way forward.

This piece is a little longer than the last one...and the link is here.

Italy's credit ratings may be reduced by Moody’s Investors Service because of economic growth challenges, risks associated with efforts to reduce debt and the potential for higher borrowing costs.

The nation’s third-ranked Aa2 local and foreign-currency government bond ratings were placed under review for a possible downgrade, Moody’s said in a statement yesterday.

This is a Bloomberg story from late yesterday afternoon that's courtesy of Washington state reader S.A...and the link is here.

[Eric sent me this interview at 3:38 a.m. Eastern time this morning...and I'm sticking it in here.]

Nigel Farage is a founder member of the UK Independence Party, which was established in September 1993. He is the Member of the European Parliament for the South East region and is the leader of the parliamentary party in the EU parliament.

The central aim of the party is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and to regain control of this nation's governance through its own Parliament at Westminster.

Nigel can really think on this feet...and his rapier-like wit is met with great discomfort by those on the receiving end at the European Union's parliament.

This audio interview about the woes in Greece and the rest of Europe is well worth your time...and Eric says it's one heck of an interview. The link is here.

For the second Saturday in a row I'm posting Doug Noland's Friday commentary...which bears the title you've just read. Doug pulls no punches here...and I love it when he's angry!

"Expanding debt impairment is becoming a major problem; there’s no apparent default mechanism that wouldn’t imperil many of the world’s major financial institutions; and the tentacles of this potential crisis reach far out across the global system. “Extend and pretend” is the new normal, as global markets become a politicians and policymaking confidence game. Europe – and the world’s – new “Lehman Moment” commences when the markets question the soundness of the global derivatives marketplace."

I thank reader U.D. for sending this along...and you have to scroll about three quarters of the way down the page to find the heading. I consider this a must read...and the link is here.

Here's a story from yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal that found its way into a GATA release on Friday morning.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other owners of large metals warehouses are being scrutinized by the London Metal Exchange after being accused by users like Coca-Cola Co. of restricting the amount of metal they release to customers, inflating prices.

The board of the LME met on Thursday to discuss complaints from aluminum users and market traders, who say operators of warehouses, which also include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Glencore International PLC, should be forced to allow the metal out more quickly to meet demand.

I'm shocked out of my shoes that two such prominent names would be accused of manipulating commodity prices! You should have figured out by now, dear reader, that these two companies are basically criminal organizations. Matt Taibbi's description of GS as "the great vampire squid with its tentacles wrapped around the face of humanity, sticking its blood-funnel into anything that smells of money" is a pretty apt description of both firms.

The link to this story, which is well worth reading, is here.

Public pension funds managing the retirement and health care benefits of teachers and firemen are pouring money into hedge funds, as much as doubling the money they allocate to the industry, in a desperate attempt to bridge the funding gap in their plans.

This story is courtesy of West Virginia reader Elliot Simon...and was posted over at cnbc.com on Thursday...and the link is here.

Police say a series of catalytic converter thefts at car dealerships on Route 88 may be the work of the same individuals.

Seven automotive businesses along the strip have reported vehicles damaged because someone removed catalytic converters to get money for the platinum inside, according to Detective Capt. Paul Daly, unit commander.

Daly said the thieves are selling the platinum at all-time high market prices, getting as much as $35 to $235 per catalytic converter that is stolen.

The story was posted in the Asbury Park Press yesterday...and I thank Florida reader Donna Badach for sharing it with us. The link is here.

Here's another GATA release where Chris Powell has already wordsmithed the preamble for us. It's a fascinating look at infinite fiat money in the late 1700s...and the link to the two 9-minute long videos, are here.

With gold near a record, most miners should put up ridiculous earnings in the year ahead, which should make their shares act like tech circa 1998, right?

Nope. The biggest miners, whose shares populate the GDX gold miner ETF, did outperform gold (represented here by the GLD ETF) during most of its recent epic run, just as you’d expect. But in April the two trends diverged, and lately the divergence has become a chasm. Gold is up 22% in the past 12 months and the big miners are, as a group, virtually unchanged.

This is painful and humbling for investors who bet on gold by loading up on mining shares, only to discover that they were right on the macro but wrong on the implementation. But one person’s pain is another’s opportunity, and the market appears to be offering a whopper here.

This is a must read piece [with a most excellent graph] that was posted by John Rubino over at his website dollarcollapse.com...and I thank 'Don in Virginia' for sending it along...and the link is here.

Members of congress had to release their stock holdings information on Thursday. Have you ever wondered what Ron Paul is invested in? There were no surprises in the list for me, as it's virtually wall-to-wall precious metals.

I thank Olive Branch, Mississippi reader Chuck Demastus for sending this along. It's a posting over at the runronpaul.com website...and the link to this short must read piece is here.

Reader Phil Barlett provides today's last gold-related story...and it's a posting from over at zerohedge.com yesterday.

In what could be the oddest development in the precious metals market in a long time, the World Gold Council has just unveiled an initiative whose sole purpose if to combat "conflict gold." From the just released notice: "The World Gold Council today announces that, working together with its member companies and the leading gold refiners, it has produced a draft framework of standards designed to combat gold that enables, fuels or finances armed conflict.

It's a longish read, but very interesting...and the link is here.

Wednesday's edition of Conversations With Casey is a must read, as it's Doug being Doug at the top of his game...and I agree totally with everything that's in here.

"It’s important to call a spade a spade, to say the emperor has no clothes – as in the old fairy tale. It’s maddening and disappointing to see how people are awed by pomp and circumstance. There are estimates that a billion people around the world took time out of their lives to watch two people they don’t know, and have no meaningful connection with, make promises to each other they probably won’t keep. Didn’t they learn anything from the union of jug-eared Charles with dim-witted Diana? Why are royals still put on pedestals? This is the 21st century, for crying out loud. It’s disgusting to see people go all gaga and woozy in the knees because these descendants of gangsters celebrated a perfectly ordinary event at huge public expense. I’d much rather watch the excellent merengue-dancing dog than a dozen royal weddings."

That paragraph contains just about the nicest thing he had to say. Here's the link...and I urge you to read this from one end to the other.

Saudi Arabia's rulers are doing their utmost to resist the tide of history. The wealthy Arab country wants peace and stability within its society and in the region. But even the ultraconservative kingdom has not remained untouched by the unrest in the Arab world.

This is a 2-page background story on what's simmering under the hood in the number one oil producing country in the world. Reader Roy Stephens sent it to me earlier this week...and it's well worth your time. The link to this spiegel.de essay is here.

Reader U.D. sent me this quiz earlier this week...and I clicked on the link with little enthusiasm. However, I was surprised at what I found...and knew immediately that it would go into today's column.

As U.D. said..."It is amazing how often we speak of these countries and don't really know where they are. Drag the country's name onto the map. There is no humbling score nor time limit; this exercise is a learning tool. Don't fear making an error. Once you finish the puzzle, you will be far more educated about this very intense area of our world. You think you know the countries? Just wait..."

I've been going through this quiz every day...and I've just about got every country's location down pat. I urge you to do the same, so save the link, which is here.

As both Doug Casey, Bill Buckler and a handful of other have said, the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges, had "Honey Trap" written all over it.

I don't often post anything written by Paul Craig Roberts...but this commentary is right on the money as far as I'm concerned.

It's a posting from May 20th over at globalresearch.ca...and I thank Roy Stephens for sharing this short, must read essay with us. The link is here.

A wave of consumer spending has spread across Belarus since the spring, but it does not augur boom times for the economy. Belarusians are buying precious metals, imported goods, real estate, and above all foreign currency as the ruble continues to lose value and inflation reaches worrying levels.

The fall in the value of the ruble, which began in mid-March, is only one symptom of a chronic illness in the Belarusian economy and perhaps the hardest test yet for the economic model put in place over the past 16 years by the administration of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Casey Research's own Louis James passed this story around to all the editors earlier this week...and it, too, is a must read. If you want to know what the beginnings of hyperinflation look like, this is it. The link is here.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a third term in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Turkey. But he fell short of his stated goal of a two-thirds majority, which would have allowed him to unilaterally change the constitution. His AKP was hampered by a strong showing by the Kurds and ultra-nationalists.

Winning an election with around 50 percent of the vote certainly sounds like an impressive result. But measured against the expectations that Recep Tayyip Erdogan had fueled in the run-up to Sunday's parliamentary election in Turkey, the victory almost seems like a defeat.

This was posted on Monday over at the spiegel.de website...and is Roy Stephens last offering of the day. The link is here.

I just love baseball. It's the only team sport that I enjoy playing...and watching. If you're a baseball fan, this 8:15 video clip is a hoot. I thank reader D. Slezak for sharing this clip which is posted over at shoonsports.com...and has been on that website since January 28th...so it's been around for awhile, but it's the first time I've seen it. The link is here.

Just when you think you've seen everything, along come a video clip that proves you wrong...and this is one those times.

This has nothing to do with the 1871 Edward Lear poem of the same name. It's a video of two best buddies...a barn owl and a black cat. Both are obviously somebody's pets...and what fun they have together!

I thank my dad for sending me this clip earlier in the week...and I'll take this opportunity to wish him a happy Father's Day on Sunday. The clip, posted over at wimp.com, runs for 3:24...and is a must watch! The link is here. Enjoy!