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Debt Rattle September 21 2024

Sep 212024
 
 September 21, 2024  Posted by at 8:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  59 Responses »


Paul Gauguin Horsemen on the beach 1902

 

• Multiple ‘Assassination Teams’ Targeting Trump – Matt Gaetz (RT)
• Leader of The Free World? (SCF)
• What “Saving Our Democracy” Really Means (AmG)
• Mad to the Max (James Howard Kunstler)
• Harris Will Destroy Israel – Trump (RT)
• Kamalanomics: Robbing the Future to Appease the Present (Peter Schiff)
• Oklahoma Removes Over 450,000 Ineligible Voters From Rolls (ET)
• European Elite Swings Right to Crush the Left (DeMartino)
• Telegram’s Cooperation With French Authorities Led to Other Requests (Sp.)
• SEC to Seek Sanctions Against Elon Musk in Twitter Probe (Sp.)
• US To Delay Ukraine Aid Over Shortages – CNN (RT)
• Switzerland To Expel Hundreds Of Russian Scientists (RT)
• Russia Blasts West’s Silence on Nord Stream Sabotage (Sp.)
• An Unprecedented Monetary Destruction Is Coming (Lacalle)
• WaPo Inadvertently Reveals Shocking Truth About Global Warming (ZH)

 

 

 

 

DeSantis
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836920430306939046

 

 

Border

 

 

Trump Oprah

 

 

Teamsters

 

 

Diddy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836502746024866232

 

 

Watters
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836932336463593715

 

 

Oprah Kamala
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836961049326563573

 

 

Good story
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837102340177858821

 

 

Counting
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836926912402444589

 

 

Hezbollah

 

 

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

 

 

 

 

There are 5 teams out there intent on killing a presidential candidate, and it hardly makes the news. How is that possible? That fact in itself should make headlines.

• Multiple ‘Assassination Teams’ Targeting Trump – Matt Gaetz (RT)

Five “assassination teams” are currently attempting to kill former US President Donald Trump, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has claimed, citing sources in the Department of Homeland Security. Speaking to Breitbart News on Thursday, Gaetz condemned an apparent attempt on Trump’s life last weekend as “tragic” and “avoidable,” claiming that there is insufficient security around the former president to protect him from harm. Gaetz went on to claim that he recently met with an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who told him that there are “at least five teams in-country that are geared toward killing Trump.” “Three of them that we know are foreign in nature. Two of them we know are domestic in nature, and that calls for a force protection that we do not have around the former president right now,” Gaetz continued, noting that the foreign teams are linked to Ukraine, Iran, and Pakistan.

These teams are able to walk around freely in the US, Gaetz claimed, because there is “insufficient scrutiny to stop them from doing so.” Over the last two months, Trump has survived two assassination attempts. The former president and Republican presidential candidate narrowly avoided death at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July, when a bullet fired from around 150m away grazed his ear. The gunman fired from a rooftop that had inexplicably been left unprotected by the Secret Service, and managed to kill one rally goer and injure two others before he was shot dead by a sniper.

The second attempt took place at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. A gunman aiming at Trump from behind bushes was spooked by Secret Service agents and arrested after he fled the scene. The suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, had unsuccessfully attempted to join the Ukrainian military in 2022, and afterwards embarked on a scheme to recruit former Afghan commandos to fight for Kiev. Routh was questioned by US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents upon his return to the US later that year. According to Gaetz, the agents “thought his story was so suspicious that he was recruiting freedom fighters all over the world to go fight in Ukraine, and when they asked him how he was financing this, he said, ‘Oh, well, my wife is paying for it.’”

The CBP referred Routh to the DHS’ investigations unit, which “declined to even proceed with an investigation,” Gaetz continued. “They just stopped and let the guy in the country. And we’ve got a lot of questions about that.” With two assassins able to come within firing range of Trump, Gaetz said that some of his Republican colleagues “have not ruled out a mole inside the Secret Service providing information about points of vulnerability.” “I’ve not seen evidence of that,” the Florida Republican clarified, “but I’ve got colleagues that are very, very smart at this who say they can’t rule that out, given some of the anomalies and the fact pattern here.”

Gaetz
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836847604769947811

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The editors at Strategic Culture say it all comes from both sides. But, as Elon Musk said, nobody has tried to kill Biden or Harris. That is a big difference.

• Leader of The Free World? (SCF)

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has repeatedly warned that the United States “is becoming a Third World nation.” Too late, it seems. There are plenty of signs that the U.S. is already a failed state of dictatorship, poverty and violence – albeit one that sports the biggest number of billionaires and supposedly the largest military power in the world. That dichotomy is not a weird aberration. It is central to why the United States of America is a failed state. So far, in the oligarchic-controlled 2024 election cycle, there have been two assassination attempts on Trump. On July 13, he narrowly escaped death after being shot in the ear by a sniper while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania. Last weekend, a second sniper was thwarted at a golf course in Florida by Secret Service agents.

With seven weeks counting down to election day on November 5, the atmosphere across the United States is fraught with violence and a palpable sense of extreme crisis. Both candidates, Trump and his Democrat rival Kamala Harris, have labeled each other as “threats to democracy.” The level of maligning rhetoric and vilification is unprecedented and cofounds a “normal” political process. It is reasonable to cast the two parties’ campaigns as being guilty of inflaming the climate of hatred, violence, and intense polarization bordering on civil war. The corporate-controlled news media is discernibly in favor of Harris, creating a climate of enmity towards Trump, which is reciprocated by his base toward Democrats. The dysfunctional process is accentuated by many former senior Republican figures publicly endorsing the Democrat, and repudiating Trump as “unfit to serve”.

Kamala Harris and the Democrats may denounce the assassination attempts on Trump and assert that “there can be no violence in American politics”. But Harris’ election ads have painted Trump as a traitor and appeaser of foreign dictators. This seems to have been a motivating factor behind the latest assassination incident. The shooter is a fervent supporter of the U.S.-led proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. The Harris campaign has targeted Trump as a domestic enemy over his election pledge to end the war in Ukraine through diplomacy. While no one has fired a shot at Harris during her rallies – so far anyway – nevertheless, Trump and his supporters have recklessly whipped up violence against election officials and immigrants who are perceived as pro-Democrat. The former president has persisted in making baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through systematic fraud.

Trump has already declared that he will win the 2024 contest, and if he loses then that will be due to another alleged giant fraud. He is warning that election officials in battleground states will be liable for jail. The hysteria and paranoia generated by Trump has led to a surge in attacks and threats against election officials. The upshot is the corroding of any democratic legitimacy of the United States and the principle of peaceful transfer of political power. This is the abysmal state of American politics. The viability of its democratic process is in tatters. A years-long trend saw a large portion of the population – nearly half of all eligible voters – not even bothering to participate in elections such was the disdain for the two-party duopoly. In addition, now an increasing number of those who vote do not trust the official result. Blaming this inherent decay on Kremlin disinformation and meddling is as contemptible as it is risible.

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“Democrats [..] can’t counter this [..] in any meaningful way except with suburban wine moms and the TDS sufferers who watch The View.”

• What “Saving Our Democracy” Really Means (AmG)

Policy positions are historically key to making the case for one’s presidential campaign, and up until just recently, the Kamala Harris campaign avoided such conversation. Now the Harris-Walz campaign has released a snapshot of how they intend to govern, and we can’t help but notice a lot of lofty promises and empty socialist platitudes with very little detail as to how it will get done. And more importantly, why this “New Way Forward” is now needed after the Democrats’ last four years in the White House. Was that the “Wrong Way Forward?” Average voters will notice this, so the campaign must now really control access to the candidates to keep them from having to answer tough questions. With less than sixty days remaining in the 2024 election cycle, we expect the Harris-Walz campaign to continue evading unscripted interviews while putting campaign ads in front of the media to try to make sense of that, which is clearly nonsense. Is this a brilliant strategy, as has been stated by some media outlets?

Or is this the latest in a series of strategic missteps put forth by the Democrat Party that would somehow gaslight the public into believing that the economic and societal disaster caused by the Biden-Harris administration simply did not happen? We actually think the “basement strategy” is smart because the Democrat machine cannot change course at this point. The machine that installed Harris-Walz as the presidential ticket is too invested in its socialist agenda and is hopelessly estranged from the American public to even consider a course correction toward the center. The lying must continue to sell a vision for America that very few people want. We saw this over four days of the Democrat National Convention. It was an in-your-face personality disorder freak show put on by a debased group of guilt-ridden people who must lie about everything to obliterate the memory of the catastrophic Biden-Harris term in power.

Democrats know that they are on the wrong side of this cycle’s three main issues: the economy, the migrant crisis on the southern border, and the feckless Biden-Harris foreign policy that has led to ongoing disasters in Ukraine and the Middle East. Now throw in Americans’ realization that the Biden-Harris withdrawal from Afghanistan (which we were reminded of when Democrats like President Biden politicized Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week at the invitation of the fallen 13 who died at Abbey Gate while having done far worse himself) was a deadly catastrophic disaster with long-term geopolitical consequences. Joe Biden—against the advice of his own joint chiefs of staff, NATO allies, and the Afghan government—pulled out so he, rather than President Trump, could claim to have ended America’s longest war. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was always about Biden’s so-called “legacy.” Democrats, Biden, and Kamala Harris, the last person in the Situation Room with the president, now own this debacle.

This is now Biden’s legacy of failure. It was even more shameful than the final exit of US forces from Saigon in April 1975. Democrats, no matter how hard they try, can’t counter this. Neither abortion (which Trump has partially defused as a wedge issue in some of the crucial swing states) nor the New Green Deal (that a majority of Americans oppose) can counter this in any meaningful way except with suburban wine moms and the TDS sufferers who watch The View. The machine must now aim its might to prop up Vice President Harris. This is the same person who covered up Biden’s infirmity for most of his four-year term, who accomplished nothing except enable inflation-busting spending bills with her tie-breaking votes in the deadlocked 50-50 Senate, and who will continue to be abetted by a traitorous legacy news media. All in the name of “saving our democracy.” This is as fake of a war cry as we have ever heard.

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“Everything else — computerized (hackable) ballot-counting machines, mail-in ballots, early voting, automatic voter registration by means of other government transactions that have nothing to do with elections (motor-voter acts) — only insures election fraud..”

• Mad to the Max (James Howard Kunstler)

If anything like civil war ignites in this country, the sides will not be the political Red and the Blue but the sane and the insane. Now it happens, unfortunately, that the insane are driving the engine of government. They have been at war with the people of this land for years, depriving them of livelihoods, stuffing them into prison, breaking the social contract, wrecking the country’s relations with the rest of the world, and belaboring the peoples’ minds with one insulting absurdity after another. They comprise a bizarre coalition of the permanent bureaucracy, the Democratic Party, and the news media. The permanent bureaucracy includes its own machine for making war on citizens: the intel blob, whose tentacles reach into other agencies: Homeland Security, the State Department, the so-called Justice Department, the Pentagon, the myriad Public Health offices, and the shadowy clique that stands-in for a disabled president in the White House.

You can tell they are insane because they are driven by a single motivation: to remain in power for no other purpose than to escape responsibility for their many crimes against the people. This is insane behavior because it depends on the proposition that reality does not matter, that reality is optional, that there is no such thing as truth, and if it happened to exist, to be a thing, it would have no greater value to the human project than its opposite, untruth. The greatest absurdity of the moment, is the idea that Americans might desire to continue under the rule of this evil coalition devoted to unreality and untruth, that is, to vote for candidates of the Democratic Party. Its greatest crimes, of course, are the lawless measures taken to pervert the very elections that might allow them to retain power in office.

Some of it is well-hidden and abstruse, such as the machinations of election lawfare manager-in-chief, Marc Elias, who for many years has used the courts and the state legislatures to fiddle election rules that make it impossible to account for who is actually casting the votes. This, you understand, is insane. What sovereign people would seek to institutionalize election fraud? Some election crime is just in your face. The open border policy may have many nefarious angles, but an obvious one is stuffing the voter rolls with live bodies that have names attached, which can be bundled and harvested in ballot form like so many sheaves of oats. No one is fooled by this. Yet the Democratic Party has its heavy hand on the lever of power that controls entry to the country.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security allows this to happen and bullshits Congress in open committee hearings. Congress has impeached him for this affront and the Democratic majority Senate has declined to hold the attendant trial — because stuffing the voter rolls with illegal immigrants allows them to remain in power. The remedies for this dastardly mess are pretty simple and straightforward: return to paper ballots cast on one election day, requiring voter ID that amounts to proof of citizenship. Everything else — computerized (hackable) ballot-counting machines, mail-in ballots, early voting, automatic voter registration by means of other government transactions that have nothing to do with elections (motor-voter acts) — only insures election fraud. Sane people do not seek to defraud themselves.

Here is my interview Monday 9/19 with the Swiss national Piero San Giorgio:

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No, Netanyahu will.

• Harris Will Destroy Israel – Trump (RT)

US Republican nominee Donald Trump has pledged to be a “defender” of Jewish Americans and warned that Israel could cease to exist if Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is allowed to win the upcoming election in November. Speaking at the Israeli-American Council National Summit in Washington on Thursday, Trump expressed concern that recent polling numbers suggest Harris, the current vice president, has a large lead among Jewish-American voters. Without specifying which poll he was referring to, the former president expressed dismay that he was being supported by just 40% of Jewish voters in the US. “That means you got 60% voting for somebody that hates Israel,” Trump said, referring to Harris who he described as a “bad Democrat.” He also claimed that the Democratic Party as a whole is “very bad” to Israel.

The Republican went on to state that “any Jewish person that votes for [Harris] or the Democratic Party should have their head examined.” In one of his more controversial comments, he said: “if I don’t win this election,” then “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.“ “It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let this happen,” Trump stressed, warning that if he doesn’t win and Harris becomes president then “Israel, in my opinion, within a period of two to three years, will cease to exist. It’s going to be wiped out.”

Trump also claimed that he hasn’t been “treated properly” by Jewish-American voters and recalled his past achievements in US-Israeli relations. “I gave them Golan Heights. I gave them the Abraham Accords. I recognized the capital of Israel and opened the embassy in Jerusalem. And, most importantly of all, I terminated the Iran nuclear deal.” “I was the best friend Israel ever had,” the former president said, adding that if he is elected in November, he will be the “defender” and “protector” of Jewish-Americans and will be “the best friend [they] have ever had in the White House.”

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“Robbing the Future to Appease the Present” is what every politician does.

• Kamalanomics: Robbing the Future to Appease the Present (Peter Schiff)

As the 2024 presidential race ramps up, Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled an economic agenda that she claims will lower costs for American families and boost economic growth. However, her proposals reveal a reliance on heavy-handed government intervention that will harm the very people she aims to help. At the core of Harris’ approach is a fundamental distrust of free markets and a belief that the government can effectively micromanage the country’s economic systems. One of Harris’ most concerning proposals is her plan to impose federal limits on price increases for food producers and grocers. While rising food prices are undoubtedly a burden for many families, attempting to control prices through government intervention is a recipe for disaster. Price controls invariably lead to shortages and black markets. Looking at the failures of price controls in countries like Venezuela is enough to see the devastating consequences of such policies.

Instead of allowing market forces to efficiently allocate resources and incentivize increased production, Harris’ approach will result in reduced investment in the food industry and potential shortages of staple goods. Harris’ housing proposals similarly rely on heavy-handed government intervention. Her plan calls for the construction of 3 million new housing units to ease supply shortages, along with providing $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homebuyers. Having the federal government directly subsidize construction on this scale risks crowding out private investment, leading to crippling public sector inefficiencies. Instead, housing reform should focus on removing regulatory barriers to new construction at the local level. Restrictive zoning laws and mandates are the primary culprits behind America’s housing shortage. By incentivizing states to improve these processes, we would promote private sector housing development without incurring massive federal spending. The solution is less government intervention, not more.

Harris’ tax proposals also reflect a misguided belief that we can tax and spend our way to prosperity. By seeking to raise taxes on corporations and high-income individuals, she risks reducing the capital investment needed to drive productivity growth and real wage increases. The vice president also plans to expand various subsidies for housing, childcare, and other expenses. While they appear to give support to families, these policies fail to address the root causes of affordability challenges and risk creating new forms of government dependency. A better approach would be to pursue policies that decrease the government influence in the economy which causes the inflation that is harming families.Proponents of Harris’ plan argue that it will provide much-needed relief to struggling American citizens. However, the long-term consequences outweigh the potential short-term benefits.

According to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model, Harris’ economic proposals would increase federal deficits by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis, and by $2.0 trillion when accounting for macroeconomic effects. This massive increase in government debt will tend to crowd out private investment and lead to higher interest rates, potentially triggering a recession. Moreover, the Penn Wharton analysis projects that Harris’ plan would actually reduce GDP by 1.3 percent by 2034 and by 4 percent within 30 years, relative to current law. This decline in economic output would translate to lower wages for workers across all income groups. The model estimates that pre-tax wages would fall by nearly one percent over the next decade and by 3.3 percent by 2054.

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Too late. 6 weeks left.

• Oklahoma Removes Over 450,000 Ineligible Voters From Rolls (ET)

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-Okla.) said on Wednesday that Oklahoma has removed over 453,000 ineligible and inactive voter registrations as part of a process to keep voter lists accurate. State officials said the law requires Oklahoma to update voter lists to ensure only eligible voters participate in elections. The audit and removal of names began in early 2021 to keep voter lists up-to-date, according to the governor’s office. Since then, almost 100,000 deceased people, over 140,000 who moved out of state, more than 5,000 convicted felons, and nearly 200,000 inactive voters have been removed from voter rolls. Inactive voters are those who did not respond during the address checks. “Voting is our most sacred duty as Americans— and every Oklahoman wants to know their vote is securely cast and properly counted,” Stitt said in a Sept. 18 statement.

Just over 2 million people were registered to vote in Oklahoma as of the end of August, half of whom are registered as Republicans, according to data from the state Election Board. Oklahoma has over 534,000 registered Democrats, over 363,000 Independents, and more than 18,000 Libertarians. The governor said state officials have gone above and beyond to ensure only eligible Oklahomans can vote in the state’s elections. “All this is going to do is discourage people who are already less inclined to show up to the polls anyway in a deeply red state,” said Democratic state lawmaker Rep. Mauree Turner, who represents Oklahoma City, in comments to Oklahoma Voice. “My first thought is how many people are in there that have been purged and don’t know that they’ve been purged.” Secretary of State Josh Cockroft said the steps were necessary and taken in collaboration with the governor’s office, state election officials, and lawmakers.

“We’ve aggressively pursued policies to ensure voting is secure and accurate, and we’re innovating to protect our elections from emerging technology like AI,” Croft said. “In Oklahoma, every eligible citizen will have their vote counted and their voice heard.” In recent years, Oklahoma has implemented a range of election integrity measures. The state continues to use hand-marked paper ballots, which are counted by e-scan machines that are not connected to the internet. Election officials also work closely with Oklahoma Cyber Command to protect the system from potential hackers. Paul Ziriax, secretary of the bipartisan State Election Board, said the state’s election security is among the best in the nation. “Oklahoma has a long tradition of doing elections right,” Ziriax said. “Recounts and post-election audits have consistently proven the accuracy of Oklahoma’s voting system, and our laws and procedures are designed to ensure the integrity and security of our elections.” Oklahoma residents have until Oct. 11 to register to vote in the Nov. 5 general election.

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“Marie Macronette”.

• European Elite Swings Right to Crush the Left (DeMartino)

For years the neoliberal ruling class in Europe has warned about what they describe as the far-right parties in their countries. They cautioned that parties like the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the National Rally (RN) in France represent a dangerous and potentially violent swing toward fascism. Despite years of hand-wringing about the populist right in Europe, the elite in many European nations have proven their preference for those groups over any momentum by leftists who will implement policies that will match the EU’s liberal marketing materials. The EU presents itself as a beacon of democracy, with free speech and a vehement commitment to human rights. But their actions have never matched that propaganda. “What we’re witnessing is the failure of the European dream, if you like. The idea of this community of nations, which at its heart was always a neoliberal financial cabal.

And, it’s failing. It’s falling apart,” explained Phil Kelly, a Belfast-based political commentator and socialist activist told Sputnik’s Political Misfits. “It hasn’t delivered in its kind of mythical promises. And the reality of what it’s producing is increasingly stark economic failure and decline and declining living standards.” In France, President Emmanuel Macron appointed centrist-right Michel Barnier as prime minister. Barnier’s party came in fifth during the national elections. The New Popular Front, the leftist party that came in first place, offered several prime minister candidates to Macron, but they were refused. While the French left have drawn up impeachment documents against Macron, the leader of the RN, Marine Le Pen, gave her tacit approval for the Barnier appointment. The sign is clear: Macron will negotiate with the RN, but not the left. “This guy is an EU stooge, the blandest of the bland, you know, somebody that was probably spawned in a laboratory in Brussels, whose veins pump with blue EU blood. Not someone chosen by the people,” Kelly said of Barnier.

“If France is going down a route with Macron…where he desperately clings to power, clings to preserve his own position for a little longer, the legacy of that is to sow a bitter harvest that one day he will have to deal with, and that is that you’re making an enemy of the French people by denying democracy,” Kelly concluded, dubbing Macron “Marie Macronette” as an “isolated political establishment with no connection to the people.” In Germany, after three people were fatally stabbed at a street festival by a Syrian man who said he was inspired by ISIS* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party all but adopted the AfD’s immigration policy, closing its borders and ending, at least temporarily, the Schengen-Visiting Zone, which since 1985 has allowed visa-free travel between most EU countries. “While the kind of conservative center parties and the liberal elites within Europe won’t use the extreme rhetoric that you hear from the AfD or Le Pen and France or other far-right groups, their actions really demonstrate that they are the same,” argued Kelly.

“And any serious student of history will tell you and understand fully that at times of crisis, liberals will always align with fascists, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing.” Kelly pointed to the ruling parties in Europe allowing migrants to drown in the Mediterranean, supporting terrorist groups in Syria in an attempt to overthrow a sovereign state, supporting and arming neo-fascists in the Ukrainian military, and the support of genocide against the Palestinian people as evidence that the center-left and center-right parties are, at best, no better than the populist right that they say they fear. “Certainly, the blood soaking their hands is as thick and probably more splattered across their faces than anyone else,” Kelly said. “This political establishment are every bit as racist, every bit as despicable as the brown-shirted, goose-stepping thugs that they tell you to be scared of. They’re one and the same, they rely on each other,” he added.

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“..some cases from other countries, including South Korea, are in the process of being registered in the French justice system.”

• Telegram’s Cooperation With French Authorities Led to Other Requests (Sp.)

The Telegram messenger’s cooperation with the French justice system after the detention of its founder Pavel Durov has led to requests for information from other countries as part of the investigation into cybercrime, Le Figaro newspaper reported, citing sources. According to the report, the messenger’s cooperation with the French authorities benefits all European countries that are members of Eurojust (European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation). Thus, one of the EU member countries was able to receive a response to its requests regarding a group in Telegram that had ordered about 100 murders. In addition, “a major international power” also decided to take advantage of the messenger’s willingness to cooperate, it said. The report said some cases from other countries, including South Korea, are in the process of being registered in the French justice system.

Earlier, the Liberation daily reported that after Durov’s arrest in France, the Telegram messenger began responding to investigators’ requests and providing information “capable of identifying criminals in investigations of crimes against children.” Paris prosecutor Laure Becco earlier said Telegram attracted the attention of investigators due to the lack of response to requests to identify a number of cybercriminals, in particular in child pornography cases. The Russian-born tech entrepreneur was detained at a Paris airport on August 24 on charges related to criminal uses of his messaging app, including terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud. He was released on August 28 on a €5 million ($5.5 million) bail and is barred from leaving France.

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“At the core of the filing is the decision by Musk to inform authorities that he would not be appearing for a September 10 testimony just three hours prior..”

• SEC to Seek Sanctions Against Elon Musk in Twitter Probe (Sp.)

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday indicated in a court filing that it could seek to sanction billionaire Elon Musk for failing to testify in its probe of the Twitter social platform that he purchased and renamed X. Citing multiple instances where Musk had failed to respond to opportunities to testify on the $44 billion Twitter deal, the regulator implied in the court action that it was only exercising the notice given to his counsel “that among other things, we may seek sanctions against Mr Musk.” At the core of the filing is the decision by Musk to inform authorities that he would not be appearing for a September 10 testimony just three hours prior.

Reports indicate that Musk had been present that day in Florida to oversee the launch of the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission. The SEC wants to query Musk to determine if he broke any federal securities laws when he bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it X. Musk has accused the SEC of trying to “harass” him through unwarranted investigations. Additionally, his lawyers have said sanctions action would be “drastic” and unnecessary against their client.

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“..Western officials warned Kiev that “a full Ukrainian victory” would require immense resources that neither the US nor Europe can provide..”

• US To Delay Ukraine Aid Over Shortages – CNN (RT)

The weapons stockpile shortages will likely force Washington to delay the shipments of promised military aid to Ukraine, CNN reported on Friday, citing two US officials familiar with the matter. The report comes as Kiev has been asking foreign backers to speed up the delivery of arms and to lift the remaining restrictions on the use of longer-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia territory. According to the Pentagon, the US has $5.9 billion left in the special congressionally approved mechanism (PDA) aimed at fast-tracking aid for Kiev. However, the aid packages have been getting smaller in recent times as the weapons stocks are dwindling, CNN said. The currently available PDA is set to expire within the next two weeks since the House of Representatives failed to pass an extension on Wednesday. The White House may be forced to charge its approach, “announcing large military aid packages that will take months to deliver,” as opposed to smaller shipments, the channel said.

Washington believes Kiev will need at least half a billion worth of PDA per month throughout fiscal year 2025, CNN report, citing a senior White House official. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Western officials warned Kiev that “a full Ukrainian victory” would require immense resources that neither the US nor Europe can provide. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is expected to present his new “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden next week. The success of the plan would “directly depend on the approval and support of the United States,” Zelensky said. Ukrainian commanders and politicians have repeatedly blamed the delays in weapons deliveries for battlefield losses and the failure to hold off Russian offensives. Moscow, meanwhile, has stated that no amount of Western aid would stop its troops in Ukraine.

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Someone really got to the Swiss. First neutrality, now this. CERN needs the Russian scientists to function, and they all know it. It’s science, not politics.

• Switzerland To Expel Hundreds Of Russian Scientists (RT)

Hundreds of Russian researchers working at the particle physics laboratory CERN in Switzerland will have to leave the Alpine country later this year, the journal Nature reported on Wednesday. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) plans to end its cooperation agreement with Russia on December 1, banning all scientists affiliated with the nation from its premises, the journal said. The scientists will also be stripped of any French or Swiss residency permits they currently hold, according to the report. CERN already announced its plans to cut ties with the Russian specialists earlier this year. It decided not to extend its cooperation agreement with Russia back in December 2023. The existing one expires on November 30. In March, CERN’s head of media relations said that the organization still had “fewer than 500 specialists still associated with any Russian organization,” adding that none of them would be able to work at CERN once the agreement expires.

The organization began cooperating with the USSR back in 1955, although neither the Soviet Union nor Russia has ever been full members. Russia applied for associate membership in 2012 but withdrew its application six years later and has held observer status since. In March 2022, CERN suspended this observer status in response to the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Russia contributed financially to the organization and helped build the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, which achieved its first collisions in 2010. The collider has allowed scientists to confirm the existence of the Higgs boson, the particle that gives mass to other particles such as electrons and quarks. The loss of Russia’s contribution to a high-intensity upgrade of the collider scheduled for 2029 will cost CERN some 40 million Swiss francs ($47 million), according to Nature.

Cutting ties with Russia will also mean a setback for scientific research, Hannes Jung, a particle physicist at the German Electron Synchrotron in Hamburg, who also works with CERN, told Nature. “It will leave a hole. I think it’s an illusion to believe one can cover that very simply by other scientists,” said Jung, who is also a member of the Science4Peace Forum, a group that campaigns against restrictions in international scientific cooperation. CERN is still expected to continue working with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), an intergovernmental research center located near Moscow that operates its own, albeit smaller, hadron collider. The organization argued that its agreement with JINR is separate from the one with the Russian state. The decision to proceed, however, still drew condemnation from Ukraine, which is an associate member of CERN.

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To be continued.

• Russia Blasts West’s Silence on Nord Stream Sabotage (Sp.)

Western countries still refuse to cooperate with Russia in investigating the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday. “Western countries continue to stubbornly refuse to cooperate with the Russian side, continue to deceive both the international community as a whole and their own citizens in particular, without providing any clear answers,” Zakharova told reporters, adding that all requests from Moscow are being ignored. Russia intends to complete the investigation into the terrorist attacks and will make every effort to ensure “the truth becomes public knowledge,” the spokeswoman insisted.

“Among the next steps is a meeting of the UN Security Council on sabotage on the Russian gas pipelines, scheduled for September 26,” Zakharova said. The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe, were rocked by explosions in September 2022. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office opened an investigation into the blasts as an act of international terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested information about the explosions but has received nothing, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

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“Making you dependent and rendering the currency worthless is the best way to control you..”

• An Unprecedented Monetary Destruction Is Coming (Lacalle)

Global money supply has soared by $20.6 trillion since 2019, according to Bloomberg. Additionally, global debt surged by over $15 trillion in 2023, reaching a new record high of $313 trillion. Around 55% of this rise came from developed economies, mainly the U.S., France, and Germany. Unfunded liabilities in the United States amount to $72 trillion, almost 300% of GDP. This may seem high until you look at Spain with 500% of GDP, France with close to 400%, or Germany with close to 350% of GDP. There is no escape from debt. Paying for the government’s fictitious promises in paper money will result in a constantly depreciating currency, thereby impoverishing those who earn a wage or have savings. Inflation is the hidden tax, and it is very convenient for governments because they always blame shops or businesses and present themselves as the solution by printing even more currency.

Governments want more inflation to reduce the impact of the enormous debt and unfunded liabilities in real terms. They know they can’t tax you more, so they will tax you indirectly by destroying the purchasing power of the currency they issue. High taxes are not a tool to reduce high debt, but rather to perpetuate the expropriation of national wealth. Countries with high taxes and big governments also have enormous public debt levels. If you thought the monetary destruction we have witnessed in recent years was excessive, just wait for the suffering we will endure in the future. In 2024, the world has seen more than seventy elections where none of the parties with access to power even bothered to present a realistic plan to cut debt. Governments and politicians understand that they can make any promises using someone else’s money, and many voters will readily accept the fallacy of taxing the wealthy. Naturally, currency debasement leads to widespread impoverishment.

Kamala Harris promises tax deductions for start-ups and first-time homebuyers, as well as families with children. It is hilarious. Inflation, a hidden tax, consumes their earnings and savings, while high direct and indirect taxes absorb the remaining funds. Despite this, she promises a tax deduction that most small businesses will never take advantage of, as they will shut down before generating any profit. The Treasury expects a $16 trillion increase in public debt between 2024 and 2034, without taking into account any recession risk. The enormous government debt of $35 trillion, along with its subsequent additions, has the potential to destroy the currency. Citizens will face higher debt, reduced access to goods and services, and the ultimate dissolution of the middle class in the absence of a pro-growth plan and serious support for the currency’s purchasing power.

Governments and politicians need the votes of the middle class to reach power, and they also need to erode the savings and wages of that same middle class to reduce the weight of public debt in real terms. When the government says they can print and issue more debt, you pay for it. The trillions of dollars accumulated in debt will lead to an unprecedented wave of central bank easing, which will continue to include negative real rates and even direct debt monetization. However, they need an excuse to present themselves as the solution to the problem they created. A recession or a significant slowdown will be the trigger to implement the plan to destroy the purchasing power of currencies. However, this time inflation is already evident and persistent. Remember why governments are pleased to destroy the purchasing power of the currency they issue? It is a form of nationalization of the country’s wealth.

How can governments implement currency destruction when citizens are already upset about high prices? First, they need to silence you. Second, eliminate your options to run away from the currency. Thirdly, enforce the expropriation with the motto, “You may have nothing, but you will find happiness.” Yes, you won’t have anything, but you won’t be content either. Only this time you will be unable to complain. Eliminating free speech and independent media is a key part of this plan.

You think I am exaggerating? If the government really believed you would be better off and more prosperous with their policies, they would encourage free speech because everyone would value their welfare improvements. They need to limit free speech because they know they will make you poorer. Therefore, it’s crucial for you to safeguard yourself against the promises made by the government and comprehend the reasons behind the destruction of money. Fiat money is just a promise, and the issuer knows they cannot pay it in today’s value. Making you dependent and rendering the currency worthless is the best way to control you. Protect yourself investing.

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“..the trillions of dollars pouring in are based on a problem that doesn’t exist..”

• WaPo Inadvertently Reveals Shocking Truth About Global Warming (ZH)

In recent years, particularly around mid-July (the peak of the Northern Hemisphere summer), there has been a noticeable surge in headlines featuring the “hottest day” ever on record in corporate media outlets – which is of course pushed by climate alarmist journalists citing questionable studies. This timing coincides with hot weather, so naturally, it’s quite convincing to persuade readers that the world’s oceans are boiling and planet Earth will ignite into a fireball unless drastic actions are taken – such as more climate taxes, ‘carbon credits,’ banning cow farts, prohibiting new petrol-powered vehicle sales by X date, and pushing spending bills to procure more solar panels from China, to save the planet. The problem is that corporate media only focuses on recent history – and not “in context” (as they love to say). Context is particularly important when it comes to climate change – as their narrative collapses when looking at a long enough timeline.

To wit… a funny thing happened when the Washington Post tried to map out half a billion years of global temperatures and the “disaster of global warming” … WaPo journalists cited a new study about Earth’s global surface temperatures over the last 485 million years. In 2023, Earth’s average temperature reached 58.96 F (14.98 C), well below the average 96.8 degrees F (36 degrees Celsius) the study showed around 100 million years ago. The trend shows Earth’s temperatures have been sliding for 50 million years. Of course, all they can focus on is the most recent blip (supported, as astute readers know, by faulty data). [A] growing chorus of climate scientists are saying the temperature readings are faulty and that the trillions of dollars pouring in are based on a problem that doesn’t exist. More than 90 percent of NOAA’s temperature monitoring stations have a heat bias, according to Anthony Watts, a meteorologist, senior fellow for environment and climate at The Heartland Institute, author of climate website Watts Up With That, and director of a study that examined NOAA’s climate stations.

“And with that large of a number, over 90 percent, the methods that NOAA employs to try to reduce this don’t work because the bias is so overwhelming,” Mr. Watts told The Epoch Times. “The few stations that are left that are not biased because they are, for example, outside of town in a field and are an agricultural research station that’s been around for 100 years … their data gets completely swamped by the much larger set of biased data. There’s no way you can adjust that out.” -Epoch Times. Maybe, just maybe, the level of human-caused global warming doom porn pushed by the government, corporate media outlets, global NGOs, and far-left billionaires is not as apocalyptic as they make it sound. Which of course means (and as we knew), all those idiot kids running around the West, throwing paint on private jets and artwork, and gluing their hands to highways, are doing it for nothing – and are indeed in a cult.

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Thank you
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836811821321195525
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837233296033345776

 

 

Frens
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836761100760556017

 

 

1550

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 20 2024

Sep 202024
 
 September 20, 2024  Posted by at 8:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  72 Responses »


Paul Gauguin Haymaking in Brittany 1889

 

• The ‘War Party’ Makes Its Plans (Patrick Lawrence)
• Russia Slams NATO’s ‘Reckless’ Rejection of Putin’s Red Line on Ukraine (Sp.)
• Ukraine War Turns Into Russian Roulette (Bhadrakumar)
• This Ain’t No WWIII: This Is A War OF Terror (Pepe Escobar)
• ‘Victory Plan’ Ready – Zelensky (RT)
• Ukrainian Commanders Urged Zelensky Not To Invade Kursk (Antiwar)
• Russia’s Drone Production To Increase Tenfold – Putin (RT)
• Craig Murray Describes Transition Of UK, West In General Into Tyranny (PCR)
• Switzerland Dumps Neutrality (Sp.)
• Descendants of Native American Chief Want His Face Back In NFL (RT)
• Kamala Bucks (Jim Rickards)
• Trump Makes First Payment In Bitcoin (RT)
• FBI: Iran Hacked Trump Campaign Materials And Gave Them To Biden/Harris (MN)
• Russia’s Shadow Fleet is a Ticking Geopolitical Timebomb (Garcia)
• Pager Bomb Plot 15 Years In The Making – ABC News (RT)

 

 

 

 

RFK Trump

 

 

Simplicity

 

 

Trump ad
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836488676152361056

 

 

Trump Walz
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836601717825126588

 

 

Newsom

 

 

Teamsters

 

 

Nate Silver Sep. 17

 

 

Tucker Vance

 

 

O’Leary

 

 

Calley Means

 

 

 

 

A lot of war articles today. NATO et al are now saying Putin so far has not reacted very violently to breaches of red lines, therefore he won’t do so in the future either. Joe Biden: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.” Your leaders are dragging you straight into a war that nobody wants but them.

• The ‘War Party’ Makes Its Plans (Patrick Lawrence)

The Biden White House and the Democratic Party machine trying to advance Kamala Harris from No. 2 in the regime to No. 1 gets more interesting by the week, I have to say. The Harris campaign has at last, two months after the party’s elites and financiers railroaded her candidacy past any semblance of a democratic process, published a platform it calls A New Way Forward, and I will get to this in due course. I am less interested now in words posted on a website than in two recent developments we ought to consider together even if no one has yet thought to do so. Slowly and very surely, it becomes clear by way of these weekly turns how a new Democratic regime, should Harris win on Nov. 5, proposes to manage the imperium’s business. And however many foolish voters may be illusioned otherwise, if Harris takes the White House her business will be neither more nor less than managing the imperium—the wars, the provocations, the illegal sanctions and other collective punishments, the terrorist clients in Israel, the neo–Nazis in Kiev.

Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, Liz Cheney surprised Washington and, I suppose, most of the rest of us when she announced she would support Harris’s run for the presidency. The onetime Wyoming congresswoman, a coup-cultivating warmonger who remains among the hawkiest of right-wing foreign-policy hawks, was not the first Republican to jump across the aisle this political season, and she was also not the last: Two days later, Liz’s pop did the same. Dick Cheney, of course, needs no introduction. Instantly, the Harris campaign declared its delight in having the support of these courageous patriots, as the organization called them in its official statements. A week after all this high-caliber politicking, President Biden convened in the Oval Office with Keir Starmer, the new British prime minister, to consider Ukraine’s proposal to fire Western-supplied missiles at targets well inside Russian territory.

The Brits are ready to oblige the Kiev regime, as are the French, but everyone—London, Paris, Kiev—needs Biden’s permission to widen the war in this fashion. At the moment, Biden and Secretary of State Blinken are in their “Well, maybe” phase, and we are meant to be on the edges of our seats wondering whether they will assent to these plans. But haven’t we seen this movie before and don’t we know how it ends? Wasn’t it, “Maybe we will send HIMARS rocket systems,” “Maybe M–1 tanks,” “Maybe Patriot missiles,” “Maybe F–16s”? Even before the Biden–Starmer encounter last week, Blinken and David Lammy, the British foreign secretary, during a visit to Kiev for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, were already dropping heavy hints that Biden will once again acquiesce to the plans the Ukrainian president and the British PM were choreographed to present to him.

The stipulation Biden and Blinken now purport to insist upon is that they will not assent to letting Kiev use weapons provided by the U.S. — which seems to be different from weapons made by the U.S.—against targets in the Russian interior. This is no more than one of those hair-splits in which the Biden White House trades when it wants to look thoughtful and cautious but is neither. Will someone tell me what damn difference it will make to Russia if Moscow takes a hit from a missile sent from Britain, France or the United States? These people are convening to plan the Western powers’ reckless escalation of a proxy war they have no way of winning and know they have no way of winning. Desperation is as desperation does: This is my simple read of these deliberations. Between the war-planning and the shifting political loyalties, what have we witnessed over these past couple of weeks? This is our question.

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“..the use of long-range missiles against targets deep in Russia would “increase the threat of escalation,” which runs counter to European security interests.”

• Russia Slams NATO’s ‘Reckless’ Rejection of Putin’s Red Line on Ukraine (Sp.)

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Wednesday that dismissing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warnings about the dangers of Ukraine using Western weapons to attack Russian territory is both provocative and perilous. “Such a ostentatious desire not to take seriously the statements of the Russian president is an absolutely short-sighted and unprofessional step,” Peskov told reporters. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denied in an interview out on Tuesday that allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike deep into Russia would cross country’s “red line” despite warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There have been many red lines declared by him [Putin] before, and he has not escalated, meaning also involving Nato allies directly in the conflict,” Stoltenberg told The Times newspaper. Stoltenberg said that he supported the United Kingdom and France in their decision to lift restrictions on Kiev’s use of long-range weapons against Russia.

He argued that their use by Ukraine would not draw the alliance into conflict with Russia. Putin said that NATO countries were essentially deciding whether to get directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. He warned that direct participation of Western countries in the conflict would change its nature, forcing Russia to respond to emerging threats. Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated on Wednesday that Hungary is concerned about the potential use of long-range arms to strike Russia, as this would contradict Europe’s security interests and heighten the risk of escalation. He emphasized that “Hungary is interested in peace, and every step that threatens escalation makes us concerned,” adding that the use of long-range missiles against targets deep in Russia would “increase the threat of escalation,” which runs counter to European security interests.

Putin balance
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836749250312417654

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“..Biden was plainly dismissive about the latest Kremlin warning, saying, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

• Ukraine War Turns Into Russian Roulette (Bhadrakumar)

The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with the US President Joe Biden in the White House on Friday with the question of the use of long-range missiles by Ukraine to hit deep inside Russia on their agenda of conversation. But there were no announcements, nor was there any joint press conference. Starmer later told the media that the talks were “productive” but concentrated on “strategy” rather than a “particular step or tactic”. He did not signal any decision on allowing Kiev to fire long-range missiles into Russia. Starmer said no final decision had been taken on the Storm Shadow missiles and hinted that further developments may follow at the gathering of the UN General Assembly later this month. “We’ll obviously pick up again in UNGA in just a few days time with a wider group of individuals,” he said.

One reason for such extreme secrecy is that the US and UK are intensely conscious of the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s explicit warning on Thursday that any use of western long-range missiles to strike Russia “will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine. This will mean their direct involvement in the conflict, and it will clearly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict dramatically.” Putin added in measured words: “This will mean that NATO countries – the United States and European countries –- are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.” Admittedly, Putin has given similar warnings before also, but did not follow through even when western weaponry was used by Ukraine with impunity to invade Russia recently.

So much so that Biden was plainly dismissive about the latest Kremlin warning, saying, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.” On its part, Moscow estimates that although no official decision on the matter has been announced, it has already been made and communicated to Kiev, and that Moscow would have to respond with actions of its own. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, Moscow’s point person on the diplomatic track, was quoted as saying on Saturday, “The decision has been made, the carte blanche and all indulgences have been given (to Kiev), so we [Russia] are ready for everything. And we will react in a way that will not be pretty.” Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the country’s security council, went a step further saying that the West is testing Russia’s patience but it is not limitless. He said Ukraine’s invasion already gave Russia formal grounds to use its nuclear arsenal.

Medvedev warned that Moscow could either resort to nuclear weapons in the end, or use some of its non-nuclear but still deadly novel weapons for a large-scale attack. “And that would be it. A giant, grey, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities’,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to Kiev. Putin, in his remark on Thursday once again rejected the Anglo-American sophistry that it is Ukraine that will be using any western long-range missiles and not NATO. He pointed out that the Ukrainian army “is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West. They cannot do that. These weapons are impossible to employ without intelligence data from satellites which Ukraine does not have. This can only be done using the European Union’s satellites, or US satellites – in general, NATO satellites…

“most important, the key point even – is that only NATO military personnel can assign flight missions to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. Therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is about deciding whether NATO countries become directly involved in the military conflict or not.” Interestingly, neither Washington nor London has so far refuted Putin’s above explanation and, curiously, it has been expunged altogether from British press reports — fearing, perhaps, that public opinion might militate against such direct involvement by the UK in a war against Russia in a combat role!

Moscow anticipates that the US-UK ploy may be to test the waters by first (openly) using Britain’s Storm Shadow long-range air-launched cruise missile, which has already been supplied to Ukraine. On Friday, Russia expelled six British diplomats assigned to the Moscow embassy in a clear warning that Uk-Russia ties will be affected. Russia has already warned the UK of severe consequences if the Storm Shadow were to be used to hit Russian territory. What makes the developing situation extremely dangerous is that the cat-and-mouse game so far about NATO’s covert involvement in the Ukraine war is giving way to a game of Russian roulette that follows the laws of Probability Theory.

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“This ain’t no party
This ain’t no disco
This ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancin’
Or lovey-dovey
I ain’t got time for that now..”

• This Ain’t No WWIII: This Is A War OF Terror (Pepe Escobar)

First we had action: President Putin – cool, calm, collected – warns that any attack on Russia with long-range NATO missiles will be an act of war. Then we had reaction: NATO rats scurrying back to the gutter – in haste. For now. All that was a direct consequence of the Kursk debacle. A desperate gamble. But the state of things in the proxy war in Ukraine was desperate for NATO. Until it became crystal clear it’s all basically non-recoverable. So there are two options left. Ukraine’s unconditional surrender, on Russia’s terms, tantamount to NATO’s complete humiliation. Or escalation to all-out war (italics mine) with Russia. The U.S. – but not the UK – ruling classes seem to have registered the essence of Putin’s message: if NATO is at war with Russia, “then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was ominously more precise: “The decision has been made, the carte blanche and all indulgences have been given [to Kiev), so we [Russia] are ready for everything. And we will react in a way that will not be pretty.” For all practical purposes, NATO is already at war with Russia: non-stop reconnaissance flights, high-precision strikes on airfields in Crimea, forcing the Black Sea Fleet to relocate out of Sevastopol, these are only some instances. With “permission” to strike as far as 500 km deep into Russia, and a list of several targets already submitted by Kiev for “approval”, Putin has clearly stated the obvious. Russia is fighting an existential war for the survival of the Motherland – what it has done repeatedly over centuries. The USSR suffered 27 million losses and emerged from WWII stronger than ever. That demonstration of willpower, in itself, scares the collective West to death.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – whose Taoist patience seems to be exhausting – added some color on the Big Picture, drawing from English literature: “George Orwell had a rich imagination and historical foresight. But even he could not imagine what a totalitarian state would look like. He described some of its contours, but failed to penetrate the depths of the totalitarianism that we now see within the framework of the ‘rules-based order.’ I have nothing to add. The current leaders in Washington, who suppress any dissent, have ‘outdone’ him. This is totalitarianism in its purest form.” Lavrov concluded that “they are historically doomed.” Yet they don’t really have the guts to provoke WWIII. Trademark cowards can only resort to a War OF Terror. Here are some instances. The SVR – Russian foreign intel – discovered a Kiev plot to stage a Russian missile attack on a hospital or kindergarten on Kiev-controlled territory.

The objectives include raising the – collapsed – morale of the AFU; justify the complete removal of any restrictions on deep missile strikes inside the Russian Federation; and attract support from the Global South – which overwhelmingly understands what Russia is doing in Ukraine. In parallel, if this massive false flag works, the Hegemon would use it to “increase pressure” (How? Screaming at the top of their lungs?) on Iran and the DPRK, whose missiles would likely be the perpetrators of the carnage. As much as this seems far-fetched on a Maximum Stupidistan level, considering the Deep Dementia ranging from Washington and London to Kiev it does remain possible, as NATOstan de facto retains the strategic initiative in this war. Russia for its part remains passive. It is NATO that is choosing the method, the place and the time for its key, choice strikes.

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Formerly known as the “peace plan”.

• ‘Victory Plan’ Ready – Zelensky (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky declared his secretive ‘victory plan’ complete on Wednesday in a video address. Moscow has dismissed Kiev’s designs as incapable of altering the course of the conflict. Details of the Ukrainian roadmap for defeating Russia remain murky, but Zelensky has been giving regular updates on its progress. On Monday, he said it was more than 90% ready, while he now describes it as “fully prepared,” adding that “the most important thing is the determination to implement it.” Russian officials have dismissed the plan, which Zelensky first announced in August. ”We have heard such statements from the representatives of the Kiev regime many times. We realize what the nature of this regime is. We will continue our special military operation and realize all our goals,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time.

US President Joe Biden and the presidential nominees of the country’s two main parties, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, are the primary targets of the proposal, according to Zelensky. He intends to travel to the US to brief the Americans, which will reportedly happen as soon as next week. However, officials in Washington are already aware of what Zelensky will be bringing to the table, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has indicated. ”We have seen President Zelensky’s peace plan,” she told journalists on Tuesday, before expressing confidence that it “can work.” According to media reports, Zelensky will press his backers for Ukrainian membership in NATO and the EU, continued Western military aid, and other perks.

In August, Kiev sent thousands of troops into Russia’s Kursk Region in an operation Zelensky called an element of the victory plan. The incursion was aimed at forcing Russia to redeploy forces from the front in the east and serve as a bargaining chip in eventual peace talks, according to Ukrainian officials. Russian advancements in Donbass have continued despite the gamble. Moscow has meanwhile ruled out negotiations with Kiev, citing attacks against local Russian civilians whom Ukrainian troops allegedly targeted on purpose. The Russian army has been pushing Ukraine back in Kursk Region, which Zelensky claimed aligned with his plan. Kiev is currently lobbying Washington and its allies to allow long-range strikes with donated Western weapons deep inside Russia. President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow would consider any such strike an act of war by NATO and react accordingly.

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“..he “opposed a task that didn’t correspond to the brigade’s strength.”

“..he thought the brigade would be too exposed inside Russia and would suffer heavy casualties..”

• Ukrainian Commanders Urged Zelensky Not To Invade Kursk (Antiwar)

Some of Ukraine’s top military commanders opposed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plans to invade Russia’s Kursk Oblast, but he went through with the assault anyway, POLITICO reported on Tuesday. The report, which cited Ukrainian military officials, said that Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to the UK, opposed the offensive when Zelensky first broached the idea earlier this year. Zaluzhny opposed the offensive because there was no clear second step once the border was breached. “He never got a clear answer from Zelensky,” one of the Ukrainian officials said. “He felt it was a gamble.” Another Ukrainian officer who opposed the invasion was Emil Ishkulov, the former commander of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade. He was removed from his position in July, which drew protests from senior Ukrainian military officials, who said they didn’t understand why Ishkulov was dismissed.

Ukrainian media reported at the time of his dismissal that Ishkulov was removed because he “opposed a task that didn’t correspond to the brigade’s strength.” Two senior Ukrainian military officials told POLITICO that Ishkulov opposed the Kursk invasion because he thought the brigade would be too exposed inside Russia and would suffer heavy casualties. Russia recently began a counteroffensive in Kursk and has recaptured some villages. One purpose of the Ukrainian invasion was to distract Russia from the Donbas region, where Russian forces have been making steady gains. But that has failed as Russian troops continue to close in on the Donetsk city of Pokrovsk.

Another purpose of the invasion was to psychologically impact Russian civilians, a strategy that was praised by Richard Moore, the head of the British spy agency MI6, during a joint public appearance with CIA Director William Burns. Moore said the operation was “typically audacious and bold on the part of the Ukrainians, to try and change the game” and that it had “brought the war home to ordinary Russians.”

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“Along with the development of drones, we need to look for means of their electronic and conventional destruction..”

• Russia’s Drone Production To Increase Tenfold – Putin (RT)

The Russian military is set to receive ten times more drones in 2024 than it did in the year before, President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday during a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission on the development of unmanned aircraft systems. The president stated that in 2023, the Russian Armed Forces received nearly 140,000 drones of various types and their production rate has since gone up significantly. “This year, the production of drones is planned to increase several times, or to be more precise, almost ten times,” Putin said. He said that the range of unmanned systems is being expanded and that unmanned boats are being developed as well.

“The key task is to produce a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles and to set up serial production of such promising technology as quickly as possible,” Putin explained, adding that it is necessary to “fully meet” the needs of the armed forces and increase drone production and the technical and tactical characteristics of UAVs, which includes actively introducing elements of artificial intelligence. “Along with the development of drones, we need to look for means of their electronic and conventional destruction. This will save the lives of our military personnel, civilians and more reliably protect military equipment, civilian infrastructure, and critically important facilities,” the president said.

Putin stated that the design, testing, and serial production of drones is set to be carried out in special scientific and production centers, 48 of which are planned to be created across the country by 2030. Earlier on Thursday, the president personally visited the Special Technology Center (STC) in St. Petersburg which specializes in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare systems and communications. Putin also inspected an exhibition of robots that have already been supplied to Russia’s forces on the front line and was shown several examples of kamikaze drones, reconnaissance systems, and a model of a loitering munition.

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“If you refuse to turn over your electronic devices, it is two years in prison. Two years in prison for refusing to answer a question.”

• Craig Murray Describes Transition Of UK, West In General Into Tyranny (PCR)

Here is a summary of the speech in the video below of former British Ambassador Craig Murry describing the transition of Britain and the West in general into Tyranny. The UK has criminalized dissent. A new Public Order Act makes it illegal to hold a rally or demonstration if it “inconveniences” anyone. This gives the state unlimited power to clamp down on any demonstration. A new National Security Act makes it illegal to accept funding if it comes from “a hostile state” (there is no definition of what qualifies as a “hostile state”) A new Public Safety Act makes it a criminal offense to publish “misinformation” (there is no definition of “misinformation” — the government decides). It is all about control of the narrative. Zionist lobbies have great influence on official narratives across the West.

Citizens of the West are not allowed to accuse Israel of genocide; this is increasingly being equated with being a “terrorist”. Anti-terrorism powers are being used to prevent any criticism of Israel. Murray, a former British Ambassador, was arrested at the airport under the “Terrorism Act” for attending a pro-Palestine demonstration in Iceland. Under the Terrorism Act, if you are arrested at an airport, you have no right to remain silent, no right to a lawyer, you must turn over all your electronic devices with the passwords. If you refuse to turn over your electronic devices, it is two years in prison. Two years in prison for refusing to answer a question.

Many people are being detained under anti-terrorist legislation, including a professor from Paris and several independent journalists, who all have been detained as was Murray. There is a continual attempt to connect people to Russia. The FBI detained an American professor who spoke with Murray at a pro-Palestine demonstration and had all his electronic devices confiscated. Crackdowns on free speech, freedom of assembly, and any form of dissent are happening all across the Western world in an increasing frequency. As the West trumpets the importance of “freedom and democracy”, it simultaneously limits the freedoms of its own peoples and moves towards complete totalitarianism.

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Their greatest asset.

• Switzerland Dumps Neutrality (Sp.)

The Swiss Council of States, the upper house of the parliament, said on Wednesday that it had voted against a ban on the participation of its military in joint NATO drills. “The participation of Switzerland in joint defense exercises with NATO must not be banned. The Council of States rejected a motion from the National Council to this effect on Wednesday by 29 votes to 12 and after a lively debate,” the upper house said in a statement. Swiss senators believe that in case of an attack on the country, its neutral status will disappear, so Switzerland’s army needs to be ready to defend itself. Switzerland is neither an EU or a NATO member, but Bern has joined almost all European sanctions against Russia since February 24, 2022. In 2024, the Swiss military will take part in 20 exercises outside its territory and four drills on its territory, all of them with the participation of NATO countries.

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Ha ha ha! Here’s to the do-gooders.

• Descendants of Native American Chief Want His Face Back In NFL (RT)

Descendants of John Two Guns White Calf, a Native American chief who inspired the now-retired logo of the Washington Commanders football team (previously known as the Redskins), have called for his return to NFL events. “The fans want him back and we want him back,” Thomas White Calf, a great nephew of the celebrated early-20th-century Blackfeet tribe leader, told Fox News last week. “Our ancestor was the most famous and most photographed native in history,” he added, speaking on the phone alongside his mother, Delphine White Calf. “I’m proud of him. The Blackfeet are proud of him.” The conservative news network interviewed the family after they met Montana Senator Steve Daines – a vocal critic of the 2020 decision to rebrand the franchise. The lawmaker brought up what he believes to be a historic wrong in Congress and in the media on multiple occasions.

“Make no mistake, this logo was inspired and envisioned … as a tribute to Native Americans. It is not a caricature. It is a depiction of pride and strength. Of courage and honor,” he said at a Senate subcommittee hearing in May. Both the name and the mascot were retired in 2020, against the backdrop of racial protest following the death of George Floyd. Major investors and shareholders put pressure on the team’s top sponsors, claiming that the branding promoted negative stereotypes about Native Americans. The management caved in, though the Redskins were renamed as the Commanders only two years later.

A spokesman for the team told Fox News that it is collaborating with Senator Daines “to honor the legacy of our team’s heritage and the Native American community,” but had no intention of reviving the old logo. The news outlet pinned the blame for the naming controversy on the non-profit National Congress of American Indians. Among other things, it seeks to eradicate what it perceives as inappropriate mascots in sports and complained against the Redskins in 2013 in a 29-page report on the issue. “Today’s harmful ‘Indian’ mascots are very much an extension of the commercialization of race such as black face and African-American stereotypes,” the document claimed.

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“A change in leadership is probably our last hope in stopping this madness from continuing.”

• Kamala Bucks (Jim Rickards)

We’re still trying to process the latest assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which took place on Sunday in West Palm Beach. But while that’s important to dissect as the election gets closer, it’s important to consider a development I’ve been warning about for over two years. President Trump has long been an opponent of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) or as I call them Biden Bucks. (Now that Biden is essentially out of the picture, maybe I should rename them Kamala Bucks.) I called them “Biden Bucks” because I wanted Biden (and his partner Kamala) to take full credit for what I consider to be crimes against American citizens. More on that shortly. For now, let’s focus on Trump. At a New Hampshire campaign rally earlier this year, Donald Trump reiterated what he’s been saying for months: CBDCs are dangerous and he would never allow one if elected. For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It’s time we take a stand — together.

This would be a dangerous threat to freedom, and I will stop it from coming to America. Such a currency would give a federal government absolute control over your money. They could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone. In fact, Trump recently pledged to ban CBDCs, promote the creation of a national crypto reserve and guarantee that the government will not sell crypto obtained through law enforcement seizures. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: “Welcome aboard, Mr. President.” Again, I’ve been sounding the alarm about Biden Bucks for over two years. I’ve been warning about Joe Biden’s plan to control your money and take away your privacy rights completely. President Trump is right. Biden Bucks are a dangerous threat to freedom. They’re a threat to our constitutional liberties and give the government total control of our private financial information. A change in leadership is probably our last hope in stopping this madness from continuing.

Maybe you’re a new reader who’s not familiar with Biden Bucks, or maybe you’re an existing reader who hasn’t thought of them for a while. To catch you up, here are the basics: They would replace physical cash with new electronic currencies. These Biden Bucks would have the full backing of the U.S. Federal Reserve. To be clear, they won’t just be a complement to cash. They will entirely, or very nearly entirely, REPLACE the cash (“fiat”) dollar we have now. In other words, the dollar will be strictly digital. This digital dollar would be the sole, mandatory currency of the United States. What does this mean for you? It would put your money under direct government control as President Trump has said. You could use it only at the government’s discretion. We are already seeing how many retailers are no longer accepting cash across America. What happens when physical cash is eliminated from any payment transactions?

Imagine this. To further advance the Biden/Harris Green New Scam, what if the Dems and their deep state enablers decide that gasoline needs to be rationed? Your Biden/Kamala Bucks could be rendered useless at the gas pump once you’ve purchased a certain amount of gasoline in a week. You want gas, but all you get is a one-word message: Declined. How’s that for control? That’s just one example. Biden Bucks would create new ways for the government to control how much you can buy of an item or even restrict purchases. They would keep score of every financial decision you make. In a world of Biden Bucks, the government will even know your physical whereabouts at the point of purchase. It’s a short step from there to putting you under FBI investigation if you vote for the wrong candidate or give donations to the wrong political party. If any of this sounds extreme, fantastical or otherwise far-fetched, I promise you it’s not. It’s happening right now. And given all the abuses of power the government’s engaged in over the past few years, why should you be surprised that Biden/Kamala Bucks wouldn’t invite even more abuse?

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“The purchase of burgers by Trump “was one of the most important Bitcoin transactions of all time..”

• Trump Makes First Payment In Bitcoin (RT)

Donald Trump used Bitcoin to buy cheeseburgers and beer for his supporters at a bar in New York City on the National Cheeseburger Day. This made Trump the first ever incumbent or former US president to make a payment using the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, according to media reports. The Republican presidential candidate visited PubKey, a Bitcoin-themed bar and restaurant in Manhattan, shortly before his Long Island campaign rally on Wednesday.The 78-year-old was helped by the bar’s employees to perform the transaction using his phone and a tablet belonging to PubKey. “I just made the first transaction in Bitcoin,” Trump announced to cheers from Bitcoin enthusiasts, who packed the establishment. Paying with cryptocurrency was “very easy,” he added.

“They have been treating you very badly at the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) and we are going to treat you very fairly,” he told the crowd. “Get out and vote because if you vote, we cannot lose,” the former president said. The purchase of burgers by Trump “was one of the most important Bitcoin transactions of all time,” one of PubKey’s owners, Thomas Pacchia, told the Bitcoin Magazine. “We are very excited he was here… to show his support to the Bitcoin community.” Bitcoin, which was introduced in 2009, has grown in value by more than 500% during the past five years. The current price for one Bitcoin is above $61,000.

On Monday, Trump and his children unveiled their own cryptocurrency venture, called World Liberty Financial. There is so far little information available about the project, which is expected to be a borrowing and lending service to trade cryptocurrencies. According to Donald Trump Jr., its goal is to provide opportunities to entrepreneurs who are unable to obtain financing from traditional banks. Trump appears to have made a U-turn on cryptocurrencies during the current presidential campaign. In 2021, he told Fox News that they were a “scam” and “potentially a disaster waiting to happen.” The dollar should remain “the currency of the world,” and investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies “hurts the US currency,” he argued at the time.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1836512155077898279

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Do we believe the FBI?

• FBI: Iran Hacked Trump Campaign Materials And Gave Them To Biden/Harris (MN)

The AP is reporting that the FBI has uncovered evidence that Iranian hackers stole materials from the Trump campaign in the Summer and provided them to what was then the Biden/Harris campaign. The report notes that the emails were sent to “people who were associated with Biden’s campaign” in June and July when he was still the Democratic nominee. The FBI uncovered the “unsolicited” evidence as part of its efforts to investigate election interference. The emails “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” a government statement noted. It is not known if the Biden/Harris campaign reviewed the materials. Hilariously, however, the Harris campaign issued a statement saying that they were “victims” of the hack. Last night in New York, Trump referred to the development, calling it “foreign election interference,” and charging that “Biden is working with Iran.”

It is clear that there is a concerted effort to undermine Trump’s campaign, with officials revealing in August that further internal communications were hacked and provided to at least three media organisations, with the perpetrators suspected to be Iranian hackers. As we previously highlighted, the Secret Service also uncovered an assassination plot against Trump by Iran on the same weekend as the Butler shooting in July.

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Antonio Garcia doesn’t seem overly happy that Russia sidesteps the sanctions.

• Russia’s Shadow Fleet is a Ticking Geopolitical Timebomb (Garcia)

In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union and several other Western countries imposed extensive sanctions on Russia, attempting to stop the trade of Russian oil. In December 2022, the G7 countries decided on an oil price cap. However, Russia has found ways to circumvent these sanctions, primarily through the creation of a “shadow fleet” of oil tankers. Despite robust US Treasury sanctions targeting the shadow fleet, Russia continues to expand it by incorporating new tankers, allowing for stable exports and further evasion of oil price caps. Only 36% of Russian oil exports were shipped by IG-insured tankers. For other shipments, Russia utilized its shadow fleet, which was responsible for exports of ~2.8 mb/d of crude and 1.1 mb/d of oil products in March 2024. Kpler data shows that in April 2024, 83% of crude oil and 46% of petroleum products were shipped on shadow tankers. The shrinking role of the mainstream fleet fundamentally undermines the leverage of the price cap.

The shadow fleet is a collection of aging and often poorly maintained vessels with unclear ownership structures and lack of insurance. The number of old, outdated ships departing from Russia has increased dramatically. The EU has recently introduced legislation aimed at cracking down on the sale of mainstream tankers into the Russian shadow trade, but the problem persists. Russia managed to expand its shadow tanker fleet, adding 35 new tankers to replace 41 tankers added to OFAC’s SDN list since December 2023. These tankers, all over 15 years old, are managed outside the EU/G7. With 85% of the tankers aged over 15 years, the risk of oil spills at sea is heightened.

The shadow fleet poses a significant and rising threat to the environment. The aging and underinsured vessels increase the risk of oil spills, a potential catastrophe for which Russia would likely refuse to pay. The vessels can cause collisions, leak oil, malfunction, or even sink, posing a threat to other ships, water, and marine life. With estimates suggesting over 1,400 ships have defected to the dark side serving Russia, the potential for environmental damage is substantial. For instance, since the beginning of 2022, 230 shadow fleet tankers have transported Russian crude oil through the Danish straits on 741 occasions. Also, a shadow fleet tanker on its way to load crude in Russia collided with another ship in the strait between Denmark and Sweden. Last year, a fully loaded oil tanker lost propulsion and drifted off the Danish island of Langeland for six hours. Recovery after any potential oil spill could take decades.

Added to the environmental issue, seaborne Russian oil is almost entirely heading to the Asian markets, with India, China, and Turkey being the biggest buyers. In 2023, 86% of oil exports went to friendly countries compared to 40% in 2021, and 84% of petroleum product exports compared to 30% in 2021. This shift in export destinations highlights the changing geopolitical landscape of the oil market due to the sanctions and the rise of the shadow fleet. Several measures have been proposed to address the challenges posed by the shadow fleet. These include stricter sanctions on individual vessels, increased scrutiny of financial institutions involved in Russian oil deals, and fines that would limit sales or decommission tankers.

The G7 countries are taking measures to tighten control over the price cap and further pressure Russia. The US has introduced a series of sanctions against ships and shipowners suspected of violating the price cap. However, concerns remain that these measures could lead to higher energy prices and escalate tensions with Russia. The Danish foreign ministry has stated that “The Russian shadow fleet is an international problem that requires international solutions.” The shadow fleet has allowed Russia to circumvent Western sanctions and continue profiting from its oil exports, but it has come at a significant cost. The environmental risks posed by these aging and poorly maintained vessels are alarming, and the shift in oil trade patterns is reshaping the geopolitical landscape. Addressing this complex issue will require concerted international efforts and a delicate balance between maintaining sanctions and ensuring stable energy markets. The situation is unsustainable, and the need for action is becoming increasingly urgent.

Read more …

For the amount of time and effort put in, it doesn’t look very successsful. There must have been a “better” plan.

• Pager Bomb Plot 15 Years In The Making – ABC News (RT)

Israeli intelligence services have been contemplating an operation along the lines of this week’s mass explosions of Hezbollah electronic devices for at least 15 years, a US intelligence source has told ABC News. Thousands of people were injured in Lebanon by a series of blasts linked to pagers, walkie-talkies, and other equipment used by the militant group. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the incident, although media reports have widely described it as a Mossad plot that involved rigging the gadgets with remotely-triggered explosive charges. Speaking to ABC News, a US source called it a “supply chain interdiction,” adding that the CIA has long been reluctant to employ similar tactics due to the risk of collateral damage. In Lebanon, children were among some two dozen people killed in the attack, which also left many victims mutilated.

The New York Times previously reported that the supply of sabotaged devices started in the summer of 2023, citing multiple officials familiar with the operation. The ABC News report suggested that BAC Consulting, a Hungarian-based firm subcontracted by Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Gold Apollo to produce pagers for Hezbollah, was an Israeli front. The devices were never in Hungary and BAC was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site” in the country, a government spokesperson told the outlet. The administration of Taiwan has distanced the self-ruled Chinese island from the wave of violence in Lebanon. “The components are [mainly] low-end IC [integrated circuits] and batteries,” Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters on Friday, as quoted by Reuters. “I can say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan.”

Beirut and the Hezbollah leadership have blamed Israel for the incident and have declared that Lebanon is now in a state of war with its neighbor. The Israel Defense Forces intensified cross-border attacks on Thursday, in what observers fear may be a prelude for a major ground invasion. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday announced a “new phase in the war” with the militant movement. An Israeli commando division previously involved in military action in Gaza has moved to the north amid the sharpening tensions. Israel launched large-scale military action in Lebanon in 1982 – leading to a three-year partial occupation and the rise of Hezbollah as a prominent military and political force – and again in 2006, in what turned out to be a month-long incursion.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Dominion
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836426236916363344

 

 

Rogan shooter
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836496582973194256

 

 

Close up
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836642625509568992

 

 

Penguins
https://twitter.com/i/status/1836474470703210503

 

 

Shark

 

 

Transformation

 

 

 

 

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If Oil Can Drop 40%, What’s Gold Going To Do?

Nov 302014
 
 November 30, 2014  Posted by at 11:23 pm Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,  22 Responses »


Wyland Stanley Chalmers touring car 1922

Amusing, that Swiss vote today. Or rather, the three votes. I can’t oversee why the first one, the hike in taxes for foreigners, was rejected. It would seem reasonable that everyone living in a country pays a similar amounts in taxes, but perhaps there’s another angle to the topic that I haven’t read about.

The second vote, the one on immigration limits, initiated by an eco group, looks easier to understand. In a country smack in the middle of continental Europe, which has 3 official languages and where 25% of the population are foreigners, forcing the government to limit immigration by 80% from one day to the next, from 80,000 to 16,000 people, seems to be quite simply too steep a demand.

If they would have formulated the question better, more subtle perhaps, more gradual, and chances are the initiative wouldn’t have been turned down by 74% of voters. This takes place against the background of a Europe that is being flooded with immigrants from all sides, where everyone has a hard time coming up with the right answer(s), and where the whole issue drowns in a vapor of right wing extremism. It makes sense to tread more carefully in circumstances such as that.

And in the third question, the most publicized one, about the Swiss central bank (SNB)’s gold holdings, I think something exactly like that happened. The question was poorly formulated. And communicated. The gold question itself consisted of three parts again. First, repatriating of Swiss gold stored abroad. A hot topic in many countries these days.

Second, a ban on the central bank selling any gold, ever, in perpetuity. And third, an obligation for the central bank to purchase, at today’s prices, 60-70 billion Swiss francs (about on par with the USD) worth of gold, 1500 metric tons, in five years, to have 20% of its reserves in gold.

If the question would have been only about repatriating the gold Switzerland already owns, I don’t see how it could not have been accepted. Part 2, the ban on selling until the end of time, looks once more poorly phrased. How is anyone supposed to know what that entails, ‘forever’? If you’re forced to sit on the stuff until the day you die, and your kids too, what use is it? People may have all sorts of answers to that, but it’s what the Swiss (wo)man in the street was supposed to answer today. Surely, there would have been a better way to put the question.

The biggest question was number three: buying $12-14 billion in gold every year for 5 years. From what I understand, the central bank warned about that quite strongly. And I see people calling that anti-gold propaganda, but I think there’s more to it than that. Not that these issues are ever simple. For one thing, the Swiss central bank used to have, on a regular basis, 40% of its reserves in gold until as recently as 10 years ago.

But. Things have changed over the past decade. For central banks everywhere, just look at the Fed balance sheet that exploded 5-6 fold to $4.5 trillion or so. The Swiss isolate themselves from all manner of things -and then yodel about it -, but their central bank has had to keep up with global developments, at least to an extent.

And I don’t want to pass any sort of judgment on what part of its reserves any central bank should hold in gold, but to force it into buying specific amounts while it’s trying to keep the value of the franc from exploding to infinity and beyond is, in my view, one more poorly phrased proposal.

The SNB has spent about the same amount the ‘Gold Initiative’ wanted it to spent on gold purchases, on buying euros, in an effort to keep the franc down. And we can all think about that what we want, but that’s not what the vote today was about. The SNB’s problem with that vote was that it would have forced it to let go of that ‘anti-euro’ stance. Betting everything on gold, and letting the franc surge through the roof against the currency all your neighbors use, that’s quite a dramatic reversal, no matter how you look at it.

The entire discussion, predictably, got swayed in the direction of, and taken over by, the ever present gold bugs, but with gold having dropped from $1920 a few years ago to $1167.15 today, their view obviously is not the only one that counts. Because Switzerland, as far as we know, might run into very serious economic issues if it allows the franc to rise substantially against the euro.

Plus, neither the country nor its central bank may be quite as powerful and wealthy any more as we like to think. So perhaps the question shouldn’t have been one with strict demands for purchases of gold, but one that questions the policy of buying tens of billions in euros, a policy that has lost the SNB a lot of money already now the euro is down 10-15% against the US dollar.

You can’t, if you’re Swiss, separate the two: you can’t vote on gold but not on the Swiss france vs the euro. So the question asked was the wrong one. And you can’t try and force a central bank to buy gold and hold it into perpetuity, into infinity and beyond, without addressing the problems Swiss companies would encounter if and when the franc would soar against the euro.

And the euro is sure to lose more ground vs the US dollar. So should the SNB have bought dollars instead of euros? The bank itself would have had more wealth, but the euro would have sunk further too, killing Swiss exports to its neighbors, so it’s mixed blessings all around. Note that if the initiative had been accepted, the SNB would have had – in all likelihood – to sell euros to purchase gold, thereby exacerbating everybody’s problems.

From where I’m sitting, I have the impression that the entire thing got moved way out of sync because gold is such an emotional issue for many in the economics press, and especially the blogosphere (where selling gold is very popular). Whereas the real issue, and the reason 78% of Swiss said No, was that the ‘initiatives’ were all poorly phrased. Get yourselves some hip spin doctors already!

Aside from that, there’s of course also my personal opinion that gold is not the cure-all end-all answer to every question or problem. But I know that’s often taken for some kind of heresy. Still, what we’ve always said at The Automatic Earth still stands: owning some gold is fine, but only after you’ve taken care of basic essentials; it may take years for gold to get back to its ‘historically just’ level. And most people don’t have that kind of time.

And let’s be honest, how many people really have their basic essentials down? I know that saying that will lose me readers, but I just don’t want to be part of some church. If we’re going to have a discussion, let’s at least agree to leave no stone unturned.

And yes, we can now expect increased downward pressure on gold. Maybe not as much as on oil, but still. But I don’t think that has anything to do with the value of gold, just with propped up expectations. If oil can drop 40%, what’s gold going to do?