"Hit by Friendly Fire"; "The West’s Most Potent Weapon"

"Hit by Friendly Fire"

by Jim Rickards

"The Russian advance into Ukraine continues, with Russia taking the key city of Kherson today. That’s big. Kherson is a chokepoint on the Dnieper River that flows from the Black Sea to Kyiv. A rough analogue would be Grant's capture of Vicksburg on the Mississippi in the Civil War. When you control the river, you control commerce and military resupply to the interior. Meanwhile, the important cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol are under siege. When they fall, Putin will have a line of control from Kherson to Kharkiv and a land bridge from Luhansk to Crimea. This traps Ukrainian forces behind the line. Odessa is next.

The media have been hyperventilating about Putin being "bogged down" outside Kyiv. But Kyiv is last on the menu, not first. The Ukrainian people are being urged to form a resistance and to engage in guerrilla tactics. Many likely will. But that call strongly suggests confidence in the ability of the regular Ukrainian forces to stop Russia is fading fast.

But of equal or greater significance for much of the world is the financial aspect of the war. Financial sanctions on Russia have dominated the headlines this past week, as leaders of the EU, the U.S. and NATO have unleashed a barrage of economic and banking sanctions.

The greatest casualty has been the Russian ruble (RUB), which has collapsed about 50% in the past 10 days relative to the dollar and the other major currencies. One impact of this in Russia was a run on banks and ATMs by citizens trying to get what currency they could, probably to spend it on food and staples before prices went up. A grossly devalued ruble will certainly cause inflation in Russian prices, although that does not happen all at once.

Normally, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) would intervene with its dollar reserves to support the ruble, but Russia’s dollar reserves were frozen by U.S. and other nations’ financial sanctions and by a prohibition of CBR use of SWIFT for dollar transfers. An action to freeze the assets and transactions of a major central bank is unprecedented since the end of the Cold War, but that’s exactly what happened this week.

The CBR responded to the freeze with the next-best tactic, which was to impose capital controls and raise interest rates to 20% in an effort to stabilize the ruble. Those measures seem to be working in the short run. But the ruble collapse can presage major instability in the international monetary system.

Suddenly, dollar-denominated obligations of Russian entities that rely on ruble earnings may go into default because the ruble revenues are insufficient to pay the debts and because rubles can’t be converted to dollars due to exchange controls. Those losses will end up on the books of the lenders in Europe and the U.S., which may cause further financial distress.

The SWIFT prohibitions on Russian banks are also not a free lunch in terms of putting pressure on Russia. Every buyer has a seller, and every sender has a receiver. If Russian banks cannot transact on SWIFT, that means Western banks that are counterparties will take the hit. As Western banks scramble to cover their open positions, there will be dumping of collateral and other assets that may disrupt financial markets. Unlike a stock market crash, this kind of interbank distress does not happen all at once. It can take days or weeks to play out. Still, those ripple effects or spillovers are coming.

We’re probably in the opening stages of a major global liquidity crisis. What happens in Russia doesn’t stay in Russia. These types of markets are dangerous for investors who are unfamiliar or not paying attention. I encourage you not to be one of them. Below, my senior analyst, Dan Amoss, shows you the most potent weapon that the U.S. and Europe have against Russia. Read on."

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"The West’s Most Potent Weapon"

By Dan Amoss

"As more sanctions are put on Russia by NATO countries, we must look ahead to the economic consequences for the West when Putin responds. What will oil supplies along with severed supply chains look like for global economies when that happens? We will unpack these questions today… A wave of public support from around the world is encouraging Ukraine in its valiant resistance. Americans naturally sympathize with Ukrainians. When an army crosses a sovereign border, we support those defending their families and communities in an unnecessary war of aggression. Our prayers go out to all who are suffering.

With that said, you need to protect your portfolio, especially in times like these. Let’s consider a likely financial market scenario that is based on what’s happened in the past week and where things stand as of today.

Leaders of the EU, the U.S. and NATO have unleashed a barrage of economic and banking sanctions. But they’re being naïve if they think cutting off Russia economically won’t have grave economic consequences for the West. Leaders should be forthright with constituents about how much economic damage Putin can inflict when he hits back in the weeks ahead — primarily through weaponizing oil and gas supplies.

More oil and gas supply available at lower prices is the best way to gain negotiating leverage against Putin, a man who is willing to kill civilians as part of his “negotiating” process. This is not the time for the EU or U.S. to double down on a wind-and-solar agenda, because an overdose of wind and solar has decimated German industry in the past few months. An immediate and dramatic increase in oil and gas exploration would be the most potent weapon to fight back against Putin. Doing so would be far more effective and lasting than banking sanctions, which risk uncertain worldwide financial and economic blowback.

Efforts to crash Russia’s financial system ignore an obvious fact: Payments go one way, goods and services go the other. In the case of Russia, we’re mostly talking about energy and food. Jim Rickards has covered this topic in his Twitter feed, which you should follow for his thoughts. Early this week Jim tweeted: "Stocks to open down big. Who knows where they go from there? That’s not the threat. The danger is in the banking system, interbank loans, eurodollars, repos and other leverage based on Treasury bill collateral. It’s easy to smash Russia. It’s impossible to know what comes next."

[As an aside: I find Twitter to be an enormously valuable tool for researching investments, but discipline is a must. It’s easy to get distracted by noise and miss signals. So much noise is shouted by ignoramuses. With practice, one can do a decent job of filtering signals from noise. Stick to subject matter experts, and elders who have vastly more life experience, and you’ll be well served.]

Going back to the main theme: Encouraging more U.S. energy production is vital not because it’s a popular Republican talking point. It’s vital because the plain facts show insufficient capital spending to meet global oil demand at today’s price. This can extend to Europe too, which has neglected to invest in the oil and gas that’s still offshore in the North Sea. Norway has done a decent job investing, but the British and Dutch have gone “all in” on wind, leaving untapped oil and gas in their sectors of the North Sea.

Western oil companies have not invested enough in drilling projects to offset potential supply reductions from Russia. Banks, oil-trading firms and refineries are balking at importing Russian oil. That means prices could keep rising until demand is destroyed. For oil demand to fall enough to match the sharp drop in available supply, higher prices are required.

Jim and I have spent the past week reading and communicating about what’s unfolding in Ukraine, and its implications for financial markets. We are thinking about the implications for inflation if many links in the global supply chain for commodities get severed and rerouted. Creating new links would take time and will be costly.

For instance, Germany cannot snap its fingers and get the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal that its political leaders now desire. Nor can the U.S. boost its LNG export capacity very quickly. Capacity is already very tight. Cost blowouts on LNG terminal construction projects drove engineering and construction companies into bankruptcies. Building more U.S. LNG export capacity would be very costly. It was barely feasible when steel prices were a fraction of today’s prices. Now? The fully loaded cost of gas liquefication would have to rise significantly to finance what would be much higher plant construction costs.

What about energy transportation? Oil tankers may have to steam for many more miles if refineries around the world can no longer accept Russian crude. Refineries may have to invest to handle a change in crude types. Pipelines networks would have to be reimagined. All this is just the beginning of what it would take to transition to a less efficient, more duplicative, more multipolar global commodities trading system.

What if Russia becomes a pariah state like Iran or Venezuela and must sell its commodities on the black market to autocrat-tolerant buyers like China? It’s an open secret that China imports lots of Iranian oil on the black market even though Iran is under harsh international sanctions.

My point is this: If delicate, densely interconnected trade and payment links around the globe get rearranged, it’s going to be very costly. There’s no sugarcoating it. Duplicating supply chains would take a decade or more, raise marginal production costs and lower standards of living (mostly through inflation). The good news is economies would be more resilient and less fragile after a long rebuilding and reshoring process. The bad news is that it’s going to take a long time and for many it will be a painful process.

Also, we need to be realistic about how much more economic activity may be directed by wasteful government budgets. “We need more subsidies! Price controls! Loan guarantees! And more!” say the control freaks who all too often rise to the top in politics. If only it were that easy. Unfortunately, it’s not."

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

Full screen recommended.

Deuter, "Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Large galaxies and faint nebulae highlight this deep image of the M81 Group of galaxies. First and foremost in the wide-angle 12-hour exposure is the grand design spiral galaxy M81, the largest galaxy visible in the image. M81 is gravitationally interacting with M82 just below it, a big galaxy with an unusual halo of filamentary red-glowing gas.

Around the image many other galaxies from the M81 Group of galaxies can be seen. Together with other galaxy congregates including our Local Group of galaxies and the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the M81 Group is part of the expansive Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies. This whole galaxy menagerie is seen through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy."

- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080512.html

Chet Raymo, “A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”

“A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”

by Chet Raymo

"Mostly we think of life in terms of individuals - this person, this tomato plant, this frog, this oak tree, this gnat. And we talk about birth and death as the beginning and ending of life. But there is another sense in which life is just one thing, whose beginning is lost in the depths of time and whose end is not in sight. Life in this sense embodies itself in matter, temporarily, as a tomato or a frog, puts on matter and puts off matter as we might don or doff clothes. By this account, I am an ephemeral conglomeration of atoms that life is using to perpetuate itself.

But what is this thing called life? It cannot exist except as embodied form, but it maintains a continuity independent of any particular embodiment. It is a strange enduring wave that stirs the material world into purposeful and directed avenues. With Johannes Kepler we might call it the facultas formatrix of nature, the formative faculty, but giving something a name doesn't explain it. Whatever life is - in the unitary, enduring sense - it would be surprising if it only existed here on Earth. If I were a betting man I would bet that life is as pervasive as matter itself, or energy. Matter, energy and complexification. We have lots left to learn.

But let's be cautious. There are lots of folks out there with half-baked biocentric theories of the universe. Someone once chided the philosopher W. V. O. Quine with a quote from Shakespeare: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” To which Quine is said to have responded: “Possibly, but my concern is that there not be more things in my philosophy than are in heaven and earth.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com

“More To Come…”

“More To Come…”

By Jeff Thomas

“Years ago, when visiting the US, I’d often watch late night television. Just prior to each interval, in order to ensure that viewers would sit through the adverts, the show would run a panel that said, “More to Come.” This, of course, was effective, as the viewer would be anticipating that the best part of the program would come in a later segment and would be more likely to continue watching.

Today, we’re looking at the reverse of that situation. The program we’re watching is The Decline and Fall of the American Empire and those who recognize the decline are viewing with ever-increasing trepidation, the developments that are unfolding there. Even those of us who are not American and don’t live there are glued to our screens, as we’re aware that were viewing the early stages of a collapse that promises to be the greatest social, political and economic event that we’re likely to see in our lifetimes.

Following World War Two, the US was in a boom beyond anything the world had ever seen. The Americans came to the war late, after having built up their manufacturing capacity for war dramatically, at the expense of the Allied powers in Europe. And they did this, essentially for free. It was paid for with the gold from the vaults of the European allies. After the war, Europe was trashed and it would take decades for them to get on their feet again. Meanwhile, the US had been going flat out in production, had first-rate modern factories and, most important, held the majority of the world’s gold.

The 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement ensured that the US dollar would become the world’s default currency and, later, become the petrodollar, ensuring American hegemony over much of the rest of the world. There can be no doubt that, in the first decades after the war, the US had an amazing run and was, arguably, one of the best places to live in the world.

But, unfortunately, as so often happens, American political and industry leaders became full of themselves and couldn’t resist going out on limb to gain even more for themselves. In so doing, they turned the US from the world’s foremost creditor nation into the world’s foremost debtor nation. Worse, when they reached this unprecedented point, they opted to just keep going.

Worse still, it would appear that today’s leaders are aware that the mother of all bubbles that they’ve created is going to pop sometime in the near future, as they’re preparing themselves for the mother of all pushbacks from the populace when the crashes come.

The FBI, CIA, NSA, and a host of other authorities have either been created or expanded, allowing the creation of the world’s foremost police state. And, beginning in 2001 with the Patriot Act, have created a host of laws to assign authority to any of those bodies to exert ever-increasing control over the population. Capital controls, migration controls, higher taxes, confiscation of deposits in banks and quite a bit more have been passed in legislation, including the ability to declare the US in its entirely to be a “battle zone,” through which habeas corpus and the court system can be suspended nationally.

Yipes. (Or, blimey, depending on where you’re from.) At this point, any American who’s paying attention could be forgiven if he’s genuinely frightened at where his government is going with all this.

And so, we come back to the title of this essay – “More to Come.” A regular flow of proposed laws is now coming down the pipeline that would have been considered the stuff of a bad movie a few decades ago, but is now only too real and threatening to the freedoms of the average citizen. Instead of “more to come” meaning that the best is still on the way, the opposite would appear to be the case, and the worst is here, now.

But, how can this be, we ask ourselves. Surely those in power – the politicians, the industrialists, the central bankers, etc., must have seen this coming and, if that’s so, surely they’d have done something to stop it. Well, historically, that’s never been the case. Those in the greatest positions of power have never suddenly reversed an empire when it was about to self-destruct. What they tend to do instead is to guard against becoming casualties of the disaster they’ve created.

So, is that what’s happening this time around? In a word, yes.

The Bernie Madoffs of the world go to jail. However, those who commit the same fraudulent acts from within the system never go to jail. For example, if the heads of a bank commit massive fraud, the bank pays an enormous fine. The fine is then paid by the stockholders. And should the fine be large enough to crash the bank, the bankers can appeal to the government to bail them out, as they’re “too big to fail.” Thus, the taxpayers pick up the bill.

At this point, what we’re witnessing is an era in which laws are regularly being passed to ensure that the creators of the bubble will get a “Get Out of Jail Free” card and others will sustain the losses.

This is the very essence of what happens in an endgame run. Just as a hitman who places a bomb in a building makes his exit before the bomb can go off, the creators of bubbles safeguard themselves before the economic bomb can go off. They have no intention of being around to live with the resultant devastation that they’ve put into play.

Pete Townshend wrote prophetically, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” in 1971, in which he hopes that the latest gang of leaders will be better than the last. In the final line of the song, he grimly announces, “Meet the new boss – same as the old boss.”

And, in fact, this is the usual outcome. Perhaps the reason why empires collapse much in the same way, time and again, and their citizens consistently fail to see it coming, is that empires general last a long time before collapsing. The Venetian Republic lasted 200 years. The Spanish Empire lasted just over 120 years. Holland lasted 130 years, Russia – 200, the UK, just under 120. And it’s been much the same for the others. In every case, they last longer than a single lifetime, so it’s rare that any individual sees more than one empire collapse in his own lifetime and doesn’t understand that empires don’t end with a whimper. They end with a crescendo, not unlike the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

We are witnessing the collapse of the world’s foremost empire. This is not mere conjecture. The US has all the symptoms that we’re now coming close to the final stages. And, if history plays out yet again, as it has repeatedly, we can expect that, in the lead-up to the collapse, the controls by governments will become increasingly draconian. As we consider, “more to come,” we should be braced for the likelihood that the worst controls are yet to be revealed.”

- http://www.swpcayman.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "FReAKShOW: More LIES, More Deceptions! And You Are Being Played Like A Grand Piano"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/3/22:

"FReAKShOW: More LIES, More Deceptions! 

And You Are Being Played Like A Grand Piano"

- https://traderschoice.net/

The Daily "Near You?"

Torrance, California, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"And Never, Never, To Forget..."

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget."

- Arundhati Roy

"I Asked For, I Was Given..."

“In my youth I respected the world and life,

I needed nothing but peace of heart;

And yet I changed despite myself and believed in Iktomi's lies.

He seemed to know all the truth,

he promised to make me happy.

He made me ask Wakan Tanka for wealth, that I might have power;

I was given poverty, that I might find my inner strength.

I asked for fame, so others would know me;

I was given obscurity, that I might know myself.

I asked for a person to love that I might never be alone;

I was given a life of a hermit, that I might learn to accept myself.

I asked for power, that I might achieve;

I was given weakness, that I might learn to obey.

I asked for health, that I might lead a long life;

I was given infirmity, that I might appreciate each minute.

I asked Mother Earth for strength, that I might have my way;

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for Her.

I asked to live happily, that I might enjoy life;

I was given life, that I might live happily.

I received nothing I asked for, yet all my wishes came true.

Despite myself and Iktomi, my dreams were fulfilled,

I am richly blessed more than I ever hoped,

I thank you, Wakan Tanka, for what you've given me.”

- Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota (1938-)

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"In Lakota mythology, Iktomi is a spider-trickster spirit, and a culture hero for the Lakota people. Alternate names for Iktomi include Ikto, Ictinike, Inktomi, Unktome, and Unktomi. These names are due to the differences in tribal languages, as this spider deity was known throughout many of North America's tribes. Iktomi can be compared to the African trickster figure Anansi, and to some extent, the transculturated Yoruba Ellegua, also depicted as a trickster disguised in red. Due to his nature as a Trickster as well as patronage of communication, Iktomi is also comparable to the Greco-Roman Hermes/Mercurius (Mercury)."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iktomi

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"In Native American mythology, Wakan Tanka (great mystery) is the supreme being and creator of the Lakota Sioux. Sometimes called Great Spirit, he is similar to the supreme beings found in the myths of many other North American peoples. According to Lakota myth, before creation Wakan Tanka existed in a great emptiness called Han (darkness). Feeling lonely, he decided to create companions for himself. First, Great Spirit focused his energy into a powerful force to form Inyan (rock), the first god. Next, he used Inyan to create Maka (earth) and then mated with that god to produce Skan (sky). Skan brought forth Wi (the sun) from Inyan, Maka, and himself. These four gods were separate and powerful, but they were all part of Wakan Tanka.

The first four gods produced four companions - Moon, Wind, Falling Star, and Thunderbird - to help with the process of creation. In turn, these companions created various gods and spirits, including Whirlwind, Four Winds, Buffalo, Two-Legged Creatures (humans and bears), Sicun (thought), Nagi (spirit of death), Niya (breath of life), and Nagila (shadow). All of these beings were aspects of Wakan Tanka. Together, they created and oversee everything that exists."

- http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Wakan-Tanka.html

"The Great Stagger"

"The Great Stagger"

by The Zman

"One of the curious things about the Roman Empire is how it managed to stagger on for so long after the second century. The third century is actually called The Crisis of the Third Century, because the empire was in chaos. Yet, the empire managed to get through that period and carry on for roughly two more centuries. In time, Historians will probably puzzle over the same question regarding America. How is it that it staggers on despite the obvious problems?

A popular theme in science fiction is one where the human explorers stumble upon alien technology and they are baffled as to what it does. It’s not that they know the purpose but cannot figure out how to make it work. It’s that they don’t understand the purpose of the technology. The implication is that the aliens were so advanced that they were creating tools to solve problems humans have yet to contemplate. The gap between the aliens and humans is so great that it cannot be bridged.

It is a useful thing to keep in mind when thinking about the modern world. The evidence is pretty good that Western man is dumber than his ancestors. We have more overall knowledge than our ancestors, but our ability to add to it is in sharp decline along with our ability to use it. The people in charge now struggle to do the basics of government, like maintain order and the infrastructure. In America, streets are crumbling and there are regular power failures in parts of the country.

A good small-scale example is the city of Baltimore. All of the machinery that was put in place back when it was an important city is still in place. The people running that machinery today are not doing so well. They clearly lack the intellectual firepower to operate that machinery. Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and it is suffering from a steady population decline. The political class is so incompetent they can’t even run the graft system properly.

This was all true before the Covid panic. One thing that kept Baltimore afloat was the tourist and sports industry. In the summer, tourists would come to the well-guarded inner harbor. People from the surrounding areas would come in for sports games and the surrounding restaurants. All of that was shuttered by the panic, which means the tens of millions in tax dollars never arrived. Then there is the cost of the Covid panic itself, which has further crippled the city administration.

When you look at many American cities like Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Newark and so on, the question is not “How did they get to this point?” The question is, “How have they not collapsed by now?” Part of it, of course, is the surrounding infrastructure that keeps them propped up. In the case of Baltimore, the rest of the state is taxed to keep Baltimore City government going. Federal dollars pour in to keep the cops on the streets and the schools open for business.

That’s fine for cities, but that cannot work for the country as a whole. Like those cities, the national government is increasing incompetent. Both official political parties are in such steep decline that the next election will offer a choice between another carny barker and a certified dementia patient. The sober minded will always feels as if the current age sits on the shoulder’s of giants, but the gap between the best we have today and just a few generations ago is breathtaking.

Of course, no one can really know what is happening. The media told us over 50 million people were thrown out of work due to the panic. The empty streets seem to confirm it, but they also tell us unemployment is below 10%. The stock market has returned to the levels it was at before the panic. The media also tells us that the riots we saw were a figment of our imagination. How can anything work when no one can be sure of anything being told to them by the rulers?

Like Rome for close to three centuries, America staggers on, despite the problems and the decline of the ruling class. In the case of Rome, there was no organized force capable of toppling her. In the case of America, the global order assumes America will be the pivot point, the fulcrum on which order balances. As long as people are being fed and have shelter, they will not rise up to challenge the rulers. Like Rome, the great stagger will continue until the corpse of the empire collapses."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"How It Really Is"

"Russia, Ukraine, and the Battle for the World Order"

"Russia, Ukraine, and the Battle for the World Order"

by Nick Giambruno

"The rules-based international order…The liberal international order…The international community… You undoubtedly have heard the media and politicians use these strange and vague phrases. They are describing the current world order or architecture for international political relations between countries.

World orders are nothing new. It’s how the big global powers have set the rules of the game for centuries. On a smaller scale, it’s similar to when the most powerful criminal groups in a given city - like mafias and street gangs - come together and agree on how to divide their activities and neighborhoods among themselves. Sooner or later, though, these agreements always break down. Then, there is a violent power struggle until the criminal groups reach a new agreement that reflects the new balance of power.

A similar dynamic is at play with the most powerful countries and world orders. Wars among the most powerful countries typically lead to a breakdown and restructuring in the world order. Here is a brief overview of some of the most recent world orders. You can think of them as epochs or distinctive periods in history.

The Current US-Led World Order (1945 to Today): The Allies crafted the current world order in the aftermath of WWII with the US as the leader. It features institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—all of which are in the US. While the US is dominant, the other two large powers—Russia and China—have seats at the table.

Treaty of Versailles (1919 to 1939): The victors of WWI created this world order, which featured institutions like the League of Nations. It broke down after Germany and Japan tried to make their own world order during WWII.

Congress of Vienna (1814 to 1914): The military defeat of French Emperor Napoleon I led to this world order. It enshrined the British as the dominant global power. The Congress of Vienna formed the basis for European international politics until the outbreak of WWI in 1914.

The US-Led World Order is Getting Shaky: The godfather of geopolitical theory was British strategist Sir Halford Mackinder. Mackinder developed a general theory that connected geography with global power. Today, military strategists in the US, Russia, and China study his teachings. Mackinder argued that dominating the Eurasian landmass - Asia and Europe together - was the key to being the leading global power.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the renowned American geopolitical strategist, echoed Mackinder on the importance of Eurasia in his book "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives." "Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some five hundred years ago, Eurasia has been the center of world power. A power that dominates 'Eurasia' would control two of the world's three most advanced and economically productive regions… rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75% of the world's people live in 'Eurasia,' and most of the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. 'Eurasia' accounts for about three-fourths of the world's known energy resources."

A single power or coalition that controls the resources of Eurasia would be an unstoppable global superpower… one that could credibly challenge and potentially upend the current US-led world order. For decades, preventing that from happening has been the central - but largely unspoken - goal of US geopolitical strategy. This is the Big Picture context that we should view recent and more historical events in - NATO expansion, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the rise of China, etc.

The primary Eurasian geopolitical challengers to the US-led world order are Russia, China, and to a lesser degree Iran. While they resent US dominance, Russia and China have a seat at the table in the current world order. They have permanent seats at the UN Security Council and are members of core international organizations like the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, and so forth. Russia and China are also onboard with the horrible global agendas for Covid restrictions, vaccine passports, digital identities, social credit systems, and central bank digital currencies.

That’s why, at this point, it doesn't seem that Russia and China want to flip the board and create their own world order - as Germany and Japan tried to do during WWII. Instead, they seem to want to work within the current global order to give themselves a bigger seat at the table. Whether they can manage that balancing act without triggering a war with the US is the $64,000 question.

Here is one sure thing. The US is bungling the big picture geopolitical strategy. From the US perspective, the optimal strategy would be to pit Russia and China against each other. Instead, US actions are pushing China and Russia closer together, which creates a credible challenge to the US-led order.

Here's the bottom line. We are approaching the end of an era. The current world order is getting shaky and could soon fall apart. There is already a dangerous power struggle going on right now, and it could turn catastrophic if it comes to an open war between the big powers.

I'm not trying to be a referee and say who the good and bad guys are. Frankly, I think they are all bad guys, not unlike a collection of crime families dividing up the spoils of a given city.

I’m just trying to objectively describe the Big Picture so I can make better-informed decisions in what could be the most volatile time in anyone’s life. We're on the cusp of the most significant changes in money and finance in world history… Yet few people are aware of what is happening. And even fewer know how to prepare."

- internationalman.com

"Opening Salvos Thrown, What Are Putin’s Next Steps In Ukraine?"

"Opening Salvos Thrown, 

What Are Putin’s Next Steps In Ukraine?"

by Tom Luongo

"Last week I wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin rewrote the rules for the geopolitical game board. A week into his campaign to officially “demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine” it’s clear to me that Putin’s ambitions lie far beyond this stated goal. He will, however, stick to that script until that part of the campaign is complete.

Today I want to start outlining where we go next and to do that we have to describe where we are. Looking around the reports that are the most credible (and properly bracketing for any partisanship) we are staring at a complete, effective neutralization of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) to hold any of the ethnically-dominant areas of Ukraine.

In a post for my patrons on February 25th, responding to an excellent article by Alistair MacLeod I wrote the following: "MacLeod: Both sides probably do not know how fragile the Eurozone banking system is, with both the ECB and its national central bank shareholders already having liabilities greater than their assets. In other words, rising interest rates have broken the euro system and an economic and financial catastrophe on its eastern flank will probably trigger its collapse.

I’ve been banging my shoe on this table for 3 years now. If the US/NATO respond with some kind of guerilla war here to hang Ukraine like an albatross around Putin’s neck, as we should expect, then Europe is in big trouble financially. Because the financial war will keep escalating as Putin responds militarily. Remember, he’s openly threatened the ‘decision makers’ here. And no amount of mealy-mouthed CIA/MI6 disinformation will deter him from action anymore."

This is always what I meant by “spooks start civil wars, militaries end them.” There is no more War for Ukraine. I still believe that. This isn’t a war for Ukraine, it’s a war for the future of the entire world. Ukraine represents the hill both Davos and Russia have chosen to live or die on.

The Afghanistan Gambit: Davos has refused to let President Zelensky surrender because if he does then legally there is no more war to sanction Russia with. It’s not Putin’s War at that point, it is a settled conflict and terms negotiated. At that point what’s left of Ukraine can be carved up into pieces. It’s way to early for that to occur, so you’ll see constant threats of peace talks, but that’s only to assuage the fears of the capital markets, which is where Davos has the most control over the situation.

The primary goal of the information war from the West is to push capital markets as far in its favor as possible, keeping things within the bounds of the ‘acceptable’ to avoid any short-term pain. Gold is still under it’s all-time high, which is just hilarious. That said, in that same post I put up this map of a future Ukraine which I felt, conservatively, would be in effect by the end of this year. Events are moving far faster than that, however.

Chernihiv and Sumy are also in play, as is Lviv as a bargaining chip to Poland. As Fmr. Col. Douglas Macgregor pointed out on Fox News recently, everything east of the Dnieper River will become part of a new Novorussia, if not part of the Russian Federation.

Clearly this is Putin’s initial goal, the partitioning of Ukraine. He’s moved militarily, the EU and the rest of the West have responded financially. Their hope is to turn Ukraine into a quagmire, a la Afghanistan (per Hillary Clinton’s recent remarks), which they hope Russia will not be able to sustain after being choked off from the global economy.

The financial sanctions regime put in place so far are brutal but also full of holes wide enough for Putin to maneuver within and around because of the well understood facts of Russia’s dominance as a global supplier of life-sustaining commodities for the entire world.

This is an asymmetric war. There isn’t much farther the West can go financially. They’ve seized Bank of Russia foreign assets, for pity’s sake. What other weapons do they really have in their arsenal which can threaten Russia with? They have, in effect, executed their nuclear first strike against Russia. Once you’ve gone nuclear, where do you go next? Real nukes? Yes, that’s a possibility, sadly, given the people we’re talking about.

On the other hand, Russia has so far only committed the necessary troops to neutralize Ukraine. So, in this respect, big advantage Russia. Facts on the ground are facts. Russia has taken territory it can maintain. By not targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, Russia has put itself in a very good position to not face an insane insurgency which the West can finance in the way that it has in past conflicts.

Much of NATO’s in-country assets have been neutralized. And you know this because the propaganda and rhetoric have been so thoroughly crude, cartoonish and strident. Again, ask why the financial and informational war has been so intense?

Is it because the West thinks it’s winning or because it’s trying desperately to pivot domestic populations to solidarity after losing massive credibility during the last year with COVID-19 related lockdowns, vax passes, and the unpersoning of whole swaths of Western society?

The Real Russian Cauldron: Now let’s ask the next question that keeps coming up. Why has Putin not shut off the gas to a Europe that is rapidly running out of it? Because to do so would target civilian populations. If he’s not targeting civilians in Ukraine to minimize their anger at being invaded, then why would he use that weapon now against civilians in Germany who hold the key to getting overthrowing the insane politicians and oligarchs who provoked this war in the first place?

It doesn’t make any strategic sense. It also speaks to a kind of confidence in Russia’s military position in Ukraine, thereby lending credence to the reports that Russia is achieving her strategic goals on the ground in Ukraine.

Okay, that’s the lay of the land. So, what are Putin’s real goals? Like I said at the outset, nothing less than breaking the back of Davos and their agents in the US/UK who have tormented Russia for more than a century.

How does he achieve that goal? Putin is creating incontrovertible facts which his opponents must respond to. Again, he’s setting the operational tempo, like I said last week. Their counter-moves are insipid and predictable. Ukraine has asked for admission into the EU. The EU is open to this. Georgia is now doing the same thing. Turkey is livid. Hungary is not getting involved. No one is willing to actually send arms to Ukraine.

What does the EU achieve by adding Ukraine? Do they think because they signed a piece of paper with a person who is de facto not in charge of his country going to change the facts on the ground there? Do they still think “stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool” matters at this point? Because if the EU accepts Ukraine into its ranks, then it will be responsible for the next stage of escalation, not Putin. It will then have to figure out how to oust the Russians from their territory.

Last night President Sundowner made the entire US State of the Union about Ukraine. Do they really think a president with an approval rating that is, at best 37%, capable of marshalling the US into fighting a war for Europe against Russia after bankrupting us with NATO for three generations? If they are, they are more delusional than even I’ve contemplated at this point.

Is NATO prepared to expand now into Ukraine under the umbrella of EU membership? What’s obvious to me is the neocons and neoliberals controlling the West think they can turn Ukraine into a quagmire for Putin, but what if Putin thinks he can turn Ukraine into a quagmire for them?

Russia is not capable of conquering Europe. But he doesn’t need to to defeat them. He just needs to create a version of the map I posted above.

The Limits of Money Wars: If Putin and Russia have achieved, or are about to achieve, all of their military goals in Ukraine, what do they do to secure those gains? They have to neutralize the financial war waged against them and create an environment where Europe spends money it doesn’t have, with failing political capital domestically, and bankrupts them completely. And the first move along those lines was just announced by the Russian Finance Ministry today (VPN and Deepl translator needed).

What does this mean? It means simply that Russia has now, in effect, begun the remonetization of gold for domestic purposes. By removing the VAT on gold purchases Russian citizens can now offset their currency risk with gold and stabilize the domestic monetary situation.

The first step in offsetting financial warfare from the West is allowing the domestic population to be immune to collapses in their currency from foreign actors pulling capital out of the country. Companies doing international business now have an alternative to hold time deposits which are far less volatile than the ruble without penalty. Gold becomes the coin of Russia’s international business.

It’s the beginning of the process of draining physical gold from the global market and control over its price by the ponzi schemes that are the COMEX and the LBMA. This is a first step in rebuilding confidence in the Russian banking system rather than what we’re seeing in the West which is the ritualistic assault on privacy, wealth generation and the value of our labor, which is degrading rapidly thanks to inflation, which will rage from here as all energy and commodity markets are scared to death of Davos’ financial war on Russia.

As Luke Gromen pointed out on Twitter this is the big signal that the petrodollar system is headed for the ashbin of history. With the global oil market in a complete state of shock as no one wants to run afoul of US and/or EU sanctions on Russian energy, the price of oil here potentially goes parabolic. At that point reality hits the money masters squarely in the face.

Those that brave the waters will get their oil at a steep discount, those that don’t will pay through the nose, further accelerating the decline of those economies as inflation spirals out of control and the people put the blame, not on Putin, but on the people in charge.

Moreover, Russia has kept the gas flows going to ensure that money keeps flowing into the country to finance further expansion of its gold reserves. The current shock will abate. Russia is not Iran. It can insure its own tanker fleet. It can deliver the oil. If Iran could survive what Trump did to them, Russia can thrive under this new regime, changing the entire flow of capital around the world.

Now, I want to turn your attention to the other news of which further corroborates that Davos and Europe are trapped. FOMC Chair Jerome Powell testified today telling the world that the Fed will still hike 25 basis points in March. Bullard came out and said the Fed has to withdraw accommodation to maintain its credibility. Further Powell blamed both the Fed and Congress for inflation. It’s a result of too much spending. Powell even floated the idea that the world can have more than one reserve currency (!!). Meanwhile Biden is talking about bringing back Build Back Better and sending us down the road to financial ruin.

The fight between Davos and the Fed, which I identified last summer is real, folks. That leaves a belligerent yet impotent Europe caught between the Scylla of a Fed drying up the global supply of dollars and the Carbides of a Russian military capable of withstanding anything Europe throws at them if the US doesn’t get involved, i.e. this doesn’t go nuclear.

NATO isn’t getting involved in Ukraine even if Ukraine becomes an EU member. They can have the landlocked rump of what’s left over. If Putin is smart, which he is, he will offer the Poles Lviv and Hungary Transcarpathia. The EU gets the dregs.

It’s clear from the wailing and gnashing of the Neocon/Neolibs that they want Putin Milosevic’d for daring to put them in this position. They still dream of overthrowing him. It’s also clear that there are a lot of people who are not down with the willful destruction of the current global economy within the upper reaches of US policy makers and European corporate boards.

This is the real fight for the future and if Davos thinks extreme demand destruction will be tolerated for any length of time over a regional conflict like Ukraine because it’s their ox being gored, then this war, while still raging is, in effect, already over."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"The Cold War is Back and It’s Coming to a City Near You"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 3/3/22:

"The Cold War is Back and It’s Coming to a City Near You"

"The Conflict has made commodity prices soar. We have seen nothing yet. This is going to affect every single person and every industry around the World. It will cost more for absolutely everything."

"Zero-Sum Games"

"Zero-Sum Games"

by Bill Bonner

"The surest way to ruin a nation is to debauch its currency."

~ Vladimir Lenin

Buenos Aires, Argentina - "The first thing we noticed were the zeros. Where did they get so many of them? Imports from Venezuela? We don’t know. But we’d like to own the company that makes them. When we first came to Argentina more than 20 years ago, a trip from the airport into town was about 35 pesos. Now it is 7,600. Every whole number is followed by at least one zero… and usually a whole line of them. A digit without a zero is worthless, since it takes at least 10 pesos to equal half a US penny.

How do you destroy a country… ruin its economy… impoverish its people… and corrupt every institution in the nation? Just add zeros.

Yesterday we wondered about how cutting Russians (and many others too) off from their money might blow up in our faces. Today, the Washington Post wonders too: "One former Obama administration official that worked on sanctions, who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said the scale of the restrictions on Russia has been so huge and unprecedented - so its knock-on impact could be huge and unprecedented, too. The former official noted that Russia’s central bank, which had its assets frozen by the United States in a Rubicon-crossing move, had more assets than the entire economic output of Iran."

Yes, the “shock and awe” financial attack is having an effect. Oil trades at over $112 a barrel. And Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, swirled closer to the drain yesterday. The stock trades at only 90 cents, down from $20 in October. But what did Sberbank shareholders do wrong? Why are they being punished?

A large Russian stock fund, based in London, in which we have a small investment, sent out a notice; if we wanted to get our money out, it said, we can go fish. It’s too late. Trading has been halted. We don’t know what our investments are worth (probably not much) and we can’t sell them anyway.

Debauching the Dollar: US markets, meanwhile, rallied; investors were said to be buoyed up by the latest news. As expected, Jerome Powell, Fed Chief, told the world that he is getting serious about whipping inflation now. He’s calling up a platoon of very mean girl scouts to lead the charge. Fox: "With inflation well above 2% and a strong labor market, we expect it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate at our meeting later this month," Powell testified before the House Financial Services Committee, saying that he is "inclined to propose and support a 25 basis point rate hike" at the Fed's March 15-16 gathering."

Is he kidding? A quarter point increase? That will bring the Fed’s key rate to about MINUS 7%. Is this ‘tightening?’ Of course not. Powell is not fighting inflation; he is enabling it. And he’s debauching the dollar, not the ruble; he’s ruining the US, not Russia. (Russia’s central bank is lending money at 20% interest!)

Once again, the elite – media, experts, universities, politicians, Wall Street – line up like zeros behind the feds… as they have every time this century. Yes, there were ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq in 2003. Uh huh... no question about it. Yes, in 2008, ‘we may not even have an economy on Monday.’ Sure. If Ben Bernanke says so. And yes again in 2020; ‘shut down the economy or the Covid will kill us all.’

Now… Putin has a devil’s tail, the press reports. He’s a ‘killer.’ And yet, it was only 10 or so years ago that the media celebrated Mr. Obama because he approved the ‘kill list,’ himself. Apparently, he – along with George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump – were good killers. Mr. Putin is a bad killer. Sure, whatever.

But there are always more dots to connect. And now we have a new war… a new enemy… and a new reason to print money! Up until fairly recently, the misdeeds of politicians were settled in political ways – by bullets, ballots, bombs, backstabbing etc – directed at the malefactors themselves. “The best form of government is monarchy,” said Voltaire, “with an occasional assassination.” But this time US authorities are using ‘soft power.’ No assassinations. No bombing. No killing. Just stealing.

Soft Bombs: Led by the US, the busybodies take aim not at the people who squander wealth, politicians and the military/industrial/surveillance industries, but at the people who produce wealth – consumers… banks… manufacturers… and raw material producers. (For purely selfish reasons, they have spared the energy companies… but subjected them to severe collateral damage. Gazprom, for example, one of Russia’s state-owned energy producers, has watched its stock fall from $10 a month ago to just $2 this morning.)

By sending troops to the Ukraine, Mr. Putin has violated the ‘rule of law,’ sayeth the papers and the politicians. In retaliation, sanctions have been imposed. People with money in Russia cannot get it. Russians cannot get their money from abroad. Russian companies cannot sell their products. Western consumers cannot buy them.

By long standing convention, the rule of law requires certain procedures before a ‘taking’ can occur. You must be charged with a crime. You are entitled to a swift and fair trial. Only then, should the judgment go against you, is your punishment meted out. But here, billions of dollars have been taken away, sequestered, or lost because of the sanctions. What was the charge? Where was the jury? Did we miss something?

Thousands of innocents – businesses, households, investors who had nothing to do with Russian politics or the invasion of the Ukraine – have had something taken away from them without due process. Where was the rule of law?

We raise the issue not out of a sense of counterfeit moral outrage; there’s plenty of that already. We’re just trying to connect the dots. And it looks as though the sanctions – like America’s other misbegotten wars of the 21st century – could do more harm to itself than to the Kremlin.

The soft bombs don’t fall on Putin or his army. Instead, they explode on key elements of our own prosperity – energy, money and commerce. Cutting off trade with Russia puts supplies of energy and essential raw materials in jeopardy. Imposing sanctions on the Russian economy takes wealth from innocent people without due process. And by ‘weaponizing’ its own money, the world sees that the dollar can no longer be trusted.

Here at BPR, we don’t pretend to have any real idea where this will lead. Our high-probability hunch is that we’ll end up with a lot more zeros. And tomorrow, we’ll deepen our wondering… Are we entering a New Era, where energy will be hard to come by, you can’t trust the money, and you can’t depend on the rule of law? What kind of world is that? Stay tuned..."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Gregory Mannarino, "Be Ready For Anything! Food And Energy Shortages, Another 'Crisis'"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/3/22:

"Be Ready For Anything! 

Food And Energy Shortages, Another 'Crisis'"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How Bad Is Putin? Ask the Devil"

"How Bad Is Putin? Ask the Devil"

By Brian Maher

"We monitor both “conservative” and “liberal” news media. Not to learn, but to laugh - and to observe. To observe, that is, the political mind in operation…

If one political mind argues “X,” the opposing political mind must argue “Y.” If one political mind argues “Y,” the opposing political mind must argue “X”- or perhaps “Z.” Yet this past week both conservative and liberal minds have dissolved into one. That is, both sides agree that the year is not 2022 - but 1938. Both conservative and liberal establishments insist Mr. Putin is a 21st-century Hitler, a modern berserker, a murderer of Western civilization. The Russian authoritarian will not settle for Ukraine, they yell. Poland will fill his sights tomorrow, the Baltic states the day after tomorrow… and all of Europe the day after next.

Yet is Mr. Putin the incarnated soul of Herr Hitler? Or is he merely the clear-eyed champion of his nation’s interests? Let the record reflect it at once - we are not with the Russian strongman. Ukrainian blood - and Russian blood - will forever stain his hands He cannot rinse it away.

Yet - yet - we suspect the media are handing us half a story. We would like the whole story. We would prefer some semblance of balance. And so today we summon, from the infernal realms, advocatus diaboli - the devil’s advocate. Below, you will find a dialogue between a mainstream spokesman and the devil’s advocate. Read on.

Does Mr. Putin bear sole responsibility for Ukraine’s war? Does he harbor authentic grievances?

Mainstream Spokesman: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a severe breach of international law and a crime against humanity. He is a ruthless thug.

Advocatus Diaboli: It is true - the fellow is a ruthless thug - and plenty more. I can assure you the Boss has space set aside for him once he pays his debt to nature. He has a reservation, so to speak. Yet I would caution you Americans about invoking international law. Your observance of international law - so-called - can be rather… selective.

Under which international law did your United States invade Panama in 1989 or Iraq in 2003? Under which international law did you oust Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi in 2011? Or, for the matter of that, under which international law do American soldiers presently occupy the sovereign nation of Syria? Russian troops are also there, it is true. But Putin was invited in by the Syrian government. Where was your invitation?

Mainstream Spokesman: That’s ridiculous. These were evil regimes that killed their own people and threatened their neighbors. They were bad guys. We liberate oppressed peoples. We’re the good guys.

Advocatus Diaboli: Let us assume - arguendo - that you are the good guys. And compared with the Saddam Husseins of your world, you certainly are. But it strikes me as rather hypocritical that you cite international law only when it suits you. I’d rather you simply admit that you are willing to overlook international law when freedom and democracy are on the line. That would at least be more honest.

Mainstream Spokesman: Oh, please. Don’t compare our attempts to spread freedom and democracy to Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Putin hates democracy, as all dictators do. As the world’s leading democracy, we must support democratic values. The Ukrainians want democracy. They also want to join NATO and the EU. And Russia is one of the most corrupt nations on Earth.

Advocatus Diaboli: I see what you mean. But let me address your points, beginning with the last. It is true, Russia is one of the most corrupt nations on Earth and the most corrupt in Europe. But do you know which is the second-most corrupt nation in Europe? You guessed it, buster - Ukraine.

And I would remind you that this Ukrainian democracy of yours isn’t especially democratic. Did you know that its President Zelenskyy, now so bravely defying Russian authoritarianism, arrested the leader of his opposition party - and banned three television networks? Is this your idea of democracy? That strikes me as rather Putin-esque.

Mainstream Spokesman: Don’t get cute with me. You can’t compare Zelenskyy to Putin. The opposition leader was a puppet of Russia and a traitor. What Zelenskyy did was appropriate.

Advocatus Diaboli: I see. So you must subvert democracy in order to defend democracy.

Mainstream Spokesman: Sometimes, yes.

Advocatus Diaboli: You say Putin is Hitler. If he’s allowed to gobble Ukraine, in no time flat he’ll be gobbling all of Europe. Do I have that right?

Mainstream Spokesman: That’s exactly correct.

Advocatus Diaboli: Mmmm. Let me ask you this: Are you willing to fight for Ukrainian democracy?

Mainstream Spokesman: We will do everything we can to help Ukraine defeat the Soviet - sorry, Russian invasion. But we don’t want to intervene militarily because it could start a war with Russia, which could potentially go nuclear.

Advocatus Diaboli: That sounds reasonable to me. But if you’re not willing to fight for Ukraine’s independence today, why would you be willing to fight for Ukraine’s independence tomorrow - and risk nuclear war? You wish to bring Ukraine into NATO. But recall Article 5 of the NATO Charter. An attack on one constitutes an attack on all. All members must rush to the defense of the besieged. That means NATO - the United States, essentially - must defend Ukraine if attacked, presumably by Russia. And then you might have your dreaded nuclear war. Does this make sense?

Mainstream Spokesman: Collective defense is meant to deter aggression. That was the idea behind Woodrow Wilson’s proposed League of Nations. Bringing Ukraine into NATO will deter Russia because they don’t want to risk a larger war with us.

Advocatus Diaboli: There appears to be some logic in your argument. But you are willing to tie your security - and perhaps your very survival - to the decisions of unpredictable people thousands of miles away? You become a sort of prisoner to fortune. Assume Ukraine joins NATO. What if, in the future, Russia decides its interests are so threatened in Ukraine that it is willing to risk nuclear war? What if your lovely deterrence fails You did not think Russia would invade this time. You also did not think Russia would raise its nuclear readiness, as it has. Why should anyone think you can predict future events? Have you thought this through?

Mainstream Spokesman: Yes, absolutely. The world would be a safer place if Ukraine joined NATO.

Advocatus Diaboli: I see you mentioned Wilson. He entered World War I to make the world safe for democracy. He may have meant the best in the world. But look at the results. What he really made the world safe for was fascism and communism. You know where the path of good intentions leads to, right? Well, old Wilson can personally attest to that. The Boss particularly enjoys pitchforking him in the buttocks. He yelps like you wouldn’t believe. I enjoy watching it, I must admit.

Mainstream Spokesman: The League of Nations was a good idea. It was just that Wilson couldn’t get enough support for it. It might have stopped Hitler, as we must now stop Putin.

Advocatus Diaboli: Have you considered the possibility that your own policies are at least partly responsible for Putin’s actions?

Mainstream Spokesman: Here we go - another Putin apologist. You and Trump should get together.

Advocatus Diaboli: Believe me, we will. But never mind that. Just hear me out… Putin has warned for years that Ukraine was his line in the sand. He would not accept Ukraine within NATO, menacing at his doorstep. In reality, no Russian leader would. But you people just kept poking the bear. Victoria Nuland, some understrapper in your State Department, actually bragged about engineering a coup against Ukraine’s pro-Russian president in 2014 (incidentally, the Boss is keeping a dossier on her for future reference). To you people, Ukraine is a sort of pet project. To Russia it is a strategic imperative. Now that Putin has pounced, you clutch your pearls. HELLO! He warned you this would happen.

Mainstream Spokesman: Why should we listen to an anti-democratic dictator? Who cares what he wants? We don’t base our foreign policy on what Vladimir Putin wants.

Advocatus Diaboli: Well, maybe you should take his security concerns into consideration. He does, after all, have nuclear weapons - and may be prepared to wield them. Is a democratic, NATO-joined Ukraine more important to you than avoiding nuclear war? Look at what your Pat Buchanan said over 20 years ago: "By moving NATO onto Russia's front porch, we have scheduled a 21st-century confrontation."

But it is not just the “isolationist” Pat Buchanan who warned about NATO expansion. Shall I name some? No, you say? But I insist. Take, for example, Henry Kissinger: "To Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country… Ukraine should not join NATO."

Or a certain Jack F. Matlock Jr. - former United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. This fellow argued that NATO expansion was: "The most profound strategic blunder, [encouraging] a chain of events that could produce the most serious security threat... since the Soviet Union collapsed."

Or radical Noam Chomsky - hardly a Putin apologist: "The idea that Ukraine might join a Western military alliance would be quite unacceptable to any Russian leader [and Ukraine's desire to join NATO] is not protecting Ukraine, it is threatening Ukraine with major war."

Or famed Russian scholar Stephen Cohen: "If we move NATO forces… toward Russia's borders [...] it's obviously gonna militarize the situation [and] Russia will not back off, this is existential."

Or CIA director Bill Burns: "Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all red lines for [Russia] and I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests."

Or former defense secretary Robert Gates: "Moving so quickly [to expand NATO] was a mistake. [...] Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching [and] an especially monumental provocation."

Or Sir Roderic Lyne, former British ambassador to Russia: "[Pushing] Ukraine into NATO... is stupid on every level… if you want to start a war with Russia, that's the best way of doing it."

Or globalist Jeffrey Sachs: "NATO enlargement is utterly misguided and risky. True friends of Ukraine, and of global peace, should be calling for a U.S. and NATO compromise with Russia."

Mainstream Spokesman: Enough! Stop! You’ve made your point, even though I disagree. I stand firm in my resolution that Putin must be stopped and that Ukraine must be allowed to have a democracy.

Advocatus Diaboli: Even if it means war with Russia?

Mainstream Spokesman:[Silence.]

Advocatus Diaboli: Well, it’s been fun. I hate to run, but the Boss is calling for me. I’ll be seeing you. No - I really mean it - I’ll be seeing you."

- dailyreckoning.com

"The Economic Suicide Of The West Is Now Under Way"

"The Economic Suicide Of The West Is Now Under Way"

by Mike Adams

"Today's urgent Situation Update podcast (see below) connects the dots and reveals why the West's economic sanctions against Russia have actually set into motion a series of events which will inevitably lead to the end of the dollar and the collapse of America as we know it.

By goading the West into severe economic sanctions and banking de-platforming, America just fell for Putin's tactical genius and unleashed a series of events that will inevitably spell the demise of the dollar and the collapse of America.

There is now a global rush away from the dollar and dollar-based control systems such as SWIFT. It's almost as if Biden and western nations were actually trying to detonate the dollar and bring it to its knees, ending the 75 years of dollar dominance in one grand suicidal leap off a cliff."

Please view the complete, critically important, article here:

- https://naturalnews.com/

Listen to today’s Situation Update podcast for even more details, including practical things you can do to beat inflation, stock up without spending a fortune, and prepare to survive the near-certain collapse of America: Podcast: Brighteon.com/9c7af8d5-777e-4a5f-9301-45dfef44a166