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Escobar: The Birth Of The 'Baby Twins' - Russia's Strategic Swing Drives NATOstan Nuts

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BY TYLER DURDEN

WEDNESDAY, FEB 23, 2022 - 02:00 AM

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Saker blog,

History will register that the birth of the baby twins – Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – only a few hours before 2/22/22, was simultaneous to the birth of the real, 21st-century multipolar world.


As my columns have stressed for a few years now, Vladimir Putin has been carefully nurturing his inner Sun Tzu. And now it’s all in the open: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

The thunderbolt was months in the process of being meticulously polished. To paraphrase Lenin, who “created Ukraine” (copyright Putin), we did live many decades in only these past few days. It all started with the detailed demands of security guarantees sent to the Americans, which Moscow knew would be rejected. Then there was the Russia-China joint statement at the start of the Winter Olympics – which codifies not only the strategic partnership but also the key tenets of the multipolar world.

The culmination was a stunning, nearly one-hour-long address to the nation by Putin shortly after the Russian Security Council live session deliberating on the request for independence by the DPR and the LPR (here is a condensed version.)

A few hours later, at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, Russian Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya precisely outlined why the recognition of the baby twins does not bury the Minsk agreements.

The baby twins actually declared their independence in May 2014. In 2015 they signed the Minsk agreements as one of the interested parties. Theoretically, they could even be back within Ukraine if Kyiv would ever decide to respect the agreements, which will never happen because the US has vetoed it since 2015.

Moreover, the people of Donbass do not want to be subjected to a regime harboring neo-Nazis.

As Nebenzya outlined, “I would like to remind you that at the time of the conclusion of the Minsk agreements, the LPR and DPR had already declared independence. The fact that Russia today recognized it does not change the composition of the parties to the Minsk agreements, since Russia is not one (…)

Another thing is that the Minsk agreements have long been openly sabotaged by Ukraine under the auspices of our Western colleagues. Now we see that many colleagues want to sign that the Minsk agreements are dead. But this is not the case (…) We are still open to diplomacy, but we do not intend to allow a new bloody massacre in the Donbass.”

And here’s the clincher, directly addressing imperial support for the killing of ethnic Russians in Donbass: “The main task of our decision [on recognizing independence] was to preserve and protect these lives. This is more important than all your threats.”

There you go Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a concept invented by the Americans to launch wars, used by Russia for preventing one.
That certified nullity, German chancellor Scholz, deriding Putin’s characterization of genocide in Donbass as “laughable”, was a decisive factor in the birth of the baby twins. Putin, in his address to the nation, especially took time to detail the Odessa massacre: “We cannot but shudder when we remember about the situation in Odessa, when people were burned alive (…) And those criminals who did this, they are not punished (…) But we know their names, and we will do everything to punish them (…) and to bring them to justice.”

What about China?
Geopolitically, in Eurasian terms, two huge questions stand out: the role of the CSTO and the response from China.
If we look at Article 19, Chapter VI of the CSTO charter, we learn that “any state sharing the goals and principles of the Organization and being ready to undertake the obligations containing in this Charter and other international treaties and resolutions effective within the framework of the Organization may become a member of the Organization.”

That would open the door for the baby twins, as soon as they have finalized all the bureaucratic endeavors pertaining to new, independent nations, to request CSTO membership. Incidentally, CSTO secretary-general Pashinian has already gone to Moscow to discuss it.

China is a way more complex proposition. One of the key tenets of Beijing’s foreign policy is the fight against separatism – embedded in the foundation of the SCO. So Beijing cannot possibly recognize the baby twins, or what would amount to Novorossiya – yes, Putin did pronounce the magic word – before Kiev itself does or, a serious possibility, completely disintegrates.

The Foreign Ministry so far has been extremely cautious. Wang Yi has reiterated “China’s long-standing position that the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be respected, and the purposes & principles of the UN Charter must be upheld.”

Further on down the road, presumably after some serious exchanges between Wang Yi and Lavrov, China can always find myriad ways to unofficially help the baby twins – including advancing BRI-related connectivity and sustainable development projects.

As for Kyiv disintegration, that’s directly linked to Moscow demanding the immediate stop of the mini-blitzkrieg against Donbass, otherwise, they will bear full responsibility. Yes, regime stalwarts will be hunted and punished – complete with a possible War Crimes Tribunal. No wonder all sorts of oligarchic/political rats, big and small, are scurrying away, to Lviv, Poland, and the UK.

The Munich effect
The intervention of all 12 members at the Security Council session, combined with Putin’s address to the nation was the stuff of gripping geopolitical drama. Putin’s body language and the look in his eyes testified to the immense gravity of the moment – and it all came to the forefront when he embarked on a concise history lesson spanning a century.

Barely containing his anger at the countless ways Russia has been vilified by the West, and taking no prisoners when referring to communism, what most stood out was the clear-cut rendition of the insurmountable antagonism between the Anglo-American islands and the civilizational Heartland – or the clash between maritime powers and land powers. That Eurasia classic was the bulk of his exposition: the recognition of the baby twins took less than three minutes.

The Munich Security Conference, this past weekend, had made it all so explicit. Munich, as terrifying as it was in terms of a congregation of headless chickens posing as eagles, at least confirmed everything is in the open.

The enemy is Russia. NATO's infinite expansion – to outer space – is against Russia. And then we had a parade of add-on threats: no disarmament in Eastern Europe, cutting off the Russian economy from the EU, end of Nord Stream 2, Ukraine in NATO, world order built on “universal liberal values”.

Munich spelled out No Compromise Whatsoever – which was exactly what Putin, Lavrov, Patrushev, and co. expected, the warmongering rhetoric burying any meaningful discussion of migration, inflation, cyber wars, the European energy crisis and, of course, the only thing that matters for the MICIMATT (military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academia-think tank complex, as defined by Ray McGovern): let’s milk this Eurotrash lot for untold billions in new contracts, let’s isolate Russia, let’s destroy Nord Stream 2 to sell them our ultra-expensive LNG, let’s keep them on a leash – forever.

So actually, it’s not even war against Russia: the $30 trillion-indebted Empire with a woke military attached simply could not afford it. Not to mention the certified freak out in case they receive a phone call from Mr. Khinzal and Mr. Zircon: cue to the spectacular Russian display of “military and technical” superiority, hypersonic and otherwise – staged, the irony of ironies, in synch with the circus in Munich.

What we have here is so lame: just a lowlife offer-you-can’t-refuse racket to be inflicted on the EU.

The Indivisible Security dance
The rabid Munich “No Compromise” show; the imperially-ordered Ukro crypto-blitzkrieg against Donbass; and the role of the US Lack of Intelligence Community – an Andrei Martyanov-coined howler – altogether sealed the deal for the Security Council deliberations and Putin’s decision.

Considering the ideological stupidity of the current Brussels gang – Stoltenberg, von der Leyen, Borrell –, incapable of understanding even basic economics, the fact remains that the EU without Russian energy is doomed. Martyanov stresses the algorithm: Russia can afford the break up with Europe. Europe cannot. The US just wants to collect. And we’re not even talking about the dire, incoming ramifications of the systemic crisis across NATOstan.

Even as Moscow plays a very long, calculated game, as it stands that does not necessarily mean that Russia will be “winning” the baby twins while “losing” Europe. Russia’s strategic swing repeatedly baffles the Atlanticist combo. The US lack of intelligence community was predicting a Russian “aggression” every other day – and still is. Instead, they got the baby twins as the latest independent republics of the Global South.

Even before Munich, the Ukro crypto-blitzkrieg, and the recognition of the baby twins, Moscow had again warned it may respond with “military and technical measures” to ensure its own security after the US and NATO blatantly ignored key points from its proposal for long-term European security architecture, and instead “cherry-picked” issues from a package deal.

Moscow will not let the Americans run away from them by now notorious 10-page Russian response. Putin, addressing the Stavka, had already warned “we are in a situation (…) where we are forced to resolve it.” This brings us to what John Helmer niftly qualified as Russia’s black box defense. The beauty is no one knows what’s inside the black box.

Enter, once again, the “military-technical measures” that will be “reciprocal” (Putin) to what US and NATOstan are already deploying against Russia. They won’t necessarily be implemented in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, in the airspace above Donbass, even in cyberspace. It could be anywhere – from the Syrian theater to Latin America.

Surprise! That’s what strategic ambivalence, ambiguity, or – let’s get down to the rhythm – swing is all about. You don’t believe in the principle of indivisible security? Fine. Now we dictate the security rhythm. You’re not gonna stop deploying nuclear weapons outside your territory? Fine. Here’s some reciprocity. You’re not gonna accept legally binding guarantees of our security? Fine. Meet our “military-technical” measures.

Now dance, suckers.

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THE CENTRAL BANKS ARE NOW INSOLVENT

Behind the battle to convince everyone that price inflation is not a lasting problem is the necessity to keep interest rates and bond yields suppressed. In the past, the interest rate cycle was entirely due to the expansion and contraction of commercial bank credit. But that was before central banks built up bond portfolios through quantitative easing.

Not only does this expose them to the interest rate cycle, but they have not increased their capital base to keep pace with the expansion of their balance sheets. Hence the problem with rising interest rates and bond yields: on a mark-to-market basis the major central banks are insolvent with balance sheet liabilities now exceeding their assets.

This article finds this condition true of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Board, the Bank of Japan, and the entire euro system. Other central banks are not examined.

Doubtless, this will be resolved in the short term by governments investing more equity in their central banks. But there is one major exception, which is the ECB and the euro system, with all its shareholders sinking into negative equity with the only minor exceptions of the Irish, Maltese, and Slovenian central banks.

Consequently, with the interconnectedness of the global financial system, the ability of central banks to guarantee the survival of their own commercial banking networks has almost certainly ended due to a collapse of the euro system. The precedent is the failure of a prototype central bank in 1720, John Law’s Banque Royale. That experience allows us to see how this is likely to play out.

Introduction
There is a widespread assumption that commercial banks bear risk while central banks bear none. Folding notes are superior to bank deposits for this reason. It is commercial banks that fail, and central banks that rescue the ones worth rescuing. They are the lenders of last resort.

As such, their financial integrity goes unquestioned. Of course, we do not usually include central banks in emerging nations in this statement, but any risk is always perceived to be in their currencies rather than the institution. We know that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe can and does run some unconventional monetary policies, but you won’t hear the RBZ’s survival being questioned. It is generally assumed that in any nation a central bank that can issue its currency in unlimited quantities can never go bust, and that is why it is the currency that fails and not the institution.

Consequently, commercial banks come and go, but like ol’ man river, central banks just keep rolling along. At least, that appears to be the experience. But until recent decades, history has not seen major central banks routinely investing large amounts in their national bond markets, because any respectable central bank has always shied away from overtly inflationary financing of its government’s deficits.

Enter QE and its inflationary consequences
That changed in 2000 when the Bank of Japan was the first to introduce quantitative easing. Reassured by the unexpected price stability following the BOJ’s asset monetization, QE was only introduced by the other major central banks in the wake of the financial crisis which led to the failure of Lehman. And after that precedent was created, QE has become a permanent feature of monetary policy, investing in longer maturity bonds than the commercial banks, which usually confine their maturities to less than five years.

According to the central banking establishment, QE is an unconventional policy tool that is only deployed when interest rates have been reduced to extremely low levels. If the rate of price inflation is still below the mandated 2% target, and aggregate output is deemed to be below potential, QE is then deployed. And there is the Taylor rule, which posits that a central bank should lower interest rates when inflation is stubbornly below the target level of 2%, or when GDP growth is too slow and below its potential, even if it implies negative rates. QE is then justified as the alternative or in addition to this unnatural condition.

The result has been an explosion in the size of central bank balance sheets. The combined balance sheet total of the Fed, ECB, BOJ, and Peoples Bank of China rose from $5 trillion in 2007 to $31 trillion at end-December — more than sixfold.[i] It is an increase that has driven the bubble in financial assets, the link being through the suppression of government bond yields from such massive market intervention through money printing.

The inevitable result of this coordinated global currency expansion has been widespread increases in prices for commodities, logistics, labor, and consumer goods. Having bought into the Japanese price experience following its QE trailblazing, the consequences for global prices appear to have caught central bankers unaware. They seem to have forgotten that if you expand the quantity of a currency, you dilute its purchasing power, a simple fact that tends to be reflected in rising prices for everything. To this day, you will not find any central banker linking price inflation to their so-called monetary policy, always blaming other unexpected private sector factors.

This willful blindness extends to the anticipated remedy, which is to increase the cost of money, and which everyone involved with monetary policy beliefs is the role of interest rates. The hope is that they can raise the cost of credit marginally to bring demand back to non-inflationary levels and call a gradual halt to their bond purchases. However, it is all delusion.

Interest rates are only the cost of money to a borrower calculating a return on investment. Savers, including foreign owners of a currency, look at it differently. In parting with ownership of a currency they expect compensation for loss of its use until it is returned, recompense for the risk associated with the borrower, and increasingly they will incorporate expectations of changes in the currency’s purchasing power between parting with it and its eventual return. An interest rate is always set by market expectations for these reasons, and the control a central bank wields over rates is always temporary. What we are witnessing today is the beginnings of the failure of a long-standing statist suppression of interest rates.

With that failure in mind, markets are now indicating that interest rates will rise because current suppressed levels are unnatural. We cannot say how far they will rise to discount future purchasing powers of the major currencies — that is up to markets. But given the extraordinary levels of currency debasement since 2008 and more dramatically since March 2020, be in no doubt that markets will increasingly expect substantial further debasements to be in the pipeline.

Just by looking at the dollar, we can see how entrenched these pressures are today. Figure 1 shows the amount of currency and credit expansion (M3) which is yet to be reflected in the expansion of GDP.

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There can only be two explanations for the divergence indicated by the arrowed gap. The first is there are increasing quantities of currency and credit tied up in secondary financial markets, which will decline as interest rates rise and the speculative bubble ends. That has been partly fuelled by QE, to the extent that deposits in the hands of pension funds and insurance companies have not been invested in new issues (which with a variable time lag would then circulate in the non-financial economy), but used instead to purchase existing securities which are excluded from GDP statistics.

Secondly, the gap between M3 and GDP growth will be reduced by further price rises for GDP components. On the most recent official statistics, prices are rising at over 7 percent. Unofficial statistics (such as from Shadowstats.com) claim the figure is more like 15 percent. Whatever the true figure, clearly, there is much more pressure on prices to rise from past currency debasement, and monetary policy is furiously denying it.

Whatever the economic outlook (and this is not a matter for GDP, which is just a money total and nothing else), markets will force interest rates higher in all debasing currencies mainly to compensate for the loss of purchasing power. As bond yields rise significantly, the global bubble in financial assets will be fatally undermined. This outcome is increasingly certain.

The question now arises as to what effect these developments will have on the banking system, including the central banks. Much has been written about the consequences of the cycle of bank credit, which affects commercial banks and need not be repeated here. Our focus instead must be on central banks with their massive portfolios of financial assets, and how they will be affected. This article looks at the consequences of a bond bear market on the finances of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Board, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank.

The Bank of England
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In a recent article for The Sunday Telegraph, Jeremy Warner pointed out that rising interest rates and bond prices will “dramatically increase the losses likely to be sustained on the Bank of England’s $895bn stockpiles of government debt, built up over more than 10 years of so-called quantitative easing”.[ii] Quoting recent correspondence between the Governor and the Chancellor, Warner went on to point out that the dividend payments from its portfolio of gilts had been sent to the UK Treasury, and that reverse payments were likely to be needed in the future.

Warner estimates that the Bank’s losses so far amount to about £100bn and that reducing the portfolio by allowing it to run off could lead to initial losses for the Bank next month of £3bn from maturing bonds. Fortunately for the Bank of England, under a prior agreement, the Treasury is required to cover the bank’s losses. The numbers in Table 1 above reflect the position in the last available audited accounts — accounts for the year to the end of this month will be released in a few months’ time and will be consistent with Warner’s estimates.

Bonds purchased through QE are off the balance sheet and contained in the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility Fund Limited, financed by a loan from the Bank. We can reasonably assume that maturities are spread out to twenty years and more, and our calculations in Table 1 assume an average maturity of ten years. In the year ending 28 February 2021, net losses on financial instruments (i.e. the portfolio of gilts acquired through QE) were £56,108 million. Negative equity, on our estimate in Table 1 of £78bn and on Warner’s more recent estimate of £94bn, will be covered in full by the Treasury.

How the Treasury deals with it is an interesting question. It is unlikely that the Treasury will cut its spending to cover the Bank’s losses. Instead, they will be added to the national deficit to be paid for by further gilt issues, increasing the funding requirement. And with the Bank running maturing gilts off its balance sheet at the same time as interest rates are forced higher by rising price inflation, while the borrowing requirement still must be satisfied, we have a recipe for a potential funding crisis.

Add to the mix a suspicion that the Bank of England is in effect being bailed out by the government, for foreign creditors any benefit of the doubt concerning currency stability might be badly undermined. With the insolvency of the Bank only relieved by a government bailout, the illusion for the British public that the government and the BoE have the magic power to make people happy by endless spending and inflation could come to a premature end.

But this also raises questions over the positions of other central banks, which might not have had the prescience or even the ability to strike rescue deals with their governments beforehand.

Central banks are meant to be independent of their governments (though we all know this is a fiction) which suggests that deals should not have been struck as any part of QE.

The Fed’s position
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The Federal Reserve Board has accumulated substantial assets since the Lehman crisis in 2008, as the chart in Figure 1 illustrates.

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From $900bn just before Lehman failed, QE took the balance sheet to $4,500bn in December 2014, when attempts to taper began, leading to the repo crisis in September 2019. And following covid lockdowns with nearly two years of zero Fed funds rates, the balance sheet now stands at $8,878bn, nearly ten times the pre-Lehman level. On the liabilities side, this has seen an expansion of commercial bank deposits to $3,859bn, and on the assets side, Treasury and agency bonds totaling $8,267bn. Treasury and Agency bonds are included in the balance sheet at face value, which saves the Fed from the embarrassment of declaring losses on these holdings. But if they were marked to market, then the Fed’s equity at just under $65bn would be wiped out many times over, as indicated in Table 2 above, which uses the change in gross redemption yield on the 5-year US Treasury bond as a proxy for all the Fed’s Treasury and agency debt holdings. The maturity profile of US Treasury debt is short relative to those of other major nations and yields on agency debt are not a simple matter, when maturing mortgages within individual securitizations are considered.

From the end-September balance sheet date, the yield on the 5-year UST rose from 0.997% to 1.925% earlier this week, wiping out balance sheet equity more than five times over. And if bond yields rise again, the situation will deteriorate. Clearly, the practice of including these bonds in the Fed’s balance sheet at face value, on the assumption that they will be held to maturity, is conveniently face-saving. And one can understand the vested interest in believing that interest rates and bond yields are not going to rise, being followed by a high degree of panic when they do.

But the chart in Figure 1 shows that the feed-through of monetary inflation into rising prices has barely started. Because the private sector is also laden with large quantities of unproductive debt, as interest rates increase to reflect the falling purchasing power of the dollar there will be many bankruptcies. A combination of malinvestment liquidation and falling financial asset values will be virtually impossible for the Fed to ameliorate through monetary policy, let alone at a time when its own financial credibility might be in a state of collapse.

The Bank of Japan
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The Bank of Japan has been buying government bonds since 2000 and has built up a substantial portfolio. It currently owns ¥528 trillion ($4.6 trillion) of government bonds, split 27% into two and five-year maturities, with the rest being of ten years and longer. This means the BOJ is highly exposed to bond price volatility. For example, a 100-basis point rise in gross redemption yield on a 10-year bond leads to a fall in the price of over 11% from current levels, and it is even greater for the 20-to-40-year maturities that make up 29% of the Bank’s JGB portfolio.[iii]

In addition to the JGBs on the BOJ’s balance sheet, there are ¥11.5 trillion of corporate bonds and commercial paper, and ¥37.3 trillion in exchange traded funds and REITs.

The yield on the 10-year JGB has increased from 0.025% to 0.223% since the balance sheet date in Table 3, causing the bond price to fall by over 1%. The loss on the portfolio so far from this source alone is ¥7.4 trillion, compared with equity and capital reserves of ¥4.4 trillion. Since the September balance sheet, the BOJ’s equity has been eliminated on a mark-to-market basis.

It is a small wonder that the BOJ has publicly stated it would buy an unlimited amount of 10-year JGBs at 0.25% to ease the bond sell-off. A higher yield would be more than embarrassing for the bank, already requiring a recapitalization, presumably with its heavily indebted government stumping up the money.

Yet as we have seen, global monetary debasement has been unprecedented leading to higher prices everywhere. Prices for food, transport, energy, education, and healthcare are heavily subsidized by the government in Japan and that is the principal reason why consumer price inflation appears to be so low. In other words, if price inflation is to continue to be suppressed by subsidies it will be at the expense of further monetary inflation, which is what is causing pressure for bond yields to rise in the first place.

Japan will not be insulated from current and future global influences. Unless the Bank of Japan amends its QE policies, the yen is likely to fall heavily against commodities making price subsidies increasingly untenable.

With a government debt level of 266% of GDP and a budget deficit of about 8.5% expected in the current year, the Japanese economy is less than one-quarter the size of that of the US. If the US Government had this level of debt, it would amount to $130 trillion, which gives us an indication of the severity of the debt trap faced by the Japanese government.

In conclusion, not only has the BOJ’s equity been wiped out by the rise in bond yields so far, but further substantial losses are only temporarily defrayed by doubling down on inflationary bond price intervention.

The ECB and the euro system
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The ECB and its network of national central banks differ from the other central banks because the ECB is not responsible to any national government, and the national central banks have dual mandates, first to the ECB itself and to their national governments secondly.

This means that the ECB cannot turn to a government to make up a shortfall in its accounts. Its shareholders are the national central banks in the euro area which own their ECB shares in varying quantities, totaling €8.2bn. The situation has arisen whereby rising bond yields are undermining the ECB’s finances and those of its shareholders at the same time, requiring the ECB and national central banks to all be refinanced.

Table 4, which assumes an average bond duration of ten years, illustrates this point. With the exceptions of Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia all the national central banks have seen losses exceed their equity due to falling bond prices, with the table illustrating the effects for selected national banks, the ECB, and the Eurosystem as a whole. The calculations in Table 4 are based on the change in yields on national eurobonds, with the ECB and Eurosystem assuming an average 600 basis point fall in bond prices in their portfolios since 31 December. For Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Portuguese paper, which make up the bulk of the bonds, price declines are more.

The results of this analysis are shocking. Meanwhile, there is the additional problem of the TARGET2 settlement system, where imbalances add up to nearly €1.792 trillion, with additional factors taking total imbalance adjustments to €2.476 trillion. TARGET2 is believed to hide bad and doubtful debts in repo collateral, which if they remained in national commercial banking systems would almost certainly be classed as non-performing. The Eurozone’s settlement system also reflects balances from net exporters, such as Germany, and of net importers, such as Italy. Figure 3 shows the TARGET2 position at end-December.

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In theory, these imbalances should never have arisen. They indicate, for example, that Germany’s Bundesbank is owed €1.261 trillion by other NCBs, particularly Italy and Spain as well as by the ECB itself. But with falling bond prices a new dynamic is introduced. The following is extracted from a paper by Karl Whelan criticising Jens Weidemann’s concerns about TARGET2 imbalances expressed in a letter to ECB President, Mario Draghi in 2012:[iv]

“…every national central bank in the Eurosystem currently has assets that exceed their liabilities and total Target2 credits equal Target2 liabilities. Thus, the most likely resolution of Target imbalances in the case of a full Euro breakup would be a pooling of assets held by Target2 debtors to be handed over to Target2 creditors to settle the balance. This may leave the Bundesbank holding a set of peripheral-originated assets that may be worthless that face value, but this scenario would result in losses to the Bundesbank that would be far short of the current value of its Target2 credit.”

Whelan’s criticism of Weidemann’s concerns is essentially Keynesian and in accordance with EU establishment opinion. But note that as of now, nearly all NCBs in the Eurosystem have negative equity, which is the condition denied in Whelan’s paper, where liabilities exceed assets. And as bond yields continue to rise a resolution of TARGET2 imbalances becomes impossible without the euro system falling apart.

Part of the problem is lending by the ECB and NCBs to commercial banks through repos. Together with repos between commercial banks, the entire repo market in euros is estimated to exceed €10 trillion. This market has grown strongly on the back of ultra-cheap funding and a blind eye turned to collateral quality by some of the NCBs. Rising interest rates will make repos less attractive, and trigger what amounts to a contraction of bank credit, at a time when help from central banking sources to bail out the commercial banking network will be compromised by their own deteriorating finances.

Consequences for commercial banks
The long-held supposition that central banks are the safety net, the lenders of last resort when there is an economic or financial crisis is set to be challenged by the fragile conditions of the major central banks. While there may be some damage to national currencies, the entire financial establishment assumes that that would be a reasonable cost for the protection of depositors’ interests, and that bank runs must be avoided at all costs. Behind it, all is a belief that armed with a printing press, a central bank’s own financial position is immaterial.

These assumptions ride roughshod over the issue of public confidence, which is unlikely to tolerate a situation whereby a government is seen to be the ultimate protector of the banks by recapitalizing its central bank to deal with a crisis. Instead, there is a heightened risk that the masses are likely to take avoiding action to protect themselves, undermining any chance of success. It is one thing for central bankers to claim expertise in monetary affairs, but quite another for the political class to do so with credibility.

There is, therefore, a heightened risk of policy failure, and ultimately of currency failure as well. This is particularly acute when the link between the political class and a central bank does not exist. It is the unique position of the ECB, which now has the distinction of depending on its bankrupt shareholders to rescue itself from bankruptcy. And if interest rates rise in the coming weeks the Euro system’s bloated repo market will contract, leading inevitably to commercial bank failures within the Eurozone.

To think that Brussels can come to the rescue overnight with a rescue package represents the triumph of hope over experience. Disunited squabbling politicians and bureaucrats would need weeks, even months to agree on a rescue package even if agreement can be reached, which with all the blaming and shaming is an almost certainly forlorn hope. Shutting markets and banks for more than a few days while the debate rages would simply heighten the sense of crisis.

The financial structure of the Eurozone, the sharply different economic and political interests of the member states, together with the legacy of bad debt coverups over a string of financial crises and compromises since its inception all point to a lack of any desire to resolve the ECB’s insolvency. Only by individual governments standing behind their own national central banks can they be recapitalized, conditional on the ending of the euro system. No longer can Germany subsidize Italy, Spain, and France. A recapitalized Bundesbank will have to walk away from its ECB capital key, as must all the other national central banks. And the Bundesbank will have its hands full stabilizing its own commercial banking network.

The currency will be gone, replaced with — what? To succeed, a new German national currency would probably require a clear out of the existing Bundesbank management and more credible sound money executives to be appointed. Even then, the temptation to rescue every failing bank and business would be hard to resist. Government debt denominated in euros would be wiped out, but to succeed with a new currency government spending must be wholly funded by taxation — the currency and credit expansion must stop.

The chaos in other Eurozone states would almost certainly rule out any currency replacement succeeding without backing down from cherished socialism. Pleas from Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and France for German subsidies to continue must be ignored for the sake of Germany’s new currency. The political and economic consequences are unimaginable, except for the almost certain collapse of the entire European Project.

The systemic risks for other banking networks exposed to the euro system’s commercial banks and the euro currency will add to the difficulties faced by them. The precedent of Austria’s Credit Anstalt failure in 1931 will haunt today’s central bankers, and they are sure to move as rapidly as their finances allow to prevent their own commercial banking networks to be destabilized.

The only way a global banking failure can possibly be stopped is for the other central banks to find a way of shoring up the Eurozone with the utmost urgency.

The John Law precedent points to the outcome
A way must be found to beef up the equity in central banks. Loan capital will not do — it must be equity. Perhaps the ECB will find a supra-national, like the IMF, to back it. However the central banks’ illiquidity problem is resolved, it will not only be embarrassing for statists but will send a public signal that their faith in their fiat currencies may have been entirely misplaced.

The similarities with the failure of John Law’s Mississippi scheme 302 years ago almost to the day are remarkable. At the end of February 1720, Law’s Banque Royale was due to merge with his Mississippi venture, but earlier in the month the scheme was already falling apart. The more shares that the bank bought to support the failing Mississippi share price, the more livre banknotes entered circulation undermining their purchasing power. Hoarding of gold and silver coins increased and the public began to reject the banknotes. Investors began selling shares and disposing of banknotes for any kind of portable asset when Law began confiscating gold and silver coin.

What is happening today to central banks is beginning to resemble the problems faced by the Banque Royale. The policies of quantitative easing to support financial asset values are no different from Law’s share support scheme for his Mississippi venture. The loss of faith in his paper livres reflected in soaring prices is just beginning to be echoed in today’s paper currencies.

The Mississippi shares started falling from 12,000 livres in mid-February to 8,500 livres on 1 March. The currency also began its collapse and by September there was no exchange rate for it on the exchanges in London and Amsterdam, meaning it had become worthless. Today, financial asset values have begun to decline and are reflected in their declining purchasing power, currencies have as well.

Based on the John Law precedent, not only have we been able to anticipate the progression of events today, but we are getting alarming confirmation that what happened in France in 1720 to Law’s forerunner of today’s central banks is now being repeated on a global scale. And surely, the bankruptcies of modern central banks have been the only pieces in the puzzle missing — until now.




[i] Yardini Research.

[ii] 13 February 2022.

[iii] Bank of Japan statistical release for 15 February 2022

[iv] See https://www.karlwhelan.com/IrishEcon...annMunchau.pdf







The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of Goldmoney, unless expressly stated. The article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute either Goldmoney or the author(s) providing you with legal, financial, tax, investment, or accounting advice. You should not act or rely on any information contained in the article without first seeking independent professional advice. Care has been taken to ensure that the information in the article is reliable; however, Goldmoney does not represent that it is accurate, complete, up-to-date and/or to be taken as an indication of future results and it should not be relied upon as such. Goldmoney will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage, or inconvenience caused as a result of any information or opinion contained in this article and any action taken as a result of the opinions and information contained in this article is at your own risk.

https://goldswitzerland.com/gold-abo...t-kleptocracy/


GOLD ABOUT TO ACCELERATE BUT AVOID TRUDEAU’S FASCIST KLEPTOCRACY

https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...mam_2415-1.jpg

By Egon von Greyerz

February 23, 2022

Gold investors should stay away from countries like Canada, with fascist leaders. As gold is now breaking out to new highs (more later in this article), both old and new gold investors must be very careful how and where they keep their precious metals. Canada is no longer safe for gold investments.

Trudeau has issued an executive decree that gives him full emergency powers to punish the people who are involved with the truck drivers’ blockade. This action should have been taken by the courts in order to follow the rule of law. Instead, Trudeau has given himself the power to seize the bank accounts of the people and also cancel their insurance.

The emergency act which he has invoked is intended for real emergencies and not for squashing protests against his unpopular policies.

BEWARE OF TRUDEAU’S ASSET GRABBING FASCIST POLICIES
So Trudeau doesn’t care about the law. He is part of Schwab’s WEF (World Economic Forum) cohorts, a group that believes they are above the law and that future leader should be selected by the WEF crowd and not elected.

Rick Rule of Sprott recently said in an interview that Trudeau’s action is:
“A NAKED, BOLD, FASCIST ACT”
When leaders of so-called democratic countries take the law into their own hands, we need to start worrying about the jurisdictional safety of such a country. So far Trudeau has given himself the right to seize their bank accounts, but there is no reason why he wouldn’t go further and grab other assets, such as stocks or the content of their bank deposit boxes including gold and silver vaulted with depositories in Canada such as the Royal Mint, Loomis or Brinks.

And why would Trudeau not take similar measures and grab the people’s assets for any arbitrary reason including replenishing the government coffers due to his inept management of the economy?

Any investor who holds assets in Canada should now worry about what else Trudeau will do to put Canada in line with Schwab’s Stakeholder Capitalism agenda to take all assets away from the people. This agenda has little to do with free capitalism but will instead lead to fascism.
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...udeau-gold.png

Since Trudeau is one of Schwab’s crown princes, he is one of the first leaders of the Western world to implement the WEF policies.

Investors must therefore not just worry about the safety of their assets from a financial point of view but also jurisdictional. To keep your assets in a country with fascist tendencies is not just unwise but dangerous for your financial health.

HEAVILY INDEBTED COUNTRIES WILL TAKE DESPERATE MEASURES
Global debts and deficits are now rising exponentially, up almost 4X since 2000 to over $300 trillion. These exploding debts which can never be repaid will force desperate governments and leaders around the world to take desperate measures in futile attempts to shore up their countries’ finances.
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...eau-gold-2.png

RULE OF LAW AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY – A PREREQUISITE FOR SAFETY
Since physical gold (and silver) is the ultimate insurance against governments’ total mismanagement of a country’s finances, it is absolutely critical to store these precious metals in a jurisdiction with a long-standing tradition of rule of law. A long history of real democracy is also essential.

Even more important is a country with Direct Democracy where capricious and fascist leaders can’t invoke emergency powers at a whim.

Switzerland is the only country in the world with a well-established system of Direct Democracy, the origins of which stem from the foundation of Switzerland and Swiss democracy in 1291.

Any proposed law in Switzerland has to go through a process of review by the Cantonal governments, political parties as well as non-governmental organizations before it is passed by parliament.

Very importantly, the Swiss people have a veto right on any new law. If 50,000 citizens sign a form demanding a referendum, such a referendum must be held. If the referendum results in a win for the people, the proposed law is canceled.

Also, referendums on constitutional changes are mandatory.

The same rules apply also for referendums on cantonal and communal levels.

SWISS POPULAR INITIATIVES – PEOPLE POWER
There are also referendums based on Popular Initiatives. These require a list of 100,000 signatures in order to present a new law or a change in the constitution. A famous Popular Initiative was a constitutional amendment to ban the construction of new minarets in 2009. This particular Initiative won the referendum. When that happens, the text in the Initiative becomes part of the constitution and cannot be changed by the government or parliament. Only a future referendum can change it.

Thus, Switzerland has real People Power which doesn’t exist in any other country in the world in such a precise manner. It would be impossible for the Swiss government to get away with what Trudeau has just done.

THE SWISS PRESIDENCY IS MERELY CEREMONIAL
The role of the President in Switzerland changes every year between the seven members of government. This role is primarily ceremonial as the president has no special powers but is First Among Equals. The President simultaneously runs his own department. The current Swiss President, Ignazio Cassis heads the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

FINANCIAL ASSETS ARE NOT SAFE IN CANADA
Coming back to Trudeau, as I said, his power grab in Canada could never happen in Switzerland.

It obviously follows that Switzerland’s political and constitutional system gives investors a much greater degree of safety and peace of mind – a safety that is unparalleled in the world.

It is pretty obvious that people who have bank accounts or physical gold and silver stored in Canada should really worry about the safety of their assets when a capricious leader gives himself unlimited rights to grab such assets with fascist powers.

GOLD WILL SOON BE A “MUST HAVE” ASSET
In 1960 investable gold was 5% of world financial assets and today it is between 0.5-0.7%.
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...eau-gold-3.png

Investors' love for booming stock, bond, and property markets has resulted in gold being a forgotten and irrelevant asset. This is in spite of gold being the best-performing asset class in this century with gold has outperformed the Dow (ex-dividends) by a factor of 2X.

But this will soon change.

Since the August 2020 $2,075 peak, after having risen $900 in 2 years, gold has been in a long consolidation. As the chart below shows, this consolidation now seems to be finished and gold is on its way to much, MUCH higher levels.
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...eau-gold-4.png

Both fundamental and technical factors are now in full support of gold.

For example, the US has the highest inflation in 40 years combined with strongly negative real rates
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...eau-gold-5.png

FED CONUNDRUM
The Fed has a conundrum with the imminent crash of bubble assets and in particular the coming stock market crash. With inflation at a 40 year high and real inflation well above the published figures, any significant QE would create further inflation and also explode the already ginormous Fed balance sheet of $9 trillion, leading to a collapse of the dollar. The dollar will of course collapse whatever the Fed does but further QE at this stage will exacerbate the dollar collapse at a fast speed of knot.

FED WILL NOT SAVE STOCK MARKET INVESTORS
This time stock market investors will not be saved by the Fed and all the dip buyers will haemorrhage as any market correction will be brief when stocks crash to ever-lower lows. So the Mega Manipulating Fed Wizards as I described in a previous article, will clearly fail this time!

The historical wealth destruction that I discussed in a recent article has started. Today on 22/2/22 the Dow is closing at an 8 month low.

FED WILL LOSE CONTROL OF INTEREST RATES
Another nightmare scenario for the Fed is that the interest cycle has bottomed. With a Fed debt of $9 trillion, a Federal debt of $30 trillion, and total US debt of $86 trillion, the bankrupt US can ill afford any increase in rates.

What the Fed doesn’t understand, as they can never forecast anything with any degree of accuracy, is that higher and uncontrollable rates will eventually kill the US economy. Yes, the Fed will be forced to do unlimited QE to try to save the country. But this time, the new worthless dollars will also make the old dollars worth ZERO and this will be the end of another empire. No surprise of course for students of history since every empire and every currency has crashed into total oblivion.

IN PERIODS OF CRISIS GOLD HAS ALWAYS LOOKED AFTER ITS HOLDERS
Throughout history, gold has always been the asset to save people in a crisis. Since gold is the only money that has survived EVER, its superb virtues cannot be disputed.

As I have shown above, with only 0.5-0.7% of investors holding gold, almost nobody is prepared for what is coming next. And still, these catastrophic events have taken place at regular intervals for thousands of years. But in spite of history people never learn and think it is different today. I suggest that rather than learning the hard way, you hold enough physical gold to protect yourself and your family against the coming cataclysm.

As I show in many of my articles, gold is now as cheap, in relation to US money supply, as it was in 1971 at $35 and in 2000 at $290.
https://goldswitzerland.com/wp-conte...-wizards-8.png

As gold price is about to reflect the massive amount of money that has been created in this century as well as the tsunami of money printing coming, there will be very little time to buy gold at current levels of $1,900.

Tags: Gold Trudeau

https://mishtalk.com/economics/most-...ikely-to-crash

Most People Have No Idea How Much Socks are Likely to Crash

Let's discuss value investor Jeremy Grantham's thesis on "superbubbles" and his target for the S&P 500

https://mishtalk.com/.image/c_limit%...ham-target.png

S&P 500 chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com, annotations by Mish with thanks to Jeremy Grantham.

Fourth Super Bubble
For almost a half-century, value-investing icon Jeremy Grantham has been calling market bubbles. Now, he says U.S. stocks are in a “superbubble,” only the fourth in history, and poised to collapse.

Please do yourself a big favor and play the above interview in its entirety.

It's not a fluff interview. Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker grills Jeremy Grantham right from the get-go about Grantham's view a year ago.

Q&A Snips

Schatzker: At the risk of putting words in your mouth, you are as certain [now] as you were then, if not more?

Grantham: I would say clearly more. I did freely admit, not in our conversation, but elsewhere, that I wasn't quite as certain about this bubble a year ago as I had been about the tech bubble of 2000 or as I had been in Japan or as I had been in the housing bubble of 2007. I used to think in terms of near certainties. This time I felt highly likely bit perhaps not nearly certain. Today I feel it is just about nearly certain.
Grantham discusses "crazy behavior", noting that even in 1929 you had some magnificent rallies.

Schatzker: If you are right and stocks are in a multi-sigma deviation from the statistical trend, tell me what happens. The S&P 500 peaked at almost 4800 points. What is the bottom?

Grantham: The trend line, being slightly generous, is 2500. And most of the great bubbles, the super bubbles go below trend and stay there for quite a while. In 2000, the Nasdaq came down 82 percent but the Federal Reserve raced to the rescue so loudly and strongly they stopped the decline in the S&P at the trend line, It only declined 50 percent. This time trend is at most 2500. And I would expect, even if the Federal Reserve tries to do the same it will be hard to prevent the market from declining to that level.

Mish: There's much more in the interview. The above only covers 9 of 37 minutes.

Watch the video in its entirety.

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin
The second favor you can do for yourself is read Jeremy Grantham's GMO Viewpoint: Let the Wild Rumpus Begin.
You will have to register to see it, but it will be worth it.

Epic Crash Coming
The third favor you can do for yourself starts paying attention to John Hussman.

Yes, I know, many consider him to be a washed-up permabear. Well, evaluations matter eventually. That time is now.

Top Dollar for Top Dollar
https://mishtalk.com/.image/c_limit%...smans-mape.png

Chart by John Hussman, blue annotations by Mish
MAPE stands for "Margin-Adjusted P/E"
Unlike Grantham, Hussman's view is not locked.

Trap Door
Please consider Top Dollar for Top Dollar by John Hussman.
Why is it so hard to accept that speculative bubbles can burst? Interest rates were driven to zero for a decade. Yield-starved investors chased stocks to valuations beyond the 1929 and 2000 extremes. That speculation front-loaded more than a decade of future market gains into the present. Those gains are now behind us, embedded in breathtaking multiples. If history is any guide, a collapse in valuations is likely to return those gains to the future.

For now, the market continues to be in a “trap door” situation. Our gauges of market internals remain unfavorable, and valuations remain obscene. The market capitalization of non-financial and financial corporate equities hit $67 trillion at the recent peak. That’s a lot of stock market capitalization. The ratio of U.S. market cap/GDP began 2022 at a record extreme of 2.82, compared with a multiple of 1.88 at the 2000 bubble peak, and a historical norm of just 0.78. When you look at market capitalization, recognize that as much as 72% of it may be air. That is the hazard.

Hussman provides over 20 charts. It's not important to understand them all. The key chart is "You are Here".

Hussman also goes into a discussion of the "Fed Put" which is the Fed will cushion the decline.

OK, at what level? 50% at best as Grantham believes or something lower?

Higher? Why?

"As much as 72% of market capitalization may be air."

I have morphed into Grantham, but perhaps not quite Hussman. But like Hussman, I expect to be mocked for this post.

https://www.goldmoney.com/research/g...gmrefcode=gata

 

1. Ukraine is part of a far bigger geopolitical picture. Russia and China want US hegemonic influence in the Eurasian continent marginalised. Following defeats for US foreign policy in Syria and Afghanistan and following Brexit, Putin is driving a wedge between America and the non-Anglo-Saxon EU.
2. Due to global monetary expansion, rising energy prices are benefiting Russia, which can afford to squeeze Germany and other EU states dependent on Russian natural gas. The squeeze will only stop when America backs off.
3. Being keenly aware that its dominant role in NATO is under threat, America has been trying to escalate the Ukraine crisis to suck Russia into an untenable occupation. Putin won’t fall for it.
4. The danger for us all is not a boots-on-the-ground war — that’s likely to only involve the pre-emptive attacks on military installations Putin initiated last night — but a financial war for which Russia is fully prepared.
5. 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.

The bigger picture is Mackinder’s World Island
The developing tension over Ukraine is part of a bigger picture — a struggle between America and the two Eurasian hegemons, Russia and China. The prize is ultimate control over Mackinder’s World Island.

Halford Mackinder is acknowledged as the founder of geopolitics: the study of factors such as geography, geology, economics, demography, politics, and foreign policy and their interaction. His original paper was entitled “The Geographical Pivot of History”, presented at the Royal Geographical Society in 1905 in which he first formulated his Heartland Theory, which extended geopolitical analysis to encompass the entire globe.

In this and a subsequent paper (Democratic Ideals and Reality: A study in the Politics of Reconstruction, 1919) he built on his Heartland Theory, and from which his famous quote has been passed down to us: “Who rules East Europe commands the World Island [Eurasia]; Who rules the World Island rules the World”. Stalin was said to have been interested in this theory, and while it is not generally admitted, the leaders and administrations of Russia, China and America are almost certainly aware of Mackinder’s theory and its implications.

We cannot know if the Russian and Chinese leaders and administrations are avid Mackinder fans, but their partnership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is consistent with his World Island Theory. Since commencing as a post-Soviet, post-Mao security agreement between Russia and China founded in 2001 to suppress Islamic fundamentalism, the SCO has evolved into a political and economic intergovernmental organisation, which with its members, observer states, and dialog partners accounts for over 3.5 billion people, half the world’s population.

The symbiotic relationship between resource rich Russia and the industrial Chinese ties the whole SCO together. China’s development of the Asian land mass holds the promise of dramatic improvements in everyone’s living conditions. And consistent with the World Island Theory, Chinese money now dominates the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asian nations, particularly those controlled and influenced by the Chinese diaspora. China’s influence also spreads to South America through organisations such as BRICS (B is for Brazil) and Chile for copper and other metals.

While the Sino-Russian partnership dominates the World Island economically, America has only gradually been expelled from Asian affairs. Its post 9/11 campaigns in the Middle East destabilised that region, creating fuel for America’s enemies and appalling refugee calamities for her European allies to this day. Her withdrawal from resource-rich Afghanistan was merely the last domino to fall. She retains political influence in Western Europe and South-East Asia only, though her military and intelligence presence is still widespread.

Today, America’s actions are those of a hegemon whose time is passing. By the UK opting for Brexit, American influence over the European Union through its security and political partnership with the UK has been diminished. Its grip on European affairs through NATO is being undermined by both Turkey’s determination to shift its interests into the Turkic regions of Central Asia, and the EU’s determination to establish its own defence arrangements. The irrelevance of NATO for the future defence of Western Europe is now becoming apparent to the Russians, and it must be hard for them to resist speeding its decline.

The cold war in the Pacific is all about containing China. While Taiwan’s future and China’s attempts to establish naval bases in the South China Seas hog the headlines, China’s trade influence in the region continues to increase. After President Trump withdrew America from the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TTP was replaced by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership which came into force in December 2018, whose eleven signatories have combined economies representing 13.4% of world GDP. This makes it one of the largest free trade areas by GDP and includes Australia and New Zealand. Even the UK has formally applied to join (it qualifies as a Pacific nation through its dependencies in the region), so that three of the US security “five eyes” members will be part of the CPTPP.

China also applied to join the CPTPP last September. For now, China’s membership of the CPTPP is in doubt. US allies in the partnership, including Japan, are insisting on various obstructive provisions. But in that well-worn hackneyed metaphor, China is the elephant in the room, and it is hard to see the CPTPP holding out against her membership for ever. For now, China can chip away at it by separate free trade agreements with selected CPTPP members, with whom it is already in bilateral trade.

Whatever America’s desire to retain political and military control over the Pacific may be, the economics of trade will eventually diminish that influence. And while sabres are being rattled over Taiwan and Pacific atolls, Russia is putting pressure on Europe to put an end to American dominated defence arrangements at the other end of the World Island.

Observers of the greatest of the great games would be right to look at current developments over Ukraine in the context of Mackinder’s heartland theory. Understand that, and you have a grasp of Putin’s reasoning. Driving American influence out of the Eurasian continent has been his objective ever since America reneged on her agreement not to advance NATO any closer to Russia following the ending of the old USSR.

Ukraine is caught in the middle
Both Russia and the Anglo-Saxons are ramping up the rhetoric over Ukraine. Until recently, Ukraine itself had seen little evidence of any truth in Western propaganda, asking for it to be toned down because all this war talk is increasing its likelihood and ruining the economy. Meanwhile the EU mainstream just wants peace and natural gas.

Concern is being expressed in some quarters that all this talk of war might become self-fulfilling — like the first World War. In this case, it is generally agreed by military strategists that Putin would be mad to take over Ukraine. He certainly has the fire power, and Ukraine is cast like a Belgium on the Steppes, with two ethnic groups and whose main purpose seems to be to allow foreign occupation and passage for foreign troops. But holding on to Ukraine against the peoples’ will, when there is an immensely long border over which dissidents can be provided with arms and anti-Russian propaganda is another matter.

Russian occupation is likely to be limited to defending Donbas and Luhansk now that Russia has formally recognised their right to self-determination. Without firing a shot, the Russian military has moved the border a hundred miles into formally Ukrainian territory. But that is where an occupying invasion is likely to stop and is not to be confused with the pre-emptive strikes against military bases and airfields today.

These moves are there to apply increasing pressure for a diplomatic settlement. So, what is it that Putin wants? Basically, he wants America to get out of Eastern Europe. And following Brexit, as America’s poodle he sees no reason why Britain should be there either. And having his thumb over various gas pipes into Europe, he is squeezing Germany and the other EU NATO members into his way of thinking.

Ukraine comes in the wake of America’s disastrous evacuation of Afghanistan, which followed the failure of her attempt to remove Syria’s Assad. It is rumoured that US intelligence services organised the failed coup in Kazakhstan, which was quickly subdued by Russian troops. So, from Putin’s point of view, American policy with respect to the Eurasian land mass has failed, he has America on the run, and he will want to capitalise on its retreat.

Meanwhile America, which has ruled western Europe through NATO following WW2, finds it hard to come to terms with its setbacks and needs to get back on the front foot. Presumably, by ramping up fears of a Russian invasion, the Biden administration hoped that either Putin would back down or be tricked into attacking Ukraine. If he had backed down, that would be a diplomatic victory and allow America to rebuild its presence in Kiev. If Putin invades and occupies Ukraine, America can help make life extremely difficult for an occupying force. Either way, it would mark the end of American policy failures on the Eurasian continent. Britain, as always, merely toes the American line.

But Putin is no fool. He is destroying Ukraine’s economy. He has his thumb on Nord Stream 1 and 2. And Germany has too many commercial and financial interests in both Russia and Eastern Europe for this not to hurt. Germany also hosts the main railhead for China’s silk road. If Germany kowtows to America, will America then put pressure on her to cut ties with China?

This is the geopolitical reality Germany and all mainland Europeans must now face. The new German Chancellor must decide: does he back America, sacrifice Germany’s economic potential and see energy costs soar, or does he recognise the economic realities of the Russia—China partnership and the enormous opportunities it provides for the long run?

Russia, America, and Germany are the principal actors whose decisions will decide the outcome of the Ukrainian situation. An escalation into a non-nuclear conflict and Russian occupation of Ukraine will only suit the Americans, confirming that their presence is the guarantee of national security.

Ukraine has become a virtual battleground.
Ukraine’s geographical position, between the liberated central European states and Russia ensured that it would become central to the continuing rivalry between Russia and America. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been determined to forge its path independent of Russia as a sovereign nation. But its starting point was difficult, with its eastern provinces predominantly Russian, while the western regions were more central European.

The Orange and Maidan Revolutions in 2004 and 2014 respectively were proxy struggles between America and Russia. While America allegedly chucked billions into its Ukrainian interests, in 2014 Russia responded by taking over Crimea and fomented rebellions in Luhansk and Donetsk. By capturing Crimea and fostering two breakaway provinces, Putin had won this territorial battle in an ongoing war.

Other than these eastern provinces, most Ukrainians have desperately tried to avoid their country becoming a Russian colony. They wanted to apply for EU membership, which was rejected by Russian-backed President Yanukovych in 2013, leading to the Maidan Revolution and Yanukovych fleeing the country to Russia. Ukraine has also sought the protection of NATO, which has provoked Putin to put a stop to American influences marching eastwards.

While Ukraine never left the headlines, the US moved its focus to Syria later in 2014.The eventual failure to oust Assad, who drew on Russian help, was followed by Afghanistan. Ukraine is now back in the headlines, this time at the behest of Russia. Putin is now proactively leading this conflict instead of quietly letting America make all the mistakes and rolling with the punches, representing a major change in Russian strategy. It implies that Putin perceives America to be off balance, and he sees it as the time for a winning move.

Putin has prepared his defences carefully. US politicians called for Russia to be cut out of SWIFT after the Crimean invasion. Since then, Russia has developed Mir, a payment system for electronic fund transfers, and a SWIFT equivalent known as SPFS — System for transfer of Financial Messages, with agreements linking SPFS to other payment systems in China, India, Iran, and member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union. The Central Bank of Russia has strengthened the commercial banking network. And it has also reduced its dollar exposure as much as possible by investing in gold and euros instead, which means less reserves are held as deposits in the US banking system and invested in US bonds.

From these actions, Putin has signalled that he is aware that the danger to Russia is more likely to be a financial war, rather than a physical one. As President Biden said, to have American troops on the ground fighting the Russians is a world war and will not happen. In that sense the Ukraine, over which Russia retains an energy stranglehold, is a virtual battleground for a proxy war.

Financial considerations
In examining the strengths and weakness of the principal parties, we must first confirm who they are: Russia, America, and the EU. And in the EU, principally it is Germany, but all member states will be affected.

As argued above, Russia’s real objective is to get America out of Europe, and Putin’s strategy is to drive a wedge between America and the EU, and in particular its industrial powerhouse, Germany. Plans to split America from Europe go back to Putin’s earlier days, with the construction of Nord Stream to bypass Ukraine with which Russia’s Gazprom was in dispute. Delivering 55bn billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, the first Nord Stream was completed in 2012. A second pipeline. Nord Stream 2, which is ready to go online, doubles this capacity.

https://www.goldmoney.com/images/med...s/ukraine1.pngAmerican pressure on Germany to delay the operation of Nord Stream 2 follows the dollar’s debasement from March 2020 in particular, when the Fed reduced interest rates to zero and instituted QE of $120bn every month. The effect has been to undermine the dollar’s purchasing power for nearly all commodities, including energy. Consequently, a combination of dollar debasement, winter demand and the absence of extra supply from Russia has created an energy crisis not just for Germany, but all EU members.

Germany is particularly hard hit, with its producer prices index up 25% year-on-year at the end of January. Germany cannot go along with an escalation of financial sanctions against Russia at a time when its industry is struggling with other rising production costs. Not only is her trade with Russia substantial, but she has banking and financial interests in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia, which could be destabilised by American-led attempts to restrict payments.

Despite Chancellor Scholz’s initial support for EU sanctions Germany is likely to be indecisive, torn between competing demands from a collapsing economy and pressure from NATO. By withholding regulatory permission for Nord Stream 2 he has demonstrated that instead of regarding his electors’ interests as paramount, he has given in to NATO pressure. This weakness on Olaf Scholz’s part is consistent with the indecisive socialism of his Social Democratic Party and Germany’s continuing guilt trip following two world wars.

Recognising the importance of Germany and its likely indecision, President Macron of France seized the political opportunity to mediate between Russia and the EU, which suits the Russian cause. Macron simply provided another channel for Putin’s message about NATO: get the US out of Europe and the EU should be responsible for its own defence. And given Macron’s ambitions for France in Europe he is likely to see it as an opportunity to enable France to take the lead in the EU’s future defence arrangements after the Ukraine situation has blown over. That will be down the road, but for now the EU is standing firm behind US and UK sanction proposals.

Sanctions rarely work. They merely encourage the sanctioned to dig deeper into their own intellectual and entrepreneurial resources and work hard to find ways round them. Russia will merely sell its gas elsewhere: at these high prices harm is minimal, and they can afford to restrict supplies through Ukraine, the Yamal-Europe and Turk-stream pipeline supplies. It might be sensible for Russia to allow flows through Nord Stream 1 to continue for now, holding its restriction as a backup threat. European gas prices will likely rise even further, providing a price windfall for Russia. The tweet below, from Russian President Medvedev implies European gas prices will double from here.

https://www.goldmoney.com/images/med...s/ukraine2.pngThe apparent lack of understanding of economic and financial consequences for the EU by the EU leadership is a wild card danger. The economic and financial exposure of Germany to its eastern neighbours has already been mentioned, but other EU members are similarly exposed. Furthermore, the reckless inflationary policies of the ECB have undermined the financial health of the entire euro system to the point where even on the current rise in bond yields, the ECB and all the national central banks (with only three minor exceptions) have liabilities greater than their assets. The whole eurozone is a mountain of financial disasters balanced on an apex over which it is set to topple.[i]

We cannot say for sure that Ukraine will be the last straw for the euro system, but we can point to political ignorance of this instability. Any dissenting central banker (and there could be some, particularly at the Bundesbank) has no influence at the political level. We must assume that none of the major political players in this tragedy are aware of the financial and economic crisis in Europe waiting to be triggered. And if the Russians have made a mistake, it will be in their accumulation of euro reserves, which will turn out to be worthless when the euro system collapses.

Financial sanctions against individual oligarchs have probably already been anticipated and avoiding action been taken by them: oligarchs are not dumb. Sanctions against Russian banks will have also been anticipated and will probably inflict less damage on them than on their counterparties in the EU banking system, particularly if SWIFT comes under pressure to suspend Russian banking access.

Not only Ukraine, but the whole of the EU, for which Russia supplies over 40% of its natural gas, is being squeezed. We can be reasonably sure that the Russian government has war-gamed this situation in advance.

Inflation, gold, and unintended consequences
The situation today is very different from that of 2014 at the time of the Maidan revolution, with the world massively increasing government debt and currency in circulation since then. At the time of the Crimean take-over, commodity prices were declining from their peak in 2011, and following Crimea, they fell sharply with negative consequences for the Russian economy. The expansion of world currencies is now driving commodity and energy prices higher due to their purchasing power is declining.

Figure 2 shows how a basket of commodities has increased in price since the Fed reduced its funds rate to the zero bound and instituted QE at $120bn per month. In those 22 months commodity prices have risen by 127% by this measure.

https://www.goldmoney.com/images/med...s/ukraine3.pngWhen all commodity prices rise at the same time it is due to currency debasement, which is what has happened here. Within the broader commodity context, energy price increases have been particularly acute, with Russia being a major beneficiary, leading to a substantial surplus on its balance of trade.

It has been a long-term ambition of the Sino-Russian partnership not just to expel America from the World Island but to reduce dependency on dollars as well. While trade between Russia and China is increasingly settled in their own currencies, so long as the dollar has credibility for settling international transactions it will still dominate trade for the other nations in the Eurasian landmass.

The fiat alternative for Russia has been the euro, which partly explains why Russia has accumulated them in her foreign currency reserves. But since 2014, the stability of the euro system has deteriorated to the point where the currency is no longer a credible alternative to the US dollar. We cannot be sure if this is understood in the Kremlin. But there has always been a Plan B, which is the accumulation of physical gold.

There is evidence that official reserves in China and Russia understate the true position. Following the enactment of regulations in 1983 whereby the Peoples Bank was appointed sole responsibility for the acquisition of China’s gold and silver reserves, I have estimated that the State accumulated as much as 20,000 tonnes of gold before permitting the public to own gold, for which purpose the Shanghai Gold Exchange was established in 2002. Since then, the SGE has delivered a further 20,000 tonnes from its vaults into public hands, though some of this will have been returned as scrap.

The Chinese state has retained the exclusive right to mine and refine gold, even importing doré from abroad. China is now the largest gold mine producer in the world by far, continuing to add over tonnes annually to total above ground stocks (last year’s dip to 350 tonnes was due to covid), which are all ringfenced in China. These policies, as well as anecdotal evidence suggests that my earlier estimate of state-owned gold of 20,000 tonnes was realistic.

Russia has been relatively late in adding to her gold reserves, having officially accumulated 2,298 tonnes. But being only second to China as a gold mine producer at 330 tonnes, it is likely that following earlier financial sanctions that Russia has accumulated undeclared gold reserves as well. Additionally, we can see that all the SCO members and their associates have increased their declared gold reserves by 75% since 2014. Plan B therefore appears to be to back fiat roubles and renminbi with gold in the event of a Western fiat currency meltdown.

The West has no such plan. America’s fifty-one-year denial of and attempted demotion of gold as the ultimate money appears to have left it short: otherwise it could have returned Germany’s gold on demand instead of trying to spin it out over a number of years. Furthermore, Western central banks routinely lease and swap their gold, leading to double counting of reserves and lack of clarity over ownership. We can be sure that neither Russia nor China indulge in these practices.

The consequence of these disparities is to weaponize gold’s monetary status, turning it into a nuclear weapon in a financial war. If, say, during NATO-led attempts to destabilise the rouble Russia was to declare another 6,000 tonnes to match America’s unaudited figure and for China to revise its reserves to stabilise the renminbi, it would probably result in a run against the dollar. It would be a sure-fire way for the Asian hegemons to destroy US economic and military power.

Therefore, ultimately, the US and its five-eyes allies cannot win a financial war. When China and Russia planned their financial defences, this golden umbrella made sense, and the security services in America would have been aware of it, if not the full implications. But things have changed, particularly the debasement of all major currencies, including the renminbi. China has an old-fashioned cyclical property crisis on her hands and can only think to print her way out of trouble. Together with the Fed, the ECB, and the Bank of Japan, the Peoples Bank has expanded its balance sheet recklessly, and all together they have increased from $5 trillion equivalent in 2007 to over $31 trillion today, with their rate of expansion being particularly high from March 2020.

The consequences for their currencies’ purchasing power are becoming obvious now, turbocharging Russia’s strategy with respect to European energy supply. What few politicians appear to be aware of, and we should include Putin in this, is the fragile state of the major central banks. Having loaded their balance sheets up with fixed-interest government debt, falling market values for these bonds are eliminating central banks’ margin of assets over liabilities. While the Fed, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England can turn to their governments for recapitalisation, embarrassing though that may be, the ECB has no such recourse.

The ECB’s shareholders are the national central banks in the euro system. And they in turn, except for Ireland’s, Malta’s, and Slovenia’s central banks, all have liabilities easily exceeding their assets. The euro system is already insolvent, and Russian action on energy supplies could tip the whole currency system over the edge.

Given the Russian Central Bank’s reserve holding of euros, we can call that an unintended consequence.




[i] See the section on the ECB at https://www.goldmoney.com/research/g...-now-insolvent





The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of Goldmoney, unless expressly stated. The article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute either Goldmoney or the author(s) providing you with legal, financial, tax, investment, or accounting advice. You should not act or rely on any information contained in the article without first seeking independent professional advice. Care has been taken to ensure that the information in the article is reliable; however, Goldmoney does not represent that it is accurate, complete, up-to-date and/or to be taken as an indication of future results and it should not be relied upon as such. Goldmoney will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage, or inconvenience caused as a result of any information or opinion contained in this article and any action taken as a result of the opinions and information contained in this article is at your own risk.

https://dailyreckoning.com/the-dolla...s-own-success/

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BY JAMES RICKARDS

POSTED

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

The Dollar: A Victim of Its Own Success

America’s most powerful weapon of war does not shoot, fly or explode. It’s not a submarine, plane, tank, or laser. America’s most powerful strategic weapon today is the dollar.

The U.S. uses the dollar strategically to reward friends and punish enemies. The use of the dollar as a weapon is not limited to trade wars and currency wars, although the dollar is used tactically in those disputes. The dollar is much more powerful than that.

The dollar can be used for regime change by creating hyperinflation, bank runs, and domestic dissent in countries targeted by the U.S. The U.S. can depose the governments of its adversaries, or at least blunt their policies without firing a shot.

Consider the following. The dollar constitutes about 60% of global reserves, 80% of global payments, and almost 100% of global oil transactions. European banks that make dollar-denominated loans to customers have to borrow dollars to fund those liabilities.

Being based in Switzerland or Germany does not allow you to escape from the dollar’s dominance.

The U.S. not only controls the dollar itself. It controls the dollar payments system. This consists of the Treasury’s digital ledger of holders of U.S. debt, the Fedwire payments system among U.S. Fed member banks, and the Clearing House Association (successor to the New York Clearing House and proprietor of CHIPS, the Clearing House Interbank Payments System) composed of the largest U.S. banks.

A dollar payment going from a bank in Shanghai to another bank in Sydney runs through one of these U.S.-controlled payments systems. In short, the dollar is the oxygen supply for world commerce and the U.S. can cut off your oxygen whenever it wants.

The list of ways in which the dollar can be weaponized is extensive. The U.S. uses the dollar to force its enemies into fronts, crude barter, or the black market if they want to do business.

Examples of the U.S. employing these financial weapons are ubiquitous.
The U.S. slapped sanctions on Russia after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine. The U.S. waged a full-scale financial war with Iran from 2011–13 that resulted in bank runs, hyperinflation, local currency devaluation, and social unrest.

The U.S. slapped stiff penalties on China for theft of intellectual property. Other obvious victims of U.S. financial weapons are North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela.

The actions described above did not arise in the normal course of trade and finance. The Russian, Iranian and other sanctions noted are explicitly geopolitical, while the Chinese sanctions are geostrategic to the extent the U.S. and China are vying for technological supremacy in the 21st century.

None of these sanctions would be effective or even possible without the use of the dollar and the dollar payments system.

Yet for every action, there is a reaction. America’s adversaries realize how vulnerable they are to dollar-based sanctions. In the short run, they have to grin and bear it. They’re fully invested in the dollar both in their reserves and in the desire of their largest companies like Gazprom (Russia) and Huawei (China) to become major global players.


Our adversaries and so-called allies are not standing still. They are already envisioning a world where the dollar is not the major reserve and trade currency. In the longer run, Russia, China, Iran, and others are working flat-out to invent and implement non-dollar transactional currencies and independent payments systems.

I’ve been warning for years about the efforts of nations like Russia and China to escape what they call “dollar hegemony” and create a new financial system that does not depend on the dollar and helps them get out from under dollar-based economic sanctions. These efforts are only increasing.

Gold is the oldest form of money. The use of gold is the ideal way to avoid U.S. financial warfare. Gold is physical so it cannot be hacked. It is completely fungible (an element, atomic number 79) so it cannot be traced. Gold can be transported in sealed containers on airplanes so movements cannot be identified through wire transfer message traffic or satellite surveillance.

Russia, for example, can settle its balance of payments obligations with gold shipments or gold sales and avoid U.S. asset freezes by not holding assets the U.S. can reach. Russia is providing other nations a model to achieve a similar distance from U.S. efforts to use the dollar to enforce its foreign policy priorities.

Even Europe is showing signs it wants to escape dollar hegemony. The German foreign minister has called for a new EU-based payments system independent of the U.S. and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) that would not involve dollar payments.

SWIFT is the nerve center of the global financial network. All major banks transfer all major currencies using the SWIFT message system. Cutting a nation off from SWIFT is like taking away its oxygen.

The U.S. had previously banned Iran from the dollar payments system (Fedwire), which it controls, but Iran turned to SWIFT to transfer euros and yen in order to maintain its receipt of hard currency for oil exports.

In 2013, the U.S. successfully kicked Iran out of SWIFT. This was a crushing blow to Iran because it could not receive payment in hard currencies for its oil. This pushed Iran to the bargaining table, which resulted in a nuclear deal with the U.S. in 2015.

But in the longer run, this is just one more development pushing the world at large away from dollars and toward alternatives of all kinds, including new payment systems and cryptocurrencies, possibly backed by gold.

Imagine a three-way trade in which North Korea sells weapons to Iran, Iran sells oil to China and China sells food to North Korea. All of these transactions can be recorded on a blockchain and netted out on a quarterly basis with the net settlement payment made in gold shipped to the party with the net balance due. That’s a glimpse of what a future non-dollar payments system looks like.

The bottom line is the world is looking to turn away from dollar dominance in global finance. It may end sooner than most expect. We are getting dangerously close to that point right now.

Regards,
Jim Rickards
for The Daily Reckoning

[People's Party Of Canada - this is the party I will be voting for in the next federal elections and i am also a proud member of this Party FB group!

I have had enough of Liberals and Conservatives and their crap! NDPs are too much of the commies so that leaves the PPC for me to support!

Corporate welfare must be stopped, make them pay taxes as Corporations in Norway do, that's why Norway is the best country in the world for its citizens to live in.

I see no reason why Canada should not be the best or one of the best countries in the world for its citizens to live in, with all these huge natural and energy resources Canada has!

Canada should be the best country in the world, not the way now is, with some of its citizens ending up homeless and dying on the streets!

Thanks to Liberals and Conservatives Canada has a high level of corruption among corporations and politicians and this must stop!

There is also a significant level of union corruption that must be taken care of! Canadian workers need unions to protect their rights and dignity, but they do not need corruption or backstabbing to its member's union officials as the former manager of my local union was before being fired by US main union GP!

Our public safety and security are also not so great according to an incident when I reported what strongly appears domestic far-right terrorist with a serious terrorist potential of doing harm to Canadian citizens or government officials, not long ago! I reported that person from B.C. [ with all the necessary evidence, including that person also has a machine gun ] to the current Minister of Public Safety, and up to date absolutely nothing was done about that, while at the same time Liberals are picking on law obeying gun owners!

Too many foreign companies and corporations are exploiting Canadian energy and natural resources leaving Canadians out of work as is the case with Alberta's tar send oil industry, not to mention rich foreign billionaires causing out real estate markets prices to skyrocket making it hard if not impossible for the young generation to buy a house or to rent the place in the big cities like Toronto or Vancouver!

In Norway for example, it is a shame for the able body people to live on welfare or in low rent social housing for a prolonged period of time, while here in Canada that lifestyle seems to be a long term way of life for too many lazy able-bodied people, while the disabled people and vulnerable senior citizens are told that they have to wait between ten and twenty years before getting into these low rent housing, and this altogether must change!

Many low-income disabled people or low-income senior citizens are ending up homeless on the streets, while the lazy able-bodied long-term welfare people are having fun living in low rent social housing, drinking booze, and taking drugs! Most, if not all, of the violent gang members that are killing each other on Toronto's streets, are from one-parent fatherless families living in those low rent social housing and that's the fact no one can dispute!

When I was the JFCCO vice president in 1997-1998 on that time it was unheard of for young people to carry a gun, join gangs, and kill each other, it all started a few years later on and to this day this gun violence problem has become a chronic problem with no end in sight! These Social housing should only be available to disabled people or low-income senior citizens, or on a temporary basis to able-bodied people that are in temporary financial hardship!

Lazy able people living on long-term welfare are not the true reflection of hard-working Canadian people, they can be found in every society but it is up to the government how to deal with them! Most Canadian people are hard-working people, paying high taxes while the corporations and lazy able-bodied welfare people are paying no taxes at all, and this must change, because hard-working Canadian people deserve a much better country than what they have now, and I believe that this may be possible if the People's Party Of Canada wins the next elections!

It would also be nice to have a similar political party on the Provincial level - The people's Party of Ontario for example, because the way now things are going is not good for anyone except for Doug's Ford rich corporate friends, and the same thing is happening on the federal level with Justin's Liberal party protecting rich corporate crooks by ordering its Justice Minister not to investigate those corporate crooks, which has also something to do with Canada buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of relying on its own oil industry that would help the Canadian economy and keep our hard-working Canadian workers fully employed!

Our health care system is also not as good as it supposes to be because Canadian health care ranks number 30 only in the world on the W.H.O. list of quality health care.

We need something like Britain has where there is an annual evaluation of every doctor working there in the health care system, and if their performance is poor, or there are too many complaints against them, they lose their license, unlike here in Canada where they are well protected and it is next to impossible to sue them.

That's why I am living in never-ending pain for the past ten years because of my failed hip surgeries and low back workplace injuries, and am forced to use a cane or often a mobility walker to be able to walk while doing lots of community work, rescuing abandoned animals and all the expenses come out of my own pocket.

We also need stronger animal protection laws that would punish the animal abusers who are abusing animals and punish irresponsible pet owners who abandon their pets causing them to end up on street and multiplying if they are not spayed neutered! Some of these animal-related issues are related to municipal by-law jurisdiction but some of them do relate to federal government jurisdiction when it comes to animal cruelty or neglect!

When it comes to the immigration issue, I do believe that there is nothing wrong to help the real refuges that are escaping horrors of war in the Middle East or elsewhere, but I do find it very wrong for Canada to allow or ignore illegal immigrants [ that have nothing to do with escaping horrors of war ] to stay in Canada, especially if they are, or were members, of terrorist organizations like ISIS!

I also feel that it was very inappropriate for the Liberals to give ten million Dollars to that terrorist of Omar Khadr for his " discomfort or suffering " while being detained in US jail after he has also killed one of the US army officers! That was a very stupid thing to do on behalf of the Liberal Government! Also, everyone that went abroad to join ISIS should not be allowed back to Canada, regardless they were born here or not! Let their captures deal with them! When I was in the army anti-terrorist unit, overseas in my old country, our unit commander was telling us that the best terrorist is a dead terrorist, but as far I am concerned the best terrorist is the one that is kept out of Canada or incarnated for life if he happens to be in Canada or born in Canada!

I got my own unfinished business with some Nazi terrorists that had ties to foreign secret service UDBA whose former Chief is now in jail for life overseas thanks to my contribution, but there are some more of them to be rounded up and locked up, including my former co-worker, now an army general and a war criminal who used to work with me in the same workplace at 610 Dupont st in Toronto where I all of a sudden have been targeted with the hostile working environment after I became a threat to UDBA's agents and its Nazi terrorist collaborators and one of this Nazi Terrorist spouse was a medical scientist and a member of Liberal Party of Canada at Etobicoke - Lakeshore political riding, while her husband was the head of one of the Nazi organization for North America!

This terrorist law-breaking and terrorist activities on Canadian soil were covered up by none other but the Liberal government and the Canadian Security Apparatus while framing innocent people for it! Some of these damn terrorists were illegally in Canada [ also had ties to members of my local union ], so the former high ranking RCMP officer Ben Soave was, with my permission. trying to use my personal case to persuade the Federal Government how illegal immigration can be a pipeline for terrorism [ he was also in the media about the same issue ] but the ignorant government of that time did not want to listen to his common-sense advice, that's why we need a political party that will put the safety and security of its citizens first, before anything else, not the safety of the damn terrorists as Liberals are doing or the safety of the crooked big corporations as Liberals and Conservatives are doing!

Canada is also a country where lots of big supermarkets expired or unsold food products are being wasted and thrown in the garbage, while there is a federal law in France that forbids the big supermarkets or another food store to throw the same food in the garbage, they must give it to charity instead, and now Italy also has the same law! Too much food is being wasted in Canada and too many homeless people are dying from hunger on the streets! We need that law that France and Italy have here in Canada as well! I was in contact with Loblaw president Sarah Davis's office for that reason but I was told that they are worried about the liability if they give that unsold food to charity or to certified feral cats volunteers as I am, but when I spoke to Federal Food Inspection Agency to one of its inspector named Nina, she told me that Loblaw office people are full of crap when making liability excuses and that food can still be good for human or animal consumption! She told me that they are being just too damn selfish and cared about no one else but themselves!

What is very interesting is that the owner of the Loblaw food chain supermarkets Galen Weston was also the owner of that 610 Dupont St workplace where I became a target of the hostile working environment orchestrated by the foreign secret service UDBA through the Nazi elements that were working at that place!

Galen Weston is one of the richest men in Canada, owner of the corporations that pays very little or no taxes and he is the one, besides that Ontario Premier Doug Ford, that is strongly against the minimum wage increase, saying that the minimum wage increase would be bad for his business!

What we here in Canada need is a political party that will be bad for all kinds of crooks, and good for its hard-working Canadian people, and that party is;
People's Party of Canada! I hope that this party PPC wins the next federal election and I also hope that one will be formed on the Provincial level as for example - The people's party Of Ontario!

https://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index3842.htm

February 25, 2022

West Trembles Before Russia As Ukraine Leader Reveals “Everybody Is Afraid”

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

An informative new Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today first noting top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating about the goals of the “special operation” authorized by President Putin: “Ideally, Ukraine should be liberated, cleaned from neo-Nazis, from people sharing pro-Nazi sentiment and ideas”, says in a further move against this de-Nazification special operation, which he joined with declaring martial law and cutting diplomatic ties with Russia, it saw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring a “general mobilization” of his country’s population—in quick response it saw Peskov declaring: “The president formulated his vision of what we would expect from Ukraine in order for the so-called ‘red-line’ problems to be resolved...This is neutral status, and this is a refusal to deploy weapons” and stating: “The achievement of the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine would eliminate what Russia currently views as a threat to the security of its state and people”—after which Peskov added that President Putin would determine the timing of the negotiations, but gave assurances that Russia would only engage “if the leadership of Ukraine is ready to talk about it”.

Speaking in the early hours of the morning from Kiev, this report notes, President Zelensky responded to the Kremlin in a posted video saying he was not afraid to negotiate an end to the Russian special operation and “discuss neutrality”, but would need security guarantees to do so, then revealed he had reached out to his “partners” in the West to tell them that Ukraine’s fate was at stake, and stated about them: “I asked them – are you with us?...They answered that they are with us, but they don’t want to take us into the alliance...I’ve asked 27 leaders of Europe, if Ukraine will be in NATO, I’ve asked them directly – all are afraid and did not respond...We were left by ourselves...Who is ready to go to war for us?...Honestly, I don’t see anybody...Who is ready to give Ukraine guarantees of NATO membership?...Honestly, everybody is afraid”.

After repeatedly trying in vain to reach President Putin, this report continues, President Zelensky asked French President Emmanuel Macron to make this call for him—a call with President Putin that President Macron described as “frank, direct, quick” wherein he demanded Russia stop its special de-Nazification operation in Ukraine—after which President Macron announced that the EU had “decided to inflict very severe blows on Moscow” with a range of new sanctions, including on its financial, energy, transport and export sectors, as well as visa bans for particular Russian citizens, and added that Paris would soon deliver an aid package to Kiev worth €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) and will “continue to deliver military equipment” in support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

With the United States and Ukraine being the only two nations in the world to vote against the United Nations resolution condemning Nazism, this report details, it was no surprise that Supreme Socialist Leader Joe Biden revealed yesterday that he has “no plans” to talk to President Putin and said there is a “complete rupture” in American-Russian relations—after which it was reported: “A White House spokesman on Thursday lambasted former President Trump and Russian President Vladimir as nauseating, fearful pigs”—then it saw the socialist Biden Regime saying it was prepared to take in Ukrainian refugees, that was joined with the astonishing report: “Despite Southern Border Crisis, CBP Agents Asked To Deploy To Europe For Ukraine Conflict”—astonishing socialist insanity quickly followed by it being reported: “As oil prices continue to rocket, now further helped along by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is still fighting tooth and nail to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases - even after a court ruled against the administration”—and to actually help pay for this special de-Nazification operation in Ukraine, yesterday it saw US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating: “We’re not halting gas and oil purchases from Russia because we’re trying to minimize pain to us”.

With the West now throwing multitudes of ineffectual sanctions against Russia, this report notes, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said he wouldn’t play this game, and stated this morning: “During these years, among other issues, we have managed to de-escalate our tense relations with Russia, which was in line with Georgia’s national interests, and I will not make any decisions against them”—in quick retaliation for British sanctions against Russian airline Aeroflot, this morning Russia restricted access to its airspace to “all aircraft owned, leased, or operated by any person connected with Britain or registered in Britain”—today sees factual articles appearing like “Russia Has $630 Billion To Spare As It Considers Cutting European Gas Flows”—in response to this socialist sanction lunacy top Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated: “Such a country as Russia cannot be locked up behind the iron curtain…Problems may certainly arise with a number of countries, however we had various issues with these countries before, if not speaking about the current situation”—and in explaining what’s really happening, President Jacques Cheminade of the French political party Solidarité & Progrès reveals: “The US, the United Kingdom, and the EU form a bloc of states under a double control: financially of the City of London and Wall Street and militarily from the Pentagon...Under the conditions of the monetary and financial crisis hitting the Western nations, their real aim is to keep Russia and China from economically and technologically developing because they fear to be challenged...Their way of thinking is geopolitical, to win at the expense of the other, and not to build a common system of military stability and shared economic development”.

Security Council Members in this transcript take particular notice of Georgia not playing this ineffectual sanctions game, specifically because they know the difference between and “invasion” and a “special operation”—a difference Georgia learned in 2008, which is when their now imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili launched an attack on Russian Federation protected territories—an unprovoked attack that resulted in a Russian military “special operation” to protect these territories whose forces stood on the verge of taking over all of Georgia, but when finished, all Russian forces withdrew and went back home—and in noting the factual reality of the Russian military “special de-Nazification operation” in Ukraine, today Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova plainly stated: “It’s not a beginning of war, it is prevention of a situation that could lead to global military confrontation…It is also the end of the war that was being carried out in Donbass”.

This transcript sees Security Council Members noting the distinction between and “invasion” and “special operation” is that the former leads to occupation, while the latter has specific goals, the last of which is a withdrawal of forces—and in this specific “special de-Nazification operation”, today the Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reporting:
“The Russian military has not launched any missiles at Kiev and over 150 Ukrainian military personal have surrendered”
“Russian military forces have successfully captured the Hostomel airfield near Ukraine’s capital, Kiev”
“Air strikes by the Russian military destroyed 74 military infrastructure targets of the Ukrainian armed forces…Among them are 11 airfields, three command centres, a Ukrainian Navy post, 18 S-300 radars (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble), and Buk (NATO reporting name Gadfly) air defence systems of the Ukrainian military...Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian attack helicopter and four Turkish-made Bayraktar strike drones in the Donbass region”

“Forty-one Ukrainian military vehicles, 18 tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, 7 multiple rocket systems, and 5 combat boats have been destroyed by Russian forces”
“Yesterday, on 24 February, units of the Russian Airborne Forces took full control of the territory in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant...An agreement was reached with the servicemen of a separate battalion protecting the nuclear power plant of Ukraine on joint security of the power units and the sarcophagus of the Chernobyl NPP”
“A Ukrainian military airplane went down near Kiev...The plane was carrying 14 people in total and all fatalities were caused by a fire that started after the plane crash landed”
“An An-26 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces crashed during a scheduled flight to transport military equipment...The plane’s crew was killed on impact”

And contrary to the fake news Western media war propaganda report: “Ukrainian border guards defending a Black Sea island defiantly told an invading Russian warship to “go fuck yourself” when asked to surrender and were killed when the warship opened fire”, the factual reality is: “The Russian military has taken prisoner 82 Ukrainian troops who were deployed on Snake Island in the Black Sea...They laid down arms and will be set free after pledging not to take part in military action against Russia”.

In examining this “special de-Nazification operation”, this report continues, the leftist New York Times assembled a 4-person team to analyze it, and who wrote such things like: “It is not an understatement to say the world has changed overnight”—“I really worry that Americans aren’t ready for the consequences of this…What we’re going to be faced with is the increasing bifurcation of the world between East and West”—“I don’t think we’re ready for this…I think people don’t know how to process this…I don’t even think they’ve gotten to the point of fear and terror yet because they’re still in that state of shock”—“Putin wasn’t just angry at America about those unilateral interventions, those symbols of American might…He also had this sort of reasonable critique of how they went badly, how they didn’t work, how America was reckless and destructive and smashing things up and leaving things in pieces”—and in the Wall Street Journal, today it warns: “We are not repeating history…This war is uncharted territory…So no, we’re not living through something you streamed on Netflix; you don’t know the end of the story”.

In the leftist Washington Post, this report notes, it cites former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul saying: “There is a history of some Ukrainians fighting on the Nazi side, but a very small group”—a vile revision of history standing opposed to the hundreds-of-thousands of Ukrainians that joined Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and were put in genocidal control to exterminate Slavic Russians and Jews by German Nazi Leader Adolph Hitler—a fact well known to famed World War II historian Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University, who, in 2017, warned German lawmakers in a speech at the Bundestag about Germany’s historical responsibility for its wartime actions in Ukraine, and factually told them: “Ukraine was the centre of Hitler’s ideological colonialism...The purpose of the Second World War, from Hitler’s point of view, was the conquest of Ukraine…It is therefore senseless to commemorate any part of the Second World War without beginning from Ukraine”.

Because of this vile socialist revision of true history, this report concludes, today sees it being reported: “Facebook is now allowing its billions of users to praise a Ukrainian neo-Nazi military unit called the Azov Battalion, after the social media giant previously banned the group from free discussion under the company's Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy”—are beyond dangerous genocidal Socialist-Nazi forces that cost the lives of over 27-million Russian citizens during World War II, as opposed to the United States, that only lost 419,400 of it citizens in this global conflict—and is a fact of history well known to America’s foremost 20th Century geopolitical expert George Kennan, who in watching more Western nations adopt socialistic policies, most correctly warned the Clinton Regime in his 1997 warning letter “A Fateful Error” that: “Expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era”. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]

https://www.whatdoesitmean.com/gkk21.jpg

https://www.whatdoesitmean.com/gkk22.jpg

February 25, 2022 EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.

[Note: Many governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human being’s right to know the truth. Due to our mission’s conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their ‘agents’ has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit us, and others like us, that is exampled in numerous places, including HERE.]

[Note: The WhatDoesItMean.com website was created for and donated to the Sisters of Sorcha Faal in 2003 by a small group of American computer experts led by the late global technology guru Wayne Green (1922-2013) to counter the propaganda being used by the West to promote their illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.]
[Note: The word Kremlin (fortress inside a city) as used in this report refers to Russian citadels, including in Moscow, having cathedrals wherein female Schema monks (Orthodox nuns) reside, many of whom are devoted to the mission of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal.]

Putin Begins Slavic Revenge Against Nazis With “Constructive Destruction” Doctrine

Historic Attack On Christianity Propels Russia To War—Not Ukraine

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https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...onology-crisis

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-...-moving-higher

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/di...clock-we-speak

"The Dirty Work Of Going Through Old Positions On Bank Balance Sheets Is Being Done Around The Clock As We Speak"

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BY TYLER DURDEN

SUNDAY, FEB 27, 2022 - 10:30 PM

By Larry McDonald, publisher of the Bear Traps Report
When was the last time a geopolitical risk event walked through the door behind a tech crash? George Soros always said, “when past excesses are being corrected - it is always a period of maximum risk.”

Going into the Ukraine-Russia tragedy, the ferocious “buy the dip” psychology was already impaired – now the matador just put forth his final sword. The wounded bull has been laid to rest. In the early 2000s, we called it “the other side of the mountain” – use vicious countertrend - short covering rallies to raise cash. We have clearly moved from a BTFD mentality to sell the rallies mode.


A bear has arrived for lunch and unfortunately, he's staying for dinner.

We have been up all night working the phones. It has been a Lehman weekend - as in a 24-hour scramble to find and calculate the risk - NOT the size of the risk.

The dirty work of going through old positions on bank balance sheets is being done around the clock as we speak. We do know the cost of default protection on French banks has diverged from UK-Asia-centric HSBC meaningfully.

After working at Soc Gen for three years we can tell you, the books on most EU banks are a cobweb of darkness. In 2016, when Glencore was going down, every week we found more and more risk tied to Glencore assets. The truth bled out very slowly.

Italian banks have been very close with Russia as well. The point is, it's very tough for politicians to "target" SWIFT sanctions into this darkness, very tough. In a loud voice the client said - “Larry - details matter BIGLY – we need to urgently to know exactly what is sanctioned here. They - Olaf - Macron - Biden - will try and dance around risk with a targeted SWIFT but they’re probably not qualified to do so.

They are messing with the plumbing of the global financial system. If they shoot from the hip, there could be large consequences.”

Politicians are reaching in the dark to find risk. If they sanctioned the CBR (central bank of Russia) and the transfer agents for Eurobonds, then Russia will default on all foreign debt immediately. And if Russia tries to find a back door through China - will the USA fine or sanction Chinese banks?

Over the weekend another client said, "Germany can play SWIFT tough guy all they want - but Macron has to protect the vulnerable Soc Gen and Draghi is probably trying to ring-fence exposed, Moscow cozy Italian banks like Intesa and UniCredit.”

Lost in the Ukraine tragedy – the Fed ́s favorite inflation measure – core PCE has moved from 3.7% in September to 5.2% in January, and the war-torn invasion only pours lighter fluid on this fire. *SCHOLZ: GERMANY TO SPEND MORE THAN 2% OF GDP YEARLY ON DEFENSE + massive social costs across the EU to offset energy prices as well.

So long to the planet's global negative yield anchor. We are heading back to a 1967 – 1979 regime. Overweight hard assets, take down financial assets, and buckle up.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-...reserve-status

Russia And China Might Collectively Challenge The Dollar's Reserve Status
https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-pu...?itok=GLmZhbIM

BY QUOTH THE RAVEN

SUNDAY, FEB 27, 2022 - 19:16

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

The war being waged by Russia in Ukraine shows no signs of coming to any type of peaceful end.
Meanwhile, it appears to me that a separate war on the U.S. dollar could be “officially” waged at any moment, by Russia and China collectively, as the situation in Ukraine grows direr, as Russia’s options wane and its ties with China grow closer.

While the hope is still to avoid a World War III type scenario, escalating sanctions from the West is forcing an increasingly unhinged Vladimir Putin to consider his options for pushback.

For example, on Sunday, Putin put nuclear deterrence forces on high alert as a response to increasing pressure from NATO, in a move that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said: “escalates the conflict unacceptably.”
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Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

In the same breath that Putin made this announcement, he continued to push back on economic sanctions being levied against Russia:
"As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension - I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well.”

This may be because the bigger story over the weekend was the beginning of removing Russia from the SWIFT intra-bank messaging system, along with sanctions targeting Russia’s Central Bank.

SWIFT helps provide services related to the execution of financial transactions and payments between banks worldwide. Central Bank sanctions from the EU and the Fed instantly make Russia - and its currency, the ruble - pariahs elsewhere in the world.

Russia’s Central Bank reserves are generally controlled by foreign central banks. If those foreign banks decide to freeze access to such reserves, Russia only has its tangible assets (such as oil, and gold reserves) to fall back on.

The ruble is expected to collapse as a result of these sanctions.

Said one analyst on Twitter over the weekend, the Kremlin “has no good off-ramps at this point”.

The obvious consequences of these sanctions are a run on Russia’s banks and a crippling of the Russian economy.
The Bank of Russia (Russia’s Central Bank) will now try to prevent a crisis of confidence among the citizens of the country to slow the economic bleeding.

The BBC reported that Russia’s Central Bank has claimed it “has the necessary resources and tools to maintain financial stability and ensure the operational continuity of the financial sector."

Regardless of whether this is true (the global FX markets will be the judge), it brings up a topic that only “conspiracy theorists” have talked about for decades: the resolve of fiat currencies, and the importance of having tangible bank reserves.

During decades of peace, it’s easy to simply ignore critical questions raised about the backing of fiat currencies while the next trillion dollars casually rolls off the Fed printer and is inequitably distributed through programs like the Paycheck Protection Program. Not unlike equity markets when they’re in a mania, few critical questions are asked while loopholes like money printing are exploited until something eventually gives out.

Now, something is giving out. All those quotes about the “world order” changing as a result of Putin’s recent action? They’re worth paying attention to. They’re the definition of something “giving out”.

Today’s blog post has been published without a paywall because I believe the content to be far too important. However, if you have the means and would like to support my work by subscribing, I’d be happy to offer you 22% off to become a subscriber in 2022:
Get 22% off forever

When push comes to shove and things get down to brass tacks, people want to know what backs their currency, and it’s not just Russia in this case. While they’re going to be the obvious example, I think economic tensions between Russia and the West are going to stoke a far larger global discussion about the fiat system in general.

After all, heading into this massive conflict, we were already at the precipice of "The Great Reset”, right?

Now, China and Russia may speed that “reset” along much quicker - and in a much more volatile fashion - than Klaus Schwab would approve of.
Sorry, Klaus.
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Photo: TIME

The fact is that if Putin has his mind made up to “go the distance” in Ukraine, come hell or high water, he’s going to have to somehow address the crippling of his country’s currency and economy. Left with few “off-ramps”, my guess is that Putin will push back on economic sanctions by allying himself further with China and even discussing with China the prospects of a monetary system outside of the current global monetary system.

While the idea will likely be written off by economic experts, it’s important to remember that, even if such an idea doesn’t succeed, it could still create chaos for global economic markets and life in the West. We’re already in the midst of a supply chain crisis here in the U.S. - now, add to that the facts that:

1. Russia has tangible reserves in the form of oil and gold. Russia is the top supplier of imported gasoline to the United States. “In 2021, Russia accounted for 21% of all U.S. gasoline imports,” Forbes writes.
2. China is a major supplier of…basically everything…we use in the West on a daily basis. China was the United States' largest supplier of goods imports in 2020, according to the USTR. China is currently our largest goods trading partner with $559.2 billion in total (two-way) goods trade during 2020, the same report notes.

Trade deficits hit further records in 2021, the WSJ reported earlier this month.
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In other words, we get tons of stuff - for lack of a better word - from both countries.

This prediction shouldn’t surprise anyone that has been paying attention.

Just one year ago, the idea of Russia and China working together to de-dollarize themselves made headlines. The Washington Post reported on the steps the two countries were collectively taking in April 2021:
China and Russia have vowed to jointly “de-dollarize,” creating alternatives to the current system with a three-step plan that began a few years ago. First, both countries began to cut back the proportion of their bilateral trade invoiced in dollars, privileging settlement in their own currencies.

Second, they have sought to boost the renminbi’s role as an international currency for payments and reserves. To encourage wider adoption of its currency, China has given more than 30 countries renminbi access through bilateral swap agreements. China and Russia each scaled back their U.S. Treasury holdings, with Russia channeling cash into renminbi holdings. And China has ramped up the digital currency drive it began in 2014, with the goal of making it easier to hold renminbi.

The third and last leg of these efforts, still underway, aims to create alternative payments and messaging systems allowing countries to use home and partner currencies instead of dollars or euros to settle trade and investment deals.

Far be it for me to agree with the Washington Post, but they were spot on in early 2021 when they concluded that:
"If China and Russia devise successful alternatives to the dollar-centered financial system, and if these alternatives gain significant international traction, we would be witnessing a cataclysmic moment in great power rivalry."

Meanwhile, we have been standing idly by, watching Russia dump U.S. treasuries while increasing its FX reserves over the last 5 years.
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Russia has also been increasing its holdings of gold over the same period:
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De-dollarization and a financial alliance between Russia and China were being reported in 2020, as well.
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Nikkei wrote at the time:
De-dollarization has been a priority for Russia and China since 2014 when they began expanding economic cooperation following Moscow's estrangement from the West over its annexation of Crimea. Replacing the dollar in trade settlements became a necessity to sidestep U.S. sanctions against Russia.
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The idea of a Russia-China alliance to try and collapse the U.S. economic system isn’t new, either. Russia tried to push China to create chaos for the U.S. in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

"Russia may have tried to conspire with China in a bid to collapse the U.S. financial system. They were hoping to sell Fannie and Freddie bonds during a time when the U.S. economy was on the ropes," Insider wrote in 2010, citing Hank Paulson's memoir about the crisis.

Paulson wrote in his memoir:
“The report was deeply troubling -- heavy selling could create a sudden loss of confidence in the GSEs and shake the capital markets. I waited till I was back home and in a secure environment to inform the president.”

Stories like this flew under the radar, anyone who brought up the idea that this could be part of some larger plan was largely ignored, and...(READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE HERE).


In a podcast I did with Danielle DiMartino Booth, formerly of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in 2020, she claimed that a “hot war” could be the only thing that could dethrone the dollar as the world reserve currency.

Now, we are in that situation.

Pieces that I have written in the past, including my prediction that China is going to back its new digital currency with gold - all of a sudden look like discussions that need to take place, post-haste. I wrote last year:
China thinks in terms of generations and centuries. They are officially playing the long game. And don’t let the lack of a hot war fool you, the gears and wheels of trying to advance their country’s interests are there, grinding away slowly behind the scenes, for those who care to peek behind the curtain.

Backing their currency with gold could be seen by Xi as the ultimate “Trump card” of sorts, especially as the U.S. has watched its currency fall into a precarious position over the last 18 months due to unprecedented quantitative easing. It’s the type of revelation that, if done correctly by China, can immediately hoist China’s economic status to the top of the global ladder and can immediately challenge other countries to follow suit.

Except those “other countries” won’t be nearly as prepared to “flip the switch” to a gold-backed currency, because we will not have even considered the idea.
Now, it could be time for China and Russia to collectively “flip the switch”.

The writing has been on the wall for a while: Russia and China “de-dollarizing”, both countries stacking their gold reserves and China quickly looking to implement a digital currency.

Over the last five years, only overtly paranoid people like me looked at these actions and concluded they were the lead up to something much bigger.
Now that Russia has put itself at war with the West, the potential reasons, all of a sudden, become much clearer.

I have long argued that our arrogant treatment of the US dollar and our reliance on being able to print it whenever we want was a fool‘s errand. Austrian economists and conservatives who made these points were written off as conspiracy theorists for making suggestions that our country should shore up its balance sheet and back its currency with something tangible.

Now, in the midst of one of the most consequential wars in decades, our people may be starting to see exactly why having your monetary policy house in order is a good idea. Because the shit, eventually, always hits the fan.

And if the dollar is challenged – even if it holds its place as the world reserve currency – they’re still going to be a lot of uncomfortable questions we’re going to have to ask ourselves about monetary policy afterwards. So far, Tucker Carlson has been the only mainstream news anchor with either the foresight, courage or both to broach the subject, as he did a couple days ago.

Despite his comments, it still doesn’t seem that most people understand that war could be waged not just on Ukraine, but on the dollar.

To me, it only seems like the logical next step. I hope I’m wrong, but it looks as though the unprecedented times we are living through may still get far more unprecedented.

(A recent Atlantic article does a great job describing, in depth, how the above mentioned SWIFT & Central Bank-related economic sanctions work in practice, for those looking for a deeper understanding.)

Thank you for reading QTR’s Fringe Finance .

--
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COMMENTS FROM BENJAMINS: So two things about the above post.

One, it is no longer possible to trade without a STOP LOSS PERIOD.

Two, having a STOP LOSS of fewer than 100 PIPS is not a good strategy. That leads me to explain why most of the 95% of all Retail Forex Traders lose. They trade with small amounts of money and SCALP which makes it almost impossible to make profits over a period of one year because of the VIOLENT NATURE of the swings in the Asset Classes caused by world-changing events.

Each Forex Trade that you do should not risk more than 2% of your trading Capital and that is based on trading Capital of $50,000 US Dollars INITIALLY learning on a $50,000 US Funds Demo account just as I did for a period of three years before I made my first Real Funds Trade.

PLEASE GO WITH THE MONEY FLOW

COMMENTS FROM BENJAMINS: Let us review what we teach and why it works if YOU WORK.

Without your WORK then you are just wasting your time and probably your money.

There is no such thing as Political Correctness here because we are here to teach and share our knowledge ALL FOR FREE until May 31, 2017, and then if you have subscribed to this thread before May 31, 2017, then you will get a FREE LIFETIME PASS to our company website.

SO.... going back to our winning FORMULA for FOREX SUCCESS.

20% of the SUCCESS is yourself the Forex Trader.

20% of the SUCCESS is your EDGE which we teach you and that is Money Flow Trading.

20% of the SUCCESS is control of your RISK (Your hard-earned money) Our UNIQUE RISK MANAGEMENT allows you to trade without worry, fear, and greed. Of course, we want to make sure that you have the right qualities to be a winning Forex Trader so our course is for a period of three months, so we can teach you the right trading methods and we can see your results and make adjustments without your FEAR OF LOSS of Real Money.


20% of the SUCCESS is using and understanding the USE of Technical Indicators which include not only the common ones. It includes the understanding of Supply and Demand. Support and Resistance and the use of Pivot Points which you can see each day on our daily charts that cover ALL our Trade Plans which we also help you develop and explain WHY. These are our Winning Trade Plans that we review every three months or earlier if circumstances in the markets require that.

20% of the SUCCESS is the FUNDAMENTALS, which are much more than Data Released each day around the world. It includes reports and articles extremely well researched as you can clearly see from this article that explains why the TREND in the Equity Markets especially in North America is DOWN. By understanding the difference between PERCEPTIONS (MARKETS) and REALITY, you then have a good handle on REALITY before the MASSES do and you are not surprised when events eventually unfold.

When successful traders aren't trading, they are researching, developing, and innovating. When unsuccessful traders aren't trading, they're staring at screens and forcing trades. There is nothing better for trading psychology than being at the cutting edge of a growing business.

What makes a trader successful is discipline: doing the right thing with fidelity. What keeps a trader successful is innovation: doing new things and turning them into disciplines.

In order to be able to help you better, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you share your thoughts and your QUESTIONS here on our thread.


Benjamins

GOOD EVENING !!! Time to get some rest as I was up at 4:00 AM today.

Post your questions and I will reply tomorrow ... Thank You !!!

https://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index3845.htm

February 28, 2022

Epic In Scale Western War Propaganda Risks Global Nuclear Annihilation

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
An insightful new Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today first notes the “epic in scale Western war propaganda” against Russia, that’s reminiscent of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (aka Nazi Party) massive propaganda machine that exploited ordinary Germans by encouraging them to be co-producers of a false reality, and propelled Adolph Hitler into power, says in response to this genocidal threat President Putin ordered the military to put the nation’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert and directly stated to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov: “Top officials of leading NATO nations indulge in making aggressive statements about our country…Therefore, I am ordering the minister of defense and the chief of the general staff to put the deterrence forces of the Russian army into special combat duty mode”.
On this fifth day of the “Special De-Nazification Operation” to liberate the peoples of Ukraine ordered by President Putin, this report notes, early this afternoon, talks commenced in Belarus between high level delegations from Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending hostilities between the two countries—talks that were immediately preceded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “The next 24 hours will be crucial for Ukraine”.

Security Council Members in this transcript note that this “epic in scale” war propaganda is specifically designed to keep hidden from the Western peoples the true cause of this current crisis—and as discussed in the 16 February meeting, where it was noted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declaring: “15 February 2022 will go down in history as the day Western war propaganda failed...The West has been shamed and destroyed without firing a single shot”—a declaration not fully understood by the socialist indoctrinated peoples of America, but whose historic significance of was not lost on the peoples of Eurasia, the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia—a continental area Sir Halford John Mackinder, one of the founding fathers of both Western geopolitics and geostrategy, called the “Heartland of the World” in his seminal work “Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction” published over 100-years-ago—and over the past century, that’s caused two world wars and countless other conflicts, sees it all being caused because Western policy makers in America and Britain have followed Sir Mackinder’s maxim: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world”.

With the East European nation of Ukraine being the gateway to the “Heartland of the World”, this report continues, the vital necessity of seizing control over it was known to Western socialist Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler, and as famed World War II historian Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University reminded German lawmakers about in his 2017 speech at the Bundestag, where he spoke about Germany’s historical responsibility for its wartime actions in Ukraine, and factually told them: “Ukraine was the centre of Hitler’s ideological colonialism...The purpose of the Second World War, from Hitler’s point of view, was the conquest of Ukraine”.

Like the Anglo-Saxon rule over socialist Western colonial powers have done for centuries, this report details, today they still believe that the Slavic, Islamic and Asiatic peoples comprising the vast majority of Eurasia are not worthy of controlling the “Heartland of the World” and its critical to the world massive untapped wealth—whose worst disdain is reserved for Eurasian nations whose territory includes both Europe and Asia—like Turkey, that’s been futilely waiting for 35-years for the European Union to admit it as a member, and most particularly Russia, that like Nazi Germany did last century, today sees the West ready to ignite yet another world war over Ukraine, but this time around risks global nuclear annihilation.

After the Biden-British-NATO Axis watched helplessly as Russia obliterated their latest Eurasian power play, this report notes, like petulant children having lost a game they’ve decided to retaliate with screaming, crying and hysteria—but unlike a child’s game, this one is the “New Great Game”, whose fateful consequences of is now severing the West from the East—will see Russia eschewing the West entirely—after which Russia will build a massive economic-military wall between it and the West, and side with China and India, along with other independent nations, against both the United States and Europe—and whose best consequence for Russia, indeed the entire world, would see the United States, NATO and its European allies no longer able to rampage across the world fighting needless wars trying to conquer the “Heartland of the World”—and as best explained by world renowned geopolitical expert Liana Fix of the German Marshall Fund organization, who in her just published strategic document titled “What if Russia Wins? A Kremlin-Controlled Ukraine Would Transform Europe” factually reveals: “Under a perceived siege by Russia, the EU and NATO will no longer have the capacity for ambitious policies beyond their own borders”.

In the latest move to sever the West from the East, this report continues, the 27-member European Union officially banned operations involving reserves and assets of the Central Bank of Russia on Monday, with the exception of deals that are absolutely vital for individual member states or the bloc as a whole—after which President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission warned: “Of course Europeans and Europe will have to pay a price for these measures”—a monumental “price to pay” best explained in terrifying economic articles like “Pozsar Warns Of Another “Lehman Weekend” As Russia Sanctions May Trigger Central Bank Liquidity Flood”—in quick response to the Bank of Russia announced it had increased the base interest rate to a record 20% to insure liquidity—in a direct consequence today it sees stocks soaring that are linked China’s international banking SWIFT alternative Cross-Border Inter-Bank Payments System (CIPS)—is a CIPS comprised of 19 commercial banks in mainland China and 176 indirect participants from more than 50 countries and regions all over 6 continents, all of whom are immune to Western sanctions—is a CIPS specifically designed and created to dislodge the US Dollar as world’s reserve currency—and in fearfully noticing this consequence, today the Washington Post published its economic article “China Can Bypass SWIFT by Putting Digital Money in Play”, wherein it states: “Cutting some Russian banks’ access to SWIFT — the messaging network at the heart of global movement of money — may be a highly effective punishment for President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine…But it will give other geopolitical rivals, especially China, the excuse to promote digital versions of their own central banks’ money in global trade and finance…That could weaken the dollar’s international clout”.

Among the very few Americans telling the truth about this historic West-East confrontation, this report notes, is former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who yesterday stated: “In the case of the Germans, China is their biggest export market now, they sell more BMWs and Mercedes and Volkswagons in China, and Russia is the source of their inexpensive energy...And the Germans are not going to risk that over something like Ukrainian independence, which the Germans don’t care about”—a statement of truth quickly followed by E.ON, Europe’s largest operator of energy networks, rejecting demands to shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in Germany as part of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.

As the world moves closer towards World War III, this report notes, this morning Supreme Socialist Leader Joe Biden ordered the immediate emergency evacuation of the American Embassy in Belarus and effectively closed the American Embassy in Russia—in just 13-months since seizing power, it has seen Biden having to emergency evacuate 4 of his nation’s embassies, as opposed to President Donald Trump who didn’t have close any, but the fake news claimed he was the one who would start World War III—a factual reality explaining why Biden’s approval rating has crashed to 37% and further explains why 54% of Americans said they do not think Biden is mentally sharp enough to be their leader.

In commenting on the progress of the “Special De-Nazification Operation” in Ukraine, this report details, this morning top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated: “I don’t think right now is the time to speak about the results of the operation or its effectiveness – we must wait for its conclusion”—a statement joined by Turkey announcing: “The situation in Ukraine is officially a war…We will implement the Montreux Convention”, the consequence of which will allow Russian warships to transverse the Black Sea straits to return to their home ports, but will keep NATO warships from entering the Black Sea.

Among the Ministry of Defense (MoD) urgent war bulletins issued today, this report notes, they include:
“The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Monday that Russia’s ground units, equipped with multiple-warhead nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as vessels from the Northern and Pacific Fleets equipped with nuclear missiles, were placed on high combat alert”.
“The Pentagon wants to set up a communication channel with Russia similar to what was created in Syria in 2015”.

“European Union officials are due to unveil a program allowing all of its 27 members to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine”.
“Some 1,067 objects of Ukrainian military infrastructure have been destroyed during the operation to date, including 254 tanks and other armoured vehicles, 31 grounded aircraft, 46 heavy multiple launch rocket artillery systems, and 103 artillery guns and mortars...Six other air defence systems, including Buk M1 and Osa missile systems, as well as 56 radar stations, were also destroyed during Sunday's operations”.

“Russian Forces have taken control over the cities of Berdyansk and Energodar…Russian troops have complete control and are protecting the territory around the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant...The station staff keeps working to maintain the facility and control the nuclear environment in normal mode...The radiation levels are normal”.

“The Russian Defense Ministry has called on Ukrainian civilians to evacuate from Kiev...They can do so by taking the highway towards Vasilkov, a city located 20km southwest of the capital...This direction is open and safe”.

“The Russian military has suffered casualties, and some soldiers have ended up captured by the opposing forces during the ongoing military operation in Ukraine...We know how the Ukrainian Nazis treat the few captured Russian servicemen…And we see that the abuse and torture are the same as those of the German Nazis and their henchmen in the Great Patriotic War”.

“Desperate to deter the Russian offensive, Ukraine's army has been massively using phosphorus munitions in areas close to Kiev and near Gostomel Airport...They are using 122 mm D30 howitzers and rockets for BM-21 "Grad" systems made in the Soviet Union”.

“Ukraine's National Guard Nazi force prompted outrage by posting a crude video aimed at Muslim Russian fighters...The reel showed a soldier dipping the tips of bullet rounds into pork fat before putting them into a magazine”.

“NAACP civil rights leaders in America are expressing outrage after seeing videos of Ukraine Nazi forces expelling crowds of black peoples from trains and holding them at gunpoint so white peoples could board”.

During the fall of the former Soviet Union, this report concludes, one of the INF inspectors inspecting and decommissioning nuclear weapons was former US Army staff officer Scott Ritter, who in his just published article “Why A War May Be The Only Solution Americans Can Bring To This Conflict” notes how educated and knowledgeable about Russia his fellow American experts were, but today says: “What passes for expertise on Russia in the US today is corrupted by partisan politics, which distorts fact-based analysis”—today it sees honest experts telling the American people: “Everything we are seeing in U.S. media surrounding U.S. interests in Ukraine is a massive propaganda operation with the headquarters in the U.S. State Department and U.S. intelligence community…The sense of sympathy you are feeling is part of an intentionally manipulative operation from within this DC matrix”—and today, in his just published open letter to the American people titled “War Propaganda About Ukraine Becoming More Militaristic, Authoritarian, & Reckless”, famed Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald most factually reveals:
Having the U.S. risk global nuclear annihilation over Ukraine is an indescribably insane view, as one realizes upon a few seconds of sober reflection.

We had a reminder of that Sunday morning when “Putin ordered his nuclear forces on high alert Sunday, reminding the world he has the power to use weapons of mass destruction, after complaining about the West’s response to his invasion of Ukraine” — but it is completely unsurprising that it is already being suggested.
There is no propaganda as potent or powerful as war propaganda.

It seems that one must have lived through it at least once, as an engaged adult, to understand how it functions, how it manipulates and distorts, and how one can resist being consumed by it.
War propaganda stimulates the most powerful aspects of our psyche, our subconscious, our instinctive drives.

It causes us, by design, to abandon reason. It provokes a surge in tribalism, jingoism, moral righteousness, and emotionalism: all-powerful drives embedded through millennia of evolution.

The more unity that emerges in support of an overarching moral narrative, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to critically evaluate it.
The more closed the propaganda system is — either because any dissent from it is excluded by brute censorship or so effectively demonized through accusations of treason and disloyalty — the more difficult it is for anyone, all of us, even to recognize one is in the middle of it

It is genuinely hard to overstate how overwhelming the unity and consensus in U.S. political and media circles are. It is as close to a unanimous and dissent-free discourse as anything in memory, certainly since the days following 9/11.

No matter how convinced one is of the righteousness of one's views on any topic, there should still be a wariness about how easily that righteousness can be exploited to ensure that no dissent is considered or even heard, an awareness of how often such overwhelming societal consensus is manipulated to lead one to believe untrue claims and embrace horribly misguided responses.

Millions of Americans — either due to age or previous political indifference — began paying attention to politics for the first time in 2016 due to fear of Trump, and thus knew little to nothing about anything that preceded it.

Such people had no defenses against the propaganda narrative and deceitful tactics because, for them, it was all new.
They had never experienced it before and thus had no concept of who they were applauding and how such official government/media disinformation campaigns are constructed.

Each generation is thus easily programmed and exploited by the same propaganda systems, no matter how discredited they were previously.
We are way past the point where anyone cares about what is or is not factually true, including corporate outlets.
Any war propaganda — videos, photos, unverified social media posts — that is designed to tug on Western heartstrings for Ukrainians or appear to cast them as brave and noble resistance fighters, or Russians as barbaric but failing mass murderers gets mindlessly spread all over without the slightest concern for whether it is true.
This letter is intended to urge the recognition of what the effects of being immersed in one-sided, intense, and highly emotionalized war propaganda are — effects on your thinking, your reasoning, your willingness to endorse claims or support policies, your comfort with having dissent either banished or inherently legitimized.

Precisely because this propaganda has been cultivated over centuries to so powerfully and adeptly manipulate our most visceral reactions, it is something to be resisted even if — perhaps especially if — it is coming from the side or viewpoint you support.

[Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]

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February 28, 2022, EU and the US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content is licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.

[Note: Many governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human being’s right to kn ow the truth. Due to our mission’s conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their ‘agents’ has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit us, and others like us, that is exampled in numerous places, including HERE.]

[Note: The WhatDoesItMean.com website was created for and donated to the Sisters of Sorcha Faal in 2003 by a small group of American computer experts led by the late global technology guru Wayne Green (1922-2013) to counter the propaganda being used by the West to promote their illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.]
[Note: The word Kremlin (fortress inside a city) as used in this report refers to Russian citadels, including in Moscow, having cathedrals wherein female Schema monks (Orthodox nuns) reside, many of whom are devoted to the mission of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal.]
Putin Begins Slavic Revenge Against Nazis With “Constructive Destruction” Doctrine
Historic Attack On Christianity Propels Russia To War—Not Ukraine

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http://www.adamlebor.com/books/tower_of_basel/

The world's most exclusive club meets every other month at 7 pm on Sunday evening in a circular tower block whose tinted windows overlook Basel railway station. Its members include some of the most powerful men in the world. They are central bankers, who have come to Switzerland to attend the Economic Consultative Committee of the Bank for International Settlements, the bank for central banks.


Set up in 1930 by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally inviolable. The Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of $1.17 billion in 2011-12.

Under Thomas McKittrick, the bank's American president, the BIS continued operating throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold, conducted foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret contact point to keep the channels of international finance open.

After 1945 the BIS behind the scenes— for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002.

The bank is now at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture. Yet despite its central role in the history of the last century and during the current crisis, the BIS remains largely unknown - until now.

The Tower of Basel is the first unauthorized investigative history of the world's most influential global financial institution. Based on extensive archival research in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, and in-depth interviews with key decision-makers including Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, and former senior BIS managers and officials, Tower of Basel tells the story of the secretive institution at the heart of the global banking network: the central bankers' own bank.

[People's Party Of Canada - this is the party I will be voting for in the next federal elections and i am also a proud member of this Party FB group!

I have had enough of Liberals and Conservatives and their crap! NDPs are too much of the commies so that leaves the PPC for me to support!

Corporate welfare must be stopped, make them pay taxes as Corporations in Norway do, that's why Norway is the best country in the world for its citizens to live in.

I see no reason why Canada should not be the best or one of the best countries in the world for its citizens to live in, with all these huge natural and energy resources Canada has!

Canada should be the best country in the world, not the way now is, with some of its citizens ending up homeless and dying on the streets!

Thanks to Liberals and Conservatives Canada has a high level of corruption among corporations and politicians and this must stop!

There is also a significant level of union corruption that must be taken care of! Canadian workers need unions to protect their rights and dignity, but they do not need corruption or backstabbing to its member's union officials as the former manager of my local union was before being fired by US main union GP!

Our public safety and security are also not so great according to an incident when I reported what strongly appears domestic far-right terrorist with a serious terrorist potential of doing harm to Canadian citizens or government officials, not long ago! I reported that person from B.C. [ with all the necessary evidence, including that person also has a machine gun ] to the current Minister of Public Safety, and up to date absolutely nothing was done about that, while at the same time Liberals are picking on law obeying gun owners!

Too many foreign companies and corporations are exploiting Canadian energy and natural resources leaving Canadians out of work as is the case with Alberta's tar send oil industry, not to mention rich foreign billionaires causing out real estate markets prices to skyrocket making it hard if not impossible for the young generation to buy a house or to rent the place in the big cities like Toronto or Vancouver!

In Norway for example, it is a shame for the able body people to live on welfare or in low rent social housing for a prolonged period of time, while here in Canada that lifestyle seems to be a long term way of life for too many lazy able-bodied people, while the disabled people and vulnerable senior citizens are told that they have to wait between ten and twenty years before getting into these low rent housing, and this altogether must change!

Many low-income disabled people or low-income senior citizens are ending up homeless on the streets, while the lazy able-bodied long-term welfare people are having fun living in low rent social housing, drinking booze, and taking drugs! Most, if not all, of the violent gang members that are killing each other on Toronto's streets, are from one-parent fatherless families living in those low rent social housing and that's the fact no one can dispute!

When I was the JFCCO vice president in 1997-1998 on that time it was unheard of for young people to carry a gun, join gangs, and kill each other, it all started a few years later on and to this day this gun violence problem has become a chronic problem with no end in sight! These Social housing should only be available to disabled people or low-income senior citizens, or on a temporary basis to able-bodied people that are in temporary financial hardship!

Lazy able people living on long-term welfare are not the true reflection of hard-working Canadian people, they can be found in every society but it is up to the government how to deal with them! Most Canadian people are hard-working people, paying high taxes while the corporations and lazy able-bodied welfare people are paying no taxes at all, and this must change, because hard-working Canadian people deserve a much better country than what they have now, and I believe that this may be possible if the People's Party Of Canada wins the next elections!

It would also be nice to have a similar political party on the Provincial level - The people's Party of Ontario for example, because the way now things are going is not good for anyone except for Doug's Ford rich corporate friends, and the same thing is happening on the federal level with Justin's Liberal party protecting rich corporate crooks by ordering its Justice Minister not to investigate those corporate crooks, which has also something to do with Canada buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of relying on its own oil industry that would help the Canadian economy and keep our hard-working Canadian workers fully employed!

Our health care system is also not as good as it supposes to be because Canadian health care ranks number 30 only in the world on the W.H.O. list of quality health care.

We need something like Britain has where there is an annual evaluation of every doctor working there in the health care system, and if their performance is poor, or there are too many complaints against them, they lose their license, unlike here in Canada where they are well protected and it is next to impossible to sue them.

That's why I am living in never-ending pain for the past ten years because of my failed hip surgeries and low back workplace injuries, and am forced to use a cane or often a mobility walker to be able to walk while doing lots of community work, rescuing abandoned animals and all the expenses come out of my own pocket.

We also need stronger animal protection laws that would punish the animal abusers who are abusing animals and punish irresponsible pet owners who abandon their pets causing them to end up on street and multiplying if they are not spayed neutered! Some of these animal-related issues are related to municipal by-law jurisdiction but some of them do relate to federal government jurisdiction when it comes to animal cruelty or neglect!

When it comes to the immigration issue, I do believe that there is nothing wrong to help the real refuges that are escaping horrors of war in the Middle East or elsewhere, but I do find it very wrong for Canada to allow or ignore illegal immigrants [ that have nothing to do with escaping horrors of war ] to stay in Canada, especially if they are, or were members, of terrorist organizations like ISIS!

I also feel that it was very inappropriate for the Liberals to give ten million Dollars to that terrorist of Omar Khadr for his " discomfort or suffering " while being detained in US jail after he has also killed one of the US army officers! That was a very stupid thing to do on behalf of the Liberal Government! Also, everyone that went abroad to join ISIS should not be allowed back to Canada, regardless they were born here or not! Let their captures deal with them! When I was in the army anti-terrorist unit, overseas in my old country, our unit commander was telling us that the best terrorist is a dead terrorist, but as far I am concerned the best terrorist is the one that is kept out of Canada or incarnated for life if he happens to be in Canada or born in Canada!

I got my own unfinished business with some Nazi terrorists that had ties to foreign secret service UDBA whose former Chief is now in jail for life overseas thanks to my contribution, but there are some more of them to be rounded up and locked up, including my former co-worker, now an army general and a war criminal who used to work with me in the same workplace at 610 Dupont st in Toronto where I all of a sudden have been targeted with the hostile working environment after I became a threat to UDBA's agents and its Nazi terrorist collaborators and one of this Nazi Terrorist spouse was a medical scientist and a member of Liberal Party of Canada at Etobicoke - Lakeshore political riding, while her husband was the head of one of the Nazi organization for North America!

This terrorist law-breaking and terrorist activities on Canadian soil were covered up by none other but the Liberal government and the Canadian Security Apparatus while framing innocent people for it! Some of these damn terrorists were illegally in Canada [ also had ties to members of my local union ], so the former high ranking RCMP officer Ben Soave was, with my permission. trying to use my personal case to persuade the Federal Government how illegal immigration can be a pipeline for terrorism [ he was also in the media about the same issue ] but the ignorant government of that time did not want to listen to his common-sense advice, that's why we need a political party that will put the safety and security of its citizens first, before anything else, not the safety of the damn terrorists as Liberals are doing or the safety of the crooked big corporations as Liberals and Conservatives are doing!

Canada is also a country where lots of big supermarkets expired or unsold food products are being wasted and thrown in the garbage, while there is a federal law in France that forbids the big supermarkets or another food store to throw the same food in the garbage, they must give it to charity instead, and now Italy also has the same law! Too much food is being wasted in Canada and too many homeless people are dying from hunger on the streets! We need that law that France and Italy have here in Canada as well! I was in contact with Loblaw president Sarah Davis's office for that reason but I was told that they are worried about the liability if they give that unsold food to charity or to certified feral cats volunteers as I am, but when I spoke to Federal Food Inspection Agency to one of its inspector named Nina, she told me that Loblaw office people are full of crap when making liability excuses and that food can still be good for human or animal consumption! She told me that they are being just too damn selfish and cared about no one else but themselves!

What is very interesting is that the owner of the Loblaw food chain supermarkets Galen Weston was also the owner of that 610 Dupont St workplace where I became a target of the hostile working environment orchestrated by the foreign secret service UDBA through the Nazi elements that were working at that place!

Galen Weston is one of the richest men in Canada, owner of the corporations that pays very little or no taxes and he is the one, besides that Ontario Premier Doug Ford, that is strongly against the minimum wage increase, saying that the minimum wage increase would be bad for his business!

What we here in Canada need is a political party that will be bad for all kinds of crooks, and good for its hard-working Canadian people, and that party is;
People's Party of Canada! I hope that this party PPC wins the next federal election and I also hope that one will be formed on the Provincial level as for example - The people's party Of Ontario!

Thanks a vast for sharing these essential prospects with us and huge gratitude for that. The topic that you've stated is undoubtedly filled with significance and we really can't deny that fact.

Anyways, lastly just wanted to tell you that finding a broker might sound hard, and trust me it really is quite hard but if you look properly you'll find some of the best options out there which obviously includes Litefinance since they are providing an ultra-wide range of trading accessories.

Have a great day!

News
February marks month three of the crypto market downturn that began November 10, 2021. February saw the intensification of considerable macro headwinds, culminating in geopolitical conflict. What once could’ve been considered a respite before bulls charged higher is now much less likely. All markets, crypto and traditional alike, have experienced increased volatility. Unlike last month, where NFTs and metaverse plays outperformed the broader crypto markets, this month NFTs and the metaverse began to succumb too.

Here’s a recap of some of the biggest stories in February:

Volatility increases
Crypto social media is more dominated by the mention of bears, bear images, and bear memes — and with good reason. The increased volatility lends credence to the claim that we are in a bear market. February opened with a rally from below 37k on February 3, with Bitcoin up nearly 5% and ETH up 8% in a day. From the February low, Bitcoin would rally more than 25% to a monthly high on February 10. Bitcoin, Ethereum and the crypto markets reacted to U.S. inflation data that would eventually mark the monthly high. By the final days of the month, Bitcoin and Ethereum had roundtripped the entire move up. On news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, markets across the world sold off and bought back.
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Russia invades Ukraine
On February 24 Russian president Vladimir Putin made a speech announcing a “special operation.” This was followed by missile attacks and Russian ground forces invading Ukraine. Traditional and crypto markets responded with significant drawdowns. It also sparked discussion of the current geopolitical risk and its future effects on the crypto economy. For example, the Ukraine Central Bank limited cash withdrawals amid the assault, which might be the cause of Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum trading for premiums within Ukraine. The West leveled sanctions against Russia, but sanctions might not affect Russia’s access to crypto. If Russia is able to use crypto to evade sanctions, this might cause regulatory risk for crypto and centralized exchanges specifically. Finally, donations via crypto poured into Ukraine to help the Ukrainian military fight Russia, and the Ukrainian government.
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Flight to stablecoins continues
As would be expected in volatile times, stablecoins continue to increase market share, with USDC’s market cap crossing $50 billion in the opening days of the month. While USDC continues to be the standout stablecoin in terms of rate of growth, by the end of the month, the entire stablecoin economy had grown close to 10% in 54 days. If there weren’t enough stablecoins already, another company is eyeing the lucrative stablecoin market. Silvergate Capital purchased Diem operations to develop its own stablecoin. Finally, Luna Foundation guard raised $1 billion from a who’s who of crypto investment firms to safeguard the UST dollar peg.
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Canadian catastrophe
Canadian political turmoil became relevant to crypto. Gofundme shutdown fundraising efforts, which then turned to crypto. Fundraisers raised $542k in Bitcoin within three days, and completed its goal of 21.75133856 BTC worth $932K just one day later. On Feb 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. The scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules were broadened to cover crowdfunding platforms and “all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.” Canada’s national police sent letters to cryptocurrency exchanges asking them to freeze at least 34 crypto addresses. Canada’s actions sparked a flurry of activity within the crypto community, including highlighting the importance of non-custodial financial alternatives resistant to this kind of government overreach. While some Canadian lawmakers are trying to encourage crypto sector growth, Trudeau’s actions have arguably done more to promote crypto and sway crypto skeptics.
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Taxes and crypto
As crypto adoption continues to increase, more governments are abandoning strident anti-crypto rhetoric and adopting pragmatic policy positions. Perhaps the clearest indication of a government’s softening to crypto is the adoption of a crypto specific tax regime. The US state of Colorado has decided to accept cryptocurrency for tax payments. India proposed a 30% tax on crypto income, while Thailand is making its tax rules more friendly to cryptocurrency investors. Many South American countries this month made moves towards tax reform. Colombian tax authorities tightened control over cryptocurrency usage. The Venezuelan Government approved a new tax that would affect transactions made in cryptocurrency transactions, collecting up to 20% over transactions made in currencies different from the national fiat currency or the Petro. The Argentine Tax Authority will be able to confiscate digital wallets to collect tax debts. Finally, the Puerto Rican treasury department is looking to tax NFT sales.
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Governments love CBDCs
It seems most countries are now in the process of developing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Countries are in varying stages of development, from deployed to planning. Let’s start with the most developed and work backwards from there. China used the Winter Olympics to showcase their CDBC, with usage of 2 million digital yuan per day. China is also a prime example of banning crypto, but cultivating a CDBC. The IMF agrees. The Bank of Russia reported its first successful CDBC transfer between users. India announced the upcoming launch of their CDBC, the digital rupee, and Jamaica will release the digital Jamaican dollar in 2022. The US Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT released their CDBC research and open-source code. Meanwhile, a slew of countries are in the research phase: Jordan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Zambia.
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Big hacks
In crypto there seems to be a background level of hacks always happening. February was no different, but it also had two very prominent hacks. First, Solana bridge, Wormhole, was exploited for over $320 million in Ethereum. Within hours of the hack, Jump Crypto replaced the $320 million in Ethereum, ensuring the Solana ecosystem did not suffer a cascade of liquidations. In a foreshadow of what was about to happen, Bitcoin.com News reported that $3.6 billion in Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack consolidated into a single address. Seven days after that was reported, the US seized 94,636 bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, and arrested two people. Check out this in-depth look at the couple arrested. The FBI also announced that it was launching a “virtual asset exploitation unit.”
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Crypto wallets
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergency Act highlighted the pivotal role crypto wallets play in the crypto industry. There was plenty of crypto wallet related news this month. The team behind Phantom, prominent Solana-based web3 wallet, raised $109 million in a Series B Fundraise, putting its post valuation at $1.2 billion. Ethereum web3 wallet Rainbow raised $18 million from Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six. Crypto asset manager Wisdomtree revealed it’s digital wallet, while Consensys acquired Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet.
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NFTs cool off
It seems the broader crypto markets have finally caught up with the NFTs. By mid February, NFT sales had nosedived as volume dropped around 30%. The NFT market might be cooling off, but adoption of NFTs continues to increase. Famous U.S. music festival, Coachella, partnered with FTX US to issue Solana-based NFTs. Famous Japan-based game publisher, Konami, reiterated its intent to sell NFTs. Iconic music and cultural magazine, Rolling Stone, partnered with Coinbase for a collaborative NFT collection. Perhaps the most famous venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, is reported to be seeking investment in Bored Ape Yacht Club. Finally, Superbowl attendees got commemorative NFT tickets.
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https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/03/...-back-to-nato/

When the Bush Administration announced in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would be eligible for NATO membership, I knew it was a terrible idea. Nearly two decades after the end of both the Warsaw Pact and the Cold War, expanding NATO made no sense. NATO itself made no sense.

Explaining my “no” vote on a bill to endorse the expansion, I said at the time:
NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of its Warsaw Pact adversary… This current round of NATO expansion is a political reward to governments in Georgia and Ukraine that came to power as a result of US-supported revolutions, the so-called Orange Revolution and Rose Revolution.

Providing US military guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia can only further strain our military. This NATO expansion may well involve the US military in conflicts unrelated to our national interest…

Unfortunately, as we have seen this past week, my fears have come true. One does not need to approve of Russia’s military actions to analyze its stated motivation: NATO membership for Ukraine was a red line it was not willing to see crossed. As we find ourselves at risk of a terrible escalation, we should remind ourselves that it didn’t have to happen this way. There was no advantage to the United States to expand and threaten to expand NATO to Russia’s doorstep. There is no way to argue that we are any safer for it.

NATO itself was a huge mistake.

When in 1949 the US Senate initially voted on the NATO treaty, Sen. Roberg Taft – known as “Mr. Republican” – gave an excellent speech on why he voted against creating NATO.

Explaining his “no” vote, Taft said:
… the treaty is a part of a much larger program by which we arm all these nations against Russia… A joint military program has already been made… It thus becomes an offensive and defensive military alliance against Russia. I believe our foreign policy should be aimed primarily at security and peace, and I believe such an alliance is more likely to produce war than peace.
https://lrc-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/ass...-3-221x300.pngTaft continued:
If we undertake to arm all the nations around Russia…and Russia sees itself ringed about gradually by so-called defensive arms from Norway and Denmark to Turkey and Greece, it may form a different opinion.

It may decide that the arming of western Europe, regardless of its present purpose, looks to an attack upon Russia. Its view may be unreasonable, and I think it is. But from the Russian standpoint, it may not seem unreasonable. They may well decide that if war is the certain result, that war might better occur now rather than after the arming of Europe is completed…

How right he was.
NATO went off the rails long before 2008, however. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, and by the start of the Korean War just over a year later, NATO was very much involved in the military operation of the war in Asia, not Europe!

NATO’s purpose was stated to “guarantee the safety and freedom of its members by political and military means.” It is a job not well done!

I believe as strongly today as I did back in my 2008 House Floor speech that, “NATO should be disbanded, not expanded.” In the meantime, expansion should be off the table. The risks do not outweigh the benefits!

The Best of Ron Paul, MD

Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of Congress and Distinguished Counselor to the Mises Institute.

Copyright 2022 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

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https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/he...t-ponzi-scheme

Here's Why Our Monetary System Is A Giant Ponzi Scheme
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BY TYLER DURDEN

TUESDAY, MAR 01, 2022 - 06:30 AM

Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com,

Ponzi schemes keep going until the perpetrator is stopped from the outside. They never stop by of their own volition. Bernie Madoff kept going until it all blew up.

https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-pu...?itok=KEN-LuZO


The granddaddy of Ponzi — far greater than anything we’ve seen before — is our monetary system.

Here's Why Our Monetary System Is A Giant Ponzi Scheme
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b.../picture-5.jpg
BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, MAR 01, 2022 - 06:30 AM

Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com,

Ponzi schemes keep going until the perpetrator is stopped from the outside. They never stop by of their own volition. Bernie Madoff kept going until it all blew up.

In the year 2000, the Nasdaq composite exceeded a P/E of 200 before collapsing 78% by October 2002. The more successful a Ponzi the more egregious the bubble and resultant pain. The granddaddy of Ponzi — far greater than anything we’ve seen before — is our monetary system.

Let’s consider what money is. It is a technology that allows us to produce and consume not just in the present but across time.
It is, for this reason, that it needs to provide both a medium of exchange as well as a store of value. If for example, a transaction needs to be made over a crop cycle then the value of the money needs to remain sufficiently stable over that time frame to allow the participants to make an exchange and not come out underwater. This benefits neither party to the transaction because, while in the short term party A may get an excellent deal from party B, if the deal is so “excellent” as to bankrupt party B, then no future commerce will be done and overall production declines causing less supply and a fall in the overall standard of living.



It is, for this reason, that it needs to provide both a medium of exchange as well as a store of value. If for example, a transaction needs to be made over a crop cycle then the value of the money needs to remain sufficiently stable over that time frame to allow the participants to make an exchange and not come out underwater. This benefits neither party to the transaction because, while in the short term party A may get an excellent deal from party B, if the deal is so “excellent” as to bankrupt party B, then no future commerce will be done and overall production declines causing less supply and a fall in the overall standard of living.

The money needs to be useful to both parties. In prisons they use cigarettes. Even if you don’t smoke enough inmates do and the cigarettes don’t change (consistency) and so they form money.

Of course, over time we’ve used all sorts of things used as money: gold, silver, copper, even slaves. At primary school, I used to use marbles and Garbage Pail Kids (ah, those were the days).
https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-pu...?itok=TBRyN5jm
To be used, money needs to be trusted and to be trusted it needs to have integrity.

But when you involve the government in money inevitably it gets corrupted.
We’ve countless examples, but back in 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which meant that the crown couldn’t tax what the people hadn’t approved. That principle was the foundation of democracy.

Years later King Henry VIII figured out that by clipping the coins he could melt down the clipped portions, melt them into coinage and spend the money. In other words, he inflated the money supply. He was a wily bastard and later figured he could take a copper coin and coat it in silver.

Initially, people thought they were getting a pound sterling, but as it turned out — because the old fart had his face emblazoned onto the coin — with his nose sticking out, it was his nose that gave him away. The silver coating specifically on his protruding nose scraped off when it rubbed in peasants’ pockets. This let the copper show through and made his face look like he had a red nose. And so peasants, whenever they looked at the coin with his red nose staring at them, knew immediately that he’s stolen from them.

Trust vanished.
We’re no longer in the 1200s but that only means the ruling class has gotten better.

This time around, after they’re done with their economic killing spree (aka lockdowns) and rampant monetary inflation, the resulting stagflation will have the same effect amongst the peasants as it did in good ol’ copper noses time. Loss of faith.

This Ponzi too will blow up, and the catalyst will be a faltering of trust because that’s all that’s left holding this together.

It will be individuals that stop it. They’ll stop it by refusing to use the currency.


* * *

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