The Broker – Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Schedule Meeting in Turkey Next Month


Posted originally on the CTH on January 29, 2024 | Sundance

While Turkey is a NATO ally, Recep Erdogan strategically refused to participate in the process to ostracize Russia.  True to Erdogan’s strategic political interests of being an influence broker, Turkey is the only NATO country that does not participate in the sanctions regime against Russia.  Next month Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Turkey for diplomatic discussions.

Turkey represents the literal gateway for most Western travel into and out of Russia.  However, first things first.  Despite the position of Turkey, notice how Hungary receives all the EU admonitions for not supporting the Ukraine side of the conflict, while NATO/EU never criticize Turkey who never even joined the EU/Western sanctions regime.  Inside that hypocritical contrast there is a revealing story.

Turkey established themselves as the neutral entity for future brokering negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.  Turkey has multiple geopolitical ties to Russia, including the purchase of Russian military equipment.  Apparently, despite the severity of the original sanction demand, Western interests -specifically the U.S. government- had no issue with Turkey proactively taking their ‘neutral’ position.  Always remember this.

Given all of the domestic headlines in the USA, there is a very good reason for Americans to keep paying attention to all things that happen in the orbit of Russia right now. Many people ponder the issue of a dollar-based central bank digital currency; however, only a few people have paid attention to the self-fulfilling prophecy of the CBDC that was created by the Russian sanctions regime.

Those who ask about the possibility/probability of a dollar-based CBDC, and the possibility of the timeframe therein, should always be referenced back to the Western financial sanctions against Russia.  It was that triggering point that put the USA and Western alliance on the irreversible path to the U.S CBDC, and the process is no longer a matter of “if” because the determining issue is no longer (primarily) in U.S. control.

The de-dollarization of half the trade globe, the general cleaving of finance that followed the Russian sanctions (see the efforts of BRICS+), has essentially created a system where major economic nations are trading between themselves in non-dollar-based exchanges.  India trades with Russia in Rupes to Rubles. China trades with Russia on old fashioned ledgers of value (due to proximity somewhat of a quasi-bartering system); Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa and a host of non-Western nations are all in various stages of direct trade in national currency outside the dollar zone.

At the core of the issue behind the question of a U.S. or dollar-based Central Bank Digital Currency, you will find this global financial cleaving.   Intra-Western trade (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the EU) is still done in dollars, and trade done into the Western system is still done in dollars.  Ex. if China wants to trade into the USA, they must complete transactions in dollars. However, trade from grey zone to grey zone nation is no longer contingent upon dollars.

Very few people are talking about these new financial trade alternatives. Yet ultimately, this cleaving is likely what will result in a dollar-based U.S CBDC.   Remember, the need for alternative trade currencies was triggered in time by the immediacy of the sanctions against Russia.  I do not believe the Western financial alliance thought the Russian allies could assemble the alternative so quickly.

If the DoS and CIA truly believed the sanctions would cripple Russia, it’s then likely our institutions vastly underestimated the prior diplomatic talks that preceded those sanctions.  As a big picture consequence, no geopolitical issue is as connected to your kitchen table as anything that connects with Russia.  So, pay close attention to how Russia is engaged by the rest of the non-Western world (grey zone), and you will get a good idea about the speed and timing of a pending U.S. CBDC.

As soon as the grey zone trade is predicted to take place in non-dollar terms, the U.S CBDC will be fast-tracked.  The only way for President Donald Trump to stop the CBDC process would be to immediately end the Russia-Ukraine conflict and subsequently remove the sanctions. [And that might not even work.]  As long as there are financial trade blocks based on dollars and who we like, there will be an easy justification for the financial cleaving to continue.

RUSSIA – Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey next month in a rare foreign trip to a NATO nation, according to a Kremlin announcement on Monday.

Yuri Ushakov, a top adviser to Putin on foreign policy matters, told the Interfax news outlet that “a visit is being prepared.” As to the purpose of the visit, Ushakov added: “I can say that Ukrainian issues will probably be one of the main subjects of negotiations.”

Though a key NATO nation, Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, serve as a rare diplomatic bridge between the Kremlin and its Western rivals. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ankara has supported Ukraine with military supplies while refusing to join Western sanctions on Moscow.

Turkey has positioned itself as a mediator between the two nations, hosting two rounds of peace talks in Antalya and Istanbul in 2022. Turkey was also key to the Black Sea Grain Initiative that temporarily facilitated the export of agricultural products from southern Ukrainian ports amid Russia’s naval blockade.

Following a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the beginning of this month, Erdoğan said Ankara remains ready to help “establish lasting peace, stability and prosperity in our region.”

“We have previously acted as a host country for direct talks between the parties to the conflict,” the president said. “We are, as before, ready to do our best in this matter and act as a mediator….Ukraine in order to take joint steps with Russia certainly needs to soften its position.”

Putin last visited a NATO nation in 2020 when he traveled to Germany to meet with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. His Western travel options have been limited by his war on Ukraine and the arrest warrant issued for him in 2023 by the International Criminal Court over alleged related crimes. (read more)

I really do not like Turkish President Recep Erdogan.  His political policy is full of dangerous self-interest (Muslim Brotherhood) and thirst for power (recreation of the Ottoman empire).  However, on the issue of ending this Russia-Ukraine conflict, I will admit Erdogan has positioned himself very well.

If Trump wins in November, Erdogan will play a major role in the end of hostilities.

You might even say Erdogan holds the key to eliminating the self-fulfilling prophecy of a US CBDC that Obama/Biden created.

Chicago Considers City-Run Grocers


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Sep 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Crime in Chicago has sent businesses fleeing. Four Walmart grocers recently closed, creating what many would call a food desert. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson absolutely refuses to address the real problem. Johnson and the Economic Security Project are now considering city-run grocery stores that will burden law-abiding taxpayers who will need to subsidize these grocers.

No one working in the Chicago city government knows how to manage money. Their heads are so far up their asses that they cannot see the real problem – light on crime policies and a culture that romanticizes crime. This is another opportunity for local government to get guaranteed income from taxpayers even if the stores operate at a loss. And they will operate at a loss since theft is practically legal. The globalists will have an easier time turning Chicago into a 15-minute city since the city government will already have control over the food supply.

The Chicago Police Department states crime spiked 25% in the past year, with theft rising 11%. These are simply the people they caught since it is common practice for criminals to run into stores, grab everything they can hold, and simply leave. Security is not permitted to chase after the criminals and there is no penalty depending on the value of the goods stolen. Both customers and employees have been hurt or killed by these criminals who have no regard for human life. A spokesperson for Walmart told the NY Post that their stores in Chicago have not been profitable for 17 years. No businesses will want to continue operating in Chicago at this rate. Will the city government take over every area too?

Let the people start a co-op and work together to create a community. No one is holding their neighbors responsible and the good people are the ones who suffer. The remaining businesses and smart money will leave the city if crime and taxes continue to rise. There must be actual penalties for theft to deter criminals, or the city will continue to deteriorate. Make crime illegal again.

The Massive Online Frauds Are Pouring In From Many Companies


Armstrong Economics Blog/Opinion Re-Posted Aug 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The number of frauds coming in is endless. One is claiming to be the Post Office, and you must log in and pay $5 to get your package. The GEEK Squad is a popular one. I even get them from pretending to be FedEx and CVS. They typically say your card will be charged like $500 for some service.

Look at the email. When it is not coming from the company, and you see an individual name, it is FRAUD. They want you to click on something to enter your credit card or bank information so they can quickly relieve you of the burden of having money.

DO NOT respond to anything that is not from the actual company. This is widespread, and they are making a lot of money, especially for the elderly. And they want to go fully digital? You can report them to:

ReportFraud.FTC.GOV

THE TERRIFYING POWER OF PRISON GANGS: Inside Look at Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood, Nazi Low Riders, And My Work as a Prosecutor in Diane Whipple Dog-Mauling Case | Ep. 43


Kimberly Guilfoyle Posted originally on Rumble on on: Jul 27, 4:00 pm EDT

Elon Musk States “Government Agencies Had Full Access to Everything That Was Going on in Twitter”, Including DM’s


Posted originally on the CTH on April 16, 2023 | Sundance 

Tucker Carlson has interviewed Twitter CEO Elon Musk and will broadcast the interview on Monday at 8:00pm ET.

If Carlson had the accurate and full context of the background situation, he would be able to ask the right questions. It appears Mr. Carlson does have the key issues well understood.  This should be a good interview.

In this preview segment {Direct Rumble Link Here}, Musk admits his mind was blown when he discovered the extent of the full government access to everything that was happening on Twitter.  He essentially confirms two key elements.  First, our long-held framework of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, is accurate.  Second, Musk had no idea when he bought it.

There has been an ongoing debate about whether Elon Musk was aware of the U.S. government and intelligence community control over Twitter prior to the purchase; with many people saying there is no way that Musk could not know given the scale of the money involved, $42 billion and the due diligence that generally follows such transactions.

However, in this interview Musk states he had no idea how much operational control and influence the government and intelligence apparatus held over the platform prior to the purchase.

Readers here are so far ahead of the curve on this story, it’s kind of cool, funny, and yet frustrating at the same time.  Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop is all a wild conspiracy theory born from the oddly wired brain of some dude in the corner of the internet; until suddenly it’s not.

Factually, it has been visible since the U.S. Government operation began in 2011/2012, yet no one was willing to believe it.  For several years, CTH has been outlining the relationship between DHS and social media, specifically Twitter.  However, as I said from the outset of this new awakening moment, I promise you things are not what they seem.

As noted earlier, and it is worth repeating, let me put some context to the dynamic that will hopefully clarify the issue and perhaps the context will help explain what we are seeing and not seeing as this unfolds.  There are going to be a lot of citations to fill in the details, and understanding the modern Fourth Branch of Government is critical.

♦ Elevator Speech: Twitter was/is to the U.S. government as TikTok is to China. The overarching dynamic is the need to control public perceptions and opinions. DHS has been in ever increasing control of Twitter since the public-private partnership was formed in 2011/2012.  Jack Dorsey lost control and became owner emeritus. As he now admits, Elon Musk had no idea.

To explain the background activity of Twitter in a way that readers could understand, I used the metaphor of Twitter as Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop.

…”The metaphorical Jack had a great idea, open a coffee shop where the beverages were free and use internal advertising as the income subsidy to operate the business.  Crowds came for the free coffee, comfy couches, fellowship, conversation and enjoyment.

It didn’t matter where Jack got the coffee, how he paid for it, or didn’t, or what product advertising the customers would be exposed to while there.  Few people thought about such things.  Curiously, it didn’t matter what size the crowd was; in the backroom of Jack’s Coffee Shop they were able to generate massive amounts of never-ending free coffee at extreme scales.

Over time, using the justification of parking lot capacity and township regulations, not everyone would be able to park and enter.  Guards were placed at the entrance to pre-screen customers.  Some were denied.  A debate began.”…

Here’s what happened….

In/around 2011 and 2012 the U.S. Government, Obama administration and the U.S. State Dept., came into Jack’s Coffee Shop and asked him for help.

The govt officials needed to deliver massive amounts of coffee to their allies in Egypt, Libya and the middle east to support the Arab Spring party.  Jack told the officials he was willing to help but didn’t have the capacity to deliver on that scale.  The officials told Jack not to worry, they would handle that aspect – he just needed to agree to the partnership and let them utilize his business.  Jack agreed.

[Note, the timing here is not accidental.  The operational agreement happened at the same time DHS was fine tuning the domestic surveillance systems to monitor social media platforms and target political opposition. See The Fourth Branch.]

Over the next several weeks, months and eventually years, Jack watched as hundreds of new employees flooded into the business to facilitate the rapid expansion.  Along with a myriad of new faces, new equipment was delivered, and soon Jack found himself looking at heavy industrial equipment erecting large buildings in the back lots of the property.  Coffee urns were replaced with massive industrial coffee delivery systems that far exceeded anything Jack ever imagined.

Business was booming, but slowly Jack realized he had lost control.  Jack was riding a dragon.

As the years progressed, thousands of new employees moved into the offices of the new buildings and massive pipelines were producing incredible scales of coffee.  Jack noted offices of the United Nations Human Rights Commission were now creating unique blends of coffee for international distribution, and the European Commission had an entire suite of specially trained coffee production engineers creating alternate combinations and flavors.

By 2018, Jack had essentially become an “owner emeritus”; his name was on the shingle, but the day-to-day operation of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop had turned into an industrial park complex.

Jack saw his personal wealth attached to the success of the business, but operationally, his only responsibility was traveling to symposiums and venues where he would stand on stage and wax philosophically about the future of a coffee delivery organization he no longer controlled.  Day-to-day operations were now controlled by experts in the scale of massive industrial coffee.  Those experts came from the Dept of Homeland Security.

[The Intercept] – […] Behind closed doors, and through pressure on private platforms, the U.S. government has used its power to try to shape online discourse. According to meeting minutes and other records appended to a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican who is also running for Senate, discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.

“Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’t. It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain,” Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former DHS official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February.

In a March meeting, Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official, warned that the threat of subversive information on social media could undermine support for the U.S. government. Dehmlow, according to notes of the discussion attended by senior executives from Twitter and JPMorgan Chase, stressed that “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.” (read more)

To streamline the operational efficiencies as the industrial coffee system grew, direct portals between the Washington DC government offices and Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop were created.  Officials no longer needed to travel to the location of Jack’s Coffee Shop in order to operate the valves, mixers, grinders and systems to generate the scale of blends being produced.

Experts could now use direct portals to the facility to operate the coffee production systems remotely, with a limited number of specially trained (FBI) coffee engineers doing the laborious tasks and maintenance at the facility.

The badges were intimidating to Jack who went to sleep every night under the realization he no longer had any clue about how the coffee shop communication business was operating.

[…]  The extent to which the DHS initiatives affect Americans’ daily social feeds is unclear. During the 2020 election, the government flagged numerous posts as suspicious, many of which were then taken down, documents cited in the Missouri attorney general’s lawsuit disclosed. And a 2021 report by the Election Integrity Partnership at Stanford University found that of nearly 4,800 flagged items, technology platforms took action on 35 percent — either removing, labeling, or soft-blocking speech, meaning the users were only able to view content after bypassing a warning screen. The research was done “in consultation with CISA,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Prior to the 2020 election, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media met on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA, and other government representatives. According to NBC News, the meetings were part of an initiative, still ongoing, between the private sector and government to discuss how firms would handle misinformation during the election. (keep reading)

After several years of increasing distance from the Coffee Shop operation he initially started, eventually Jack decided it was silly to own an industrial coffee delivery system that he didn’t control.  So, Jack decided to sell his shingle to someone else.

Enter, Elon Musk.

Billionaire Elon Musk, a man intimately familiar with large industrial systems and government, had been watching the disgruntled visitors to Jack’s Coffee Shop who were no longer permitted to enter.  Musk saw an inequity between the amount of coffee that was available, and the scarcity of the coffee amid a community blacklisted by the operational executives and managers of the shop.

With expressions of both interest and fellowship, Mr. Elon Musk told Mr. Jack Dorsey he would take ownership of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop and remove any discriminatory guards that were now controlling permitted entry.  Jack had no aversion to Elon and eventually a deal was brokered.

After the transfer of sale was complete, Mr. Musk fired many of the guards and then set about checking the payroll to identify which group of shop employees were actually involved in the generation of coffee, and which employees were involved in promotion of the industrial coffee delivery system that were no longer needed.

Within this process, Elon Musk begins to discover the complex nature of what, at least at the surface, appeared to be an uncomplicated coffee shop.  Why is there a 500-room glass walled office building on the backside of the coffee shop?  What is going on in that GEC building that has anything to do with selling domestic coffee?

The sunlight revelations began surfacing several months ago, when someone of reasonably intelligent curiosity finally asked Elon Musk the right question about this direct portal from DHS into the coffee shop.  Twitter owner Elon Musk had no idea a DHS portal into the coffee shop existed and what it would be for.

To put it in brutally honest terms, the State Dept initially created the partnership between the U.S. government and Twitter (Arab Spring).  However, when the operations needed to become domestically centered (post Trump election), another agency stepped in.  The United States Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) is the operating system running in the background of Twitter.

The State Dept started it with GEC, but ultimately DHS, via CISA, controlled Twitter.  The justification for control was ‘national security.’  Mr. Elon Musk is now the face of a quasi govt controlled enterprise.   This is why what we see being released by Elon Musk in the Twitter Files is actually a filtered outcome as a result of this new ownership dynamic.

Put simply, DHS stakeholders, to include the DOJ, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), are mitigating any consequential public exposure of their domestic surveillance activity by controlling and feeding Mr. Musk selected information about their prior Twitter operations.  DHS is still the ghost in the machine.

The larger objective of U.S. involvement in social media has always been monitoring and surveillance of the public conversation, and then ultimately controlling and influencing public opinion.

I will continue peeling these types of issues apart, applying sunlight as heavily as possible, because the mechanisms and the institutions themselves need to be destroyed.  They cannot be reformed because they have assembled too much power.  They need to be completely defunded and removed.

Support CTH Here ~

Resources:

Large Numbers of FBI Agents Work Inside Twitter 

Govt Structured Cloud Computing is Social Media operating System

Tech Platforms Connected to DHS Portals

Examples of Govt Influence of Social Media Content

[…] “Intelligence agencies backed new startups designed to monitor the vast flow of information across social networks to better understand emerging narratives and risks.” [HERE]

Understanding Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop

Leaked DHS Documents Showing Connections

Why Govt Fears Discovery of Relationship

Staffer for Senator Rand Paul Stabbed in DC During Daylight, 42-Year-Old Suspect Arrested Who Was Just Released from Prison


Posted originally on the CTH on March 27, 2023 | Sundance 

Earlier today Senator Rand Paul released a statement: “This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C. I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions. We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery.”

Fox5DC has details, including the attacker was a 42-year-old man named Glynn Neal.  Apparently, the attacker was just released from prison Friday night before he attacked the member of Rand Paul’s staff.

[…] Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Neal was released from prison on Friday – the day before the stabbing.   He spent nearly 12 Years behind bars for compelling two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution through the use of threats. (read more)

DC Police released a statement [SEE HERE]  “Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District announce an arrest has been made in reference to an Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife) offense that occurred on Saturday, March 25, 2023, in the 1300 block of H Street, Northeast.”

“At approximately 5:17 pm, members of the First District were dispatched to the listed location for the report of a stabbing. Upon arrival, members located an adult male stabbing victim. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries.

On Saturday, March 25, 2023, as a result of the detectives’ investigation, 42-year-old Glynn Neal, of Southeast, DC, was arrested and charged with Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife).” (LINK)