I’ve been called a Neocon, before the 2016 election, and denied it. I’m not sure Wikipedia has a correct definition, and they sure don’t have one of you. What is a good definition of a Neocon?
I enjoy your articles.
TP
ANSWER: I looked up the term and you are right. It seems to be misused and certainly not understood. Neocons are NOT “conservatives” from an economic viewpoint for they exist in both parties for I have been solicited and have had deep discussions about the view.
Bill Kristol is a chief Neocon but he was out to overthrow Trump. A true Neocon is not really concerned about the economics and free trade theories. They are ONLY concerned with foreign policy and want to see their enemies defeated at all costs. Bill Kristol hated Trump because he would not wage war. Economics is out the window. Marxism is OK just as long as you wage war he can watch on TV like a football game and cheer when the people he hates are dead.
So “my” definition of a Neocon has NOTHING to do with the economics, free markets, or anti-socialism. There are Neocons who only see war and hatred who are on BOTH sides and exist be they LEFT or RIGHT.
Putin has been in power for over 20 years. He has NOT sought to expand Russia to the old Soviet Union nor has he sought to reestablish Communism as the Neocons have alleged. This as been their propaganda to stir up hatred against Russia which is their Archenemy. When they are finished with Russia, they will turn against China. They do not believe in peace.
Leading Czech politicians are calling for all property within the Czech Republic of all Russians to be indefinitely ‘frozen’ in violation of international law. The onus would be on the victims to “prove” that they are against the Putin regime. There are about 40,000 Russians living in the Czech Republic, plus others who have property or businesses there.
The EU is increasing being viewed as an evil, lawless, government. However, the Eastern European EU members are now even worse than the Western ones. They seem to go further violating international law trying to prove to the West that they are good little obedient vassals. Fischer is violating every principle of what the EU was supposed to stand for – human rights. The Czech Republic has clearly begun a new cycle which began with the COVID Crash.
COMMENT: Dear Martin, I am a frequent follower of your blog. I read your article tonight “ Putin puts Bidens King check mate” Being an economist myself with 30 years of experience I completely agree with your proposals of a two tier Ruble. I would fine tune it even further by backing the international ruble up with oil/gas and the domestic with Gold as you said!
This would be a genius move in my opinion. Thank you for your work and keep up the very insightful Job you are doing! I personally appreciate it a lot- quite frankly I only read …. & You Everything else is pure “ Mass psychosis influenser propaganda” backing a Political agenda. Good luck in sending the right advise to Russia! Not because I lőve Russia being a Hungarian but because supplying Russia with Smart financial and economic advise will bring restoration of peace ASAP which is the interest of the whole world!
Kind Regards,
Viktor
REPLY: Thank you. That is a good idea for we are dealing with the catastrophic collapse of the monetary system of the world. I do not think this will end well. It is ironic, but I try to defeat my own computer. I have never won yet. In the words of Rodney King – Why can’t we just all get along?
COMMENT #1: Hi Mr. Armstrong, I hope you are doing well. Talking about Neocons, as a boy, 12 years old, I’ve survived the Yugoslavia bombing by NATO 1999 and Madeleine Albright was one of the biggest influencers to attack Yugoslavia where many civilians died. She died on the same date when they decided to attack Yugoslavia 23 years ago. I guess cycles are everywhere. Thanks for all that you do. Best regards, M
COMMENT #2: The US killed countless civilians in Yugoslavia. We will never for get that.
K
COMMENT #3: dear Marty, dear Team, thank you for your unique analyses which help me to understand how our world really functions. please help me to understand what NEOCONS are. thank you. Victor
V
REPLY: Madeleine Albright I met once and the feeling I got was one of a deep seated coldness. She, along with Hillary, were Neocons, which are NOT the Deep State which tends to be the agencies who are more focused on domestic power. The Neocons cannot sleep at night worrying about international enemies who must be defeated. Albright would conjure up hatred for a leader to justify attacking them with no regard for all the other people who die in such conflicts.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright introduced Hillary Clinton at an event in New Hampshire, telling the crowd and voters in general: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!” President Bill Clinton named Albright the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations shortly after he was inaugurated in 1993.
Albright was true to her convictions that were immovable and she never had a problem waging war. Some would say she was more ruthless than any man just so she could climb that latter of equality. I think that certainly applies to Hillary.
Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Mar 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Do you think Putin is a victim?
HJ
ANSWER: No, I think he has been played like a fiddle. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has come out and said:
“This is not about Ukraine at all, but the world order. The current crisis is a fateful, epoch-making moment in modern history. It reflects the battle over what the world order will look like.”
There is no black and white. BOTH sides have their Neocons who just always want war. Their lives are filled with hate. While the Neocons have control of the Biden Administration, make no mistake about it, the Neocons behind Putin want far more aggressiveness than what Putin has shown. They would nuke Kyiv in the blink of an eye as a warning to the West. Three high ranking people have all come out and threatened nuclear war. The #2 guy has praised Stalin’s Great Purge as necessary. Remove Putin, and you just may get someone far worse. Stalin could kill 10 million people in an afternoon and go celebrate with a fine dinner, caviar, and wine.
The Neocons know that getting you to hate Putin, they can use that to justify war. There is no justice in war. Even Wikipedia includes that Vietnamese never fired on us and Johnson remarked after lying to the nation that for all he knew, they were shooting at wales. That was a proxy war for they hated Communists. We lost over 50,000 boys for their games. Communism fell of its own inefficiencies – not because of Neocons who still hate China and Russia.
There was no Weapons of Mass Destruction to justify Iraq, nor did the Spanish blow up the Maine. Even Hearst told Fredrick Remington that if he supplied the photos, Hearst would create the war.
We have been plagued by people ON BOTH SIDES who are filled with hatred and just want to annihilate their opponent. I can scream all I want. I have tried to defeat my own computer and have been unable to do so even once.
If they have you hating Putin, that is their goal for they need that hatred to justify a Declaration of War which can only come from Congress. Once they get that, the missiles will fly. So be careful, they will appeal to your sense of justice that Putin should be punished, but that entails far more than they imagine. They NEVER think beyond that objective. They removed Saddam and created ISIS who he kept in check. They waged their war antics against Libya and Syria.They just always need to hate someone – that is what has consumed them.
The outrageous sanctions imposed by Biden on Russia has undermined the entire world economy. Sanctions have never worked and this time they were designed to try to hurt the Russian people so profoundly that they would overthrow Putin. The Ukrainians are even naming Alexander Bortnikov, the Russian Director of the Federal Security Service and a member of Putin’s inner circle, as a successor to the president. Bortnikov has come out and said that Stalin’s Great Purge was necessary whereas Putin rejected Lenin. Be careful what you wish for, as they say.
Stickers are showing up plastered all over gasoline pumps throughout the USA despite Biden trying to blame Putin for his the disruption to the world economy. The US had no national security issue at risk with either Crimea nor DonBass. The Neocons just hate Putin and have used Ukraine as a proxy war toy to get at Putin. Even in Poland the government is pushing for war. Europe desperately needs war for 8.6 years of NEGATIVE interest rates has wiped out pension funds. NY banks will no longer lend against European sovereign debt. They cannot fund the governments any longer and the central bank cannot buy their debt endlessly. The only solution that they see is to default under the pretense of the Great Reset so they NEED war as the diversion with a new Bretton Woods.
But Biden’s sanctions have gone far beyond just energy. Nickel is a vital for it is the largest component in stainless steel production. Alloy steel is also called special steel. Nickel can increase the strength of the alloy and maintain its good plasticity and toughness. Then nickel is also used in the field of batteries, mainly nickel-hydrogen batteries, chromium-nickel batteries, and nickel-manganese batteries. Lastly, very fine nickel powder is often used as a catalyst in the chemical industry. Hence, nickel is vital and it goes beyond just the coins in your pocket which at these prices will be worth more in metal content soon enough.
Yet these sanctions that Biden swore would target only Russia, have disrupted the entire world and not just energy. Tsingshan Holding Group is a major producer of Nickel and it sold hedging position forward to secure its production. But prices doubled thanks to Biden and Tsingshan tried to buy back its hedging positions and that has set off a collapse of the Nickel market in London. Nickel was already breaking out thanks to COVID restrictions. Then the Biden Russian sanctions were insane and you can see the drastic price rally as Tsingshan tried to buy back its hedge.
Nickel prices began to soar after Biden’s sanction on Russia. The rally became a crisis for the LME as producers such as Tsingshan’s brokers desperately tried to buy those nickel contracts back causing a near 70% rise in a single session to stem losses and avoid escalating margin calls. The trading became erradic as brokers kept trying to cover short hedged positions. Hedge funds and other participants were frantically buying nickel, which only propelled the market even higher. Nickel prices had more than doubled reaching more than $100,000 a metric ton.
The LME was sent into crisis. Several smaller brokers were saying they would default at the 9 a.m. margin call if prices stayed at those levels. The LME was forced to suspend the market shortly after 8 a.m. local time or suffer a catastropiuc collapse of the exchange. The brokers could not meet the expected margin calls. Thus, the LME adopted the drastic step of canceling trades that took place before the suspension. They is said to have wiped out $3.9 billion in transactions. Of course, the hedge funds were furious for they were looking a huge unrealized profits. Because of the sudden price shock, the LME had no choice but to suspend trading in hopes that the brokers would collect the funds from their clients. However, the decision to wipe out trades that took place in a free market in good faith is really unprecedented and has shaken the confidence in free markets.
It may be true that the suspension and the canceled trades to settle the catastrophic damage to the free markets created by the Biden sanctions has prevented a near-term collapse of the LME. However, failing to do so may have brought down the entire exchange ending the market where producers can hedge forward.
Tsingshan still owes its brokers, which included JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and BNP as well as a unit of state-owned China Construction Bank Corp. The demand for cash to settle margin calls for a hedger who has sold future production presents a serious crisis. There are serious questions being raised if the price seen in this spike truly reflects the shortage in the supply or just an aberition created by a short-term panic.
Ironically, it was the great expanse of China’s economy which drove Nickel to $54200 a metric ton back in 2007. Nevertheless, where our computer has been bullish on Nickel and it elected even the third Quarterly Bullish Reversal at the end of the 3rd quarter 2021. There was no way the market was heading lower. Clearly, those in charge of hedging were calling the shots from an opinion perspective – not quantitative. For early 2021, Tsingshan began to accumulate a short position. It made statements on its website reflecting its view that the Nickel market was flush and prices should decline. Tsingshan’s short hedge position was equivalent to having sold about 190,000 metric tons on the LME. That would be worth $9.1 billion based on closing prices.
The forecasting view of Tsingshan regarding Nickel is just unfounded. Our model showed that we would start to see a rise in 2022 in price volatility but this is continuing into 2024. The price high may not arrive until 2023 and we may be looking at a new record. This is just another domino in the future of the world economy that just fell over. These Biden Sanctions are not going to be reversed and the pride of politicians is now threatening the entire world economy.
You have not made any comment about the LME Nickel market. In my opinion, this is onether chip of the domino falling which comes to confirm that the collapse of the West is in motion. The loss at Tsingshan is said to be about $8 billion. I have been called in to similar crisis where major corporations have lost billions due to improper hedging. This amount is staggering and clearly reflects that the firm has totally incompetent people in charge of hedging who may be listening to bankers and fundamentals rather than the markets.
One long-term Canadian client just wrote to me saying:
“Never thought that its was possible that Alberta would actually split from Canada but with this new coalition in place to 2025, it is now possible. Guaranty of Green mandate, free pharma, basic income and tax the banks … why no get the banks to reduce fees to help retail … really have to consider leaving now.”
The Liberal government and the NDP have reached an informal deal that will allow Trudeau to remain in power at least until 2025. The deal involves a pledge to act on dental care, pharmacare and other key issues advocated by New Democrats. This is what is wrong with a Parliamentary system that those in power can create deals to retain power that the people are never given the chance to vote on. Not that the American way is without fault. A Republic is up there in a race to the top of the list for the worst form of government ever. You vote for a Congressman, they get to Washington, and they are told how to vote on party lines. They NEVER actually represent the people who voted for them.
This picture is flying around because Both Singh and Trudeau are anointed by Klaus Schwab as Young Global Leaders. Perhaps Alberta and rural BC can join with center America, and East Canada can merge with California and we just redesign North America into the MARXIST utopia against the Land of the Freed & the Home of the Brave.
It is actually quite hard to see Canada remaining intact through this centralized focus of sacrificing domestic policy objectives for international ones set by Agenda 2030 coming from the World Economic Forum. The Biden Administration killed the Keystone Pipeline. The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline announced it was pulling the plug in June of 2021 on the controversial project after the Biden administration revoked its permit in January 2021 while Trudeau cheered. That was a very big deal for Alberta.
Cutting off pipelines was the first thing out the door for Biden. Make no mistake about it, Ukraine is being used for cannon fodder to ensure that the pipelines from Russia to Europe are also cut off. This is an agenda that is being carried out by Climate Change Zealots. Trudeau is clearly following Agenda 2030 and if anyone can divide Canada, it will be Trudeau.
QUESTION: Marty; You have been the first to warn of food shortages and to stockpile for the years ahead. With Russia and Ukraine accounting for 30% of global wheat, you have warned that we are looking a shortages into 2032. Does this mean the war will last for 10 years?
LC
ANSWER: No, the forecasts for shortages into 2024 are actually divided into two primary causes. There was a major crisis in crop failures in 1846-1847, which also provided the economic reasons for the 1848 Communist Revolutions throughout Europe when agriculture was 70% of the economy back then. This was followed by the next great drought which became known as the “Dust Bowl” during the years of 1935-1936. Note, this had nothing to do with CO2 and the Industrial Revolution. While the Dust Bowl was a 10 year struggle for farmers, it certainly varied from city to city. Generally 1935 to 1936 was the worse of it and by 1937 the trend began to reverse.
Our model warns that we may see another severe drought probably between 2025 to 2027 in both the US and Canada. The drought conditions are already beginning and this is in line with our model which warns it will expand into the 2025-2027 period.
Therefore, to answer your question more directly, it appears that we have a shortage first instigated by the outrageous stupidity of COVID management, and this is the accelerated by the War Cycles, and it will conclude with the weather cycle which will only add to the shortages post-2024.
Posted originally in the conservative tree house on March 22, 2022
The issue of men competing as transgender athletes in women’s sports has become absurd as the male competitors have been winning the competitions. Unfortunately, sports organizations like the NCAA have continued to diminish women’s athletics by allowing men to compete against women.
Today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the issue when he recognized Emma Weyant as the best female swimmer in the national 500-meter freestyle competition. Ms. Weyant had trained her entire life to be a competitive athlete and came in second to a male transgender competitor in the national championship. The entire issue is an exhibition in politically correct absurdity.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Everything else is pure “ Mass psychosis influenser propaganda” backing a Political agenda. Good luck in sending the right advise to Russia! Not because I lőve Russia being a Hungarian but because supplying Russia with Smart financial and economic advise will bring restoration of peace ASAP which is the interest of the whole world!
Centinel2012 