Category European Union (EU)

Mar 15 2022

Steve Harrigan Returns From Ukraine With a Somber Message About the Situation


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 14, 2022 | Sundance 

Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan returns from Ukraine with a somber message about the situation and likely future.   Harrigan notes that Russian victory in Ukraine is a foregone conclusion – Ukraine will be flattened if needed. However, that outcome comes at a serious cost.

The war inside Ukraine will wage on for years as an insurgency against Vladimir Putin.  The western alliance will spend trillions if needed.  NATO will kill as many Ukrainians and mercenary units as needed in order to battle Vladimir Putin in a proxy war.   The industrial war machine will gleefully churn out the material needed for the DC based political war machine to purchase.   First, WATCH:

Harrigan is correct, however, he missed the biggest tell-tale sign of all.  Where are the peacekeepers?  Where are the diplomatic voices, the ranks of the prudent and pragmatic political voices who focus on stopping the death?  Where are those voices?  Where is the faith-based voice asking for leaders to stop, breathe, meet and seek a solution without further war?

Those voices are silent because the western motive is to create a long-term insurgent war in Ukraine.  The geopolitical system views this as an existential battle against Russia.  Both sides in this conflict view this as a zero-sum contest.  The NATO alliance doesn’t view Volodymyr as a hero, he’s a tool.

If Zelenskyy were to walk toward a negotiated ceasefire, the bullet that kills him would come from the rear.  That’s how corrupt this conflict is.

ANNAPOLIS, MD – November 17:
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan holds a press conference to address COVID-19 concerns in Annapolis, MD on November 17.
(Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Mar 15 2022

The Republican Guard Prepares Offensive Weapons Against MAGA Influence – The Right Wing of the National UniParty Begins Assembling


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 14, 2022 | Sundance

With the Sea Island professionally Republican convention completed we now enter that time in Republican politics where the people who assembled for the gathering begin to seed the next election narrative.   The timing is not coincidental, yet few people pay attention, that’s where we come in.

The backstory on last week’s Sea Island meeting IS HERE.  We all know these people, though sometimes we can be distracted by their Machiavellian schemes and manipulations.  Exactly on cue, the Associated Press steps up to deliver the advanced revelations of the quiet discussion:

(VIA AP) –  Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.

More than two years before the next presidential election, a shadow primary is already beginning to take shape among at least three fierce Republican critics of former President Donald Trump to determine who is best positioned to occupy the anti-Trump lane in 2024.

Their apparent willingness to run — even if Trump does, as is widely expected — represents a shift from previous years when “Never Trump” operatives failed to recruit any GOP officeholders to challenge the incumbent president. But with the 2024 contest almost in view, the question is no longer whether one of Trump’s prominent Republican critics will run, but how many will mount a campaign and how soon they will announce.

Those close to Cheney, Hogan and Kinzinger expect one of them, if not more, to launch a presidential bid after the 2022 midterms. While all three are nationally known to some degree, their goal would not necessarily be to win the presidency. Above all, they want to hinder Trump’s return to the White House, at least compared with 2020, when his allies cleared the field of any Republican opponents and persuaded some states to cancel primary contests altogether.

“It’s there as an option, but it’s not necessarily because this is all some big plan so I can be in the White House,” Kinzinger told The Associated Press when asked about his timeline for deciding on a presidential run. “It’s looking and saying, ‘Is there going to be a voice out there that can represent from that megaphone the importance of defending this country and democracy and what America is about?’ There certainly, I’m sure within the next year or so, will be a point at which you have to make a decision.

“If it’s not me doing anything, certainly we’ll be all in for whoever can represent us,” Kinzinger said.  (read more)

Look, let’s cut through the bulls**t, because time is of the essence,and I have far too much respect for you to play the pretend game.  View that Associated Press article for the reality that it represents.

We all know the DC political system is fully aligned against We The People.  We are the threat to them.  The ordinary citizens of this great nation are the elements of society they must control in order to retain their illusions, power and influence.

There is only one overarching political party in Washington DC, and it is made up of two wings, Democrats and Republicans.  As voters enter the 2022 mid-term cycle, the aspect that matters to the DC UniParty is their ability to influence who we select as candidates for the November election.

Despite their earnest efforts, there is still a framework of a voting system that runs adverse to their interests.  To the extent that free thinking people can vote independently, the voting public will always be viewed as a threat.  Mitigating that threat is their primary objective right now.  THAT is the big takeaway from the Sea Island conference that just concluded.

The goal is always the same, protect the business operations in Washington DC at all costs.  With the 2022 election year upon us, and with the primary season starting soon, the GOPe wing of the UniParty must share and discuss their strategic defense initiatives.

People used to call this the “establishment” Republicans, but really, that’s too generic a word for what they do.  These are the deceptive elites – the lying, conniving, scheming bastards. They represent the vile pus at the bottom of a lanced boil from a rotting blue whale carcass that can stink an entire city.

They call themselves conservatives, hence “DeceptiCons” gets the specificity of their intent.

Engage deliberately.

Let’s roll…

Mar 14 2022

Gen. Keane: Biden Admin. Is Paralyzed By the Fear of Escalation


Posted originally on Rumble by Sean Hannity  Published March 14, 2022

Mar 14 2022

Trump Warned NATO of Europe’s Reliance on Russian Energy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy Re-Posted Mar 14, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Everyone criticized Trump for condemning his NATO allies in 2018. At the time, only five nations were meeting their 2% GDP spending requirement on NATO defense, with the US paying around 5%. Trump suggested that everyone contribute 4% to build a stronger alliance. He never wanted to back away from NATO to support Putin, rather, he wanted to back away from NATO because he felt the US had been taken advantage of by its European allies.

Trump called Ukraine the wall between Russia and Europe and stated that America had become the “sucker country” by shelling out millions to Ukraine when they received far less in return. He warned Europe that their reliance on Russian imported energy would spell disaster and went as far as declaring that Germany was “totally controlled by Russia.” Instead of looking for energy alternatives, Germany went through with the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and wasted billions as sanctions were implemented before the pipeline was fully functional.

Western world leaders failed us by using Russia as the easy solution for energy while simultaneously failing to have any diplomatic relationships with the country. The energy crisis was preventable.

Mar 14 2022

Sunday Talks, John Kirby Questioned About U.S. Military Presence at Lviv Military Center Bombed Earlier in Day


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 13, 2022

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby stated in this interview that “no U.S. service members were killed in the attack” that took place near the Ukraine-Poland border in the town of Lviv.   However, it is important to qualify that government “contractors” are often used in these Military training centers.

The military compound in Lviv, which is only 15 miles from the border with Poland, was being used as a military “training facility” for Ukrainian forces.  Knowing the U.S. and NATO were funneling weapons into Ukraine through this specific region, it stands to reason this “training facility” was targeted by Russia specifically because it was a weapons cache for arms flowing into Ukraine.

John Kirby appeared on ABC shortly after the compound targeting was public. WATCH:

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(WaPo) […] On Sunday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement that was at odds with the Ukrainian account and threatened more such attacks. “At these facilities, the Kyiv regime deployed a training center for foreign mercenaries before being sent to the areas of hostilities against Russian military personnel, as well as a storage base for weapons and equipment coming from foreign countries,” the statement said. (link)

The [Lviv] facility is indeed the “main training center where U.S. and Canadian troops have been working with our Ukrainian partners for the last 6-7 years,” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who served as commander of U.S. Army Europe during the Obama and Trump administrations, said via text.

Mar 14 2022

Sunday Talks, El Erian Predicts, Accurately, Inflation To Climb Beyond Ten Percent This Year


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 13, 2022

Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser for Allianz, got the inflation problem correct; states a forecast in line with CTH Main Street review, but then falls short on his political outlook for the solution.

Within the interview, El-Erian predicts inflation at the current CPI measure will increase from current 7.9% to over 10% this year.  That aspect is in alignment with CTH review at ground level.

Current real inflation is more than 15% across the board, if you use the CPI methodology we were using in the 70’s and 80’s.  Both the scale and the speed of the current price increases are historic.  That is why you are seeing prices on retail items jumping so high, so fast.  The price increases on highly consumable goods are in the 15 to 20% range.  WATCH:

An increase to over 10%, using current CPI measures, equals an increase of 25 to 30% in actual price (using historic measures).  Keep in mind, we have already passed through a wave of backward-looking inflation in the 25 to 30% range.  El-Erian is predicting a duplication of that scale into the remainder of 2022, I agree.  The 2020 $3 item became the 2021 $4 item, which will now become the 2022 $5.50 item.  That is our reality. It will not get better.

Where we differ from El-Erian is on the wage side and the political analysis.  Any political intervention to create govt subsidy with the goal to generate a higher workforce will backfire – bigly.  Recent historic employment statistics have not yet reflected the demand side decline in goods.  The employment data is skewed and useless because of the COVID mitigation impact on jobs.

The employment picture is only just now starting to reflect the demand side drop.  Wages will not grow and will not provide fuel for inflation.  The currently hidden workforce reductions are generating downward pressure on wages naturally.  Adding subsidies (childcare etc), to generate a higher workforce into an environment with declining available jobs, will backfire.

Sector specific unions negotiating for higher wage contracts will find themselves trying to get wage increases while the top line of the organization is dropping due to lack of demand.   Unfortunately, the AFSCME is generally immune to this problem – government spending can always expand.

This is where El-Erian’s connection to Wall Street is his blind spot.  If what he suggests were carried out, govt will print money to cover even more deficit spending (the BBB agenda). That increased money supply will create even more inflation at the same time real life wage pressures are going down because the economy is contracting, and workers are getting laid-off.

The economy, quantified by the goods/services generated (minus imports), has been contracting since mid 2021.  The govt COVID subsidies created artificial and unnatural demand for goods.  If you take the massive COVID expenditures ($5+ trillion) out of the 2021 economy, the result is a recession that began mid 2021.

That bloated chicken, which carried the inflation created by the printing, is coming home to roost.  There ain’t no way in hell to avoid it.  The recession exists, regardless of our desire to ignore it or fill the hole with more QE printing.

The inflation problem is now magnified by the need for the Fed to raise interest rates and stop purchasing our own debt.  Raising interest rates will lower investment and naturally create fewer jobs.  The economy will contract further and faster.  El-Erian accurately notes there is no positive way out of this scenario, there are bad options and worse options.  The difference between them is how slow or fast we want to take off the bandaid.

$3 – $4 bread in 2020, became $4 – $5 bread in 2021, which will become $5.50 – $6.50 bread mid-summer 2022.  Other food store averages will follow a similar rate of price increase.  The processed food inflation is settling down, however, fresh foods inflation will now take over and has only just begun.  Fresh fruits and vegetables will increase in price at roughly twice the rate of processed goods.

Chemical product price increases should level off mid-summer; however, with unleaded gasoline still on target for $7/gal [diesel $8/$9 (range)] the packaging, transportation and distribution costs will continue putting upward pressure on finished good prices.

All of these things were going to happen this year, regardless of Russia and Ukraine.  The European conflict is now just a convenient excuse to avoid blame for outcomes of the underlying policies.

This economic reality is not exclusively a U.S. issue; however, the scale of the economic problem is exclusively a U.S. issue.  The globe may drop into a recession, but our hole will be far worse.

Mar 13 2022

New Interview: Insane Globalists Collapsing World Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Mar 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Click here to watch Martin Armstrong’s latest interview with Greg Hunter from USAWatchdog.

A message from Greg Hunter:

In his USAWatchdog.com interview just two weeks ago, legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong said, The New World Order’s so-called ‘Great Reset’ plan for humanity is ‘falling apart,’ and pointed out, “They are basically desperate at this stage.  I don’t think they anticipated the amount of resistance they are getting.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is enormous resistance to the New World Order plans.  Armstrong, who has new data from his Socrates computer analysis, is out with a fresh critical update.  Armstrong explains, “It’s just total insanity.  They are, really at this stage, completely collapsing the world economy.  You have Apple and all these companies; there are over 300 American companies in Russia.  Their assets are going to be seized.  They are all now in a panic mode to get out, and you are going to see the same situation with China.  This is insane.  It really is insane, and you just don’t do this.  I can’t believe these governments have listened to this sort of advice.  It’s really, really disastrous.  What creates world peace is not nuclear weapons.  It’s economic, basically.  As long as everybody benefits, then you are not going to bite the hand that feeds you.  When you start cutting off trade on both sides, you are wiping out the global economy.  That is what has provided world peace since WWII. . . . By 2023, I don’t see this backing off.  Once you have undermined the global financial economy, you have removed the benefits and then it does turn to war.”

Armstrong sees a “serious problem with a war cycle in early 2023” but hopes it does not go full nuclear.  The financial war has already gone nuclear.

Before the end of this year, Armstrong’s “Socrates” computer program sees a “panic cycle” for the 2022 mid-term elections, mainly for the Democrats.  Armstrong explains more about this in the interview.

Armstrong says inflation is here to stay, and it’s going to be huge in some areas.  Armstrong sees gasoline rising to $8 to $10 per gallon sometime in 2023.  Armstrong says buy everything you think you will need because it will never be cheaper, and it may not even be there in the future at any price.  Food is high on Armstrong’s list, and he says have good old fashion cash on hand because of cyber-attacks and power outages that he sees coming in some areas.  Armstrong also sees an average of 25% inflation by 2024.  This, again, is according to his “Socrates” computer program.  Armstrong says “the commodity cycle will take off in 2024.”    Armstrong sees everything going up in price, and that includes gold and silver.  Interest rates will also be headed up, and the stock market is not going to do well in a trend that sees interest rates rising.

Armstrong says communism is what the New World Order really wants.  Armstrong says, “The globalists want communism, but the problem with communism is it does not work—period.”

Armstrong blames the western world leaders for the mess the world is in today.  Armstrong says, “It’s their fault. . . .This is the worst crop of world leaders I have ever seen, and I have been consulting governments for 40 years. . . . The level of stupidity on the world stage is stunning.”

Armstrong is also predicting the“civil unrest will not only continue, but “it will get much worse.”

Mar 13 2022

AOC – Today’s Marie Antoinette


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Mar 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

more

Mar 13 2022

The Decline & Fall of the Global Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics Re- Posted Mar 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

There are a host of Republicans writing to Biden that he should send planes to Ukraine. These people in Washington are always quick to spill the blood of other people’s children – not their own. I find it appalling that you do not hear a single world that Zelensky should compromise on anything. His refusal to let the two provinces be independent which was promised them in the Mink Agreement back in 2014 is unnecessarily putting his entire country at risk for some antiquated theory of imperialism. It was the USSR that drew the borders of Ukraine. It was not an independent country in itself until modern times.

Instead, Zelensky is trying to drag the entire world into World War III, and make no mistake about it, do that and you will find that China is partners with Russia. There is no doubt that Russia should go ahead and nationalize all the foreign companies that left Russia over this Ukraine issue. Even Warren Buffet started dumping Apple stock. Never in all my career have I watched corporations make such stupid decisions. There is no such thing as “temporarily” closing businesses. Biden has destroyed the world economy with sanctions and confiscated the assets of private Russians. There will be no return because there is no way that Russia can now yield to the demand of the West. So they will never return and the assets left behind might as well be nationalized for the world economy as we have known it has been destroyed.

Once Biden removed Russia from SWIFT, which refused to do so when asked by Obama during 2014 and Crimea, that was the first blow to the world economy. SWIFT has undermined the entire world showing that it is no longer about supporting global interaction, but it is just now a political tool. China now has no choice but to move ahead on its own replacement. Hence, that was the first blow to ending the global economy. The second was Biden confiscating the personal assets of Russians rather than keeping this between governments. This has created a Waterfall Crisis whereas the global economy as we once knew it has come to an end. You cannot do business with the United States for they can invade a country, never be sanctioned, but if anyone else does what they do it becomes war. Whoever is making these sorts of decisions clearly has no sense of integrity, history, or international relations.

Biden will be remembered as the man that began the decline and fall of the American Empire.

Mar 13 2022

Ukraine the Real Story


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Mar 12, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Former national security adviser John Bolton that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was “waiting” for a possible United States withdrawal from NATO, claiming former President Donald Trump would have likely made such a move had he been reelected, The Hill reports.
I also see that Steve Bannon is going after Hannity for jumping off the Putin wagon and also Pence letting the orange turd know he is also. They eat their own in the republican party…
CN

REPLY: Bolton was a plant in the Trump Administration. The Deep State selected Trump’s cabinet. I am not speculating. I myself was asked to take the position of Chief Economic Adviser during the Bush Jr. Administration and declined. Bolton is a warmonger. He came out against Trump because he wanted to exit Afghanistan. I went to Mar-a-Lago for a private dinner and I was shocked. It was the very first time I EVER heard a president say it bothered him to send letters to parents and received bodies of American soldiers who died in Afghanistan and he said for what? “They have been fighting over borders for a thousand years. What difference are we going to make.” Never have I ever heard any president concerned about American life.

You may hate Trump, but what you have voted for is the start of the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization. You can deny everything and Bolton can spin his BS. Biden is now blaming Putin for the rise in gas prices when from the outset he promised to “end fossil fuels” and immediately took that position. These sanctions against Russia are also to accomplish the same ends – terminating fossil fuels because these people really think there are only 7 years left and that was 2 years ago.

Remember Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) which was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur? It was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Immediately the US accused Russia and then imposed sanctions on them. It was shot down by the Ukrainian Nazis with an old Russian missile that Russia was no longer using. They did so trying to get the US to enter their revolution against Russians living there in Donestk. Why has Zelensky refused to allow those people to vote? Russia had no motive to shoot down that flight and it was not over Russian territory. It was a false flag to try to blame Russia by the very Ukrainian Nazis who support Zelensky.

You should watch the film Ukraine on Fire by Oliver Stone before you make assumptions. People are clueless as to the real story of Ukraine. They too joined the German Nazis and also engaged in the genocide of Poles, Jews, and Russians. They were notorious but BECAUSE they also hated Russians. For this reason, the Ukrainian Nazis were NEVER put on trial for the very same war crimes that the Germans carried out. So your enemy is my friend as they say. You are cheering for Zelensky who is also trying to create World War III not just because he hates Russians allowing the civil war to continue against them, but he is also in league with Schwab and his World Economic Forum seeking to destroy the world economy so they can BUILD BACK BETTER under the economic theories of Schwab.

They used psychological warfare to make sure you hated Trump and voted for Biden not on issues, but solely on your hatred. They are carrying out the very same psychological warfare to get you to also now hate Putin and therefore you will NEVER look at the facts.

This is not an issue of supporting Trump or Putin. This is an issue of supporting humanity against those who think they are God and can reshape the future into the design that they have in their wild imaginations. These people are DESPERATELY trying to create World War III stirring your hatred so you become a mindless pawn in the war games. You might as well wear an explosive vest and blow yourself up for Allah, for they use the very same tactics on young Arab kids to die for their political games as well. Leaders of such movements never blow themselves up – it is convincing others to do so.

The “orange turd” as you say was demonized and his controller was said to be Putin. To accomplish this agenda, they needed to remove Trump, then Putin, and then they will turn on China. Soros, who I believe is behind the funding of Zelensky, is already out starting to demonize Xi Jinping in China where Soros has declared “the greatest threat that open societies face today.” To support their agenda, they have to get you hating China, Russia, and Trump. I believe COVID was created in a lab and deliberately leaked in China and then they call it the CCP virus.

You have no idea what is really going on and if anyone tries to expose it, they dismiss it as conspiracy theory so they never have to answer questions. You probably are also one of those people who couldn’t wait to keep getting vaccine boosters and wore your mask in your car while driving alone. Do you also sleep with a condom on at night when alone just in case?