Category Inflation

Mar 28 2022

Zelenskyy Worried About Western Financial Support After Video Surfaces Showing Ukraine Military Torturing Russian POW’s


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 27, 2022

Two weeks ago, the United States government, State Dept., CIA and their allies in Big Tech, made a public announcement {Go Deep} that stated violence against Russians would be officially sanctioned by Facebook, Instagram and Google.  In essence, Big Tech said it was now okay for Russians to be targeted on social media.  Today, video footage is leaked showing graphic torture of Russian POW’s by Ukraine military units.

BACKGROUND – The purpose of the shift in Big Tech ‘terms and conditions‘ for the promotion of violence, was seemingly to enhance the western propaganda campaign.  Elevating Ukraine’s victim status in the minds of the ordinary citizens, while supporting the negative promotional campaign against Russia and Vladimir Putin was part of the design.  The transparent motive of the shift was obvious to those who follow the activity of U.S. intelligence and State Dept.

Deep weeds political followers will remember the first collaboration between Facebook and DoS/CIA using this approach took place in Egypt and Libya at the beginning of the 2010 U.S. Obama-inspired Islamist Spring.  A more refined 2022 version was just recently deployed against Russia.  The tech control agents needed to parse the nuance carefully to allow targeted and approved violence to be narrowly focused.

Soon after Big Tech made their announcement {via Reuters}, the DoS/CIA and NATO announced they would be providing western military hardware to the Azov battalion in Ukraine – essentially the Ukrainian military’s openly Nazi division.  Images soon surfaced showing U.S. military “advisors” training Ukrainian ultranationalist Nazi units (Azov regiment) how to use the U.S. provided FGM-148 javelin missiles.

WARNING ~ Graphic Discussion Below

A few days after those reports surfaced, Russia bombed the Western Ukraine NATO training facilities near Lviv housing over 1,000 foreign mercenaries: contract soldiers from western countries {LINK}.

However, as the narrative from the media propaganda machine continues to frame the Ukraine military as ‘freedom fighters’, they are now faced with videos surfacing showing Ukraine military regulars torturing Russian prisoners of war (POW’s).

This is problematic for both NATO and Ukraine, as they must protect the image of the Ukraine military in order to maintain public support and funding.

The videos of the torture are graphic and very disturbing to watch {Severely Restricted Video 1 Example Here}, and I would not recommend watching them if you are not comfortable seeing men get shot, brutalized and beaten.  {Severely Restricted Video 2 Example Here} They are graphic, bloody and violent.  However, the torture itself, while censored for political need, aligns with the official NATO and Big Tech position that advocacy for violence against Russians is sanctioned.

The first video shows Russian soldiers with canvas bags placed on their heads and then beaten in the face with rifle butts.  The prisoners are shot in the kneecaps and genitals, and they are left on the ground to bleed to death.  Several vans then arrive at the Ukraine military compound in Kharkiv (roughly 20 miles from the Russian border), and as each POW is removed from the van they are shot in the knees.

A second video shows Russian POW’s lying face down in a paved courtyard, or compound, and then being shot in the knees from the rear.

Apparently, one of the videos contains Russian soldiers who were part of a reconnaissance mission in the region and were captured.  The Ukraine military gleefully torture the captives and record their endeavors for posterity.  It was the Ukraine military units bragging about the torture that exposed their brutal behavior.  All of the scenes are gruesome in the extreme.

The State Department has a problem with these video’s surfacing.  Who does the State Dept turn to?….. CNN

(VIA CNN) – Video has surfaced showing what appear to be Ukrainian soldiers shooting men who are apparently Russian prisoners in the knees during an operation in the Kharkiv region.

On the almost six-minute-long video, the Ukrainian soldiers are heard saying they have captured a Russian reconnaissance group operating from Olkhovka, a settlement in Kharkiv roughly 20 miles from the Russian border.

Asked about the video, a senior presidential advisor, Oleksiy Arestovych, said in an interview posted on YouTube Sunday: “The government is taking this very seriously, and there will be an immediate investigation. We are a European army, and we do not mock our prisoners. If this turns out to be real, this is absolutely unacceptable behavior.”

In a separate briefing, Arestovych said, “We treat prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention, whatever your personal emotional motives.”

CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment. In response, the ministry sent CNN a statement from the Armed Forces chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The statement did not refer directly to the incident, but said, “In order to discredit Ukraine’s defense forces, the enemy films and distributes staged videos showing inhuman treatment by alleged ‘Ukrainian soldiers’ of ‘Russian prisoners.’

“I emphasize that servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other legitimate military formations strictly adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law,” Zaluzhnyi said. “I urge you to take into account the realities of informational and psychological warfare and trust only official sources.”

It’s unclear which Ukrainian unit may have been involved. The soldiers speak in a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian with Ukrainian accents.

The video comes as Ukrainian forces make gains east and south of Kharkiv. CNN geolocated and verified a long video uploaded on a Telegram Saturday showing a successful assault by Ukrainian troops of the Azov Battalion, in which they took a number of Russian prisoners in a rapid assault on Olkhovka, also known as Vilkhivka.

Some of the prisoners were stripped and blindfolded.

That video was posted by Konstantin Nemichev, a Kharkiv regional official who took part in the attack on Olkhovka. He told CNN he was not associated with the footage that emerged showing Ukrainian troops kneecapping Russian prisoners. (read more)

Keep in mind, U.S. taxpayers are giving these Ukraine military terrorists more than $15 billion in direct financing to conduct their torture activities.

Mar 28 2022

NBC Poll, Most Believe Biden to Blame for Inflation, 60 Percent Disapprove of Handling of Economy and 71 Percent No Confidence in Biden Foreign Policy


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 27, 2022 

Even NBC’s Chuck Todd was forced to admit Joe Biden’s polled domestic support keeps getting worse.  His approval rating is now the worst in their polling.

The Poll Data is AVAILABLE HERE.  Somehow NBC found enough people to show 33 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the economy, compared with 60 percent who disapprove.  “Overall, NBC News puts Biden’s approval at 40 percent, which is a record-low for that network’s survey, compared with 55 percent disapproval.” (article link).

[Poll Data Here]

The White House was hoping that all the planning that went into yesterday’s grand speech in Poland would help reset the Biden problem.  Those hopes collapsed when the muttering nutter rambled through 20 minutes of incoherent jibberish only to encapsulate the speech with the call for Russian regime change at the end, “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”

Also, don’t believe the nonsense about those being ‘off-the-cuff‘, or ‘ad-libbed ‘ remarks either.  They were written into the teleprompter, and he read them (go look). White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is trying to cover up his own ineptitude by claiming his boss ad-libbed those statements.  He didn’t.

Mar 27 2022

Two Million People Respond to Elon Musk Twitter Poll About Free Speech


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 26, 2022

Elon Musk noted that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy,” and then asked a poll question:

More than two million people responded with over 70 percent saying the Twitter platform does not “adhere to the principle” of free speech.

One of the reasons our democracy is not functioning, is simply because the worldview of the platform control agents is in the minority.  There are more of us than them, they just control the communication platforms, and they do so in an effort to block people from seeing they are in the majority.

The reason Big Tech controls speech, censors speech, manipulates speech and blocks user engagement, is to give the illusion that their worldview is held by the majority, it isn’t.   Their Big Tech created world, their Metaverse, is a tenuous Potemkin village construct.

Mar 25 2022

Biden Turns Unstable and Angry When He Receives One Non Preapproved Question During NATO Presser


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 24, 2022 

Within the background game we are supposed to ignore, the people behind Joe Biden pre-select and pre-approve the questions he receives.  The approved journalists and questions are written on a sheet for him to use; today was no exception.  However, during the NATO press briefing the importance and subject matter of the venue put pressure on him to answer one non-approved question.

That singular question ‘triggered’ the angry Biden disposition to surface, when he was asked to reconcile his current sanctions regime against previous statements about sanctions being a deterrent to Russian aggression.  Biden gets agitated easily. WATCH (prompted):

Mar 25 2022

Blackrock CEO Advances Proposal for Global Digital Payment System and Digital Currency


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 24, 2022

When CTH outlined the ‘Destination Handbasket’ framework {Go Deep}, we had no idea Blackrock CEO Larry Fink was essentially going to confirm the premise of our prediction.  Keep in mind, any digital currency can only work if there is a digital identity attributed to it – what some have called a digital passport which then creates a crypto wallet.

I have based the framework, of what appears to be over the horizon, on a set of inevitable geopolitical outcomes if the current path is continued.  The letter by Blackrock CEO Larry Fink [LINK] seems to affirm the strongest likelihood of a western-inspired digital currency eventually replacing the dollar.

NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) – BlackRock Inc’s (BLK.N) chief executive, Larry Fink, said on Thursday that the Russia-Ukraine war could end up accelerating digital currencies as a tool to settle international transactions, as the conflict upends the globalization drive of the last three decades.

In a letter to the shareholders of the world’s largest asset manager, Fink said the war will push countries to reassess currency dependencies, and that BlackRock was studying digital currencies and stablecoins due to increased client interest.

“A global digital payment system, thoughtfully designed, can enhance the settlement of international transactions while reducing the risk of money laundering and corruption”, he said.

[…] In the letter on Thursday, the chairman and CEO of the $10 trillion asset manager said the Russia-Ukraine crisis had put an end to the globalization forces at work over the past 30 years.

[…] “While companies’ and consumers’ balance sheets are strong today, giving them more of a cushion to weather these difficulties, a large-scale reorientation of supply chains will inherently be inflationary,” said Fink.

He said central banks were dealing with a dilemma they had not faced in decades, having to choose between living with high inflation or slowing economic activity to contain price pressures.  (read more)

You see that problem, that “dilemma” Fink mentions in the last paragraph above.  That is what we have been talking about on these pages for more than two years.   It is a dilemma western government created when they all joined together and followed the exact same financial path during the pandemic.

When western governments used the justification of the global pandemic to shut down their economies, enforce lockdowns and all of the subsequent rules, restrictions and economic pains as a direct result of those decisions, they put us on a crisis path that was always going to bring us to this “dilemma.”  Quite frankly, I do not see that unity of action as accidental, nor do I see it as organic.

All of the western leaders followed the same monetary and financial policy that was being advanced by the World Economic Forum.  They all spent like crazy, and provided tens-of-trillions in bailouts, subsidies and cash payments to cover the economic losses created by their COVID lockdowns.  They all did exactly the same thing, and that collective action is why we have ‘global inflation.’

Perversely, while inflation crushes the working class, global inflation works to their benefit by lowering the cost of the debt the politicians created, which the central bands and federal reserve facilitated.  We the citizens are suffering under inflation, but the governments that created the inflation actually benefit from it.

I will say with great deliberateness, these western governments want inflation.  Sure, it provides a political challenge for those who need to get reelected by voters, but in the bigger of big pictures, they need inflation.  Think about it in very simple terms.  If they did not want inflation, those same central banks and federal reserve policy makers would have raised interest rates six to eight months ago.

None of what is happening in supply chains and inflation is a surprise to them; they might pretend not to know, but these are not stupid people.  This is by design.  Media covers for them because, well, I’ll accept the PR firms for the regimes are idiots. However, the people who constructed these policies to take advantage of COVID-19 are not dummies.  They knew what all that intervention, manipulation and govt spending would lead to.

Where we are going now is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a destination that is a result of specific action the guided policymakers have taken.

Yes, in hindsight, all of it does seem planned to a long-term eventual conclusion.  However, I’m not going to make that specific affirmation just yet; there are still strong elements of ‘not letting a crisis go to waste’ as the leading driver.  Did these governing bodies create the underlying crisis?  We can debate that, but the point is essentially moot.  We are where we are.

The vaccination protocol created the Vax-Passport.  That has opened the door to the digital identity, “digital id.”   Any government created digital currency is going to need a digital id from the outset.

There are a lot of people asking where this is going, and what can be done to stop it.  I’m pretty certain we have accurately identified “Where This is Going,” and I’m a lot more confident now about that aspect than I was even just 24 hours ago.  However, knowing that, now we need to look closer at what they would do to stop us from disrupting it.

Mar 24 2022

Government ALWAYS Act in their Own Self-Interest


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis Re-Posted Mar 23, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hello Martin,

Hope your doing well, you spoke about keeping some money, outside of banks, do you see sterling paper money being cancelled by the bank of england, as they have already cancelled old £5/£10/£20/£50 and £1 coins, you have to bring them to the bank an exchange for new plastic type paper currency,my question is if you have some set aside do you think they would cancel outright or would they make you declare, if things get sticky, or would you be safer keeping in bank, for there is some insurance scheme up to £75 0r £85k, one named account, not that would effect me in the amounts, can you advise should I maybe bring some US dollars into piggy bank, much obliged, for your help will go towards helping my parents/family extended family circle, I just buried my mother a week ago, so my dad’s a bit all over the place, he has a few £1000’s, has difficulty putting money in banks/post office and questions and restrictions getting money out, they shut the last bank down in November, he lives in a town of 10,000 pop, has to travel to the city, not up to that now, any insight would be gratefully appreciated.he lives in the north of Ireland.
EP

ANSWER: Britain does cancel its currency. That allows the government to take that direction. The difference with the US dollar is that it has never been canceled and it would take an Act of Congress. Trudeau is Canada interestingly passed an Act to give him the authority to cancel paper ,oney. He did cancel the old notes as well.

While the US replaced the $100 bill, the old one is still valid. Since 70% of the US paper dollars reside outside the USA for they are the hedge against various governments, the Democrats would love to cancel the currencies following the same Marxist agenda that cash is EVIL.

In this atmosphere where Biden just reads the teleprompter and there are serious concerns in DC about his mental ability going forward, this means we really do NOT know who is running the show. All I can say is that demands, policies, and tactics are the hallmark of Neocons.  They have achieved their dream of controlling the White House. They have never allowed a day to go by without plotting how to conquer the world.

Unfortunately, The British pound is called “sterling” meaning it was once one power of sterling silver. Even in 1953, Britain had abandoned silver in its coinage. They struck coins in Cupro-Nickel. So it is hard to do the same as an American can do, hoard the old pre-1965 silver coins. When Roosevelt confiscated gold during 1934, that meant whatever you had on deposit in a bank was taken. He did not go door to door searching for gold coins. So keep that in mind that the banks will do whatever they are ordered to do. They are not on your side. They must be loyal to the state to retain their license.

You may want to look at British sovereigns, which are just under a quarter ounce of gold. Just keep it to the common dates, circulated is fine. You are not looking to be a rare coin collector. At least when Germany was going through its hyperinflation, people were able to hoard foreign currencies as well as tangible assets that included land, art, rare coins and stamps, and even old cars. Anything that is not relying on government and is not in some official storage that the government can seize. For they will also act ALWAYS in their own self interest.

Mar 23 2022

The Coming Dust Bowl – 2025-2027?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Agriculture Re-Posted Mar 22, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

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.

Mar 23 2022

Wall Street Lobbying Groups Battle To Remove Transnational Shipping Restrictions To Protect Chinese Business Interests


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 22, 2022

The 40-year deindustrialization of America, and the subsequent destruction of jobs and the U.S. middle class, did not happen accidentally. It happened as an intentional outcome of selfish multinational business interests chasing profit, combined with the willingness of congress to accept bribes -via lobbying payments- in order to facilitative corporate greed.

The only disruption in the collective economic manipulation was the forced intermission by the American middle class when Donald J. Trump was elected.

President Trump’s tariffs, countervailing duties and protectionist policies against transnational dumping of steel and aluminum into the U.S. marketplace, was a major impediment to the corporate agenda, and it quickly resulted in the biggest economic resurgence in U.S. history.

As a result, people started demanding Congress take a new approach toward Chinese transnational shipping schemes as Beijing attempted to manipulate markets and avoid the Trump-era policies.   A few in Congress assembled legislation that would prevent companies from evading tariffs by rerouting their products through another country (i.e. transnational shipping).  That legislation has triggered the multinational business groups who are now lobbying congress to remove it.

The business groups opposed to the anti-dumping legislation are the same familiar voices who decry tariffs.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and the usual list of lobbying interests are all lining up once again to demand the U.S. remains a ‘service driven economy’, so they can continue their business models and exploit the U.S. market while profiting from cheap imported goods.

WASHINGTON DC – A coalition of business groups on Tuesday urged lawmakers to strip a bipartisan trade measure out of a China competitiveness bill before it goes to President Biden’s desk.

In a letter to congressional leaders, retail, trade and manufacturing groups announced their opposition to the Eliminating Global Market Distortions to Protect American Jobs Act, a measure to combat unfair trade practices included in the House-passed China bill.

The legislation would overhaul anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws to prevent companies from evading tariffs by rerouting their products through another country. American steelmakers have long complained that Chinese steelmakers use this tactic to dodge duties they’d otherwise be forced to pay.

The business groups on Tuesday warned that the proposal would lead to increased tariffs on an array of products from U.S. allies such as Canadian lumber, Italian pasta and Japanese aluminum. They argued that the bill would “penalize legitimate trade and contribute to the inflationary pressures on American businesses” (read more)

Ah yes, we see again, the oft surfaced defense of the ‘it will cost consumers more‘ argument.  I wonder if anyone still believes their nonsense?

Mar 21 2022

Premier of Alberta Calls on Biden to Reimplement Keystone XL Project


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy Re-Posted Mar 21, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Jason Kenney, premier of Alberta, Canada, is calling upon President Joe Biden to reimplement the Keystone XL pipeline project. “If President Biden had not vetoed that project, it would be done later this year – 840,000 barrels of democratic energy that could have displaced the 600,000 plus barrels of Russian conflict oil that’s filled with the blood of Ukrainians,” Kenney stated. Kenney seems confident that the project could be completed by Q1 2023.

“None of this makes sense, so I will be speaking truth to power in the bluntest terms possible,” Kenney said. “If the U.S. administration wanted instead of going cap in hand to the Venezuela, Saudi and Iranian dictatorships to replace Russian conflict oil, we could turn this around, I believe in less than a year,” the premier stated. Meanwhile, the White House maintains that America should simply reduce its reliance on fossil fuels when there are no other alternatives available.

These nations might as well continue purchasing gas from Russia opposed to funneling money to other dictatorships. Kenney also noted how Canada was supposed to be America’s closest ally. Maduro of Venezuela hates the US and is an illegitimate leader. Both Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have asked the US for help in recent years, and none was provided. Iran is one of the world’s top funders of terrorism and turning to them should be considered a threat to national security.

Categories: Energy

Mar 21 2022

Clueless Celebrities Attempt to Worsen Energy Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Climate Re-Posted Mar 21, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

City National Bank is considered Hollywood’s “bank to the stars” and was acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in 2015. A group of over 65 clueless celebrities thirsting for attention are attempting to create a movement called “No Dirty Banks” to dissuade the RBC from investing in fossil fuels – period.

Their message is as follows:

As Canada’s #1 fossil fuel bank, and the fifth largest in the world, RBC is deeply implicated in the Canadian tar sands – one of the most toxic sources of oil on the planet, that has devastated Indigenous lands, and destroyed pristine boreal forest.

Though RBC claims to be a leader in climate-conscious banking, since acquiring CNB in 2015 RBC has spent over $160 billion, making it one of the world’s most aggressive financiers of the tar sands and fossil fuel extraction.

RBC and CNB must stop funding fossil fuel projects, especially fracking and tar sands. At the source of extraction, Alberta tar sands exacerbate the climate crisis, and are why Canada is unable to meet its international climate commitments.

Between the signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement and the end of 2020, the world’s 60 biggest banks, including RBC, financed fossil fuels to the tune of $3.8 trillion. Fossil fuel funding fuels climate chaos and threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions.

Bankrolling Coastal GasLink is just the latest example of RBC covering up their role in violating Indigenous rights, not upholding free, prior and informed consent as outlined in UNDRIP, and making the climate crisis worse.

These celebrities are known to live lavish lifestyles and are frequently spotted on private jets and yachts. They live in massive homes and drive numerous cars. The self-declared elite wants the peasants to curb their energy usage while they continue to consume far more than the average taxpayer. These people have no idea the implications of reducing funding for fracking and a pipeline amid a serious energy crisis. The average person feels the burden at the pump or while paying their monthly utilities, while the liberal Hollywood puppets do not. This is another example of the liberal stronghold on Hollywood as publicists continually ask their “stars” to promote the Build Back Better agenda in a twisted attempt to seem empathetic.