Category NATO
Zelenskyy Likely to Make Hollywood Oscar Appearance
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 25, 2022
Showcasing what we have said from the outset, everything about the conflict in Ukraine is a case study in war propaganda as created by the U.S. State Dept, the intelligence apparatus and Hollywood {Go Deep}.
…”Strategic success in the 21st century is not about a physical land grab of territory; that’s what Putin has done. In this century, strategic power is increasingly measured and exercised by economic strength, by technological sophistication and your story – who you are, what your values are; can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill? And on each of those measures, this will be a failure for Russia.”
~ Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh
White House Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh boiled down geopolitical power to a cultural issue of social likeability. This is genuinely what the people running the State Dept., CIA and Biden administration believe. To put a fine point on it:
(New York) – Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been in talks with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make a video appearance during Sunday’s broadcast of the Academy Awards, The Post has learned.
Academy officials still are debating on whether Zelensky will indeed appear briefly on the show, sources said. It’s also not clear if he would appear live or in a taped message. Sources said the debate centers on whether the Oscars should remain apolitical as the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages on. (read more)
The relationship between the CIA and Hollywood is well established. As a consequence, the award for best actor in a made for television drama or mini-series goes to….
The Hypocrisy of Biden Speaking About Democracy vs Autocracy in Poland Is Choking When Contrast Against Western Govt Behavior During COVID
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 25, 2022
There comes a time when a person has no more tongue to bite. Joe Biden speaking to U.S. troops in Poland about “democracies at an inflection” point in history, is jaw-dropping when you consider the behavior of every western government leader over the past two years.
Once again, Joe Biden, the same authoritarian who mandated that every American worker undergo a medical procedure in order to qualify as a person who might earn a living, sits atop his high-horse and pretends that western government leaders have some inherent claim to the protection of democracy.
Given their collective behavior over the past two years, the hypocrisy of this continued talking point is beyond outlandish.
[Transcript] …”We’re in the midst of — and I don’t want to sound too philosophic here — but you’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs. Xi Jinping — who I’ve spent more time with, they tell me, than any other world leader — points out to me that he believes, in China, that democracies can’t succeed in the 21st century. The reason is things are moving so fast, change is happening so quickly that democracies require consensus, and we can’t put together consensus as quickly as autocrats can.
So, what’s at stake — not just in what we’re doing here in Ukraine to try to help the Ukrainian people and keep the massacre from continuing — but beyond that, what’s at stake is: What’s — what’s — what are your kids and grandkids going to look like in terms of their — their freedom? What’s happening? The last 10 years, there have been fewer democracies that have been formed than we’ve lost in the world.
So, this is — what you’re engaged in is much more than just whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine.
We’re in a new phase — your generation. We’re at an inflection point. About every four or five generations, there comes along a change — a fundamental change takes place. The world ain’t going to be the same — not because of Ukraine, but — not going to be the same 10, 15 years from now in terms of our organizational structures.
So, the question is: Who is going to prevail? Are democracies going to prevail on the — and the values we share? Or are autocracies going to prevail? And that’s really what’s at stake.
So, what you’re doing is consequential — really consequential. (read more)
I know Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson, Jacinda Ardern, Scott Morrison, Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden himself, would like to think that we do not remember the past two years of complete unilateral dictatorship they enjoyed while hiding behind the shield of “emergency authorizations,” but this is one website that will continue to document – for the historical record – the brutal reality of these pontificating liars.
Do they really think we have forgotten how they never once asked the representative government for authorization before triggering their unilateral fiats? The economic lockdowns, the loss of liberty, the collapse of freedom, the shutting down of any form of petition for grievance, the use and weaponization of the regulatory system, the manipulation of courts, the unilateral mask and vaccination mandates, the demands for compliance to some of the most ridiculous rules and regulations, and yes, even the lies and double-standards they applied to the masses while they themselves ignored the rules they forced upon everyone else…. Do they really thing we have forgotten this?
There’s a lot of white-hot anger amid the citizenry of those aforementioned nations, righteous anger – yet these government creatures of entitlement stand on a soapbox today and decry autocracy and/or oligarchs.
Seriously?
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping did not arrest moms in playgrounds in Michigan. Russian police officers did not arrest paddleboarders off the beach in Malibu. The Chinese state police didn’t fill skate parks with sand, or shut down restaurants, or destroy the livelihoods of middle America.
It wasn’t the Kremlin police arresting people in New York City for going to restaurants without authorization papers.
It wasn’t the FSB firing bullets into the crowds in Melbourne, Australia, because the people refused to wear masks. It wasn’t Moscow who created “bubbles” in New Zealand demanding a person apply for a permit before visiting their elderly parents, or arresting people for going to McDonalds and trying to navigate through police checkpoints and roadblocks.
It wasn’t the armed Chinese military who set up involuntary detainment facilities in Australia and then called them quarantine camps- where if you crossed the arbitrary yellow line painted on the porch, you would be arrested and thrown into solitary confinement. It was “democratic” premiers and national democratic leaders of the Scott Morrison administration.
It wasn’t the North Korean army who monitored Facebook accounts in Canada and questioned people who dare speak about the concept of liberty, or raise concerns about totalitarian dictates.
It wasn’t Kim Jong-un who declared a national emergency, then arrested his political opposition for protesting in downtown Ottawa. It wasn’t Chairman Xi who confiscated the bank accounts of dissident citizens who dared to raise their voices in support of truck drivers. It was Justin Trudeau.
It wasn’t Beijing who hired state-sponsored hunters to track down unvaccinated citizens in Austria, fine them and confiscate their wages if they did not comply with vaccines.
It wasn’t Chairman Xi who blocked those citizens from shopping in supermarkets forcing citizens into a black-market just to scrounge for food and essential medicine. It was the government of Austria.
It wasn’t the police in Pyongyang who set up vaccine checkpoints in Paris, and demanded formerly free citizens to show their authorization papers to sit outside at a cafe table.
If these Western leaders like Joe Biden think they have some credibility to stand in Poland and talk about the value of democracy, they would be well served if their handlers mentioned these insufferable protestations are falling on deaf ears.
Few things raise the anger of people to a level where foul language is the better option than the physical violence that might surface without it, but this level of hypocrisy and pretense is surely one of them.
To all the leaders of various “western democracies” who will now clutch their pearls as the backlash from the brutalized citizens starts to come full circle, you did this to yourself.
No one is to blame other than Biden, Trudeau, Ardern, Morrison, Macron, Johnson et al and the leaders of NATO who now suddenly need the support of the citizens they abused in order to fend off their new enemy, Vladimir Putin.
Western government leaders intentionally and willfully positioned themselves as the enemy of freedom. They do not now get to grab back the torch of liberty and wield it as a talking point weapon against totalitarianism.
Joe Biden Just Implied the 82nd Airborne Is Going Into Ukraine – “You are going to see when you are there”
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 25, 2022
March 25, 2022 | Sundance | 650 Comments
Joe Biden just told U.S. troops in Poland they are going into Ukraine.
Earlier today Joe Biden landed in Rzeszow, Poland, to get a firsthand look at international efforts to help some of the millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing war in their country. While there, he delivered remarks to the 82nd Airborne who are bolstering NATO’s eastern flank.
During his remarks, Joe Biden stated the troops are going to see heroic acts by the ordinary men and women of Ukraine. He directly implied the 82nd airborne unit was going into Ukraine, and stated, “You are going to see when you are there.” Standing next to Biden while those statements were made, is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. No one attempted to stop Biden from publicly saying we were sending troops into Ukraine. WATCH (prompted):
After making the remarks about the troops going into Ukraine, Biden went into his ideological talking points about Democracy vs Autocracy again. He’s literally completely oblivious to his own administration actions.
Almost the entirety of the Western government leadership including Scott Morrison (AU), Jacinda Ardern (NZ), Emmanuel Macron (FR), Justin Trudeau (CA) and Joe Biden have been far more authoritarian and autocratic in their COVID-19 rules, regulations and mandates than most non-western nations. It really is stunning that someone in the White House doesn’t pull him back from this talking point.
Are we Following the Path of Pearl Harbor?
Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Mar 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Dear Mr Armstrong.
You previously mentioned that the chance for world war 3 will come to play after 2027 … but nowadays you are warning that those dead head’s in the west are pushing the world into world war 3 right now.
Is there a change in the timeline?
With much appreciation,
Tal
ANSWER: The post-2024 period appears to be a significant global war – all-in sort of thing. But will also be intermixed with shortages in commodities thanks to also weather conditions. Currently, the Neocons who have control of the Biden Administration are totally insane. They have used an executive order to do these sanctions bypassing Congress for as long as they do not send troops, they claim it is not an official declaration of war that ONLY Congress can issue. They are showing to the entire world that the very authoritarian regimes they hate, Russian and China, are precisely what they are doing in the United States intentionally trying to invoke war which they fully understand will NOT be sanctioned by Congress or the people.
The Neocons try to invoke patriotism so we follow whatever they say blindly when this is not a fight that is in the national interest. This is a fight for their hatred and they have no problem spilling the blood of our children as if this were some board game of war that makes them feel better because they defeated their enemy. These Neocons are HIGHLY dangerous and they are the reason for war and the end of Western Civilization. They are the real threat to the national security and the future of our children and grandchildren.
Their strategy is taken right out of the war book used during the FDR Administration. This is precisely what FDR did to get the United States into World War II. He was frustrated because Congress would not authorize joining the war. When FDR went to Boston, the Irish lashed out at him saying that the British starved the Irish and they were now not going to go defend them. Many people who fled Europe to America was to be free of the hatred and politics in Europe. So it was NOT a popular idea of coming to the rescue of Europe which they fled.
The Neocons during the FDR Administration followed a clever agenda to circumvent Congress as they are doing right now. They were racists and simply hated the Japanese as is the case with Russian right now. They started in 1938 with a series of escalating highly restrictive trade restrictions imposed on Japan. The Neocons terminated the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan in 1939. They then tightened the Export Control Act of 1940, which was intended to prevent the scarcity of critical commodities in a likely prewar environment. In addition, this Act was directly targeting Japan to restrict the exportation of material to Imperial Japan.
This was followed by the United States embargoed scrap-metal shipments to Japan and closed the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. The Neocons were seeking to isolate Japan without engaging in war that only Congress could declare Japan, at the time, imported about 74% of its scrap iron from the US and over 90% of its copper.
Then on July 26, 1941, the US seized all Japanese assets in the United States in retaliation for the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China as they have done today with Russia’s reserves. This was followed on August 1 with an oil embargo and gasoline exports to Japan which also came from the United States. The oil embargo was the last straw when 80% of its energy supply came from the USA. The US also was proposing intervening to prevent Japan from getting oil from other sources.
The complete U.S. oil embargo was the last straw. The Japanese had to then seize Southeast Asia for resources which expanded the war instead of the old hatred between China and Japan. They needed to do that before they ran out of resources. To secure themselves in the Pacific, they attacked Pearl Harbor with no intention of actually invading the United States.
The racism was highly dominant in WWII and that led to the imprisonment of all Japanese regardless if they were born in America. The prjudice became widespread and unfortunately, things are following along the same path. They have ERASED the name of the first man in space changing history all because is is just a Russian. The same hatred is emerging and this is a very dark sign for the future.
BOTH sides have their Neocons and these people will manipulate society to achieve their goals. We are just the poawns on the chess board and they have discovered their clever ways to create wars with sanctions which then instage the military response because the people themselves never wanty war.
NATO – UKRAINE- RUSSIA
Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Mar 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Putin is a madman. He has invaded a sovereign nation and Russia has to pay for that.
SV
ANSWER: Obviously, you are believing the propaganda from the West. Putin has stated from the outset that he was NOT seeking to occupy or conquer Ukraine. Just look at the numbers. Estimates of Russian troop numbers in Ukraine have ranged from anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 in recent weeks. Now, if he was intending to really “invade” a sovereign nation, you would assumed that the standard military strength that you want is between 2 to 3 times your opponent.
OK. So the question becomes: What is the size of the Ukrainian Army? That is about 297,000 and they are NATO trained forces. They are not farmers and hicks – but professional soldiers. So the press that portrays that Putin is losing and this is taking too long are all based upon the idea that the objective is conquest. But Putin has stated from the outset, and he has NOT deviated, that he wanted Ukraine to be demilitarized and remains as “NEUTRAL” as according to the Belgrade Agreement.
This is a PROXY war and Putin understand that now. Zelensky is unwilling to let Donbas go nore Crimea and his statement that he asked to join NATO was rejected, but he states the “door remains open” and NATO has trained the Ukrainian Army so they are up to NATO standards without formally being in NATO. Putin understand all of this. He has an army of 850,000 active personnel and 250,000 in reserve. China had 2,695,000.00 in 2018 and may be approaching 3 million right now.
The biggest NATO force in Europe is Turkey with about 445,000. The next is France with 208,000, Germany 1ith 189,000, Italy with 174,000, the UK with 156,000, Spain at 123,000, Poland 121,000, Greece 106,000, and everyone else under 100,000. The US has 1,352,000 and Canada 71,000. This means that in Europe, NATO has 1.3 million. If China assasited Russia, that would be a force of 3.7 million.
The problem this time is that the US has 1.3 million total, down from 2.2 million under Reagan. The US is clearly counting on non-conventional weapons. So have we reached the point where nukes are the ONLY line of defense?
You can see that Ukraine with 297,000 actually has the largest army in continental Europe that confronts Russia. Therefore, if Ukraine was part of NATO, it would have a conventional force of about 1.6 million including Turkey. That would outnumber Russia at about 1.1 million and that once again means a conventional attack on Russia would need to go nuclear to defend against Europe.
The risk of escalation here will be 8.6 weeks into this confrontation which will bring us to the week of April 18th, followed by the first week of May. The sanctions imposed on Russia are more than just insane, they have set in motion famine in Europe. Even French President Macron has been briefed on this real threat. He has urged an immediate emergency plan for food security at the G7 that has been triggered by the war in Ukraine. Moscow has urged that the longer the battle in Ukraine continues being the breadbasket of Europe, this war could result in “inevitable famine” as soon as 12 to 18 months from now. Because the bulk of the exports from Ukraine feed Northern Africa, he has warned this could be serious. Indeed, our model is pointing to rising civil unrest over food and corruption.
This DEMONIZING Putin is highly dangerous. All the Russian leaders see this as a proxy war and they will respond even much more aggressively if Putin was not there. My concern is the US keeps cheering on the Ukrainians and they NEVER have any strategy other than the immediate victory. The aftermath they seem to never consider. Remove Putin and this is an attack upon Russia and its culture, that pushes the world to the brink and we cannot rule out that it wo0uld be a warning to all of Europe by nuking Kyiv as a warning to all of Europe – is this what you really want?
Madeleine Albright & Yugoslavia
Armstong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Mar 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong
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.
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):
Biden Briefs Media After NATO Summit Over Ukraine Crisis, Russia Status in G20 Challenged, Global Food Shortages Discussed
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 24, 2022
With less than a quarter of the U.S. population having any confidence in Biden’s ability to handle the Ukraine crisis [AP Poll], the installed White House occupant headed to NATO to discuss consensus opinion.
Cliff Notes from Presser – Biden was bullish about the NATO alliance, yet everyone essentially agreed to resist Ukraine’s call for them to enforce a no-fly zone in the country. During the presser [VIDEO], Biden said he wanted Russia’s ouster from the G20 but conceded it likely won’t happen and deferred to the larger group. Biden unveiled new sanctions but acknowledged that they haven’t been and will not be a deterrent. Then said while his administration wants to get Europe to stop relying on Russian energy, he recognizes it can’t be done.
When Biden was questioned about potential food shortages, he admitted the discussion did actually take place. “With regard to food shortage… it’s gonna be real,” Biden said, while admitting the price of the sanctions is not just going to surface in Russia and Europe but is likely to show up in other nations including the United States.
Don’t downplay the food shortage issue. The absence of food can change things very quickly. How the various national leaders respond to food shortages, and/or prices for food that makes food insecurity a very real issue, is an unknown. However, a food crisis -and the subsequent solutions- could change the direction of many policies.
Call me crazy or whatever, but when you watch and listen to all of these NATO members either individually or collectively, you can get the distinct impression that they’re waiting on advice from some other organization and/or entity that usually provides them instructions.
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.
Centinel2012 