Romania & Moldavia


Armstrong Economics Blog/Foreign Exchange Re-Posted May 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Can you add Romania and Moldavia currencies to Socrates? I greatly appreciate your response to Gold.

HR

ANSWER: Yes, we will add them. I hope I translated your question correctly. If there are other currencies people want to add, drop a request.

Week in Review: Kremlin Bombing “False Flag” Allegation, Fox/Tucker Fallout, & Dems Rig Election for Biden, w/ Michael Tracey | SYSTEM UPDATE #82


Glenn Greenwald Streamed originally on Rumble on: May 5, 7:40 pm EDT

Former Navy Seal Team 6 Member: “China is Going to Destroy Us”


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted May 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The US military has been struggling with recruitment efforts in recent years. Only 13% of 18 to 29-year-olds are “highly willing” to enlist. Prioritizing the woke agenda has alienated the once-core conservative, traditional members. The current Commander in Chief is not patriotic and does not inspire young men to join the military. We abandoned operations in Afghanistan chaotically when we should never have been there anyhow, forced service members to undergo vaccinations, and continued to heighten tensions with foreign nations to a level where another world war is inevitable. Every branch has failed to meet their recruitment numbers despite the military lowering the standards to join. The latest desperate attempt to recruit members is the opposite of the image of a tough soldier.

The US Navy invited an active-duty drag queen to be its latest digital ambassador. Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who identifies as non-binary, is creating videos cosplaying as a woman “to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates,” a Navy spokesperson stated. Yeoman, or Harpy Daniels as they call themself “on stage,” is sharing his experience of going back and forth between genders to represent “queer sailors.” Let’s remember, regular gay folks recently fought to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” bill to permit people to serve while openly gay. How on earth could the military think this is a good idea?

Former US Navy SEAL Team Six member Robert J. O’Neill was part of the special operation to kill Osama bin Laden, one of the best and bravest our country has to offer. Alright. The US Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bulls-t,” O’Neill wrote. “Not this Navy veteran. I’m ashamed of the Navy,” wrote another veteran. “It’s an insult to every veteran. The army kept making me go to trans EO-type classes before I retired. Nope. Didn’t go.”

Who the hell are they trying to recruit? Are these people even mentally fit to serve? It’s almost like they’re begging for a future draft of “all persons,” because the military knows better. The Airforce saw an uptick in recruitment after Tom Cruise released his film “Top Gun” portraying a fearless fighter pilot. You are not “fearless” for dressing up as the opposite sex. This effort will fail and it is a slap in the face to our veterans who do not want to be portrayed in this light.

As Ukraine Sends U.S. Supported Drones to Target Moscow, A Reminder of President Trump’s Warning About Biden Creating World War III


Posted originally on the CTH on May 3, 2023 | Sundance 

By now most Americans realize the United States government is conducting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.  The foundation for the U.S. effort started in 2014 with the buildup of weapons provided by the Obama-Biden administration, and the Russian response to the NATO encroachment in February 2022 was quickly framed as the Russian war against Ukraine.

As part of this effort, and after threatening to destroy Russian natural gas pipelines, the United States then followed through and destroyed a main artery in the Nordstream pipeline system.  The Biden administration then denied involvement and tried to blame Russia; as if Vladimir Putin would destroy his own infrastructure.  Keeping with this continuum of escalating conflict, NATO has sent depleted uranium weapons into Ukraine.  Then, last night, a drone attack on the Kremlin was carried out.

Ukraine is denying any involvement in the drone strike against Moscow, which would imply the United States -likely the CIA- carried out a direct attack against Russia without informing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.   Regardless of which partner is lying, Ukraine or the U.S, one of them carried out the attack.

This is a good time to remind everyone of President Trump’s words and policy toward this escalating conflict:

“Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war,” President Trump said. “We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to IMMEDIATELY have a total cessation of hostilities. All shooting has to stop. This is the central issue. We need PEACE without delay.”

We need peace without delay

[Transcript] – We have never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden. A global conflict between nuclear-armed powers would mean death and destruction on a scale unmatched in human history. It would be nuclear Armageddon. NOTHING is more important than avoiding that nightmare. We will avoid it. But we need new leadership.

Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to IMMEDIATELY have a total cessation of hostilities. All shooting has to stop. This is the central issue. We need PEACE without delay.

In addition, there must also be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neo-con establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad, while they turn us into a third-world country and a third-world dictatorship right here at home.

The State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the Deep Staters and put America First. We have to put America First.

Finally, we have to finish the process we began under my Administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat. But the greatest threat to Western Civilization today is not Russia. It’s probably, more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible, U.S.A. hating people that represent us.

It’s the abolition of our national borders. It’s the failure to police our own cities. It’s the destruction of the rule of law from within. It’s the collapse of the nuclear family and fertility rates, like nobody can believe is happening. It’s the Marxists who would have us become a Godless nation worshipping at the altar of race, and gender, and environment. And it’s the globalist class that has made us totally dependent on China and other foreign countries that basically hate us.

These globalists want to squander all of America’s strength, blood and treasure, chasing monsters and phantoms overseas—while keeping us distracted from the havoc they’re creating right here at home. These forces are doing more damage to America than Russia and China could ever have dreamed. Evicting the sick and corrupt establishment is the monumental task for the next president. And I’m the only one who can do it.

I’m the only one that can get the job done. I know exactly what has to be done. (read more)

Senator Mitch McConnell Reminds White House of the Republican #1 Priority


Posted originally on the CTH on May 2, 2023 | Sundance 

The professional Republican Party is totally and completely disconnected from the average MAGA voter within it.  Cue the visual demonstration from today:

[Source Tweet]

This disconnect between the Republican establishment and the base voter has always been frustrating and annoying, but now they are taking it to entirely new levels of ridiculousness.   There must be multiple siphons and financial laundry operations from this Ukraine policy.  Nothing else makes sense.

Seriously.  Go ahead and tell me how the professional Republican Party is worth saving.  I’ll be over here, supporting President Trump.

Also, there’s a Twit video of Mitch McConnell below (from today) that everyone must see.  You tell me what’s going on. Something weird.

After spending several weeks recovering from a brain injury, this is Mitch McConnell today:

Posted in Big 

Zelensky Selling State Assets to Line His Pockets Before Fleeing to Miami


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted May 1, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Zelensky is slick. He is now lining his pockets with the goal of becoming a billionaire when he flees to his estate in Miami. He is now trying to sell off all state assets in the fossil fuel sector to corporations like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Halliburton. Of course, these companies are all showing that war is coming. The volatility rises sharply from 2024 on and a critical target will be 2026. This is what makes me think that the Neocons will do whatever it takes to stop Trump and that will include even assassinating him as they did to JFK to wage their war against Russia in Vietnam.

Robert McNamara (1916 – 2009) was a leading Neocon that pushed the country into the Vietnam War.  He was famous for saying: “I learned early on never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you. And quite frankly, I follow that rule. It’s a very good rule.”

Before he died, McNamara wrote a book, perhaps to clear his conscience, and finally admitted that they were wrong, particularly in their assessment of Russia as a threat. The Neocons today regard him as a traitor and wrong. I have yet to hear even any kind word about him from their camp of endless wars.

The perception that Russia is a threat is still dominating the agenda today. The propaganda that Putin is a KGB guy who wants to re-establish the Soviet Empire is absurd. In the 22 years that he has been in power, he has neither tried to re-establish communism nor has he sought to retake the old Soviet states like Poland, the Czech Republic, or even Ukraine. The same claims today about Russia are the very same ones that justified Vietnam.

Looking at the cycles in the markets and war, these people will destroy Western Civilization. The Ukrainian people are absolute fools, for their leadership is also so wrapped up in their hatred of all the Russian people that they are leading their country into total destruction. Ukraine will cease to exist as a country that they dreamed of. They are surrendering their lives all for the dreams of the Neocons with Blinken in charge.

Several families with people in the military are reporting that soldiers are being informed we will be at war as soon as this year. Then Army aviators, who are entitled to leave, have been told they suddenly now owe 3 more years instead. People are suddenly finding out that we are not in Kansas anymore. We have no rights, and the Neocons have seized control of Washington. Welcome to their version of democracy.

Writing on Twitter, Mykhailo Podolyak said the U.S. and other Western nations encouraged Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons as the former Soviet Union collapsed, offering safeguards in return. This was misinterpreted by Russia, leading to conflict, Podolyak is the warmonger who argues that there shall be no surrender of the Donbas despite the fact that the population there are Russians and that Kyiv began the civil war on the order of the American Neocons. It is not that Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons; that is a fool’s argument. Europe and the US have nukes and so do Russia and China yet we are headed into war anyway. He will not let the people of the Donbas vote in a democracy when they are treated like vermin and are hated as Russians. This is why Ukraine has become an evil empire destined to create World War III just as our computer forecast back in 2013 one year before their revolution of 2014.

Here are other “advisers” to Zelensky.

Ukraine Intelligence Admit to Using FBI to Remove Facebook Content They View as “Against Our Country”


Posted originally on the CTH on April 28, 2023 | Sundance 

Comrade rebels, a remarkable bit of independent journalism by Lee Fang, who interviews a high-ranking Ukraine intelligence official named Ilia Vitiuk.

Within the interview the head of the Ukraine Cyber Information Security Service admits to how they use the FBI to pressure Facebook into removing content the Ukraine government doesn’t like.

[…] “Once we have a trace or evidence of disinformation campaigns via Facebook or other resources that are from the U.S., we pass this information to the FBI, along with writing directly to Facebook,” said llia Vitiuk, head of the Department of Cyber Information Security in the Security Service of Ukraine.

“We asked FBI for support to help us with Meta, to help us with others, and sometimes we get good results with that,” noted Vitiuk. “We say, ‘Okay, this was the person who was probably Russia’s influence.’” (read more

Apparently, Ukraine is as strong a democracy as the United States. Where the strength of democracy is defined by the thin-skinned sensibility of the government that must censor any voice that speaks against their policy.

All correct and good thinking citizens speak favorably about their government comrades.

Former CIA Director Admits Biden Created the Russian Disinformation Hoax


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Apr 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Biden’s camp completely interfered in the 2020 US Presidential Election by hiding Hunter’s illegal business dealing through bribes and coercion. The House Judiciary Committee released a letter addressed to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that revealed Biden and Blinken deliberately created the story that Hunter’s “laptop from hell” was “Russian disinformation” in order to help him steal the election.

When will the people say that they have had enough? How could they arrest a former president for an affair when the current president and his crime family have actively engaged in countless international criminal activities. CIA director Mike Morell ADMITTED that 51 members of the intelligence community signed a letter declaring the laptop was “Russian disinformation” act the request of the Biden Administration. This propaganda spread to reporters of prominent newspapers, social media platforms, and government officials across the US. The FBI completely dropped their investigation after the laptop was handed over to them and wiped clean from the internet.

The Biden Administration reached out to The Post after they received information that Hunter introduced his dad to his Ukrainian business partners. Morrell said he did it to “help Vice President Biden … because I wanted him to win the election.”

Joe Biden referenced this signed letter during a debate against Trump on October 22, lying to the American public weeks before the election. Joe insisted he never spoke to Hunter about his business dealings when he was in on it the whole time.

Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence sent a letter to Blinken letting him know that the investigation is back on.

“We are examining the origins of the infamous public statement signed by 51 former intelligence officials that falsely discredited a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation.

Subsequent reporting revealed that the New York Post story was not, as the public statement claimed and then-Vice President Biden parroted, part of a ‘Russian information operation.’

This revelation nearly two years after the fact, however, was little consolation.

The concerted efforts to dismiss the serious allegations in the Post’s reporting and to suppress any discussion of the story played a substantial role in the 2020 election.”

Joe Biden is a liar who will go down in history as the worst president in American history. He deceived the American people countless times and has done everything in his power to ruin our economy, values, and way of life. Arrest all 51 people who signed that letter and throw everyone related to the Biden crime family in jail – let us see how far the corruption goes.

Stoltenberg: Ukraine’s Rightful Place is in NATO


Armstrong Economics Blog/War We-Posted Apr 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that there would be a global world war on Friday when he announced that Ukraine will be invited to join NATO. Stoltenberg, who recently took a trip to Ukraine to show his full support, said that Ukraine will be permitted to join after the war ends. Zelensky is begging for NATO to permit Ukraine to join NATO immediately.

At a joint news conference in Kyiv, Zelensky and Stoltenberg spoke on NATO’s unwavering support for Ukraine. “Over the years, NATO Allies have provided training for tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. And since last February, NATO Allies have delivered more than 150 billion euros of support, including 65 billion euros of military aid,” Stoltenberg said. “Let me be clear: Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you make this possible.” He said their approach will take multiple years to “ensure full interoperability with the Alliance.”

Stoltenberg went on to explain why NATO was helping an unaffiliated nation. He hit on every trick in the book, from it being “morally right” to demonizing the head of state (Putin) as if removing him could solve this crisis:

“I expect the NATO Allies to do so both because it’s the morally right thing to do. A sovereign independent nation in Europe, Ukraine has been attacked, as a victim of a brutal war of aggression and therefore it's Ukraine's right to defend itself and it's our right to support Ukraine in upholding the right of self defense, a right which is enshrined in the UN Charter but it's also in our self-interest. Because if President Putin wins it will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable, because then the message is that when authoritarian powers, like Russia, like President Putin uses forces, they get what they want. So it's in our security interest, it's in the security interest of NATO Allies to support Ukraine.”

Zelensky said, per usual, that the efforts of the West have not been enough. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions,” the comedian who is running a country said.

If Ukraine joins NATO, World War III will begin immediately. Stoltenberg is buying time, as they did with the fake Minsk Agreements. NATO is afraid that Hungary and Turkey will turn away from the alliance if Ukraine is openly admitted. The comment section on the video I posted above shows how the public does not understand what is happening. People are cheering and saying Zelensky should win the Nobel PEACE Prize when he has turned down every olive branch Moscow attempted to extend. All these people want is war and they think of nothing else. Ukraine is nothing more than cannon fodder to them and the latest plot for the neocons to conquer Russia.

The Great De-Dollarization


Armstrong Economics Blog/USD $ Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

All we hear is the same claims that the dollar is dead and it will be totally worthless any day now. Over the last few weeks, all we hear from the majority now is that the dollar is finished. Virtually every page you turn or site you visit claims the death of the dollar. They are calling this the de-dollarization of the world economy and that the future of the US dollar as well as the American empire itself is now collapsing. The general claim is that the group of economically-aligned nations known collectively as BRICS is a major threat to the greenback. That was the same story we heard about the Euro back in 1997.

As their scenario goes, the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] have moved to form an anti-dollar colation and Saudi Arabia is considering jumping on board. They insist that once that happens, the “petrodollar” will die and cease to be a reserve currency.

This is then followed by the forecast that the economy will suffer and that any bounce in exports will be short-lived simply because the dollar will be dead for the long term. Of course, this has been the favorite forecast that they keep putting out since Bretton Woods collapsed. They were wrong back then for the dollar rose between 1972 and 1976 against the British pound, with the collapse of Bretton Woods. To try to explain why the dollar did not collapse, that is when they claimed that the dollar was backed now by oil rather than gold. That was just an excuse as always to cover up their wrong forecast.

They sold that story to Newsweek and now the dollar rally was because of oil which replace gold. Suddenly the dollar became de facto backed by oil. They needed an explanation to explain why all the old theories were wrong. They sold this theory and it made the front cover of Newsweek. Everyone said YES! That must be the reason. OPEC priced oil in dollars! Naturally, everything was priced in dollars because, under the fixed exchange rate of Bretton Woods, everything from wheat and corn to copper and gold was all priced in dollars.

Now they are saying the American empire is threatened by the potential commercial real estate collapse and the BRICS anti-dollar venture. So they are forecasting a great depression-style crash is possible in the not-too-distant future. They spin this to forecast the end of the America Empire. The London FT, always anti-American/Pro WEF, reports that the dollar as a reserve currency has declined from  73% in 2001 to around 55% by 2021. Yet the FT did state an obvious fact:

“But if you are a reserve-rich central bank elsewhere that isn’t going to be a lot of comfort. Moreover, would you really feel more comfortable in, say, the renminbi? Even if it was fully convertible and liquid, would you honestly feel more sure that Beijing will behave lawfully than DC? The dollar still looks like the proverbial least dirty shirt in the closet.”

COVID actually has played a major role in shifting the world economy. In 2020, the US economy was 24.75% of the world’s GDP. By the start of 2022, it had fallen marginally to 24.15%. What these dollar-forecasting jockeys do not understand, is that if they were correct and the dollar collapsed, then the very BRICS would collapse even further. Economically speaking, when the United States gets a head cold, the rest of the world catches ammonia. You can’t have it both ways. The strength of the dollar is not gold or oil, it is the American consumer.

The risk to the entire world is runaway inflation thanks to Biden pouring untold amounts of money into the black hole known as Ukraine. The Neocons, who control Biden, are planning to launch a war against Russia and China before 2024. This will only continue to accelerate inflation. That reduces the spending power of the American consumer and in the process, the US economic growth declines in real terms and with it, the rest of the world plunges into recession.

While Macron has figured it out that the Neocons are in charge of US foreign policy and he is telling Europe to stop being the puppet of the USA, that all sounds nice but Europe is marching into war with Russia. NATO is firmly in control of the American Neocons and they need war or face losing power. With Trump in the lead, they must stop him at all costs for he is anti-war, would haul the Neocons out by the necks, and defund NATO, as well as stop the climate change agenda.

The US dollar in the global economy has been supported by the size and strength of the US consumer-based economy. Its stability and openness to trade and capital flows without restrictions and it has never been canceled, are the major foundation of the dollar in addition to strong property rights and the rule of law. That is why Russians and Chinese buy US property for they are secure in their ownership of US property which cannot always be guaranteed outside the US.

Consequently, the depth and liquidity of US financial markets remain unmatched. For institutions parking billions, the United States represents a large supply of extremely safe dollar-denominated assets. Are they really going to switch to China or buy debt from Brazil?  Not a single institutional client will take that bait.

China has been divesting of dollar reserves because it KNOWS that the American Neocons want war. You do not fund your adversary who intends to wage war against you. China cannot shift reserve assets to Europe or Japan. They have been buying gold because it is geopolitically neutral territory. They are NOT buying gold as an investor thinking it will rally. That is irrelevant. If gold drops 25%, that does not translate into them becoming a seller.

The dollar in international reserves stood at 60+% at the start of 2022 against the US share of GDP at 24.25%. This comparison belittles the argument that the dollar is finished. Eventually, the US will lose the wars it is starting and the dollar will be replaced perhaps as soon as 2028. The IMF is already licking its lips and rubbing its hands together eager to get control of the reserve currency. But they too will collapse. We have a Directional Change next year and a Panic Cycle in 2025. So buckle up.!

Remember one thing, even with the debasement and collapse of the Roman Denarius between 260AD and 268AD, it still took 224 years for Rome to completely collapse. When war breaks out, capital flight will still be to the dollar. It will not be to public assets, but private. The United States is still supporting the entire world economy. The BRICS need the US consumer to keep their economies functioning. All this talk of the dollar being finished is really nonsense. That day will come, but when the US consumer no longer buys.

Remember 1997? The Euro was going to dethrone the dollar. They claimed the new EU will be a bigger economy than the US. The problem was, they lacked a consumer economy, and low taxes, and they routinely canceled their currency to force people to pay taxes. It is always the same story over and over again.