Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that he is preparing for war. The military budget will grow by about 7.2% this year after it has already doubled over the past decade. This is not a sudden decision. China has been quietly positioning itself for quite some time and has taken notes over Russia’s missteps with Ukraine. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is now drafting soldiers, and veterans and college-educated students will be at the top of the list.
Wars are now fought through intelligence and strategies rather than pure brute strength. The PLA is seeking out both women and men and is particularly interested in those with a STEM background. China’s announcement comes after Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul visited Taiwan to “provide deterrence to China.” Worse, McCaul told the international press that America would fight alongside Taiwan if Congress approved.
In typical political fashion, McCaul proposed a world war! “Taiwan is in a very different position from Ukraine,” McCaul said. “Number one, they’re not battle tested or ready. They are not prepared for war.” His solution? “When you look at Ukraine, they had NATO supporting them. You don’t have NATO in the Pacific,” he continued. “That’s why when looking at Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, we need to start having these discussions as a deterrent for peace.”
Peace was never an option with Ukraine, and Zelensky made it known that he would not meet Moscow on any agreement. In fact, NATO and others directly helped Kiev break its promises to Moscow, such as France and Germany helping to broker the Minsk Agreement hoax to buy time for Ukraine to build up its military. China has a strategy and a mission.
Losing Taiwan would be seen as an unfathomable loss, and they are prepared to go to war against any nation that intervenes. The West has already stretched itself thin by hyper-fixating on Ukraine as their own economies crumble. Interestingly, US intelligence services believe China will invade Taiwan in 2027. The computer also indicates that a world war could peak as early as 2027, with 2024-2027 being a period of concern.
“I’m not Meloni’s twin sister, I remain faithful to Salvini,” French politician Marine Le Pen said in regard to the Italian PM. Le Pen condemned Italy’s Meloni for supporting NATO and the EU, and while she condemns Russia’s actions in Ukraine, she does not believe that the proxy war should continue. Le Pen said that European countries should remain “Eurosceptic” as there is clearly a larger agenda at play that does not consider individual nations.
She also said that she is convinced France should leave NATO immediately and cease all weapon exports to Ukraine. Why?
“I would do everything possible for France to promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict. For one simple reason: I don't see any other valid solutions.” “Or Russia – continues Le Pen – wins the war, and it would be catastrophic because all the countries that have a territorial conflict will think they can solve it with weapons. Either Ukraine wins, and this would mean that NATO has entered the conflict, and thus the beginning of the Third World War. It doesn't seem like a happy prospect to me. Or, we will continue to supply Ukraine with weapons and then we will find ourselves facing a new Hundred Years War which, given the human losses, would be a tragedy.”
This is the exact problem. No one is going to “win” this war and World War III is imminent as NATO continues to embed itself in the conflict. All NATO leaders are abandoning their domestic policies in favor of an international one that does not benefit their respective countries in any way. This entire proxy war the entire world is now fighting is merely a ploy to eliminate Russia and end fossil fuel production. I discuss these topics in depth in my book, “The Plot to Seize Russia,” which my publisher is currently working on completing. I will let everyone know once the book is available for purchase in the coming weeks.
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, The information you provide is so straightforward forward and it is clear you do not sell advertising on your site because you do not want any outside influence. That is really admirable when I realize you do not even require people to register or send them endless emails pitching some investment.
You said the draft will be up to 50 this time and include women. Will they wait until after the 2024 election?
Respectfully;
Jeb
ANSWER: As far as the Draft is concerned, even when we look at when the Vietnam War Draft ended was several months after President Richard M. Nixon had easily won reelection, running against Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, an outspoken opponent of the war. That led to the old saying the Democrats always get us into wars, and it takes Republication to end them. I am not sure that will apply this time. Ideally, we are looking at a draft at least being discussed or approved perhaps quietly on September 29th, 2024. This will be 51.6 years from the day Nixon directed the draft to end – January 27th, 1973.
People need to understand that military drafts or “Conscription” dates back to ancient times in Mesopotamia. In more modern times, it resurfaced during the French Revolution in the 1790s. The United States instituted draft or conscription during the Civil War, which led to a series of bloody draft riots. Resistance to the draft, as managed by the Selective Service in the United States, reached a historic peak during the Vietnam War. Here is a draft document from 1863 and you can see they drafted family men.
As the war entered its third season, Congress, in need of more manpower for the Union Army, passed the Civil War Military Draft Act of 1863.
The act called for the registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, yet the obligation fell mostly on the poor. Wealthier men could afford to hire a substitute to take their place in the draft or pay $300 for a draft exemption—an enormous sum of money at the time. This controversial provision sparked civil unrest and draft riots.
The most destructive draft riot was the New York Draft Riots that occurred during July 1863. People were not in favor of the war. The New York working class during the Civil War erupted into violence for five days. This was one of the top ten American riots insofar as the death toll was concerned. Hundreds of people were killed and many were far more seriously injured. Many of the rioters were poor Irish immigrants who had fled here due to British oppression. Some of the rioters retaliated against New York’s African American residents who became the scapegoats for long-standing grievances, including wartime inflation, and competition for jobs. The rioters burned down an orphanage for black children—all 223 children narrowly escaped. Men were being taken from their families and were left to fend for themselves, which is understandable as to why it turned to violence.
What they committed from the history books was that when the Civil War broke out in 1861, there was even talk of New York seceding from the Union itself. The business center was deeply involved in business transactions with the Confederate States. The Civil War was a major upheaval. President Lincoln even attacked the New York trading in gold which would rally and decline based on the latest battle news.
The US Congress had passed a conscription act that became the first wartime draft of US citizens in American history and that covered ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. There have been whispers that they are allowing these illegal aliens to pour into the United States and they will then all be drafted for World War III.
What threw salt into the wound was that the rich could buy their freedom from the draft by paying someone else to take their place. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause was one of the major reasons for the New York City draft riots where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest people. Likewise, the government of the Confederate States also enacted a compulsory military draft. The South, in response to Lincoln’s Emancipation Act, passed their “Twenty Negro Law” whereby a white citizen was exempt if he had 20 or more slaves to take care of.
There were drafts BEFORE the Civil War/ During 1792 an act by Congress required that all able-bodied male citizens purchase a gun and join their local state militia. There was no penalty for noncompliance. Congress also passed a conscription act during the War of 1812. However, that war ended before it was actually enforced. Congress also enacted a military draft during World War I, and in 1940, Congress enacted a military draft under Roosevelt before it entered World War II.
Why these NEOCONS always want war is a question that really needs to be investigated. Not a single war since World War II has ever been to protect the United States. We are fed the story that it is our “national security” but not a single one of these wars has ever threatened an invasion of the United States or threatened to terminate our personal freedoms. War to these people is like playing with toy soldiers. They never think about those who die on the battlefield or the broken families left behind no less all of those who they have killed in opposition who will forever remember Americans as the aggressor who killed their father. Such resentment lasts generations.
The NEOCONS are running scared. they have the perfect president who allows them to control COMPLETE foreign policy and Biden just reads the cue cards. They will rig the next election and the word is that they intend to start a war before the election counting on no president will lose an election in the middle of a war.
Posted originally on the CTH on April 16, 2023 | Sundance
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, appears on Face the Nation to describe the current status of EU success in shrinking the economy to achieve parity with the shrinking of energy development. Ms. Lagarde is very happy with their ‘management of the transition’ so far, and sees slow economic growth combined with a citizenry happily accepting the lower standard of living, the new normal.
As Lagarde outlines, the lowered economic activity is helping the central banks support the objectives of the government officials and corporations who are giving the instructions. Overall, she is optimistic the common man and woman will continue accepting less ability to achieve personal economic and financial success, as the bankers and politicians continue managing the western transition. Things are going swimmingly. WATCH:
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Christine Lagarde, former head of the IMF, now the president of the European Central Bank. Good morning.
PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK CHRISTINE LAGARDE: Good morning, Margaret. Lovely to be back.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Good to have you here, and your recovery is going all right?
MADAME LAGARDE: Yes, in a couple of days, I think I’ll be fine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m glad to hear that. You have a long list of things ahead of you. And I want to ask you about the global recovery. You were speaking a few days ago and you said the recovery for the economy is fragile and uncertain in this country. The Fed thinks we’ll see a mild recession later this year. What is it that you predict?
MADAME LAGARDE: First of all, there is recovery. That’s, I think, a point that was not really firm only six months ago where we all assumed that there would be a recession, if only a technical one. If you look at all the forecasts at the moment, it’s all positive. It’s been slightly downgraded. But overall, we have a recovery and we are faced with high uncertainty because of multiple factors, you know, from all corners of the world. It’s the war in Ukraine. It’s the financial stability that clearly has been shaken up a bit by the US and Switzerland development. It’s inflation that we are fighting. It’s all that which really create a hollow of uncertainty around a recovery that we want to embed. That’s pretty much where we are.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So there were those recent bank failures here in the United States, also one in Switzerland. Given that, it sounds like you’re saying you don’t see a hard landing, you’re seeing a positive trajectory for the global economy?
MADAME LAGARDE: I think we have a narrow path to navigate, which requires that both the governments and the central banks around the world adopt the right policies.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OPEC just cut output.
MADAME LAGARDE: Hm?
MARGARET BRENNAN: OPEC just cut output, but you don’t see that as a disruption?
MADAME LAGARDE: I know. And- and we have to be very attentive. But in the meantime, if you look at- I’ll have to look at Europe at the moment. We have reduced our overall consumption of gas energy, for instance, by more than 15 percent. So it’s not as if we negotiated here or there. We just cut down our energy consumption, number one. Number two, we have renegotiated with multiple partners ranging from Norway to the United States of America, which is a big supplier of our energy. And I think that our dependency, which we learned the hard way about, has significantly declined. So I think that we moved from the illusion of plenty of energy, free money, to a time of resilience and building buffers. This is what has happened.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s interesting to hear that optimism. I mean, given the bank failures we just saw, you hear from bank CEOs in this country, this idea that they’re getting more cautious about lending money, largely that there’s some contraction in credit there. How concerned are you and how does that complicate your planning?
MADAME LAGARDE: It’s funny you should ask, complication because in a way it facilitates my planning and it complicates the future as far as growth.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because it slows down business activity so you don’t have to raise rates as much or as frequently.
MADAME LAGARDE: We don’t have to reduce. We’ll see. Because we need to really measure what will come out of this- this financial events that took place recently. What impact will it have? How will banks react? How will they assess risk and how much credit will they lend? But if they don’t lend too much credit and if they manage their risk, it might reduce the work that we have to do to reduce inflation, okay? But if they reduce too much credit, then it will weigh on growth excessively. So it’s a fine balance to have between credit risk, good management on the one hand, and on the other hand, financing the economy as is expected by- by the business community. The business community wants to invest at the moment. Some of them have big buffers and they can use those buffers, others are going to need credit financing from the banking sector and the markets, both of them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about the U.S.. And it’s not a political question, it’s an economic one. But there are predictions that the U.S. could default in its national debt as soon as June, some say September, and we have a political standoff in this country, virtually no negotiation happening on how to resolve this. Does that undermine your confidence in the United States? And what message does that send to the world?
MADAME LAGARDE: I have huge confidence in the United States. You know, ever since my year in this country, and this city in ’73, ’74, I have had confidence in this country and I just cannot believe that they would let such a major, major disaster happen of the United States defaulting on its debt. This is not possible. I cannot believe that it would happen. But if it did happen, it would have very, very negative impact, not just for this country where confidence would be challenged, but around the world. Let’s face it, this is the largest economy. It’s a major leader in economic growth around the world. It cannot let that happen. I understand the politics, I’ve been in politics myself. But there is a time when the higher interest of a nation has to prevail. I’m sorry.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And you think that will happen?
MADAME LAGARDE: I have huge trust in this country yet again.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re bringing a lot of optimism to a show where we don’t have a lot of optimism.
MADAME LAGARDE: Oh. I’m sorry (laughs)
MARGARET BRENNAN: No, I like it. It’s interesting. It’s a change. I want to ask you, though, about what you just said in terms of U.S. leadership. You look to the other side of the globe and Xi Jinping has said he wants China to be the world’s leading power by 2049. And Beijing is very interlinked into so many economies, particularly in Europe. Is the U.S. losing global influence?
MADAME LAGARDE: There is clearly a competition between these- these large economies. The U.S. is the first economy in the world. China is clearly competing, and is putting all forces in that competition. I think competition is healthy. It has to stimulate innovation. It has to stimulate productivity. But it’s inevitable that these two large economies are facing each other. What I hope very much is that they can have a dialogue because, you know, all these relationships, whether it’s trade, whether it’s politics, whether it’s economic development, whether it is financial stability, it’s a two-way street. We cannot ignore each other, and trade should not be confrontational. It has to be careful. It has to identify the areas that are strategic for one country or the other- or all the others. But it shouldn’t be confrontational. I’m on the same page as Henry Kissinger on that, or Kevin Rudd, the new Australian ambassador. Conflict is not unavoidable.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But there is, it seems, increased political pressure to choose between the United States and China in many ways in some of these political capitals. Is that even practical from an economic point of view?
MADAME LAGARDE: It would lead to economic downside, the amount of which is uncertain. Is the global economy going to be affected by one or X percent? There are multiple forecasts, all of them are negative. So the decoupling and the sort of bipolarization of the world would lead to less economic growth, less prosperity in the world, more poverty across the world. So I think that this is something that should be by all means avoided.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Madame Lagarde, it’s always wonderful to have you here. Thank you. We’ll be right back.
Posted originally on the CTH on April 14, 2023 | Sundance
There are times when CTH and the perspective of Glenn Greenwald do not align. This is not one of those times. {Direct Rumble Link Here}
In this segment with Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald nails the agenda, motives and outcomes of the U.S. media as they relate to the recent classified intelligence leaks. This is a solid three-minute encapsulation of the problem. WATCH:
South Korea’s diplomatic policy dictates that it will not send ammunition to countries at war. The recently leaked documents from the Pentagon reveal that the US is bullying South Korea into breaking its policy to arm Ukraine. Worse, the documents reveal that US intelligence agencies have been spying on South Korea. This is an unfortunate start to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s meeting with President Joe Biden scheduled for April 26.
CIA personnel has been warning Washington not to speak to Seoul over the phone until they agreed to arm Ukraine. Former presidential secretary for foreign affairs Lee Moon-hee, named Yi Mun-hui in the documents, told former Director of National Security Kim Sung-han that South Korea would have two options. The first would be for the nation to change its stance. The second would be for South Korea to send weapons to Poland, using Poland as the middleman to avoid breaking policy as “getting the ammunition to Ukraine quickly was the ultimate goal of the United States.” The documents also reveal potential wiretapping against South Korea who is supposed to be an ally.
Yoon is under pressure from both the US and his own policymakers. Opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Park Hong-keun is urging Yoon to demand an apology from Biden. “If confirmed, it is an unacceptable practice that cannot be tolerated in the 70-year alliance and a clear infringement of South Korea’s sovereignty that shatters bilateral trust … The U.S. government should be faithful to its ally and apologize to the South Korean public and the government, if those reports are true,” Park stated.
Why is the US risking its international alliances to fight a foreign war? The Biden Administration has completely abandoned domestic policy in favor of fighting a war on behalf of Ukraine. Countries previously yielded to the demands of the US as its military and economic power made it the key ally. Things have changed. Nations are increasingly distancing themselves from the US as the country spirals down a dark path that has already shaken its superpower status.
The Neocons are on both sides of the aisle. In the Republican camp, of course, we have Lindsy Graham, but there is also Marco Rubio who has the audacity to tell Europe they better pick sides. Then there is Michael McCaul of Texas. Based on reliable sources, the military has been instructed to prepare for war. This is inevitable.
The Democrats intend to beat the war drums to make sure the Republican Neocons will vote with them. Biden intends to Run in 2024. The Neocons need him because he is senile and will say what they write on his cue cards and sign whatever they put in front of him. Blinken is the leader of the Neocons in the White House. They are pushing for war BEFORE the 2024 election for these people looks at war and that typically the president in power is always reelected in times of war. So, hunker down. Hide your kids. It’s off to war we go so Biden can be reelected. They thought Trump would be the Republican and Biden could beat him. That remains to be seen when the body bags start coming home. These people have no respect for the people or human rights. It’s all just a chess game to them.
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Martin Armstrong, a true market maverick & innovator – ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme’ M.Twain – a motto for the ages and closely linked to Martin Armstrong’s market and personal ethos, Martin’s Socrates platform is truly groundbreaking as is his Economic Confidence model, listen in and learn more – enjoy!
Posted originally on the CTH on April 5, 2023 | Sundance
A case study in the DeceptiCon politics that we discuss amid these pages surfaced today.
WASHINGTON DC – Former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Wednesday joined Husch Blackwell Strategies, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm with close ties to the veteran GOP senator.
Blunt will lead a newly launched strategic advisory practice at the firm, which is run by Gregg Hartley, Blunt’s former chief of staff in the House, and Andy Blunt, his son. Blunt will also reunite with Stacy McBride, his chief of staff in the Senate who joined the firm last month.
Blunt recently retired from Congress after 26 years in office. He held several prominent roles, chairing the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Republican Policy Committee and serving as the No. 2 Republican in the House. He was a trusted adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Blunt is the third senator from the 117th Congress to announce a new gig. Former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) joined lobbying and law firm DLA Piper in a similar advisory role. Former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) joined the American Enterprise Institute as a public policy fellow.
The Missouri Republican, who served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will maintain his security clearance and continue to advise the intelligence community separate from his role at the firm. He’ll also stay on as the recently elected president of the State Historical Society of Missouri. (read more)
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