Major Riots Against Macron Throughout France Over Questionable Election


Armstrong Economics Blog/France Re-Posted Apr 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

There are major riots in just about every city in France over the validity of the election.  Police are breaking up protests by using teargas on civilians. The youth especially are protesting for Macron wants to create an EU army and that will inevitably lead to drafts.

Should Russian Oligarchs Fund Ukraine?


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

As the war in Ukraine continues, so does the need for funding. Zelensky’s people are now asking for $7 billion in funding per month. The World Bank estimates that it will cost $60 billion to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure and the war is still ongoing. Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva said they secured the $7 billion in funding for two months already with funds from other nations. Who will pay for the rest?

The $60 billion estimate is over three times the amount of Ukraine’s GDP. They could never recover on their own. Some would like to use the forfeited assets of Russian oligarchs to fund the war. US Treasury Secretary Yellen warned that doing so would be a “significant step” that would require careful consideration among nations. This yet again brings NATO members one step closer to fully entering the war.

Former hedge fund manager Bill Browder, who has advocated freezing oligarch’s funds, also once warned long ago not to tamper with the oligarch’s funds after seeing their retribution firsthand. “You don’t want to take [the oligarchs’] money because if you lose it, they’ll kill you,” Browder stated. Hedge funds are now required to freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs but have not received direct advice on how to manage those frozen assets. This leaves funds open to future lawsuits if not violence if the sanctions are ever lifted. Some are pointing to the hedge funds and private management companies for collecting the money in the first place, regardless of whether it was earned in a perfectly legal manner.

For all intents and purposes, the people who lost their life savings are mostly private citizens who have been a victim of circumstance. They did not fund Russia’s invasion. This could be considered an act of war by Russia for it would certainly be a complete violation of international law. Using assets seized by private citizens to fund a war opens the door to a new form of warfare that will only cause people to refrain from investing in countries that allow this to go on. Welcome to the total collapse of globalization. We are staring into the eyes of a Great Depression that would make the 1930s look like a dress rehearsal.

Georgia confiscated the property of people who supported the king during the American Revolution. Because of that, Georgia remains one of the poorest states for it took over 100 years before capital began to return to Georgia.

Israel Added Yuan to Reserve Currency Portfolio


Armstrong Economics Blog/China Re-Posted Apr 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Israel has now moved to add the Chinese yuan to its reserve currency portfolio, which will create a natural hedge against the risk of insanity pushing for war by the United States and Europe. Adding the yuan to the reserve portfolio will automatically reduce the exposure to the dollar and especially to the euro, thereby creating a natural hedge, whereas a decline in the dollar and euro would imply a rise in the yuan and even the ruble.

The Middle East is divided and Zelensky pretends to be the Jewish hero, yet before the war, at the United Nations, Zelensky maintained a firm anti-Israel position. In 2020 alone, he voted for Ukraine affirming UN resolutions condemning the Israeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria. He also opposed the Israeli “occupation” of Jerusalem and the Israeli “occupation” of “the occupied Syrian Golan.” After the war began, he suddenly became Jewish, asking for money and equating the Russian invasion to the Holocaust. Then Zelensky has the audacity to criticize Israel for not sending more money to his personal piggy bank. He tells everyone that World War III has already begun so, therefore, send all your money to him in Ukraine – no refunds accepted.

Zelensky is a fraud, and he was as corrupt as the rest of the lot in Ukraine. Corruption in Ukraine is certainly in the top 5 in the world. I was told that you MUST pay bribes and if you do not pay them to the right people, they will still retaliate against you. NEVER send money to Ukraine. It is as bad as all the fraud from Africa with people claiming they have millions and nobody to leave it to. He knows how to act always appearing in an army T-shirt and unshaven to pretend he is roughing it.

Zelensky had stashed $15 million in offshore accounts and that was before the war (See Gravitas). The rumor is his target is to stash at least $100 million now demanding $7 billion per month from the West. He has NO incentive to end the conflict and will not seek peace and as long as he is filling his pockets. What Zelensky has actually done is putting Israel at risk, for now, even Egypt has turned to Russia and is holding joint military exercises. The old Arab states that were against Israel in previous wars are now aligning with Russia as the US appears to be using Zelensky as its proxy to start a war with Russia. This is now turning up the heat for World War III to also engulf the Middle East.

It is curious that the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East, Israel, which pours dollars into the finances of the Jewish state on an annual basis, has realized that there is a risk to having only dollars and euros. Economically, Israel appears to have been awakened to the reality that the Neocons have divided the world economy and the sanctions on Russia will NEVER be removed, resulting in the total destruction of the world economy and the end of globalization. Including the yuan in their reserve currency portfolio is an acknowledgment that the Biden Administration has in fact destroyed the world economy as we have known it.

The Chinese yuan in Israel’s reserves at the central bank is just the beginning of a major change in the monetary distribution of its reserves since the collapse of Bretton Woods. Israel added the Chinese yuan, along with other currencies creating a natural hedge. Their reserves include the US dollar, the euro, and the British pound but will also include the Canadian and Australian dollars, the Japanese yen, and the Chinese yuan.

The Israel Monetary Commission has added the pound and yen, which will represent 5%, and the currencies of Canada and Australia will have 3.5% each. The yuan will be set at 2% of the portfolio. This shift has resulted in the decline of the euro’s share falling to 20%, declining from 30%+, while the dollar is declining to 61% from 66.5%. While the headlines talk about the dollar declining, they generally do not reporting the most drastic decline was in the euro which was over 33%. The British pound weight, on the other hand, almost doubled to 5%, returning to the level it last saw in 2011.

Likewise, Saudi Arabia agreed to price oil also in yuan as it is in a Petroleum Alliance with China-Russia. It should be noted that the change coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions on Russia. They have come to realize that the Biden Administration has singlehandedly destroyed the world economy rendering SWIFT to be just a political tool undermining its integrity. This has led China to push its alternative system that our model warns will eventually supersede SWIFT post-2032. Obviously, Israel has seen the handwriting on the wall and is attempting to gradually become independent of the SWIFT system itself.

The International Monetary Fund has also warned that the sanctions on Russia are undermining the dollar’s share of total world foreign exchange reserves which is rapidly falling to its lowest point in two decades as we are witnessing the rise of the Chinese yuan.

Before Obama’s Neocon War on Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Apr 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Before Obama started the New Cold War against Russia following Hillary’s failed attempt to take over Russia by interfering in the 2000 election, the world was much safer before all of this Neocon nonsense began when Obama came to power in 2008. Ever since then, Hillary, a staunch Neocon, did everything in her power to destroy the relations between the United States and Russia.

Macron Won – One Giant Step toward World War III


Armstrong Economics Blog/France Re-Posted Apr 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Of course, Macron won amid allegations of vote tampering. If a ballot was torn in any way, which seems to have been those of Le Pen, they were just discarded. There was NO POSSIBLE WAY that the EU would have allowed Le Pen to win for she would have upset the EU and gone against this madness of creating a war with Russia to cover up the collapse in the monetary system thanks to 8+ years of negative interest rates.

The Die is Cast. Europe is headed into self-destruction. Meanwhile, the UK press is looking at putting on sanctions against Germany because they are still relying on Russian gas. We have the most braindead crop of world leaders in human history. Not a single one will bother to understand how world peace is actually accomplished.

While Rome conquered the known world, they quickly saw the benefits of being part of the Roman Empire – free trade! The conquered lands all began to sell local products to Rome and Romans were quick to invest in the newly conquered regions. It was economics that made Rome great. That is precisely what is being torn apart here dividing the world and in the process raising the threat of war.

This coin of Augustus (27BC-14AD) shows a conquered barbarian handing a child representing their nation to Augustus symbolizing their subservient posture to the Roman Empire. Cutting off Russia and hinting about sanctions against China and now against Germany for buying Russian energy is the precise way to create a world war. When there is no benefit in working together, then there is no reason for peaceful relations.

NEVER in my life have I ever witnessed such stupidity among world leaders. And just for the record, Putin is by far the ONLY rational leader. Those behind him think he has been too “SOFT” on Ukraine and he should have nuked Kyiv and then pound his chest asking who is next? There are those who would not hesitate to win for they already view this as a war with NATO and the United States using Ukrainians to try to weaken Russia for the kill. Hillary has even said so much.

The Dnieper River was the border of Ukraine as well as Belarus. It never included the east that was always Russia going back to the Russian Empire. Merely because the USSR assigned that region to Kyiv for administration did not transform ethnic Russians into Ukrainians. Naturally, some people just want to blame Russia and say they invaded without any discussion of the antics of the West or Zelensky which have deliberately provoked this war. The financial system was collapsing thanks to negative interest rates that have wiped out the European bond markets. They NEED this war to hide their decades of fiscal mismanagement.

This is a war simply intended to defeat Russia. Zelensky not only was elected under false pretenses promising peace and the end of corruption, but he has even waged war on the Russian religion like Henry VIII trying to seize all churches and eliminate Moscow and the Patriarch appointing all authority to Ukraine.

For this, those writing the scripts for Biden to deliver have destroyed the world economy and reversed all the world peace efforts since Kennedy and Nixon’s effort to divide China and Russia. All for what exactly? Climate Change or the real issue – the collapse of Keynesian Economics?

It is a shame that far too many Ukrainians are being used as pawns in this war. The more killed, the better. When the history of this period is written, we will see that the media has been creating this war just as they created the Spanish American War. The father of yellow journalism, Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), made his fortune by creating a fake war to sell more newspapers.

Perhaps the press is desperate for the same motive. CNN+ was a disaster and is being shut down. They had less viewership than even this blog. Perhaps CNN desperately needs war with blood in the streets to regain their viewership from the days of the Gulf War?

Pulitzer made his money by spilling the blood and guts of young Americans. Perhaps he felt guilty and left his estate to create the Pulitzer Prize for honest journalism – what a joke,

I was on the water over the weekend and the number of houses flying the Ukrainian flag warns that there will be support for World War III for these people have no clue that they have been manipulated into a position to support the real agenda.

Comrades, Another Coded Message Transmitted from the Rebel Alliance, Intellectual Froglegs Spring Edition


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 25, 2022 

Comrades, the dissident messenger known as Joe Dan Gorman has surfaced again, just long enough to transmit another Tokyo Rose’ broadcast in a coded frequency only receivable by patriots with a funny bone.  This natural coded messaging ensures communists and leftists are incapable of receiving it.

This spring edition comes from deep in the underground bunker of the Rebel Alliance.  Pull out those super-secret decoder rings, and enjoy the transmission before the deep state satellite interception trucks show up on your driveway…

{Direct Rumble Link Here} – {Website Here}

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We, the free-thinking American people, are now intellectual dissidents in our own country.  Comrade rebels, don’t forget to eat this broadcast after sharing.

Sunday Talks, Maria Bartiromo Interviews Ratcliffe About Durham


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 24, 2022 | Sundance

In the discussions surrounding John Durham’s investigation, eventually conversations end up sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher.  Blah, blah, blah, – blah, bla, blah blah. This interview is a case study. However, in the interest of fairness for those retaining hope that John Durham is going to deliver accountability, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe whips up a batch of hopium.

Video prompted to 09:40 where the subject of the latest court filings by John Durham surfaces.  Ratcliffe is optimistic that John Durham intends to charge more characters from the Clinton group with a “conspiracy to commit fraud” against the government.  WATCH

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Sunday Talks, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Interview with CBS Margaret Brennan, Cash is Important Because American Taxpayers Need to Fund Our Pensions and Salaries


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 24, 2022 | Sundance 

Given the scale of the stakes for western government; and given the professed intentions of govt-aligned big tech to control the story; it is almost impossible to have an honest and open dialogue on the internet about what is happening in Ukraine.  That said, for those who have been using independent resources to form their own opinion of the events in/around Ukraine, this interview highlights some important aspects.

First, notice how Prime Minister Shmyhal is not the least bit bashful about saying cash is important because American taxpayers, the working American people, have a duty to fund the pensions and retirement accounts of the Ukrainian people, including govt politicians. [03:37] Indeed, much of the financial assistance Joe Biden has been sending to Ukraine (beyond the weapons to support the proxy war) is going toward paying the wages and salaries of corrupt Ukranian leadership.

Let that first point settle in deeply, as we consider how working Americans are being financially destroyed by U.S. monetary/fiscal policy, yet the same U.S. officials wiping out your bank account are funding the bank accounts of people in Ukraine.  Interview WATCH:

Second point.  Notice [06:02] how Prime Minister Shmyhal hedges, pauses and thinks about the response to the question of ‘what is victory’, a stalemate or Russian exit?  In the U.S. proxy war against Russia, Shmyhal is not the person who can answer that question, only the White House can.

This CBS interview is pure propaganda intended to keep the U.S. audience believing a false premise about the Russian war in Ukraine.  The pearl clutching faux empathy from Margaret Brennan is enough to make an intellectually honest person very angry.  This narrative engineering effort from the American corporate media is sickening, genuinely sickening.

The level of narrative control in combination with the extreme media promotion of government propaganda is totalitarian in scale. U.S. govt sponsored censorship and the collaboration with on-line Big Brother tech controls have reduced the internet discussion to a series of coded messages, and carefully scripted word assemblies in order to avoid the looming eye of Sauron.

It was only a few decades ago when the former Soviet Union was famous for their propaganda against their own citizens.  Now, with the multinational corporations dictating policy to western government via the World Economic Forum, that entire dynamic has flipped.

In 2022 we have even worse media propaganda against the U.S. citizens than Pravda ever attempted over the former Soviet states.  At least in the former Soviet Union the propaganda effort was laughed at by the citizens on the streets.  If you point out the media dynamic today in America, you become a target for the totalitarian political state and their FBI state police units.  It’s remarkable how the dynamic has flipped.

We, the free-thinking American people, are now intellectual dissidents in our own country.

French Presidential Election Today, Emmanuel Macron vs Marine Le Pen


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 24, 2022 | Sundance 

The biggest election with global significance is taking place today in France as Marine Le Pen (economic nationalist) challenges current President Emmanuel Macron (economic globalist).  The world is watching this one, because if Le Pen can win it would be seismic in political consequence.

Current voter turnout is recorded as moderate (63% range) with rural areas running higher turnout than urban areas.  Forecasters were predicting around 71% voter turnout.   GBNews is on the ground with a report:

Marine Le Pen is a long shot.  If she wins it would be massive.

We will not know the early results for a few more hours, around 4pm ET.  Some other data below…..

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The Real Zelensky from Outside the USA


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Apr 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong