Tag Archives: Destroy Russia

Aug 10 2023

Western Sanctions Not Impacting Russian Economy as Much as Expected


Posted originally on the CTH on August 9, 2023 | Sundance 

I have been researching the MACRO economic dynamic in Russia quite deeply for the past six months.  Essentially looking to discover not only what impact the western imposed sanctions might be having, but more broadly looking to see what happens to self-sustainability when essentially locked out from the world of commercial imports.

The research is fascinating, not simply because it is a unique opportunity, but also because national economic issues play a big role in the overall social dynamic.  That said, I can say the social aspect is stunningly more interesting than the data driven outcomes.  When you really dig deep into actual life of the ordinary people in Russia, far away from the geopolitical contexts, you get an entirely different perspective.  My worldview of the average Russian person/family has completely changed.

There is a really good thread on how the western sanctions against Russia are having a much lesser impact than initially thought [SEE HERE].  On the economic side, one thing I would point to is how the economy is essentially an outcome of two facets: (1) the internal production strength, and (2) the service side of the ledger.

[READ HERE]

The author makes the accurate point that from a production side perspective, Russia actually has a larger economy now than Germany, the largest EU nation.  The cause for this is “autarchy” or self-sufficiency.  Indeed, as the timeline of the sanctions closes in on the second year completing, the Russian production economy is even stronger than when the sanctions began.  Quite simply, they are making even more of their own goods now.

The sanctions hit what would typically fall into the service side of the economy, as well as financial and economic roadblocks.  However, that aspect of the Russian economy was much smaller than most suspected and there were sanctions going back to 2014 which made the outcome of the 2022 western imposed restrictions less impactful.

I will be finishing my review of the economic data once Q3 is over, that will give me an entire year of data to share.  However, the social stuff is even more fascinating.

I have a new understanding of why former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was so comfortable using Russia as the place to hide after his release of classified intelligence showing how the U.S. government was spying on Americans via social media and metadata collection.

I have mostly been looking at three areas in Western Russia.  Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).  Of the three generally large metropolitan areas, St Petersburg is by far the most interesting.  It’s beautiful there and the city is alive and vibrant.

In many ways you might compare Russia in 2023 to the USA in/around 1988.  Life is just not complicated and far more socially engaged.

I’ll have more on this later, but if you are ever bored check out the Russian YouTubers who livestream broadcast “a day-in-the-life” type of activity.  The infrastructure is in generally good repair, the people seem warm and friendly and there is a strong social value placed on family and kids.

There are certainly negatives and the cultural dynamic of the former USSR is still evident.  Technologically they are somewhat behind in some details, but the overall cohesion of their value system is something I did not fully appreciate until I started down this road of research.

I can see why the average Russian could be wide-eyed during a visit to the USA and fascinated with the overall quality of life that might be considered indulgent.  However, I can also see how reciprocally the average American could be wide-eyed and smiling at the overall sense of the Russian people.

Strip out the politics, and we are all much more similar than we are different.

Aug 10 2023

The Intercept Publishes Diplomatic Cable Highlighting U.S. Pressure on Pakistan to Remove President Imran Khan


Posted originally on the CTH on August 9, 2023 | Sundance 

What do Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, USA’s Donald Trump, Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Mexico’s Lopez-Obrador all have in common?

First, they are all strong nationalists. Second, the U.S. government has either influenced the removal and judicial incarceration or is currently seeking the removal and judicial incarceration of each of them.

As the U.S. State Dept. (Tony Blinken), USAID (Samantha Power) and CIA (Director Burns) conduct influence operations around the world to advance the interests of the multinationals; newly released diplomatic cables from inside Pakistan reveal the U.S. influence effort to remove former Pakistan President Imran Khan.

It sucks to wake up every day and accept the USA are the bad guys.

THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.

The meeting, between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as supporters of Khan and his military and civilian opponents jockeyed for power.

The political struggle escalated on August 5 when Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges and taken into custody for the second time since his ouster. Khan’s defenders dismiss the charges as baseless. The sentence also blocks Khan, Pakistan’s most popular politician, from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.

One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.

The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not. (read more, including cable)

Aug 9 2023

Ramaswamy has Near Fatal Plane Accident


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted Aug 9, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

There is a price to pay for going against the global elite. I reported how GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sued the World Economic Forum and won. Shortly after, his plane lost oxygen mid-flight and was forced to make an emergency landing. “Due to an unexpected cabin depressurization issue in his plane, Vivek Ramaswamy was forced to return to campaign headquarters this morning,” the press release stated.

I am not saying that this was an assassination attempt by the global elite or American intelligence agencies. I do find the timing odd. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been pleading for Secret Service protection to no avail. We all know that John F. Kennedy Jr., 38, died in July 1999 after he allegedly lost control of his plane and crashed into the ocean near Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy was an experienced pilot, and the circumstances surrounding the crash remain peculiar.

Are the other presidential candidate in danger as well? Ramaswamy has openly discredited the New World Order and shares ideas that are considered dangerous by the mainstream media. I must also mention that Ramaswamy began openly discussing his personal belief that the US government began funding Ukraine due to Hunter Biden’s special interests there. This is now only a conspiracy, but it would not be unimaginable if it were true.

Aug 8 2023

European Companies Lost Over €100 Billion on Russia Amid War


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Trade Re-Posted Aug 8, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The Financial Times estimates that European companies have lost at least €100 billion ($110 billion) since the Russia-Ukraine war began. Around 176 European companies noted significant losses in their fiscal year reports for 2022, and the future remains grim as tensions continue to grow.

Naturally, energy-related industries faced half of those losses, followed by banking, chemicals, industrial, and automotive. BP, TotalEnergies, and Shell lost 40.6 billion euros due to the war, but the spike in energy costs helped them to post favorable earnings reports. Numerous European companies cited “asset impairments, foreign exchange-related charges and other one-off expenses as a result of the sale, closure or reduction of Russian businesses.” Britain, Germany, and France reported the steepest losses, attributing to at least 20 billion of the 100 billion euros lost.

Half of the 1,871 European companies previously operating in Russia are still conducting full or limited business there, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. Russia has since required foreign companies fleeing Russia to pay a 10% exit fee and sell their assets to Russian companies at a 50% discount. It is nearly impossible for companies to operate in Russia due to high sanctions, logistics, and public pressure. Businesses that did not flee will be faced with massive charges from Moscow and are practically stuck between forfeiting their businesses or attempting to operate amid an escalating war.

Aug 8 2023

Recusal? – Kash Patel Reveals Stunning Background of DC Judge Chutkan in Cases Against President Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on August 8, 2023Sundance 

Appearing with Sebastian Gorka, Kash Patel puts some excellent context on the issue of Dircuit Court Judge Chutkan presiding over the special counsel case against President Trump.  {Direct Rumble Link Here}

I was unaware of the detail where Judge Chutkan originally presided over the case when Fusion GPS tried to block Devin Nunes and Kash Patel from revealing the source of the payments for the Chriss Steele dossier.  This is a big datapoint. WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT – Kash Patel: “Judge Chutkan, for those who don’t know, represented Burisma, Hunter Biden’s fraudulent consulting firm, she was a lawyer at the same law firm with Hunter Biden. But Seb, let’s put that aside. What other matters are there for her recusal? In 2017 when Devin Nunes and I were running the Russiagate investigation, we figured out who paid for the Steele dossier. Fusion GPS, the DNC, and the Hillary Clinton campaign paid Christopher Steele millions of dollars and they laundered it through the FBI and the FISA court to unlawfully surveil Donald Trump.  That’s big-time stuff.

On the eve of us winning that disclosure, before the world knew, Fusion GPS took us to federal court and that case landed in JUDGE CHUTKAN’S COURT ROOM. … After a month of heavy litigation where Judge Chutkan knew the ins and outs of Fusion GPS, our proceedings, all possible witnesses, etc., when she could not prevent us from prevailing, she recused -on her own- from that case. Why?”

“We found out her law firm, Boies Schiller, represented Fusion GPS.  The very client that was in front of her in federal court was one of her former clients. That is rule #1 for disqualification.”

GORKA: “Boies Schiller Flexner is the same company where Chutkan and Hunter Biden worked!”

PATEL: “You gotta ask yourself, Seb, how come it took Chutkan a month [to recuse herself]? … She wanted to block the bank records.

Imagine if we never found out who paid for the dossier. … She set the precedent. She cannot neutrally and arbitrarily preside over Donald Trump’s criminal trial when she recused herself from the very representation of the Democratic entrenchment: the DNC, the Hillary Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, because she was so biased because of her prior representation from Boies Schiller.

How could she possibly be allowed to stay on this case? And it wasn’t us, Seb. We got her off because of her own history. That precedent is what Donald Trump’s lawyers must apply this week.”

Perhaps this recusal issue is why four other district court judges including Boasberg sat in the back of the courtroom for President Trump’s appearance last week.  Perhaps the judges were proactively contemplating who would meet the DC recusal threshold.

Aug 8 2023

Florida District Court Judge Cannon Denies Special Counsel Motions to Seal Evidence from Public Review, Asks Smith to Justify Out of District Grand Jury


Posted Originally on the CTH on August 7, 2023 | Sundance 

Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a DOJ request to keep evidence sealed in the Mar-a-Lago documents case against President Donald J Trump.  Additionally, Cannon has demanded that Special Counsel Jack Smith explain why he is using an out of district grand jury to construct additional charges against the defendant.  [2-page ruling pdf here]

Cannon has presided over the document issues even before the indictment against Donald Trump was unsealed.  As a result, she has a good frame of reference for the Lawfare tactics the Special Counsel is attempting to deploy.

Apparently, the DOJ doesn’t want defendant Waltine Nauta to have the same attorney as someone who might also be a co-defendant or witness in the case.  A “Garcia Hearing refers to hearing held under criminal procedure to ensure that a defendant who is one of two or more defendants represented by the same attorney realizes the following:

1.that there is a risk of conflict of interest inherent in the joint representation;  2.that s/he is entitled to the services of an attorney who does not represent anyone else in the defendant’s case.”

Judge Cannon denied the DOJ request to keep filings sealed in the case and she removed sealed filings from the record.  Cannon also asked for prosecutors to provide additional explanations about their continued use of a DC jury in the case, which is situated in Florida.

Aug 7 2023

Big Picture Interview of Martin Armstrong


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Aug 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The following image is what the WEF and the Neocons have planed for us.

Aug 7 2023

Planned Parenthood – Eugenics and Population Control Report


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Aug 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Planned Parenthood released its annual report for 2021-2022, congratulating themselves for the work they have done. Bans off our bodies – sure. I do not take the authoritarian route on any personal choice. But there is no mistaking the targeted eugenics program at the foundation of Planned Parenthood. They have been openly targeting Black and Brown babies since the beginning. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, who Hillary Clinton calls her idol, openly believed that minorities were unfit to have children. Sanger attended KKK rallies to promote abortions and gain funding. She endorsed the 1927 Buck v. Bell decision that allowed the US government to forcibly sterilize “unfit” mothers without consent, resulting in thousands of women losing their right to reproduce.

It could not be more obvious. Sanger began the “Negro Project” in 1939, where she hired Black nurses and doctors to eliminate fears of racism. She even recruited Black religious leaders. Sanger opened clinics in the South in predominately Black neighborhoods, and to this day, Planned Parenthood clinics are in predominately Black neighborhoods.

In 2022, Planned Parenthood ACTIVELY MARKETED its services to “reach new audiences,” predominately in the Black and Latino communities. Page 25 of their report discusses how they enrolled the help of Black, Latina, and non-binary creators to reach minorities and successfully received over 20 million views and 135,000 new followers. They specifically want minorities to walk through their doors. They make no mention of marketing to the White or Asian communities for a reason. This is not merely about abortion; it’s a eugenics program.

So in 2021, Planned Parenthood performed 374,155 abortions, amounting to 1,200 abortions per day. Only 1,803 women opted to put their babies up for adoption. The clinics saw fewer clients but performed more abortions, meaning the education piece is not a priority. They now offer the abortion pill through telemedicine as well. They are promoting gender transitioning services to reduce further the number of people who can reproduce, and even have a guideline on how to talk to your PRESCHOOLER about gender identity.

So sure, make your decision based on your own circumstances. The government need not tell us what to do on any level. That is between you, your doctor, and God. But this organization was never intended to empower women. From the beginning, their mission has been to rid the world of those deemed undesirable and unfit to live by the founders. Hence, the US government supplements 35% of its funding as reducing the global population is the goal.

Aug 7 2023

Marines Deployed as US-Iran Tensions Rise


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re- Posted Aug 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

World War III continues to heat up as the US Marines have been deployed to the Strait of Hormuz. The military also plans to deploy F-16 and F-35 warplanes and an Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit containing 3,000 troops. France24 says that Iran has attempted, sometimes unsuccessfully, to take control of 20 internationally flagged ships containing oil over the past two years. But the Associated Press reported last month that Iran had seized five ships over the same period.

Coincidentally, this news of the Marine deployment comes days after the ISW announced that Iran plans to build a drone factory in Belarus. Russia has admitted that it was having some difficulties importing weapons from Iran. The US Navy has already been positioned in this area to combat Iranian forces. Around 20% of all crude exports pass through this area of the Gulf, so of course it must be guarded. However, why send in the Marines and fighter jets?

Iran has been building its nuclear capabilities, claiming it is purely peaceful. US-Iran relations deteriorated further in 2015 when Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement and slapped Iran with sanctions. Iran produced its Abu Mahdi cruise missile in 2020 that has the capacity to target ships 620 miles away. There has not been a Marine presence in the Persian Gulf since November 2021. They claim this recent deployment is to secure energy prices. Yet, the US, French, and British naval forces have ramped up their presence in recent months. Could they be preparing for a larger event?

Aug 6 2023

Jack Smith Asks Court for Protection After Trump Tells Political Lobby Group and SuperPAC He Will “Go After Them” for Lying


Posted originally on the CTH on August 5, 2023 | Sundance 

Like most typical leftist communities, the Lawfare team are full of pearl-clutching victim lawyers once you push back against their bullying.

In the latest example, the special prosecution team of Jack Smith are typical Karen’s, asking to see the manager because the free ketchup is no longer available.

Jack Smith is asking activist U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutka for a protective order that would keep all the fabricated Lawfare evidence hidden from public scrutiny, review and/or ridicule.  The DOJ justification for the protective order ridiculously centers around Donald Trump snarking at the Club for Growth lobbying group and Koch Brother’s PAC about his intent to hit back at them for lying.

[Full pdf Citation Here]

The Trump post to Truth Social triggered the DOJ, because projection is part of their ideology.  Lawfare is centered around lies, fabrications and false constructs – essentially the manipulation of events using Lawfare tactics.   The citation they reference has nothing to do with the DOJ case, but like typical leftist weasels, the bullies, cry foul at the slightest hint of even implied pushback.

The Trump campaign released the following statement: “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth.”

In life, I have always found the people who want to keep the conversation secret are usually not the people who are trustworthy.

Speak in private as you would speak in public, applying grandma’s rules for politeness of course, and generally speaking what follows is more genuine.

The people who need to hide evidence are not the good people.

Lawfare is triggered.