Do Some Ukrainians Realize They Are Pawns of the Neocons?


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

QUESTION: Do the Ukrainian people understand that they are the pawns of the Neocons? Can you confirm that Ukraine shot down Russia’s hypersonic missile? They are sacrificing innocent people on both sides in this quest to destroy Russia and take all its resources.

DJ

ANSWER: This is the former adviser to Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, who quit in protest after he told the truth that a Russian missile that hit a building in Dnipro, killing 44 people, was shot down by Kyiv and was not directed at an apartment building. He has publicly stated that

“The West deceived Russia. They promised not to push NATO to the east, and they did. They turned Ukraine into a huge anti-Russian country. If I was in Russia’s shoes, I would have done the exact same thing.”

I have spoken to some Ukrainians who are fully aware that they have been used as cannon fodder. They are starting to wake up that they are losing everything for someone else’s geopolitical game. Had the government honored the Minsk Agreement, there would have been no civil war.

Back in 1999, it was the Neocons who were linked with the bankers in their attempt to take over Russia. I was asked to invest $10 billion into their Hermitage Capital Management organization and I refused.  In this second edition, I have added the info on the Neocons and their antics. This book was written using all the declassified documents from the Clinton Administration so it is not my opinion.

As I have said, we had two Ukrainian employees, one from Donstk and the other from Kyiv and they could not be in the same room together. This is well entrenched the same as the Irish v the Protestants in Ireland or the Suni v Shite in the Middle East.

As far as actually shooting down a hypersonic missile, we will have to see if this is true or not. My fear is that if this is correct, then removing Putin will open the door to Russia using nuclear weapons if they have no other defense. The computer has been targeting June/July on many levels.

Zelensky: Ukraine Will Win War before 2024 US Elections


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted May 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I have said it countless times – the only way they will keep Biden in power is to enter the war. The US and all NATO nations have already unofficially entered the war by supplying soldiers and a blank check to Ukraine and attempting to nuke Russia’s economy by removing it from SWIFT and placing outrageous sanctions on individual citizens. Now, Zelensky is saying he believes Ukraine will achieve victory before the 2024 US Presidential Elections.

No one is going to “win” this war. Neither side can back down now without a full-scale global conflict. The US will likely officially enter the war before the 2024 US Presidential Election. Zelensky confidently stated that regardless of who wins our independent election, the leader of the free world (allegedly) will still support the war in Ukraine. He’s right! There are neocons on both sides of the aisle and no one will permit Trump to win even if the people elect him.

During Trump’s town hall meeting, the first-time people actually tuned in to CNN, he said that deaths on both sides could have been prevented. Everyone is talking about strategy and winning as if we are playing Battleship. Mothers are losing their sons every day, and human nature never changes. The Ukrainian mother mourns her son the same as the Russian mother, and neither had a say in this completely preventable conflict. DeSantis has also said that backing Ukraine is not a priority for the US. “We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland,” DeSantis declared.

Trump ruffled feathers in Europe as president. He warned Germany that they were too dependent on Russian energy, and they laughed in his face. He threatened to exit NATO is other nations failed to pay their fair share. Trump is still standing firm on his position that the US has less to lose and has accused Europe on unfairly relying on the US. His former vice president disagrees, as Mike Pence, a potential candidate, as stated. “We support those who fight our enemies on their shores, so we will not have to fight them ourselves,” wrote Pence. UN Ambassador (the title gives it away) Nikki Haley also wants to continue fighting the proxy war in the US.

Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy is also against the war. Kennedy tweeted:

“In 2019 actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate winning the Ukrainian presidency with 70% of the vote. As Benjamin Abelow observes in his brilliant book, “How the West Brought War to Ukraine,” Zelensky almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words — “I will not join NATO.” But pressured by NeoCons in the Biden White House, and by violent fascist elements within the Ukrainian government, Zelensky integrated his army with NATO’s and allowed the U.S. to place nuclear-capable Aegis missile launchers along Ukraine’s 1,200-mile border with Russia. These were provocations that senior U.S. diplomats like post-WWII foreign policy architect George Kennan, former U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Perry, and former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock had long described as “red lines” for Russian leadership. Let’s face it, the Neocons wanted this war with Russia, just as they wanted war with Iraq. Listen here to NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark describe how White House Neocons justified the Iraq invasion.”

I have posted the video he shared with this tweet at the top of this article. I have been criticized for analyzing Kennedy’s economic and environmentalist views, but I am not for or against anyone and would not write someone off simply because of their political party. I believe he is right in his views regarding Ukraine and COVID, although I may disagree with him on other items. Again, anyone against the establishment is going to have a rough time leading up to the election.

Everyone in the establishment craves war; hence, the machine will ensure that the US is positioned where they MUST enter the war. I wish I were wrong, but the computer has always been right. The War Cycle turned up in 2014 and only indicates a further escalation.

Pasta Prices Soar 20% in Italy – The Return of the Pasta Cartel?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted May 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

(image above represents shrinkflation — an additional burden to consumers)

Italy’s Industry Minister Adolfo Urso called for an emergency meeting to discuss the sharp uptick in food prices. Pasta alone is up nearly 20%, and this is a major problem in a country where 60% of residents report eating this item daily. Some provinces are seeing a 58% increase in this staple item. Siena, Tuscany, reported pasta rising from $1.50 a kilo to $2.37 a kilo within in a year. The European Central Bank stated that inflation reached 8.1% in March, so what is driving these food prices?

Some may point to wheat, the main ingredient, as the recent usurping of farmland and the Ukraine war had an impact on prices. However, wheat prices have actually declined in recent months. Durum wheat is down 30% since May of last year. The only other ingredient required to make pasta is water.

Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest farmers association, said that farmers are not seeing an uptick in revenue and are struggling to make ends meet. “There is no justification for the increases other than pure speculation on the part of the large food groups who also want to supplement their budgets with extra profits,” Assoutenti president Furio Truzzi told the Washington Post. Yet, food manufacturers are claiming that this spike in pasta costs in temporary and a result of pasta produced during the beginning of the Ukraine war and energy crisis.

This is not the first time that Italy has seen a rise in food prices. Italian authorities raised 26 pasta manufacturers in 2009 and fined the industry 12.5 million euros for creating what Reuters described as a “pasta cartel.” Around 90% of pasta makers in the country were in on the price gouging scheme that operated from May 2006 until May 2008, during which pasta prices rose 51.8% for retailers and 26% for consumers. Barilla, the largest pasta producer at the time, received the largest fine of 5.7 million euros.

Food inflation is a major problem across the world. In Italy, overall food prices rose 12.6% in April 2023, marking a slight decline from March’s 13.2% reading. This is unsustainably high. The overall inflation numbers put forth by government agencies are always the best-case scenario as they do not want us to see the true damage of inflation.

Oxford’s Protests Against 15-Minute Cities


Armstrong Economics Blog/WEF re-Posted May 15, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Those who see what is coming are beginning to resist the Great Reset. Ultimately, their plan to create a one-world government will fail but it will take firm resistance. As one reader mentioned, English residents of Oxford began protesting the 15-minute city concept in March. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest what they deemed a “Stalinist-style, closed city.”

Media agencies such as Politico are calling protestors far-right extremists. Yet thousands have joined the “Not Our Future” group to tell the global elite that they will not willingly surrender. Oxford’s city council agreed to implement these cities within the next 20 years. Reporter Mark Dolan said the “dystopian” city planning would create “”a surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious.” Tory MP Nick Fletcher called them an “international socialist concept” intended to “take away personal freedoms.”

Bloomberg News condemned the protestors as well, calling them “a case study in conspiracy paranoia.” They also called lockdowns a conspiracy before they happened. The plans for these cities are out in the open. Schwab clearly states his plan for the Great Reset in interviews, books, online writings, and conferences. He boasts about infiltrating cabinets across the globe. Every politician in recent years has had a big “BUILD BACK BETTER” logo on their podium. Everyone is suddenly pushing for the same non-existent issues such as creating legislation against naturally occurring weather patterns. It is in our faces, people. This is public information that the masses choose to ignore because it is upsetting.

As a reminder, here are some of the projections from the WEF for Agenda 2030:

  • All products will have become services
  • There is a global price on carbon
  • US dominance is over. We now have a handful of global powers
  • Virtual health assistants will replace human doctors
  • You will eat less meat
  • Refugees will be CEOs
  • The values that built the West will have been tested to the breaking point
  • Digital tech will close the gender and wealth gap
  • A global family of fun and functional cities
  • Technology in space underpins security on earth
  • You will own nothing and be happy

Again, this is all public information that can be found on the World Economic Forum’s website.

Yellen & Biden Should be Impeached to Save America?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gov’t Incompetence Re-Posted May 12, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Janet Yellen has become way too partisan to be a trustworthy government official. Since Biden now says he will nominate a Latina for Fed governor regardless if they are qualified or not is precisely why SVB failed for starters. Everyone just wants to be WOKE and hire people based entirely on their race or gender preference. SVB hired risk managers to check a box. Why is Yellen still there? She would be fired being a white over-the-hill official. Or is it that she is just like Biden and says whatever the people writing cue cards instruct her to say next?

All Yellen does now is illustrated if she had any economic qualification, she is either corrupted or senile. Yellen just preached that the Biden Administration should be allowed to spend recklessly and it’s all Republican fault about a default. She said that the US will default somewhere if the debt limit isn’t raised. How about we start with ending the Ukrainian black hole? How about the $3 trillion unaccounted for in the Pentagon budget?

Janet Yellen and Biden should not wear masks, they should be gagged. Yellen only claims doom and gloom and it is all the Republican fault. She said that they will have to renege on “some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients,” if Congress fails to act. You can bet that she will default on Social Security before anything else to inflict as much pain on people and then blame the Republicans for the next election.

Neither Biden nor Yellen should be in office. They are spending recklessly with no regard for the economy or the American people. What they have given Ukraine would have paid off ALL student loans. They constantly screw the American people all for the agendas of the Neocons and the Climate Change zealots. Since the FBI infiltrated the Catholic Church because of this gender nonsense, all Catholics should go light a candle and pray for the United States to be spilt soon than later. It is rapidly approaching the time to just turn out the lights on this failed experiment.

Once upon a time, this was supposed to be a country run by We the People.

Interview: The Real Rate of Inflation


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted May 13, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

15-Minute Cities – Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)


Armstrong Economics Blog/Real Estate Re-Posted May 12, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Let’s take a closer look at Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that have been proposed for 15-minute cities. These small units are typically under 1,000 sq ft and were once considered secondary structures on an existing residential lot. Think of what we once considered “in-law suites” or guest houses. There are numerous designs for ADUs, but 15-minute cities will seek to create connected units to house as many people as possible. The exact plans for ADUs within 15-minute cities are shrouded in mystery, but we can ascertain what they have planned based on other proposed policies.

“You will own nothing,” as these structures will be built upon government and/or privately owned land for the people to rent. The 15-minute city is marketed as a futuristic town where everyone will live within 15 minutes of essential services. Some may say that large cities already meet this criterion, but the difference is that people currently have the ability to own their properties. Excess will not be possible in ADUs due to size. The World Economic Forum is also proposing more “micro-housing units” or “plug-in houses” that will be no larger than 500 sq ft. Cars will be unnecessary in these sustainable cities, as reducing fossil fuels and sustainability is the top priority.

Senseable City Lab analyzed 40 million mobile devices to analyze how and where people travel. The study backed by MIT found that people tend to travel 7 miles for essentials, which is much further than what is being proposed for 15-minute cities. Hence, the ADUs proposed for the 15-minute cities will be connected, one on top of the other, for this to work logistically.

Regulations and zoning restrictions need to be altered or dismantled for these cities to work. Another issue is equity and eliminating our “unfair” capitalistic societies where some have more than others. The C40 Knowledge Hub explains this premise to “build back better” in detail throughout their writings.

“In a successful 15-minute city, everyone would have the opportunity to live in a 15-minute neighbourhood. It is vital that cities prioritise 15-minute city-style investments for lower-income neighbourhoods and those that are most underserved, informed by the baseline mapping of existing amenities in each neighbourhood. Just as critically, take steps to ensure that existing local populations in those neighbourhoods are not displaced through the process of gentrification, or feel excluded due to changes to local identity. Cities should also pursue opportunities to build affordable homes and diversify the mix of homes within neighbourhoods.”

Equality in this manner does not meet the dictionary definition, as equality is intended to “prioritize the most underserved neighbourhoods and disadvantaged groups.” Hence numerous policies are being brought forth that penalize the middle class with taxes, shrinking the group that was once the bulk of modernized societies.

Sustainability, equality, and going green are cited as the main reasons to “build back better” with these 15-minute cities. However, the real motive here is control and power. They are discussing controlling everything, including food productionThey are making it increasingly harder for the average person to obtain housing, whether it be rentals or owning. These AUDs will be brought forth as perhaps the only solution for permanent housing. Yet, they are making it clear that those dwelling in these structures will have landlords who may become overlords as the people relinquish all their freedoms to exist.

British Government has Lost its Mind


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gov’t Incompetence Re-Posted May 12, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: The rumor was that you were considering coming to London to hold a quick update WEC. Is there any chance of that?

WJ

ANSWER: You have good sources. Yes, I was considering that. Since the UK has insanely crossed Putin’s “red line” by sending Ukraine long-range “Storm Shadow” missiles to use in its fighting against Russia, I am not sure London is a viable place anymore.  Ukraine is NOT trustworthy. Why do they need long-range missiles unless they intend to attack Moscow? Germany sunk the Lusitania because the US was secretly sending arms on passenger ships to London. Britain has made that mistake with Ukraine.

Britain has just put its own national security and its citizens at risk all for what? This war would NEVER have taken place if the West did not lie and simply honored the Minsk Agreement and let those people in the Donbas, which are Russian, not Ukrainian, decide their own future. That was OK for Kiev, but not the Russians?

Those in the Donbas had a basic human right to vote on their own future. This is a war against Russia to conquer it. Handing these missiles to Ukraine will provoke Russia and would even justify attacking Britain according to the basic rules of war. They use these to attack Moscow, and Russia would be justified to attack London. This is a BS war that was to destroy Russia from the start.

The British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Storm Shadow missiles “are now going into or are in” Ukraine, but he did not say how many Britain was planning to send.

I love London. I miss it very much. But the British government is out of its mind putting all of Britain at risk for Ukraine? These people making these decisions are just Neocons who love war all the time.

Wars should be fought between leaders – not the people. Put them all in a room and let them sort it out and leave the people alone. But the truth is, your children are expendable. They risk NOTHING themselves. You mean less than nothing to these people. By their decisions, they prove we do NOT live in a democracy. For Wallace to unilaterally send those long-range missiles without the people’s approval shows he is not a trustworthy individual who should be in charge of even being a meter-maid for parking tickets.

So it does not look good for a WEC in London. I would have to ask my staff how they would feel.

Multinational Advertisers Begin Pulling Out of Twitter


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on November 3, 2022 | Sundance

In the prediction section of the recent Twitter discussion {Go Deep} CTH mentioned the reason and unspoken motive behind a prediction that multinational corporations would start to pull their advertising money from Elon Musk.

We are simply in an era where there is no distinction between the WEF guidance for multinational corporations and the instructions toward governments’ they support.  Free speech and freedom of expression are against both their interests.

Multinational corporations are political entities.  The former distinctions between the private and public sector have been purposefully erased.  Evidence can be found in the vaccination mandate and within corporate responses to voter outcomes during elections. {Go Deep}

As predicted, it begins….

(Via Wall Street Journal) – Food company General Mills Inc., Oreo maker Mondelez International Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Volkswagen/Audi are among a growing list of brands that have temporarily paused their Twitter advertising in the wake of the takeover of the company by Elon Musk, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some advertisers are concerned that Mr. Musk could scale back content moderation, which they worry would lead to an increase in objectionable content on the platform. Others are temporarily halting their ads because of the uncertainty at the company as top executives exit and Mr. Musk considers a raft of changes, some of the people said.

Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokeswoman for General Mills, whose brands include Cheerios, Bisquick and Häagen-Dazs, confirmed the company has paused Twitter ads. “As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend,” she said.

A Twitter representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

General Motors Co. paused its spending on the social-media platform last week.

Several ad buyers say they expect the number of brands pausing Twitter ads to rise. They say that the platform isn’t considered a must-buy for many advertisers, with far larger budgets going to tech giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc., and that pausing makes sense during the bumpy transition under Mr. Musk.

Many executives on Madison Avenue are uneasy with the rash of sudden executive departures from Twitter’s advertising sales and marketing units. Among those who have exited are Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette, Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland, and Jean-Philippe Maheu, Twitter’s vice president of global client solutions. Those executives helped reassure advertisers that their ad dollars were being spent wisely and appropriately on Twitter. (read more)

Fascism was traditionally defined as an authoritarian government working hand-in-glove with corporations to achieve objectives. A centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, using severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

That system of government didn’t work in the long-term, because the underlying principles of free people reject government authoritarianism.  Fascist governments collapsed, and the corporate beneficiaries were nulled and scorned for participating.  Then, along came a new approach to achieve the same objective.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) was created to use the same fundamental associations of government and corporations.  Only this time, it was the multinational corporations who organized to tell the government(s) what to do.

The WEF was organized for multinational corporations to assemble and tell the various governments how to cooperate with them, in order to be rewarded by them.   Corporatism was/is the outcome.  The government is now doing what the multinationals tell them to do, and in return the multinationals install the compliant politicians.

Fascism, the cooperation between government and corporations, is still the underlying premise; the World Economic Forum simply flipped the internal dynamic putting the corporations in charge of handing out the instructions.

What results is a slightly modified definition of fascism:

A massive multinational corporate conglomerate; telling a centralized autocratic government leader what to do; and using severe economic and social regimentation as a control mechanism; combined with forcible suppression of opposition by both the corporations and government.

Doesn’t that define our current reality, especially visible in the era of COVID?

The instructions from the multinational corporations to government would be called the “Great Reset“, or as commonly transposed by the government officials receiving the instructions, “Build Back Better”.

 ~ Go Deep ~

Production Prices Continue Exceeding Current Consumer Prices, Meaning Higher Prices Still Coming


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 14, 2022 | Sundance 

The “Producer Price Index” (PPI) is essentially the tracking of wholesale prices at three stages: Origination (commodity), Intermediate (processing), and then Final (to wholesale). Today, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the May 2022 price data [Available Here] showing another 10.8% increase year-over-year in Final Demand products at the wholesale level.

The inflation within the total goods supply chain continues to accumulate at a more significant rate than the finished goods on the store shelves.  This means replacement goods will continue arriving with higher prices than current.   Final demand goods in May were 1.4% higher than April (16.8% annualized).  And the May year-over-year prices show a 10.8% increase [See Table A].  However, there’s more trouble ahead:

More troubling than the final demand price increases (wholesale finished goods), are the price increases in the intermediate goods and unprocessed raw materials.

Intermediate processed goods increased 2.3% in May (27.6% annualized).  The intermediate unprocessed goods, raw materials, jumped even higher in price at 6.3% for May (that’s a whopping 75.6% annualized increase).   It would appear the raw materials coming into the goods sector are coming in with even higher built-in energy costs than most people anticipated.

Once those intermediate products reach the final demand stage (wholesale), the cumulative price increase will mean even higher consumer prices.

(VIA ABC) – WASHINGTON — U.S. producer prices surged 10.8% in May from a year earlier, underscoring the ongoing threat to the economy from inflation that shows no sign of slowing.

Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose at slightly slower pace last month than in April, when it jumped 10.9% from a year earlier, and is down from an 11.5% yearly gain in March.

On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 0.8% in May from April, above the previous month, when they increased 0.4%.

Energy prices, led by gas, rose 5% just in May from April. Another big driver of the price gains last month was a sharp 2.9% increase in the cost of truck freight hauling, a sign that supply chain problems still aren’t fully resolved. Food costs were unchanged.

The figures indicate that rising prices will continue to erode Americans’ paychecks and wreak havoc on household budgets in the coming months. Inflation has created major political headaches for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats and has forced the Federal Reserve into a series of rapid interest rate hikes intended to slow the economy and cool price increases. (read more)