When There is no Justice – It is Time To Turnout the Lights


Just-us

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I am a law student in London and have reviewed your case after going to the premier here in London of the Forecaster. My professor said your case was “stitched up” and is indicative of how corrupt the American judicial system has become. They ordered you to turn over assets, refused to ever define what those assets are to prevent any compliance, and then when the bank pleads guilty and agreed to return all the money, they simply said there was another fraud without ever charging you with anything. How can the American press simply refuse to ever tell the truth? Is this indicative of American justice?

BW

ANSWER: Sadly to say yes. The US government cannot be sued, only the agents of the government. Consequently, those in the Justice Department are not forthcoming about admitting a mistake. I do not believe that a prosecutor should be able to bring charges. There should be a panel set up where every prosecutor presents his case to them and they are the one’s who bring an indictment. That would remove the personal liabilities.

Wilson Edwin PaulEdwin Paul Wilson (1928 – 2012) was a former CIA and U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. His daughter fought to get documents to prove he worked for the government uncovered. When one agency caught him, the CIA denied he worked for them. He was tried and convicted.

You can tell he was innocent because they kept him in solitary confinement – the ultimate torture. They did that to prevent him from having free communications outside the prison.

It was later found that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson’s convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year.

Wilson filed a civil suit against seven former federal prosecutors, two of whom are now federal judges, and a past executive director of the CIA. On March 29th, 2007, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal dismissed his case on the grounds that all eight had immunity covering their actions.

The Supreme Court committed the the worst crime against humanity ever recorded demonstrating their bias. They declared that those who are prosecutors of judges have ABSOLUTE immunity from being prosecuted for wrongful prosecution even if they know they are abusing their authority because they might be afraid to prosecute someone if they could be prosecuted in return. The Supreme Court’s most anti-Constitutional decision ever rendered implemented a nationwide policy declaring prosecutors must have absolute immunity for acts committed in their prosecutorial role. This decision has unleashed the most abusive legal system ever on the face of this Earth. The most notorious court in history had been that of Hitler where it had a 90% conviction rate. That to the Supreme Court, you have been stripped of every possible human right since the dawn of civilization. The conviction rate now exceeds 98% in the US federal courts. Lawyers tell you to just plee because you cannot win. Nobody will hold prosecutors accountable and then most judges are former-prosecutors so good luck of pleading your case. There is not a vein of morality in these people. When you stare into their eyes, all you see is coldness of evil stripped of all human emotion. The Supreme Court has unleashed the total destruction of the Constitution and there is a growing call to acknowledge and address an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct in the United States, but nobody will listen. The case was Imbler v. Pachtman and its perverse holding is uncivilized in any democratic state for it is the decision of a totalitarian regime.

Paul S AppelbaumThere is nothing you can do. There is so much corruption in the Justice System it is beyond belief. The ONLY reason I was released was because I had been accepted by the Supreme Court. To prevent them from ruling, the prosecutors had no choice but to release me. They had a dog and pony show. Dr Paul S. Appelbaum was put on the stand. He was the Forensic Psychiatry / Psychology from Columbia University. He testified that no time in contempt would alter my position. The Appeals Court recused Judge Owen and handed it to Judge Castel with the job of releasing me. Dr. Appelbaum testified my position was simple. The bankers wanted me silenced because their manipulations were failing after the collapse of Long Term Capital Management in 1998 and they blamed me for exposing what they we doing.

Appelbaum-CFTC Silence Me

Dr Appelbaum had to testify that there was no way I would comply and that civil contempt is coercive so if it lost its coerciveness then I had to legally be released. If you will not comply, then they have to release you. Someone had to say I would never comply in court in order to justify releasing me to prevent the Supreme Court from ruling. The real paradox is after I was released, the court had to rule I did not owe anything or else I would get a trial and I could start calling the bankers to the stand. They had no choice. How can you spend time in prison to turn over something for 7 years and then the court rules you do not owe anything? Anyone with common sense would ask what’s going on here? This was all about (1) having me turn over the code and (2) silencing me so the bankers could manipulate markets undisturbed.

Appelbaum Will Not Comply

When I did the premier for the Forecaster in Amsterdam, the third night was all the bankers in Europe. The moderator wanted to appear impartial and asked me what happened to the $1 billion that was supposed to be missing and nobody knew where it was. I turned to the audience and asked: Is it possible for $1 billion to be missing from a bank and nobody knows where it is? The audience all laughed. You either wire it out, write check, bust into the vault with a tank, or beam it out like in Star Trek. It was a totally ridiculous accusation and not a single member of the press even bothered to ask was that possible? How incompetent is that? It would be like reporting someone is standing trial for murdering his wife while she is present in the courtroom. The press always protected the establishment.

In an interview for the Forecaster, David Glovin of Bloomberg News at least spoke to the director of the film while the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker all refused to be interviewed:

DAVID GLOVIN: And there is a legal issue that develops in terms of whether or not Martin is…this is proper, that he can be held for so long, without being convicted of a crime.

Katrin: So is that a normal thing…?

DAVID GLOVIN: No! It’s totally, completely not normal. (15:12:13:10) Martin…in a white color federal case, Martin was held longer in prison, better known as civil contempt charges, then any one else.

Marcus: It didn’t reach you, that they were hiding the evidence. I think it didn’t even reach the public, because nobody is listening and this is what makes me so crazy, because nobody knows about it.

DAVID GLOVIN: I mean…I don’t know. I can’t answer about what other people did, I can’t answer what judges heard, what did I hear? I heard Martin and I wrote stories about him, I went to prison and I wrote here’s the guy, but again I would present the other side, because that’s what you do. That’s what we do, at least. They say X, they say Y, sometimes X may seem so outrageous and Y may not really hold water or etc. Yes…

(16:13:54:12)

I am by no means unique. Only a fool would believe what government says in any case. Take Bernie Madoff’s case and why did he plead guilty so fast? That was to shut down the investigation for he was protecting someone. The banks claimed they had no idea it was a fraud. Madoff was asked if the banks knew once he was in prison. He said of course. In fact, only a fool would believe the banks were not also involved. I was interviewed by a journalist at the NY Post. I was asked if the bank was laundering money in my accounts for the Russian Mafia and Colombian drug cartels “as they were doing in Madoff?” She knew the truth, but that interview was never published.

There is nothing to be proud of in the American legal system. Fair trials are simply IMPOSSIBL

The Euro & French Elections


IBEUUS-M 2-6-2017

QUESTION: Martin You said the turning point will be on monday 8th may. Could it be in connection with the result of the french election on may 7th? If it isMacron, the turning point will be up. If it is Le Pen, it will be down. Or?

Thanks. Regards.

 

ANSWER: The French media is portraying Macron as a centrist. It is expected that Macron should be able to attract a wider spectrum of second-round voters than Le Pen, pulling in left-leaning voters from Hamon and Mélenchon as well as those leaning to the right that voted Fillon in the first round. The polls put him at 65%.

Our computer projected that the “populist” vote would win.  Indeed, for the first time in modern French history, the runoff vote will not feature a single presidential candidate from a mainstream party. The Conservative and Socialists all lost.

The elite want Macron to win but this will be the nail in the coffin for the EU. Brussels will assume they defeated the “populist” simply if Le Pen loses. However, the mainstream parties all lost already. Macron will simply mean that Brussels will not reform and that suggests that we are looking at the collapse of the Euro moving forward into 2018. Our Yearly models have had three Directional Changes 2017 into 2019. Our Monthly Models have been targeting May 2017 for about one year.

Germany-France

A Macron victory should help the Euro hold for now. The key resistance stands in the 113-114 zone. The press will try to manipulate the people to save the EU. That is the agenda of the press in Europe, so they will cheer Macron and do their best to destroy Le Pen and in doing so, they are condemning the EU to utter failure. All they can see is keep the EU together even if that leads to internal civil war within Europe. The only thing holding the EU together is France and Germa

Mainstream Media is the Third Horseman of Economic Apocalypse


Washington Post - Logo - 1

COMMENT: Martin,

OK, so I don’t follow major media at all.  However, there was a link to a story from the Washington Post on Google.  Silly me–I followed it.  There, in white letters on a black background was the WP’s logo and motto:  “Democracy dies in darkness”.

And there you have it:  They told the truth, but not in the way they wanted.  Their lies and corruption are the darkness that kills democracy.

-DB

PulitzerHearstWarYellowKids

REPLY: It is very sad, but they are doing what history always shows happens. The press champions self-interest. They created the Spanish American war with fake news about the sinking of the Maine in the Spanish harbor. The Pulitzer Prize was created because he made so much money starting that war becoming the father of Yellow Journalism, he donated his money to Columbia University to clean up his reputation after he died. Any journalists are proud to win the Pulitzer Prize named for the very guy who championed fake news.

Four Horsemen-Apocalypse

When the news turns to propaganda, it is one of the last things to take place in the historical sequence of how civilization falls. The mainstream media is the third horseman of economic Apocalypse – Taxes – Corruption  (Politics/Rule of Law) – Propaganda – War.

*(First you have the taxes, then comes the corruption to bribe politicians to get out of the taxes and they use the courts to extract taxes, then comes the propaganda of the media to manipulate society to hold on to power, and then finally comes the war (civil unrest/international)

Poland – The Next Crisis for the EU – Independent Sovereignty is the Issue


warsaw-2

 

GDP World Bank 2016Poland represents a major threat to the EU. The entire idea of the EU was the propaganda that Member States would successively grow into a real Union through a longer integration process. GDP was supposed to grow, not decline, and the threat of war would vanish by surrendering sovereignty to Brussels. In reality, the exact opposite has unfolded. GDP has progressively declined and the risk of a European war has been increased with the idea of surrendering sovereignty to Brussels.

Throughout Europe, there is a growing “populist” movement especially ignited with the attempt to force member states to accept refugees when this was an unilateral decision exclusive made by Merkel to save her public image after being hard on Greece.

British GDP Growth since 1949

Even the data from the British Government clearly shows how their GDP has declined ever since joining the EU in 1973. Obviously, the exact opposite trend determines reality – not political propaganda. The movements that promotes the sovereignty of the national states and demand a weakening of the central institutions are on the rise all over Europe. This is what Brussels calls the “populist” movement.

Poland is questioning the current situation of the EU in its current form and is not finding it agreeable especially when it goes against their religious foundation. Many are alarmed because there were more Mosques built in Britain during 2016 than churches. Churches are on the decline and even synagogues are being converted to Mosques.

Poland is the largest beneficiary of EU payments receiving an annual net of just €10 billion. Nevertheless, Poland represents a huge risk to the EU for the independence and sovereignty of Poland has become a top priority in the face of forced refugees. Poland is actually more linked to the USA and Britain than to Brussels.

Civil Unrest in Oregon – Communist Uprising is USA?


Oregon Civil Unrest

 

Oregon Civil Unrest May 2017We have succeeded in moving close toward the Civil Unrest that can erupt into civil war. In Oregon on the Communist May Day holiday,  anti-Trump factions who are calling themselves now “anarchists” have turned violent.  They threw rocks, smoke bombs and just about anything they could at police officers during a May Day rally. Thousands more marched in other major cities around the nation on this Communist day when Russia would display its military weapons and celebrate the people working for the State.

Minhaj Hasan

The press is fueling this for they have been cheering attacks upon Trump and have made this seem acceptable and  normal. Hasan Minhaj even said Trump Tweets at 3Am because he is up for open of business in Russia. No matter what, the press will always blame Trump’s victory on Putin just as the European Parliament blames BREXIT not on themselves, but on the British and that is why they should be punished. The Press in America has the same arrogance and this negativity is what makes anarchy seem acceptable.

2017 Cycle of War

Kim Jong-un The Kid Whose Father Never Spanked – Why 2017 Is The Crisis Year For Korea


Kim Jong Un

QUESTION: Kim Jong-un is clearly a mad-kid, not even a man. You have said the danger with him is he thinks he could actually win against the United States and South Korea. Now Trump want’s South Korea to pay $1 billion for a missile defense system. That does not seem to be a lot of money these days. Would it have any impact on this kid who seems to have never been spanked?

Thanks

YG

ANSWER: I agree. Kim Jong-un is just insane. He is far more dangerous than Syria or Putin. You have to understand 2017 is the start of an increased volatility with Korea – 72 years from the birth of North Korea. Kim Jong-un is very desperate to maintain control of his country for the economic internally are going against him all the way into 2020. The only way for him to maintain his rule right now is by relying on his development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. But this is the external paranoia. The danger he faces is internal.

It really depends upon the second-tier of command. If we move to a state of war being eminent, will someone step up and assassinate him to save their country? At least as they tried with Hitler. However, it is the wave of deflation that is even hitting China that become a contagion spreading to North Korea. That economy is contracting and with that contraction comes more rhetoric because he is losing his grip on power. He is not doing this boasting from a position of strength. This is a position of weakness.

Missile defense systems are fine, but honestly just one Ohio-class submarine will do the job. We have the ultimate doomsday weapon already. Kim Jong-un perhaps should do some research. But the boasts are coming from weakness – not strength. One does not boast in a position on strength. You do that to convince the other party you are stronger than you are.

The Ohio-class submarines are armed with twenty-four Trident II D5 ballistic missiles. These weapons have a range of 7,000 miles and are capable of very accurate strikes, which means they can be a first-strike weapon. These twenty-four Trident II ballistic missiles can be fired from underwater. As this missile reenters the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 24, it then splits into up to eight independent reentry vehicles each with a separate nuclear warhead. In other words, firing off all 24 missiles which can be launched in less than one minute, would unleash up to 192 nuclear warheads. Just one Ohio-class sub can wipe out  twenty-four cities and North Korea is gone. This is a real weapon of the apocalypse.

The whole logic of nuclear deterrence has been that a first strike could wipe out a country’s land-based missiles and nuclear bombers. This sub has missiles that are not pretargeted so they can be targeted within minutes as needed. Therefore, the Ohio-class subs are the ultimate doomsday machine firing a battery of ballistic-missiles that can take out 24 targets in minutes. There is no stopping these missiles. They are too fast to track. The deterrent remains that there is no victory so we do not go to nuclear war.

Anyone with any sense of reality, ought to know that if North Korea can make its intercontinental missile so it can hit the USA, there is no possible way North Korea would be able to prevent a launch from just one Ohio-class sub. This is a deterrent to Russia and China, it does not seem to be effective with North Korea. So yes, he is a madman who acts like a spoiled kid in need of a spanking. His latest statement:

“Should the US imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces open even a single fire into the inviolable territorial land, waters and air of the DPRK, its revolutionary armed forces will promptly mount annihilating strike and wipe out the aggressors to the last man.”

Kim Jong-un is clearly incapable of building an economy. He prefers to starve his people and be draconian to hold on to power for personal ego. Traditionally, throughout history, such people are overthrown by their own generals. When there is the slightest sign of weakness, Kim Jong-un will be assassinated, which is what history suggests for the reason it repeats is simply that the passions of man never change. It’s always the same play, just change the names and the century.

When Korea was split in 1945 into communist North against the South, the terrain has always dictated the situation. About 65% of Korea’s heavy industry was located in the north, but, due to the harshness of the terrain, only 37% of its agriculture existed in the North. This is why the North often has bouts with famine.

ECM-Dynamic

I have warned that the Economic Confidence Model has three distinct components. There is the main wave frequency based upon Pi of 8.6 years which builds into 6 waves forming the major wave of 51.6 years which seems to be the generational shifting wave that manifests in political changes between public and private trends.

Then there is the volatility wave component. This is what causes one 8.6 year wave to be more pronounce than another. The volatility component has a frequency of 6 years which is a slower moving wave taking 12 unit waves to build into the ultimate volatility peaks.

The Schema Frequency I do not reveal. To put this in context, it is the DNA wave of a coded pattern throughout time. This will be the last thing I ever reveal if I decide to do so. The jury is still out.

On August 8th, 1945 (1945.602), the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Soviet troops advanced and the US government feared Russia would occupy the whole of Korea. On August 10th, the US government proposed the 38th parallel division.

Therefore, the 72 year of volatility comes now this summer – 2017.602. The 51.6 year cycle from 1945 (1997.202) marked the start with the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis. Then the next 8.6 year wave marked the turning up in the war cycle – 2014.402. Kim Jong-un became the Supreme Leader on December 28th, 2011 (2011.991). North Korea says it has conducted five successful nuclear tests: in 2006, 2009, 2013 and in January and September 2016. The 2006, 2009 and 2013 tests were all atomic bomb tests. North Korea claimed that its January 2016 test was of a hydrogen bomb. There was a change in development since Kim Jong-un came to power. He may have medium-range missiles capable of striking American military bases in the Pacific within a couple years, experts say, but he is claiming he will be able to strike the USA directly. Some believe Pyongyang may be able to hit the western U.S. as early as 2020. With this guy, Hollywood would probably be a symbolic target for him. He does not think beyond symbols like the World Trade Center was not a military or economic target, it was symbolic.

 

Does Schäuble want Draghi to Exit the Stage Once & For All?


Draghi Schauble

Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble of Germany is starting to show signs of rebellion against the elite in Brussels. With the event of BREXIT, the EU is more concerned about trying to punish Britain than they are in reflecting upon what is going so terribly wrong. They will throw their support behind Macron in France fearing that a Le Pen win may be the end of Brussels. Consequently, the EU Commission is trying to punish Britain, and is actually dividing Europe once again. There will be the EU membership, and then there will be the Eurozone within, limited to those countries who surrender their sovereignty to Brussels relinquishing their currency, but not their debt.

Schäuble is clearly attempting to save the Eurozone and make it operational at the same time to protect German exports within Europe. The driving force behind the Euro was to eliminate foreign exchange risk so German manufacturers could sell to all of Europe on a regular basis without currency fluctuation disturbing their sales.

Yet Schäuble is actually looking at reducing the power of the EU for reading between the lines, he has no confidence in the abilities of the EU Commission to manage Europe. Obviously, BREXIT is restructuring the EU only insofar as they seek to punish Britain rather than reform the problems that caused it. That means the Euro zone will be restructured as a block within the EU leaving the institutions, such as the ECB, applicable to the EU. The rules within the Eurozone are by no means clearly defined. This is how Markel opened the gates to refugees without ever going to a vote first in the EU. Thus, the unilateral decisions of Germany have then been applied to all of Europe without any democratic process whatsoever.

Schäuble is looking at the distinction between the EU and the Eurozone and thus reducing the power of the EU Commission to save the Eurozone – a second Europe within Europe, of which Britain was never a member. Schäuble attacked the ECB and Mario Draghi saying: “The ultralock money policy that exists in many regions is not helpful.”  Schäuble said this opening on his trip to Washington. The ECB, Schäuble argues, is creating risks such as asset price bubbles with its negative interest rate policy. This is the clash of philosophies with Schäuble’s view on AUSTERITY.

Schäuble demanded a change of direction from Mario Draghi. He warned that Draghi was increasing the risk of creating a whole new crisis rather than lessening it. The Federal Reserve reverse course right after 2015.75 on the ECM that targeted October 1st, 2015 with the first rate hike in December 2015. Schäuble remarked that it “would not be a bad idea if the European Central Bank and other central banks followed” the course of the Fed. Schäuble has clashed with Draghi who still considers his stimulus quantitative easing policy of the ECB still necessary. Draghi said on this trip to Washington that a “very significant amount of monetary easing is still needed.”

Schäuble has also proposed that the basic structure of the Eurozone in the form of budgetary policy must be changed. Schäuble remains rightly concerned what happens when Draghi changes course and raises rates. Schäuble is deeply concerned that national debts will then explode with higher interest rates. For this reason, Schäuble wants the euro rescue umbrella ESM in the near future converted to a European Monetary Fund. Schäuble sees this as a European version of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). If a new aid program for a crisis country were to run without the IMF because the IMF has disagreed with the draconian measures imposed upon Greece. Schäuble wants to replace the IMF to impose austerity. Apparently, Schäuble has also convinced Chancellor Angela Merkel of this proposal since the IMF disagrees with the austerity ideas of Schäuble.

Troika-Unelected

This new European Monetary Fund to replace the IMF, which is a member of the Troika, will then be given the task of budgetary monitoring of Eurozone countries. Therefore, we will have the EU, but a separate system within the EU for the Eurozone all based upon extending austerity. This is obviously a disempowerment of the EU Commission.

Greece is still an unsolved problem – and Schäuble also sees that Greece should exit the Eurozone. Schäuble also sees a better partnership with Russia and an emancipation from the USA. This was really based upon German manufacture having a new market to sell into given the rise of Donald Trump. Then Schäuble wanted a nuclear Europe to stand against America and Russia. Schäuble’s view is that the core of Europe is Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It never included Britain. The Franco-German axis was to become the economic engine of the future. To Schäuble, the core is simply the Euro for that evens the playing field for Germany to sell products into Europe. He has embraced the Euro, but never accepting a federal debt for Europe. This is why he has never seen Italy, Spain or Greece as the core of the EU – just vassal states to sell products to.

Le Pen Seeks to Broaden Her Support


2017 Election

French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says she is temporarily stepping down as head of her National Front party. She is still in the race, just attempting to distance herself a bit more from her party to broaden her appeal. The May 7 run-off between herself and Emmanuel Macron, will be interesting for it is a test of how strong the populist movement has become.

People who think “populist” is a particular philosophy are seriously wrong. It was a “populist” movement that put FDR in the White House in 1933. It also put into power Lenin, Hitler and Mao. “Populist” is effective the label applied to any movement Indeed, FDR actually did embrace many elements of fascism, which differs from communism insofar as it supported worker unions and the ownership of business run by the workers. The Populist movement was in fact Marxism during the late 19th century, which manifested into Communism, fascism, and socialism. All three were constructed upon a strong central power of government to different degrees.

“Populist Movements are not particularly a single right or left philosophy. The term is applied to effectively an anti-establishment movement against the status quo.

Le Pen said “Tonight, I am no longer the president of the National Front. I am the presidential candidate,” on French public television news. She hopes that by distancing herself from the party founded by her father in 1972, more people will reach out to her for real change in France. Le Pen hopes to tap into the Eurosceptic and protectionist voters in other parties. The underling trend is certainly anti-EU throughout all of Europe to varying degrees.

Macron is the favorite of Brussels and all the politicians nobody wants to vote for, so what does that really tell you? All the politicians are cheering only because they do not want any real change. They like everything as is – thank you very much they say off camera. But Macron is really out there in la la land. Those who think Trump says some crazy stuff, should turn and look at Macron. How about these!

“I’ve always accepted the vertical dimension, of transcendence, but, at the same time, it has to be utterly anchored in the immanent, in the material.”

Ok, not sure what that means at all. How about this one!

“We all have our roots. And because we all do, there are trees next to us, there are rivers, there are fish. There are brothers and sisters …”

Ok roots and trees go together. What about the rivers and fish? Brothers and sisters is family. Does everyone come from fish out of the river?

If he will be the new face of France, I would probably want to double short the Euro when the cycle changes.

The French Elections & Socrates


QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I saved you article from November 25th last year where your computer forecast the collapse of mainstream politics. Macron was not even in the picture back then. Have you recalculated now that all the parties collapsed and it is Macron v Le Pen?

Image12

ANSWER: I am very familiar with France. I was supposed to debate Michel Sapin, the Finance Minister of France on national TV. He backed out.

As you can see in that article, the only way to approach this is to look at the philosophy rather than the party since we were showing that the parties would collapse as they have done. I concluded that article writing:

“Clearly, the socialists are finished. However, we are within this 10 year window between 2013 and 2023. This clearly shifts the favor toward a new power. Le Pen can win within this window. However, expect this to be also very divisive as in the United States.”

We could extrapolate and say all other party members will vote for Macron. However, that would just be a guess. The wildcard now is we know that Le Pen will get probably 30% for that is her hardcore base. The question becomes, what portion of the other parties will now vote for Le Pen. Keep in mind that the Euro will rally as fools think this will save the day if she loses. Such an event will only postpone the inevitable for the same thinking process will remain in place.

Einstein solving

An “Increasingly Worried” Chinese President Tells Trump To “Exercise Restraint” Over N.Korea


Tyler Durden's picture

France, and the European “populist wave”, may be fixed for now, but geopolitical concerns remain as was made clear last night when during a phone call late on Sunday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, the North Korean neighbor called for all sides to “exercise restraint” as Japan conducted exercises with a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group headed for Korean waters. China, which has repeatedly called for the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula, is “increasingly worried” the situation could spin out of control, leading to war and a chaotic collapse of North Korea, something we cautioned over two months ago.

Xi told Trump on the phone that China resolutely opposed any actions that ran counter to U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Chinese foreign ministry said quoted by Reuters. China “hopes that all relevant sides exercise restraint, and avoid doing anything to worsen the tense situation on the peninsula”, the ministry said in a statement, paraphrasing Xi. The nuclear issue could only be resolved quickly with all relevant countries pulling in the same direction, and China was willing to work with all parties, including the United States, to ensure peace, Xi said.

A potential risk catalyst is just hours away: North Korea prepares to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army on Tuesday. It has marked similar events in the past with nuclear tests or missile launches.

That said, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the call between the two presidents was the latest manifestation of their close communication, which was good for both of their countries and the world.

China urges calm as Trump holds calls on North Korea

On Sunday, Trump also spoke by telephone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who later described the conversation as a “thorough exchange of views”.

“We agreed to strongly demand that North Korea, which is repeating its provocation, show restraint,” Abe told reporters. “We will maintain close contact with the United States, keep a high level of vigilance and respond firmly,” he said. Abe also said he and Trump agreed that China should play a large role in dealing with it.

According to Reuters, a Japanese official said the phone call between Trump and Abe was not prompted by any specific change in the situation. Envoys on the North Korean nuclear issue from the United States, South Korea and Japan are due to meet in Tokyo on Tuesday. The U.S. government has not specified where the carrier strike group is, but U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive “within days”.

Meanwhile, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun gave no details about the South’s plan to join the approaching U.S. carrier group for exercises, apart from saying Seoul was holding discussions with the U.S. Navy. “I can say the South Korean and U.S. militaries are fully ready for North Korea’s nuclear test,” Moon said. South Korean and U.S. officials have feared for some time that North Korea could soon carry out its sixth nuclear test.

As reported on Friday, satellite imagery analyzed by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, found some activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site last week. However, the group said it was unclear whether the site was in a “tactical pause” before another test or was carrying out normal operations.

Adding to the already tense situation, North Korea detained a U.S. citizen on Saturday as he attempted to leave the country. The arrest will be a topic of discussion when Trump hold a top level briefing with Senators on April 26.

As a reminder, Trump sent a carrier group for exercises in waters off the Korean peninsula as a warning, amid growing fears North Korea could conduct another nuclear test in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

Angered by the approach of the USS Carl Vinson carrier group, a defiant North Korea said on Monday the deployment was “an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade”. “The United States should not run amok and should consider carefully any catastrophic consequence from its foolish military provocative act,” Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary on Monday.

“What’s only laid for aggressors is dead bodies,” the newspaper said.

Two Japanese destroyers have joined the carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific, and South Korea said on Monday it was also in talks about holding joint naval exercises.