A Walk into the Matrix


The focus on Russia being the aggressor does not make sense when history and facts are looked at.  The following analysis cuts through the propaganda and gets to the core of the thing.

Let me start by saying everything we have read about the Western sanctions against Russia is false.  What sanctions might exist do not have any impact, and Eastern Europe has no intention to anger Putin.  When Brussels threatens to kick Hungary out of the EU/NATO, I can almost hear Viktor Orban saying, “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”  Hungary doesn’t even use or rely on the €uro for domestic financial transactions; they still retain their own national currency, the Hungarian forint or HUF.

First things first with the Western financial sanctions- specifically the SWIFT exchange.  It is true you cannot use VISA, Mastercard or any mainstream Western financial tools to conduct business in Russia; however, the number of workarounds for this issue are numerous.  One of those tools is the use of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin; and within that reality, you find something very ominous about the USA motive.

Crypto users are likely familiar with stories like Binance and the US regulatory control therein.  Factually, outside the USA Binance is being used to purchase and trade crypto without issue, but inside the USA it is regulated.  That brings me to the MEXC crypto exchange, a Mexican version, again available globally but not allowed in the USA.  The same applies to Metamask, used all over Europe but not permitted in the USA.  Start to ask yourself, why all these crypto exchanges are available to the rest of the world but not the USA, and you start to suspect the Russian sanctions, just like the Patriot Act, are something else entirely.

Then there’s app wallets.  You might be familiar with Apple Pay as a process to handle transactions from your iPhone.  Apple Pay is linked to your bank account.  Well, the “wallet feature” exists on other apps also, like Telegram; however, you can find the wallet feature, but if you try to use it from a USA cell phone… “This feature is not allowed in your region.”  Why are digital wallets available for the rest of the world but blocked by the U.S. government?

This brings me to several crypto conversations in the EU at various cafes with people who have a deep understanding.  The commonly accepted bottom line, the Western sanctions, organized by the Biden administration and US Treasury, were not intended to put financial walls around Russia; they were designed to put control walls around the USA.  Russia was the useful justification.

Here’s how it really looks from the outside looking at the USA.  The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a USA digital currency.

Now, does the exploding debt and seeming govt ambivalence take on a new perspective?  It should, because that unspoken motive explains everything.  This is not accidental folks.

Again, the western sanctions against Russia are not having an impact against Russia; they are having a quiet impact in the USA that no one is permitted to talk about.

♦LOGISTICS – Despite popular opinion to the contrary, it is entirely possible to travel all over Europe without being tracked.  If you pick an entry point into the EU (Schengen Area), once inside, you can travel without any national checkpoints or passport checks.  It is also entirely possible to fly all over the EU without ever giving a passport number when you book the flight.  The trick is to know which airline.  You are a name on a passenger manifest, nothing more.

Bottom line, travel around the EU is less controlled, tracked and monitored, than travel inside the USA.  Yes, let me emphasize; freedom of travel is greater in the EU than it is in the USA.  This was completely unexpected.

♦GROUND REPORT – You might ask how I know the Russian sanctions are ineffective – here’s an example.  After doing advanced research, I went to three separate banks as a random and innocuous customer.  I put my reason in the kiosk at each bank, got my ticket number and sat down to listen to the conversations. When my ticket number came up on the digital board, I just ignored it and sat for hours listening to conversations.  No one ever noticed or questioned me – not once.

At every one of the banks, the majority of the customers, at the “new account” desk, were foreign nationals asking about setting up business accounts to trade with Russia. In every bank the conversations were friendly and helpful, with the bank staff telling the customers exactly how to set up their account to accomplish the transactions.  No one was saying no; instead they were explaining how to do it in very helpful detail.

Within Russia, there are now 3rd party brokers with international accounts, an entirely new industry, which creates a layer of transactional capability for the outside company to sell goods into Russia.  A Samsung TV travels from South Korea to the destination in the RU with the financial transaction between manufacturer and retailer now passing through the new ‘broker’ intermediary. Essentially, that process is what was happening in the banks for small to medium sized companies.

♦ Back to the crypto and digital wallet angle.  In addition to financial/transactional brokers for durable goods into Russia, there is now an entire industry of selling telephone id’s with EU phone numbers to process the transactions that are blocked by the USA sanction regime.

Meaning, a person could buy a phone and register a phone number from within the EU, and then go back to the USA and access all the blocked/restricted financial processes [Binance (non-US), Metamask, MexC, Telegram digital wallet etc].  This would permit them to do untracked financial transactions into and out of Russia from the USA without the USG knowing about them (sanction workaround).

[DISCLAIMER: in the interest of my own legal risk, I did not do this; I’m just explaining.]

I am not smarter than the U.S. intelligence community, so what does this mean?

This means the U.S. government knows exactly why the Russian economy is thriving, the Ruble is stronger against the dollar, and there is nothing -not one thing- visible or different on the ground in Russia that an ordinary Russian citizen would notice.  In fact, the Russian economy is doing fine, better than before the Ukraine conflict initiated, albeit with new financial industries created by the sanctions.

If the US government knows this, then why the sanctions?

Asked and answered.  The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in.  The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency.

In essence, the Ukraine war response justified a system that creates a digital dollar.

I will have more revelations, but for now just think about this aspect.

Digital IDs Ramping Up in Australia


Posted originally on Dec 4, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

Digital Identity Chart

Australian federal Finance Minister, Senator Katy Gallagher, has introduced legislation for a national digital ID. The new program aims to create a single platform that unites a person’s identification documents and connects it with government services such as myGov, Centrelink, and the Australian Tax Office. The government claims that the digital ID will have strong privacy provisions built in; however, the information is accessible to both the public and private sectors.

The Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel has stated the program will cost $1.5 billion annually. The digital ID will contain sensitive documents such as a person’s birth certificate, driver’s license, and passport.  The current AGDIS program will  be phased out as this national ID is all-encompassing. As of October, over 10.5 million Australians have already enrolled in the program.

Liberal Senator Alex Antic has emassed nearly 95,000 signatures on his online petition to scrap the “digital identity power grab.” The petition states:“The Labor government wants to take your most sensitive personal data. They want to cram it into a central government-run database – the perfect target for a hacker. They want to generate a ‘digital identity’ with this data. Then they will force you to use this ‘digital identity’ to transact online or access online services. The worst part? This is the first step in a Chinese-style social credit system. If you don’t toe the line, your ‘digital identity’ could be cancelled, meaning you’d be cut off from the world of online services that people now rely on. This is a fundamental threat to your freedom and our democracy. You and I need to send a strong message now that Australians will not take this lying down.”

The Australian government created the program with “input from various stakeholders,” a nod to who will own your data. After passing the legislation, the government plans to incorporate state and territory-issued IDs to the framework. Then, the government will link the system with the private sector. Banks and other agencies will have access to your financial information through the digital ID.

Australia’s government has failed to protect user data numerous times. Webber Insurance found 44 data breaches in the first six months of this year alone. Last year, the data of over 12 million Australians containing sensitive information such as medical records was leaked from the Tax Office. There were reports of hackers selling MyGov accounts for a mere $1 USD.

This policy is a gross infringement on human rights and privacy. The government does not need to track us like cattle. Worse, why are they selling personal data to the private sector and how will that data be kept securely? The Australian government showed just how tyrannical it has become after the COVID lockdowns and is ushering in this new reality of government surveillance. The goal is to build a GLOBAL database where we will all be accessible through the click of a mouse.

Subtle Like a Brick Through a Window – CIA Outlet Approves Donald Trump Assassination


Posted on the CTH on December 4, 2023 | Sundance 

I have stayed away from this subject for eight years; however, everyone in/around U.S. politics knows the Washington Post, owned by Big Tech Amazon, is effectively the PR firm of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). No one inside the DC beltway does not understand this basic truth.

Therefore, when the husband of State Dept official Victoria Nuland, a man named Robert Kagan, writes an op-ed in the CIA newsletter, effectively calling for President Trump to receive the Julius Caesar treatment, the non-subtle message is for the CIA to repeat their Kennedy performance and kill President Trump.

As alarming as this acceptance might sound, there are no intellectually honest people who would deny it.

WaPo/CIA – Let’s stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality: There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. In 13 weeks, Donald Trump will have locked up the Republican nomination. In the RealClearPolitics poll average (for the period from Nov. 9 to 20), Trump leads his nearest competitor by 47 points and leads the rest of the field combined by 27 points. The idea that he is unelectable in the general election is nonsense — he is tied or ahead of President Biden in all the latest polls — stripping other Republican challengers of their own stated reasons for existence.

[…] Are we going to do anything about it? To shift metaphors, if we thought there was a 50 percent chance of an asteroid crashing into North America a year from now, would we be content to hope that it wouldn’t? Or would we be taking every conceivable measure to try to stop it, including many things that might not work but that, given the magnitude of the crisis, must be tried anyway?

Will those who balked at resisting Trump when the risk was merely political oblivion suddenly discover their courage when the cost might be the ruin of oneself and one’s family? (more)

Sunday Talks – Chris Christie Does Baghdad Bob Impressions on Face The Nation


Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance 

This is kind of awesome in a pathetic and funny way.  Worse still, every time I write about him you guys make me hungry for donuts.  However, that said, and because laughing is a key ingredient to living our best life, if you can get past the Laura Ingraham lip treatment aspect, Chris Christie sounds desperate.

Appearing on Face the Nation, a newly lip enhanced Christie swears he still has a chance. WATCH:

Look, let’s be honest.  If the gastric band didn’t work, there’s only so much Sununu and the cosmetics can do.  The demons inside are beginning to manifest.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the former Governor of New Jersey and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, good to have you back on the program. We know, sir, the RNC is supposed to announce tomorrow who will be on that December 6 debate stage. Has the RNC told you you’ve qualified to be there and if you haven’t, will you drop out?

2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CHRIS CHRISTIE: I don’t think they’ve told anybody yet who all of us are going to be on the stage, but I’m confident, Margaret, that I will be there and that we have all the qualifications necessary to get there.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because, you told CNN over Thanksgiving, you will stay in the race through the Convention, which would put you into the summer months. Does the field need to consolidate to beat Donald Trump, which you say is one of your prime motivations in running.

CHRISTIE: Look, this field has already consolidated more than any non-incumbent field in this century Margaret. Back this time, eight years ago, we had 13 candidates still in the race. At this time back, you know, in 2011, we had eight candidates in the race. At this time back in 2007, we had nine candidates in the race and so this field is consolidated significantly, and I suspect it will consolidate more after folks vote in Iowa and New Hampshire.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But, isn’t it a little bit different that you have the 45th President of the United states running, a known entity who has this automatic platform. It’s just a different model. It’s a different case.

CHRISTIE: Yeah, the other thing that makes it different, Margaret, is he’s got 91 counts of indictment against him. The day before Super Tuesday, he’s going to start a criminal trial, where his former chief of staff and one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus is going to testify that he committed crimes on his watch and was directed to commit crimes by Donald Trump. There’s a lot of things different about this and that’s why anybody tried to predict this is just shooting in the dark.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But why don’t- why hasn’t that turned off the GOP electorate? When you look at CBS polling, and others, he is leading, as you know. And then I mean, you’ve made clear when some of the other competitors are using really harsh rhetoric that you think that should disqualify them. Why hasn’t that extreme rhetoric turned the GOP off of these other candidates either?

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well, look, I- first off, I don’t think you know exactly what’s going to happen at all until people vote. Look, if we listen to all the polling, Margaret, Hillary Clinton would be in her second term. So I don’t believe that polling is nearly as reliable as it used to be and I don’t believe that people tell the truth to pollsters. And so at the end of the day, everybody who’s trying to make these decisions now is just wrong. Let’s remember something, in this- in the Republican primary in ’07, do you know who was winning at this time in ’07? Mitt Romney. You know who was winning at this time in ’11? Newt Gingrich. And winning this time and ’15 was Ben Carson. I don’t remember any of those presidencies, Margaret. So you know, my view, we can’t worry about that kind of stuff. What we need to worry about is the direction this country is going in, and most people don’t agree with it. And if you don’t agree with the direction of the country, why would you vote for either Trump or Biden, who have put us in this direction?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I have a lot more to talk to you about including on the issues and the things that we know from our own polling voters want to hear from candidates like you. So I’m going to ask you to stick with us because I do have to take a commercial break and we’ll have more questions on the other side of it.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We have more now from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, candidate for the Republican nomination. Sir, I want to pick up where we left off. You know, we hear from political pundits all the time, oh, Americans just don’t care about national security when it comes to how they vote, but you are the only candidate who has gone to both Israel and Ukraine during this campaign, at least only one still standing. Why was it important for you to go?

CHRISTIE: So, I think if you want to be President of the United States, you have to see these things for yourself. You can’t count on reports from pundits or the press, or from other folks in public life. You’ve got to see it for yourself and I will tell you, when I went to Israel, Margaret, just a couple of weeks ago, the inhumanity I saw that Hamas rained upon the Jewish people in Israel, I went into one home of a 24-year-old couple recently married, both were murdered in their small three-room home. And there were 140 bullet holes in the walls to kill two people, Margaret, it’s not just the inhumanity that Hamas executes, it’s the joy they take in that inhumanity. And that’s why Israel has to do what they need to do to eliminate that military threat. And I think I would not have completely understood it, and couldn’t be an effective president if I didn’t see it for myself.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll see if some of the other candidates go, one of the things that I also want to pick up on that we see voters responding to thus far is abortion. You know, it’s been a galvanizing issue in favor of Democrats. We’ve seen that a few times now. Are you concerned that in a head-to-head that that will help to buoy the President himself as he runs for reelection? And how does a Republican candidate like yourself, take the issue to the national stage when the message for decades has been it’s a state issue?

CHRISTIE: Look, Margaret, I’ve been consistent on this. I believe the conservative smart approach is to let the states make these decisions and that’s what I think they should do. And that’s why I said, I wouldn’t sign a six-week national abortion ban as Governor DeSantis and now just recently in Iowa, Governor Haley has said she would sign a six week ban. I don’t think you can say one thing in one place and something else in another, you need to be consistent. For 50 years, Republicans have argued that the Supreme Court took this decision away from the people. I think this belongs in the hands of the people of each individual state, we see a great democratic, small d, event going on right now across the country, in places like Michigan and Kansas, in Ohio, where people are voting, but let’s let the American people vote in their individual states, and decide what they want this policy to be.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So better for the party not to have a national policy, essentially, is what you’re saying.

CHRISTIE: I believe that’s- I believe that’s true. I believe that’s what the Constitution guides us to do. And that’s where we should stay and that’s where I’ve been. And I’m concerned, quite frankly, Margaret, that, you know, candidates in this race have been all over the block on this. And it’s not right, people deserve to have a straight answer from you and that’s my straight answer.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, also, giving a fairly straight assessment is Liz Cheney, the former Congresswoman who just did an interview with my colleague, John Dickerson, and told him, ‘the United States is sleepwalking into a dictatorship.’ Bob Kagan, writer in the New York- in the Washington Post had an op ed saying, ‘after Super Tuesday in March, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee and what happens there will be a swift and dramatic shift in the political power dynamic in his favor,’ saying all Republican critics, perhaps even yourself will fall silent out of self preservation. Is that how you see your party behaving after March?

CHRISTIE: Look, I can’t speak for everyone in my party, I can only speak for myself, Margaret. And anybody who knows me knows I will not be silent. I haven’t been silent since the day I got into this race. And in fact, unlike others, you know, Nikki Haley says he was the right president for the right time and that for some reason, you know, drama and chaos seem to follow him. The reason is that he acts like someone who doesn’t care about our democracy acts like someone who wants to be a dictator. He acts like someone who doesn’t care for the Constitution. In fact, he’s even said himself he’d be willing to suspend the Constitution if an election wasn’t going in his direction. Margaret, I was the only one on that stage going back to August, when I- when we were asked would you support someone who, you know, was convicted of a felony for President of the United States? Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, they all raised their hands. I did not and I think I’ve made it very very clear how I feel about this and if folks want to return to some decency and civility why would you ever vote for Donald Trump.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Chris Christie, we’ll watch. Thanks for your time, we’ll be right back.

40 Day Countdown


Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance

The Iowa caucuses are January 15, 2024, and represent the first opportunity for the GOP nomination contest to highlight candidate support.

Initially, I was going to wait to post this information later, mid-December.  However, based on conversation earlier today, and my pledge to be publicly consistent and transparent, here’s an advance review of my expectations.

(#1) The full-throated DOJ, Jack Smith, Georgia and New York legal cases will likely trigger, like scud missiles in a blitz attack against Donald Trump, around 10 days prior to the Iowa caucuses.  I’m not sure what the granular details of the Lawfare assault will look like; however, the timing will certainly be in/around these dates.  The deepest part of the DC system that is in full alignment against Trump will be looking at this time frame as the first opportunity to hit Trump hard.  The main battery comes after the 2024 RNC convention (Wisconsin, thanks Ronna).

(#2) Simultaneous to this, keep in mind the Sea Island group have spent hundreds of millions on an organizational process for Ron DeSantis, that is now contingent upon an Iowa victory.  Just like the timing of the Mar-a-Lago raid, there will likely be some background coordination between the administrative state in DC and the organizational assemblies of DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Again, this is the first opportunity for the ‘stop Trump’ apparatus to create an inflection point.  If President Trump crushes the Iowa caucuses, he will destroy the GOPe narrative.

(#3) This also creates the context timeline for us to consider an urgency by the deepest part of the DC control apparatus to influence public opinion.  As a result, and given the recent remarks by platform operator Elon Musk, we may also see something happening with Twitter that blocks the ability of the assembled masses to communicate about whatever happens in #1.  To a significant extent, MAGA has assembled discussion into a large Twitter stadium per se’.  If the people controlling U.S. political outcomes want to hit hard, they will need a significant and timed disruption in the system of public communication.  Scattering that stadium would be very effective.

The DHS artificial intelligence (AI) rollout into the ¹overall communication system, specifically social media, can also be considered as part of a disruption effort to influence the 2024 election.  The national security labeling, definitions that establish censorship, removal and content control, will almost certainly flow through the pre-existing Public-Private partnerships.  I would not be surprised to see the timing of that launch, in a full scale, somewhat in this same calendar period.

We all know the 2024 election is for all the marbles, so we just await the predictable incoming fire.

Smart wolverines will have preestablished iron dome defenses at the ready.

¹[GO DEEP] DHS’ AI task force is coordinating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on how the department can partner with critical infrastructure organizations “on safeguarding their uses of AI and strengthening their cybersecurity practices writ large to defend against evolving threats.”

RESOURCES:

Using AI for Content Moderation

Facebook / META / Tech joining with DHS

Zoom will allow Content Scraping by AI 

AI going into The Cloud

U.S. Govt Going into The Cloud With AI

Pentagon activates 175 Million IP’s

Big Names to Attend Political AI Forum

DoD to use AI to monitor U.S. Internet for Disinformation

DHS Announces Guidelines for Using AI to monitor Americans.

DHS Announces “Expert Group”

Chris Christie Fails to Qualify for Maine Primary Ballot


Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance 

In the state of Maine, the deadline for candidates for president to turn in a sufficient number of signatures to be on the March 5, 2024 Primary Election ballot was 5 p.m. on Friday.  The candidates needed 2,000 valid voter signatures to appear on the ballot.  According to the Secretary of State, candidate Chris Christie did not make the cut.

[Source Link]

Dec. 2 (UPI) — Former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie will not be on the Maine primary election ballot after failing to obtain the required number of in-state petition signatures.

In order to be on the ballot for Maine’s March 5, 2024, primary election, candidates must have 2,000 in-state signatures, but state officials said Saturday he didn’t make the cut.

“The deadline for candidates for president to turn in a sufficient number of signatures to be on the March 5, 2024, primary election ballot was 5 p.m. today,” Maine’s Secretary of State said in a press release.

Christie only received 844 signatures, Maine Director of Elections Heidi Peckham told CBS News. (link

The Gates of Hell


Posted originally on Dec 3, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

2023 Digtal ID


The joke going around is Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, and Joe Biden all died together in a private plane crash. They show up before Satan at the Gates of Hell. Gates says he was helping society and is clearly in the wrong place. Kalus says yes – me too! Biden seems confused and does not know where he is. Satan shows Biden to a small cell steaming hot with no air conditions. Gates and Klaus are escorted to an air-conditioned mansion and told they must share it. They asked why we had to live together. Satan replies: We are unsure who will send more people here, you Gates or Schwab. You did a great job killing 20% of the vaccinated Bill, and you, Klaus, stole everyone’s assets, creating massive civil wars when we have the total death count that will decide who keeps this mansion. You both beat the death counts of Hitler, Lenin, and even Genghis Khan. That was very impressive. Well done!

Eastern Europe Is Privately Not Quite as Pro-Ukraine as Western Media Claim


Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance

If you were a curious and nationalist minded European person who wanted to better understand the dynamic of American politics, such an intentioned person would likely visit Washington DC to meet, understand and absorb the reality of USA politics.  However, that approach, while familiar, would be a mistake.

A visit to the DC beltway would generate opinions and insights from the perspective of the federal government apparatus.  Additionally, the U.S. politicians are going to repeat the policy agenda points that are debated and discussed.  But does that approach really inform the curious visitor about how Americans feel, engage and interact with the government?   The answer is no; the visitor would get the official skewed perspective, but leave without any understanding of how the policies described are actually considered by the American people.

To really understand the nature of how Americans view the political dynamic inside the U.S, as well as discover how the people would be reacting to policy or possible workarounds therein, the curious visitor would need to go to where the boots on the ground are – to the actual people who are engaging in American life.

The reverse of this scenario is also true.  Traveling from the USA to visit Spain, Holland, Hungary or Belarus, and spending time with their political leadership, will only gain you a top-level policy outline of what those officials and politicians are trying to achieve.  If there is a conflict between the official position and the actual reality on the ground, the curious visitor would never see it.

This dichotomy is the fatal flaw within the process of gathering information.  Tucker Carlson or (fill_in_blank) cannot understand how/if the political policy transfers to the citizens by talking to the known leadership.  What is happening on the ground could be entirely different, and that begins the conversation to a larger awakening.

My curiosity revolved around Western global sanctions against Russia.  It has been almost two years since massive sanctions against Russia were implemented.  The goal of the sanctions was to hurt Russia economically, weaken Putin domestically, and ultimately change the outcome in Ukraine.  However, the Russian economy is larger than before the sanctions; the Ruble is stronger against the US Dollar than before; Vladimir Putin is more supported inside Russia than before, and most of the financial and economic systems under sanction have failed to yield a substantive difference on the ground in Russia.

How is this possible, when we are told the sanctions delivered hardship to Russia?  The answer is simple; the sanctions didn’t work.   Why not?  What is happening?  These were the questions I had in mind as I went to where the economic systems are actually being engaged by the people.  I can say with certainty what I found is nowhere in any Western media presentation.

I will describe tomorrow the granular details of why the claims of the west do not match the reality of what is taking place.  On the ground, the sanctions are invisible because ordinary people in Europe, (a) are not in alignment with the expressed government intent, and (b) therefore have no issue constructing ways around them.

The US, UK, France and bureaucrats in Brussels are the tip of the spear against Russia, but behind that face there are EU mechanisms that do not align.   Things are not what they seem.

Before getting to those details, some of which have to be shared carefully due to the sensitivity of the information and process (sand in the machine), let’s start by looking at the subtle indications which will validate what we discuss next.

WASHINGTON DC – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán regularly pushes the EU to the cliff edge, but diplomats are panicking that his hostility to Ukraine is now about to finally kick the bloc over the precipice.

A brewing political crisis is set to boil over at a summit in mid-December when EU leaders are due to make a historic decision on bringing Ukraine into the 27-nation club and seal a key budget deal to throw a €50 billion lifeline to Kyiv’s flailing war economy. The meeting is supposed to signal to the U.S. that, despite the political distraction over the war in the Middle East, the EU is fully committed to Ukraine.

Those hopes look likely to be knocked off course by Orbán, a strongman who cultivates close ties with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and who is widely seen as having undermined democracy and rule of law at home. He is demanding the whole political and financial process should be put on ice until leaders agree to a wholesale review of EU support for Kyiv.

[…] Previous peacemakers such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel or other Orbán-whisperers from the so-called Visegrád Four — Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — are no longer there. The expected comeback of Donald Tusk for Poland, a pro-EU and anti-Russian leader, will only heighten Orbán’s status as the lonely, defiant hold-out.

“There is no one left to talk sense into Orbán,” a third EU official said. “He is now undermining the EU from within.”

[…] In theory, Brussels could come out with the big guns and use the EU’s so-called Article 7 procedure against Hungary, used when a country is considered at risk of breaching the bloc’s core values. The procedure is sometimes called the EU’s “nuclear option” as it provides for the most serious political sanction the bloc can impose on a member country — the suspension of the right to vote on EU decisions.

Because of those far-reaching consequences, there is reticence to roll out this option against Hungary. When EU leaders brought in “diplomatic sanctions” against Austria in 2000, the day after the party of Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider entered the coalition, it backfired. Many Austrians were angry at EU interference and anti-EU sentiment soared. Sanctions were lifted later that year.

There is now a widespread feeling in Brussels that Article 7 could create a similar backlash in Budapest, fueling populism and in the longer term potentially even trigger a snowball effect leading to an unintended Hungarian exit of the bloc.

Given those fears, diplomats are doubling down on ways to work around a Hungarian veto. (read more)

Now you know why I went to Budapest.

What I can tell you is the nationalist outlook, a sentiment against the interests of Brussels, is not only an Orban perspective.  The Hungarian people, and the institutions therein, have no issue with Russia.  This extends to the reality within the Russian consulate in Budapest; you’ll specifically see how this all manifests tomorrow.

(Washington DC) – […] Instead of targeting flagship exports like oil and gas, Ukraine’s European allies will focus on restricting trade in diamonds, iron and copper, which are of relatively little value to the Russian state. When it comes to energy, “we’ve reached the capacity of what we can do without shooting [ourselves] in the foot and harming our competitiveness,” one EU diplomat claimed.

The biggest omission is liquefied natural gas, the all-important fossil fuel that netted President Vladimir Putin’s regime an estimated $6.6 billion in sales in the EU this year alone. Countries like Spain and Belgium have actually even boosted their LNG imports by a massive 50 percent in 2023, compared to 2022.

Meanwhile, hopes that Europe could agree to shut the door on Russia’s atomic energy sector given its dangerous occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — the continent’s largest — have failed to materialize. Hungary is expanding one of its own atomic power stations with Moscow’s help and populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has vowed to veto any sanctions that would hurt the industry, despite criticism from EU and Ukrainian officials alike. Unanimous support from all 27 member states is needed to impose new restrictions, meaning talks on the subject are now deadlocked. (read more)

Neil Oliver – The Season of Santa’s Surveillance


Posted originally on the CTH on December 2, 2023 | Sundance 

Against the revelation that DOJ officials gathered the Trump Twitter hit list of wrong thinking Americans, including all the metadata therein, this monologue by Neil Oliver -a good friend of the Treehouse- is timely and prescient in its forethought.

Discussing how the new legislative effort in Ireland is intended to conduct surveillance on the Emerald Isle nationalists, ie dissident voices within the Irish population considered adverse to the interests of the state, Neil Oliver outlines how the communication freedom of most Irish citizens is now dispatched.  Irish citizens are now under full government surveillance for any speech that might be considered dangerous.

Populations of various countries already experienced the testing ground of government control in the recent COVID-19 vaccination process.  Regulated freedom was contingent upon compliance with an untested vaccine, so it should not be a surprise to see the next evolution of control – the control over speech and communication.

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13 years ago, people on these pages did not quite fathom what I was implying with the sharing of the image below.  However, if you have watched the Oliver monologue, and you are one of the non-pretending wolverines who find ways to live amid the surveillance with a productive free purpose, just like a Rorschach test, the imagery might take on a new perspective.