Posted originally on Dec 3, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
What began as a special military operation has turned into the start of the next world war, and Russia is paying heavily. Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a new budget over the weekend that will allocate 32.5% of the total budget (13.5 trillion rubles) for FY25 to defense spending, which accounts for 6.2% of total GDP.
The amount in proportion to the total budget spent on defense in FY24 was 28.3%. Notably, the budget is factoring in military costs for the next three years – this war will not simply end with Trump. Russia’s pre-war military expenditure was only 3.6 trillion rubles, rising to 5.5 trillion at the beginning of the war from 5.5 trillion rubles in 2022 to 6.4 trillion rubles in 2023.
Russia must find a way to finance this war. The Kremlin estimates GDP for 2024 to come in at 195.8 trillion rubles, although last year’s GDP was 172.1 trillion rubles. The GDP for 2025 is anticipated to be 214.6 trillion rubles. The nation is confident it will continue earning but that is not enough to fund the growing war.
Putin has already raised taxes for the first time in nearly 25 years. The corporate tax rate will rise by 5% from 20% to 25%. The government expects to generate an additional 2.6 trillion rubles in revenue once the tax is implemented in 2025. Russia’s Finance Ministry believes that 2 million people, 3.2% of the working population, will see a rise in their taxes. Taxes on investments will not change. “The changes are aimed at building a fair and balanced tax system,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, adding that the additional funds would bolster Russia’s “economic well-being.”
The flat tax rate of 13% that Putin implemented when he took over for Yeltsin in 2001 accounted for much of his popularity. Still, the people overwhelmingly have a sense of patriotism and support Russia as well as Putin. Even with the ongoing war, Russia still only spends about one-fourth of what America and China do on defense. Even India spends more than Russia on its military. We can obviously see where these nations believe the war effort is heading when looking at future budget forecasts. Three years from now brings us to the pivotal year of 2027/2028, where all bets are off, and it would come as zero surprise if/when Russia raises its military spending budget projections.
Posted originally on Dec 2, 2024 by Martin Armstrong |
The pardon Biden gave his son identified these two cases and any offenses that Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024. However, reliable sources suggest that Hunter was involved with the bio-labs in Ukraine before 2014 to the extent that Putin wanted to discuss Hunter’s involvement with Papa Biden. You cannot accept money from a foreign government without registering as an agent of that government. Ukraine has been the largest money laundering scam in modern history.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 2, 2024 | Sundance
Senator Ron Johnson appears with a very excited Maria Bartiromo to discuss the possibility of Kash Patel taking the lead role in the FBI.
As Senator Johnson notes in the interview, bringing the truth forward to the American public is the greatest challenge. “The truth is a powerful weapon,” Johnson said. However, Johnson also notes “I’m not an optimist in this Maria, quite honestly, I wish I could say I was.”
Posted originally on the CTH on December 1, 2024 | Sundance
President Joe Biden has issued an executive grant of clemency (pardon), “For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss.”
WHITE HOUSE – Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision. (LINK)
Posted originally on Nov 29, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
Zelensky continues to betray his own country following orders from the Neocons, who used Biden to authorize long-range missiles to be launched deep into Russia, which cannot be targeted without American satellite information and coordinates. There is no way he can launch missiles into Russia and expect that Russia will not respond. This was not intended to force Russia to peace talks when the Neocons sent Boris Johnson to kill any peak deal, and now we see more than one million Ukrainians have died since. As the NY Times wrote, General Mark A. Milley, then President Biden’s chief military adviser, suggested that neither Russia nor Ukraine could win the war. This is all about trying to get Putin to attack anything so NATO can invoke Article 5 to try to force Trump to send troops to Europe to wage this war against Russia.
Putin has told why he ordered his troops to bomb Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Putin dispatched as many as 90 missiles and 100 drones. More than a million Ukrainians were left without power by the bombing. ‘This was a response to the Ukrainian attacks with British and US strikes last week,’ Putin said. He added that Russia is still selecting new targets in Ukraine, which may include decision-making centers in the capital Kiev.
Meanwhile, European leaders are desperate to create World War III as the European Union is in economic trouble. The head of the German secret service, Bruno Kahl, is arguing to invoke Article 5 over any hybrid attack. They can now create a false flag, calling it sabotage to justify triggering Article 5. Handing Ukraine these long-range missiles has shifted the focus inside Russia, and it can no longer be denied that World War III is underway for this is NATO and the USA are in a proxy war with Russia, and they are escalating it rapidly, fearing Trump takes office and then he would be anti-war. It is no joke that even the Greens in Germany are pro-war under the theory that (1) it will destroy the energy production of Russia and (2) reduce the population making Bill Gates, Buffett, and Soros so happy.
Did we get enough to save the planet?
The increase in Russian armed forces means that Putin has been forced to accept that this is World War III, and there will be no peace negotiations before Trump comes to power if they don’t try to assassinate him again. A military confrontation with NATO and the USA is a very possible outcome. Already, they are spinning the Russian Risk of interference in the upcoming German elections. German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said at an event organized by the international relations think tank DGAP in Berlin that Russia’s hybrid warfare raises the risk that NATO may have to consider triggering the mutual defense clause, Article 5 of the treaty. They want World War III so bad that they can taste the blood.
Putin has been trying to sit on his hands. He knows that a direct confrontation will be devastating to much of the world. He is NOT a warmonger, but those behind him are just as insane as our Neocons and the leader of Europe, who have collectively been drugged, it seems, by NATO. Putin has had no choice but to increase the Russian armed forces as he is compelled to confront that a direct military confrontation with NATO becomes more likely with every passing day.
Posted originally on the CTH onNovember 28, 2024 | Sundance
During an appearance in Kazakhstan today, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a press conference with Russian journalists who asked questions about the current conflict with Ukraine.
Before getting to the video, it is worth mentioning that our western viewpoint of Russia respecting strength; is not entirely accurate. There is something Russians respect more than strength, brutal honesty.
One of the things that separates Russians from their eastern European counterparts, is their keen ability to detect and dismiss bullshit. If you watch Russian engagement, from either inside or outside of Russia, their non pretending is truly an artform. Even the silent space between their words is something remarkable to watch.
In this first video segment, Russian President Putin is asked about the motives of outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden to escalate the NATO conflict with Russia. President Putin responds by outlining genuine, factual and honest motives that political pundits in the USA pretend not to know. It’s fascinating to watch:
Why the presser? Why the questions? Why the willingness? Look, I’m no Putin whisperer, but I can see a brutally obvious motive of Vladimir Putin speaking directly to President Trump, through the media. For a myriad of reasons, including the honesty of his responses and statements, this approach seems completely logical and practical.
This next segment is even more interesting.
In this segment, Vladimir Putin is describing his views on President Trump and the status of his perspective toward Donald Trump against the backdrop of what Putin witnessed. Of course, the opportunity for passive aggressive snark is available, and Putin would not be Russian if he did not take the opportunity troll the U.S. government at the same time. WATCH:
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