Site Reminder and Example


Posted originally on the CTH on August 10, 2023 | Sundance 

CTH was essentially founded because everyone seemed more comfortable pretending about the journey than admitting the destination.  From the outset, and with a long view of the challenges we would face, I have repeatedly stated that everything on this website is free for the taking.  We are rapidly approaching the point where everyone is going to realize why that cornerstone was set.

The truth has no agenda, it just sits there -out there somewhere- waiting to be discovered. Our feelings about it are irrelevant to its existence. The core of the assembly is to look deeply at uncomfortable things, then accept them as they are and not as we would wish/pretend them to be.  We are now on the cusp of full information control – a literal technological reengineering of the U.S. internet communication network as we know it.

As a direct result, the voices who put accurate context to our national challenge are going to be targets.  Information is now being categorized according to definitions of people who do not have liberty at the forefront of online communication. The categories of information are intended to stop information averse to the interests of a few powerful institutions.  Ten years ago, people would say such predictions were fringe conspiracies.  Now, with more evidence surfacing every day, notsomuch.

[Reddit Source]

Now perhaps you are beginning to see why that free information cornerstone was set. The truth has no agenda!

Everything you read and review upon these pages is free for the taking. Anyone, for any reason, can take any content I produce and use it to advance the honest effort of providing raw unfiltered truth to their audience.  Everything is available for use free, without any attribution or citation needed.

All that I provide is free and can be modified, changed, enhanced in part or whole to meet your needs. Images, writing, research, analysis, all of it is provided, along with no expectation of citation or attribution dependent on your motives and intents.

Make the words your own; use them in part or modify to make a more intelligent or comprehensive outline. All the accompanying graphics are available to use as would suit your interests. Importantly, all the research is cited and verifiable.  This includes all the pdf files, government documents, FOIA outcomes and uploads to the SCRIBD account.   Take anything you want; thanks, sincerely, but no need to ask permission.

We are not going to save this republic by demanding or restricting information via self-important perspectives on citation or attribution. I simply do not care about such issues. Make it your own in whatever manner or format fits your interests.

Please accept this reminder with the expressed intent.  If you are brave enough to stand in front of the furnace, you have my full and unwavering support and appreciation.  You are simply considered my brother or sister.  It’s ok, just take it. Anything provided here is yours to take, whole or in part and make it your own, as we work earnestly to deliver greater understanding to a larger audience.

Effective solutions require brutally accurate understanding.

I will always work earnestly to be deserving of your fellowship. As new visitors attest every day, the fellowship in this commenting community is unique, insightful, articulate, intelligent, funny and awesome.  I love you guys.

With humble appreciation and the warmest of regards,

Sundance]

Remember, we are inside every facility, every institution, every meeting, every moment of their existence – and we notice everything. We are there when they do not expect, and we melt away before they notice our appearance. We see what they hide, we hear what they whisper, we decipher their codes, and we understand the complexity they create in their effort to conceal.  We have allies and resources inside the core of the machinery.  We understand what and why everything is being constructed.

2021 -175 Million IP Addresses […] “Minutes before Trump left office, millions of the Pentagon’s dormant IP addresses sprang to life” was the title of a Washington Post article on Saturday. Literally three minutes before Joe Biden became president, a company called Global Resource Systems LLC “discreetly announced to the world’s computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the US military,” the Post said. (more)

Bidenomics – Multiple Key Performance Indicators Spell Trouble Ahead


Posted originally on the CTH on August 10, 2023 | Sundance 

Several people have made queries about the current state of our national economic condition against the backdrop of disconnected data points that seemingly conflict. Here’s my review.

July and August are key months to gauge the prior six months of U.S consumer positioning.

Why?

Because all advance purchase orders for the U.S. holiday season are made in May, June and July for inventory builds and delivery schedules for September.  The decisions made by purchasing officers in late spring and early summer, reflect their predictive analysis for the holiday season.

Inventories are evaluated, critical financial discussions are held, and orders are placed for September arrival and distribution.  This predictive activity is what we see in the July and August data that flows from the global, multinational and shipping corporations who facilitate the transfer of the goods.  Check what is happening in distribution, and you can see what eventually creates the boxcar effect in the supply chain that ultimately leads to shuttered manufacturing.

Those who are involved in the business of shipping goods are signaling the flares around the state of the consumer economy and what will happen.  At the same time, the wording is almost hilarious in this era of great pretending.  Instead of saying ordinary words like “poor sales results for durable goods,” the parseltongue calls sales, “destocking.”  Example:  “CEO Vincent Clerc said he saw no sign that the destocking which has curbed global trade activity would end this year.”

Global shipping company Maersk is warning that shipping volume is low because warehouse inventories are high.  The goods are unsold.

(Reuters) – […] CEO Vincent Clerc said he saw no sign that the destocking which has curbed global trade activity would end this year.

“We had expected customers to draw down inventories around the middle of the year, but so far we see no signs of that happening. It may happen at the beginning of next year,” Clerc said at a media briefing.  “Consequently, the uptick in volumes we had expected in the second half of the year has not occurred,” he said. (read more)

The lack of shipping leads to a review of inventory status for the warehouses who would receive the goods.

Bulging Warehouses – […] A review of corporate statements and briefings shows more than 30 U.S. and European companies, including Hugo Boss, Heineken and A.P. Moller-Maersk, 3M Co and Stanley Black & Decker complained that destocking hurt their second-quarter performance.

Retailers particularly have struggled with stocks of clothing and footwear as consumers splurge on holidays rather than goods as they did during pandemic lockdowns.

The downbeat outlook comes amid low expectations for second-quarter results as China’s post-pandemic recovery slows. Refinitiv I/B/E/S data shows U.S. and European companies are expected to report their worst quarterly results in years.

Companies which stockpiled last year are finding it harder to shed inventories when higher borrowing costs and inflation crimp consumer demand, corporate executives and analysts said.

In the euro zone, stocks of finished products hit records in August last year and destocking only started in May, based on latest euro-zone manufacturing data.

In the U.S., an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by CFRA Research showed business inventories soared by 20% in mid-2022, the biggest jump on record based on data that goes back to 1993. Retailers led the trend – raising inventories by a quarter from a year earlier.

The date in this next paragraph is key:

[…] The U.S. inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.4 in May, up from 1.33 a year ago, which means retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers have more inventory than they can sell at a higher rate than a year ago. (link)

When purchase order decisions for the holiday season of 2023 were being made, the inventory levels were higher than 2022.  This is KPI (Key Performance Indicator) data, because the holiday of 2022 was a total mess.

Holiday sales last year were exceptionally weak as wage earners were struggling to pay for higher prices in essential goods and services, fuel, oil, heating, energy, gasoline, food and shelter.  The lack of consumer purchasing for non-essential goods and/or luxury items resulted in poor sales last year, and the inventory levels are actually higher this year than last year when this year’s purchasing decisions were being made.  That reality drops purchase orders.  The dropped purchase orders lead to Maersk saying they are shipping less goods.

Now, let’s get USA domestic…. because it’s all connected.  For that let’s turn to the U.S. Postal Service:

USPS DATA – First-Class Mail revenue increased $221 million, or 4.0 percent, on a volume decline of 678 million pieces, or 5.9 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Shipping and Packages revenue remained relatively flat while volume declined 41 million pieces, or 2.4 percent, compared to the same quarter last year.

Marketing Mail revenue decreased $333 million, or 8.8 percent, on a volume decline of 2.6 billion pieces, or 16.0 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. The Marketing Mail decreases were driven by the continued decline in advertising spending due to economic pressures experienced throughout most of the fiscal year, a higher inflationary environment affecting print media production costs. (link)

So, let’s put it all together….

Consumers did not buy stuff.  As a result, spring inventories were high.  Purchasing managers forecast weak sales. Summer purchase orders were very low.  Shipping companies reflect declines in shipping because the purchase orders were low. Advertising and marketing budgets were cut to meet the decrease in consumer spending.  Consumers are not forecast to spend this holiday season.

The economic pie is getting smaller.

Keep in mind, this is all intentional.  This is all part of the outcome from “managing the transition” to a new energy economy.

As you are well aware the various western nation central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve, are raising interest rates into a global economic contraction, a drop in demand.  Raising interest rates into a contracting economy is counterintuitive, it runs against the expressed interest of government to grow economic conditions.  However, there is a purposeful design to the contradiction.  [A TLDR Version Here]

The central bankers are trying to support western government policy.  Unfortunately, the government policy they are under obligation to support is the fundamental energy shift, or what the World Economic Forum (Davos Group) has called the “Build Back Better” climate change agenda.

Monetary policy can only impact one side of the inflation challenge.  The western bankers (EU central bank, U.S. federal reserve bank, and various banking groups) are raising interest rates in order to “tame inflation” by “taming demand.”  However, as you know the global economic demand has been declining for several quarters.  Raising interest rates into an already contracting economy only does one thing, it speeds up the rate of economic contraction.

Economic contraction is the lowering of economic activity.  Raise interest rates -in a general sense- and businesses invest less, borrowers borrow less, consumers purchase less, employers expand less, and the economy overall slows down. When the economy turns negative, meaning less products and services are produced, we enter a recession. Some businesses and employers do not survive a recession and subsequently unemployment rises.

During recessionary periods people buy less stuff, people have less income stability, and economic activity drops.  When the banks raise interest rates into an economy that is already stalled or contracting, unemployment and general pain on Main Street increases.  Workers are laid-off, incomes shrink, consumer spending drops and that leads to less employment.  Recessions are bad for middle-class and working-class people.

However, that said, there is one benefit from a recession…. Energy use drops.

Biden Corruption Context and The Lightbringer


Posted originally on the CTH on August 10, 2023 | Sundance

This is a short reminder about linking President Obama, Teh One true bringer of all progressive enlightenment, into the discussion and analysis of Joe and Hunter Biden’s corruption, bribery and influence selling while in office.

There are an increasing number of people who are asking when the golden child will be brought into the issue of Vice-President Joe Biden selling his influence while working for the Lightbringer. Please stop!  There will never be any accountability for Obama in any endeavor or discovery – not by this generation.

Historians will note the issue later in the annals of historical reference long after we are departed; but right now, in this era, the Lightbringer is immune.  Obama represents the personal identity of the professional political left. To remove the veil of Teh One is to deliver a black pill so toxic that entire segments of the U.S population, including every facet of DHS controlled media operations, would melt in place.  It will never happen.  Not ever in this era.

You would have a greater likelihood of success convincing the youthfully vaccinated to accept they have decreased their life expectancy.  Which is to say, it will never happen. Remember, we are living in an era of “Great Pretending,” that is why I emphasize this continued pretense so forcefully.  Stop pretending, and the entire political system collapses. Collapse the political farce, and the social fabric starts self-repairing.

As long as the era of great pretending remains as the easiest psychological condition to survive the abuse, there will be no shift for people to look at their core beliefs and the fabricated world around them.

When you see articles written like this in the Wall Street Journal, keep in mind the presentation is done while remaining in a state of perpetual pretending:

[…] Also, perhaps Barack Obama would consider explaining why he doesn’t appear to have enforced the same ethical rules on Joe Biden that he did on Hillary Clinton.

If voters have any hope that the office of the vice presidency will not be abused in the future the way it was by Joe Biden, then a full accounting is required to understand how and why normal ethical standards were not applied. (link)

The question about Obama, and Joe Biden as his VP, is based on pretense.  Stop pretending and the leverage Joe Biden held over Barack Obama is transparently easy to see.   Obama could not stop Biden from selling his office for financial gain, because Obama made a deal with Biden in 2008.

Joe Biden was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with oversight jurisdiction of the State Dept., and by extension all foreign policy nominations etc.

John Brennan was working for the Obama campaign when his outside government group, The Analysis Corporation, “hacked” into the state dept database to clean up issues and gain leverage over the Senator from Illinois.

John O. Brennan, Obama’s top terrorism and intelligence adviser, is the owner of The Analysis Corp. – the firm that was cited in March 2008 for penetrating the files of presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John McCain in the State Department’s passport office.

At the time of the breach, Brennan was working as an unpaid adviser to the Obama campaign.   After the breach was revealed by the Washington Times , Brennan stated:

“This individual’s actions were taken without the knowledge or direction of anyone at The Analysis Corp. and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and ethical standards,” Brennan’s company said in a statement sent to reporters after the passport breach was made public.  (link)

The Washington Times Reported – Passport application data includes such details as date and place of birth,  e-mail address, mailing address, Social Security number, former names and travel  plans. Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961 to a Kenyan father and American  mother. He lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, from age six to 10.

Computer-monitoring equipment detected the activities by the three employees  on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14, triggering alarms in each case, Mr. McCormack  said.  Mr. McCormack said the officials accessed Mr. Obama’s records “without a need  to do so.”

“In each case, we immediately contacted our contractors, their employer, and  two were fired and one was disciplined,” he said.  (link)

But it is important to remember EXACTLY what Brennan’s background was prior to the State Department breach.   Brennan spent 25 years working for the CIA prior to the security breach:

Mr. Brennan spent most of his C.I.A. career as an analyst, but during the 1990s served a tour as the chief of the station in Saudi Arabia.   From 1999 to early 2001, he was chief of staff to George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, as the position was then called. At the end of his CIA. service, in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Brennan set up what is now the counterterrorism center.  (link)

Yet, people would have you believe, after 25 years within the CIA, and after being the Chief of Staff to the Director, and after being the person who set up the counter terrorism center, and after being the CIA approved contractor for the State dept., well, he just didn’t know that someone from his firm was penetrating the passport files within the State Dept. on three occasions in Jan and Feb to look at information of the candidate who he was specifically working for….. you getting this?

Well, that was their story, and they stuck to it in 2008.

After the initial inquiry, federal investigators maintained the target of the illegal activity was Obama’s passport file.   It does not take a stretch to come to the conclusion this was for the sole purpose of cleansing the records of information that would jeopardize Obama’s candidacy.    As many people speculated at the time, the breach of the passport records of the other candidates was merely to create confusion.

Brennan was, at the time, an unpaid advisor working with Obama’s campaign. Passport files include an applicant’s name, gender, social security number, date and place of birth, and passport number. Additional information may include birth certificates, naturalization certificates, or oaths of allegiance for U.S. born persons who adopted the citizenship of a foreign country as minors.

It is important to remember the oversight agency that would be investigating the breach – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee oversees the State Department.

At the time Senator Joe Biden, now President Biden, was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the breach would be investigated.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Obama and personally apologized for the breach. “I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file,” Rice told reporters. She phoned Clinton and McCain and offered similar apologies.

Following the breach, State Department managers met with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, whose committee has oversight over the Foreign Service and the passport office.  (link)

And, well, what do you know…  Biden became the VP pick of Obama.

CLEANUP – State Department employee, Lieutenant Quarles Harris, Jr. who had the passport access, apparently was the guy who penetrated the database and scrubbed the records.  Harris was killed – April 18th, 2008.  Yes, Lieutenant Harris decided to cooperate with the FBI who were investigating the break-in.   Soon after his cooperation became a matter of record, his body was discovered in his parked car; he had been shot twice in the head, likely a “suicide”.

Last point. In mid-February 2010, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs alerted WH reporters that certain questions about Obama’s job with Business International Corporation (BIC) would not be subject to discussion.  BIC was well known in Washington DC to be a front company for the CIA; hence, many speculated the State Department passport records were scrubbed to erase any potential mention of Obama’s CIA activities and his personal information.  You decide.

Stop the pretending and it all makes sense.

As long as we keep pretending, it all seems rather odd.

See my point

Homelessness in the US at All-Time High


Armstrong Economics Blog/Real Estate Re-Posted Aug 10, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The housing crisis has become a massive issue in America. People with decent jobs are unable to afford housing, and those who were already down and out have little chance of survival. Then we poured the migrant crisis on top of the fire and have created a situation that is turning America into a second-world nation. Not so coincidentally, most of the homeless population lives in blue cities. The US spent over $51 billion on the homeless crisis last year, but where has the money gone?

Homelessness in the US has spiked by 65% since 2016! The Annual Homelessness Assessment Report said it is common for half a million people to be experiencing homelessness on any given night. The data is not in for 2023 when the migrant crisis really took hold after title 42 came to an end, so these figures I will present are nothing compared to our current reality in 2023. For every 10,000 Americans, 18 do not have a home. Around 72% are single adults, but an alarming 28% are families living with children. Five percent of the homeless population are unaccompanied youth under 25. Our veterans compose 6% of the homeless population as well.

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders have the highest rate of homelessness with 121 out of every 10,000 people living in crisis. The Black community has a disproportionate amount of homeless too with 48.2 of every 10,000 experiencing homelessness. Native Americans come in at a close third with 44.9 out of every 10,000 having no place to call home. Sixty-eight percent of all homeless individuals are male.

The US Federal government spent over $51 billion to combat the homeless crisis in 2022, but then our government took measures to worsen the matter, and economic conditions have made it nearly impossible for those with nothing to find shelter. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that a chronically homeless person will cost the taxpayers an average of $35,578 per year. Yet, where is this money going? When the migrants came through, we managed to find housing and convert buildings into temporary shelters until cities became overrun and it was impossible to manage — the federal bill for homelessness in FY22-23 will be astonishing.

As of March 2022, these cities saw the largest populations of unhoused individuals:

  • Los Angeles City & County 65,111
  • New York City 61,840
  • Seattle/King County 13,368
  • San Jose/Santa Clara City & County 10,028
  • Oakland, Berkeley/Alameda County 9,747
  • Sacramento City & County 9,278
  • Phoenix, Mesa/Maricopa County 9,026
  • San Diego City and County 8,427
  • San Francisco 7,754
  • Metropolitan Denver 6,884

We can see a pattern here, given that these are blue cities. Politicians touted many of these areas as “sanctuary cities” and encouraged tens of thousands of people to use the last of their resources to relocate there. And now, these people have nowhere to stay and no resources to leave. Promising sanctuary should have been a crime in itself. Criminalizing homelessness will not solve the solution and will only further burden the taxpayers. Anyone living in a major American city will tell you first-hand that the number of unhoused people has exploded in the past year. This is a SERIOUS and growing problem that is not being addressed. The government is continually throwing more money at the problem, but it is only worsening.

Self-Defense Illegal in Blue Cities


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Aug 10, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Criminals have the right of way in the US where they are permitted to commit crimes with absolutely no repercussions. I advise you to read my article on the Cloward-Piven Strategy if you want to know the real reason this is all happening. Overburden the bureaucracy to break the system, create controlled chaos, usurp power as civil unrest peaks, and offer government aid as the only solution. This was the basis behind the Cloward-Piven strategy created by sociologists Frances Fox Piven and her husband, Richard Cloward. The couple published their theory in The Nation Magazine on May 2, 1966, entitled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.”

The four steps of the Cloward-Piven Strategy:

  1. Overload and Break the Welfare System
  2. Have Chaos Ensue
  3. Take Control in the Chaos
  4. Implement Socialism and Communism through Government Force

In Chicago, we see mobs of people absolutely destroying small businesses and personal property. It is not safe there. Yet, the mayor refuses to call these groups “mobs” and urges the public to have compassion for the criminals.

In Oakland, California, the police are advising residents to place security bars on their doors and windows due to the uptick in crime. Burglaries have risen over 41% in Oakland and robberies are up 20%. Instead of properly telling residents that their 2A rights may be the only difference between life and death, the police have advised residents to use airhorns. Breitbart reported on a recent incident that went as expected:“On Sunday, July 30, 2023, a 75-year-old Oakland woman was home alone and armed with more than an airhorn when two alleged armed intruders entered her home. The woman had a .357 Magnum revolver, which she used to fire one shot at the alleged intruders, KTVU reported. The alleged intruders fired multiple shots then fled the scene.”

Clearly, the airhorns did not cause the criminals to flee. This woman is lucky that she was armed when criminals, likely career criminals who fail to contribute to society in any meaningful way, broke into her home.

In Stockton, California, a 7-Eleven convenience store owner was robbed by the same man on multiple occasions. The police did not assist the clerk after he pleaded for help numerous times. There are videos showing the same man casually robbing the store. “Look how relaxed he is. That’s the Democratic law in California where the criminal is the victim because, you know, ‘the system is racist‘,” Fox News contributor Leo Terrell commented.

The store owner finally decided to fight back. He did not use lethal force but began beating the career criminal with a broomstick as another man held him down. They can’t cry racism because the store owner is Sikh. The criminal began complaining that he was in pain and cried on camera, causing the tables to turn, and the store owner was placed under investigation. You are permitted to steal up to a certain amount in California; Newsom has ensured it by law. So technically this “criminal” is a law-abiding citizen in the state of California.

Self-defense in Biden’s America is now considered vigilantism. They are following the Cloward-Piven model and ensuring that chaos ensues across the nation. Then they will cry that we need gun control – so that these vigilantes who don’t want to be harmed by criminals cannot protect themselves and must rely on the police who are not permitted to protect them. Blue cities in this country are absolutely ruined and people need to consider this at the polls.

Western Sanctions Not Impacting Russian Economy as Much as Expected


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

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

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

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

[READ HERE]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The BRICS Revolt: Is Biden’s War in Ukraine Fueling the Collapse of US Hegemony? Plus: Film Documents CIA’s Covert Takeover of Hollywood, w/ Roger Stahl | SYSTEM UPDATE #125


Glenn Greenwald Posted Originally on Rumble on: Aug 7, 7:00 pm EDT

The two men that will Destroy the United States of America and will always be remembered for the Evil that they have done!

Joe Binden & Hunter Biden!

European Companies Lost Over €100 Billion on Russia Amid War


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

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

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

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

Big Picture Interview of Martin Armstrong


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

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