We Remember September 11, 2001


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 11, 2022 | Sundance 

The anniversary of the attacks on 9-11 presents a day to reflect, remember and pay tribute to those we lost.   I am sure most of us remember exactly where we were at the moment when we found out our nation was under attack.  Our nation was forever changed by those moments on September 11th, 2001.

Perhaps we can share our memories together as we think about the anniversary of this date.

Where were you on that day?  And what memories are most vivid for you?

~ The Better Option ~

He stared toward a cloudless sky; a tear was present in his eye.
What did he see I wondered aloud – this man of strength did not look proud.

Transfixed we watched through a camera’s lens, strangers before, now oddly friends.
What are his eyes held witness to? What’s stirring such tears of painful hue?

Electronically we were connected, our lives attached, a stopped nation affected.
What horror was there, upon his gaze? – What caused such pain amid the haze?

Some sounds not known were heard aloud – and people screamed amid the crowd.
We struggled to sense what view they saw; the fireman’s face was present more.

His sorrowed eyes bleeding despair – my God, what was he seeing there?
I could not move, we stood transfixed, my view of hell would soon be nixed.

He bore my witness through those flames, this hell on earth from terror planes.
Our Eagle screamed….. the metal cracked; two once proud towers stood attacked.

The human toll still yet unknown, our feeling safe was overthrown.
Finally, as I stared, I recognized….. what was causing those tears in that fireman’s eyes.

Oh – My – God, humanity was being lost – and helplessly we saw the cost.
The sound of people,… people, jumping down, from towers strong in our New York town.

Locked in horror, frozen, all there stood – bewildered eyes saw nothing good.
We viewed a scene of great despair…amid evil, smoke, and hate filled air.

Connected witness we became, to terror’s rage and human pain.
Trapped atop a blinding heat, were once moms and dads upon the street.

A “better option“?… caused by hate – to leap the flames and own your fate.
More horrid thoughts we’d never known, not from before the glass had blown.

Theirs was not an option for the stair, their only choice hands locked in prayer.
I cannot grasp the thoughts that crossed – the minds of those loved, soon to be lost.

As victims now…. their life soon ceased, a hurling body – soul released.
and for those who bore witness, my God the pain; those memories seared will long remain.

Connected all we stood aghast, all witness to the terror blast.
Their bodies torn; their spirit lost; memories now……. a priceless cost.

But what we have now to decide; reflecting on this place they died.
The Blood-soaked ground, the empty skies, our throat in knots, our tear-filled eyes.

A memory now so deeply burned, their sacrifice for us was learned.
The hurt, the pain, the bitter sorrow, must guide us now toward tomorrow.

For those we loved, and families lost, no gold of man can count the cost.
Through the eagles’ tears our nations price, we must honor those of sacrifice.

How do we honor such courage bold and warm our souls despite the cold.
A daunting charge ‘mid our mortal stage – to reflect that courage amid our rage.

Two decades past and now we find – our hearts, our souls, our tears, our mind.
Still harken back and feel those tears; the wound -the scar- through many years.

Memories honored must remain, our task in life to cherish that pain…
For souls we lost, and sorrow bound – we must always respect such hallowed ground.

~Sundance

9/11


We must never forget

This is a book I produced in the months after 9/11, some of the images are very disturbing so don’t download it if that might brother you.

The New World – Alternative Order


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gold Re-Posted Sep 11, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Well, the Goldbugs are out in force claiming that Putin is creating a Moscow World Standard for gold. These people will never learn that their dream of some fixed gold standard has always collapsed throughout history. They have never played in the big leagues and consequently, they do not even understand the rules of the game. It’s like standing on the street corner and seeing a guy drive by in a black limo and lament life is not fair for they should be like him without ever knowing what he is really all about.

Yes, gold coins existed since the 8th century BC. However, it was NEVER a gold standard for if that was even attempted, it would have collapsed as did Bretton Woods, the 19997 Asian Currency Crisis, the Swiss-Euro Peg, or the collapse of the British pound in the ERM Crisis that made Soros a fortune. NEVER throughout all the recorded financial history of the world was there EVER a “gold standard” as they keep telling people. Gold floating up and down with the economy the same as the dollar does today – it was always a floating exchange rate monetary system.

There were periods when the gold coinage of Byzantium was debased especially during the Great Monetary Crisis of 1092. The coins that were once gold, we debased to the point they became silver.

Even the ratio of silver to gold was never constant. There were times when new discoveries of silver poured from the mines leading to the decline in purchasing power of the silver. Likewise, there were times when gold became more common than silver. Even during the California Gold Rush of 1849, the purchasing power of gold declined sharply because there was too much of it coming around.

So why do their relentless theories of a return to a gold standard fail and only end up with people losing their shirts, pants, their home, and sometimes their wives? The answer is SIMPLE, yet they cannot escape their own beliefs that have turned gold into a religion. There can NEVER be any FIX EXCHANGE RATE regardless of whether it is gold, silver, bronze, paper dollars, or sea shells – yes they too were money along with cattle and slave girls.

For you see, there is such a thing as a BUSINESS CYCLE.  They simply refuse to understand the basic monetary theory or the history of money, which had been many things for over 6,000 years. It does not matter what the money might be at any point in time, it will decline in value as assets rise which we call inflation, and as people need cash and assets decline, we call that a recession. That has ALWAYS taken place regardless of the century, what was money at the time, or the culture. This is WHY there can NEVER be a “gold standard” that will ever survive for that is COMMUNISM where you prevent a recession by eliminating freedom. For you see, Marx tried to stop this business cycle so he confiscated all private assets and even that failed to prevent the business cycle from winning.

Even Fed Chairman during the collapse of Bretton Woods explained its epitaph. The business cycle ALWAYS wins! That simply means gold will rise and fall in value BECAUSE of the business cycle. It is not some scheme to manipulate it. That is part of the natural cycle.

Gold has been around for a long time. In Egypt, they had the first paper money. There were warehouse receipts for the grain you would deposit. Gold was seen as the tears of the god Ra, the sun god. The only person who was worthy to touch it was the Pharaoh. The Celts used gold in ring form, not coins. But throughout the entire history of gold, it rose and fell and had no such FIXED value.

So, as the goldbugs are pushing the latest that Russia is now establishing a gold standard, they do not understand what is really going on. Russia has been turning from Europe and America toward Asia expanding its markets and its economic power even to include India and Iran. Putin has persuaded Middle Eastern oil and gas producers to turn to Asia. Some have accused me of advising Putin in his latest speech everything he said and what he is doing is coming from our models. I do not advise Putin personally. Of course, we have many readers in Russia as well. I was even called by RT about how our model predicted Ukraine would be the hot spot one year in advance.

Biden has destroyed the world economy. I believe that even Bill Browder may be just a front for the CIA pushing this agenda that is actually undermining the West – not Russia. The world economy has been divided in two and it will NEVER return to normal. Putin is very smart. Probably far smarter than any other world leader at this time. Both Russia and China see the world in cycles. In Europe and America, we see the world as linear and that is our downfall.

Lady Margaret Thacher spoke at our World Economic Conference in 1996. She understood about cycles. As she told me that Tony Blair would win well before there were any polls, she said it was “just time.” The downfall of the West is that we do not see the world in cycles. It is Just Time, for the rein of the United States to come to an end.

Even Bill Clinton told Yeltsin after meeting Putin, “He’s a very smart man.” Putin sees the rising power of Asia in what is their Industrial Revolution. Biden’s insane sanctions against Russia have strengthened the bond with China, opposite of what Nixon did. Thanks to Biden’s sanctions, Russia is forging an alternative world order to that of the World Economic Form and its directive to Western leaders. Putin’s move to create a Moscow gold exchange is simply because he cannot sell gold anymore in the West. Putin, hopefully, will not be that stupid and try to fix a value of gold that would only ensure the collapse of Asia and Russia. Gold must be free to rise and fall as it has done for thousands of years.

Is Russia Losing?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Sep 10, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The Ukrainian army is at least one-third larger than it was last year and some claim it has doubled in size. They have been concentrating their effort, not on the Donbas, but on Ukraine’s Kharkov region. The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that Russia has withdrawn its troops from multiple locations across Ukraine’s Kharkov region pulling back to the Donbas in the face of a major Ukrainian offensive in the area. The Ministry has actually stated: “In order to achieve the goals of the special military operation, a decision was made to regroup troops in the areas of Balakleya and Izyum in order to build up efforts in the Donetsk direction.”

The troops that were stationed in the Kharkov area have been “re-deployed” over the past three days pulling back to the Donetsk People’s Republic. It also stated that during its withdrawal, the military had performed a “number of distracting and demonstration activities imitating the real action of troops.”  It did not elaborate. It was attacking the Ukrainians to allow the withdrawal with artillery, missile, and aircraft attacks to provide cover. They claimed that they destroyed over 100 armor pieces and artillery and eliminated “more than 2,000 Ukrainian and foreign fighters” in the past three days. The Ukrainian offensive was launched in the Kharkov Region on Thursday, but they were not as successful.

The real problem will emerge with the coming winter and is likely to be a very tough winter. While NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg keeps urging Ukraine to continue fighting against Russia, it puts out this urging saying that otherwise, the country may “cease to exist” as an independent nation. From the outset, Putin did not seek to conquer all of Ukraine. One must wonder if the West is not propagating this war claiming Ukraine will cease to exist unless it fights Russia. That certainly eliminates any settlement or a peace treaty. NATO needs war with Russia and Putin by now has to understand that his real enemy is NATO and the USA. The propaganda fueling this agenda can be seen in the words of Stoltenberg who told the AP:

“If President [Vladimir] Putin and Russia stop fighting, then we will have peace. If Ukraine stops fighting, then Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent nation.” 

Stoltenberg admitted that there has been “no sign” that Putin or Moscow is giving up its objectives in Ukraine. He keeps insisting that Russia’s ultimate goal in the conflict is “taking control of Ukraine.” He knows that is not true and perhaps is begging Putin to adopt that goal. If that were true, Putin should do as the USA did in Iraq – (1) take down the power grid, (2) take down the communications, (3) attack the water supply, and (4) attack the food supply.

“Winter’s coming” as they warned in Game of Thrones. Reuters has reported that the flows of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine were stable at the start of the week. Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany “remained shut and eastbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany continued at low levels.”

Beware of the feigned-retreat is a military tactic, whereby a military force pretends to withdraw to lure an enemy into a position of vulnerability. Ukraine is now concentrating its forces in Kharkov region. Putin cannot be stupid and with the approach of winter, he should cut off all the gas through Ukraine to Europe and do as Stoltenberg keeps saying. There are two options. Use Tactical nuclear weapons, also called nonstrategic nuclear weapons, are generally designed for battlefield use and have a shorter range than strategic, or long-range, nuclear weapons, which are designed to directly attack an adversary’s homeland.

Herodotus reported that the Ancient Spartans used the feigned-retreat tactic at the Battle of Thermopylae (480BC) to defeat a force of Persian Immortals. Socrates debated a general who said it was cowardly to retreat. Even during the Battle of Agrigentum, in Sicily (262BC) during the First Punic War. Then the Carthaginian general Hanno, son of Hannibal, sent in his cavalry to attack the Roman cavalry and then pulled a feign-retreat drawing the Romans right into the arms of the main Carthaginian army waiting patiently.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements that were to provide the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state and to vote on their own separation since they were ethnically Russians. That agreement was brokered by Germany and France and was first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko then admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.” That is precisely what was done.

The problem now is that this appears to be an all-out war that the West keeps saying Russia is losing. I fear if that were true, then we will be looking at tactical nuclear weapons being used in Ukraine calling the bluff of Europe- Who will be next? Beware of next April and this coming January does not look very quiet on the Western front. The Pi Target from the fall of the USSR comes on April 6th, 2023. The West keeps telling the Ukrainians that Russia is losing and that the overthrow of Putin will bring peace. I fear this is just total propaganda dor the people behind Putin are far worse and think he has been too soft on Ukraine.

Fearing a Complete Shutdown from Russia, Europe Scraps Plans to Cap Russian Gas Prices


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 10, 2022 | Sundance 

War is an outcome of ideology and economics, and the latter is perhaps the most powerful weapon.  As the harsh reality of Europe’s insufferable decades-long efforts to embrace the virtues of climate change begin to settle in, the reasonable adults in the conversation are able to see how their weakness is being exploited by their adversary.

On Sept 7, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen held a press conference in Brussels, announcing five initiatives to contain the expensive EU energy crisis: “The goal is clear. We must cut the revenues of Russia that Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine.” {Go Deep}

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it very clear that any further efforts to weaken his economy, via western sanctions and interventionist efforts against his economy, would be met with retaliation in the form of cutting off all oil and gas supplies to Europe.  It appears the Europeans now understand the nature of their vulnerability.

(Via Reuters) – The EU has dropped plans to cap the price it pays for Russian gas.

Energy ministers from the bloc met Friday (September 9) in Brussels. They scrapped plans for the cap after the idea failed to win broad support.

Member states in central and eastern Europe who still get gas from Russia feared retaliation by Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said he would cut off supplies altogether if a cap was imposed.

However, ministers did agree to claw back revenues from some power producers and will use the money to curb consumer bills. European energy prices are typically set by gas plants. That leaves generators using nuclear, wind or coal raking in revenue, as their running costs haven’t risen as much or at all.

On Friday, some EU nations also argued in favor of a general cap on all gas imports. However, European energy commissioner Kadri Simson said any such move would be risky:

“The general price cap, including LNG imports, could present a security of supply challenge, because the LNG market is a global market. We are not among the three biggest LNG-importing regions or countries, and there is very strong competition in the LNG market and right now it is very important that we can replace the decreasing Russian volumes with alternative suppliers.”

The EU windfall plan will now be fleshed out in the coming days, with another meeting of energy ministers seen possible later in the month. (read more)

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen previously announced five initiatives to contain the expensive EU energy crisis: “The goal is clear. We must cut the revenues of Russia that Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine. And now our work is paying off. At the start of the war, gas from Russian pipelines accounted for 40% of all imported gas. Today it has dropped to only 9% of our gas imports. These are tough times. But I am convinced that Europeans have the economic strength, the political will and the unity to maintain the upper hand,” she said.  The United States and Norway are the primary suppliers of gas to the EU to fill the void.

Commissar von der Leyden’s five initiatives included:

(1) Conservation of electricity through forced and mandated cuts in electricity use.  The amount of the cut has yet to be determined but reducing demand through forced curtailment of electricity use is the first approach.  [Insert California as an example here in the United States.]

(2) A cap on the profit generated by energy suppliers who use renewable energy like wind and solar.  The renewable industry has lower costs, yet they are profiting from the top line increase in delivered electricity.  The EU commissar is proposing to confiscate the profits of Green Energy suppliers, direct the funds to the member states and then use those funds to subsidize the energy costs of poorer EU citizens.

(3) A cap on the profits generated by traditional fossil fuel energy suppliers (oil, coal, nuclear, gas electricity generation), and the diversion of those profits following the same formula as above.

(4) Banking support and financial liquidity for smaller regional energy providers who are having short term financial issues as they must pay massive amounts of money for the raw material needed to generate electricity.  Essentially, the cost of coal, oil and LNG has skyrocketed, and there is a lag between the time they energy company must pay for the fuel source and the time the customer pays the electricity bill.   The inbound fuel costs (new) are so extreme the inbound payments for prior electricity (old) are not covering the cost of the new supplier purchase.

(5) A price cap on Russian natural gas.  To accompany the increased import of Norwegian and U.S. gas.  This sounds like a bizarro effort to manipulate the market which could backfire.  If Russian gas is cheaper than EU market gas, the smart energy providers will purchase the Russian gas.

Number five is now scrapped.

Not a single word about increasing the supply of any traditional energy resource.  These EU ideologues -bureaucrats within a system that is not representative of democracy- are so committed to the cult of climate change and renewable energy, they are willing to destroy the EU economy in order to lower demand to the level of their windmills and solar farms.  However, it looks like alternate, perhaps even sensible people within the EU, are starting to realize the ‘climate change’ ideologues are the real and present danger.

Deutsche Bank CEO Says a Recession is Inevitable


Armstrong Economics Blog/Germany Re-Posted Sep 9, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Yet another head of the financial system is coming out and warning that a recession is inevitable. Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing echoed the words of BoE’s Governor Andrew Bailey and blamed the coming recession on the war in Ukraine. “We will no longer be able to avert a recession in Germany. Yet we believe that our economy is resilient enough to cope well with this recession — provided the central banks act quickly and decisively now,” Sewing said.

Going a step further, Sewing blamed China along with Russia. “When it comes to dependencies, we also have to face the awkward question of how to deal with China. Its increasing isolation and growing tensions, especially between China and the United States, pose a considerable risk for Germany,” he warned. Around 12% of German imports and 8% of exports come and go from China. Sewing would like to see a declining dependency on China rather than strengthening their relationship.

Neither China nor Russia are to blame for Germany’s situation. Russia was simply a diversion to draw attention away from the collapse of the European economy. Negative interest rates beginning in 2014 wiped out pension funds and proved that the central bank was not thinking long-term. COVID restrictions killed the supply chain, and Germany’s insistance in backing Ukraine eliminated what could have been a lucrative pipeline. Had the pipeline gone through, Europe would not have an energy crisis! Ever since COVID, we have witnessed a rising trend of civil unrest. Politicians have been working hard to create war with Russia deliberately, all cloaked in their real objective of controlling the planet.

When the energy crisis is unavoidable for the average person and the standard of living declines, the politicians will point to Russia and China. The decline began long before Russia lined the border of Ukraine, and China is demonized for simply existing. They would never blame their fiscal mismanagement or detrimental policies for the undoable damage they have created. If Germany falls, all of Europe will follow.

Ukrainian Parliament Lines Pockets with Western Aid


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Sep 7, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The pro-war People’s Deputies of Ukraine Party are using Western funding to line their pockets. It has been reported that the average paycheck went from 28,800 to 49,600 hryvnia, and taxpayers in other countries will pay for their raises.

This news came out shortly after CBS attempted to release a documentary that claimed weapon shipments from the US were frequently missing. CBS was forced to redact parts of the documentary, “Arming Ukraine,” after Ukraine’s government threatened them. The first report stated that 70% of the weapon purchases had gone missing, while another piece said only 30% of aid had arrived. “Since that time, Ohman says delivery has improved,” CBS backtracked. “We are updating our documentary to reflect this new information and air at a later date.”

“The weapons are stolen, the humanitarian aid is stolen, and we have no idea where the billions sent to this country have gone,” an anonymous veteran originally told reporters. He went on to claim that soldiers are receiving less pay while those at the top are lining their pockets. Zelensky continually claims that his country needs endless funds for the endless war. Where is this money going? Since WE are paying for the war, we deserve to know the truth.

Liz Truss Becomes PM – Dark Day for Britain


Armstrong Economics Blog/BRITAIN Re-Posted Sep 5, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Liz Truss has been made Prime Minister of Britain. This was expected, but also the darkest day possible for Britain. Previously, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had backed Liz Truss’ view that Russian forces must be pushed out of “the whole of Ukraine” – and suggested this should include Crimea. Even the Guardian at the time had accused Liz Truss’ position was “recklessly inflaming Ukraine’s war to serve her own ambition.” Meanwhile, in Russia, this was playing out on TV endorsing World War III.

Everything that can possibly point to war is unfolding before our eyes. There are no peacemakers left in the world. Every leader appears to be pushing for war because the monetary system is cracking. Those who think that Russia starting its own gold market will eliminate the manipulations in London do not understand what is taking place. This is the dividing of the world economy that simply follows removing Russia from SWIFT and joining with China to make CIPS the leading global platform for international commerce. This is not about gold prices in Russia v London. This is about the end of GLOBALIZATION and the world economy so carefully constructed post-WWII.

The leaders in the West have been borrowing year after year with no intention of ever paying anything back The lowering of rates to negative in Europe in 2014 undermined the pension funds in Europe as they are effectively insolvent in most cases if they stuck to Euro debt. The Scandinavian funds are outside the Euro and while some struggled to pretend to be “green” they did their best to limit those losses.

When we look at British Politics, it appears that there will be a big shift in 2025. Look off to 2031. That is where the computer is picking up a Panic Cycle, which is corresponding to 2032. As I have warned, the risk of international war appears to be unfolding post-2024. And as far as that inflation goes, it looks like all the sanctions on Russia have backfired. Yet no Western politician will dare tell the truth. And they are now going after farmers? We are staring at serious civil unrest rising globally next year for these brain-dead WOKE politicians who are destroying our way of life.

British News Broadcaster ITV Creates Gameshow for Desperate Viewers to Win Chance to Have Energy Bills Paid


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 5, 2022 

Yes, it’s like something out of a dystopian ‘hunger games’ movie, except it is unfortunately real life.  ITV News in Great Britain is running a wheel-of-fortune type marketing campaign where desperate viewers can call in for an opportunity to spin the wheel and win having their energy bills paid.

Comrades, it is not a spoof, this actually took place today and it looks like it will continue due to popular demand.  UK citizens are facing astronomical increases in energy bills as a result of the EU green climate change agenda in combination with Russia halting the export of natural gas.  The price of natural gas increased 30% today alone as Russia cuts off supplies completely.  Europe is on the brink of the worst economic recession in history.

ITV steps in with a promotional effort that shows just how bizarre this Build Back Better future has become.  Perhaps next week viewers might be able to call in for a chance at winning extra food rations, chocolates or even gasoline.  Here’s a video to show what is happening.  WATCH:

.

Good luck comrade citizens, you too could be a winner on the wheel of survival.  It’s all in good fun comrade. Smiles everyone, smiles.

UNREST BEGINS – Massive EU Protests Spiral Out Of Ukraine Crisis


The Dive With Jackson Hinkle Published originally on Rumple on September 4, 2022 

It begins first in the EU then America and then the world beware of the next three years