Tag Archives: U. K. Central Bank Digital Currency

Apr 5 2023

Japan Secures Oil Deal with Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Trade Re-Posted Apr 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Japan is an energy-dependent nation that relies on imports to function. Despite being a G7 member, Japan has remained largely silent on the Russia-Ukraine war and is the only member to deny Zelensky’s pleas for weapons. The prime minister was the last in the alliance to visit Ukraine amid the war. The G7 nations set a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude but granted Japan a pass.

Japan has purchased nearly 748,000 barrels of Russian oil for $70 a piece in the first two months of the year alone. All of the MSM headlines read: “JAPAN BREAKS ALLIANCE WITH WESTERN ALLIES,” as if there were an alternative. Even conservative outlets are saying that Japan has broken ties with the West. Japan is unwilling to deliberately allow its nation to crumble from an energy shortage, unlike the “Build Back Better” nations.

Oil prices surged on Monday after OPEC+ announced plans to limit production, which will lead to a rise in global prices. Energy costs affect the cost of everything from the supply chain to food. Yet, the countries that have the ability to drill, such as the US and Canada, are refusing to do so despite energy prices significantly contributing to overall inflation and economic instability.

The West chastised India and China for purchasing Russian oil. They don’t want to lose their Japanese ally and are attempting to give them a “free pass,” but only until September. What happens then? Will Japan be forced to break its alliance with the G7? The West was hoping that longstanding tensions between China and Japan would push them into this proxy war, but the Japanese government is not willing to implode its economy. Let us also remember that Japan was forced to close numerous nuclear power plants after the earthquake hit in 2011. They are completely reliant on imports. It seems that only nations willing to surrender their economies in the name of abandoning fossil fuels, with no alternative, are ousted from the West’s good graces.

Apr 5 2023

NATO Promotes WW3 with Finland’s Membership


Blog/War

Posted Apr 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

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Finland has officially become the 31st member of NATO. “Finland has today become a member of the defense alliance NATO. The era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end. A new era begins,” Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö mistakenly celebrated. It is clear that Finland does not understand Russia’s motives for the war in Ukraine.

Finland shares an 832-mile border with Russia, doubling the size of NATO’s borders with Russia. Russia is now surrounded, backed into a corner. Russia’s national security is in jeopardy, and will not choose flight over fight. This is precisely what Russia had been arguing against for years. Finland was not under threat of attack from Russia and did not need global military protection, nor did it need to spend a portion of its GDP to push forward the war effort.

“Finland’s membership is not targeted against anyone. Nor does it change the foundations or objectives of Finland’s foreign and security policy. Finland is a stable and predictable Nordic country that seeks peaceful resolution of disputes,” the new president also stated. Russia certainly did not see this as a neutral act. “We will strengthen our military capabilities in the west and northwest if NATO members deploy forces and equipment on Finnish territory,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow will prepare “counter-measures to ensure our own security, both tactically and strategically.”

Finland has not aligned with other military powers in nearly 80 years. US Neocon Anthony Blinken was foaming at the mouth for this partnership to take place. Finland’s people were safe and uninvolved in this proxy war before Tuesday. Everyone cheering that Finland has joined “the good guys” fails to realize this directly escalates the conflict to new proportions. What started as a land dispute between two neighboring countries has overtaken the world, and all leaders are willing to risk the lives of their people to “win” this war. Ukraine is now loudly voicing its desire to join NATO, which would guarantee a full-scale world war. The chess players are aligning their players, and it is only a matter of time before mass destruction takes place that changes the world as we know it.

Apr 5 2023

Finland Officially Joins NATO Creating the Largest NATO Land Border Directly Attached to Russia


Posted originally on the CTH on April 4, 2023 | Sundance 

CONTEXT:  There is no currently visible outcome where the Build Back Better collective western global alliance energy policy can succeed without escalating to a direct NATO war against Russia.

The economic outcomes of the BBB agenda are currently being felt via western, energy driven, supply side inflation.  The monetary countermeasures to that inflationary damage, raising central bank interest rates, creates instability in finance and subsequent banking collapse.

Simultaneous to the ‘western’ central bank intervention, the BRICS alliance members are withdrawing from dollar dependency as a trade mechanism.  When all those unneeded dollars return home, the dollar value collapses – and all western economies attached to the dollar as a trade currency collapse along with it.

The Western bankers need a war to generate the industrial economic activity that uses the returning dollars.  Unless and until the dollar is digitized, there is no currently visible outcome where the Build Back Better agenda is not dependent on an expanded war with Russia.

(Via Axios) – Finland became the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday — a once-unthinkable step that significantly changes the security landscape in Europe.

Why it matters: Finland’s membership more than doubles NATO’s borders with Russia and formally ends Helsinki’s decades of official nonalignment. It’s also a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin who, in launching the Russian invasion of Ukraine, vowed to block the alliance’s eastward expansion. It’s the alliance’s ninth enlargement since its founding in 1949.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg sent a message to Moscow while officially welcoming Finland into the alliance: “President Putin wanted to slam NATO’s door shut. Today we showed the world that he failed, that aggression and intimidation do not work. Instead of less NATO, he has achieved the opposite: more NATO. And our door remains firmly open.”

Finland President Sauli Niinistö said it was a “great day for Finland” but also an important day for the security and the stability of the alliance.

[…] Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier Tuesday called Finland’s NATO accession an “encroachment on Russia’s security” that would require Russia to take unspecified countermeasures.

Putin had previously said that Russia had no “territorial differences” with Finland or Sweden, so it was “up to them” whether they joined — but Russia would respond to any deployments of NATO military units or infrastructure to their territories.

The Russian embassy in Sweden issued an even more pointed warning last week, saying on Facebook that any “new members of the enemy block will become a legitimate target” of “Russia’s retaliatory measures,” including those of military nature. (read more)

Apr 4 2023

The End of the Petrodollar?


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Trade Re-Posted Apr 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Another oil deal has been initiated without the use of the dollar. The India Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that their latest trade deal with Malaysia would be settled in Indian rupees. “This initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aimed at facilitating the growth of global trade and to support the interests of the global trading community in Indian Rupees (INR),” the formal statement noted.

Indian has benefitted from the West’s distraction from the Ukraine war. The RBI is allowing 18 counties to open Vostro accounts and has been attracting new deals in trade and manufacturing. New Delhi and Moscow have strengthened their relationship as India is not imposing sanctions.  The Indian Commerce Ministry said its five-year plan is to “encourage” the use of the rupee on an international scale, while also planning to expand exports $2 trillion by 2030. Trading in rupees will also allow India to save on conversion spreads and limit the country’s dependence on the volatile dollar.

The BRICs treaty (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) remains strong and oil giants Saudi Arabia and Iran would like to join the partnership. The Saudis stated at the beginning of the year that they were open to settling trade in currencies other than the USD. “There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan said during Davos. As we have seen in recent months, Saudi Arabia is aligning itself with China over the US.

The Vietnam war and other government missteps made it impossible for the US to maintain the fixed price of gold established under Bretton Woods. The USD relative to gold fell as the supply of dollars grew, pushing Nixon to abandon the Bretton Woods system entirely. US government debt was rapidly rising as confidence in the dollar plummeted. America needed an enticing way to sell its debt, and that was when Nixon convinced Saudi Arabia, the largest crude exporter, to purchase Treasurys in dollars in exchange for military aid. Hence the “petrodollar” was born. The creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) only further enhanced the dollar’s dominance in energy purchases.

Here we are yet again amid another war and a high budget deficit. The Saudis no longer need protection from America, and siding with Western interests would be a deterrent to its international deals with countries in the BRICs alliance and some in the OPEC+. Despite the green agenda, the world cannot operate without oil. The major oil exporters are now aligning and cutting out the US as their middleman.

Apr 4 2023

Would You Welcome a Refugee into Your Home? 


Armstrong Economics Blog/Immigration Re-Posted Apr 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The refugee crisis has become a problem across the European Union. According to the UN Refugee Agency, over 72,000 people applied for asylum in the UK alone, which is double the number of applicants from 2019. However, these are simply the documented cases. Germany received the highest number of applicants among the EU at 127,730, followed by France at 96,510. In fact, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain took in 70% of all first-time applicants in the European Union. Using the UK as an example, refugees are not permitted to work and fully rely on state support. So how does a nation financially support a mass influx of refugees?

The UK provides asylum seekers with free housing and £40.85 per person, per week. That is barely enough to survive, especially with the current rate of inflation, but these people cannot legally work. They often do not speak the language and have trouble assimilating into a vastly different culture. The government is relying on taxpaying citizens to foot the bill, and some recognize that the UK simply does not have the resources to provide welfare to hundreds of thousands of incoming refugees each year.

Social justice warriors are up in arms about this situation. They believe that nations should simply open their borders and everyone can live in a land of rainbows and sunshine with unlimited resources. The video above is a great example of how these social justice warriors are promoting an agenda that they simply do not understand.

Not one protestor questioned in this video agreed to house a refugee. “Are you willing to adopt a refugee and take them into your home?” the reporter asked. Excuses range from not having the space to living in a rental. At one point, he tells a protester, “Oh, right, that’s someone else’s problem.” These people are clueless and do not understand the economic repercussions of open borders.

Apr 3 2023

The US Begins to Arm Taiwan


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The evidence of the coming global war is overwhelming. In a move that will prompt a direct response from China, the US announced that it would deliver 400 Javelin man-portable anti-tank systems to Taiwan. The delivery is strategically planned to begin during the second half of this year into 2024. Reports claim that this deal was created under Trump, of course, but the timing could not be more on point for the international conflict our computers have been indicating.

These advanced weapons can penetrate armor 800 millimeters thick and come equipped with fire-and-forget technology. Ukraine has used these American-made missiles to repel troops and they are extremely effective. This is not intended to prevent China from invading. It is in preparation for when they do invade.

China will never relinquish Taiwan. It would be considered a great shame for the nation and an embarrassment on an international scale. They will do everything possible to keep Taiwan under the One China policy. China is taking notes on how Russia is operating in Ukraine. Russia had little time to prepare, whereas China has had 75 years. China is the second-largest economy in the world and will surpass the United States. The US is no longer a feared nation as it has lost every war since the second world war. The woke ideology prominent in American politics makes our nation appear weaker than ever before. America became the financial capital of the world after the second world war; China will secure that title after the third.

Apr 3 2023

Has Bakhmut Fallen? Zelensky the Real War Criminal


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Apr 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

There are yet unconfirmed reports that the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced late on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023. that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine. There is no question that Bakhmut will fall. Zelensky has sent over 100,000 men to their death there desperate to keep the money flowing into Ukraine. It is a sad state of affairs when a high-heel dancing idiot orders generals to fight to the death all for his pride and money. The fall of Bakhmut is simply inevitable and the West’s propaganda that Russia would be defeated and that they were weak was all wishful thinking of the Neocons who can think of nothing but war.

Zelensky should be charged with treason and bribery. He was elected promising to end the war and broker peace. Once he got in, he sold his soul o the Neocons and filled his pockets to live forever comfortably. Some Ukrainians are wondering if he did this to punish Ukraine for its persecution of Jews.

He hid being a Jew before the election. Even made jokes about persecuting the Jews. This has a lot of people very confused since he suddenly became Jewish after the election. He married a non-Jew and had his children baptized. He jokes about the confiscation of property of Russians and Jews.

By the time he is finished, 500,000+ Ukrainian will have died because of him and his greed! He could swap his high heels for an army helmet and always appear in an army T-Shirt to get money. That did not give him the experience to win a war. Pray for all the Ukrainians he sent to their death.

CNN wrote:

The Kremlin saw Zelensky’s predecessor, outgoing President Petro Poroshenko, as representing the “party of war,” and the election results in Ukraine were greeted by official Russia with what could be described as cautious hope for a reboot in relations.

“There are chances to improve Ukraine’s interaction with our country,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook. “What is needed for this? Honesty. And we need a pragmatic and responsible approach.”

The day before Putin launched his special operation, Zelensky announced to the world he would seek nuclear weapons to force Putin’s hand. This was all choreographed by the Neocons who always want war. They will never stop.

Apr 3 2023

Inditement Backlash


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Apr 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Trump said from the beginning that his arrest would blow up in Biden’s face. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would not honor any request to extradite the former president and called the situation “un-American.” “The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head,” DeSantis tweeted. News outlets, even those on the left, are bashing the inditement. The Washington Post released an article calling it “a poor test case for prosecuting a former president.” American voters seem to agree.

You know you screwed up when even George Soros wants no part of the scandal. The leftist billionaire came out to declare that he is not associated with Alvin Bragg in any way, despite being a donor to the Color of Change PAC that supported Bragg’s election. Both DeSantis and Trump accused Soros of supporting Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. “As for Alvin Bragg, as a matter of fact I did not contribute to his campaign and I don’t know him,” Soros told the media.

Trump stated: “I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Even the Democrats are now admitting that this is a witch hunt. Rasmussen Reports found that the public was split 49-47 in favor of charging the former president. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the charges “an outrageous abuse of power.” He also called Braggs a “radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.” Rasmussen also found that 46% of Democrats agree that what is happening is “an outrageous abuse of power,” and 55% of Independent voters also agreed. A poll by Breitbart News found that 59% of poll respondents see the charges as “politically motivated,” and 53% said it was “stretching a weak case.”

Could these charges actually cause the public to feel sympathy for Donald Trump? Republicans are standing strong behind him. Those in the middle are leaning to the right on this situation. The left wanted Trump gone, but not in such an overtly corrupt manner. Beating the charges would be a win for Trump and a nod to his promise to fight the establishment. This has become additional free publicity for Trump as it is hard to deny that the US government is already attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.

Apr 3 2023

Europe Wants War At Any Cost


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Federal Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren of the Netherlands has handed the Netherlands Army to be subordinated by Germany. He put out the standard propaganda that he did so because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. They ignore the fact that it has been the West who started the civil war and propped up this fake leader in high-heels to send waves of Ukrainians to their death. All because the Western monetary system is collapsing and they desperately need war especially after keeping interest rates NEGATIVE since 2014 wiping out banks and pension funds throughout Europe. The “complete integration of all three Dutch army brigades into Bundeswehr structures” is a “milestone” they have declared.

On top of that von der Leyan will most likely take over NATO. She sold out all Europeans to Pfizer buying billions of doses of their vaccine using an executive order denying the people or parliament to even vote. They will never be used. What did she get in return? She will be a puppet for the highest bidder in the Neocon world. How such people can even look at themselves in the mirror has always astonished me.

NATO will now stage the largest military exercise in history by June. It will most likely create some excuse to wage war against Russia. They need this war desperately to restart a new monetary system that they have been planning with Bretton Woods II. There is no remorse for those who die in battle. They do not care about the families driven from their homes. This is all in the political game of kicking the can down the road and always blaming someone else.

Apr 2 2023

Col Macgregor on the Neocons


Armstrong Economics Blog/Neocons Re-Posted Apr 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hQw7ZXiZJTU%3Ffeature%3Doembed