Tag Archives: UK Central Bank Digital Currency

Mar 23 2023

Lord, what fools these Ukrainians Be!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Mar 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I get hate mail from Ukrainian Nazis routinely now. They of course deny there are any Nazis ever. Yesterday it was “You are definitely on the wrong side of history” and of course calling all Russians “scum” while Ukraine walks on water and is so honorable it makes me sick. Here we have Zelensky bragging about how Ukraine will be the biggest bonanza in European history. As for the American “titans” lobbying for more destruction and death so they can make money, I can only warn them – what goes around comes around. They have no problem advocating drafting your children to die on Ukrainian territory for their lucrative construction projects.

Sorry – I only wish them what they wish to put others through for their profits and bottom line, When this is done, they will probably also flee to Dubai like Halliburton for the Iraq War to avoid American subpoenas. So jump up and down cheering war for dollars. I for one will not invest 1 cent in any company joining Ukraine. I lost most of my high school friends for Vietnam and their profits back then. Screw you and your manipulation of human lives for profit.

And as for Ukrainians, how blind do you have to be not to see the real enemy in home-grown?

Mar 23 2023

Returning to Neocon Roots – DeSantis Backtracks on His Tucker Carlson Ukraine Position as Territorial Dispute, Now Says “I think it’s been mischaracterized,” and “Putin is a war criminal”


Posted originally on the CTH on March 22, 2023 | Sundance

After attempting to navigate through the politics in order to curry favor with the base Republican voters on a Ukraine position, when confronted by Piers Morgan who is a pro-NATO war voice, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis now says his former position on Ukraine has been “mischaracterized” and Vladimir Putin “is a war criminal.”

The walk back highlights once again that Ron DeSantis is an empty vessel using poll testing to formulate his policy stances.

The reversing comments on Vladimir Putin and Ukraine come from the interview DeSantis gave to Piers Morgan as noted in a recent New York Post article:

(Piers Morgan, NY Post) – Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis has branded Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and demanded he be “held accountable” for his barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

Taking a tougher tone from his statement last week appearing to dismiss the year-long war as a “territorial dispute,” DeSantis now says Russia was WRONG to invade Ukraine and was WRONG to invade and take over Crimea in 2014, and won’t win the war. And he’s made his strongest attack yet on Russia’s dictator, calling him a loser who is “basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons.”

His assertion, in a statement to Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, that it is not in America’s “vital national interests” to become “further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” was strongly criticized by numerous senior Republicans — including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Marco Rubio.

When I asked him specifically if he regretted using the phrase “territorial dispute,” DeSantis replied, “Well, I think it’s been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded (last year) — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — That was wrong.

[…] “There is a move now to hold [Vladimir Putin] accountable for war crimes,” I told DeSantis, “bombing maternity hospitals and genocidal activity in parts of Ukraine wiping out whole cities like Mariupol. Would you support that?”

“I think he is a war criminal,” he replied. “This ICC … we have not done that in the US because we’re concerned about our soldiers or people being brought under it. So, I don’t know about that route, but I do think that he should be held accountable.” DeSantis is convinced Ukraine will eventually prevail in the war. (read more)

The DeSantis team has also hired the notorious dirtbag, Jeff Roe.

You might remember Roe as the former 2016 campaign manager for Ted Cruz who falsely told the people of Iowa, on the night before the primary caucus, that Dr. Ben Carson dropped out of the race.  The Cruz Crew amplified this false message, and duped Carson caucus supporters who subsequently switched candidates on election day to support Ted Cruz.  Jeff Roe created the lie, then tried to deny it.

(Via Politico) – […] Jeff Roe, who previously ran Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, has signed on to be an adviser to the super PAC, Never Back Down, according to an operative with direct knowledge of the move.

Never Back Down is being spearheaded by executive director Chris Jankowski, another seasoned Republican operative. Ken Cuccinelli, a former top Homeland Security official to Donald Trump, is serving as chair of the super PAC. Over the last several weeks, Cuccinelli has visited four key early GOP primary states. (read more)

A DeSantis political group that would hire Jeff Roe highlights, yet again, how the DeSantis 2024 campaign is a mirror of Ted Cruz campaign in 2016.

Factually, almost all of the 2016 never-Trump Cruz Crew are now members of the 2024 never-Trump Desantis Crew.  To assist this overall ‘never-Trump’ endeavor, in 2024 Vivek Ramaswamy is now playing the former role of Evan McMullin in 2016.

The professional political class of the GOPe, the DeceptiCons, are never as vicious against Democrats as they are against candidates who do not conform to the Republican UniParty orthodoxy.   If you want to see the Republicans fight dirty, just become a Republican political candidate that does not comply with them.  Then, and only then, will you see a side of the Republican wing that doesn’t surface against Democrats.

Threaten their GOPe Wall Street multinational corporate interests, ie. ‘their money‘, and the DeceptiCons get vicious.

If the professional Republicans are NOT targeting a Republican politician, you can be assured that Republican politician is a member of the GOPe club operation.

Yes, it really is that simple, and Ron DeSantis is a member of that club.

Mar 23 2023

President Putin Together with Chairman Xi, Warn NATO About U.K. Plan to Send Depleted Uranium Rounds to Ukraine


Posted originally on the CTH on March 22, 2023 | Sundance

The alarming provocations and escalations continue as the U.K. has pledged to send depleted uranium anti-tank rounds into Ukraine.

During a four-hour public meeting which included international press, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the NATO intent to use depleted uranium artillery and tank missiles against Russian forces would be met with countermeasures.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted the British decision leaves fewer and fewer steps before a potential “nuclear collision” between Russia and the West.  “Another step has been taken, and there are fewer and fewer left,” he told reporters in remarks cited by domestic agencies.

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday condemned British plans to send tank ammunition that contains depleted uranium to Ukraine, saying Moscow would be forced to respond accordingly.

Speaking in London on Monday, Minister of State for Defence Annabel Goldie said some of the ammunition for the Challenger 2 battle tanks that Britain is sending to Ukraine includes armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.

“If all this happens, Russian will have to respond accordingly, given that the West collectively is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component,” Putin said in remarks after a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He did not elaborate. (read more)

Keep in mind, all remarks by the heads of state during these sessions are known in advance by both nations.  Chairman Xi knew what Vladimir Putin was going to say. Additionally, at the end of their three-day summit, Chairman Xi made comments that were strategically positioned publicly to be overheard by international media.

Chairman Xi is cunning panda and is very well skilled at making statements in front of media that drive his own interests.  These comments are always strategically placed by Chairman Xi and his people who plan every possible angle in advancing their agenda.

These end of summit remarks were specifically made by Xi, knowing they would be picked up on microphones by media, interpreted and then broadcast.

[…] “change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years, and we are driving this change together”.

I said it yesterday, and I will repeat it again:

All of these tremors point to a larger issue in the background of “western government” policy.   Something is going to eventually erupt.  Government cannot keep a lid on the chaos they create forever.  Sooner or later a spark will ignite something… and it will not just be in France.

Do not focus too heavily on the weeds of any particular issue or nation lest we lose sight of the much larger dynamic.  One thing is most certainly assured; Chairman Xi and President Putin can see that larger dynamic clearly, and there’s abundant opportunity within the geopolitical unrest.

Mar 22 2023

White House Neocon Spokesman Admits – They Do Not Want Peace in Ukraine


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Mar 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I have had two employees from Ukraine – Kiev and Donetsk. The one from Kiev just mouths the standard Ukrainian propaganda. If they give up the Donbas, they will then want all of Ukraine. The UK is deeply involved walking hand and hand with Biden into world war III. They have clearly crossed the Rubicon here and for no justification. Had they simply honored the Minsk Agreement and let the Donbas, which is ethnically Russian, separate from a regime that hates their guts the war would be over in 5 minutes.

Instead, Britain appears to have been planning to give Ukraine nuclear weapons with depleted Uranium. Putin has come out and warned the UK that “the delivery and use of depleted uranium missiles by the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be perceived as an attack against Russia with a weapon that has a ‘nuclear component’.” Putin elaborated:

“Today it became known that the United Kingdom, through the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of the country, announced the supply of not only tanks to Ukraine but also shells with depleted uranium. It seems that the West really decided to fight Russia in the last Ukrainian not with words, but with deeds Russia will be forced to react once the collective West starts using weapons with a nuclear component.”

There are some who believe that Ukraine should just be nuked. Give the people 2 weeks to flee to Poland or Germany, and then nuke the region and make it unlivable. That is basically the legion that Rome certainly razed the city entirely, but there are no contemporary sources stating that the Romans salted the land to prevent the city of Carthage from rising a fourth time. The Greek writer from the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus, informs us that the city had been razed and Carthaginians destroyed. Horace informs us that after the city was destroyed, the land was symbolically plowed. Polybius in his “The Histories” makes no mention of the land being salted just that the city was completely destroyed. Appian of Alexandria does record that Carthage was reconstructed by the first Emperor Augustus (27BC-14AD) and to avoid the evil spells that were cast on the ground, Carthage was rebuilt in a different location.

Surely, if Russia nuked Ukraine that would kill the European breadbasket and it would guarantee Ukraine’s neutrality. Is that the only way to terminate this Neocon Proxy Way and save the world?

The three Punic Wars (264 BC–146 BC) between Rome and Carthage were a turning point in the history of the Mediterranean world and, more than any other conflict, the Second Punic War (218 BC–201 BC) appears to have been a defining time in Roman history. We also see the debasement in that coinage of Carthage as they waged war to defeat Rome. You can see the early silver coinage debased as the war unfolded.

As Hannibal marched through Spain and invaded Italy from the North, Rome issued its first gold coinage more as a symbol of wealth to the other Italian city-states that they should standby Rome and not join Hannibal.

On the Roman side, we also see the consequence of the war with the debasement of the silver quadrigatus, which was the Greek denomination of the didrachm they complied with for trade with the Greek world. Here too, we can see the cost of war is not just the lives lost, but also the inflation and the monetary debasement.

Hannibal’s war also forced Rome to establish the denarius, which was the weight reduction from the Greek standard of the Didrachm 6.5 grams to 4.0 grams in 211BC. Even though Rome won,  the lesson here is that sometimes wars result in the complete collapse of a monetary standard and the rebirth of a new currency. This is what we face. The Neocons care nothing about the economics, nor about the lives of the people they send to die for their arrogance. They are the worst of humanity and should be driven from governments on a global scale.

Indeed, King Louis XIV (1643-1715) was on his deathbed when he lamented.

“I have been too fond of war.”

Meanwhile, the arrogance of the Neocons trying to dictate to the world and ordering China not to help Russia, Xi’s trip to Russia had no other outcome but to support Russia as he called Putin a ‘dear friend’ as China now pushes back against U.S. power knowing full well the real agenda here is to weaken Russia and then for NATO to invade on any pretense to destroy Russia once and for all. This is the Neocon’s dream and they could care less about the Ukrainian people. I have warned that the Ukrainian people are there to be slaughtered for the glory of the Neocons.

Mar 22 2023

French Worker Protests Having Impact


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 21, 2023 

Garbage is piling up on the streets, ports are blocked, fuel is running in short supply, transportation of essential goods and services have been brought to a standstill; these are the outcomes of a general labor strike that has been happening in France as a result of protests to Emmanuel Macron’s unilateral pension reforms.

It might seem like a small issue pushing the retirement age back two years for French citizens, but it’s not really about the pension reform – the bigger issue is about this “new democracy” in the aftermath of new powers assumed by the French president during COVID-19.

President Macron used a special constitutional article to push legislation through Parliament last week without a vote.  He now faces two efforts to engage a no confidence vote with only tepid support from his totalitarian allies in government.  The people of France are not only unhappy with the pension reform outcome, but they are also furious about the nondemocratic process – a familiar and growing sentiment that extends far beyond the borders of France.

While the protests did carry the customary French socialist-leaning violence, the issues underpinning the anger are felt by more than just the radicals.  The larger network of ordinary French workers has now begun using the power of the people to shut down the economics of society.

Trash is piling up in the streets as sanitation workers refuse to work {LINK}.  Ports and critical energy infrastructure like refineries are also shut down, and things are starting to get sketchy amid the social and economic fabric that generally goes unnoticed.  Indeed, you might say, ‘the peasants are revolting‘.

(Reuters) – Several French refinery sites were still blocked from delivering products after two weeks of strikes in France, causing production to be disrupted while the government requisitions workers at the Fos refinery, and power supply was also disrupted.

The industrial action is part of a nationwide movement against pension system changes that lift the retirement age two years to 64. The changes were forced through parliament without a vote last week.

The Normandy refinery operated by oil major TotalEnergies’ will be shut down on Tuesday due to the strike, a company spokesperson said, as the industrial action against the pension changes stretched into its 14th day.

Production disruptions at the other sites operated by TotalEnergies remained unchanged, the spokesperson added. About 36% of operational staff at TotalEnergies’ refineries and depots were on strike on Tuesday morning, the spokesperson said. (read more)

All of these tremors point to a larger issue in the background of “western government” policy.   Something is going to eventually erupt.  Government cannot keep a lid on the chaos they create forever.  Sooner or later a spark will ignite something… and it will not just be in France.

Do not focus too heavily on the weeds of any particular issue or nation lest we lose sight of the much larger dynamic.  One thing is most certainly assured; Chairman Xi and President Putin can see that larger dynamic clearly, and there’s abundant opportunity within the geopolitical unrest.

Western governments are being led by blinded ideologues working furiously in the background….

Mar 21 2023

Chairman Xi and President Putin Meet in Russia, Four Hours of First Day Discussions


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 20, 2023 | Sundance

Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in person today for the first time since the Ukraine conflict began last February.   The public side of the conversation appeared to be very warm as the two allies outlined the nature of their relationship and the plans for their discussions.

It is being reported the private side of the discussions lasted for four hours on the first day with more talks scheduled for tomorrow. “I am pleased to once again set foot on the soil of our friendly neighbor Russia,” Xi said in a statement after arriving in Moscow on Monday for the three-day state visit.

(Via Daily Mail) – Xi Jinping said he was ready to ‘stand guard over a world order based on international law’ as he met Vladimir Putin in Moscow today.

In his first state visit to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese leader spent more than four hours in talks with his ‘dear friend’ Putin, discussing proposals to end the war previously outlined in a 12-point peace plan.

‘We are always open to negotiations,’ the Russian leader said, welcoming China’s plan to settle his ‘acute crisis’ in Ukraine.

Xi meanwhile hailed his ‘close ties’ with Russia as Putin said the two countries had ‘plenty of common objectives and tasks’.

Presented as a ‘journey of friendship, cooperation and peace’, the summit marks the deepening of ties between China and an increasingly isolated Russia, who have relied on Beijing to soften the impact of western sanctions by buying Russian energy and commodities. (read more)

Mar 20 2023

The Decline & Fall of the United States


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption re-Posted Mar 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Hi Marty,

Seems to me the Democrats are following the time honored practice South American governments have resorted to in recent years when one party displaces another in a national election. In Brasil, the current president, Lula, spent 3 years in jail for charges of corruption. His successor was later removed from office. Now Bolsonaro has fled the country and is living in South Florida. In Ecuador, a past president, Moreno ,is under indictment and it appears he too will end up being arrested on trumped up corruption charges. In Bolivia, two term ex-president Evo Morales, after trying to run for an unprecedented third term, fled the country in 2019 when it appeared opposition to his run would potentially result in his being jailed. He fled to Argentina, then later got asylum in Mexico. The woman who replaced him was subsequently arrested on trumped up charges of conspiracy. IN Peru, which has gone through more presidents in recent years than most countries have experienced in a half century, has arrested the past 5 presidents. In Chile, the last president who served in office was run out of office for using the military to suppress protests. This was back in 2019.  The revolution that led to the country abandoning their old constitution has put the country in chaos.. The current president is extremely unpopular and one can imagine he won’t last another year in office. In Colombia, the country now is run by a communist/socialist who is now flirting with an ambitious spending program designed to buy time and slow down the opposition building against him. In Argentina, the former president, Christina Fernandez Kirchner, is dodging charges of corruption(and just avoided being assassinated by a lone gunman) after presiding over another series of IMF sponsored funding that has left the country in a perpetual state of default. The socialist in office today, Fernandez, is one of a long line of failed presidents who is destined to be pulled under by the corruption so deeply embedded in this country.

Now the Democrats appear to have imported South America’s tradition of imprisoning opposition leaders.It’s hard to imagine a party as corrupt as that of the Democrats. But nothing happens in a vacuum. With Republican support in Congress during Trump’s term when they opposed him and did everything they could to undermine him, the uni-party now operates without even the slightest effort to disguise their true intentions. An outsider like Trump is anathema to both parties. It reminds me of the PRI in Mexico. which put forth its candidate every year pretending people there actually had a choice, It took AMLO to break this tradition. Only because the drug cartels today are so powerful, the central government is virtually impotent to extend its reach outside of the capital.

We are watching the dying days of this republic. Biden’s “election” has assured that no serious challenger can ever emerge.Locking up your opponent now has become part of their playbook.  This is the tradition of the Sandinistas, the Peronists in Argentina, and now the Biden dictatorship.

MS

REPLY: People do not realize that Zelensky wants to imprison the former president indefinitely pending a rigged trial for corruption. This is the one man who could probably run against Zelensky and beat him with his high heel shoes. Zelinsky is so perverse and a disgrace to Ukraine when in fact it has been clearly established there is NO accountability for any money handed to Zelensky and any American politician who votes for this money for Ukraine should be removed from office for they are probably tainted as well.

It has been established that Zelensky has been stashing money offshore. When the last Ukrainian fall on the battlefield, the US will have him airlifted in style and he will flee to his mansion in Miami after destroying his own country. Zelensky has been caught. Who will prosecute him? Not the Biden Administration which owed him the Midterm elections for being the 2nd largest donor under the money laundering scheme of FTX which will also be swept under the rug to protect the corruption that has consumed governments.

The United States is NO LONGER the beacon of liberty to the world. We have descended to the lowest possible level of absolute duplicity and corruption. People are bearish about the dollar because of the quantity of money? Get real! The collapse in the dollar will not be because of such petty nonsense. it will collapse because these people are destroying the very foundation of confidence and respect the United States once had.

Mar 19 2023

We Are in the COMPLEXITY & The Collapse of International Law


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis Re-Posted Mar 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

We are in the middle of a convergence of so many crises it is hard to keep track. The SWAMP in Washington has always been out of control. There is even a bill being introduced to make it illegal for congressmen and their spouses or family members to be trading on inside information. It is titled: The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act. We go to prison for 20 years for what they do routinely. The Biden money payments from China will be the foundation of an impeachment proceeding. With all the Democrats did against Trump and are still at it, they have opened the door to what goes around comes around. Trump has announced the New York Democratic prosecutors are desperate to indict him in hopes of preventing him from running for President and that they will arrest him perhaps this coming week. Now the theory, since the taxes did not work, paying “hush” money to Stormy Daniels the porn star. When you have Biden taking money from China and Ukraine and everyone turns a blind eye, paying hush money to a porn star is far more important to the country?

The political nonsense that dominates a lot of boards of directors should be outlawed as fraud. The people on the board of SVB had ZERO experience in finance no less economic trends. All they do is pay mountains of cash to the Democrats and get put on boards for their political contacts. So many boards are stacked with political people, lawyers, or accountants, who have no experience in the financial markets or economic trends. If these people have ZERO experience in running a company, then they should be liable for their decisions.

We were called in by a major public company in Australia on a project to hedge their foreign exchange exposure. The quote we gave them was somewhere between $1 and $2 million back in the 1980s. They rejected it and said they would not pay more than the CEO was paid. They were clueless. I explained that we had dealing desks in Asia, the USA, and Europe and their book would have to be passed around the world 24 hours a day. They did not understand anything. They hired a 23-year-old kid to hedge their risk, he bought a Porsche and got into an accident, and while in the hospital they lost $80 million. Regulators then realized that directors should be held responsible for making decisions in things they had no experience.

We are headed into such COMPLEXITY it is off the charts. We have a convergence of so much going into April, it’s hard to say which fundamental will be the top dog. Between arresting Trump, and the revelations coming out about the Biden Crime Family, all of this contributes to the collapse in confidence in the government. Then Biden’s failure to understand the serious nature of this banking crisis and that it is the Biden Administration that is directly responsible for the crisis as it continues into April just added to the COMPLEXITY. Biden’s handling of SVB will now be seen as political since the phones were melting down from all the Democrats in California who stood to lose. Even Ophrah Winfrey had a ton of money in SVB. NBow the failure to stand behind all deposits everywhere will only make this look like a Democratic bailout.

Add to all of this, the ICC has shown that it too is politically corrupt and has been usurped by the Neocons. The ICC issued the bullshit criminal indictment of Putin orchestrated by the Neocons when in fact they have no such jurisdiction. The ICC has lost all credibility. ICC has jurisdiction ONLY over member states and that does not include the USA, China, or Russia. I reported that my sources on October 14th, 2022, were warning that the ICC was being politically manipulated not much different than the SWIFT monetary system. A team of lawyers in the UK filed a complaint with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on behalf of the people. The report alleges that government officials, and pharmaceutical executives, have conspired with COVID. They did nothing.

The ICC can ONLY prosecute member states. The United States refused to join the ICC so no American can ever be tried for a war crime. The same applies to Russia, yet the ICC is trying to politically indict Putin to create World War III. The ICC has lost all integrity no different than the New York Prosecutors going after Trump for anything they can possibly find. Next will be his parking tickets.

I had dinner with people from the ICC and they acknowledged that the United States used its legal system for political purposes. They were stunning in my case. They also said they would love to bring charges against the United States for they routinely violate international law and engage in torturing people – remember waterboarding and  Abu Ghraib.

In my case, I believe the banks told the CFTC to shut down our forecasting because they thought removing us would then allow them to manipulate markets. But they still blew up the world economy in 2007 and traders on the floor were calling it Armstrong’s Revenge. They never learn. They can bribe all the politicians, but that does not guarantee their trade. The CFTC refused to allow the forecasts to continue and insisted that all staff was to be fired worldwide. They rejected others offering to rent the Institute to keep it going. This was a FIRST AMENDMENT violation to shut down our forecasting to aid the corrupt banks.

The ICC told me at dinner that they would have loved to take my case, but since the US was not a member they could not bring charges against the US courts. That proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this indictment of Putin is political and they have sold their soul to the Neocons. This was announced in hopes of threatening China with respect to their meeting with Russia to try to stop them from joining forces. The Neocons have now full control of the ICC and that prevents any peace negotiations going forward.

Then last November, the United Nations also surrendered its independence to the Neocons ensuring that we have no choice but to enter World War III. This is the agenda. The United Nations General Assembly has now adopted a resolution calling for Russia to pay war reparations for its invasion of Ukraine. This is to include the billions of dollars in damage and destruction, as well as reparations for the loss of life. The US refuses to provide any independent investigation into blowing up Nord Stream which was an act of international war. Instead, they attack the messenger. The UN simply wants to wash its hands in the blood of millions if not billions negative what it was entirely supposed to have been created for – world peace.

The world is now officially in control of the Neocons. Never in all my years did I ever expect looking at their long-range forecasts calling for a war that we would be the evil aggressors. We need the model to do its job here for we cannot even figure out on an opinion basis which fundamental will come out on top. We really desperately need members of Congress to recognize the real threat is within.

Mar 19 2023

Interview with World Affairs Monthly


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Mar 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Click here to listen to my interview on 3/16/23 with World Affairs Monthly (also published on Monitoring Risk).