Posted originally on the CTH on January 30, 2024 | Sundance
Russell Brand is a former lefty who took the red pill and over time joined the great awakening. As an outcome of his current perspectives and influence, Brand is currently labeled a dissident threat and targeted by the globalist system.
Tucker Carlson invited Brand to appear on his broadcast for a discussion of the big picture amid the current era of information warfare. Brand is an eloquent voice who frames the arguments very clearly and quickly, thus his growing influence represented a threat to the system and a process of Lawfare attacks was launched against him. The British government then asked all Big Tech platforms to remove Brand from visibility. The only tech platform that refused to acquiesce to the Five-Eyes demand was Rumble.
This is a very good interview, well worth the 40 minutes of time.
Posted originally on Jan 30, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
The year 2030 will mark the beginning of Europe’s “Digital Decade,” according to the European Union, where our data and personal interactions will be digitized. The European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) will act as the legal foundation to assist member states in developing their own digital programs and objectives. The Digital Decade policy programme [sic] is expected to be released in, you guessed it, 2030.
The European Commission and their unelected officials aim to provide the illusion of choice and empowerment. “All users, from childhood to old age, should be empowered and protected,” the Commission claims, stating that data will be secure and safe. Safety includes “a fair online environment,” such as removing disinformation and altering the truth as they see fit. Censoring the internet is essential for controlling the narrative.
The fact of the matter is that you will not have a choice. In order to participate in society, you must have a digital ID. They want 100% of public services to be digitized, including all medical records. As Queen Maxima of the Netherlands said at Davos, digitizing medical records will alert governments “who actually got a vaccination or not.” She said that every public service down to school enrollment should be linked to digital IDs, which is one of the reasons why they will force your children to have their own digital identification at birth, if not sooner.
“To reach the digital targets and objectives, the European Commission will accelerate and facilitate the launch of multi-country projects, large-scale projects that no single Member State could develop on its own,” the EC stated. The goal is to eventually move each member nation to a “Digital Single Market” to push Europe closer to being a nation rather than a continent. Hence, they say the Digital Single Market will change European culture entirely.
They throw in goals about sustainability and climate because it cannot be quantified or questioned at this stage. The Important project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) plans to implement10,000 “climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes” in its “interoperable and accessible European data processing technologies, enabling a cloud to edge continuum across multiple providers.” In other words, they want 75% of European companies to use a centralized cloud database and grant government backdoor access. Seven member states are already working on mobilizing this program, with €1.2 billion in public funding granted to them in December 2023, following an additional €1.4 billion in private investments.
The first step is to acclimate the public to the idea of going digital, personally, as they wish to create a global digital identity. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Economic Forum (WEF) published a report that encourages the use of a global digital identity program for persons and objects. “End-to-end trade digitalization requires a global approach to digital identities of natural and legal persons as well as of physical and digital objects sending or receiving electronic information to avoid creating digital identity silos,” the 2022 report stated. The only reason to trace persons as if they were objects is control.
America, Canada, the EU, and every nation deceived by globalist agenda has a plan to create a digital ID. This will begin as an independent endeavor for each nation. Europe has made it known that they will consolidate each member nation’s platform, but it has not been revealed that EVERY nation will be linked to the same universal database. Who will control the database that will contain all of your information and finances? The one-world government — the ultimate goal of the globalist elites who desire to rule the world.
The computer models indicate that justice will prevail and these power-hungry tyrants will ultimately be defeated, but our way of life as we have known it will change in the process.
Posted originally on the CTH on January 29, 2024 | Sundance
While Turkey is a NATO ally, Recep Erdogan strategically refused to participate in the process to ostracize Russia. True to Erdogan’s strategic political interests of being an influence broker, Turkey is the only NATO country that does not participate in the sanctions regime against Russia. Next month Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Turkey for diplomatic discussions.
Turkey represents the literal gateway for most Western travel into and out of Russia. However, first things first. Despite the position of Turkey, notice how Hungary receives all the EU admonitions for not supporting the Ukraine side of the conflict, while NATO/EU never criticize Turkey who never even joined the EU/Western sanctions regime. Inside that hypocritical contrast there is a revealing story.
Turkey established themselves as the neutral entity for future brokering negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has multiple geopolitical ties to Russia, including the purchase of Russian military equipment. Apparently, despite the severity of the original sanction demand, Western interests -specifically the U.S. government- had no issue with Turkey proactively taking their ‘neutral’ position. Always remember this.
Given all of the domestic headlines in the USA, there is a very good reason for Americans to keep paying attention to all things that happen in the orbit of Russia right now. Many people ponder the issue of a dollar-based central bank digital currency; however, only a few people have paid attention to the self-fulfilling prophecy of the CBDC that was created by the Russian sanctions regime.
Those who ask about the possibility/probability of a dollar-based CBDC, and the possibility of the timeframe therein, should always be referenced back to the Western financial sanctions against Russia. It was that triggering point that put the USA and Western alliance on the irreversible path to the U.S CBDC, and the process is no longer a matter of “if” because the determining issue is no longer (primarily) in U.S. control.
The de-dollarization of half the trade globe, the general cleaving of finance that followed the Russian sanctions (see the efforts of BRICS+), has essentially created a system where major economic nations are trading between themselves in non-dollar-based exchanges. India trades with Russia in Rupes to Rubles. China trades with Russia on old fashioned ledgers of value (due to proximity somewhat of a quasi-bartering system); Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa and a host of non-Western nations are all in various stages of direct trade in national currency outside the dollar zone.
At the core of the issue behind the question of a U.S. or dollar-based Central Bank Digital Currency, you will find this global financial cleaving. Intra-Western trade (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the EU) is still done in dollars, and trade done into the Western system is still done in dollars. Ex. if China wants to trade into the USA, they must complete transactions in dollars. However, trade from grey zone to grey zone nation is no longer contingent upon dollars.
Very few people are talking about these new financial trade alternatives. Yet ultimately, this cleaving is likely what will result in a dollar-based U.S CBDC. Remember, the need for alternative trade currencies was triggered in time by the immediacy of the sanctions against Russia. I do not believe the Western financial alliance thought the Russian allies could assemble the alternative so quickly.
If the DoS and CIA truly believed the sanctions would cripple Russia, it’s then likely our institutions vastly underestimated the prior diplomatic talks that preceded those sanctions. As a big picture consequence, no geopolitical issue is as connected to your kitchen table as anything that connects with Russia. So, pay close attention to how Russia is engaged by the rest of the non-Western world (grey zone), and you will get a good idea about the speed and timing of a pending U.S. CBDC.
As soon as the grey zone trade is predicted to take place in non-dollar terms, the U.S CBDC will be fast-tracked. The only way for President Donald Trump to stop the CBDC process would be to immediately end the Russia-Ukraine conflict and subsequently remove the sanctions. [And that might not even work.] As long as there are financial trade blocks based on dollars and who we like, there will be an easy justification for the financial cleaving to continue.
RUSSIA – Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey next month in a rare foreign trip to a NATO nation, according to a Kremlin announcement on Monday.
Yuri Ushakov, a top adviser to Putin on foreign policy matters, told the Interfax news outlet that “a visit is being prepared.” As to the purpose of the visit, Ushakov added: “I can say that Ukrainian issues will probably be one of the main subjects of negotiations.”
Though a key NATO nation, Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, serve as a rare diplomatic bridge between the Kremlin and its Western rivals. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ankara has supported Ukraine with military supplies while refusing to join Western sanctions on Moscow.
Turkey has positioned itself as a mediator between the two nations, hosting two rounds of peace talks in Antalya and Istanbul in 2022. Turkey was also key to the Black Sea Grain Initiative that temporarily facilitated the export of agricultural products from southern Ukrainian ports amid Russia’s naval blockade.
Following a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the beginning of this month, Erdoğan said Ankara remains ready to help “establish lasting peace, stability and prosperity in our region.”
“We have previously acted as a host country for direct talks between the parties to the conflict,” the president said. “We are, as before, ready to do our best in this matter and act as a mediator….Ukraine in order to take joint steps with Russia certainly needs to soften its position.”
Putin last visited a NATO nation in 2020 when he traveled to Germany to meet with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. His Western travel options have been limited by his war on Ukraine and the arrest warrant issued for him in 2023 by the International Criminal Court over alleged related crimes. (read more)
I really do not like Turkish President Recep Erdogan. His political policy is full of dangerous self-interest (Muslim Brotherhood) and thirst for power (recreation of the Ottoman empire). However, on the issue of ending this Russia-Ukraine conflict, I will admit Erdogan has positioned himself very well.
If Trump wins in November, Erdogan will play a major role in the end of hostilities.
You might even say Erdogan holds the key to eliminating the self-fulfilling prophecy of a US CBDC that Obama/Biden created.
Posted originally on Jan 29, 2024 By Martin Armstrong |
Businesses are increasingly preventing customers from using cash as NO CASH ACCEPTED signs line Main Street. No federal law requires businesses to accept cash, but some states and cities have implemented laws mandating businesses to do so. COVID accelerated the push toward a cashless society, as physical cash was seen as unhygienic. Then the US mint faced a physical currency shortage as Americans hoarded their cash. Cashless businesses are now widely accepted and normalized in our society.
Around 6 million Americans who do not have a bank account, and therefore are blocked from participating in our cashless society. This particularly impacts the poorest in our nation, as a recent survey found that 40% of unbanked individuals do not have enough liquidity to meet the minimum balance required by banks. The FDIC found that one-third of respondents simply do not trust the banks and prefer cash for privacy purposes.
Then there are those who use prepaid cards or tools like CashApp that fall in “underbanked” bracket. The latest estimate found that 19 million households fall under this category. Combined, one in five Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, and according to the government, these individuals are merely attempting to avoid taxation.
Another lesser known fact is that banks often charge stores for physical currency. Additionally, the costs of providing and handling physical currency, such as the need for security, transportation, and storage make it more costly for businesses to use cash. The crime wave across blue cities is a contributing factor as well, as it is not uncommon to see signs stating that a business does not have cash on hand to deter thieves.
There is no federal law that requires banks to charge for change, but federal law generally allows banks to charge non-interest charges and fees. Interchange fees are transaction fees that the merchant’s bank must pay whenever a customer uses a credit/debit card to make a purchase, which is why you will often see a surcharge of around 3% at certain businesses to cover this expense. So businesses are faced with fees for all transactions whether they go the cash or card route.
The 2010 Dodd-Frank ruling permitted businesses to set a credit card minimum of $10, as the interchange fees nulled the profits on small purchases. Debit cards are treated as cash, whereby there is no set minimum by law.
They will soon force the unbanked and underbanked into the banking system, which is one of the reasons why the Biden Administration continually talks about erasing junk fees so that the 40% who claim they cannot meet the minimum balance are not excluded from government oversight. The push for a cashless society is a global phenomenon tied to the DPI and other initiatives that aim to centralize our individual data.
Posted originally on Jan 29, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
The United Kingdom is in an uproar after it was suggested that they may face a military draft. There is no draft at the time of this writing, but based on the models, you should prepare for one shortly.
Britain relies on voluntary professional fighters but cannot meet recruitment goals. No one wants to fight in foreign wars on behalf of the globalists. The British Army is experiencing a serious recruitment and retention crisis, with the number of fully trained soldiers set to fall to 72,500, the lowest level since the period after the end of the war of Spanish succession in 1714. Then, similar to America, tens of thousands are not fit for combat.
The National Audit Office (NAO) estimates that the budget for new weapons and equipment will reach $387.29 billion for 2023-2033, $21.42 billion over budget. This is the largest deficit since its first report in 2012 and has resulted in a “marked deterioration,” according to the Ministry of Defense. Yet, of course they have enough money to fund foreign militias to protect their borders. Military spending is expected to reach 2.25% of GDP this year but the NAO warns that it will likely rise.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has announced that a “whole-of-nation undertaking”may be required if they wage war against Russia. His remarks come one week after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps declared the UK to be in a “pre-war world.” He believes that the army must grow from 74,000 to 120,000 in the next three years, but again, no one wants to fight on behalf of the neocons and their budget is too miniscule to attract the youth.
So they are taking it a step further and requesting a “citizen army.”
"Our friends in eastern and northern Europe, who feel the proximity of the Russian threat more acutely, are already acting prudently, laying the foundations for national mobilisation. As the chairman of the NATO military committee warned just last week, and as the Swedish government has done...taking preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing when needed are now not merely desirable but essential."
Later adding:
“We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare - and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking. Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them."
The only reason nations prepare all citizens is in the event of an invasion. He declared that Ukraine is merely buying the West time before Russia attempts to conquer lands in a fashion not seen since Adolph Hitler. Russia is now attacking “our system and way of life politically, psychologically, and symbolically,” according to Sir Patrick. The truth of the matter is that the neocons have launched an all-out psychologically assassination of the West where they want us to believe that Russia is moments away from invading.
Those who read“The Plot to Seize Russia” understand that the next world war has been carefully orchestrated. The book reveals never-before-seen documents that confirm numerous attempts to implement pro-Western policies using the Russian oligarchy headed by Boris Berezovsky. Those on the other side longed for a return to the Soviet Union. Putin was in neither camp and has been fighting off extremists in his own country since he took over in 1999. The situation will become dire if and when a new Russian president is installed.
It is clear which nations are eager for war. Admiral Rob Bauer of NATO predicts a long war, stating that civilians must be ready for the next world war within the next two decades. According to my models, it will not take 20 years for World War III to unfold.
The UK government is toying with its citizens by providing hypothetical situations. “There is no suggestion of [a draft]. The Government has no intention to follow through with that. The British military has a proud tradition of being a voluntary force. There are no plans to change that,” Rishi Sunak announced, followed by saying the fear mongering is not helpful at this time. He stands alone as NATO, the military, and the unelected globalists have planted the seed in everyone’s mind that war and a potential invasion may occur.
Who would be called to fight? To join the British Military, one must pass fitness, medical, and security checks. The maximum age to enlist as a soldier is 35 years and 6 months, and for Reserve soldiers, the maximum age is 49.
The eligibility for conscription has varied, but typically it has involved the compulsory enrollment of single men within certain age ranges, and during World War II, men between 18 and 41 were asked to fight. Women will not be exempt. Unmarried women between 20 and 30 were liable to serve under the National Service Act passed in Parliament in December 1941 during World War II. The last conscription ended in 1963 amid the Cold War, and the military has operated on a solely voluntary basis ever since.
Our own nations are leading us into global conflict to create a one-world government ultimately. They have attempted to paint Russia as the villain but there is no patriotic call of duty to fight a meaningless, completely avoidable war. How many people must die before they lose?
Posted originally on the CTH on January 28, 2024 | Sundance
A story surfacing in Politico about the collapse of the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the inability of the entire trade policy group to find any willing trade partners was entirely predictable.
You might remember how the insufferable U.S. business media constantly said the Trump trade team was not going to be successful because the administration was disliked by global trade partners. Every Trump trade approach from tariffs to section 301 compliance, to U.S. demands around foreign policy tied to the economic Trump Doctrine was decried by U.S. multinational corporations as too divisive, too intransigent. However, Donald Trump and his trade wolverines racked up more trade wins and established more trade agreements than any administration in history.
From KORUS (Korea/US) to the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, European energy deals, massive changes with China, new Ag agreements, demanded technology sector investment back in the USA, and the successful renegotiation of NAFTA (Canada, Mexico, USA) into the USMCA – all of it was stunning in scale, scope and success. Trump’s global trade success was exactly the opposite of every predictive declaration by the professional media. All of the Trump strategic policy shift created the framework for the largest domestic expansion of the U.S. economy, evident in every 2019 economic metric prior to the pandemic.
Biden took office with the full support of the lying liars who lie in the media, and they said Biden’s team was a shoo-in for success. Again, exactly the opposite has happened.
The ideological leftists who came with the Obama/Biden plan forcibly tried to push their Green New Deal policies into every trade agreement. The result and response from all U.S. trade partners has been a massive failure of epic proportions.
Despite the international pontifications around support for the globalist energy policies, ie. the “Build Back Better” bulls**t pushed by western government, the World Economic Forum and the globalists, when it comes to where the rubber hits the road no nation is willing to attach themselves to the economically destructive millstone demands of U.S trade. In material fact, many of the BBB agenda priorities are now completely rejected by the same politicians who promoted them.
In part, we in the USA are suffering through some of the most horrific inflationary economic outcomes from this Biden ‘Green New Deal’ program. Any nation that aligned itself is feeling the same impact in direct proportion to how close they followed the program. The more ‘Green’ compliant the nation, the more the economic hardship upon the citizens within that nation. This is just the non-pretending reality of the thing.
So, it doesn’t come as any great surprise to see a thoroughly rejected and dejected career trade group now walking to the exits with zero accomplishments for their last three years of effort.
WASHINGTON – Frustration with a stalled trade agenda and unhappiness with the leadership of President Joe Biden’s trade chief is pushing more than a half-dozen senior trade officials out the door, according to four current and former administration officials with knowledge of the departures.
The exits include the White House’s point person on international economics and two of the three deputy U.S. trade representatives responsible for implementing the Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy.
The exodus comes after Biden’s trade agenda ran aground on multiple fronts in 2023: failing to reach a green steel and aluminum deal with the European Union and pulling out of trade talks that were part of the U.S.-crafted Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in November. The administration, meanwhile, remains internally divided on other key trade policy decisions, like how to regulate digital information flowing across the globe.
Those headwinds — and the realization that little real progress is likely to be made in an election year during which former President Donald Trump will put a glaring spotlight on trade — have convinced some officials it’s time to move on. Adding to the frustration: simmering discontent with the management practices of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
[…] Biden’s “worker-centered” trade agenda was designed to smooth over frayed relations with close trading partners and win back those blue-collar workers in battleground states. But his sweeping plans to reshape global trade rules haven’t assuaged concerns from Democrats who worry that Trump will again use trade issues as a cudgel against them in the industrial Midwest — a region that could determine control of Congress and the White House in November.
That disconnect has forced USTR to freeze, abandon, or dramatically scale back its signature initiatives and negotiations, leaving some top lawmakers and staffers frustrated. In particular, Wyden and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are fuming that the administration hasn’t matched the Trump administration’s accomplishments on trade, like the binding labor and environmental standards that Democrats got inserted into the rewrite of NAFTA that Trump signed in 2020.
“Sen. Brown and I have consistently said that you need the kind of proposal that you saw in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement where you open up markets for business and you have tough enforcement,” said Wyden, “and a lot of what’s been put up doesn’t meet that test.” (read more)
Go figure!….
Want success?…
Want trade deals that lift the USA economy?…
Want USA “deflation,” yes, the actual lowering of prices for goods and services?…
Want lower costs of goods, and lower prices for consumers by leveraging the size of the USA market?…
Posted originally on the CTH on January 26, 2024 | Sundance
Evidence has been shown to the Biden administration and the United Nations that 12 members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were actual participants in the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.
Yes, you read that correctly. The U.N. was an actual participant in the premeditated slaughter of Israeli citizens.
(Via Axios) The State Department on Friday said it is pausing additional funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency after Israel alleged 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
The big picture: It’s the first step by the Biden administration against UNRWA since renewing U.S. funding to the agency after the Trump administration completely cut it off.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. is “extremely troubled by the allegations” and the administration has “temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.”
State Dept – “The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that twelve UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on January 25 to emphasize the necessity of a thorough and swift investigation of this matter. We welcome the decision to conduct such an investigation and Secretary General Guterres’ pledge to take decisive action to respond, should the allegations prove accurate. We also welcome the UN’s announcement of a “comprehensive and independent” review of UNRWA. There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7. (LINK)
Driving the news: A senior Israeli official said the Shin Bet and Israeli military intelligence provided information that pointed to the active participation of UNRWA staffers and the use of the agency’s vehicles and facilities during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
“This was strong and corroborated intelligence,” the official said. “A lot of the intelligence is a result of interrogations of militants who were arrested during the Oct. 7 attack.”
State of play: UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he has terminated the contracts of the accused staff members and launched an investigation to “establish the truth without delay.” (Axios More)
UNITED NATIONS – “The Israeli Authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7 October.
“To protect the Agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay. Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
“UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families.
“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the Agency has been providing since the war began. Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world”. (LINK)
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