Peace in the Middle East – China Brokers Saudi Arabia-Iran Peace Treaty


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Mar 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

China accomplished a once unthinkable feat — a peace treaty between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two countries have been sworn enemies since the beginning of time, representing conflicting Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups that have been battling since their religion was founded. The two nations have been fighting a proxy war in Yemen that has led to over 150,000 deaths, which is another major story not covered by the mainstream media. This story has only received negative attention in the Western media because it is a major win for China who is now seen as the adult in the room on the international stage.

The press release issued by Saudi Arabia is astonishing, given the deep hatred it had for Iran. Saudi Arabia is now keen on “developing good neighborly relations…in light of their brotherly ties.”

“The three countries announce that an agreement has been reached between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, that includes an agreement to resume diplomatic relations between them and re-open their embassies and missions within a period not exceeding two months, and the agreement includes their affirmation of the respect for the sovereignty of states and the non-interference in internal affairs of states. They also agreed that the ministers of foreign affairs of both countries shall meet to implement this, arrange for the return of their ambassadors, and discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations. They also agreed to implement the Security Cooperation Agreement.”

Rumors are swirling about what this peace treaty could entail. Saudi Arabia and Iran could join BRICs, the alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, and China. If the two nations join, all major energy exporters will be within this alliance. Half of the world’s population would be under this alliance as well. There would be absolutely no need for Western interference in this situation.

The dollar’s dominance would be at risk. The Saudis are already discussing settling oil transactions in the yuan instead of the dollar. This will seriously damage the dollar’s ability to remain the standard reserve currency. China’s rise to becoming the financial capital of the world is happening right before our eyes.

China – US – Claimed Territory – One China Policy


Armstrong Economics Blog/China Re-Posted Mar 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION:  China’s claimed territory??? So China can claim the entire Pacific as their territory and that means we can’t enter the Pacific???

DF

ANSWER: Whatever China claims is really irrelevant. Up until recently, we did not push the limits and China did not expand its claims. We all agreed to disagree but took no action. In this case, Beijing’s claim of its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands does not comply with international law.

Nevertheless, the real question is what has changed? You can support war all you want, but remember, this time it will be different. The Neocons are smart. Wrap whatever they do in the American flag and people will die for their claims as well. Wars are created by the elites, not the common people. We also need to examine who is doing what for whatever you thought you were creating for your future and that of your family will exist no more. Everything is changing.

You must understand the language of diplomacy. It may seem irrelevant but it is very critical. The point is that we seem to be deliberately provoking confrontation which is strange and we are abandoning the statement on the One China Policy which has actually protected Taiwan. Before the Neocons seized the White House, there was the agreement of a One China Policy, which tentatively accepted their territorial view of China despite appearing to be more nuanced and fiction rather than substantive.

I know international politics can be very confusing for people unaware that it is all about WORDSMITHING! Words matter and lives depend on those words. Back in January 2017, Rex Tillerson, who was Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Taiwan, based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and the Six Assurances, at his Senate confirmation hearing. He also indicated that he is not aware of “any plans to alter” the U.S. “one China” policy.

Back in 1979, that is when the United States moved to recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and de-recognize the Republic of China (ROC) (Taiwan). What the United States stated at that time was that the government of the People’s Republic of China was “the sole legal Government of China.” The use of the word “sole” meant that the PRC was and is only China. In those words, there was no consideration of the ROC (Taiwan) as a separate sovereign entity.

Now, against that statement on the surface, the United States did not yield to the Chinese demand that it recognize Chinese Sovereignty over Taiwan. The word “Taiwan” became the name preferred by the United States in the aftermath of the de-recognization of the ROC. So they no longer called it the Republic of China but switched to Taiwan.

This wordsmithing satisfied China and removed the threat of invasion of the ROC. Washington thereby acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan was part of China. For geopolitical reasons, both the United States and the PRC were willing to go forward with diplomatic recognition despite their differences on this matter. It became the wordsmithing compromise.

When China attempted to change the Chinese text from the original acknowledge to recognize, the Deputy Secretary of State at the time was  Warren Christopher who testified before the  Senate:

“[W]e regard the English text as being the binding text. We regard the word ‘acknowledge’ as being the word that is determinative for the U.S.”

That was all followed by a U.S.-China Communique on August 17th, 1982. It was there that the United States stated that it had no intention of pursuing a policy of “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.” This is how diplomacy is carried out. I have to do the same in advising governments economically because it always hangs on a single word.

To this day, the U.S. “one China” position has stood until the Neocons have seized the Biden White House. stands: the United States recognizes the PRC as the sole legal government of China but only acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China. Thus, the United States maintains formal relations with the PRC and has unofficial relations with Taiwan. The “one China” policy has subsequently been reaffirmed by every new incoming U.S. administration. The existence of this understanding has enabled the preservation of stability in the Taiwan Strait, allowing both Taiwan and mainland China to pursue their extraordinary political and socioeconomic transitions in relative peace.

The Washington Post wrote:

“The one-China policy is only a symbol of the long-standing, tacit agreement between the two countries to leave the Taiwan question unresolved. It’s a policy worth saving, if possible. But it’s not an agreement the United States can uphold alone. Right now, the one-China policy looks fragile, but it’s Xi — not Biden — who will decide whether the policy and the peace it preserves will survive.”

Because we have now put Taiwan in the face of China with politicians flying there for support, we have guaranteed that China must NOW take Taiwan. The One China Policy has been tiorn up and that means lives must now be lost and the future will never be the same from here on out. The question is WHY?

Blinken is a Neocon. In diplomacy, you DO NOT threaten China publicly. You do that in private phone calls and meetings. When you do that publicly, you are effectively insuring that they then MUST take action or they will appear to be weak. What is Putin said publicly the US must stop sending weapons to Ukraine, and Biden then says, gee, we will stop sending weapons to Ukraine. The American people will call him a puppet of Putin.

The is a HUGE difference in diplomacy between public and private. The fact that Biden has done everything publicly is a slap in the face to china and ensures that they must now confront the USA. This is all being orchestrated and it will be Americans who die for these deliberate acts of the Neocons who have created every war since Vietnam. I seriously doubt that Biden is even aware of who is now running our Foreign Policy. They just want ware and will get it.

The Neocons have no problem sacrificing your children on their altar of geopolitical power. Peace – is no longer an option. Open your eyes. This is intentional – not stupidity!

AI Surveillance Defiant Clothing


Armstrong Economics Blog/Police State Re-Posted Mar 10, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Fashion trends change to reflect new societal norms and self-expression. Today’s societal norm is constant government spying and mass data collection under the premise that we are all criminals who may defy our failing governments. One may first think of China and its vast array of CCTV cameras that are analyzed by Artificial Intelligence software to compile individual behavioral data that can be used to control the population. “Whoever owns enough data and computing ability can predict problems, predict the future, and judge the future,” Alibaba’s Jack Ma was quoted as saying. As the desire for privacy becomes a cultural norm across the West, fashion designers are finding a way to produce clothing that fulfills this need.

They say fashion in Milan always makes its way to the Americas. An Italian startup company called  Cap_able has developed a clothing line to prevent AI technology from accurately identifying individuals. The company would like to “educate the population on the importance of privacy and human rights by addressing the problem of misuse of facial recognition technology.” There are similar clothing brands that celebrities notoriously use to prevent the paparazzi from taking their photograph. However, this new genre of clothing is designed to confuse sophisticated AI software. This is not an attempt to shield criminals, as AI spying software is intended to target the entire population. The ethical question arises of whether the state has the right to track its citizens. “The protection of one’s privacy or the community: what comes first? However, isn’t the protection of the community born from the necessity to protect the rights of the individual?” the company questioned.

Researchers at Harvard and MIT published an article in Brookings entitled “Exporting the surveillance state via trade in AI.” Once the government or companies collect this data, they can freely export it. The study found that China is currently the world leader in facial recognition technology and has exported over 201 deals to use its programs. The US is second behind China with 128 deals to export facial recognition technology. The published study noted that AI recognition software could “undermine democracies, enhance autocrats’ aims of social control, and empower “surveillance capitalists.”’

The government can recognize your daily whereabouts and behavioral patterns to predict what you may do or where you may go. Social scores, as seen in China, seem far-fetched in the West, but look what happened during the power grab that was COVID when countless countries imposed QR codes to restrict the freedom of movement. Credit scores were not developed in the US until 1958 and were intended to predict whether a borrower could repay their loan. The idea of a credit score would seem far-fetched to people living just a few years prior, and now that same score can vary due to simply purchasing a car or looking up your score.

So AI defiant clothing may serve a purpose in the not-so-distant future if it actually works. It would come to the surprise of none if governments outlawed this clothing or simply updated their software to bypass the designs. There’s a chance that this could simply be a gimmick, as advanced AI can learn to detect and counteract patterns. You cannot hide from Big Brother.

Shooting Down the Chinese Spy Balloon


Watch the spy balloon get shot down by two American Jets on February 4, 2023

Three Random Fires Happen at Three Separate Oil Refineries in Mexico on Same Day


Posted originally on the CTH on February 24, 2023 | Sundance 

Oh boy, FOR ME there isn’t enough tinfoil folks.   Then again, FOR US, we have previously been outlining the “watch Mexico in 2023” oil production and energy issue for several months now.

Three oil refinery fires at three different facilities on the same day… isn’t good.  Because it just seems to be too coincidental to be coincidental.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Three fires broke out on Thursday at different facilities in Mexico and the United States operated by state-owned Mexican oil company Pemex, leaving five missing and eight others injured as of Thursday evening. (read more)

Making tinfoil matters worse, I previously emphasized, “The U.S. and Canada are going to push every possible political pressure point in order to force Mexico to change energy policy.  The stakes are high. It is going to be remarkable to watch what happens as this battle takes place. Watch Mexico in 2023.” {LINK}  A few weeks later, with more data assembled, I added, “I’m not talking about little threats, or ordinary economic pressure points; watch closely how the U.S threats are established.  The ideologues around Joe Biden will seek to destroy AMLO if he does not go along with the energy change effort. {LINK}

The origin of the issue traces back to July of 2022, when Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador visited the White House {Go Deep}.  During a jaw dropping statement delivered publicly from the Oval Office, AMLO told Joe Biden he was not going to join the U.S. and Canada in shutting down oil use and refining capacity for low cost gasoline:

July 13, 2022 – […] AMLO: “Therefore, we decided that while we’re waiting for prices of gasoline to go down in the United States — and I hope that Congress approves or passes your proposal, Mr. President —

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  It has gone down for 30 days in a row.  (Laughs.)

PRESIDENT LÓPEZ OBRADOR:  (As interpreted.)  — of lowering — lowering prices, yes.  That’s it.

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for prices to go down, we have decided that it was necessary for us to allow Americans who live close to the borderline so that they could go and get their gasoline on the Mexican side at lower prices.

And right now, a lot of the drivers — a lot of the Americans — are going to Mexico, to the Mexican border, to get their gasoline.

However, we could increase our inventories immediately.  We are committed to guaranteeing twice as much supply of fuel.  That would be considerable support. 

Right now, a gallon of regular costs $4.78 average on this side of the border.  And in our territory, $3.12. 

Let me clarify something, and I also want to take advantage of this opportunity to thank you, Mr. President.  Most of this gasoline, we are producing it in the Pemex refinery that you allowed us to buy in Deer Park, Texas(read more)

The nub of it is… Mexico was not going to permit gasoline prices to skyrocket as they have done in the U.S. due to the policies of Joe Biden.  This creates a problem.

The climate change and energy ideologues within the Biden administration are doing everything within their power to raise energy prices, specifically oil and gasoline.  This is part of the strategy to make the green new deal energy programs hold financial viability as an alternative.

Part of the policy is to drain the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve, then limit -by regulation- current oil exploration (deny leases), and further block expansion of oil refineries in the U.S (cancel permits).

Mexican President AMLO was not playing that game.  He could see what the Biden administration was doing.  AMLO read his prepared statement in the oval office to put a hard no on his participation.  He was going to continue oil production and increased oil refinery development in order to keep gasoline prices low.   Again, this put AMLO on the wrong side of Team Windmill.

We warned that the stakes in this energy showdown were so severe nothing would be off the table of potential.

July 2022 – AMLO takes a stand.

Nov 2022 – An epic battle is looming.

Dec 2022 – Mexico unveils North American Leadership Summit Agenda

Dec 2022 – Team Windmill calls AMLO an “energy nationalist,” then threatens peso.

Continuing to apply the pressure, during the North American Leadership Summit, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted:

There has been a full court press toward Mexico to change their energy policy specifically around oil development and gasoline manufacturing.

Suddenly, against this backdrop, and with our warnings as a guidepost… THIS HAPPENS:

MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Three fires broke out on Thursday at different facilities in Mexico and the United States operated by state-owned Mexican oil company Pemex, leaving five missing and eight others injured as of Thursday evening.

Five people were unaccounted for after a fire at a storage facility in the state of Veracruz that had sent three others to a hospital, the company said in a statement.

The cause of that fire, which had been put out, had not yet been determined, the company added.

Pemex confirmed in a later statement on Thursday evening that a separate fire at its Minatitlan refinery, also in Veracruz, was under control after injuring five people.

That fire had not interrupted the refinery’s operations, Pemex said, adding that “it is presumed that the possible cause of the fire was product runoff on a hot surface.”

A third fire was also reported Thursday by a community alert at a unit at Pemex’s Deer Park, Texas, oil refinery. It later updated with an all-clear notification. (more)

Now, who or what would hold the motive to see oil production and gasoline refining in Mexico targeted?

U.S. Military Completes Mission to Recover Chinese Surveillance Balloon, Optics and Electronics Now Being Tested by FBI


Posted originally on the CTH on February 17, 2023 | Sundance

The White House is trying to put the best spin on the Chinese spy balloon events by claiming the U.S. military jammed the electronics attached rendering the ability of the surveillance equipment incapable of transmission to relays (satellites) or mainland China.

Additionally, according to the White House strategic communications spokesperson John Kirby, the main structure of the electronics, optics and surveillance system has been recovered by the U.S. military and the equipment is now being studied and reverse engineered. WATCH (05:18 Prompted):

(Via Reuters) – The United States said on Friday it had successfully concluded recovery efforts off South Carolina to collect sensors and other debris from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by a U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 4, and investigators are now analyzing its “guts.”

The last of the debris fro the Chinese balloon, which was downed by a Sidewinder missile, is heading to an FBI laboratory in Virginia for analysis, the U.S. military’s Northern Command said in a statement.

Reuters was first to report the conclusion of the recovery efforts, which were halted on Thursday.

“It’s a significant amount (of recovered material), including the payload structure as well as some of the electronics and the optics, and all that’s now at the FBI laboratory in Quantico,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Kirby said the United States had already learned a lot about the balloon by observing it as it flew over the United States.

“We’re going to learn even more, we believe, by getting a look at the guts inside it and seeing how it worked and what it was capable of,” he told a White House news briefing.

The U.S. military said Navy and Coast Guard vessels that had been scouring the sea for nearly two weeks have departed the area.

“Air and maritime safety perimeters have been lifted,” Northern Command said in a statement.

The U.S. military has said it believes it has collected all of the Chinese balloon’s priority sensors and electronics as well as large sections of its structure, elements that could help counterintelligence officials determine how Beijing may have been collecting and transmitting surveillance information. (read more)

America’s biggest threat – China


Newsmax TV Posted originally on Rumble on February 15, 2023

JFK, Nixon & Trump


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted Feb 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Despite the hatred that many pour all over Trump, they really should stop and think for a moment, that they have been subjected to brainwashing. I have stated before that I was invited to a dinner in March of 2020 at Mara largo where I was actually impressed by then-President Trump. He said he wanted to bring the troops home from Afghanistan because he was sick and tired of having to write letters to the parents of solider’s killed over there. He bluntly stated that he had no idea why were there. They were fighting over borders for 1,000 years. “What difference will we make?”

There is a common thread between JFK, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump – all three stood against the Deep State. The first was assassinated, the second was set up with CIA operatives getting “caught” breaking ton the Watergate building, and the third was probably removed from office by rigged elections and now desperately trying to accuse him of anything to prevent him from running against in 2024.

John Bolton was against withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Bolton has been a hardnosed Neocon and then lied to the people not disclosing that Trump had a whole team to figure out how to exit Afghanistan that Biden dismissed and then claimed the same end result would have happened under Donald Trump. I really do not know how these people can look at themselves in the mirror.

JFK and Trump were both against war. Both were conveniently removed from office. In the case of Kennedy, they put forth Oswald and linked him to Russia, but then conveniently had him assassinated to prevent any trial when today everyone knows that the CIA was behind it. The recent tapes have revealed that Richard Nixon bluntly said to the head of the CIA, I know who killed John. The CIA used Watergate to discredit Nixon and drive him from office also because he wanted to end the Vietnam War and understood the CIA’s role.

Then Trump wanted to exist in Afghanistan. But Iran shot down an unmanned drone and Bolton wanted Trump to launch an attack on Iran. Trump refused to retaliate for an unmanned drone. The CIA asked Trump to extend the deadline for their release of the Kenndy assassination files until after the election. He agreed, and they knew Trump would lose the election. Biden then granted them the right to withhold the most critical files that expose the real source – the CIA.

The Deep Stated wanted to kill Americans and blame Cuba to justify an invasion. Kennedy rejected that proposal. This, he had to go. How dare he think he can tell the Deep State what to do!

All three presidents posed a serious threat to the Deep State. Forget the hatred of Trump that they have drummed into the heads of so many. Open your eyes. This is biggest that Trump and your hatred blinds you to what is really going on.

War & Capital Flows


Armstrong Economics Blog/Capital Flow Re-Posted Feb 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I attended your coming out WEC in Philadelphia in 2011. Just about everyone I spoke with said the same thing. They all showed up to make sure it was really you and not some government stooge pretending to be you.

I must say, when you put up the war cycle, I thought it was interesting and everyone respected your work so we listened. At the time it was perhaps a curiosity and would be something we would watch on TV instead of the Oscars. Here we are. In the middle of this mess. I can now see how they used that tactic to demonize Trump to get Biden elected if he was really elected.

Now every person who voted for Biden has voted for World War III. They bought the hatred of Trump to remove him when he was like JFK and would never have agreed to war as you said when you went to dinner at Mara Largo. The recent tapes show that Nixon confronted the CIA for killing JFK. The very people who did the Watergate break-in were operatives for the CIA to make sure Nixon would be removed.

Our leaders really want war. I would never have thought your war model would predict that we would be the aggressor. Our government lies about everything. Why? Do they hate humanity that much?

GP

REPLY: I appreciate what you are saying. The Deep State has always had its agenda and it was always just about them. Never in my wildest dreams looking at these forecasts a decade ago did I ever contemplate that we would be the aggressor. The Neocons just want to annihilate every Russian. That is all they think about. That is why John McCain handed Hillary’s fake dossier to James Comey at the FBI. They were two Neocons and always wanted war with Russia. It was Hillary that conditioned the Democrats to think that Russia was the enemy and they rigged the election for Trump.

You see both Democrats and Republicans cheering war now. There is no stopping the warmongering. All we can do is prepare, and understand how the capital will shift as the arrays will give us the timing. This will enable us to position ourselves to make it to the other side of 2032. Fortunately, Socrates was constructed using the raw data to provide a picture of global capital flows.

That was why I was called in by the Brady Commission back in 1987 for as you can see, the G5 was taking the dollar down for trade by 40% and then foreign investors sell US assets for they will lose on the FX exchange. Those morons every understood capital flows or currency.

When again they were trying to talk the dollar down in 1997 for trade purposes, I warned them they would unleash another crash making the same mistake as before. They at least listened and backed off.

China Raises Draft Age up to 60 Years Old


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Feb 14, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Of course, China knows that the Biden Administration wants war. They are increasing their age limits for military service to up to 60 years old. Don’t get upset and think you will be too old for the United States and Europe. You can never be too old to die for your local politician.

We will see the draft age rise dramatically in the West all because our fearless world leaders, who will never go to war themselves, all need World War III desperately. Just as we can no longer define what a woman actually is, we can no longer discriminate against women for the draft and it is also a matter of being fair to end age discrimination for the draft. It was Franklin Roosevelt who made the remark after going to great lengths to get the US involved in World War II. He said:

“War is young men dying and old men talking.”

While governments play with the numbers, during World War I, the Great War, they asserted that the average age of dead soldiers was twenty-seven years old. However, more nineteen-year-olds died than any other age group.

The U.S., Military raised the limit for enlistment in June 2014 precisely when our War Model turned up with the Air Force raising the maximum age for enlistment from 27 to 39 years of age. The enlistment age restrictions for the Army, Navy, and Marines are 35, 34, and 28 respectively. The U.S. Army announced that they were increasing the maximum enlistment age to forty-two years old, and then the second time in six months after previously raising it to 40 years old.

The UK Ministry of Defence raised the enlistment age limit for its Army Reserve in November 2014 to 52 from 43, and for those individuals with specific qualifications or experience the age limit was raised to 45 up to 50.

For World War III, combat forces will most likely be drafted up to the age of 40 or perhaps 42. After all, they claim that 40 is the new 20. So start with those pushups. Get used to it. You are expected to die for the Ukrainian Nazis and Taiwan neither of which would actually alter the future of the United States.

And by the way, women you will NOT be discriminated against anymore. They have already been talking about drafting women as well to satisfy Hillary who argued women can do anything a man does – from being president to dying on the battlefield. You better start having kids real fast. But you too will die for Ukrainian Nazis – what an honor.