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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Gold Seal

Grandmaster Putin's trap: Selling oil and gas for gold

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Putin walking away from the exploding petrodollar system
Accusations of the West towards Putin are traditionally based on the fact that he worked in the KGB, and therefore he is a cruel and immoral person. Putin is blamed for everything, but nobody ever accused Putin of lacking intelligence.

Any accusations against this man only emphasize his ability for quick analytical thinking and making clear and balanced political and economic decisions.

Western media often compares this ability with the ability of a grandmaster conducting a public chess match. Recent developments in the US economy and the West in general allow us to conclude that, at least in this part of the Western media's assessment of Putin's personality, they are absolutely right.

Despite non-stop reports reports in Fox News, CNN et al, today the Western economy, led by the United States, is in Putin's trap; the way out of which no one in the West can see or find. Not only that, the more the West tries to escape from this trap, the more stuck it becomes.

So what is this tragic predicament in which the West and the United States find themselves? And why are all the Western media and leading Western economists silent about this, as if it were a well-guarded military secret? Let's try to understand the essence of current economic events purely in the context of economics, setting aside other factors like morality, ethics and geopolitics.

Comment: One would think that the Western elites would realize they are checkmated and start to back off Putin. It's very unlikely that will happen, unfortunately. Psychopaths are incapable of seeing anything other than what they want to see. They are wishfully thinking the entire Western world into an economic catastrophe, and possibly the rest of the world into World War 3.


Card - VISA

More punishment for Crimeans: Visa, MasterCard sanction Russian banks in Crimea

Mastercard and Visa card
© SXC.hu
MasterCard and Visa have suspended service for Russian banks in Crimea, saying the decision complies with US sanctions.

"According to the US sanctions imposed against Crimea on December 19, 2014, Visa currently cannot provide services and offer their products in the Crimea. This means that we can no longer issue or accept bank cards in Crimea, and service them in ATMs," the company has confirmed to TASS.

"As for the time period, these limitations will last until the sanctions are lifted from Crimea. At the moment it is unclear when this will happen; it will depend on the development of the political and diplomatic situation. VISA continues to follow closely the events and will provide you with the information as soon as it appears," a statement to journalists added.

The Central Bank of Russia has promptly responded saying Crimea banks continue to operate as usual, TASS says.

Comment: Either way you look at it, this is just plain cruel. According to the official narrative, the Crimeans are victims of an illegal annexation (they aren't, of course), in which case, this is adding insult to injury to 'poor Ukrainian' victims of Russia. Or the Crimeans are being maliciously punished for exercising their human right of self-determination. If the bastards implementing these sanctions could feel shame, we'd say shame on them. But they can't. They simply have no conscience. Thankfully, Crimea is now once again part of Russia, who actually cares. See also: Lavrov vows Russia will fight criminal EU ban on travel for Crimeans


Bad Guys

America's "Deep State": A shadow government and its mask of sanity

A police officer kneels on the face of Geoffrey Bercarich - G20 Toronto, Canada
© Cheol Joon Baek / for the Toronto Star
Author, poet, and former Canadian diplomat Peter Dale Scott describes the Deep State in an interview for the Voltaire network, as
"the wider interface in America between the public, the constitutionally established state, and the deep forces behind it of wealth, power, and violence outside the government." He adds, "You might call it the back door of the public state, giving access to dark forces outside the law."
The Deep State that he describes is a type of largely unaccountable shadow or parallel government that operates at the international and domestic levels as a driver for policies in our so-called democracies. It functions outside the reach of constitutional law, and it requires top-down forces of public repression. Today, the Deep State arguably supersedes the public government in power and importance.

Clipboard

Hungary next on U.S.'s war list

Orban

Orban
Hungary has decided to align itself with Russia against the United States.

The Western Alliance is starting to fray, over the insistence by Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to go to war against Russia.

This is called a 'new cold war,' but it's actually already a hot war within Ukraine, immediately next door to Russia.

America's plan to locate nuclear missiles there aimed against Russia has made stunning progress this year. The formerly neutral nation of Ukraine has now become officially anti-Russian. Because of the Obama coup, Ukraine is suffering a civil war between the Ukrainian regime that Obama's CIA and mercenaries installed in Kiev on 22 February 2014, versus the people in Ukraine's far eastern districts, where the Ukrainian President whom Obama was overthrowing had received around 90% of all the votes that had been cast there, and so the newly installed Obama regime in Kiev in the west was overwhelmingly rejected by them - hence, Ukraine's civil war is raging there now, with Obama's Kiev regime trying to eliminate the residents there.

Comment: It couldn't be more obvious. The United States government, which is itself a corrupt authoritarian regime, uses buzz words like "corruption" and "authoritarianism" to demonize states that refuse to follow their orders. After Turkey and now Hungary, what will be the next NATO state to turn their backs on their masters' warmongering? See also:


Network

Was Sony hack an inside job? Experts call FBI findings into question

The interview
© Unknown
North Korea is the country the US loves to demonize and what better way than use Hollywood, the favourite propaganda arm of the Empire of Chaos.
Despite the FBI concluding that the massive cyber attack against Sony was carried out by North Korea, many experts are now calling the Bureau's findings into question.

Since North Korea denied involvement in the hack, cybersecurity experts have begun to believe that Kim Jong-un may not be lying. In an article for the Daily Beast, Marc Rogers discusses the FBI's findings, which included the fact that the same malware used in the hack is one that had been developed by North Korean actors. Rogers argues that this fact does not necessarily count as conclusive evidence.

"The fact that the same piece of malware appeared in the Sony hack is far from being convincing evidence that the same hackers were responsible," Rogers wrote in the article. "The source code for the original 'Shamoon' malware is widely known to have leaked. Just because two pieces of malware share a common ancestry, it obviously does not mean they share a common operator. Increasingly, criminals actually lease their malware from a group that guarantees their malware against detection. Banking malware and certain 'crimeware' kits have been using this model for years."

Comment: Claiming that Russia is connected to the attacks is just another excuse to demonize the Bear. As Russia has been getting closer to North Korea recently, putting North Korea back on the blacklist is a way of hurting Russia's allies. For more background see:


Light Sabers

Putin is winning the oil war: Energy analyst


In an exclusive interview with CNN's Candy Crowley last Sunday, President Obama addressed critics who believed he was too soft on Russia and that he was allowing Russian president Vladimir Putin to "roll America." According to Obama:
There was a spate of stories about how he is the chess master and outmaneuvering the West and outmaneuvering Mr. Obama and this and that and the other. And right now, he's presiding over the collapse of his currency, a major financial crisis and a huge economic contraction. That doesn't sound like somebody who has rolled me or the United States of America.
The ruble has fallen sharply in the past few weeks and there are current stories coming out of Russia about potential bank runs. Last week the ruble became the world's worst performing currency. This week, however, the Russian currency does appear to be stabilizing-- it's back up by 30%. So have sanctions and falling oil prices sunk Russia?

Comment: See also:


Stock Down

Own goal! Saudi Arabia braces for $39 BILLION deficit - Lines up austerity measures to balance budget

oil production
© Reuters/Enrique De La Osa
The number one crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has projected a $39 billion deficit in 2015. The impact of lower oil prices, along with the decision not to cut production, is putting pressure on the country's finances.

The figure was part of the endorsed 2015 budget, which was made public in a statement read out on state-run television on Thursday.

The estimated trade deficit will be Saudi Arabia's largest on record.

The Finance Ministry said the government will try to save some money by cutting salaries, wages, and allowances that represent around "50 percent of total budgeted expenditures." But the move could anger Saudi youth, who are already struggling to cover the costs of living in the country.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), about two-thirds of the population works for the government.

The 2015 budget includes 860 billion riyals (US$229.3 billion) in spending and 715 billion riyals ($190.7 billion) in revenue. Saudi Arabia promised to cover the difference by digging into its reserves.

At the latest OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, the Gulf country opted not to cut the production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day, despite oil prices plunging nearly 50 percent since summer.

Comment: See also: US and Saudi Arabia colluding in oil price drop

The level of idiocy displayed by Western money-masters (in which group we include Saudi financiers and puppets) is sometimes beyond our ability to comprehenend. Did they not anticipate such an outcome when they made their oil-rigging deal with the US financiers and puppets? Or maybe they did, and they don't mind having to terrorize their population in order to keep it compliant during the fallout from the imminent slashing of the Saudi oil-welfare state? Is there really no price too high to 'contain Russia'?


Whistle

Moscow doubts effectiveness of U.S.-led coalition in fight against ISIS

"From the point of view of military and political situation, a tendency on strengthening the Islamic State positions arouses concern," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said
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© AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
Moscow expresses doubts concerning the veracity of information on the coalition successes in the fight against the Islamic State, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow also doubts the effectiveness of the air strikes the international coalition has been carrying out against the Islamic State terrorist group, the spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"From the point of view of military and political situation, a tendency on strengthening the Islamic State positions arouses concern, especially with regard to the activities of the US-led anti-terrorist coalition," Alexander Lukashevich said.

"Many media raise the role and effect of the aviation slightly," he said. "Allegedly, the IS lost over a thousand of militants on the Syrian territory as result of air strikes."

"It's hard to say how precise this statistics is. But evidently, the tendency in the fight against the IS cannot be overcome without coordination of actions with Damascus," Lukashevich said.

Comment: It seems that Russia plans to resolve the crisis U.S. and their allies have fomented in Syria via diplomacy. The plan is to start dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition groups. The inter-Syrian dialogue (also called Moscow I) is to start in early 2015.

See: Gatilov: Russia hopes an inter-Syrian dialogue be held soon

The 'coalition' air strikes target, among other things, civilians, grain silos and oil refineries, while at the same time doing nothing to stop ISIS. So it's no wonder Moscow has doubts about their efforts.


Bad Guys

US-led NATO is humanity's greatest threat

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US-dominated NATO's post-Cold War transformation into a global police force threatens humanity's survival. America calls the shots.

Involving NATO in wars on three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa. After Soviet Russia's dissolution, the Alliance expanded exponentially.

From 16 to 28 members. Twenty-two Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) ones. Seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries. Four Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) states.

Comprising nearly one-third of world nations. Planning much more expansion. Intending new members and partners.

On all continents. Virtually everywhere. For a US-controlled global military alliance. A dagger at humanity's heart.

Comment: NATO is apparently hellbent on starting a confrontation with Russia. Such a confrontation has the potential to end in a nuclear conflagration. In such a scenario, nobody wins, and many die, possibly all of humanity.

But that's the problem with psychopaths - they will relentlessly pursue their goals, even if it means their own destruction - engaging in wishful thinking, trying to bend reality to their wishes.


Stock Up

US and Saudi Arabia colluding in oil price drop?

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The oil price drop that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks has been framed almost exclusively in terms of oil market economics, with most media outlets blaming Saudi Arabia, through its OPEC Trojan horse, for driving down the price, thus causing serious damage to the world's major oil exporters - most notably Russia.

While the market explanation is partially true, it is simplistic, and fails to address key geopolitical pressure points in the Middle East.

Oilprice.com looked beyond the headlines for the reason behind the oil price drop, and found that the explanation, while difficult to prove, may revolve around control of oil and gas in the Middle East and the weakening of Russia, Iran and Syria by flooding the market with cheap oil.

Comment: While the gist of the article is correct, there are a number of incorrect information contained within.

For starters, there is no evidence whatsoever that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The only ambition is to develop nuclear capabilities for civilian energy production, which under international law it is allowed to do:
By way of deception: Bogus Iranian nuclear weapon documents linked to Israel

Further, the author states "Putin's territorial ambitions in the Ukraine have also put him at odds with US President Barack Obama and leaders of the EU", which is a distortion of the facts. The US has territorial ambitions, while Russia merely fights for preservation of its territories and the encirclement by US military bases:
The power struggle in Ukraine and America's strategy of domination