Puppet MastersS


Stock Down

Almost all CEOs are preparing for a recession, more than half are considering layoffs

John Hugh Demastri
Daily Caller
Wed, 05 Oct 2022 01:59 UTC
Recession
© Fox Business
Over 90% of CEOs at large American companies believe that a recession will occur within the next 12 months, with a majority planning to rework investments with social goals or lay off employees to compensate, according to a Wednesday report by accounting firm KPMG.

While just 34% of CEOs believe that a recession would be "mild and short," 80% believe that a recession would significantly harm their business' growth over the next three years, according to KPMG's survey of 1,325 CEOs at companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue, conducted from July 12 to Aug. 24. In response to mounting pressure from high inflation and declining GDP, 59% of CEOs said that they were reconsidering or pausing their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals, while 51% said they were considering layoffs.

Supporters of ESG investing, such as major investment firm Blackrock, believe that by tailoring their investment strategy to include considerations for social and environmental impact, companies are able to build more diverse portfolios that will perform better than traditional investment strategies. Detractors include 18 Republican state attorneys general, who allege that the strategy is not always in the financial interest of clients, and have claimed that managing retirement portfolios and pension funds using ESG strategies may violate state laws requiring investors to operate in the "sole financial interest" of their clients.
Read More...
Oil Well

Shunned Biden flip-flops on dealing with 'Dictator' Maduro, offers Venezuela deal for crude production hike

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 06 Oct 2022 09:05 UTC
BidenMadur
© Agence France PresseJoe Biden • Nicolas Maduro
Having been shunned by the Saudis (who are now "colluding with Russia to hurt low income countries" according to a White House spokesman this morning on CNBC), President Biden has lurched all the way to negotiating with another "dictator".

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Biden administration proposed a deal that will ease sanctions on Venezuela, allowing Chevron to pump oil in the country after OPEC+ unveiled its largest production cut since COVID (despite Biden's begging).

According to people familiar with the proposal, in exchange for significant sanctions relief (and the potential reopening of US and European markets for Venezuelan crude exports), the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would resume long-suspended talks with the country's opposition to discuss conditions needed to hold free and fair presidential elections in 2024.


Comment: How insulting. Biden has no shame.


Comment: Hopefully Maduro responded: 'Don't let the door hit you on the way out!'

Read More...
Russian Flag

Putin has proclaimed a new national idea for Russia as it abandons the dream of a Greater Europe

Dmitry Trenin
RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:57 UTC
putin
© Grigory SYSOYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP
During his four terms at the helm of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin has made many landmark speeches. Several of them stand out as pivotal points in Moscow's evolving foreign policy course.

Back in October 2001, addressing Berlin's Bundestag in German, Putin proclaimed Russia's "European choice". In February 2007, speaking at the Munich security conference, he lashed out at America's global hegemony and laid down Russia's own terms for relations with the West. In March 2014 in the Kremlin, Putin welcomed Crimea and Sevastopol joining Russia, thus expanding the country's borders for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

His most recent speech, also delivered in the Kremlin's St. George's Hall, merits special attention as a foreign policy manifesto which today charts a course of systemic opposition to the West.
Read More...
Bullseye

Hungarian PM urges changes to EU sanctions policy


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 18:52 UTC
orban
© AFP / Attila Kisbenedek
Sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine have failed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday, urging Brussels to change its policy.

"The sanctions didn't fulfill the hopes that were pinned on them, the war hasn't ended," Orban wrote on Facebook. Europe is slowly bleeding and Russia is making money in the meantime," he pointed out.

The Hungarian leader said that it was obvious to him that "the failed policy of Brussels must be changed."

The statement was made on the same day that the EU announced an eighth round of sanctions on Russia. The new curbs include an oil price cap, trade restrictions amounting to 7 billion euros and individual sanctions against 30 people and seven entities.
Read More...
Russian Flag

Lavrov explains why Russia sees Ukraine as a threat


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:19 UTC
Sergey Lavrov
© Sputnik / Russian Foreign MinistryRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, 30 September 2022
A call by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for NATO members to deploy nuclear weapons against Russia is a reminder of why Moscow launched military action against his country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"Yesterday, Zelensky called on his Western masters to deliver a preemptive nuclear strike on Russia," Moscow's top diplomat stated during a media conference on Wednesday.

In doing so, the Ukrainian leader "showed to the entire world the latest proof of the threats that come from the Kiev regime." Lavrov said Russia's special military operation had been launched to neutralize those threats.

He dismissed as "laughable" an attempt to downplay Zelensky's words made by his press secretary, Sergey Nikoforov.

"We all remember how [Zelensky] declared in January Ukraine's intention to acquire nuclear weapons. Apparently, this idea has long been stuck in his mind," the Russian minister said.
Read More...
Bad Guys

Duh: Ukraine was behind assassination of Darya Dugina, says U.S.

Noah Carl
The Daily Sceptic
Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:02 UTC
Darya Dugina
On August 20th, Darya Dugina - daughter of the Russian nationalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin - was killed by a car bomb on her way to Moscow. Like her father, Dugina had been a staunch advocate of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She'd even been sanctioned by the British Government, which described her as "a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine".

Two days after her death, the FSB (the successor to Russia's KGB) alleged that Ukraine was responsible. Yet the Ukrainian Government denied any involvement, and there was speculation that the killing was a false flag carried out by the FSB - perhaps with the aim of bolstering support for the war.

Yesterday, the New York Times poured cold water on the false flag theory. "United States intelligence agencies believe," the paper reported, "parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Daria Dugina".

U.S. intelligence agencies are not omniscient, of course. But they have no reason to falsely blame Ukraine, which suggests the leaked information is probably accurate.
Read More...
Hourglass

Escobar: Nord Stream 2 offers Germany a date with destiny

Pepe Escobar
Press TV
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 13:35 UTC
Aleksandr Novak
Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandr Novak
The twists and turns of the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) saga have yielded yet another stunning game-changer.

It started with Gazprom revealing that the Line B string of NS2 is intact; not only it escaped Pipeline Terror but may "potentially" be used to pump gas to Germany.

That confirms once again that NS2 is an engineering marvel. In fact the whole system: the pipes are so strong they were not broken, but merely punctured.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak followed up, with a caveat: restoration of the whole system, including NS, is possible, and "requires time and appropriate funds". But first, in Russia's order of priorities, the perpetrators must be conclusively identified.

Sources in Moscow confirmed Gazprom's assessment of NS2. Even Bloomberg had to report it.

Subsequently in Vienna, attending the Opec+ meeting, Novak remarked the Russian Federation is "ready to supply gas through the second line of Nord Stream 2. This is possible if necessary".

So we know it's possible. "Necessary" will depend on a political decision by Germany.

Comment: See also Escobar: Pipeline Terror is the 9/11 of the Raging Twenties

Read More...
Jet4

South Korea responds to North's warplanes near its border by scrambling dozens of its own


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 15:54 UTC
South Korean Air Force fighter jets
© South Korea Defense Ministry via APIn this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, South Korean Air Force's F15K fighter jets and U.S. Air Force's F-16 fighter jets, fly in formation during a joint drill in an undisclosed location in South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022.
Seoul scrambled 30 fighter jets in response to North Korea flying 12 warplanes near the border that separates the two countries on Thursday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

According to a statement quoted by Yonhap news agency, eight North Korean fighters and four bombers were spotted at around 2pm and "conducted air-to-surface firing drills for about an hour."

South Korea immediately sent 30 fighter jets and other planes, the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed. There was no clash, it added, as North Korea, aircraft did not cross the "tactical action line."

Comment: It seems tensions are heating up in the region, and it's possible that provocative movements with the US carrier strike group are, in part, intended to do just that. However, thus far, it has also been rather revealing because, as noted above, the North's missile 'test' resulted in Seoul firing 4 ballistic missiles of their own, except one failed to launch correctly and ended up exploding in their airfield. And this is just the latest blooper the West's own militaries have had to contend with: Symbolic: UK's largest warship HMS Prince of Wales breaks down ONE day after leaving Portsmouth for four month deployment to US

Read More...
Black Magic

Zelensky's spokesman tries to whitewash 'preemptive strike' remark


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:55 UTC
Zelensky
© Alexey Furman / Getty Images
The Ukrainian president didn't urge NATO to attack Russia with nuclear weapons, he pointed out

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's call for a preemptive NATO strike against Russia before it can use nuclear weapons should not be interpreted as a call to use nuclear arms against Russia, his press secretary has said.


Comment: Translation: That Zelensky says that black is black should not be interpreted as if black is black. It can mean anything we would like it to mean.


"Colleagues, you have gone a bit too far with your nuclear hysterics and hear 'nuclear strikes' where there are none," Sergey Nikoforov wrote on Facebook on Thursday, responding to widespread alarm over the president's words.

The press secretary pledged that Ukraine will never resort to nuclear threats, calling it something only the "terrorist state Russia" would do.


Comment: The only ones who keep fuelling the nuclear hysteria is Ukraine and the Western leaders. Zelensky calling on the West to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia only adds fuel to the fire.


Comment: Zelensky is not the only Ukrainian politician in power who have advocated for nuclear strikes on Russia and for killing millions of ethnic Russians. One example is the former prime minister, Tymoshenko, who would have liked to kill those 8 million ethnic Russians who dared to oppose Ukrainian authorities:



Read More...
Eye 1

Canada - Doctors told to give drugs to people who don't want COVID vaccines

Mick Campbell
Thecountersignal.com
Wed, 05 Oct 2022 00:00 UTC
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is encouraging doctors to offer drugs or psychotherapy to patients who don't want the COVID-19 vaccines.

Covid Psychotherapy
Doctors told to give drugs to people who don’t want COVID vaccines.
The updated guidance provided by the college (CPSO) on Wednesday includes a FAQ section, which gives advice for when patients request a medical exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine.

The answers details how exemptions should be extremely rare. It also suggests patients who don't want vaccines — or endless boosters — require prescription drugs and psychotherapy.

Comment: Many doctors, if not most other than the brave physicians who upheld their Oath and said no (being quickly denounced, publicly vilified, and out of their job just like many professors, scientists and workers across the world who also said no), have become infected by their medical associations, like the CPSO. In turn, the medical associations, incrementally in time, have become nothing more than parasitically infected from the usual revolving door of players, players who dominate over what the patient doctor relationship should be, right down to suggesting pharmacological/psychopharmacological solutions for any patient covid-vaxx naysayers.

Will doctors unite and stand?

Political Ponerology:

Political ponerology
© Sott.net
The actions of [pathocracy] affect an entire society, starting with the leaders and infiltrating every town, business, and institution. The pathological social structure gradually covers the entire country creating a "new class" within that nation. This privileged class [of pathocrats] feels permanently threatened by the "others", i.e. by the majority of normal people. Neither do the pathocrats entertain any illusions about their personal fate should there be a return to the system of normal man.

- Andrew M. Lobaczewski, Political Ponerology: A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes


Read More...