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Fri, 29 Oct 2021
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Towards a new gold standard? Or a currency war with China?

Peter Koenig
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Chinese gold
Rumors have it that the remaining months of 2020 may bring drastic and explosive changes in the world's financial system. But such "doomsday" rumors have been floating around every beginning of fall during the last few years. Why? - The US dollar is getting weaker and weaker. It is not quite on a free fall, but still remains a major trading currency and a key world reserve currency. And for many economists that's difficult to understand.

However, it is unlikely that that the collapse of the dollar will come from one day to the next. That would not be good for the world economy, as still too many countries depend on the dollar.

Facts are,
  1. China's foreign exchange reserves have just increased to US$ 3.112 trillion equivalent, of which about US$ 1.3 trillion denominated in US-dollars - and in general forex-reserves continue to grow;
  2. Within short, possibly by the end of 2021, the Chinese yuan, or renminbi (RMB) could become the world's third largest reserve currency, after the US-dollar and the euro, surpassing the Japanese yen and the British pound, reported by CNBC;
  3. According to Morgan Stanley , at least 10 regulators (i.e. Central Banks and similar forex regulating institutions) added the yuan to their reserves in 2019, bringing the total to 70 - and rising;
  4. According to the FED, the US economy could lose in excess to one third of its GDP up to the end of 2020 or mid-2021, while China's economy is expected to grow by 1.3% (IMF) in 2020, and by China's own estimate up to 3.5%.

Comment: See also:

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Target

Joe Biden is the subject of federal criminal investigation into his role in Spygate and activities in Ukraine

Cristina Laila
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:34 UTC
Biden
Joe Biden is now the subject of an active federal criminal investigation into his role in the CI probe directed at Trump's 2016 campaign.

Recall, Joe Biden was in a January 5, 2017 secret Oval Office meeting discussing General Flynn's phone calls with Russian Ambassador Kislyak with Obama, Yates, Comey, Rice and Brennan and 7 days later he sought to unmask Flynn.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden sought to unmask General Flynn on January 12, 2017 — the same day David Ignatius published his WaPo article about Flynn's communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The criminal investigation into Biden also includes his actives in the Ukraine.

"Ukrainian witnesses are cooperating," says Paul Sperry.

Comment: Biden is clearly as corrupt as they come. But don't expect the 'never Trumpers' to believe it. Or even care.

See also:

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USA

Homeland Security report finds White supremacy 'the most consistent and lethal threat'

Stephanie Pagones
Fox News
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 09:12 UTC
proud boys protest flag
© AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
In this Sept. 7, 2020 photo, a protester carries a Proud Boys banner, symbol of a right-wing group, while other members start to unfurl a large U.S. flag in front of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Ore.
White supremacy extremism accounted for more fatal attacks than any other domestic violent extremist group since 2018.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security considers White supremacists and other "domestic violent extremists" as presenting "the most persistent and lethal threat" to the nation, the agency revealed in a report on Tuesday.

The DHS's "Homeland Threat Assessment" found that White supremacy extremism accounted for more fatal attacks in the U.S. than any other domestic violent extremist group since 2018, with eight of the 16 violent reported from 2018 through 2019. It also caused the majority of related deaths, with 39 of the 48, the report states.

Comment: Anyone paying attention knows that the vast majority of violence they see on their TV screens, or in their own neighborhoods, is not the result of 'white supremacists'. The anti-police sentiment behind Antifa and BLM is simply being blamed on a different bad guy. It's so transparent as to be laughable, but it remains to be seen whether or not the American public buys it.

See also:

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Bullseye

As Boris Johnson Announces Britain's 'Great Reset', Were The Covid 'Conspiracy Theorists' Right All Along?

Neil Clark
RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 12:32 UTC
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson
© Reuters / TOBY MELVILLE
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson
The UK Prime Minister's remote speech to his party conference saw him dismiss the idea of returning to normality. Is he using Covid-19 to follow the World Economic Forum's 'Great Reset' agenda, as many have warned?

'It's not really about public health or a virus. They have another agenda.' That's what the so-called 'conspiracy theorists' have been saying since March, when the first British lockdowns were imposed and our lives were turned upside down.

Those 'conspiracy theorists' were denounced, as always, as 'cranks' and 'flat-Earthers' but here we are in October, and, let's face it, there is absolutely no sign, despite very low numbers of deaths 'with' Coronavirus, that we are returning to anything like normal. In fact, in his keynote speech yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson specifically ruled out a return to normal, not even with a vaccine.
"After all we have been through, it isn't enough just to go back to normal. We have lost too much. History teaches us that things of this magnitude - wars, famines, plagues, events that affect the vast bulk of humanity, as this virus has - they do not just come and go. They can be the trigger for economic and social change."
When I heard Johnson utter those words I thought, 'where have I heard this stuff before?' Well, the answer is in the book 'Covid-19: The Great Reset' by Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, and Thierry Malleret. They too, like Johnson, invoked the Second World War as the trigger for fundamental changes, not only to the global order and global economy, but to society and the way human beings interact with one another. Like Johnson, they don't want to return to normal. "Many of us are pondering when things will return to normal. The short response is never."

Instead, Schwab and Malleret want a world changed forever by a virus which they admit is only 'mild' compared to others in history. Covid-19 is seen as the catalyst for the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'.

Comment: What seems to be going on this year is that leaders like Johnson - familiar as they are with the rarefied atmosphere of elite transnational clubs like the Davos Set and the WEF - are, to one extent or another, 'in the know' about upcoming Earth Changes.

Some of them, certainly, are simply enjoying the power trip of telling everyone what to do, but it's our view that they must also have strong 'positive' motivations for embracing 'Covid-1984'. They're not idiots; they know that most of their 'subjects' are suffering, and they know that history shows that soon many if not most people will begin actively seeking - or at least tacitly supporting - the overthrow of government.

We suspect that the increasingly explicit linkage being made in the media between 'fighting the Covid' and 'saving the planet from climate change' speaks to the elites' awareness of major planetary upheaval coming down the pike.

'Boris' Johnson in his above speech mentioned one of the likely manifestations of this upheaval: plague. Not 'fake plague', as Covid-19 is, but actual, population-decimating plague - which, he correctly referenced, is a recurring historical phenomenon.

Then there's the current daily pinging of this planet by asteroids. The media reports incidents these, quietly, but it's safe to say that this is being watched very closely by the powerful. Finally, the elites are probably aware that 'climate change' always culminates in sudden-onset ice age conditions.

Heck, we've been aware of and warning about this 'macro-scenario' for the last two decades. But in their circles, they prefer to keep this quiet. They want people to 'stay home', 'keep quiet' and comply because they have 'a plan' to 'guide civilization' through this 'transition'.

The question everyone has to ask themselves then is: on the basis of government policy thus far into the 'Great Upheaval/Reset', do you trust them to have ordinary people's best interests at heart?

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Newspaper

Trump hints he'll sign another $1,200 stimulus check bill, vows to halt lockdown relief talks with Democrats until after election


RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 05:02 UTC
Trump
© Reuters / Erin Scott
FILE PHOTO.
US President Donald Trump said he would sign a bill approving another round of Covid-19 relief checks if one crossed his desk, apparently backtracking after saying he'd ended stimulus talks with Democrats until after the election.

"[If I sent] a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?" Trump tweeted on Tuesday evening amid a flurry of posts, tagging his own chief of staff Mark Meadows and leadership in both parties.

Some seven hours earlier, the president said he had instructed his staff to stop negotiating with Democrats on new stimulus legislation "until after the election." He argued that while Republicans offered a "very generous" bill with a price tag of $1.6 trillion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) remained committed to a $2.4 trillion bill and was "not negotiating in good faith."

Comment: Trump late elaborated his plan via this Twitter thread:


See also: Nearly 50% of US working age adults unemployed - and it's going to get worse

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Bullseye

Are Trump opponents the real 'useful idiots'? Putin says using 'Russia card' to damage US president is playing into Moscow's hands

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 18:22 UTC
putin trump
© Sputnik / Alexei Druzhinin; REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed up what smart observers have said all along: that attempts to humiliate his American counterpart by accusing him of ties with Russia only boost the country's international standing.

Viewed from Moscow, one of the curious things about the Trump presidency has been the manner in which his political and media enemies have consistently attempted to smear him as "Putin's puppet" or a "Kremlin agent" in domestic US discourse. But this merely upgrades Russia's status, by making it seem far more powerful than it really is.

Comment: Trust Putin to get to the heart of the matter. Are Biden supporters' heads exploding at the implication of a Russian endorsement of his candidacy?

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Stop

Trump orders Mnuchin, Meadows and GOP leadership to stop negotiating coronavirus stimulus until after the election

Christian Datoc
Daily Caller
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 03:28 UTC
Trump balcony mask
© Unknown
President Donald Trump returns from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon that he is ordering his representatives to postpone the ongoing coronavirus stimulus negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi until after the election.

"Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19," Trump tweeted Tuesday following a phone call breaking down the latest stimulus situation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. "She is not negotiating in good faith. I am rejecting their request."

Trump further "instructed" Republican negotiators to prioritize the confirmation process for the president's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, for the next several weeks.

Both Meadows and Mnuchin had expressed optimism over the past week about potentially reaching a stimulus compromise ahead of the election.

Comment: US Gov is an internal warzone where the political situation is as deadly and dire as that of the people. While all is not the fault of blue state constituents, they elect and keep in office 'the Pelosis'. Here's, in full monty, what the President had to say:

For all his faults and foibles, Trump does have a moral compass of sorts and is not afraid to leverage his clout when situations blatantly call for it. (Someone has to do it!)

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Dollar

Key Assange prosecution witness part of academic cluster that has received millions from UK and US militaries

Matt Kennard, Mark Curtis
Consortium News
Fri, 02 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Old Bailey
© Wikimedia Commons
Old Bailey
Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis provide post-trial revelations about Dr. Nigel Blackwood, who claimed that Assange's risk of suicide is "manageable" if extradited.

One of the U.S. prosecution's key medical witnesses in the Julian Assange hearing, who claimed that Assange's risk of suicide is "manageable" if extradited to the U.S., works for an academic institute that is funded by the U.K. Ministry of Defence and linked to the U.S. Department of Defense, it can be revealed.

Dr. Nigel Blackwood, a reader in forensic psychiatry at King's College London (KCL), told the extradition hearing in London last week that Julian Assange was suffering only "moderate" depression.
  • U.S. prosecution witness works at Institute of Psychiatry funded by U.K. military although is not personally funded by it.
  • Witness leads research group which works "in collaboration" with centre set up with U.S. Department of Defense funding.
  • He co-leads the group with academic whose work is often funded by U.K. military.
  • Institute's partner department is closely linked to the Anglo-American military and intelligence communities and created a course for British intelligence officers on behalf of the U.K. government.
  • Responding to Declassified, witness says: "I had no conflicts [of interest] to declare."
  • Revelations come following end of Old Bailey hearing on Assange's U.S. extradition.
Giving evidence as an expert witness for the U.S. prosecution, Dr. Blackwood rebutted other experts' findings on the seriousness of Assange's condition, adding his suicide risk was "manageable." He told the court: "Mr. Assange has proved himself to be a very resilient and very resourceful man and he has underplayed that."

At the request of U.S. prosecution lawyers, Dr. Blackwood examined Assange during two meetings in March. In his written submission to the court, he said that it would "not be unjust" to extradite Assange to the U.S. Declassified has discovered that Dr. Blackwood's professional work at KCL is linked to a cluster of academic groups which are funded by or associated with the British and American militaries.

Comment: 'Risk of suicide is manageable'...depending on what, exactly? Murder? (But that would be deemed 'suicide'.)

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Dollar

Billionaires' wealth rises to $10.2T amid Covid crisis

Rupert Neate
The Guardian
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 21:01 UTC
Bezos
© Lindsey Wasson/Reuters
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person worth $74bn so far this year.
The world's billionaires "did extremely well" during the coronavirus pandemic, growing their already-huge fortunes to a record high of $10.2tn (£7.8tn).

A report by Swiss bank UBS found that billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter (27.5%) at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes.

The report found that billionaires had mostly benefited from betting on the recovery of global stock markets when they were at their nadir during the global lockdowns in March and April. UBS said billionaires' wealth had hit "a new high, surpassing the previous peak of $8.9tn reached at the end of 2017". The number of billionaires has also hit a new high of 2,189, up from 2,158 in 2017.
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Bad Guys

While urging a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Putin confirms Russia will fulfil defense-pact obligations to Armenia

Jonny Tickle
RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 18:10 UTC
Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan
© Press office of Armenian Defense Ministry PAN Photo via AP
In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020 photo, an Armenian soldier fires an artillery piece during fighting with Azerbaijan's forces in self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the ongoing military face-off in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh a "tragedy" and has indicated his willingness to honor Russia's long-standing mutual defense treaty with Armenia, if required.

Speaking to the Rossiya TV network, Putin noted that two million Azerbaijanis and over two million Armenians live in Russia, and that "a huge number of Russian citizens maintain close, friendly and even familial relations with both republics."

"This is a tragedy," the president said. "We are very worried, because Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh are all territories inhabited by people who are not strangers to us."

Comment: Though the conflict has been simmering for decades, the situation now seems to be developing into another Syria. All the same behind the scenes players are involved

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