As noted last week, Dr appt and other fact of life prevented me from getting this out yesterday, so a bit longer trying to catch up.
Of course all heck breaks out in the meanwhile . . . .
Globalism / Great Reset –
China and Brazil have signed a deal to conduct bilateral trade in their own currencies. Experts estimate the trade to be worth about $150.5 billion.
The French company TotalEnergies sold 65,000 tons of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to China and conducted the sale in yuan instead of dollars.
OBSERVATION - De-dollarizing trade has been a major line of effort by China to mitigate the risk of international sanctions and fallout over action on Taiwan. Chinese efforts to undercut the dollar are also expressed in the BRIC organization (Brazil, Russia, India, China) efforts to trade in currency other than the dollar. This effort is gaining other countries, however, the dollar remains a significant currency of trade, but could get hit hard in the event of a global crisis.
This applies to the global reset because the US economy must be crushed and its global dominance ended in order for the powers that be to execute their “reset” plans. A strong and dominant US will thwart any reset effort.
Wuhan virus –
U.S. Senate votes 68-23 to end COVID-19 “national emergency” that’s been in place since 2020.
Economy –
U.S. money supply is falling at its fastest rate since the 1930s, a red flag for the economy and financial markets. Money supply (M2) has now been shrinking year-on-year since December, an unprecedented development in modern times that should make investors sit up and take notice - growth, asset prices and inflation could all weaken.
Current M2 levels are below the pre-wuhan levels.
OBSERVATION - In my understanding, the high M2 was one of the many causes of the skyrocketing inflation rates of the past several years. It took off in response to economic shocks caused by the wuhan shutdown and related chaos, with the fed printing out tons of money. Printing more money made that money worth less. Rapid shrinking could cause the opposet response – a deflationary cycle that could be equally crushing to the economy due to the rapid change in just a short year’s time. Other analysts indicate that money in the system is ‘static’, not moving around – meaning in part that banks are being hesitant in making loans. Dropping M2 could also signal a potential end of the feds increases in the prime rate and could even indicate lowering the prime could be justified. However, the sudden drop suggests that further bumpy ride for the economy as it has been given little time to make adjustments.
Invasion of Illegals –
Record numbers of Chinese being intercepted at the border.
Biden / Harris watch –
No statement of grief for the families affected by the murdering transgender killer. Only a statement on how wonderful transgenders are and what a contribution to the nation they have made.
CW2/Domestic violence –
MSM and other leftist mouthpieces have worked to bury the radical/violent transgender movement as being the ‘victims’ of transgender ‘hate’. Even going as far as erasing that it was a CHRISTIAN school that was attacked and that is was the fault of Christian that their children were killed because of their transphobia. In an exclusive report on Thursday, The New York Post revealed CBS News executives sent out a memo demanding staff purposefully ignore the shooter’s gender identity, even though police indicated her transgender identity was most likely a motivating factor in the shooting spree.
Add to this the poke in the eye of the recognition of a national day of trans recognition / visibility and all the great contributions the trans community has made to the nation – all the while the trans community continues to call for violence against all opponents.
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US Marshals assigned to protect Supreme Court justices’ homes following the reversal of Roe v. Wade last year were directed “not” to arrest protesters “unless absolutely necessary,” according to newly revealed documents.
OBSERVATION – This places AG Garland in threat of perjury after testifying before congress that no such orders were given.
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Our Rights DC, the group behind Saturday’s “Trans Day of Vengeance” protest outside the Supreme Court, has announced that the event has been cancelled due to a “credible threat to life and safety.”
The event, which was originally scheduled for the “Transgender Day of Visibility,” as designated by President Joe Biden, was widely criticized following Monday’s mass shooting in Nashville in which trans-identified 28-year-old Audrey Hale murdered six people, including three children.
“This action will not be taking place Saturday due to a credible threat to life and safety,” Our Rights DC wrote on Twitter. “The safety of our trans community is first priority.”
They went on to suggest that the threat was “the direct result of the flood of raw hatred directed toward the trans community after the Tennessee shooting.”
That cancellation has apparently not affected other protests around the nation with SoCal Antifa and other Far Left activists organizing their Trans Day of Vengeance along with other Transactivism rallies to be held at numerous other large (blue) cities across the country.
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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ press secretary said she is resigning after posting a Twitter post that appeared to suggest violence against “transphobes” following the deadly mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school that left three children and three adults dead.
Hours after the mass shooting took place on Monday, Hobbs press secretary Josselyn Berry wrote: “Us when we see transphobes.” It included a GIF image of an actress pointing two handguns from a scene in the 1980 film, “Gloria.”
OBSERVATION - Forced out due to political damage from the pushback - NOT from the actual abhorrent content of the tweet.
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The Tennessee and Kentucky state capitol buildings were taken over by radical leftists trying to pressure legislators to adopt stronger gun control as well as not ban gender mutilation of children.
OBSERVATION – Can the left say ‘insurrection’?
Domestic / International Terror (modified)-
Situational awareness as Ramadan continues.
POLITICAL FRONT –
The Manhattan grand jury came down with 38 felony counts against Trump yesterday before adjourning for a month’s time off. The indictment was a surprise for a number of reasons. For starters, on Wednesday, it was reported that the grand jury would be going on break for a month “largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus.” Secondly, the indications reportedly were that the grand jury was not convinced of the allegations due to the weakness of the evidence
Former President Donald Trump is “likely” to turn himself in to authorities as early as Tuesday of next week, but he won’t be placed in handcuffs at the time of his arrest, according to his lawyer.
OBSERVATION – The US has entered the Banana republic realm with these indictments. Given how the Manhattan DA has twisted the law to gain this makes it questionable if the charges will actually succeed in court. But to the democrat faithful, this is not essential – seen by their bogus impeachments of Trump.
Alan Dershowitz regarding indictment: ‘They’ve Made a Foolish, Foolish Decision’.
The Manhattan DA had better watch how Trump is handled VERY, VERY carefully, as any attempt to frog march trump, etc may well trigger kinetic responses from the right. So far, the Secret Service appears to be on top of all this to prevent any shows.
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Related - Ron DeSantis just released a statement shortly after Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, calling the indictment a “weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda” and saying that Florida, Trump’s home state, “will not assist in an extradition request”
OBSERVATION - Better performance by DeSantis given the blow back from earlier statements.
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The RESTRICT Act, introduced by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tom Thune (R-SD), is aimed at blocking or disrupting transactions and financial holdings linked to foreign adversaries that pose a risk to national security, however the language of the bill could be used to give the US government enormous power to punish free speech.
Advertized as attacking Tic Tok, in reality, the RESTRICT Act has very little to do with TikTok and everything to do with controlling online content.
In very specific terms a lot of U.S. websites would be impacted. Why? Because a lot of websites use third-party ‘plug-ins’ or ‘widgets’ or software created in foreign countries to support the content on their site. The “Restrict Act” gives the DNI the ability to tell a website using any “foreign content” or software; that might be engaged in platform communication the U.S Government views as against their interests; to shut down or face a criminal charge. The RESTRICT Act can also be used to punish people using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) if they’re used to access banned websites, and directs the Secretary of Commerce to “identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate” that which is deemed a national security risk associated with technology linked to the above countries.
OBSERVATION – Rather than coerce Twitter, FB, Youtube, etc, the feds can now by declaration go after counter regime narratives with the force of law via the very flexible language of the bill/law.
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The scandal regarding the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee’s improperly acquiring and using the private military records of Republican candidates for Congress took a turn for the worse as more information has come out.
Well, guess who runs the Veterans Affairs tech department? The DCCC’s chair’s husband.
Coincidence? She improperly acquired–through a “contractor”–the military records of people against whom she was running political campaigns.
Her husband runs the department that controls those records.
OBSERVATION – As with most of the other corruption running through the democrat machine – absolutely nothing will be done – no punishment what so ever.
China –
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China firmly opposed Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the U.S and her scheduled public appearances. Chinese embassy Charge d’ Affairs Xu Xueyuan, said Tsai’s planned meeting next week with the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy would have significant repercussions and result in a “serious, serious, serious” impact on U.S.-China relations.
OBSERVATION – Standard rhetoric from China but may result in a similar ‘soft’ blockade of Taiwan via surrounding it with exclusion zones for military exercises, an action that occurred after pelosi’s visit to the island.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he is preparing his country for a future war, and announced a 7.2 percent increase in China’s defense budget, which has doubled over the last decade. He said this at the annual meeting of China’s parliament.
OBSERVATION – This preparation has been obvious given the substantial increase in military production and developments.
Russia -
WAR WATCH - into the second year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - Feb 24th, 2022
CURRENT ASSESSMENT
Russian forces have initiated an offensive who’s declared goals are to reach and secure the Luhansk and Donetsk oblast borders — an objective that Russian Chief of General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov had also outlined on December 22, 2022. Troop and equipment build up is being noted
This offensive action is focused on several fronts –
1) the Svatove-Kreminna front,
2) Bahkmut region,
3) Donetsk region and
4) Zaporizhizhia Oblast around the town of Vuhledar.
Analysts are noting that the Russian offensive operations are winding down. Some offensive operation will continue to be attempted, however, a lot of assessment indicates they’ve lost the capability to sustain a credible offensive to try to capture the Donbas region having frittered away resources against Bahkmut.
Russia is also capable of launching cruise/ballistic missile attacks directed against Ukrainian infrastructure - primarily its power grid, but massively reduced inventories of such missiles means these barrages will be further apart.
While Russia has nuclear capability, the probability is low that any will be used in the near future.
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Secretary Blinken – “We are deeply concerned over Russia’s announcement it has detained a U.S. citizen journalist. The State Dept’s highest priority is the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad. If you are a U.S. citizen living or traveling in Russia – please leave immediately.”
Logistics –
According to White House spokesperson John Kirby, Russia is seeking to acquire additional weapons and munitions from North Korea. Kirby added that Russia would likely send a delegation to Pyongyang to work out a weapons-for-food exchange.(FO)
Russian Personnel Issues –-
Putin signed decree on spring military enlistment campaign. 147,000 men this spring, instead of 134,500 last spring. Russia conducts two conscription cycles per year with the spring conscription cycle usually conscripting 134,000 Russian men.
Russia may use Belarus’ training capacity to support the increase of 13,000 conscripts from previous years.
Additionally, The Kremlin is preparing to mobilize 400,000 soldiers under the guise of “volunteers”. British intelligence notes that Russia wants to organize the campaign as an alleged recruitment of volunteers, and not as a mandatory mobilization.
NOTE – Some analysts suspect that most of this crop of conscripts will not go to Ukraine and that putin will keep them close in the event of threats against his power.
Economic Impact –
The Central Bank of Russia hit by sanctions, deprived of half of its reserves and cut off from transactions with world currencies, ended the year 2022 with a record loss in its history. For the year, the Central Bank lost 721.7 billion rubles (more than $9.3 billion), 27 times more than the year before, according to its annual report, which was earlier sent to the State Duma.
Ukraine -
WEATHER FORECAST – Temperatures with highs now reaching the 60’s with rain/snow over most of the forecast period
24 HOUR ROUND UP –
Fighting intensified overnight around Avdiivka while Bakhmut remained steady with some gains by Russia.
The Zaporizhizhia and Crimean fronts were relatively quiet, with mostly scattered and sporatic Russian artillery strikes.
Russian Territory –
Saboteurs have set fire to relay boxes throughout Russia’s Saratov region. This area is a crucial link in Russia’s military transport network, bringing soldiers & supplies from central & eastern Russia to Ukraine, and also acting as a supply route for Engel’s airbase.
OUTLOOK –
More of the same from past postings. Ukraine is having to expend more resources in Bakhmut to maintain the defense, forcing Russia to expend resources that they will desperately need to counter an Ukrainian offensive.
Talks for some kind of a peace settlement are increasing. Right now Russia will not settle for anything less that what they’ve conquered from their campaign. Ukraine will not settle for anything less that all Russians off Ukrainian soil – and that includes Crimea. The success or failure of the Ukrainian offensive will likely set the major conditions for any kind of peace talks.
Finland’s application has now been ratified by all members and we will join NATO.
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France continues to be rocked by protests and work stoppages/strikes being conducted in opposition to the raising of the retirement age unilaterally by Macron.
Israel –
Netanyahu has said yesterday he plans to appoint Avi Dichter to the role of Defense Minister for the next three months, but he has not yet made a final decision.
Armenia/Azerbaijan –
WAR WATCH
Armenian telegram channel reports that there was a skirmish with Azerbaijani forces in the vicinity of Vardenis last night.
“We have been receiving news since early morning that the Azerbaijani armed forces have invaded Armenian territory several kilometers since yesterday and reached the outskirts of Tegh village” - Armenian news outlet Hraparak.
OBSERVATION – So far just smaller skirmishes with Russia proactively working to diplomatically coerce the Azeri’s to back off. This tactics may not work much longer as the Azeri’s are assessing the weaknesses in the Russian position and capabilities to stop a concerned Azeri invasion.
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