Free Republic

The first Israeli special forces veterans arrived in Ukraine to fight on the side of Ukraine against Russian aggression.

There is a known $41 billion in Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on Russian debt. There is likely many billions more in unknown amounts. There are also billions more in Credit Default Swaps on state-owned Russian corporate debt and non state-owned Russian corporate debt. In addition to Wall Street not knowing which global banks and other financial institutions are on the hook to pay out on the Credit Default Swap protection they sold in case of a Russian sovereign debt default (or Russian corporate debt default), there is also approximately $100 billion of Russian sovereign debt (whose default is looking more...

Russia is considering handing out licenses to use foreign software, database, and chip design patents, and legalizing software copyright violations, in response to sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. According to Russian business publication Kommersant, a government document drafted on March 2 outlines possible actions to support the Russian economy, which faces extensive trade restrictions from the US, the UK, and Europe, and business withdrawals. With companies like Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP halting sales (though not ending service to existing customers), Russia has instituted tax breaks for technology firms and conscription deferments for IT workers to retain its...

In his USAWatchdog.com interview just two weeks ago, legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong said, The New World Order’s so-called ‘Great Reset’ plan for humanity is ‘falling apart,’ and pointed out, “They are basically desperate at this stage. I don’t think they anticipated the amount of resistance they are getting.” The Russian invasion of Ukraine is enormous resistance to the New World Order plans. Armstrong, who has new data from his Socrates computer analysis, is out with a fresh critical update. Armstrong explains, “It’s just total insanity. They are, really at this stage, completely collapsing the world economy....

... The CIA director said Putin premised his war on four false assumptions: he thought Ukraine was weak, he believed Europe was distracted and wouldn't mount a strong response, he thought Russia's economy was prepared to withstand sanctions, and that Russia's military had been modernized and would fight effectively. "He's been proven wrong on every count," said Burns, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2005-8.