Tag Archives: Colombia

December 1, 2025 · 03:03

Where’s the outrage?

That was the question I raised to myself when I got the news (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c741mpdyw9no) where we see ‘Venezuela condemns Trump airspace closure warning’ with the text “Venezuela has condemned US President Donald Trump’s statement that the airspace around the country should be considered closed. The country’s foreign ministry called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people”.” President Trump might think he is a rockstar, but in what universe does he get to tell another country how to use its airspace? Is American in a state of war with Venezuela? And beyond that, between the United States and Venezuela there is Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. So where’s the outrage of the media condemning his word? We also get “Trump wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”” Apart from this rather weird person to let go of his CAPS LOCK key, and when I see the text “Some Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress have expressed anger that Trump has not sought legislative approval.” And the operative word is ‘some’ the fact that President Trump is telling the people of Venezuela that their airspace is closed is weirdly appealing. For that matter, as America has (in light of yesterdays article) “U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Monday it will not publish the delayed initial estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product, originally scheduled for Oct. 30, due to a prior government shutdown” (source: Bitget) as such, as it is already a month late and might that report show (I have no idea what it shows) that the American GDP has now moved from first to third position? Would be a nice gesture that his beautiful bill is now set against a GDP lower then the EU. But that is for later. What I do despite is the absence of media reporting on the Venezuelan setting and reporting on where the American people have the seemingly right to close another nations airspace. Want to do that to China? That be a real joke, it will have 1.43 billion people laughing their pants of.

And with the setting that comes next a few things are ‘loose’, we see “Trump’s comments come just days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of “heightened military activity in and around Venezuela”, leading to several major airlines suspending flights there. Caracas then rescinded their take-off and landing rights. Venezuela’s foreign ministry urged “the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression”, in a statement on Saturday.” On second thought, where is the outrage of the United Nations? They are probably to busy scolding Israel for acting against terrorists. It is not the BBC article that has me outraged, it is the lack of media holding President Trump to account, at the very least they should scold him on the use of the CAPS LOCK key, but that might merely be my setting, or as my mother used to say, that is an issue that can merely be found between your two ears. And she might be right on the CAPS LOCK thing, but I digress, I am not alone in this. Venezuela also gave us “Venezuela’s foreign ministry urged “the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression”, in a statement on Saturday.” And as far as I see, Venezuela is right, there is no official war called from either Venezuela or the USA and as far as I know, US Congress is not the one saber rattling.

And it is the silence of the UN is even more annoying, I am not sure how useful they are, but their usefulness might have become a thing of the past. Any delay by them calling America to order is another day that the usefulness of the UN is now a thing of the past and global budgets can get go of the 130,000 people that work for these organisations, as well as cut the budgets of these people in New York, might be another let down of the economy in the USA.

Overall I wonder where the media outrage is in all of this. For me there is no real setting for Venezuela, it is a country 15,272 km away from Sydney and its 28.3 million people have no call on me, or does it hold any interest to me, but I believe in any nation to exercise its freedom and the the skies over Venezuela belong to the Venezuelan people, not President Trump. Should he be closing it due to an impending war, then he forgot to tell US Congress about it and should the USS Gerald R Ford and the 15,000 soldiers start a war with Venezuela, they better be prepared to deal with the assistance that Venezuela might get from its neighbors Colombia, Guyana and heaven forbid Brazil. A setting that might be the start of World War III, all that because he wasn’t eligible for the Nobel peace price? So you might think that I am overreacting, but the setting is almost prime to that, with the setting so close to Cuba, the mission of Steve Witkoff, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East might have had a second setting when talking to the Russians in regards to the Ukraine. And the might be a little frightening, because this reminds me of the 1997 movie Wag the Dog, where the President of the United States is caught being inappropriate, and what happens when this is a different spin, one that takes focus away from the abysmal economic state America is at now? Is it too far fetched, or does this scenario sound eerily true?

I have no idea what is going on, but to send the USS Gerald R Ford and 15,000 troops tend to make people nervous, especially when it is this close to Cuba and I wonder why the BBC is not asking a few loud questions on this setting. And as we consider the setting “to combat drug trafficking” is an overreaction to say the least. It might be true that the BBC reported that “other leaders in the region have welcomed Trump’s stance”, so who are they, or is it merely the president of Argentina? The lack of media in all this should get all your outrage, because Latin America is merely one step away from WWIII. If Venezuela gets any support, that setting is merely one step away, if Russia at all gets involved (because of Cuba) that fence is brought down and in that case this world has a new problem and I reckon that to avoid this Steve Witkoff might have had a different agenda then the world was told about in Russia. So whilst the Guardian reported (4 days ago) ‘US representatives call for Trump envoy Witkoff to be fired after leaked Kremlin call’ I wonder if this ‘leak’ incurred so that no one considered closing at the Venezuela setting in all this. It is all speculation, but the 15,000 men and that dinghy called the USS Gerald R Ford to fight drug dealers seems like a massive overreaction, as such I wonder what truly is going on and the media absence to all this is making me wonder more and optionally is making my speculations a little more extreme than even I like it to be.

In terms of end setting, it might need more ‘examples’ and in this I call for the Running Man, a movie after the 1982 book by Richard Bachman (not the Vancouver hockey goalie), in this Arnold Schwarzenegger takes the lead as a blamed police officer. It is relevant as the movie starts with:

“By 2017, the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources and oil are in short supply. A police state, divided in paramilitary zones, rules with an iron hand”

considering that Richard Bachman wrote this 43 years ago, it is interesting that he is off by less than a decade. Quite the achievement if you ask me (I know, no one asks). But that setting is seen all over this field and Venezuela isn’t even the largest setting here, but it all adds up to that story and we are given these ‘truths’ by two movies is a little too awkward to consider.

You all have a nice day, 360 minutes until breakfast for me.

Saudi Fun craft

That is on the agenda. Most people are hauling what they can to see their name in COP29, but the others (or those who put their name down already) are trying to be seen as the anti-China voice in the middle east. Because that is what Trump wants, right?

That is the setting of the next wannabe, the next facilitator or the next service provider. Saudi Arabia, Aramco, the UAE and ADNOC’s next need, that is what their limited view states. I cannot agree. That was what the region needed, the next iteration however is as subtle as a maul to a shin.

You see, most are ‘reacting’ to ‘Better offer needed if the US wants to pull Saudi Arabia away from China’ (Amwaj media) or ‘Saudi Arabia seeks mining deals with Chinese, Indian and Canadian firms in industry push’ (AL-monitor). There are more headlines, but the cautious player notices that America (or USA) is in several instances no longer mentioned. That is the actual play. President elect Trump has a problem. His library is not on the mind of those who need to have it on their minds and that is a plural issue. Microsoft might be ‘offering’ the world to the UAE in AI, but the critics who know a thing or two are skeptical. I cannot tell if there is a silence delay, or an actual disregard in play for the USA. You need to be in the know with China and a certain palace in Riyadh to know the actual setting. And in this Amwaj gives us “if Washington truly wants Riyadh to join the US camp, it should come up with a better offer—instead of a proposition with strings attached.” Funny that, I said something similar on March 11th 2020 in ‘Who is Miss Calculation?’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2020/03/11/who-is-miss-calculation/) the words are not the same, but the spirit was. As most would embrace Good business is where you find it, others went for Money talks, bullshit walks. So who was president then?

It does not matter, policies are always on a turntable, but the disc hits that direction 33 times a minute. Faster if you play a CD. No matter whose president when this matter resurfaces. China had a while to set his ducks in a row and he merely needs to watch the fallout whilst he takes shelter regarding the massive boink the Americas show when things turn sour.

America needs a positive hit and that implies being close friends with the Arabian allies UAE and Saudi Arabia. All whilst they know that they need to be friends with China as well. And that is a bitter pill to swallow for America. The tables turn even further as elemental deals (where America would have been the A-team for Arabia) we now see China, India and Canada taking slices of that pie as well. I send stern warnings in 2020 and now we see it happen. So consider that America had the biggest part of that pie until 2015, now we see that America (with $36,000,000,000,000 debt) ends up with a suspected mere 45% of that pie, 55% went into other directions. Add to that the deals Europe and Australia expects to make before Jan 1st 2025 and you see that Saudi Arabia is doing what it needs to do for its country. It might not look nice, but that is the reality of it all and I gave the people heads up for over 4 years. Now it all ‘looks like a crises’ that does not mean it is. It is merely a crises when you were unaware of it all and America was very aware. So seeks the sands with COP29 all whilst there are over 41000 flights each day and many are not needed. So how is that for “biologically formed organic matter”. Yes they will stop some of this all whilst a massive chunk of of these 41000 flight each day could be deleted. So where is COP29 now?

And it gets to be bad, or worse for America. The Tariff deal for Canada is seen as disastrous. But when it can deal with China and Saudi Arabia, what Canada loses on one side, it will gain more on the other side, America painted itself in a corner. And for the sweeter deal? It might be too late for that. China has gained about 15% of the pie that was meant for America, as such the bills will be pushed along forward and there is actual consideration that America would have to lease its land to others to make a shilling and it is not shillings that America needs. It needs a wheelbarrow of these coins. As I see it, America now has less than 4 turns until it can no longer make any moves. It wont be able to afford the entry fee to make a move. As such I personally believe that America has been playing the wrong game. They were playing chess whilst Chinese chess was needed. They never used the board optimal and now that they figured out the game, it is too late for that.

In my own view (optionally a wrong one), the friends of Trump are heading for the hills. They will not get away Scott free, but they will get away. The rest gets saddled with the biggest invoice in human history and they cannot foot the bill. And don’t think that this is not on you all. Your pensions are about to go the way of Lehman Brothers 2003. The loans that are still outgoing will be foreclosed by the banks foreclosing your banks and you end up having nothing to live upon. That too was blatantly obvious before the end of 2023. Now it matters to whom have the flexibility to make moves with whatever capital they have. Don’t rely on the stock markets. Have investments that are mobile, or optionally real estate. I feel certain that it will come to blows in 2025 when America shows that it has issues settling the bills they have. That is when panic goes global. And when you see this unfold those with a decent penny in Aramco and ADNOC will have a return on investment, the rest? Whatever of these rest players will be left alive in Q2 2025, because there is no reality that this will be true.

And when you ask how come? That would be fair and the answer wa staring you in the face. Country 1 gave payment to a debt of country 2 and Country 2 gave payment to a debt of country 1. So what is that called? And this had been going on for decades. I thought the barn was done away with when we learned of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic going south on the debit line. However, the worst was dealt with. This time around it might be worse. The USA would need to call themselves bankrupt and the impact of that is beyond my ability to see, but I am willing to place a bet that China knows exactly what to do. You see, when this comes to pass China and others can vie for the 6,278,000 billion barrels a day it imports. It might be cheaper then getting their own oil, but that is where it is headed. India and China will try to get the largest chunk of it. As such Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Colombia will need new customers and I reckon India and China will be chomping at the bits to get these slices of oil. It will impact global economy to a much larger extent. And that was merely the first part. Consider that Huawei is taking over another slice of technology and you have one country falling short on several fields, merely because they did not think things through. So wanna seen what happens when you owe a bank a massive amount of cash and you can only cover 60% of the monthly payments?

How long until this party is over?

Enjoy the day.

Changing the rules of Democracy

An interesting thought isn’t it? It was CNN that gave me the idea in the first place. It all started with the article on the upcoming Argentinian default (at http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/25/investing/argentina-default/index.html). I have skin in the game here. Part of my family comes from there, which is why it caught my eyes in the first place. This is not the first time that Argentina has been in such a problematic state. The last time was in the late 90’s when it faced the great depression.

So, why is this event such a big deal?

Let us not forget that apart from soccer, many regard Argentina, no matter how beautiful it is, as a third world nation. So why is it allowed on the International Capital markets in the first place?
That was not an offensive question, but I need to ask it so that I can answer the questions many of us have in the first place. Argentina is in second place when it comes down to South American GDP, after Brazil (who is in first place by a massive margin), it is followed by Colombia and Argentina has a GDP that is 50% better than the nation holding position three, Colombia. So, within the ‘third world’ Argentina is pretty high up there. The second fact is that Argentina has the 21st position in regards to GDP, so this gives a massive view to how big its economy is. So why is it about to default on a 1.5 billion bond?

Well, Argentina is playing hard ball, a statement that seemed weird, because in the light of Argentina it seemed like worrying about a shave on route to the guillotine (a fake fear many former French Aristocats had, pun intended).

My first thought was the ‘worry’ why the IMF was not speaking out on all this. It seems so outspoken on a little place like Cyprus (no insult intended), yet is remains silent on an economy a hundred times larger?
What gives?

Well, my faithful old Yahoo had a nice part on this (at https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/impact-argentine-default-100849473.html).
I particularly liked the following quotes: “The IMF proposed an international debt restructuring mechanism in 2003 but the plan was abandoned under pressure from the United States, the institution’s largest stakeholder, and the major emerging-market economies“, so the USA needed to keep Argentina as a cash cow or what?

The second one was “Under a US court order, Argentina has until Wednesday to either pay hedge funds demanding full payment on of its bad debts — or face a default that could have serious economic consequences“. So is this another USA hedge fund game?

If we consider the generic statement “Hedge funds are made available only to certain sophisticated or accredited investors and cannot be offered or sold to the general public. As such, they generally avoid direct regulatory oversight, bypass licensing requirements applicable to investment companies, and operate with greater flexibility than mutual funds and other investment funds“, we see the fear that governments are financially no longer run by governments but by those holding the credit bill behind the scenes.

This gives us a lot more fear then we should have to deal with and as such, it seems that democracy is no longer in the hands of the people, but in the hands of those managing the hedge funds. As such, did US District Judge Thomas Griesa buckle under internal pressures or is there something else in play? We should ask this question as we see that the response we see (at http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/us-judge-orders-argentina-and-bondholders-to-agree-deal-1.1875547), which is quotes as “Jonathan Blackman, a lawyer for Argentina said even with around-the-clock talks ‘it would be unlikely, if not impossible, to result in settlement. It simply can’t be done by the end of the month’ he said“

This feels like a game played with millions of households on the butcher’s counter, with the meat cleaver already raised up high. There is not enough information in these sources to clearly state how the game was played up to now, or the involved players behaved and how the international justice courts (not just the US) as such have been behaving on the given facts. The fact that the IMF has warned that an Argentine economic default could not only hurt the country’s economy, but also the global financial system is another fact in the entire game as this is currently playing out. What is FACT, is that we have seen hedge funds cash in at the expense of close to a billion people, they played a game that made them wealthy and left the rest in destitution, yet now we see more and more that these players are implied not to be held to rules of oversight and it can bypass licensing in apparently too many flexible ways. Yet, it must also be clear that Argentina is not blameless in this game either.

Not unlike the USA, when we compare debt to GDP (governments seem to love that comparison) USA is currently set to 101.45%, whilst Argentina is only at 45.6%, which implies that Argentina has an economy twice as solid as the US has (a false statistic, I know!). So when we play the numbers game, this default, or even to allow for this event to occur seems massively stupid in my books. The question becomes why Argentina is continuing to play such a level of hardball, the debts will not go away, Argentina would lose its place as a G20 member and beyond that the foundations of the Argentinian economy will be shaking for a long time to come, opening additional doors for investors to bail out of Argentina, take the first row boat across the Rio de La Plata and set up shop there. This in the end will be a massively good thing to Uruguay and the economy of Montevideo for the next 10 years.

So, how is this all affecting democracy?

In my view if we want to remain true democracies, then it is time to regulate Hedge Funds and their managers. It will require a level of oversight that is beyond reasonable, as the economic fall of the USA in 2008 has proven to require. In that regards the term ‘Vulture funds‘ seem very appropriate. The US and in particular its FBI are all about hunting down Loan Sharks, whilst at the same time they ignore a 2.4 trillion dollar market right under their noses.

Yet, in all this Argentina is not without blame either. Someone approved these debts. If we accept, no matter how repulsive that these funds, referred to the behaviour of vulture birds “preying” on debtors in financial distress by purchasing the now-cheap credit on a secondary market to make a large monetary gain, is as such opening a market, which is high risk and also at time high yielding, then we must accept that Argentina stepped, willingly or not, into a field with their eyes wide open, as such they largely have themselves to blame.

If these are matters of fact then we see the acts on both sides of the isle to allow and even mandatory pursue the need for a change to the democratic standards we see in monarchies and republics. If you wonder why I made the reference to the Guillotine, than consider the History of France, its bankers and the change as it brought order through Napoleon Bonaparte. The statement ‘War never changes‘ seems highly appropriate here, it is a quote from a Videogame, yet the truth behind it is as solid as the writings of ‘von Clausewitz’ and ‘Sun Tzu’. The question remains in these economic wars, who are the warring parties and who are the people behind the screens. You can be certain that those names are not the names of any elected official. Does that not change the premise of both economic war and democracy?

Tag Archives: Colombia

Where’s the outrage?

Saudi Fun craft

Changing the rules of Democracy

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