Tag Archives: Germany

The Greenland narrative

It has been less than 24 hours, but as I see it, every news agency repeats the same words “We have to have it” and “National Security” whilst there are many sources, I am going with the one where Al Jazeera hands us “United States President Donald Trump has stepped up his campaign to take over Greenland, declaring the Danish territory essential to Washington’s national security and appointing a special envoy he said would “lead the charge”.” It comes from ‘‘We have to have it’: Trump renews push for Greenland as Denmark protests’ (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/23/we-have-to-have-it-trump-renews-greenland-push-as-denmark-lodges-protest) I wonder why the rest of the world is not protesting too loudly. You see when you get a psychotic bully lying his way in the room, what will happen when he takes on the next guest, what happens when he starts again with the 51st state rhetoric, because that will happen. You see America is addicted to money, there is no reigning in this folly, we might recognise some of the signs in salespeople, driven to their pipeline at the expense of everything else. Compulsive financial behaviors, spending, driven by intense preoccupation, anxiety, or a temporary high, leading to negative life consequences like debt, and extreme stress, and they had plenty of time to adjust their way of thinking, but it will never come. So what will the world do? Protect Denmark and its colony Greenland? Let it slide? The only one upside I see is that when the Greenland ice melts (due to extensive mining), the trillions of real estate value in America’s eastern shores, in villages like New York and Washington DC. These places will evaporate and that is a good thing. We will see denials that they will take good care of Greenland, but their word has lost 99% value as I see it. So as CNN treats us to ‘Jim Beam pauses production at main distillery as bourbon inventories rise’ because no one is buying their drinks anymore and as we are given that 85% drop in spirits exported to Canada isn’t sold anymore, that rhetoric will need adjusting, the news gives us all kinds of ‘responses’ from Trump minded people on how Canada is so Liberal and the social values of Canada is leeching off America, the unsettling truth is not even whispered. America had to adjust its spending setting for over a decade, and now the final iteration is reached. As Greenland is trespassed on for whatever imaginary reason given the world abandoned the idea of being allies with America and the Commonwealth is likely to see the stage with the EU and optionally China. I reckon that China needs to get several EU nations on board. I reckon that Germany is the first to be brought on board. France will still hope that America turn away from Trumpism, but that is not a gives as America seems to rally behind the Kremlin. The definite setting is not the Kremlin, it is their own $38,000,000,000,000 ($38 trillion) debt that is managing the folly of America. And this will become a lot worse, because Canada is already rejecting America and soon others will too. America brazenly stated that they didn’t need their wood. Excellent, they found other sources to sell it to. And as the U.S. imports about 40% of the softwood lumber the nation uses each year, more than 80% of that from Canada.

President Donald Trump says that the U.S. has the capacity to meet 95% of softwood lumber demand and directed federal officials to update policies and regulatory guidelines to expand domestic timber harvesting and curb the arrival of foreign lumber. (Source: the conversation) we see the unspoken truth. The unspoken truth given here is that it was basic economy that shows tariffs to be a bad idea and the White House lacking basic economic skills is taking on the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. A rock star in economics, former Governor of the British Bank and he is walking circles around Wall Street and Wall Street is afraid, because as the economy is falling down, they merely have to look at that White House to see the guilty party. 

And as Canadian Snowbirds are avoiding their American nesting grounds (mainly Florida) these places go dark too. That is an annual multi billion dollar loss too. So whilst America is blaming liberal Canada, they merely shot themselves in the foot and whilst we see ‘little dipped’ numbers, we also know that American sources are hiding the real numbers in play making matters worse. The mess is a lot bigger than shown and it makes sense. Because no matter how Greenland unfolds at present, the pressure on Canada stays high because they are next on the ballot of America’s never ending need for greed. Greenland merely stops the immediate bankruptcy of America and unless nothing is done within 2-3 years, America still needs Canada and that reality is facing us all. So when will we say ‘enough is enough’? There is no stopping greed, it is eternal and those in power like being in power, as such spending habits will not wane which is the first essential thing to go to turn this about. But we were all told a lie, not one, but legion of lies like ‘it will be better tomorrow’, ‘AI will fix it all and Stargate is the way’ or 100 other questions fed to us by the media. All people in sales mode, including the media hungry for digital dollars and no one was making a basic tally of amount going out and amount coming in. That tally was basically never coming, because that requires tomorrow to be there and it never was and now Greenland (under the excuse of National Security) is the first place to fall for American Greed. So how will the world react?

As a commonwealthian I stand with Canada (unreservedly) but what about Greenland? As I see it, it is Danish territory and America trying to annex it should be seen as an attack on NATO and Denmark can invoke Article 5 and Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members as such America will invoke a war with NATO and they should come to the aid of Greenland/Denmark. Should that happen (still a presumed event) it would drown the American defense industry as all of its members will cut short all contracts with America. And as Canada are part of NATO, that setting will turn nasty in an instance as the Canadians are fed up being called the 51st state, so they have skin in the game.

I think it will not turn out this way because President Trump knows the pickle he is in. He send an envoy without diplomatic status to avoid Denmark, but as that falls flat he lost 3 out of 3 ‘pretty’ places to inhabit and as that option evaporates, America has no option but to foreclose on debts outstanding and that will not be the pretty picture we think it is. I speculatively reckon that this is less than two years away, even less when we consider that several income sources fell away during the year, tourism being the most obvious one.

So have a great day and remember to see the sunshine, it shines on the just and unjust alike.

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Upgrade, next chapter

Yesterday I was thinking of a game I used to play and it left me a little underwhelmed. It was not the fault of the game maker, the game was awesome. It gave me the thought that I was in the deep with the dodo’s of the Kremlin, or the White House. The game did what they promised, but I was thinking what this game could do with current technology and settings of DMS and some LLM. There is also the thought that the game was originally a little 2D. It all fitted on an 800KB disk so I am not surprised. But consider the idea what the current settings allow for.

The idea that they had with the political tables of then (1987) and what Mindscape was able to achieve. It started as a game of geopolitics during the Cold War, created by Chris Crawford and published in 1985 on the Macintosh by Mindscape, followed by ports to a variety of platforms over the next two years and I got the AtariST version in 1987. And as sources reveal, takes the role of the President of the United States or General Secretary of the Soviet Union. The goal is to improve the player’s country’s standing in the world relative to the other superpower. During each yearly turn, random events occur that may have effects on the player’s international prestige. The player can choose to respond to these events in various ways, which may prompt a response from the other superpower. This creates brinkmanship situations between the two nations, potentially escalating to a nuclear war, which ends the game. It is my advice not to ‘antagonise’ the opponent in the Pink Kremlin, or the Black House to avoid the nuclear holocaust that follows. And why leave it there, the complications of a EU could be added, so you can see how likely little you can do as as King Gustav on charge of that small sided Sweden (population 10.5 million) and we can build on this, we can evolve this with corporate powers and the influence they hold with the likes of Strawberry, Hippolytics, Smallsoft, and a whole range of power players. See what happens when you tweak that power (or nationalise their goods) then we get to the impact of social media like SnoutTome, QuickOunce, MyTransistor, DingDong, Toucan, Connected, ScryingStone and a whole range of other groups. You could see the direct impact that trolls have when they are clearly exposed and optionally with scenarios to solve. I would recommend to leave the intelligence groups to a later date (or a DLC) to properly test the settings you have there. It could be the first simulator for audiences and students of geopolitics and social standings later. That is before you add the mess that (WatchMyGrey, AmiSix, and their offspring in France, Germany as well as Mossad does to the worlds chaos (under their tutelage) 

I wonder how no one enacted this setting, it seems to be a decently solid training and educational simulator giving students to study multidimensional settings that geopolitics present in todays industry. I’ll bet you you can’t fit that on a 800KB diskette, but there is every thought that it can be done, the social sciences tables still exist and they can vouch for the until recent messes and they are basically ready for deployment. And now that we see the world for what it is, we might also include global religion as an influence and show you why the Catholic Church doesn’t have as much as it used to be.

It is merely a small snag that escaped my brain this morning, but I reckon that the old software settings could still apply to settings of today, you merely have to upgrade the setting and there is plenty of options here and as they were solidly stated on those basic settings of Social sciences, in todays world they could be used through Deeper Machine Learning to a much more powerful extend. See what some see and what you are not supposed to know (sorry Blaise Metreweli) but that is also the next challenge. Instead of shouting at Toucan, you could investigate the trolls on Toucan and see what the expected result is and who the culprit behind these pretentious stages are, not to be coy, but using that Strawberry Studio to see it on the big screen, or even as a user of the Hippolytics Moon streaming service get a new lease of opportunity. An educational simulator for students and investigators of humbug gets a new side of life.

Well anyway, that was my thought I had this morning. And the names have been changed to avoid  the guilty and make me less liable, a decently appreciative setting

Have a great day. I wanted to take a nice walk, but it is 34 degrees celsius out there, bit much for a long walk. Oh and Strawberry, fix your DoDo Dos version Hawaii 26.1, when you switch off your router before you switch off your wireless, the wireless keeps on scanning the ether, even AFTER you switch of the WiFi. Sloppy programming. 

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The bear loses

It was a setting that has been 1380 days in the making. Perhaps some will remember the publishing stunts by the Russians on how it would be over in 48 hours, now 1380 days later the Russians have suffered dramatic losses. 

1,177,370 soldiers and 1140 in the last 24 hours. This reflect upon something else. You see, by some standards (not mine, I lack an economic degree), “The economy of Russia is a high-income, industrialized, mixed and market-oriented emerging economy. It has the ninth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest economy by GDP. Due to a volatile currency exchange rate” that view seems reflective, you see ‘an industrialized, mixed and market-oriented emerging economy’ seems no longer applicable. That market economy requires bodies, targets for industry and targets for Market orientation. These bodies are now cold, dead and going into the ground. Its population is said to be 143,600,000, but over a million are less than able to perform. That implies that the target is now medicine, and not abundantly stated industry material. And at this time, the Ukraine is making short work of the oil pipelines, so the money isn’t rolling in either, or a lot less than expected. And a day ago we were notified that ‘Russia turns to gold reserves as sanctions squeeze deepens’, so as President Putin states only thee hours ago ‘Putin says Russia ready to take Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region ‘by force’’ (source: Al Jazeera) and we are given that they lost at present 11396 tanks, 23685 armored combat vehicles and 34809 artillery systems (including the 29 they lost in the last 24 hours) I have no idea what he is talking about because his defense forces are in shambles. So how many of air defense systems does he have left? He lost 1253 of them as well as 430 airplanes and 347 helicopters. What will he do, send more boys to the front to dies as well, or perhaps he will depend on North Korean soldiers? They did such an awesome job the first time around. Perhaps mercenaries? Oh no, the Wagner Group as a fully independent organization is no longer active; it has been largely dismantled by the Russian government as said by some sources. Well there are all the prisoners that he can use, but that is a two edged blade.

So how does he think that he can get Donbas as Russian territory? And even if he gets it, it will be for hours at most, he really made an error sizing the Ukrainians up and at present it is getting more and more assistance from NATO. Some sources say that Moscow “may sell up to $30bn (230 tonnes) in gold during 2025, with a further $15bn (115 tonnes) possible in 2026.”And at present that is the bare minimum, as Russian oil is not flowing in any direction (as far as I know) there will be more losses and that makes the Ruble nearly as valuable as the Rupee, its value around $0.11 cents and when that gold is gone, the Ruble will be worth even less. That reminds me of the Weimar setting of 1923, in that setting one dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 marks

Is Russia going that same way? It might be a novel idea for Brazil, India, China and South Africa to drop Russia from the BRICS pack (making it BICS, a nicely written setting) As the Russian gold reserves and its currency goes, so does the limited alliance that it is building with these nations and in that setting they cannot use a weakling like Russia in their midst. You want to debate this? Russia has been unable to defeat the 20th largest army in the world. Its ICBM’s are exploding seconds after liftoff (2 at present) what else isn’t working in Russia? It tanks are scrap metal in the Ukraine, it is stated that Russia has 4,300 total military aircraft and the Ukraine made rubble out of  777 of them, implying that Russia is down 20% on its flight power, against America I might have accepted that, but against Ukraine? And now in their weakened state it is poking NATO members through hybrid warfare against the NATO member states, which includes sabotage, assassination plots, airspace violations, cyberattacks, and disinformation aimed at destabilizing the alliance and disrupting aid to Ukraine. And the Hybrid settings are getting more and more exposure, as such the friends it has will turn away from Russia the instance their ‘cushy’ lives are in danger. 

As such there is much to come and when NATO wakes up, I sincerely think that the days of the Kremlin are numbered. Now that Russia is so weakened, yes it cannot fight on two fronts and with Germany and Poland and under those conditions, St Petersburg will be lost nearly instantly, and that puts both NATO and the Ukraine in a direct line towards Moscow. A story President Putin will not be able to tell the Russian population and that sets a new premise in Russia, the losing story.

So how will the world see this? Will we see posturing by President Trump? Will we accept that the Ukraine and NATO were adamant in solving the Russian problem, because that is how I see it evolve. A simple setting where the bear loses it nearly all and this was a story that was 1380 days in the making. Have a great day.

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When consumed by anger

This happens to all of us, you, me, everybody with a soul and a decent setting towards ethical boundaries. So when I heard yesterday about the Ukrainian setting, I kinda lost it, but I refrained from acting until I had most of the evidence.

First there is ABC (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-22/volodymyr-zelesnkyy-says-us-peace-plan-difficult-choice-ukraine/106039966) giving us ‘Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine faces choice of losing dignity or US backing, Trump gives a week for decision’, so Russians bombing civilians he gives 10 days (a few times) and this setting gets a mere week. Summarized (by ABC) we see:

And we get in addition “after the US presented Kyiv with a peace plan that endorses key Russian demands. Speaking in the street outside his office, a location he uses only rarely for major addresses, the Ukrainian president said his country was trying to preserve its freedom while retaining the support of its most important ally.

This is where I kinda lost it. This president Joker (his new nick name), this 6 times loser hands a helping hand to Russia?

I am now calling on the Swedish Nobel committee to deny him any awards (especially the peace price) for the rest of his life. A person of this setting should not be awarded anything (except a dunce cap) Furthermore I call on any Commonwealth nation and any EU nation to give support to the Ukraine as best as you possibly can. I released several IP parts that could end Russian nuclear reactors as well as sink their naval capacity. I also have an option to take away their airfare in a new and innovative way, but that is still in the works. Russia has over 1,000 airports and I figured on a drone setting that could end that nice setting to the bulk of them, what a lovely surprise it would be if these ‘supersets’ cannot take of, a slim setting, but there you have it. DARPA was so set on finding military solutions that they seemingly forgot about the other weaknesses the airforce tend to have.

More important is the message that I and many like me support President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, on a lighter note, who would not support this Paddington bear (2014, 2017) when it comes to it. 

And the setting that Washington gave the Ukraine, that they agreed with Russia without Ukraine is a “Washington has presented Kyiv with a 28-point plan, which calls for Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits to its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO”, so how about limit Russian forces by making 1,000 airfields unusable? How about making naval options (including merchant navy) options obsolete and redundant? And how about NATO gets to Ukraine in the next 7 days? I reckon this is only possible with British, Dutch and German forces coming together on this. France will become the buffer army for European territory. 

Am I angry enough? Well, I still have the option to making the nuclear reactors meltdown on itself and that if functional could give the Russian people a new consideration of cold, February should be frisky in Russia, so there we have it, I might not be some kind of Sylvester Stallone, but I used to be a decent marksman and there is nothing wrong with my innovative creativity, so let’s have fun on this and after that all barrels will be pointed on America for siding with Russia. I am calling for a complete segregation of economic assistance of America. Good and services. Canada is doing its part, lets see what the rest can do. When no one hands them oil, their own oil will support them and that is costing them dearly. There is no need to export their oil and get cheap oil abroad. They can all fuel themselves in America. 

I am actually this angry. If you are not an American, have a great day.

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TYS squared

That is the setting, but before we go there, a little reminder from past blogs. Just so you know I wasn’t kidding. On January 29th I wrote ‘And the bubble said ‘Bang’’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/01/29/and-the-bubble-said-bang/) as well as ‘What do bubbles do?’ on November 1st 2025 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/11/01/what-do-bubbles-do/), so this is not out of the blue. Yet several facts were revealed which requires me to give you the setting of power shortages which I raised in ‘As limits are reached’ on June 29th 2024 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/06/29/as-limits-are-reached/), so this are the settings I warned people about and now we see

So, it started today with a person named Torben Hansen on LinkedIn giving us “Oracle just shelved a €2 billion Al datacenter project. Amazon paused €7 billion in investments. Not because of tech limitations or lack of capital – but because they can’t get electricity. In Frankfurt – Europe’s digital heartland – new Al data centers face 8-13 year wait times for grid connections. Here’s the brutal reality:” as well as “Germany’s electricity: €0.25-0.30/kWh vs €0.05-0.07 in Asia (3-6x more expensive) GPT-4 training consumed 51,773+ MWh of energy One datacenter powering Al needs 4 gigawatts
Additional cost per training run: €500M+
Germany’s Al ranking: Dropped from #3 to #9 globally in 2 years
Imagine having world-class talent, billions in investment, and world-leading research – then telling companies “sorry, we don’t have the power lines.” That’s Germany in 2025.
While the US adds 400+ MW of Al capacity annually, Germany accepts ZERO new data centers until 2030. The result? Our brightest minds migrate. Research stays. Jobs leave.

So, the ‘presentation’ reflects what I foretold. But now the sad part, there is no news on any of this. There is even a ‘Google set to reveal “largest ever” investment plan for Germany – report’ a mere 4 days ago (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-set-to-reveal-largest-ever-investment-plan-for-germany-report/) this is why I check EVERYTHING. The setting from both Amazon and Oracle cannot be vetted, but a mere 4 days ago (as well) we are given “But Oracle stock is now trading down around 25% from its 52-week high as investors grow critical of artificial intelligence (AI) spending. Oracle is not alone. Last week, Meta Platforms sold off because investors didn’t like how its operating expenses were outpacing revenue growth.” That too was predicted and it is the effect of a bubble, so to say the stock is going bubblelicious. But that does not reflect on who is giving us the facts and who is giving us the runaround. I am trying to give you the facts. The second fact that seems to ‘contradict’ the ‘facts’ by Torben Hansen as the DCD gives us (at previous given address) “Amazon Web Services (AWS), meanwhile, committed some $9.44bn to its Frankfurt cloud region in June 2024, and a further $8.47bn to establishing a European sovereign cloud in the country, which was launched as a separate entity earlier this year.” So something is amiss. I still believe in the predictions I gave you all, but a bubble tends to be presented at the moment it goes boom. Yet a week ago (at https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/lacking-grid-access-major-obstacle-germanys-energy-transition-technologies-associations) we are given ‘Lacking grid access major obstacle for Germany’s energy transition technologies – associations’ with “Germany needs to “significantly improve access to grid connections” for electric vehicle charging stations, storage facilities and large heat pumps, a group of 13 associations from the energy, housing and consumer protection sectors said in a joint appeal. “Industry, commerce and private households are ready to invest, build and transform,” the group wrote. “But without access to a modern grid infrastructure, many projects remain unimplemented.”” As well as “Germany’s lagging electricity grid expansion remains a key hurdle for the shift to renewables. Electricity retailers have warned that significant delays in connecting EV charging points and solar PV installations to the local power grid are putting the brakes on the country’s energy transition.” So there are issues, but I do not see any shortages that would halt data centers and Oracle gave us in may that millions are invested in both Germany and the Netherlands. I reckon that there would be clear signals if the presented facts were actually true. So whilst I am really reeling for a “told you so” setting, even a squared setting of told you so, there is a larger setting that requires all our attentions. The verification and validation of presented facts requires checking at nearly every bend, curve and turn of the way. So whilst the cartoon image is highly entertaining, it is all it is, entertaining. 

But I do like to check all the ins and outs of statements thrown my way and in this case I though I would get to loudly go ‘told you so’ and in the end I cannot yet do that and that is the setting that I face today. I till believe that this bubble comes crashing down, but in its own right, not by presenting (what I perceive to be) false settings towards at least one titan in the IT business who has always steered a straight course. 

And in the final setting we see that “hyperscale centers requiring 100 megawatts or more”, how much more is really depending on the centre, but to set the power ‘demand’ to 40 times that for an AI centre becomes debatable, especially as both the Netherlands and Germany have a good grasp on the energy they have and what is required. So I am seeing all kinds of red flags at present. And I still have the ‘told you so’ setting because verification and validation are pretty important markers in the AI field. So the next move is on the Media and to run down the truth of both German energy as well as Amazon and Oracle, but that is merely my point of view. Have a great day.

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The view over a distance

That is what I see, at a distance my old country (the Netherlands) is setting a new premise of pressure. In the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn40y9yxkgvo) we are given ‘Netherlands’ renewables drive putting pressure on its power grid’ and that is fine. For me (my intake) is that the setting is that when there is no renewable energy, they will have to resort to the old setting (like gas or oil) and there is ample reason for this. Yet we are given “In a Dutch government TV campaign called “Flip the Switch” an actress warns viewers about their electricity usage. “When we all use electricity at the same time, our power grid gets overloaded,” she says. “This can cause malfunctions. So, use as little electricity as possible between four and nine.”” A setting we comprehend, the other option is that we are ‘handed’ the setting of “Renewable energy prices in the Netherlands are not a separate category but are included in the overall electricity price, which currently averages around €0.33 per kWh” so we could end the setting that renewable energy above a certain usage is delivered at €0.99 per kWh, the rest can either adhere to the additional prices or accept that oil is the other party in the mix (at €0.33 per kWh), a simple solution for the Dutch to increase what they have going in renewable settings. And there is no blame on the Dutch admittedly we are given “it leads the way in Europe for the number of solar panels per person. In fact, more than one third of Dutch homes have solar panels fitted.

The country is also aiming for offshore wind farms to be its biggest source of energy by 2030.” And that is a time pressured setting and the Dutch political systems know this. There is no averting your eyes from the needs and the Dutch know this too well. The other nations face a similar setting, the Dutch were however a lot more hands on into finding these options and they have 18 million people in that nation, it is almost as much as the Australian population (27 million) but the area differences is that the Netherlands is only 0.54% of Australia, setting the premise that the Netherlands has the population pressure of Sydney on a national foundation, they needed a renewable energy policy in place. No one denies that. But the needs are not matching the availability. As such my solution at a premium (which might achieve the same setting) or accept that oil isn’t a thing of the past yet and perhaps in 2030 when there are the actual additional kWh available it will be possible and at that point the Dutch are still the first by a mile over all other European nations to be the first to get to a positive carbon setting, even above zero carbon (meaning that no carbon emissions are being produced from a product or service) and that is quite the achievement to have. Oh, and I reckon that these kids squandering energy as they mine for bitcoins will foot that bill as they are eager to get wealthy and those who do not, get to explain to their mummies and daddies why they need a RTX 5090 32gb AMD Ryzen 9 9900x3d to play Frogger (or Minecraft). I wonder how many excuses they will employ and in the meantime it will reduce the pressures as well, I just wonder how much as there is no real number on the number of bitcoin miners, but they do have a top100 in the Netherlands, so anything is possible.

The other part of the explanation is given to us by Kees-Jan Rameau, chief executive of Dutch energy producer and supplier Eneco. ““Nowadays we’re switching to renewables, and that means there’s a lot of power being injected into the grid in the outskirts of the network where there are only relatively small power lines.” And these small power lines are struggling to cope with all the electricity coming in from wind turbines and solar panels scattered around the country.” OK, that is a fair assessment, but those cases could be renewed or reviewed and separate cables could be set to whatever the renewable setting is to a clear hub (my lack of technical knowledge is optionally at fault here) and that could have been seen in advance to the renewable farms being designed (as I personally see it). 

We get all the excuses and not the simple setting that even as the Netherlands is already at 70% renewable, there was no way that they would be ready before 2035 and that is likely a decade ahead of several other EU nations, the only exception might be Sweden as it constructed Vattenfall some time ago, so they get to have a head start, and they only have 11 hungry mouths to supply and that is as it is 1 times larger, but the bulk of that nation is in the southern third of that country. So they are in a comfortable league to stay even with Dutch ingenuity as I personally see it. 

So whilst the BBC is correct in its article, I fail to see the applaud that the Dutch are due as they are one of the few EU nations that achieved what was needed to achieve (with Sweden in second place) I am missing that part in the article, no matter the laurels that are due Kees-Jan Rameau of Eneco. It is a side we should have been given in this all. So where do Germany, France and the United Kingdom stand in this, how far are they? Just simple questions that come to mind. 

Have a great Sunday (I am having mine with chocolate sprinkles) and enjoy the pre Monday bash you will enjoy, except Canada, they started the weekend a day early due to the Toronto Blue Jays giving the Dodgers (LA) a thrashing with their 11-4 victory. Lucky bastards, a long weekend where none was given.

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The time has come

I have been sitting on a story for about three days. I have been hesitant as it is a field I am thoroughly unaware off, but it could hit me in the future and as we are given (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-19/first-guardian-shield-collapse-asic-and-superannuation-flaws/105783328) the setting of ‘First Guardian, Shield superannuation disasters expose deep flaws in Australia’s $4.3 trillion retirement system’ we see that ABC is giving us not only cause for pause, but also cause for alarm we are set in a stage of almost desperate inability to protect our retirements. And lets be clear if Australia is set to a $4.3 trillion danger, what is the dangers towards America, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany? 

I tried to illustrate dangers like this in ‘Wages of fear’ which I wrote in May 2023, two years ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/05/02/wages-of-fear/) and there I wrote “Lets be clear, this was NOT his fault, but the point where we cannot avoid what comes next was achieved. If only people had woken up a lot sooner. But there we got past a point where the problems would accelerate and now we are almost at that point. And the banks will be no help. I tried to warn you a few times over. Some of their risk and liquidity is in US bonds and when the US forfeits payment your 401K and many other things will become worth close to nothing” Now the fair question is, is this the same? I don’t think it is, but there is a larger failing into the retirement systems as it is not a hands on pathway. ABC in another story hands us “Ms Wohlers is one of about 12,000 Australians haunted by the loss of more than $1 billion of retirement savings after the collapses of First Guardian and Shield.” As well as “ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court, who has commonly described the First Guardian and Shield cases as “industrial-scale misconduct”, says the regulator acted as soon as it could. “We don’t think we missed red flags,” she told ABC News ahead of ASIC’s appearance at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, when she was grilled by politicians about whether it was a tough cop on the beat properly identifying financial misconduct.” And it relates to the story we are given with ‘140 targeted by ASIC on Shield, First Guardian’ as I see it, a mess of a disastrous kind. Where the latter gives us “So, for example, the financial advisers are saying to us ‘you can’t hold us accountable for this because the ratings house had rated the Shield Master Fund as of investment grade’, while superannuation fund trustees are telling us the same – ‘well, we relied on the ratings houses’, or ‘we relied on the fact that these members had financial advice’,” (Source: Financial Newswire) I see it as a setting where there is a ring setting with no beginning and no end. I am in a setting where Microsoft could steal my IP and my only defense would be to convict 280,000 Microsoft employees to death and kill them myself. I get that this is utter madness, but that would be the result of one party just playing a game with other whilst that party knows that they cannot be held to account. I remember the rating houses in 2008 and they got away whilst millions lost it all. I see the simpler setting “You take from me, I take from you” and the setting that Microsoft losing over 45% of its staff (I am utterly destined to fail) making it implode on itself. Now take that to the setting of rating houses and the the truth comes out (if it ever does) the people need to react and react harshly. It is not ‘business as usual’ it will become business at the cost of souls and that is a harsh reality to face.

So whilst some will lawyer up and that is their right, they should not be allowed to walk away with even a dime. I reckon that they will sue the rating houses and those rating houses will need to get sanitized (to some extent) because losing billions is a larger setting and when Australia with their billions in losses (up to 4,300 billion) the setting for America and Canada is a lot more severe. And America up to ten times as much as Canada faces. And about a month ago we were given ‘ASIC takes further action against Ferras Merhi over First Guardian and Shield superannuation advice’ where we are given “ASIC has sought leave from the Federal Court to expand its existing proceeding against former financial adviser Ferras Merhi to allege he engaged in unconscionable conduct, failed to act in the best interests of clients, gave conflicted advice, and provided defective statements of advice whilst receiving millions of dollars.” Yet my question becomes did Ferras Merhi do anything illegal? You see, in my setting I would be, but did he do anything illegal? The setting revolves around “provided defective statements of advice whilst receiving millions of dollars”, so what makes a statement ‘defective’? You see, I am not protecting Ferras Mehri. I am looking at the following:

s12CB of the ASIC Act – engaging in conduct in connection with the supply or possible supply of financial services, which was in all the circumstances unconscionable.

So, what makes the setting of “all the circumstances unconscionable” an economist looks at this in one way and I as a law graduate and IT technician in another way. 

Then we get:
s952E of the Corporations Act – providing defective disclosure documents. As such, what makes the documents “defective disclosure documents”, I do not know and I look at them separately as that is what the law does and when merely one law falters, it all collapses (it matters later on).

Then we get:
s961B of the Corporations Act – failure to act in their client’s best interests, and what is that at the start? Most clients are ‘greed’ driven, they want the highest return and that is ‘their’ best interest. It is a hard lesson to learn that looking back the client gave the wrong advice to the advisor. I myself only work a balanced portfolio, I will never make large leaps but then again I am unlikely to lose a lot either. 

So in that setting we see:
the Court made interim freezing orders over Mr Merhi’s property. These orders remain in place until 12 December 2025 (25-024MR).
ASIC cancelled the AFSL of FSGA, effective 7 June 2025 and permanently banned its responsible manager (25-102MR).
In July 2025, the Court made travel restraint orders against Mr Merhi. Those orders prevent him from leaving or attempting to leave Australia until 12 December 2025, or until further order of the Court (25-024MR).

That is fair enough I reckon. But now we get to the settings that ABC at the top gave. We see there “In all of these cases, no criminal charges have been laid, but ASIC is heading to court to make allegations against the people at the centre of the Shield and First Guardian funds — those involved in managing and promoting the schemes.” The no criminal charges gives pause to consider that no criminal acts have transpired and when we look at some of the allegations the two that take the cake (a Tiramisu cake) is that the settings of “defective disclosure documents” must be proven and the lawyers will fight that. Then we get “all the circumstances unconscionable” and that is the ballgame, ‘unconscionable’ is not per se illegal and it is about the legality of the matter in court and that is the setting we see. So when I made a statement two years ago saying “Some of their risk and liquidity is in US bonds and when the US forfeits payment your 401K and many other things will become worth close to nothing” we see what bonds were worth 5 years ago. There we see “For the year, long-term U.S. Treasuries were by far the best-performing fixed-income investments, with a nearly 17% gain,” (source: Reuters) at present they are “the 10-year yield settled around 4.36%” that represents a loss of 13%, so who pays for that bond? This was a danger I saw 5 years ago (as uneconomical as I am) and 10 years ago I heard people to buy bonds as the interest is like free money and I stopped. There is no free ride and this is almost pushed into the AI field all whilst there is no verification in place. All settings that are interconnected and we now see the ABC giving us “expose deep flaws in Australia’s $4.3 trillion retirement system” so, what do you think you will end up with because as I see it, there is the chance that these people can do what they like all whilst there is no criminal accountability. Yes, he is stopped for now, but Ferras Merhi is about to walk away with more than $19 million in payments. As such he is willing to sweat it out for a few months. It is a lot more (like 79.2581 times more) than I ever made in my lifetime. 

So I see this case that ABC alerted me to with some suspicion. These people live by the setting of walking the edge of legality, there is no risk at that edge and I expect that Ferras Merhi is doing just that not doing anything illegal. As such 12,000 Australians are about to learn that they could lose it all without any illegal actions transpiring and I fault it to two settings (mentioned above) and we all considering setting the clocks to Islam where we see “Islamic banking prohibits the use of interest, speculation, and excessive risk. It emphasizes profit and loss sharing, fairness, honesty, and transparency in financial dealings.” By the way this setting was in place for hundreds of years. 

Have a great day and see that Statista gives us “Robusta, named because it can grow at a wider range of altitudes and temperatures, sold for 1.87 U.S. dollars in 2018, projected to sell at 5 U.S. dollars per kilogram in 2026” did you predict in 2018 that you would be setting your retirement to pay 267% for your coffee?

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The new axial

This happens, at times we need to remove the old axial and fit in a new one. As the axial grinds the roads it is up to the owner of the car of setting the pace of delay. And as present the dumb drivers are setting the decay of the axial rather high. And as such the car requires either fixing or replacement. At present the replacement axial comes with hidden settings. Some good and some unknown (at present). It started last month (pretty much yesterday), when we learned that Pakistan is offering its nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia and as the news give it to us, they accepted. There was an unknown to me (perfectly acceptable) as I illuminated yesterday there is a new setting for China and that is where I get another setting. One source gives me that it would allow the Hualong one PWR to be build in Saudi Arabia. I reckon that Saudi Arabia will opt for the Hualong two. That’s another few billion that will never make it to the US treasury. I opted the setting of defense and I still think that is valid. So as America is now losing Defence, tourism and media billions. America is no longer the ally anyone needs, because they are about to no longer afford anything and that is not the only setting we are about to see. You see, the three big ones are there, but there is also telecom (STG) and media (Al Ekhbariya) now about to get full global vision and as the Islamic population are about to get to 22% of the global population, they will be able to expand enormously. So who do you think will lose revenue? Wanna take bet on any American channels or telecom providers. (Personally I think Vodafone will become the largest loser) and that is not all. Some others are starting to see the folly they entertained for decades.

As the Jerusalem Post gives us (at https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-868103) we see ‘Hezbollah chief calls on Saudi Arabia to turn ‘new page, open dialogue with the group’ and we are given “Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem called on Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” with the Iran-backed group and set aside past disputes to create a unified front against Israel, following years of hostility that strained Riyadh’s ties with Lebanon” to Qassem I would state ‘Screw that’, Hezbollah has been the Iranian tool for decades and as Iran is now out of bounds, Hezbollah need a new sugar daddy. I reckon that Saudi Arabia has no space for a limited thinking group draining billions from their treasury chests. Hezbollah made their bed and now they get to lie in it. Israel is probably the strongest they have been in decades. There are ruffles in Israel, but that is a local setting. Saudi Arabia was clever not to get involved. It is now about to become one of the strongest nations in the world. They are growing outside expectations and will do so for at least half a decade. The last thing they need is a expensive bothersome toddler. As for Hezbollah, they are losing more and more power. The attack on Qatar rattled everyone and it is expected that some will unite, not to attack Israel but to guarantee that they are not attacked. It is a premise anyone will respect. And as the Hamas leadership is buried under Qatarian buildings, Hezbollah is afraid, very afraid. And they should be. 

So as we are now seeing the New Arab (at https://www.newarab.com/news/other-arab-states-can-join-pakistan-saudi-defence-pact-minister) ‘Pakistan minister calls for Islamic NATO, welcomes Arab states to join Saudi defence pact’ with the text “Speaking to Geo TV in an interview late Thursday night, Asif denied any prior coordination with the United States regarding the agreement. It marked the first specific acknowledgment that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella. The two countries signed a defence deal on Wednesday declaring that an attack on one nation would be an attack on both. Neither country has responded to questions about what the pact means regarding Saudi access to Pakistani nuclear protection.” A setting that is perfectly sound. Pakistan will end up with a much larger seat on the table and as we accept the setting we see with ““Islamic and Arab countries have the right to defend the region and its sovereignty, just as other countries do. I don’t think anyone has the right to object to that, because we have our own will and know our borders and frameworks,” Asif said.” We see that Khawaja Asif the current defence minister achieves something that hasn’t been seen since since Pakistan had its Baba-e-Qaum (Father of the Nation) namely Muhammad Ali Jinnah. And the west just wasn’t looking. I say that this if this Islamic NATO works we should applaud it as it also takes Iran out of the setting of being the danger of the Middle East as Pakistan is its ally, it will not act against anyone else because f that setting and because of the danger it will place itself in.

A setting that is optionally one of the most intense one in this day and age. And as this evolves and China becomes the defence provider of choice to the larger Arabian community, the settings of America as a provider dwindles down more and more. I reckon the only option that Raytheon and Northrop Grumman has is to place a larger stage of its factories in Saudi Arabia (as it was invited to do around 2020) and that setting is all that America has at present. Its dumb idea of tariff and border restrictions pushed its allies away from America and as America is now realising the dangers it faces and the impact that these actions had will a massive impact. It is said that the largest trade partners were Mexico, Canada, China, Germany and Japan. So how are they feeling at present with the tariff joke? They represent $2.5 trillion before 2024, but where are they now? That is direct income into the American treasury lost and as defense spending and tourism is down, do you really think that the damage is set to a mere $12 billion, or is my view of $80-$130 billion losses 

I saw the weeks ago (and wrote about it) a lot more realistic?

And as some might remember the setting for 2023 where the STG bought towers in Europe, did anyone follow up on the setting of ‘Saudi Telecom considers possible offer for United Group’ months ago? So how is that going? 

Have a great day and as it is said in Islam As-salamu alaykum (peace be upon you), it will become the phrase for all to know from 2026 onward.

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What the flip?

Roughly 10 hours ago the TTW (Travel and Tour World) released an article (at https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/saudi-arabia-joins-france-turkey-uk-mexico-and-egypt-as-australia-issues-new-travel-advisory-amid-unstable-security-conditions/) called ‘Saudi Arabia Joins France, Turkey, UK, Mexico, and Egypt as Australia Issues New Travel Advisory Amid Unstable Security Conditions’ and my first thought was “what the hell”. You see, American tourism is mostly at an all time low and now we get that these countries are called ‘dangerous’?

Lets be clear, EVERY country has some risk, this is nearly undeniable. The two exceptions as I see it are the United Arab Emirates and Iceland. For Iceland there are two risks. The first is falling into a volcano (yes, it happens) and being attacked by a Arctic tern because you got too close to its nest. For the UAE it is a little larger and involves cobra’s and scorpions, but unlikely to be in any of their cities. 

But back to the article and lets keep a few things clear.

Saudi Arabia
I get that some parts of Saudi Arabia are not the greatest settings to go view and we get “Travelers are advised not to travel within 30 km of the border with Yemen due to ongoing conflict in Yemen and the associated risks of missile and drone strikes.” With the additional “Australians are encouraged to read the general advice on terrorism risks and personal safety during conflicts.

Now, first of all, when you are as dim as a soup plate, you need to realise that common sense is expected from EVERY person on the planet. You might be one of the biggest idiots and featured in YouTube videos for doing stupid things, but that doesn’t make it the problem of that nation. You are expected to get an apartment with a balcony and spend your vacation in said balcony. As such when considering the distances from Yemen “approximately 200 km for cities like Jizan and Abha to over 1,000 km for Riyadh.” As such if your vacation is in Medina, Riyadh (most likely), Dammam or Jeddah, you are unlikely to travel within that 30 km. In the second part (it is said) that “personal safety during conflicts” is a bit vague. A conflict could exist during a misunderstanding in a shop or restaurant and that is not a likely case. Muslims are proud of their shops (restaurants too) and they have a set standard of hospitality (something you are less likely to experience in London) in further noticing ‘conflicts’ Saudi Arabia strikes down any military conflict in Saudi Arabia with extreme prejudice. As such you are seemingly less safe on the Sydney Harbour bridge in Sydney during a pro-Palestinian rally then ever in Saudi Arabia. 

Turkey
Here we see a more changing setting. I went to Istanbul once and I never ever felt unsafe or unwelcome. But it is the only part of Turkey I have ever see and as there are issues. The one that strikes me as a plausible setting is “Smart Traveller has specifically warned Australians to avoid public demonstrations and large gatherings, as these events are often strictly enforced by the government, with severe penalties for suspected participants. Monitoring local news and following the advice of local authorities is crucial.” And this setting makes sense on a few levels as you need to be fluent in Turkish to avoid certain complications, as such this travel advice makes sense.

United Kingdom
We are given “The national terrorism threat level in the UK remains substantial, indicating that an attack is likely. Smart Traveller has warned travelers that the possibility of terrorist activities, particularly in crowded public places, is elevated.” As well as “Travelers are reminded that petty crime, such as pickpocketing, mobile phone snatching, and theft from cars, is widespread across the UK. Visitors, especially in busy areas like London, should be extra cautious with their belongings.” There is no contest in any of this. But this was already the case for years. Still it requires mention.

France
Has a similar spread of issues, so there is no contest. But people traveling to these places should have been aware from them at least two years. There is no contest on any of this. You tend to get unlucky when you get in this situation. You would be in a similar setting when traveling to Amsterdam or Berlin.

Mexico and Egypt have their own settings and these are fair as I know the published facts to be (I have never been to Mexico).

My issue is why Saudi Arabia was added, was it because Saudi Tourism grew by over 100% and America is losing dozens of billions at present? The Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Germany (Berlin) are not on this list and I reckon a lot less safe than Riyadh, Dammam, Medina or Jeddah are. There is something of being too prepared for bad luck (as I call it) and I am not saying that this was bad advice, but you tell me, how likely are you to go within 30km of Yemen? The fact is that as far as I can tell, every major city in Saudi Arabia is well over 200km away from Yemen. Even the Neom projects are way too far away from that setting. As such you are likely to walk into the desert getting stung by a scorpion or ripped apart by a pack of hyena’s long before you get close to Yemen. So why the mention and why the instillment of fear towards Saudi Arabia? Now, lets be clear. There is some need to be aware of terrorism, but as I personally see it, these tend to be ‘confined’ to Houthi terrorist attacks and so far there has not been any serious incidents in the major cities of Saudi Arabia. So why the addition of Saudi Arabia? These terrorist issues have been in play for over 10 years. So, why the addition now?

Is it to make other places to seem less appealing over America? This is pure speculation from my side, but I reckon someone saw the 102% tourism growth I illuminated yesterday and someone must have seen that number in the source article and thought, lets make Saudi Arabia less appealing. This might be the wrong thought, but it is the speculated one I am having. You see, the warning given were in play for at least half a decade, so why now?

Have a great day and don’t get mauled by a pack of hyena’s today.

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Where the coins are

Yup, there it is, I said it. The article (at https://ara.tv/4eecj) gives us ‘US, Saudi Arabia hold high-level defense meeting at the Pentagon’ and right of the bat, we are ‘fed’ a lie (as I see it). We are given “The Pentagon’s top policy chief called Saudi Arabia a “critical, longstanding defense partner” working to become more capable and self-reliant.” Why is it a lie? Well, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been waiting for inclusion into the F-35 program. So, even as Belgium is included into that program, they are still awaiting delivery. Belgium a European nation that was overrun by the German army in 18 days (it took so long as most German soldiers were on foot or on bicycle) that country is more prestigious than Saudi Arabia? #JustSaying

I reckon it is the reason that China is making massive headways into the Arabic nations. And there it is, the additional quote ““The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a critical, longstanding defense partner for the United States that seeks to grow more capable and self-reliant in its defense. We are working hard to partner with Saudi Arabia to enable it to do so,” Colby said in a post on X.” I wonder when the defense department relies on X instead of the world wide news to disperse that information. It is a hard thing to comprehend.

I reckon that America is so desperate for cash (now that they damaged their tourism industry) that they can only turn to China and Saudi Arabia for additional funds. As Saudi Arabia has a lot more oil, the UAE was overlooked. But the setting is here America needs coins and as such I would have thought that someone in the Pentagon (it is rumored that this is managed by people at 1690 Air Force Pentagon, Washington, DC 20330-1670)

That being said, someone should have whispered to them to include Saudi Arabia to the F-35 list, but who am I saying this? I am still happy to get a nice bonus from the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) (at No. 88, Weiyi Road, Huang Tianba, Qingyang District, Chengdu City, Sichuan, China, postal code 610091) If you can’t beat them, join them I say. And I was always happy to get a nice (optionally fat) check. The new apartment will set me back $7M and there is the need to get some cash to the UAE (my optional Yas Island retirement location), as such bringing a customer the size of Saudi Arabia might get me my dream retirement.

As such you might wonder why this byline? That is easy as we are given “Colby welcomed Saudi efforts to build up its self-defense capabilities and “to make greater contributions toward achieving shared regional objectives,” Parnell added. The meeting came amid a series of recent US arms sales to the Kingdom. Earlier this year, the Trump administration approved a $3.5 billion weapons deal that included 1,000 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and 50 AIM-120C-8 guidance sections.” I say that either Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby has a doofus (aka dodo) as a personal assistant, or he has been missing briefs for years. Saudi Arabia steered to self reliance in several fields (including defense) even before 2019, so the response you read before might be seen as nothing less than a joke. As for the ‘funds’ already spend, as I see it, Chan is just as willing to receive such payment for its abilities for Saudi Arabia to defend itself. I get that there is one stronger and one weaker. But I do not know who that is between these two. As such it might be anyones guess. I suggest you ask someone at Raytheon who has the better equipment and why.

So it is nice to see this article and there is no blame on AlArabiya, but until it refers to America seeing Saudi Arabia as a full fledged partner in global defense by selling them the F-35, these stories come across like that moment in Oliver Twist asking for some more. Charles Dickens wrote about that little orphan in 1838, so it might have been a while. Still the setting of America bothers me, not the meeting with Saudi Arabia, but the building of not-so-good moments in several areas in America going from tariffs to tourism. America is bleeding and through their own actions they are bleeding allies just as quickly as anything else. Not even the penguins on McDonald Island are happy to see President Trump.

So as we are given the final quote ““Both leaders recognized US-Saudi defense cooperation as a force multiplier for regional security, and reviewed opportunities to deepen cooperation,” said Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman.” Well, as a non-Pentagon source might I suggest including Saudi Arabia as another party for the F-35? That should deepen cooperation by a lot. #JustSaying

It is moments like these that I wholly embrace the old saying “Sarcasm is great, when it backfires it become irony” and that is important too, so just in case AlArabiya is hungry for more stories, the address of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation can be found in the story. 

Have a great day this Tuesday, it’s still Monday in Vancouver, so they get this article in about 14 hours.

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