Tag Archives: USA

December 22, 2023 · 02:52

In titles

It is a setting we do not see, some of us will never see it. That is not on us, it is not some flaw. We look ahead, we never ever look in a mirror at ourselves whilst acting. As such we will only ever know what we look like through the eyes of others. This is how it is. It remains simple.

We see events, we see some as acts against us, we see some as acts against those who act against us. It is not simple, but it tends to be straightforward. In America a weird setting is going on. It is depriving America to be America and its land to be land of the Americans. We can blame so many people but that is the blame game. We can act against actions seen and perceived, but is that the right action? Consider that one state alone, the state of Colorado has now said that Trump can no longer be on the ballot for the primary citing the insurrection of January 6th as a reason and it was not unanimous. Now we see “Lawyers for Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the US supreme court to reject a request from the special counsel to expeditiously decide whether he was immune from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, contending prosecutors lacked standing to bring the petition.” Lets look at the simple setting. “whether he was immune from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results” Is that an admission of guilt? We have two distinct settings here. The first is the inability to prosecute all parties to the United States Capitol attack on January 6th 2021, now almost 3 years ago. American law failed on several levels. Now we see “The papers filed by Trump’s lawyers in essence amounted to an attempt to refreeze the case – and indefinitely delay the March 2024 trial date – after prosecutors sought to bypass the potentially lengthy appeals process by directly asking the nation’s highest court to resolve the matter.” As I personally see it, should the Trump legal team pull this off, it will not be a victory. It will be the first clear sign that America is out there to protect bullies and criminals above all else. It will impact American lives for the largest setting. Their allies will stop being allies, corporations will start moving away from the US because the setting has changed and in other settings will we see that others will take a chance on BRICS and its members to give them a fair shake. 

America has taken ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ to new directions and in new settings. It is not some setting I can prove, but I see that many others feel the same way. America is no longer the dream we pursue, it is a place where the bullies and the woke decide on the fate of others, regardless on what the others want. A new form of Shanghai recruitment a naval activity going back to the 1850’s is now in a new setting. For some to take what they want, not what they are entitled to. It changes the game and when corporations start feeling that impact, they will all leave and then what will the big boys do? When these engineers feel that they are no longer treated fairly places like IBM and Google will need to set up new headquarters, one that is nowhere near America. Yet in that same setting what law will they rely on? That is not an easy question to answer. Because when America crashes, Japan will follow soon, no more than 3 years behind America and that takes a whole range of stages in new directions but the larger stage which would be the past tense of America will see places like Amazon, Apple, Google and IBM to save whatever they can, because the simple truth is that without its engineers, training and service solutions these firms will not get anywhere soon and that opens up new players and all of them non-American players. A stage we would not have deemed realistic before Trump started to mess things up. We see (with laughter) that the American Qanon Shaman now reels against Matt Gaetz, but that is merely the beginning. When these people don’t get ‘their’ promised land chaos will come a lot faster. Even now we see threats against judges in Colorado because they upheld the law. 

This is (as I personally see it) getting bed fast and it will get worse soon after that. Stages in motion, motion through the momentum that cannot be controlled and control though laws that are faltering. It seems a simple line, but it is not that simple and the levels of interactions on multiple levels make for what I would see as escalation towards levels of worse. It is not scientific, but it is my view.  So when we go from one view to another view we see the self destructive path that America is on. It is not an accusation, it is an observation. You see, some see suicide as a right, not because it is a right perse, but anyone is entitled to be stupid. And stupid acts tend to end badly. The stage of all this was seen before 2018 when Jamal Khashoggi went missing. The continuation of ignoring basic facts, the stage of evidence to be replaced by the CIA setting of ‘highly likely’ as evidence, which it never was. And as one stage was replaced by another stage we see more and more presumptions, more emotions and lacking more and more facts. The media is largely to blame for all this and as they delved into the world of digital dollars we saw less facts and more emotions. All these events are connected but not linked. It is my personal view that certain people rely on stakeholders to path the way as they do with corporations and policy makers, but now the impact is larger and these stakeholders are getting in each others way. For them it is ego and the money they gain, but in that setting America has been losing more and more and now they rely on less intelligent administrations to claim their goals and bonuses and that is where the train goes off the rails. It is my view and it might be a flawed one. Yet in all this consider that I saw certain military changes to come in late 2020 and these changes are now upon us. It is not the strongest part, but the clearest one as America is down 20 billion in revenue. So how do you think infrastructures are paid for? That and a debt of 31 trillion makes for a really bad setting. Then they upset their wealthiest allies and let China walk in and capture more and more of that revenue. So how will this end? Well, I do not believe it will take much longer for the beginning of the end to come out, but as the ties between China and BRICS become stronger, Europe needs to make choices and they are on their own side, not on the side of anyone else. All this is happening at the same time in many places and I believe that this is due to stakeholders, although I am not sure how they are doing this, I feel that they are gaining terrain at the expense of everyone else. All due to the fact that cash was king and the law fell short. 

I might be completely wrong but that is how I am seeing this.

Enjoy the day, it is Friday here.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Law, Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 19, 2023 · 23:03

Who wrote what for whom?

That was the very first question in my mind when I read the article in the Foreign Policy called ‘How Saudi Arabia Could Use Its Leverage in Gaza’ (at https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/18/saudi-arabia-israel-gaza-mbs-leverage/) there are a few settings I had an issue with, so let’s go.

The first part is seen with “While some observers may be surprised by Hamas’s heinous Oct. 7 attacks and the eruption of a major war, others had long dreaded such an outbreak of violence. Due to the desperate desire of both Israel and the United States to see a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia, the unresolved and simmering Palestinian issue was largely ignored.” Is that so? Several governments as well as the United Nations have been eager to ignore the events of October 7th. The United Nations took that vicious cowardly attack from all considerations, others merely painted over that event like it was an undesired breakfast. It was what set rage in the hearts of Israel. The word Hamas is mentioned in this brief twice, one you saw above. So that is the second setting in all this. We can understand and to some degree agree with “Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan is leading a diplomatic committee mandated by the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to tour various international capitals and argue for an immediate cease-fire.” As an observer I understand that Saudi actions is driven by the need to protect Muslim lives, nothing wrong with that. Yet the biggest problem in all this remains Hamas, and as one source told me “until someone stops Hamas effing around, there is no stopping the IDF” a very valid argument from the other side and as I see it the largest issue is right there. Hamas must be stopped. They opened the door with 1,413+ kills, 8,745+ wounded and 248+ captured or abducted. The IDF hit back and in Gaza we are told the damage is 19,453+ killed, 52,286+ wounded and 7,000+ missing. The problem here is that Hamas is hiding in-between the civilians giving us a one sided reported issue. We see too little reporting on events like “the video, which has been replayed by dozens of news outlets, seems to confirm what Israel has long claimed that Hamas uses innocent Palestinians as barricades by installing their headquarters and arsenals beneath schools, hospitals and other public institutions in a vast complex of subterranean tunnels.” The Washington Post did not keep silent and for reference, the dozen news outlets should alert you. For reference, in America alone there are 204 counties in the United States with no news outlets. There are 1,562 counties with only one and a global total of ‘dozens’ mentions of that event? This should and needs to be a wake up call, especially when we collect the number of European news outlets as well, ‘dozens’ is an outrage and that is also part of the equation.

So now we get to “The Saudis are also using an overlooked diplomatic tool: silence. Their outright refusal of any political discussion before a cease-fire is also generating pressure by disallowing Israel a clear political horizon after the campaign. As the Saudi foreign minister said last month: “What future is there to talk about when Gaza is being destroyed.”” Here we can agree or disagree, but silence is a valid tool and Saudi Arabia is doing what it feels to be best for Muslim lives, no one can deny that, what does matters is that the west is equally in silence by gives no explanation on why it does so and ignoring the October 7th events does not happen. For reference Al Jazeera covered the October 7 events, many news outlets trivialised those events.

So when we are given “It does not want to allow itself to be politicised for Israeli political ends. In other words, the Saudi ruling elites want to avoid being “spun.”” I can accept and get behind that, because in any war there are at least two sides and they both want to spin to accentuate THEIR view. I can get behind that train of thought of not getting spun. 

Then we get to an actual truth that matters “Israel will never match the financial capacity of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Its economy is struggling, and according to a recent report by the Bank of Israel, it is losing $600 million a week during this campaign. The Israeli central bank has also suggested that the war costs from 2023 to 2025 will amount to some $53 billion.” What is equally missing is that America as well as the EU neither have these funds. One source (allegedly Vanity Fair ;0) has stated that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has spend well over $53B during dinner in the past, as such the KSA has the funds. 

As we add the one reality that should have been number one from the get go “Nowadays, nothing in Saudi Arabia is spent unless it is deemed to be serving the kingdom’s interest; “Saudi Arabia first” is the principle that Saudi’s foreign policy is based on.” I personally believe that this is the only stance that should matter to the KSA and that is the setting. Then we get to the real meat. The statement “The truth is that Saudi Arabia has always had a leading role in this conflict, but it preferred a leading-from-behind approach. This approach allowed it to use its diplomatic and symbolic weight without being on the political front line and potentially risking its strategic interests. The Saudi ruling elites came to the conclusion that they had mustered a great deal of political effort for a fruitless process and thus have never injected themselves into the intricacies of the Palestinian-Israeli final status negotiations.” Is a real deal. You see Americans want to talk about everything and produce nothing, members of the KSA merely want to achieve what is best for the KSA and according to Islam is best to Muslims, that is what is here and that is why the case of Hamas is a tough one. You see Hamas is all Muslim, it merely works towards selfish reasons and the events we see in Gaza shows that. The one truth no one is entertaining is how much better Palestinians are better off without Hamas. One example is Tawhid al-Jihad, so where was Hamas when these new players were unfolding all over the West Bank around 10 years ago?

As I personally see it there are several players and most of them serve self interests. In this KSA is perhaps the only one who does not. And as I see it all parties ned to realise that Hamas is the one selfish voice in there. The events regarding al-Shifa should be taken as clear evidence in this. With only a few exceptions nearly all civilised nations have agreed that Hospitals and schools are not to be considered military outlets, especially with all the civilians in place.  A reality too many news outlets are ignoring.

The article in Foreign Policy ends with “Before Riyadh steps up and shows greater assertiveness on this issue, the Saudi ruling elites need to see a clear political horizon and an improved structure to the peace process. At that point, they might use their considerable financial leverage to shape the outcome.” You see, my issue here is that this sounds like American policies on the Middle East, so who was the source? An American political player, a stakeholder, or something else? In my (oversimplified) view, the stance most governments needs to take is that the one self-serving player here is Hamas, they are the actual danger and the actual threat. This all started as Saudi relations with Israel were normalising and I personally believe that the message on wrecking that came from Qatar, It is either Ismail Haniyeh directly or someone in his office that pushed those buttons. But that is merely my view and what do I know? 

What matters is that one could argue that Hamas is openly acting against the needs for Saudi stabilising matters in the middle east, Israel was a first step and there is seemingly not much left of that now is there?

Enjoy today, I am now 65 minutes from Midweek.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Military, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 14, 2023 · 19:52

Our menu: Delusional stew for all.

Yup, a meal that is free of charge, but that is how it feels to me (and I am hungry). This has started some time ago for me and the blablabla is nice, but it distracts me. On the up hand I came up with the pilot of yet another TV series, but I have enough at present. You see, what set me off today (off being a big word), was ‘No ‘phase-out’, but Dubai deal puts oil and gas sector on notice’ (at https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/12/13/no-phase-out-but-dubai-deal-puts-oil-and-gas-sector-on-notice/), you think it is delusional, think again. We are also given “The “UAE consensus” did not go so far as to call for a “phase-out” as more than a hundred countries wanted. It settled on “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems”.” You want to see how delusional this is? Lets take a look. In the first OPEC removes their delivery by 1,000,000 barrels of oil per day, they keep on producing for China, but the West (USA, Canada, UK, EU) get that less per day, this is not phasing out, but it is moving that way. Now consider that impact

USA 450,000 bpd less, Canada 100,000, United Kingdom 100,000 an the EU loses 350,00 bpd. I give it less than 60 days before all hell breaks lose. Brent will export less than 5% as all goes to America and with that change America collapses broke in 60 days, Canada will lose most of its shit, UK will become too expensive to live and the EU breaks down on its own issues. 60 days is all that is required for chaos to unfold in the west. That is what you are celebrating, aren’t you?

I am not against diminishing oil, but at present it isn’t realistic. Alternative solutions were stopped for the longest of times and the funny part here, when that comes back the crows will shout All hail Musk. That is the reality. You see, the internet without powers is not a nice thing and that makes the Musk solution the only internet on the planet. With that much less oil fuel prices will double and with proper isolation (example London), the people will freeze to death. I am game for all that, are you?

You see, the second part is “One delegation not joining in the ovation was Saudi Arabia. Oil-exporting states fought hard against the phase-out language that appeared in earlier drafts.” This makes sense, but what does not is that EVERYONE steered clear from the noise by Brent crude oil, the one American supplier to hundreds of nations and that stops soon after the limitations are reached. And with that all on the table you see that Crude becomes nationalistic and the rest suffers and drowns (or chokes) on a lack of oil.

All these people, all collectively talking on what needs to be done and nothing is being done. I saw it before COP26 and with the animosity against Elon Musk, the one solution holder this merely goes from bad to worse. I reckon that he has his solutions in place in has house and that people like Bill Gates have similar solutions in place. As such when this goes south really far, we have America and about 2000 houses with power. The rest? I think it was the Roman senate who said in unity ‘fuck the poor’ and that will be a simple repetition. 

As such when we get to “Samoa complained they were not yet in the room when the deal was adopted. Small island states had pleaded for a rapid fossil fuel phase-out to hold global warming to 1.5C, seen as critical for their survival.” Their is your first example of the world screwing over the poor. So why were they not in the room? Anyone? Anyone? 

I already stated that this point would be broken at the end of COP26, and so far my numbers hold up (partial coincidence) and that larger stage is merely fuelled by the joke that we see is presented now. Phasing out oil sounds nice, but the four players mentioned earlier cannot see the reality of that ever happening, on the upside, when America collapses, all the eyes will suddenly look at Brent oil for the first time and wonder what will happen there, because a collapsed America implies that Brent will have to export nearly all its oil making life in the USA a lot harsher. The only thing I found was by Reuters giving us “Brent crude futures edged back down towards $97 a barrel on Tuesday because (whatever reason) after two days of back-to-back speeches by world leaders, the COP28 climate” You don’t think Brent has its extensions and override policies in place? That is the reality of things and board of directors tend to be greed driven, so that was easily seen. 

A stage that has a restaurant, it serves a delusional menu. It is free and you can have as much as you like.

That is what is happening and when the world settles bak in 2-3 weeks the issues start arriving on how impossible these goals really are. I reckon the ‘depending’ media already have speakers in place for that event.

Enjoy your day. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 6, 2023 · 02:36

Angle, Bigotry, Chauvinism

Yes, all words, these three words represent the bias of the media. And it has started some time ago. But here in this case lets take a look at Sky News (at https://news.sky.com/story/unprecedented-2-400-fuel-lobbyists-at-cop28-in-dubai-claim-campaigners-13023153). Here we are given ‘‘Unprecedented’ 2,400 fuel lobbyists at COP28 in Dubai, claim campaigners’ but that is not where the bias is. As we are given names like Amin Nasser (CEO Aramco) and Sultan Al Jaber. Yet what I find weird is that there is no names linked to Brent Crude oil, there is no mention anywhere in COP28 of anyone from Brent in this. Welcome to bias.

Then we get “At least 2,456 fuel lobbyists have been given access to the COP28 summit in Dubai” so not “more than 2,400” but an actual specific number. And it comes from the group called “Kick Big Polluters Out”,  or KBPO, which could also mean Keep Boneheaded Packs Out. You see, this is not on the oil industry, but on the media. When you consider “Many of the fossil fuel lobbyists are said to have gained access by being part of a trade organisation”. This gets us two questions. Were they all in the blue zone, or the green zone and what was the spread of these people? The second part is what countries were these 2456 people from? How many from the US? How many from Venezuela and Russia? All top-line numbers we aren’t given. So is this the angle Sky News (and others) are working with, or is this part of more? Like all the BS that places like ICIJ gives us with ‘emotional’ stories, devoid of real numbers, real groupings and clusters. The media is becoming less and less reliable. 

We see names like Shell, TotalEnergies, Equinor, BP, ExxonMobil and ENI. However, the name Brent Crude oil is absent, why is that? 

Why can’t the media do its job? Why can’t they give us CLEAR numbers. They got 2456, how did they get there? It might be right, but we aren’t given anything clear and that is the larger station. We aren’t given clarity and the media is making it worse through emotions, speculations and assumptions. How is that for media claiming to be independent, fair, balanced and proclaiming to be trustworthy.

The Guardian also gives us “Al Jaber is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, Adnoc, which many observers see as a serious conflict of interest”, yet no one is asking serious questions from the media and that is the larger failing. I have shown their failures for over two years and things are (as I personally see it) getting worse. It is all about the emotion and the digital dollar, in that process clear reporting seems to be going out the window. 

I wonder if we bulk all the reporting together, will we see anything clearly reported, or should we ask people from Monash University who sees to be there too? I will let you decide, but consider all the things we aren’t being told.

I have arrived to the middle of the week, see you all soon at this point as well.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 5, 2023 · 15:39

Let it ride

Yup, that is the phrase and in this case it is not a gamble. For this we can go back to June 2022, the 28th to be more precise when I wrote ‘Will you feel frisky?’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/06/28/will-you-feel-frisky/) I gave the readers some inkling of this before that, but I pretty much spelled it out at that point. Yesterday I saw some of the promises that the United Arab Emirates made and I realised that they could get there a few years early. The IP that Elon Musk has could be set to public viewing there and with the UAE setting it could result in the net value of Elon Musk (which according to a source) of $300,000,000,000,000 and pretty much double it to $600,000,000,000,000. That is a lot, but it is his IP and he could pull it off. It will not be overnight, but between now and 2026  it could be doubled and it merely needs one player (the United Arab Emirates) to be on board for this. After that the flood gates open and they will all shout for this solution and upping his value even more.

Some will seek ‘cheap’ solutions and when that falls over the patient ones fall over and drown, the rest will be back on track and I reckon that COP28 will make it so for Musk incorporated. So after two years of blablabla, we see that the UAE will place themselves in a unique situation. In the first to become carbon neutral way ahead of schedule, the second side is that their reliance on oil and on oil power-plants will lessen (partially) and all that was visible well over a year ago. Now the edges start to fray the impact will become more and more visible. So whilst the EU is deciding to ‘punish’ rich people and their jets instead of the 147 facilities that cause 50% of the damage. Whilst America remains undecided to make any move and their bank balance stops them from achieving anything, the Middle East will be the driving force showing the others how stupid they were. And they kept on (still) pissing of the one entrepreneur who had the solution all along. It gives me pause to laugh. You see, I have had one saying in my banners for the longest of times. Sarcasm is fine, until it backfires when it becomes irony. Now we all get to see that one part in action. Because when it does they will all shout, they will all make demands and they will all make some case for a blame game and I showed the world before June 2022 that a solution was out there. As such it was never rocket science, it was a simple application of common sense. I wonder if the woke people had a clue what it all is (or was). There is no shame if they did not, but if they were employed to do just that, how valid has their income been?

Consider that the lesson of the day and enjoy yours. At present I feel fine. Me against big-tech, and I am leading with 4 points. It doesn’t make me rich, but the soul (mine) is at present well nourished having a blast.

Cheerio.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

November 29, 2023 · 07:05

Egg timer? What egg timer?

Yes, we get that. There are egg timers that give us what we were waiting for. I stated on November 17th (12 days ago) “A complete overhaul was the only option and now with BRICS and China pushing in on the little revenue they had left, they have no options now and their competitors are moving in on whatever revenue they had left.” I said so in ‘It’s that time again’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/11/17/its-that-time-again/) Now Politico gives us ‘Brussels wants to beat the Pentagon at its own game on arms sales’ (at https://www.politico.eu/article/european-union-weapons-sales-united-states-defense/) there we see “The European Commission is hinting at a new mechanism similar to the US Foreign Military Sales to facilitate arms exports”, well that didn’t take long, did it? So when we see “In order to claw back the initiative, the European Commission is raising the prospect of copying the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) scheme” we see one thing, but I think it is more about stopping the Chinese sales system of becoming too successful. I fear it might be a little too late for that. There is every indication that China is almost ready to the defence needs of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Too little, too late and as I see it, a little over two years too late. I reckon they ill soon be fishing on the wrong side of the net. So whilst we are now given “In early 2024, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is expected to present a European Defence Industrial Strategy to help support the Continent’s European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). The consultation document is one of five papers circulated to national delegations to get their views on what the strategy should look like.” You see several reports are out there in the trend of “Riyadh eyes air defence systems and drones as part of possible yuan-based deal while Cairo plans to buy J-10C fighter jets”, so whilst the Europeans are trying to figure out “how to go about it” Saudi Arabia and Egypt are at this point getting catered to by China. As such we see that the China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO) is actively talking to the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), who is interested in diversifying. 

So that is billions missed, just as I predicted almost two years ago. Now that it is happening, some are ‘reporting’ all whilst whatever intension Europe has with “on what the strategy should look like”, Beijing is not merely getting its feet wet, it is catering to a new clientele and China is hungry for that revenue. So when was the last time you left billions on the floor? As I personally see it Amazon did so a year ago (but they have plenty of cash), the US government does not, it has a debt of $31,000,000,000,000 as such every billion lost is another carve on the debt stick and the next shutdown is expected to be around January 19th 2024 if they cannot agree on a new continuing resolution a lot will fall away. That was a given, but with Europe now tying to get defence money, giving the US less and already China is in the mix (has been for months) with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and they are expected to score some revenue from the United Arab Emirates as well, this upcoming CR will be missing a few revenue posts and not much is needed to make it all fall over. The larger setting is not merely defence, the UAE will (according to one source) be looking at ships as well. As such there is every chance that the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) could be up for some UAE coast guard ships. As I understand it, it has something to do with the Abu Dhabi Ship Building Co (ADSB). So is it mere consultancy? Ships design? I honestly do not know, but what does matter is that they used to have an American fleet, now as that falls away a lot more revenue will be missed by American companies. 

All this and the larger setting isn’t merely what Politico tells you, it is the second degree that the Saudi and Egyptian deals open the doors for. I think that Bangladesh is next on the Chinese sights. China has a two sided tactic, gain revenue and stop America from getting revenue. It is the same setting we saw with Evergreen in 1989. Yung-Fa Chang played his hand brilliantly, a setting where players like Nedlloyd had close to complete control was lost in less than 5 years to Evergreen. I reckon that we get a similar kind of play towards the larger naval needs of Bangladesh and Indonesia. After that there will not be much left for America. They already broke their own windows with their ‘elite’ approach towards the F-22 Raptor. I am not criticising this. It was the demand of the US to keep sole custody of that dinky toy. Yet now Chengdu has several nations vying for their J-20 and with the range options, that is a thing coveted by many defence forces all over the globe and there Saudi Arabia, UAE and optionally Egypt and Indonesia as well is a setting of several billions right of the bat, and I expect that the USA cannot counter those odds on revenue. Yet there are a few options for Europe as well. If they push their agenda Chengdu will have to compete with the Eurofighter Typhoon. I have no idea who will win that revenue race, but Europe better be moving fast, the early bird that hesitates becomes worm food. As for the technical side, I am not a pilot. Yet in all this the Evergreen approach comes to mind, so America and Europe are quickly running out of time and Europe’s voiced response of “on what the strategy should look like” sounded nice in 2021, but not now. It’s crunch time for them at this point.

Enjoy your day today.

1 Comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Military, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 23, 2023 · 00:07

Changing gears

This is something I have seen an I have been confronted with in some form. Yet when the NY Times reported on ‘Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts’ (at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/business/banks-accounts-close-suddenly.html). I was taken aback a little. This is not some case of criminal activity, that I would accept. Here we see “Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail” with an additional “the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes”. There are two settings that come to mind (of the top of my head). The first one comes via Dutch journalist and entrepreneur Luc Sala “the world will have two types of people, those who have and those who do not” it is a statement he made 30 yeas ago and we have been moving towards that setting. A stage of enablers, consumers and others. The second thought that came to mind is seen with “Individuals can’t pay their bills on time. Banks often take weeks to send them their balances. When the institutions close their credit cards, their credit scores can suffer. Upon cancellation, small businesses often struggle to make payroll — and must explain to vendors and partners that they don’t have a bank account for the time being.” I see this as the case that to some degree saw with the SVB bank in march. They are so close to the edge that they are closing down all accounts that are not labelled as enablers or consumers. The algorithm is set to what in some circles would be called platinum or gold customers, the rest is cut as a liability. It is all so that they can continue a little longer. As long as they stay away from the edge they will be ‘safe; for another week (or two). And the explanation by Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank with 80 million retail customers and six million small-business ones does not help. The stage where we are given “whose former account holders sent nearly 200 complaints to The Times” is a metric. So how many complaints did The Times get in the preceding 6 months? How many in 2022, 2021 or 2020? These are metrics that we can use and they would give me something to go on, most likely that the two reasons I just mentioned are not merely the most likely ones. It shows that I got it right. The second excuse “We act in accordance with our compliance program, consistent with our regulatory obligations” is seen by me as equally bogus. You see in June 2023, we were given “JPMorgan Chase is fined by SEC after mistakenly deleting 47 million emails” with the added text “The deletions occurred after JPMorgan’s corporate compliance technology department, which had been trying unsuccessfully to delete some communications from the 1970s and 1980s, sought help from an outside vendor managing the bank’s email storage”. Now consider that an additional 40TB for storage costs $2,899. Now consider the two parts “According to the SEC, JPMorgan has been unable in at least 12 civil securities-related regulatory probes to comply with subpoenas and document requests for communications that had been permanently deleted.” Is the first part. The second part is seen when you consider that these activities required the cost of an external deleter (this is not a free skill) and the fact that they tried to delete 53 year old emails implies that the setting was on shaky grounds to begin with. So where was the side of “our regulatory obligations” then? Then we return to 2020 where we see ‘JPMorgan Chase & Co. Agrees To Pay $920 Million in Connection with Schemes to Defraud Precious Metals and U.S. Treasuries Markets’ which amounts to another setting of ‘obligations’ as such the spin is turned back to JP Morgan Chase. This is about (my personal view) algorithm and the ‘dangers’ that these numbers represent. It makes my mind turn to a movie called Margin Call (2011) with Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Zachary Quinto. At some point we get the quote “Fuck me… Once this thing gets going in the wrong direction. The losses are greater than the current value of the company…?” I do not think that the banks are there yet, but with my view on US treasury bonds several banks are now on the edge and they are trimming all the liable fat they have, so those who are not enablers or consumers are cut. I doubt it is only JP Morgan Chase, but they are the first to visibly twitch. If this is right those who saved ALL THEIR LIVES are about to lose a hell of a lot. 

Am I wrong?
That remains the question and it is a fair question and it can be debunked by giving the people (all of us) a clear list of where all those bonds are and who (especially banks) owns more than $50,000,000 in bonds. I reckon that several banks have way more than that and they relied on the quote ‘too big to fail’, but that myth has been taken to bed and treated to the medicinal use of a 12 gauge. 

As such my view could be dispelled easily enough and I made that same request around the SVB bank months ago, even as the media NEVER looked in that direction (for unknown reasons).

The second mistake by Jerry Dubrowski was “the vast majority of closures are correct, consistent with the regulatory obligations we are required to follow” it comes with the realisation that ‘vast majority’ implies that plenty are wrongfully cut and when was there a bank that relied on “You could be wrongfully culled, but that is how regulatory obligations work” said no one ever. It is the relying on ‘vast majority’ that gives the edge to the victims of this. And now JP Morgan will either be required to give full explanation to EVERY ACCOUNT (as I personally see it) or cop another fine of millions, but they are tax deductible and that is the most likely path they will be on. But that could merely be me and I could be wrong.

In this article Ron Lieber and Tara Siegel Bernard give a good account and I could have looked at it earlier, but I did not. This happens and I have no regulatory obligations. And it was only 6 hours ago when we saw ‘Analyst view: Goldman Sachs rates Polycab as ‘Buy’, JPMorgan still bullish on Reliance Industries Limited’ with the added “JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) has maintained an “Overweight” rating for Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)” I see no “impressive retail sector performance” I see a reliance on algorithm to get every penny away from the ‘edge’ as possible. I could be wrong there too, but there is every chance that JP will have to call itself ‘JPMorgan Edging’ soon enough. There is another side, but that is an icky one (always wanted to have a reason to use the word icky). It takes me back to the shores of the Dutch SNS bank. Several sides and they might be the first bank in Dutch history that gives a view that white collar crime pays. One got 12 months, 4 got suspended sentences and the Dutch government is down €804,000,000. This relates to the JP case because of the algorithm. How was the bad bank script invoked? How was it ‘allowed’ on paper to fraud and corrupt? Where were the ‘regulatory obligations’ there? It is what the law allows for and as such we see the hardship on the people who are cut (and optionally merely hit hard times). So now consider that the banks cut all those who hit hard times, and still all non-cut customers of that bank are due their fees. So where was the risk management there? The risk has become too great and they are all cut now. That is how I (optionally wrongly) see it.

The last ‘issue’ is that only the NY Times has this, none of the other newspapers have it. The NY Times has enough credibility, but my mind races. There is absolutely no way that JPMorgan Chase is alone here, so why is the NY Times the only one that has this? I doubt it is merely algorithm. This makes me wonder (yet again) how much in US Treasury bonds does JPMorgan Chase has at this moment? 

Just a question. Enjoy the day. I am two minutes from Thursday, Vancouver is only just starting Wednesday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 19, 2023 · 04:03

Speculating towards something?

That is the setting, I have been keeping my eyes on Bangladesh for more than one reason. You see, Bangladesh with its 170,000,000 people represent an upcoming population that has never been considered for several retail groups, but that nation could become a more important group. China sees this, Saudi Arabia sees this and that is where the next article comes into play. The article (at https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2023/11/18/japan-brings-bangladesh-into-the-folds-of-new-security-framework/) gives us ‘Japan brings Bangladesh into the folds of new security framework’ which also gives us “Japan maintains economic partnerships with most Asian countries, particularly Bangladesh. Dhaka has received around US$25 billion in development and economic assistance from Tokyo since 1972 and around US$9.2 billion of this has been overseas development assistance.” I believe it is one truth, but not the one that matters to Japan. When America implodes, so will Japan, unless they make new friends fast. And when Japan embraces 170 million Muslims, they stand a chance to get some relief from Saudi Arabia and optionally the UAE too. That is what I am speculating is behind this move. Yes, there is a stage that Japan can use for retail purposes, but there is a larger stage. As per March, Japan is dealing with a $9.2 trillion debt. When America collapses (not if, when) Japan will lose a lot more and whatever they have banked against the dollar will fall away, as such Japan needs another path. China is not one due to historical stages, Russia is equally unavailable. As such this path seems the most intelligent one and even as it is not the best path, it might be one of the few left available to the former friends of the United States. And in continuation of this speculation, when things implode, the BRICS players would like to keep as many as larger players on their side as possible and Japan is not great, it is a huge economic player. 

So as I see it (and I could be wrong), Japan and a few others will need to realign their priorities in allies and economic sides and Japan seemingly just made their first move. I wonder when either Saudi Arabia or the UAE will set another path towards Indonesia and its 273 million citizens. This makes the setting fro BRICS a larger one, with two additional nations they get almost half a billion consumer and this is the stage that is merely in its starting place. When these two nations get the chance to become workers in Neom, optionally additional domains we get a new setting for economy and that is where Japan is banking on. It is trying to get a slice of that pie and as America has been in denial of too much we see that their ‘friends’ are reevaluating their options and there is now an optional case that Japan made the first move. 

Am I right? Am I wrong?
That remains the question, my speculative view comes from the data available to me, it does not make me correct, but I see it that I am more likely than not correct. A stage we all faced. I am willing to become critical of my view, slice and dice it, merge the data streams and see what I can prove through that. I am still a decent amount away from proving it all, but I feel that It is clear that Bangladesh wasn’t merely for some security framework, the larger stage is still in play. It is still fluidic but the media at large is less and less reliable. Consider the media streams that gave ANY view on this stage and then ask yourself the question why did they not make mention of it? 

Just 20 hours until my weekend is over, enjoy yours.

1 Comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 6, 2023 · 19:54

Problems in Pakistan?

It hit me yesterday, but I let it lie. There were a few things that bothered me. In the first there was only one source. The other sources came a little later. The other part was that I am not aware of the Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP). The story (at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/how-to/who-is-tjp-the-group-behind-the-pakistan-air-force-base-attack-and-why-is-it-a-concern-for-pakistan/articleshow/104983146.cms). There we learn that they are a militant group linked to the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. This group has been involved in acts of terrorism against security forces and has recently conducted two separate attacks on security forces in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. 

My question becomes whether the Taliban is branching out, or is the TJP emulating the Taliban. The fact that they hit a Pakistani Airbase, Mianwali air force base to be more precise. The result was the destruction of multiple aircraft at the facility. So what is the part we see with “a relatively new militant group”? The fact that they hit an airbase is pretty interesting. So either they are really efficient, or the security of that Pakistani airbase is lacking and the western media never picked up on any of that. One source gave me that over 40 fighter planes were damaged. Considering that the JF-17 Thunder costs $25 million, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon costs around $40 million and the Chengdu J-7 costs I do not know how much. But 40 of them will bring the damage to a cool billion. As such a relatively new militant group inflicted damage and plenty of it and the western media was no help at all. 

The issue isn’t merely the lagging security with Pakistani airforce, the larger issue is whether TJP has clear links to the Taliban and what kind of links there are. I actually do not know but the western media doesn’t give us that. I had to rely on the Times of India and two other sources, one was a newscast on YouTube. I understand that news on Kim Kardashian is so much more palatable to digital dollars. Yet the idea that an airforce base is hit and over 40 planes are damaged would be front page news in most worlds, so hat gives?

The main objective of the TJP is to wage jihad against Pakistan with the aim of establishing an Islamic state and imposing a theocratic version of sharia law similar to what the Taliban implemented in Afghanistan. So not only did America screw up Afghanistan, the Taliban is now seemingly branching out making matters worse for nearly all, optionally except Iran. All elements that would propel this to the front of any page of news. 

I know (through sources) that the base has strategic value, but I know next to nothing on the region (and very little about Pakistan). What surprises me is “Yaghistani is believed to have attended Jamia Farooqia, a prominent Deobandi seminary in Karachi. Reports suggest that he fought alongside NATO and American forces in Afghanistan until the US withdrawal in 2021.” As such we now get the idea that America trained the key person in the TJP, as such Pakistan could have a much larger problem than the Times of India indicates and the western media leaves unmentioned. But that is my view and I could be wrong here. Yet at least I stop at the parts I do not know, a part that the digital dollar hunting media is unable to do at present.

What a start of the week.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Military, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 4, 2023 · 22:16

Voice of the Peoples Republic

It is not a voice we hear often, most times we try to ignore that voice on a multitudes of given premises that are by some account unverified. We merely accepted it and for the most we see the Tiananmen square image. We were all lulled into a state of denial and sleepiness. Now I am not stating that the pavements of President Xi are innocent, that is not the case I am going for. Consider that well over a dozen communities in the America’s are now extinct, all due to the greed of the Vatican. How do YOU see the Vatican? That is a serious question and you should ponder it. You see, some of this surfaces when we consider the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67305453) giving us ‘China and Australia: Frenemies who need each other’, I get the premise, yet this premise is incorrect for us. You see, as far as I know China has never engaged in hostilities with either Australia or New Zealand. We are also not at war with them. We merely boastingly push them away because of America. The article gives us “In recent years Australia and China have accused each other over human rights violations and perceived threats to national security. Public perceptions of the other side are more negative than they have ever been. But when it comes to trade, they cannot afford to let go of each other. At the peak of their trading relationship in 2020, almost half of Australia’s exports went to China.” It is true, we (Australia) do need China. America has less an less options to fund whatever they overspend. For China Australia (optionally New Zealand too) is a path setting a trade and commerce setting with the entire Commonwealth, with Canada optionally abstaining due to the borders of America. But that gives them Australia, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Jamaica, and in the end the United Kingdom and optionally Tuvalu. Tuvalu sounds like a joke, but the moment China gets to place a base there, Hawaii becomes an interesting setting. A place where the USA is no longer safe and it impacts most of the Pacific Oceans strategic area. 

The article is also giving us “Sure enough, a string of Chinese tariffs and restrictions followed on an estimated $20bn (£16.4bn) worth of Australian goods. Among the many products affected were barley, beef, wine, coal, timber and lobster. “Basically the Chinese government was sending a message. They were unhappy with the Australian government and decided to use economic coercion to make that point,” Professor Golley added.” Getting back to that, did we ever see a complete document on the origin of Covid-19? We saw that the media whore itself to all the digital dollars we can get, we saw some of the accusations, but were we ever presented a clear version of what actually happened? Preferably from an independent source? We have acted or presumed acting against China for the longest of times, but it is time to disregard certain media, disregard certain politicians (US politicians) and start listening to what we (in a national sense) need to get ahead. The fintech people made that abundantly clear and most of them are on Wall Street. Then we get something that gives me a question mark. We are given “He reminded Australians that trade with China was worth more than with Japan, the US and South Korea combined. Clearly, normalising relations between what he called “two highly complementary economies” would be a priority for his government. Whether China’s so-called economic coercion was successful is doubtful. Australia is still openly critical of Beijing on several fronts – but there is no question that Australian businesses and workers took a hit because of China’s trade restrictions.” The first is that America is becoming a liability. As its economic value decreases, so does the voice it holds and lets be clear America has used its own version of coercion for the longest of times. Its defence apparatus, the hardware we were ‘allowed’ to obtain and that list goes on. There is a question on economic-coercion from China, I am not saying it isn’t (or wasn’t) happening. I am stating that as the media has remained silent on too many sides, it is also the least reliable one. It is the cross that players like the Sydney Morning Herald (and other Australian papers) will have to carry. There is truth that China needs Australia, I reckon it needs New Zealand too. In all this BRICS will win and America will lose more and more ‘allies’, the economy has pushed for that part. I reckon that once the they acquire a clear business setting with the United Kingdom, the settings for Margrethe Vestager (EU commissioner) will change a lot. Her digital age will change from a field of dreams into a harsh pitfall as EU members will side with the UK hoping to salvage whatever they can, the EU will soon thereafter collapse, it is on the brink of failure right now. The EU had in March a total debt exceeding $14,689,200,000,000. So how long until more banks will have to pull the plug? I gave you all part of this in ‘The finality of French freedom’ which I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/03/17/the-finality-of-french-freedom/) on March 17th 2017. I saw the dangers SIX YEARS AGO. I compared the EU economy kept in place by 4 anchors, with the UK gone it would be three anchors. So the moment China gets the setting to woe the Commonwealth to the BRICS organisation, the EU anchors will collapse. I even mentioned that that economy cannot be maintained with two anchors and I believe that France will buckle before Germany will. The greed and gravy train embellished economy will not support itself when the gravy train collapses, these politicians will side with whatever pays their food stamps and America has none left at present. So yes, we might call China a frenemy, which sounds clever. Yet where is the evidence? We see a mention of coercion, but is it not the customer who is allowed to decide WHERE to buy? Were trade agreements broken? It might be, I merely do not know and the media is not properly informing us. This BBC article is good, it gave us more questions then answers and that is not a bad thing. The issues for a place like America is that the straws are now escaping their grasp and with each iteration we see BRICS gaining strength. It alas means that Russia will be in a stronger position and I reckon that for Chine, for them to win the long term gain they will need to remove Russia out of the equation. Russia is seeing that and is trying to set up more partnerships. But the overall picture with the players is somewhat clear. America and Russia fought so long that the sum of them is now less than the total power of
China and it is now fuelled with Middle East trillions, the one player that had all the cash was shunned and rejected on ego driven factors by America, how stupid was that and I have warned about that stupidity for well over a year. 

How is your weekend going?

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,