Jul 17

Today’s News 17th July 2023

  • "I Am The Regulator!": EU Commissioner Warns Social Media To Censor After French Riots
    “I Am The Regulator!”: EU Commissioner Warns Social Media To Censor After French Riots

    Authored by Robert Kogon via The Brownstone Institute,

    “L’Etat, c’est moi” – “I am the state” – Louis XIV is supposed to have said.

    And in a contemporary echo of that famous phrase, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton repeatedly stressed on Monday that “I am the regulator” when lambasting social media networks for “not having done enough” during the recent French riots and threatening them with sanctions, including even banishment, if they should remain similarly inactive after August 25.

    Not having done enough of what?

    Well, namely censorship: suppression of content that the European Commission deems to have been in some way or another harmful in the circumstances. Hence, the importance of the August 25 date. For August 25 will mark exactly four months since the European Commission officially designated 17 “Very Large Online Platforms” and two “Very Large Online Search Engines,” and from that date forward, per the below timeline, the designated entities will have to be in compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which is designed precisely to “regulate” online speech.

    Breton made his remarks in conversation with the French public broadcaster France Info, noting that in the future the social media companies will have to be proactive in deleting content or face sanctions.

    “When there is hateful content,” he said, “content that calls, for example, for revolt, also that calls to kill – because we’ve seen that too, [from] individuals – …they will have the obligation to delete it instantly. If they don’t do it, they will be immediately sanctioned.”

    Breton did not give any specific examples of content calling for violence, much less murder.

    But, interestingly, when one of the interviewers repeatedly tried to point the finger at Twitter as one of the main offenders, Breton was quick to correct him: noting that the main offenders, per coverage in the French press, are rather TikTok and Snapchat. 

    Given the correspondence between the notably young demographics of the French rioters and the demographics of TikTok and Snapchat users, this is hardly surprising in fact. Moreover, the content that has been widely cited as circulating on TikTok and Snapchat – and sometimes indeed reproduced in the traditional French media itself (see here, for instance) – consists not so much of calls to violence, as video documentation of the violence that has occurred.

    This proliferation of videos of the French violence on social media and via messaging apps appears to be the real target of Breton’s wrath.

    Indeed, the Commissioner referred to it himself, even suggesting that platforms were using algorithms to make such material go viral – as if they would have to!

    The indulgence shown by Breton towards Twitter is also unsurprising, since many observers (including the present author) noticed videos of the French violence posted on Twitter quickly disappearing. This suggests that Twitter was indeed acting proactively to suppress the material in question.

    It can be wondered in passing what exactly is the justification for suppressing genuine documentation of the violence and destruction – this is, after all, a form of information, not “disinformation” – and whether its suppression will not in fact create a void that will be filled precisely by inauthentic “fake news.”

    (See, for example, this tweet on the burning of an “Alcazar” library in Marseille. A Twitter “Community Note” correctly points out that the embedded video is of a different building. But it fails to mention that a small municipal library of that name was in fact set on fire by rioters in Marseille.)

    Be that as it may, Breton noted that he had recently been to California to run “stress tests” with the American social media companies to ensure their preparedness for the DSA deadline, and he noted that he will go to China next week to discuss the same matter with TikTok. Consider the irony of this: an EU official traveling to China to ensure that a Chinese company is prepared to comply with a European censorship law!

    Breton also noted that during his visit to California, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that he was going to “hire one thousand people” – presumably to serve as human censors – in order to ensure Meta’s compliance with the EU rules.

    Nonetheless, the France Info journalists poured some cold water on Breton’s enthusiasm, noting that Meta does not even have any plans yet for rolling out its Twitter-alternative Threads in the European Union and wondering whether an excess of EU regulation might not be making some of the Big Tech companies “skittish.”

    In any case, Breton is not wrong that he or, at any rate, the European Commission as such is the regulator. For, speaking of Louis XIV, the DSA invests the Commission with what are, in effect, absolute powers to determine infractions of the DSA and apply sanctions in the case of non-compliance.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/17/2023 – 02:00

  • The WHO Is A Real And Present Danger
    The WHO Is A Real And Present Danger

    Authored by David Bell via The Brownstone Institute,

    Our governments intend to transfer decisions over our health, families, and societal freedoms to the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), whenever he or she declares it necessary. The success of this transfer of power depends on public ignorance of its implications, and of the nature of the WHO itself and its recent pandemic policy reversals. When the public understands, then its leaders are more likely to act in their interests rather than against them.

    In late 2019, the WHO issued new recommendations for pandemic influenza. Influenza spreads by the same mechanism as Covid-19 (aerosols), with a similar mortality in most people. The WHO stated that it is “not recommended in any circumstances” to undertake contact tracing, quarantine of exposed individuals, entry and exit screening, and border closures. They envisioned that in a severe pandemic it may be necessary to close businesses for up to seven to ten days. 

    The WHO cautioned against strict measures because they would have minimal impact on the spread of an aerosolized respiratory virus while inevitably increasing poverty, especially harming low-income people. Poverty makes people die younger and is a major killer of babies in low-income countries.

    A few months later, the WHO advocated for everything they had previously advised against, to combat Covid-19. This reversal in their recommendations had the effect they had predicted; increasing poverty and shortening life expectancy, particularly amongst the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, while having minimal overall impact on virus spread. 

    While the WHO’s 2019 recommendations were based on the assessment of decades of knowledge by an expert panel, its Covid-19 lockdown recommendations were based solely on reported experience from one city in China. Their new source of knowledge had, a few weeks earlier, stated that the new virus had no human-to-human transmission. This was followed by apparent propaganda taken up by the world’s media of people dropping dead in the streets.

    It is vital to understand what drove this reversal of WHO policy, and to detail its harm. International public health priorities are currently being upended with the specific aim of allowing the WHO to do this again, harder and more frequently. In May 2024 our countries will vote to allow a single person to dictate border closures and quarantine, and require medical examinations and vaccination of their citizens. They will agree to censor those who protest. Our governments will undertake to make this individual’s recommendations regarding our rights to family life, work, and school effectively binding.

    In promoting lockdowns, the WHO was not only following China, but a group of powerful Pharma-related interests who have been pushing these approaches for over a decade. They have established public-private partnerships such as the Swiss-based CEPI, channeling taxpayer funding to promote their authoritarian approach to public health. In October 2019, a meeting called Event-201 was convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, including the WHO, China CDC and others, to run simulations of such approaches for a hypothetical coronavirus outbreak. At this time, Covid-19 virus must already have been circulating well beyond China.

    Whilst establishing this influence over public health policy, Pharma and their private investors increasingly funded the WHO itself, now providing about 25 percent of its budget. This funding is ‘specified,’ meaning the funder decides how and where it is spent. Certain governments now also ‘specify’ most of their funding, leading to over 75 percent of the WHO’s activities being determined by the donor. Germany stands out as the second highest national donor after the USA, also being a major investor in BioNTech, Pfizer’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine developer.

    Discarding basic immunology, the WHO then claimed in late 2020 that only vaccination could lead to high community immunity (‘herd immunity’) and became a major proponent of mass vaccination within an epidemic, aligning fully with its private sponsors. Under pressure for obviously lying, they then changed to a preference for vaccination – equally foolish as a general statement since many everyday viruses are obviously mild. While not based on evidence or expertise, this clearly serves a purpose.

    Despite there being a clearly identified subset of people at high Covid risk, vaccination-for-all was promoted by Pharma investors as a ‘way out’ of the lockdowns these same people had advocated for. The WHO’s incoherent Covid vax mantra – “No one is safe until all are safe” – is supposed to support this but logically implies that vaccination does not even protect the vaccinated.

    In Western countries the results of these policies are increasingly stark; rising inequality, closed businesses and rising young adult all-cause mortality. In low-income countries across Africa and Asia that the WHO once prioritized, its actions have been even more devastating. As predicted in early 2020, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are increasing, killing more people and at a far younger age than Covid-19. Over 100 million additional people face malnutrition, up to 10 million additional girls will endure child marriage and nightly rape, and millions more mothers will lose their infants due to the impacts of deeper poverty. UNICEF estimated nearly a quarter million added child deaths from lockdowns in South Asia in 2020 alone. The WHO did this – they stated that it would happen, then encouraged its implementation.

    Few gained from the Covid response, but those who did – particularly private and corporate funders of the WHO with large Pharma and software assets – gained massively. WHO employees and others working in global health also thrived, and are now securing lucrative careers as the agenda expands. As the old evidence-based public health is pushed aside, it is in the new public health of the software entrepreneurs and Pharma moguls that careers will be made.

    So, we have a problem. The WHO, ostensibly leading the show, is deeply conflicted through its private investors, whilst governed by an Assembly including powerful States hostile to human rights and democracy. Its staffing policies, based on country quotas and rules that promote retention rather than targeted recruitment, are not even designed to assure technical expertise. 

    The recent behavior of these staff – blind, dutiful compliance with the organization’s multiple nonsensical claims – must raise questions regarding their integrity and competency. The expanding pandemic industry has a massive financial war chest aimed at media and political sponsorship, and our politicians fear political oblivion should they oppose it.

    Pandemics are rare. In the past century, including Covid, the WHO estimates about one per generation. These cost fewer life-years during their time of spread than tuberculosis or cancer cost every year. No one can rationally claim we face an existential crisis, or that forfeiting human freedom to Pharma and private entrepreneurs is a legitimate public health response should we face one. Our democracies are being eroded through a massive amoral business deal, a structure designed to concentrate the wealth of the many in the hands of the few. Covid-19 proved the model works. 

    The only real question is whether, and how, this society-wrecking pandemic train can be stopped. The public health professions want careers and salaries, and will not intervene. They have proven that in previous manifestations of fascism. The public must educate themselves, and then refuse to comply. We can just hope some of our supposed leaders will step forward to help them.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 23:40

  • Crimean Bridge Traffic Halted Due To "Emergency", Explosions Reported
    Crimean Bridge Traffic Halted Due To “Emergency”, Explosions Reported

    It’s deja vu all over again as various local news outlets report that traffic on the Russian-built Crimean Bridge – linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar – was stopped due to an emergency.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    The head of the Crimea Sergey Aksyonov made the statement on his Telegram channel, but did not specify the nature of the incident:

    “Traffic was stopped on the Krymsky Bridge: an emergency occurred in the area of ​​the 145th support from the Krasnodar Territory. Law enforcement agencies and all responsible services are working. I spoke with the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Gennadyevich Savelyev, measures are being taken to restore the situation. We keep in touch with colleagues from Krasnodar Territory,” Aksenov wrote.

    It was early in the morning and so there are few images available due to the darkness, but there are some video clips that reportedly of the scene:

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    The RBC-Ukraine news agency reported that explosions were heard on the bridge.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Russia’s Grey Zone channel, a heavily followed Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner mercenary group, reported that there were two strikes on the bridge at 03:04 a.m. and 03:20 a.m.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    There has been no official comment from Ukraine or Russia as yet.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 22:50

  • China's Youth Unemployment Just Hit A New Record High As Q2 GDP Growth Disappoints
    China’s Youth Unemployment Just Hit A New Record High As Q2 GDP Growth Disappoints

    China’s economy lost momentum in the second quarter with GDP growing just 6.3%, well below the 7.1% expectation.

    The statistics bureau’s press briefing begins with its spokesman, Fu Linghui, proudly proclaimed that China’s economy improved in the first half despite the grim and complex international environment.

    However, bear in mind that the 6.3% YoY growth rate – already quite a bit less than economists estimated – is less impressive when you consider it compares to a quarter in 2022 when Shanghai was under lockdown and other cities faced severe Covid-related restrictions.

    The rest of the major macro data was more mixed (though with a downside bias):

    • China June Industrial Output Rises 4.4% Y/Y; Est. 2.5% – BEAT (and improved from prior month)

    • China June Retail Sales Rise 3.1% Y/Y; Est. 3.3% – MISS (and slowed from prior month)

    • China Jan.-June Fixed Investment Rises 3.8% Y/Y; Est. 3.4% – BEAT (but slowed significantly)

    • China End-June Surveyed Jobless Rate Stands at 5.2% (flat from prior month)

    The growth of China’s home sales slowed, while property investment and new construction fell deeper, official data showed.

    • Home sales by value rose 3.7% from a year earlier in the first half of the year, slowing from an 11.9% increase in January to May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

    • Property investment fell 7.9% in the first half, compared with a 7.2% decline in the first five months.

    • New construction starts dropped 24.3% in the first six months, compared with a 22.6% fall in January to May.

    With China’s extreme Zero-COVID policies now in the distant past, the difficulties facing the world’s second-largest economy will further increase global growth fears and lead to increasing calls for Beijing to do more to shore up confidence (i.e. unleash broader stimulus measures).

    Ho Woei Chen, economist at United Overseas Bank says the GDP is “a big disappointment”:

    “But June data is still mixed. The industrial production was better than expected and picked up from May. The weak domestic demand will be of great concern and this will be the target for its monetary and fiscal stimulus.”

    The problem with those demands is that credit (stimulus) actually rose more than expected…

    Finally, and in fact probably even more critical than the actual GDP print, China’s youth unemployment rate rose to another new record high of 21.3% in June (dramatically worse than the 5.2% nationwide surveyed jobless rate)…

    Source: Bloombrg

    Of course, China does have a simple solution for this record youth unemployment… “it is becoming increasingly uncomfortable that the world’s concerns of a coming war in Taiwan are intensifying at the very same time that China’s youth unemployment is surging.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 22:29

  • Got Meat?
    Got Meat?

    Meat is always on the menu in many parts of the world, as we can see when we map out meat consumption by country.

    How do countries differ in how much, and what type of meat, they eat? In this colorful graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao discusses creator theWORLDMAPS; breakdown of the most consumed type of meat in every country in the world, using data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

    Each color denotes a different category of meat – beef, pork, mutton, poultry, seafood, or other – with annual consumption calculated per capita in kilograms (kg).

    Let’s dig in to the data.

    Is Fish Considered Meat?

    Since meat is normally defined as the flesh of any animal (with the primary components being water, fat, and protein), that includes fish and other seafood.

    But whether fish is considered “meat” or not depends a lot on cultural practices and dietary preferences, and has varied throughout history. Some earlier definitions of meat focused only on mammals, for example.

    In Christianity for example, many denominations allow eating fish on fasting days when abstaining from meat. This was both due to distinctions between meat from warm-blooded land animals and cold-blooded animals (like fish), as well as the importance of fish consumption in parts of Europe where Christianity flourished.

    To account for both sides of the debate, we’ll cover meat consumption by country both with and without fish and seafood.

    The Most Consumed Meat by Country (Including Seafood)

    Just by glancing at the map and the below table, poultry stands out as the most popular meat by weight consumption in 70 countries, or about 40% of the entire database.

    Note: Other meat includes less frequently farmed animals like rabbit, horse, and camel, as well as game—meat from wild animals.

    Country Most Consumed Meat
    🇦🇫 Afghanistan Mutton & Goat
    🇦🇱 Albania Poultry
    🇩🇿 Algeria Mutton & Goat
    🇦🇴 Angola Fish & Seafood
    🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda Poultry
    🇦🇷 Argentina Bovine
    🇦🇲 Armenia Bovine
    🇦🇺 Australia Poultry
    🇦🇹 Austria Pork
    🇦🇿 Azerbaijan Poultry
    🇧🇸 Bahamas Poultry
    🇧🇭 Bahrain Poultry
    🇧🇩 Bangladesh Fish & Seafood
    🇧🇧 Barbados Poultry
    🇧🇾 Belarus Pork
    🇧🇪 Belgium Pork
    🇧🇿 Belize Poultry
    🇧🇯 Benin Fish & Seafood
    🇧🇹 Bhutan Bovine
    🇧🇴 Bolivia Poultry
    🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina Poultry
    🇧🇼 Botswana Other
    🇧🇷 Brazil Poultry
    🇧🇬 Bulgaria Pork
    🇧🇫 Burkina Faso Pork
    🇧🇮 Burundi Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇻 Cabo Verde Poultry
    🇰🇭 Cambodia Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇲 Cameroon Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇦 Canada Poultry
    🇨🇫 Central African Republic Bovine
    🇹🇩 Chad Bovine
    🇨🇱 Chile Poultry
    🇨🇳 China Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇴 Colombia Poultry
    🇰🇲 Comoros Poultry
    🇨🇬 Congo Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇷 Costa Rica Poultry
    🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire Fish & Seafood
    🇭🇷 Croatia Pork
    🇨🇺 Cuba Poultry
    🇨🇾 Cyprus Pork
    🇨🇿 Czechia Pork
    🇩🇰 Denmark Fish & Seafood
    🇩🇯 Djibouti Bovine
    🇩🇲 Dominica Poultry
    🇩🇴 Dominican Republic Poultry
    🇨🇩 DR Congo Fish & Seafood
    🇪🇨 Ecuador Poultry
    🇪🇬 Egypt Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇻 El Salvador Poultry
    🇪🇪 Estonia Pork
    🇸🇿 Eswatini Bovine
    🇪🇹 Ethiopia Bovine
    🇫🇯 Fiji Poultry
    🇫🇮 Finland Fish & Seafood
    🇫🇷 France Fish & Seafood
    🇵🇫 French Polynesia Poultry
    🇬🇦 Gabon Poultry
    🇬🇲 Gambia Fish & Seafood
    🇬🇪 Georgia Poultry
    🇩🇪 Germany Pork
    🇬🇭 Ghana Fish & Seafood
    🇬🇷 Greece Poultry
    🇬🇩 Grenada Poultry
    🇬🇹 Guatemala Poultry
    🇬🇳 Guinea Fish & Seafood
    🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau Pork
    🇬🇾 Guyana Poultry
    🇭🇹 Haiti Poultry
    🇭🇳 Honduras Poultry
    🇭🇰 Hong Kong Fish & Seafood
    🇭🇺 Hungary Pork
    🇮🇸 Iceland Fish & Seafood
    🇮🇳 India Fish & Seafood
    🇮🇩 Indonesia Fish & Seafood
    🇮🇷 Iran Poultry
    🇮🇶 Iraq Poultry
    🇮🇪 Ireland Pork
    🇮🇱 Israel Poultry
    🇮🇹 Italy Pork
    🇯🇲 Jamaica Poultry
    🇯🇵 Japan Fish & Seafood
    🇯🇴 Jordan Poultry
    🇰🇿 Kazakhstan Bovine
    🇰🇪 Kenya Bovine
    🇰🇮 Kiribati Fish & Seafood
    🇰🇼 Kuwait Poultry
    🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan Bovine
    🇱🇦 Laos Fish & Seafood
    🇱🇻 Latvia Pork
    🇱🇧 Lebanon Poultry
    🇱🇸 Lesotho Pork
    🇱🇷 Liberia Poultry
    🇱🇾 Libya Poultry
    🇱🇹 Lithuania Pork
    🇱🇺 Luxembourg Pork
    🇲🇴 Macao Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇬 Madagascar Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇼 Malawi Pork
    🇲🇾 Malaysia Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇻 Maldives Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇱 Mali Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇹 Malta Bovine
    🇲🇷 Mauritania Mutton & Goat
    🇲🇺 Mauritius Poultry
    🇲🇽 Mexico Poultry
    🇫🇲 Micronesia Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇩 Moldova Pork
    🇲🇳 Mongolia Mutton & Goat
    🇲🇪 Montenegro Pork
    🇲🇦 Morocco Poultry
    🇲🇿 Mozambique Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇲 Myanmar Fish & Seafood
    🇳🇦 Namibia Fish & Seafood
    🇳🇷 Nauru Fish & Seafood
    🇳🇵 Nepal Bovine
    🇳🇱 Netherlands Pork
    🇳🇨 New Caledonia Poultry
    🇳🇿 New Zealand Fish & Seafood
    🇳🇮 Nicaragua Poultry
    🇳🇪 Niger Bovine
    🇳🇬 Nigeria Fish & Seafood
    🇰🇵 North Korea Fish & Seafood
    🇲🇰 North Macedonia Poultry
    🇳🇴 Norway Fish & Seafood
    🇴🇲 Oman Fish & Seafood
    🇵🇰 Pakistan Bovine
    🇵🇦 Panama Poultry
    🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea Other
    🇵🇾 Paraguay Bovine
    🇵🇪 Peru Poultry
    🇵🇭 Philippines Fish & Seafood
    🇵🇱 Poland Pork
    🇵🇹 Portugal Fish & Seafood
    🇶🇦 Qatar Poultry
    🇷🇴 Romania Pork
    🇷🇺 Russia Poultry
    🇷🇼 Rwanda Fish & Seafood
    🇰🇳 Saint Kitts & Nevis Poultry
    🇱🇨 Saint Lucia Poultry
    🇻🇨 Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Poultry
    🇼🇸 Samoa Poultry
    🇸🇹 Sao Tome & Principe Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Poultry
    🇸🇳 Senegal Fish & Seafood
    🇷🇸 Serbia Pork
    🇸🇨 Seychelles Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇱 Sierra Leone Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇰 Slovakia Pork
    🇸🇮 Slovenia Poultry
    🇸🇧 Solomon Islands Fish & Seafood
    🇿🇦 South Africa Poultry
    🇰🇷 South Korea Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇸 South Sudan Bovine
    🇪🇸 Spain Pork
    🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Fish & Seafood
    🇸🇩 Sudan Bovine
    🇸🇷 Suriname Poultry
    🇸🇪 Sweden Fish & Seafood
    🇨🇭 Switzerland Pork
    🇸🇾 Syria Mutton & Goat
    🇹🇼 Taiwan Poultry
    🇹🇯 Tajikistan Bovine
    🇹🇿 Tanzania Bovine
    🇹🇭 Thailand Fish & Seafood
    🇹🇱 Timor-Leste Pork
    🇹🇬 Togo Fish & Seafood
    🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago Poultry
    🇹🇳 Tunisia Poultry
    🇹🇷 Türkiye Poultry
    🇹🇲 Turkmenistan Bovine
    🇺🇸 U.S. Poultry
    🇦🇪 UAE Poultry
    🇺🇬 Uganda Fish & Seafood
    🇬🇧 UK Poultry
    🇺🇦 Ukraine Poultry
    🇺🇾 Uruguay Poultry
    🇺🇿 Uzbekistan Bovine
    🇻🇺 Vanuatu Fish & Seafood
    🇻🇪 Venezuela Poultry
    🇻🇳 Vietnam Fish & Seafood
    🇾🇪 Yemen Poultry
    🇿🇲 Zambia Fish & Seafood
    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe Bovine

    Fish & Seafood ranks as the second most popularly consumed meat in 56 countries, most of them with significant coastlines.

    Here’s a breakdown of how much of each type of meat is eaten per capita in each country, measured in kilograms.

    Country Poultry Pork Fish &
    Seafood    		 Bovine Mutton
    & Other
    🇦🇫 Afghanistan 1.7 0.0 0.4 3.2 4.3
    🇦🇱 Albania 13.9 5.3 8.7 11.7 8.3
    🇩🇿 Algeria 6.4 0.0 3.8 3.8 8.4
    🇦🇴 Angola 8.4 7.0 14.1 3.4 1.1
    🇦🇬 Antigua &
    Barbuda    		 61.8 14.3 54.1 5.0 1.0
    🇦🇷 Argentina 46.2 14.4 6.8 46.9 2.6
    🇦🇲 Armenia 15.3 8.1 5.5 23.9 3.6
    🇦🇺 Australia 48.7 24.2 24.1 37.0 11.5
    🇦🇹 Austria 15.7 45.0 14.3 14.9 1.4
    🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 14.4 0.6 2.0 13.5 8.4
    🇧🇸 Bahamas 54.4 23.8 24.2 5.2 1.7
    🇧🇭 Bahrain 44.0 0.8 16.3 13.7 22.2
    🇧🇩 Bangladesh 1.6 0.0 26.7 1.3 1.4
    🇧🇧 Barbados 49.3 12.3 42.9 8.0 3.4
    🇧🇾 Belarus 32.2 39.2 11.8 18.6 0.4
    🇧🇪 Belgium 12.4 32.8 22.7 14.0 2.6
    🇧🇿 Belize 23.8 20.8 13.3 3.6 0.3
    🇧🇯 Benin 8.7 0.7 16.2 3.6 1.5
    🇧🇹 Bhutan 4.6 1.9 7.3 9.3 0.3
    🇧🇴 Bolivia 40.9 9.7 2.8 21.6 4.9
    🇧🇦 Bosnia &
    Herzegovina    		 20.0 9.3 7.3 12.8 0.6
    🇧🇼 Botswana 3.5 0.5 2.6 10.2 14.3
    🇧🇷 Brazil 48.4 14.2 8.1 35.4 1.2
    🇧🇬 Bulgaria 21.5 30.0 7.4 3.5 2.0
    🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 9.5 15.2 8.9 5.3 4.3
    🇧🇮 Burundi 0.6 0.9 2.6 0.9 0.8
    🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 19.4 7.3 10.8 1.7 1.9
    🇰🇭 Cambodia 2.8 5.9 45.8 4.2 0.0
    🇨🇲 Cameroon 3.3 1.2 19.1 3.1 4.0
    🇨🇦 Canada 40.1 21.4 20.7 27.5 1.6
    🇨🇫 Central African
    Republic    		 2.6 4.1 7.4 20.8 10.4
    🇹🇩 Chad 0.5 0.2 6.6 27.5 18.7
    🇨🇱 Chile 36.1 22.1 14.8 23.7 1.3
    🇨🇳 China 15.6 35.5 39.9 6.8 4.2
    🇨🇴 Colombia 33.8 10.5 8.9 13.7 0.1
    🇰🇲 Comoros 26.8 0.1 14.3 3.0 1.2
    🇨🇬 Congo 23.2 6.8 24.5 1.9 8.1
    🇨🇷 Costa Rica 34.3 12.7 18.0 11.4 0.0
    🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire 2.9 1.0 23.2 1.4 6.5
    🇭🇷 Croatia 16.6 49.6 19.1 11.2 2.1
    🇨🇺 Cuba 37.7 21.6 6.1 7.4 4.9
    🇨🇾 Cyprus 28.4 36.8 25.5 5.9 4.6
    🇨🇿 Czechia 23.5 44.5 10.5 10.2 0.9
    🇩🇰 Denmark 24.6 13.5 26.5 24.3 1.3
    🇩🇯 Djibouti 3.6 0.1 3.5 6.2 5.4
    🇩🇲 Dominica 39.4 11.4 27.9 8.1 1.1
    🇩🇴 Dominican
    Republic    		 32.2 9.9 8.5 6.3 0.2
    🇨🇩 DR Congo 1.3 0.5 4.2 0.3 1.2
    🇪🇨 Ecuador 18.9 12.9 8.2 13.3 0.4
    🇪🇬 Egypt 14.3 0.0 27.1 7.4 1.5
    🇸🇻 El Salvador 25.9 4.7 6.5 8.2 0.0
    🇪🇪 Estonia 21.1 37.7 14.7 8.5 0.5
    🇸🇿 Eswatini 7.3 2.0 4.3 16.1 2.0
    🇪🇹 Ethiopia 0.6 0.0 0.5 3.8 3.5
    🇫🇯 Fiji 28.8 3.7 26.5 3.1 5.3
    🇫🇮 Finland 21.1 30.8 33.5 18.4 1.1
    🇫🇷 France 23.0 31.0 33.2 20.8 3.5
    🇵🇫 French
    Polynesia    		 48.8 14.3 47.3 21.4 3.7
    🇬🇦 Gabon 39.7 8.3 28.7 4.7 14.3
    🇬🇲 Gambia 10.6 0.3 25.2 3.4 1.1
    🇬🇪 Georgia 18.2 9.3 10.0 5.8 1.8
    🇩🇪 Germany 18.3 44.0 12.6 14.6 1.8
    🇬🇭 Ghana 11.6 1.2 24.9 1.6 4.2
    🇬🇷 Greece 25.6 25.0 21.7 14.5 9.4
    🇬🇩 Grenada 37.4 14.6 33.8 4.1 1.4
    🇬🇹 Guatemala 28.7 3.6 3.0 11.7 0.3
    🇬🇳 Guinea 2.7 0.2 9.7 8.2 2.8
    🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 3.1 7.2 1.2 3.7 1.3
    🇬🇾 Guyana 41.4 5.0 25.0 4.2 1.2
    🇭🇹 Haiti 10.9 4.0 5.0 4.2 0.9
    🇭🇳 Honduras 21.6 5.0 2.6 6.0 0.1
    🇭🇰 Hong Kong 55.5 55.2 65.8 22.5 3.0
    🇭🇺 Hungary 29.8 48.3 6.4 4.6 0.3
    🇮🇸 Iceland 30.0 21.8 90.6 14.0 24.4
    🇮🇳 India 2.6 0.2 8.0 1.1 0.6
    🇮🇩 Indonesia 13.7 0.9 44.4 2.8 0.5
    🇮🇷 Iran 26.0 0.0 12.6 7.6 4.5
    🇮🇶 Iraq 5.4 0.0 3.6 3.1 1.7
    🇮🇪 Ireland 24.7 31.1 22.6 19.8 3.6
    🇮🇱 Israel 68.9 1.6 24.7 27.2 1.7
    🇮🇹 Italy 19.6 32.9 29.2 15.9 1.8
    🇯🇲 Jamaica 53.9 3.1 25.2 3.8 0.7
    🇯🇵 Japan 22.3 21.3 46.2 9.6 0.3
    🇯🇴 Jordan 26.1 0.0 5.1 6.8 4.8
    🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 21.2 8.2 2.8 26.6 15.9
    🇰🇪 Kenya 1.3 0.4 2.9 4.5 4.5
    🇰🇮 Kiribati 26.6 10.3 73.2 1.9 0.3
    🇰🇼 Kuwait 46.6 0.0 14.0 9.4 16.7
    🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 5.2 2.1 1.1 14.9 10.0
    🇱🇦 Laos 6.6 13.5 24.1 8.4 0.5
    🇱🇻 Latvia 26.2 38.4 25.0 5.3 0.8
    🇱🇧 Lebanon 18.6 0.6 8.7 9.2 1.1
    🇱🇸 Lesotho 2.1 3.8 3.0 2.0 3.9
    🇱🇷 Liberia 11.3 5.3 4.3 0.4 2.1
    🇱🇾 Libya 32.8 0.0 14.3 2.9 6.5
    🇱🇹 Lithuania 33.3 50.7 33.1 5.9 1.1
    🇱🇺 Luxembourg 18.1 33.1 31.7 25.7 2.0
    🇲🇴 Macao 45.6 46.9 73.2 9.4 1.8
    🇲🇬 Madagascar 3.1 1.0 4.0 1.3 0.5
    🇲🇼 Malawi 5.7 11.8 10.1 2.9 3.1
    🇲🇾 Malaysia 50.2 7.4 54.7 6.0 1.0
    🇲🇻 Maldives 11.0 0.4 83.1 5.9 0.8
    🇲🇱 Mali 2.4 0.1 8.5 3.6 2.6
    🇲🇹 Malta 25.2 25.8 22.8 26.4 1.8
    🇲🇷 Mauritania 6.3 0.0 8.4 6.4 18.4
    🇲🇺 Mauritius 38.7 3.2 24.0 4.5 4.2
    🇲🇽 Mexico 35.9 19.1 13.6 14.6 1.5
    🇫🇲 Micronesia 38.2 16.2 47.4 4.9 0.2
    🇲🇩 Moldova 17.2 19.2 11.7 1.9 0.3
    🇲🇳 Mongolia 3.0 0.6 0.6 26.6 81.4
    🇲🇪 Montenegro 17.1 43.2 15.6 15.0 2.1
    🇲🇦 Morocco 24.0 0.0 18.4 7.7 6.9
    🇲🇿 Mozambique 3.8 3.1 13.4 0.6 0.1
    🇲🇲 Myanmar 29.9 20.1 45.0 9.3 1.7
    🇳🇦 Namibia 10.2 4.5 11.9 8.8 8.9
    🇳🇷 Nauru 51.0 28.2 51.0 19.1 6.9
    🇳🇵 Nepal 2.3 1.0 3.5 8.2 2.7
    🇳🇱 Netherlands 10.0 27.7 21.9 16.2 5.2
    🇳🇨 New
    Caledonia    		 40.9 17.4 23.4 17.7 2.3
    🇳🇿 New Zealand 26.0 25.2 26.4 18.6 15.3
    🇳🇮 Nicaragua 21.8 5.3 6.6 2.2 0.4
    🇳🇪 Niger 1.0 0.1 1.8 2.8 4.4
    🇳🇬 Nigeria 1.2 1.5 6.7 1.6 2.8
    🇰🇵 North Korea 1.8 4.3 11.0 0.8 6.7
    🇲🇰 North
    Macedonia    		 20.0 12.6 6.2 6.8 0.9
    🇳🇴 Norway 20.0 23.7 50.2 17.8 5.8
    🇴🇲 Oman 19.7 0.4 26.1 9.0 14.3
    🇵🇰 Pakistan 6.2 0.0 1.6 9.8 2.6
    🇵🇦 Panama 55.4 15.9 13.7 14.5 1.0
    🇵🇬 Papua
    New Guinea    		 3.9 9.9 14.6 0.8 47.8
    🇵🇾 Paraguay 9.6 8.8 4.0 21.9 0.6
    🇵🇪 Peru 42.7 4.5 27.1 4.2 1.9
    🇵🇭 Philippines 15.9 14.5 29.1 3.1 0.3
    🇵🇱 Poland 32.9 55.0 12.5 1.5 0.1
    🇵🇹 Portugal 30.6 38.1 60.0 18.8 2.8
    🇶🇦 Qatar 54.3 1.2 21.1 8.4 12.1
    🇷🇴 Romania 23.9 34.5 8.3 5.2 2.7
    🇷🇺 Russia 30.8 28.2 21.7 12.9 5.1
    🇷🇼 Rwanda 1.5 1.0 4.6 2.7 3.2
    🇰🇳 Saint Kitts
    & Nevis    		 48.7 15.5 38.8 2.9 2.5
    🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 57.6 14.9 33.6 3.8 2.0
    🇻🇨 Saint Vincent
    & the Grenadines    		 74.7 11.3 19.4 7.8 0.7
    🇼🇸 Samoa 65.7 12.3 47.6 6.9 3.5
    🇸🇹 Sao Tome
    & Principe    		 17.1 4.7 27.7 1.7 0.1
    🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 43.0 0.0 11.7 4.4 7.7
    🇸🇳 Senegal 7.4 1.2 11.9 5.0 3.7
    🇷🇸 Serbia 14.1 37.3 6.7 6.1 4.1
    🇸🇨 Seychelles 36.9 13.7 56.8 9.2 2.7
    🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 5.4 1.0 25.5 1.3 1.9
    🇸🇰 Slovakia 16.9 38.8 10.2 5.8 0.9
    🇸🇮 Slovenia 30.4 25.8 13.2 15.3 1.1
    🇸🇧 Solomon
    Islands    		 6.1 4.4 28.1 1.8 0.1
    🇿🇦 South Africa 34.9 4.2 6.5 17.2 3.5
    🇰🇷 South Korea 22.8 38.4 55.3 16.9 0.5
    🇸🇸 South Sudan 4.3 0.0 2.9 12.4 4.3
    🇪🇸 Spain 33.6 52.6 40.8 12.3 3.4
    🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 10.4 0.1 29.0 1.2 0.1
    🇸🇩 Sudan 1.9 0.0 1.1 8.0 10.5
    🇸🇷 Suriname 49.6 8.0 16.5 4.4 0.3
    🇸🇪 Sweden 15.4 28.6 32.2 22.5 1.5
    🇨🇭 Switzerland 16.9 27.8 16.0 19.1 2.4
    🇸🇾 Syria 6.4 0.0 2.2 2.2 7.3
    🇹🇼 Taiwan 41.6 38.4 29.8 6.1 0.9
    🇹🇯 Tajikistan 3.5 0.1 0.7 25.8 7.8
    🇹🇿 Tanzania 1.5 0.3 6.4 7.8 1.6
    🇹🇭 Thailand 11.4 13.1 29.2 1.2 0.0
    🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 9.4 11.5 6.4 1.6 0.4
    🇹🇬 Togo 7.2 2.3 11.7 0.8 2.2
    🇹🇹 Trinidad
    & Tobago    		 63.1 5.6 23.6 5.7 1.5
    🇹🇳 Tunisia 17.9 0.0 14.1 3.7 5.8
    🇹🇷 Türkiye 20.0 0.0 5.5 16.0 1.3
    🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 6.1 0.1 2.8 22.5 20.8
    🇺🇸 U.S. 58.7 30.6 22.8 37.9 1.4
    🇦🇪 UAE 31.1 0.0 25.4 6.7 10.4
    🇺🇬 Uganda 1.5 2.9 14.3 3.6 1.0
    🇬🇧 UK 32.7 24.0 17.9 17.4 5.0
    🇺🇦 Ukraine 24.9 16.7 13.8 7.2 0.7
    🇺🇾 Uruguay 21.0 14.1 9.1 19.4 3.5
    🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 3.1 0.2 4.0 31.6 6.1
    🇻🇺 Vanuatu 14.6 12.4 29.0 7.2 0.3
    🇻🇪 Venezuela 16.1 4.4 10.2 12.0 0.3
    🇻🇳 Vietnam 15.8 38.2 39.6 6.1 0.5
    🇾🇪 Yemen 11.2 0.0 3.0 3.0 4.5
    🇿🇲 Zambia 2.6 1.5 13.1 9.3 2.7
    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 4.6 0.7 3.0 42.3 4.3

    The world’s largest consumers of meat per capita? Hong Kong, Iceland, and Macao have the highest total meat consumption, all above 170 kg (370 lbs) per capita.

    We take a brief look through the biggest consumers of each type of meat below.

    Who Eats the Most Poultry?

    While the U.S. and China eat the most chicken by absolute numbers, the countries rank 7th and 112th respectively when it comes to poultry consumption on a per capita basis.

    Several island nations—St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Samoa—along with Israel eat more than 60 kilograms of poultry meat (about 15 large birds) per person on an annual basis.

    Regionally, poultry consumption can be seen spanning almost all of the Americas, as well as in the UK and former British colonies Australia and South Africa, and in the Middle East.

    Who Eats the Most Pork?

    Despite eating more seafood and poultry, Hong Kong leads the world in pork consumption per capita annually at 55 kg (121 lbs). This is almost equivalent to the average amount of retail pork harvested from a single 250 lb pig.

    Poland and Spain—who are also top pork producers—rank close behind Hong Kong with similar pork consumption numbers. Indeed, we can see pork as the most consumed meat in many European countries with local histories of pork foods, as well as in a few countries in Africa including Burkina Faso and one Southeast Asian country, Timor-Leste.

    Who Eats the Most Fish and Seafood?

    In the middle of the North Atlantic ocean, Iceland eats the most fish and seafood in the world, at a staggering 90 kg (nearly 200 lbs), per person per year. That also gives Iceland the crown for the highest per-capita consumption of any single type of meat.

    Behind Iceland are other island and high coastline nations, including the Maldives, Hong Kong, Macao, and Portugal. Regionally we can see the importance of seafood reflected in East and South Asia, the Atlantic coastline of Africa, and the Nordic countries in Europe.

    Who Eats the Most Beef?

    Argentina’s 46-million-strong population eats nearly 47 kg (103 lbs) of bovine meat per person per year, the most by any country in the UN’s database.

    The South American country has a rich culinary history with beef, as cattle brought by Spanish settlers flourished on the grassy plains of the region. Such is cattle’s importance on the continent that the gaucho—a horseman engaged in cattle work—is a folk symbol in Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Brazil (which ranks 5th in beef consumption).

    The map of beef consumption highlights Central Asian countries including Uzbekistan and Eastern African countries including Ethiopia.

    Who Eats the Most Mutton & Other Meat?

    The people of Mongolia are unrivaled in their consumption of mutton and goat meat, devouring an impressive 66 kilograms (145 pounds) per capita annually. This voracious appetite for meat is deeply rooted in their heritage as a nation of skilled shepherds.

    Papua New Guinea, meanwhile, tops the “other meat” consumption rankings. The country is the largest producer of game meat in the world, due to its mostly rural and indigenous population relying on hunting. One 2023 study found that a sample of villages in the country primarily hunted wild deer and boar for meat, although marsupials like bandicoots, tree-kangaroos, and cuscus were occasionally hunted and consumed as well.

    Mongolia also ranks highly in consumption of other meat per capita, likely due to their traditional consumption of horse meat. The country produced just over 100,000 tons of horse meat in 2020, one-sixth of the country’s total meat production that year.

    Mapping Meat Consumption By Country, Without Seafood

    What happens to each country’s meat consumption habits if we remove fish and seafood from the dataset? The map, and the rankings change quite a bit.

    Most of the blue on the map is replaced with a wash of yellow, indicating the global popularity of poultry meat as a cheap and efficient source of protein. However, much of East Asia including China and European countries like France and Sweden consume more pork.

    The rankings for total meat consumption also shuffle.

    Country Total (With Seafood) Total (Without Seafood)
    🇦🇫 Afghanistan 9.6 9.3
    🇦🇱 Albania 47.8 39.1
    🇩🇿 Algeria 22.4 18.6
    🇦🇴 Angola 34.1 19.9
    🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda 136.2 82.1
    🇦🇷 Argentina 116.9 110.2
    🇦🇲 Armenia 56.4 50.9
    🇦🇺 Australia 145.6 121.5
    🇦🇹 Austria 91.2 76.9
    🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 38.9 36.9
    🇧🇸 Bahamas 109.3 85.1
    🇧🇭 Bahrain 96.9 80.6
    🇧🇩 Bangladesh 31.1 4.3
    🇧🇧 Barbados 115.8 73.0
    🇧🇾 Belarus 102.2 90.4
    🇧🇪 Belgium 84.5 61.9
    🇧🇿 Belize 61.8 48.5
    🇧🇯 Benin 30.8 14.6
    🇧🇹 Bhutan 23.4 16.1
    🇧🇴 Bolivia 79.9 77.1
    🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina 50.1 42.8
    🇧🇼 Botswana 31.1 28.6
    🇧🇷 Brazil 107.2 99.2
    🇧🇬 Bulgaria 64.3 56.9
    🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 43.2 34.3
    🇧🇮 Burundi 5.7 3.1
    🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 41.2 30.4
    🇰🇭 Cambodia 58.6 12.9
    🇨🇲 Cameroon 30.8 11.6
    🇨🇦 Canada 111.3 90.6
    🇨🇫 Central African Republic 45.1 37.8
    🇹🇩 Chad 53.5 46.9
    🇨🇱 Chile 97.8 83.0
    🇨🇳 China 102.0 62.1
    🇨🇴 Colombia 67.0 58.1
    🇰🇲 Comoros 45.5 31.2
    🇨🇬 Congo 64.5 40.0
    🇨🇷 Costa Rica 76.4 58.5
    🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire 35.0 11.8
    🇭🇷 Croatia 98.6 79.5
    🇨🇺 Cuba 77.6 71.6
    🇨🇾 Cyprus 101.1 75.6
    🇨🇿 Czechia 89.6 79.2
    🇩🇰 Denmark 90.1 63.7
    🇩🇯 Djibouti 18.9 15.4
    🇩🇲 Dominica 87.9 60.1
    🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 57.1 48.6
    🇨🇩 DR Congo 7.4 3.3
    🇪🇨 Ecuador 53.6 45.4
    🇪🇬 Egypt 50.3 23.3
    🇸🇻 El Salvador 45.4 38.8
    🇪🇪 Estonia 82.4 67.8
    🇸🇿 Eswatini 31.7 27.4
    🇪🇹 Ethiopia 8.4 7.9
    🇫🇯 Fiji 67.4 40.9
    🇫🇮 Finland 104.8 71.4
    🇫🇷 France 111.5 78.2
    🇵🇫 French Polynesia 135.4 88.2
    🇬🇦 Gabon 95.7 67.0
    🇬🇲 Gambia 40.6 15.5
    🇬🇪 Georgia 45.1 35.1
    🇩🇪 Germany 91.4 78.8
    🇬🇭 Ghana 43.5 18.5
    🇬🇷 Greece 96.2 74.5
    🇬🇩 Grenada 91.3 57.5
    🇬🇹 Guatemala 47.2 44.2
    🇬🇳 Guinea 23.6 13.9
    🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 16.5 15.3
    🇬🇾 Guyana 76.8 51.8
    🇭🇹 Haiti 25.0 20.0
    🇭🇳 Honduras 35.4 32.8
    🇭🇰 Hong Kong 202.1 136.3
    🇭🇺 Hungary 89.3 82.9
    🇮🇸 Iceland 180.9 90.2
    🇮🇳 India 12.6 4.6
    🇮🇩 Indonesia 62.3 17.9
    🇮🇷 Iran 50.6 38.0
    🇮🇶 Iraq 13.8 10.2
    🇮🇪 Ireland 101.8 79.2
    🇮🇱 Israel 124.1 99.4
    🇮🇹 Italy 99.4 70.2
    🇯🇲 Jamaica 86.7 61.5
    🇯🇵 Japan 99.6 53.4
    🇯🇴 Jordan 42.8 37.7
    🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 74.7 71.9
    🇰🇪 Kenya 13.6 10.7
    🇰🇮 Kiribati 112.4 39.2
    🇰🇼 Kuwait 86.6 72.7
    🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 33.2 32.1
    🇱🇦 Laos 53.1 29.0
    🇱🇻 Latvia 95.8 70.8
    🇱🇧 Lebanon 38.2 29.5
    🇱🇸 Lesotho 14.7 11.7
    🇱🇷 Liberia 23.4 19.1
    🇱🇾 Libya 56.5 42.2
    🇱🇹 Lithuania 123.9 90.9
    🇱🇺 Luxembourg 110.6 78.9
    🇲🇴 Macao 176.9 103.7
    🇲🇬 Madagascar 9.8 5.8
    🇲🇼 Malawi 33.7 23.6
    🇲🇾 Malaysia 119.4 64.7
    🇲🇻 Maldives 101.2 18.1
    🇲🇱 Mali 17.1 8.6
    🇲🇹 Malta 102.0 79.1
    🇲🇷 Mauritania 39.5 31.1
    🇲🇺 Mauritius 74.5 50.5
    🇲🇽 Mexico 84.7 71.1
    🇫🇲 Micronesia 106.7 59.4
    🇲🇩 Moldova 50.3 38.6
    🇲🇳 Mongolia 112.1 111.6
    🇲🇪 Montenegro 93.0 77.4
    🇲🇦 Morocco 57.0 38.6
    🇲🇿 Mozambique 21.0 7.6
    🇲🇲 Myanmar 106.0 61.0
    🇳🇦 Namibia 44.3 32.4
    🇳🇷 Nauru 156.2 105.1
    🇳🇵 Nepal 17.7 14.2
    🇳🇱 Netherlands 81.0 59.1
    🇳🇨 New Caledonia 101.7 78.3
    🇳🇿 New Zealand 111.4 85.0
    🇳🇮 Nicaragua 36.3 29.6
    🇳🇪 Niger 10.1 8.3
    🇳🇬 Nigeria 13.8 7.0
    🇰🇵 North Korea 24.6 13.6
    🇲🇰 North Macedonia 46.6 40.3
    🇳🇴 Norway 117.4 67.2
    🇴🇲 Oman 69.5 43.4
    🇵🇰 Pakistan 20.2 18.6
    🇵🇦 Panama 100.5 86.8
    🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 77.0 62.4
    🇵🇾 Paraguay 44.9 40.9
    🇵🇪 Peru 80.5 53.4
    🇵🇭 Philippines 62.8 33.7
    🇵🇱 Poland 102.0 89.5
    🇵🇹 Portugal 150.2 90.2
    🇶🇦 Qatar 96.9 75.9
    🇷🇴 Romania 74.7 66.4
    🇷🇺 Russia 98.6 76.9
    🇷🇼 Rwanda 12.9 8.4
    🇰🇳 Saint Kitts & Nevis 108.5 69.7
    🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 111.9 78.3
    🇻🇨 Saint Vincent & the Grenadines 113.8 94.4
    🇼🇸 Samoa 135.9 88.3
    🇸🇹 Sao Tome & Principe 51.3 23.6
    🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 66.8 55.0
    🇸🇳 Senegal 29.1 17.2
    🇷🇸 Serbia 68.3 61.6
    🇸🇨 Seychelles 119.2 62.5
    🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 35.0 9.5
    🇸🇰 Slovakia 72.7 62.5
    🇸🇮 Slovenia 85.7 72.5
    🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 40.5 12.4
    🇿🇦 South Africa 66.2 59.8
    🇰🇷 South Korea 133.8 78.5
    🇸🇸 South Sudan 23.9 21.0
    🇪🇸 Spain 142.7 101.9
    🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 40.8 11.8
    🇸🇩 Sudan 21.5 20.3
    🇸🇷 Suriname 78.8 62.3
    🇸🇪 Sweden 100.2 68.0
    🇨🇭 Switzerland 82.2 66.2
    🇸🇾 Syria 18.0 15.8
    🇹🇼 Taiwan 116.7 87.0
    🇹🇯 Tajikistan 37.9 37.2
    🇹🇿 Tanzania 17.6 11.2
    🇹🇭 Thailand 54.9 25.8
    🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 29.3 22.9
    🇹🇬 Togo 24.2 12.5
    🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago 99.5 75.9
    🇹🇳 Tunisia 41.4 27.3
    🇹🇷 Türkiye 42.8 37.3
    🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 52.2 49.4
    🇺🇸 U.S. 151.4 128.6
    🇦🇪 UAE 73.6 48.2
    🇺🇬 Uganda 23.3 9.0
    🇬🇧 UK 97.0 79.1
    🇺🇦 Ukraine 63.3 49.5
    🇺🇾 Uruguay 67.3 58.1
    🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 45.0 41.0
    🇻🇺 Vanuatu 63.5 34.5
    🇻🇪 Venezuela 43.1 32.9
    🇻🇳 Vietnam 100.2 60.6
    🇾🇪 Yemen 21.7 18.7
    🇿🇲 Zambia 29.3 16.2
    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 54.9 51.9

    Hong Kong remains at the top, but the U.S. jumps up three spots to second place, with annual per capita meat consumption at 128 kg (282 lbs) when seafood isn’t included.

    Iceland and Macao drop to the top 15, while Australia, Mongolia, and Argentina climb into the top five. Other countries that preferred seafood dropped a lot lower, such as Japan, which fell 40 spots in the total consumption rankings when fish was removed.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 22:05

  • US, NATO Weapons Stockpile At "Dangerously Low" Levels: Top Air Force General
    US, NATO Weapons Stockpile At “Dangerously Low” Levels: Top Air Force General

    Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

    The weapons stockpile of the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are becoming “dangerous low” with no “short term” solutions, according to a top U.S. Air Force commander.

    Gen. James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, made the remarks at the Chief of the Air Staff’s Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, reported Breaking Defense.

    The air force general urged NATO allies to think seriously about their stockpiles.

    “I think it’s very important that we kind of take stock of where we are in our weapons state across the 32 nations of NATO, and we’re getting way down compared to where we were,” Gen. Hecker said on a panel with the air chiefs of the United Kingdom and Sweden at the conference, reported the outlet.

    “And it’s probably not going to get better—well, it’s not in the short term—but we’ve got to make sure in the long term we have the industrial base that can increase what we have,” he said at the July 12-13 event, urging all NATO nations to start making deeper investments.

    The United States is at “roughly half the number of fighter squadrons” it had compared to when it engaged in Operation Desert Storm, a U.S.-led operation that started in January 1991 as part of a response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the general said. He added there’s been a similar decrease in fighter squadrons for the UK.

    “So we don’t have nearly what we had at the heart of the Cold War,” he continued.

    “Now you add that we’re giving a lot of munitions away to the Ukrainians, which I think is exactly what we need to do, but now we’re getting dangerously low and sometimes, in some cases even too low, that we don’t have enough. And we need to get industry on board to help us out so we can get this going.”

    The United States has provided Ukraine over $41.3 billion in security assistance since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the U.S. State Department as of July 7. This encompasses more than $15 billion in weapons and equipment taken from U.S. military stocks to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

    It comes after the Biden administration last week announced it would send to Ukraine the controversial cluster munitions, which have since arrived in the country.

    The cluster munitions, after they are fired, open in midair and release bomblets over a wide area to strike several targets simultaneously. They can be delivered by planes, artillery, and missiles. More than 100 countries, including two-thirds of NATO allies, have banned such weapons because they can cause many civilian casualties.

    Cluster munitions can be fired using artillery that the United States has provided to Ukraine, and the Pentagon has a large stockpile of them that were facing decommissioning if it wasn’t for Ukraine’s voiced need for more ammunition.

    A man standing next to the remains of a missile that dropped cluster bombs in a residential housing complex in Sloviansk, Ukraine, on June 27, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    The Biden administration said the cluster munitions will enable the Ukrainians to continue their war effort with the ordnance they need, while the United States and others who supply Ukraine ramp up their production of artillery shells to further assist Ukraine’s defense.

    “We don’t see this as a permanent solution but rather a bridge,” Colin Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said at a July 7 press briefing.

    National security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a separate briefing: “We are reaching a point in this conflict, because of the dramatically high expenditure rates of artillery by Ukraine and by Russia, where we need to build a bridge from where we are today to when we have enough monthly production of unitary rounds that unitary rounds alone will suffice to give Ukraine what it needs.

    “So, as a result, this is the moment to begin the construction of that bridge so that there isn’t any period over this summer or heading into this fall when Ukraine is short on artillery and, being short on artillery, it is vulnerable to Russian counterattacks that could subjugate more Ukrainian civilians.”

    Mr. Sullivan stopped short of saying there was a shortage of artillery shells.

    Heidi Grant, Boeing’s director of business development, who was a former top official for the Pentagon’s weapons sales, told the panel in London that in order to start production lines, industry needs a “written, on-paper request” of what’s required, reported Breaking Defense.

    “It’s hard for us to make the investment unless we know that [the demand is] really there,” Ms. Grant added.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 21:30

  • Janet Yellen Consumed Psychedelic Mushrooms In China: Report
    Janet Yellen Consumed Psychedelic Mushrooms In China: Report

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may have been tripping balls when she fervently bowed before a Chinese official last week, after the 76-year-old ate four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom with unpredictable psychedelic effects.

    According to CNN, citing Chinese state media,Yellen nipped into a casual Beijing restaurant right after landing on July 6, where she apparently exhibited excellent skills with her chopsticks.

    Then she did this:

     “You thought you were walking straight but you just fell sideways,” one food expert told the Xinhua state news agency in a report about the mushroom’s potent powers, published after Yellen left the country.

    “I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days,” Dr. Peter Mortimer, a professor at Kunming Institute of Botany, told CNN.

    Yellen’s stop at an outlet of the Yi Zuo Yi Wang restaurant chain — the name means “In and Out” in English — sparked a flurry of posts on the Chinese social media network Weibo and a deluge of reservations, staffers said.

    “It was an extremely magical day,” the restaurant said of the secretary’s visit. –NY Post

    About that bow…

    “Never, ever, ever – An American official does not bow,” said former George W. Bush White House senior staffer Bradley Blakeman in response. “It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love.”

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 20:55

  • US Ready To Engage North Korea On Nuclear Program "Without Preconditions"
    US Ready To Engage North Korea On Nuclear Program “Without Preconditions”

    After a recent clear uptick in provocative North Korean missile launches, itself a response to increased joint US-South Korean military drills on the peninsula, national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said the Biden White House is ready to negotiate with Pyongyang “without preconditions” about its nuclear program.  

    “We have indicated to North Korea that we’re prepared to sit down and talk without preconditions about their nuclear program,” Sullivan told “Face the Nation” on Sunday, in comments coming just days after the north test launched an ICBM.

    For months, South Korean and Western officials have expressed alarm over what they see as a potential North Korean nuclear test happening soon. But Sullivan in his own fresh remarks said he’s not seen “any immediate indications” of this happening imminently.

    “But it would not come as a surprise that North Korea moved forward with another nuclear test,” he said.

    “With respect to its intercontinental ballistic missile capability, this is a capability they began testing several years ago,” Sullivan continued. “They have continued to test it. We watch all of those tests very closely to see how it is developing and we could coordinate extremely closely with our allies — with Japan and Korea —  to make sure that we are responding in lockstep to this threat.” 

    Sullivan called out China as well, warning of a regional escalation in nuclear build-up activities…

    “We’ve also made clear to China that it is the United States who is ready for diplomacy and North Korea who was not,” Sullivan said.

    “So from our perspective, China has a role to play here too, given its relationship with North Korea, to indicate to the North Koreans that its continued testing is destabilizing, and, frankly, is in fact only creating circumstances in which the United States our allies and partners have to step up our activities and posture to respond to the threat.” 

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    In recent years, the US and Japan began issuing joint affirmations of common nuclear defense.

    A White House statement in April 2021 for example spelled out: “The United States restated its unwavering support for Japan’s defense under the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear.”

    So given this, Beijing is unlikely to quickly heed Washington’s call to rush to be direct mediator with the Kim Jong Un government.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 19:45

  • DeSantis Fires Roughly A Dozen Staffers With More On The Way
    DeSantis Fires Roughly A Dozen Staffers With More On The Way

    The 2024 presidential campaign of Ron DeSantis (R) has fired roughly a dozen staffers, with more ‘expected in the coming weeks,’ after the Florida governor has failed to gain ground on former President Donald Trump less than two months after he entered the race.

    According to NBC News, those who were let go were described as mid-level staffers across several departments whose firings were related to cutting costs. The downsizing comes after the departures of David Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, veterans of DeSantis’ political orbit, as first reported by Politico.

    Sources from within the DeSantis campaign say that there’s an internal assessment that they hired too many staffers too early despite a $20 million haul during the first six weeks, and that costs needed to come down.

    Others within DeSantis’ political orbit have laid the blame at the feet of campaign manager Generra Peck, who spearheaded the governor’s 2022 midterm reelection bid.

    “She should be,” said one DeSantis donor.

    “They never should have brought so many people on, the burn rate was way too high,” said one GOP source familiar with the campaign’s thought process. “People warned the campaign manager but she wanted to hear none of it.”

    “DeSantis stock isn’t rising,” added the donor. “Twenty percent is not what people signed up for.”

    The person noted that DeSantis has a penchant for switching out staff, which means that he has no core team that has worked together before. DeSantis had three different campaign teams for each of his three runs for Congress, and notably had a huge campaign shakeup during his first run for governor in 2018. –NBC News

    In response, DeSantis campaign spokesman Eric Romeo told NBC News; “Americans are rallying behind Ron DeSantis and his plan to reverse Joe Biden’s failures and restore sanity to our nation, and his momentum will only continue as voters see more of him in-person, especially in Iowa. Defeating Joe Biden and the $72 million behind him will require a nimble and candidate driven campaign, and we are building a movement to go the distance.”

    According to campaign finance reports filed Saturday, the DeSantis campaign had 92 people listed as being on the payroll for at least some period of time during the first fundraising period – the most of any GOP presidential candidate. This comes amid ‘huge payroll expenses’ and ‘fewer resources than originally thought.’

    As of now, DeSantis has $12 million in the bank – of which just $3 million can be used during the general election. Around $14 million of his Q2 haul came from donors who contributed the maximum legal amount. This means that around 2/3 of his early donors will be barred from giving directly to his campaign for the remainder of the race.

    Never Back Down, the pro-DeSantis super PAC, has said it will spend up to $200 million to boost the governor’s White House bid and has a significantly larger staff than the official campaign.

    The moment of potential reset comes ahead of a national finance committee meeting for DeSantis’ campaign Sunday in Tallahassee, which will bring the campaign’s brain trust together as they try to figure out how to chip into Trump’s massive GOP primary lead.

    The event will include a briefing at the campaign’s Tallahassee headquarters followed by a barbecue at the governor’s mansion, according to an invite reviewed by NBC News.

    Despite being on the campaign trail for nearly two months, DeSantis has been frustrating some supporters for his failure to make up ground against Trump.

    “Yeah, there are people grumbling about it, no doubt,” said one DeSantis donor. “There is an overall sense, including with me, that he just has not ignited the way we thought he would.“

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 18:35

  • Pronoun Lockdown: Almost Half Of Millennials Want Jail Time For "Misgendering"
    Pronoun Lockdown: Almost Half Of Millennials Want Jail Time For “Misgendering”

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    A recent survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for Newsweek, found that 44 percent  of millennials (between ages 25-34) favor criminal charges for people who use the wrong pronouns for others or so-called “misgendering.” 

    We have previously discussed how misgendering is now a crime in countries like Great Britain.

    Misgendering has been referred to as an “act of violence” at some U.S. universities.

    There has been a concern that we are seeing the rise of a generation of censors, who have been taught since a young age that speech is harmful and even violent.

    Yet, hate speech is protected in the United States.

    Given that fact, it is astonishing to claim that a pronoun violation could lead to incarceration. Only 31 percent of the millennials disagreed with the proposition.

    They are not alone.

    Recently, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who is a lawyer, said that “if you espouse hate … you’re not protected under the First Amendment.”

    Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean declared the identical position: “Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment.”

    Even some dictionaries now espouse this false premise, defining “hate speech” as “Speech not protected by the First Amendment, because it is intended to foster hatred against individuals or groups based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference, place of national origin, or other improper classification.”

    If hate speech is constitutionally protected, pronoun use or misuse is also protected as a criminal matter.

    (There is ongoing litigation of the protection in an employment setting for civil liability or disciplinary action).

    Yet, the most serious concern is the inclination of this generation to use criminal laws to police such questions. 

    It reflects the erosion of free speech principles with younger generations. 

    That crisis of faith could prove disastrous with free speech in a virtual free fall in Europe.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 18:00

  • IRS Taking 'Swift And Aggressive Action' Against 'Delinquent Millionaires' For Tax Evasion
    IRS Taking ‘Swift And Aggressive Action’ Against ‘Delinquent Millionaires’ For Tax Evasion

    The IRS on Friday announced that it’s planning on pursuing “high-income individuals evading taxes,” and says it’s made millions in recoveries from such individuals despite coming under fire for targeting a higher percentage of lower-income Americans as part of its tax audits.

    “The IRS is working to ensure [that] high-income filers pay the taxes they owe,” the agency said in a Friday press release. “Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), more than a decade of budget cuts prevented IRS from keeping pace with the increasingly complicated set of tools that the wealthiest taxpayers use to hide their income and evade paying their share. The IRS is now taking swift and aggressive action to close this gap.”

    “In recent months, our Criminal Investigation team has closed a lengthy list of cases where wealthy taxpayers have been sentenced for tax evasion, money laundering and filing false tax returns.

    “Instead of paying taxes, these evaders spent money owed to the government on gambling at casinos, vacations and the purchase of luxury goods. For example, in one case alone, the person was ordered to pay more than $6 million in restitution.”

    The IRS says it’s closed around 175 delinquent tax cases regarding millionaires in the past few months, raising some $38 million in recoveries.

    “This is just the start. We will continue to go after delinquent millionaires as we ramp up enforcement capabilities through the IRA,” the agency statement continues.

    The IRS claims it has recently identified around 100 high-income individuals who were living in Puerto Rico without real residency for the purpose of securing potential tax breaks. The agency is also looking into taxpayers making use of Washington’s treaty with Malta to “improperly” claim tax exemptions.

    “The IRS of today is laser-focused on holding our highest-wealth filers, millionaires and billionaires, accountable for what they owe,” Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters in a briefing.

    The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last August, had set aside $80 billion for the tax agency over a period of ten years to boost enforcement as well as improve operations and service. –Epoch Times

    The IRS has come under scrutiny for allegedly focusing more on lower-income families vs. wealthy ones, who will typically use complicated structures involving trusts and LLCs in order to minimize or avoid paying taxes.

    “The taxpayer class with unbelievably high audit rates—five and a half times virtually everyone else—were low-income wage-earners taking the earned income tax credit,” reads a Jan. 4 post by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonprofit data research center at Syracuse University. “This credit is provided to offset the taxes for the lowest wage-earners in the country.”

    Among the lowest wage earners, the rate of income tax audits per 1,000 filers stood at 12.7 for the lowest income wage earners in FY2022, vs. 2.3% for everyone else.

    More via the Epoch Times;

    IRS’ Focus On Low-Wage Earners

    In a 2021 annual report (pdf) to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins pointed out that in fiscal year 2019, over half the taxpayers that IRS subjected to correspondence audits only had total positive incomes of less than $50,000. “These taxpayers often face particular challenges navigating the correspondence audit process,” the report said.

    Low-income wage earners “have historically been targeted not because they account for the most tax under-reporting, but because they are easy marks in an era when IRS increasingly relies upon correspondence audits yet doesn’t have the resources to assist taxpayers or answer their questions,” TRAC said.

    TRAC pointed out that the IRS audits of millionaire taxpayers have fallen over the past decade. In 2012, 40,965 such taxpayers were audited by the IRS. By fiscal 2020, the number fell to 7,108.

    Meanwhile, the Democrat-backed IRA has faced criticism, with some arguing that the bill will increase IRS’ taxation focus on the middle and lower-income classes.

    Before passing the bill in August, an amendment was proposed by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) stipulating that none of the $80 billion funds from the IRA set aside for the IRS could be used by the tax agency to audit taxpayers making less than $400,000 annually. The amendment was voted against by all 50 Democrat senators.

    In a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote that the new funding “shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.”

    However, as her directive is not in the bill, Yellen’s words do not have the force of law. “This has no teeth behind it,” said Preston Brashers, a senior tax policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation.

    Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) has estimated that the IRA can potentially amount to 1.2 million new taxpayer audits each year, out of which over 710,000 would be Americans making $75,000 or less annually.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 17:30

  • More On The Battle For Rare Earths And Critical Minerals
    More On The Battle For Rare Earths And Critical Minerals

    By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

    Because this topic is such a major national security and macroeconomic concern, we wanted to follow up on last weekend’s T-Report and our latest SITREP. The change of mindset to one where nations and companies feel the “need” to control processes and inventories much better is real and has only just begun. We will, over time, see much of the “globalization” of the past few decades reversed as nations and companies identify what is critical to their mission and demand more “control” over certain things including rare earths, critical minerals, and chips.

    It will be inflationary as the capacity is developed and more of the overall environmental impact is considered, but the cost will be worth it as supplies will be more “secure.”

    An Anecdote

    I want to start with an anecdote from a participant (ESG specialist) at a recent Academy Geopolitical Summit.

    1. Australia mined lithium.

    2. Australia shipped the lithium to China to process.

    3. China processed the lithium into a form that can be used in batteries and other things.

    4. China shipped the processed lithium to Australia.

    Just think about some of the risk factors:

    • International shipping can be more time consuming and expensive than domestic freight, especially as ports get “backlogged” more frequently. That is a risk at the best of times, let alone when a country refuses access for some reason (like China during COVID).

    • International shipping likely requires more energy consumption (relying heavily on fossil fuels), which goes against what many countries and companies are trying to achieve.

    • The inability to process means that you are “captive” to a nation (or company) that you have no control over. The processing of this and many other rare earths and critical elements into a useable format is often quite “dirty” (energy and water use, etc.) from an environmental standpoint. If you are truly concerned about the environment, wouldn’t you want more control over the processing and to work with countries and companies that will enforce strict environmental standards?

    Now, Australia mines the lithium, processes it domestically, and then uses it in products that it is making domestically.

    While possibly more expensive, at least initially, many of the risks (that could not be controlled or hedged against) were eliminated by Australia.

    This “anecdote” is happening and will happen 100s of times in the coming years.

    Cost and Control

    “Cost” is not the only factor.

    • Cost cannot be narrowly defined. Risks (especially unhedgeable risks) need to be factored in better than they are.

      • Attribution, even when the work is done by third parties, is a concern for companies and a lack of control is bad.

    • Control. No one wants to feel as handcuffed as they did during COVID. Working with countries and companies that you can trust (or control) is increasingly important. The first time that this breakdown of supply chains occurred, everyone was in the same boat. However, if it happens again, companies (and countries) that are prepared will be in the driver’s seat.

    Nations and companies gave up significant control during this period of unprecedented globalization. There will be a slow unwinding of globalization because the “trust” in the system has been broken and will not be mended easily.

    Acquisition

    Let’s start this section, meant to be about the ability to acquire supplies of rare earths and critical minerals, with a discussion about “blood diamonds.” It isn’t entirely clear how we segue from “cost and control” and “Australian lithium” to “blood diamonds,” but it is worth spending a minute or two on this topic.

    Nations and companies want to be able to secure and process the resources.

    That sounds simple on the surface (especially the acquisition part). We can extract them ourselves from our own land or we can acquire them from some other country that has access to them.

    But let’s just look at something as “obvious” as blood diamonds.

    We (in the “West”) can choose to avoid blood diamonds. We can also feel better about ourselves because our jewelry doesn’t come from the horrifying world of blood diamonds (I assume that there is an industrial equivalent to this argument).
    But the blood diamonds don’t go away because we won’t buy them.

    The Wagner Group allegedly benefits from the blood diamond trade. The Wagner Group offers “protection” and is supposedly paid at least in part with blood diamonds (seems entirely plausible). The West decreases the value of those blood diamonds by not buying them, which ironically (or sadly) probably means that the bad people have to collect more blood diamonds to pay the other bad people for their services.

    I am not saying that our stance on blood diamonds is wrong, but so long as a market of sufficient size remains for them, it may be naïve to think that we’ve “solved” anything.

    No one in the West wants blood diamonds, but blood diamonds probably helped the Wagner Group (and Russia) in the war in Ukraine. Life is complicated!

    I mention “blood diamonds” because unfortunately, in the battle to secure rare earths and critical minerals, countries and companies are likely to face many moral dilemmas. These are dilemmas that our main competitor (China) and our enemies (Russia, Iran) don’t have.

    Being brutally honest, we probably had to deal with many moral issues related to petroleum, but over time we have figured out a way to get the resources we need (by having a strong domestic industry for example). However, we will have to deal with these issues again.

    It would be nice if the acquisition of rare earths and critical minerals was a “walk in the park” and every source came from an area with an impeccable human rights record, a democratic political system, and a low Gini coefficient (a high Gini coefficient represents wealth inequality). However, they won’t all be found in countries like this and I’m not sure that many such countries even exist. It would also be nice if all the resource could be extracted in an environmentally friendly manner with no impact on the workers or regions from which the resources are being extracted. While that just isn’t likely, we can still make the efforts to make it happen (even if this will likely drive prices higher).

    There will be a real challenge for countries and nations to secure resources in a world that isn’t on a level playing field.

    We know what we will do when one nation invades another, but do we know what we will do when we lose mineral rights to players that just don’t care about the same things that we value?

    I don’t know the answer, but this subject will come up over and over again in many forms, and is something that we will need to grapple with as we try to balance the need for control/security with maintaining our ethical and moral standards.
    This is definitely a wildcard in my thought process, but I am optimistic that there are enough “good” sources in “good” countries that we can acquire and process what we need.

    Processing

    Taking control of the processing seems like a “no-brainer” to me.

    While rare earths and critical minerals are important, they are relatively useless compared to the refined products.

    • We want the control and security of being able to process them into those refined products.

    • We want the control and security to oversee the refining process because then we can control the level of environmental risk associated with that processing.

    Seems easy, but there are many things that seem like no-brainers to me that get bogged down in politics or the courts, so one can only hope that we get there.

    Bottom Line

    • Deglobalization.

    • Steady inflation.

    • More “security” for us, our allies, and our companies.

    It is difficult to put a cost on “control” and “security,” but it is imperative on us (as nations and companies) to be prepared to pay that cost to “win” in the long run.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 17:00

  • US Virgin Islands Demands $190 Million From JPMorgan Over Jeffrey Epstein Relationship
    US Virgin Islands Demands $190 Million From JPMorgan Over Jeffrey Epstein Relationship

    The US Virgin Islands says it’s seeking at least $190 million from JPMorgan in its lawsuit accusing the bank of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.

    In a Friday court filing in Manhattan, the USVI also said it wants JPMorgan to commit to reforms that would prevent the bank from enabling human trafficking in the future. Epstein notably had a private island in the USVI where he brought many of his victims – and an unreleased list of associates who abused them.

    “I am gratified that the victims have received some measure of compensation from the bank, but more needs to be done to hold JPMorgan Chase accountable and to ensure this does not happen to another generation of women and girls,” said USVI AG Ariel Smith in a statement, Bloomberg reports.

    Last month JPMorgan settled with a group of Epstein victims for $290 million without admitting liability. The USVI suit seeks damages over the bank’s relationship with the dead pedophile which spanned 1998 to 2013.

    The bank says the Friday filing by the USVI does not comport with previous “settlement conversations” between the parties, according to a spokeswoman, who added: “As for the USVI’s misdirected damages theories, they are not well-founded and are being challenged by JPM in court.”

    JPMorgan has argued that the USVI suit is flawed because the territory itself facilitated Epstein’s crimes. For instance, the bank has noted that Cecile de Jongh, the former first lady of the USVI, worked for Epstein and helped arrange visas and travel for women he brought there. Epstein in return paid the Skidmore College tuition for one of De Jongh’s children and provided many other benefits.

    According to its court filing, USVI is seeking $150 million in penalties from JPMorgan for allegedly facilitating Epstein’s sex trafficking. The territory said it also wants $40 million that it estimates JPMorgan earned in fees from managing Epstein’s accounts and the accounts of ultra-high net worth figures he referred to the bank. -Bloomberg

    In its filing, the USVI indicated that it will seek additional compensatory and punitive damages to be distributed to the victims.

    The territory has sought to block the bank from arguing in court that the USVI has “unclean hands” due to several times between officials and Epstein. According to the USVI, a state entity can’t be held liable for failing to protect specific individuals – only the general public.

    Both the settled suit and the USVI action concern the relationship between former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley and Epstein, who had – in Staley’s words, a “profound” relationship.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 16:30

  • Hedge Fund CIO: "Such Drama Should Remind Us To Do Those Things We Find Least Comfortable"
    Hedge Fund CIO: “Such Drama Should Remind Us To Do Those Things We Find Least Comfortable”

    By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

    US District Judge Analisa Torres granted summary judgment to Ripple on claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it sold unregistered securities through sales to retail investors on digital asset exchanges.

    Torres reasoned that such investors did not know that Ripple was on the other side of the trade, so they could not have known or expected that Ripple would use the money to boost the value of its token (XRP).

    It was phenomenal news for Ripple, many other tokens, and for digital asset exchanges. The judge, however, also ruled that sales of XRP to institutional investors were unregistered securities.

    This second ruling was not in Ripple’s favor, but it had no bearing on digital asset exchanges. So, for Ripple, the news was mixed, but XRP nevertheless rocketed 75%.

    There is no greater gravitational force in financial markets than uncertainty, and after a 3yr legal battle with the SEC, it had largely lifted.

    Coinbase shares surged 25%, its largest one-day gain as a public company. Judge Torres’s ruling weakened the SEC’s case against Coinbase in dramatic fashion.

    Like all things in crypto, the moves are big, the cycles compressed. With no buyer of last resort, no central bank to bail you out, hostile regulators, frightened incumbent banks, and politicians with agendas that are difficult to comprehend, crypto markets are where the rawest lessons in investing can be learnt.

    On Nov 9th last year when Binance withdrew its bid to acquire FTX, Sequoia wrote down its $210mm investment to $0, and the SEC/DOJ opened investigations, the NYT ran this headline: “Is this Crypto’s Lehman Moment?”

    Markets plunged. Bitcoin fell to around $15,800. Ethereum hit $1,100. They’re now up 92% and 76% respectively.

    And on June 6th when the SEC sued Coinbase, its stock traded around $40 pre-market. It is up 133% from those lows and +200% from the Nov 9th panic lows.

    Such drama should remind us to do those things we find least comfortable. To lean against the crowd, its panic. To reflect on our own emotions so that we can deny them. In the pursuit of profit.  

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 16:00

  • CDC Used Journal To Promote Masks Despite 'Unreliable' And 'Unsupported Data': New Analysis
    CDC Used Journal To Promote Masks Despite ‘Unreliable’ And ‘Unsupported Data’: New Analysis

    Authored by Megan Redshaw, J.D. via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A new analysis of studies in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) flagship scientific journal found the agency promoted the effectiveness of masks using unreliable data with conclusions unsupported by evidence.

    (Tami Chappell via Reuters)

    The preprint, published July 11 on MedRxiv, found the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) made positive findings about the efficacy of masks 75 percent of the time, despite only 30 percent of studies testing masks, and less than 15 percent having “statistically significant results.”

    No studies were randomized, yet the CDC in over half of their MMWR studies, made misleading statements indicating a causal relationship between mask-wearing and a decrease in COVID-19 cases or transmission, despite failing to show evidence of mask effectiveness.

    The inappropriate use of causal language in MMWR studies was directly adopted by then CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to promote masks and recommendations urging Americans to mask up. The authors said their findings “raise concern about the reliability of the journal for informing health policy” and suggest bias within the journal.

    The MMWR, often called “the voice of the CDC,” is the agency’s primary vehicle for “scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations.”

    The publication—subject only to peer review internally by the agency—is frequently used to draft national health policies. For example, mask requirements implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic for federal workers, travelers, schools, businesses, healthcare workers, and Head Start programs—“mirrored” CDC recommendations.

    Of the 77 reviews cited in the agency’s MMWR used to promote masks, researchers found the following:

    • Only 23 of 77 studies assessed the effectiveness of masks, yet 58 of 77 studies claimed masks were effective.
    • Of the 58 studies, 41 used “causal language,” and 40 misused causal language. Causal language is where an “action or entity is explicitly presented as influencing another” and should not be used in observational studies because these types of studies merely identify “associations” and cannot establish that the “associations identified represent cause-and-effect relationships.”
    • According to the analysis, the 40 studies that used causal language indicated with certainty that masks lower transmission rates, despite the fact their results, at most, found a correlation. In addition, 25 of the 40 studies didn’t even assess the effectiveness of masks. The one remaining study used causal language related to particle filtration on mannequins with “unknown relevance for human health.”
    • Of the 58 studies referenced above, only one mentioned conflicting data on mask effectiveness—the authors noted it was an international study primarily focused on influenza.
    • Four of the 77 studies had more cases in the mask group than in the comparator group, yet all four studies concluded masks were effective.

    None of the 77 studies assessed after 2019 were randomized, and none cited randomized data.

    Randomized studies are the “gold standard” for determining whether an intervention or treatment is effective. Instead, the CDC most commonly used observational studies without controls or comparison groups.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 15:30

  • "Shocking Number": Rivian Owner Sees $42,000 Repair Bill For Minor Accident
    “Shocking Number”: Rivian Owner Sees $42,000 Repair Bill For Minor Accident

    We’ve explained to readers that auto insurers are inflating premiums for their customers due to the skyrocketing costs associated with vehicle repairs. Some insurers are opting to write off electric vehicles even for minor incidents, as it’s uneconomical to fix these complex systems. For those insurers who do undertake the repairs on EVs, the expenses are shockingly high. 

    The latest example of insurers getting roasted on repairs is a report from The New York Times that says a Rivian owner said his R1T electric pickup truck was involved in a minor fender bender in February in Columbus, Ohio. The insurance company of the driver who struck Chris Apfelstadt’s R1T offered to pay about $1,600 for the repairs. 

    However, after the R1T was taken to a certified repair shop in Columbus, the costs soared to a whopping $42,000 — or about half of the starting price of the EV. 

    “A key reason is that the accident damaged a sleek panel that extends from the truck’s rear to front roof pillars. Repairing and repainting it set off a cascade of pricey work, including removing the interior ceiling material, known as the headliner, and front windshield,” NYT wrote. 

    Perhaps the high costs were also associated with “Rivian’s small size and youth”… and “like other auto start-ups, the company, which is based in Irvine, Calif., and delivered its first vehicles to customers in 2021, does not sell through franchised dealers and has had to build an independent repair network from scratch,” the paper continued. 

    Auto experts have said repairing EVs is more expensive than fixing gasoline vehicles. We penned a note in March titled Not ESG-Friendly: Insurers Junk Entire EVs For Minor Accidents. It only takes one minor accident to damage a battery pack, and if that occurs, it must be replaced at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. 

    At the same time, auto insurance rates are soaring as the cost of fixing not just EVs but all vehicles has led to significant losses for big insurance companies over the last few years. America’s largest insurer, State Farm, lost 28 cents for every premium written in 2022. It posted a $13 billion underwriting loss for its auto arm. 

    If you’ve visited a vintage car show this summer, you’ve likely overheard chatter like, “I wish they still made cars like these.” We agree that incorporating technology into cars is beneficial, but the expense of maintenance and repair in the event of any malfunction or minor fender bender is astronomical. Decades ago, when vehicles had no microchips, anyone with the right tools and common sense could repair these simple machines and even change the oil. It’s becoming clear that complex automobiles have their downfalls. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 15:00

  • Russia, Iran Coordinating To Expel US Troops From Syria, Pentagon Says
    Russia, Iran Coordinating To Expel US Troops From Syria, Pentagon Says

    Via The Cradle,

    In a report released by Al-Monitor on Friday, a high-ranking US military official was quoted as saying that Russian and Iranian forces in Syria have been coordinating with the specific aim of forcing Washington’s troops to eventually withdraw from the country.

    The official said that “he’s seen signs that Russian military commanders in Syria have been quietly coordinating with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on long-term plans to pressure the United States to withdraw its forces” from Syria, Al-Monitor wrote. 

    Getty Images

    “There’s a confluence of interests between those three groups, the Iranians, the Russians, and the Syrians. I see evidence of operational-level planning between mid-level Quds Force leadership that’s operating in Syria [and] Russian forces that are operating in Syria,” the anonymous official told the outlet. 

    According to the official, the Russian-Iranian coordination in Syria centers around “collaborative planning, collaborative understanding, and intelligence sharing… [at the] mid-level to upper echelon” of Moscow and Tehran’s armies. 

    “Frankly, [it’s] the same sorts of things that we would do with our partners in the face of something we were trying to accomplish. We see them doing that on their side, as they try to think about how they sync the different things that different arms of them are doing in order to put that pressure on us,” the source added. 

    In recent months, Washington has continued to reinforce its occupation in Syria, particularly in the country’s oil-rich northeast. In occupied Hasakah, local sources told Syrian news agency SANA last week that large deliveries of US logistical equipment and cement recently made their way into the region. 

    Such reinforcements have been ongoing for months, particularly in the aftermath of the surge in Iranian-linked attacks against US bases in Syria this year.  According to Al-Monitor, “Pentagon officials deny their forces’ actions in Syria have had anything to do with Russian and Iranian provocations,” adding that the US believes its recent responses “have arrested the escalation cycle for now.”

    Over the past two years, attacks on US bases by Iran-linked groups in Syria have become commonplace. In early 2023 particularly, US military sites across Syria witnessed significantly increased levels of drone and missile attacks. 

    In March, one such strike resulted in the killing of a US military contractor at a base in Hasakah. In response, US forces bombed Deir Ezzor, killing several, including Syrian and, allegedly, Iranian military officers. Shortly after the US strikes, two more occupation bases were attacked. The attacks against Washington have “fallen silent” since the strikes on Deir Ezzor, Al-Monitor suggests. 

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    US Army General Douglas Sims told reporters recently: “We don’t anticipate an issue, nor do we see a level of escalation we’re concerned about in Syria.” Nonetheless, the Al-Monitor report states US forces in Syria remain “vulnerable.”

    Last month, a leaked Pentagon document revealed that Russia and Iran have agreed to establish a joint operations room in Syria to coordinate a pressure campaign against the US military. 

    On March 25, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that “there is undeclared Russian-Iranian coordination to escalate against the US presence in Syria, to pressure the US and force it to decide to withdraw from its bases in the north and east of the country.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 14:30

  • How The 'Great Society' Destroyed The Nuclear Family Structure In One Chart
    How The ‘Great Society’ Destroyed The Nuclear Family Structure In One Chart

    Who destroyed the American family?

    The argument can be made that the Great Society programs initiated the destruction of the nuclear family structure. The blame starts with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s set of domestic programs in the mid-1960s that were used to fight ‘poverty’ but only discouraged work and destabilized families. 

    Six long decades of socialist welfare programs have aided in the break up of the nuclear family structure. In fact, a central tenet of Marxism is to dismantle this structure. 

    Remember, the Black Lives Matter organization and Marxism share similar goals. BLM stated in 2020 it wanted to abolish the family as we know it: 

    We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

    So clearly, there’s been a half-century war on the nuclear family. The latest US Census data shows that a record number of Americans live alone. 

    Census data shows 27.6% of all US-occupied households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940. The largest share of people living alone occurred between 1970 and 1980, when the percentage increased from 17.6% to 22.7%, right after the welfare programs started. 

    So what’s the result of progressives tearing down the nuclear family structure? Well, Just The News recently noted:

    First, the US has the highest rate of single-parent households in the world. Second, the connection between single-parent households and crime is very strong. According to research carried out by Jerrod Brown, a behavioral specialist at Concordia St. Paul, the extant literature “suggests that children raised in single-parent households experience more physical and psychological problems compared to those raised in two-parent households.” Moreover, he added, the “implications of homes in which fathers are absent may be important to explore for criminal justice and mental health professionals.”

    Maybe this whole Great Society experiment has gone terribly wrong. Let’s try something different. Maybe bring back the family unit and dial back welfare programs.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 14:00

  • Hollywood Actors Strike: "It's Only Going To Get Worse"
    Hollywood Actors Strike: “It’s Only Going To Get Worse”

    Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Summer blockbusters aren’t going to see any actors on red carpets and promotional events—the “Oppenheimer” cast attending the film premiere in the UK have just walked off to join the actors strike.

    SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher (L) and SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland speak during a press conference announcing a strike by The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in Los Angeles on July, 13, 2023. (Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)

    In a Thursday morning vote, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) unanimously decided to strike. On July 14, the actors will picket.

    The historic walk-out comes after contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents studios, fell apart midnight July 12, even after a federal mediator was called in at the eleventh hour. The contracts were originally set to expire June 30, but negotiations were extended 12 days.

    This is the first SAG-AFTRA strike in about 40 years, and the first time both actors and writers have been on strike together since 1960.

    Guild leaders described the crossroads as an existential one that many industries face. Namely, will technology eclipse human contribution?

    When businesses look to Wall Street for answers instead of their creative collaborators, that answer has become yes, according to Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA President and co-chief negotiator.

    “The eyes of labor are upon us. What happens here is important, because it’s happening across all fields of labor,” said Ms. Drescher at a press conference after the vote.

    “I went in in earnest, thinking we could avoid a strike,” she said. “The gravity of this move is not lost on me.”

    “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI—this is a moment of history, and a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family,” she said.

    Historic Deal?

    The big issues on the table had been streaming residuals and AI on top of the regular negotiations on minimum increases.

    AMPTP released its own statement after the actors’ announcement of a strike, claiming studios presented “a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal.”

    Thursday morning, Disney CEO Bob Iger went on CNBC to criticize the union’s decision to walk out as “disruptive.”

    Disney CEO Robert Iger visits FOX Business Network’s ‘Markets Now’ at FOX Studios on Sept. 24, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

    “It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Mr. Iger said.

    “There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”

    SAG-AFTRA pushed back on AMPTP’s claims in a press conference held after Thursday’s vote.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/16/2023 – 13:30

Digest powered by RSS Digest