Feb 26

Today’s News 26th February 2022

  • Will Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Embolden China?
    Will Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Embolden China?

    Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics.com,

    With a reconnaissance plane in tow Thursday, a small fleet of eight fighters deliberately probed disputed airspace before scrambled jets scared them away, an air-to-air episode that may be part of the larger international epoch which President Biden frequently describes as one of “democracy versus autocracy.” But these weren’t Russian fighters. They were Chinese.

    The incursion is not unusual; China frequently tests the air defenses of Taiwan. But this minor aggression occurred against a bleak global backdrop: Russian tanks are rolling across Ukraine, and while the United States rallies world opinion against Moscow, China won’t even call it an invasion.

    For the moment, however, the White House would rather look past a deepening China-Russia partnership and not connect any dots.

    “Are you urging China to help isolate Russia?” a reporter from Reuters asked the president.

    In the East Room of the White House, Biden replied, “I’m not prepared to comment on that at the moment.”

    Neither was his press secretary.

    At least not in any detail.

    It was National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who, unprompted earlier this month, warned Russia that invading Ukraine would lead to U.S. sanctions, necessarily making Moscow more beholden to Beijing for economic relief. So was the Biden administration working with their Chinese counterparts to keep them from lessening the blow of their newly announced financial sanctions?

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted China was not capable of countering the sum of allied sanctions. All the same, she said Biden was “certainly open” to a conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Then, for the second time this week, the White House spokeswoman appealed to the better nature of the Chinese communist regime: “This is really a moment for China, for any country, to think about what side of history they want to stand on.”

    Across town just hours earlier, Biden’s senior China advisor Laura Rosenberg was publicly criticizing China for its “egregious human rights abuses” against ethnic minorities, a condemnation more in line with how the White House normally views Beijing’s morality.

    Thus, it was no surprise when Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying blamed the United States for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (she objected to the word “invasion”) by “sending weapons to Ukraine” and generally “creating fear and panic.” During the recently concluded Winter Olympics, Vladimir Putin was the rare head of state who traveled to Beijing to watch the games in person amidst widespread diplomatic boycotts over Chinese treatment of Uyghur Muslims. He met with Xi. They released a joint statement saying they “strongly support each other.”

    This week marks the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s visit to China, a dramatic presidential trip that normalized relations with the country as part of a larger effort to neutralize Soviet influence in China. Today, though, the Beijing-Moscow axis is tighter than it was during Nixon’s historic visit. “Their relationship seems to be about as close as it’s ever been, going back to Stalin and Mao Zedong,” said Elbridge Colby, a deputy assistant secretary at the Defense Department during the Trump administration. “It’s a very worrisome situation.”

    “It can’t be good for Russian interests for Moscow to have no choice but to look to Beijing,” Colby added, in echoing sentiments Sullivan expressed. “But Moscow seems prepared to countenance that, at least for now.”

    If China comes to Russia’s economic rescue, would the United States consider inflicting some financial pain on Beijing?

    “One of the things we will have to watch is the question of whether the U.S. will impose secondary sanctions on China,” said Jacob Stokes, a fellow at the Indo-Pacific Security Program of the Center for a New American Security.

    The Trump administration sanctioned the Chinese military in 2018 for purchasing military hardware from Russia, a violation of sweeping American sanctions levied as punishment for the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Similar sanctions, or the threat of them, could potentially scare off the Chinese from coming to Russia’s aid. A former adviser to then Vice President Joe Biden on Asia policy, Stokes said “The play might be: Can you get China to act in a relatively constructive manner, in exchange for some restraint from the U.S. in terms of secondary sanctions?”

    Although White House aides would not comment on that possibility, Biden may have subtly hinted at some kind of collateral repercussions for China. “Putin will be a pariah on the international stage,” the president said. “Any nation that countenances Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association.”

    The two spheres are seen as connected, even if tangentially. China may be watching how the West responds to Russian aggression in Ukraine as something of a dress rehearsal for how they might react to a Chinese invasion of neighboring Taiwan.

    Biden insists America will remain resolute in its support of Ukraine, and he warned Russia Thursday that “the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”

    Not everyone believes this is the right emphasis.

    “He’s got his priorities reversed,” said Colby.

    “We have strong interests in Europe, and we need to have a clear and credible strategy for building up NATO’s defenses, but Asia must be our clear first priority because it’s the world’s decisive theater.”

    Balancing U.S. interest around the globe is certainly complex. It is also a simple question of resources. “The problem is that we don’t have enough of the key military assets for both a big fight with the Russians and a big fight with the Chinese in even roughly concurrent timeframes,” Colby said. “We thus have to prioritize, and China in Asia has to be the priority. We have to make sure we can.”

    But when asked about twin threats from China and Russia, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby replied that the military can handle both theaters concurrently. “I think the gist of your question is, why can’t we walk and chew gum at the same time,” he told reporters in January. “We can, and we are.”

    The White House, for the moment, does not want to publicly discuss potential diplomatic moves with China, other than to ask that regime to ponder what side of history they’d like to come down on.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 23:40

  • Printing Money: How Celebrity Book Deals Measure Up
    Printing Money: How Celebrity Book Deals Measure Up

    Three months after Britney Spears’ 13-year conservatorship was terminated by a Los Angeles County Superior Court in November, the 40-year-old singer has signed a lucrative book deal with publishing house Simon & Schuster.

    The deal for a tell-all memoir, first reported by Page Six, is said to be worth at least $15 million, making it one of the largest celebrity book deals ever. In the past, Spears has repeatedly hinted at the explosive stories she could share about her family, with which she has fallen out over the infamous conservatorship.

    As the following chart by Statista’s Felix Richter shows, Britney’s deal pales in comparison to the $65 million deal the Obamas signed in 2017, but it matches Bill Clinton’s $15 million advance for “My Life”, while narrowly beating Hillary Clinton, who netted $14 million for “Hard Choices” in 2014.

    Infographic: Printing Money: How Celebrity Book Deals Measure Up | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Spot the odd one out!

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 23:20

  • Anti-War Protests Break Out In Russian Cities As Many Shocked At Scale Of Ukraine Invasion
    Anti-War Protests Break Out In Russian Cities As Many Shocked At Scale Of Ukraine Invasion

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    As Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in cities across Russia to protest their government’s offensive on Thursday, and many were detained by police.

    According to the Russian rights monitoring group OVD-Info, at least 1,758 people were detained at antiwar protests in 55 Russian cities. Of that number, 967 were arrested in Moscow, and 431 were detained in Saint Petersburg.

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    In Moscow, protesters gathered at Pushkinskaya Square, in the center of the city. Demonstrators carried signs with antiwar slogans that read: “Stop the war”, “Ukraine is not our enemy,”, “No one needs this war.”

    According to RT, the Moscow police said they “temporarily detained” 600 people. OVD-Info published a list on its website of the names of the people that have been arrested in each city.

    Infographic: Where Russian Anti-War Protesters Have Been Detained | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    And according to Fox News, individuals in some prominent political families have spoken out, as the large-scale scope of the war has become unpopular among some segments of society: 

    Even the daughter of oligarch and Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich has spoken out, posting on Instagram that “The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s daughter also posted “No to war” on Instagram.

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    Some prominent Russians have spoken out against President Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine, including journalists and other public figures. Yelena Kovalskaya, the director of a state-funded theater in Moscow, quit her job and wrote on Facebook that it’s “impossible to work for a killer and get paid by him.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 23:00

  • Meta Dissolves Team Of "Hundreds" Of Employees Working On An In-House AR/VR Operating System
    Meta Dissolves Team Of “Hundreds” Of Employees Working On An In-House AR/VR Operating System

    We’re not quite sure Meta understands the whole point of pivoting into the “metaverse” business means.

    That’s because the artist formerly known as Facebook has officially dissolved its team developing a new augmented reality and virtual reality operating system, according to a report from The Information on Friday. 

    There were more than 300 employees formerly working on the project, three people with knowledge of the situation said. Its intentions were to vertically integrate all of the necessities Meta would use to forge forward in the world of AR/VR. 

    The company had been working on an operating system that it was developing from scratch, called XROS, that would have been used in its VR headsets and the company’s forthcoming AR glasses, the report said. 

    The Information had previously reported that the project “had been underway for several years” and that the project’s disbanding “marked a setback for the company’s attempt to own the underlying software behind its Oculus VR headset and future augmented or mixed reality devices”.

    Meta claimed back in January that it did not plan on stopping work on developing operating systems internally. But if there was any remaining doubt, the disbanding of the team working on XROS seems to formally mark the end of Meta’s internal efforts – at least for the time being.  

    Currently, Meta uses an open-source version of Android to help power its Oculus Quest VR devices. And it looks like, for now, the company may still be reliant on Google’s operating system. 

    Going forward, Meta plans to continue to modify an open source version of Android that Google originally developed for smartphones. This modified OS is referred to internally at Meta as VROS.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 22:40

  • Russia And China Aren't The Natural Allies Many Assume Them To Be
    Russia And China Aren’t The Natural Allies Many Assume Them To Be

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    In the wake of mounting tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine, one now finds countless media stories on the “China-Russia axis” and the “bond between Russia and China.” The ideological benefit of connecting Russia to China is undoubtedly clear to anti-Russia hawks. Russia is a relatively weak state with a small economy. China, on the other hand, tends to look more formidable. By connecting Russia to China in a new version of George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” it becomes easier to downplay calmer voices noting the many limitations Russia faces in terms of its geopolitical ambitions. 

    But just how secure is this supposed Sino-Russian friendship? While the two states may broadly agree on the need to limit US hegemonic power, the two are likely to also find many reasons to view each other as more immediate sources of conflict. 

    In his book Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower, China scholar Michael Beckley notes there are many issues mitigating China-Russia “unity”:

    Russia and China currently maintain a strategic partnership, but this relationship is unlikely to become a genuine alliance. … In parts of the world that matter most to them, Russia and China are more rivals than allies. … For every example of Sino-Russian cooperation, there is a counterexample of competition. For instance, Russia sells weapons to China, but it recently reduced sales to China while increasing sales to China’s rivals, most notably India and Vietnam. Russia and China conduct joint military exercises, but they also train with each other’s enemies and conduct unilateral exercises simulating a Sino-Russian war. The two countries share an interest in developing Central Asia, but Russia wants to tether the region to Moscow via the Eurasian Economic Union whereas China wants to reconstitute the Silk Road and link China to the Middle East and Europe while bypassing Russia.

    The potential for an ongoing border dispute between Russia and China remains, as well. For its part, China has as many as 18 border disputes going on right now, and Russia continues to deal with several border issues with both Ukraine and Georgia. In Siberia, however, both states face a low-intensity conflict over the Russia-China border that is an ongoing source of division between the two states.  While unlikely to lead to violent conflict in the near future, this border situation does provide an informative example of one of many ways that the Russia-China “partnership” faces many pitfalls. 

    What Is Russia’s Far East Problem? 

    As Russia’s population has declined, the Chinese side of the border looks increasingly like a source of political instability and ethnic incursion into Russian territory. Beyond the near term, this is likely to lead to more conflict over the exact location of the border and who dominates the region. 

    Many have noted this. In 2008 for example, the Hudson Institute’s Laurent Murawiec published “The Great Siberian War of 2030” which explored the possibility for rising tensions along the Russia-China border. Murawiec notes that as Russia’s population continues to decline and withdraw from Siberia—a term used in this context to mean everything east of the Ural Mountains—relative Chinese geopolitical strength in the region will continue to decline:

    A hollowed out Siberia will be similar to a vacuum hole sucking in outside forces to make up for the vanishing Russian presence. Conflict is neither inexorable nor prescribed by some mechanical inevitability, but the likelihood that disequilibrium may lead to turmoil must be taken into account as a realistic possibility .

    A similar thesis appeared in The New York Times in 2015 with an article titled “Why China Will Reclaim Siberia.” The author, Frank Jacobs, lays out the basic dynamics: 

    The border, all 2,738 miles of it, is the legacy of the Convention of Peking of 1860 and other unequal pacts between a strong, expanding Russia and a weakened China after the Second Opium War. (Other European powers similarly encroached upon China, but from the south. Hence the former British foothold in Hong Kong, for example.)

    The 1.35 billion Chinese people south of the border outnumber Russia’s 144 million almost 10 to 1. The discrepancy is even starker for Siberia on its own, home to barely 38 million people, and especially the border area, where only 6 million Russians face over 90 million Chinese. With intermarriage, trade and investment across that border, Siberians have realized that, for better or for worse, Beijing is a lot closer than Moscow.

    There are two main points here:

    • First, as outlined also by Murawiec, the population imbalance on the two sides of the border is very destabilizing. Eventually, this could even lead to China using a strategy similar to that now employed by Russia in eastern Ukraine: if the Russian borderlands end up with a sizable number of ethnic Chinese with ties to China, the Chinese regime could hand out Chinese passports on the Russian side of the border and then pursue de facto annexation in the name of protecting the ethnic minority from “encroachments” by Moscow. 

    • Secondly, it’s significant that the actual location of the border was not formed in the mists of ancient history, but is rather a result of nineteenth-century politics. The fact the border was set by the “unequal treaties” of 1858 and 1860 ties the current Russia-China border to China’s “Century of Humiliation.” It was during this period (approximately 1840-1950) when China was on the losing side of numerous wars and treaties inflicted on China by the world’s great powers.

    This continues to be highly relevant in the minds of some Chinese nationalists who base assessment of current policies in Beijing on the grounds of ensuring that another century of humiliation never occurs again. 

    Indeed, as recently as 1969, Russian and Chinese troops harassed each other across the border in northeast China. This eventually “escalated into a shooting match on March 2 and 15, resulting in heavy casualties.” Although a shooting war over such matters presently appears remote, complaints over Chinese immigration in Siberia continue today. Those who are interested can even view on Amazon a 2018 documentary titled “When Siberia Will be Chinese.” 

    In 2020, China state media was sure to remind the Russian regime that Vladivostock was Chinese “before Russia annexed it via unequal Treaty of Beijing.”

    None of this means that China and Russia are necessarily going to come to blows in the near term. But it serves as an example of one way the two states face real potential conflict in the future. It is also reason to doubt that Russia and China are solid allies united in opposition to the West.

    Two Populations in Decline

    Perhaps Russia’s best hope for retaining a solid hold over Siberia is the fact China’s demographic bomb is even more extreme than Russia’s. 

    In the thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s population has never returned to its Soviet-era peak. Moreover, Russia’s population is expected to decline even further, perhaps even dropping from 146 million today to under 100 million by 2100. 

    That by itself would almost assure a Chinese takeover of Siberia were it not for the fact that China may be facing an even more dramatic drop in population. As the Asia Times noted last year, 

    The Chinese Academy of Science predicts that if fertility continues to drop from its current rate of 1.6 children per woman to a projected 1.3, China’s population would be reduced by about 50% by the end of this century.

    But a fertility rate of 1.3 is likely a high estimate. China’s official records tend to stretch the truth, and the real fertility rate may be closer to 1.1.  If true, the population decline could be dramatic indeed. Or, as the South China Morning Post put it, 

    If China can stabilise its total fertility rate at 1.2, the total population will fall to around 1.07 billion by 2050 and 480 million by 2100. This decline will be accompanied by an ageing population structure. The proportion of the population aged 65 and over will rise from 10 per cent in 2015 to 32.6 per cent by 2050.

    A population that is elderly and shrinking fast is less likely to have the sources necessary to apply serious pressure to Siberia. 

    So, ultimately, at least on that front, demographic decline may pacify both parties. The Siberia situation is an important reminder, however, that Russian and Chinese interests do not necessarily coincide, and Russia is not the geopolitically secure juggernaut many Russophobes apparently believe it to be. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 22:20

  • Border Patrol Agents On High Alert For Potential Cartel Assassination Attempts
    Border Patrol Agents On High Alert For Potential Cartel Assassination Attempts

    While the Pentagon is more concerned about deploying National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. to help deal with upcoming trucker convoy protests, the situation at the southern border continues to spiral out of control as Border Patrol agents have been placed on high alert that Mexican drug cartels may be plotting to assassinate them.

    The Washington Examiner reports Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stationed near Fronton, Texas, between Miguel Aleman and Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, Mexico, should wear full kevlar (commonly known as body armor) and be equipped with long-arm guns, such as lightweight semi-automatic rifles, due to new information drug cartels are “discussing killing U.S. law enforcement personnel” in the area. 

    “Information stated that cartel groups were discussing killing U.S. law enforcement personnel along the border near Fronton, Texas, between Miguel Aleman and Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

    “Agents are reminded to be cognizant of their surroundings while performing Border Patrol operations. It is recommended that all agents wear their ballistic armor, utilize long arms, and if possible, work in groups when responding to illicit activity along the immediate border,” the alert states.

    In mid-October, a Fox News reporter tweeted a shocking video of suspected cartel members firing machine guns over a National Guard observation. 

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    The Washington Examiner explains cartel members are now dressed in military fatigues and armed with AK-47 rifles. 

    “What’s been happening actually this past week is we see a group of individuals that are coming across — they’re smuggling people — but what they’re doing is they come across the river into the U.S. and smuggle people, they go back into Mexico, and they get their weapons,” Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez said.

    Russ Vought, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget under the Trump administration, recently warned that the situation at the southern border is rapidly deteriorating and can’t wait another three years for a new administration. 

    “We have a real crisis along our border: record apprehensions; the drug cartels are basically in operational control of our border; massive amounts of drugs are coming across the southern border,” Vought said in an interview with NTD’s “Capitol Report” program on Feb. 12.

    “And so from the standpoint of where we are, as a country, we’re no longer in a position where the country can just wait three years to have a potential for a new administration to come in into power.”

    President Biden’s failure to control the border crisis has dented his poll numbers ahead of the midterms. As shown below, as news stories about the “border crisis” increase, Biden’s polling numbers fall. Now, of course, other factors are pushing the president’s numbers down, such as some of the highest inflation numbers in four decades wreaking havoc on households. 

    Meanwhile, some cartels are diversifying their operations from drug and human smuggling with their eyes on the multi-billion dollar avocado industry. Like drugs, Americans can’t get enough of the creamy green fruit. These gangs have been making inroads in their attempt to control the avocado trade as military patrols are increased in the state of Michoacan, the central hub of Mexican avocado production, to fend off cartels.

    Chaos is spreading all across Mexico, and it’s not just the southern border or avocado farms. Widespread violence is also occurring across the country’s most popular beach resort areas.  

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 22:00

  • Bitcoin, Recovery, & An Addiction To Debt
    Bitcoin, Recovery, & An Addiction To Debt

    Authored by Herman Vivier via Bitcoin Magazine,

    The debt addicted nations of today must hit rock bottom before they can see the incorruptible recovery guidelines of Bitcoin…

    The life of an addict is characterized by three stages: active addiction, rock bottom and recovery. These stages can overlap, reverse, repeat and do not necessarily occur sequentially. Generally speaking, however, every recovering addict walks this path.

    It is this author’s opinion that, first of all, addiction is a problem of pandemic proportions. Second, the addiction pandemic is manifest within our systems of money creation and debt. Third, we’re heading for rock bottom. And, finally, this will bring about the opportunity for recovery, with Bitcoin being a crucial part of that effort.

    A PANDEMIC OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

    Most people’s understanding of addiction is based on the image of a junkie with needles stuck in their feet. Of course (and unfortunately) that happens. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The vast majority of addicts are functional addicts. These are people who are able to maintain a semblance of normality while hiding the downward spiral of addiction behind a facade of societal acceptability.

    In fact, one of the world’s foremost experts on the stigmatized topic of addiction, Dr. Gabor Maté, openly admits to being a shopping addict who couldn’t stop buying classical music records. To the extent that he had no space left in his house to keep them. In this video, he talks about his experience treating the most extreme cases of opioid drug addiction and how this experience led to the observation that his own behavior (despite the appearance of normality) was fundamentally indistinguishable from the behavior of the addicts he was treating.

    Many people’s lives are characterized by similar obsessive-compulsive behaviors. People can be addicted to work, sex, food, power, wealth, possessions and so on. Any external source of stimulation that can cause a change in the chemistry of the brain can (potentially) constitute the basis for the development of an addiction. If we define addiction in terms of its behavioral patterns, rather than societal perception, it is clear that the pandemic of addiction is far more pervasive than commonly understood. In fact, some addictive behaviors, like shopping, are not only acceptable within society but even encouraged. Despite the fact that it can just as easily become as compulsive as using drugs.

    ADDICTION TO DEBT AND MONEY CREATION

    Total global debt stood at the completely unsustainable level of 355% of global GDP at the end of 2020, with household debt-to-income ratios in the Eurozone, U.S. and China all equal to or exceeding 100%. While all of the world’s largest governments across America, Europe and Asia are struggling with debt-related problems. The U.S. continues piling onto its gargantuan debt of almost $30 trillion while not having had a budget surplus since 2001, only recording five surplus years since 1969. Japan holds the dubious honor of being ranked number one, in terms of its national debt-to-GDP ratio, at 266%. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is seeing its highest levels of inflation since EU harmonization in 1997, coinciding with its highest government debt levels in over25 years. While governments in many other major developed countries like Canada, France, U.K., Italy and the Netherlands are all near (or far above) debt levels equal to 100% of GDP, with no sign of reversing trends. China, on the other hand, has become the world’s largest creditor with outstanding claims exceeding 5% of global GDP, while simultaneously witnessing its largest property developer teetering on the edge of default. This is no small matter considering that real estate accounts for 25% of Chinese GDP.

    Throughout this time, central banks around the world have expanded their balance sheets by record numbers. The U.S. Federal Reserve alone added more than $4 trillion dollars to its balance sheet in 2020, equal to 40% of everything it has ever printed and the greatest one-year increase in its history. This is to be expected as it is well documented that debt issuance and the creation of money is inextricably linked in our modern financial systems.

    Seen through the lens of addiction, it should come as no surprise that the world finds itself caught in a downward spiral of endless borrowing and spending. It is easier to borrow from the future to pay for what we want now, rather than save for the future until we can afford what we want. Given the right (or wrong) circumstances — excessive stress, trauma or violence — the instant gratification brought about by spending or any other behavior that causes chemical changes in the brain can easily develop into a compulsive behavior in a subconscious attempt to alleviate the circumstances. And so, both governments and their citizens are addicted to short-term relief, with little to no thought for the long-term ramifications. This is classic addict behavior and the compulsion to use is never stronger than moments before the final collapse.

    ROCK BOTTOM

    This is what separates functioning addicts, who remain functional but addicted, from those that are pushed into recovery. It can be sought out as was the case for Dr. Maté but this is the exception rather than the norm. In most cases, if the addictive behavior isn’t extreme enough, it is unlikely that the individual will recognize the dysfunction caused by addiction.

    Those who enter recovery do not do so by choice. They are typically pushed as a matter of last resort. A matter of survival. Those addictions are the ones where the compulsion is so strong, and the behavior so destructive, that the intensifying obsession eventually results in a complete collapse, bringing the problem into such stark contrast that it becomes undeniably obvious. While it is very hard to draw concrete lines, the differentiating factor is often the rate of progression. Enter history’s largest borrower, the U.S. government. With a projected debt level of $50 trillion by 2030, almost double what it is now, the accelerating trajectory of the underwriter for the global financial system seems undeniable.

    RECOVERY

    And yet denial is precisely what keeps the addict going until there’s no other choice left. Until their world comes crashing down. Until they are left with nothing and no one. Until complete annihilation threatens their survival. Most addicts have to hit that rock bottom. It takes nothing less than that level of naked reverence for the magnitude of the problem. And that’s when recovery becomes possible.

    But there’s a catch.

    Because the mind of the addict is the source of the problem, it is also incapable of finding its own solution. Recovery must, therefore, begin with the recognition that the addict cannot solve their own problem. The solution begins with surrender. Surrender to a source of wisdom and power that is not under the addict’s direct control. A source of wisdom, the words of which cannot be manipulated by the addicted mind so as to lead the addict straight back to finding an excuse for using. Recovery demands guidance from an incorruptible source. A source that can be internalized but which cannot be contained internally in its entirety.

    What is Bitcoin if not a system of monetary rules that lies beyond the will of any one single individual, group or government to change as they see fit? And yet, Bitcoin is a system which has its fate held in the hands of both anyone and everyone at the same time.

    Recovering addicts refer to this as a higher power, a reference which is often misinterpreted by non-addicts as being religious, but nothing could be further from the truth. Religion implies dogma while recovery is decidedly nondogmatic. Any framework will do, even a nonreligious atheistic one, provided that the addict submits themselves to a system of guidance not of their own individual making alone. Whether that be the guidance of an existing religion, a human mentor or the promise of technology-enabled decentralization of power, it matters not.

    What does matter is that, if the endless money printing and debt issuance leads to a rock-bottom collapse — and the world does not take the opportunity to adopt a system where the levers to change the rules are beyond the control of any individual or group of people — then, in typical addict-like fashion, we will eventually end up right back where we are now: drowning in debt, needing more and more to achieve a diminishing effect.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 21:40

  • India Exploring Rupee Payment Mechanism For Trade With Russia
    India Exploring Rupee Payment Mechanism For Trade With Russia

    While China is still trying not to fully alienate the US while effectively siding with Putin in Ukraine (see “China Calls US ‘Culprit’ For Ukraine Tensions” yet “China State Banks Restrict Purchases Of Russian Commodities, Pause Buying Russian Seaborne Crude“), Asia’s other superpower, India, has no such qualms and according to Nikkei Asia, India is exploring ways to set up a rupee payment mechanism for trade with Russia to soften the blow on New Delhi of Western sanctions imposed on Russia – including a potential expulsion from SWIFT – after its invasion of Ukraine, government and banking sources said.

    Putting its own national interest first, Indian officials are concerned that vital supplies of fertilizer from Russia could be disrupted as sanctions intensify, threatening India’s vast farm sector.  Russia and Belarus usually account for nearly a third of India’s total potash imports. It would not be feasible to replace them amid a rally in fertilizer prices to a record high, a senior industry official told Reuters.

    Russia’s President Vladimir Putin with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Dec. 6, 2021

    Officials said the plan was to get Russian banks and companies to open accounts with a few state-run banks in India for trade settlement, a banking source involved in the discussions said.

    “This is a proactive move assuming that the conflict escalates and there could be a slew of sanctions in place,” the Nikkei  source said. “In this case we would not be able to settle the transaction in dollars and so an arrangement has been proposed to set up a rupee account, which is being considered.”

    Funds in such accounts act as a guarantee of payment for trade exchanged between two countries, while the parties barter commodities from each other to offset the sum, the source said.

    A similar arrangement, in which part of the settlement with Russia is in foreign currency and rest is through local rupee accounts, was also being explored, said the banking and the government source.

    Such mechanisms are often used by countries to shield themselves from the blow of sanctions and India also used it with Iran after it came under Western sanctions for its nuclear weapons program, the source said. The program was introduced in 2012 and worked well for several years.

    The discussions on Russia were still at an early stage and formal talks had not yet begun between the two sides, an Indian government official said.

    EU leaders agreed on Thursday to impose new economic sanctions on Russia, joining the United States and Britain in trying to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies for the attack. The sanctions impede Russia’s ability to do business in major currencies and target individual banks and state-owned enterprises. A further financial blockade of Russia, in the form of a SWIFT expulsion, is currently being discussed.

    * * *

    Russian exports to India stood at $6.9 billion in 2021, mainly mineral oils, fertilizers and rough diamonds, while India exported $3.33 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2021, mainly pharmaceutical products, tea and coffee.

    New Delhi is also holding a meeting with fertilizer industry officials on Friday to explore ways to secure supplies from Russia and Belarus, said a senior fertilizer industry official, who declined to be identified.

    Similar to China, India has called for an end to violence in Ukraine but refrained from outright condemnation of Russia, with which it has long-standing political and security ties.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 21:20

  • Oil Prices And Sanctions Strategy: The Apparent Contradiction
    Oil Prices And Sanctions Strategy: The Apparent Contradiction

    By John Kemp, senior market analyst at Reuters

    Apparent contradictions are the most fascinating phenomena in commodity and other financial markets, pointing to an unresolved tension for policymakers and potential mispricing. Even before the Ukraine crisis intensified this week, oil price indicators pointed to a market that was exceptionally tight, with production persistently falling short of consumption, inventories low and expected to fall further.

    Russia’s invasion and the imposition of sanctions by the United States and the European Union in response have caused traders to anticipate the market will become even tighter as production and exports are disrupted.

    Brent’s six-month backwardation has climbed to more than $11 per barrel, the highest since September–October 1990 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, up from $6 at the start of this month and $3 at the beginning of January.

    The combination of rapidly escalating spot prices and a steep backwardation is consistent with a market expected to be severely under-supplied with a further depletion of inventories.

    But senior U.S. policymakers have gone out of their way to emphasize their response will not increase oil and gas prices, which would add to inflation and the squeeze on household incomes.

    The White House has briefed journalists that sanctions “will not target oil and gas flows.” The U.S. Treasury Department has specifically exempted financial transactions “related to energy” from sanctions.

    So either the market is over-estimating the fallout from the crisis on the actual availability of oil and gas; the U.S. government is under-estimating the impact sanctions will have on oil and gas supplies; or a bit of both.

    If the U.S. government’s view is correct, spot prices and the backwardation should both fall as oil and gas continues to flow, easing some of the fear about a recessionary spike in prices.

    If traders are correct, the disruption of oil and gas supplies (actual or threatened), possibly as a result of a miscalculation about the escalation ladder, will worsen inflation and increase the risk of a recession.

    But given the contradiction between where prices are trading and the U.S. government’s strategy, someone must be wrong.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 21:00

  • "I Have Other Assets" – Texas Politician Poses Topless On Oil Well
    “I Have Other Assets” – Texas Politician Poses Topless On Oil Well

    An aspiring 37yo West Texas woman running for the Lone Star state’s new railroad commissioner has launched one of the wildest campaign videos ever, according to Houston Chronicle. 

    GOP lawyer Sarah Stogner published a five-second campaign video on TikTik on Super Bowl Sunday, featuring her semi-nude atop an oil pumpjack. 

    “They said I needed money. I have other assets,” Stogner, a mother of one, tweeted. 

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

    “How am I supposed to get my platform in front of people without cash money?” Stogner asked a Twitter user who questioned her methods to gain attention.

    Stogner has over 15 years of experience as an oil and gas attorney. She is trailing incumbent Wayne Christian, who has a $766,000 war chest. Even though she has limited funds, the video has gained her national attention. 

    However, her critics came out of the woodwork:

    One critic tweeted: “I’m confused. Are you running for political office, or auditioning to be a stripper?”

    Another said: “Sad. Some people like to display their qualifications, but if this is all you have …”

    After her video went viral, the San Antonio Express-News retracted its endorsement, calling her campaign ad video “disgraceful.” 

    “We review social media, and Stogner would never had been our pick had the video appeared before we made our recommendation,” read an editorial. “It’s painful to rescind a recommendation. But this is an opportunity to reaffirm our principles and expectations.” 

    Still, not everyone had been upset over the candidate: “Whatever you think of this ad, it’s probably the most effective ad in politics. There are probably a few million people who never heard of her that have now heard of her. Publicity is the most important thing in elections.”

    Stogner said: “It feels very much like slut-shaming. We were just goofing off. We had the footage from last year, and I said ‘I’m going to make my own Super Bowl commercial’. If I had gone off and shot machine guns and screamed about the border, they wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

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

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 20:40

  • China-Russia Alliance An "Alarm Bell For The World": Australian Defence Minister
    China-Russia Alliance An “Alarm Bell For The World”: Australian Defence Minister

    Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times,

    Australia’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton has called out Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping who he said wields the power to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine but has “chosen not to do that.”

    “The world stands as one to condemn the actions of President Putin—except for the Chinese government, tragically,” Dutton told Sky News Australia on Feb. 25.

    “This alliance that Russia and China have entered into should be deeply disturbing to the rest of the world.”

    Xi’s silence has made him stand out from world leaders who have publicly condemned Putin’s actions, Dutton said, despite the Chinese communist regime leader having the “power and the relationship” to exert pressure on Putin to “pull back and to reconsider” his military operations in Ukraine.

    “The world should observe that very closely,” Dutton said in similar comments to Nine’s Today program.

    “This alliance between China and Russia really should be an alarm bell for the world. We need to stand united and the west needs to be as strong as we have been since at least the Cold War,” he said.

    Both Dutton and Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie said there would many “innocent victims” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie addresses media as Defence Minister Peter Dutton looks on in front of the Subiaco War Memorial in Perth, Australia, on April 19, 2021. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)

    “Vladimir Putin is blowing the filthy clouds of war across Europe,” Hastie told Sky News Australia on Feb. 24.

    “Innocent people will die at his foul hands and we condemn in the strongest possible terms today.”

    Hastie said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had issued a warning against the rise of authoritarian powers back in 2020, in his Defence Strategic Update, “and we’re seeing that come to bear today.”

    “It’s a very dark day indeed,” he said.

    Australia will not send troops to Ukraine and should its regime of sanctions fail to change Russia’s course, Hastie said Australia was “just getting warmed up” and could deploy offensive cyber capabilities.

    “But most importantly, we condemn this corrupt and evil invasion of the Ukraine. And we affirm Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

    Meanwhile, in interviews Dutton said what was happening in Ukraine was a “human tragedy” and posed the question: “The question is what more can the world do?”

    “There can be forces sent in and then you would be saying, ‘why have we entered into a nuclear war?’” he said.

    He warned there would be “economic consequences for the rest of the world.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 20:20

  • "A Slow Motion Disaster": Network Sunset Of 3G Will Wreak Havoc For Millions Of Vehicles On The Road
    “A Slow Motion Disaster”: Network Sunset Of 3G Will Wreak Havoc For Millions Of Vehicles On The Road

    While the world is looking forward to the future of 5G – as soon as we can figure out how to implement it without screwing up our entire air travel infrastructure – the demise of 3G is quietly wreaking havoc with some automakers, according to a new report from CNBC. 

    “Millions of car owners” are affected by 3G dropping off the map, the report notes. Many vehicles use 3G networks for updates and remote communication, including models manufactured by Tesla, Audi, Honda and Nissan. 

    The affectionately titled “network sunset” of 3G renders some features on these models, and many other products including home security systems, obsolete. While some vehicles will still function normally, CNBC notes that “others could lose automatic emergency response services in the event of a crash and certain infotainment and convenience features such as real-time navigation and smartphone app features such as pre-cabin conditioning”. 

    Kenny Hawk, CEO of Mojio, commented: “This is crazy times, when you think about it. 3G did not come out that long ago and the first sunset is already happening. You’ve got a lot of vehicles out there … that had 3G embedded telematics control units, modems and antennas that will only work on 3G networks.”

    AT&T is leading the charge in winding down 3G, and will be followed by T-Mobile and Verizon. AT&T told CNBC: “Since February of 2019, we have worked with automotive manufacturers to help them transition their connected cars to newer technology before 3G services end February 22. Customers have received, and will receive additional, communications as we work with them on this transition, including direct mail, bill messages, emails and text messages.”

    William Wallace, Consumer Reports’ manager of safety policy, called the situation a “slow motion disaster”. “Congress needs to get on this and make sure that this total disaster doesn’t happen again with 4G,” Wallace said.

    He continued: “We’re talking about millions of vehicles that will lose features that were promised to owners, and that no longer will be delivered. In some cases, those features are safety features, things that can help them from dying or getting seriously injured after a crash.”

    Guidehouse Insights principal analyst Sam Abuelsamid added: “Manufacturers, on a case-by-case, are taking a look at how many people are actually impacted by this shutdown of 3G and as they inevitably do with anything, they’re making a decision about are there enough people that are going to be impacted by this to justify developing some sort of upgrade?” 

    “Although these circumstances were created by factors beyond our control, we sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause,” Toyota told its owners. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 20:00

  • Buchanan: Did We Provoke Putin's War In Ukraine?
    Buchanan: Did We Provoke Putin’s War In Ukraine?

    Authored by Pat Buchanan,

    When Russia’s Vladimir Putin demanded that the U.S. rule out Ukraine as a future member of the NATO alliance, the U.S. archly replied: NATO has an open-door policy. Any nation, including Ukraine, may apply for membership and be admitted. We’re not changing that.

    In the Bucharest declaration of 2008, NATO had put Ukraine and Georgia, ever farther east in the Caucasus, on a path to membership in NATO and coverage under Article 5 of the treaty, which declares that an attack on any one member is an attack on all.

    Unable to get a satisfactory answer to his demand, Putin invaded and settled the issue. Neither Ukraine nor Georgia will become members of NATO. To prevent that, Russia will go to war, as Russia did last night.

    Putin did exactly what he had warned us he would do.

    Whatever the character of the Russian president, now being hotly debated here in the USA, he has established his credibility.

    When Putin warns that he will do something, he does it.

    Thirty-six hours into this Russia-Ukraine war, potentially the worst in Europe since 1945, two questions need to be answered:

    How did we get here? And where do we go from here?

    How did we get to where Russia — believing its back is against a wall and the United States, by moving NATO ever closer, put it there — reached a point where it chose war with Ukraine rather than accepting the fate and future it believes the West has in store for Mother Russia?

    Consider. Between 1989 and 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev let the Berlin Wall be pulled down, Germany be reunited and all the “captive nations” of Eastern Europe go free.

    Having collapsed the Soviet empire, Gorbachev allowed the Soviet Union to dissolve itself into 15 independent nations. Communism was allowed to expire as the ruling ideology of Russia, the land where Leninism and Bolshevism first took root in 1917.

    Gorbachev called off the Cold War in Europe by removing all of the causes on Moscow’s side of the historic divide.

    Putin, a former KGB colonel, came to power in 1999 after the disastrous decadelong rule of Boris Yeltsin, who ran Russia into the ground.

    In that year, 1999, Putin watched as America conducted a 78-day bombing campaign on Serbia, the Balkan nation that had historically been a protectorate of Mother Russia.

    That year, also, three former Warsaw Pact nations, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, were brought into NATO.

    Against whom were these countries to be protected by U.S. arms and the NATO alliance, the question was fairly asked.

    The question seemed to be answered fully in 2004, when Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Bulgaria were admitted into NATO, a grouping that included three former republics of the USSR itself, as well as three more former Warsaw Pact nations.

    Then, in 2008, came the Bucharest declaration that put Georgia and Ukraine, both bordering on Russia, on a path to NATO membership.

    Georgia, the same year, attacked its seceded province of South Ossetia, where Russian troops were acting as peacekeepers, killing some.

    This triggered a Putin counterattack through the Roki Tunnel in North Ossetia that liberated South Ossetia and moved into Georgia all the way to Gori, the birthplace of Stalin. George W. Bush, who had pledged “to end tyranny in our world,” did nothing. After briefly occupying part of Georgia, the Russians departed but stayed as protectors of the South Ossetians.

    The U.S. establishment has declared this to have been a Russian war of aggression, but an EU investigation blamed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for starting the war.

    In 2014, a democratically elected pro-Russian president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown in Kyiv and replaced by a pro-Western regime. Rather than lose Sevastopol, Russia’s historic naval base in Crimea, Putin seized the peninsula and declared it Russian territory.

    Teddy Roosevelt stole Panama with similar remorse.

    Which brings us to today.

    Whatever we may think of Putin, he is no Stalin. He has not murdered millions or created a gulag archipelago.

    Nor is he “irrational,” as some pundits rail. He does not want a war with us, which would be worse than ruinous to us both.

    Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again.

    But it cannot be that if NATO expansion does not stop or if its sister state of Ukraine becomes part of a military alliance whose proudest boast is that it won the Cold War against the nation Putin has served all his life.

    President Joe Biden almost hourly promises, “We are not going to war in Ukraine.” Why would he then not readily rule out NATO membership for Ukraine, which would require us to do something Biden himself says we Americans, for our own survival, should never do: go to war with Russia?

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 19:40

  • Russian Space Chief Warns ISS Will Plunge From Orbit And Strike US If Biden Sanctions Implemented
    Russian Space Chief Warns ISS Will Plunge From Orbit And Strike US If Biden Sanctions Implemented

    The head of the Russian space agency has just threatened the US and NASA with some serious repercussions if the Biden Administration follows through with sanctions that would impact the cooperation between the two countries in space.

    Should the US cut off Russia’s access to certain space technologies needed to keep the International Space Station operational, then the end result might involve the Russians allowing the International Space Station to simply tumble out of orbit and come rocketing back toward Earth.

    Russia is a key player in the 15-nation partnership that has kept the ISS orbiting Earth for 23 years, but bilateral ties between the US and Russia have deteriorated substantially over the past year.

    On Thursday, President Joe Biden laid out new sanctions that he said would “degrade” Russia’s “aerospace industry, including their space program”, among other things.

    Source: The Sun

    In response to Biden’s sanctions announcement, the chief of Russia’s space program took to Twitter, asking whether the US wanted to “destroy our cooperation on the ISS.” Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin warned that Russian engines control the station’s orbit and location. Without them, the ISS would be in serious trouble.

    One potentially disastrous result of the sanctions would be the “uncontrolled de-orbit” of the 500-ton space station structure, likely sending it tumbling out of the sky and falling toward the US or potentially even Europe.

    “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled de-orbit and fall into the United States or…Europe?” he said.

    “There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China…do you want that?”

    Back in North America, the message about cooperation in space couldn’t have been more different: NASA insisted that the new sanctions on Russia wouldn’t have any impact on the agency’s ability to manage the ISS, along with other collaborative space projects.

    In a media statement on Friday, a NASA representative said the agency “continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station.”

    “The new export control measures will continue to allow US-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency’s support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations,” they said.

    The ISS is a collaboration between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency. Presently, there are two Russian cosmonauts, four NASA astronauts, and one European astronaut living and working on board the space station.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 19:20

  • Growing Number Of Experts Call On US Govt To Recognize Natural Immunity
    Growing Number Of Experts Call On US Govt To Recognize Natural Immunity

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

    A growing number of experts are urging the U.S. government to formally recognize natural immunity, or the protection given by recovering from COVID-19.

    More experts are arguing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended vaccination schedule should feature fewer doses—or none at all—for people who have contracted COVID-19 and survived.

    “Natural infection should count as two doses,” Dr. Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and an adviser to the Food and Drug Administration on vaccines, told The Epoch Times.

    Offit and two former FDA officials stated in a recent op-ed that “requiring people who have been infected to get three shots is overkill at best—a waste of valuable doses—and an unnecessary risk at worst (given that vaccines have side effects, albeit rare ones).”

    Under current CDC guidance, all Americans 12 and older are advised to get three doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC defines fully vaccinated as people who get two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab.

    The CDC’s guidance isn’t binding but is cited by companies and jurisdictions when imposing vaccine mandates. Many mandates force workers or residents to get fully vaccinated; others require a booster on top of the primary series because of waning protection. Few have exemptions for natural immunity.

    Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, wrote in a separate op-ed that the increasing number of studies showing how strong and long-lasting natural immunity is should prompt the CDC to redefine fully vaccinated in two ways: People who have gotten a primary series and not been infected should need a third dose, while those with prior infection should only need one shot.

    Recent research on the matter includes a study funded by Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. government that found that previous infection alone provided 90 percent protection against moderate to severe COVID-19—the vaccine only provided 56 percent protection—and a paper backed by the CDC that found natural immunity was more protective than vaccination against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.

    Some experts, such as Offit, push for what’s known as hybrid immunity. They point to papers that suggest that people who have been infected and go on to get a single vaccine dose are better protected than those with prior infection who remain unvaccinated, including a Cleveland Clinic study published earlier in February.

    Dr. David Boulware, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, agrees.

    A transmission electron micrograph shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles isolated from a patient. (NIAID)

    Boulware said he worries that not everybody who contracts COVID-19 will generate an immune response. He helped with a study published in 2021 that had participants self-collect serologic samples. The findings indicate that people with more COVID-19 symptoms were more likely to show evidence of prior infection.

    “For persons with prior documented COVID-19, they should receive at least one follow-up vaccine at three to six months after initial infection. For those with prior infection, two sequential vaccines in rapid sequence of 0, 21, or 28 days do virtually nothing immunologically, other than generate side effects. At present (based on current rules), I would recommend all those with prior infection to have a vaccine at three months after initial infection and then again after six months from initial infection,” Boulware told The Epoch Times in an email.

    Top U.S. health officials such as CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have acknowledged that natural immunity occurs but have repeatedly urged people to get vaccinated, even if they recover from COVID-19, with a full vaccination schedule.

    Offit says he was among four people who were asked to share their views on natural immunity in 2021 with Walensky and other officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. The virtual meeting, which took place after Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was confirmed by the Senate and before Dr. Francis Collins stepped down as head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), didn’t lead to a shift in government guidance.

    “I think it’s because the opinions were sort of generally diverse, so there wasn’t a clear, unified message that came out of that,” Offit told The Epoch Times.

    One possible issue is how people could prove they’ve been infected and recovered, with suggestions including serologic tests.

    The CDC, the NIH, NIAID, Murthy, Walensky, Fauci, and Collins didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Epoch Times has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for details on the meeting.

    Other experts say the protection people with natural immunity enjoy is so strong that they may not or definitely don’t need any vaccine doses.

    Dr. Robert Malone, who helped create the messenger RNA technology that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are built on, pointed to research that suggests that people with natural immunity have a greater risk of suffering adverse events after getting vaccinated as well as a collection of studies on protection from natural immunity.

    “Over 140 papers demonstrate that—superiority of natural immunity,” Malone told The Epoch Times. “And furthermore, if you jab somebody after they have natural immunity, their risk of adverse events goes up.”

    One recent study from Italian researchers found that people who recovered from COVID-19 had a low risk of reinfection and a very low risk of severe or deadly COVID-19. They said the risk-benefit of vaccine doses for the population should be “carefully evaluated.”

    “From the point of view of the individual who recovered from a previous infection, vaccination will provide a very limited benefit, as his/her risk of a severe or lethal disease is extremely low, especially if she/he is young,” Dr. Lamberto Manzoli, one of the authors, told The Epoch Times in an email.

    On the other hand, vaccinating the naturally immune “may still provide some benefit, because approximately 1 percent of these subjects may have a reinfection and therefore transmit the disease,” he said. “Clearly, their impact on the overall pandemic is difficult to quantify, and it is likely to be very scarce, but if we want to take a very conservative approach, vaccination may still provide some benefit. Importantly, we have to use the word ‘may’ because, as I mentioned in the manuscript, an in-depth evaluation of the risk-benefit should be made for these subjects.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 19:00

  • Red Dawn Juan? Russian Solders Trying To Hook Up With Ukrainian Girls On Tinder
    Red Dawn Juan? Russian Solders Trying To Hook Up With Ukrainian Girls On Tinder

    Russian troops are reportedly bombarding Ukrainian women with Tinder requests, according to the Sun.

    Hunky Russian troops called Andrei, Alexander, Gregory, Michail and a bearded Chechen fighter nicknamed “Black” were among dozens whose profiles popped up.

    …

    Dasha Synelnikova’s phone lit up with snaps of dozens of randy Russians when she set her location to Kharkiv on Tinder yesterday. -Sun

    According to the report, the soldiers likely came into Tinder range of Kharkiv after a huge influx of Russian tanks and troops were positioned within striking distance of the city.

    “I actually live in Kyiv but changed my location settings to Kharkiv after a friend told me there were Russian troops all over Tinder,” said video producer Dasha, 33.

    “And I couldn’t believe my eyes when they popped up trying to look tough and cool … One muscular guy posed up trying to look sexy in bed posing with his pistol.”

    “Another was in full Russian combat gear and others just showed off in tight stripy vests.

    “I didn’t find any of them attractive and would never consider sleeping with the enemy.

    “I automatically swiped left to reject them, but there were so many I got curious and got into a message exchange.

    “It was funny but scary at the same time, knowing that they were so close.”

    Dasha exchanged messages with the guy holding the pistol, which the Sun published: 

    Dasha: “Where are you? Are you in Kharkiv?

    Andrei: “Of course I am not in Kharkiv but I am close — 80km.”

    Dasha: “Do you have any plans to visit us?”

    Andrei: “I would come with pleasure but Russian guys have not been welcome in Ukraine since 2014 [when pro Russian forces seized Donbas and annexed Crimea].

    Dasha: “What do you do?”

    Andrei: “I was born in Belgorod and was an engineer before 2014 and visited Kharkiv quite a lot and loved it there so much I wanted to buy a flat. I love travel to Asia, particularly Thailand. But now it’s a difficult time. I wanted to travel to Europe but getting a visa is difficult because no one likes Russia right now.”

    Then, Dasha asked Andrei if he was a Russian soldier – to which he replied with a cheeky “gif” video of Jim Carey – as if to say “Oops!”

    Dasha then received a constant stream of Russian suitors – including “Black,” a 33-year-old Chechen fighter with terrible trigger discipline, and 29-year-old Alexander, whose profile pictures shows him posing in a striped vest and a beret.

    Another Russian soldier, 25-year-old Gregory – showed off his giant military watch in another picture.

    No word on the Russians’ success rate.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 18:40

  • Democrats Demand Biden 'Do Something' As Pump-Prices Set To Top $4 "In The Next Few Weeks"
    Democrats Demand Biden ‘Do Something’ As Pump-Prices Set To Top $4 “In The Next Few Weeks”

    As Charles Kennedy writes at OilPrice.com, U.S. gasoline prices are rising after the Russian invasion in Ukraine and could hit $4 per gallon, according to data from the AAA.

    The average price per gallon of gasoline reached $3.57 as of Friday, according to GasBuddy data, after starting the week at $3.51. A year ago, the average price for gasoline was $2.65 per gallon.

    “Russia is one of the leading oil producers globally, behind only the United States and Saudi Arabia and if they choose to withhold their oil from the global market, such a move would eventually be reflected in higher gas prices for American drivers,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said, as quoted by the Epoch Times.

    The gas price increase to $4 could happen in the next few weeks, according to analysts, if the conflict continues that long.

    President Joe Biden this week tried to quench worries about the security of energy supply, saying, “We’re closely monitoring energy supply for any disruption, and we’re executing a plan … toward a collective investment to secure stability in global energy supplies.”

    The president also assured the public the White House will take steps to control prices at the pump, with Biden saying, “I want to limit the pain to the American people fueling at the gas pump … This is critical to me.” No concrete measures for reining in prices were mentioned.

    Fighting the surge in gasoline prices will be even tougher today than it was last year when Biden released crude from the strategic petroleum reserve.

    • First, there is the tight global supply of crude, which has been fueling the price rally even before Russia moved on Ukraine.

    • Second, there is the fact that the U.S. is a major importer of crude oil and has a limited source of it because of its sanctions against Venezuela. As a result, Russia has become a major supplier of the heavy crude U.S. refineries need to produce fuels. Sanction action on Russia’s energy industry could interfere with Biden’s plans for reining in fuel prices at home.

    [ZH: All of this has prompted Democratic leaders to panic (as we are sure their constituencies are also every time they have to fill their tanks), with U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Friday called for President Biden to release oil from the national stockpile and support legislation to suspend the federal gas tax in 2022 as he pushes to relive gas prices that rose after Russia invaded Ukraine.

    “As Russia continues its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, the average price of crude oil could remain above $100 per barrel and push the price of regular unleaded even higher than it is now,” Kelly wrote in his letter.

    “Hardworking families cannot continue to bear the economic hardship of high gas prices while paying for more expensive groceries and medicine. Even before the crisis in Ukraine, Arizona families struggled with costs at the pump,” he continued.

    So, this isn’t all Putin’s fault!!??

    Perhaps Senator Kelly and his central-planning pals should have glanced at the following chart before suggesting more Einsteinian madness…

    The strategic petroleum reserve has released over 75 million barrels in the last year and gas prices at the pump are up 70%.

    But Kelly said in his letter “another release, especially if done in coordination with our allies and other nations, could help blunt rising oil prices and the corresponding prices that Americans pay at the pump.”

    Because doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is… well, you know.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 18:20

  • US Treasury Imposes Sanctions On President Putin As Ground Firefights Break Out In Kiev
    US Treasury Imposes Sanctions On President Putin As Ground Firefights Break Out In Kiev

    (Update 18:17 ET): It’s official, the US Treasury has pulled the trigger on personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top ministers:

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

    The US Treasury text reads in part:

    Today, the United States, in coordination with allies and partners, continued to forcefully respond to Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked, and premediated invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, as well as other members of Russia’s Security Council. This builds on other sweeping actions that the United States and partners took earlier this week targeting the core infrastructure of the Russian financial system, including sanctions against Russia’s largest financial institutions, restricting the ability of the Government of the Russian Federation to raise capital, and cutting it off from access to critical technologies. Cumulatively, these actions impose unprecedented diplomatic and economic costs on Russia and further isolate it from the global financial system and international community.

    Russian leaders including Putin himself have in past statements warned that sanctions against the sitting head of state would be seen as tantamount to an act of war.

    * * *

    (Update 18:00 ET): In his latest late night video address to Ukrainians, President Zelensky has warned his fellow citizens that “This night will be difficult, very difficult” – in words that also broadly referenced the totality of the war itself. Specifically it served as a rallying speech to prepare forces to defend the capital as there’s widespread reports that Russian forces are to move in imminently.

    “This night they will launch an assault. The enemy will use all of their power on all fronts to break our defense. This night we have to stand ground. The fate of Ukraine is being decided now.”

    Zelensky said: “This night will be difficult, very difficult. But the morning will come.”

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    Additionally, even private citizens are said to be arming themselves, also at the urging of the country’s defense ministry. 

    Circulating social media videos that street battles have begun around midnight local time:

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    Sen. Rubio dropping some hints of US weapons into battle zone, perhaps revealing too much:

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    According to a report from a CBS News correspondent on the ground: 

    …people streamed into a makeshift recruitment center in Kyiv on Friday morning, saying they were ready to die to defend their city. One commander said thousands had reported for duty — very few of them with military experience. Guns were being distributed to those who showed up, and the commander said they were quickly running out.

    Ukraine’s president said at least 137 people were killed in the first day of Russia’s assault, and with fighting reportedly reaching downtown Kyiv, that was likely to rise quickly.

    Meanwhile, there are strong rumors circulating that Russian ICBMs could be on the move from Russian bases, possibly in response to NATO on Friday announcing a larger mobilization that will concentrate troops in nearby Baltic and Eastern European states…

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    Via the BBC:

    * * *

    (Update 16:40pm ET): Ukraine and Russia are reportedly in discussions over a time and place for cease-fire and peace talks. According to Ukrainian President Zelensky’s spokesman, “The sides are holding consultations.”

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    *  *  *

    (Update 15:10pm ET): NATO Chief Stoltenberg announced oN Friday that elements of the 40,000 troop-strong NATO Response Force (NRF) would be activated for the first time.

    As Axios notes:

    Stoltenberg has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “the most serious security crisis we have faced in Europe for decades.” The NRF will deploy “on land, at sea, and in the air” in eastern Europe for the purposes of collective defense.

    Details: The secretary general said that the size of the NRF has tripled since 2014, but that not all forces would be deployed. He also said that NATO countries would be providing additional weapons and air-defense systems to Ukraine at the request of its government.

    What he’s saying: “We are deploying [the NRF] to … prevent any miscalculations, any misunderstandings that we are not ready to protect and defend all our allies,” Stoltenberg said. “This is something that all allies have agreed to do.”

    • He added that eastern-flank allies “are extremely concerned. They are close to the fighting in Ukraine, and they also border Russia, and they’ve seen not only the military buildup and the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also seen the very threatening rhetoric because this goes far beyond Ukraine.”
    • “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is more than an attack on Ukraine. It’s a devastating horrendous attack on innocent people in Ukraine, but it’s also an attack on the whole European security order. And that’s the reason why we take it so extremely seriously,” Stoltenberg said.

    *  *  *

    (Update 13:02pm ET): NATO Chief Stoltenberg said on Friday that NATO members would provide more weapons and air defense systems to Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal‘s Anthony DeRosa.

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    After some confusion, BILD journalist Julian Röpcke clarifies that Stoltenberg did not say NATO would be providing the weapons – rather, individual NATO members would do so on their own accord.

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    Meanwhile, Stoltenberg also said that cyberattacks on NATO members might be enough to trigger “Article 5,” which considers an attack against one ally as an attack against all allies.

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    *  *  *

    (Update 12:45pm ET): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday threatened Sweden and Finland with “military consequences” if they were to join NATO.

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    Meanwhile, German Defense Minister Lambrecht said on Friday that he fears Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t hesitate to attack NATO partners.

    “We still have some hope that he won’t cross any othee borders. But I have to honestly say: That’s not a certainty!“

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    NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, said on Friday that NATO would be deploying ‘response force units’ to Eastern Europe in order to bolster defenses.

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    * *

    (Update 11:50am ET): While it seemed like a long shot from the beginning, the prospect of talks between Russia and Ukraine was cast into doubt as the Kremlin said Ukraine had stopped responding after rejecting Moscow’s initial offer of a meeting in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

    Instead, Ukraine sought a meeting in the Polish capital, Warsaw, the Kremlin said, adding it had heard nothing further. There was no immediate word from Ukraine on the Russian comments. The diplomatic to and fro comes as fighting continues on the ground with Russian forces having entered the capital Kiyv.

    Of course, as Bloomberg adds, any talks would likely struggle to find common ground on the question of “neutrality” for Ukraine, which has sought to join NATO and draw closer to Europe.

    * * *

    (Update 10:20am ET): Following news that Russia is ready to send a delegation to Minsk for Ukraine talks, moments ago the Kremlin announced that Putin has agreed to organize negotiations after Zelensky said he was ready to discuss Ukraine’s “neutral status” (i.e., not joining NATO). Here are the latest headlines from Reuters:

    • KREMLIN SAYS PUTIN HAS AGREED TO ORGANISE NEGOTIATIONS AFTER ZELENSKIY SAID HE WAS READY TO DISCUSS UKRAINIAN NEUTRALITY
    • KREMLIN SAYS WE HAVE NOTIFIED THE UKRAINIANS OF PROPOSAL TO HOLD TALKS IN MINSK
    • KREMLIN SAYS PUTIN HAS CALLED BELARUS’S LUKASHENKO TO ORGANISE MINSK TALKS WITH UKRAINE
    • KREMLIN SAYS PUTIN HAS AGREED TO ORGANISE NEGOTIATIONS AFTER ZELENSKIY SAID HE WAS READY TO DISCUSS UKRAINIAN NEUTRALITY

    The ruble and Russian stocks, as well as US and European stocks, extended gains after Putin aide Dmitry Peskov conveyed the offer of talks in Minsk, the capital of Russian ally Belarus. The Kremlin also notes that while the Ukraine initially proposed talks in Warsaw instead, it then broke off contact.

    Separately, the Kremlin said that Ukrainian nationalists have deployed missile systems in residential areas in big cities, a move which  the Kremlin dubbed as “very dangerous.”

    Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow will only talk if Ukraine’s army surrenders. “We’re ready for negotiations at any time, as soon as the Ukrainian armed forces respond to our president’s call, stop resistance and lay down their weapons,” Lavrov said in the Russian capital.

    While Zelenskiy also called for negotiations with Putin, there was no indication of Ukraine acceding to Russian demands to surrender. Nor was there any sign of a halt to the fighting. Sirens warned Kyiv residents to take shelter from early morning as Ukraine’s armed forces said their units were engaging Russian armor to the north.

    Zelenskiy said that Russian aircraft were attacking residential areas of the capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said it had “entered the defense phase,” with shots and explosions heard across the city. “The enemy is already in Kyiv,” he said.

    As noted earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin in a call earlier on Friday that he supported negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to China Central Television. It cited Putin as saying that he was ready to conduct high-level talks.

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Zelenskiy and his government as “puppets.” Putin has said that he wants to replace Ukraine’s leadership, calling it a “junta.” Despite the talks offer, the assault on Ukraine is ongoing to secure the “de-militarization” of the country, Zakharova said.

    In an address, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine was not afraid “to talk about neutral status,” but went on to demand security guarantees and say that the country’s fate depended on its army. Earlier, he said that his intelligence services had identified him as Russia’s top target, but that he is staying in Kyiv and his family will remain in the country. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said.  In a video call last night, the Ukraine president told EU leaders that “This might be the last time you see me alive” Axios reported adding that “they are coming for me, but I am staying” (of course, the former leader of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani also told everyone he was staying right up until he disappeared).

    The Ukraine president appeared rather irritated at Italy’s Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, slamming the fact the the former ECB head fact apparently undermined or criticized the fact that Zelensky did not show up at the call they agreed to have this morning. According to reports, Draghi had successfully secured a carve out for Italian luxury goods from the EU’s package of economic sanctions against Nato, which an EU diplomat reportedly said ‘Apparently selling Gucci loafers to oligarchs is more of a priority than hitting back at Putin.”

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    As a reminder, Italy was one of the nations (along with Germany, Hungary and Cyrpus) that refused to agree to kick Russia out of SWIFT.

    * * *

    Earlier:

    Russia said it was willing to hold talks with Kyiv even as its forces pressed their military advantage to close in on Ukraine’s capital and its embattled leadership.

    With the war in its second day, the Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putinwas ready to authorize negotiations with Ukraine on possible “neutral status” for the country. The ruble and Russian stocks extended gains after Putin aide Dmitry Peskov conveyed the offer of talks in Minsk, the capital of Russian ally Belarus.

    US equity futures are spiking on reports from Interfax that Russia is ready to send a delegation to Minsk for Ukraine talks.

    “As you know, today the President of Ukraine Zelensky announced his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine”: Interfax reports Dmitry Peskov, Russian press secretary, said earlier today.

    “Initially, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the purpose of the operation was to help the LNR and the DNR, including through the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. And this, in fact, is an integral component of the neutral status”

    “In this context, in response to Zelensky’s proposal, Vladimir Putin is ready to send a Russian delegation to Minsk at the level of representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the presidential administration for negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation”

    US equity futures reacted instantly…

    This move has erased all of the week’s (post-Putin) losses for the Nasdaq…

    The Ruble is rallying, almost erasing all of the losses from the last two days…

    Reactions in other markets (crude, gold, bonds) are all muted for now.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 18:02

  • Multiple Los Angeles USPS Workers Plead Guilty To EDD Fraud
    Multiple Los Angeles USPS Workers Plead Guilty To EDD Fraud

    Authored by John Fredricks via The Epoch Times,

    A former United States Postal Service (USPS) clerk, who was charged with committing unemployment benefits fraud, was sentenced Feb. 24 to three years of probation, one year of home detention, and ordered to pay over $160,000 in restitution.

    Armand C. Legardy, 33, of Inglewood, California, obtained nine state Employment Development Department (EDD) debits cards from unidentified people that were issued for unemployment insurance benefits between August 2020 and February 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    A discarded envelope containing EDD information sits in Irvine, Calif., on April 21, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

    The former USPS clerk, who worked out of the La Tijera Post Office on Crenshaw Boulevard, pled guilty to a federal count of use of unauthorized access devices, and acknowledged illegally using the nine EDD cards to purchase tens of thousands of dollars worth of postal money orders that were fraudulently obtained with false claims of COVID-related job losses.

    “[He] saw that EDD checks were being returned as undelivered,” Defense Attorney Meghan Blanco said, according to City News Service.

    “Mr. Legardy understood that the checks were likely fraudulent and that they were returned after being delivered to fake or nonexistent addresses”.

    “Regrettably, he and others took a number of these checks from the returned mail pile …” Blanco stated.

    “… and as the government described in its papers, had others cash the checks for them.’’

    Less than three miles down the road at the Culver City Main Post Office, another USPS employee pleaded guilty to a similar charge.

    Christian J. James, 32, was charged last year with using at least eight EDD debit cards in other people’s names, causing a loss of more than $142,000, according to the California District Attorney’s Office.

    Sentenced to probation, he was also ordered to pay $142,000 in restitution.

    A joint effort was made investigating the incidents by the USPS Office of the Inspector General, the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the California Employment Development Department.

    EDD’s website states that the department actively investigates cases of fraud, with the most recent recording listed in August of 2021 to the sentencing of an inmate in San Diego, who was ordered to pay over $23,000 back to the state after applying and collecting public aid while serving a prison sentence, claiming he was unemployed as a result of COVID.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 02/25/2022 – 17:40

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