Today’s News 6th July 2022

• Gazprom Head Proposes Rubles For LNG Scheme
  Gazprom Head Proposes Rubles For LNG Scheme

  Russian gas producer Gazprom PJSC proposed to expand the rubles-for-gas scheme to liquified natural gas (LNG), the Interfax news agency quoted Kirill Polous, head of Gazprom’s long-term development department.

  Polous, who spoke at a State Duma Energy Committee round table at which Russia’s Energy Strategy for the next three decades was discussed, proposed that customers pay rubles for its LNG exports. 

  “Pipeline gas is sold to European counter-parties from unfriendly states for rubles, but such measures don’t apply to LNG,” he told the State Duma Energy Committee. “Thus, there is already some kind of currency competition between Russian pipeline gas and LNG supplies.”

  

  President Putin has declared that all “unfriendly” countries buying Russian natural gas fulfill their payments in roubles. This has been a significant problem for the European Union, which gets an estimated 40% of its NatGas from Russia. 

  Russia already runs the ruble-for-gas payment system for the natural gas it sends to Europe via pipeline. Gazprom has already stopped supplying gas to countries and companies refusing to bow to the rubles demand—Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, as well as customers in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany.

  Many European companies have set up accounts in rubles at Gazprombank to comply with Putin’s demand. Nevertheless, Gazprom slashed pipeline supply to Germany and Italy in the middle of June, claiming “technical reasons” and saying Western sanctions prevent a gas turbine being repaired in Canada from returning to Russia in time. Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi dismissed this explanation, describing the Russian reasons for the reduced flows as “lies.”

  With low supply from Russia and Nord Stream up for a two-week maintenance this month, Europe scrambles to fill gas storage in time for the winter. –OilPrice.com 

  The move has made the rouble the world’s best-performing currency this year, despite Western sanctions aimed at crippling Moscow. 

  Polous’ proposal comes as Russia seized operations of the Sakhalin-2 LNG plant last week. Putin has signed an order to create a new firm to take over Sakhalin Energy Investment Co.

  Russia accounts for 8% of the global LNG supply, with the bulk of it consumed in Asia. In Europe, Spain is one of the largest buyers of Russian LNG.

  Moscow could easily extend the rouble scheme to other exports, including oil, grain, fertilizers, coal, metals, and other key commodities, boosting the currency’s value and bringing in more cash. A larger amount of roubles demanded in international markets to purchase Russian commodities is Moscow’s way of challenging US dollar dominance in global trade. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/06/2022 – 02:45

• Luongo: Why Joe Biden Refuses To Back Off Ukraine
  Luongo: Why Joe Biden Refuses To Back Off Ukraine

  Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

  Over the weekend I was asked by Sputnik News to comment on why President Biden was so set on supporting Ukraine against Russia with money and weapons despite abysmal approval ratings and a fiscal budget hole that widens daily.

  Here’s a link to the article Sputnik published. They give me pretty much the second half of the article.

  Meanwhile, American geopolitical analyst Tom Luongo remarked that the ongoing conflict in the eastern European nation is nothing more than a “war between civilizations,” in US neoconservatives’ efforts to “forestall Russia taking control of Ukraine.”

  Touching on Washington officials’ motives behind the ever-increasing aid to Kiev, Luongo told Sputnik that the American president, “as a proxy for the oligarchs in Davos, is acting on their behalf to ultimately weaken the US by sending weapons overseas and destroying US leadership and credibility.”

  

  The short answer is what I’ve been saying for nearly three years now, The Davos Crowd wants the US destroyed and it is working from within and without our government to achieve that goal. Biden’s staunch support of Ukraine fits that thesis perfectly.

  As I wrote about in my last article, depleting US and Western weapons stockpiles while exposing to the world the vulnerability of manufacturing is a key data point for the Global South to stand up publicly and defy Biden and Davos on any further attempts to isolate Russia.

  I have to think, at a certain level, Biden is so out of touch with reality that he actually believes the sanctions are working and that Putin’s regime is going to collapse any time now. He’s as likely in the dark about the reality of the real situation as UAF army regulars fighting in the Donbass were about the real war, rather than the propaganda they were being fed.

  Between now and the midterms you can expect further acceleration of the Davos agenda in D.C. Spending billions supporting Ukraine is yet another way to try to push the Fed into not raising rates any farther.

  It’s a pathetic billion here, billion there. So, it’s truly irrelevant, but it shows the utter desperation of their position. If anything, these latest announced tranches of support are simply a mix of good ol’ fashioned payola to keep certain people quiet and a last grab at the till before it all gets shut down.

  I know there are storm clouds of war on the horizon, and it’s clear that many within NATO are simply trying to draw out the fighting in Eastern Ukraine until such time that the West can counterstrike against Russia and drive her back.

  Personally, I can’t see that strategy having any real support outside of the room where George Soros rails in his narcissistic dementia, but hey, that’s just me talking.

  As always, thanks to Olga at Sputnik for her questions and here is the full text of what I sent to them.

  This is yet more US funding for Ukraine. What are the motives behind continuously fueling Ukraine with money and military assistance?

  It is a deep-seated need by neoconservatives to forestall Russia taking control of Ukraine. This conflict is a war between civilizations. Biden, as a proxy for the oligarchs in Davos, is acting on their behalf to ultimately weaken the U.S. by sending weapons overseas and destroying U.S. leadership and credibility.

  This will only end when there is a real political revolution in the U.S.

  This comes amid an economic crisis, Biden’s plummeting approval ratings and other hot issues in the US. Why is the Biden administration so focused on the conflict overseas instead of fixing problems at home?

  He was put in charge to destroy the U.S. Biden and his administration are vandals. They are not acting in the U.S.’s best interests but have subordinated our public policy to the wishes of foreign powers. Too many conservatives want to align the DNC with China, but it’s clear that while China is helping erode the political cohesiveness of the U.S. it is Davos and their Climate Change/technocracy agenda that is pulling all the strings.

  Why is the US not spending this money subsidizing the energy sector, for example, to maintain the country’s energy security and protect its citizens?

  This question answers itself. The U.S. is being run by traitors. I wish it was more complicated than that. But it isn’t.

  How long can the US economy afford to sponsor Washington’s ambitions?

  Not much longer. This is why, at this late date, in my opinion, there is sincere and seriously organized pushback coming from the most unlikely place, some of the U.S. megabanks and the Federal Reserve, who is aggressively tightening monetary policy to drain the world of dollars and break both the offshore (Euro)dollar markets and put China’s financial partners, namely Hong Kong, under sincere pressure.

  If the Fed doesn’t do this now, the odds of a political disintegration of the U.S. by the end of the decade rise dramatically.

  Where does this massive funding package come from? Where does the US get the money for this huge amount?

  For this year, from money already allocated, but ultimately Congress has to sell debt into the market which either has to be bought domestically, internationally or monetized by the Fed.

  The Fed is raising rates to stop the money spigot in D.C. by forcing Congress to act more responsibly. Think of these spending allocations and pledges, like the $600 billion for global infrastructure to thwart China’s Belt and Road Initiative as attempts at blackmailing a reluctant Fed to monetize debt the world no longer wants to buy.

  The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta warned that the US GDP might decrease 1% in second quarter of 2022. This could mean the start of a recession. How high are the chances of a large-scale economic collapse in the wake of this?

  There is a large gulf between a recession and ‘large-scale economic collapse.’ The Fed can and should do what its doing to force resolutions on many outstanding geopolitical issues and imbalances. If it’s going to ‘act globally’ this is how is should do so, by taking away the punchbowl of offshore USD-based credit, Eurodollars, and regain control over its own monetary policy.

  If that process causes a severe contraction and economic dislocation in the U.S. economy for a year or two that is the price one must pay to balance the books from the previous inflationary boom. I think the worst of those effects on the US economy will be blunted by the complete collapse of the European economy and sovereign debt markets, however. It won’t last forever, two maybe three years, but it will be enough time to effect real political change. We’ll know at this year’s mid-term elections what the American people really think about these things.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 07/06/2022 – 02:00

• How The Media Used Russiagate Conspiracy Theories To Create A News Cartel
  How The Media Used Russiagate Conspiracy Theories To Create A News Cartel

  Authored by Daniel Greenfield via The Gatestone Institute,

  In the fall of 2019, Facebook announced that it would be writing selected media outlets some very big checks. The launch of Facebook News was billed as a way to give consumers more access to information, but it was actually an attempt at appeasing big media companies.

  

  (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

  Facebook, with its older and more conservative user base, had become the epicenter of election conspiracies from the Clinton campaign and its media allies. While Hillary Clinton and her associates were eager to shift the blame for her defeat by relaunching their existing Russiagate smears with false claims that Russian Facebook ads had tilted the election to Donald Trump, the media’s obsession with Facebook was even more corruptly self-interested.

  About a third of Americans regularly get their news through Facebook. The tech giant’s algorithms had the ability to make or break the news media, and would go on to break the digital media empires of the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and others in the lefty clickbait brigade.

  While Hillary wanted someone to blame for her failures, the media wanted leverage over the company that controlled its fate. The invention of a “fake news” or “misinformation” crisis, the term that the media pivoted to once President Trump made “fake news” his own, was used to persuade Big Tech companies to censor conservatives and promote media content.

  Facebook News was a walled garden that pushed the content of the major papers behind Russiagate conspiracies and misinformation alarmism while profiting massively from it. The Russiagate Facebook conspiracy theories provided the rationale for censoring conservatives and for rewarding the media outlets spreading them with special promotions and lots of money.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook paid over $20 million to the New York Times and $15 million to the Washington Post in annual fees. Even more valuable than the big checks was Facebook’s ability to push media content to its users. Last year, sources at several publishers were crediting Facebook News with massive traffic surges, but not everyone was equal.

  “Many other U.S. news publishers are getting payments from Facebook to have their content featured in its news tab, but they only get a fraction of the sums paid to the Washington Post, the New York Times,” the Wall Street Journal noted.

  Facebook and the media had created a cartel in which media sites created paywalls to raise the value of their content and gain better deals with the social media monopoly. Zuckerberg’s company offered its biggest media critics big checks in exchange for exclusive deals. Both sides claimed that they were “fighting misinformation” with what was really a shakedown and a cartel.

  Now that the deal between Big Tech and Big Media is set to lapse, there’s panic in the presses.

  In 2020, Zuckerberg had cut out the media middleman by influencing the election directly through the hundreds of millions in “Zuckerbucks” that were handed out to local election offices in primarily Democrat areas, effectively “privatizing” a national presidential election.

  Rather than continue to hand out tens of millions to top media outlets, Facebook’s CEO had written a much bigger check to atone for 2016 and put the Russia fake news smear to bed.

  That’s bad news for the media.

  From its “Meta” renaming to the departure of COO Sheryl Sandberg to the algorithm shifts deprioritizing politics, Facebook is trying to leave the 2016 election behind. Zuckerberg is scrambling for a future for the company in virtual reality headsets and the “Metaverse,” and imitating TikTok’s short video clips, away from the former titular company’s core product.

  Meanwhile, Facebook has reported its first sizable loss of users ever.

  The Facebook News walled garden going away would be bad news for the privileged media outlets who secured it using a shakedown campaign that depends on conspiracy theories involving the 2016 election. And the panic over the end of the dirty deal in media circles also shows how their election lies were incentivized by the need to create this corrupt arrangement.

  When the media accused Facebook of spreading conservative misinformation, the only defense was providing special privileges for the media. Despite the fundamental illegality of such cartels, Democrat politicians and the media openly pressured Facebook to promote “responsible” journalism, by which they meant their own political content, at the expense of “misinformation”.

  By then the entire debate about misinformation had boiled down to creating a two-tiered content system across Big Tech that would fund and push media content while suppressing rival material. This urgent need for a news cartel was described as the best way to meet the “threat to democracy” posed by the “wild west” of the internet. This cynical rhetoric carefully avoided any discussion about the benefits that would flow to the media from this arrangement.

  The ten million dollar checks certainly didn’t hurt.

  It’s no coincidence that just as Facebook might stop writing big checks to the media, the media began discovering new content crises at the social media monopoly.

  Recent entries from the Washington Post, which was being paid $15 million, include, “Facebook Gives Gun Sellers 10 Strikes Before Ban” and “Facebook Fails Again to Detect Hate Speech in Ads”: both of which went viral.

  The former taps into the new mania over gun control to manufacture yet another crisis involving Facebook.

  And crises reward the media cartel.

  Or they used to.

  At the height of the media’s shakedown of Facebook, the fake news business model was troubled while Facebook appeared to be on the rise, but now both are struggling to survive. Investors aren’t buying Facebook’s Metaverse nonsense and TikTok struck a serious blow to the social media monopoly’s control of social spaces. Facebook, like some other FAANG giants like Netflix, no longer seems inevitable. With the company’s stock price down, Zuckerberg may be less willing to spend tens of millions in blackmail money propping up the media’s failing business model.

  Parasites eventually kill the host. The media didn’t deal a fatal blow to Facebook, but its drumbeat of attacks certainly didn’t help the company. The media blamed Facebook for dominating digital advertising, but the idea that users and companies would flock back to their sites if Facebook goes the way of Myspace is every bit as delusional as Russiagate.

  Facebook’s corporate blackmail payments and Trump conspiracy theories helped prop up the media, but neither of those would ever last. The media’s big bet on using Big Tech to create a cartel overlooked the fragility of the monopolies it was relying on. Despite recent setbacks, companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon still dominate the internet, but investors are beginning to question whether they can continue to endlessly grow and swallow up everything.

  The two interlocking cartels, Big Tech and the media, became politically and then economically interdependent in a way that was both illegal and deeply dangerous to a free society.

  The lies, the conspiracy theories and the censorship are products of technopolitical collusion between two sets of corrupt companies that have devastated our politics, our culture and our country.

  The two cartels set out to control our speech and our politics for their own power and profit.

  They did it by manufacturing a crisis and declaring that their abuses were the solution.

  Both Big Media and Big Tech cartels need to be broken up before they break our society.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 23:40

• Coal Emerges Victorious As Sanctions And Green Policies Backfire Spectacularly
  Coal Emerges Victorious As Sanctions And Green Policies Backfire Spectacularly

  When historians look back on this chaotic and turbulent period, they will find that few individuals inflicted as much damage on the environment and promoted the interests of the “dirty fossil fuel” lobby as Greta Tunberg, who by shaming and forcing “serious” politicians to pivot toward green energy at a time when there was nowhere near enough green capacity to replace existing sources of energy, sparked what may be the most spectacular self-own in history. And today, the WSJ, Bloomberg and Reuters all wrote about it.

  We start with the WSJ which concedes what was obvious to most long ago (see “Will ESG Trigger Energy Hyperinflation” from last June), namely that “an energy-starved world is turning to coal as natural-gas and oil shortages exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine lead countries back to the dirtiest fossil fuel.”

  Yes, contrary to the intentions of Green fanatics everywhere, their push to accelerate away from “dirty” fossil fuel has not only backfired spectacularly, but also exposed the hypocrisy and empty promises of so many virtue-signalers, as “from the U.S. to Europe to China, many of the world’s largest economies are increasing short-term coal purchases to ensure sufficient supplies of electricity, despite prior pledges by many countries to reduce their coal consumption to combat climate change.”

  Adding insult to injury, the global competition for coal which is now also in short supply after years of declining investment in new mines and resources, has driven benchmark prices to new records this year. Spot coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, a key supplier to Asia, topped $400 a ton for the first time last month.

  

  Hilariously, the push for coal is being led by Europe, ground zero of the “green movement” which finally realized that one can’t burn fake virtue or melt posing in front of camera in the winter to keep warm, and is boosting coal purchases to ensure it can keep power flowing to homes and factories after Russia cut gas supplies to the continent. Germany, which not long ago promised to eliminate coal as a power source by 2030, is among the nations now importing more. Economy Minister Robert Habeck called the increased reliance on coal bitter but necessary. Spoiler alert: Germany will not eliminate coal as a power source by 2030, if anything it will be more reliant on it than ever unless it also restarts its nuclear power plants which it, idiotically, shut down not long ago.

  Never one to admit it was dead wrong, however, Europe has a response to everything: “Right now the sentiment is that more coal is better than more Russia,” said Alex Msimang, a London-based partner at law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP specializing in the energy sector.

  Whatever dude.

  Propaganda bullshit aside, coal is enjoying a renaissance the likes of which it has not seen since the industrial revolution. In addition to soaring coal power use in the US (after the sector was left nearly for dead under Obama), China, the world’s biggest coal consumer, is expanding production of the fuel and its use in power generation, spooked by shortages last year that caused electricity cuts and outages throughout the country, energy experts say.

  India is also leaning hard on coal as energy demand increases. The nation’s coal-power generation hit a record in April, said Rahul Tongia, a senior fellow at New Delhi-based think tank the Centre for Social and Economic Progress.

  Domestic coal production in China and India helped drive a 10% increase in global investment in 2021, the International Energy Agency reported last month. The IEA projects another 10% increase this year as China and India try to stave off shortages.

  Coal miners such as Anglo-Swiss giant Glencore are cashing in. Glencore, one of the last major miners still big in coal, said last month that it now expected $3.2 billion in trading profit in the first half of this year, compared with $3.7 billion for all of 2021.

  “We expect elevated coal prices to make Glencore one of the leading shareholder-return companies in the market,” Deutsche Bank AG analysts wrote. The company’s already wealthy shareholders can thank idiots like Greta for becoming even richer.

  The best part: the global green lobby is about to be silenced forever.

  The resurgence of coal, which emits around double the carbon dioxide as burning natural gas, further threatens to set back international efforts to keep global temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels, and preferably close to 1.5 degrees, by the end of the century.

  That is the goal that more than 190 nations agreed to pursue under the 2015 Paris Agreement to avoid the most dangerous potential consequences of global warming. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that emissions, which continue to rise, would need to be drastically reduced by the end of the decade to meet the goal.

  Then again, with the west especially skilled at deluding itself, who’s to say the lies won’t continue. Indeed, as the WSJ notes, climate activists and forecasters say they are concerned about a rise in coal use, but see it as a short-term phenomenon in the West and are more worried that the Ukraine war and other geopolitical events are spurring new natural-gas investments that could operate for decades.

  “It can be justified but not for long,” said Bill Hare, chief executive of the Berlin-based group Climate Analytics, of the coal surge.

  Oh ok, we are confident that Putin will end his military campaign in Ukraine just to keep a bunch of Scandianvian teenagers happy so they can continue spouting nonsense into masked microphones.

  Joking aside, what Putin will do is continue selling Russian coal to Europe – yes, the same Europe that pretends to have imposed sanctions on Moscow – because as Reuters writes, “much of the focus on sanctions on Russia’s commodity exports is on crude oil and natural gas, but coal is perhaps the best example of the challenges facing those seeking to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.”

  Russia is the world’s fourth-largest coal exporter behind Australia, Indonesia and South Africa, and has the ability to supply both the Atlantic and Pacific basins.

  And yes, while Europe – the main buyer of Russian coal –  has proposed a ban on imports it has yet to be even partially implemented, while Japan also plans to end purchases from Russia. Likewise, South Korea has yet to formally sanction imports of Russian energy but is said to be planning for an end to the trade, while China and India, the world’s two biggest coal importers, have no sanctions on Russia and are stepping up imports in order to benefit from steep price discounts, similar to what is taking place in the oil market.

  And also similar to oil, where Russian exports have increased since before the war…

  

  … an analysis of Russia’s seaborne exports of coal since the invasion of Ukraine show that it has not only managed to maintain volumes but has actually increased them: while there has been some switching of buyers, the loss of some markets in Europe and Japan has been more than offset by increased buying, especially by India and Turkey.

  According to data from Kpler, Russia exported 16.45 million tonnes of coal by sea in June, virtually unchanged from May’s 16.56 million. This level of seaborne exports is an acceleration from the same months in 2021, with June shipments up 3.5% and May up 3.8%. It is also a sharp increase on the three months up to the Feb. 24 attack on Ukraine, when Russia’s seaborne coal exports were 13.43 million tonnes in December, 12.28 million in January and 13.08 million in February.

  That said, while Europe has been spouting mostly hot air, Europe’s top buyers of Russian seaborne coal – Germany, the Netherlands and Italy – have started to cut back, with June arrivals at a combined 1.47 million tonnes, down from 2.59 million in May. Yet all that Europe is doing is buying coal from resellers of Russian coal, effectively paying more from the same product. One beneficiary is Turkey. The country which has been supplying Ukraine with military drones, has also ramped up imports of Russian coal, with June arrivals at 1.81 million tonnes, which is the most in any month in Kpler’s records going back to 2017.

  Turkey’s imports from Russia were 1.06 million tonnes in May and they have risen every month since February. Much of the excess coal is then resold to Europe at a steep mark up.

  Overall, what the coal data shows is that Russia has been able to maintain export volumes, even if it has done so by offering discounts. It also shows that it is difficult to both ramp up imports significantly, even if you want to, with both India and China likely to have hit constraints on securing vessels to buy more Russian coal.

  And speaking of supply side constraints, we next go to Blooomberg which writes that the hunt by Europe’s coal consumers to replace Russian cargoes with shipments from across the globe has boosted imports to a key hub by more than a third, helping to fill severely depleted stockpiles.

  Coal poured into the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam region — a huge transport hub for energy and commodities — in the first half of this year, with imports surging 35% to 26.9 million tons compared with the same period last year, according to Kpler. That has helped ARA coal inventories double to almost 6.6 million tons from more than a five-year low in the first quarter. Stockpiles are now close to record levels seen in 2019, according to Kpler. On the downside, the flood of imports is contributing to major congestion at the ports.

  Shipments are soaring as the region scrambles to replace missing Russian product amid fears of continued declines in Russian nat gas exports – and a freezing winter- said Matthew Boyle, lead analyst for dry bulks, gas and LNG at Kpler Insight. Helping to fill the gap is more coal from the US, Colombia and Australia — countries that tend to produce better-quality or so-called high-calorific value material that releases more heat and energy when burned. Of course, the high quality product is also priced accordingly, and as shown in the chart above, Australian coal just hit a record high price, something which has led to Europe’s record 29.1% PPI.

  Australian exporters including Sydney-based Whitehaven Coal have had supply requests from European nations, including Poland, and the firm previously offered 70,000 tons of coal in a government aid package sent to Ukraine. Soaring differentials between European and Australian prices have made it viable for traders to send cargoes from the Asia-Pacific region, even after taking into account the high shipping cost for the longer journey. Some low-quality Indonesian coal has also made its way into Europe, although Kpler said they were likely blended with US material with higher calorific value.

  Meanwhile, in the latest slap on the face of environmentalists and petulant Scandinavian teenagers everywhere, the competition for a fuel many want to consign to history is escalating as power generators across Asia and Europe seek to secure additional shipments amid an energy crunch. Germany and Austria are reviving idled coal power plants in response to Russian gas supply curbs, while Japan and South Korea are stockpiling the fuel ahead of hotter summer weather.

  And in the latest example of chaos theory butterflies and unintended side-effects, the heavy inflow of coal shipments is exacerbating gridlock at the ports.

  “We are seeing very high congestion for the main European ports,” said Abhinav Gupta, a drybulk shipping analyst at Braemar. There were 71 drybulk ships waiting at anchor at the area off Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam as of June 29, triple the five-year average of 24 ships for this time of the year.

  Current waiting time for coal vessels amounts to about 10 days, according to Kpler, who said low river levels on the Rhine also contributed to delays. It expects that will improve to about eight days by mid-July.

  Coal terminals are currently at full storage capacity, and transporting large volumes of the fuel inland “has become a challenge over the past few weeks,” the Rotterdam port said. The situation has been complicated by a shortage of barges, it said, as many vessels are tied up with Ukrainian iron ore and grain exports.

  In short: total chaos, courtesy of years of catastrophic policies at the behest of the green lobby.

  As for the discredited ideologue Greta, fear not: she still has a podium where more than 5 million followers lap up each of her carefully scripted and produced tweets:

  Tomorrow the European Parliament will decide whether fossil gas and nuclear will be considered “sustainable” in the EU taxonomy. But no amount of lobbyism and greenwashing will ever make it “green”.
  We desperately need real renewable energy, not false solutions. #NotMyTaxonomy

  — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 5, 2022

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

  It almost makes one wonder: just how much is Putin paying her? Either that, or as Adam Taggart put it…

  This is easily one of the clearest signs our “leaders” are clueless

  The West makes de-carbonization a top priority and what’s the result?

  A world burning near record amounts of coal and paying record prices for it…

  — Adam Taggart (@menlobear) July 6, 2022

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

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 23:20

• Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, Early COVID Therapeutics Innovator, Dies Of Cancer At 48
  Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, Early COVID Therapeutics Innovator, Dies Of Cancer At 48

  Authored by Enrico Trigoso via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a Nobel prize-nominated physician who famously discovered and used an early treatment for COVID, dubbed the “Zelenko Protocol,” passed on June 30, 2022, at the age of 48 after a long battle with pulmonary artery sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

  

  He was born in 1973, in Kyiv, Ukraine, and came to Brooklyn, New York, in 1977 with his family.

  Zelenko earned a B.S. in chemistry with high honors at Hofstra University and then earned an M.D. at the Buffalo School of Medicine in 2000.

  He had been practicing in Monroe, New York, in 2020 during the outbreak of COVID-19, and is credited with having treated about 7,500 patients with his method.

  The doctor, who could not sit back and wait for politicians and health officials to agree on prescribed treatments, came up with the “Zelenko Protocol”—a combination of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), zinc, azithromycin, and other drugs, including steroids.

  He credited divine intervention for the discovery of the abovementioned treatment.

  Several experts and doctors who knew him personally expressed their condolences and praised his achievements.

  “Dr. Zelenko was not just our hero, he was a man of God,” Kevin Jenkins, co-chair of the Zelenko Freedom Foundation, told The Epoch Times.

  

  “Two years ago, he stepped into the fire to save humanity. The world is better off today because of his God Courage. Our prayers and love go out to Zev’s friends and family. At the Zelenko Freedom Foundation, his dream for the world will never be forgotten. We will work tirelessly to further his legacy and encourage everyone who is worried about the growing menace of medical tyranny to stand with us and make a positive change,” Jenkins added.

  The other co-chair of the Zelenko Freedom Foundation, Ann Vandersteel, told The Epoch Times: “Dr. Zelenko was a course correction for humanity. As a man of God, his faith gave him the strength to stand in the breach and deliver his life saving Zelenko Protocol when the medical community faltered. His Protocol saved millions of lives worldwide and is a standard of care for physicians who honor their Hippocratic oath.”

  Zelenko, also known as “Zev,” had sent a letter to then-President Donald Trump about hydroxychloroquine.

  “I recall hearing President Trump during a March 2020 press conference talk about a letter he received from a country doctor in upstate NY. That letter that saved millions of lives. Zev had discovered that hydroxychloroquine was, in fact, an efficacious treatment for coronavirus. I believe that was the beginning of the end of big pharma, and with the public’s support, we will continue Zev’s fight through the Zelenko Freedom Foundation,” Vandersteel said.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 23:00

• IAEA Warns If There's No Iran Nuclear Deal, A Regional Arms Race Will Break Out
  IAEA Warns If There’s No Iran Nuclear Deal, A Regional Arms Race Will Break Out

  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has been traveling among Middle East capitals of late trying to get both sides back the negotiating table surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, and he says time is running out as the window of opportunity is closing.

  “If we want to conclude an agreement, decisions are needed now. This is still possible, but the political space to revive the JCPOA may narrow soon,” he tweeted to start out the week. He’s recently been in Tehran as well as Doha, Qatar – talking to both sides as each blames the other for stalled negotiations.

  The UN nuclear weapons watchdog IAEA is also issuing fresh warnings of tensions at a boiling point between Iran and Israel, which can potentially be quickly allayed if a way forward is found on the nuclear deal.

  

  IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that a Middle East region arms race could break out if the Islamic Republic gets closer to nuclear weapons capability – though Tehran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes.

  “We are now in a situation where Iran’s neighbors could start to fear the worst and plan accordingly. There are countries in the region today looking very carefully at what is happening with Iran, and tensions in the region are rising,” Grossi said in Tuesday remarks cited in Bloomberg. “Political leaders have on occasionally openly stated they would actively seek nuclear weapons if Iran were to pose a nuclear threat.”

  As for Israel, while it does not ‘officially’ have declared nuclear weapons, it is widely known that it long ago achieved nuclear weapons status.

  Nearly a month ago, Grossi warned that a potential deal would suffer a “fatal blow” if direct talks are not restored in under four weeks. Given the ongoing Ukraine war and resulting anti-Russia energy sanctions by the US and EU, the West is badly in need of restoring Iranian oil to the global market, also as Washington even looks to such “rogue” states as Venezuela.

  French President Emmanuel Macron in particular is lobbying hard for a deal to succeed, which is instead hanging by a thread.

  He said on Tuesday upon meeting with Israel’s new prime minister that it must succeed:

  “We have to defend this (nuclear) deal (with Iran). And take in account the interests of our friends in the area, primarily Israel,” Macron told reporters during a joint press conference with the Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

  Israel has long been against it, seeing in any resurrected deal an opportunity the Iranians will use to cover up a nuclear weapons development program. The Israelis have for well over a year sought to thwart it, but have also said that it there is a deal it must be very strong, and include imposed limitations on Iranian long-range missiles as well.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 22:40

• How The Chinese Military Is Buying American AI Chips: Report
  How The Chinese Military Is Buying American AI Chips: Report

  Authored by Kelly Song via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Despite measures to limit U.S. technology exports to the Chinese military, chips designed by U.S. companies still end up in the hands of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to a report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University.

  

  For the report, researchers combed through over 66,000 publicly available PLA purchase records during the eight-month period from April to November 2020 and identified 97 unique, high-end artificial intelligence (AI) chips ordered by the PLA. Nearly all of them were designed by U.S. firms Nvidia, Xilinx (now AMD), Intel, and Microsemi.

  The CSET report, released last month, also noted that the researchers couldn’t find any public records of the PLA purchasing the high-end AI chips from any Chinese companies, including HiSilicon (Huawei), Sugon, Sunway, Hygon, and Phytium.

  These AI chips are critical components to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the “intelligentization” (the addition of artificial intelligence to a system, according to Kaikki.org) of its military and to the regime’s goal to gain dominance over the global AI design and manufacturing market.

  Even though the CCP has poured tens of billions of dollars into its own semiconductor industry, Chinese companies, lacking “intrinsic knowledge and highly specialized equipment,” still can’t catch up to U.S. design firms, while “South Korea’s Samsung and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company … remain the titans of global semiconductor fabrication,” the report says.

  To obtain the U.S.-designed AI chips, the CCP has been bypassing the limitations imposed by recent U.S. export controls.

  Dodging Export Controls

  The Biden administration has maintained Trump-era controls designed to curtail technology exports to military end users in China. These controls, however, don’t apply to items made outside the United States. Since most AI chips are made in South Korea and Taiwan, the end-user controls have very little power to limit purchases from Chinese entities, the report indicates.

  Moreover, the Department of Commerce maintains an entity list through which the U.S. government can deny orders placed by hostile entities. About 500 Chinese firms are on the entity list. However, none of the seven Chinese intermediary suppliers (for the PLA) who ordered the 97 high-end AI chips found by the CSET researchers are on the list. And based on prior CSET research, a fraction of the PLA’s AI vendors are named in key U.S. export control and sanctions lists.

  The seven intermediary suppliers are based in Beijing, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, and Xi’an, and they are affiliated with the Chinese military through organizations including the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, PLA’s Strategic Support Force, and others.

  Meanwhile, some of these Chinese intermediary suppliers for the PLA are licensed distributors of U.S. chips.

  The CSET report gives the example of Tianjin-based Sitonholy (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., which is listed as a partner on Nvidia’s website. It won a contract to supply Nvidia-designed Titan V graphics processing units to the PLA’s Academy of Military Sciences in April 2020. On its website, Sitonholy claims to be an “elite-level partner of Nvidia” and an “officially authorized distributor of Nvidia products” in China. In addition to the Chinese military, Sitonholy’s clients include 80 percent of universities in China working on AI.

  CCP’s Military–Civil Fusion Strategy

  Prior CSET research has highlighted that, nationwide, Chinese consumers import the majority of the country’s AI chips overwhelmingly from the United States, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.

  The CCP’s military–civil fusion strategy is making it almost impossible for U.S. regulators to distinguish between military and nonmilitary end users in China, which is the basis of the majority of U.S. export controls. The fusion model allows the Chinese military to bypass U.S. export controls and have covert access to U.S. technology and equipment through its civil counterparts.

  The authors propose that the United States expand its collection of open-source intelligence and adopt new export control measures based on features specific to high-end chips.

  The researchers also found that the PLA uses front companies to get what it needs. For example, in August 2020, Beijing Hengsheng Technology Co. Ltd., which specializes in smart processors and high-performance computing, won a contract to supply Nvidia TX1 and Xilinx Virtex-7 processors to a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

  The two email addresses listed as points of contact for Beijing Hengsheng Technology in public financial records are registered for dozens of other technology consulting companies based in Beijing.

  “The Chinese market accounts for 25 percent of global AI chip consumption,” the report says, “with AI chips sold to China in 2021 amounting to an estimated value between $2.5 billion and $5 billion.”

  For major U.S. chip companies, more than a quarter of their revenues derived from China in 2021, as shown in the table below.

  

  Curtailing the CCP’s access to U.S. technology has associated political and economic costs, the researchers point out. Another challenge would be whether, or how, to compensate for the loss of Chinese market access.

  “One solution,” the report says, “could be to provide U.S. companies with viable alternatives to the Chinese market. The CHIPS for America Act of 2022 offers significant incentives for semiconductor companies to build fabrication facilities in the United States.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 22:20

• "Whitewash": US Says IDF Shot That Killed Palestinian-US Journalist Was Accidental
  “Whitewash”: US Says IDF Shot That Killed Palestinian-US Journalist Was Accidental

  In an announcement timed to receive minimal coverage, the State Department on July 4th said that a U.S. review of the shooting of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh concluded the fatal bullet likely came from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). However, in what critics are calling a baseless whitewashing of the incident that ignores key facts of the case, the U.S. government said there’s “no reason to believe” it was intentional. 

  The U.S. announcement came 10 days before President Biden is slated to visit Israel on July 14 and 15. The trip will also take him to Saudi Arabia. With the kingdom having slaughtered Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, both hosts will have the shadow of a slain journalist hanging over them. 

  Abu Akleh, a star reporter for al Jazeera, was shot in the head on May 11 in the West Bank town of Jenin, as she and her crew reported on an Israeli raid on a refugee camp. In the immediate aftermath, the Israeli government rushed to blame “Palestinian terrorists firing indiscriminately,” while witnesses said an IDF unit was the clear culprit.   

  In a three-paragraph statement, State Department spokeman Ned Price said, “After an extremely detailed forensic analysis, independent third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet” as “ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion.”

  However, Price said that, after reviewing both the IDF and Palestinian Authority investigations, 

  “The USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh. The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.”  

  It would be one thing for the State Department to say it could not determine whether the killing was intentional; it’s another altogether to declare there’s “no reason” whatsoever to think so. 

  Indeed, a weapons expert consulted by CNN noted the tight shot group on the tree where Akleh stood is consistent with carefully aimed fire—and Abu Akleh and her crew were wearing blue helmets and matching vests marked “PRESS.” 

  

  CNN’s investigation by 10 journalists, which drew on 11 videos, eight eyewitness accounts and consultations with weapons and forensic audio experts, concluded Abu Akleh was “shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.” (The video version of the report is embedded below.)  

  We should emphasize that CNN isn’t known for routinely casting a critical eye on the Israeli government. Here, as with Khashoggi, mainstream U.S. media outlets seemed more motivated to uncover unflattering facts about a supposed “ally” in a situation where the victim was one of their own. 

  While the State Department vaguely attributed the death to “tragic circumstances” during an IDF operation against Palestinian militants, independent investigations found no indication that militants were anywhere near the IDF rifleman’s direction of fire. Video shows a relaxed scene moments before gunfire erupted. Jenin residents smile, make small talk and smoke cigarettes as they watch the al Jazeera crew led by the star reporter Abu Akleh.

  According to Reporters Without Borders, Israel has killed at least 30 journalists since 2000, including two Palestinians shot by IDF snipers while reporting on protests near the Gaza-Israel border in 2018.

  In the wake of the killing of the Palestinian-American citizen Abu Akleh, members of Congress urged Biden to launch an FBI investigation of the murder—but to no avail.

  The State Department’s July 4 statement closes with a perfunctory call for “cooperation between Israel and the PA in this important case” and a vow that the U.S. government “will remain engaged with Israel and the PA on next steps and urge accountability.” Neither cooperation nor meaningful accountability are likely. 

  The Palestinian Authority said it “rejects the [U.S.] dismissal of the Israeli occupying forces’ intentional targeting of Palestinian journalists…as mere ‘tragic circumstances’ and not an intentional war crime…this whitewashing will only further institutionalize Israel’s entrenched impunity.” 

  In its own statement, the IDF said its investigation “conclusively determined that no IDF soldier deliberately fired at Ms. Abu Akleh” but that it will continue to investigate the incident. 

  Abu Akleh’s family released a statement saying they were “incredulous” and that: 

  “The conclusory [U.S.] pronouncement that the killing was not intentional…is frankly insulting to Shireen’s memory and ignores the history and context of the brutal and violent nature of what is now the longest military occupation in modern history.”  

  For Americans who treasure George Washington’s counsel against “passionate attachments” to foreign governments and Thomas Jefferson’s admonition against “entangling alliances,” the timing of the announcement is an additional affront—the American government chose “Independence Day” for the latest demonstration of its slavish devotion to a faraway state that’s a moral, financial and strategic liability. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 22:00

• 120 Tips On Potential Victims As Utah Sheriff Investigates Claims Of 'Ritual Child Sexual Abuse'
  120 Tips On Potential Victims As Utah Sheriff Investigates Claims Of ‘Ritual Child Sexual Abuse’

  Authored by Allen Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  An investigation by a Utah sheriff into allegations of “ritualistic child sexual abuse” has shocked residents as over 120 victims and those who know victims have come forward.

  

  The local sheriff leading the investigation has solicited help from the FBI, which confirmed it is assisting in the investigation.

  The alleged abuse occurred for two decades, from 1990 through 2010. In recent weeks, dozens of witnesses have come forward with information on these incidents.

  “I don’t know the exact number, but it is now over 120 people who have contacted us. [Of that number], I am sure. There are likely more than 120 at this point,” Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon told The Epoch Times.

  Cannon said the tips are from “a combination of victims or those who know of victims. So, not all tips are from victims.”

  On May 31, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced that the investigation had been underway since April 2021 involving reports of “ritualistic child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking” in Utah County, the state’s second-largest county.

  The investigation uncovered even more victims in neighboring Juab County and Sanpete County during the same period. In a press release, the sheriff’s office said that local law enforcement confirmed “portions of these allegations.”

  The Utah County Sheriff’s Office leads the investigation with other local law enforcement agencies and the FBI.

  “It’s common practice for the FBI to offer assistance, when requested, to our law enforcement partners. We are assisting, and so I will defer to the lead agency, which is the Utah County Sheriff’s Office,” said FBI spokeswoman Sandra Barker.

  At a press conference, a day after authorities announced the joint investigation in Utah County, then-Utah County attorney David Leavitt identified himself and his wife, an attorney, as potential suspects while vigorously refuting the claims.

  Leavitt, who lost a reelection bid on June 28 to his challenger, who won by 73 percent of the vote, said law enforcement “is about trust … it is about being able to say that when the government makes an allegation that there’s substance behind [it] that we can believe in.”

  He demanded that the sheriff resign and that the investigation stop.

  “We deserve more from our public officials, and we deserve more from the news media to respectfully and responsibly ferret out what is true and what is not,” said Leavitt during his 30-minute briefing.

  Leavitt accused Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith of conducting a politically motivated witch hunt in an election year.

  County Attorney ‘Named Himself’ as Suspect

  In his rebutting press conference, Sheriff Smith said his office released no documents to the public that identified Leavitt as a suspect and denied that the investigation was political.

  “Mr. Leavitt named himself,” Cannon said and would neither confirm, deny, or comment about anyone whose names have come up in the case.

  “What I will say, however, is that the case Mr. Leavitt referred to is not the case we began investigating in April 2021. He implies otherwise, but he is wrong,” Cannon said.

  Smith refused to resign, halt the probe, or reprimand officers involved in the Utah County Sheriff’s Office Special Victim’s Unit investigation.

  “We will continue to do our jobs. We won’t be intimidated by [Leavitt’s] attempts to railroad this investigation,” Smith said.

  The sheriff’s office would not discuss the case further, absent new developments.

  

  “And when I say new developments, I mean something beyond what we’ve said and the investigation of original information and talking to those reporting information to us as tips,” Cannon said.

  “We don’t discuss the [victims’ names] or suspects [while investigating cases]. In most cases, we comment very little, if at all, on active investigations. We have not, and will not at this point, confirm, deny, or name people whose names may or may not have come up in this or any other investigation.”

  The recent spate of ritualistic child abuse reports harkens back to the “Satanic Panic” that gripped Western states during the 1980s and ’90s.

  A special report in The Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, dated Oct. 30, 1988, described ritualistic child abuse and Satanism as a severe problem in Utah and Utah County.

  Beyond the lurid allegations of abuse, however, these cases proved challenging, lacking physical evidence, relying on oral testimony, and triggered memories years after.

  “Yes, there are definitely several cases,” the story quoted Robert Parrish, an official in the Utah Attorney General’s office at the time.

  “I’m not assuming I know all of them, but there are at least a half dozen that have involved ceremonial—not necessarily satanistic rituals—but most involve aspects that fit like a glove to Satanism.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 21:40

• Partial Olive Branch? Putin Says "No Problem" If Finland, Sweden Join NATO
  Partial Olive Branch? Putin Says “No Problem” If Finland, Sweden Join NATO

  Now with the 30 member nations having signed the NATO accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, which brings them a huge step closer to entering the alliance, Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted by downplaying it:

  Russia has “no problem” if Finland and Sweden join NATO, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. “We don’t have problems with Sweden and Finland like we do with Ukraine,” Putin told a news conference in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat. Finland and Sweden will be formally invited to join the alliance after Turkey dropped its opposition on Tuesday. 

  WATCH: On Russian State TV, President Putin (@KremlinRussia_E) stated that Sweden and Finland are free to join NATO because their circumstances differ from Ukraine’s. pic.twitter.com/th4tYmVHQS

  — BNN Newsroom (@BNNBreaking) July 5, 2022

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  However, he was also quoted as saying he couldn’t rule out that new tensions would emerge in Russian relations with Helsinki and Stockholm now that they’ve abandoned their historic neutrality regarding the Western military alliance.

  Additionally he suggested a further militarization along the 830-mile Russian-Finnish border, in line with prior comments from top Kremlin officials: “President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would respond in kind if NATO set up infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the US-led military alliance,” according to AFP, though without explaining further.

  The thrust of his comments appeared to focus on the question of Ukraine joining and Sweden-Finland being “two different things”.

  Putin explained in the televised remarks, “They began turning Ukraine into an anti-Russia bridgehead for trying to destabilize Russia itself. They began fighting Russian culture and language. They began to persecute individuals who regarded themselves as part of the Russian world,” in reference to the Ukrainian government post-2014, following the forced ouster of Russian-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych.

  Two months ago as it emerged that Finland would seriously pursue joining NATO, there were fears this could spark a Russia-NATO war, but now these and other comments of Putin on the question strongly suggest Moscow is willing to de-escalate on the question. 

  One more important step forward. ⁰
  Today, #NATO Allies signed the Accession Protocols for 🇫🇮 and 🇸🇪. We want to extend a sincere thank you to all Allies.

  The next step on the road towards membership is the ratification process in all national parliaments.
  #FinlandNATO pic.twitter.com/lUHKBPkncy

  — Finland at NATO (@FinMissionNATO) July 5, 2022

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  It seems for the first time the Russian leader has offered NATO a partial olive branch of sorts, signaling Russia doesn’t wish to stumble into broader conflict with the Western military alliance, particularly over the Scandinavia countries’ accession.

  He was also addressing critics who don’t buy the Russian arguments that the Ukraine invasion was fundamentally driven by NATO expansion. This was the most detailed that President Putin has been of late in explaining why the Ukraine matter is “different” – or a unique threat to Russia’s national security – when it comes to NATO expansion.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 21:20

• Dutch Farmers Bring Tank To Fertilizer Protest; Cops Shoot Tractor
  Dutch Farmers Bring Tank To Fertilizer Protest; Cops Shoot Tractor

  Update (2112ET): Dutch protesters have taken things to the next level in the ongoing demonstrations – deploying a tank against a ‘green’ government scheme to reduce nitrogen in fertilizer that would see an estimated 30% of the country’s farms shuttered.

  The tank will presumably be used to block food distribution centers, following the use of tractors for that purpose earlier in the week.

  So, uh…. Dutch farmers have purchased a tank to use to block distribution centres. pic.twitter.com/rVvwb2pSA9

  — Keean Bexte 🇳🇱 (@TheRealKeean) July 5, 2022

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  The police are also “violently pulling down blockades one by one” according to journalist Keenan Bexte.

  Police are violently pulling down blockades one by one, through the use of “Romeos” which I’ll talk about later. (Basically police sanctioned ANTIFA). Shocking for a democracy, but this is Klaus Schwab country. Here is a snapshot from the front lines. https://t.co/363xQ3IVwh pic.twitter.com/SdYi5rKj2L

  — Keean Bexte 🇳🇱 (@TheRealKeean) July 5, 2022

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  *  *  *

  Update (1920ET): Dutch police fired ‘targeted shots’ on Tuesday evening during a farmers’ protest near the town of Heerenveen, the Pledge Times reports.

  According to the police, a threatening situation arose when protesters tried to drive into officers and official cars. Warning shots were then fired and an officer also fired pointedly. No one was injured, but a tractor was hit. Three people have been arrested.

  Because a police officer fired shots, the National Criminal Investigation Department will investigate the incident.

  Watch:

  Dutch police shoot at #farmer and his tractor 🚜.#Netherlands #FarmersProtest #FarmerProtest pic.twitter.com/0qR6EjO0L6

  — Markus Haintz (@MarkusHaintzUSA) July 5, 2022

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  Heb de beelden gezien van schoten die zijn gelost op #boeren in Friesland. Al langer waarschuw ik voor escalatie van protesten. Woensdag wil ik spoeddebat hierover met minister-president en minister van J&V. Dit gaat mis, zei ik vorige week. En het gaat mis #boereninopstand pic.twitter.com/rNHycExiRE

  — Caroline van der Plas (@lientje1967) July 5, 2022

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  Meanwhile:

  🇳🇱 is 🔥 pic.twitter.com/m64cgiQ8em

  — bu/ac (@buperac) July 5, 2022

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  According to the report, MP Caroline van der Plas of the BoerBurgerBeweging wants to hold an emergency debate with Prime Minister Rutte on Wednesday about the escalating farmers’ protests.

  “Have seen the images of shots fired at #boeren in Friesland. I have been warning against escalating protests for some time now. On Wednesday I want an emergency debate about this with the Prime Minister and the Minister of J&V. This is going wrong, I said last week,” she tweeted.

  *  *  *

  Dutch farmers who are livid over government plans to cut nitrogen emissions by 50% – 95% have now taken to blocking food distribution centers in protest of the plan, which would shutter an estimated one-third of farms in the Netherlands.

  Some 25 tractors parked outside a distribution center in the city of Zaandam, just north of Amsterdam, donning banners which read “Our farmers, our future” and other slogans, according to the Fresh Fruit Portal.

  AH Zaandam distributiecentrum #steundeboeren #boerenprotest #4juli pic.twitter.com/YTrRpoD4cI

  — ingrid (@twatters67) July 4, 2022

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  Dutch supermarkets today. No farms, no food. Dutch farmers wins. pic.twitter.com/HFxUOdcN3D

  — RadioGenova (@RadioGenova) July 5, 2022

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  Fisherman in the country have also begun blocking ports in solidarity with the farmers.

  A tractor at another protest, in the northern town of Drachten, urged people to “think for a moment about what you want to eat without farmers.”

  The strike has sparked fears of supermarket food shortages, as fishermen have also blocked a number of harbors in an act of solidarity.

  “Supermarkets do everything they can to keep the stores stocked, but if blockades continue, it could lead to people not being able to do their daily shopping,” the Central Bureau for Food Trade said in a statement.

  In addition, traffic authorities warned of delays and possible slow-moving tractors on the nation’s highways, while Schiphol Airport urged travelers to use public transport to get to its terminals amid fears that the blockades also would target airports. -Fresh Fruit Portal

  The upcoming reforms are expected to include a reduction in livestock, as well as buying up farms whose animals produce large volumes of ammonia.

  Meanwhile, undercover cops were reportedly ousted from a protest over the weekend.

  Undercover police tried to infiltrate the Dutch farmers protest but they got caught 🤣 pic.twitter.com/FmhhrGxbbz

  — Glynis Payne (@GlynisPayne17) July 5, 2022

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  This is what Dutch police undercover agents look like, making arrests during a demonstration from farmers. I don’t think this would go over well with the global community. This is something they accuse dictators of. Like putin. But this happend in the Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/p1wC35qrnE

  — *REEE Lee Spacey (@LeeSpacey) June 29, 2022

  Earlier in the weekend, farmers poured mature on government offices in protest.

  Dutch farmers protesting outside the home of the Minister for Nitrogen & Nature Policy against the govts plan to target the livestock sector with nitrogen emission cuts.

  The plan could see up to 30% reduction in livestock farming & farms out of business. pic.twitter.com/0C8hjLQJWn

  — Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) June 29, 2022

  🚨🚨⚠️⚠️
  The Dutch protesters are pouring manure on government offices, flooding streets, and becoming all together ungovernable. This uprising is in response to the WEF controlled government shutting down farms to “save the planet.” You have to see this: https://t.co/YTyax7uagm pic.twitter.com/mXgufQfkRM

  — Keean Bexte 🇳🇱 (@TheRealKeean) July 2, 2022

  In short, don’t fuck with farmers. 

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 21:15

• US-Mexico Border Is World's "Deadliest" Land-Crossing: UN Study
  US-Mexico Border Is World’s “Deadliest” Land-Crossing: UN Study

  Authored by Gary Bai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The U.S.-Mexico border has become the world’s “deadliest” land crossing, according to data recently brought to light by a United Nations study.

  

  A historic high of 728 recorded immigrant deaths and disappearances along the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in 2021 has made the land crossing the deadliest in the world, according to the study conducted by the United Nations agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

  These deaths accounted for the majority of the 1,238 immigrant deaths in the Americas in 2021, the IOM said in a press release on July 1, adding that these numbers should be considered an “undercount” due to difficulties in collecting data.

  The study attributed the deaths and disappearance of immigrants in the Americas to a “lack of options for safe and regular mobility,” saying that this would drive migrants, presumably those choosing to enter as illegal aliens, to pursue riskier dangerous pathways to their destinations.

  The agency also noted how the dangers faced by migrants are highlighted by recent news about what amounted to the deadliest known smuggling incident in American history: the discovery of 53 bodies in a tractor-trailer packed with 67 illegal immigrants in San Antonio on June 27.

  The record deaths came as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents reported a record number of apprehensions along the southern border.

  According to CBP statistics obtained by The Epoch Times, border patrol agents from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego apprehended 232,628 illegal border crossers in May—the highest monthly total in 23 years.

  In the same month, 79 illegal immigrants were found dead or died while crossing the border, according to the CBP data.

  “When that many people come across the border, it’s just a matter of math—you increase those that come across the border, you increase those that put themselves into the hands of the criminal cartels—you are certainly going to increase the deaths at the border,” Tom Homan, former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told The Epoch Times in June.

  “Very vulnerable people take the risk and pay criminal cartels who don’t give one cent about these people,” Homan said, adding that more migrants have died so far during President Joe Biden’s term in office than “any time [he] can remember in [his] 35-year career.”

  Since Biden took office in January 2021, border authorities have apprehended more than 3.2 million illegal border crossers, according to CBP data. An additional 800,000 or so have been detected but evaded capture.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

  Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 21:00

• Power Companies Face Transformer Shortage Ahead Of Hurricanes And Wildfires
  Power Companies Face Transformer Shortage Ahead Of Hurricanes And Wildfires

  Power-grid operators across the US recently warned about the increasing risks of electricity shortages and the potential need to implement rolling blackouts for grid stability this summer. According to a Reuters report, utilities are sounding the alarm about a transformer shortage. 

  Utility operators are stocking up on transformers, distribution lines, and poles, though many have one similar issue: sourcing has become challenging, and this is all happening as hurricane season has begun on the East Coast and heatwaves and fires scorch the West. 

  “We’re doing a lot more splicing, putting cables together, instead of laying new cable because we’re trying to maintain our new cable for inventory when we need it,” Nick Akins, chief executive of American Electric Power, a utility company delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states in the eastern half of the US. 

  New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. Chief Executive Ralph Izzo warned inventories are tight for transformers. 

  “You don’t want to deplete your inventory because you don’t know when that storm is coming, but you know it’s coming,” Izzo said. The utility serves millions of residential and business customers across New Jersey. 

  

  Utilities across the country are getting dangerously low on overhead distribution transformers. Supply is lacking, and the shortfall could take two years to correct. 

  “If we have successive days of 100-degree-heat, those pole-top transformers, they start popping like Rice Krispies, and we would not have the supply stack to replace them,” Izzo said.

  If wild weather from coast to coast wreaks havoc on power grids in the coming months, some utilities might find replacing transformers impossible because of limited supplies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 20:40

• "Get The F**k Out Of Here": Rep. Omar Booed During Somali Music Festival Appearance In Home State
  “Get The F**k Out Of Here”: Rep. Omar Booed During Somali Music Festival Appearance In Home State

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Video footage surfaced online that appeared to show a crowd of people at a Somali cultural event in Minneapolis booing “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over the weekend.

  

  Omar, who came to the United States as a Somali refugee, made an appearance at a concert featuring Somali singer Suldaan Seeraar at the city’s Target Center. As soon as she arrived on stage, the boos began, according to footage posted online.

  Ilhan Omar got booed onstage at a concert featuring Somali singer Soldaan Seraar in Minnesota last night.
  People in the crowd chanted “Get out!” & shouted “Get the f*ck out of here!”. pic.twitter.com/sggii7h6sO

  — Leftism (@LeftismForU) July 3, 2022

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

  Some yelled at her, “Get out!” and “get the [expletive] out of here.”

  “It was an honor to welcome you to our incredible city,” the Democratic congresswoman said in a Twitter post alongside a 14-second clip. The clip ended moments after the audience started to boo loudly.

  Longer videos suggested that the crowd booed her for about a minute after she and her husband came onto the stage. “OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, we don’t have all night,” Omar said at one point as the crowd kept booing.

  Unclear Why

  Some people suggested that it’s because of Omar’s support for Roe v. Wade, a Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion nationwide, support for LGBT causes, and other left-wing causes. Omar is currently the whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

  It’s not clear what prompted the response, and neither Omar nor her office has issued a public comment about the matter. The Epoch Times has contacted Omar’s office several times for comment about the boos.

  Following last month’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Omar said she would fight to codify it into law. She’s also publicly backed proposals to expand the Supreme Court and end the Senate filibuster to pass abortion laws.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 20:20

• Mexico President: Free Assange Or Dismantle Statue Of Liberty
  Mexico President: Free Assange Or Dismantle Statue Of Liberty

  On the 4th of July, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared that, if Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange is convicted in the United States, the Statue of Liberty should be dismantled, reports the Mexico Daily Post. 

  Assange is currently imprisoned by the United Kingdom pending an extradition to the United States on charges under the U.S. Espionage Act. Those charges spring from his receipt and publishing of vast troves of classified American government documents. Among many other embarrassing disclosures, the files revealed previously undisclosed civilian casualties of the war in Iraq.  

  On Friday, Assange appealed the UK government’s extradition decision to the High Court. PEN International, a global association of writers, condemned the U.S government’s conduct in the case:

  “Julian Assange’s prosecution raises profound concerns about freedom of the press. Invoking the Espionage Act for practices that include receiving and publishing classified information sends a dangerous signal to journalists and publishers worldwide.” 

  Speaking at a press conference at the National Palace, López Obrador called for the “most important press in the world”—including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Mexico’s El Pais—to “convene a meeting…to exhort, request, call, so that a pardon be granted to Assange.”  

  He continued:

  “If they don’t do it, they will be tarnished and we will have to start the campaign that, if they take him to the US, and sentence him to the maximum sentence [to] die in prison, they will have to dismantle the Statue of Liberty that the French delivered…because it is no longer a symbol of freedom.”

  López Obrador pledged to make his own personal appeal. “I want to state that I am going to ask President Biden to address this matter. I am aware that it goes against the severe hardliners that exist in the United States as in all countries, but humanism must also prevail,” he said. 

  He has previously indicated his willingness to grant Assange humanitarian asylum and Mexican citizenship. 

  It’s not the first time López Obrador has invoked the Statue of Liberty in criticizing political conditions in the United States.

  Referring to social media firms de-platforming then-sitting U.S. president Donald Trump in January 2021, he said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed that since they took these decisions, the Statue of Liberty in New York is turning green with anger, because it doesn’t want to become an empty symbol.”

  A consistent Western gadfly, in June López Obrador condemned NATO’s “immoral” proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. “How easy it is to say, ‘Here, I’ll send you this much money for weapons.’ Couldn’t the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could…’I’ll supply the weapons, and you supply the dead.’ It is immoral.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 20:00

• A Rare Paradigm Shift With Huge Implications… 5 Reasons Why It's Imminent
  A Rare Paradigm Shift With Huge Implications… 5 Reasons Why It’s Imminent

  Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

  Although many don’t realize it, interest rates are simply the price of money.

  

  And they are the most important prices in all of capitalism.

  They have an enormous impact on banks, the real estate market, and the auto industry. It’s hard to think of a business that interest rates don’t affect in some meaningful way.

  Today, we are on the cusp of a rare paradigm shift in interest rates. Such changes take decades—or even generations—to occur. But when they do, the financial implications are profound.

  Interest rates rise and fall through decades-long cycles, as seen in the chart below.

  That makes sense, as debt is naturally cyclical. It allows people to consume more than they produce now. But it also forces them to produce more than they consume later to pay it off.

  Interest rates last peaked in 1981 at over 15%. Then, they fell for 39 years and bottomed in July 2020 at around 0.62%.

  The red line marks the long-term average of 5.6%.

  

  Since the bottom in 2020, yields have gone up more than 5x. This reflects a significant shift. I think we are now at the very beginning of a new, long-term uptrend in interest rates.

  

  As of writing, the 10-year Treasury is yielding around 3.2%. That’s still far below the long-term historical average of approximately 5.6%. It’s also not even in the ballpark of the US government’s dubious official inflation rate of 8.6%, which is undoubtedly understated.

  In other words, interest rates have a lot of room to go up.

  I expect interest rates to reach new all-time highs in this new, long-term cycle. That would mean we’d see the 10-year Treasury yield north of 15%.

  Interest Rates Are Rigged

  Remember, interest rates are the price of money. They are the most important prices in all of capitalism. Yet they’re controlled by a politburo of central planners at the Federal Reserve, not set by the market like any other price.

  It’s strange that many people thoughtlessly accept this as “normal.” In reality, the Fed is engaged in a massive price-fixing scam… and nobody seems to care.

  While the Fed exercises undue influence over interest rates, other significant factors are at play here. And they all point to higher interest rates.

  Together, they’re ushering in a once-in-a-generation shift that is both unstoppable and imminent.

  Aside from the Federal Reserve, the US government’s federal budget has enormous influence over interest rates. That’s because when the government spends more than it brings in from taxes, it issues debt (i.e., Treasuries) to make up the difference.

  And now that Congress has normalized multi-trillion dollar federal spending deficits, that means an avalanche of new Treasuries to finance them.

  Who Will Buy All This Paper?

  Historically, there has been a vast foreign appetite for Treasuries. But not anymore.

  In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US government has launched its most aggressive sanctions campaign ever.

  As part of this, the US government seized the US dollar reserves of the Russian central bank—the accumulated savings of the nation.

  It was a stunning illustration of the dollar’s political risk. The US government can seize another sovereign country’s dollar reserves at the flip of a switch.

  The Wall Street Journal, in an article titled “If Russian Currency Reserves Aren’t Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock,” noted:

  “Sanctions have shown that currency reserves accumulated by central banks can be taken away. With China taking note, this may reshape geopolitics, economic management and even the international role of the U.S. dollar.”

  China is one of the largest holders of US Treasuries, and it indeed took note of what happened to Russia. It’s probably a big reason Beijing cut its Treasury holdings to a 12-year low.

  Even US allies, like Japan, have also cut their Treasury holdings.

  There are numerous other examples. But it’s clear the world isn’t hungry for US debt right now.

  The Russia sanctions episode is a reason foreigners—and other Treasury holders—may start to question the US’ willingness to meet its debt obligations. That would drive demand for higher yields to account for the added risk.

  What about the Fed?

  Usually, the Federal Reserve would help the federal government finance its deficits by creating trillions of new currency units to buy Treasuries. But with inflation spiraling out of control and the Fed desperately tightening, it is not in a position to come to the rescue this time.

  To summarize, here are the five reasons to expect higher interest rates:

  1. Inflation is out of control. Even the government’s official inflation statistics—which understate the situation—are far above current interest rates.

  2. The federal government must issue a flood of new Treasuries to finance multi-trillion dollar deficits—which are here to stay.

  3. Sanctions are eroding confidence in the US financial system.

  4. Foreigners aren’t buying as many Treasuries.

  5. The Fed is tightening.

  When you connect all the dots, I think it’s clear we are starting a new long-term cycle, with rising interest rates and a bear market in bonds. That will have enormous implications for the economy and the stock market.

  We will likely see incredible volatility in the financial markets as thousands of businesses that had become accustomed to easy money and artificially low interest rates go bankrupt.

  *  *  *

  The economic trajectory is troubling. Unfortunately, there’s little any individual can practically do to change the course of these trends in motion. The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible, and even profit from the situation. That’s precisely why bestselling author Doug Casey and his colleagues just released an urgent new PDF report that explains what could come next and what you can do about it. Click here to download it now.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 19:40

• Cross-Dressing Parade Gunman Bought 5 Weapons Despite Threats
  Cross-Dressing Parade Gunman Bought 5 Weapons Despite Threats

  Update (1950ET): The suspected gunman who killed 7 people in the Independence Day parade attack in suburban Chicago legally bought two high-powered rifles and three other weapons, despite having had knives confiscated in 2019 after he threatened suicide and violence, according to police.

  21-year-old Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday for the shooting, and “dozens of more charges” are anticipated according to Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart.

  *  *  *

  The death toll in Monday’s 4th of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois has risen to seven, after more than 70 shots were fired into the crowd.

  

  According to a Tuesday statement by police, the shooter – believed to be Robert Crimo III – was able to initially evade capture by dressing as a woman to blend into the fleeing crowd.

  WGN Investigates has obtained an image of the suspected parade shooter dressed as a woman. Police say he wore the disguise to aid in his escape. https://t.co/KwPtulXno3 @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/GniP3CLBNA

  — Ben Bradley (@BenBradleyTV) July 5, 2022

  During a Tuesday morning press conference, Christopher Covelli, Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman, said that 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III purchased the rifle used in the mass shooting through legal means. He was arrested approximately eight hours after the shooting, while a second gun was found in his car following the arrest.

  According to Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill, the gunman was perched on a rooftop and was “very difficult to see,” adding that the rifle was recovered at the scene, along with a ladder attached to the building.

  Crimo reportedly planned the attack weeks in advance according to police (or anyone who watched his music video depicting a mass shooting). There is no indication that the shooting was racially motivated.

  Crimo, who goes by the name Bobby, was an aspiring rapper with the stage name Awake the Rapper, posting on social media dozens videos and songs, some ominous and violent.

  In one animated video since taken down by YouTube, Crimo raps about armies “walking in darkness” as a drawing appears of a man pointing a rifle, a body on the ground and another figure with hands up in the distance. –Press Herald

  Federal agents are reviewing his internet footprint – while a preliminary examination of his internet history suggests he was researching mass killings, a law enforcement official said.

  Crimo also ‘liked’ several tweets advocating for the imprisonment of pro-J6 Republicans, with the hashtag “ArrestThemAll.”

  

  CNN, meanwhile, is taking this whole thing very seriously.

  Witness: “There was a body about 8ft from where we were standing… that body was in a pool of blood…”

  CNN host: *smiles and laughs* pic.twitter.com/M05FgxruQK

  — R.J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) July 5, 2022

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 19:29

• Rent Prices Cool The Most In These Five Cities 
  Rent Prices Cool The Most In These Five Cities 

  Amid a historic stretch of inflation over the last year, the cost of housing (especially rent) has been one of the most significant pressures on household finances. 

  The good news from the National Rent Report for June 2022 from Zumper, an online platform for rental searches, shows a long-awaited slowdown in rents arrived in June. 

  Zumper’s National Rent Index for a one-bedroom only grew .5% in June over the prior month, while two bedrooms are down 2.9%. This is “a sign that rent hikes are beginning to slow,” Zumper said in the report. 

  “With an unpredictable stock market, the ever-increasing cost of living, ongoing war in Ukraine, and talk of a recession, many consumers are tightening their wallets and reconsidering their living arrangements yet again.

  “For many would-be home buyers, the recent interest-rate hike was the final straw, and mortgage applications fell to a 22-year low this month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

  “But one consumer’s opt-out is another’s opportunity: As the housing market begins to cool, price cuts are following and houses are staying on the market for longer periods of time. Most markets have said goodbye to the days of dozens of lavish offers within hours of listing a house. The subsequent price cuts have created pockets of opportunity for renters who’ve been looking to buy a home for years and are a likely explanation for this month’s dramatic decrease in two-bedroom rent prices.” — Zumper 

  On a year-over-year basis of national median rents for one and two bedrooms, the pace of increases appears not just to have leveled off but is now reversing. 

  

  Here are the five metro areas where rent prices are decreasing for one- and two-bedroom apartments between May and June. Tallahassee, Florida, had the largest drop, followed by Anchorage, Alaska. 

  1. Tallahassee, Florida

  • Median rent price for a 1-bedroom apartment: $860 
  • Month-over-month change in price: -6.5%
  • Year-over-year change in price: 7.5%

  2. Anchorage, Alaska

  • Median rent price for a 1-bedroom apartment: $1,060
  • Month-over-month change in price: -6.2% 
  • Year-over-year change in price: 8.2%

  3. Urban Honolulu

  • Median rent price for a 1-bedroom apartment: $1,530 
  • Month-over-month change in price: -6.1% 
  • Year-over-year change in price: 3.4%

  4. San Diego 

  • Median rent price for a 1-bedroom apartment: $2,320
  • Month-over-month change in price: -6.1% 
  • Year-over-year change in price: 20.8%

  5. Syracuse, New York 

  • Median rent price for a 1-bedroom apartment: $930
  • Month-over-month change in price: -6.1% 
  • Year-over-year change in price: 8.1%

  Since the cost of rent and living expenses is on everyone’s mind, those renting in expensive metro areas (and can remotely work) might want to keep an eye on slumping rent prices in other metro areas. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 19:20

• The World's Third-Largest Economy Is Facing A Looming Energy Crisis
  The World’s Third-Largest Economy Is Facing A Looming Energy Crisis

  By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

  Japan is facing an energy crisis that can severely hurt the world’s third-largest economy as it is forced to tackle a combination of a weak local currency, the fallout from the Ukraine war, and a heatwave.

  

  Japan already had a significant energy import bill as it depends on foreign oil and gas for 90 percent of its needs. But as the yen fell to the lowest in 20 years, Japan’s bill became even bigger, with the price rise in crude oil, which has been some 40 percent in dollar terms since the start of 2022, reaching a whopping 70 percent in yen terms.

  “A confluence of factors, including the higher fuel prices since the war and the tumbling currency, is putting a significant pressure on Japan’s energy security, making this one of the most serious energy crises Japan has had,” said Jane Nakano, a senior fellow at Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

  Because of its extreme dependence on imported energy, Japan has had to continue importing Russian oil and gas despite its verbal commitment to sanctions against Moscow.

  Recently, the head of one of the biggest shipping companies in Asia, Mitsui OSK Lines, said that Japan has no choice but to continue importing Russian LNG, citing the country’s nuclear plants that are still offline after the Fukushima tragedy and soaring energy prices.

  “We cannot use many nuclear power stations therefore the supply and demand balance of the power industry is quite tight,” Takeshi Hashimoto told the Financial Times earlier this month. “Nowadays, the spot market of both LNG and coal is quite expensive. That is one of the reasons why Japan is so reluctant to stop the LNG imports from Russia.”

  It could be because of its heavy energy import bill that Japan proposed to the G7 to cap Russian oil export prices at half the current rate.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 07/05/2022 – 19:00

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