Month: June 2021

Via SchiffGold.com,

For months, the markets have responded to inflationary pressures by piling into dollars and selling gold. They’ve taken this counterintuitive approach because they believe the Fed will tighten monetary policy to fight inflation sooner rather than later. But we’re starting to see a shift in sentiment. As Peter Schiff explains in a recent podcast, traders seem to be realizing that inflation might be here to stay, and that is bullish for gold and bearish for the dollar.

Last month, we started to see a rotation in the stock market with investors moving out of the “hyped up, overvalued” momentum stocks into more traditional value-oriented, dividend-paying stocks that are considered better inflationary hedges. The NASDAQ was the only index down on the month. The Dow up about 2% in May while the NASDAQ saw its biggest decline since last October.

The reason that you saw weakness in the NASDAQ and strength in the Dow is because the Dow Jones is where you can find more value-oriented stocks. Of course, value is a relative term. I mean, they may not be value stocks in an absolute sense that they’re real bargains. But they’re value relative to these hyped-up momentum stocks.”

You can also see the rotation when you compare foreign and domestic stocks. Foreign stocks substantially outperformed compared to the S&P and the Dow Jones.

The reason for that is because foreign markets have a lot more value-oriented stocks than the US. America leads the world in the over-priced momentum stocks. And so, when those stocks were in vogue and everybody was buying them the US market was the best game in town. But now that we’re rotating away from those names and people want out of momentum and into the value, they’re also getting out of the US market into foreign markets, which also means they’re getting out of dollars.”

The dollar index dropped for the second consecutive month in May. More importantly, this is the lowest monthly close for the US dollar index since 2014.

Meanwhile, gold and silver had a big month in May. Both metals were up about 7.5%. Gold had its best monthly gain since last July and closed the month above $1,900.

Peter said the most significant development in the gold market was its reaction to the hotter than expected increase in the personal consumption index. This key inflation indicator was up 3.6% in April, much higher than expected. The year-over-year core PCI was up 3.1%, the biggest rise in 29 years.

As soon as these numbers came out, traders went to their typical knee-jerk response, buying dollars and selling gold. Gold dropped some $15 initially.

Of course, this is counterintuitive. High inflation numbers mean the dollar is losing value. It would make sense to sell dollars under these conditions. And it would also make sense to hedge that inflation by buying gold. But the markets are still looking to the Fed. They expect the central bank to try to rein in inflation by tightening monetary policy and raising interest rates.

But eventually, what traders are going to figure out, is that high inflation is not good for the dollar and bad for gold because the Fed is going to fight inflation by tightening policy — because the Fed is not going to fight inflation. It’s not going to tighten policy. And so, inflation is going to continue to erode away the value of those dollars. So, why would you buy them? You won’t. You will sell them and you will buy gold.”

Peter said there are some indications that traders are starting to wake up to this reality. After the initial selloff Friday, traders spent the rest of the day selling dollars and buying gold. The dollar surrendered almost all its morning post-inflation news gains and gold recouped all of its losses and ended up closing up on the day.

I think this is very significant because it shows to me that the traders are waking up to this reality that inflation is bearish for the dollar and bullish for gold, and they’re starting to realize that it doesn’t matter how much the Fed barks about its willingness or intentions or ability to fight inflation should it rear its head, the market is starting to realize that inflation isn’t going to be fought, that inflation is going to win by default because the Fed isn’t even going to try to fight it — because it can’t.”

If this is the case, we should see much bigger gains in the price of gold and silver.

On Monday Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced decisions reached in a meeting with top military officials which mark a continued significant escalation with NATO. The Associated Press described of his statements, “He pointed to a growing number of flights by U.S. strategic bombers near Russia’s borders, deployments of NATO warships and increasingly frequent and massive drills by alliance forces.”

“The US and NATO continue to expand the scope of operational and combat training near our borders,” the Russian defense minister explained. “The actions of our Western counterparts are destroying the security system in the world and forcing us to take adequate countermeasures. We are constantly improving the combat composition of the troops.”

And that’s when he proposed a specific military response including the formation of 20 new units to be permanently based in the Western Military District. “By the end of the year, about 20 formations and military units will be formed in the Western Military District,” Shoigu said.

This will no doubt be taken as a deeply threatening move in the West, given it’s precisely the expanded Russian military war drills and additional troop build-up along Ukraine’s border which sparked the latest crisis and sanctions tit-for-tat of late March and which reached its height in April. But it bears reminding that the Russian military is merely talking about troop positions within its own sovereign borders – though apparently this remains hugely “threatening” for the West. 

Presumably the 20 new military units for the purpose of ‘countering NATO’ will be able to react even more swiftly to any escalating crisis in Crimea or Donbas. AP notes of Defense Minister Shoigu’s statements: “He added the military units in Western Russia have commissioned about 2,000 new pieces of weaponry this year.”

Interestingly Belarus and its longtime ruling strongman Alexander Lukashenko are also increasingly front and center in terms of the Russia-NATO standoff and Eastern European and Baltic fault line, particularly after the recent Ryanair plane diversion and detention of anti-Lukashekno activist Roman Protasevich.

Shoigu also announced planned-for major joint Russia-Belarusian military exercises to take place in upcoming months. “Preparations for Zapad-2021 joint strategic Russian-Belarusian exercise, which will take place in September at the training grounds of Belarus and the Western Military District, have entered an active phase.  A number of command post exercises have already been carried out with the involvement of headquarters of various levels,” he said.

However, Shoigu noted its “exclusively defense character” – no doubt wary of growing accusations from the US and its allies of the Kremlin’s supposed ‘expansionist’ ambitions. 

“I want to emphasize that the Zapad-2021 exercise is planned.  It is carried out by decision of the presidents of Russia and Belarus and is exclusively defensive in nature,” he said. “Within the time frame established by international treaties, our partners will be informed about the parameters of the exercise, and the event itself will be able to be visited by international observers and journalists.”

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

The European Parliament has halted ratification of a controversial investment treaty with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on European lawmakers, academics and think tanks. The move, a rare display of fortitude by an institution notorious for vacillation, reflects a hardening stance in Europe toward the Chinese Communist Party.

The ratification freeze, backed by all of the major groupings in the European Parliament, is significant for several reasons:

1. it represents a turning point in EU-China relations, in that Beijing no longer calls the shots;

2. it marks a shift in the balance of power in favor of the European Parliament at the expense of the European Commission;

3. and it signifies the beginning of the end of Merkelism, and ideology which has, among other things, consistently prioritized commercial interests over human rights concerns, whether in China, Russia or Iran.

The European Parliament on May 20 overwhelmingly passed a resolution to “freeze” ratification of the deal with 599 votes in favor, 30 against and 58 abstentions. A statement said:

“The resolution emphasizes that any consideration by the European Parliament of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) … as well as any discussion on its mandatory ratification by MEPs, have ‘justifiably been frozen’ because of the Chinese sanctions.

“MEPs demand that China lift the sanctions before they consider the agreement…. They also remind the European Commission that MEPs will take the human rights situation in China, including in Hong Kong, into account when deciding whether to endorse the agreement or not….

“MEPs also call for re-balancing EU-China relations. They support a toolbox of autonomous measures such as legislation against distortive effects of foreign subsidies on the internal market, an import ban on forced labor goods as well as an enhanced and strengthened EU Foreign Investment Screening Regulation. The EU also needs to adequately address China’s cybersecurity threats and hybrid attacks.”

The CAI was concluded in great haste on December 30, 2020 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. Other EU countries were excluded from the negotiations. Merkel reportedly wanted an agreement at any cost before Germany’s six-month EU presidency ended on December 31.

The lopsided agreement, which ostensibly aims to level the economic and financial playing field by providing European companies with improved access to the Chinese market, actually allows China to continue to restrict investment opportunities for European companies in many strategic sectors. The deal also lacks meaningful enforcement mechanisms for issues that the EU claims to care about, such as climate change and human rights, including forced labor.

On December 30, Von der Leyen proudly declared that the CAI will “uphold our interests” and “promote our core values.” On January 6, only seven days later, Chinese launched a massive crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong.

Former Hong Kong Governor Lord Patten said the CAI makes a “mockery” of the EU’s ambitions to be taken seriously as a global and economic player:

“It spits in the face of human rights and shows a delusional view of the Chinese Communist Party’s trustworthiness on the international stage.”

In commentary published by the Financial Times, columnist Gideon Rachman argued that the deal was “naive” and will increase China’s leverage over Europe:

“Over the past year, China has crushed the freedom of Hong Kong, intensified oppression in Xinjiang, killed Indian troops, threatened Taiwan and sanctioned Australia. By signing a deal with China nonetheless, the EU has signaled that it doesn’t care about all that….

“China has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to use its economic power as a strategic weapon. By deepening their economic reliance on China — without coordinating their policy with fellow democracies — European nations are increasing their vulnerability to pressure from Beijing. That is a remarkably shortsighted decision to make.”

Sanctions and Countersanctions

The current standoff revolves around burgeoning evidence of massive human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, a remote autonomous region in northwestern China. Human rights experts say that at least one million Muslims are being detained in hundreds of internment camps, where they are subject to torture, mass rapes, forced labor and sterilizations.

In November 2018, Western countries including France, Germany and the United States called on China to close down detention camps in Xinjiang.

In October 2019, the Trump Administration imposed sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities accused of responsibility for abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. It imposed additional sanctions in May, June and July 2020. On January 19, 2021, then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo determined that China, under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.

In March 2021, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, presumably under pressure from the United States, announced (here, here and here) that they too had imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of Uyghur-related human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

China responded by imposing sanctions (here, here and here) on more than two dozen European, British and Canadian lawmakers, academics and think tanks.

The sanctioned individuals, who are prohibited from entering China, include German lawmaker Reinhard Bütikofer, who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to China; four other Members of the European Parliament; Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament; four other Members of the British Parliament; Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma of the Dutch Parliament; Samuel Cogolati of the Belgian Parliament; Dovilė Šakalienė of the Lithuanian Parliament; Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the British Conservative Party; British scholar Joanne Nicola Smith Finley; German scholar Adrian Zenz; and Swedish scholar Björn Jerdén.

The individuals have publicly criticized the Chinese government for human rights abuses. Sjoerdsma, for instance, recently called for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. Cogolati and Šakalienė have drafted genocide legislation, while Zenz has written extensively on the detention camps in Xinjiang.

China also sanctioned the EU’s main foreign policy decision-making body, known as the Political and Security Committee; the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights; the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies; the UK-based China Research Group; the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission; and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a Danish think tank founded by former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

China contends that its sanctions are tit for tat — morally equivalent retaliation — in response to those imposed by Western countries. In fact, the European sanctions are for crimes against humanity, whereas the Chinese sanctions seek to silence European critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

In a March 22 statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said:

“The Chinese side urges the EU side to reflect on itself, face squarely the severity of its mistake and redress it. It must stop lecturing others on human rights and interfering in their internal affairs. It must end the hypocritical practice of double standards and stop going further down the wrong path. Otherwise, China will resolutely make further reactions.”

In the days before the European Parliament voted on the CAI, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly called German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang phoned Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, in an unsuccessful effort to save the investment deal.

On May 20, Global Times, the daily tabloid newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, responded to the decision to halt ratification of the CAI:

“The conditions imposed by the European Parliament for resuming ratification process are rough and arrogant. It demands that ‘China lift the sanctions before Parliament can deal with the CAI.’ These sanctions imposed by China are actually countermeasures against the EU’s sanctions over Chinese officials and entities.

“There is no way China will lift those sanctions under pressure from the European Parliament. The European Parliament said in the motion that it ‘calls on the [European] Commission to use the debate around the CAI as leverage to improve the protection of human rights’ in China. Such an intent will be resisted and despised by China.”

On May 21, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that he hoped the EU “could do less emotional venting and more rational thinking, and make correct decisions in line with its own interests.”

On May 25, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi launched a blistering attack against European sanctions: “Our European friends know what is genocide.”

Responses

The European Parliament’s decision to freeze ratification of the CAI has been greeted with broad approval. Reinhard Bütikofer, the German MEP sanctioned by China and co-author of the resolution, said that Beijing’s efforts to silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party were “as ridiculous as they are arrogant, and they will fail.” Using language from the Chinese playbook, he added: “With its sanctions, China has miscalculated. They should learn from their mistakes and rethink.”

In an interview with Euronews, Bütikofer said that even if China lifts its sanctions, the CAI would have to be modified in order for it to be ratified:

“Basically, the resolution says this agreement is in the freezer, buried very deep in the freezer. And we demand that China lift its sanctions before the European Parliament could be willing to consider dealing with the matter.

“When you look at the substance of the deal, there are issues not really addressing the application of forced labor in China. The deal doesn’t give a very strong conflict-resolution mechanism. If China fails to implement the provisions of the deal, the instruments that we have to force them to live by them, the letter that they have signed onto, are extremely weak.

“There are restrictions with regard to market access. This is neither providing a level playing field nor is really very beneficial to European industry, with a few exceptions maybe. And on the other hand, it allows the Chinese side to enjoy national treatment with regard to European media while European media are still excluded from the Chinese market completely.”

Armin Laschet, a leading candidate to succeed Merkel as German chancellor in general elections in September, said that the CAI could not be ratified unless China lifted its sanctions: “If you want to be our partner, you have to show mutual respect. So, on that issue I would like to see movement on the Chinese side.”

Portuguese MEP Pedro Marques said that China was guilty of an “attack against European democracy.” He declared: “We will not tolerate it.”

Adrian Zenz, the scholar sanctioned by China for unearthing human rights abuses in Xinjiang, tweeted that overwhelming support for freezing ratification of the CAI “is akin to a death sentence.”

China expert Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian said:

“The Chinese government has bungled its relationship with the EU, just as it seemed that Beijing had successfully driven a wedge between a Trump-weary Europe and the Biden administration.”

Indian foreign affairs expert Gautam Chikermane wrote that the EU needs to rethink its first principles “thrice over” and decide what it stands for:

“The announcement says the CAI or any other agreement with China will not move forward while the sanctions are in place. In a corollary, if China pulls back on sanctions, the EU will pull back its rejection. This is geopolitical naivete….

“China cannot and will not be tamed. It will not adhere to the rule of law. It will not give up on its uncouth wolf warriors. It will not change its debt trap diplomacy. It will not end the weaponization of political systems, in this case the fault lines of democracies, to smother democracies. If it is counter sanctions today, it will be intellectual property theft tomorrow, and 5G data surveillance of free citizens next. Under Xi Jinping, China has become a hydra-headed monster.

“Further, the gentle fine print the EU has placed is little more than good manners. Behind this fine print lie the dark lobbies of the EU’s largest corporations. There is danger that the tail of EU capitalism will wag the dog of member states and sovereign democracies into submission….

“The values of liberty, equality and fraternity the EU has floated and disseminated across the world in the 20th century need to be expanded into the 21st century. Right now, these values, and through them the citizens of EU nations, are being ruthlessly smothered by Beijing.

“That the EU continues to imagine business as usual with such a country shows the internal contradictions of values, now sugar-coated by petty corporate interests.”

Japanese analyst Katsuji Nakazawa, writing for Nikkei Asia, added:

“The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to freeze the ratification process of an investment pact with China — a deal that Beijing six months ago considered a big strategic victory.

“It has sent shock waves throughout China, with only one month and change before arguably the most important event in President Xi Jinping’s era, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s establishment, on July 1.

“Some party members are worried that the centenary’s festive mood will be dampened by the harsh diplomatic reality. Not only are China’s relations with the U.S. bad, but now EU relations are stuck in a ditch….

“With Xi playing his cards to remain as China’s top leader beyond the party’s next quinquennial national Congress in the autumn of 2022, he is in no mood to admit to policy failure. Therefore, no major reversals are on the horizon.”

Perhaps Andreas Fulda, a German scholar of China, said it best: “While halting the ratification of CAI is good, scrapping CAI altogether would be better.”

Demands for the UK to end all remaining lockdown restrictions are growing after public health officials for the first time since the start of the pandemic recorded zero deaths for the past day.

That’s the first time since March 7 of last year that nobody died in the UK from COVID-19 in a 24-hour period.

Business groups have lead the charge pushing for an earlier reopening, but British PM Boris Johnson says he won’t make a decision on ending the lockdown until he has been fully briefed on the risks of the Indian COVID-19 variant that’s been spreading rapidly in the UK.

UK Hospitality, which represents about 85,000 venues, said jobs will be lost if there’s a delay to the end of lockdown measures, while survey data from the Night Time Industries Association suggests the future of nine in 10 nightlife businesses is threatened after more than a year of enforced closures.

Prevalence of the newly-renamed Delta strain is the only obstacle that could delay UK’s plans for unlocking. It has spread across the UK and the number of daily COVID cases has ticked upwards in the past two weeks, raising concerns about whether a second summer could be lost for the British tourism industry.

Already, adding pressure on PM Johnson was the decision by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to postpone Scotland’s June 7 relaxation of its restrictions across a swathe of the region including Edinburgh. Sturgeon cited an increase in the number of cases of the variant first detected in India as reason for the extension.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged caution in response to the fall in daily deaths.

“Despite this undoubtedly good news we know we haven’t beaten this virus yet,” he said in an emailed statement. “And with cases continuing to rise please remember hands, face, space and let in fresh air when indoors, and of course, make sure when you can you get both jabs.”

However, despite the milestone in fatalities, some of the “experts” are launching a fresh fearmongering campaign. They’re pointing to the spread of an Indian variant, along with a recent jump in hospitalizations, as signs that the British lockdown, which has already been unwound to a substantial degree and is on the cusp of being dismissed completely. They’re arguing that these are signs that another vicious surge could seize England and the UK if the public isn’t careful.

A top adviser to the British government, Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, says he’s concerned about England unlocking too early (the government is slated to end restrictions on June 21, when all legal limits will be removed). However, the public clearly doesn’t want to hear this, since he’s already complaining about being repeatedly told to “shut up”. The government scientist said he was repeatedly “told to shut up” by people who don’t want to hear his warnings.

For better or worse, promoters of keeping restrictions in place as a precaution against the variants just got a boost from the WHO, which is changing up how it names the variants to remove some of the stigma associated with discovering them (since they’re often named after where they were discovered) but also to make it easier for the media to discuss them.

But with the US and UK both leading the world in vaccinations, it’s worth wondering: does anybody really believe these warnings?

Authored by Rick Rozoff via AntiWar.com,

US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa announced that American B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers accompanied by military aircraft from twenty-one other NATO nations flew over all 30 NATO member states on Memorial Day. Those would include the five that border Russia – Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – of course.

The B-52s (designed to carry nuclear weapons during the Cold War), like their fellow nuclear-capable long-range bombers the B-1 and B-2, started deployment to Europe in 2018 under the aegis of the Pentagon’s Bomber Task Force and so far this year have maintained a ready presence in Europe, in one instance landing at a Norwegian air base within the Arctic Circle.

Monday’s transcontinental flights were codenamed Operation Allied Sky and were the second such since last August when six B-52s accompanied by 80 NATO fighter jets flew over the thirty member states in a single day. The message sent by the operations shouldn’t be difficult to understand.

Currently the B-52s are based at the Morón Air Base in Spain under NATO arrangements, as four, soon to be six, U.S. guided-missile destroyers equipped with interceptor missiles are based at the Naval Station Rota in the same nation, also under NATO auspices.

The NATO allies providing warplanes to escort the American nuclear-era bombers were Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey.

If you’re one of two nations in Europe not enrolled in (conscripted, dragooned into) NATO’s continental military phalanx – in other words, if you’re Russia and Belarus – the handwriting is in the sky.

U.S. long-range strategic bombers were flying a Memorial Day mission over all 30 NATO countries in Europe and North America, officials said Monday https://t.co/IBmvCVJo3O

— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) May 31, 2021

General Jeff Harrigian, jointly NATO Allied Air Command and US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander (to demonstrate there’s no difference between the Pentagon and NATO), said of Monday’s unambiguous spectacle, “Today’s mission is an awesome demonstration of NATO air superiority and together there is no challenge we cannot tackle.”

The Harrigians of the world, both in North America and Europe, appear to be preparing a pyrotechnical extravaganza the likes of which humanity has been spared until now. One that could dwarf in comparison the horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima – by several orders of magnitude.

But it’s all in a day’s work. Nothing for the world to take note of – so it appears.

Despite the concerns about digital privacy being invaded by the “vaccine passports” that Europe has demanded of travelers, the EU is pressing ahead with plans to launch a “digital wallet” that would carry digital copies of a drivers’ license and credit cards (sort of like Apple Pay does) as Europe continues its transition away from cash.

According to the FT, the EU is preparing to unveil its plans for the bloc-wide “digital wallet” on Wednesday. The product is the result of what Brussels described as several states’ demands for the EU to create a digital tool to access important records and other products and services via the smartphone.

The EU’s Thierry Breton

A digital wallet could store payment details and passwords, and allow citizens from all 27 countries to log into local government websites or pay utility bills or perhaps even merchants using a single recognized identity.

Like with other smartphone apps, the digital wallets will be accessed via fingerprint and/or retina scanning. It can also serve as a vault where users can store official documents such as a driver’s license. Using the wallet will not be compulsory, but EU citizens who chose to sign up would benefit from an extra-secure digital ecosystem and greater flexibility ideal for post-pandemic life.

“The new digital ID will give every European the keys to their digital twin,” Thierry Breton, and EU commissioner in charge of digital policy, said in a speech earlier this year.

EU officials plan to make it illegal for companies to use any data gleaned from these ‘digital passports’ for marketing or any other commercial purpose, the FT said. Brussels is engaged in discussions with member states to provide guidelines on technical standards for the rollout of the digital wallet, which is expected to be fully operational in about a year.

But here’s the bottom line: The EU digital wallet is “simple, secure and it will protect people online”, said a person with direct knowledge of the plans. “People will also have the power to decide how much information they give out while Google and others don’t let you decide what you’re giving away.”

So far, the program has seen limited interest, with only 19 member states moving to introduce the digital wallets to their citizens, and unfortunately not all of them are cross-compatible. But regulators hope that the rise in “digital literacy” driven by the pandemic will help make the “digital wallet” more popular. After all: who wants to keep carrying around all those annoying ID and credit cards?

What if, instead of carrying a wallet and a phone, we just carried a phone?

Via South Front,

On May 29th, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense and Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into an incident in the village of Cheshnegirovo in the region of Plovdiv.

The incident involved US military who, mistakenly, stormed vegetable oil production workshop during a NATO military exercise.

The incident happened on May 11, but the US embassy said it only learned about the incident on May 28th. The diplomatic mission apologized for the incident and promised to co-operate in the investigation.

“The US Army takes training seriously and prioritizes the safety of our soldiers, our allies, and civilians. We sincerely apologize to the business and its employees,” the embassy said.

The owner of the workshop, Marin Dimitrov, told Bulgaria’s state radio that his seven workers continue to feel stressed by the invasion of the soldiers and that he intends to seek his rights in court.

Footage from the factory’s security cameras showed seven US soldiers armed with assault rifles and moving in fire teams to secure the facility, with no resistance from the workers. After finding no ‘enemy’ combatants, the Americans left.

The incursion was made by soldiers assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, who strayed outside the designated area of the exercise at the Cheshnegirovo Air Base, where they trained in “entering and clearing multiple bunkers and structures across the airfield.”

The exercise is titled “Swift Response 21”. It was a US Army-led multinational exercise involving more than 7,000 paratroopers from 10 NATO allies. Surprisingly, it wasn’t supposed to involve raiding civilian businesses, but surprises happen, just like in war.

Caretaker Minister of Defence, Georgi Panayotov, gave a briefing at which he stated that no violence had been used by the military in Cheshnegirovo – they had ordered the workers in the workshop only to sit down.

Cheshnegirovo air base is located near Bulgaria’s village of Cheshnegirovo.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev demanded an investigation into the incident.

“The exercises with our allies on the territory of Bulgaria should contribute to building security and trust in collective defense, not breed tension”, he said

“It is inadmissible to have the lives of Bulgarian citizens disturbed and put at risk by military formations, whether Bulgarian or belonging to a foreign army,” said President Rumen Radev, talking to Minister of Defense Georgi Panayotov and Lieutenant General Lyubcho Todorov, Commander of the Joint Forces Command.

Commenting on the raid by American soldiers of a production workshop near Cheshnegirovo during a military exercise, President Radev stated he expects a thorough investigation into the incident, disclosure of the names of the officials responsible and a review of the organization and safety measures.

“The exercises with our allies on the territory of Bulgaria should contribute to building security and trust in collective defence, not breed tension,” the President said.

The Bulgarian military is currently investigating why information about the US incursion remained hidden from the public for almost two weeks.

Georgi Panayotov, Bulgaria’s envoy to the UN and currently also the country’s acting defense minister, said during a media conference that there was no attempt to cover-up the incident.