Month: April 2022

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has managed to keep his $1 billion yacht fleet out of the hands of European authorities – although it appears they’re finally closing in. 

But while the Western press loves to celebrate the seizure of yachts and other luxury properties belonging (or allegedly belonging) to oligarchs, the opaque ownership structure raises many questions and is even creating problems for some European businesses, including marinas that don’t know who to bill. 

Reuters raised one notable example on Monday, when it reported that La Ciotat Shipyards, nestled in a quiet corner of the French Riviera, has continued producing bills for mooring fees and other expenses tied to the massive superyacht Amore Vero (“True Love” in Italian) after it was seized by French authorities on suspicion of belonging to Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft (the yacht was seized last month just days after Sechin was added to the sanctions list).

Customs agents seized the 86-metre (282-ft) vessel as its crew prepared to sail out of harbour on the night of March 2, two days after the European Union added Igor Sechin, the head of Russian state oil company Rosneft, to its sanctions list for the war in Ukraine.

However, now that the yacht is technically in government custody, the marina doesn’t know to whom it should send the (increasingly sizable) bills. Ironically, Sechin has issued a statement denying that he ultimately owns the yacht.

France’s finance ministry says the yacht belongs to a company controlled by Sechin – one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oldest allies. The ministry declined to name the firm.

But Sechin – in a statement sent to Reuters by Rosneft – denied this.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France had officially seized the Amore Vero – a measure that officials said gives the state custody over the yacht and leaves costs with the owner.

The confusion is causing quite the headache for La Ciotat.

But authorities have not notified third parties of the vessel’s status, leaving it unclear who is responsible for its upkeep, said two companies involved in servicing the yacht. As bills pile up, an executive at La Ciotat Shipyards said the company was unsure how to get paid.

“We’re continuing to invoice,” said Alice Boisseau, communications officer for La Ciotat Shipyards. Asked who would foot the bill, she said: “We don’t know.”

Boisseau declined to answer further questions. France’s customs agency declined to comment on why it had not informed the shipyards of the yacht’s status.

Of course, France and Italy aren’t the only EU member states to seize yachts purportedly belonging to sanctioned oligarchs. On Monday, a $95 million yacht belonging to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg was confiscated in Spain at Washington’s urging (although Vekselberg isn’t facing sanctions in the EU, he is facing them in the US, where he has also been accused of bank fraud). But since the ownership structure is so opaque, authorities had to rely on two unidentified employees of a company providing services to the vessel (named Tango) to ‘confirm’ its true ownership.

That seizure was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture and was the first of its kind, though Attorney General Merrick Garland said “it will not be the last”.

According to Bloomberg, more than a dozen yachts or superyachts have been seized over the past five weeks. 

The largest and most valuable of these is the detained superyacht Dilbar, a 156-meter (512-foot) motor yacht owned by Alisher Usmanov, who has been sanctioned by the US, UK and EU. That yacht alone is worth between $587 million and $625 million. 

Source: Bloomberg

In total, the detained superyachts of sanctioned Russian tycoons are worth $2.25 billion.

But the problem for local marinas (and ultimately, the law enforcement agencies responsible for seizing the yachts) is that the yachts require extensive maintenance even when docked in order to keep them seaworthy. Forego the maintenance, and the yachts will soon deteriorate, destroying their value and making it impossible (or extremely difficult) to re-sell them at auction (if that is actually what authorities plan to do). 

In the meantime, governments need to think long and hard about how they will reimburse marinas for this maintenance. 

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

A very alarming global food shortage has already begun, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead. 

I realize that this is not good news, but I would encourage you to share the information in this article with everyone that you can.  People deserve to understand what is happening, and they deserve an opportunity to get prepared.  The pace at which things are changing around the globe right now is absolutely breathtaking, but most people assume that life will just continue to carry on as it normally does.  Unfortunately, the truth is that a very real planetary emergency is developing right in front of our eyes. 

The following are 20 facts about the emerging global food shortage that should chill you to the core…

#1 One of France’s most important government officials is telling us that we should brace ourselves for an “extremely serious” global food crisis…

France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the EU must get to grips with the prospect that the war in Ukraine could prompt an “extremely serious” global food crisis.

#2 Joe Biden recently admitted that food shortages are “going to be real”, and his administration is now openly using the word “famine” to describe what is coming…

The Biden administration is worried Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will cause famine in parts of the world, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse told CNBC on Friday.

#3 It is being reported that food prices at German supermarkets will soon go up between 20 and 50 percent…

Just days after Germany reported the highest inflation in generation (with February headline CPI soaring at a 7.6% annual pace and blowing away all expectations), giving locals a distinctly unpleasant deja vu feeling even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke what few supply chains remained and sent prices even higher into the stratosphere…

… on Monday, Germany will take one step toward a return of the dreaded Weimar hyperinflation, when according to the German Retail Association (HDE), consumers should prepare for another wave of price hikes for everyday goods and groceries with Reuters reporting that prices at German retail chains will explode between 20 and 50%

#4 Rationing has already begun in Spain…

In Spain, the country started experiencing sporadic shortages of different products like eggs, milk and other dairy products almost immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In early March, major supermarkets like Mercadona and Makro began rationing sunflower oil.

#5 Rationing has also already started in Greece…

In Greece, at least four national supermarket chains have started rationing food products like flour and sunflower oil due to critically low supplies caused by the crippled supply chains coming out of Russia and Ukraine.

#6 The head of BlackRock is warning that this will be the very first time this generation “is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want”…

On Tuesday, BlackRock Inc. President Rob Kapito told an audience in Austin, Texas, hosted by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, that an entire younger generation is quickly finding out what it means to suffer from shortages, according to Bloomberg.

“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” Kapito said. “And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.”

#7 Since this time last year, some fertilizer prices have gone up by as much as 300 percent.

#8 Many farmers in Africa will not be able to afford fertilizer at all this year, and it is being projected that this will reduce agricultural production by an amount capable of feeding “100 million people”…

With prices tripling over the past 18 months, many farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers this year. That leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third, according to Sebastian Nduva, program manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org.

That could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tons, enough to feed 100 million people, he said.

#9 Russia is normally one of the biggest global exporters of fertilizer…

Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices.

#10 In a typical year, Russia and Ukraine collectively account for approximately 30 percent of all global wheat exports.

#11 Half of Africa’s wheat imports usually come from either Russia or Ukraine.

#12 Other nations rely on wheat exports from Russia and Ukraine even more than Africa does…

Armenia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Eritrea have imported virtually all of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine and must find new sources. But they are competing against much larger buyers, including Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and Iran, which have obtained more than 60 percent of their wheat from the two warring countries.

#13 One Russian official is warning that his nation may soon only export food to “friendly nations”…

A Russian government official has threatened that Russia will limit its vital food exports to only nations it considers “friendly”.

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who previously served as the nation’s president, has threatened that Russia may soon cut off the West from food exports.

#14 On Friday, it was announced that another 5 million egg-laying chickens in Iowa would have to be put down because of the bird flu.

#15 The death toll from the bird flu in Iowa alone will be pushed beyond 13 million as a result of this latest incident.

#16 Overall, this is what the total national death toll from the bird flu currently looks like: “22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys”.

#17 China’s agricultural minister has announced that the winter wheat harvest in China could be “the worst in history”.

#18 We are being warned that the winter wheat harvest in the United States will be “disastrous” due to severe drought.

#19 During a recent interview, one prominent U.S. farmer stated that most Americans won’t like it when “your grocery bill is up $1,000.00 a month”.

#20 The head of the UN World Food program says that what the planet is now facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II…

“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. “There is no precedent even close to this since World War II.”

We have been warned over and over again that this day was coming, and now it is here.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, I hope that you will share this information with as many people as possible, because this crisis really is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.

In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day.

A truly nightmarish global food crisis really is upon us, and hundreds of millions of innocent people are going to deeply suffer as a result.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

Romania is preparing to hand out potassium iodide tablets to its citizen in case of a nuclear incident, as the conflict in neighboring Ukraine continues to rage on.

“The Romanian Government and the Ministry of Health will start the campaign to inform the population on how to administer and store potassium iodide tablets,” the Romanian health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

It said, “the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance House will establish the legal procedure for the distribution of potassium iodide pills for the population aged 0 to 40 years.” 

Potassium iodide can help block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland, therefore protecting the gland from radiation injury during a nuclear incident. The distribution of the tablets is expected in the second half of April. 

The Romanian health ministry didn’t mention the reasons for the upcoming handout. However, they said, “at this time, there is no danger of making these pills necessary.” 

Romania shares a 381-mile border with Ukraine. Russian forces have captured multiple nuclear power stations as the conflict enters the 40th day. Fears of a nuclear accident (read: here & here) have flared up numerous times during the conflict. 

Last month, the European Commission encouraged EU members to begin stockpiling iodide tablets. 

“The commission is working to ensure it enhances preparedness in the area of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear threats (CRBN) generally, and this predates the war in Ukraine,” a commission spokesman told FT: 

Google searches for the tablets have spiked to levels not seen since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

What is NATO planning that requires mass distribution of potassium iodide tablets? 

Via SchiffGold.com,

Russia has quietly made the case for owning gold.

The head of the Russian Parliament, Pavel Zavalny, made comments recently addressing the subject of economic and financial sanctions. It’s clear that gold is playing a large role in protecting Russian wealth. That role may get bigger and it could create a paradigm shift in how the world does business.

Russia has a lot of natural gas and oil. And it sells a lot of natural gas and oil to the world. Zavalny made it clear that Russia is happy to sell — in hard currency. And what is hard currency? Not dollars.

If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us, this is the national currency. As for friendly countries, China or Turkey, which are not involved in the sanctions pressure. We have been proposing to China for a long time to switch to settlements in national currencies for rubles and yuan. With Turkey, it will be lira and rubles. The set of currencies can be different and this is normal practice. You can also trade bitcoins.”

Zavalny said Russia has no interest in dollars, saying “this currency turns into candy wrappers for us.”

In an op-ed published by MarketWatch, Brett Arends said this might not mean anything. But it could mean a lot if other countries like China and India follow Russia’s lead. As Arends notes, a lot of countries aren’t thrilled with the United Sates’ ability to control the global financial system with a monopoly on the reserve currency.

Arends also says this adds to the argument for having gold in a long-term investment portfolio.

Not because it is guaranteed to rise, or maybe even likely to. But because it might — and might do so while everything else went nowhere, or went down. Like in a geopolitical or financial crisis where the non-western bloc decides to challenge America’s financial hegemony and ‘king dollar.’”

Arends calls himself “gold agnostic,” but he said there is no question “it has its uses.”

Gold is completely private. It is completely independent of the SWIFT or any other banking system. And despite the rise of cryptocurrencies, it remains the most widespread and viable global currency that is not controlled by any individual country.”

Moves made by Russia in recent weeks could represent a huge paradigm shift in global finance. Many countries have been building toward this for years as the US has weaponized the dollar.

In effect, Russia put the ruble on a gold standard that is now linked to natural gas.

Russia holds the fifth-largest gold reserves in the world. After pausing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank of Russia resumed gold purchases in early March before suspending them again a couple of weeks later. The Russian central bank resumed buying gold from local banks on March 28 at a fixed price of 5,000 roubles ($52) per gram.

Since Russia is insisting on payment of natural gas in rubles and they’ve linked the ruble to gold, natural gas is now indirectly linked to gold. The Russians can do the same to oil, as ZeroHedge explained.

If Russia begins to demand payment for oil exports with rubles, there will be an immediate indirect peg to gold (via the fixed price ruble – gold connection). Then Russia could begin accepting gold directly in payment for its oil exports. In fact, this can be applied to any commodities, not just oil and natural gas.”

So, what does this mean for the price of gold?

By playing both sides of the equation, i.e. linking the ruble to gold and then linking energy payments to the ruble, the Bank of Russia and the Kremlin are fundamentally altering the entire working assumptions of the global trade system while accelerating change in the global monetary system. This wall of buyers in search of physical gold to pay for real commodities could certainly torpedo and blow up the paper gold markets of the LBMA and COMEX.”

“The fixed peg between the ruble and gold puts a floor on the RUB/USD rate but also a quasi-floor on the US dollar gold price. But beyond this, the linking of gold to energy payments is the main event. While increased demand for rubles should continue to strengthen the RUB/USD rate and show up as a higher gold price, due to the fixed ruble – gold linkage, if Russia begins to accept gold directly as a payment for oil, then this would be a new paradigm shift for the gold price as it would link the oil price directly to the gold price.”

We could be seeing a slow unwinding of the petrodollar. And the petrodollar is one of the foundations of the dollar’s position as the world currency. We’ve already heard rumblings of Saudi Arabia accepting yuan for oil.

The US and other western powers have tried to lock down Russia’s gold. But as Arends explains, that is virtually impossible in effect.

Despite some laughable suggestions that the West might somehow sanction ‘Russian gold,’ there is no way of tracing the identity, nationality, or provenance of bullion. American Eagle coins or South African Krugerrands can be melted down into bars. Gold is gold. And someone will always take it. Carry a Krugerrand to any major city anywhere in the world and you will find people willing and eager to take it off your hands in return for any other currency you want.”

At the current price, the world’s gold supply is valued at about $13 trillion. Can you imagine where that price would go if gold once again became the global reserve currency? Or even if it plays a more prominent role in the sale of oil and natural gas.

Given gold’s position in the world financial system, it just makes sense to own some in your portfolio. Arends said, “the argument isn’t that we want to own all gold or mostly gold or even a lot of gold, but that we want at least to own some gold, simply for diversification.”

As China and Hong Kong continue to struggle with the worst COVID outbreak since Wuhan, the West has mentally moved on from COVID. That being said, COVID still isn’t quite done with the West. Or at least that’s what the ‘experts’ are saying.

As cases, hospitalizations, and even deaths have begun to creep higher once again in the US, Europe and the UK (for Americans, this trend has been made more visible by a flurry of headlines warning that senior Democrats have curiously tested positive, including Bill and Hillary Clinton) a new variant has recently been confirmed in the UK.

The new mutant, called XE, may be more transmissible than any strain of COVID so far, according to the WHO and local health authorities in the UK.

XE is a “recombinant” strain – that is, a mutation that combines features of the BA.1 and BA.2 omicron sub-strans. Recombinant mutations emerge when a patient is infected by multiple variants of COVID at the same time. The variants interbreed and combine their genetic material during replication, forming an entirely new mutated strain. A team of researchers from the UK said as much in a paper released this week.

The UK’s health agency said that XE was first detected on Jan. 19. Since then, 637 cases of the new variant have been reported.

Authorities said 4.9 million people in the UK are believed to have contracted COVID in the week ending March 26 – that’s 600,000 more than the previous week.

Despite the increasingly widespread use of home COVID tests, which make it increasingly difficult for authorities to track the true number o infections, global COVID cases on Sunday topped 490 million, according to the John Hopkins University data. Meanwhile, the world has confirmed over 6.15 million deaths attributed to the virus (although in many cases patients were counted as ‘COVID deaths’ even if they died from something unrelated – just because they tested positive for the virus).

Instead of rushing to label XE as a ‘variant of concern’ (which would entail bestowing the strain with its own Greek letter name), the WHO says the new strain will be counted as omicron until further notice.

In the US, states like New York and California have seen an increase in new cases, but the degree to which XE is contributing to this is unclear (if it’s contributing at all). At least one case of the new strain has been confirmed in Thailand. But one Asian viral expert told Bloomberg that there’s no need to panic about the new variant – at least not yet.

“We should monitor the new recombinants closely, but we should not panic at the moment,” said Leo Poon, a virologist and University of Hong Kong professor who has tracked and written reports on the emergence of new strains.

It’s not unexpected to see Covid recombinant variants, or a mix of two previous strains, particularly since the delta and omicron strains have been circulating widely, he said. It’s likely that some people would be infected by both strains. If a variant were to be detected in multiple regions and was spreading in the community, then that would be of concern, he said.

Finally, an epidemiological update published March 29 by the WHO estimated that XE could be as much as 10% more transmissible than BA.2. However, these findings require further confirmation.

Authored by Jorge Vilches,

Brexitology focused keenly on UK fish but fully ignored the EU´s gigantic gold reserves supposedly still vaulted in custody at the Bank of England. Adding insult to injury, a UK-EU no-deal financial services crash-out divorce went by almost unnoticed… not only without the bang of the still postponed “financial equivalence” protocol… but also without a mere whimper from specialized media and Remainers. Now, the Ukraine crisis with its new payment requirements for the badly needed Russian oil & gas…overlapping with essential yet unfinished Brexit business…will necessarily evolve into a vicious NATO internal gold war.

Paraphrasing James Carville spiced with some traditional British flavor, “It´s the bloody gold, stupid”

Rule Britannia

As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson would have it, the physical repatriation of the EU gold supposedly still vaulted in London would “mightily” affect the future of Europe with very deep, high-voltage political impact both sides of the English Channel. In this scenario No.10 Downing Street would easily negotiate the EU gold bullion availability only under specific Brexit conditions favorable to the UK. Actually, doing this could turn out to be absolutely necessary and should go far beyond the enormous intrinsic value of the EU gold supposedly still vaulted at the BoE. Let me explain.

NATO gold in London

Russia´s new rubles or gold payment requirements for any of its goods or services will necessarily prompt a major gold war between the UK and the EU probably resulting in NATO´s first-ever internal head-on gloves-off confrontation. After WW2 the idea was to keep Europe´s gold bullion safely away from the former Soviet Union and Josef Stalin, just in case. So decades ago current EU member states deposited most of their gold in custody at the Bank of England (BoE) in London. Now, the UK will dare to weaponize the approval of EU gold repatriation requests and other gold-related issues as a very convincing bargaining tool for lots of still unfinished yet most important Brexit business. So,

(a) Whitehall could indefinetly delay the EU gold delivery unless Brexit pending issues are agreed in favor of the UK.

(b) Or, quite simply, the BoE would not ever return such EU gold supposedly kept in custody for the past decades because it has been partially or totally sold off or loaned out or compromised as explained below with former UK Prime Minister James Gordon Brown knowing about it all too well.

The Mother of European conflicts

If history is any guide, hostilities will explode the instant the EU member states individually or collectively rightfully demand a yet-non-existent fully independent world-class functionally detailed audit of the EU gold supposedly still in ´custody´ at the BoE. This should take plenty of time and is the perfect excuse for delaying the whole process always under the exclusive perview of London, not Brussels. Or unmanageable problems would arise as soon as EU nations require immediate repatriation of at least some of such ´theoretical´ bullion, most probably all of them at the same time in view of circumstances. Then, either (1) some gold could possibly slowly be returned here and there (albeit with great delay ) but only under very vague London terms and changing the unfinished Brexit aftermath to levels yet unheard of, or (2) no gold would be returned as it has been sold off or compromised in different ways as explained hereinafter. And the UK better not decide to pay Russia even with a single gold coin as the EU would rightly wonder who owns it.

BoE darkness

The London gold and silver markets have always been beyond “opaque” without any significant reporting of transactions or positions. No data has ever been offered either on commercial banks holding accounts at the BoE, or precise technical identification of gold custodies, let alone those belonging to EU members. As Venezuela knows all too well – and EU member states could be next — who may or may not be acknowledged as a valid claimee of anything vaulted in Threadneedle Street or whereabouts is an open subject left to the entire discretion of the Canary Wharf masters, not EU politicians. Same goes for the enormous unallocated gold and silver liabilities of the so-called ´bullion banks´… or any other pertinent data.

The (bad) German experience

Very recently Germany had to wait 5 long years to forcefully and painfully repatriate only a portion of its gold from the BoE and never got back any of the gold bars originally deposited, which clearly explains the delay.

So while the EU freezes to death and its economy stops dead in its tracks, the many pending questions include

(a) does the BoE still have all of the EU´s gold bullion… or has it been sold off or loaned out as many experts insist ?

(b) is the BoE willing and able to immediately return the EU gold it may still have left to legitimate owners, if any ?

(c) who are the legitimate owners of BoE-vaulted gold after decades of European reshuffling of political borders ?

(d) would the ECJ decide gold ownership… or the British Judiciary… or the BoE ? On what basis, exactly ?

(e) has the BoE lent, swapped, re-hypothecated, leased, leveraged or encumbered such bullion now lien with other many alleged legitimate claimees also standing in line with ´fractional un-allocated synthetic´ bullion custodies unfit-for-purpose per “Digital Derivative Pricing Schemes“ thru which no one can know who owns what where (if anything) ?

I kid you not.

Today´s “paper gold” derivative transactions constitute a genuine pure-bred Ponzi scheme exceeding many-fold the real gold bullion theoretically behind them, probably with a 100 to 1 ratio or higher as London´s Square Mile knows all too well. Of course, the ECB, the IMF and the BIS would also claim it actually is “their” gold no ?

British economist Peter Warburton was 100% correct when he described that Westerncentral banks were using derivatives to control commodity prices and protect government currencies against the public’s recognition of currency devaluation. Warburton’s essay “The Debasement of World Currency: It Is Inflation But Not as We Know It” is posted at https://www.gata.org/node/8303

But however it unfolds, the “continental gold” now possibly still vaulted in London will necessarily trigger an internal NATO existential conflict in no uncertain terms (and desperation) in absence of the much-needed audit parameters and still missing gold bar serial numbers records affecting ownership and status claimed by more than one (supposedly legitimate) recipient, plus gold bullion quality and purity data, overdue custody costs, transportation & insurance, etc.

In passing, when push gets to shove (and it will, trust me) per their ´special relationship´ the US Federal Reserve would side with the BoE because it finds itself in exactly the same situation regarding the physical bullion they should still be theoretically vaulting for third parties, sovereigns included. In synchronized lockstep with Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism, the Fed´s gold custodies have never been audited either — as they should have – and the specialized commentariat worldwide is convinced that such bullion is not fully available either. Furthermore, the US would welcome any new additional problems for the EU as that was the whole idea behind provoking Russia into this unnecessary war.

*  *  *

Jorge Vilches – proud to have been introduced many times as “ the quintessence of the independent columnist ”. Former op-ed contributor for The Wall Street Journal – New York and other financial media, has studied this topic in depth for the past 20 years. WSJ-NY “The Americas” column, editor David Asman today Fox Business News anchor.

The latest sign that Western sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine are beginning to take a massive economic toll is a surge in the number of Russia-flagged vessels switching their country of registration (or ship’s flag) to evade trade restrictions. 

Bloomberg, citing maritime consultancy Windward Ltd, reports that 18 vessels, including 11 cargo ships, changed their flags to non-Russian ones last month. That’s a 300% jump compared to monthly averages of Russian ships. 

Five of the 18 vessels were directly connected to Russian owners. Eleven vessels were owned by a UAE company and changed their flags to the Marshall Islands.

“Foreign companies have different motivations for moving from the Russian flag, they want their vessels to be able to operate everywhere without restrictions and, in some cases for moral reasons,” said Windward product manager Gur Sender.

Sender said ship registration changes aren’t unusual and happen all the time, though the sudden increase in flag changes for Russia’s 3,300-strong commercial fleet has never exceeded nine in any month. 

“What makes flag changes interesting is when they are taking place in correlation with trade restrictions against a specific country, especially when one of the management or ownership companies is in fact registered in that same restricted country,” Sender said. 

Flag switching comes as some Russian vessels have switched off their automatic identification system, or AIS, to evade sanctions and conduct ship-to-ship cargo transfers in or around Russia’s exclusive economic zone. 

“It’s all a clear attempt by Russian ship owners and operators to try to obscure the identities of the vessels,” he said. “They want to avoid detection.”

What to expect moving forward is more Russian vessels switching their ship registration to other countries to evade Western sanctions—plus ghosting AIS to conduct ship-to-ship transfers. 

This news also follows reports of Russian oligarchs switching off AIS on their superyachts, hiding private jets, and other trophy assets from Western sanctions. 

Switching registrations reminds us of the scene in the action war/drama “Lord of War,” where gun smuggler Nicolas Cage had to falsify a ship’s name and origin to evade authorities. 

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via AntiWar.com,

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a proposal from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz just days before the Russian invasion. The February 19 offer called on Kyiv to renounce its NATO aspirations and declare neutrality.

At the time, Zelensky rejected the security plan saying Russian President Vladimir Putin could not be trusted to uphold the agreement. Under Berlin’s plan, Putin and American President Joe Biden would sign the deal and jointly guarantee Ukraine’s security.

The Wall Street Journal, which initially reported the proposal, said that Zelensky rejecting the offer “left German officials worried that the chances of peace were fading.”

The day after the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to Biden in a call between world leaders to make another push for diplomacy.

“I think the last person who could still do something is you, Joe. Are you ready to meet Putin?” Macron said to Biden. However, Washington appeared uninterested in a push for diplomacy.

Here’s how The Wall Street Journal relates Macron’s last ditch efforts to keep both sides talking:

Mr. Macron spent the night of Feb. 20 alternately on the phone with Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden.

The Frenchman was still talking with Mr. Putin at 3 a.m. Moscow time, negotiating the wording of a press release announcing the plan for a U.S.-Russian summit. But the next day, Mr. Putin called Mr. Macron back. The summit was off.

Mr. Putin said he had decided to recognize the independence of separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine. He said fascists had seized power in Kyiv, while NATO hadn’t responded to his security concerns and was planning to deploy nuclear missiles in Ukraine.

While the full details of the German offer are unknown, it appears similar to proposals Zelensky has outlined in recent weeks. Ukraine’s top negotiator David Arakhamia said Russia had “verbally” agreed to several of Kyiv’s positions.

Why would they want him to publicly pretend NATO membership is an option but say not a chance behind closed doors. This is what literally caused the invasion. pic.twitter.com/LVJvHty398

— Grimmstyle (@Grimmstyle1) March 21, 2022

On Sunday, Russia’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the two sides are not close enough to an agreement for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. “The draft agreement is not ready for submission to a meeting at the top,” the Russian chief negotiator said.