Month: November 2024

Authored by Pepe Escobar,

At the APEC annual summit in Lima, Comrade Xi Jinping was practically coronated as the King of Peru, as a lively moveable feast celebrated the brand new $1.3 billion Chancay-Shanghai Maritime Silk Road across the Pacific.

There could hardly be a more auspicious counterpart to the action in South America than to gather in BRICS member South Africa to discuss African Unity in a Multipolar World, as well as the perennial plagues of racism, fascism, Russophobia and other forms of discrimination. The meetings were coordinated by the Mouvement Russophile International (MIR), who is not only Russophile but most of all, multi-nodal-phile (italics mine).

It’s as if this was an extension of the memorable BRICS 2024 summit in Kazan.

In Kazan, BRICS de facto expanded out of 9 members, adding 13 member-partners and reaching 22 nations (Saudi Arabia, an immensely complex case, remains on the fence). BRICS+ now largely surpasses the – waning – influence of the G20, whose annual summit is ongoing in Rio, at least focused on social issues and the fight against poverty and hunger, and not war. Still, the crisis-riddled G7/NATOstan did try to hijack the agenda.

The real de-colonization starts now

For all practical purposes, and borrowing from one of Xi’s metaphors, BRICS+ has already set sail exploring the lineaments of a new, just, fair world order.

In Johannesburg, the sterling analytical quality of South African interlocutors, plus contributions from Mali and Senegal, was a source of pure joy.

The tone was realist, critical, hopeful – ranging from Nomvula Mokonyane, chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) international relations committee, and a firm supporter of Palestine/Gaza, Cuba and Western Sahara, to former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; from Sikelela Mgalagala, an entrepreneur and graduate of the Belarusian State Agrarian University, to extremely accomplished media entrepreneur and receiver of a special prize at a BRICS forum in Sochi, Nonkululeko Mantula; from Senegalese Souleyman Ndiaye, deputy secretary-general of the International Russophile Movement, to Mali’s Amadou Gambi; from crack geopolitical analyst Joe Mshalla to former diplomat Botsang Moiloa, a heir to the royal aristocracy of Botswana and Lesotho and a man of unbounded energy.

Unequal Africa in numbers is always a staggering proposition – inviting deep reflection. What could be defined as The Big Five – Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa – are responsible for no less than half of Africa’s GDP.

Three of these are now full BRICS members, and the other two are BRICS partners.

Pretoria-based legal expert Dr. Andre Thomashausen provided extra startling figures.

Africa, with 20% of the earth’s landmass – in which China, India, U.S. and Europe could easily “fit” – and 30% of the globe’s natural resources (including critical minerals such as lithium), not to mention 17% of the world’s population (1.3 billion people), accounts for only 2.8% of the world’s GDP.

The conclusion is inevitable: the IMF and the World Bank ultimately failed Africa. In 2025, Africa will be home to no less than 8% of the world’s poor.

A new pan-Africa development model, away from the Bretton Woods system, is beyond imperative. And Russia has all it takes to play a leading role.

No African nation implemented or enforced western sanctions on Russia. As Thomashausen recalled, at the 2023 St. Petersburg Economic Forum President Putin offered to donate grain to African nations, and later did not condemn military coups in West Africa, unlike the African Union – totally understanding the anti-colonization drive.

Russia is strategically replacing France in West Africa and strongly supports the Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso).

Thomashausen noted that even as Russia’s involvement in Africa lags compared to other powers, Moscow managed to accumulate considerable soft power with only 5% of Chinese investments, creating political leverage with deals in agro-industries, security, nuclear energy and mining: ‘It has all but eliminated French influence. Its security service offerings have trumped U.S. and EU.”

Shaping a “new blueprint”

One of the key themes of the discussions in Johannesburg was Africa’s civilizational rule.

The inestimable Prof. Zhang Weiwei from Fudan University’s China Institute reaffirmed the “four evils” fought by China: racism, Islamophobia, Russophobia and Sinophobia. When it comes to shaping an “African civilizational community”, he suggested lessons to be learned by transposing the ASEAN model: the Southeast Asian consensual way.

As Prof. Zhang formulated, “while rules rule Europe, win-win rules Asia.” The key point when shaping a “cultural civilization structure” is “strategic patience: two steps forward, one step back.”

In Asia, China supports ASEAN centrality. Compare it with NATO, which bases itself on Divide and Rule: “The lesson for Africa is to invest in institutionalized cooperation. This could be an inspiration for Africa.”

Amadou Gambi from Mali extolled the great Mali empire of the 13th century in parallel now to “brave young soldiers bringing Mali to itself” within the Association of Sahel States.

Another key point of all discussions: as those who control the narrative control the future – and also the past – the great challenge for Africa is “The Decolonization of the Mind”, as stressed by several South African scholars.

Roman Ambarov, plenipotentiary ambassador of Russia in BRICS partner South Africa, chaired a U-table on ‘African Unity in a Multipolar World’. Significantly, right off the bat he quoted Putin quoting Nelson Mandela – “how many times I stood up after I fell”.

That led Dr. Nkosazana to address the most tortuous challenge: how to conform politically united Africa. It helps, she said, that “our most precious resource is people” and they are “young, educated, with skills.”

Dawie Roodt, chief economist of the Efficient Group, summarized the geoeconomic challenge: the need for a currency for all of Africa, “with a big capital market behind”. That would be linked to increased connectivity, the building of new cities and industries, and a renewed leadership.

Prof. Zhang Weiwei once again focused on the China model as “unite and prosper”, focusing on “people’s livelihood first”, with tangible results. He qualified Putin as “a true revolutionary”, in contrast with China since Deng Xiaoping as “reformist” – and recalled when China had a lower per capita income than Malawi.

China then carried out “essential revolutions”, as the social index went up; that was the foundation for subsequent development. As for the model, it’s “selection, not elections”: the Communist Party of China (CPC) is “holistic”. Deng said “yes” to economic globalization – but selectively; and “no” to political globalization.

A key theme for most speakers is that building Africa unity leads to African agency: from geopolitical recipient to geopolitical actor, with non-alignment intimately linked to the pursuit of autonomy. Out of 55 nations – 27% of the UN – no less than 28 African nations were colonized by France. Finally real post-French de-colonization is on the move.

Mali’s Amadou Gambi focused on the exhilarating history of African unity, addressed step by step. That will eventually transform into competitive advantages, and Africa’s capacity to negotiate as a collective. As Sikelela Mgalagala stressed, the “new blueprint” should be created by Africa, using, for instance, BRI to get advantages and BRICS as a major tool.

A consensus emerged among all African participants that Africa now essentially needs political will to fight infrastructural problems, a human capital deficit and an institutional deficit. So institutions must be fixed – in parallel to the process of fighting against cultural (re)colonization.

It was up to the redoubtable Cynthia McKinney – backed by her six terms at the U.S. Congress – to introduce a note of deep realism. Africa may now be on the road to affirm itself. But no one should be fooled: what happened to Gadaffi was just a sample of how far the usual suspects are willing to go to prevent African agency. The new political leadership must be fully aware that the deeper they go, “they run the risk of being killed”.

Authored by Eva Fu and Cara Ding via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Chinese agent who tried to bribe the IRS and manipulate the agency into advancing Beijing’s transnational repression of a U.S. nonprofit has received a 20-month prison sentence.

U.S. citizen John Chen, 72, was a principal actor in a $50,000 bribery scheme under the direction of a Chinese intelligence official to revoke the nonprofit status of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Shen Yun has long been on the Chinese regime’s target list. Founded in 2006, the company tours around the world to display the ancient Chinese culture that prevailed before the communist takeover of China, while highlighting the human rights abuses under the regime’s rule. It has often drawn attention to the ongoing persecution of the meditation group Falun Gong.

Chen pleaded guilty in July after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. He has spent the 16 months since his arrest in May 2023 in detention, and he will spend another four months in federal custody.

He will also forfeit $50,000 and face three years of supervised release after serving the full prison term.

For several months in 2023, Chen had been trying to move a fraudulent whistleblower complaint to help the Chinese Communist Party “topple” Falun Gong, according to court documents. Prosecutors said the whistleblower complaint was “facially deficient” and invoked propaganda rhetoric typical of Chinese authorities.

During those conversations, Chen emphasized that Chinese leadership was “very generous” in financial support for the plan, according to the court filing.

“After this-this-this thing is done,” the court document quoted Chen as saying, “reward for work will surely be given at that time.”

Chen and another co-conspirator, Lin Feng, who served 16 months of detention, paid $5,000 cash bribes to an undercover agent posing as an IRS agent. They promised an additional $50,000 for opening an investigation along with 60 percent of any awards from the complaint if it went through.

It was “a significant bribe,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard said at the sentencing hearing. He noted that the undercover officer didn’t specify an amount.

“The defendant chose the amount,” he said.

Both Chen and Lin had traveled to Orange County in upstate New York, where Shen Yun is based, to surveil Falun Gong practitioners there, according to a court filing.

Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the sentencing was a reminder that “the U.S. justice system will hold accountable those who attempt to engage in malicious transnational repression on American soil.”

“John Chen aligned himself with the PRC government and its goals to harass and intimidate the Falun Gong, a long-standing target of PRC repression. In doing so, Chen boldly attempted to bribe an individual he believed to be an IRS agent to corrupt the administration of the U.S. tax code and pervert the IRS whistleblower program,” he said in a statement on Nov. 19. “This Office will not tolerate efforts like this to repress free speech by targeting critics of the PRC in the United States.”

Both Chen’s son and his lawyer declined to comment after walking out of the courtroom.

While Chen’s son, three China-based siblings, two ex-wives, and fiancée have all written letters asking for leniency and describing him as a man who loves the United States, the prosecutors disagreed.

In a Nov. 5 memo, they argued that a 30-month prison sentence—the longest under the sentencing guideline—would be appropriate because of the seriousness of the case and the need to deter criminal conduct, “particularly in cases of a foreign power’s repression of a disfavored group within the borders of the United States.”

“The defendant has no mitigating motives or external factors justifying his offense,” the prosecutors wrote, noting that Chen was “not motivated by poverty” and that there was no evidence of Chinese officials’ pressure.

Prosecutors noted that Chen had repeatedly referred to Chinese officials as his “friends” and that during the bribery scheme, he “called them ‘blood brothers,’ and described how ‘we’—Chen and his PRC Government friends—‘started this fight’ against the founder of the Falun Gong ‘twenty, thirty years ago.’”

The memo displayed photos obtained from Chen’s electronic devices and online accounts showing him at a major military parade in Beijing celebrating the 70th anniversary of Chinese communist rule in 2019. Another photo showed Chen shaking hands with communist leader Xi Jinping.

“Chen was extraordinarily proud of his history with the PRC Government and, in particular, his meeting with Xi,” the memo states, citing a recorded call in which he bragged that he had “climbed, climbed, climbed to this position,” and that “Uncle Xi” met him “three times in 10 years.”

Chen had also featured those three meetings, along with a photo, in a 2020 digital résumé, according to the memo.

Chen was aligned with the Chinese authorities in suppressing Falun Gong and “acted as a full-fledged and enthusiastic participant in the crimes,” the prosecutors said.

“It was his fight,” Lockard said at the sentencing hearing, adding that Chen had tried to use the freedoms he enjoyed in the United States to undermine the country.

Threats to safety in the U.S. range from health crises and natural disasters to financial challenges like unaffordable mortgages, lack of health insurance, and inflation.

While no place is risk-free, the level of danger we face often depends on where we live.

This map, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, visualizes the 50 safest cities in America according to WalletHub, which analyzed 182 cities across 41 key metrics to assess overall safety.

The three main categories of metrics analyzed are:

• Home and community safety: Law enforcement per capita, prevalence of terrorist attacks, mass shootings, murders,

• Natural disaster risk: Earthquake risk, flood risk, hurricane storm surge risk, wildfire risk

• Financial safety: Unemployment rate, uninsured population, foreclosure rate

The data is updated as of August 27, 2024 and was collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, TransUnion, and other sources.

Which Cities are the Safest in America?

Below, we show the 50 safest cities in America based on WalletHub’s analysis.

Overall Rank	City	Overall safety score
1	South Burlington, VT	74.2
2	Casper, WY	71.5
3	Warwick, RI	70.3
4	Burlington, VT	69.6
5	Boise, ID	69.2
6	Yonkers, NY	68.8
7	Cedar Rapids, IA	68.4
8	Columbia, MD	68.1
9	Portland, ME	67.8
10	Virginia Beach, VA	67.6
11	Irvine, CA	67.4
12	Fargo, ND	67.2
13	Chesapeake, VA	67.1
14	Missoula, MT	67.0
15	Nashua, NH	67.0
16	Juneau, AK	67.0
17	Vancouver, WA	66.9
18	Honolulu, HI	66.9
19	Madison, WI	66.8
20	Huntsville, AL	66.8
21	Laredo, TX	66.7
22	Sioux Falls, SD	66.7
23	Chula Vista, CA	66.3
24	Fremont, CA	66.2
25	Glendale, CA	66.2
26	Salem, OR	66.1
27	Santa Rosa, CA	65.9
28	Nampa, ID	65.9
29	Santa Clarita, CA	65.8
30	Brownsville, TX	65.5
31	Gilbert, AZ	65.3
32	Port St. Lucie, FL	65.2
33	Boston, MA	65.2
34	St. Paul, MN	65.0
35	Garden Grove, CA	64.8
36	Huntington Beach, CA	64.8
37	Oceanside, CA	64.8
38	Bismarck, ND	64.7
39	Scottsdale, AZ	64.3
40	Pearl City, HI	64.1
41	Aurora, IL	64.1
42	Fort Wayne, IN	64.0
43	San Diego, CA	64.0
44	Modesto, CA	63.7
45	Worcester, MA	63.5
46	Chandler, AZ	63.3
47	Lincoln, NE	63.3
48	Rancho Cucamonga, CA	63.1
49	Oxnard, CA	63.1
50	Lexington-Fayette, KY	62.7

Many of the top safest cities are concentrated in the Northeastern United States, including South Burlington, Burlington, Portland (Maine), Nashua, Warwick, and Yonkers.

This region generally has lower natural disaster risks compared to other areas, contributing to higher safety scores.

South Burlington, the second largest city in Vermont, ranked first overall as the safest city in America. It has one of the lowest pedestrian fatality rates in the nation and one of the highest number of EMTs and paramedics per capita, according to WalletHub.

The city also ranks highly for financial stability, boasting the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. at 1.9%, the second-lowest share of seriously underwater mortgages, and the third-lowest rate of non-business bankruptcy filings per capita over the past year.

These indicators suggest that residents are financially secure, with a lower risk of facing unpaid bills, property loss, or homelessness.

To learn more about the environment of different U.S. cities, check out this graphic that visualizes the dirtiest cities in the U.S.

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

President-elect Donald Trump based much of his campaign on promises to crack down on immigration and carry out mass deportations.

Politically, this was likely a winning issue for Trump after social media exposed millions of Americans to countless reports and videos of foreign nationals getting free cash, free housing, food allowances, and overall special treatment at taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, actual taxpaying Americans endured inflation-fueled price hikes and a worsening economy while being harangued by the smug upper classes about the need to be “welcoming.” Many voters chose to support the candidate who wasn’t in favor of importing a new taxpayer-subsidized underclass.

Because of this, Trump is likely to prioritize delivering at least some of his promised immigration crackdown.

However, one does not need to be an advocate of open borders to have concerns when one hears about a federal law enforcement agency engaging in a “crackdown.”

Federal officials don’t exactly have a stellar record when it comes to respecting the property rights of peaceful, law-abiding Americans, even when the purported target is foreigners.

The countless violations of the rights of Americans under the Patriot Act and the “war on terror” are examples of this.

On the other hand, many aspects of the proposed Trump crackdown are, one might say, “no-brainers” and have no apparent downside at all. These include cutting off all funding of any kind to migrants, and deporting all foreign nationals with a known criminal record.

Nonetheless, some aspects of Trump’s immigration policy have the potential for fueling further expansion of a federal police state. These include any deportation plan that involves a “drag net” and places peaceful residents under suspicion for no offense other than “looking like” a migrant.

The No-Brainer Solutions

Immigration has long been subsidized in the United States in the sense that there are low barriers to new migrants benefiting from a bevy of social benefit programs. Immigrants who achieve status as refugees or asylees can access welfare programs almost immediately. Even run-of-the-mill legal migrants need only wait five years to begin living off taxpayer-funded benefits.

These subsidization schemes have only grown more aggressive in recent years. It is now well known that many American cities and states—not to mention the federal government—offer “free” cash, housing, food, and more.

This has done much to attract the flood of migrants that has arrived in the US in recent years. Earlier this year, for example, The New York Post reported that the mayor of New York is giving away pre-paid cash cards—each carrying “up to $10,000“— to foreign nationals in New York. Most of these migrants have arrived in New York with no invitation, no employment prospects, and no plan for housing. But most of them plan on staying. And why shouldn’t they? Upon arrival, thousands of them immediately went on the public dole in some way or another, relying on taxpayer-funded shelters, housing programs, and a variety of sources for “free” food. The federal government also provides free transportation to various American communities for many migrants, including 400,000 free riders in 2023 alone.

Reversing this should be seen as “low-hanging fruit” by the Trump administration. Obviously, any and all access to federal dollars should be cut off immediately. This is true for both legal and illegal immigrants. Immigration needs to be a fully private-market process, not a taxpayer-subsidized activity.

Any state or local government that attempts to entice more migrants with social benefits programs should lose all access to federal grants. All federal dollars should be cut off from any government schools that cater to illegal immigrants. Any NGO that attempts to funnel taxpayer dollars to immigrants should be blacklisted from any and all federal grants. These NGOs are still free to offer services to anyone they want—just not with taxpayer dollars.

Many of these programs for putting immigrants on welfare are nowadays facilitated by smart-phone apps. These include the CBP One app which is designed to streamline migrants’ requests for asylum. This, of course, is an attempt to circumvent the normal immigration process and get migrants on social benefits even faster. Obviously, all of these apps should be immediately disabled.

Note that none of this requires any law-enforcement contact with migrants at all. These solutions simply cut off migrants’ access to the hard-earned dollars of taxpayers. The phone apps will no longer work. The free money will no longer materialize to provide free food and housing for migrants. Those migrants who actually have jobs and contribute to the community can continue to do so. Those who relied on stealing from taxpayers will self-deport when the free ride disappears.

The option of immigration—including legal immigration— to the United States must be fully privatized so it is only an option for those with the ability to support themselves economically.

Note that none of this violates anyone’s property rights. No one’s right to travel is limited by cutting off free money for migrants. No one is being prevented from contracting with another private party for employment or housing. People simply are being forced to do all this with their own private property.

Other Laissez-Faire Solutions: No Fast Path to Citizenship

Another key in the equation is limiting access to citizenship. Citizenship is not a property right of any kind, and there is no such thing as a natural right to citizenship in any particular place. Excluding the tiny number of migrants who are genuinely stateless, all foreign nationals arriving in the United States already enjoy the benefits of citizenship somewhere.

Moreover, gaining citizenship in the United States brings with it a variety of economic benefits. It provides permanent access to the welfare state. The granting of citizenship also provides foreign nationals—few of whom renounce their citizenship in their home countries—greater access to US government institutions.

The benefits of citizenship ought to be greatly limited for new immigrants, with a waiting period of at least a decade, or perhaps even twenty years. Again, this does not limit a migrant’s ability to fully exercise his or her property rights.

Birthright citizenship, a “right” invented by a federal judge, should also be abolished.

The Problem with Mass Deportations

Ultimately, when we consider options for limiting migration, while also respecting property rights, self-deportation needs to be the focus. The alternative is to empower the federal government to track down and round up countless US residents, demand “papers, please!” and then deport those without the proper government forms.

Many supporters of mass deportation plans seem to think that federal agents can, through some magical power, identify illegal immigrants on sight. The reality is that immigration status must be determined by an investigation into whether or not a resident has the proper paperwork.

Now, it is true that many illegal immigrants will essentially volunteer for deportation. Such people include criminals who are convicted of real crimes. Clearly, it does not require any sort of drag net to simply deport convicts who have already attracted the attention of authorities. Similarly, in a system that denies taxpayer funded benefits to foreign nationals, immigrants who attempt to collect social benefits would be guilty of fraud, and thus volunteer themselves for deportation. The same would be true of any non-citizen who attempts to vote.

But what about immigrants who remain peaceful, self-supporting, and keep to themselves? The way federal agents have generally identified these people is by harassing residents through internal checkpoints and harassment of people who “look like” immigrants.

For example, one of the great overreaches of federal power—one that is blatantly unconstitutional—is the 100-mile border zone. In 1946, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1946. The law granted immigration agents the authority “to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States.” This power was limited to a “reasonable distance” from the US border. Originally, this “reasonable distance” was 25 miles. But it was unilaterally extended by the Department of Justice to 100 miles without any change to the statute. Given that “the border” includes both land and water borders, two-thirds of Americans live within this border zone. Entire states are included within the zone, including Florida, Michigan, and Maine.

Many peaceful Americans get caught up in this bureaucratic nightmare. Thanks to the hundred-mile zone American citizens who don’t carry their passports on them at all times can be harassed and arrested by Border Patrol agents, even well inside the US border. As the New York Post describes it, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are arresting US citizens by mistake and holding them at detention centers for months—sometimes even years.”

There is nothing shocking here. This is how government agencies work.

Yet, many Trump supporters are cheering the idea that an army of government agents be let loose on American cities and towns, as if this will not affect ordinary, law-abiding citizens in any way. This is the same attitude that gave us the Patriot Act, NSA spying programs, and everything else justified by the despotic slogan of “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.”

Indeed, there are countless ways that the federal government can harass ordinary citizens and violate their property rights. Consider, for example, how anti-immigration advocates promote despotism with programs like “eVerify.” The activists want federal bureaucrats to determine if you have a right to work. And then there are the calls for new laws designed to prosecute private citizens who are guilty of the “crime” of using their own private property to rent apartments to immigrants or pay immigrants for services rendered.

It’s one thing to build a wall, to deport convicted criminals, or end taxpayer-funded subsidies for migrants. It’s quite another thing when federal agents start asking us for our papers and telling us what we can do with our own property. 

A related video: 

Some parts of the Trump plan are no-brainers like ending all federal money for immigrants. Other stuff raises red flags, such as the prospect of mass investigations of non-violent people to determine if they have all the right gov’t paperwork. I think the key here is to make… pic.twitter.com/5aLGrqeA4S

— Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) November 19, 2024

Gold and oil – two of the most influential commodities on the planet – have a fascinating relationship that has evolved over decades, captured in the gold-to-oil ratio.

The gold-to-oil ratio represents the number of barrels of crude oil equivalent in price to one troy ounce of gold.

It is viewed as an indicator of the health of the global economy, indicating when gold or oil prices are significantly out of balance with each other.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, shows the gold-to-oil ratio since 1946, using data compiled by Macrotrends.

What is the Gold-to-Oil Ratio?

The gold-to-oil ratio expresses the price relationship between gold and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil. WTI is a grade of crude oil and one of the three primary benchmarks for oil pricing, along with Brent and Dubai Crude.

A high ratio indicates that gold is relatively expensive compared to WTI crude oil, and vice versa. This can indicate periods of outsized demand for energy in the form of crude oil, or periods of monetary uncertainty when there is higher demand for gold.

Below is the gold-to-oil ratio every decade between 1946 and 2024.

During the 1950s and 1960s, fixed gold prices and stable oil prices kept the ratio between 11 and 13 for 20 years.

Since the 1980s, the ratio has typically traded within the range of 6 to 40 with a notable exception: in 2020 when the ratio reached a high of 91.1. The peak in 2020 was driven by COVID-19, which boosted gold prices as a safe haven while oil demand and prices plummeted due to global lockdowns.

In contrast, between 2000 and 2008, oil prices were relatively high compared to gold. During this period, the ratio dropped to nearly 6 but never rose above 16.

When comparing the two commodities, it’s worth remembering that the crude oil market is around 10 times larger than that of gold, making it the largest commodity market in the world.

If you enjoyed this graphic, make sure to check out this graphic that shows the top countries by natural resource value.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

During a discussion with president-elect Trump’s former Office of Management and Budget Director, Russ Vought, Tucker Carlson posited that the outgoing administration is attempting to saddle Trump with a global conflict.

“If you doubt how serious the opposition is to the public, not just to Trump, but to the majority of the country that voted for him, They’re trying to leave him with World War III on the way out,” Carlson urged.

Russia is furious about the Biden administration lifting restrictions on use of US developed long range missiles, and Putin has repeatedly stated that such a move would mean NATO countries are at war with Russia.

Carlson continued, “I can’t imagine a more desperate or evil thing for Tony Blinken, who I think is desperate and evil, in my view, to do. Leave him with a war?”

“A lame-duck president trying to start a war with the world’s largest nuclear power, Russia. What do you make of that?” Carlson asked Vought.

Vought responded, “It’s incredibly insidious, and then add to the fact that he can’t put two sentences together and he is largely not in control of his own government,” referring to Joe Biden.

“You have almost an unelected president with individuals behind the scenes doing this,” he continued, further asserting “It doesn’t surprise me, though. I mean, these are the same people that have weaponized the Department of Justice and the lawfare.”

“I have a colleague, Jeff Clark, who they’re trying to disbar because of the care he showed on behalf of the president in dealing with voter integrity and election fraud after 2020,” Vought further noted.

“The system has thrown everything at the warriors who are on the field. You’re seeing that with Tulsi, you’re seeing that with Matt Gaetz,” he pointed out, adding “Why is all of this stuff being thrown at him slanderously?”

The full exchange is below:

Russ Vought ran OMB under Trump the first time, and hopefully will again. Here’s what he learned about how the deep state actually works.

(0:00) What is the Office of Management and Budget?
(7:57) How Our Intel Agencies Overrule the President
(29:21) What Will the Congressional… pic.twitter.com/vl9au8UwU7

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 18, 2024

Carlson also discussed the spiralling escalation in Ukraine with journalist Glenn Greenwald, noting that the decision to escalate the conflict with ATACMS missiles is “the most evil thing I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

Greenwald also pointed out that Ukraine doesn’t have the expertise to use the guidance system for the weapons and therefore NATO countries and the US would be actively involved in launching them at targets inside Russia.

Permanent Washington decides nuclear war is preferable to Donald Trump. Glenn Greenwald on the nihilism of our ruling class.

(0:00) Permanent Washington Dangerously Misunderstands Vladimir Putin
(23:06) We Are on the Verge of Nuclear War
(28:11) The Concerted Effort to Control… pic.twitter.com/GOJDslU23W

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 20, 2024

As we highlighted yesterday, NATO member state Sweden is sending out pamphlets advising citizens how they should prepare for nuclear war in the wake of the escalation.

*  *  *

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In a shocking development, but perhaps coming as no surprise to some (who have long warned “Brazil’s Donald Trump” would be target of an avalanche of further political persecution from the left once out of office) Brazil’s federal police on Thursday announced a formal call for the the indictment of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro over a 2022 “coup” plot.

Supposedly this involved an organized criminal network which Bolsonaro directed to prevent current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office. The police allege Bolsonaro and 36 other officials and individuals plotted the “violent overthrow of the democratic state.”

“Federal police concluded on Thursday the investigation into the existence of a criminal organization that acted in a coordinated way in 2022 in an attempt to maintain the then-president in power,” the statement said.

“The final report has been sent to the Supreme Court with the request that 37 individuals [including the ex-president] be indicted for the crimes of the violent overthrow of the democratic state, coup d’etat and criminal organization.”

An initial social media statement from Bolsonaro responded simply, “The fight begins at the Attorney General’s office.” It’s as yet unclear whether the attorney general will take up the case, which could bring at least 12 years in prison if the ex-president is convicted.

Bolsonaro has also said he’s the victim of a state-backed “persecution” and that he’s innocent of all allegations. Police allege the criminal conspiracy occurred in the last several months of Bolsonaro’s 2019-2022 presidency.

Current reports have left open whether the plotting had anything to do with the later “insurrection” which rocked central government buildings Brasilia on January 8, 2023 – involving angry pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators breaking into the Congress building, the Supreme Court, and also storming the presidential palace. American and some international commentators had at the time characterized it as Bolsonaro’s own “J6 riot”.

Bolsonaro is already facing other more minor investigations and charges, including allegedly falsifying his Covid-19 vaccination record. This new allegation by the federal police is the most serious one yet.

The NY Times details that “The charges are the culmination of a sweeping two-year investigation in which police raided homes and offices, arrested senior aides to Mr. Bolsonaro and secured confessions and plea deals with people involved in the plot.”

“The announcement comes two days after four members of an elite military unit, including a former top aide to Mr. Bolsonaro, were arrested and accused of planning to assassinate Mr. Lula shortly before he took office in January 2023,” the report indicates further.

. @BRASILWIRE reports that another of the arrested is Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, a former instructor at The School of the Americas — the infamous US army school in Georgia that trains Latin Americans how to torture people and carry out coups. pic.twitter.com/eOX3oXyHaf

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) November 20, 2024

So ultimately, the police are claiming a direct assassination plot targeting Lula. Already Bolsonaro has been barred from running for office for eight years, after in June 2023 Brazil’s highest electoral court says that he cannot run for or hold any public office until 2030. This means he’ll have to sit out the 2026 election regardless of if these coup allegations stick.

Authored by Daniel Lipinski via RealClearPolitics,

Here we go again. Voters have elected Donald Trump president while giving Republicans majorities in the House and Senate. And once again, Democrats are asking themselves, “What do we do now?” When this occurred eight years ago, I was a Democrat serving in the House of Representatives. At that time, some of my colleagues who had seen many traditional Democrats in their district vote for Trump spoke out. They said that working-class voters were tired of feeling looked down upon by Democrats because of policies they supported, what they believed, or even who they were. So when Hillary Clinton was caught claiming that half of Trump’s supporters were a “basket of deplorables: racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic,” she was seen to be confirming this, helping to doom her campaign.

But instead of changing course, Democrats doubled down by embracing a more ardent progressivism and demanding that everyone follow. Primary challenges by progressives rose dramatically. My experience was emblematic. Working-class voters were my base because I focused on bread-and-butter issues critical to struggling families, and I was not supportive of progressive social issues. After surviving in 2018, I lost in 2020 to a progressive challenger bankrolled by millions from national groups. At the same time, candidates for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 were stumbling over each other, trying to get further to the left on a variety of issues. Decriminalizing illegal border crossings, funding sex-change operations for prisoners and detained illegal immigrants, and defunding the police became party dogma, further alienating the working class.

Thanks to bumbling by President Trump and congressional Republicans, however, Democrats won the House in 2018 and captured the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2020.  Progressives felt vindicated and were emboldened to continue their agenda with a self-righteous swagger. President Biden, whose victory was made possible by a reputation he had built over five decades as a moderate deal-maker, foolishly embraced progressives to prepare to run for reelection in 2024. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who won in a state that gave Clinton and Biden less than 30% of the vote, was hounded out of the party by progressives who should have been thankful for every vote he gave them.

In 2024, Republicans handed a massive in-kind gift to their opponents when they nominated the man most responsible for the Democratic Party’s election victories the past six years. Democrats were also given a unique opportunity to install a nominee who did not have to pander to progressives to win primaries. Perhaps the party had no other choice but Vice President Kamala Harris, who had taken some very progressive positions when running for the nomination in 2019. But with five long years having passed, she could have tried to make a clean and hard break from these. Instead, she chose to walk away from some of these positions softly, never seizing the opportunity to claim that a new working-class friendly perspective led her to change. Harris sealed her fate when she delivered a too-clever-by-half professorial response – “I’ll follow the law” – when asked whether she still supported taxpayer-funded sex-change operations for prisoners and detained illegal aliens. Donald Trump went on to become just the second Republican in 36 years to win the popular vote, thanks in part to significant support from non-white working-class voters, particularly Hispanics. 

As Democrats try to figure out what to do next, it is folly to believe that all the party needs is “clarity of message,” as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) recently claimed. And while it is good to propose new policies directed at helping those left behind economically, as Rep. Ro Khanna (CA) did, it won’t solve the political problem. But buried in that post-election piece by Khanna was one sentence that gets much closer to what Democrats must do: “For our economic message to be heard, we must show common sense on issues of crime and the safety of families and not shame or cancel those who may have honest disagreements with us on a particular social issue.” Rep. Seth Moulton (MA) expressed a similar sentiment when he said, “We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many opinions held by too many voters, and that needs to stop.” 

While these are hopeful signs, Democrats must do more than pay lip service to change. After all, a few years ago, Khanna – who is now positioning for a presidential run – was publicly urging our Democratic House colleagues to cancel me from Congress because of honest issue disagreements. And last week, when Moulton dared to give a specific example of not wanting his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete,” he was lambasted by multiple Democratic officials, including his state’s governor and one of his congressional colleagues. Nowhere did I see any Democrat have the courage to support Moulton’s commonsense concern or even defend him for being willing to raise an issue with significant public resonance.

Voters are not fools, especially working-class voters who continue to feel that the country is going in the wrong direction and that they always get the short end of the stick. They may not watch day-to-day politics closely, but they understand who and what the Democratic Party now seems to really value. Only time will tell if the party has finally learned a lesson.

Daniel Lipinski is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He represented the Third District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2005 to 2021.

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

It’s been a wild ride. After years of near total leftist control of every significant social and governmental institution in the US and abroad the American people have said enough is enough. The progressives have once again been slapped with the ultimate lesson of our era – Get Woke, Go Broke. This time they’re not just broke; they’re broken.

I don’t think I’ve seen such an electoral bloodbath in my lifetime (maybe the Reagan landslide in 1984, but I was only a child). The conservatives control the Oval Office, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. Regardless of what you might think of Trump, what’s important is that he ran his campaign on anti-woke and anti-globalism and the US population voted for that agenda en masse.

The American people want an end to the madness of the leftist/globalist regime. They want an end to establishment corruption. They want an end to US involvement in foreign conflicts. They want the woke indoctrination of their children to stop. They want an end to open borders. They want an end to perpetual debt spending and inflation. And, they want reassurance that events like the attempted covid coup against our constitutional liberties will never happen again.

Over the past several months I have been predicting a Trump election win based on the clear sociopolitical shift in popular sentiment. However, my concern has always been that Trump will not make good on his campaign promises, either because he is being thwarted by Neo-Cons within his own team or because he did not intend to follow through in the first place. We all saw what happened after 2016 – The status quo was mostly maintained.

To be fair, in 2016 Trump’s team was mostly chosen for him and that team was comprised of many snakes in the grass. This time around I have a bit more optimism. Trump’s coalition is significantly better than his first term and many of the people involved seem to be dedicated to their particular cause. If this is the case and Trump really means to change things for the better, I have a few ideas on how he can ensure that America never again deviates into the path of globalism.

Some of these actions have already been promoted by the Trump Administration in recent days, some of them have not. Obviously none of these changes are easy but they can be done with the proper enthusiasm and pressure from the American people applied to their representatives in the Senate and Congress. Here’s what we can do as a country to keep our society free and prosperous well into the future.

1) Recess Appointments For Cabinet

The first time Trump tried to appoint his cabinet the amount of Senate interference that took place caused delays of almost 4 months, and that was with appointees that represented no threat to the status quo. This time around it is clear that Neo-Cons within the Senate will work with Democrats to outright reject choices like RFK Jr and Matt Gaetz. They WILL try to sabotage any nominee that presents a legitimate threat to the establishment order.

With this is mind, and per the Constitution, Trump has the option to call a recess of the Senate and make his appointments while they are away and without their approval. There is also a little known rule that allows him to force Congress to adjourn. Candidates for the Senate majority leader position all agreed to support recess appointments before they were voted on, which means there should not be any interference to a call of recess from Trump. Multiple presidents have used this emergency option to fill their cabinets.

2) Federal Voter ID Law

It’s seems like a no-brainer. Every state (except one) that the Democrats won in the 2024 election was a state with no voter ID laws. That’s not a coincidence. Correlation is not always causation, but it’s highly suspicious none-the-less. Many developed nations around the world have strict ID laws when it comes to elections. Why do we not have them in the US?

With the advent of electronic ballots and large scale mail in ballots, a voter ID requirement is more important than ever to prevent election fraud. One of Trump’s top concerns after entering office in 2025 is to pass a federal voter ID requirement for all future elections. This cannot be left to flounder for years, it must be done by 2026.

3) Total Border Control And Mass Deportation – The Details

One of the key agendas of globalism is the forced establishment of open borders in the western world, along with mass migrations of third-world aliens cor cultural saturation and replacement. The goal is to destroy the west from within and then replace it with am economically Marxist and morally ambiguous civilization. Stopping this scheme will require aggressively enforced border laws and deportation laws. This requires multiple steps…

Immediately Establish Texas-Style Border Controls

Despite constant interference from the Biden Administration, the state of Texas and governor Greg Abbott have been incredibly effective in stopping illegal border crossings using expanded patrols and razor wire barriers. Encounters with illegals on the Texas border have dropped by 86% through Operation Lone Star in the span of a year. That’s impressive. Texas methods should be used across the entire border.

Increased Fines Against Companies Hiring Illegal Immigrants

This is a strategy being used by some European nations and it makes sense; a lot of illegals jump the border because they know there’s under the table jobs waiting for them. Trump must make it financially untenable for companies to hire migrants without proper work visas, and greatly increasing fines is the best way to do this.

100% Tariffs On Mexico Until They Secure Their Own Borders

The Mexican government is absolutely corrupt and often uses the US border as a pressure valve to get rid of their poor and their criminals. Instead of fixing the problems within their own country they export those problems to America. This needs to stop.

End All Asylum Requests From Third World Countries

Until the immigration problem is solved the asylum loophole needs to be closed. Save for a few citizens from countries where very real asylum protections are needed (like oppressed dissidents from China or North Korea), there’s no need to take in most of these people and their asylum claims are fraudulent.

Increase Efficiency Of Immigrant Worker Visa Program

Democrats often argue that America cannot survive without migrant workers. I say this is a lie designed to prevent legitimate immigration reform, but if there really is work that needs to be done in our country and migrants are somehow the only people that can do it, then we can have both.

If Trump streamlines the work visa program to speed up the process while vetting applicants, then we can have controlled borders AND migrant workers. To pay for increased efficiency of the program, double the application fee and reduce their legal work period in the US to 1 year or less.

Mass Deportations Of Illegals

This was a key plank of the Trump campaign and it looks like he plans to make it happen. Starting with ALL the migrants that entered the US illegally in the past four years and all those relocated through Biden’s shady visa program. This can be achieved by cutting off existing subsidies to migrants, fines for companies that hire illegals, citizenship verification for home buying or home rentals, ending federal subsidies to Democrat sanctuary cities, etc. Ultimately, most illegals will leave the country on their own.

4) Shut Down Globalist NGOs

Globalist NGOs are the primary source of corruption within the US government and our society at large. NGO’s have all the rights of individual citizens with none of the limitations. They can generate billions of dollars for influence campaigns. They can lobby politicians (bribe them) to get legislation put in place. They can use their incredible financial resources to fund activist movements and create civil unrest from thin air. And, they can even fund programs to control education and encourage mass illegal immigration.

NGOs should be banned from lobbying. And, any NGO’s caught engaging in the funding of woke propaganda in schools, violent activist groups or illegal immigration efforts should be immediately shut down. Some NGOs feed on government funding (like George Soros’ Open Society Foundation) while others are privately funded (like the Ford Foundation). If they are receiving subsidies, that money should be cut off. Stopping the operations of globalist NGOs is imperative to saving western civilization.

5) Immediate Peace Negotiations On Ukraine

Here’s the bottom line – Ukraine is losing the war against Russia. Their eastern front is collapsing due to attrition and in another year or less Russia WILL take the entire country. The war is also being managed by proxy by NATO. We are swiftly plunging into open conflict between the east and the west. This must stop. Even if the situation doesn’t go nuclear, a world war at this time would cause a catastrophic economic collapse, for the US, for Europe and most of the East. Only the globalists want this to happen.

Ukraine is an irrelevant territory not worth fighting over. Americans don’t want to fight over it. Europeans don’t want to fight over it and I doubt the average Russian wants to fight over it. Vladimir Zelensky must be forced to accept the loss of the Donbas to Russia. A DMZ must be established and the fighting must end for the sake of the world.

6) Investigate Covid Corruption

There should be an in-depth investigation into the Biden Administration’s handling of the Covid mandates, including the attempted censorship of information contrary to the government narrative. There should be a real investigation into the viral laboratories in Wuhan, China and Anthony Fauci’s involvement with those labs to develop coronaviruses using gain of function research. Americans want answers.

7) National Ban On CBDCs And The Cashless Economy

In tandem with open borders, globalists at the IMF and BIS have been quietly building a massive global central bank digital currency framework (CBDCs). The erasure of nationally controlled economies and currencies would be required in order to create a globally centralized economy with a single world currency. And, in order to force populations to accept such a system, the globalists need CBDCs.

With a cashless economy in place, elites within governments and central banks would have ultimate power to socially engineer public behavior. If they can take away your money any time they please, it’s much harder to rebel against them. If they can program caveats into CBDCs to prevent spending on certain goods (like meat or gas, for example) then they can pressure the populace into accepting carbon controls and other draconian measures. CBDCs are the end of freedom as we know it.

8) Economic Stop-Gap Plan

I have outlined options for preventing a total economic collapse in previous articles, so I won’t go in-depth here. I will quickly list some of the most important measures that could be taken to revitalize the struggling system. Many of them are designed to bypass the Federal Reserve.

• End The Income Tax For 99% Of The Population – Tax The 1%

• End Property Taxes On Single Family Homes – Only Tax Owners With Multiple Properties

• Remove All Illegal Immigrants From The US – This Will Trigger A Drop In Property Prices And Rent

• Create Subsidy Incentives For Married Couples With Children – Home Loans, Education

• Bring Back Technical Apprenticeship Programs – Increase Technical Workers Without College

• Use Tariffs, But Also Backstop Tariffs With Domestic Production – Focus On High Quality Goods

• Domestically Manufacture High Quality Goods With Long Life To Help Fight Inflation

• Issue A Gold/Silver Backed Treasury Bond – Offer Metals Backed Savings Accounts

• Institute A Moratorium On Debt Ceiling Increases Until Government Deficit Spending And Debt Are Under Control

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to save the economy in the long run but the options above could help to boost the American worker and consumer and stall a breakdown. Currently, the US faces the highest national debt, the highest interest payments and the highest consumer debt in the nation’s history. We are also still in the middle of a stagflationary crisis. Something dramatic must be done soon, before it’s too late.

Bonus Policy: Institute A Mandatory IQ Test And Mental Acuity Test For All Political Candidates And Leaders

It’s hard to test a person for moral compass but you can at least test intelligence. A candidate should not be prevented from running for office because of low IQ, but I believe the public has a right to know who they’re voting for. If they decide they don’t want a low IQ leader, then that should be up to them.

By extension, independent mental acuity testing should be a regular occurrence. As we saw with Joe Biden, the establishment will happily hide the mental decline of a politician if it serves their interests. The people have a right to know.

No doubt hundreds of other policy ideas could be added to the list above, but these actions are a solid start.  If Trump instituted even half of these solutions the US could be saved from perhaps the worst existential crisis in the nation’s history and globalism would be on the ropes.

*  *  *

If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

Of course, as goes NVDA, so goes the market, and after last night’s beat (but disappointing revenue forecast), the giantest of giant tech companies swung around like a penny stock, adding and subtracting $100s of billions in market cap in an instant…

Bear in mind that the vol market had pegged an 8% swing –  Jensen’s comments helped rescue the stock: “I believe that there will be no digestion until we modernize a trillion dollars with the data centers.”

Interestingly, while NVDA managed to hold on to gains, the Mega-Cap tech basket was hit hard and could not bounce back to green…

Source: Bloomberg

… as GOOGL was clubbed like a baby seal…

Source: Bloomberg

All the major indices ended the day green (though Nasdaq lagged), as Small Caps ripped…

…thanks to a huge short squeeze (again)…

Source: Bloomberg

On the macro side, it was ‘bad news’:  Philly Fed fell hard in November (from +10.3 to -5.5 vs +8.0 exp), Continuing Jobless claims topped 1.9mm Americans for the first time in three years (initial claims dropped), and the Leading Index dropped 0.4% (more than expected). Initial claims and existing home sales were positive to offset some of the negative but overall, the US Macro Surprise index actually rolled over…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields were marginally higher on the day with the short-end lagging (2Y +3bps, 30Y +1bps). That pulled the short-end higher on the week, while the belly is outperforming on the week…

Source: Bloomberg

Rate-cut expectations continued to slide with less than three full 25bp cuts now priced-in by the end of 2025…

Source: Bloomberg

As bond yields rose, so did oil prices with WTI holding back above $70…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar rallied back up near post-election highs…

Source: Bloomberg

But, the big news of the day was in ‘alternate’ currencies with bitcoin continuing to charge higher (topping $99k) as Gensler announced his retirement and Trump’s crypto council takes shape…

Source: Bloomberg

…and Gold also soared back above its 50DMA…

Source: Bloomberg

…up for the 4th straight day after 6 straight down following the election…

Source: Bloomberg

And finally, Bitcoin finally took out its record high relative to gold…

Source: Bloomberg

Do you feel lucky?