Monday 31 January 2022

Ukraine Crisis or Oil and Gas Casino?

 

Ukraine Crisis or Oil and Gas Casino

While most people and the mass media seem fixed on events linked to a mythological invasion, what is happening to oil and gas shares around the world?

 

There are all kinds of headlines linked to events in Ukraine, but what is the reality of it all? Who is really making truckloads of money speculating in international markets? With the Covid pandemic and the loss of economic activity, oil and gas prices went down as demand went down. Then suddenly, economic activity started to pick up and oil and gas prices went up again. 

 

British newspapers were mentioned that should there be shortages of oil and gas, Britain would be receiving gas from.... Australia? You only have to look at mapamundi to see that there is a lot more than meets the eye. Container ships bringing American fracking gas across the Atlantic? Container ships bringing in gas all the way from Australia? As some environmental activists complain about air traffic including the use of private jets, has anybody stopped to think about the footprint of ships carrying vast amounts of gas and oil across vast oceans of the world? At what cost? Suddenly, you can forget about environmental targets because what we are listening about has nothing to do environmental targets and a lot do with geopolitical objectives and speculation in world markets.

 

India and China were a lot more honest when it comes to energy needs and energy sources. Yes, they will not phase out their production of coal - just to give an example - and they will continue building up coal energy plants. Undoubtedly, any talk about shortages and especially shortages due to geopolitical situations will benefit certain investors. War in Europe? How much money can we make out of it?

 

Recently, a very expensive jet fighter went down in Asia. There were the usual comments about the best American technology falling into Chinese hands because the jet crash on 'unfriendly waters'. How much did the aircraft cost? Who cares? There will be another aircraft to replace the one that crashed, and monies will be made by certain 'investors' that would like to have another war, another massive war, because wars are money making machines. They could not care less about human lives lost or ruined.

 

In more than one way, those who invest in wars are exactly what the drug cartels are about: quick riches regardless of the thousands upon thousands of lives lost or ruined. This is the business of war.

 

The fat cats will continue increasing their fortunes. Their helpers like the authorities of NATO will see their bank accounts grow and grow and they will continue making inflammatory speeches because the more inflammatory their speeches are a major war is ever closer.

Saturday 29 January 2022

NATO: Too big to fail?

 

With Turkey as NATO member, there were times when the contradictions within the alliance became all too obvious. Members of the said alliance are still opposed to Turkey's membership of the European Uniion on many grounds. 

Today, we face the fact that agendas within European country members of the alliance do not necessarily coincide on many grounds.

Many say that NATO and the European Union were created to prevent Germany from ever getting involved in another military adventure. This gives the idea that Germany is kept hostage within both NATO and the European Union.
Recent events in Eastern Europe are putting the alliance to the test. Croatia would leave the alliance if there is conflict with the Russian Federation. Germany has publicly stated that the country will not send troops nor military resources and has refused to withdraw its diplomatic representation as 'this would make the situation much worse'. 

Germany is the one country that has more to lose if there is a European war. Germany has been a net exporter and is the most powerful economy in Europe. As the most powerful economy, Germany needs energy and oil and gas supplies coming from the East are vital for the German economy. Non only that. Much of its manufactured products are sold in the East. A conflict with the Russian Federation or with China or with both would be catastrophic for the German economy.

Those in the USA who are promoting a war in Europe do it because they believe that it will forward American interests and do so without a care in the world because they believe that in this way they can keep Europe as a hostage of American interests. Nord Stream 2 comes to mind. If Germany - and by extension Europe - cannot get supplies from Middle East or Latin America, then the USA can apply monopolistic price fixing. Therefore, a war with the Russian Federation does not benefit European economies. Quite the opposite. 

The First World War did not benefit Europe. The Second World War did not benefit Europe. USA got richer and more powerful thanks to European wars and this is why the USA is promoting yet another war in Europe. A new European war can completely distroy Europe and cause catastrophic political changes and cause more loss of life than the First World War and World War Two put together. And, most importantly, war in Europe will destroy the Organisation of the United Nations in the very same way that war in Europe destroyed the League of Nations, but this times with even more catastrophic consequences for the world as a whole.







Sunday 23 January 2022

Another Holocaust is coming

Far Right groups and Muslim Extremists are rubbing their hands with glee. In the fog of war Jews in Europe will be exterminated. This is catastrope and is almost upon is. War in Europe will create fertile ground for it to happen.

British military history is not free from tragic examples of delusion leading to catastrophic events. The Narvik campaign is just one of them when forces went to Narvik without air cover, without artillery, without naval cover and without the necessary winter equipment only to be slaughtered by the Wehrmacht from sea, air and land, event that led to the fall of the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Another example of delusion was the sending of two naval units to Asia, once again without air cover, to be sunk by Japanese torpedo aircraft or the bad arrangements in Singapore that led to the fall of Singapore with the arrival of British and Commonwealth troops that only arrived in time to surrender to Japanese troops.

Another example of delusion was the badly planned campaign in the Netherlands by Marshall Montgomery known as Market Garden that was bound to be a disaster with the delivery of Polish paratroopers on the third day that were killed before they set foot in the Netherlands and supplies that were thrown straight into the hands of the Wehrmacht due to lack of proper communications.

Never mind the failed Suez Campaign launched by Anthony Eden or Churchill Gallipoli Campaign.

More recent disasters were the campaign in Afghanistan and in Iraq launched by Tony Blair under false pretences with fabricated evidence about WMDs that never existed and created massive waves of refugees, destabilizing even more regions like Asia Minor and Middle East that were already unstable leading to the rise of Islamic State and events that are well known.

But now we are dealing with an even more worrying situation when Britain is about to engage in a military conflict that could engulf the whole of Europe under a government that has systematically reduced the strength both in terms of material resources and of numbers of the British Armed Forces. How on Earth are we talking about cutting down the numbers of the British Armed Forces a time when everybody is talking about impending doom?

Simon Jenkins writing on The Guardian spoke about how unwise it would be to commit Britain to a military effort in Ukraine and a lady writer writing on The Independent asked the question about American attempts to drive the Russian Federation to a war that the Russian Federation does not want.

How many times is Britain going to make the same kind of disastrous mistakes that lead to tragedy? How many times politicians that should be in a privileged position to prevent a catastrophe act as if they were completely unaware of the consequences? Reports about British cooperation with Ukraine are laughable. Do you really believe that a few anti-tank weapons will prevent an assault by a country that drove the Wehrmacht across Europe all the way back to Berlin? Do you know the history of the Soviet Union of which the Russian Federation was the real driver? Do you think that wars can be won without committing troops on the battlefield?

People in Britain should be told what will really happen if a military conflict in Europe begins because their children are going to be sent to the battlefield to die as children died before in many wars like the First World War and the Second World War. As Sergei Ivanov stated, if there is a conflict you can forget about the Nuclear Deterrent and about ‘weapons of pinpoint accuracy’. This will be a military conflict that will engulf Europe and it will be a protracted war that will make the Afghanistan campaign and the Iraqi campaign look like child’s play.

As always, we hear about the green agenda and the rising costs of energy that can certainly cripple many European economies including the British economy. What do you think the effects of a widespread conflict in Europe will be when it comes to energy supplies and the link with inflationary forces? What do you think the social and political consequences will be if economies become critically unstable to the point when there are very unwanted developments?

When Germany was falling 70 or so years ago, Adolf Hitler prophesized the rise of a new Germany when the two colossus of the time – America and the Soviet Union – were to face each other on the battlefield. Do you know that there are groups in Europe that are rubbing their hands with glee thinking about what they will do if there is war in Europe? For decades now, Europe has been dealing with the scourge of Islamic Extremists. Can you imagine a Europe in which both Islamic Extremists and Far Right elements will have a free hand to do whatever they please because governments will be involved in fighting a European war?

It is not just about being sensible and realistic. It is about not guaranteeing what cannot be guaranteed. It is about avoiding pompous and affected statements that are a far cry away from reality. It is about mass media control not to create an environment leading to war, environment that could lead to reprisals in the United Kingdom. In the event of war, it will take very little for people to start hunting people in the United Kingdom. I have heard people in the UK say that war in Europe is being promoted by Jews in the United Kingdom. I listen to people, and I am concerned about the consequences. I have a dialogue with a Jewish friend in Nevada, USA and we speak about situations happening in Europe right now that are being treated as black and white, as cowboys and Indians, with political postures that could lead to a massive tragedy.

If attitudes in some circles in the West don’t change for the better, we could be faced with very foreseeable consequences.

Friday 21 January 2022

The Human Cost of Energy Crisis and the threat of war to make money

 

When the President and the Vice President of the USA so casually talk about war, lets be reminded of what war means. Neighter Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris have ever been closed to a real threatre of war.

In Britain, writing for The Guardian, Simon Jenkins says 'that Britain shuold stay well out of Russia's border dispute with Ukraine. Also in Britain The Independent states in one of its articles that USA wishes to go to war.

Before there is any major war in Europe, energy costs are crippling economies and causing prices to rise throwing more and more families into poverty. Can you imagine what could happen if there was a real major conflict in Europe?



Cost of energy in Germany are leading to major inflation rises and the idea that Germany will not be able to rely on imports coming from the East - namely the Russian Federation - is nothing less than a nightmare. Year after year, the political environment in Germany has become more and more fragmented. SPD only manage to win the Federal Election not because of gaining more votes, but because CDU/CSU went down dramatically. Germany is polarized between right and left and those who know the history of Germany know that this no good. 

Both France and Germany are pushing for talks with both Ukraine and the Russian Federation - a group of four talks - to bypass NATO and the USA. They do so because they don't trust the USA's intentions?  USA wants War in Europe, a war that will be completely detrimental for Europe. But greed in the USA has no limits. For several years, the USA has been stockpiling oil and gas and especially gas that comes from fracking and needs to make money with it. By blocking the Baltic pipeline between the Russian Federation and Germany, Europe becomes ever more dependent of American exports that the USA is sending to Europe as 'aid to alleviate shortages'. So there is money to be made and the American intention of going to war against Russia is yet another economic war as the illegal invasion of Iraq was an economic war.


These are the two people who will send Americans to die in war

 

These are the two people who will send Americans to die in war

Why do more and more people dislike politicians? Well, politicians don't seem to have a very good track record when it comes to making decisions that will put lives in jeopardy. At least, in the past, some of those making decisions had had some involvement in military issues including real military conflicts. Nowadays, all is decided with money and popularity contests and this is why we end up with the mess that we end up with. Are you happy to have these people send your children to conflicts in foreign lands? We are not talking about American survival. We are talking about vested interests of a certain group of individuals who will use your children as cannon fodder.

War is a business for the said individuals. The conflict in Afghanistan meant that Britain spent 40 billion Pound that could have been spent elsewhere to make the lives of British peoples better. How much did American spend? You might have to spend a sizeable amount of your income to pay for health expenses. You might be late with your mortgage payments and at tisk of losing your home - it happened to many Americans in the so called Sub Prime scandal. Don't doubt for a minute that those promoting wars aboard don't give a damn about your well-being and the well-being of your children. They could not care less. They just have to stand and utter some warmongering soundbites and fill up their pockets with the taxes that you pay.

Joe Biden is white and Kamala Harris is mixed race - Black and Asian. Does race matter? Of course not. There are crooks of all races and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are just examples of what is going wrong in the USA.  

Those of us who were 'educated, educated, educated' by Tony Blair know that American has its own dose of Tony Blair, the ones who cry about non existing WMDs and then go on to kill civilians with drones. Oh, yes, and the Guantanamo Detention Centre is still there. President Obama who was President for two Consecutive periods promised to close down the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay and Joe Biden was his VicePresident. Did they close the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay? Of course they did not. Soundbites to get themselves elected soon to be forgotten to join the lot of unfulfilled promises.

Monday 17 January 2022

China: Unequivocal expressions of Chinese Ambassador in France

 

Unequivolcal expressions of Chinese Ambassador in France

You need to listen carefully to know where things are heading towards. The reunification of Taiwan with mainland China is just a matter of time.

Insofar the fall of the Shah of Iran was predictable and what happened at the American Embassy in 1979 could have been avoided, something similar seems to be happening when it comes to Taiwan.

The signs exist for those who want to see, who are ready to take into account what is happening right now and take the necessary measures to avoid a catastrophe that is on the cards.

When it comes to Eastern Europe, each side is positioning itself very much as it happens before the battle. Diplomacy will continue until the time when the first shot is fired because diplomacy is used to prevent any side taking action before all preparations are in place. The sides are sizeing each other, looking for strengths and weaknesses. It reminds me of the preparation for battle that you could see in the days of Napoleon Bonaparte. The cavalry, the infantry and the artillery are being made ready for battle.

The Chinese Ambassador does not mention words that could be directly associated with war but the meaning of what he says is pretty clear.The sides are playing for time and when time runs out it will be showdown time. In Poland, there are expressions of concern regarding an imminent conflict. In Germany, there seems to be the belief that something major will happen soon. You need to listen to what is being said and you have to listen what is not been said. You have to pick up the pieces of what is happening elsewhere because there are not going to be merely regional battlefields. When conflict begins the Organisation of the United Nations will cease to exist and all conventions and agreements guaranteed by the existence of the UN will cease to exist. Laws will be written by the victors and a New World Order will be built on the ashes of the present World Order.




Sunday 16 January 2022

War betwen Permanent Members of UN means the end of the UN

 

The Organisation of the United Nations effectively came to be in 1945 with a Security Council made up of five permanent members namely USA, UK, France, USSR and China. 

The aim was to prevent yet another major conflagration. Having said that, war between the Permament Members will destroy the Organisation of the United Nations.

Nowadays, the Organisation of the United Nations is a lot more than the original signatories intended and many international agreements are based on the existence of the Organisation of the United Nations. Once the UN is no more those agreements will be nul and void and this will effectively means that every country in the world will be on its own. All the safeguards in terms of an international framework will be gone and the stronger ones will prevail and be free do to as they please. This is why, apart from all other immediate consequences, it is important to avert a military conflict between permament members of the Organisation of the United Nations. 

As this has not been talked about and the subject is not on mass media, it is fundamentally important to remind everybody of what is at stake should the situation in Eastern Europe and in Asia get out of hand. 




Friday 14 January 2022

Prince Andrew: Innocent until proven guilty?

 

Prince Andrew: Innocent until proven guilty?

Being a member of the Royal Family can sometimes be a privilege and can sometimes be a liability and this has been shown by the reaction of the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and of other members of the Royal Family.

Prince Andrew has been condemned and turned into a pariah even before any case against him is dealt with in a court of Law. 

Denonciations by mass media are no evidence whatsoever. Denonciations by mass media are no verdict whatsoever.

Regardless of the lack of a verdict, Prince Andrew has been condemned by his own family and by his own mother that has thrown him to the wolves without there being any trial whatsoever. Why? To protect the Royal Family from scandal. Even military chiefs that are supposed to stand for 'innnocent until proven guilty' have turned to be cowards. The man stands accused of many things, but the man has not been convicted in any court of Law.

So, Madam, you throw your own son to the wolves to save an institution? Let's see what kind of institution your are trying to save. You eldest son before marrying his present wife was an adulterous man that had an affair with another man's wife while being married to Princess Diana. Marrying the adulterous woman does not erase the fact that the relationship started as an adulterous relationship. The mother of two of your grandchildren died or was murdered in a tunnel in France and now every goes on as if nothing had happened while your first born was having an illicit relationship. Interesting of presenting the moral values of the Church of England of which you are the Head.

Maybe some time in the future Prince Andrew will be found guilty of the crimes for which he stands accused but that time has not come yet. As any man he has the right to have his day in court, but the reaction of the Royal Family does not look like cowardice. There is no wonder then that Prince Harry chose to jump overboard and go to America. Like stated at the beginning, every man or woman is innocent until proven guilty, but the Royal Family seems to think otherwise.


Jeffrey Epstein: Why?

 

Jeffrey Epstein: Why?

When I look at the case of Jeffrey Epstein and try to understand why what happened happened the answer comes loud and clear: mental illness. We can blame the individual a thousand times, but the clear explanation is that that he could not help doing what he did. People become addicted to alcohold, tobacco, and other drugs. People become addicted to food. Perhaps he become addicted to under-age women and this was the only way he could get some kind of sexual and emotional gratification.


He was clever enough, intelligent enough, to amass an vast amount of wealth to have the kind of lifestyle that he enjoy with expensive residences, private jets and the luxuries of a very wealthy lifestyle, meeting people in the higher echelons of power and celebrity, but he could avoid doing what in the end led to his demise at an age when he could have had even more to enjoy and achieve. In spite of his inability or unwillingness to form lasting emotional relationships he could be generous and in fact supported various institutions. He was not a conventional individual. We cannot measure him according to our own standards or points of view.

In fact, we live in times where conflicting set of values coexist. We live in a world in which in some parts of the world drugs are legalised and in other parts of the world using drugs or trafficking drugs can get you killed. We live in a world in which in some parts of the world men can marry men and women can marry women and in which in some parts of the world men and women would be put to death because of homosexuality and bisexuality.

In the same world, there are places where sex with chiildren is a criminal offense and in other places sex with children is a custom leading to arranged marriages when families - not the individual concerned - make deals marrying their children to adults.

The word is full of contraditions and the age of consent tend to vary not just between countries, but within countries. We live in a world in which the fashion industries have sexualised children promoting a sort of lessez-faire, laissez-passer kind of attitudes.

Jeffrey Epstein was both a victim and a victimiser. Any human being is extremely complex and there are many sides of the same story. People can be many things at the same time. I am not the same man that I was yesterday or the week before or the year before. We are constantly evolving, experiencing and learning not just about the outside world, but also about ourselves, about our inner world.

For many years, we knew Michael Jackson's public personna, but most of us didn't know about Michael Jackson as a human being, about who Michael Jackson was in his own mind when dealing with his own weaknesses and emotional needs. We admired his music, his showmanship, but we didn't know Michael Jackson the human being that struggled. We knew about Vivien Leigh the movie star, the now legendary protagonist of Gone with the Wind, but we didn't know Vivien Leigh the woman that could barely cope because of mental heatlh issues.

What led Prince Andrew to get involved with the lifestyle of Jeffrey Epstein? We had the image promoted by the Royal Family and the mass media concerning the man who took part in a threatre of war, the man who was involved with several charities, the military man that served with distinction, the family man. The marriage to Sarah Fergusson was not a successful marriage despite the fact that even after the break up he maintained an amicable relatioship with his former wife. The real man was hidden behind his public image. We often forget that behind every celebrity there is real human being.