Again, they are blaming this on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, but the origin of the issue goes back much further.

Last year, CTH was one of a small number of people talking about the very real possibility of food shortages due to the cumulative effects from regulatory COVID mitigation and the fracturing of the food supply chain that government intervention created. {Go Deep}

What we are witnessing now is not as much attached to the Ukraine crisis, as it is the continued ripple effects in that same supply chain.

The current grain issues are an outcome of a major supply chain disruption on the manufactured and processed food side, which is now exacerbated by higher replenishment costs and lower yields. Fertilizer costs have skyrocketed due to energy cost increases.

It is a perfect storm.

Without the Ukraine crisis surfacing, the grain (wheat, corn, soybean) and supply chain issues were already going to be a problem, and many of these current mitigation efforts -wrongly being attributed to Ukraine- would have taken placed without any regional conflict.  That’s why we predicted these issues last year, long before Ukraine-Russia was in the headlines.

The thing to keep in mind is that some smart governments, especially those nations where the government controls and monitors the food industry, can see these issues long before they surface.  If CTH could see these multinational food issues last year, you know the governments of China and Russia could also see them coming.  Some might even argue they gamed out the problem and are taking advantage of it right now. {Go Deep}

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In a public tweet tonight, Senator Lindsey Graham calls for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The propaganda push from the U.S. government is actually quite remarkable to watch unfold.   I mean seriously, there’s a point when you don’t go all-in because there has to be an exit option.   We are in very tenuous place, because no one is thinking about an off ramp…. it’s full speed ahead.

If Lindsey Graham, Joe Biden, NATO, the EU, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Word Economic Forum and the multinational corporations in this alliance of Public/Private geopolitical partnerships, succeed in the fight against Vladimir Putin – I promise you, we are not going to like the world on the other side of their victory.

A few weeks ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a clear and specific message to citizens in Canada when he sanctioned the trucker’s bank accounts.  Joe Biden, NATO and EU are right now sending a clear message to the citizens of the world, as they sanction Putin’s bank accounts and the Russian economy.

If you can’t see the connection, you are not thinking carefully enough about it.

Everything will be different now.

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The BRICS alliance is a strategic geopolitical partnership between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.  The nature of the alliance is based on trade and big picture economics.

Readers familiar with our discussions of trade and international finance, will remember the importance we previously discussed with BRICS after the 2016 election and President Trump representing economic nationalism for the first time in several generations.  In this outline, we are going to share the bigger picture of why BRICS should now be back on the center stage of American focus.

Xi Jinping (China), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Narendra Modi (India) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), the BRICS group.

The BRICS economic partnership was formed during the Obama administration.  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) saw President Obama sub-contracting, actually giving away, U.S. trade policy to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  In the aftermath of the 2007 economic crisis created by the financial system, the BRICS group connected two central points that concerned them.

In the aftermath of the great housing/financial crisis, the relationships around the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU central banking system and various multinational institutions and, more importantly, multinational corporations, merged even closer with the government.  The priorities of the Davos and World Economic Forum (WEF) crowd were now virtually indistinguishable from many national governments.

We are fifteen years downstream from that inflection point, and we are now seeing the outcomes.  The WEF is now giving direct instructions to installed politicians for government policy.  Put another way, multinational corporations are now telling government officials what to do.

Think of “The Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” or climate change, as examples.  Worse yet, those governments are doing exactly what the WEF has told them to do.

This corporate control of government is exactly what the BRICS assembly foresaw when they first assembled.  When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem.  In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government.

As a result, if you really boil it down to the common denominator what you find is the BRICS group are the opposing element to the WEF assembly.

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Hindsight is not only 20/20, in this case it’s a little alarming. 

Last year, we were discussing the massive increases in food and farming costs associated with increased fertilizer prices.  By the time we got to late January, the World Bank (WB), United Nations (UN) and the Davos / World Economic Forum (WEF) group were discussing it.  At first the perspective was the potential for lower crop yields creating increased global famine.

However, if we apply a little hindsight from the geopolitical world surrounding the current issues in Europe, specifically Ukraine, and then consider the background of what the Biden team were doing, while Russia, Belarus and China were stockpiling, things look a little more concerning than just lower crop yields as an outcome of higher natural gas prices – vis-a-vis nitrogen fertilizer.

As noted by Forbes last month, “Russia and China have imposed export restrictions on fertilizer. Both are, or were, big exporters of plant food. The decline in exports makes getting the vital nutrients harder across the globe. China and Russia account for 29% of world exports for nitrogen-based plant food. The two countries also have significant, albeit, smaller shares of the phosphate and potash markets, respectively, the report states.”

Now, keep in mind how Belarus helped Russia with the current military operation.

In August of 2021 the United States, Canada and the EU hit Belarus with punitive sanctions on the one-year anniversary of what they called a fraudulent election.  As noted by Politico at the time, “The sanctions partially ban imports of potash fertilizer, petrol and petrol-based products from Belarus.”  […] Targeting Belarus’ potash sector was a strategic move insofar as the country is the second largest exporter of the fertilizer behind Canada, covering 21 percent of the world’s potash exports in 2019.

In September of 2021, at the same time as China was investing heavily in the purchase of U.S. farmland, Beijing simultaneously announced a ban of export for phosphates until June of 2022.  With China banning export of the source material, the global fertilizer market now needed to look elsewhere for future purchases.

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Major HatTip to [PTC on Twitter] for finding this article and quote.  First, the context:

Yesterday, the New York Times reported on U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials from the State Dept sharing intelligence with Chinese officials in the three months leading up to the Russian invasion.  {Go Deep on Analysis} The narrative from the article tells the story of the U.S. trying to convince China in December, January and February to intervene and persuade Russia not to cross the border into Ukraine.

Many people have looked at this story from the perspective of incompetence, i.e. why would the Biden team think China would not share the intel, etc.

However, when it comes to these types of issues, never ascribe to incompetence that which can be explained by intent.

There’s every reason to believe what the Biden intelligence community and state department were sharing with China, was done with the intention of Beijing giving it to Moscow.

From that perspective, the question around intent becomes, what did they push and why did they push it?

Now we get to the story, quote and critical Reuters article from December of 2021. What was being said by Joe Biden to Ukraine President Vladimir Zelenskyy?

Reuters, December 9, 2021 – “U.S. President Joe Biden assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Kyiv’s bid to join the NATO military alliance was in its own hands, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said after the two leaders spoke on Thursday.

Biden and Zelenskiy had a call two days after Biden held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to defuse a crisis over Russian troop movements near Ukraine’s borders. (read more)

In mid-December of 2021, Joe Biden was telling President Zelenskyy the entry of Ukraine into NATO was up to Ukraine.  If they want in, they’re in.

This is a red line for Russia, Joe Biden knew it.  Vladimir Putin had been very clear about his opposition, and everyone knew it.  Russia would never concede allowing Ukraine to enter NATO.

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There’s a New York Times article getting attention today, as the article frames a narrative of the U.S. intelligence community and diplomatic offices trying to get China to influence Russia away from invading Ukraine.

However, as with all NYT reporting of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the information within the article must be viewed through a different prism to understand the real motives being discussed.

Never ascribe to incompetence, that which can be explained by intent.

The Deep State narrative, what the NYT reports, begins thusly:

WASHINGTON — Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.

Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.

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The United States Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Democrat, told the U.S. Olympic athletes today to drop their inherent freedom of speech perspective and comply with the Chinese Communist Party rules.

It seems the viewpoint of the United States being a beacon of freedom has morphed into a situation where the official position of government is to turn off the lights and adhere to the totalitarian state.  Quite a remarkable shift in worldview.  WATCH:

Then again, in Pelosi’s defense, it’s not like she could warn the Chinese government there would be hell to pay if a single U.S. athlete was ever threatened or harmed.  After all, the Chinese have purchased Pelosi’s compliance.

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Stew Peters interviews Dr. Robert Malone about the latest data and vaccine protocols.  It’s a lengthy interview, but overall good discussion to add to your reference points.  {Direct Rumble Link Here}

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked today about whether the White House would be transparent with the reported divestiture of Hunter Biden and his financial relationships with communist Chinese government officials.  The press secretary refused to answer the question.  WATCH:

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Earlier today, Joe Biden met with a roundtable group of retail executives and CEO’s.  The topics of the discussion were supply chain issues and current impacts to businesses that are causing rapid inflation.

At the conclusion of the meeting there was supposed to be a press conference where Biden was going to outline what his administration is doing to combat the ever-increasing problem of inflation.   However, moments before the public remarks were scheduled to begin, the White House cancelled them.  Instead, the people managing Joe Biden sent out the following tweet:

According to the White House messaging, everything is wonderful – there is no cause for concern, the supply chain crisis has been handled, shortages are no longer present, shelves are full, the clouds have parted and Santa is enjoying his time preparing for Christmas by watching unicorns play with the reindeer.  Baghdad Bob would be proud.

If the narrative is true, if there is so much good news to share, then why cancel the remarks and press conference about inflation?

One likely scenario is the retail CEO’s told the White House about: (1) upcoming additional price increases due to energy policy; and (2) the latest news from China where the shipment of goods is going to go from bad (slow) to much worse (a virtual halt):

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