The BRICS trade and economic partnership group is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa {GO DEEP}.  The alliance was originated in part to explore alternatives to the dollar as a global trade currency.  They discussed several options in their prior meetings long before Russia took action into Ukraine.

With western sanctions against Russia now in place, there are increasing reports that China and India have developed alternatives.  This is one such example:

(Via LiveMint) – Russia, many of whose banks have been cut off from the Swift financial network, is exploring opening alternative payment channels with India, including linking Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the Faster Payments System (FPS) of the Bank of Russia, to continue cross-border trade.

According to Dmitry A. Solodov, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in New Delhi, his government has also asked Indian lenders to connect to the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia to facilitate interbank transactions. In addition, the two sides are discussing accepting RuPay and MIR Cards within national payment infrastructures, Solodov said in an emailed statement.

“All these options are on the table and are being discussed by the two governments, the Reserve Bank of India and the Bank of Russia,” said a senior Indian government official, requesting anonymity. (read more)

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It is pathetic and laughable, and it would be more pathetic and laughable if the ancillary issues represented by the idiocy were not so serious.

Former FBI lead Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok, the person who investigated the vast Trump-Russia conspiracy theory for two years and spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds in the process, has found another Russian conspiracy theory to promote.

Stand back and look at this from an intellectual and reasonable standard for a moment and just accept the insanity of it all.  Peter Strzok is claiming that Fox News Host Tucker Carlson and former Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard are actual Russian operatives working for the Kremlin.

(SOURCE)

Mr. Strzok has appeared on MSNBC and various other platforms to make his claim that Carlson and Gabbard are actually controlled operatives of the Russian government.  Ordinarily this would be silly, and we would laugh at him for these ridiculous political games.  But there’s something else…

What does Strzok’s outlook tell us about the current state of competency within the FBI?  This is the same guy who accused CIA asset Carter Page of being an agent of a foreign power in a fraudulent FISA application, that eventually was granted by the court to permit Title-1 surveillance on Mr. Page by Agent Strzok and his colleagues.

This is the type of person working at the top of the FBI counterintelligence operation?  It is pathetic, but unfortunately, not funny.

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This is the state of our union….

In order for the two-winged UniParty vulture to continue devouring the host they must always do two things:

(1) Present the illusion of choice; and
(2) Pretend not to know things.

The frustration you feel is a feature of the controlled program, it is not a flaw.  We The People are in an abusive relationship with our own government. The only real divide in our nation is the division between two classes: rulers (with wealth) and the ruled (without).  All other divisions are purposefully created by those who operate the system.

Inflation serves their interests.  Inflation cheapens the debt burden they create, which allows them to keep spending and transferring taxpayer wealth to themselves and the club insiders.  We The People are in an abusive and subservient relationship with our own government.

Ukraine is a shiny thing that keeps us from watching them.   Do not be distracted.

Comrades, Tucker Carlson’s opening monologue outlined the insanity of our current situation tonight.

Washington DC and the media echo chamber all agree that Ukraine is the most important shiny thing everyone should pay attention to…  and if you don’t, you’re a Russian agent – because freedom.

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In September of 2019, Elizabeth Warren promised to do something on her first day in office that would rebuild the Russian economy, grow China’s influence and support the Maduro regime in Venezuela.  We immediately wrote about it HERE.

SEPT 7, 2019 – Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has made a campaign promise that was quite remarkable:

What Senator Elizabeth Warren promised in that tweet is EXACTLY what Joe Biden did on his first day in office.   Now, before going further, let me explain something about that relationship that will likely make a lot more sense.

You might remember when all the democrat candidates in the 2020 primary were told to drop out right before Super Tuesday, as part of the organized effort to stop Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee.  The lone holdout was Senator Elizabeth Warren.  She was polling essentially even with Joe Biden while Bernie was leading.

It was very well documented at the time that Senator Warren was negotiating terms with the Biden team for her compliance and support.  Eventually, as the controlled party momentum grew, Warren agreed to drop out of the race, and she endorsed Joe Biden.  The terms of that agreement were never made public, but when we look at the priority of Warren (tweet), and compare it to the literal duplication of that pledge that was carried out by Joe Biden, well, the coincidence doesn’t look coincidental.   I digress…

Back to the original statement by Warren.  At the time she made this statement in 2019, we outlined a very specific series of consequences that would happen if she really did target fossil fuel on day one.  Now that Joe Biden has carried out exactly what Warren outlined, let’s go back to that 2019 outline of consequences and compare it to where we are today.

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As with all things Ukraine, when the initial reports of the Russian cruise missile attack against the military training facility located near the border with Poland, we said to be cautious about western reporting of no NATO military personnel present, killed or injured.

The reason is for the warning was simple – if NATO is providing weapons and training, they’ve got to be doing the distribution and training somewhere in Ukraine near the NATO border.  Conduct war operations in a war zone, and you run the risk of war outcomes.

Now the Daily Mail is beginning to report on ‘missing, feared dead’ former British special forces operators likely killed in the blast.  As the story evolves, how long will it be before U.S. headlines carry similar missing U.S. “contractor” stories?

Most of the U.S. and NATO warfighting is carried out by independent contractors or mercenary groups now.  Ukraine is the perfect battlespace for that unofficial type of war fighter engagement.

(Daily Mail) – Three British former special forces soldiers are feared to have been killed in a Russian airstrike near the Polish border. More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the Yavoriv base yesterday, killing as many as 180 people.

Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s ministry of defence, said the base was struck by ‘long-range, high-precision’ weapons because it was hosting ‘foreign mercenaries and a large shipment of foreign weapons’.

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Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have announced a private congressional teleconference between the exclusive confab of DC elites and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that will take place on Wednesday.   Congress has allocated $13.6 billion in “Ukraine-related” aid, with “10% for the big guy.”

The subject matter of the virtual meeting will likely surround the allocation of taxpayer indulgency fees to support Ukraine and the Non-Governmental Organizations run by the families of DC conference participants.  The meeting provides Zelenskyy the first opportunity to thank congress for deposits into his offshore holdings and celebrate his magnanimous money laundering operation.

Meanwhile, taxpayers who fund the congressional spending will be kept away from the private meeting by armed guards, fences and barbed wire constructed around the House of Representatives.  There is apparently and ongoing concern that the people who fund government might actually get too close to the government they are required to fund.

Yes, this is the ongoing state of our union, and our voices are irrelevant to their conduct.

WASHINGTON DC – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak virtually to members of Congress on Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced in a joint letter.

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Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan returns from Ukraine with a somber message about the situation and likely future.   Harrigan notes that Russian victory in Ukraine is a foregone conclusion – Ukraine will be flattened if needed. However, that outcome comes at a serious cost.

The war inside Ukraine will wage on for years as an insurgency against Vladimir Putin.  The western alliance will spend trillions if needed.  NATO will kill as many Ukrainians and mercenary units as needed in order to battle Vladimir Putin in a proxy war.   The industrial war machine will gleefully churn out the material needed for the DC based political war machine to purchase.   First, WATCH:

https://youtu.be/v8zi6cx6pAw

Harrigan is correct, however, he missed the biggest tell-tale sign of all.  Where are the peacekeepers?  Where are the diplomatic voices, the ranks of the prudent and pragmatic political voices who focus on stopping the death?  Where are those voices?  Where is the faith-based voice asking for leaders to stop, breathe, meet and seek a solution without further war?

Those voices are silent because the western motive is to create a long-term insurgent war in Ukraine.  The geopolitical system views this as an existential battle against Russia.  Both sides in this conflict view this as a zero-sum contest.  The NATO alliance doesn’t view Volodymyr as a hero, he’s a tool.

If Zelenskyy were to walk toward a negotiated ceasefire, the bullet that kills him would come from the rear.  That’s how corrupt this conflict is.

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With the Sea Island professionally Republican convention completed we now enter that time in Republican politics where the people who assembled for the gathering begin to seed the next election narrative.   The timing is not coincidental, yet few people pay attention, that’s where we come in.

The backstory on last week’s Sea Island meeting IS HERE.  We all know these people, though sometimes we can be distracted by their Machiavellian schemes and manipulations.  Exactly on cue, the Associated Press steps up to deliver the advanced revelations of the quiet discussion:

(VIA AP) –  Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.

More than two years before the next presidential election, a shadow primary is already beginning to take shape among at least three fierce Republican critics of former President Donald Trump to determine who is best positioned to occupy the anti-Trump lane in 2024.

Their apparent willingness to run — even if Trump does, as is widely expected — represents a shift from previous years when “Never Trump” operatives failed to recruit any GOP officeholders to challenge the incumbent president. But with the 2024 contest almost in view, the question is no longer whether one of Trump’s prominent Republican critics will run, but how many will mount a campaign and how soon they will announce.

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Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser for Allianz, got the inflation problem correct; states a forecast in line with CTH Main Street review, but then falls short on his political outlook for the solution.

Within the interview, El-Erian predicts inflation at the current CPI measure will increase from current 7.9% to over 10% this year.  That aspect is in alignment with CTH review at ground level.

Current real inflation is more than 15% across the board, if you use the CPI methodology we were using in the 70’s and 80’s.  Both the scale and the speed of the current price increases are historic.  That is why you are seeing prices on retail items jumping so high, so fast.  The price increases on highly consumable goods are in the 15 to 20% range.  WATCH:

An increase to over 10%, using current CPI measures, equals an increase of 25 to 30% in actual price (using historic measures).  Keep in mind, we have already passed through a wave of backward-looking inflation in the 25 to 30% range.  El-Erian is predicting a duplication of that scale into the remainder of 2022, I agree.  The 2020 $3 item became the 2021 $4 item, which will now become the 2022 $5.50 item.  That is our reality. It will not get better.

Where we differ from El-Erian is on the wage side and the political analysis.  Any political intervention to create govt subsidy with the goal to generate a higher workforce will backfire – bigly.  Recent historic employment statistics have not yet reflected the demand side decline in goods.  The employment data is skewed and useless because of the COVID mitigation impact on jobs.

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