The popular farmer and trucker protests in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania, France and now Belgium are continuing.

Sensing the problematic nature of the uprising, watching the protests escalate to direct confrontation at parliament, and facing considerable political opposition on many domestic issues, the French government of Emmanuel Macron has agreed to the terms of the French farmers. However, the two major labor unions associated with the farmers in France are not asking for the protests to stop until they see the agreement of the French government in writing.

Protesting farmers blockaded multiple roads and camped outside the European parliament building in Brussels on Thursday, ahead of a EU leaders’ summit in the Belgian capital. The demonstrators lit two fires outside and placed their tractors in front of the European parliament building. Farmers have been protesting across Europe against the globalist agenda, rising costs in the agriculture sector and targeted taxes by the various governments.

(Associated Press) – France’s two major farmers unions announced they would lift country-wide blockades Thursday, shortly after the prime minister introduced new measures aimed at protecting their livelihoods that they described as “tangible progress.”

However, farmer activists who have snarled traffic along major highways around Paris said they would stay put at least another day to see the government commitments in writing, and both unions said they would closely monitor any government implementation.

“We don’t want to hear words of love. What we want is proof of love,” said Thierry Desforges, a farm union member at road blockade of the A6 highway in Chilly-Mazarin, south of Paris.

(more…)

The German farmer protests are strategic.   The reality that food doesn’t originate in a grocery store is an odd concept for many who do not pay attention.  The latest strategic move by the farmers aims to highlight the issue.

With an alliance of truckers supporting the farmers, the German farmers have now begun short-term blockades of warehouse and distribution centers. The farmers are following and disrupting the general supply chain, leading to delivery issues upon the downstream retail stores that carry their products.

GERMANY –  In Germany, farmers block the warehouses of retailers Aldi, Amazon and Lidl. This is reported by the telegram channel “Militarist”.

As the media reported, the president of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association Gunther Felsner said that regional organizations representing the interests of farmers want to enter into dialogue with representatives of the federal government this week. According to the head of the association, if the authorities do not agree to concessions, nationwide protests will continue.

The FRG government should be interested in improving the situation, the lack of dialogue between the Cabinet and farmers harms all participants. This was stated, in turn, to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Recall, despite the budget deficit, the German government ordered for themselves luxury helicopters for 200 million euros, wrote the day before the telegram channel “Bild in Russian”. (read more)

This approach follows the continued use of farm tractors to block major roads and transportation arteries around Germany.   The various cross border and national truckers support the farmers because the overall issues, particularly the diesel prices and taxes therein, are important to the economic livelihood of both.

(more…)

Trust me, I had to dumb down this headline to avoid the Google “reputation” block.   But let me start by reminding everyone [CHECK DATE]:

[SOURCE]

{GO DEEP} – And so, it begins:

White House – Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces—together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands—successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.
 
These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history. These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation. More than 50 nations have been affected in 27 attacks on international commercial shipping. Crews from more than 20 countries have been threatened or taken hostage in acts of piracy.  More than 2,000 ships have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea—which can cause weeks of delays in product shipping times. And on January 9, Houthis launched their largest attack to date—directly targeting American ships.

(more…)

Nice to see Tucker Carlson bringing attention to the biggest protests in modern German history.  Eva Vlaardingerbroek left the Netherlands to provide support for the farmers in Germany.   WATCH:

[ BIG STORY BACKGROUND HERE ]

(more…)

You will likely hear the term “farm subsidies” as Western media claim the German farmers are protesting the decisions by government. However, what they are protesting is not a hand-out of government funds, but rather the addition/increase of taxes for diesel fuel and farming equipment.

The planned eight-day countrywide protests by agricultural workers began today. The actions include motorway blockades and are described by the head of the farmers’ association as “the like of which the country has never experienced before.” The government is planning to increase taxes on Diesel fuel and farm equipment as part of the German “Build Back Better” climate agenda.

Additionally, you might remember the Canadian “trucker protests,” when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his left-wing government tried to deflect attention from the justified motive of the truckers by claiming they were Nazis and part of the right-wing extremist conspiracy to destroy government. Well, that same approach is taking place in Germany with government officials claiming the German farmers are backed by right-wing Nazis.

BERLIN, Jan 8 (Reuters) – German farmers kicked off a week of nationwide protests against subsidy cuts on Monday, blocking roads with tractors and piling misery on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition as it struggles to fix a budget mess and contain rising far-right forces.

Convoys of tractors and trucks gathered on roads in sub-zero temperatures in nearly all 16 federal states, while protesters clashed with police and leading politicians warned that the unrest could be co-opted by extremists.

(more…)

As hard as it might be to believe, Canada gave 98-year-old Nazi war criminal, Yaroslav Hunka, a standing ovation in the House of Commons.  Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to Hunka and introduced him as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.  However, the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a Ukrainian unit of Nazis under the command of German Nazis.

Earlier today, as a result of the world discovering that Canada was harboring Nazi fugitive Yaroslav Hunka, the Polish government requested his return to Europe to stand trial for war crimes.  The entire episode has become a major political embarrassment for Canada.  Moments after Poland sent their letter to Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons resigned.  WATCH:

From fighting Nazis, to giving them a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons.  Quite an arc of history here; where arc’s might be shaped like pretzels.

(more…)

For his opening monologue and first interview tonight, Fox News host Tucker Carlson outlined the ramification of non-western nations now trading in alternative currencies to the U.S. dollar.   {Direct Rumble Link Here]  As the dollar diminishes in value, and as an outcome of Biden using U.S. treasury bonds as part of the sanction regime against Russia, various non-western nations now perceive holding dollars as exposing themselves to risk.

Carlson is joined by Luke Gromen who accurately notes the dollar as a global trade currency may continue, but foreign nations holding U.S. treasury bonds as an asset will likely start contracting.  The result of U.S. treasury bonds returning after maturity with no repurchase, would be an inability of the U.S. to borrow against their sale. This could, perhaps likely will, severely diminish the amount of money the U.S. congress can spend.  WATCH:

None of this should come as a surprise to those who have paid attention. Factually, in March of last year, one month after the Russian sanctions were announced, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Deputy Managing Director said the sanctions against Russia are likely to undermine the US dollar’s global dominance as a trade currency.  Everyone could see this coming.

(more…)

Following upon the heels of Joe Biden attending a meeting of NATO’s “eastern flank” partners, colloquially known as “the Bucharest-9”, and against the backdrop of China stepping into the picture with “no separation” support for Russia, the Pentagon is noting the anniversary of the Ukraine conflict by indicating additional U.S. troops maybe needed on the NATO eastern flank.

It is important to mention that Ukraine is NOT a NATO country.  The U.S. and Western media tend to avoid noting this uncomfortable fact, but NATO has no obligation to defend Ukraine.  Some might ask why NATO is even involved at all.

With that in mind, France 24 notes there is a possibility of a brigade sized reinforcement group inbound to this region [LINK HERE].  The Pentagon press release is below:

(Pentagon) – […] In response to the most urgent danger to European security since the end of World War II, we have moved swiftly with our allies to further unify and strengthen NATO. The Alliance has bolstered its defenses on the Eastern Flank. Meanwhile, the United States has deployed or extended more than 20,000 additional U.S. forces to Europe and forward-stationed the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO’s Eastern Flank. NATO is more united than ever, and the U.S. commitment to defend every inch of allied territory remains ironclad.

(more…)

The statistics behind the energy impact upon the German economy, the largest economy in the European Union, are almost unfathomable in scale.  There is no way for the German industrial economy to continue with this level of price pressure.  Stick a fork in the current creation of German industrial products and exports, the inflection point of feasibility for continued production has been crossed.  They are done.

According to release statistics from the German economic ministry, energy prices in August were more than double the same period last year, up 139%.  The monthly increase was more than 20.4% higher than July.  Additionally, producer prices for electricity rose 174.9% compared with August 2021 and by 26.4% in a single month.

This jaw-dropping increase in energy cost has resulted in German manufacturing prices for industrial goods jumping 7.9% in August alone, with a year-over-year increase in the cost to manufacture goods at 45.8%.  That is the highest rate of price increase since Germany began recording their statistics in 1939.

BERLIN, Sept 19 (Reuters) – German producer prices rose in August at their strongest rate since records began both in annual and monthly terms, driven mainly by soaring energy prices, raising the chances that headline inflation will surge even higher.

Producer prices of industrial products increased by 45.8% on the same month last year, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday. Compared to July 2022, prices rose 7.9%, it added.

(more…)

Welcome to the new “democratic norms” in the industrialized west as Germany seizes the private assets of Russian owned energy company Rosneft; because oil refining is critical to fuel prices and German has just realized their vulnerability.

Within this new Build Back Better system, driven by the policies of western nations, it appears things are changing quickly.  Democracy or capitalism in Germany is now quickly dispatched, as socialism -state control- becomes the priority.

Heck, I’m old enough to remember when everyone decried China’s authoritarian economic model for doing the exact same thing as Germany (a few months ago).  But, well, we must pretend not to notice these things comrades….

(Reuters) – BERLIN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Germany took control of a major Russian-owned oil refinery on Friday, risking retaliation from Moscow as Berlin strives to shore up energy supplies and meet its European Union commitment to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

The economy ministry said it was putting a unit of Russian oil firm Rosneft (ROSN.MM) under the trusteeship of the industry regulator and taking over the business’ Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin’s fuel.

“This is a far-reaching energy policy decision to protect our country,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a news conference to present the government’s plans to put the Schwedt refinery under the control of the Federal Network Agency regulator. (read more)

Who knew economic security was national security?

(more…)