As we noted last week, this was very likely going to happen. Oleksiy Reznikov (pictured below left) has been removed.

A corrupt minister is caught stealing and skimming money for his/her own benefit. The corrupt minister is fired and replaced with another corrupt minister, and then the clock starts ticking until the replacement makes a mistake and gets caught doing the same thing as his predecessor.

The corrupt activity in Kyiv is identical to the corrupt activity in Washington DC, because it is created by the same corrupt process. Wash – Rinse – Repeat.

(Via Politico) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced late Sunday that he will replace the country’s defense minister, even as Kyiv’s counteroffensive appears to be gaining ground with its troops pushing into Russian-held territory. [😂]

The departure of Oleksiy Reznikov as defense chief marks the highest-level turnover in Zelenskyy’s inner circle since the start of the war in February 2022. It comes as the Ukrainian government is stepping up efforts to deal aggressively with corruption allegations involving military officials.

In a video message Sunday night, the Ukrainian leader announced that Reznikov would be replaced as defense minister by Rustem Umerov, the head of the country’s State Property Fund.

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If you have watched World War Reddit, and understand the basic premise of Ukraine as a U.S. money laundering operation, then you likely understand why and how the recipient side of the $100 billion U.S. aid package is filled with graft and corruption.

Each Ukraine official who is caught using the money for their personal enrichment, is replaced by another person who engages in the same activity.  Successful anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine are futile, because everything attached to the U.S. created Ukraine government is corrupt.

A corrupt minister is caught stealing and skimming money for his/her own benefit. The corrupt minister is fired and replaced with another corrupt minister, and then the clock starts ticking until the replacement makes a mistake and gets caught doing the same thing as his predecessor.

The corrupt activity in Kyiv is identical to the corrupt activity in Washington DC, because it is created by the same corrupt process.   Wash – Rinse – Repeat.

In the latest exhibition…

[Via Zero Hedge} – […] Defense chief Oleksiy Reznikov has overseen a series of embarrassing military corruption scandals at a time Kiev is trying to tout its democratic and corruption reform credentials. He could be dismissed from the top post as early as next week and given a new role as ambassador to the United Kingdom.

But the decision is “not finalized” according to sources speaking to Kyiv Post, which names Rustem Umerov – currently head of the State Property Fund – as a likely candidate to replace Reznikov.

DM Reznikov has overseen Ukraine’s military and defense strategy since the start of the Feb. 2022 invasion, but the much-hyped counteroffensive launched at the start of the summer has been widely seen as a failure, despite tens of billions of dollars of Western aid and weaponry.

Reznikov is now front and center in an anti-graft probe, Bloomberg writes, citing local Ukrainian media:

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s anti-graft crackdown is fueling speculation that he may dismiss Ukraine’s defense minister following accusations of corruption linked to procuring military supplies.

The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper, citing sources it didn’t name, said on Thursday Minister Oleksii Reznikov may be replaced as early as next week. The report followed accusations from anti-corruption activists and media that under his leadership the ministry has purchased food and uniforms at inflated prices. It also coincides with comments from a lawmaker that Reznikov may be shifted to the post of Kyiv’s ambassador to the UK.

Additionally, parliament’s People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, wrote in a Thursday Telegram post that “…Rustem Umerov will be nominated for the position of Minister of Defense.” 

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Several people have made queries about the current state of our national economic condition against the backdrop of disconnected data points that seemingly conflict. Here’s my review.

July and August are key months to gauge the prior six months of U.S consumer positioning.

Why?

Because all advance purchase orders for the U.S. holiday season are made in May, June and July for inventory builds and delivery schedules for September.  The decisions made by purchasing officers in late spring and early summer, reflect their predictive analysis for the holiday season.

Inventories are evaluated, critical financial discussions are held, and orders are placed for September arrival and distribution.  This predictive activity is what we see in the July and August data that flows from the global, multinational and shipping corporations who facilitate the transfer of the goods.  Check what is happening in distribution, and you can see what eventually creates the boxcar effect in the supply chain that ultimately leads to shuttered manufacturing.

Those who are involved in the business of shipping goods are signaling the flares around the state of the consumer economy and what will happen.  At the same time, the wording is almost hilarious in this era of great pretending.  Instead of saying ordinary words like “poor sales results for durable goods,” the parseltongue calls sales, “destocking.”  Example:  “CEO Vincent Clerc said he saw no sign that the destocking which has curbed global trade activity would end this year.”

Global shipping company Maersk is warning that shipping volume is low because warehouse inventories are high.  The goods are unsold.

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Collapse is never a sudden occurrence; it is an outcome of gradual erosion over time. A weakening that takes place almost invisible to those who pass through the construct, until eventually, at an uneventful time in the mechanics of history, the process gives way.

Fitch has joined with the prior position of Standard & Poors to downgrade the USA credit rating. The weight of debt, in combination with reverberations from the continued hammering deep inside the political fundamental change operation, has triggered another flare.

In the bigger picture, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy driven by the latest focus on unsustainable economic policy, aka The Green New Deal. The efforts of the fiscal, monetary and economic policy are all aligned to shrink the U.S. economy, thereby creating the era of “sustainable energy” a possibility. Unfortunately, this is akin to a household intentionally shrinking their income while at the same time taking on credit card debt. The process itself is not sustainable.

(Reuters) – Rating agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded the U.S. government’s top credit rating, a move that drew an angry response from the White House and surprised investors, coming despite the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis two months ago.

Traders’ immediate response was to embark on a safe-haven push out of stocks and into government bonds and the dollar.

Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.

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“Platitudes”, that’s the best word to describe what the DeSantis campaign previously claimed would be a substantive economic policy outline from the Florida governor.  As the policy was unveiled in New Hampshire yesterday, I watched it all {Direct Rumble Link Here} to see what it would cover and how DeSantis would deliver it.  Summary, major fail.

First, I must admit to coming to any economic policy outline as presented with a laser focus. You tell me you have an economic policy, and you have my full attention.  Why? Because the economic policy of a federal candidate will ultimately determine monetary policy, fiscal policy and foreign policy.  It is the only national policy we cannot affect from a local level, yet we are necessarily impacted by it and cannot avoid it.

MAGA starts with MAGAnomics.  So, to say I get into the weeds on this, would be a soft understatement.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, what Ron DeSantis outlined yesterday was a series of 10-point meaningless platitudes.  If the UniParty policy teams of Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris got together over a weekend with Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, they would create a think-tank-driven UniParty economic policy outline very similar to what Ron DeSantis presented yesterday.

Platitudes, soundbites and structurally incoherent gibberish – presented with a word assembly that amounts to nothing.

“We will declare our economic independence from the failed elites that have orchestrated American decline, from the reckless federal spending that has inflated prices and plunged this nation to the brink of bankruptcy.”  ~ Ron DeSantis 7/31/23

Declare away doofus, you can declare all you want but it takes an actual set of targeted actions to move from declaration to outcome.  Those same “failed elites that have orchestrated American decline” are the same people financing your run for office.

I’m sure somewhere in a Pete Buttigieg kind of way, that soundbite might have seemed like a good sentence; but in reality, it’s gibberish and parseltongue.

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The multilateral trade agreement known as the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), is a massive pacific rim trade agreement favored by Wall Street, the US Chamber of Commerce, Club for Growth, Ron DeSantis (voted to approve) and now candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

President Trump famously took the U.S. out of the TPP agreement around the same time he took us out of the Paris Climate Agreement.  As noted by President Trump and his economic team at the time, Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s) are beneficial to the USA when they are bilateral between the U.S. and another singular nation.  Multinational trade agreements end up serving the interests of the least common denominator nation and are detrimental in their finished outcome to U.S. consumers.

Wall Street loves multinational trade agreements because they provide greater flexibility for the profit opportunities of global corporations, multinational corporations and banks.  However, Main Street USA suffers from lost manufacturing jobs, lowered overall wages, and cheap imported durable goods that are an outcome of the lowest cost manufacturing priority.

During a Twitter spaces discussion yesterday presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he was in favor of reengaging the U.S. in the TPP trade agreement.  This is a non-starter for any America First economic platform.

“I think we should re-enter it,” Ramaswamy said to Musk about 94 minutes into the conversation on Twitter. “I think this is a little bit different than what, you know, the course of action taken by Trump in exiting the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership]. I think that was actually a poor decision.” (link)

This should be a disqualifying position for any consideration in the Trump administration.

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Today at 1:00pm ET the House Oversight Committee will accept testimony from two IRS investigators who are whistleblowers with allegations the DOJ and FBI intentionally interfered with their investigation of Hunter and Joe Biden in an effort to politically protect the Biden family.

The statements by the whistleblowers have been corroborated recently by an FBI supervisory special agent.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00pm ET, with livestream link below.  [HOUSE LIVESTREAM LINK]

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The sanctions levied against Russia by the collective West have essentially failed.  There is inconvenience within Russia amid ordinary citizens for global and economic transactions, but most of the govt transactions have continued.

On the opposite side of the consequence coin, absent the ability to purchase consumer goods on the global market, Russian domestic consumer independence has grown dramatically.  There is more stuff being made and created inside Russia, for Russians to purchase, than ever before.

I cannot see how the Russian GDP doesn’t benefit from this in the long-term.

Then again, I don’t buy the official Western narrative about the “horrible” life inside Russia, because I talk to ordinary middle class Russians who seem to have found a way to organize life without too much disturbance.

Russia is actually a case study in the elimination of imports and the economic outcomes therein.

It doesn’t suck to be a consumer; average Russians are doing fine, and it seems to get better over time.  Ironically, give them a few more years of Western sanctions, and Russia could be a manufacturing powerhouse.  Russia is a big country with a lot of raw material resources.

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters.

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On Thursday morning House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appeared on Fox News for an interview where he described the evidence of the FBI and U.S. Dept of Justice interfering in investigations about Biden family money laundering. {Direct Rumble Link}

Within the interview Comer outlines that the Biden family received over $20 million in funds from foreign government funds to influence policy. The Biden family then used limited liability corporations (LLC’s) to launder the money into non-existent family businesses.  The DOJ and FBI then blocked any inquiry and investigation into the process by the IRS and others.

Comer outlines the intent of congress to subpoena all of the people who were involved in the network.  When asked if congress “has the goods” to show proof behind the accusations against Biden, Comer responds with “yes.”   James Comer also states that Attorney General Bill Barr was told by the FBI that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.

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Presidential candidate Mike Pence made a pilgrimage to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and affirm Pence’s position that the unilateral power of the Ukraine government needs to be supported.

Mike Pence then presents himself as the arbiter of what it means to be a Republican with a Twitter message saying, “I know the difference between a genius and a war criminal, and I know who needs to win this war in Ukraine, and it’s the people fighting for their freedom and fighting to restore their national sovereignty. There is no room in our party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom.”

Americans must sacrifice to support the magnanimous interests of the industrial military complex. Failure to adhere to the dictates and fiats of Republican power will not be tolerated in his party.

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