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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (189275)	6/27/2022 8:26:02 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217573

NATO set to increase its high-readiness forces to over 300,000 in massive military buildup PUBLISHED MON, JUN 27 20227:44 AM EDTUPDATED 15 MIN AGO Sam Meredith @SMEREDITH19 SHAREShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email KEY POINTS His comments come as NATO leaders prepare to convene in Madrid, Spain this week to decide on the so-called Strategic Concept, the 30-member alliance’s most important document.The text, which is updated roughly every decade, will reaffirm NATO’s values, provide a collective assessment of the security challenges and act as a guide to the group’s future political and military development. Stoltenberg has said NATO’s updated Strategic Concept will likely refer to Russia as the “most significant and direct threat” to security. Anadolu Agency \| Anadolu Agency \| Getty Images NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said the military alliance is poised to increase the number of its high-readiness forces to well over 300,000 as part of what he described as “the biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War.” His comments come as NATO leaders prepare to convene in Madrid, Spain this week to decide on the so-called Strategic Concept, the 30-member alliance’s most important document. The text, which is updated roughly every decade, will reaffirm NATO’s values, provide a collective assessment of the security challenges and act as a guide to the group’s future political and military development. Stoltenberg repeated the alliance’s intention to recognize Russia as the “ most significant and direct threat” to security in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught in Ukraine. “Our NATO Summit in Madrid this week will be transformative with many important decisions, including on a new Strategic Concept for a new security reality,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference. WATCH NOW VIDEO07:18 How NATO is defending Eastern Europe “We will transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000,” he added. This pledge reflects an increase of some 650% given that NATO’s enhanced Response Force currently comprises around 40,000 troops. “These troops will exercise together with home defense forces, and they will become familiar with local terrain facilities … so that that they can respond smoothly and swiftly to any emergency,” Stoltenberg said. He added that the substantial military buildup would require further investment from NATO members. Commenting on newly released defense spending figures, Stoltenberg said 2022 will mark the eighth consecutive year of increased spending across European allies and Canada. By year-end, Stoltenberg said they will have invested “well over” $350 billion extra since the group’s Defense Investment Pledge in 2014. This refers to NATO’s agreement for its allied members to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on defense within a decade. Stoltenberg said the 2% benchmark was “increasingly considered a floor, not a ceiling.” Squawk Box WATCH LIVE UP NEXT \| Squawk on the Street 09:00 am ET

To: carranza2 who wrote (189275)	6/27/2022 9:26:12 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 217573

Try not to react negatively Might work Can work Perhaps a good idea zerohedge.com New Bill Would Mandate Federal Reserve To Promote "Racial And Economic Justice" Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, A new bill would extend the Federal Reserve’s mandate to promote “racial and economic justice,” prompting concerns as to whether this would lead to discrimination. “H.R. 2543 would expand the Federal Reserve’s existing dual mandate of maintaining price stability and full employment to focus on promoting “racial and economic justice in borrowing, housing, and lending,” reports Valiant News. If the bill is passed, the Fed would be responsible for maintaining “racial equity,” which would potentially create a two tier economy, one for white people and another for non-whites in America. “In effect, the passage of this law would make racial equity an integral part of the Fed’s mandate,” writes Jose Nino. As we previously highlighted, the Fed encouraged Americans to combat soaring meat price inflation by swapping turkeys for soybean products during Thanksgiving. Biden administration loyalists have run cover for the Federal Reserve by blaming soaring inflation on everything from failure to properly condemn January 6 to nationalism itself. Earlier this month, the Fed announced its “biggest interest rate hike in more than a quarter century,” although the three-quarters of a percentage point raise brings the current 1.5%-1.75% rate nowhere near the 20% rate enacted by Paul Volcker in the early 1980’s. The Biden administration has relentlessly denied that the country is heading for a recession, despite a cost of living crisis and multiple other financial indications that this is about to happen. PRESS SEC: "Right now, we don't see a recession right now. We're not in a recession right now. Right now we're in a transition where we are going to go into a place of stable and steady growth." pic.twitter.com/GhSdyUUdE4 — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 21, 2022 * * * Brand new merch now available! Get it at pjwshop.com In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals. Sent from my iPad

To: carranza2 who wrote (189275)	6/27/2022 6:39:25 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 217573

From ING, seems reasonable take re the proposed BRICS reserve current and / vs Gold, but not considering that Gold is already weaved into DNA of bRICS of BRICS, and soon of Saudi Arabia + ME + Turkey If they are worried about the path of sanctions and the increasing weaponization of the dollar, they, like Russia, might prefer to move into Gold IOW, Gold might become more useful soon-enough think.ing.com BRICS: The new name in reserve currencies Spheres of influence News that Russia seems to be leading a discussion on a new reserve currency perhaps should not come as such of a surprise. The speed with which western nations and its allies sanctioned Russian FX reserves (freezing around half) no doubt shocked Russian authorities. The Central Bank of Russia effectively admitted as much and no doubt some BRICS nations – especially China – took notice of the speed and stealth at which the US Treasury moved. BRICS nations may therefore feel they need an alternative reserve currency to match something like the IMF’s SDR. Recall that the IMF’s SDR is not a currency, but effectively a basket of claims on top reserve currencies such as the dollar, the euro, the pound, the yen and its most recent addition the renminbi. There are about US$950bn worth of SDR outstanding and these are designed to supplement IMF member's reserves. Most notably in August 2021 there was an additional SDR456bn released to IMF members to ease balance of payments financing needs following the shock of the pandemic. Why would the BRICS countries need an SDR-like basket currency? One can only think this is a move to address the perceived US-hegemony of the IMF and will allow BRICS to build their own sphere of influence and unit of currency within that sphere. Intriguingly this week has seen news reports that Russia might want to address rouble strength by managing it against peg or basket. Could the BRICS be the basket against which the rouble is managed? We know that the CBR is not a fan of managing the rouble, however. Without discussing the likelihood of such a proposal turning into something tangible, Russia may have a strong motivation to participate or initiate in an IMF-like scheme in order to address the mounting pressure on its capital account. Russia is used to being a net creditor to the rest of the world, as its big trade surplus would normally be balanced by the capital outflow (purchase of foreign assets). Now, in the new geopolitical reality, Russian investments are no longer welcome at its usual DM destinations due to sanctions/legal restrictions and in some cases - individual decisions by financial institutions. At the same time, the context of growing global rates may create demand in EM and frontier space for external financing at a competitive cost Market implications This may just be a trial balloon floated by President Putin, but what are some of the early considerations? Will the BRICS basket attract many FX reserves from the BRICS countries themselves or from nations seen as within their sphere of influence – e.g., countries in the CIS, or more friendly regimes in the Gulf or South Asia? We should not forget the mantra of what makes a good reserve currency: ‘safety, liquidity and return’. On the safety front, sovereign credit quality will clearly be an issue for any BRICS-basket currency, where a simple weighted average of 5-year sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) trades at least twenty times wider than a similar CDS average for SDR currencies. When it comes to FX liquidity suffice to say a basket of BRICS currencies operates in a different universe to those currencies in the SDR. The average deposit/yield on a BRICS basket would be far higher, but that is because of the much poorer credit quality where, incidentally, it looks like Russia will shortly go into sovereign default. Our early thoughts are that this news would not be enough to trigger any substantial out-performance – relative to current fundamentals – of the BRICS currencies. While there could be some high-profile statement of political ambitions to embark on this project, we doubt the mercantilist nations involved in BRICS would want to transfer valuable FX reserves into this more local sphere of influence. If they are worried about the path of sanctions and the increasing weaponization of the dollar, they, like Russia, might prefer to move into Gold.