What Was Covid Really About? Triggering A Multi-Trillion Dollar Global Debt Crisis. “Ramping up an Imperialist Strategy”?

“And thus it renders more and more evident the great central fact that the cause of the miserable condition of the working class is to be sought, not in these minor grievances, but in the capitalistic system itself.” Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) (preface to the English Edition, p.36)

The IMF and World Bank have for decades pushed a policy agenda based on cuts to public services, increases in taxes paid by the poorest and moves to undermine labour rights and protections.

IMF ‘structural adjustment’ policies have resulted in 52% of Africans lacking access to healthcare and 83% having no safety nets to fall back on if they lose their job or become sick. Even the IMF has shown that neoliberal policies fuel poverty and inequality.

In 2021, an Oxfam review of IMF COVID-19 loans showed that 33 African countries were encouraged to pursue austerity policies. The world’s poorest countries are due to pay $43 billion in debt repayments in 2022, which could otherwise cover the costs of their food imports.

Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) have also revealed that 43 out of 55 African Union member states face public expenditure cuts totalling $183 billion over the next five years.

According to Prof Michel Chossudovsky of the Centre for Research on Globalization, the closure of the world economy (March 11, 2020 Lockdown imposed on more than 190 countries) has triggered an unprecedented process of global indebtedness. Governments are now under the control of global creditors in the post-COVID era.

What we are seeing is a de facto privatisation of the state as governments capitulate to the needs of Western financial institutions.

Moreover, these debts are largely dollar-denominated, helping to strengthen the US dollar and US leverage over countries.

It raises the question: what was COVID really about?Millions have been asking that question since lockdowns and restrictions began in early 2020. If it was indeed about public health, why close down the bulk of health services and the global economy knowing full well what the massive health, economic and debt implications would be?Why mount a military-style propaganda campaign to censor world-renowned scientists and terrorise entire populations and use the full force and brutality of the police to ensure compliance?These actions were wholly disproportionate to any risk posed to public health, especially when considering the way ‘COVID death’ definitions and data were often massaged and how PCR tests were misused to scare populations into submission.Prof Fabio Vighi of Cardiff University implies we should have been suspicious from the start when the usually “unscrupulous ruling elites” froze the global economy in the face of a pathogen that targets almost exclusively the unproductive (the over 80s).COVID was a crisis of capitalism masquerading as a public health emergency.Capitalism Capitalism needs to keep expanding into or creating new markets to ensure the accumulation of capital to offset the tendency for the general rate of profit to fall. The capitalist needs to accumulate capital (wealth) to be able to reinvest it and make further profits. By placing downward pressure on workers’ wages, the capitalist extracts sufficient surplus value to be able to do this.But when the capitalist is unable to sufficiently reinvest (due to declining demand for commodities, a lack of investment opportunities and markets, etc), wealth (capital) over accumulates, devalues and the system goes into crisis. To avoid crisis, capitalism requires constant growth, markets and sufficient demand.According to writer Ted Reese, the capitalist rate of profit has trended downwards from an estimated 43% in the 1870s to 17% in the 2000s. Although wages and corporate taxes have been slashed, the exploitability of labour was increasingly insufficient to meet the demands of capital accumulation.By late 2019, many companies could not generate sufficient profit. Falling turnover, limited cashflows and highly leveraged balance sheets were prevalent.Economic growth was weakening in the run up to the massive stock market crash in February 2020, which saw trillions more pumped into the system in the guise of ‘COVID relief’.To stave off crisis up until that point, various tactics had been employed.Credit markets were expanded and personal debt increased to maintain consumer demand as workers’ wages were squeezed. Financial deregulation occurred and speculative capital was allowed to exploit new areas and investment opportunities. At the same time, stock buy backs, the student debt economy, quantitative easing and massive bail outs and subsidies and an expansion of militarism helped to maintain economic growth.There was also a ramping up of an imperialist strategy that has seen indigenous systems of production abroad being displaced by global corporations and states pressurised to withdraw from areas of economic activity, leaving transnational players to occupy the space left open.While these strategies produced speculative bubbles and led to an overevaluation of assets and increased both personal and government debt, they helped to continue to secure viable profits and returns on investment.But come 2019, former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King warned that the world was sleepwalking towards a fresh economic and financial crisis that would have devastating consequences. He argued that the global economy was stuck in a low growth trap and recovery from the crisis of 2008 was weaker than that after the Great Depression.King concluded that it was time for the Federal Reserve and other central banks to begin talks behind closed doors with politicians.That is precisely what happened as key players, including BlackRock, the world’s most powerful investment fund, got together to work out a strategy going forward. This took place in the lead up to COVID.Aside from deepening the dependency of poorer countries on Western capital, Fabio Vighi says lockdowns and the global suspension of economic transactions allowed the US Fed to flood the ailing financial markets (under the guise of COVID) with freshly printed money while shutting down the real economy to avoid hyperinflation. Lockdowns suspended business transactions, which drained the demand for credit and stopped the contagion.COVID provided cover for a multi-trillion-dollar bailout for the capitalist economy that was in meltdown prior to COVID. Despite a decade or more of ‘quantitative easing’, this new bailout came in the form of trillions of dollars pumped into financial markets by the US Fed (in the months prior to March 2020) and subsequent ‘COVID relief’.The IMF, World bank and global leaders knew full well what the impact on the world’s poor would be of closing down the world economy through COVID-related lockdowns.Yet they sanctioned it and there is now the prospect that in excess of a quarter of a billion more people worldwide will fall into extreme levels of poverty in 2022 alone.In April 2020, the Wall Street Journal stated the IMF and World Bank faced a deluge of aid requests from scores of poorer countriesseeking bailouts and loans from financial institutions with $1.2 trillion to lend.In addition to helping to reboot the financial system, closing down the global economy deliberately deepened poorer countries’ dependency on Western global conglomerates and financial interests.Lockdowns also helped accelerate the restructuring of capitalism that involves smaller enterprises being driven to bankruptcy or bought up by monopolies and global chains, thereby ensuring continued viable profits for Big Tech, the digital payments giants and global online corporations like Meta and Amazon and the eradication of millions of jobs.Although the effects of the conflict in Ukraine cannot be dismissed, with the global economy now open again, inflation is rising and causing a ‘cost of living’ crisis. With a debt-ridden economy, there is limited scope for rising interest rates to control inflation.But this crisis is not inevitable: current inflation is not only induced by the liquidity injected into the financial system but also being fuelled by speculation in food commodity markets and corporate greed as energy and food corporations continue to rake in vast profits at the expense of ordinary people.Resistance However, resistance is fertile.Aside from the many anti-restriction/pro-freedom rallies during COVID, we are now seeing a more strident trade unionism coming to the fore – in Britain at least – led by media savvy leaders like Mick Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), who know how to appeal to the public and tap into widely held resentment against soaring cost of living rises.Teachers, health workers and others could follow the RMT into taking strike action.Lynch says that millions of people in Britain face lower living standards and the stripping out of occupational pensions. He adds:“COVID has been a smokescreen for the rich and powerful in this country to drive down wages as far as they can.”Just like a decade of imposed ‘austerity’ was used to achieve similar results in the lead up to COVID.The trade union movement should now be taking a leading role in resisting the attack on living standards and further attempts to run-down state-provided welfare and privatise what remains.The strategy to wholly dismantle and privatise health and welfare services seems increasingly likely given the need to rein in (COVID-related) public debt and the trend towards AI, workplace automisation and worklessness.This is a real concern because, following the logic of capitalism, work is a condition for the existence of the labouring classes. So, if a mass labour force is no longer deemed necessary, there is no need for mass education, welfare and healthcare provision and systems that have traditionally served to reproduce and maintain labour that capitalist economic activity has required.In 2019, Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, accused British government ministers of the “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population” in the decade following the 2008 financial crash.Alston stated:“As Thomas Hobbes observed long ago, such an approach condemns the least well off to lives that are ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’. As the British social contract slowly evaporates, Hobbes’ prediction risks becoming the new reality.”Post-COVID, Alston’s words carry even more weight.As this article draws to a close, news is breaking that Boris Johnson has resigned as prime minister. A remarkable PM if only for his criminality, lack of moral foundation and double standards – also applicable to many of his cronies in government.With this in mind, let’s finish where we began.“I have never seen a class so deeply demoralised, so incurably debased by selfishness, so corroded within, so incapable of progress, as the English bourgeoisie…For it nothing exists in this world, except for the sake of money, itself not excluded. It knows no bliss save that of rapid gain, no pain save that of losing gold.In the presence of this avarice and lust of gain, it is not possible for a single human sentiment or opinion to remain untainted.” Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England(1845), p.275*Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.Renowned author Colin Todhunterspecialises in development, food and agriculture. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) in Montreal.The author receives no payment from any media outlet or organization for his work. If you appreciated this article, consider sending a few coins his way: colintodhunter@outlook.com Featured image is from Red Voice MediaRead Colin Todhunter’s e-Book entitledFood, Dispossession and Dependency. Resisting the New World OrderWe are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agri-food chain. The high-tech/big data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have joined traditional agribusiness giants, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose their model of food and agriculture on the world.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also involved (documented in ‘Gates to a Global Empire‘ by Navdanya International), whether through buying up huge tracts of farmland, promoting a much-heralded (but failed) ‘green revolution’ for Africa, pushing biosynthetic food and genetic engineering technologies or more generally facilitating the aims of the mega agri-food corporations.

NEWS ON THE FOOD CRISIS.

You are now a home farmer! Welcome to the future.

(And good luck doing it just one day a week!)

“Sri Lanka gives gov workers Fridays off so they can farm to ease a food shortage.”

UN Food Chief Halved Refugee Meal Rations As Global Hunger Crisis Worsens

Food riot risks continue to soar worldwide as the head of the food-aid branch of the United Nations halved meal rations for refugees.

On Monday, David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), released a statement detailing “the heartbreaking decision to cut food rations for refugees who rely on us for their survival.”

“As global hunger soars way beyond the resources available to feed all the families who desperately need WFP’s help, we are being forced to make the heartbreaking decision to cut food rations for refugees who rely on us for their survival,” Beasley said.

Beasley pointed out that WFP already “significantly reduced” rations across its operating areas, indicating cuts up to 50% are affecting 75% of all refugees supported by WFP in Eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda.

He said “severe funding constraints” has forced WFP to “significantly reduce rations for refugees living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.”

“Despite generous support from donors, resourcing remains insufficient to meet the very basic needs of refugee households and imminent disruptions are expected in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe,” the statement read.

“Without urgent new funds to support refugees – one of the world’s most vulnerable and forgotten groups of people – many facing starvation will be forced to pay with their lives,” Beasley warned.

Beasley’s statement shouldn’t surprise readers because we’ve detailed in length that this would happen as many vulnerable countries were already on the brink of food shortages.

WFP warned in April about the toxic combination of food disruptions due to the Ukraine conflict and soaring food inflation that has created an unprecedented global food crisis that is only worsening.

“This, coupled with devastating conflict and climate extremes, is hitting refugees the hardest,” WFP said.

Bloomberg Economics recently outlined Nigeria, India, Colombia, the Philippines, and Turkey are countries to monitor for food riots. Peru and Sri Lanka have already been two countries undergoing social instability. Notice global food prices are above 2010/11 Arab Spring levels.

Last week, Beasley said hundreds of millions of people around the globe are “marching towards starvation.”

The shortage of essential food staples putting millions of lives in jeopardy and risk destabilizing couentries will be a top threat through at least 2023 as the 2022 Northern Hemisphere planting season could be underwhelm in terms of the harvest due to the Ukraine conflict and resulting Western sanctions on Russia, soaring energy and fertilizer costs, and climate woes plaguing agriculturally rich areas.

As a reminder, Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah initiated the six-month countdown to a “massive, immediate food crisis” in April.

Iranian institutions facing food shortages as prices skyrocket

low-income Iranians line up to receive food supplies in southern Tehran, 03 Feb, 2014. (AFP)

Local media in Iran say public institutions such as hospitals, prisons, and child-care centres are facing possible food shortages due to skyrocketing prices.

The Tehran-based Etemad newspaper reported on June 15 that the impending “problem” could hit in “the coming weeks” and that “food supplies will be disrupted not only in hospitals but also in other government facilities such as barracks, prisons, nursing homes, and even student dormitories.”

Etemad quoted the head of a private hospital as saying that a sharp rise in food prices has affected the quality of hospital food to such an extent that freshly made items are likely to be eliminated in public and private hospitals, with packaged foods being used instead.

The head of the hospital, who asked not to be identified, added: “In the coming weeks, it will be impossible for many public or private medical centres to provide hot meals, especially protein-rich foods, to hospitalized patients because this increase in food prices was not seen in any hospital budget.”

“Since last year, the head of the hospital has cut off food for staff and nurses, and for those nurses who have 12-hour daily shifts, a sum of 150,000 Iranian rials ($0.40) per shift is paid instead of meals,” a nurse at a public hospital in Tehran said.

Iran’s economy has been devastated by years of harsh sanctions imposed by Washington since the United States pulled out of an accord with global superpowers aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program.

The perceived mismanagement of the economy and anger about rising prices has prompted many Iranians to protest in recent months over the government’s inability to help their lives.

A government decree this year raised the amount of money given to public hospitals by 19.5 percent and by 24 percent for private hospitals. Food costs, however, have increased by up to 30 per cent in public hospitals and by up to 40 per cent in private hospitals.

A May survey by the Statistics Center of Iran on changes in the prices of high-consumption items showed that the prices of 53 food items increased significantly over the same month in 2021.

“Patients admitted to 60 intensive-care units in the country’s hospitals receive less than 62 per cent of their calories and about 54 per cent of their protein needs,” Abdolreza Norouzi, secretary of the National Working Group on Nutrition Science Development, recently warned.

“The situation in the intensive-care units for children and infants is much worse. Premature babies who have no nutritional reserve receive an average of about 48 per cent of the calories and energy they need,” he added.

As Po dries up, Italy’s food and energy supplies are at risk

And here it is, the water shortage that was told to me 3 years ago and said it would coincide with the food shortages. I thought, how can they do this with all the damns etc.

But it’s happening and I doubt my mate predicted the weather.

Water is so low in large stretches of Italy’s largest river that local residents are walking through the middle of the expanse of sand and shipwrecks are resurfacing.

Authorities fear that if it doesn’t rain soon, there’ll be a serious shortage of water for drinking and irrigation for farmers and local populations across the whole of northern Italy.

In a park near the central northern village of Gualtieri, cyclists and hikers stop in curiosity to observe the Zibello, a 50-meter long (164 feet) barge that transported wood during the second world war but sank in 1943. It is normally covered by the Po’s waters.

“It’s the first time that we can see this barge,” said amateur cyclist Raffaele Vezzali as he got off the pedals to stare at the rusted ship. Vezzali was only partially surprised, though, as he knew that the lack of winter rain caused the river to reach record low levels.

But the curiosities of a resurfaced wartime boat and wide sandy beaches do little to mask the disruption this will cause for residents and farmers.

The drying up of the Po, which runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice, is jeopardizing drinking water in Italy’s densely populated and highly industrialized districts and threatening irrigation in the most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italianfood valley.

Northern Italy hasn’t seen rainfall for more than 110 days and this year’s snowfall is down by 70%. Aquifers, which hold groundwater, are depleted. Temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above season average are melting the tiny snowfields and glaciers that were left on the top of the surrounding Alps, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs.

All these factors are triggering the worst drought in 70 years, according to the Po River Basin Authority.

“We are in a situation where the river flow is approximately 300 cubic meters (80,000 gallons) per second here in (the riverside village of) Boretto, while normally in this area we have almost 1800 (cubic meters, 476,000 gallons),” explained Meuccio Berselli, secretary-general of the Po River Basin Authority.

The authority is constantly monitoring the river flow but there is very little hope that weather will help. The little rainfall that occurred in June was extreme and localized downpours that weren’t absorbed by the land and didn’t reach the Po and its aquifers.

Berselli is frantically working at a resiliency plan to guarantee drinking and irrigation water to millions of households and to the Po valley farmers, who produce 40% of Italian food. Parmesan cheese, wheat, high-quality tomatoes, rice and renowned grapes grow in huge quantities in the area.

The resilience plan includes higher draining from Alpine lakes, less water for hydroelectric plants and rationing of water in the upstream regions.

The Po drought comes at a time when farmers are already pushing both irrigation and watering systems to their maximum to counter the effect of high temperatures and hot winds.

Martina Codeluppi, a 27-year-old farmer from the tiny rural town of Guastalla, says her fields are entirely irrigated with the water coming from the Po and are already suffering due to the lack of winter and spring rain. She said she’s expecting a “disastrous year.”

“With such high temperatures… with no rain, and it seems that there won’t be rain in the coming days, the situation is catastrophic,” said Codeluppi, as she walked through her family’s fields. She’s proudly growing pumpkins, watermelons, wheat, and grapes on farmland passed down through the family, but she’s extremely concerned about what this year’s harvests will yield.

“We believe that there will be a drop in this wheat productivity by at least 20% or more due to the lack of rain and irrigation,” she said. The Italian farmers confederation estimates that wheat yields could drop by 20% to 40% this year. Wheat is a particular concern for farmers as it’s completely reliant on rain and does not get irritated.

The irrigation system is also at risk. Usually, river water is lifted with diesel fueled electric pumps to upper basins and then flows down in the vast fields of the valley through hundreds of waterways. But now, pumps are at risk of failing to draw water and excavators are frantically working to constantly dredge dedicated waterways to ensure the water necessary for irrigation.

The water shortage won’t just hamper food production, but energy generation, too. If the Po dries up, numerous hydroelectric power plants will be brought to a halt, at a time when the war in Ukraine has already hiked up energy prices across Europe.

According to a state-owned energy service system operator, 55% of the renewable energy coming from hydroelectric plants in Italy comes from the Po and its tributaries. Experts fear that a lack of hydroelectric power will contribute to increased carbon dioxide emissions, as more electricity will have to be produced with natural gas.

“On the top of the critical situation we are creating an additional damaging situation,” said the Po river authority’s Berselli about the likely surge of greenhouse gas emissions.

Swimming chiefs limit transgender participation

Fina also intends to establish a new ‘open’ category for swimmers whose gender identity differs from their birth sex

Swimming’s world governing body, Fina, has voted to ban all transgender athletes that have gone through any part of male puberty from taking part in elite women’s races.

Fina’s new policy, which passed with 71% of votes from 152 Fina members, has been described as “only a first step towards full inclusion” for transgender athletes and was made at an extraordinary general congress at the World Championships currently ongoing in Budapest.

Furthermore, Fina also aims to establish an ‘open’ category at its competitions for swimmers whose gender identities differ from their birth sex.

The new policy will require that transgender competitors must have completed their transition by the time they are 12 years old to take part in women’s competitions.

Before casting their votes, Fina members heard a report from a transgender task force containing leading figures in the worlds of sport, medicine, and law.

Speaking after news of the vote broke, Fina’s executive director Brent Nowicki said that the governing body had “emphasized competitive fairness” in its approach to drafting the policy, which was comprehensive, science-based and inclusive.

Elsewhere, Fina president Husain Al-Musallam claimed that the global authority was trying to “protect the rights of our athletes to compete” in addition to “protecting competitive fairness”.

“Fina will always welcome every athlete,”Al-Musallam insisted. “The creation of an open category will mean that everybody has the opportunity to compete at an elite level.”

“This has not been done before, so Fina will need to lead the way. I want all athletes to feel included in being able to develop ideas during this process,” he added.

Sharron Davies, an ex-Great Britain swimmer who has continually argued against transgender participation in women’s swimming, tweeted that she was “proud” of Fina and her sport for “doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches and standing up for fair sport for females”.

“Swimming will always welcome everyone no matter how you identify but fairness is the cornerstone of sport,” she stressed.

But LGBT advocacy group ‘Athlete Ally’ branded the new policy“discriminatory, harmful, unscientific and not in line with the 2021 IOC principles”.

“If we truly want to protect women’s sports, we must include all women,” said a tweet from the group, which has backed former UPenn college swimmer Lia Thomas in the past.

Fina’s new policy comes at a time when transgender participation in women’s competitions is one of the most debated topics in sport and has only intensified with Thomas’ success.

In March, Thomas, who swam on the UPenn men’s team before undergoing hormone replacement treatment in 2019, won the highest national college title in the US when taking part in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, and she also broke several records at her former Ivy League college.

In cycling, there has also been a furore over whether British cyclist Emily Bridges is allowed to take part in elite women’s events or not.

Moves from Fina’s counterpart in the sport the UCI this week mean that she will have to wait until 2023 for this given that the body has doubled the period before a rider who has transitioned from male to female can take part in women’s events to two years.

Do you see what they’re doing with their propaganda?

They want you dependent on their toxic food system. Period.

6 million chickens were culled in the U.S. And 97 food processing plants have were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fertilizer were destroyed in TWO separate trains that both left the tracks. One in Canada and the United States.

DO YOU SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING?

Australia has an apparent Swine Flu and is culling pigs. America also has a foot and mouth problem and is killing cows and deer.

The UK has had a few food processing plants catch fire too. Just happened to be CHICKEN plants..

So why? Well, I’ve mentioned this before. The UN has a protein alternative set up. And yes it’s true. You can find it on the UN website.

In case of an emergency of hunger or famine, the UN has a stockpile of protein alternatives. These include crushed-up insects like grasshoppers, mealworms and cockroaches.

Less hard work and cost. No real farming, Someone in the WEF has most definitely started up this supply chain waiting to go.

Deutsche Bank now expects ‘an earlier and somewhat more severe recession’

The first economist on Wall Street to predict a U.S. recession in 2023 is moving up his timeline for an economic contraction.

“More than two months ago we forecasted that the U.S. economy would tip into a recession by end-2023,” Deutsche Bank Chief U.S. economist Matt Luzzetti wrote in a note to clients on Friday. “Since that time, the Fed has undertaken a more aggressive hiking path, financial conditions have tightened sharply and economic data are beginning to show clear signs of slowing. In response to these developments, we now expect an earlier and somewhat more severe recession.”

Luzzetti now sees U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth coming in at “sub-1%” in the first half of 2023, followed by a -3.1% contraction in the third quarter of 2023 — one quarter earlier than Luzzetti previously estimated. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Luzzetti expects growth to contract by another -0.4%.

“The upshot is that the economy is likely to contract next year by about 0.5%,” the note stated. “A more severe downturn leads to a higher unemployment rate, which peaks near 5.5%. The weaker labour market helps to guide inflation closer to target by 2024, though we still anticipate a nearly half per cent overshoot at that point.”

Luzzetti and team also see the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaking at 9% in the third quarter of 2022. CPI, a closely watched measure of what Americans pay for goods and services, was up 8.6% year-over-year as of May — the most since 1981.

Storm clouds loom over an American flag in Convent, Louisiana, U.S., June 11, 2018. Picture taken June 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman — Storm clouds loom over an American flag in Convent, Louisiana, U.S., June 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

Recession fears are picking up across Wall Street and the C-Suite as the Federal Reserve embarks on an aggressive pace of rate hiking. On Wednesday, the Fed lifted rates by 75 basis points as the central bank took a harder tone on stomping out inflation.

On Friday, the Fed reiterated his hawkish stance on policy by noting in a report to Congress that the monetary body is “acutely” focused on bringing down inflation. The commentary weighed on stocks yet again despite the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite already being in a bear market.

“A more severe tightening of financial conditions could easily pull forward recession risks to around the turn of the year, which could short-circuit the Fed’s tightening cycle,” added Luzzetti. “That said, higher inflation during that period would likely constrain the Fed’s ability to cut rates to counteract the downturn. On the other side, a more resilient economy in the near-term with more persistent inflation pressures would spell upside risk to our Fed view.”

NEW – Powell: “Rapid changes are taking place in the global monetary system

A US central bank digital currency is being examined to “help the US dollar’s international standing.”

“Due to de-dollarization, we will now need a digital dollar Central Bank Digital Currency”

— what an amazing statement! 3 years ago when all this was being said by myself and others, people wanted us to die of covid.

NEW – Powell: "Rapid changes are taking place in the global monetary system that may affect the international role of the dollar."

A US central bank digital currency is being examined to "help the US dollar's international standing." pic.twitter.com/htP6r1brNz
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) June 17, 2022

Marching towards starvation’: UN warns of hell on earth if Ukraine war goes on

This is a joke. Russia is being blamed for everything. All because he would not go ahead with Dr Evils’ ( Klaus Schwab ) plan and started exposing the WEFs whole agenda.

But they censored Russia and started blaming him for everything. Even meddling with the U.S elections. 🙈

This war will carry on for another year. If you read my blogs you will know this.

So Putin must be responsible for the 97 food plants that were destroyed? Because if anything is going to cause a food shortage, I think that may be it.

Dozens of countries risk protests, riots and political violence this year as food prices surge around the world, the head of the food-aid branch of the United Nations has warned.

Speaking in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday, David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said the world faced “frightening” shortages that could destabilise countries that depend on wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia.ÿ

“Even before the Ukraine crisis, we were facing an unprecedented global food crisis because of Covid and fuel price increases,” said Beasley. “Then, we thought it couldn’t get any worse, but this war has been devastating.”

Ukraine grows enough food every year to feed 400 million people. It produces 42% of the world’s sunflower oil, 16% of its maize and 9% of its wheat. Somalia relies on Ukraine and Russia for all of its wheat imports, while Egypt gets 80% of its grain from the two countries.

The WFP sources 40% of the wheat for its emergency food-relief programmes from Ukraine and, after its operating costs rose by $70m (£58m) a month, it has been forced to halve rations in several countries.

Citing increases in the price of shipping, fertiliser and fuel as key factors – due to Covid-19, the climate crisis and the Ukraine war – Beasley said the number of people suffering from “chronic hunger” had risen from 650 million to 810 million in the past five years.

Beasley added that the number of people experiencing “shock hunger” had increased from 80 million to 325 million over the same period. They are classified as living in crisis levels of food insecurity, a term he described as “marching towards starvation and you don’t know where your next meal is coming from”.

Beasley said that after the economic crash of 2007-09, riots and other unrest erupted in 48 countries around the world as commodity prices and inflation rose.

SO, if you have been listening, or if you do not believe what I say? Then this is why I kept the best story last.

World’s Largest Cricket protein ‘factory’ completed in Ontario — “you really will eat ze bugs”:

Aspire’s the new plant will reportedly produce 9000 metric tons of crickets every year for human and pet consumption. — about two billion insects are distributed annually across Canada and throughout the United States.

Aspire also reports that it already has orders for the next two years.

Crickets are currently being explored as a protein-rich superfood. They contain fibre and are already found in grocery stores and restaurants, and have a smaller environmental footprint than traditional protein sources.

On May 26th, Aspire Food Groupannounced that it has completed construction of its alternative protein manufacturing facility. London, Ontario is now home to the world’s largest cricket production facility.

Aspire’s the new plant will reportedly produce 9000 metric tons of crickets every year for human and pet consumption. That’s about two billion insects to be distributed annually across Canada and throughout the United States.

Aspire also reports that it already has orders for the next two years.

The construction was led by EllisDon, and the new London facility, which will be fully operational in the fall, reportedly showcases four first-of-a-kind newly developed technologies; an automated storage retrieval system (ASRS), a new type of HVAC system, a 5G IoT network and an AI solution that’s been recognized by UNESCO.

AUS: Fruit and vegetable costs to skyrocket in coming weeks

Aussies are being warned the price of all fruit and vegetables will spike in the coming weeks as farmers face labour shortages and growing production costs.

Tyson Cattle, from the national industry representative AusVeg, told Today the issues were critical and “impacting grower confidence to plant more crops”.

“They’re unable to access the pickers and packers needed to get crops off the ground and onto supermarket shelves,” Tyson told Today.

The plan for creating a food shortage is set at high speed. I have told people to prep but they don’t listen. So please stock now before it’s too late for you to find food.

Dave Begley

Independent German Journalist could face prison

Independent German Journalists could face prison without a hearing for reporting the truth from inside the Donbas. We all must stick together and be there for each other. We will not be defeated.l

BREAKING News from Ukraine

FM Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the BBC TV channel

🔹 We announced a special military operation after being left with no other means to make it clear to the West that it is engaging in criminal activity by dragging Ukraine into NATO, by coddling and doting on a neo-Nazi regime, whose president Vladimir Zelensky said in September 2021 (you didn’t tell your viewers about it, did you?) that, if someone in Ukraine feels Russian, they should leave for Russia.

🔹 Today, the Ukrainian regime is attacking civilians with your Western weapons just like they did in 2014 when the putschists came to power when the centre of Lugansk was bombed by aircraft and 50 people were burned alive in Odesa.

🔹 I think that NATO is a threat. We are told not to worry, that Ukraine’s accession to NATO wouldn’t pose a threat to the Russian Federation. With all due respect for our colleagues from the North Atlantic Alliance, I must say that Russia has the right to decide for itself what threatens its security and what does not.

An American mercenary called the situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine “a circus” and “a madhouse”

Report by DPR

The Commander of the German Air Force called on NATO to be ready to use nuclear weapons against Russia because of Ukraine

“If we want to have a secure position, then we need the means of destruction and the political will to implement nuclear deterrence, if necessary,” Ingo Gerhartz said at a NATO maritime symposium in Kiel.

Also, the commander of the Luftwaffe of the Bundeswehr urged Putin “not to compete with Germany.”

Militiaman from the Pyatnashka Brigade, Ervan Castel: “To fire heavy artillery at Donetsk,

when it is not one or two shells, but 100, 200, 300 shells a day, is a war crime, state terrorism.”

“There are no military facilities in Donetsk, there are no hostilities here. When a military facility in a city is bombed, unfortunately there may be civilian casualties around that facility. But now we are not in such conditions.

There is not a single mitigating circumstance that could justify what Kyiv has been doing for the past eight years.”

The Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Rostov region reports a fire at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery

Meanwhile, the media are publishing footage of an alleged strike on an oil refinery in the Rostov region.

According to them, the attack on the plant was carried out with the help of a drone.

DONBAS REPORT

Donetsk is under shelling again since the very morning

From 5 a.m., the Nazis began shelling the Petrovsky and Kievsky districts of the city.

By 10 a.m., towards Donetsk Ukrainian side fired

✔️ 7 152-mm calibre shells

✔️ 14 120-mm calibre mines

✔️ 56 155-mm calibre shells

“We have our own national interests, economic challenges.

As the head of state, I have to think about the security of the people,” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stressed, speaking at the economic forum in Qatar.

The Prime Minister also added that Georgia is not the only country that refused to impose economic sanctions against Russia

German journalist on Nazism in Ukraine

‘Ukraine is clearly being ‘turned fascist.’ Mark Bartalmai is a German journalist whose opinion contradicts statements of the West. As a result, he is under investigation in Germany. This is what people like me are up against.

Trying to show that the Western media and governments are lying to you is hard and dangerous work which we do for free.

Watch his video below and see what this “ non-existent “ Naziism in Ukraine looks like. English subtitles.

The square of the Donetsk Republic appeared in Moscow

The corresponding decree was signed by Sobyanin today.

The square named after the DPR appeared in front of the US Embassy, on June 22 – the day the Great Patriotic War began.

The Commander of the German Air Force called on NATO to be ready to use nuclear weapons against Russia because of Ukraine

**It looks like Europe want nuclear war. Russia has the biggest nuclear power on earth.**

Also, the commander of the Luftwaffe of the Bundeswehr urged Putin “not to compete with Germany.”

Turkish cargo ship leaves Ukraine’s Mariupol after grain talks with Moscow: Ankara

A Turkish cargo ship on Wednesday left Ukraine’s Russian-occupied port of Mariupol after a round of “constructive” grain talks with Moscow, the Turkish defence ministry said, without specifying if it was carrying wheat.

“The meeting in Moscow gave its first concrete result,” the Turkish ministry said in a statement.

“Just a few hours after the end of the long meeting, the Turkish dry cargo ship, which had been waiting for days, left the Ukrainian port.”

Denmark offers fourth Covid vaccine dose to over-50s

Denmark’s government said Wednesday the country will begin offering a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to risk groups next week and all over-50s after the summer, amid the emergence of a new variant.

“Authorities believe the new variant is more infectious than the previous one, which is why we are acting now… to protect the most vulnerable and the elderly”, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters.

She said those most at risk would be able to receive a fourth dose starting next week.

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 now accounts for 59 per cent of new cases in Denmark, which has registered more than 3.1 million infections since the beginning of the pandemic in a country of 5.8 million people.

Denmark, which paused its vaccination campaign at the end of April, said the campaign would scale up after the summer.

“Health authorities have recommended a revaccination of 2.5 million Danes in the autumn”, Fredriksen said.

The fourth dose will be offered to all over-50s as of October 1. Around 62 per cent of Danes have already received the third dose.

The Scandinavian country lifted all of its corona restrictions in February and has no plans to reintroduce them.

“Our strategy is a society without restrictions, that is why we need to prevent the illness” more than the spread of the infection, the head of Denmark’s National Board of Health, Soren Brostrom, told reporters at the same press conference.

He urged people with symptoms to test themselves and isolate if their test is positive.

This will be an endless Cash cow for the pharmaceutical companies.

Why monkeypox may soon get a new name

Monkeypox may soon have a new name after scientists called for a change to dispel stereotypes of Africa is seen as a crucible of disease.

The World Health Organization announced last week that it is “working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes.”

Monkeypox’s clades, which are different branches of the virus’ family tree, have been particularly controversial because they are named after African regions.

Last year the WHO officially named Covid-19 variants after Greek letters to avoid stigmatising the places where they were first detected.

Just days before the WHO announced it would change monkeypox’s name, a group of 29 scientists wrote a letter saying there is an “urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising nomenclature” for the virus.

The letter, signed by several prominent African scientists, called for the names of the “West African” and the “Central African” or “Congo Basin” monkeypox clades to be changed.

Until a few months ago, monkeypox had largely been confined to West and Central Africa.

But since May, a new version has spread across much of the world. The letter’s signatories suggested naming this version as a new clade, giving it “the placeholder label hMPXV” — for human monkeypox virus.

Out of the more than 2,100 monkeypox cases recorded globally this year, 84 per cent were in Europe, 12 per cent in the Americas and just three per cent in Africa, according to the WHO’s latest update last week.

‘Not a monkey disease’

Oyewale Tomori, a virologist at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria, said he supported changing the name of monkeypox’s clades.

“But even the name monkeypox is aberrant. It is not the right name,” he told AFP.

“If I were a monkey, I would protest because it’s not a monkey disease.”

The virus was named after it was first discovered among monkeys in a Danish lab in 1958, but humans have mostly contracted the virus from rodents.

The letter pointed out that “nearly all” outbreaks in Africa were sparked by people catching the virus from animals — not from other people.

But the current outbreak “is unusual in that it is purely spreading through human to human transmission,” said Olivier Restif, an epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge.

“So, it is fair to say that the current outbreak has very little to do with Africa, in the same way, that the Covid-19 waves and variants we’re still being battered by have little to do with the Asian bats from which the virus originally came a few years ago.”

– ‘Stigmatisation of Africa’ –

Moses John Bockarie of Sierra Leone’s Njala University said he agreed with the call to change monkeypox’s name.

“Monkeys are usually associated with the global south, especially Africa,” he wrote in The Conversation.

“In addition, there is a long dark history of black people being compared to monkeys. No disease nomenclature should provide a trigger for this.”

Restif said it was “important to highlight that this debate is part of a larger issue with the stigmatisation of Africa as a source of disease.”

“We’ve seen it most strikingly with HIV in the 1980s, with Ebola during the 2013 outbreak and again with Covid-19 and the reactions to the so-called ‘South African variants’,” he told AFP.

An African press group has also expressed “its displeasure against media outlets using images of black people alongside stories of the monkeypox outbreak in North America and the United Kingdom.

“We condemn the perpetuation of this negative stereotype that assigns calamity to the African race and privilege or immunity to other races,” The Foreign Press Association, Africa tweeted last month.

Restif pointed out that the “old stock photographs of African patients” used by Western media usually depict severe symptoms.

But the monkeypox spreading around the world “is much milder, which partly explains how easily it gets transmitted,” he said.

The WHO will announce the new monkeypox names “as soon as possible”, its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The UN agency is also holding an emergency committee meeting on Thursday to assess whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern — the highest alarm it can sound.

Don’t call him Boris – he’s not your pal, he’s a cult

I WASN’T particularly interested in ‘Partygate’, save as a symptom of the more pernicious evil of lockdown.

Nor am I anything other than amused by the typical and everyday Westminster self-indulgences, examples of which have recently included confidence votes, expense accounts, leg-crossing, the resignation of an ‘ethics adviser’ (which is sort of an oxymoron) and leadership speculation.

It’s all the usual political navel-gazing in which the protagonists don’t seem to appreciate that they are not political leaders, but bad actors in a particularly tedious soap opera. Albeit one which they force the rest of us to watch.

The last two years have seen the Establishment sew a patchwork of trivia. The UK political to-and-fro has confirmed a disengagement from a wider global agenda. From the globalist perspective, the obsessions of the UK political classes amount to little more than a concatenation of useful, localised distractions. Some of us see that as obvious; many are inhaling the sand.

The Field Generals and puppeteers of the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation smirk with condescension at the Captain Mainwaring manoeuvres of Johnson and his cohort of Cabinet mediocrity.

But there is one question – a significant one – which has been a constant throughout the miserable tyranny of the last two years: By what dark alchemy has Prime Minister Johnson suckered the country into calling him ‘Boris’? How has he managed to generate this expedient and fake familiarity with the UK public?

It’s all in the name.

Names – in particular Christian names – have an intrinsic philosophical resonance and etiquette which governs (or is used to govern) their application.

In the second chapter of his beautiful intellectual autobiography Gentle Regrets, Roger Scruton writes about ‘how I found my name, which he recounts as a genuine voyage of intellectual discovery.

He notices that your name doesn’t just allow you to be picked out in the world, but can shape both your response to that world and the world’s response to you. To change your name, to write under a pseudonym, to anonymise yourself – all of these involve subtle manipulations of how you wish the world to see you. Your name is a matter of constant review, he suggests.

To fiddle with your name verges on pride. It’s a form of manipulation. Manipulations seldom come without moral and ethical consequences.

You need look no further than the cesspool of social media to see this. People who can be perfectly engaging in ‘real life’ become proficient in the construction of alternative selves. The Clark Kent who sits benignly at the breakfast table consults, making sure the kids have completed the homework, his Twitter feed and is transformed into a malign online Superman.

Your name is precious because it is a gift.

And like all jewels, it requires constant protection. We now inhabit a world in which strangers feel free to help themselves to that gift. How many times have you met the following? A stranger, often in a position of some authority, reaches into your private life and plucks out your Christian name. Uninvited.

A civil society is one based on civility. Civility is a complicated thing. It involves varieties of intangible attachments. It requires manners. These are not matters easily defined, but because they are beyond the scope of language it does not mean that they are unimportant.

The point about manners is that they are felt, not codified.

The casual appropriation of the forename by a stranger is an act of aggression. It serves to unpick the settled order. Not because your name is private, but because it is personal. And it’s up to me to offer it, not you to grab it.

Johnson has reversed the etiquette and has made of the entire country a vulgar familiarity. That we call him ‘Boris’ (not that I do) has allowed him to develop a cult of personality, one which masks what I suspect is a deeper dysfunctionality. It suits him that you pretend you know him.

But you don’t know him. And every time you call him ‘Boris’, you distance yourself from the real Johnson and facilitate his slow-motion coup against the rest of us.

So next time you find yourself calling him that, I urge you, as we Irish say, to ‘catch yourself on’.

Our politicians should never be familiars. They need holding at arm’s length.

Dave Begley

BREAKING NEWS REPORT ON WHAT MATTERS TO YOU.

France lockdown over heatwave..

Officials in France banned people from attending concerts, outdoor gatherings, and events due to safety concerns over a heatwave.

“Everyone now faces a health risk,” official Fabienne Buccio told France Bleu radio, after announcing the regional restrictions around Bordeaux.

Outdoor events – including, ironically, annual ‘Resistance’ celebrations – are banned until the officials declare the heatwave is over. They’re even restricting some indoor events that don’t have air conditioning.

However, private weddings are still allowed.

Temperatures reportedly hit 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday, and the heatwave is expected to peak on Saturday.

Nonetheless, rather than let people take responsibility for themselves – to hydrate or stay home – French officials are comfortable deciding for them.

Indeed, democratic governments seem comfortable stripping citizens’ freedoms for safety as of late. From COVID lockdowns to climate.

Recently, The Counter Signal reported that climate change lockdowns were likely on the horizon.

For example, unelected IGOs recently advised the British government to outright ban driving on Sundays to curb rising gas prices and address an energy crisis.

The advisement came from the International Energy Agency (IEA) as part of a 10-point plan, central to which is achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

And this isn’t as conspiratorial as it might sound.

For example, while speaking on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses CEO Howard Catton claimed that climate change is the “grandmother of all health threats,” suggesting that the WHO may get involved with climate change-related health risks, like heatwaves, in the future.

Moreover, Nicole Schwab, the daughter of World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab) recently said she wants governments to take advantage of COVID infrastructure and policies to fight climate change.

Canada hasn’t even dropped its COVID travel restrictions, and already the government has elevated monkeypox to Level 2 status

, which means travellers may be subject to “isolation,” i.e., mandatory quarantine.

As per a Health Canada announcement, “In the current outbreak, those at risk of infection are those who have had close or intimate contact with a person who has monkeypox.”

“During your travel, you may be subject to procedures at your destination put in place to limit the spread of monkeypox, such as isolation, should you become infected. You may have limited access to timely and appropriate health care should you become ill, and may experience delays in returning home.”

This announcement also suggests that, much like COVID, the Canadian government plans on utilizing COVID infrastructure to track individuals suspected of having contacted those with confirmed monkeypox infections.

Health Canada continues, saying the federal government is now working with provincial and international governments to monitor the spread of monkeypox, even though cases remain low and monkeypox isn’t transmitted easily.

They are also recommending the use of personal protective equipment while travelling, which may mean additional mask mandates down the road.

Besides being one of the first countries to jump the gun on quarantining those who come down with a case of monkeypox, Canada is also one of the first countries (if not the first) to begin vaccinating people for monkeypox using the smallpox vaccine following the recent outbreak.

Quebec was the first to begin vaccinating for monkeypox, despite having only 25 cases in the province at the time.

As of yesterday (half a month later), there are now supposedly 85 cases, and over 500 Quebecers have received the smallpox vaccine.

Health officials also appear to be focused almost exclusively on monitoring gay men due to the spread believed to be occurring during sexual intercourse between individuals who attended a Spanish Pride festival — though monkeypox isn’t classified as a sexually-transmitted disease.

“We’re seeing the chain of transmission mainly in social networks in men who have sex with men,” said Montreal’s medical officer, Genevieve Bergeron.

It isn’t clear whether the government plans on tracking heterosexuals, too, or if it’s just gay men being targeted during Pride month.

Yet another food processing plant has spontaneously caught fire

— this time it’s a frozen pizza factory in Portage County, Wisconsin.

An American Red Cross report says they rushed to provide food and water for the more than 70 firefighters from nearly two dozen departments that were required to put out the fire early Monday morning.

According to Stevens Point Journal, the fire was first reported at roughly 9 am, with billowing smoke spreading out several kilometres east and northwest. Some departments cleared the scene at 4:30 pm, but the fire wasn’t completely extinguished until 8:45 pm, nearly 12 hours later.

The Fire District says the fire began in the compressor room for the refrigeration and stemmed from a problem that arose during maintenance. No employees were injured.

This isn’t the first — and likely won’t be the last fire at a food processing plant. Indeed, there have been several in just the last few months.

But it’s not just food processing plants catching fire that’s troubling, especially during a time of food inflation. Poultry at meat producers is being destroyed at an alarming rate, usually due to barn and factory fires or avian flu.

In early April, 46,000 turkeys had to be killed in Barron, Wisconsin, due to an avian flu outbreak.

Another flock of 53,000 in Beadle County, South Dakota, had to be killed that same month.

On May 3, 13,800 chickens had to be destroyed at an Oklahoma farm for the same reason.

72,300 chickens had to be killed in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, just a week later.

And there are several more instances.

A report commissioned by the United Kingdom (UK) government says the entire country will need to ban most air travel within ten years

and all air travel by 2050 to abide by impossibly lofty climate change laws.

“In her last significant act as Prime Minister, Theresa May changed the UK’s Climate Change Act to commit us to eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by 2050. This decision is based on good climate science, was a response to a great wave of social protest and has been replicated in 60 other countries already,” the Absolute Zero report commissioned by the UK government explains.

According to the authors of the report, the only way that the UK government can meet their Absolute Zero obligations is to phase out all air travel, implementing an outright ban in 2050 until such a time as the government can conceive of a means of producing planes that produce zero greenhouse gases at any point during an aircraft’s production or use.

It shouldn’t need to be stated, but this is impossible.

Nonetheless, the authors say that “All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast [will] close” between 2020-2029 and “All remaining airports [will] close” by 2050.

The authors continue, saying that under the current legislation, the following changes to daily life will need to be taken as all will be illegal in 2050: stop using aeroplanes; end all shipping; take the train, not the car; rideshare; use an electric vehicle; reduce energy consumption, including and especially heating; reduce fertilizer use; reduce cement and steel use and imports, etc.

The authors say that progressively limiting red meat consumption will also be necessary, as lamb and beef will be outlawed in the UK by 2050.

“In addition, obeying the law of our Climate Change Act requires that we stop doing anything that causes emissions regardless of its energy source. This requires that we stop eating beef and lamb – ruminants who release methane as they digest grass – and already many people have started to switch to more vegetarian diets,” the report reads.

This is quite an astounding proposal, as the authors say that under the climate change legislation, all fertilizer use will need to be “greatly reduced,” as will all processed foods, and the total energy required to cook or transport food must be reduced by 60 per cent of today’s levels.

So, the UK will not produce meat, will not use fertilizer to produce vegetables, will reduce other food imports to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, and will not produce or import processed food as a substitute.

It isn’t clear what, if anything, the authors and the government expect the people of the United Kingdom will eat in 2050. By all accounts, this appears to be a policy of misery and death.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies were scrambling for a way out of political deadlock Monday

after losing their parliamentary majority in a stunning blow to the president and his reform plans.

Macron’s Ensemble (Together) coalition emerged as the largest party in Sunday’s National Assembly vote but was dozens of seats short of keeping the parliamentary majority it had enjoyed for the last five years.

Surges on the left and the far right destroyed the dominant position of Macron’s deputies who, for the past five years, had backed the president’s policies without fail.

Turnout was low, with the abstention rate recorded at 53.77 per cent.

– ‘A slap’ –

The left-leaning Liberation daily called the result a “slap in the face” for Macron, while the conservative Le Figaro said he was now “faced with an ungovernable France“.

Macron’s allies may now seek a majority by forming deals with other parties on the right, stirring up turmoil not seen in French politics for decades.

The election saw the new left-wing alliance NUPES make gains to become the main opposition force with 127 seats, according to the Interior Ministry.

But it is unclear if the coalition of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed will remain a united bloc in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile the far-right under Marine Le Pen posted the best legislative performance in its history, becoming the strongest single opposition party with 89 seats, up from eight in the outgoing chamber.

A confident Le Pen said her party would demand to chair the National Assembly’s powerful finance commission, as is tradition for the biggest opposition party.

“The country is not ungovernable, but it’s not going to be governed the way Emmanuel Macron wanted,” Le Pen told reporters Monday.

Hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who leads the NUPES alliance, said he would bring a motion of no confidence against Macron’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as soon as parliament convenes in July.

Borne, who was elected to parliament in her first-ever political race, was nonetheless seen as vulnerable as Macron faces a new cabinet shake-up after several of his top allies lost their seats.

His health and environment ministers lost their seats and by tradition will have to resign, as did the parliament speaker and the head of Macron’s parliament group.

“We will see in the coming hours, but for now the prime minister remains the prime minister,” government spokeswoman Olivia Gregoire told France Inter radio Monday.

“I fear that the country is paralysed,” she added.

– ‘Turning point’ –

The outcome severely tarnished Macron’s April presidential election victory when he defeated Le Pen, becoming the first French president to win a second term in over two decades.

“It’s a turning point for his image of invincibility,” said Bruno Castres, a researcher at the Centre for Political Research of Sciences Po.

The options available to Macron, who has yet to publicly comment on the result, range from seeking to form a new coalition alliance, passing legislation based on ad hoc agreements to even calling new elections.

His Together alliance won 244 seats, far short of the 289 needed for an overall majority.

“The root of the presidential party is total,” Melenchon told supporters.

A prominent MP from Melenchon’s party, Alexis Corbiere, said Macron’s plan to raise the French retirement age to 65 had now been “sunk”.

Macron had hoped to stamp his second term with an ambitious programme of tax cuts, welfare reform and raising the retirement age. All that is now in question.

“It will be much more difficult to govern,” said Dominique Rousseau, professor of law at Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne University.

– ‘Imagination needed’ –

There could now potentially be weeks of political deadlock as the president seeks to reach out to new parties.

The most likely option would be an alliance with the Republicans, the traditional party of the French right, which has 61 MPs.

LR president Christian Jacob however made clear there would be no easy partnership, saying his party intended to “stay in opposition”.

Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire admitted “a lot of imagination will be needed” from the Macron’s party in what Le Figaro said was “a jump into the unknown”.

In a rare spot of good news for the president, Europe Minister Clement Beaune and Public Service Minister Stanislas Guerini — both young pillars of his party — won tight battles for their seats.

On the left, Rachel Keke, a former cleaning lady who campaigned for better working conditions at her hotel, was also elected, defeating Macron’s former sports minister Roxana Maracineanu.

JUST IN 🚨 Bitcoin price falls below $20,000 for the first time since 2020. Ethereum down under $1,000

Again and again, this minister insisted the police asked for the Emergencies Act.

We now know that is false.

He must resign. Now.

Male blood donor 66 was turned away for not answering if he was pregnant or not.

66-year-old man who’s been donating blood since he was 18 was told by staff they cannot accept his blood because he refused to answer if he was pregnant. The question was added to promote inclusivity.

What is this world coming to when people start believing that men can physically get pregnant. What sort of mental health problems do these people have? There must be something broken inside.

An opinion piece from an Australian writer:

This felt good to read 😊

An opinion piece from a vaccinated Australian writer:

“If Covid was a battlefield it would still be warm with the bodies of the unvaccinated.

Thankfully the mandates are letting up and both sides of the war stumble back to the new normal.

The unvaccinated are the heroes of the last two years as they allowed us all to have a control group in the great experiment and highlight the shortcoming of the Covid vaccines.

The unvaccinated carry many battle scars and injuries as they are the people we tried to mentally break, yet no one wants to talk about what we did to them and what they forced “The Science“ to unveil.

We knew that the waning immunity of the fully vaccinated had the same risk profile as others within society as the minority of the unvaccinated,

yet we marked them for special persecution.

You see we said they had not “done the right thing for the greater good” by handing their bodies and medical autonomy over to the State.

Many of the so-called health experts and political leaders in Australia admitted the goal was to make life almost unliveable for the unvaccinated,

which was multiplied many times by the collective mob, with the fight taken into workplaces, friendships, and family gatherings.

Today the hard truth is none of it was justified as we took a quick slide from righteousness to absolute cruelty.

We might lay the blame on our leaders and health experts for the push but each individual within society must be held accountable for stepping into the well-laid-out trap.

We did this despite knowing full well that principled opposition is priceless when it comes to what goes inside our bodies and we let ourselves be tricked into believing that going into another ineffective lockdown would be the fault of the unvaccinated and not the fault of the toxic policy of ineffective vaccines.

We took pleasure in scapegoating the unvaccinated because after months of engineered lockdowns by political leaders blinded by power, having someone to blame and to burn at the stake felt good.

We believed we had logic, love, and truth on our side so it was easy to wish death upon the unvaccinated.

Those of us who ridiculed and mocked the non-compliant did it because we were embarrassed by their courage and principles and didn’t think the unvaccinated would make it through unbroken and we turned the holdouts into punching bags.

Lambie, Carr, Chant, Andrews, McGowan, Gunner, and the other cast of hundreds in prominent roles need to be held to account for vilifying the unvaccinated in public and fueling angry social media mobs.

The mobs, the mask Nazis, and the vaccine disciples have been embarrassed by “betting against” the unvaccinated because mandates only had the power we gave them.

It was not compliance that ended domination by Big Pharma Companies, Bill Gates and his many organizations, and the World Economic Forum…

It was THANKS to the people we tried to embarrass, ridicule, mock and tear down.

We should all try and find some inner gratitude for the unvaccinated as we took the bait by hating them because their perseverance and courage bought us the time to see we were wrong.

So if mandates ever return for Covid or any other disease or virus, hopefully, more of us will be awake and see the rising authoritarianism that has no concern for our well-being and is more about power and control.

The War on the Unvaccinated was lost and we should all be very thankful for that.”

This is the best thing I have read in 3 years. What a well-written article/apology, whatever you want to call it.

To have someone realize everything that we have gone through to save humanity from certain doom is reassuring.

I’ve lost many many friendships, argued with family and been banned from every social media platform I’ve been on either for life or like Facebook 30 days then a few days on and then 30 days again. That has been going on for 3 years. Twitter just banned me for life and TikTok is holding on by a thread. I tried to raise money for charity this year. I managed £62 in 8 weeks. That’s the extent of my lost friendships.

I have a group called “ castlemans disease UK “ and I’m a member of the CDCN ( Castlemans Disease Collaborative Network )

I sense the tension between us because of my views on the vaccines. I was right and always knew I was right because I had data and critical thinking. It doesn’t mean you’re dumb to have been sucked in, but some people wanted and wished I would die of covid. I wasn’t worried about the dying bit because I know that covid didn’t exist. However, the thought that people were wishing me dead because I was trying to save their lives was quite heartbreaking. I said no more endless times, but I couldn’t stop exposing these rich criminals.

But they haven’t finished with you yet. Now it’s destroying the Russian Federation and using you as tools.

They condemn Russia, but do you know

The United States Has Been at war 225 out of 243 years since 1776

The US Has Been at war for more than 92 per cent of the time

The American history of overt and covert foreign interventions dates back to 1811, when it had invaded Chile, just a year after this South American country had gained independence from Spain.

Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” reveals that the United States has been at war for about 225 of the 243 years since its inception in 1776. While the number of US foreign military interventions had stood at 188 till 2017, the world superpower was found involved in 117 “partisan electoral interventions” between 1946 and 2000 or around one of every nine ballot exercises held since the Second World War.

This means that the United States has been at war for more than 92 per cent of the time since its birth, making critics view that the rulers of the land found by Christopher Columbus have been addicted to the use of military might and intoxicated with their successes against weaker nations that could not defend themselves for one reason or the other. Or in other words, the United States has only been at peace for less than 20 years.

In one of its November 23, 2017 reports, a known British media house “Channel 4 News” had carried a research undertaken by the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State. The researcher had calculated the vast scale of election interventions by both the US and Russia.

The media outlet had stated: “According to his research, there were 117 “partisan electoral interventions” between 1946 and 2000. That’s around one of every nine competitive elections held since Second World War. The majority of these – almost 70 per cent – were cases of US interference. And these are not all from the Cold War era; 21 such interventions took place between 1990 and 2000, of which 18 were by the United States, and 60 different independent countries have been the targets of such interventions.” The researcher interviewed by “Channel News 4” had maintained: “But almost two thirds of interventions were done in secret, with voters having no idea that foreign powers were actively trying to influence the results. According to Levin’s research, those countries where secret tactics have been deployed by the US include Guatemala, Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Vietnam and Japan.”

He had asserted: “For Russia, the list of covert interventions includes: France, Denmark, Italy, Greece, West Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Congo, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, and the US.”

By the way, the United States also has a long history of rigging polls, supporting military coups, channelling funds and spreading political propaganda in other countries. The United States has been involved in several foreign interventions throughout its history.

It was engaged in 46 military interventions from 1948–1991. “The National Interest”, an American bimonthly international affairs magazine, had carried a report in 2017, which had held: “The United States engaged in 46 military interventions from 1948–1991. From 1992–2017, this number had increased four-fold to 188. These statistics introduce two important puzzles. First, why would military interventions rise at the same time success in military interventions has been declining? Second, why would military interventions increase after the Cold War?”

The journal had added: “In other words, if the United States only intervenes with armed force when its vital interests are at stake, why intervene more often when there are arguably fewer vital interests at stake? The answer is that Washington too often intervenes militarily when it should not – and US security and prosperity have both suffered as a result.”

According to the prestigious “The Washington Post”, till December 2016, the United States had tried to change other countries’ governments 72 times during the Cold War.

The widely-read and quoted American media house had written: “Between 1947 and 1989, the United States tried to change other nations’ governments 72 times. That’s a remarkable number. It includes 66 covert operations and six overt ones. Of course, that doesn’t excuse Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. These 72 US operations were during the Cold War – meaning that, in most cases, the Soviet Union was covertly supporting anti-US forces.”

“The Washington Post” had asserted: “We examined unclassified Central Intelligence Agency documents and historical academic research on US interventions to identify 27 US clandestine operations carried out between 1949 and 2000. Most US “secret wars” were against other democratic states.” The report continued: “Unclassified documeit’s published by the US national security archive at George Washington University shows that the British government helped the United States overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, a democratically elected prime minister of Iran, and tried to block the release of information about its involvement in the coup.”

The 143-year-old ace American newspaper had gone on to write: “But that’s just one example. In 1954, an anti-Communist “army” trained and armed by the CIA deposed democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala – leading to years of violent civil war and rightist rule. Fifty-seven years later, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, on behalf of the state, asked Guzman’s family for forgiveness. And in 1981, President Ronald Reagan authorized the funding for the CIA-led “secret wars” against the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These are but a few examples of the US covert operations abroad.”

Everything above has been perfectly worded and orchestrated, to blame others. Russia meddling with 2016 election YAWWWNNN. But they have missed out on the years of secret biological weapons in Ukraine. No mention of the 8 years of shelling Donetsk.

But when Russia think “ right that’s it, they have intensified shelling on our Russian people and are planning to release biological weapons ( War Crimes ) on the world and move in to protect you and me, the West cover it up and blames Putin.

They even want to charge Putin with war crimes. I can assure you that I get a lot of information from Russia and the Western journalists and the people of Ukraine and the DPR daily. Ukrainian forces and the Azov battalion are savage with Zelensky snorting at least half an ounce of high-grade cocaine daily.

Here he is being interviewed and boasting and another great capture whilst during a zoom meeting.

If you look through my articles you will find stuff that will make your skin crawl. I’m not an “ I told you so “ type of person, but I have been relentless.

My new thing now along with my existing exposure will be “ climate change “

To be a liar, especially a public liar, you need to have a very good memory and concentrate on every letter that comes out of your mouth.

Just Like Greta Thunberg. She’s useless on the spot. LISTEN

We are winning. The more that take it on the chin and just say “ hey, they got me “ the better chance we’ll have. So, please share my blogs and help save humanity.

Dave Begley

Chinese depositors left in dark as three local banks freeze deposits

China puts on “digital handcuffs” to stop bank run “protesters” by controlling health passport. A perfect display of total state power evidencing why we have been fighting digital IDs and CBDCs with all of humanity’s strength.

SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) – Three banks in China’s central Henan province have frozen at least $178 million of deposits, offering scant information on why or for how long, leaving firms unable to pay workers and individuals locked out of savings, depositors told Reuters.

Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin Country Bank and Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank froze all deposits on April 18, with all three telling customers they were upgrading internal systems. The banks have not issued any communication on the matter since, depositors said.

None of the three banks responded to Reuters’ emails or phone calls seeking comment.

While nominally small, China’s numerous local banks have outsized significance because they lend to small and mid-sized firms so their activity can be an indicator of the health of the economy, the world’s second-biggest after the United States.

Bank earnings and asset quality are widely expected to deteriorate due to reduced business activity brought about by strict COVID-19 containment measures, raising the prospect of economic contraction in the second quarter of the year.

Depositors of the three banks told Reuters they had been communicating with each other via messaging app WeChat about how to retrieve funds. Some posted screenshots of frozen accounts and shared conversations with bank staff.

Some posted videos of protests outside bank branches, while others said they had travelled to the banks’ headquarters in search of an explanation only to be turned away by police.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commision, which was cited in media reports on May 1 as saying it was looking into the matter, and the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, did not respond to faxed requests for comment.

ANGER

Depositors from the southern Zhejiang province communicating over WeChat compiled a spreadsheet seen by Reuters in which they self-reported 1.2 billion yuan ($177.55 million) in frozen funds across the three banks.

As the banks have customers across China, magazine Caixin on April 30 reported the frozen amount could total $1.5 billion.

Jerry Chang, owner of a factory in Hubei province, cannot access his over 6 million yuan deposited at Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank.

“Not being able to withdraw money has a huge impact on the operation of our factory, including procurement and workers’ wages,” said Chang, who used the bank because of its marginally higher interest rate of 1.85%.

Tony Qian, an investment consultant from Zhejiang province, cannot access the 20 million yuan he put in Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank that he had been saving to buy property.

“The thing I’m most angry about is … no one has explained anything to us,” said Qian.