We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
My free time is getting whittled down to a pathetic few seconds a day. I will have to slow down on my MM updates. Not close down anything, just not update so rapidly (once a day) as I have been doing. Same goes for my other venues. I will post less often.
Do not freak out!
It’s called life.
But all is good. Change is good. Embrace it!
Running two companies, painting, hosting MM, You-tube and Patreon videos, participating on other social media needs to be culled to make way for various other efforts that are just now coming to fruition. Not to mention a four hour commute a day, and a totally rambunctious kindergärtner, takes up a heck of a lot of time.
But I asked for this, don’t you know.
It’s all mapped out in my affirmation campaigns.
I will be wrapping up the latest campaign at the end of May and entering a four month dwell / wait period.
Things are happening.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
…
Oh, and the future looks BRIGHT for China and the Global South. Not so for the West, but MM followers should be able to thrive and profit from any discord no matter where you live. Just sit down and start using the tools in your “toolkit”. Use them.
Change.
It’s a good thing.
Evidence US Planning WWIII Against both Russia and China
On May 3rd, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told C-Span in an interview, that there will be no objection by the U.S. Government if Ukraine’s Government attempts to or does assassinate Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin. He said: “These are decisions for Ukraine to make, how it’s going to defend itself, how it’s going to get its territory back, how it’s going to restore its territorial integrity, and its sovereignty.”
Also on May 3rd, Japan’s Nikkei Asia news service headlined “NATO to open Japan office” and reported that “NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Tokyo, Japan, the first of its kind in Asia.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization aims now to become not only America’s anti-Russian military alliance but also America’s anti-Chinese military alliance, which will support the breakaway of China’s province of Taiwan (which since 1972 the U.S. Government has formally recognized Taiwan to be) from China, just as it refuses to support the breakaway of Crimea and three other provinces of Ukraine from Russia.
America and its NATO deny that they are either anti-Russian or anti-Chinese and insist that they instead seek merely regime-change in both countries so that both Russia and China will come to provide democracy and human rights like America’s Government does.
The U.S. Congress is now considering legislation that’s advertised as the “Ukraine Victory Resolution” but is formally titled H.Res.322 “on Ukrainian victory”, and which states that “it is the policy of the United States to see Ukraine victorious against the invasion and restored to its internationally recognized 1991 borders.” That would require the complete defeat of Russia in Ukraine. If it happens, then almost certainly Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would either resign or be overthrown and replaced by a leader that America’s Government will approve of. If it instead does not happen, then the U.S. Congress and President will already be obligated, by means of having passed this Resolution into law, to invade Russia in order to achieve by direct U.S. military force what Ukraine’s military had failed to achieve. That invasion of Russia by the U.S. and its allies would constitute World War Three, WW III.
The U.S. Government has not yet committed itself irrevocably to revoking its prior recognition that Taiwan is a part of China; but, if it finally does do that, then, of course, America and its allies will be at war against China, which would likewise be WW III.
There is also under consideration by the U.S. Congress something that is called “The Restrict Act” which would institute martial law over all news-media in the U.S. in preparation for a formal and all-encompassing declaration of martial law in America. By means of that total censorship, the U.S. public will know, regarding both Russia and China (and anything else) only what the U.S. Government will allow Americans to know; and this would enormously facilitate Congress to declare publicly that America is at war against both Russia and China. So: the legislative preparations in order to do this ‘Constitutionally’ (except for violating only the First Amendment) will already have been put into place.
‘Nearly A Third Of The World Economy Is Now Subject To Sanctions’
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) just published a study about:
The results are as any observer of such acts would expect. Sanctions are used too broadly. They hardly ever serve their supposed original purpose and do not reach their aims. They hurt the poor more than the supposedly targeted leaders of this or that country.
These numbers though are astonishing:
Over the past six decades, there has been significant growth in the use of economic sanctions by Western powers and international organizations. Less than 4 percent of countries were subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, or United Nations in the early 1960s; today, that share has risen to 27 percent. The magnitudes are similar when we consider their impact on the global economy:
the share of world GDP produced in sanctioned countries rose from less than 4 percent to 29 percent in the same period. In other words, more than one fourth of countries and nearly a third of the world economy is now subject to sanctions by the UN or Western nations.
Under international law only sanction imposed by the United Nations’ Security Council have legal standing. Sanctions by the U.S. or EU are under international law an illegal use of state instruments. The U.S. is using sanctions constantly to press under nations to do its bidding. Until the recent war in Ukraine the EU has used sanctions mostly to ‘do something’ because it had run out of ideas or diplomatic abilities.
The recent sanctions on Russia proved to be hurting the Russians much less than they are hurting the people living in the European Union. It was a catastrophic mistake by EU leaders to preemptively agree to the sanctions the U.S. had been pushing for before Russia entered the civil war in Ukraine on the side of its Ukrainian brethren. The consequences had obviously not been gamed out and thought through.
When nearly one third of the world economy is under sanctions the other two-third are losing out too. It would therefore make sense for everyone to abolish all sanctions that have not been issued by the UNSC. Even UNSC sanctions should only be used sparsely and in a very narrowly targeted manner. Sanctions that hit the whole economy of a country are inhuman and should be prohibited.
China’s chip imports have decreased by 130 billion, and US chips and TSMC have been hit hard – iNEWS
In 2022, China will reduce chip imports by 97 billion, and in the first three months of this year, it will reduce by another 32.1 billion. In 15 months, China will reduce chip imports by 129.1 billion. China continues to reduce chip imports, which has caused damage to US chips and TSMC Huge hit.
1. American chips have been hit hard
The United States is the world’s largest chip exporter, accounting for nearly 50% of the global chip market supply. However, the share of manufacturing in the United States is not large. Therefore, the chips of the United States are mainly exported, and the export destination is precisely China, because China is The world’s largest chip purchasing country.
China surpassed the United States in 2010 to become the world’s largest manufacturing country, and then China purchased more and more chips. In the early years, China’s chip purchases exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars. In 2022, the amount of chips purchased will reach 400 billion U.S. dollars. Seventy percent of the chips.
However, in recent years, under the pressure of the United States, China has been pushing the development of domestically produced chips and increasing the self-sufficiency rate of chips. It can meet 70% of China’s demand for chips, so China continues to reduce chip imports.
2. TSMC is under pressure
Liu Deyin, chairman of TSMC, once said that the loss of orders for chips from mainland China would not affect it. He thought that as long as he moved closer to the United States, American chips would quickly fill the vacancy of chips in mainland China. However, this is not the case. The recession has now begun to affect TSMC.
With the reduction of orders for American chips, chip foundry companies such as Samsung, UMC, and PSMC began to start a price war in order to compete for limited orders. Their foundry prices generally dropped by more than 10%. At that time, TSMC was still stubborn, saying that Resolutely not to cut prices, would rather cut production than cut prices.
However, TSMC’s stubborn mouth can’t stop the decline in performance. Its first-quarter performance of this year shows that the revenue growth rate has shrunk to 3.6%, while the growth rate in the same period last year exceeded 36%. The chain fell by 18.7%. After reducing exports to China, it began to have a negative impact on TSMC.
3. Both American chips and TSMC turn to the Chinese market for help
After the U.S. chip recession, TSMC has slowed down the construction process of U.S. chip factories, shifted its focus back to the Asian market, and suddenly held a 3nm mass production ceremony in Taiwan, China, at the end of 2022. This is an unprecedented practice for TSMC; Accelerate the construction process of the 28nm factory in mainland China, hoping to get more orders from the Chinese mainland market.
It is obvious that the US chip and TSMC have now clearly seen the importance of the Chinese mainland market. As the world’s largest chip procurement market, the reduction of 130 billion chips in 15 months has dealt a huge blow to them. Seeking to sell is a huge change.
China Chip is now also clearly aware of the importance of self-reliance and self-improvement. Now China is aggressively expanding chip production capacity and accelerating the improvement of the chip industry chain. Even the most difficult lithography machines have formed an industrial chain in China. It is bound to become stronger and stronger, which makes American chips even more worried about chip sales.
The average number of paid annual leave days TAKEN by employees in the European Union in 2018 was 30. Americans took an average of 6.6 vacation days in 2020. Why don’t we even use up the vacation time we get?
American capitalism would do away with annual leave and sick leave altogether if they could. Just greed thats al and the power of knowing they can fire you cand get someone new who doesn’t take any leave at all whenever they want. Fear of losing your job is what Americans face if they take too much leave
U.S. Sanctions Drive Chinese Firms to Advance AI Without Latest Chips – WSJ
That the spirit:
Research in China on workarounds, such as using software to leverage less powerful chips, is accelerating.
U.S. sanctions are spurring Chinese tech companies to accelerate research to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence without relying on the latest American chips.
A Wall Street Journal review of research papers and interviews with employees found that Chinese companies are studying techniques that could allow them to achieve state-of-the-art AI performance with fewer or less powerful semiconductors. They are also researching how to combine different types of chips to avoid relying on any one type of hardware...
After the 2009 Global Financial Crisis Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the Peoples Bank of China, announced, “The world needs an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and able to remain stable in the long run, removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.
He proposed Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, valued against a basket of trading currencies and commodities like wheat and iron ore.
Nobelists C. Fred Bergsten, Robert Mundell, and Joseph Stieglitz agreed, “The creation of a global currency would restore a needed coherence to the international monetary system, give the IMF a function that would help it to promote stability and be a catalyst for international harmony”.
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Beijing began valuing the yuan against a currency basket in 2012 and the IMF made its first SDR loan in 2014. The World Bank issued the first SDR bonds in 2016, Standard Chartered Bank issued the first commercial SDR notes in 2017, and the world’s central banks began stating their currency reserves in SDRs in 2019.
Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called China’s 2015 creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, “The moment the United States lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system. I can think of no event since Bretton Woods comparable to the combination of China’s effort to establish a major new institution–and the failure of the US to persuade dozens of its traditional allies, starting with Britain–to stay out of it”.
The AIIB’s one hundred member countries have eighty percent of the world’s population and two-thirds of its GDP. By mobilizing their savings, the new bank accesses a trillion dollars every year for long term, low interest loans to regional infrastructure, poverty reduction, growth, and climate change mitigation.
In 2020, as part of a plan for more efficient administration, the People’s Bank of China issued Digital Yuan, the world’s first digital currency backed by a central bank. Unlike privately issued mobile payments and credit cards, the Digital Yuan is a State liability, like banknotes and, since a billion Chinese already use mobile payments, the transition to digital currency should be seamless.
Harvard’s Aditi Kumar says, “Nations seeking to leapfrog development of digital currency and payments systems will likely seek out Chinese financial technology, and Chinese firms, at the forefront of digital payment technology, will capture the economic gains of a rapidly digitizing global economy. China’s central bank will have a panopticon view of all transactions in all digital currencies that leverage its technology, further strengthening its information advantage”.
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Author Bruno Maçaes envisions the impact of these programs thirty years hence:
The year is 2049, one hundred years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Belt and Road Initiative is complete… Some of the infrastructure projects are truly stunning and stand as the highest example of what human ingenuity can achieve in its drive to master natural forces. A bridge crossing the Caspian Sea—125 miles from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan—has made road transport between Europe and China fast and easy, changing old mental maps that separated continents. The Kra Isthmus Canal in Thailand has done the same for the Indian and Pacific oceans. No longer do we think of them as two separate oceans. In Africa a high-speed railway connects the two coasts, traversing Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Cameroon in under twenty hours. Trade between Africa, Asia, and South America increasingly uses this route.
Historian David Graeber adds, “There’s every reason to believe that, from China’s point of view, this is the first stage of a very long process of reducing the United States to something like a traditional Chinese client state”.
By now, everyone has heard of both Ma’s and Tsai’s trip. Ma Ying-Jeou went to China, while Tsai Ing-Wen went to the United States. How did both politicians fare in the eyes of the Taiwanese people? Let’s find out.
On a scale of 1 to 10, both politicians scored fairly similarly, but Ma did beat Tsai. Ma’s score is 5.66, versus Tsai’s 5.56
Ma scored exceptionally low among DPP supporters, with an average score of only 3.59
Tsai, however, did not score as poorly among KMT supporters, with an average score of 4.14 (although that’s still not a good score)
Tsai Ing-Wen scored the highest in southern Taiwan (not surprising at all, as that’s where DPP support is strongest), with an average score of 6.11
Very surprisingly, though, Ma scored the worst in eastern Taiwan and the outlying islands, with a dismal score of 5.1. Yilan is the only green county in that region, so it’s understandable. But Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen, and Matsu are absurdly blue and generally considered the most pro-China regions; I’m not sure why Ma scored so poorly among the pro-China crowds.
Even freaking Tainan and Chiayi, the greenest places in all of Taiwan, gave Ma a better score of 5.52!
44.1% say Ma did a better job of handling relationships with China, compared to only 36.9% for Tsai.
48.8% of the people surveyed said they support the 1992 Consensus, while 44.1% opposed it
62.3% say there should be more dialogue between China and Taiwan for peace, while only 23.1% are against more dialogue (this one scares me. Although most people support dialogue, it’s a bit scary that almost a quarter of all Taiwanese do not want any dialogue)
50.3% say Taiwan should maintain a cautious distance between both China and America. 38.4% say Taiwan should only be pro-America, while only 6.9% say Taiwan should be pro-China
You know, despite Lai Ching-Te and the DPP absolutely dominating the KMT in all polls, it’s quite surprising that when asked about the policies that differentiate KMT and DPP supporters the most, the Taiwanese society seems incredibly divided. In fact, right now, slightly more Taiwanese actually prefer the KMT’s methods of handling Cross Strait relationships. This tells me that KMT being down in the polls isn’t so much that Taiwanese voters are anti-China, but more like the KMT is behaving like a bunch of morons (or maybe because Lai is just that charismatic and sexy)
US Dollar Is NO MORE | 19 Countries Want to Join BRICS
In an interview with The Independent, deputy defence minister Volodymyr Havrylov was deliberately vague about the timing of the counteroffensive, which is expected imminently as the mud and rains of spring give way to more favourable fighting conditions.
…
“We will launch our counteroffensive – when and where it doesn’t matter now,” he said. “[And when that happens] Russia will be in panic; you will see a lot of panic. They still don’t understand that [their] propaganda is demonstrating a false picture of what is actually happening on the ground. This war will be won on the ground, not on the TV screens, not on the internet.”
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Volodymyr Havrylov said during an interview with Sky News that he thinks the country’s war with Russia will likely be over by “the end of spring” next year, saying that “it’s the maximum time” the Russian troops have. “Intuition” said the minister, when asked what drew him to the conclusion.
Ukrainian retired general and deputy defence minister Volodymyr Havrylov has predicted his country’s forces could take back Crimea by Christmas and end the war in early 2023.
…
Mr Havrylov has forecast further Ukrainian victories well into winter, arguing his country would not welcome peace talks until it had recaptured every inch of land.
Why are people still holding onto the worthless US Dollar?
The Superb Retro Inspired Collages by Figaro Many
00 3 650×773
His name is Tomasz aka Figaro Many, hailing from a small town in Poland. Tomasz began creating collages a year ago and it quickly turned into his passion. He enjoys merging the styles of vintage ads, posters, or magazine covers with something unconventional that appears amusing or provocative. Additionally, Tomasz has interests in music and movies.
figaro many 279584975 947897589118554 3699904565989260720 n 650×774figaro many 279626918 5462737203739370 1168564287379550941 n 650×780figaro many 279969598 528425315537740 5216066961272728282 n 650×813figaro many 280073599 5186741844746654 5595562258382470495 n 650×743figaro many 280523946 420331279492880 7685318657355237569 n 650×800figaro many 280614905 535015018119144 1427793422984696065 n 650×813figaro many 286445414 575385480607242 6474669857743756157 n 650×780figaro many 289654635 598074131568455 4930200171757857653 n 650×813figaro many 293556989 581860236816262 8707136137562196818 n 650×813figaro many 293206237 346986820941795 7866686920779005185 n 650×813figaro many 289030348 749306196328557 1604724633868624890 n 650×813figaro many 286015298 900823104646355 5513845150253592782 n 650×813figaro many 284503328 411868180804942 8543108531386232830 n 650×770figaro many 288680284 370113825215916 8907664125114991545 n 650×772figaro many 292579541 567766094850958 4626215585113487359 n 650×813figaro many 291841184 579864796855988 6704925949887689549 n 650×813figaro many 291228373 744016106715388 8567636976712799961 n 650×812figaro many 287522148 554114276168586 2049934078212290488 n 650×772figaro many 287632185 1072409527006055 7641304421645947552 n 650×813figaro many 283455001 3151547368417879 2636123967011097597 n 650×813figaro many 282053256 1318716545205068 5783050479003387711 n 650×813figaro many 281136542 529849338636553 4125669651828884069 n 650×813figaro many 281002258 170924932023582 7067010022095692677 n 650×813figaro many 286577098 3229999497277804 6872136439777345232 n 650×813figaro many 286906703 710148446707550 3117227192229659311 n 650×813figaro many 290333442 5225592094144370 6152022617492131261 n 650×813figaro many 290212093 797122157921349 7684327926233581182 n 650×780figaro many 293791581 1267773683993909 4637802742721786058 n 650×813figaro many 297817312 816635372678420 730781148589926317 n 650×774figaro many 298435203 364740322517127 4077990734246618238 n 650×813figaro many 294408617 377591290972685 1851069962786117858 n 650×769figaro many 298829174 1176910876191968 4705358485091913230 n 650×813figaro many 295349300 775576403889523 4464079638511363953 n 650×813figaro many 299415107 1773311309675529 2015076637624931836 n 650×813figaro many 299836767 1713942858962321 4591655799749895068 n 650×767figaro many 297173095 763830384864507 6727749739238114128 n 650×813figaro many 296479000 442907030904728 6001654090506230982 n 650×813figaro many 296454319 1179682322889964 7646318966580078815 n 650×813figaro many 295756046 172302321949269 5984543991037250441 n 650×650
Hot Tamale Pie
This pie is a layered version of the popular Mexican tamales. Easy to put together for a weekday meal. Complete the meal with a tossed green salad.
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Prep: 20 min | Cook: 30 min | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 1/3 cups water
1 large onion, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 (2 1/2 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Instructions
In a bowl combine the cornmeal, 1/2 cup cold water, salt, cumin and red pepper.
In medium saucepan bring the 1 1/3 cups water to a boil. Slowly add cornmeal mixture; stirring constantly to make sure it does not lump. Return to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower heat and cook for 10 minutes or until very thick, stirring occasionally.
Spread the hot cornmeal mixture into a greased 7 x 12 inch casserole.
Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet cook the pork, onion and sweet pepper until pork is browned and vegetables tender.
Stir in beans, enchilada sauce and olives. Bring to a boil.
Spoon the pork mixture over the cornmeal layer in the casserole, cover and bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle with cheese; bake uncovered for 3 minutes longer or until cheese melts.
World’s Biggest Pulp Producer Suzano Considers Trading With China in Yuan
The tide is unstoppable. Do not be surprised with the speed of US economic collapse. If all the barbarian nations disarmed this way, it will be a blessing to humanity.
Suzano SA, the biggest producer of hardwood pulp, is considering selling its products to China priced in yuan, adding to signs that the dollar is losing its dominance in commodity markets.
China’s currency is growing in importance and smaller customers there are requiring deals linked to the renminbi, Suzano Chief Executive Office Walter Schalka said in an interview from Bloomberg’s New 。。。。
