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Though it is not the last month of the year 2021, we are looking forward to the world of 2022 and beyond. Why? Because we can see the oak tree in the acorn. That is to say, of course, we cannot predict how large the tree with will be, how many branches and twigs it will have, how sturdy the trunk and how thick the bark will be; we know, though, that it will be an oak tree rather than a birch or a beech, least of all a coniferous fir or spruce. You can predict in a very broad outline the size and type of the building, looking at its understructure. Even a non-expert can correctly infer from the foundations whether they are made for a cottage house or a high-rise; a block of flats or a factory.
What are the foundations for the world of tomorrow? Consider them one by one:
ubiquitous surveillance;
Third World people as weapons in hybrid wars between states;
the increasing role of adolescents as a battering ram in world and domestic policy-making;
the all-out war on fossil fuels and the crusade to impose “sustainable” economy;
the big push towards cashless economy;
the imposition of designed pseudo-reality on the reality as it is perceived through the senses.
Such are the components of the underpinning for the world in the making, of the world of tomorrow. It looks like everything we have been accustomed to must be obliterated, decomposed and turned into fertilizer with which new crops will be grown. We ought to brace ourselves for the changes, we ought to at least be aware of them, to be – at the minimum – mentally and financially prepared.
The reassuring thing is that what the architects of the new world create in the form of blueprints eventually never turns out 100% as they wanted it to be. Reality is too complex for anybody to control it. Still, as they say: throw dirt enough and some will stick. We want to know what will stick. Something tells us that you want it too.
Gefira Financial Bulletin #57 is available now
The committee granting the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize had obviously a difficult choice to make. Its sights may have been set on climate activist Greta Thunberg for berating heads of states in a bid to avert the ecological Armageddon, political (Russian or Belorussian) dissidents Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Alexei Navalny (Julian Assange need not apply), The World Health Organization for courageously combating the WORLD WIDE MENACE, the Black Lives Matter movement for opposing ubiquitous racism, President Joe Biden for putting an end to the nightmarish Trump era and many others in the similar vein. I believe you get the picture of possible contenders. The choice was made and the prize was awarded to a Filipino and a Russian journalist: Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of many years’ standing of “Novaya Gazeta.”
Why Dmitry Muratov of all the people? “Novaya Gazeta” since its inception in 1993 has been engaged in issues that the post-West absolutely adores: keeping watch over human rights and the abuse of power in – yes, yes, you guessed it right! – Russia. The paper developed as an offshoot from “Komsomolskaya Pravda” with some fifty journalists as its founders. Mikhail Gorbachev contributed with some of the money from his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize to help it get started and with a 10% share he remains its co-owner to this day. A number of “Novaya Gazeta” reporters or commentators are said to have been murdered or assaulted because of their investigative journalism. Isn’t it one more argument to draw the world’s attention to the paper by decorating its founding father?
Julian Assange has been tossed from prison to prison and is currently awaiting another court ruling that will decide whether he will be delivered to the United States, where a long term prison if not death are in store for him. His journalism has not found recognition, his suffering has not been appreciated, his courage to unmask the inhuman machinations of the United States has not been praised. Why?
The notorious World Economic Forum headed by Klaus Schwab has spawned two worldwide youth organisations, i.e. the Forum of Young Global Leaders (2004) and the Global Shapers Community (2011). Their websites fraught with snapshots or short films featuring hackneyed images of smiling faces of men and women cooperating in a peaceful manner and necessarily shaking hands and drawing graphs – the usual propaganda stuff we are familiar with – assault the reader with catchy slogans of providing solutions to global issues, improving the state of the world, building a better future, fighting climate change, building inclusive communities, having impact on a global scale, raising awareness of gender equality and the like. None of the items comes as a surprise or does it?
The blueprint is as follows. Young impressionable people are used to bring about change. Young people make up a quarter of the global population. Change is touted as something desirable and ranges from climate to society, from education to governance. It is a creeping revolution, the march through institutions par excellence targeting the world as it is: a repeat of what the Jacobins in France, Bolsheviks in Russia and the Red Guards in China already attempted to achieve. They, too, appealed to young people with images of a bright future and fraternity spanning the globe, with promises of universal happiness and joy, with visions of unstoppable progress and unbridled liberty.
Youth guide
The alumni of the Global Leaders and the Global Shapers – carefully selected, guided and groomed by their patrons – are then helped to find their way to important organisations, institutions, corporations, where their influence is multiplied or – to be precise – where they relay the ideas that they imbibed while being members of the Forum and the Community. Have you ever wondered about how it happens that so many actions are coordinated across state borders at the drop of a hat? Now you know. The Global Leaders and the Global Shapers inform us via their websites that they have members in almost all countries in the world and that they foster lifelong connections. Lifelong, you see. Continue reading
Gefira 57 familiarizes us with the Ebb and Flow of World Politics. We set our sights on the man-made energy crisis that is in the making in the European Union, which – out of hubris – has decided to ban anything having to do with coal and now is heading for a disaster. The alleged man-made climate change has resulted in a genuine man-made energy crisis… Did not Aesop describe something similar in one of his fables? But then, who learns from Aesop those days?
The energy crisis is coupled with the political and economic tension. We are seeing the emergence of three formidable alliances – three empires – the Anglo-Saxon transatlantic union (NATO, AUKUS, Five Eyes) in which the United States and the United Kingdom reign supreme; the European Union, governed jointly by France and Germany; and the Eurasian bloc of states (SCO), where Russia and China rule the roost. Are those alliances and pacts not reminiscent of the Entante Cordiale and the alliance of the Central Powers of the First World War, or the Axis and Allied States of the Second World War? We may be in for big events.
With Angela Merkel eventually leaving the post of the German chancellor, we are also summing up the 16 years of the denationalization of Germany (as a part of the denationalization of France, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy), sixteen years of the violation of fundamental rights and the lying press, sixteen years of the exploitation of the German taxpayer and the favouritism shown towards Third World immigrants, sixteen years of energy transition and green lies, sixteen years of the collapse of German security, police and justice.
Gefira Financial Bulletin #57 is available now
Military hostilities used to be the last argument of sovereigns. The barrels of canons would bear the inscription ultima ratio regum (in France) or ultima ratio regis (in Prussia). This has changed a little bit. Since warfare has become a very costly venture and especially since a number of states possess nuclear weapons whose possible use might wreak unimaginable havoc and render large swathes of territory useless for the victorious power, present-day sovereigns have resorted more and more to soft tactics, which are – despite their name – as efficient or even more efficient than firearms. Did not the Soviet Union collapse due to the soft penetration, infiltration and subversion applied by the West? The collective mind of the Soviet leadership was in the cross hairs of the financial, philosophical, political and cultural impact directed against it by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and smaller players. The result was more than impressive: neither Charles XII of Sweden in the 18th century, nor Napoleon Bonaparte in the 19th, nor Adolf Hitler in the 20th succeed in weakening Russia to anything remotely comparable with what happened with the Soviet Union in 1991 and thereafter. The territory of the superpower was significantly reduced, new independent states were carved out of it, and Russia herself was plunged into a decade of economic chaos and political turmoil in their magnitude surpassed only by the civil war of the early twenties of the 20th century if one only considers modern history. The battle for the minds is certainly not as spectacular as the clash between tanks or dogfights of aircraft, and it certainly is fought over a much extended period, but nonetheless its outcome is more than satisfactory.
The Chinese leadership drew its lessons from the disintegration of the Soviet Union and they have held a tight grip on the state matters before and especially since the 1989 Tiananmen Square riot. Beijing is well aware of the psychological infiltration, penetration and subversion targeting China’s population from abroad and so it has cut off the national internet from the global web and recently has cracked down on the entertainment industry, took control of the computer games and TV programmes to which the Chinese youth is exposed. That’s another instance of the battles for the minds. The European Union is not lagging behind in matters concerning psychological war.
In 2015, the EU’s East StratCom Task Force rolled out its flagship project – as they call it themselves – named EUvsDisinfo, a body that “identifies, compiles, and exposes disinformation cases originating in pro-Kremlin media that are spread across the EU and Eastern Partnership countries.” Within this project, in one of the tabs, news items originating from the sources just mentioned are quoted – white on black – and a disproof is presented: black on orange. In other places a whole analysis is offered, an analysis that devastatingly critiques a text recognised as the Kremlin’s propaganda. Surveying the hundreds of allegedly debunked pieces of information and their sources, one can see almost immediately that EUvsDisinfo has been targeting Sputnik most of the time. Anything that is written against the Post-West, the European Union, the United States, even individuals like George Soros in the media associated with Moscow or regarded as close to Russia comes under attack from EUvsDisinfo, which – naturally! – acts as an absolutely objective source of truth. Consider the following example. Continue reading
As the globe is splitting into two rivalling camps with the the English speaking world plus Europe and Israel on the one side and Eurasia (countries gathered within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that encompasses not only Russia and China but also India, Pakistan, the former Soviet Asian republics, and recently Iran) on the other, as the storm clouds are gathering and the invasion of Europe by the Third World has found a new channel via Belarus and Poland, amid the energy crisis over the supply of Russian gas and the decarbonization of the white man’s countries, amid the ethnic replacement and the alleged threat from the Kremlin, the European Union has launched an ideological attack against its colonial coolies – Poland, Hungary, Romania and Latvia – for not living up to the values that the Union is founded on. The said member states refuse to accept the LGTB ideology that is being foisted on them by their more enlightened brothers. The European Union expresses its deep concern over “a serious breach of the rule of law, the stigmatization, intimidation and increased discrimination against LGTB people, bans on pride marches and awareness-raising programmes in schools.” The Union’s leaders are annoyed by the numerous initiatives of Polish regional authorities which (i) declared the areas under their control free from LGTB ideology, and (ii) adopted regional charters of family rights which – what an abomination! – provide a “too narrow definition of the family.” The European leaders are also angered over “conversion therapy” offered in these countries and the way in which the central and eastern European governments deal with pro-LGTB activists, punishing them for resorting to “creative advocacy tools”(??).
In response to all this outrage – like not recognizing two mothers of a child – and “having regard to” the statement made by Ursula von der Leyen, the lady who was humiliated by Turkey’s leader in that he offered her no chair or – more formally – the lady who is the current President of the European Commission (read: government) – that “LGTBQI-free zones are humanity free zones”, the European Union declared its territory – which automatically means the territory of Poland, Hungary, Romania and Latvia – an “LGTBQI Freedom Zone”. So much for the political, rational and moral condition of the alliance of some of the most developed countries in the world. Continue reading
OPEC+ headed for a clash with the U.S. as more members rejected President Joe Biden’s call for the group to raise oil production faster and help reduce gasoline prices. On Monday, Kuwait said the cartel should stick with its plan to increase output gradually because oil markets were well-balanced. That followed similar statements from other key members in recent days, including Iraq, Algeria, Angola and Nigeria. Source Al Jazeera
“If a state buys (weaponry) from us, it’s no longer a Turkish product. It might be manufactured in Turkey, but it belongs to Ukraine,” Cavusoglu told reporters after meeting his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on the margins of the G20 summit in Rome. “Turkey cannot be blamed for this,” he said. Source The Defence Post
Bulgaria has sent 350 additional military personnel to its border with Turkey amid rising migration levels. Defense Minister Georgi Panayotov told Bulgarian media that the troops were arriving to “support the border police”. Source EuroNews
Russia is warning Turkey over arms sales to Ukraine after a Turkish-made drone attacked Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine.
A Kremlin spokesman has warned that Turkey’s ongoing arms sales to Ukraine threaten to destabilize the region. Source VOA
A police patrol was attacked by three individuals this Wednesday evening in a street east of Lille (North). The perpetrators managed to escape. Was a Lille police crew the victim of an ambush around 8:40 p.m. Wednesday evening? The police were called for three hooded individuals who were stealing tires in the rue Massenet. Once there, they found no one. Source Actu17
Police officers were targeted by gunfire in Lyon this Monday evening, in the district of La Duchère. There are no injuries to deplore. The author (s) are actively sought. The police from the RAID branch are on site as reinforcements. Source Actu17
France: Night of urban violence in the district of Perseigne in Alençon (Orne). About fifteen vehicles were set on fire. The police and firefighters came under firework mortar fire and projectile jets. Source Actu17
Poland must pay daily fines of €1 million over its controversial judiciary reforms, the European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The penalty is believed to be the highest ever imposed on a member state. The punitive measures will be in place until Warsaw agrees to comply with an ECJ ruling issued back in July that ordered the immediate suspension of the disciplinary chamber of judges of the Supreme Court and the reversal of the decisions it had already taken on the lifting of judicial immunity. The chamber can punish magistrates according to the content of their resolutions. Source Euronews
Maréchal, who runs the Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences in Lyon, claims that Kosovo has been colonized by Albanian Muslims for years. Commenting on the great arrival of Muslims in France, from the countries that were once occupied and ruled by France. Maréchal said that it could change history. Source B92
Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia said their EU-wide initiative to expand the bloc’s military units was inspired by recent events in Afghanistan. Source DW
The Israeli Air Force will begin practicing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear program beginning next year, having set aside funding and updated its training schedule for the mission, The Times of Israel has learned. Source Times of Israel
President Vladimir Putin told Gazprom PJSC to turn to refilling European gas-storage facilities next month, signaling that long-awaited additional Russian supplies could be on the way. The move will “create a more favorable situation on the European energy market,” Putin said at a meeting broadcast on state television Wednesday. Source Al Jazeera
The chaos in gas and electricity markets is set to hit one group of people the hardest this winter: the four million households that use prepayment meters (PPMs).
While most people pay their bills monthly for energy they have already used, PPMs require people to pay for energy before they use it. PPMs take whatever money is in the meter and supply energy to the household. Source Open Democracy
Russia’s Gazprom has damped hopes for additional gas exports to Europe next month as the continent struggles with record prices, despite recent hints from President Vladimir Putin that more could be forthcoming.
UK and European gas prices surged as much as 18 per cent on Monday after a keenly awaited pipeline capacity auction showed no increase from Russia either through the Ukrainian pipeline system or lines passing via Poland to north-west Europe. Source FT
As of Sunday, the national price of a litre of Diesel was €1.555, according to the European motor association ADAC. This is just above the previous record price of €1.554 per litre set on August 26th, 2012. Source The Local
French ministers floated the possibility of petrol vouchers for low-income households on Monday, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government seeks to limit the damage from surging energy prices to his economic record six months from a presidential election. Source France24
Skoda started a two-week cut in output on Monday as the Czech brand contends with the global shortage of chips and other components, the company said. The Volkswagen Group unit wants to complete 10,000 unfinished cars during the outage, which will leave only one production line running, a spokesman said. Source Automotive News
“What is happening today in the energy markets of Europe is, to a certain extent, a man-made result of short-sighted policy,” the Russian President added Source TASS
India is facing an impending energy crisis as several states saw coal-fired power plants shut down due to a coal shortage. Major cities such as the capital New Delhi experienced electricity cuts that ran for hours over the weekend. Source DW
India is grappling with an escalating crisis as stockpiles of coal, the fuel used to generate about 70% of the nation’s electricity, dwindle to the lowest in years just as power demand is set to surge. Source EconomicTimes
Soaring gas prices are forecast to drive a switch to oil and put more energy suppliers in Britain out of business, while industry groups called on Thursday for government action to ensure there is no supply interruption this winter. Source GCaptain
Gefira tracks the global players in Europe, the USA, Russia and China and anticipates the consequences of their policies
Gefira No. 9 is now available at a discount. 160 euros for 10 issues a year plus access to our archives.
Europe's geopolitical situation resembles that of 1913.
The enlargement of the European Union to the east, Germany's Ostpolitik, economic power and its reluctance to align its policy with France's and Italy's make the break-up of the Union unavoidable. While Germany is gaining a status of a financial superstar, German society is starting to disintegrate.
Nobody dares to ask, but the ECB board is bracing itself for the upcoming break-up of the euro. The Gefira team explains why France or Italy will leave the euro and we investigate how the ECB is preparing for the looming euro collapse.
