Libération and the new EU scandal

Laurent Joffrin, the main editor of the French “Libération”, which is known for its leftist views, was until now the Ayatollah of the EU, who praised the EU to the skies in his publications. Suddenly, just at the moment when Merkel’s era is (fortunately) coming to an end and the SPD is coming to power (God have mercy on us!), he publishes sensations that cause earthquakes in Brussels and especially in Luxembourg, which is less watched by journalists. In his latest articles he describes how corrupted and corrupting the EU politicians are. He revealed, among other things, abuses in expense accounts, housing allowances or private use of official cars at the top of the European Court of Auditors (ECA). It turned out that a state within a state was created around the ECA, a network of civil servants and lobbists mainly from the European People’s Party (EPP), who built their own paradise out of the public money. The money went, among other things, for hunting and parties in luxurious castles, where further machinations were discussed in a champagne-bubbling ambience. Number one of the clique was a member of the Court of Auditors from Belgium, Karel Pinxten. He was convicted by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the autumn for using 500,000 euros illegally. Poor Pinxten: his colleagues cut his salary by two-thirds for this.

You can easily find the other details on the Internet. We don’t need to repeat them here. You know it yourself, how far the EU elites are out of touch with reality, hypocritical, corrupt and nepotistic. “Libération” only provided further evidence of this. The comparison that the EU is like Byzantium comes naturally. The difference is: the Saracens are not ante portas, but deeply inside by the millions.

It is interesting here that Donald Tusk, the president of the EPP, is silent on this. Tusk, who recently, after the termination of his career as President of the EU Parliament, made possible by Merkel (it was a reward for allowing the construction of the Northern Stream when he was Polish Prime Minister) tries to assert himself again – unsuccessfully – on the political scene in Poland. There he criticizes the ruling Law and Justice Party, which has come into conflict with the EU Court of Justice. Well, some judges, like Chairman Koen Lenaerts, have joined Pinxten’s parties and his network, Mr. Tusk. That you are silent on the unpleasant facts about their colleagues, we understand: Omertà.

Silence applied also in the Western “qualitative” media until now. Anyone who dared to criticize the EU was immediately called a Russophile and had mud thrown at him. Times are changing? Did Monsieur Joffrin experience an inner transformation and see through how evil the kolkhoz, called the EU, is? No way. We bet he continues to write to order. The EPP had to get problems because now Mr. Scholz is at the head of the federal empire of left-green ideas and the socialists and social democrats wanted to see blood of the EPP at last. You understand comrades, sometimes there has to be a purge.

John 18:38

He was an illustrious representative of the highly developed civilization, a civilization that had swallowed up and internalized a number of cultures. He was a representative of a multi-cultural state that had been absorbing aliens by the thousands and granting them citizenship. He had been immersed in the philosophical and literary trends of the times, he had much knowledge about the physical world and social institutions. For all that, confronted with a convict from one of the far-flung corners of the empire, he was incapable of formulating a definition of what truth is. He went down in history not only as the one who washes his hands in an attempt to exonerate himself from guilt and responsibility: he is also remembered for asking the (foolish) question of: What is truth.

The Convict standing in front of him did not answer that question. Why? Because it was no use. Try telling the modern post-Western intellectual what truth is and he will ridicule you and call into question any and all facts, data and their interpretation, reasoning and – yes – common sense. Not a stone in your argumentation will be left unturned. You will learn from him that there is no truth, or that we all have our own truths, or that everything is relative and changeable, and to claim the possession of truth is tantamount to intellectual dictatorship that leads straight to – yes, your guess is correct – fascism.

That is why the Convict did not try to engage in any conversation on what truth is, since no one is so blind as the one who will not see. Pilate, that illustrious representative of the highly developed civilization, a civilization that had swallowed up and internalized a number of cultures, a man of letters knowledgeable about everything and anything, was left with his question for all eternity. The followers of the Convict, the mostly illiterate dimwits making their living from simple trades and inhabiting the space somewhere between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, knew what truth is, they knew it to such a degree that they were ready to lay down their lives for it, and so their spiritual heirs slowly but surely subverted the Roman Empire and brought about the downfall of the world of those who did not know what truth is. It is really as simple as that. Continue reading →

The battle for water

It is a well-known thesis that the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is not really about politics, but about access to water. The Israeli military administration has systematically prevented Palestinian groundwater capture in the West Bank since 1967. In Gaza, on the other hand, anyone can drill a well, and although Tel-Aviv’s policy there is not as restrictive as in the West Bank, there is a huge problem with water quality. Demography plays a big role in this, as water-scarce Gaza is densely populated, while the water-rich West Bank is sparsely populated. This problem is not being solved as the Israelis seek to expand their state eastwards.

In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank to secure the water supply for the fledgling state. Since then, about 90 per cent of the Jordan’s water has been piped to Israel, while the 250-kilometre-long Jordan River must also supply water to Syria and Jordan. The fact that the Jordan is such a small river will lead to even more conflicts in the region in the future.

Egypt functions in a similar way. As early as 1929, it secured a treaty signed with the British to the effect that all states bordering the Nile must first ask Egypt for permission if they want to use the Nile water. Egypt’s entire life takes place on the banks of the Nile, from which the country draws 97% of its water. When Ethiopia tried to build dams on its territory in 1980, it almost came to war.

Turkey controls the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and determines how much water Syria and Iraq get. Erdoğan, the new sultan on the Bosporus, who obviously wants to expand his sultanate, does not necessarily have to intervene militarily in Syria or Iraq: it is enough that he will just turn off the tap once in a while. Just as he cleverly put pressure on Europe with migrant flows, in the future he could blackmail the countries located on the two rivers with access to water.

That wars over water are not just latent or part of history, like the 1948 conflict over the Indus between India and Pakistan, is evidenced by the events of this spring, when a bloody clash broke out between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Heavy fighting between the centralist countries, which left 40 dead and several hundred injured, was triggered by disputes over the water distribution point on the Isfara River. Water was then only a spark in the powder keg of the hostile ethnic groups of Central Asia. While the Western media paid little attention to the events in May this year, the decision-makers in Beijing certainly watched it with great attention – anything that happens on the New Silk Road can thwart China’s plans.

With water it is like with oil: whoever sits at its source has a right to it that no one can dispute.

More on this topic in our latest bulletin.

Jordan River, aerial view, Wikipedia

Government bonds or shares are all rubbish. What to invest in?

The answer is not easy. Bill Gross, the founder of Pimco and “king of government bonds”, predicts that the yield on US 10-year bonds will rise to 2% next year. This would mean the 3% loss for investors at the current inflation rate. The dynamics of demand and supply also point to the further fall in the prices of US government bonds (rise in yield). Today, the FED is buying 60% of all US bonds as part of its quantitative easing, but will soon have no choice but to reduce the scale of US bond purchases in the face of inflation. At the same time, China, Russia are massively dumping these debt securities. So should one invest in equities? Now, when their prices are shooting through the roof? After all, shares can turn out to be rubbish if companies’ profits don’t want to rise as they have in recent years. With today’s inflation, it’s not worth holding cash either. The situation is becoming dramatic.

If you want to learn more, if you are looking for tips for your investments, please read recommendations and warnings for investors in our bulletins.

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Gefira 58: The World in the Making

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 World in the Making
Surveillance and Control
Warnings, Observations and Reflections for Investors
Invest in Blue Gold

Confidential Contenders, Foreseeable Recipients

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?