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Stansberry Investor Hour: A new way to profit from the death of retail

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From Stansberry Investor Hour:

Porter’s back in the studio with Buck as they dig deeper into the James Damore Google memo with a unique perspective that underlines what most people are missing about workplace diversity. Buck gives his ex-CIA perspective on the nuclear weapon tantrum throwing between North Korea and Donald Trump. Porter reveals the one stock you can play to profit from the death of the traditional retail sector… and it’s not what you think. An interview with Agora Publishing founder and best-selling author Bill Bonner brings to light the two greatest things that Porter ever learned about growing and building any business.

 

 


Jim Rickards: Russia’s economic prospects are better than you think…

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From Jim Rickards, Editor, Rickards’ Gold Speculator:

Russia is poised to break out of its oil-related slump and become one of the best performing emerging markets economies in the years ahead. This sleeping giant is breaking its dependence on oil prices and embraces diversified growth.

When you hear the name “Russia” you probably run for cover. Russia has been the subject of nearly continuous media coverage bordering on frenzy since the election of Donald Trump last November.

Russia allegedly hacked U.S. computer systems and email servers, rigged the election in favor of Trump, and colluded with the Trump campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton. Trump campaign officials met with Russian operatives and spies to coordinate all of this nefarious activity. Or so the story goes.

The truth is more complex. Russia certainly does run an around-the-clock hacking and spying operation aimed at any U.S. system they can penetrate. We do the same to Russia. It’s what national intelligence agencies do. No news there.

There may have been some “weaponization” of the hacked data through selective leaks to publishing outlets like Wikileaks. That allegation is less clear. Wikileaks has always insisted that their leaks did not come from Russia. There is some evidence to support the claim that the Hillary Clinton related leaks came from disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters. That truth may emerge later.

Trump campaign efforts to reach out to Russia between November 2016 and January 2017 did not have to do with “collusion.” They were a smart geopolitical move to align U.S. interests with Russia in advance of a confrontation with China about trade, currency, and North Korea.

Unfortunately, the Trump team consisted of amateurs like Jared Kushner who bungled the job. They played into the hands of Democrats who were waiting to pounce on the smallest sign of so-called collusion. This sequence combined with media bias has now poisoned the U.S.-Russia relationship.

Now, the confrontation with China is arriving right on schedule but the U.S. has no relationship with Russia to help back up our position. It’s two-against-one, and the U.S. is the odd man out — thanks to U.S. political dysfunction and the media.

The point in reciting this history is that it’s difficult for investors to separate the economic fundamentals of Russia from the media circus and political noise. If Russia were named “Volgastan,” and not involved in U.S. politics, its economic position would be one of the most attractive emerging markets stories in the world.

Let’s begin our independent analysis by reviewing the fundamentals…

Russia is the 12th largest economy in the world with about $1.3 trillion in GDP. That is slightly larger than Australia or Spain, and significantly larger than well-liked emerging markets economies such as Mexico, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Russia’s sovereign debt-to-GDP ratio is a microscopic 17%. Compare that to the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio of 106%, more than six times larger. Other debt-to-GDP zombies are Japan (240%), France (96%) and the UK (89%).

The fact is, in the next liquidity crisis, you won’t be hearing about Russian default. The U.S. and China are more likely to be in the eye of the storm.

Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter (after Saudi Arabia) and the world’s largest exporter of natural gas. Russia is also the world’s third largest gold producer after China and Australia, and ahead of the United States.

From a geopolitical perspective, Russia is one of only three genuinely powerful countries in the world (along with the U.S. and China) despite media efforts to portray it as an inefficient economic backwater.

Still, there’s much more to the Russian economic analysis than the familiar story of an export and geopolitical powerhouse. In particular, Russia has engaged in one of the most aggressive gold accumulation operations since the U.S. in the 1920s.

Russian reserves are managed by the Central Bank of Russia, CBR. The CBR Chair since 2013 has been Elvira Nabiullina. Think of her as the “Janet Yellen of Russia,” but with a much different pedigree.

Nabiullina did not graduate from one of the Keynesian-monetarist hotbeds such as MIT or the University of Chicago. She graduated from Moscow State University and worked her way up through the Russian Ministry for Economic Development and Trade.

With that background, she has a much better feel for the dynamics of Russian growth and the Russian people than the so-called Western experts who rushed in to “fix” the Russian economy in the 1990s. Those experts ruined Russia and paved the way for the more authoritarian politics of Vladimir Putin.

To his credit, Putin has given Nabiullina independence and allowed her to manage reserves, interest rates, and capital outflows with a minimum of political interference. In 2017, The Banker, a British publication, named Nabiullina “Central Banker of the Year, Europe.”

Nabiullina’s greatest accomplishment is to increase Russia’s gold reserves by 700 tonnes since taking office. This gold has a market value of $32 billion at today’s prices. This is on top of the approximately 1,000 tonnes of gold that Russia already had when Nabiullina became CBR Chair in 2013.

This is an extraordinary accomplishment considering that Russian reserves collapsed from about $525 billion to $350 billion during the oil price crash of 2014-2015. Today, Russia’s reserves are back up to a healthy $425 billion, recovering over 40% of the reserves lost in the oil price collapse.

Despite the roller-coaster ride in the overall reserve position, Russia never stopped buying gold. If it needed hard currency, Russia would sell U.S. Treasury securities and keep buying gold.

Russia now has a gold-to-GDP ratio of almost 6% — more than three times the comparable ratio for the U.S. Russia is preparing for the day when a full-blown crisis of confidence in the U.S. dollar emerges. At that point, a new international monetary conference similar to Bretton Woods will be convened.

In such a scenario, gold will be a major determinant of the power of each participant in reshaping the international monetary system. Russia will have a prime seat at the table, while gold weaklings such as the UK, Canada, and Australia sit along the sidelines.

Oil prices have stabilized above $40 per barrel, which puts a floor under the Russian economy. If oil prices rally, the Russian economy, stocks and currency will rally together.

But, Russia is not solely dependent on oil for economic growth. The Russian economy is poised for strong growth from a diversified combination of exports, agriculture, and direct foreign investment.

The combined prospect of strong growth independent of oil prices, and a possible windfall if oil prices spike on geopolitical fears, makes the Russian economy attractive right now.

What indicators am I using to support this positive fundamental analysis of the Russian economy?

The most important development is the diversification of the Russian economy to avoid exclusive reliance on energy exports.

Russia has revved up its export economy. These exports include arms sales to cash customers such as Iran and Turkey.

Russia is also a major exporter of nuclear power plants. Russia recently signed several major deals with Turkey on the expansion of Turkey’s nuclear power generating capacity, for example.

Russia is also harvesting a bumper crop of wheat both from Russia itself and parts of eastern Ukraine effectively dominated by Russia. These crops will be in high demand due to drought conditions in major Russian competitors such as Australia, Canada and the U.S.

Improvement in Russia’s trade surplus and reserve position will make it a magnet for direct foreign investment and global capital flows.

This combination of diversified export revenues and capable central bank reserve management has left Russia less vulnerable to economic sanctions and oil prices than most Western analysts expected.

Having weathered the storm, Russia will be the main beneficiary as sanctions are gradually eased and as oil prices gradually recover.

And did I mention that Russia’s acquiring gold? I’ll go deeper into that story tomorrow…

Regards,

Jim Rickards

P.S. The next big catalyst for gold could come as soon as this weekend… It has to do with Trump signing an executive order that will send gold and gold stocks soaring. Learn all the details and how to position your portfolio right here.

Jim Rickards: The only Russia story that matters

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Crux note: Yesterday, Jim told us about how Russia’s economy is surprisingly on the rebound. Today, he shares more details about their massive accumulation of gold reserves in recent years – and why you should care…


 From Jim Rickards, Editor, Rickards’ Gold Speculator:

The World Gold Council has reported that the Central Bank of Russia has more than doubled the pace of its gold purchases, bringing its reserves to the highest level since Putin took power 17 years ago.

Russia’s desire to break away from the hegemony of the U.S. dollar and the dollar payment system is well-known. Over 60% of global reserves and 80% of global payments are in dollars. The U.S. is the only country with veto power at the International Monetary Fund, the global lender of last resort.

Perhaps Russia’s most aggressive weapon in its war on dollars is gold. The first line of defense is to acquire physical gold, which cannot be frozen out of the international payments system or hacked.

With gold, you can always pay another country just by putting the gold on an airplane and shipping it to the counterparty. This is the 21st-century equivalent of how J.P. Morgan settled payments in gold by ship or railroad in the early 20th century.

Russia has now tripled its gold reserves from around 600 tonnes to 1,800 tonnes over the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Even when oil prices and Russian reserves were collapsing in 2015, Russia continued to acquire gold.

But Russia is pursuing other dollar alternatives besides gold.

For one, it’s been building nondollar payments systems with regional trading partners and China.

The U.S. uses its influence at SWIFT, the central nervous system of global money transfer message traffic, to cut off nations it considers to be threats.

From a financial perspective, this is like cutting off oxygen to a patient in the intensive care unit. Russia understands its vulnerability to U.S. domination and wants to reduce that vulnerability.

Now Russia has created an alternative to SWIFT.

The head of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, has reported to Vladimir Putin that “There was the threat of being shut out of SWIFT. We updated our transaction system, and if anything happens, all SWIFT-format operations will continue to work. We created an analogous system.”

Russia is also part of a reported Chinese plan to install a new international monetary order that excludes U.S. dollars. Under that plan, China could buy Russian oil with yuan and Russia could then exchange that yuan for gold on the Shanghai exchange.

Now it appears Russia has another weapon in its anti-dollar arsenal.

Russia’s development bank, VEB, and several Russian state ministries are reportedly teaming up to develop blockchain technology. They want to create a fully encrypted, distributed, inexpensive payments system that does not rely on Western banks, SWIFT or the U.S. to move money around.

This has nothing to do with bitcoin, which is just another digital token. The blockchain technology (now often referred to as distributed ledger technology, or DLT) is a platform that can facilitate a wide variety of transfers — possibly including a new Russian-state cryptocurrency backed by gold.

“Putin coins,” anyone?

The ultimate loser here will be the dollar. That’s one more reason for investors to allocate part of their portfolios to assets such as gold.

Regards,

Jim Rickards

P.S. A major gold catalyst may be less than a week away. According to my research, Trump will soon sign an executive order that will provide a big boost to gold and gold stocks. Get the full story right here.

Why it’s time to buy Russian stocks

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From Justin Spittler, Editor, Casey Daily Dispatch:

“Russian Hackers Will Try to Impact More Elections”…

“Rumors of War: Russia massing troops on North Korea border”…

“U.S.-Russia relations at another low after Syria attacks”…

Lately, Russia’s been getting nothing but bad press. So it shouldn’t surprise you that most investors want nothing to do with Russian stocks.

But I’m not like most investors. I’m a contrarian.

Like Doug Casey, I like to buy stocks other investors despise. This allows me to get incredible deals…and often bag huge returns.

So today, I’m going to tell you why you should consider Russian stocks, which are easily some of the most hated stocks on the planet.

You heard that right. I’m about to tell you why Russian stocks could rip higher in the months ahead.

It sounds crazy. But here’s the thing…

The news isn’t as important as you think…

You see, the market often “prices in” news before you hear about it.

Other times, investors simply shrug off news.

That’s been the case with Russian stocks lately. Just look at the chart below.

It shows the performance of the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), which invests in 30 Russian companies.

It’s up 24% since June despite a steady stream of bad news.

In a second, I’ll show you what’s fueling this rally…I’ll tell you why Russian stocks should keep rising…and I’ll show you an easy way to profit from this coming rally.

But you should first understand why these hated stocks even have my attention…

Russian stocks are dirt-cheap…

We can see this by looking at the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio. The CAPE ratio is the cousin to the popular price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. The only difference is that it uses 10 years’ worth of earnings instead of just the previous year’s.

It’s one of the best ways to tell if stocks are cheap or expensive.

Right now, the CAPE ratio for Russian stocks is hovering around 6. For perspective, the S&P 500 is currently trading at a CAPE ratio of 31.

This means Russian stocks are 80% cheaper than U.S. stocks.

Of course, Russian stocks should be cheaper than U.S stocks…

They’re much riskier. And investors pay a premium to own safe stocks.

But you have to ask yourself, “How safe are U.S. stocks really?”

After all, U.S. stocks have been rallying for nearly straight nine years. At this point, they’ve only been more expensive one other time. And that was during the dot-com bubble.

In short, investors aren’t getting what they’re paying for with U.S. stocks.

Plus, Russian stocks aren’t just cheap relative to U.S. stocks. They’re also cheap relative to history. In fact, they’re trading at a 5% discount to their own historical valuation.

Now, that might not sound like a big deal…

But almost every stock market in the world is trading at a steep historical premium right now. Just look at the table below.

You can see that Russian stocks aren’t just a lot cheaper than U.S. stocks. They’re also cheaper than other emerging market stocks.

  Current Price-to-Book (P/B) 10-Year Avg. P/B Premium
U.S. 2.9 2.2 32%
Brazil 1.7 1.5 13%
India 2.8 2.5 12%
China 1.7 1.6 6%
Russia 1.9 2 -5%

In short, Russia’s about the only place on earth where stocks are cheap.

Of course, regular readers know that it’s not enough to just be cheap…

For me to be interested, there also has to be a reason why those stocks will rise in value.

And we have that with Russian stocks. Before I tell you what that is, you must understand something about Russia.

Its economy revolves around oil. In fact, crude oil makes up 33% of its exports. Refined oil products account for another 16%.

Because of this, Russian stocks closely track oil.

You can see what I mean in the chart below. The green line you’re looking at is RSX. The blue line is the price of oil. The two lines practically move in lockstep.

And that’s where today’s opportunity lies…

Oil’s up 27% since June…

And that’s triggered a huge move in Russian stocks. It’s why RSX is up 23% over the same period.

Now, that’s a big move. But don’t worry.

Oil’s likely headed much higher. And here’s why…

  • Demand for oil is picking up. Earlier this month, the International Energy Association (IEA) raised its global oil demand by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). It did this due to “stronger than expected” demand in the U.S. and Europe.
  • It was the third straight month that it raised its estimate.
  • Global oil inventories are declining. According to the IEA, global oil stocks are returning to normal levels after being extremely bloated for months. It even recently said that the oil inventories of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) could fall below their five-year average “very soon.”
  • Global oil production is coming down. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a cartel of 12 major oil-producing countries, has cut its production by 1.8 million bpd since the start of the year. Last month was also the first time in four months that global production fell.

These are all ingredients for higher oil prices.

Now, it’s hard to say how much higher oil will climb…

But history tells us it could soar.

You see, the price of oil plunged 78% between July 2008 and December 2008.

That’s an enormous decline. According to DailyWealth Trader editor Ben Morris, the price of oil has only fallen 50% or more five times in the last 30 years.

Each time this happened, it set the stage for a monster oil rally. In fact, oil’s average gain the last four times this happened was 327%. This means the price of oil could soar another 127% before this rally is said and done.

If this happens, Russian stocks could shoot through the stratosphere…

So, consider buying Russian stocks if you’re looking for a cheap way to profit from higher oil prices.

You can easily do this with an ETF like RSX.

Just understand that Russian stocks are highly speculative. So don’t bet more money than you can afford to lose. Use stop losses. And take profits when you get them.

Investors who do this will set themselves up for big profits without exposing themselves to big losses.

Regards,

Justin Spittler

P.S. Russian stocks aren’t the only speculative opportunity I like today… Right now, there’s an enormous rally shaping up in another sector that I’ve been researching for the last six months. To learn more, check out this new video my team and I recently put together. As you’ll see, Casey Research founder Doug Casey is even getting in on the boom. He’s already made a million bucks betting on a little-known company in this sector. But this is only the beginning

Jordan Peterson on ‘who ends up with the money’

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From YouTube:

In this video, Psychology Professor Jordan B. Peterson talks about the Soviet Revolution, Pareto distributions, productivity, and who ends up with the money.

 

Here’s how blockchain technology will change the world

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From Adam Sharp, Editor, First Stage Investor:

The president of Venezuela announced this month that the country will launch its own cryptocurrency (aka crypto).

Apparently the new monetary unit, called the “petro,” will be backed by oil and gas reserves.

The move comes as the Venezuelan bolivar has collapsed, and U.S. sanctions have crippled the country’s ability to trade and borrow.

The country is attempting to reset its financial slate by jumping on the crypto bandwagon.

China, Russia and Ukraine are also seriously looking into launching cryptographic versions of their own currencies.

However, these state-run cryptos will suffer from the same problems their legacy currencies did. That is, governments can still print as much money as they want.

The takeaway here is that countries will adopt this technology because it’s superior to the old system. It’s faster, cheaper and more secure.

But the beauty of real crypto is that it’s not controlled by central banks or governments. The number of “coins” can be hard capped. Bitcoin, for example, will only ever have 21 million coins.

Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, is responsible for this budding revolution. Its blockchain technology, which is open-source and free to use, is set to change the world.

With blockchains, anyone can create and trade scarce digital assets.

So while nations will almost certainly attempt to modernize their own fiat currencies by “going crypto,” the real action is happening with independent cryptocurrencies.

Crypto Rising

There are now thousands of unique crypto assets (cryptocurrencies and tokens).

The value of all these assets combined recently passed $600 billion, with bitcoin currently making up 49% of the total.

Here’s a snapshot from Coinmarketcap.com, which tracks hundreds of digital assets…

Each asset has its own purpose and niche. Here’s a quick overview of the top two cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and Ethereum.

Bitcoin is seen as “digital gold” – a new way to store and transfer value. As the original coin (and the most liquid), it also acts as a sort of “reserve currency” for the crypto world.

Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset, is more complex. It’s a cryptocurrency, but it’s also much more than that. Ethereum is a platform for building decentralized applications.

It has its own coding language that can be used to create “smart contracts.” The most common use of smart contracts today is initial coin offerings (ICOs).

ICOs are similar to IPOs but for new cryptocurrencies and tokens. Money is raised from the public to fund the development of new projects.

Most ICOs today take place on the Ethereum network. In essence, you send Ethereum (ETH) to a specific address and receive the new coins in exchange.

The entire process is powered by smart contracts and hosted on the Ethereum network, which is made up of thousands of powerful computers around the world.

Gearing Up

Blockchains will likely go down in history as an invention comparable in magnitude to the printing press.

The tools necessary to create and maintain digital assets are now freely available to all. Cryptocurrencies are leading the way, but the potential applications of this technology are simply mind-blowing.

Here are a few:

  • Dividend distribution
  • Record keeping
  • Profit-sharing
  • Voting
  • Loyalty programs
  • Health records
  • Digital identity services
  • Cap table management
  • Prediction markets
  • Options
  • Distributed web hosting.

There are multiple crypto projects tackling each of these gigantic areas. And we’ve only begun to explore the possibilities.

So when I hear someone call crypto a fad or a fraud, I chuckle.

What we’re seeing is the beginning of a technological breakthrough the likes of which the world has never seen (with the possible exception of the internet).

Yes, I believe it’s going to be that big.

Now… before you go out and start buying up crypto assets, please spend some time learning the basics.

And if you’re looking for guidance, my research service First Stage Investor is a good place to start. We currently have five crypto recommendations and some incredible gains. To get the full story, click here.

Good investing,

Adam

U.S. troops should prepare for a ‘big-ass’ war with Russia, four-star general says

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From Christina Maza at Newsweek:

Marines stationed in Norway should be prepared for a “big-ass fight” with a foreign adversary, perhaps Russia, a four-star general said during a Christmas visit.

“I hope I’m wrong, but there’s a war coming,” Robert Neller, a four-star who currently serves as the 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Marines in Trondheim, Norway. “You’re in a fight here, an informational fight, a political fight, by your presence.”

Neller stressed that Russia is among the main threats that the Marines should be prepared to confront, along with conflict in the Pacific. There are around 300 Marines currently stationed in Norway, and their stated goal is to enhance partnerships with European allies. But their deployment has concerned nearby Russia, which shares a 120-mile border with Norway and views the presence of U.S. soldiers on its border as an addition to the NATO troops stationed in other neighboring countries, such as Poland and Lithuania.

“Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so … willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces?” the Russian embassy in Norway said to Reuters when the plan to send U.S. Marines to Norway was first announced in 2016.

The first rotation of Marines was deployed to Norway in January and was replaced by a new unit in August. Their deployment in January marked the first time foreign troops were stationed in Norway since World War II.

The Marines originally planned to stay in Norway for just one year, but the military recently announced its decision to keep the troops in Norway until the end of 2018.

During his recent visit to Norway, Neller stressed that the number of U.S. Marines could be increased rapidly, a fact that would almost certainly rile Russia.

“Just remember why you’re here,” he told the Marines.

Continue reading at Newsweek right here…


Crux note: As the general said, war looks imminent. Dr. David Eifrig has been following this story over the past year. And according to his research, most U.S. citizens are woefully unprepared for a coming war. He recently released a presentation outlining exactly what you can do to prepare yourself and your family for this “inevitable” scenario. Watch it (or read the transcript) here.

Russia ‘simulated full-scale war’ against NATO, says military commander

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Crux note: The world is preparing for war…

Two weeks ago, we shared Marine Commandant Robert Neller’s ominous message to U.S. troops stationed in Norway. As Newsweek reported…

Marines stationed in Norway should be prepared for a “big-ass fight” with a foreign adversary, perhaps Russia, a four-star general said during a Christmas visit.

“I hope I’m wrong, but there’s a war coming,” Robert Neller, a four-star who currently serves as the 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Marines in Trondheim, Norway. “You’re in a fight here, an informational fight, a political fight, by your presence.”

Neller stressed that Russia is among the main threats that the Marines should be prepared to confront, along with conflict in the Pacific. 

Today, we see a new report that the U.S. isn’t the only country preparing for a massive new war. Below, you’ll see that Russia is conducting war games of its own.

There’s no reason to panic, but it’s time to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Dr. David Eifrig has been digging into this story for months now, and according to him, most Americans are woefully unprepared. We urge you to check out his latest report on what you can do to prepare yourself – and your portfolio – for a global military build-up and potential new war. He explains everything you need to know right here.



From The Independent:

Russian war games held last September “simulated a large-scale military attack against Nato”, the commander of the Estonian Defence Forces has claimed.

Riho Terras confirmed Nato’s fears that the Zapad (or “West”) exercises were used to simulate a conflict with the US-led alliance and show off Russia’s ability to amass large numbers of troops at extremely short notice in the event of a conflict.

The drills – which were held in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and its Kaliningrad outpost between 14 and 20 September last year – depicted a fictional scenario concerned with attacks by militants, according to Russia’s defence ministry.

But in an interview with Germany’s top-selling newspaper, Bild, Mr. Terras said: “Let me be clear: with the exercise Zapad 2017, Russia simulated a large-scale military attack against Nato.

“It was not targeted towards the Baltic states only, as it was a theatre-wide series of exercises spanning from high North to the Black Sea.”

He added: “The scale and extent of the entire exercise was far greater than officially stated.”

Instead of being a “purely defensive” exercise, as Russia claimed, Zapad was used to simulate a “full-scale conventional war against Nato in Europe”, the newspaper previously reported, citing two analysts from a western intelligence service.

The report claimed the drills involved far more troops than the 12,700 that Russia’s defence ministry claimed took part.

Another 12,000 Russian soldiers took part in exercises in regions “near the Estonian borders”, and more than 10,000 in the area near the north of Finland and Norway, the sources said.

Continue reading at The Independent right here


Scandal brewing? GOP lawmakers demand that ‘alarming’ top secret memo be made public

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Crux note: Yesterday, we shared the news that the Senate voted to extend the NSA spying program.

Last night, we got word that there was more to the story. Republican lawmakers are now demanding that a top secret memo on abuses by the intelligence community’s FISA court be made public.

The top secret memo is being called “alarming” and “shocking.”

From what we understand, it has to do with the Russian dossier and Russian collusion stories we were inundated with last year. The media has been mostly quiet about the situation. (Maybe because of the damage it would do to their credibility if the Russian collusion story is found to be a giant hoax). According to some, it may even incriminate some members of the Obama administration and the Comey FBI. We’ll keep an eye on this story in the days and weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, here’s what the lawmakers who saw the bill are saying about it…


From Fox News:

A four-page memo circulating in Congress that reveals alleged United States government surveillance abuses is being described by lawmakers as “shocking,” “troubling” and “alarming,” with one congressman likening the details to KGB activity in Russia.

Speaking with Fox News, the lawmakers said they could not yet discuss the contents of the memo they reviewed on Thursday after it was released to members by the House Intelligence Committee. But they say the memo should be immediately made public.

“It is so alarming the American people have to see this,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said.

“It’s troubling. It is shocking,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said. “Part of me wishes that I didn’t read it because I don’t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much.”

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said he believed people could lose their jobs after the memo is released.

“I believe the consequence of its release will be major changes in people currently working at the FBI and the Department of Justice,” he said, referencing DOJ officials Rod Rosenstein and Bruce Ohr.

“You think about, ‘is this happening in America or is this the KGB?’ That’s how alarming it is,” Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry said.

Continue reading at Fox News here…

Russia’s golden ‘buying spree’

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From Kitco News:

While some have been shying away from the gold market, with prices seeing their biggest daily decline in two months Friday, one country is paying close attention to the precious metal – Russia.

According to Shae Russell, lead editor of Markets & Money, the country’s path to increasing its gold reserves is something that shouldn’t be ignored.

“Even though the precious metal isn’t at the center of the financial system today, gold still equals power,” she wrote in a post Monday.

“Since July 2014, Russia’s central bank has increased gold stores by 75%,” she added.

Looking at the latest World Gold Council data, released in February, Russia currently holds 1,839.8 gold tonnes, making up 17.7% of its total reserves. The government’s “buying spree,” as Russell pointed out, has made the country the seventh-largest gold holder.

However, there is more to the Russia story…

Continue reading at Kitco News

BBC: Russian opposition leader Navalny’s name shifts snow in Moscow

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From the BBC:

“Moscow residents say they have found that the only way to get the council to clear snow is to write the name of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on it.

Posts on Facebook and Twitter have received thousands of likes, after disgruntled residents took to social media, saying that they tried spray-painting ‘Navalny’ on the city’s deep snow out of frustration at the authorities’ slowness in removing them.

One user said the move prompted immediate reaction and that council workers removed the graffiti ‘within hours’…

Mr. Navalny is Russia’s best-known critic of President Vladimir Putin, and state media never mention him by name. President Putin famously refuses to call Mr. Navalny by his name, usually referring to him as ‘that person’ when asked about him…”

Continue reading at BBC.com

Bernie blames Hillary for allowing Russian interference

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From Politico:

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday blamed Hillary Clinton for not doing more to stop the Russian attack on the last presidential election. Then his 2016 campaign manager, in an interview with POLITICO, said he’s seen no evidence to support special counsel Robert Mueller’s assertion in an indictment last week that the Russian operation had backed Sanders’ campaign.

The remarks showed Sanders, running for a third term and currently considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, deeply defensive in response to questions posed to him about what was laid out in the indictment. He attempted to thread a response that blasts Donald Trump for refusing to acknowledge that Russians helped his campaign — but then holds himself harmless for a nearly identical denial.

In doing so, Sanders and his former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, presented a series of self-serving statements that were not accurate…

Continue reading at Politico…

Bitcoin’s mystery buyer, inflation, and volatility

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From the Stansberry NewsWire team:

In today’s MarketCast, John Gillin talks Russian influence in the 2018 election and why the finger is being pointed at Facebook. Scott Garliss discusses record Treasury auctions and what it means for investors in the coming weeks. Greg Diamond tells you about the story of an apparent mystery buyer that seems to be propping up the bid on bitcoin around the $8,000 price point. And John gives you an idea of how the Stansberry NewsWire team is going to take advantage of market volatility.

Download the podcast for Android and iOS.

And for daily alerts, trading tips, and actionable recommendations from the Stansberry NewsWire, click here.

Drone swarms are going to be terrifying and hard to stop

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Crux note: As recently as January there have been reports of “fixed-wing drones… made of plywood and loaded with explosives” attacking air bases in Syria.

And with the U.S. testing its own high-tech swarm, drone technology has the potential to create a capital boon for defense companies… and their investors.

That’s why Dr. David “Doc” Eifrig has put together a list of his favorite defense companies… each ranked as a strong “buy” today.

To view Doc’s short presentation with all the details – including how you can get instant access to these recommendations, absolutely risk-free – click here to learn more.


From The Atlantic:

drones

As regular people purchase more drones, the small, unmanned aerial systems keep dropping in price and growing in capability. Once expensive, underpowered, remotely piloted toys with blink-of-an-eye battery life, consumer drones can now operate far more independently and for longer periods of time. They are nothing like the heavily armed fixed-wing drones such as the Reaper, which American forces have used to prosecute quiet wars across the world, but a new National Academy of Sciences report suggests that small, consumer-grade drones could be used in swarms to effectively attack American infantry with onboard bombs.

“Contrary to the past, when U.S. warfighters may have found improvised explosive devices, now the improvised explosive devices will find our warfighters,” the report concludes…

Continue reading at The Atlantic

Putin on Russia’s new missiles: ‘It’s not a bluff’

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Crux note: Two weeks ago, the news broke that Russia screened an animated video depicting new, “invincible” missiles targeting Florida… But the White House’s response was direct: “U.S. defense capabilities are and will remain second to none.”

Headlines like this virtually guarantee that defense spending will continue to increase if the U.S. intends to maintain its status as a global superpower.

And that’s why Dr. David “Doc” Eifrig put together a list of his favorite defense companies… each ranked as a “strong buy” today.

To view Doc’s short presentation with all the details – including how you can get instant access to his “war chest” recommendations, absolutely risk-free… click here.


From DefenseNews:

MOSCOW — Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unveiling of several new types of nuclear weapons March 1, Westerners were left scratching their heads and wondering if he was bluffing. But in an interview published by the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) on Monday, Deputy Defence Minister Yury Borisov assured them: “This is no bluff.”

Borisov was specifically referring to the hypersonic boost-glide system Avangard, also known as 4202, one of the systems mentioned by Putin. The announcement itself was not a revelation. Russia has been testing hypersonic technologies similar to the U.S. gliders since at least 2004, and the Soviets began playing with the technology in the late 1980s.

“Avangard is well-tested,” Borisov said. “Its development was not without difficulty because the temperature on the surface of the glide vehicle reaches 2,000 degrees Celsius. It really flies within a plasma.”

Borisov said the major stumbling blocks to Avangard’s development were related to control surfaces and heat shielding for the vehicle.

Borisov, who is in charge of defense procurement, stressed that solutions were found and that “we already have a contract for the mass production of this system.” He also mentioned that Russia’s new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, the 200-ton Sarmat, would be capable of launching a hypersonic vehicle – suggesting that Sarmat will double as the launch vehicle for Avangard.

Borisov’s interview comes a day after the Defence Ministry published a video of another Russian hypersonic system, Kinzhal, conducting a test flight. Taken together, it seems the Defence Ministry wants to underscore Putin’s message and ensure the announced systems are real – and not bluffs. Borisov walked down the list of six new systems announced by Putin.

Continue reading at DefenseNews


Putin and the curious case of Sergei Skripal

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Vladimir Putin insists that there’s no way Russia poisoned the former spy with Novichok.


From The Weekly Standard:

Who poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia?

Rex Tillerson thinks he knows. Tillerson, in one of his last statements as secretary of State, said that Novichok, the banned and highly poisonous nerve agent that hospitalized the Skripals on March 4, “clearly came from Russia.”

“[T]his is a substance that is known to us and does not exist widely . . . It is only in the hands of a very, very limited number of parties,” he said on his return flight from Africa to Washington.

British prime minister Theresa May thinks she knows, too. Novichok is believed to be manufactured only in Russia, and Putin’s Russia has a history of illegal actions in Britain. May expelled 23 “undeclared intelligence agents,” as she described them, and denounced the “unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.”

This is the biggest expulsion from the U.K. since the end of the Cold War. Anglo-Russian relations are at their lowest ebb in decades, and with May co-ordinating a response with the United States, the crisis is still worsening.

May also announced the cancellation of the imminent visit to Britain by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the withdrawal of official British representatives from the 2018 World Cup, which will be held in Russia in June.

Skripal, a colonel in Russian military intelligence, was convicted in 2006 of spying for Britain. Sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony, he was freed in 2010 in a spy exchange, and settled in Salisbury, a scenic and quiet town in western England. He bought a home for £260,000—cash, of course—and lived on an MI6 pension. He made friends in his new home, and became a regular at the Railway Social Club, where he took his Sunday roast with beer and vodka…

Continue reading at The Weekly Standard

Who controls the world’s most toxic chemicals?

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International experts are due in the U.K., to test samples of the nerve agent used in the attempted murder of a spy and his daughter. How do they keep track of the world’s most toxic chemicals?


From the BBC:

After collecting samples of the poisons used on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will conduct tests, with results expected to take at least a fortnight.

The U.K. government says the substance used was Novichok – a group of nerve agents it says is “stockpiled” by Russia, which is “culpable” for the attack. It has dismissed Russia’s claim that the poison came from the U.K.’s Porton Down facility.

The work of the OPCW is carried out as part of an international control regime that governs what is, or is not, permissible as far as very toxic chemicals are concerned.

This was established by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which 192 countries are signed up members. Only North Korea, Israel, and Egypt have not ratified, but they are still bound by its provisions under international law.

The CWC’s operational arm, the Hague-based inspectors of the OPCW, have overseen the destruction of nearly 97% of the world’s declared stockpiles of chemical weapons.

Countries agree to never manufacture, stockpile or use chemical weapons – nor to assist others to do so. They are also required to declare what stocks of chemical weapons they have and where they could be produced.

Continue reading at BBC.com

 

Nuclear war expert: ‘You should be worried’

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For the first time in decades, it’s hard to ignore the threat of nuclear war. But as long as you’re far from the blast, you’re safe, right? Wrong. In this sobering talk, atmospheric scientist Brian Toon explains how even a small nuclear war could destroy all life on earth – and what we can do to prevent it.


From TEDx Talks:

 

Russia’s first postal drone takes maiden flight…

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…and crashes straight into a wall.


From Reuters:

Russian newscast urges citizens to prepare for conflict

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From CommonDreams.org:

As President Donald Trump sent mixed messages about his plans for possible military action in Syria this week, Russian state media advised citizens to take his warnings from earlier this week to heart, and prepare for war with the U.S.

On the country’s state-owned media channel, a news anchor on Wednesday explained to viewers how to prepare for a potential war by stocking a bomb shelter—while images of nuclear explosions were shown behind him.

As Newsweek reports:

Warning that the potential conflict between the two superpowers would be “catastrophic,” an anchor for Russia’s Vesti 24 showed off shelves of food, recommending that people buy salt, oatmeal, and other products that can last a long time on the shelves if they plan to hide in a bunker. Powdered milk lasts five years, while sugar and rice can last up to eight years, the newscaster explained before showing videos of pasta cooking in a bomb shelter.

The newscast showed shelf-stable foods that could last five to eight years—including powdered milk, rice, and sugar—and advised Russians to buy gas masks and huge supplies of water.

The anchor took on a mocking tone at times, saying that Americans have far more to fear than Russians.

“The real panic isn’t here but across the ocean,” said the reporter, adding that the instructions to stock bunkers were for “people who succumb to panic and decide to spend all their savings.”

Watch:

Continue reading at CommonDreams.org…

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