QUESTION: Regarding CBDC, will they convert all the savings/cash in your bank account, will they convert everything in your brokerage accounts (all stocks etc.) will they go after gold and silver you have in storage (Brinks, for example)?

KS

ANSWER: Everything will be converted to the new CBDC. The money in your bank account is already just an electronic book entry. This is why banks are closing branches everywhere in the USA as well as Europe. They are preparing for CBDCs, which means without physical paper money, bank branches are no longer needed. You can deposit a check on your phone. The only thing left for a branch is safe deposit boxes, and the government assumes you are hiding cash there anyway. So kiss your local branch goodbye. The local bank I used because it was the closest has closed, and it is now a 30-minute ride to the closest one still open.

The monetary system will still function as normal. The exchange will probably be one-for-one. The main purpose of this is to destroy the underground economy to be able to tax everything – even the 16-year-old girl next door you hire to babysit while you go out to dinner and that $100 bill you found in the parking lot that you cheated the government out of their 50% gift tax. We are all looked down upon as scum. They presume we are all guilty and the whole debt crisis is never their fault – it is you – we the people.

This is the natural progression of direct taxation – the complete loss of all liberty. This is why the Founding Fathers prohibited direct taxation. But the socialists seized the government and followed Marx to get the evil rich. It was introduced with the promise that only the rich would have to pay. They lied about that as well, for as soon as the income tax took place, simultaneously in the same bill, there was the payroll tax demanding employers withhold income from their workers.

The federal income tax of 1913 was accompanied by the fact that the law also attempted to withhold the brand-new income tax because the people were never to be trusted. Initial estimates were that the withholding provisions would yield two-thirds of income tax revenue, but in 1916, less than 5% came from withholding. Furthermore, employers’ simple lack of compliance led to a massive groundswell of opposition to the new withholding system.

The people realized that the government lied to get the 16th Amendment passed, and the state politicians voted for it because it allowed them to also allowed them to impose income taxes at the state level. Even cities joined the money grab, imposing city income taxes. Every layer of government now had the right to extort money from the people based on their income, requiring disclosure of their personal lives. You gave your children money, which was circumventing income tax, so they rolled out the gift tax. , which fueled the corruption on a massive scale. The Revenue Act of 1862 included an inheritance tax and gift tax, which applied to transfers of personal assets. In 1864, Congress amended the Revenue Act, added a tax on transfers of real estate, and increased the rates for inheritance taxes. They have always used war to justify raising taxes, but they always remain in place thereafter. The War Revenue Act of 1898 implemented an inheritance tax of .74 % to 15%, which was used to fund the Spanish-American War. This is why the government loves to wage wars.

By 1916, the payroll tax had become so politically unpopular that even Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo advocated for its removal. In the War Revenue Act of 1917, the withholding rules passed in 1913 were officially repealed and replaced with a softer set of rules for employers — they were now only required to furnish information about wages paid to employees throughout a year, but not actually withhold or pay taxes on those wages.

This entire CBDC movement is about taxes, and they want to eliminate all paper money so they can track absolutely everything, rendering you an economic slave of the state precisely as the LEFT created with Communism. You will not be able to escape this system. This is why I have said that Republics are just tyranny by another label. We have no right to vote on anything. We are supposed to be “represented” by those in the House of Representatives, and the Senate represents the state governments – not the people. We have no right to vote on any issue ranging from taxes to war.

When FDR confiscated the gold, it was from institutions – banks and storage facilities. The Gold Confiscation Act of April 5, 1933, called for holders of significant quantities of gold to sell their gold at the prevailing price of $20.67 per ounce. They did not go from house to house. That is what FDR did. There are Supreme Court cases known as the Gold Clause where they upheld that private contracts with a gold clause could not be enforced.

The only exception was numismatic coins because Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an ancient coin collector. When Teddy became president on September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909, he commissioned the artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848 –1907)  to redesign the $20 gold coin and made it high-relief as the ancient coins had been struck. The machines could not handle the high relief, and so the coins had to be reduced in their relief. He also ordered redesigning the $10 gold coin and had the American Indian represented. Teddy himself insisted on the headdress.

The statue of Teddy Roosevelt, who ironically was a socialist, had his statue removed from New York under reinterpretation that it was racist because it portrayed an American Indian and a black African. Teddy was certainly not a slave owner. Their representation reflected the two continents being America (the American Indian) and Africa because Roosevelt had taken a year-long expedition to Africa. This is the danger of interpretation that changes with the changing times. Teddy’s $10 Indian was commissioned in this same spirit of respect – not some racist WOKE theory.

This time, they will cancel all your paper currency, and your money in accounts is electronic book entries anyway. That will all be replaced with CBDCs in the bank/brokerage accounts. The only thing to survive will be tangible, real NUMISMATIC coins before 1933. They may outlaw bullion in transactions, and just as they altered all private contracts, nullifying any clause that required payment in gold, we must understand that they can do that even to cryptocurrencies outlawing such transactions.

Stratospheric aerosol injection is the latest proposed method to save civilization from human-induced climate change. I jokingly say that the climate change agenda believes they can simply throw money at the sky to change the weather, and I suppose there is a little truth in every “just kidding” as this method is precisely that.

Volcanoes produce clouds of sulfur dioxide, naturally injecting converted gas into the stratosphere, forming sulfate aerosols that reflect sunlight back to space. Scientists believe that this naturally occurring phenomenon can be replicated. Simply sending sulfur dioxide into the air would not work as it produces solar and terrestrial heat and would actually create a warming effect. Scientists proposed an alternative that involves diamond dust.

As explained in Life Science: “The team compared the cooling efficiency of diamond particles with that of aluminum and calcite particles using an Earth system model that simulates the full climate response of an intervention. They found that the quantity of diamond dust needed to cool the planet by 1.8 F — 5.5 million tons per year — was about one-third the amount of other materials needed to achieve the same cooling effect.”

Therefore, high-altitude aircrafts would need to fly around Earth’s orbit to sprinkle diamond dust constantly. The costs would be outrageous and scientists say this method would merely “buy us time” as no amount is enough to change mother nature. A 2020 study drastically underestimated the cost of this ridiculous idea, stating it would cost $175 trillion over a 65-year period. They could use SAI with sulfur dioxide as an alternative for a mere $18 billion per year.

No amount of funding will allow governments to play God with the universe. The climate is changing on target, as weather has always and will always be a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is downright shameful that these “scientists” are imagining outrageous scenarios fueled by fear-mongering to alter the planet at our expense.

To a large extent, there is still much confusion regarding the creation of MONEY. Some people still think the government actually creates money as if it were in ancient times. When I say MONEY is no longer TANGIBLE, but it is VIRTUAL, many seem to fail to grasp just how much the world has changed. In ancient times, the state minted the coins AFTER 600 BC attempting to certify the weight to facilitate commerce. However, the government quickly learned that there was profit to be made, which is known as the “seigniorage,” referring to the difference between the intrinsic value of the metal and the declared value. In such a world, the state predominantly created money supply, discounting leverage from banking and counterfeiting.

Today that is about as far removed from how the economy functions as the next inhabitable planet. In the example I used that if a foreign investor buys domestic real estate, he is increasing the domestic money supply. The conversion of his local currency to the domestic currency is NOT dictated by some FIXED quantity created by the central bank. It is just electronic. Nobody actually prints anything , and the central bank does NOT even create electronic currency. It is just a book entry. Because the foreign investor is bringing in cash and buys a TANGIBLE object (real estate), the net amount of cash in the domestic supply of money increases the same when the Fed bought US bonds under QE2. Banking also LEVERAGES the economy by creating MONEY. If you have $1,000 on deposit and I borrow $1,000, we both now have accounts reflecting $1,000 each. Again, the state did NOT create that money.

It is once more a book entry. This is how a BANK PANIC will take place. You go to the bank trying to get your $1,000, but the bank actually lent it to me. As long as you do not try to take out that $1,000, everything is fine and dandy. Therefore, MONEY is not TANGIBLE, and it is purely VIRTUAL! The idea that MONEY is supposed to be some TANGIBLE object actually ended in 600 BC once government got involved and began to manufacture a profit from creating money. As long as the economy is free, then you are free to keep your wealth in whatever object you desire, be it gold or real estate. MONEY is NOT a store of value, for it has always fluctuated, rising in purchasing power in recessions (NOW) and declining in booms.

America, we have a problem. The chatter being whispered in DC is that now some Democrats are saying that Pence was wrong and he should not have certified the 2020 election. This reversal is self-serving because some now argue that Kamala should NOT certify the count because Trump is disqualified under the 14th Amendment. Then, we have RINOs in Congress seeking to create a battle over the speaker. If there is a protracted fight where Congress can’t elect a speaker, if that takes place and nobody is sworn in, they can’t certify the election. If Trump can’t be certified on January 6th, then if he can’t take office on January 20th. Without a speaker, they cannot complete this process.

Part of the problem stems from the Supreme Court’s decision on whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist. The Supreme Court sidestepped the question of the 14th Amendment. The Court ruled that they didn’t like allowing a single state to kick Trump out of the presidential race, and they didn’t appear comfortable with the Court doing so either. In oral argument, the attorney representing Colorado warned the justices that if they didn’t resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility under the 14th Amendment, “it could come back with a vengeance”—after the election. This leaves the door open for the Democrats to defy the national vote.

Here is what I do not like. The computer has projected a Panic Cycle for January 6th. Volatility will start to rise mid-week. We even have a Directional Change on Friday. At the very least, we may have a constitutional crisis unfolding on January 6th.

The last time there was a brawl on the floor of Congress was February 15th, 1798. Well, if that unfolds, CSpan viewership will probably exceed all the mainstream news combined.

QUESTION: Hello Martin,

Isn’t intentionally losing the war the whole point of starting WWIII? In other words, starting war in 3 or maybe 4 theatres when there is no threat, no troops to fight, no ammunition, and no money to pay for the war is a guarantee of failure. But historically, isn’t that the goal: the loser gets to default on the previous government debt, then start all over with new bond issues?

Jack

ANSWER: The NEOCONs have NEVER expected Ukraine to win. They have counted on Ukraine being utterly destroyed so they can then claim Russia will invade all of Europe. The Ukrainian people are pawns in this chess game, and nobody cares about them whatsoever.

This has always been about conquering Russia. The NEOCONs have taken full control of the Biden Administration, and NATO is pushing Europe to its total destruction. Three governments I have spoken with all expect war with Russia.

The next major turning point in Poland is 2028.12 (February 18, 2028). NATO has been in control of Poland more so than any other nation, and they continue to push Poland into a confrontation with Russia.

NATO appears to be preparing Poland to become the next Ukraine. They are pushing Poland to engage Russia and then claim it was Russia who attacked first. They pulled that stunt with Vietnam when, in fact, we were never attacked. Even Johnson admitted, for all he knew, they were shooting at whales that night. That is always irrelevant. They still sacrificed 58,000 Americans for another one of their endless wars.

Vietnam was also all about killing Russians. They have never stopped with their end goal to conquer Russia as if Communism never fell.

I suggest that our readers in Poland should plan to migrate while you can. The EU is pushing through the Digital ID, which will be followed by the Digital Wallet. They are planning to cancel the paper money and impose capital controls. It does not appear that the Euro in any form will survive beyond 2029.

QUESTION: Why do you say the military will split? Is this routine?

FH

ANSWER: Throughout history, there have been many revolutions and coups. The most famous one in modern-day history is when Yeltsin stood on the tanks in Moscow and told the military not to fire on the people. They stood down and the Russian could that sought to overthrow Gorbachev and take the country back to Communism failed. Vladimir Kryuchkov, the coup’s leader, had published a two-volume memoir entitled “Lichnoye Delo”—”A Personal File.” He was the top spy for almost two decades, yet the US media never paid much notice to him. He was the embodiment of the old regime and its secret police. He was the real Soviet spymaster and was well known only to those of us who had insight into Russia aside from the CIA and the FBI.

Kryuchkov was a young operative in Budapest who helped crush the Hungarian uprising in 1956, which launched his career. Kryuchkov rose through the ranks to be the head of the KGB’s First Chief Directorate and then as the spy agency chief. His climb up the political ladder was enabled because he handled two super-moles in the USA that were responsible for the worst damage ever done to U.S. intelligence – Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen.

Then, it was August 1991 when Kryuchkov overestimated his power and organized a coup against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. I believe the real motive was that Russia was invited to join NATO, and Gorbachev was considering it. This is my prized autographed photo of Maggie and Gorbachev. Boris N. Yeltsin climbed on a tank and rallied the crowds against the coup’s leaders. Kryuchkov was thrown in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison. He was charged and tried as a “betrayer of the Motherland.” He was released from prison in 1993 when the government of Boris Yeltsin saw there was a sense of nationalism and even Communist opposition on the rise. Kryuchkov was granted amnesty along with the other plot leaders, fearing it would not be wise to put him on trial pursuing the prosecution in the face of discontent with Yeltsin’s administration. Some of the coup members returned to politics, including in the Duma. Kryuchkov, however, retired. His memoirs were an effort to rehabilitate his reputation.

When Nero died in 68AD, he had no heir for the Julio-Claudian line. The following year, 69AD is known as the year of four emperors. The military will routinely split in a fight for power – Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and the ultimate victor – Vespasian.

The Emperor in the first film, Gladiator, Commodus, was eventually assassinated, and the full corruption of Rome burst through to the surface. The Praetorian Guard, the ancient equivalent of the Secret Service, was dedicated to protecting the emperor, who, in this case, they assassinated and actually auctioned off the throne to the highest bidder.

Pertinax had a successful military career and achieved senatorial rank when the Praetorian Guard assassinated Commodus. Pertinax reluctantly accepted the throne when it was offered to him by the murderers of Commodus. The state of affairs in Rome was deplorable, and Pertinax instituted economic reforms, which immediately made him unpopular, particularly with the Praetorian Guard. Like any public employee who faces a pay cut, the mood was not festive. On March 28th, 193AD, after a reign of only 86 days, a band of mutinous Praetorian Guards invaded the palace and murdered Pertinax. The fate of his wife is unknown, but his son managed to survive.

Following the murder of Pertinax by the Praetorian guards, the full corruption of Rome burst forth. After parading around with the head of Pertinax on a pole, the Guards withdrew to the safety of their camp. No apparent heir was available, so the Praetorian Guards stationed heralds on the wall to announce openly that the office of Emperor was up for sale to the highest bidder. Thus began perhaps the most scandalous affair in Roman history. The corruption had reached such levels that it was clear that the decline and fall of the Roman Empire began at this junction in time. There were two bidders and Marcus Didius Julianus. Didius’ bid was 25,000 sestertii per man and was duly declared Emperor.

Pescennius Niger was the Governor of Syria by 191 AD. Upon word that the Praetorian Guard assassinated Pertinax and sold the throne to the highest bidder, he was cautious after being declared Emperor by his troops. He hesitated to march on Rome, providing the window of opportunity for Septimius Severus to begin his march toward Rome. Severus secured Rome and then turned his attention to his rival in the East. He defeated Niger for the fourth time, and he fled towards the Euphrates but was captured and executed by Severus.

The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 was an anti-government uprising over a sovereign default/debt crisis, not unlike Caesar crossing the Rubicon—nearly 400 soldiers of the Continental Army stormed Congress on June 17th, 1783. The American Congress fled Philadelphia to Princeton, New Jersey. George Washington, on June 24th, ordered 1,500 troops to march against the army in Philadelphia to suppress the mutiny.

There are countless examples of the military splitting. Pelosi was reluctant to call in the National Guard, fearing that most would have been Trump supporters. I was told that when the National Guard did enter Washington, some were even asked who they voted for.

The Democrats do not know what they do. They are destroying the United States all for their refusal to live in a republic unless it is their way.

From a Politician  I Know

COMMENT: When I started as a commissioner, I remember hearing the same term over and over, “staff recommends,” and I remember thinking of course you do. It’s self-serving.
I eliminated that here.
I am part of numerous boards and committees within the county and state, and I have found out they are just a sham and too lazy to do the work, and that’s why they go with what  “staff recommends.”
Even though there’s usually a nice lunch provided I still question why the heck do we even meet when the tail is wagging the dog.

REPLY: This is so true. This is the real swamp. In medieval times, the king was in his castle. There was the typical moat around the castle. What they tend to not explain is that there were no sewers. The waste went down a shoot or pipe and into the moat. Getting through that moat to reach the king must have taken a lot of courage.

Today, the actual DEEP STATE is the gatekeepers who are the modern-day moat. Both RFK and Trump already have theirs. Good luck in getting through that moat. I am not sure you can fight the DEEP STATE when just another incantation surrounds you acting in its self-interest.

The C$ is poised to finally elect a Yearly Sell Signal (Bearish Reversal) warning that Canada may not bottom out until 2026. Even if Trudeau is removed from office, will that prevent the Decline & Fall of Canada into 2026? We will deal with these questions and more in our annual report on Canada for 2025.

QUESTION: You said neither Trump nor RFK will listen to you. What do you mean by that? There were even political people from both camps at your WEC in November. I spoke with them. If they refuse to listen to you, they cannot possibly be what we voted for. Why will they not listen to you?

HF

ANSWER: The problem with both is that they do not understand the game Washington plays.  This is checkmate, and they do not grasp what is really on or under the table. I warned that the NEOCONs would attempt to assassinate Trump. Most thought I was spinning a conspiracy theory until it happened. I even personally handed the 2020 Coup Report to some close members of Congress in Trump’s camp. They do not really listen.

Both have people in their camps who will NEVER let you get to them. If you cannot get beyond the gatekeepers, you will never be able to express your opinion or provide evidence of what is taking place. I told one person connected to RFK I was concerned that Trump may not be sworn in. They think such things are over the top, so they will NEVER be passed on.

But Trump has been so entrenched in this tariff nonsense, and his personal views are of broken-down economic theories that even the central banks do not follow. But this is the BS they still teach in universities, so you stand ZERO chance of turning this around to save Western Society.

I have said many times that I have tried my best to defeat my own computer forecasts, but I have failed every single time. Both Trump and RFK are entrenched in their views, and they are surrounded by people who will NEVER let you get close because you would undermine their advice.

Look, there are some shows I have been on, and then they get a phone call and tell them not to interview me again. They seem to be afraid and thus self-censor. It does not matter, for there is no possible way I can reverse the computer forecast. All we can do is understand what is taking place, prepare for ourselves, and realize that what will be MUST take place because the system is not worth saving anyway. We must start from scratch, understand the flaws, and rebuild with better safeguards. That is what 2032 is all about.

It is not worth wasting my time on Trump or RFK because they are surrounded by gatekeepers who would oppose whatever I said anyhow. This is just part of the cycle. We are on our own. Prepare for yourself, for they will not save you.

With Panic Cycles going into January 6th and all the crazy propositions to prevent Trump from taking office on January 20th, it may be a 50/50 bet. The RINOs are trying to overthrow the Speaker of the House to prevent the January 6th count. The Democrats are pushing to refuse to validate the election under the claim that January 6th was an insurrection and the 14th Amendment bars him from taking office regardless of the people’s vote. Democracy has never existed in this country, and now they are trying to stage a coup to kill the very idea of a Republic. This is a battle for the very soul of the country –

I love your photos. We tried to make them hear. They do not give a shit what we think or say. They are in charge, and they intend to keep it that way. They will never lay down and reform. Not a single government has ever done that. History warns that once power is given to such people, it will never be willingly returned.

The heart of the North Atlantic Treaty is Article 5, which contains two major problems. Yes, Article 5 proclaims that an attack on any member of the Alliance will be considered an attack on all. To justify a full NATO response, it is imperative that any member of NATO create some sort of event to claim that Russia has attacked them. This is why rouge member The Netherlands is acting like a rouge state, doing everything it can to create World War III by allowing long-range missiles to be used to attack and kill even civilians in Moscow. The Netherlands is most likely taking orders from the American Neocons to provoke Russia to attack anything in NATO so they can justify invoking Article 5 to start World War III – ASAP.

This NATO agreement only talks about NATO being attacked. It omits what if a NATO member launches war itself on Russia and then tries to invoke Article 5? The treat makes no mention of everyone joining in if The Netherlands launched a long-range missile to kill Russian civilians in Moscow. Another flaw in this treaty has long been another nightmare situation. Throughout NATO’s history, this flaw presents a significant risk of what would take place if a war broke out between two NATO members, such as Greece and Turkey. Even though both countries joined NATO in 1952. Athens and Ankara had nearly come to blows on several occasions. Turkey invaded majority-Greek Cyprus in 1974 and occupied almost 40% of the island, expelling Greek Cypriots from that territory, which they still occupy to this day.

The mere prospect of a possible Greco-Turkish war underscores one of the major flaws of the NATO charter for it means that the United States, being the leader of a nearly 30-member military alliance, is technically at risk of getting entangled in the grievances and quarrels of every one of those member states. When two members openly hate each other, as has been the case since ancient times with Greece and Turkey, that situation can create an untenable nightmare for the United States and the visibility of NATO.

Here is the other MAJOR false in the NATO Treaty – what if member states deliberately provoke an attack on themselves? This is certainly possible between Greece and Turkey, but here we also have Ruben Brekelmans, the defense minister of The Netherlands, who just gave Zelensky the approval to use their long-range missiles to kill civilians in Moscow. Make no mistake here, the hatred between Ukrainians of Russia is no different than that between Greece and Turkey. Brekelmans claims that international law “is not limited by distance” and has deliberately tried to force Russia to attack the Netherlands so he can invoke Article 5. Brekelmans is clearly a traitor to his own people, taking orders from the Neocons and NATO that they need to start World War III before Trump takes office.

He added, “The right to self-defense does not end 100 kilometers from the border.” He has now placed The Netherlands in the crosshairs, being the first to authorize Ukraine to start killing civilians in Russia. Brekelmans declared:

“We have not placed any operational restrictions on Ukraine regarding distance.”

Brekelmans has put the risk of the citizens of all of Europe on the line for the Neocons. This is from their playbook used to get the United States into World War I. In 1915, Germany took out advertisements in the New York newspapers warning people not to travel on the passenger ship the RMS Lusitania for it was illegally using civilians as cover to provide arms to Britain. Of course, the US denied that they were using civilians just as Hamas in Palestine. The death toll was 1201 civilians died to get the USA to enter World War I.

The Germans took the bait and sank the RMS Lusitania, and the USA used that as the excuse to finally enter World War I, which was their objective all along. Even 20 years later, the US continued to deny there were any arms on the Lusitania. However, with modern technology, divers could finally reach the Lusitania. Only in 1982, 67 years later, were divers warned that there were explosives on the Lusitania.

Finally, Archaeology.org recovered ammunition from the Lusitania, proving once and for all that the Germans were correct. What is incredibly critical to understand here is that the Lusitania was used as bait to get the Germans to sink the ship to justify entering the war.

From the Trenches – Lusitania’s Secret Cargo – Archaeology Magazine Archive

As I have said, my fear is that they know what they are doing, and Putin has shown tremendous restraint. They want him to be overthrown by Russian Neocons, and they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.

These people we have in governments are determined to create World War III because they are in a debt crisis. As Maggie Thatcher said, socialism works until you run out of other people’s money. But we risk the entire collapse of Western society because when you cannot sell the new debt to pay off the old, the default comes. People will be storming the Parliaments of our governments for they have run endless deficits annually to always bribe people for their votes. We are not only running out of other people’s money but rapidly approaching default when we run out of buyers for these endless debts. They need war as the excuse to default and blame it on Putin – not their own fiscal mismanagement since 1945.

WHY IS WAR SO URGENT?

U.S.-NATO Relations Under Trump, Biden
President Trump was critical of NATO, calling it “obsolete” in a 2017 interview and criticizing other NATO members for not spending enough on defense. Yet there is something he did not address, and these are the obvious flaws: (1) conflict between two NATO members, and (2) what if one NATO member provokes an attack? Does that draw in all 30 members? The NATO Treaty is obsolete and should be scrapped, and these two flaws MUST be addressed. If not, then such alliances compelled World War I.

The US was sneaking arms into the Lusitania and putting civilians’ lives at risk, just as they knew in advance about 9/11. They always want civilians to be killed to justify war. This is the #1 tactic to get people to justify war. It was used in Iraq, painting Saddam as gassing his own people. The Palestinians have used it effectively against Israel, putting military targets in civilian areas, including hospitals. It was known when Russia would cross the border to come to the aid of Russians in the Donbas, and the Washington Post found out that Zelensky knew when the invasion would take place and did not warn his civilians. He said it would have cost him $7 billion in capital flight. In truth, he, too, wanted civilians to be killed to claim how evil Russia was.

“Did we get enough to reduce CO2?”

The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million, of which 23 million were military. In World War II, an estimated 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the estimated global population of 2.3 billion in 1940. The civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. War is being invited even by Climate Change people who see the population must be culled – not them, of course, just us.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was one of the key events that led to World War I. They were assassinated on June 28, 1914, by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip, who was part of a group of six Bosnian assassins. All but one were Bosnian Serbs. They were members of a student revolutionary group since Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908. This assassination by a student justified war against all Serbs for the centuries of hatred. We see this same regional hatred in Ukraine vs. Russia and Greece vs. Turkey.

Article 5 Invoked After 9/11 Attacks
On September 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history, committing its members to stand by the United States in its response to the attacks. It was a simple four-paragraph resolution that passed unanimously; the organization reflected its understanding that the threats to global security were now hanging in the balance. As I have reported, the first group of terrorists who tried to bring down the Twin Towers were in prison and drew the World Trade Center on the wall of their cell with planes going into them. The Feds charged their lawyer, Lynne F. Stewart, for passing notes. The government knew the plan and let it happen (Stand Down) to ensure they got the Patriot Act.

On October 2, 2001, NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson held a press conference to discuss the events of September 11, and pledged support of the 18 NATO allies in the campaign against international terrorism.

”The commitment to collective self-defense embodied in the Washington Treaty was entered into in circumstances very different from those that exist now,” the statement read. “But it remains no less valid and no less essential today, in a world subject to the scourge of international terrorism.”

In addition to participation in the war in Afghanistan, NATO’s response to the 9/11 attacks under Article 5 included Operation Eagle Assist, in which NATO aircraft helped patrol the skies over the United States for seven months between 2001 and 2002, and Operation Active Endeavour, in which NATO naval forces were sent to perform counterterrorism activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Operation Active Endeavour, which began in October 2001 and later expanded to the entire Mediterranean region, didn’t conclude until 2016, when Trump came to office.

NATO has taken collective defensive measures in other situations, including deploying missiles on the border of Turkey and Syria in 2012. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the rise of ISIS in recent years after they removed Saddam Hussein led the organization to implement a huge increase in its collective defenses, including tripling the size of the NATO Response Force. In 2014, NATO member states agreed to try and spend 2% of their GDPs on defense, although most member states fail to meet this non-binding goal.

Nevertheless, Donald Trump did affirm U.S. commitment to Article 5 in June 2017, during a news conference with the president of Romania:

“I’m committing the United States to Article 5, and certainly we are there to protect, and certainly that’s one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that force.”

President Joe Biden ordered U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to reinforce NATO’s Response Force as Russian military forces encircled Ukraine in February 2022. It was clear that the American Neocons had been desperately trying to provoke Putin to attack anything in NATO to justify World War III. Zelensky, having the US intelligence that Russia was on the border, stood up the day before and proclaimed that Ukraine would rearm itself with nuclear weapons. Three days before, Kamala Harris, at the Munich Security Conference, openly said Ukraine should join NATO.

With troops surrounding Ukraine’s border, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that the former Soviet republic never be permitted to join NATO. As Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said in a February 2, 2022 press briefing,

“Our commitment to NATO Article 5 and collective defense remains ironclad.”

I have had employees from both Donestk and Kyiv. I am well aware that the hatred is so deeply rooted that it will NEVER be subdued. The Neocons instructed Kiev to immediately attack the Donbas in 2014 to force Russia to come to their aid. This has been an intended war against Russia from the outset. That is why Merkel openly said that they never negotiated with Russia in good faith; it was all a stall tactic to enable Ukraine to raise the largest army in Europe to wage war against Russia.

They refuse to report that this war would be over in 24 hours if Ukraine honored the Minsk Agreement and simply let the Donbas have a democratic vote since they are ethnic Russians that the Ukrainians hate anyway. Zelensky loves to pretend he is fighting for their freedom and for democracy. That is an outright lie. Russia has not sought to conquer all of Ukraine. Merkel admitted that the West deliberately negotiated the Minsk Agreement only to buy time for Ukraine to build this army to wage war against Russia. Why should Russia or China now negotiate with the United States knowing they do not honor their agreements? The West wanted this war. They need it to justify defaulting on all sovereign debt and resort to digital currency with Bretton Woods II. Even CNN reported that the West started the Ukrainian Civil War before they were told to bury that news.

I believe that this entire event was set in motion intentionally by sending Kamila Harris to the Munich Security Conference on February 20th, where she told Ukraine that they should join NATO, which was a violation of the Budapest Agreement. As I mentioned, Henry Kissinger said back in the Washington Post on March 14, 2014, when Russia took back Crimea – “The demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for not having one.”

The 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) was held from February 18 to 20, 2022; Russia crossed the border to defend the Donbas on February 24th, just four days after the Munich Security Conference. Zelensky, on the 23rd, says Ukraine will rearm with nuclear weapons. Let’s be honest here. The United States government has been involved in numerous interventions in foreign countries throughout history. The U.S. has engaged in nearly 400 military interventions between 1776 and 2023.

Then we have Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claiming he has confidence that Ukraine can defeat Russia. I really do not know what planet he is on. That would be such a devasting blow to Russia that Putin would turn to nuclear weapons. Besides that, he seems oblivious to the alliances that are forming before our eyes. China just entered into a new “friendly ” agreement with North Korea and to celebrate that they conducted another missile test which used to be very upsetting.

The Budapest Agreement required Ukraine to eliminate the strategic missiles, missile silos, and bombers on its territory and transfer the 1,900 nuclear warheads to Russia for disassembly. Ukraine was the third-largest nuclear power in the world. They had more nuclear weapons than China. In return, Ukrainians gained guarantees that the United States and Russia, joined by Britain, would provide security assurances. The Budapest Agreement committed Washington, Moscow, and London, among other things, to “respect the independence and sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine” and to “refrain from the threat or use of force” against that country.

Belarus also agreed to surrender all nuclear weapons as part of this agreement, but it had only mobile missile launchers at the time. Kazakhstan was the third member of the Agreement and chose to return the nuclear warheads and missiles to Russia.  Ukraine was reluctant and wanted to keep some of the nuclear weapons. There was a side agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian governments whereby giving up Ukrainian claims to the nuclear weapons and the Black Sea Fleet were surrendered on the basis that Russia gave $2.5 billion in gas and oil debt cancellation and future supplies of fuel for its nuclear power stations. Ukraine did not want a commitment to transfer all warheads by June 1st, 1996 to be made public for local political purposes while Russia did not want the financial compensation for uranium made the public concerned that Belarus and Kazakhstan would also demand free fuel.

Despite Blinken’s absurd statement that he thinks Ukraine can defeat Russia without any sense of such repercussions, this statement appears to be using Ukrainians as pawns in an intended war against Russia that will only bring in China and the rest of their alliance. Belarus is already looking to add back nuclear weapons because proposing Ukraine joins NATO is tearing up the Budapest Agreement putting in jeopardy their security. Ukraine cannot defeat Russia – let’s make this very clear and Blinken’s statement appears to be a provocation for war. This is a losing battle that will turn nuclear if Russia were really to lose. It appears that this may be more about Climate Change and the agenda from the WEF that to conquer the world with Schwab’s economic theories, there were three obstacles – (1) Trump, (2) Russia, and (3) China. Trump was removed and some fear this is an attempt to overthrow Putin and then they will turn on China.

This raises the question about another seemly incompetent statement made by Harris at the Munich Security Conference that Ukraine should join NATO which would indeed justify Putin’s invasion and send Belarus back into nuclear defense. Was this statement just another gaff from Harris who has obviously no skills in international matters? Why was she sent instead of Blinken? Was this deliberate to give Ukraine false hope encouraging them to fight to the last man?

Something is not right. The solution was simple. Allow Donbas to have a democratic vote which could have been monitored over their separatist movement since 2014 that nobody wants to talk about, and Ukraine drop its claim to Crimea which historically always was Russian – not Ukrainian. The Ukrainian people are dying for what? To keep Donbas and Crimea which are occupied by a Russian population?

Something is just rotten. Some think Zelensky is being bribed by oil companies to try to get back Crimea where there is a huge gas reserve that would then replace Russia as the energy supplier to Europe. Others think Zelensky is just a puppet of the World Economic Forum to push their agenda upon the world in hopes of defeating Russia. The truth always surfaces but many Ukrainians do not support Zelensky.

Let’s be straight here. Article 5 has been invoked only once on behalf of the United States after 9/11.

The underlying assumption is that there would then be a collective response to repel and punish the aggressor. Obviously, that approach would not work if two NATO signatories went to war against each other. Even determining which country was the aggressor and which the victim could be quite challenging.

Article 5

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security .

Article 6 ¹

For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:

• on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France ², on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
• on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.

Article 8

Each Party declares that none of the international engagements now in force between it and any other of the Parties or any third State is in conflict with the provisions of this Treaty, and undertakes not to enter into any international engagement in conflict with this Treaty.

Article 10

The Parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty. Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United States of America. The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession.

Article 11

This Treaty shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited as soon as possible with the Government of the United States of America, which will notify all the other signatories of each deposit. The Treaty shall enter into force between the States which have ratified it as soon as the ratifications of the majority of the signatories, including the ratifications of Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, have been deposited and shall come into effect with respect to other States on the date of the deposit of their ratifications.³

NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — is an alliance of 30 European and North American countries, including the United States. Its foundational document is the North Atlantic Treaty, which sets forth NATO’s purpose and obligations: ensuring peace and security through collective defense.

NATO was formed shortly after the end of World War II, at the dawn of the Cold War. The organization’s collective defense obligations, detailed in Article 5, have been invoked only once, on behalf of the United States after 9/11. Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine has sparked concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin may expand the scope of the conflict to NATO members like Poland and Lithuania, triggering NATO’s collective defense obligations. Many in the public are now asking what NATO’s collective defense obligations mean for the United States.

What are a NATO member’s collective defense obligations?
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them . . . shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking . . . such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

This language is relatively flexible. It permits each NATO member to decide for itself what action should be taken to address an armed attack on a NATO ally. It does not require any member to respond with military force, although it permits such responses as a matter of international law. A member may decide that instead of responding with force, it will send military equipment to NATO allies or impose sanctions on the aggressor.

If a NATO ally is attacked, would Article 5 authorize the president to send U.S. forces into conflict?
No. Even if a NATO ally is attacked and Article 5 is invoked, the president needs to obtain congressional authorization before sending the military into a conflict zone or otherwise using force. Article 11 of the North Atlantic Treaty explains that “its provisions [shall be] carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.” In the United States, that means securing express authorization from Congress, which has the sole constitutional power to declare war and is responsible for military appropriations and oversight.

Consider that treaties are made by the president, with the consent of the Senate. If the invocation of a collective defense treaty automatically allowed the president to use force abroad, the House would be wholly excluded from decisions about where, when, and how the country goes to war. The Senate would play a role secondary to the president. Such a scheme would violate the Constitution’s text and design, which vest “[t]he whole powers of war” in Congress, according to a foundational Supreme Court opinion.

Congress endorsed this analysis in the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a Vietnam War-era law that reaffirms the president’s obligation to seek congressional authorization before using offensive force. The War Powers Resolution states that congressional authorization to use force “shall not be inferred . . . from any treaty heretofore or hereafter ratified.”

What about the president’s inherent powers as commander in chief?
The president’s inherent powers as commander in chief would not allow the president to send the military into a conflict zone or otherwise use military force in response to an invocation of Article 5. The Constitution vests the president with the power to defend U.S. territory and citizens, even without express authorization. But it does not permit the president to use force against an adversary who poses no direct threat to the United States, as would be involved in a military campaign to assist a NATO ally.

Since the Cold War, executive branch lawyers have tried to broaden the scope of the president’s inherent powers. They have argued that the Constitution permits the president to defend not only U.S. territory and citizens but also more abstract national interests, such as the credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations. As many experts have noted, this open-ended “national interest” theory is constitutionally dubious.

Still, executive branch lawyers concede that the president cannot unilaterally commit the military to a conflict of substantial nature, scope, and duration, even if there is a strong national interest. Any military confrontation between Russia and NATO would surely be of a substantial nature, scope, and duration — and would therefore require congressional authorization. This limitation on the president’s inherent powers explains why President George W. Bush sought congressional authorization for the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War, large-scale conflicts involving ground forces.

What could Congress’s response to an invocation of Article 5 look like?
If Congress were to decide that a military response is “necessary,” Congress could declare war or, more likely, adopt a limited authorization to use force. For years, experts and advocates have agreed that any authorization to use force should specify the conflict’s purpose and geographical scope, as well as the identity of the enemy, and that it should include an expiration date. These limitations ensure that Congress reviews the authorization on a regular basis and understands where, why, and against whom U.S. forces are fighting.

Would waiting for Congress conflict with our obligations to aid our NATO allies?
No. Our NATO allies understand that legislatures play an important role in determining what kind of support is “necessary” to respond to an invocation of Article 5. After 9/11, NATO’s governing body invoked Article 5 and called upon the NATO allies to support the United States in its response to the terrorist attacks. In turn, the leaders of NATO allies like Germany asked their legislatures for permission to deploy forces. On November 16, 2001, the German Bundestag voted to commit 3,900 troops to fight in Afghanistan as a means of fulfilling its Article 5 obligations.

Moreover, Congress can act quickly in response to national security developments, and it would likely do so for any invocation of Article 5. Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, the congressional authorization to pursue those responsible for 9/11, on September 14, 2001. In 1964, it passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution just three days after the supposed incident that prompted President Lyndon Johnson’s request for authorization to use force in Vietnam.

What would happen if the president sent the military abroad without securing congressional authorization?
If the president were to send the military into a conflict zone without congressional authorization, Congress could invoke the War Powers Resolution. The War Powers Resolution provides that military forces operating “without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization . . . shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs.” Congress could also use its power over military appropriations to restrict the president’s use of funds on an unlawful war.

What does the invocation of Article 4 mean?
In February 2022, NATO members invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Article 4 permits members to call a NATO meeting when they perceive a threat to the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of any NATO ally. The invocation of Article 4 does not trigger any collective defense obligations.

Consistent with Article 4, the leaders of each NATO member, including President Biden, convened to reaffirm their commitment to Article 5. As a result of the meeting, NATO members made “additional defensive deployments” to the easternmost allies, some of which share a border with Ukraine. NATO members did not deploy or commit to deploying forces to Ukraine.