GOLD PRICE CLOSED UP $16.00 TO $2655.70
SILVER PRICE UP $0.51 TO $30.62
Gold ACCESS CLOSED $2650.35
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: $30.60
Bitcoin morning price:$97,210 DOWN 750 DOLLARS.
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $97,573 DOWN 387 DOLLARS
Platinum price closing UP $21.00 TO $951.60
Palladium price; UP $7.85 TO $986.95
END
*CANADIAN GOLD: $3711.12 UP 14.85 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 3,872.51 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//OCT 30 2024)
*BRITISH GOLD: 2083.75 UP 5.34 Pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///2161.00 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) NOV 22/2024
*EURO GOLD: 2,509.52 UP 10,63 Euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 2600.25 EUROS PER OZ//NOV 22 //.2024)
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EXCHANGE;
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2024 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,639.900000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 11/27/2024 DELIVERY DATE: 12/02/2024
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
072 C GOLDMAN 321
099 H DB AG 3558
118 C MACQUARIE FUT 76
118 H MACQUARIE FUT 2014
132 C SG AMERICAS 465
152 C DORMAN TRADING 2
167 C MAREX 1
190 H BMO CAPITAL 1108
323 C HSBC 2710 1
357 C WEDBUSH 2
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 1431
365 C MAREX CAPITAL M 3
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 299
555 H BNP PARIBAS SEC 943
624 C BOFA SECURITIES 14
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 6656
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 729 73
661 C JP MORGAN 2499 707
661 H JP MORGAN 1106
685 C RJ OBRIEN 10 6
DLV615-T CME CLEARING
BUSINESS DATE: 11/27/2024 DAILY DELIVERY NOTICES RUN DATE: 11/27/2024
PRODUCT GROUP: METALS RUN TIME: 22:40:33
686 C STONEX FINANCIA 10 70
686 H STONEX FINANCIA 569
690 C ABN AMRO 35
709 C BARCLAYS 137
726 C PLUS500US FINAN 3
732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 28
732 H RBC CAP MARKETS 170
737 C ADVANTAGE 20
800 C MAREX SPEC 4
880 C CITIGROUP 340
880 H CITIGROUP 22
905 C ADM 3 5
TOTAL: 13,075 13,075
JPMorgan stopped 1813/13,075
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2024. CONTRACT: 13,075 NOTICES FOR 1,307,500 OZ 40.668 TONNES
total notices so far: 13,075 contracts for 1,307,500 Oz (40.668 tonnes)
FOR NOV
SILVER NOTICES: 5456 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 27.28 MILLION OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 5456 for 27.28 million oz
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GLD/
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
THE CROOKS ARE STEALING GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE GLD/SLV AND REPLACING THE PHYSICAL WITH PAPER DOLLARS.
WITH GOLD UP $16.00 INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD:
HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD.
INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.55 TONNES
SLV/
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP $7.85 AT THE SLV
SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 365,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV.
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 474.382 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI SURPRISINGLY ROSE BY A GIGANTIC SIZED 3058 CONTRACTS TO 137,648 AND CONTINUING ON ITS MARCH TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020, AND THIS GIGANTIC SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0.25 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A HUGE GAIN OF 4018 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0.25 IN PRICE. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS ON WEDNESDAY COMEX TRADING (COUPLED WITH LIQUIDATION OF CALENDAR SPREADERS) AS THEY DESPERATELY TRIED TO CONTAIN SILVER’S CONTINUAL PRICE RISE FOR THE PAST 2 WEEKS AND THEY SUCCEEDED WEDNESDAY WITH SILVER’S FALL OF 25 CENTS.
WE HAD A HUGE 975 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE ACCOMPANIED BY A HUGE 975 CONTRACT T.A.S ISSUANCE WHICH WILL BEING USED IN TODAY’S TRADING AS THEY PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN OUR COMEX TRADING (ESPECIALLY TODAY) TRYING TO CONTAIN ANY SILVER PRICE RISE. IN ESSENCE WE GAINED A HUMONGOUS SIZED 4033 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE. WE HAD MAJOR TAS LIQUIDATION THROUGHOUT WEDNESDAY’S COMEX SESSION ALONG WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CROOKS NEED A HIGHER SILVER/GOLD T.A.S. TO CARRY ON THEIR CROOKED MANIPULATION ON A DAILY BASIS BUT DEMAND IS JUST TOO HIGH FOR THEM. THE HIGHER ISSUANCE OF T.A.S. IS NOW USED TO TEMPER OUR SILVER/GOLD PRICE RISE OR RAID AS WHAT HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES LAST MONTH AND AGAIN ON LAST WEEK. THE ACCUMULATED T.A.S. WAS BEING USED TO MANIPULATE PRICES AT THE COMEX BUT THAT ENDED MONDAY..
CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT: A HUGE 558 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT NOW SEEMS THAT THE OCC HAS ORDERED THE BANKS TO REDUCE ITS NEW LEVEL OF 1 TRILLION DOLLARS IN GOLD/SILVER DERIVATIVES AND THUS THE REASON FOR CONSTANT RAIDS BUT TO NO AVAIL TODAY. IT ALSO LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND EVERY DAY TRADING.
WE HAVE IN THE PAST YEAR SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.25) BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF ANY APPRECIALE NET SILVER LONGS FROM THEIR PERCH AS EVEN THOUGH DID HAVE A SMALL LOSS IN PRICE WE HAD A MEGA HUGE GAIN IN OI ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
WE HAD A STRONG 975 CONTRACT ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 40.435 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) TO WHICH WE MUST ADD ANOTHER OF THOSE STUPID “DELIVERIES” CALLED EXCHANGE FOR RISK. TODAY THE CME ISSUED 132 NOTICES OR .66 MILLION OZ WHEREBY THE BOYER TAKES THE RISK THAT HE WILL EVER TO DELIVERED UPON. WHAT A CROCK OF NONSENSE!
// STANDING FOR SILVER//DEC AT 40.435 MILLION OZ + .66 MILLION OZ EX FOR RISK = 41.095 MILLION OZ
WE HAD:
/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN (DESPITE MASSIVE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION + MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION)//STRONG SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 558 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL: ADDED A SMALL 15 CONTRACTS.
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS NOV. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF NOV
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 21 DAYS, total 23,194 contracts: OR 115.970 MILLION OZ (1104 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 115.970 MILLION OZ
LAST 24 MONTHS TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED IN MILLIONS OF OZ:
MAY 137.83 MILLION
JUNE 149.91 MILLION OZ
JULY 129.445 MILLION OZ
AUGUST: MILLION OZ 140.120
SEPT. 28.230 MILLION OZ//
OCT: 94.595 MILLION OZ
NOV: 131.925 MILLION OZ
DEC: 100.615 MILLION OZ
YEAR 2022:
JAN 2022-DEC 2022
JAN 2022// 90.460 MILLION OZ
FEB 2022: 72.39 MILLION OZ//
MARCH 2022: 207.140 MILLION OZ//A NEW RECORD FOR EFP ISSUANCE
APRIL: 114.52 MILLION OZ FINAL//LOW ISSUANCE
MAY: 105.635 MILLION OZ//
JUNE: 94.470 MILLION OZ
JULY : 87.110 MILLION OZ
AUGUST: 65.025 MILLION OZ
SEPT. 74.025 MILLION OZ///FINAL
OCT. 29.017 MILLION OZ FINAL
NOV: 134.290 MILLION OZ//FINAL
DEC, 61.395 MILLION OZ FINAL
TOTALS YR 2022: 1135.767 MILLION OZ (1.1356 BILLION OZ)
JAN 2023/// 53.070 MILLION OZ //FINAL
FEB: 2023: 100.105 MILLION OZ/FINAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.
MARCH 2023: 112.58 MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE
APRIL 111.035 MILLION OZ(SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THAN LAST MONTH)
MAY 66.120 MILLION OZ/INITIAL (MUCH SMALLER THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 110.395 MILLION OZ//MUCH LARGER THAN LAST MONTH
JULY 85.745 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 171.43 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE HUGE //2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD
SEPT: 72.705 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THIS MONTH)
OCT: 97.455 MILLION OZ
NOV. 50.050 MILLION OZ
DEC. 66.140 MILLION OZ//
TOTAL 2023: 1,104.10 MILLION OZ/
JAN ’24 : 78.655 MILLION OZ//
FEB /2024 : 66.135 MILLION OZ./FINAL
MARCH: 143.750 MILLION OZ// 4TH HIGHEST ON RECORD.
APRIL: 161.770 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH WILL BE A WHOPPER OF ISSUANCE OF EFPS//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR A MONTH)
MAY: 135.995 MILLION OZ //WILL BE A STRONG MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
JUNE 110.575 MILLION OZ ( WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH ISSUANCE)
JULY: 108.870 MILLION OZ (WILL BE A STRONG ISSUANCE MONTH/ A TOUCH OVER 100 MILLION OZ/)
AUGUST; 99.740 MILLION OZ//THIS MONTH WILL BE STRONG FOR ISSUANCE BUT LESS THAN JULY.
SEPT: 112.415 MILLION OZ//WILL BE A HUGE MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
OCT; 97.485 MILLION OZ (WILL BE SMALLER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH )
NOV. 115.970 MILLION OZ ( HUGE THIS MONTH)
RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 3058 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0.25 IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//WEDNESDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A HUGE EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 975 ISSUED FOR DEC AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DEC OF 40.435 MILLION OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE TO WHICH WE ADD .66 MILLIONOZ OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK//NEW TOTAL; 41.095 MILLIONOZ
//NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR DEC AT 41.095 MILLION OZ
WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 4033 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE…..THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE 558 CONTRACTS TRYING DESPERATE TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE,//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE WEDNESDAY COMEX SESSION ALONG WITH CALENDAR SPREADER LIQUIDATION. THUS THE NEED FOR REPLENISHMENT /THE STRONG TA.S. ISSUANCE//LIQUIDATION DISTORTS THE TOTAL OI CONTRACTS STANDING AT THE COMEX. NO NET LONG SPECULATORS WERE BURNED ON WEDNESDAY
/ ZERO NET SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS DESPITE THE SMALL LOSS IN PRICE WEDNESDAY/ . ALSO SOME OF OUR LONGS EXERCISED THEIR RIGHT AND TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL SILVER MUCH TO THE ANGER OF OUR BANKERS. SILVER IS NOT BASEL III COMPLIANT SO THE BANKERS CAN TAKE THEIR TIME WITH THE DELIVERY OF SILVER.
THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE WEDNESDAY NIGHT (558) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE AND LATELY ON A DAILY BASIS INCLUDING YESTERDAY AND TODAY.
WE HAD 5,456 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 27.28 MILLION OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 4377 OI CONTRACTS TO 468,283 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110, BUT WE ARE NOW MUCH FURTHER FROM OUR ALL TIME LOW OF 390,000 CONTRACTS.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: REMOVED A FAIR SIZED 140 CONTRACTS//
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI (4377 CONTRACTS) OCCURRED DESPITE OUR GAIN OF $18.05 IN PRICE WEDNESDAY. THE FRBNY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER.. WE ALSO HAD A GOOD INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR DEC AT 55.169 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.
NEW STANDING FOR DEC: 55.169 TONNES
/ ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $18.05 IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY’S COMEX ///. WE HAD A FAIR GAIN OF 3794 OI CONTRACTS (11.800 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES, WITH MANY LONGS, REMAINING AT THE END OF THE DAY, TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE, MUCH TO THE ANGER AND HORROR EXHIBITED BY OUR MAJOR BANKER, THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK. THE HORROR INTENSIFIED ONCE LONDON STARTED TO TRADE LAST WEEK, AND THROUGHOUT MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH MAJOR TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE! YOU CAN VISUALIZE THIS WITH THE DAILY QUEUE JUMPING WE ARE WITNESSING (AND TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 4300 OZ)
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A HUGE SIZED 8171 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 468,283
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3794 CONTRACTS WITH 4377 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A HUGE SIZED 8171 EFP OI CONTRACT ISSUANCE WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3794 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR SIZED BUT CRIMINAL 1235 CONTRACTS ISSUED. WE HAD A HUGE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE TUESDAY AS THE NEED FOR REPLENISHMENT WAS STILL IN ORDER TO CARRY OUT ITS PRICE CONTAINMENT STRATEGY. THEY FAILED MISERABLY ON LAST FRIDAY WITH GOLD’S PRICE RISE ABOVE THE $2700 PRICE LEVEL BUT SUCCEEDED MONDAY ON COMEX OPTIONS EXPIRY TO RAID GOLD. THEY FAILED MISERABLY ON TUESDAY AND AGAIN FRIDAY.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (8171 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI OF 4377 CONTRACTS/TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 3794 CONTRACTS..WE HAVE 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT ,2.) STRONG INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR DEC 55.169 TONNES
//NEW STANDING DECEMBER: 55.169 TONNES
/ 3) HUGE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION (TRYING TO LOWER GOLD’S PRICE RISE PM WEDNESDAY WITH NO SUCCESS AS WE HAD A STRONG $18.05 PRICE GAIN . WE HAD ZERO NET LONG SPECS BEING CLIPPED. STICKY GOLD’S LONGS HOWEVER ARE NOT FOOLED BY THE RAID AS THEY WERE REWARDED MONDAY EVENING AS THEY EXERCISED EFP’S FROM LONDON TO TAKE DELIVERY OF BADLY NEEDED PHYSICAL.
4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST DECREASE 5) HUGE ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 1235 T.A.S.CONTRACTS
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2024 INCLUDING TODAY
NOV
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF NOV :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 126,602 CONTRACTS OF 12,660,200 OZ OR 393.785 TONNES IN 21 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 6028 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 21 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 393.785 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2023, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 393.785 DIVIDED BY 3550 x 100% TONNES = 11.070% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023
JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)
FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..
MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/
APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)
MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)
JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)
JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.
SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_
OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)
NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP
DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL
FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL
MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.
APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL/SECOND HIGHEST ON RECORD
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES
MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL
SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)
OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.
NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//
TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR
JAN ’24: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES
MARCH 2024: 352.21 TONNES//2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE.
APRIL: 267.05TONNES (WILL BE AN EXTREMELY STRONG MONTH BUT LESS THAN MARCH 2024)
MAY; 316.606 TONNES (WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH// 3RD HIGHEST RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE )// NOTICE THE HUGE INCREASES IN EX FOR PHYSICAL THESE PAST FEW MONTHS. THESE CONTRACTS ARE CIRCLED BACK FROM LONDON WHEREBY METAL IS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX.
JUNE 175.11 tonnes HEADING FOR A WEAKER MONTH AND MUCH LESS THAN THE THREE PREVIOUS MONTHS
JULY: 351. 65 TONNES (3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL AND THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED POST BASEL III)
AUGUST: 274.79 TONNES//THIS MONTH WILL NO DOUBT BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S BUT MUCH LESS THAN LAST MONTH.
SEPT: 335 .104 TONNES//IF THIS CONTINUES WE WILL HAVE A HUMDINGER OF AN EFP ISSUANCE. WE WILL PROBABLY END JUST SHORT OF THE 3RD HIGHEST ISSUANCE EVER RECORDED.
OCT. 277.71 TONNES (THIS WILL BE A GOOD ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
NOV: 393.875 TONNES ( A HUGE MONTH////NOW SURPASSED THE PREVIOUS 3RD AND 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE TO BECOME THE 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED
(HIGHEST EVER RECORDED ISSUANCE MARCH 2022 OF 409 TONNES.)
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF SEPTEMBER. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (OCT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.TODAY WE HAD THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX IN SILVER ROSE BY A MONSTER SIZED 3058 CONTRACTS OI TO 137,648 AND CLOSER TO THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710( SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 7 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 975 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
DEC 975 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 975 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 3043 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 650 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A MONSTER SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 4018 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTALS 20.165 MILLION OZ OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.25 LOSS IN PRICE
OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY
1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT
(report Harvey)
b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES
(Peter Schiff)
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
FRIDAY MORNING WEDNESDAY NIGHT
ASIA TRADING FRIDAY MORNING/WEDNESDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.76 PTS OR 0.93%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 56.65 PTS OR 0.29%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 141.03 OR 0.37%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.01%///Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED UP TO 7.2413 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED UP TO 7.2489// Oil DOWN TO 68.90 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 72.71 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY MIXED
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 4377 CONTRACTS TO 468,283 WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $18.05 WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY’S TRADING. , WE LOST ZERO NET LONGS AS WE HAD A STRONG PRICE GAIN FOR GOLD AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW AND WE HAD AN EXTRA HUGE NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED (8171).
THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS THROUGHOUT LAST MONTH CONTINUES TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY AND IT SURELY WAS ON DISPLAY THIS ENTIRE WEEK AND ESPECIALLY DURING MONDAY’S HUGE LOSS IN PRICE. WE LOST ALSO A HUGE NUMBER OF CONTRACTS TUESDAY AND TODAY AS WELL. WE HAD A HUGE TA.S. LIQUIDATION COUPLED WITH A CONTINUAL HUGE MONTH END LIQUIDATION OF CALENDAR SPREADERS WHICH IS WHY WE LOST SO MANY COMEX OI CONTRACTS. SOME OF THE REMAINING LONGS REMAIN STICKY AS THEIR AIM IS TO TAKE DELIVERY OF PHYSICAL GOLD NOT WORRYING TOO MUCH ON RAIDS.
THE FED IS THE MAJOR SHORT OF AROUND 93+ TONNES OF GOLD OWING TO THE B.I.S. THE FED NEEDS TO COVER AS THEY ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO GOLD PRICES ONCE THE BRICS BEGIN THEIR INITIATIVE AND ABANDON THE US DOLLAR. THIS IS SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN LATE OCT 2024/(AS OUTLINED IN OUR GOLD PHYSICAL COMMENTARIES//VIEW ANDREW MAGUIRE LATEST LIVE FROM VAULT PODCAST 197 , 199, AND FRIDAY NIGHTS 200 AS HE TACKLES THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC). THE FOUR OR FIVE BANKS ARE ALSO WORRIED ABOUT THEIR HUGE PRECIOUS METAL DERIVATIVE EXPOSURE (NORTH OF ONE TRILLION DOLLARS) AND THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAJOR REASON FOR GOLD/SILVER’S RISE THESE PAST TWO MONTHS. THEY ARE TOTALLY TRAPPED., AND THEIR FAILURE TO STOP CENTRAL BANK PURCHASES OF PHYSICAL GOLD IS THE MAJOR ISSUE OF THE DAY! ACTUALLY THE FED HAS COAXED THE SPECULATORS TO GO MASSIVELY SHORT WHILE THEY TAKE THE LONG SIDE AFTER THEY COMMENCE THE AVALANCHE IN LOWERING THE PRICE OF GOLD. THIS WAS SURELY ON DISPLAY EARLY WEDNESDAY EVENING.
OUR PHYSICAL LONDONERS BOUGHT NEW MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF LONGS AT ANY PRICE AND THIS GOLD BOUGHT WILL BE TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL ON A T + 1 BASIS. BECAUSE GOLD IS BASEL III COMPLIANT, GOLD MUST BE DELIVERED IN A VERY TIMELY ONE DAY. CENTRAL BANKS AROUND THE WORLD, BEING REPRESENTED BY OUR LONDONERS, ARE THE REAL PURCHASERS OF THIS GOLD.
WE HAD A STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION THROUGHOUT LAST WEEK’S TRADING AND AGAIN TODAY.
THE PROBLEM FOR THOSE PROVIDING THE SHORT PAPER IS THE SHOCK TO THEM ON RECEIVING NOTICE THAT THE LONGS WANT THE PHYSICAL GOLD AS THEY TENDER FOR THAT SHINY YELLOW METAL. THE HIGH LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADERS // T.A.S DURING LAST WEEK AND THIS WEEK IS SURELY DISTORTING COMEX OPEN INTEREST BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP LONDON’S ACCUMULATION OF PHYSICAL! YOU CAN ALSO VISUALIZE THAT PERFECTLY WITH THE HUGE AMOUNTS OF QUEUE JUMPING ORCHESTRATED BY CENTRAL BANKERS BOLTING AHEAD OF ORDINARY LONGS AS THEIR NEED FOR PHYSICAL IS GREAT AS THEY SCOUR THE PLANET LOOKING FOR GOLD
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW ENTERING INTO THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DECEMBER.… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A MEGA HUGE SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS A MEGA HUGE SIZED 8171 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : /DEC 8171 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 8171 CONTRACTS. THESE EFP;S CIRCLE AROUND LONDON ON A 13 DAY BASIS AND ARE NOW USED BY GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD WITH THE OBLIGATION TO DELIVER BEING FORCED ONTO COMEX BANKS. THE GOLD DELIVERED COMES FROM LONDON.
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 3,794 CONTRACTS IN THAT 8171 CONTRACT LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 4377 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS EVERY STRONG GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $18.05 WEDNESDAY// COMEX. THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WILL BE USED BY CENTRAL BANKS, TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD AS MENTIONED ABOVE.
AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS USUALLY DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), BUT NOW ON A DAILY BASIS, THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS A NORMAL SIZED SIZED 1235 CONTRACTS, AND THESE WILL BE USED TO REPLENISH SUPPLIES.. ALMOST ALL OF THE TRADING AND SUPPLY OF CONTRACTS WAS ORCHESTRATED BY GOVERNMENT (FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK).
THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS CONTINUE TO SELL OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD (T.A.S.) WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR/T.A.S. SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED IN DAYS HENCE//. IT SEEMS THAT OUR CROOKS ORCHESTRATED, ON MONDAY, THEIR RAID TO LOWER THE PRICE OF GOLD TO MAKE THEIR COMEX BETS WHOLE ON OPTIONS EXPIRY WEEK AND THUS THE NEED FOR CONTINUAL STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE (COUPLED WITH THE LIQUIDATION OF CALENDAR SPREADERS ). THE USE OF OUR TWO SPREADER MECHANISMS WERE OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO OUR CROOKS IN THIS WEEK’S TRADING. WE HAD CONTINUAL T.A.S. AND MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION WEDNESDAY.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: DEC (55.167 TONNES) WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR NON ACTIVE NOV DELIVERY MONTH.
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 47 MONTHS OF 2021-2024:
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022:
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
2023:
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
2024
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 18.8398 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 20.093 TONNES
APRIL: 2024: 53.673TONNES FINAL
MAY/ 2024 8.5536 TONNES + 3.3716 TONNES EX FOR RISK/= 11.9325
JUNE; 95.578 TONNES. + 1.045 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =96.623 THIS IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED GOLD STANDING SINCE AUGUST 2022
JULY: 11.692 TONNES
AUGUST 69.602 TONNES//FINAL STANDING
SEPT. 13.164 TONNES.
OCT 39.474 TONNES + + 20.917 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =60.391 TONNES
NOV . 11.265 TONNES +4.665 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/TUESDAY + 3.11 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR = 19.0425 TONNES
DEC: 55.167 TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE BY A $18.05/)//AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF ANY NET SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE DID HAVE A HUGE GAIN IN PRICE WITH OUR TWO EXCHANGES AND WE DID HAVE SOME T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION WEDNESDAY AND THIS WAS MAGNIFIED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION. WE ALSO HAD A NORMAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE AS THE NEED FOR REPLENISHMENT WAS STILL PRESENT. THIS COULD NOT STOP CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL MONDAY EVENING
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OF 11.800 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC (55.167TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.
/ STANDING FOR DEC 55.167 TONNES
NEW STANDING FOR DECEMBER: 55.167 TONNES (WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH)
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $3.80
WE HAD 140 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL.
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 3794 CONTRACTS OR 379400 OZ (11.800 TONNES)
confirmed volume WEDNESDAY 249,544 contracts: fair //// t.a.s. enhanced
//speculators have left the gold arena
END
NOV 29 NOV GOLD CONTRACT
/ /// THE DEC 2024 GOLD CONTRACT
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | 32.151 OZ BRINKS 1 KILOBAR . |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | NIL OZ |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | 150,,916.794 OZ 46,940 KILOBARS |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 13,075 notice(s) 1,307,500 OZ 40.668TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 4662 contracts 466,200 OZ 14.500 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 13,075 notices 1,307,500 oz 40.668 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month | x |
dealer deposits: 0
total dealer deposits: NIL oz
we have 1 customer deposits
I) Into HSBC 150,916.794 oz (46940 kilobars)
total deposits 150,916.794 oz
withdrawals: 0
TOTAL WITHDRAWALS: 0 oz
adjustments: 1
a)Manfra customer to dealer
47,073.78 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.
For the front month of DEC: we have an oi of 17,737 contracts having LOST 17,878 contracts.
Thus by definition, the initial amount of gold standing for delivery in this active month of December is as follows:
17,737 contracts x 100 oz per contract = 1773700 oz or 55.167 tonnes
JANUARY LOST 9 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 2128
FEBRUARY GAINED 12,762 CONTRACTS TO 354,152 .
We had 13,075 contracts filed for today representing 1,307,500 oz
This is a huge major assault on the comex for gold and this time it is physical that will be requested.
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer and 2499 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 13,075 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 1813 notice(s) was (were) stopped (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for DEC /2024. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (13,075 x 100 oz ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC(17,737 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today (13,075 x 100 oz per contract( equals 1,773,700 OZ OR 55.167 TONNES.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the DEC contract month: No of notices filed so far (13,075 x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of DEC (17,737 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (13,075 x 100 oz which equals 1,773,700 oz (55.167 TONNES)
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.: 55.167 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR THIS ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
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COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION
NEW PLEDGED GOLD:
241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES
204,937.290 OZ PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES
83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes
265,999.054, oz JPM No 2
1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/
Manfra: 33,758.550 oz
Delaware: 193.721 oz
International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz
total pledged gold: 1,753,711.090 oz 54.54 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 17,940,748.935 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 7,975,826.278/// 248.08 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,964922.207 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,222,115 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)= 193.53 tonnes //
JPMorgan enhanced inventory is 111.737 tonnes and thus 30.24% of entire inventory.
END
SILVER/COMEX
NOV 29. 2024
INITIAL
//2024// THE DEC 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | nil . |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | nil oz |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | nil |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 5456 CONTRACT(S) (27.28 MILLION OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 2631 contracts (13.155oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 5456 Contracts (27.28 MILLION oz) |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
i) 0 dealer deposit/
total dealer deposit : NIL oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz
We had 0 customer deposits
total customer deposits nil oz
We had 0 withdrawals
total withdrawal nil oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 134.401million oz/307.976million or 43.52%
adjustment 2
i)Manfra/customer to dealer 576,810.800 oz
ii) ASAHI dealer to customer; 1,201,542.150 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 79.410MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 307.876 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DEC
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF DEC /2024 OI: 8087 OPEN INTEREST FOR A LOSS OF 4391 CONTRACTS
THUS BY DEFINITION, THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING FOR DELIVERY IN THIS VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IS AS FOLLOWS:
8087 NOTICES X 5000 OZ PER NOTICE = 40.435 MILLION OZ TO WHICH WE ADD THAT STUPID 132 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK WHICH EQUALS .660 MILLION OZ//THUS TOTAL SO FAR STANDING: 41.095
JANUARY SAW A GAIN OF 162 CONTRACTS UP TO 2011
MARCH SAW A HUGE GAIN OF 7077 CONTRACTS UP TO 110,544
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 5456 for 27,28 MILLION oz
CONFIRMED volume; ON WEDNESDAY 83,456- strong// t.a.s. enhanced
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in DEC we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 5456x 5,000 oz = 27.28 MILLION oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC (8087) and the number of notices served upon today (5456)x (5000 oz)
Thus the standings for silver for the DEC 2024 contract month: 5456 Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of DEC(8097) minus number of notices served upon today (5456)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the DEC contract month equating to 40.435 MILLION OZ. + to which we add .66 million oz of exchange for risk//new total 41.095
New total standing: 41.095 million oz.
There are 77.410 million oz of registered silver.
The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44.
Now that we have surpassed $28.40 the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon
END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS!
GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS//
NOV 29 WITH GOLD UP $16.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : Z WITHDRAWAL OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD . .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.55 TONNES
NOV 27 WITH GOLD UP $18.05 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : . .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.41 TONNE
NOV 26 WITH GOLD UP $3.80 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD : A DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLDINTO THE GLD. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.41 TONNES
NOV 25 WITH GOLD DOWN $91.60 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD :. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.97 TONNES
NOV 21 WITH GOLD UP $23.85 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 3.16 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 875,39 TONNES
NOV 20 WITH GOLD UP $22.10 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 0.58 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 872.23 TONNES
NOV 19 WITH GOLD UP $13.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 871.65 TONNES
NOV 18 WITH GOLD UP $44.20 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 2.56 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.93 TONNES
NOV 15 WITH GOLD DOWN $1.90 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.25 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 867.37 TONNES
NOV 14 WITH GOLD DOWN $12.90 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.91 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 868.62 TONNES
NOV 13 WITH GOLD DOWN $19.30 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.63 TONNES
NOV 12 WITH GOLD DOWN $11.40 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.88 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 871,97 TONNE
NOV 11 WITH GOLD DOWN $75.35 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.74 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.85 TONNES
NOV 8 WITH GOLD DOWN $11.85 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.87 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.46 TONNES
NOV 7 WITH GOLD UP $30.50 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.45 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.46 TONNES
NOV 6 WITH GOLD DOWN $72.80 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/:. .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 886.91 TONNES
NOV 5 WITH GOLD UP $4.05 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 888.63 TONNES
NOV 4 WITH GOLD DOWN $2.45 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.16 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 888.63 TONNES
NOV 1 WITH GOLD UP 0.15 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.86 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 891 TONNES
OCT 31 WITH GOLD DOWN $49.55 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.87 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 892.65 TONNES
OCT 30 WITH GOLD UP $20.10 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 889,78 TONNES
OCT 29 WITH GOLD UP $25.35 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 891.50 TONNES
OCT 28 WITH GOLD UP $1.50 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD.// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 889.78 TONNES
OCT 25 WITH GOLD UP $6.40 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 893.80 TONNES
OCT 24 WITH GOLD UP $19.60 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES // // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 893.80 TONNES
OCT 23 WITH GOLD DOWN $29.40 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.45 TONNES // // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 895.24 TONNES
OCT 21 WITH GOLD UP $9.30 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.277 TONNES // // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 888.63 TONNES
OCT 18 WITH GOLD UP $22.30 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD // // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 884.59 TONNES
OCT 17 WITH GOLD UP $17.30 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD // // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 884.59 TONNES
OCT 16 WITH GOLD UP $13.60 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD //A MONSTER DEPOSIT OF 4.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 884.59 TONNES
OCT 15 WITH GOLD UP $2.85 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD //A MONSTER DEPOSIT OF 4.31 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.57 TONNES
OCT 11 WITH GOLD UP $36.55 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.26 TONNES
OCT 10 WITH GOLD UP $14.50 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.26 TONNES
OCT 9 WITH GOLD DOWN $8.50 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.26 TONNES
OCT 8 WITH GOLD DOWN $28,.95 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; // . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.26 TONNES
OCT 7 WITH GOLD DOWN $1.85 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.26 TONNES
OCT 4 WITH GOLD DOWN $11.20 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD; A DEPOSIT OF 12.57 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// . // .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.41 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 878.55 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL
SILVER
NOV 29 WITH SILVER UP 51 CENTS //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV. A WITHDRAWAL OF 365,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.382 MILLION OZ
NOV 27 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.25 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.747 MILLION OZ
NOV 26 WITH SILVER UP $0.10 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:.A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.094 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV./.. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 474.747 MILLION OZ
NOV 25 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.96 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:. . /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.841 MILLION OZ
NOV 22 WITH SILVER UP $0.40 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:. . /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.841 MILLION OZ
NOV 21 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.06 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.729 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV. . /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.841 MILLION OZ
NOV 20 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.22 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: . /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.572 MILLION OZ
NOV 19 WITH SILVER UP $0.10 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 5,742,000 OZ INTO THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477..572 MILLION OZ
NOV 18 WITH SILVER UP $0.68 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 1,277,000 OZ INTO THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 471,830 MILLION OZ
NOV 15 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.09 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3,100,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 471,830 MILLION OZ
NOV 14 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.07 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,504,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 473.653 MILLION OZ
NOV 13 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.16 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,274,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.157 MILLION OZ
NOV 12 WITH SILVER UP $0.16 //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 576,000 OZ INTO THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 476.000 MILLION OZ
NOV 11 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.79 //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 374,000 OZ INTO THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.527 MILLION OZ
NOV 8 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.43 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 2.005 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV. /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.846 MILLION OZ
NOV 7 WITH SILVER UP $0.11 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: /// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.841 MILLION OZ
NOV 6 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.41 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.692 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 475.841 MILLION OZ
NOV 5 WITH SILVER UP 0.18 :SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.109 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 479,533 MILLION OZ
NOV 4 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.08 :SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 547,000 OZ.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 480.642 MILLION OZ
NOV 1 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.10 : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 481.189 MILLION OZ
OCT 31 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.26 : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 3.647 MILLION OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV//.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 481.189 MILLION OZ
OCT 30 WITH SILVER DOWN 38 CENTS : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.542 MILLION OZ
OCT 29 WITH SILVER UP 49 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.628 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.542 MILLION OZ
OCT 28 WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.431 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 478.180 MILLION OZ
OCT 25 WITH SILVER DOWN $0,02 : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A DEPOSIT OF 3.06 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 480.281 MILLION OZ
OCT 24 WITH SILVER UP $0,01 : SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.684 MILLION OZ OF SILVER OUT OF THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477.177 MILLION OZ
OCT 23 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.15 : SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.228 MILLION OZ OF SILVER OUT OF THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 477,861 MILLION OZ
OCT 22 WITH SILVER $0.93 : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV’ A DEPOSIT OF 3.329 MILLION OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV..//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 478.089 MILLION OZ
OCT 18 WITH SILVER $1.46 : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 473.483 MILLION OZ
OCT 17 WITH SILVER DOWN 18 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//A DEPOSIT OF 3.419 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 473.483 MILLION OZ
OCT 16 WITH SILVER UP 25 CENTS : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 470.064 MILLION OZ
OCT 15 WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS : SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 456,,000 OZ FORM THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 470.064 MILLION OZ
OCT 11 WITH SILVER UP 53 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 932,000 OZ FORM THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 470.520 MILLION OZ
OCT 9 WITH SILVER UP 7 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 2.964 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV..: /INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 471.432 MILLION OZ
OCT 8 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.41 : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 2.007 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV..: /INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 468.468 MILLION OZ
OCT 7 WITH SILVER DOWN 39 CENTS : HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 684,000 OZ FORM THE SLV..: /INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 466.461 MILLION OZ
OCT 4 WITH SILVER UP 0 CENTS : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.: /INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 465.777MILLION OZ
CLOSING INVENTORY 474.382 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1/ PETER SCHIFF/SCHIFF GOLD/MIKE MAHARRY
2/ Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
Trump and gold
If Trump’s trade and fiscal policies are carried through, Federal finances will be utterly destroyed, and the dollar with it. This article explains why.
| Alasdair MacleodNov 27∙Paid |
Following President-elect Trump’s successful election, the dollar has rallied, and US equities have registered new highs. Clearly, on first cut US investors are expecting a business-friendly environment under Trump. And his nomination of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary has also been well received by markets.
Bessent has been a successful hedge fund manager having worked with George Soros in forcing sterling off the ERM in the 1990s, and similarly profiting from shorting the yen in 2013. He is an experienced market man, rather than as an intellectual. But on the economics of trade and by his statements, he is ignorant.
Bessent is said to favour higher trade tariffs and lower income taxes, which rhymes with statements by Trump. As a matter of practicalities, we have yet to discover how he intends to evolve to the former from the latter. His position on the budget deficit is not clear. That matter is seen as a matter for a new office, the to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
DOGE is intended to work with the Office of Management and Budget to cut government waste and unnecessary regulation. Musk has hinted that he wants to close whole departments, while Ramaswamy has said he wants to cut 75% of the Federal workforce.
This combination of hope, impracticality, and ignorance of the economics of US and global trade will determine the future of the dollar and its value in gold. How will that turn out?
The president-elect does not have a mandate like Javier Milei’s in Argentina. If the bureaucrats in Buenos Aries resisted his chainsaw, Milei could always threaten them with a new general election, which would almost certainly back him more strongly. In other words, Millei is cutting spending with the wholehearted support of the people. That is not the position with Trump, and the US’s establishment knows it. Furthermore, Musk and Ramaswamy are not running a business but entering an alien field of politics in which they lack experience. They may be exceptional geniuses in the private sector but will soon find that they are out of their depth reforming the public sector.
It is worth noting that Margaret Thatcher succeeded in her reforms only because Galtieri invaded the Falklands and made her a heroine — if that hadn’t happened, she would have undoubtedly lost the subsequent general election.
Hopes of a Musk-Ramaswamy chainsaw massacre of government departments and spending are wholly illogical in the reality of politics. This means that all else being equal the budget deficit will persist. We could find that Trump and Bessent having to raise trade tariffs more than income and corporation taxes to contain the budget deficit. But all else will not be equal because of the destructive consequences of trade tariffs themselves.
Trade tariffs are not the panacea Trump & Bessent appear to believe. They are always met with retaliatory tariffs from other nations. The experience of Smoot-Hawley in 1930 was that exports of American goods suffered, and their manufacturing costs were increased on everything from imported raw materials, through semi-manufactured items, to consumer goods. The accelerated closing down of global supply chains, a trend already started, will cause additional damage this time round, hitting America’s global brands and even its high-tech industries as the entire world goes into trade protection mode.
Smoot-Hawley 1930s was an under-recognised factor behind the 1930s depression. Trump-Bessent 2025 trade tariffs promise to be even more destructive. It is beyond reason to expect Trump’s intended tariffs not to have a similar or even worse effect than that of Smoot-Hawley on not just the American economy, but of the entire world.
A further complication is that today the fiat dollar has replaced the 1930s gold standard, which was blamed by the establishment of the day for the depression, leading FDR to devalue the dollar by 40% in 1934. Similarly, we should expect the purchasing power of the dollar to give way, reflected in both higher dollar prices and driving soaring unemployment. Some call this stagflation. But the consequences for the Fed’s interest rate policies and for those of every other central bank will be to drive them higher.
We are already at the top of the greatest credit bubble in history. And with Federal debt growth already outpacing the growth in GDP, Bessent will find his Treasury is already in a debt trap. Trump-Bessent Tariffs 2025 will further the imbalance between the supply of dollar credit and the demand for it, particularly from foreigners who already possess far more dollars than they need in a world of contracting trade. It is a recipe for soaring interest rates, or a dollar collapse as Bessent and the Fed struggle to balance the books by printing dollars — it will almost certainly involve both.
Bursting the bubble
For the moment, US investors appear mesmerised by the prospect of a business-friendly administration with promises yet to be implemented. After the initial euphoria, markets are bound to make a more sober assessment of the outcome of Trump’s economic policies. The depressionary consequences of higher tariffs will then heave into view, as will the destructive consequences for the dollar’s value.
To add to Trump and Bessent’s misjudgements, the Fed will have no option but to tighten interest rate policy to stop the dollar collapsing and to discourage foreign holders from selling both their dollars and underlying financial assets. Furthermore, with US tariffs leading to contracting global supply chains and trade, foreigners will have less reason to retain dollars for trade settlement liquidity.
The largest credit bubble in history will implode, taking all credit values down with it. It was additionally fuelled by zero-dollar interest rates and even negative rates in Japan and the Eurozone. It marks the end of a forty-year trend, exemplified by the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note:
For now, the investing public is ignoring these realities. But equities are even more overvalued than bonds, as my next chart shows:
The chart inverts the long bond yield to show its normally close negative corelation with the S&P 500 Index. Its diversion from this corelation marks the bubbles indicated in the first chart. The current bubble was additionally fuelled by the Fed’s QE, which drove the long bond yield to 1.2%. A further rise from the current 4.45% is set to collapse the S&P.
Can it be avoided? The short answer is no: financial crisis management by governments depends on resolving a credit collapse with a new bubble. Marked by ZIRP and NIRP elsewhere, it has been a policy which has now run out of road.
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, an aphorism which seems appropriate here. Trump’s business friendly, half-baked MAGA approach to economic conditions will simply accelerate the dollar’s collapse, and with it the credibility of all fiat currencies. And as they plunge, so will gold appear to rise, along with silver and every other commodity priced in dollars and priced in every other fiat currency in the dollar-based currency reserve system. It will be no surprise to America’s enemies who are a) not stupid, and b) entirely cynical about US monetary policy.
They are increasingly already getting out of dollars, which is credit, into real money, which is gold.
3. CHRIS POWELL AND GATA DISPATCHES
4. OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES//LIVE FROM THE VAULT/no 201 ANDREW MAGUIRE
LIVE FROM THE VAULT/ANDREW MAGUIRE KINESIS 201
end
Gold-Backed Or Bust: Judy Shelton’s Plan To Tame The Fed And Restore The Dollar
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 08:00 PM
Authored by Paul Mueller via the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER),
Judy Shelton has spent her career advocating for sound money. Her latest book, “Good as Gold: How to Unleash the Power of Sound Money,” makes an up-to-date case for reinstituting a gold standard. Her intriguing conclusion is that the dollar can be reconnected to gold by simply issuing federal treasury bonds with gold-redeemability clauses. The book also addresses recent events and important current debates about monetary systems like whether central bankers should have wide policy discretion, whether fixed or floating exchange rates are better for economic growth, and what happens when countries manipulate their currency to boost exports.
Dr. Shelton engages these questions in the context of academic debates, but she also uses the lens of rational economic planning to evaluate how the monetary system contributes to or detracts from economic growth. At the end of the day, the case for sound money rests on the claim that it will generate more stable and greater long-run economic prosperity. Dr. Shelton believes sound money will do just that. But what would such a sound money regime look like?
Although Dr. Shelton would prefer a system along the lines of a classical gold standard, she would probably be content with other monetary systems that dramatically reduced the discretion of policymakers. The real problem with our current monetary regime is not primarily technical. It is behavioral. Because public officials have strong incentives to inflate the currency, bail out various corporations, and underwrite extensive government borrowing, they do a poor job conserving the value of fiat currency or providing a predictable stable system of interest rates, credit, liquidity, etc.
In the first couple chapters of “Good as Gold,” Dr. Shelton takes the Federal Reserve to task. The wide discretion Fed officials can exercise makes monetary policy unpredictable. Although Fed officials argue that their decisions are countercyclical, that may not always be the case. As Milton Friedman famously noted, the effects of monetary policy decisions have “long and variable” lags. Despite claims to being “data-driven,” Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decisions remain unpredictable. Data can change rapidly and unpredictably, which can make policy change rapid and unpredictable too.
Another problem is that the “data-driven” mantra invokes the assumption that the data always clearly indicate what ought to be done. In fact, this is rarely the case. Not only do a wide variety of inflation measures exist, but there are also a wide range of time intervals over which to compare inflation trends. But that’s not the worst of it!
Employment, unemployment, GDP, and a host of other economic numbers suggest different things are going on in the economy. Retailers expect strong record spending this holiday season while the N.Y. Fed just released a study where the number of people reporting concern about their ability to make debt payments hit its highest level since 2020. How to weigh these various factors is far from clear.
Another problem with Fed policy is the rapid change in its interest rate targets. Three years ago, the short-run interest rate was ~.5 percent. Within two years it was over 5 percent. That rapid change created many issues in the economy, only some of which we have recognized. The rate-hike cycle created significant turmoil in the banking industry with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failing entirely while many large regional banks shrank or were enfolded into larger national banks.
The commercial real estate market has also been upended. While the owners of office buildings were already facing strong headwinds from the pandemic’s normalization of remote work, the Fed delivered a one-two punch when it raised interest rates. Most large commercial real estate investors use variable rate debt to finance their portfolios—which means the interest rate they pay moves with the market. Adding a couple percentage points to one’s debt rapidly changes the viability of a venture. In addition to higher debt-servicing costs, commercial real estate investors saw the market value of their holdings decline precipitously as buyers disappeared, financing costs rose, and future potential cash flows were more heavily discounted.
The previous rate-hike cycle in 2006 and 2007 preceded a major recession and financial crisis. Even as the Fed creates disruptions in markets, it has also overseen the relentless decline in the value of the dollar—ironically in the name of pursuing their mandate to maintain price stability. A dollar in 2024 is worth what a quarter was in 1980 and what a dime was in 1965. And a 2024 dollar is worth about what a penny was worth in 1900.
This downward march in the value of the dollar creates problems.
It drives up asset prices, favoring those who have investment savvy while eating away at the value of people’s savings and undermining the prosperity of those on fixed incomes. The steady fall of the dollar also distorts price calculations and expectations.
I’ve argued elsewhere that the Fed has been a prime culprit in boosting housing prices and, as a result, creating a “transitional gains trap” where homeowners with significant equity, juiced in large part by easy money, have organized to protect their equity by putting up local legal barriers to building new housing.
But “Good as Gold” includes much more than criticism of the Fed. Dr. Shelton points out that unstable money and exchange rates create costs to doing business. International firms must devote time, energy, and money to protect themselves from erratic fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Creating these “hedges” to protect their profitability from exchange-rate risk necessitates additional classes of assets and asset traders—contributing to greater “financialization” of the economy. While the services being offered create real value for corporations, they come at a price and would not be needed under more stable monetary arrangements.
Besides the frictions and costs that unstable money introduces into day-to-day business operations, it also creates long-term consequences when it comes to investing. If certain exchange rates can move 15 percent, 30 percent, or more in a single year, Dr. Shelton asks, then how can investors rationally allocate capital based on real factors and comparative advantage? The structure and mix of capital investment we currently have across countries and within the same country looks very different than it would in a world of stable money.
Dr. Shelton makes this point indirectly in a fascinating chapter about the monetary debate between Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell. Both were staunch advocates of free markets, but they differed in what monetary regime they thought best. Friedman argued in favor of freely floating exchange rates set by market participants. In this world, governments would feel pressure from markets, in the form of capital outflows, if they engaged in domestic monetary policy shenanigans. Mundell, on the other hand, favored more stability in exchange rates that would require domestic prices to adapt to changes in trade and capital flows. Friedman and Mundell both agreed, however, that government officials and central bankers should have very little discretion in how they managed a country’s monetary system.
In a later chapter, Shelton offers the problem of “currency manipulation” as a reason for implementing a sound money regime. Her argument basically asserts that countries that actively depreciate or weaken their domestic currency experience short-run benefits (in the form of more competitive exports) and long-term costs (in the form of inflation and capital outflows). Other countries, however, feel short-run pain as their exports decline and their factories shut down—even though they also receive cheaper goods and reallocate much of the displaced labor and capital. I find this line of reasoning a bit curious.
Shelton rightly champions free trade and argues that it works best when countries do not artificially manipulate the value of their currencies. No objection here. But I am not convinced that a sound money regime, even a gold standard, would change other countries’ incentives to devalue their currency. Gold convertibility of one currency does not prevent the issuer of a different fiat currency from issuing large amounts of that fiat currency to reduce the relative price of its exports.
I suppose one could argue (and Dr. Shelton does) that currency manipulation becomes easier to discern because currencies will be valued in terms of a fixed standard (gold), rather than in terms of another fluctuating fiat currency. For example, the price of gold in terms of dollars increased by 77 percent from May 2014 to May 2024.
The currencies of the largest trade partners with the United States lost far more value relative to gold in that period: Euros (129 percent), Mexican Peso (131 percent), Canadian dollar (122 percent), Chinese yuan (105 percent), and Japanese yen (165 percent). But that probably matters relatively little to the devaluing regime. Using gold as a benchmark might reveal relative changes in the value of currencies better. It could also defuse the language of “currency manipulation.”
Instead of attributing motives to foreign central bankers, policy makers could set relatively straight-forward criteria for when another country’s currency declines in a distortive way. Shelton suggests that some level of tariffs should be imposed in response to another country’s currency devaluation to offset the monetary distortion to international trade. This idea may not be crazy from a purely technical standpoint, yet I would hesitate to recommend it because of the likely distortions and co-opting of such policies by special interests. I also question whether the costs of not imposing tariffs on depreciating currencies is as high as Dr. Shelton believes.
Sound money advocates like Shelton must explain how we could get to a sound money regime. On the one hand, advocating a gold standard seems archaic and implausible. On the other hand, it would not be technically difficult to implement. And, in fact, given the dominance of the U.S. dollar, if another major currency, such as the Euro, also chose to move back to gold redeemability, it is not hard to imagine other major currencies (Yen, Yuan, Pound, etc.) following suit. The political difficulty, of course, is getting the United States to take the first step and then getting the EU to follow suit.
The odds of successful reform are highest when pursuing the easiest path to transition the current system to a sound monetary regime. Abolishing the Federal Reserve is not on that path. So tying dollars back to gold using the Fed makes more sense than moving back to a pre-Fed world. Similarly, constraining the FOMC seems far more plausible than abolishing it.
It may be worth raising a few other important secondary questions. At what price will the currency be convertible into gold? Dr. Shelton has suggested that incorporating a gold clause in Treasury bonds could be a good method for discovering the right price of convertibility. In fact, putting gold convertibility into government bond contracts may be sufficient, in and of itself, to tie dollars back to gold.
Afterall, depreciation of dollars would create consequences for the federal government and the Federal Reserve, the very institutions primarily responsible for managing the dollar and maintaining the monetary system. Shelton also makes the important point that currency should be seen as being like a weight or measure—something standardized for the public to use. It should not be viewed as a policy instrument or lever for managing the economy. This simple point rarely arises in modern commentary on the Fed and on monetary policy—yet it has deep legal and historical roots in the American founding and beyond.
Another benefit of moving to gold redeemability for U.S. bonds is that it utilizes U.S. gold reserves more effectively. Currently, the United States is the largest holder of gold in the world. But ironically, that gold is severely undervalued on the government’s ledger. Its book value is less than two percent of its market value (i.e., on the ledger the gold is valued at less than $50/oz when its market value is over $2700/oz). Offering gold redeemability might also open up the option for extremely long-dated debt (50 years or more) and lower interest rates because the most significant risk to lending to the federal government, the devaluation of future dollars, has been taken off the table.
The likely benefits of such bonds are so significant that it may seem surprising that they have not been implemented. The problem, of course, is that this form of bond would reveal the man behind the curtain. It would show that government officials can and do play fast and loose with the dollar and with the U.S. financial system to enable themselves and their friends a free hand to borrow and spend, and to actively “manage” the economy.
Dr. Shelton’s proposed changes will be vigorously resisted by those who benefit from the existing status quo—large commercial banks and financial institutions, Federal Reserve officials and bureaucrats, politicians and regulators—everyone who benefits from the Fed’s tendency to loose monetary policy. Still advocates of freedom and prosperity should continue to make the arguments and offer proposals for moving to a sound monetary regime.
And that is exactly what Dr. Shelton does in “Good as Gold.”
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT/COMMODITIES:
6 CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
ASIA TRADING FRIDAY MORNING/THURSDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.76 PTS OR 0.93%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 56.65 PTS OR 0.29%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 141.03 OR 0.37%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.01%///Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED UP TO 7.2413 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED UP TO 7.2489// Oil DOWN TO 68.90 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 72.71 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY MIXED
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
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1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP AT 7.2413
OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.2489
SHANGHAI CLOSED CLOSED UP 30.76 PTS OR 0.93%
HANG SENG CLOSED CLOSED UP 56.65 PTS OR 0.29%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 141.03 PTS OR 0.37%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL MOSTLY MIXED
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 106.03 EURO RFALLS TO 1.0549 DOWN 7 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +1.038 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 150.19…… JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE RE EMERGING OF THE YEN CARRY TRADE AGAIN AFTER DISASTROUS POLICY ISSUED BY UEDA
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP OFFSHORE: UP
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR BRENT this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.1040 Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.361 //SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 2.822
3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 2.923
3j Gold at $2661.20 /Silver at: 30.80 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $50.00//AFTER 28.40
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 7 AND 50/100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 104.40
3m oil into the 68 dollar handle for WTI and 72 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 150.19 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 1.038% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION//YEN CARRY TRADE IS NOW UNWINDING.
30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.8815 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9302 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.224 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.397 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.205 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 34.69…
10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.3024 DOWN 6 PTS
10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.210 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.071 DOWN 4 PTS.
2a New York OPENING REPORT
Futures Rise As Dollar Slides, Ending 8-Week Winning Streak
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 08:34 AM
US equity futures gained for the second day ahead of a shortened trading session after the Thanksgiving holiday, with Treasuries also rising and the dollar slipping amid mounting (if naive) speculation that president-elect Donald Trump will temper his most extreme trade policies drove the dollar to its biggest weekly loss in three months. As of 8:00am ET, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both rose 0.2%, pointing to modest gains in Friday’s post-holiday trading session on Wall Street. The 10-year Treasury yield fell four basis points to 4.22%, the lowest in more than a month, as cash trading resumed after the Thanksgiving holiday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%, ending an 8 week winning streak and heading for its biggest weekly loss in three months. Oil prices oil prices reverse an earlier loss and trade near session highs with WTI now at $69.20, while gold adds $25 to $2660. Bitcoin rises above $96,000. There is nothing on today’s macro calendar.
In premarket trading, US semiconductor equipment makers climb after Bloomberg reported that additional US curbs on sales of chip technology to China may stop short of some stricter measures previously considered. Applied Materials shares rise 2.8% and Lam Research climb 3.3% in premarket trading. KLA is also gaining. Japanese and European chip-related stocks mostly gained on Thursday, when the US was closed. Some other notable movers:
- Applied Therapeutics (APLT) shares sink 73% after the biopharmaceutical company’s new drug application for govorestat, a galactosemia treatment, was rejected by the US FDA. RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to sector perform from outperform, saying the rejection was disappointing.
- Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR) rise 9% after Wedbush analyst Yun Zhong upgraded and assumed the coverage of the biotech firm, giving it an outperform rating while citing additional value of the drug developer’s programs.
Trump’s pick for his Treasury secretary has fueled optimism that tariffs will be measured, boosting US stocks and bonds, and sapping dollar strength. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index extended a weekly decline to more than 1%, snapping eight weeks of gains. The S&P 500 has already risen 5% in November, on course for its best month since February, and its best year this century…
… as investors plowed $141 billion into US equities, the heaviest inflows for a four-week period on record, according to EPFR data. A handful of tech titans have led 26% year-to-date gains in US stocks on the prospect of Federal Reserve rate cuts while the American economy continues to chalk up growth.
“We were talking day in and day out about trade tensions in 2019. What happened? The Nasdaq was on a tear. What mattered was the Fed was making a U-turn, real rates went down, and that drove equities,” Max Kettner, multi-asset chief strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “That’s very similar to now — this is still a cutting cycle. It’s a fantastic set-up.”
European stocks were little changed, although miners including Anglo American Plc outperformed, boosted by optimism that China will adopt further measures to stimulate its economy. The Stoxx 600 rose 0.1% as telecoms and utilities sectors were the biggest laggards. Miners outperform, gaining on the back of strong iron ore prices that received a boost from new China stimulus hopes. Here are the most notable movers:
- Anglo American shares rise as much as 3.3% after Jefferies upgraded the mining firm to buy from hold, citing that shares are trading at a discount and its mergers and acquisitions potential.
- FLSmidth and Aalberts shares gain after both stocks were double-upgraded at Bank of America to buy in a review of the European industrials sector.
- Delivery Hero shares gain as much as 1.6% after the food delivery firm set the price for its Middle Eastern unit’s initial public offering at the top of the range.
- Spire Healthcare shares jump as much as 10% after Economic Times reported that Narayana Health is in talks with some Spire shareholders about buying a controlling stake.
- Elior and Accor shares rise as both stocks are upgraded to overweight at JPMorgan in a review of the broker’s leisure coverage.
- Norma shares surge as much as 23%, the most on record, after its management board announced plans to initiate a sale process for the global business activities of its Water Management unit.
- L’Oreal shares fall as much as 1.1% as Deutsche Bank cuts its price target on the cosmetics maker to a Street low.
- Telefonica and Santander shares fall, leading losses among Brazil-exposed Spanish companies fall after the Brazilian real tumbled to record lows.
- Swiss Life shares fall as much as 1.5% after ZKB cut its rating on the Swiss insurer to market perform from overweight after a “massive outperformance” in share price.
- Bank Pekao shares drop as much as 2.5%, after a report that it may buy a 31.9% stake in Alior Bank from PZU. Such a purchase would be detrimental for Pekao’s dividend potential, analysts say.
- Elia shares climbs 3% after the Belgian electricity company upgraded some of its earnings guidance for the full year.
- Enea shares drops as much as 5.7% as Poland’s 3rd-largest utility plans significant increase in spending in its new strategy for 2025-2035.
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks also edged higher as gauges in China rallied on expectations of greater economic support at a key policy meeting in December. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose as much as 0.6%. Speculation that authorities will release further stimulus is growing ahead of the Central Economic Work Conference, where the nation’s top leaders will lay out economic priorities for the coming year. Indian stocks also rose. Elsewhere, Korea’s Kospi Index fell 2% after the central bank’s surprise interest-rate cut on Thursday spurred concerns about economic growth. Japanese benchmarks also dropped as the yen strengthened on stronger-than-expected inflation reading out of Tokyo.
“The market is evaluating the CPI data as making the possibility of a BOJ rate hike in December slightly higher than before,” pushing up the yen and weighing on export-oriented stocks, said Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%, heading for its biggest weekly loss in three months. The yen tops the G-10 FX leader board, rising 1% against the greenback and pulling USD/JPY down to around 150 after Tokyo inflation rose more than expected.
In rates, Treasury yields also declined at the start of a shortened US trading session that includes month-end index rebalancing at 1 p.m. New York time, estimated to extend its duration by 0.11 year. Yields are 3bp-6bp lower across the curve, 5- to 30-year at weekly lows, 10-year at 4.21%; 10- and 30-year fell below 200-day average levels for first time since late October. The US treasury market is headed for a monthly gain as benchmark yields have retreated from multimonth highs reached in the days following the US presidential election on Nov. 5; market-implied odds of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in December have rebounded to nearly 60%. As US markets reopen after Thursday’s holiday, yields also are lower in most euro-zone bond markets for second-straight day. German 10-year bonds hold higher after euro-area inflation rose in line with forecasts although shorter-dated maturities underperform. French bond spreads widen slightly after far-right leader Le Pen gave PM Barnier until Monday to accede to her budget demands before she decides whether to topple the government.
In commodities, oil prices reverse an earlier loss and trade near session highs with WTI now at $69.20, while gold adds $25 to $2660. Bitcoin rises above $96,000.
Friday’s early close times include Sifma’s recommendation of a 2 p.m. halt for trading of USD-denominated cash bonds, while Bloomberg index pricing is slated for 1 p.m. (vs 4 p.m. normally), aligning with early close for US stocks. Looking at today’s calendar, there is are no US economic data or speeches by Fed officials are scheduled, and no new corporate bond offerings are expected
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures up 0.3% to 6,033.00
- STOXX Europe 600 down 0.1% to 506.73
- MXAP up 0.2% to 183.45
- MXAPJ little changed at 576.49
- Nikkei down 0.4% to 38,208.03
- Topix down 0.2% to 2,680.71
- Hang Seng Index up 0.3% to 19,423.61
- Shanghai Composite up 0.9% to 3,326.46
- Sensex up 1.0% to 79,862.53
- Australia S&P/ASX 200 little changed at 8,436.23
- Kospi down 1.9% to 2,455.91
- German 10Y yield little changed at 2.12%
- Euro up 0.1% to $1.0567
- Brent Futures down 0.5% to $72.89/bbl
- Gold spot up 0.8% to $2,660.17
- US Dollar Index down 0.13% to 105.91
Top Overnight News
- Mexico’s president spoke to Trump Wed afternoon, and both characterized the conversation as positive, suggesting a significant easing in tensions just days after Trump’s tariff threat (Trump used words like “wonderful” and “productive” to describe the talk). NYT
- Canada’s government is to bolster its investment in border security after Donald Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs over illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the US-Canada frontier. FT
- Trump could name a tough enforcer, Gail Slater, to lead the DOJ’s antitrust team, the latest indication that the incoming administration might not be as aggressive with its approach to deregulation as some hope. FT
- Japan’s Tokyo CPI for Nov spikes to +2.6% on a headline basis (up from +1.8% in Oct and above the Street’s +2.2% forecast) while the core number ticked up to +1.9% (vs. +1.8% in Oct and inline w/the Street). RTRS
- South Korea’s central bank surprised markets Wed evening with a 25bp rate cut (the expectation was it would leave rates unchanged) and lowered its growth outlook for the country. WSJ
- China has purged a senior admiral in the latest example of an anticorruption campaign being carried out in the country’s military. WSJ
- China’s bond market grapples with signs of “Japanification” as entrenched deflation sparks concerns about an extended period of tepid growth. FT
- Eurozone’s Nov CPI is inline w/the Street on a headline basis at +2.3% (up from +2% in Oct) while core runs a bit cooler than anticipated at +2.7% (flat vs. Oct and below vs. the Street’s +2.8% forecast). BBG
- ECB’s Lagarde urges the EU to negotiate w/the incoming Trump administration over tariffs rather than engage in a destructive trade war. FT
Thanksgiving News Recap
- OPEC+ reportedly discussing delaying oil output hike for Q1 2025, is to hold further talks on policy in coming days after delaying the meeting, according to Reuters citing sources. Prior to this, the meeting was delayed to the 5th from the 1st of December.
- RBA Governor Bullock says policy needs to remain restrictive. Expects it will take a little longer for inflation to settle at target in Australia. At present, we judge that conditions in the labour market remain tighter than what would be consistent with low and stable inflation.
- ECB’s Knot says they must take a close look at supply shocks to the economy and react forcefully if there is a risk of expectations de-anchoring.
- ECB’s Villeroy says negative rates should remain in the ECB’s toolkit. Interest rates should clearly go to the neutral rate, would not exclude going below neutral rate in the future.
- ECB’s Wunsch in an interview with Nikkei says he sees the possibility of continuing to cut rates in a gradual manner; would not send good signal to accelerate pace of rate cuts.
- French Finance Minister Armand reaffirms France may make concession on electricity taxes to avoid any ensuing “storm” that could hit financial markets; says better to have a modified budget than no budget. Just prior to this remark the French 10yr yield briefly matched its Greek counterpart
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks traded mixed albeit with a slightly positive bias in the absence of a lead from Wall Street owing to the Thanksgiving Day holiday and as participants digested a slew of data releases into month-end. ASX 200 was lacklustre amid weakness in defensives, finance and tech with the latter not helped after the Australian Senate passed the social media ban for under-16s, while ANZ Bank also pushed back its forecast for the first RBA rate cut to May next year from February and only sees two 25bp cuts vs a prior view of three cuts. Nikkei 225 mildly declined with headwinds from recent currency strength after firmer-than-expected Tokyo inflation, while participants also digested the latest Industrial Production and Retail Sales figures which both fell short of estimates. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned despite the lack of obvious catalysts and shrugged off the PBoC’s net daily liquidity drain, while participants await tomorrow’s official PMI data in which the headline Manufacturing PMI is expected to show a further improvement.
Top Asian News
- China’s Finance Ministry said tariffs imposed by China on some US goods will continue to be exempted until 28th February 2025.
- Australian Treasurer Chalmers said RBA reforms are expected to apply after the February meeting.
- RBNZ Deputy Governor Hawkesby said they clearly signalled another 50bps cut in February and the New Zealand economy is turning a corner.
- Japan FX intervention amounted to 0 from Oct 30 – Nov 27.
- German Foreign Minister will visit China from Dec 2-3rd, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
European bourses trade around the unchanged mark, Stoxx 600 U/C; specifics light aside from Flash EZ HICP. Sectors mostly in the red with Autos & Parts lagging to end a bruising week. Basic Resources bucks the trend given metals and Anglo American (+3.4%) amid speculation in the FT that BHP could come back with a fresh bid. Stateside, futures firmer ES +0.3% with the RTY +0.9% outperforming. Specifics light and the docket sparse on a limited post-Thanksgiving session, as such the macro narrative may not change significantly. MSFT -0.5% after the FTC launched an antitrust investigation while unconfirmed reports indicate MSTR +4.5% could join the Nasdaq 100.
Top European News
- German government plans about EUR 2bln in new chip subsidies, according to Bloomberg.
- ECB announces changes to the Eurosystem collateral framework to foster greater harmonization.
- BoE says the CCyB is held at 2%.
FX
- USD was knocked lower by the stronger JPY. Today’s US macro narrative is likely to remain unaltered due to the early close. DXY has been as low as 105.61 with the next potential level of support via the 12th low @ 105.48.
- EUR trivially firmer vs. the USD. Headline EZ inflation in-line, super-core a touch softer than Exp. ECB pricing was little changed; 25bps seen at 84% for Dec. EUR/USD went as high as 1.0597 in early trade before running out of steam ahead of the 1.06 mark.
- JPY leading on account of firmer Tokyo inflation metrics. BoJ Dec hike priced at 56%. USD/JPY briefly crossed below 150 for the first time since October 21st with a session low @ 149.55.
- GBP briefly made its way back onto a 1.27 handle vs. the USD; UK macro drivers light. Cable has been as high as 1.2749 with the next upside target coming via the 13th November peak @ 1.2769.
- NZD outpacing its antipodean peer; has been gaining since RBNZ on Wednesday. NZD/USD has moved back onto a 0.59 handle and above its 21DMA @ 0.5909. AUD/USD is holding above the 0.65 mark.
Fixed Income
- Benchmarks generally firmer with specifics outside the EZ light and expected to be limited ahead given the partial post-Thanksgiving closures. Stateside, cash trade has resumed but, unsurprisingly, is limited with yields softer across the curve and a modest flattening bias in play.
- Bunds firmer by around 15 ticks, unreactive to Flash EZ HICP which printed broadly as expected while the super core and services Y/Y came in slightly cooler; pricing points to an 85% chance of a 25bps Dec. cut.
- OATs in focus, though the OAT-Bund yield spread remains shy of the 90bps multi-year peak from earlier in the week. As it stands, we are largely waiting for a decision from Le Pen on French budget as a whole.
- A morning of gains for Gilts which opened in the green and extended to a 96.10 peak shortly after with specifics light and fundamentals behind the move limited. Thereafter, Gilts settled slightly but have since surpassed the above peak by six ticks.
Commodities
- Crude benchmarks are diverging, on account of the lack of settlement due to Thanksgiving. Specifics today have been somewhat light in European hours, with the docket ahead also limited.
- For the most part, we are awaiting updates on OPEC+ and the Lebanon ceasefire. Benchmarks towards the lower-end of c. USD 1/bbl parameters but, as has been the case throughout all of the week, remain in proximity to familiar ranges.
- Spot gold is in the green, benefitted this morning on overnight punchy geopolitical rhetoric around the ceasefire and as the USD was under pressure.
- Base metals firmer but with action modest, as has been the case for much of the week. Chinese PMIs on the weekend the next major catalyst.
Geopolitics: Middle East
- Israeli PM Netanyahu said he asked the army to prepare for a strong war in Lebanon if it violates the agreement, according to Al Arabiya. It was also reported that Israel’s Chief of Staff said they must implement the agreement strongly so that residents of the north can return to their homes, while IDF said they detected suspicious operations that posed a threat to Israel on the part of Hezbollah in what is considered a violation of the ceasefire.
- Israeli military said Lebanese residents are forbidden to move south to a line of several southern villages, according to Reuters.
- Iran informed the IAEA it intends to feed uranium feedstock into the eight IR-6 centrifuge cascades recently installed at Fordow to enrich to up to 5% purity, while the agency shared with Iran the changes required to the intensity of inspection activities following the commission of those cascades. Furthermore, IAEA verified that Iran had completed the installation of the last two IR-2M centrifuge cascades in a batch of 18 at its underground Natanz plant and intends to install one cascade of up to 1,152 IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz PFEP to enrich up to 5% purity, according to the IAEA report seen by Reuters.
- Senior Iranian official says Tehran expects “tough and serious” talks with E3 in Geneva.
Geopolitics: Other
- Russian air defences downed 30 Ukrainian drones in the southern Rostov region with some damage on the ground reported, according to the regional Governor.
- Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian President Putin’s promotion of the Oreshnik missile shows he does not want to end the war or allow others to try, while he added that Putin’s actions are intended to boost tension and disrupt moves by Trump on the war after his inauguration.
- US President Biden said on Thursday that Russia’s overnight aerial attack against Ukraine was outrageous and that Russian attacks serve as a reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting Ukrainian people in their defence, according to Reuters.
- Russian Defence Ministry said Defence Minister Belousov is visiting North Korea, according to agencies cited by Reuters.
- Chinese and Russian militaries conducted a ninth joint strategic air patrol in relevant airspace over the Sea of Japan on Friday, according to Chinese state media.
- Eleven Chinese and Russian military aircraft intruded South Korea’s air defence zone and South Korea launched air force jets in a tactical manoeuvre against the intrusion, according to Yonhap.
US Event Calendar
- Nothing scheduled
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Morning from Amsterdam and welcome to Black Friday, although I can’t help think Black Friday starts in July these days! Whilst US markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, there was still plenty happening over the last 24 hours, with European markets bouncing back after their recent slide. Several factors were supportive, including some lower-than-expected inflation numbers out of Germany, which led to growing confidence that the ECB would keep cutting rates. Moreover, there were also promising signs on the French budget situation, as the government sounded open to concessions in order to pass the bill, so that helped French assets to recover too. Overall, that meant it was a fairly positive day, with the STOXX 600 up +0.46%, whilst 10yr bund yields (-3.4bps) fell to an 8-week low.
In terms of the French situation, the day had started off pretty negatively, as yields on 10yr French debt briefly exceeded the 10yr Greek yield for the first time on record. But they then started to recover, as Finance minister Antoine Armand sounded open to concessions possibly in order to avoid the government being toppled. He said that “it’s better to work on a budget that is not exactly the same, otherwise we leap into the unknown.” Later in the day, Prime Minister Barnier then said that he wouldn’t raise taxes on electricity, which is something that Marine Le Pen’ had criticised. So that was seen as positive for the chances that the government would survive, and the Franco-German 10yr spread ended the day down -4.1bps at 82bps. Even so, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally have made further budget demands, so the situation is far from resolved just yet.
The bond rally then got further support from the latest German inflation data, which surprised on the downside of consensus. That showed HICP inflation remaining at +2.4% in November (vs. +2.6% expected), so that was seen as positive for the prospects of ECB rate cuts and investors dialled up the likelihood of a 50bp ECB rate in December, with the probability moving up from 15% on Wednesday to 18% by the close yesterday. Moreover, there were also comments from the ECB’s Villeroy that sounded open to a larger 50bp cut at the December meeting. He said that “Optionality should remain open on the size of the cut”, so clearly not ruling out a larger move. And in turn, that helped sovereign bond yields move lower across the continent, with those on 10yr bunds (-3.4bps) and BTPs (-6.3bps) both falling back.
This backdrop was also supportive for equities across Europe, with all the major indices moving higher on the day. By the close, the STOXX 600 was up +0.46%, with tech stocks leading the way. Germany’s DAX (+0.85%) was another outperformer, whilst other indices including France’s CAC 40 (+0.51%) and Italy’s FTSE MIB (+0.51%) posted a solid advance of their own. By contrast, the main underperformer was the UK’s FTSE 100 (+0.08%). Meanwhile in the US, markets were closed for the day, but equity futures were consistently positive throughout the European session as well.
Asian equity markets are seeing reasonable divergence with the KOSPI (-1.24%) the biggest underperformer led by declines in large-cap tech companies following yesterday’s surprise 25bps rate cut by the BOK as the economy stalled and inflation slowed more rapidly than policymakers predicted. Meanwhile, the Nikkei (-0.44%) is also trading lower after Yen strength on strong inflation data. Chinese stocks are outperforming with the CSI (+2.01%) leading gains followed by the Shanghai Composite (+1.59%) and the CSI (+1.29%) after China extended tariff waivers on some US goods, indicating that China likely isn’t ready to escalate ahead of Trump. S&P 500 (+0.31%) and NASDAQ 100 (+0.54%) futures are higher and 10yr US yields are around -3bps lower after reopening post the holiday.
Early morning data showed that Tokyo inflation accelerated more than expected in November, rising +2.6% y/y (v/s +2.2% expected), picking up sharply from the +1.8% seen last month. At the same time, core CPI climbed +2.2% from a year earlier (+2.0% expected) in November, as against a +1.8% increase last month, largely on a winding down of energy subsidies. Core-core was in line at 1.9% which is the most important for the BoJ but the firmer slant to the overall data increases the chances of a hike in December.
Following the data release, the yen appreciated +1.05%, to trade at 149.97 against the dollar, hitting its strongest level in 5 weeks. Separate data showed Japanese retail sales rose +1.6% in October YoY, missing expectations for growth of +2.0%, up from an upwardly revised +0.7% gain in September.
Looking at yesterday’s other data, the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator remained broadly stagnant at 95.8 in November (vs. 95.2 expected), remaining in a similar zone where it’s spent the entirety of 2024. We also had the Euro Area M3 money supply data for October, which showed a pickup to +3.4% year-on-year as expected, the highest since December 2022.
To the day ahead now, and data releases include the Euro Area flash CPI release for November, UK mortgage approvals for October, German unemployment for November and retail sales for October, and Canada’s Q3 GDP. From central banks, we’ll get the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Review, and also hear from ECB Vice President de Guindos and the ECB’s Nagel. Finally, a general election is being held in Ireland.
2B) European report.
USD knocked by a stronger JPY, EUR unreactive to Flash HICP – Newsquawk US Market Open
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 06:23 AM
- European bourses near unchanged while US futures are modestly firmer post-Thanksgiving
- USD knocked by a stronger JPY. EUR unreactive to Flash HICP
- Fixed benchmarks in the green, OATs in focus awaiting a Le Pen decision
- Crude diverges given the lack of settlement but benchmarks are at the lower-end of c. USD 1/bbl parameters
- Metals in the green, gold gleans support from the USD and punchy language around Lebanon
- Looking ahead, highlights include Canadian GDP, S&P on France, Comments from ECB’s de Guindos
- Holiday: US post-Thanksgiving (recommended early close); normal service until 18:15GMT/13:15EST, upon which the desk will close.
- Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.
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THANKSGIVING NEWS RECAP
- OPEC+ reportedly discussing delaying oil output hike for Q1 2025, is to hold further talks on policy in coming days after delaying the meeting, according to Reuters citing sources. Prior to this, the meeting was delayed to the 5th from the 1st of December.
- RBA Governor Bullock says policy needs to remain restrictive. Expects it will take a little longer for inflation to settle at target in Australia. At present, we judge that conditions in the labour market remain tighter than what would be consistent with low and stable inflation.
- ECB’s Knot says they must take a close look at supply shocks to the economy and react forcefully if there is a risk of expectations de-anchoring.
- ECB’s Villeroy says negative rates should remain in the ECB’s toolkit. Interest rates should clearly go to the neutral rate, would not exclude going below neutral rate in the future.
- ECB’s Wunsch in an interview with Nikkei says he sees the possibility of continuing to cut rates in a gradual manner; would not send good signal to accelerate pace of rate cuts.
- French Finance Minister Armand reaffirms France may make concession on electricity taxes to avoid any ensuing “storm” that could hit financial markets; says better to have a modified budget than no budget. Just prior to this remark the French 10yr yield briefly matched its Greek counterpart
EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European bourses trade around the unchanged mark, Stoxx 600 U/C; specifics light aside from Flash EZ HICP.
- Sectors mostly in the red with Autos & Parts lagging to end a bruising week. Basic Resources bucks the trend given metals and Anglo American (+3.4%) amid speculation in the FT that BHP could come back with a fresh bid.
- Stateside, futures firmer ES +0.3% with the RTY +0.9% outperforming. Specifics light and the docket sparse on a limited post-Thanksgiving session, as such the macro narrative may not change significantly.
- MSFT -0.5% after the FTC launched an antitrust investigation while unconfirmed reports indicate MSTR +4.5% could join the Nasdaq 100.
- Click for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow
- Click for the additional news
- Click for a detailed summary
FX
- USD was knocked lower by the stronger JPY. Today’s US macro narrative is likely to remain unaltered due to the early close. DXY has been as low as 105.61 with the next potential level of support via the 12th low @ 105.48.
- EUR trivially firmer vs. the USD. Headline EZ inflation in-line, super-core a touch softer than Exp. ECB pricing was little changed; 25bps seen at 84% for Dec. EUR/USD went as high as 1.0597 in early trade before running out of steam ahead of the 1.06 mark.
- JPY leading on account of firmer Tokyo inflation metrics. BoJ Dec hike priced at 56%. USD/JPY briefly crossed below 150 for the first time since October 21st with a session low @ 149.55.
- GBP briefly made its way back onto a 1.27 handle vs. the USD; UK macro drivers light. Cable has been as high as 1.2749 with the next upside target coming via the 13th November peak @ 1.2769.
- NZD outpacing its antipodean peer; has been gaining since RBNZ on Wednesday. NZD/USD has moved back onto a 0.59 handle and above its 21DMA @ 0.5909. AUD/USD is holding above the 0.65 mark.
- Click for a detailed summary
- Click for NY OpEx Details
FIXED INCOME
- Benchmarks generally firmer with specifics outside the EZ light and expected to be limited ahead given the partial post-Thanksgiving closures. Stateside, cash trade has resumed but, unsurprisingly, is limited with yields softer across the curve and a modest flattening bias in play.
- Bunds firmer by around 15 ticks, unreactive to Flash EZ HICP which printed broadly as expected while the super core and services Y/Y came in slightly cooler; pricing points to an 85% chance of a 25bps Dec. cut.
- OATs in focus, though the OAT-Bund yield spread remains shy of the 90bps multi-year peak from earlier in the week. As it stands, we are largely waiting for a decision from Le Pen on French budget as a whole.
- A morning of gains for Gilts which opened in the green and extended to a 96.10 peak shortly after with specifics light and fundamentals behind the move limited. Thereafter, Gilts settled slightly but have since surpassed the above peak by six ticks.
- Click for a detailed summary
COMMODITIES
- Crude benchmarks are diverging, on account of the lack of settlement due to Thanksgiving. Specifics today have been somewhat light in European hours, with the docket ahead also limited.
- For the most part, we are awaiting updates on OPEC+ and the Lebanon ceasefire. Benchmarks towards the lower-end of c. USD 1/bbl parameters but, as has been the case throughout all of the week, remain in proximity to familiar ranges.
- Spot gold is in the green, benefitted this morning on overnight punchy geopolitical rhetoric around the ceasefire and as the USD was under pressure.
- Base metals firmer but with action modest, as has been the case for much of the week. Chinese PMIs on the weekend the next major catalyst.
- Click for a detailed summary
NOTABLE DATA RECAP
- EU HICP Flash YY (Nov) 2.3% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.0%); Core 2.8% vs. Exp. 2.8% (Prev. 2.7%); Services CPI 3.9% vs. Prev. 4.0%
- EZ Super-core HICP Flash YY (Nov) 2.7% vs. Exp. 2.8% (Prev. 2.7%)
- French CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY (Nov) 1.7% vs. Exp. 1.7% (Prev. 1.6%); MM -0.1% vs. Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.3%)
- French CPI Prelim. (Nov): Y/Y 1.3% vs Exp. 1.5% (prev. 1.2%); M/M -0.1% vs Exp. 0.1% (prev. 0.2%)
- German Unemployment Chg SA (Nov) 7.0k vs. Exp. 20.0k (Prev. 27.0k); Rate SA (Nov) 6.1% vs. Exp. 6.1% (Prev. 6.1%)
- ECB Consumer Expectations Survey (Oct): See inflation in next 12 months at 2.5% (prev. 2.4%); 3y ahead sees 2.1% (prev. 2.1%)
- UK Mortgage Approvals (Oct) 68.303k vs. Exp. 64.5k (Prev. 65.647k, Rev. 66.115k); Lending 3.435B GB vs. Exp. 2.85B GB (Prev. 2.541B GB, Rev. 2.573B GB)
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- German government plans about EUR 2bln in new chip subsidies, according to Bloomberg.
- ECB announces changes to the Eurosystem collateral framework to foster greater harmonization.
- BoE says the CCyB is held at 2%.
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
- Israeli PM Netanyahu said he asked the army to prepare for a strong war in Lebanon if it violates the agreement, according to Al Arabiya. It was also reported that Israel’s Chief of Staff said they must implement the agreement strongly so that residents of the north can return to their homes, while IDF said they detected suspicious operations that posed a threat to Israel on the part of Hezbollah in what is considered a violation of the ceasefire.
- Israeli military said Lebanese residents are forbidden to move south to a line of several southern villages, according to Reuters.
- Iran informed the IAEA it intends to feed uranium feedstock into the eight IR-6 centrifuge cascades recently installed at Fordow to enrich to up to 5% purity, while the agency shared with Iran the changes required to the intensity of inspection activities following the commission of those cascades. Furthermore, IAEA verified that Iran had completed the installation of the last two IR-2M centrifuge cascades in a batch of 18 at its underground Natanz plant and intends to install one cascade of up to 1,152 IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz PFEP to enrich up to 5% purity, according to the IAEA report seen by Reuters.
- Senior Iranian official says Tehran expects “tough and serious” talks with E3 in Geneva.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
- Russian air defences downed 30 Ukrainian drones in the southern Rostov region with some damage on the ground reported, according to the regional Governor.
- Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian President Putin’s promotion of the Oreshnik missile shows he does not want to end the war or allow others to try, while he added that Putin’s actions are intended to boost tension and disrupt moves by Trump on the war after his inauguration.
- US President Biden said on Thursday that Russia’s overnight aerial attack against Ukraine was outrageous and that Russian attacks serve as a reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting Ukrainian people in their defence, according to Reuters.
- Russian Defence Ministry said Defence Minister Belousov is visiting North Korea, according to agencies cited by Reuters.
OTHER
- Chinese and Russian militaries conducted a ninth joint strategic air patrol in relevant airspace over the Sea of Japan on Friday, according to Chinese state media.
- Eleven Chinese and Russian military aircraft intruded South Korea’s air defence zone and South Korea launched air force jets in a tactical manoeuvre against the intrusion, according to Yonhap.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin is firmer and comfortably above the USD 95k mark but yet to attempt a move towards the USD 100k figure. High for the session thus far at USD 96.9k.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks traded mixed albeit with a slightly positive bias in the absence of a lead from Wall Street owing to the Thanksgiving Day holiday and as participants digested a slew of data releases into month-end.
- ASX 200 was lacklustre amid weakness in defensives, finance and tech with the latter not helped after the Australian Senate passed the social media ban for under-16s, while ANZ Bank also pushed back its forecast for the first RBA rate cut to May next year from February and only sees two 25bp cuts vs a prior view of three cuts.
- Nikkei 225 mildly declined with headwinds from recent currency strength after firmer-than-expected Tokyo inflation, while participants also digested the latest Industrial Production and Retail Sales figures which both fell short of estimates.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned despite the lack of obvious catalysts and shrugged off the PBoC’s net daily liquidity drain, while participants await tomorrow’s official PMI data in which the headline Manufacturing PMI is expected to show a further improvement.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- China’s Finance Ministry said tariffs imposed by China on some US goods will continue to be exempted until 28th February 2025.
- Australian Treasurer Chalmers said RBA reforms are expected to apply after the February meeting.
- RBNZ Deputy Governor Hawkesby said they clearly signalled another 50bps cut in February and the New Zealand economy is turning a corner.
- Japan FX intervention amounted to 0 from Oct 30 – Nov 27.
- German Foreign Minister will visit China from Dec 2-3rd, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
DATA RECAP
- Tokyo CPI YY (Nov) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.2% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Nov) 2.2% vs. Exp. 2.1% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Nov) 1.9% vs. Exp. 1.9% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Japanese Unemployment Rate (Oct) 2.5% vs. Exp. 2.5% (Prev. 2.4%)
- Japanese Industrial Production MM (Oct P) 3.0% vs. Exp. 3.9% (Prev. 1.6%)
- Japanese Retail Sales YY (Oct) 1.6% vs. Exp. 2.2% (Prev. 0.5%, Rev. 0.7%)
2C ASIAN REPORT
APAC mixed & European futures contained in the absence of a Wall St handover – Newsquawk Europe Market Open
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 01:10 AM
- APAC stocks traded mixed albeit with a slightly positive bias in the absence of a lead from Wall Street.
- Tokyo CPI data, seen as a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, supports the case for the BoJ to resume rate hikes next month.
- USD is softer vs. peers with JPY leading on account of Tokyo inflation data; USD/JPY briefly broke below 150.
- European equity futures are indicative of a contained cash open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future -0.1% after the cash market closed higher by 0.5% on Thursday.
- Looking ahead, highlights include German Import Prices & Retail Sales, French CPI, German Unemployment, EZ Flash HICP, Canadian GDP, ECB SCE (Oct), S&P on France, Comments from ECB’s de Guindos.
SNAPSHOT
APAC TRADE
EQUITIES
- APAC stocks traded mixed albeit with a slightly positive bias in the absence of a lead from Wall Street owing to the Thanksgiving Day holiday and as participants digested a slew of data releases into month-end.
- ASX 200 was lacklustre amid weakness in defensives, finance and tech with the latter not helped after the Australian Senate passed the social media ban for under-16s, while ANZ Bank also pushed back its forecast for the first RBA rate cut to May next year from February and only sees two 25bp cuts vs a prior view of three cuts.
- Nikkei 225 mildly declined with headwinds from recent currency strength after firmer-than-expected Tokyo inflation, while participants also digested the latest Industrial Production and Retail Sales figures which both fell short of estimates.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned despite the lack of obvious catalysts and shrugged off the PBoC’s net daily liquidity drain, while participants await tomorrow’s official PMI data in which the headline Manufacturing PMI is expected to show a further improvement.
- US equity futures (ES +0.3%) rebounded from early pressure to trade slightly higher heading into a shortened US trading session.
- European equity futures are indicative of a contained cash open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future -0.1% after the cash market closed higher by 0.5% on Thursday.
FX
- DXY retreated below 106.00 amid quiet conditions due to Thanksgiving and as the greenback continued to give up ground to yen strength.
- EUR/USD eked mild gains but with the upside limited and trade contained within a narrow range at the 1.0500 handle after the recent mixed data releases from the bloc and the latest ECB rhetoric including dovish remarks from Villeroy.
- GBP/USD gradually edged higher and just about reclaimed the 1.2700 status in the absence of any major UK-specific catalysts.
- USD/JPY extended on recent selling with pressure seen following mostly firmer-than-expected Tokyo CPI data which is seen as a leading indicator of nationwide price trends and supports the case for the BoJ to resume rate hikes next month.
- Antipodeans benefitted from the softer dollar, upside in commodity prices, and after the PBoC continued to strengthen the CNY fix.
FIXED INCOME
- 10yr UST futures lacked direction following the Thanksgiving Day holiday lull.
- Bund futures took a breather after steadily gaining yesterday amid a plethora of data releases and several ECB speakers.
- 10yr JGB futures were lacklustre due to the mostly hotter-than-expected Tokyo inflation data and weaker 2yr JGB auction.
COMMODITIES
- Crude futures were kept afloat following reports that OPEC+ is discussing delaying an oil output hike for Q1 2025 and is to hold further talks on policy in the coming days after pushing back its meeting to December 5th.
- Spot gold traded higher in tandem with the upside in silver prices and on the back of a softer dollar.
- Copper futures gained amid the mostly positive risk appetite overnight and notable outperformance in China.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin notched mild gains and climbed back above the USD 96,000 level.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- China’s Finance Ministry said tariffs imposed by China on some US goods will continue to be exempted until 28th February 2025.
- Australian Treasurer Chalmers said RBA reforms are expected to apply after the February meeting.
- RBNZ Deputy Governor Hawkesby said they clearly signalled another 50bps cut in February and the New Zealand economy is turning a corner.
DATA RECAP
- Tokyo CPI YY (Nov) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.2% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Nov) 2.2% vs. Exp. 2.1% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Nov) 1.9% vs. Exp. 1.9% (Prev. 1.8%)
- Japanese Unemployment Rate (Oct) 2.5% vs. Exp. 2.5% (Prev. 2.4%)
- Japanese Industrial Production MM (Oct P) 3.0% vs. Exp. 3.9% (Prev. 1.6%)
- Japanese Retail Sales YY (Oct) 1.6% vs. Exp. 2.2% (Prev. 0.5%, Rev. 0.7%)
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
- Israeli PM Netanyahu said he asked the army to prepare for a strong war in Lebanon if it violates the agreement, according to Al Arabiya. It was also reported that Israel’s Chief of Staff said they must implement the agreement strongly so that residents of the north can return to their homes, while IDF said they detected suspicious operations that posed a threat to Israel on the part of Hezbollah in what is considered a violation of the ceasefire.
- Israeli military said Lebanese residents are forbidden to move south to a line of several southern villages, according to Reuters.
- Iran informed the IAEA it intends to feed uranium feedstock into the eight IR-6 centrifuge cascades recently installed at Fordow to enrich to up to 5% purity, while the agency shared with Iran the changes required to the intensity of inspection activities following the commission of those cascades. Furthermore, IAEA verified that Iran had completed the installation of the last two IR-2M centrifuge cascades in a batch of 18 at its underground Natanz plant and intends to install one cascade of up to 1,152 IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz PFEP to enrich up to 5% purity, according to the IAEA report seen by Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
- Russian air defences downed 30 Ukrainian drones in the southern Rostov region with some damage on the ground reported, according to the regional Governor.
- Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian President Putin’s promotion of the Oreshnik missile shows he does not want to end the war or allow others to try, while he added that Putin’s actions are intended to boost tension and disrupt moves by Trump on the war after his inauguration.
- US President Biden said on Thursday that Russia’s overnight aerial attack against Ukraine was outrageous and that Russian attacks serve as a reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting Ukrainian people in their defence, according to Reuters.
- Russian Defence Ministry said Defence Minister Belousov is visiting North Korea, according to agencies cited by Reuters.
OTHER
- Chinese and Russian militaries conducted a ninth joint strategic air patrol in relevant airspace over the Sea of Japan on Friday, according to Chinese state media.
- Eleven Chinese and Russian military aircraft intruded South Korea’s air defence zone and South Korea launched air force jets in a tactical manoeuvre against the intrusion, according to Yonhap.
EU/UK
NOTABLE HEADLINES
- German government plans about EUR 2bln in new chip subsidies, according to Bloomberg.
3B NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
3C JAPAN
end
3D. CHINA/TAIWAN/INDO PACIFIC
China is the leader in the manufacture of Fentanyl
Yang EpochTimes
China’s Role In Fentanyl Crisis Back In Spotlight As Tariffs Loom
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 10:40 PM
Authroed by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
When President-elect Donald Trump announced a hike in his tariff plans for China, as well as U.S. trade partners Canada and Mexico, he drew attention to China’s involvement in the illicit fentanyl crisis in the United States.
The day one plan would add 10 percent duty on top of the tariffs Trump already has planned for Chinese products, and a 25 percent tariff on all products coming in through Canada and Mexico.
Trump said on Nov. 25 that the three countries have not done enough to help the United States stem illegal immigration and the entry of illicit drugs.
Over the past two administrations, including Trump’s first term, Beijing has made a number of promises to help curb the movement of illicit fentanyl but kept few of them.
Fentanyl is an FDA-approved synthetic opioid used to treat severe pain, such as in open-heart surgery, or epidurals for mothers in labor.
Illicit fentanyl, however, is often mixed with other drugs, and illicit drug makers are increasingly producing analogs, or drugs similar to fentanyl, with small molecular changes that can make the drug up to 100 times more deadly.
Fentanyl is already a potent drug—2 milligrams is enough to be a lethal dose depending on a person’s size.
Illicit fentanyl and its various analogs have been linked to nearly 400,000 deaths in the United States since 2016. The United States has identified China as the primary source of illicit fentanyl coming in across the border since at least 2017 and the source of other drugs years before that.
In 2023, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized more than 80 million fentanyl-laced pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, representing 390 million lethal doses, more than the population of the United States.
Steve Yates, a China expert and former national security official in the George W. Bush administration, has made recommendations to Trump advisers on fentanyl policy. He and others say sanctions on Chinese banks for backing money launderers and chemical sellers will accomplish what diplomacy to date has not.
“When you don’t do those things, then you’re a doormat,” Yates told Reuters.
David Asher, a top former U.S. anti-money laundering official who helped target the finances of the Islamic State terrorist group, said this mechanism has been used against designated foreign adversaries like Iran but never Mexican or Canadian banks.
“You need to hit all the bankers. It’s sort of basic,” said Asher, who has recommended criminal indictments against Chinese and Mexican financial institutions, bounties on traffickers, and other measures.
China Agreements
Fentanyl-linked deaths sharply increased in 2016. Near the end of President Barack Obama’s term, China agreed to block exports of precursor chemicals, or ingredients, used to make methamphetamine, fentanyl, and its analogs to the United States.
Trump, who had campaigned on stopping the opioid crisis, formed a commission to combat the issue in March 2017 and declared a public health emergency in October that year.
The DEA increased its presence in China and engaged Chinese regime drug authorities to try to block shipments to the United States. The DEA has met with Chinese officials about blocking fentanyl since 2014 and held expert-level bilateral meetings in 2017 and 2018 to satisfy Chinese demands for more information about how these drugs were being used. This resulted in Beijing putting several key fentanyl precursors on a control list.
By 2019, Trump had secured another promise from Chinese communist regime leader Xi Jinping that China would curb exports of all fentanyl variants to the United States, putting them on an export control list.
But while the DEA and the U.S. Postal Service found that imports from China indeed decreased by 2020, the DEA noted that illicit fentanyl and analogs were increasingly coming in from Mexico.
Experts and officials have determined that precursor chemicals—which can be hard to ban if they have benign, legal applications—are shipped from China to Mexico, where local labs finish the process to create illicit fentanyl and analogs.
DEA officials note that the drugs are cheap to manufacture, as Mexican labs can buy $3,000 worth of Chinese fentanyl and sell it for $1.5 million on American streets.
Former DEA official Derek Maltz told The Epoch Times that tariffs only address one aspect of a vast and complex problem, but they certainly help and, more importantly, signal that the incoming administration will show strong leadership on the issue.
“We have to be more aggressive to get [Beijing] to cooperate more than they have in the past,” he told The Epoch Times.
Read the rest here…
end
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
HOLLAND
Jews in Holland, are now following French Jews (who left France a few years ago after a huge inflow of Muslims into their country.) This scenario has now been replicated with many Jews leaving Amsterdam for Israel
‘Respect for Jews has disappeared and will never come back’
Last straw: Amsterdam ‘Jew hunt’ triggers push for Dutch Jewish migration to Israel
Reeling from anti-Zionism on the left and increasingly violent Arab and Muslim antisemitism, some local Jews flee amid fears the government is unwilling or unable to protect them
By Bart Schut
AMSTERDAM — Maaike Smole, a 48-year-old college policy worker from the central Dutch city of Amersfoort, no longer has any hope that there is a future for Jews in her country.
“It’s too late. The Netherlands are schluss,” she said, using a Yiddish term for “closed,” or “over.”
“Education has failed, integration [of Muslim minorities] has failed. Respect for us Jews has disappeared and will never come back. There are simply too few of us, the other side is so much larger and more aggressive. All that’s left to do is to count down to our aliyah,” Smole said, using the Hebrew term for immigration to Israel.
Smole’s feelings appear to reflect those of a growing number of Jews in the Netherlands — a community that has been in the country, once known for its religious and ethnic tolerance, for centuries. Both anecdotally and through the chief rabbi’s office, The Times of Israel learned that an unprecedented number of Dutch Jews are contemplating leaving their homes for the Jewish homeland.
Now numbering between 30,000 and 50,000 depending on the criteria by which they are counted, many local Jews say they feel crushed by the combined pressures of antisemitism among migrant groups and anti-Zionism within the Dutch political left.
Holland is historically a country where pogroms are an alien phenomenon. That changed on the night of November 7, when bands of mostly Arab and Muslim youth — with the assistance of taxi drivers of the same ethnic and religious background — went on a self-described “Jew hunt” in the streets of Amsterdam.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the violence, while hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted down, beat and harassed them.
Dutch Police stand guard after attacks on Israeli fans following the soccer game between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam on November 8, 2024. (VLN Niews/ANP/AFP via JTA)
Politicians including the Dutch capital’s left-wing Mayor Femke Halsema called the riots a “pogrom,” the first organized violence against Jews in the Netherlands since the Nazi occupation.
Not only Jews are feeling the vitriol: On Monday, the Christians for Israel Center in the central Dutch city of Nijkerk came under attack as anti-Israel demonstrators vandalized the organization’s offices due to its support for Israel, daubing the site with slogans that accused its members of supporting genocide and killing babies.
Motivated by fear
Shraga Evers moved to Israel from the Netherlands 12 years ago and now helps Western European Jews make that same transition as CEO of Shivat Zion, an organization that assists with the immigration and integration process.
“Last week, we organized an event in Amsterdam for Dutch Jews interested in making aliyah,” Evers said. “Forty people showed up. That’s about as many as we would normally get in a year. We haven’t seen this kind of interest in decades.”
Before the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war, Evers saw potential immigrants who were ideologically motivated. Now, fear seems to be a primary driving force.
Shraga Evers, CEO of Shivat Zion. (Courtesy)
This is true not just among what Evers calls “visible Jews,” but across the religious and political spectrum: “Young, old, Orthodox, Reform, left- and right-wing… People who have lost friends for being Jewish but also those that are being sought out and assaulted,” Evers said.
“Jews who would have never considered aliyah before now understand there’s no future for them in Europe,” said Evers, echoing the words of Smole.
“Even if Israel may statistically be more dangerous, the nature of that danger is different,” he said. “In Israel, the threat is mostly external. In the Netherlands, your attacker can live next door. The Dutch police can’t protect the Jews anymore; when Muslims work together, their numbers are just overwhelming.
“Pandora’s box has opened, and even when the wars in Gaza and Lebanon are over, things in Europe will never be the same,” said Smole.
Daniel, a 47-year-old doctor who asked that his real name not be used and that identifying information be withheld to protect his safety, is one of those Jews who only a year ago would have never considered making the move to Israel.
“I am not recognizable as a Jew in the street, but my surname is clearly Jewish,” he said.
Even before this month’s riots in Amsterdam, Daniel asked himself questions about his family’s future in the Netherlands.
“I am usually an optimist, a very happy person, but I worry about my children. Will they be able to go to university safely? When will it be too late to leave if things get worse? Are we back in the 1930s? Two of my grandparents survived Auschwitz. Even after October 7, we thought we could tough it out, the war would end, and antisemitism would eventually die down. We didn’t want to make aliyah, we wanted to stay here in the hope that everything would be alright,” he said.
A protester holds an anti-Israel placard in Dam Square, with the Royal Palace of Amsterdam in the background, on November 15, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP)
Then the violence of November 7 struck, and Daniel felt how much things had really changed in his country.
“It looks like Jews no longer have a right to exist in the Netherlands, like we can’t live our own identities,” he said. “I always thought I could. A lot of my patients say they feel ashamed of what is happening and that they pray for me. Personally, I don’t get any animosity from Muslim patients, but in all fairness, I don’t get any support from them either.”
Daniel and his family haven’t fully made up their minds yet.
“Ninety-nine percent of me wants to stay, but the threshold for aliyah has become a lot lower,” he said. “There’s only one place in the world we would be safer, so even though I hope to still be here in five years, I’m afraid we’ll be in Israel by then.”
You can’t go home again
On a different side of the same coin are Dutch Jews who moved to Israel and are now afraid to go back to the Netherlands even for a visit.
Forty-four-year-old fitness instructor Daphna Kuhr immigrated to Israel in 2000 and now lives with her family in the central city of Ramat Gan. A family visit in January was marked by new and antisemitic experiences.
“When we were in an amusement park, children asked what language I spoke with my two kids. When I told them it was Hebrew, people started insulting us. Children screamed ‘Free Palestine’ at my five-year-old daughter,” Kuhr said.
Daphna Kuhr with her daughter Nico in Ramat Gan. (Courtesy)
It wasn’t the only incident Kuhr experienced. In a fast food restaurant in the central city of Utrecht, Kuhr and her children were refused service when migrant youth behind the counter heard them speak Hebrew. And in a hotel, a receptionist of Palestinian descent said he couldn’t find their reservation when he noticed they were Israeli citizens.
“He asked me if my husband was in the army while standing right in front of me, his face just centimeters from mine,” recalled Kuhr.
Now Kuhr wonders if it’s wise to go visit family and friends over the Christmas break. She is not worried about herself — since she is tall and blonde, no self-styled “Jew hunter” would ever expect her to be Israeli — but Kuhr’s children don’t speak Dutch and she knows that makes them a target.
“My mother lives in a small village in the south of the Netherlands; I guess we should be alright there. But I’m not taking my children to Amsterdam. Since November, we know that it’s accepted there to hate Israelis and Jews. I’m not taking any chances,” she said.
Children indoctrinated to hate Jews
Dutch chief rabbi Binyomin Jacobs knows the risk of being visibly Jewish all too well. “I’m not afraid, but I need to be alert,” he said.
Jacobs has been the victim of verbal racial abuse in the streets, and people frequently honk their car horns when they pass him.
“I was yelled at from a mosque this week. That was a first, an interesting new experience,” Jacobs said sarcastically. “Muslim children are sometimes scared to death of me — they are told I will take out their eyes and give them to children in Israel.”
The rabbi also sees himself confronted with physical violence. He’s had bricks thrown through his windows and on one occasion a driver tried to ram him with his car.
Chief rabbi Binyomin Jacobs with former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. (Courtesy)
Jacobs has noticed that lately, more and more people are asking him for a certificate confirming their Jewishness, a necessary document for Jews who wish to move to Israel.
“Just in case things get even worse and they need to go on aliyah in a hurry,” he said, “at least they will have taken that bureaucratic hurdle.”
The rabbi has given out more of these certificates in the past few weeks than in the full year leading up to the November Amsterdam attacks, a trend that he said is “driven by fear.”
Jacobs has no qualms about where to lay to blame for the deteriorating situation for Dutch Jews.
“It’s not like in Nazi Germany. The authorities are not antisemitic,” he said. “But for every word spoken about violence against Jews, immediately a whole conversation on Islamophobia is started to deflect from the problem. There is a powerful Islamic and left-wing political lobby at work. I don’t want to over-generalize, but the other day I took out my calculator and added up all the support I received from the left and from Muslims. The final number was zero.”
Maaike Smole with her husband Leo at a pro-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam in 2024. (Courtesy)
Politics also plays a part in Smole’s decision to accelerate her move to Israel.
“Everything got twisted around. Media and politicians turned the victims in Amsterdam into perpetrators and perpetrators into victims,” she said. “A couple of months ago there was a protest in my city, ‘Amersfoort against Zionism.’ We went to have a look from a safe distance. My 15-year-old said to me, ‘Mom, how can I raise my children here?’ Imagine a child thinking that; that’s not a thought any child should ever have.”
Smole’s oldest son already made the move to Israel. Her daughter has just started a new course of study, so the Smoles would ideally like to immigrate to Israel after she’s finished.
“I don’t think we’re going to last here that long,” said Smole. “My husband Leo always wore his kippah visibly, but since what happened in Amsterdam, he covers it up with a cap. Normally here in Holland we worry about the well-being of Israel, and now it’s the other way around; it’s so unreal.”
“Israel may not be the safest country in the world, but at least there we are protected by the army and the police,” she said. “We no longer have that feeling here in the Netherlands.”
END
HOLLAND, UK
Holland, realizing it has a huge problem on its hands it taking swift action on antisemitism. The reason of course is the huge influx of migrants to the country
(JerusalemPost)
Surge in antisemitism must be a global wake-up call – editorial
One example of a country taking swift action is The Netherlands.
By JPOST EDITORIALNOVEMBER 29, 2024 06:02Updated: NOVEMBER 29, 2024 09:03
After an Iranian plot to assassinate Canadian human rights activist Irwin Cotler was revealed in late October, he called it “a wake-up call for the community of democracies.” Since then, antisemitic and anti-Israel assaults and threats have escalated further around the world, from the murder of Chabad emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan z”l in the United Arab Emirates on November 21 to incendiary leaflets in London this week.
GB News reported on Wednesday that leaflets reading “Zionists, leave Britain or be slaughtered” were distributed in Hendon, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population. “We are witnessing a troubling trend of redlines being repeatedly crossed,” said Isaac Zarfati, executive director of StandWithUs UK. “This is not just another wave that will pass if we remain passive.”
What can be done to counter this hateful phenomenon? One example of a country taking swift action is The Netherlands. Following the antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on November 8, the Dutch government unveiled a five-year national strategy for combating antisemitism in pursuit of what it called “Netherlands without antisemitism.”
According to a cabinet statement, the Dutch Jewish community, numbering some 50,000, “lives in great insecurity.” The cabinet earmarked 4.5 million euros ($4.7 million) annually for the plan to be coordinated by the Justice and Security Ministry, advised by the National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, focusing on stepping up security at Jewish sites.
The new strategy calls for the establishment of an antisemitism task force, tougher laws on “glorifying terrorism,” and a probe into violence during protests in the streets and in soccer stadiums, where fans will be targeted in a bid to eradicate antisemitic chanting.
“With the current strategy, the government makes it clear that the fight against antisemitism concerns all Dutch people,” the cabinet said. “We all have a responsibility, as a society, to combat antisemitism and the insecurity of Jews. The Netherlands stands for an open, reasonable, and tolerant society. Jewish life is a very explicit part of that.”
Asked for his view of the situation, French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy, who authored a new book titled Israel Alone, told The Jerusalem Post:
“The situation is clearly not good. Look at the Amsterdam pogrom—the hostile protests before the France-Israel soccer match at the Stade de France. There have been countless authoritarian, even totalitarian, countries or nations involved in terrible wars that have played at the Stade de France without any issue. Yet now it’s Israel’s turn, a true democracy, attacked on seven fronts and targeted in its very existence – and there’s a widespread boycott! Isn’t that strange? Doesn’t that trouble you?”
In a recent op-ed in Post, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum and Lahav Harkov suggested that Israel take the leading role in combating global antisemitism. “While the State of Israel cannot eradicate the world’s oldest hatred, it must take effective action to mitigate it,” they wrote, arguing that Israel “must provide support to Jewish communities confronting antisemitism.”
They proposed that the government form an inter-ministerial committee for Israel-Diaspora relations to coordinate the international battle against antisemitism.
For his part, Cotler, who was appointed Canada’s first antisemitism envoy and is also the founder and international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, outlined his position clearly in the Annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report published by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League.
“The explosion of antisemitism is a threat not only to Jews but is toxic to our democracies, an assault on our common humanity, and a standing threat to human security – in a word, the bloodied canary in the mineshaft of global evil,” Cotler wrote. “Jews alone cannot combat it, let alone defeat it. What is required is a constituency of conscience – a whole-of-government, whole-of-society commitment and action to combat this oldest and most lethal of hatreds.”
Cotler’s daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, appointed Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism just a few weeks before October 7, 2023, said this is a time for everyone who cares to stand up and speak out. “To me, this tsunami of antisemitism is a call to action and responsibility, and not just for Jews, but for anyone who understands the importance of this existential moment in time.”
GERMANY
Germany now faces a silencing of free speach
(ReMix)
Three-Quarters Of Germans Believe Fear Of Repercussion Is Silencing Free Speech
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 03:30 AM
Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
Freedom of expression in Germany is being increasingly constrained, with 74 percent of citizens believing people are holding back their opinions out of fear of repercussions, according to a new survey by Insa.
This growing trend is illustrated by recent high-profile cases, such as individuals facing criminal convictions for insulting politicians on social media and even pensioners receiving police visits over internet memes.
The data suggests draconian enforcement measures are having a devastating effect on freedom of expression, particularly among young people and those with socially conservative values.
Among respondents aged 18 to 39, 53 percent reported having experienced situations where they felt unable to speak openly. By contrast, this figure drops to 24 percent for those over 70, indicating that younger generations are significantly more inhibited.
Political affiliation plays a crucial role in perceptions of free speech with 74 percent of right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters admitting to self-censoring at least once, followed by 57 percent of voters for the new Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). In contrast, supporters of left-leaning parties feel much less constrained; only 27 percent of those supporting the Greens reported any hesitancy in expressing their views, while 31 percent of the governing Social Democrats (SPD) felt similarly.
When asked more broadly whether they believed some people avoid speaking their minds due to fear of consequences, an overwhelming 74 percent of all respondents said yes. Among AfD and BSW voters, the numbers were even higher at 91 percent and 90 percent respectively, suggesting that concerns over freedom of expression are a systemic issue in Germany.
The findings underscore the deepening divisions in Germany over the state of freedom of expression, with younger generations, right-leaning voters, and even moderates expressing fears of censorship or backlash.
While some parties and their supporters remain confident in their ability to voice opinions freely, the data paints a picture of a society increasingly wary of speaking out, particularly as legal actions and public rebukes continue to shape the discourse.
This month alone, Remix News has extensively covered several high-profile cases where ordinary citizens have received considerable fines for directing insults at politicians in the increasingly unpopular federal government.
A 64-year-old pensioner retweeted a meme of Green Economy Minister Robert Habeck, in which Habeck was described as an “idiot,” resulting in Bavarian police raiding the man’s house and arresting him. The crime was even recorded as a “politically motivated right-wing crime.”
Another incident in Bavaria saw a woman finally acquitted after a nearly two-year-long ordeal; she had been initially fined €6,000 for calling German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock a “hollow brat” in a post on X that was viewed just 216 times.
BREAKING: A German man, Paul S., was hit with a €5,000 fine for calling a judge “obviously mentally disturbed.” The judge issued no jail time to a 30-year-old Syrian migrant who raped a 15-year-old German girl while she was walking home in Osnabrück. The migrant, who was drunk during the incident, was only given probation. The migrant was also fined €3,000. When Paul S. sent an email to the judge complaining about the sentence, he was convicted and hit with nearly double the fine as the migrant rapist. The Wiesbaden district court judge told the migrant during the trial: “You are well on your way to becoming a completely normal citizen here.” The judge also said verbatim that the rape intensity was “at the lower end.” Paul S. appealed the fine but still has to pay one-third of the original €5,000 for “insulting” the judge.
·
x.com/RMXnews/status/1861376239749009503
The criminal charges aren’t just reserved for politicians. Just this week, a German man who described a judge as “obviously mentally disturbed” — after the judge issued a light sentence to a Syrian who raped a 15-year-old girl — was slapped with a €5,000 fine for “insulting” the judge. This fine was almost double the fine given to the Syrian rapist for the sexual assault.
These instances have been ongoing for years, with Remix News reporting back in March 2022 how over 100 people had seen their homes raided across Germany for “insulting” politicians, as police had been instructed to conduct a nationwide crackdown on what they called “hate mail” targeting those in public office.
In an interview with Nius earlier this week, defense lawyer Udo Vetter criticized the current system, revealing that Germany faces over 140,000 open arrest warrants for insults against politicians.
“Crime is getting out of hand and everything is going down the drain, and we have to spend so many, countless hours of work with such things — wasting our time,” he added.
END
Despite threats and a ban, thousands of Christians and Jews celebrate Israel in Amsterdam
Some 2,000 people attend Thursday night rally outside city hall after mayor nixes planned Dam Square demonstration, saying she’s unable to guarantee safety of attendees
By Bart SchutToday, 2:47 pm
People take part in a protest rally against antisemitism in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
AMSTERDAM — Some 2,000 pro-Israel protesters gathered outside Amsterdam’s city hall on Thursday night after Mayor Femke Halsema nixed the originally planned rally in the capital’s Dam Square, reportedly concerned that the site could not be properly secured.
The central Dam Square is where pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations have taken place with greater frequency over the last few weeks following the violent attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters on November 7 — though with far fewer attendees than Thursday evening’s pro-Israel crowd.
“This is how ‘never again’ becomes ‘yet again,’ by taking rights away from Jews bit by bit,” said Jewish former politician Rob Oudkerk. “‘Yet again’ is Mayor Halsema, who bans us from Dam Square.”
Several speakers bitterly complained of what they called Halsema’s unwillingness to protect Jews in the heart of the city.
The city’s “security triangle” — consisting of the mayor, the local chief of police and Amsterdam’s chief public prosecutor — had banned the gathering, saying that the safety of the pro-Israel protesters could not be guaranteed after antisemitic riots earlier this month.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the November 7 violence, perpetrated by Arab and Muslim gangs against visiting and local fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club after a match against Amsterdam’s Ajax. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat and harassed them.
Led by Christians For Israel, some 20 Protestant and Jewish organizations at first rejected the security triangle’s decision to prohibit pro-Israel demonstrators from gathering at Dam Square, but finally agreed on the alternative location.
A banner reading ‘Stop Jew-hunters’ at a demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. (Bart Schut)
Solidarity with Israel and Dutch Jews was shown in a celebratory fashion by the protesters next to the “Stopera” (Amsterdam’s city hall doubles as an opera house), a stone’s throw away from a large statue of Baruch Spinoza, Holland’s most influential philosopher.
Small groups of counter-protesters — not more than a few dozen — were kept away from the largely Christian crowd that had come to the Dutch capital mainly from small and mid-sized towns in what is known as Holland’s Bible belt. There they were joined by Jewish citizens from Amsterdam and other sympathizers.
“My savior [Jesus Christ] was a Jew, the apostles were Jews, the Bible is a Jewish book. Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are deeply anti-Christian,” said Protestant minister Klaas-Jelle Kaptein, from the island fishing town of Urk.
People take part in a protest rally against antisemitism in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
In a speech, Yanki Jacobs, a local Chabad rabbi, asked if there was a future for Dutch Jews in light of recent events. “My answer is, if there is a future for the Netherlands, there is a future for Jews in the Netherlands,” he said. “If Dutch society has enough strength to fight hatred, my answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ But we need people who speak out.”
Addressing the crowd directly, Jacobs said, “That is what you are doing and I am grateful to you.”
The crowd was a sea of Israeli flags and signs saying “Never again.” One banner read “Stop Jew hunters,” referring to the phrase “Jew hunt” used in social media groups by some perpetrators of the November 7 attacks here.
Activists from the fishing town of Urk show their support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. (Bart Schut)
A group from Urk carried a banner saying, “Benjamin Netanyahu, welcome on Urk,” mocking a statement by Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Casper Veldkamp in which he announced that the Netherlands would comply with the recently issued ICC warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and arrest him were he to land on Dutch soil.
Veldkamp, a former ambassador in Tel Aviv, was then harshly criticized when a day later he received and shook hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Last week, a planned trip to Israel by Veldkamp was canceled in “mutual agreement” with the Israeli government, according to the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry in The Hague. But Jerusalem maintains that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar unilaterally canceled the trip after Veldkamp’s endorsement of the ICC warrant.
Geert Wilders, leader of the largest coalition party, the far-right Party for Freedom, said Veldkamp’s meeting with Araghchi while “Netanyahu is taboo” was “hypocritical.”
Notably, at Thursday evening’s protest against antisemitism, many Persian flags were flown by opponents of the Islamist regime in Tehran who expressed their solidarity with Israel.
Persian anti-regime protesters show their support for Israel at a demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. (Bart Schut)
The most emotional speech of the night came from Holocaust survivor Deborah Maarsen-Laufer. Born in February 1942, she was the youngest survivor of the Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp.
“Borrie,” as Maarsen is affectionately known in the Dutch Jewish community, referred to the three minutes of speaking time the organizers had given her.
Holocaust survivor Deborah Maarsen-Laufer after her speech at a demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. (Bart Schut)
“A lot can happen in three minutes. Three minutes were enough for the Nazis to take my parents, my sisters and me from our house 80 years ago. On October 7, three minutes were enough to turn a place where young people danced into hell. And three minutes were also enough for youths on scooters to hunt for Jews in our Mokum,” she said, using the traditional nickname for Amsterdam that has roots in the Hebrew word “makom,” meaning place.
“In these historic antisemitic times in which part of the people assume a passive-aggressive attitude [to Jews] or looks away, it is priceless that another part refuses to do so and shows its unreserved affection,” Lenny Kuhr, the Dutch Jewish winner of the 1969 Eurovision contest, told The Times of Israel.
Kuhr has become a more and more vocal defender of Israel after a theater in the city of Leiden banned her from performing in March, claiming that “people like her openly support genocide.” The performer, whose two daughters live in Israel with their families, sang part of her recently written song “Light” for the crowd.
A group of some 15 keffiyeh-wearing and mostly masked counter-protesters yelled “Zionism down” from the other side of the River Amstel that gives the Dutch capital its name, trying to reach the protest by claiming to police officers that they were part of it “as vehement opponents of antisemitism.”
Far left and Muslim counter-protesters were kept away from the pro-Israel demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. (Bart Schut)
Police, some on horseback, quickly surrounded and later dispersed the group, as they did with other small anti-Israel groups and individuals at the beginning of the demonstration. Halsema had banned a larger counter-protest after far left and Muslim youths attacked pro-Israeli Christians at a commemoration of the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel.
Groups of Muslim youths were not seen at the site of the protest, however, and confrontations between far-left counter-protesters and police remained mostly nonviolent. The pro-Israel crowd was largely well-behaved, and hundreds thanked policemen as they left for the busses that waited in Amsterdam’s outskirts to take them back to their towns.
As two men wearing Israeli flags left the square in front of the Stopera, one told The Times of Israel he was a refugee from Aleppo, Syria. David, born Dawud, said he converted to Christianity after arriving in the Netherlands in 2014.
“I am here to support Jewish people, they are the nation of God,” David said, adding one message for the citizens of Israel’s neighbor states: “Love, not hate!”
Two activists stand in front of Amsterdam’s ‘Stopera,’ or city hall, during a pro-Israel demonstration jointly held by Jewish and Christian organizations in Amsterdam, November 28, 2024. On the left is Syrian refugee David. (Bart Schut)
FRANCE/FRIDAY
French Govt Collapse Imminent As Le Pen Piles On Pressure Over Budget Vote
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 09:45 AM
While French bond spreads have compressed modestly overnight (as French Finance Minister Antoine Armand announced that he is ready to amend the 2025 budget proposal to avoid a government collapse), they remain extremely elevated (at their highest since the European financial crisis in 2012) as rising tensions threaten the country’s economic stability.
Source: Bloomberg
As Remix News reports, Armand, warned before the upcoming budget debate that the government must make compromises regarding the 2025 budget proposal. The political situation is constantly deteriorating, because the opposition parties in the National Assembly, led by Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, have called for a no-confidence vote if the government does not accept amendments that make a tangible difference to the proposed tax increases.
Armand made headlines in September for asserting that the National Rally party was not a party he would deal with, as it was not part of what he called “the republican arc,” instigating French Prime Minister Michel Barnier to even phone Le Pen to apologize for the comment.
Le Pen, meanwhile, has insisted her budget demands have been long cast aside.
The budget crisis may have serious consequences for the French economy, with market investors reacting with increased concern, as a result of which the yields on the French bond market have risen.
Armand has said that the government should avoid unnecessary risk and that the adoption of the budget is now vital for the future of the country.
The discussion of the budget proposal will continue in the National Assembly on Dec. 18, with the outcome of the new amendments still unclear. Armand stated that the government is open to remedying the situation by cutting spending instead of implementing the planned tax increases.
Le Pen has called on the government to institute some €60 billion of adjustments, including a tax moratorium, indexed pensions, and more action to counter migration.
In a post on X, National Party leader Jordan Bardella wrote, “The National Rally has just won a victory by obtaining from Michel Barnier the cancelation of the 3 billion euro tax on electricity. Thanks to our determined action, energy prices would not increase for the French in 2025, if this promise is respected and if it is not financed by other tax increases. We will be vigilant. But we cannot stop there. Other red lines remain.”
Bardella goes on to write that Barnier must abandon demands to have the French pay more for medication, especially when medical costs are covered for illegal migrants. He also wants a moratorium on new taxes and a return to the old pension system.
“A serious crackdown on migration and criminal law must be undertaken, without paying lip service to words and promises: our country can no longer accommodate mass immigration which disrupts its identity and weighs heavily on its public finances. These common sense measures are realistic, quickly applicable and expected by an immense majority of French people. The Prime Minister cannot remain deaf to them. He has a few days left,” wrote Bardella.
But, despite some optimism that Armand and his ‘amis’ are moving to Le Pen’s pals’ position, French asset-swap spreads are diverging from those of Europe, indicating that assets in France are increasingly disfavored as fiscal risks persist.
Asset-swap spreads are what you receive if you want to hedge out the funding risk from owning a bond. They therefore capture the non-interest rate risk from a bond, i.e. supply and demand factors and credit risk. French asset swaps have become much more negative as the market factors in more supply and increased credit risk as the country deals with bigger fiscal deficits and political volatility.
But swap spreads in general have been declining in Europe as well as the US for a variety of reasons, such as QT and rising fiscal deficits. Euro swap spreads have generally fallen with French ASW spreads, but they have seen two big divergences: in June after Macron’s surprise election announcement, and now.
A narrowing in the spread differential would be a key sign the market is becoming less skittish on the budgetary outlook.
Le Pen gave PM Barnier until Monday to accede to her budget demands before she decides whether to topple the government.
How do you say “Tick tock!” in French?
END
UK
This is what the UK is facing with that net zero policy!
(Morrison)
Time For Starmer To Come Clean About What Net-Zero Means: Rationing, Blackouts, & Travel Restrictions In The Next Five Years
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 05:00 AM
Authored by Chris Morrison via DailySceptic.org,
Earlier this week the Labour backbencher and Chairman of the U.K. Parliament’s Energy Committee Bill Esterson noted that people will have to adjust their habits to meet Net Zero emission goals for 2030. Such honesty, emerging as it does from the Parliament of Net Zero nodding donkeys, is to be applauded. As far as it goes. Try a 30% reduction in energy demand. After 2030, consider that all beef, lamb and dairy will be banned and “replaced by new diets”. Then there is a massive 45% cut in most common building materials such as cement, along with a similar reduction in road freight traffic. The attack on farming will be remorseless with fertiliser restriction halving “direct emission” from the soil. To sum up: widespread rationing and blackouts along with food, holiday and travel restrictions, all within about 60 months.
Look at what they fund and write and whom they consult, not what they say, is the best advice to counter all the whoppers that are being told about Net Zero. Sir Keir Starmer’s statement at the recent COP29 that he didn’t want to tell people how to live their lives can only be explained by noting it came from a British Prime Minister who has difficulty telling a woman from a man. Thankfully we have the Government-funded U.K. FIRES project to give us an honest heads-up on the near-term implications of Net Zero. All of the substantial reductions in energy, food and industrial materials mentioned above arise from its “pragmatic approach”. Its evidence-based conclusions rely on technologies that are available today. It excludes processes such as carbon capture and hydrogen that have yet to be proven at meaningful scale.
Its conclusions warm the hearts of the most committed green ideologues. Its reports also happen to be the most honest representation of the horrors that await if the Net Zero fantasy ever becomes a reality.
By 2028 a total of seven million heat pumps will need to be installed and massive retrofits undertaken in domestic homes. Meanwhile, all rented and non-domestic properties will need to be EPC A rated by 2030. The desire to “manage land use for Net Zero emissions” means a massive cut in chemical fertilisers, so expect food supply to fall off a cliff.
U.K. FIRES notes, correctly, that there is “insufficient time for the planning, development and construction of new large-scale infrastructure to contribute to the 2030 target”. Again correctly, it is observed that increased use of wind and solar power creates a problem with intermittency. “Eventually, this must be addressed by either demand-shifting or storage,” it states. Storage at scale is more or less impossible with current technology, and another word for “demand-shifting” is rationing. To enforce these consumption restraints across the broad range of modern industrial lifestyles, a “whole society” approach must be mobilised.
U.K. FIRES received a £5 million grant from the British Government and its warnings – or should that be wishes – about 2030 are contained in a report called ‘Minus 45’ prepared ahead of the Glasgow COP26 in 2021. It is based on a U.K. Government promise to reduce carbon emissions by 45% from 2018 to 2030. Its recommendations are relevant today, not least because Starmer tried to curry favour at the recent COP29 in Baku by promising to reduce emissions further.
That would be the COP29 conference that made great progress in destroying the system of bribes paid out as so-called climate aid to developing countries to stop them developing with the aid of hydrocarbons. Nobody knows who will pay for a promised £1.3 trillion a year by 2035, not least because President Trump will sweep away any American commitment with a stroke of the executive pen come January 20th. Helpfully, if anyone cares enough to move from lip service to actual action, creative climate accounting is still possible. A requirement to ban the construction of coal-fired power stations was removed from an early draft and it failed to make it into the final communiqué. This will no doubt please the Japanese who backed the building of the Matarbari ultra-supercritical coal-fired power station in Bangladesh on the grounds that it used Japanese technology to generate more energy with less coal. At COP29, diplomacy was “truly the art of agreeing to nothing”, notes David Wojick from CFACT.
The shamble at COP demonstrates that the world is moving away from the idea that hydrocarbons can be removed from a modern economy. But an accident of recent electoral politics has left Britain with a fanatical Government of Net Zero zealots. The anti-working class Labour party was returned to power with a popular vote count less than its losing Marxist leader obtained in 2019. The U.K. FIRES work demonstrates what lies in store. A resurgent America bounding ahead on cheap energy and unleashed entrepreneurial spirits will contrast with its European allies shutting down industrial manufacturing in pursuit of an increasing unpopular state-mandated doomsday cult.
end
5 RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/analysis
(JerusalemPost)
Lebanon war toll: Thousands dead, Hezbollah arsenal severely depleted – analysis
Statistics vary wildly regarding how much Hezbollah has attacked Israel, depending on the definition, with the numbers varying from as low as a few thousand rockets to over 10,000.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBNOVEMBER 27, 2024 20:39
From October 8, 2023, until November 26, 2024, below are some estimated numbers for the Lebanon war. Some numbers are fully updated, and some await updates from the IDF but are based on previous reports.
Between 2,500-3,000 Hezbollah fighters have been killed compared to 75 IDF soldiers who died either invading southern Lebanon or from Hezbollah attacks into northern Israel. Most of these have been killed since mid-September, but several hundred Hezbollah had been killed prior to then. Hezbollah still has tens of thousands of fighters – the vast majority of its rank-and-file forces, even as a majority of its commanders have been killed.
Between 700-1,200 Lebanese civilians have been killed compared to 45 Israeli civilians.
Statistics vary wildly regarding how much Hezbollah has attacked Israel, depending on the definition, with the numbers varying from as low as a few thousand rockets to over 10,000 to around 15,000 rockets and 2,500 drones.
Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is estimated as having been reduced from over 150,000 to over 30,000, though these numbers are the most inconclusive of all. At over 30,000 rockets, the arsenal would still be double what Hamas had before the start of the current war.
Heavy toll in Lebanon war
Statistics also vary wildly regarding Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but a high number circulating is around 14,000.
The IDF did confirm on Wednesday that it has undertaken 330 airstrikes on Beirut alone during the current war, almost all since mid-September.
Around 60,000 Israelis are still evacuated from the North from an original total, which was tens of thousands higher.
Around one-third of Israel has been under Hezbollah fire since mid-September.
2,874 civilian Israeli structures have been damaged by Hezbollah, mostly close to the northern border, but with an increase deeper into Israel in the last two months.
Between 1.2 to 1.6 million Lebanese have been evacuated or otherwise displaced by the war, the majority since mid-September, but hundreds of thousands had been displaced from southern Lebanon for much of the last year.
END
ISRAEL// HEZBOLLAH/Wednesday night
(Reuters)
IDF killed as many as 4,000 Hezbollah fighters in ops over past year — source
Source familiar with Hezbollah ops says up to 4,000 fighters may have been killed over past year
A woman holds a portrait of her grandson, a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in the fighting with Israeli troops, as she waits for rescuers to recover his body from under the rubble of a destroyed house, background, in Ainata village, southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on November 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
BEIRUT — With the bodies of its fighters still strewn on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide succor to its supporters who bore the brunt of Israel’s offensive, as the first steps on a long and costly road to recovery, four senior officials say.
Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand, with the vast majority killed since Israel went on the offensive in September, three sources familiar with its operations say, citing previously unreported internal estimates.
One source says the Iran-backed terror group may have lost up to 4,000 people — well over 10 times the number killed in its month-long 2006 war with Israel. So far, Lebanese authorities have said some 3,800 people were killed in the current hostilities, without distinguishing fighters from civilians.
The IDF has estimated that Israeli forces killed some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives.
END
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/Wednesday night
Ceasefire violated!
IDF says ceasefire violated, opens fire on suspects moving towards southern Lebanon
In their statement, the military said it is deployed in southern Lebanon and enforcing all violations of the ceasefire agreement.
By MAYA GUR ARIEH, SAM HALPERNNOVEMBER 28, 2024 10:35Updated: NOVEMBER 28, 2024 12:41
Several suspects, some in vehicles, arrived in towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Thursday morning, constituting a breach of the ceasefire that came into effect early on Wednesday, the military said on Thursday.
As a result, the IDF opened fire on the suspects.
In its statement, the military said it is deployed in southern Lebanon and enforcing all violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier, Army Radio reported that three were wounded in an Israeli drone strike near a vehicle in the town of Markaba in southern Lebanon on Thursday, just a day after the ceasefire in Lebanon came into effect.
Later, Reuters reported that two Lebanese security sources said an Israeli tank fired two rounds into Markaba.
One of the security sources said two people were wounded. Lebanon’s state news agency said two people were wounded and transferred to hospital after an Israeli attack on the town, without specifying the type of attack.
A correspondent for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen in southern Lebanon also reported that Israeli artillery targeted Markaba, adding that the incident was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
This is a developing story.
END
ISRAEL//analysis
The difficult state of Israel’s Air Force is revealed – analysis
Military officials reveal severe strain on Israel’s helicopter fleets and fighter jets, while the global arms race complicates procurement efforts.
By MAARIVNOVEMBER 28, 2024 01:31
Israel’s biggest challenge after the ceasefire is not in Lebanon, but in the United States and Germany.
Israel needs to restore IDF capabilities through massive procurement of weapon systems, fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, artillery, missiles, and various types of ammunition.
The most severe situation in the IDF is in the helicopter array, particularly the Apache squadrons. Regarding ammunition, the IDF is constantly monitoring the quantity of air-to-ground bombs.
The Air Force‘s fighter jets have accumulated thousands of flight hours per aircraft during the war, far beyond their planned lifetime – causing aging across all of the force’s fighter jets. This will require Israel to expedite the purchase of new squadrons, particularly F-15s and F-35s.
The American administration has recently raised restrictions on aid to Israel, delayed the procurement of heavy air-to-ground bombs and helicopter air-to-ground missiles, and also prevented the supply of used Apache helicopters to temporarily assist the Air Force’s defense array.
But the diplomatic crisis between the administration and Israel isn’t everything. The world is currently in an arms race. With the war in Ukraine, and tensions between China and Taiwan, all of Europe is chasing weapons.
“We’re in a global arms race, it’s crazy”
A senior official from one of the world’s largest weapons suppliers said, “What’s happening now is crazy; this isn’t the world we knew two or three years ago. The whole world is buying weapons, everything of everything.”
“We’re in a reality where this race means weapons companies can’t keep up with orders, and the delivery queue keeps getting longer,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared yesterday that the second factor in deciding on a ceasefire is the need to replenish ammunition and equipment.
This is not just to allow renewed ammunition supply but also so that new systems can be purchased now, focusing on fighter jet squadrons, refueling aircraft, and transport helicopters, rather than in four years when the new aid law opens.
Currently, the most difficult situation in the Air Force is the condition of the Apache helicopters. Their availability level was lacking at the beginning of the war, and due to extensive flight hours, the situation only worsened as the fighting wore on.
Israel urgently needs to renew both squadrons.
One squadron’s situation is particularly bad as it uses an older model of the helicopter. During the fighting, Israel requested several used helicopters in good condition from the United States until the purchase of two squadrons would be approved, which was denied by the Americans.
One of the options currently being considered by the Air Force is to take several Black Hawk transport helicopters (called “Yanshuf” in the Air Force), which are used for transport and casualty evacuation, and install weapon systems like air-to-ground missiles, cannons, and additional systems. It would serve as an aerial vehicle for border defense and slightly reduce the need for Apache helicopters.
Heavy and semi-heavy bombs
Shipments of heavy and semi-heavy bombs are stuck in Boeing warehouses in the United States due to President Joe Biden’s decision. The same applies to the ‘Hellfire’ missile produced by Lockheed Martin – Israel lacked these munitions when fighting began. An American airlift filled the warehouses in Israel, but as the fighting continued, stocks declined again. Israel is counting on President Trump to immediately release the shipments to Israel.
All Air Force fighter jets performed thousands of flight hours during the war, and their wear is significant.
During the war, the United States even supplied several used aircraft for the Air Force. There’s an urgent need to advance the supply of aircraft that were ordered late because Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speculated if Israel even needed fighter jets.
A security official estimates that the Air Force will now advance a rapid procurement process that will build Israel’s air power, including about one hundred F-35 aircraft, one hundred advanced model F-15 aircraft, and around fifty F-16 aircraft.
The Air Force will request to advance the arrival of refueling aircraft, with the understanding they must purchase at least six more heavy transport helicopters in addition to the 12 helicopters ordered to replace the Yasur helicopter fleet, which has already exceeded their intended flight hours range.
“The big problem right now is that the budget is limited, the blanket is short, and you need to be a magician to meet the needs. And the second issue is the production line schedules that are full with a list of buyers,” a security official said.
END
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/the ceasefire deal analyzed
this deal will not last long before fighting continues
US envoy dismisses ‘fantasy’ of deal that would include IDF buffer zone in Lebanon
Hochstein says Israel can insist on buffer zone, but Lebanon will never agree to Israel occupying the country’s south, meaning Hezbollah cross-border attacks would resume
By Jacob Magid FollowToday, 5:07 am
US special envoy Amos Hochstein talks to reporters following his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (not pictured) in Beirut on November 20, 2024. (AFP)
The US architect of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire on Wednesday dismissed as “fantasy” the notion that Jerusalem could have secured a better deal in which it would have been able to maintain a buffer zone inside Lebanon to better defend against potential attacks from the Iran-backed terror group.
During a round of interviews hours after the ceasefire came into place, US special envoy Amos Hochstein was presented with criticism voiced by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who said the agreement’s lack of planned buffer zone in Lebanon will allow Hezbollah to rebuild homes along the border that the terror group can use as a staging point for a future invasion of Israel’s north and as launchpads for the many anti-tank missiles it still has in stock.
“Yes, there are fantasy deals that are utopia where you get a ceasefire agreement with a security zone, but those won’t ever happen,” Hochstein responded to Channel 12.
The senior adviser to US President Joe Biden maintained that a buffer zone would require Israel to remain in Lebanon as an occupying force — something that no sovereign country would accept.
“If you choose to have a dead zone or a demilitarized zone, then you are there as an occupier, and you are not there in agreement; which means that while you may have two, three, four or five kilometers inside Lebanon, there won’t be an agreement to stop [Hezbollah from] shooting at Israel from longer ranges,” Hochstein said.
Some supporters of the buffer zone idea have not said that the IDF need not occupy southern Lebanon in order for it to be upheld and that other forces could be tasked with doing so.
A woman holds a portrait of her grandson, a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in the fighting with Israeli troops, as she waits for rescuers to recover his body from under the rubble of a destroyed house, background, in Ainata village, southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on November 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The deal brokered by the US managed to secure such a commitment from Hezbollah to stop its rocket fire while also empowering the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to prevent the terror group from rebuilding its infrastructure, the US envoy explained.
Skeptics of the deal have questioned whether the LAF will be capable of standing up to Hezbollah, given that it has been unable to do so to date, but US officials argue that Western and Arab allies have now agreed to boost the LAF financially while providing it with more equipment and training.
Hochstein has also touted the ceasefire deal’s boosting of an existing enforcement mechanism that was utterly ineffective in preventing Hezbollah’s rearmament after the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The US and France will be taking charge of the tripartite enforcement committee that previously only included Israel, Lebanon and the UNIFIL observer force.
From here on out, the committee will be able to respond in real-time to complaints of violations to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which required Hezbollah to disarm and retreat beyond the Litani River, which is some 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Also new under the deal is the LAF’s agreement to immediately deploy across south Lebanon, gradually replacing Israeli troops over the next two months in order to ensure that Hezbollah is unable to refill the vacuum, as it did after the Second Lebanon War.
Troops of the 7th Armored Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued November 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The international community will also be involved in rebuilding south Lebanon, rather than abandoning the country immediately after the war as it did in 2006 when Hezbollah was the only force offering to assist in the effort, allowing it to maintain its foothold in those border towns, Hochstein explained.
Asked by Channel 12 why he thought the deal came into fruition now, Hochstein credited the gains Israel has made on the battlefield over the past two months, which convinced Hezbollah to “delink” from the ongoing Gaza war after refusing to do so for over a year.
After roughly a year of near-daily Hezbollah cross-border attacks, which began unprovoked hours after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Israel significantly intensified its retaliatory strikes in September, killing almost all of Hezbollah’s military and political leaders before launching a ground invasion that dismantled much of the terror group’s infrastructure throughout southern Lebanon. The IDF attacks peaked with a mass detonation of Hezbollah communications devices that injured thousands of its operatives.
As for whether Israel should’ve continued in its efforts to continue degrading Hezbollah militarily while the terror group is at one of its weakest points ever, Hochstein told Channel 12, “At some point, you have to get to a deal itself.”
During a briefing with Jewish American community leaders earlier in the day, Hochstein pointed out that Israel had never established a war aim of fully dismantling Hezbollah. Israel’s stated goal for the northern front was to allow the tens of thousands of residents to return to their homes near the Blue Line, which wouldn’t have been possible without a deal, he said.
Hochstein was pressed on reports that he had also given Israel an “It’s now or never” ultimatum that ultimately convinced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal.
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP/Hussein Malla)
He denied having made such comments but said he did acknowledge having told Netanyahu earlier this month that the window of opportunity to reach a deal was shutting and likely wouldn’t open until after the next administration gets settled into office in March or April of next year.
Hochstein was also asked in a subsequent Channel 13 interview about claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that the US pressured Israel to agree to the deal with Lebanon by threatening not to veto a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire along the Blue Line and threatening to withhold weapons shipments from Israel.
“There were no demands by the United States related to weapons or a veto at the UN. There were no threats whatsoever… Those ideas never came up in discussions at any point,” he said.
“I have known Prime Minister Netanyahu and the government of Israel for a very long time. I have never known them to cave into deals that they thought threatened the security of Israel,” Hochstein maintained.
Earlier in the evening, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement criticizing Hochstein for comments made in another interview with CNBC in which he characterized the ceasefire in Lebanon as “permanent.”
“Contrary to what was attributed to Hochstein, fighting can restart at any moment, as we saw today,” said premier’s spokesperson hours after IDF troops fired warning shots at people trying to approach several southern Lebanon villages on the first day of the ceasefire Israel and Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets with US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein in Jerusalem, June 17, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
“Israel will act firmly against any violation of the ceasefire, and is prepared militarily for any scenario,” the Netanyahu aide added in a statement.
Hochstein’s characterization of the deal was the same as the one used by Biden when he announced the ceasefire on Tuesday.
Netanyahu’s office apparently preferred criticizing the Biden aide, rather than the president himself, as it seeks to contend with frustration over the deal from the premier’s hardline base, which polls suggest overwhelmingly oppose the ceasefire and want Israel to continue fighting against Hezbollah.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS
They will now try for a ceasefire deal with Hamas
(JerusalemPost)
Egyptian officials in contact with Trump’s team over Gaza hostage deal – report
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 28, 2024 14:29
Egyptian officials have been in contact with members of President-elect Donald Trump’s team regarding a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Egyptian officials involved reportedly sought to understand if Trump could convince Israel to make compromises on certain key points in a deal, particularly Israel’s goal of a “buffer zone” for Israel and Gaza, the WSJ noted.
END
ISRAEL///HEZBOLLAH/THURSDAY MORNING
Hezbollah violates the ceasefire:
IAF strikes Hezbollah facility in Lebanon
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 28, 2024 15:37Updated: NOVEMBER 28, 2024 15:40
An Israel Air Force jet struck a Hezbollah medium-range rocket facility in southern Lebanon to counter a terror threat in the area, the military said on Thursday.
“The IDF remains in southern Lebanon and is operating to enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF’s statement read.
On Wednesday, starting at 4:00 a.m. local time, a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect.
END
ISRAEL.HEZBOLLAH/THURSDAY
IDF strikes Hezbollah rocket depot after identifying violations of fresh ceasefire
Strike comes after troops fire warning shots, including drone strike, near vehicles in violation of two-day old truce; Lebanese media report two injured
By Emanuel Fabian Follow
and AgenciesToday, 5:45 pm
Destroyed houses at a village in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on November 28, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that it had carried out an airstrike on a Hezbollah facility in southern Lebanon, less than two days into a fragile ceasefire with the Iran-backed terror group and hours after firing warning shots at suspects who approached border areas that are still off-limits according to the truce.
Fighter jets struck the facility, which was used to hold medium-range rockets, after identifying activity there, according to the military.
“The IDF is deployed in southern Lebanon, acting and thwarting any violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF added.
Earlier, the IDF said it fired warning shots in several cases at suspicious individuals in several areas of southern Lebanon. In one case, a drone struck near the suspects as a warning measure.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded in the village of Markaba, close to the border.
Thursday’s two airstrikes were the first since the ceasefire came into effect early Wednesday, in an effort to end over a year of cross-border violence initiated by Hezbollah last October. The ceasefire sets out a 60-day period for Israeli troops to pull out and for new security arrangements to be made. Hezbollah is banned from operating south of the Litani River, several kilometers from the border.
“The arrival of suspects, some with vehicles, to several areas in southern Lebanon was identified, which constitutes a violation [of the ceasefire],” the IDF said in a statement.
Residents transport their belongings atop a car as they return to the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on November 28, 2024, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold. (Anwar Amro/AFP)
It said troops “opened fire” as a warning measure, and will “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
In the Markaba area, the IDF said it had fired a warning shot near a vehicle that was not intended to kill the passengers, while troops, artillery, and tanks fired warning shots in other areas.
Lebanese state media and security sources said Israeli fire had hit six areas within the border strip, striking Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, Taybe and agricultural plains around Marjayoun, all of which lie within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel.
The ceasefire agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah terrorists are to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 20 kilometers from the boundary between Israel and Lebanon, and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said on Thursday that Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as the IDF withdraws. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Displaced residents drive past destroyed buildings as they return to Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, November 28, 2024. (Bassam Hatoum/AP)
A Lebanese army source said its forces were “conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints” south of the Litani River without advancing into areas where Israeli forces were still present.
In a statement on X on Thursday, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman announced a nighttime curfew in south Lebanon.
“It is strictly forbidden to move or travel south of the Litani River starting from 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) until 7 a.m. tomorrow (Friday). Those south of the Litani River must remain where they are,” Col. Avichay Adraee said.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Thursday accused Israel of attacking people returning to their villages in south Lebanon. The IDF has instructed residents of towns along the border not to return yet, for their own safety.
Tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel have also not yet returned to their homes.
Also Thursday, the IDF said that it had fired an air defense interceptor missile over the Western Galilee due to a suspected “suspicious aerial target” spotted over Lebanon. It later declared that the incident was a false alarm.
Troops of the 7th Armored Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued November 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday halted 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which began when the terror group, unprovoked, began firing into Israel on October 8, 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The relentless attacks forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before Israel ramped up its operations in Lebanon in mid-September. The campaign in Gaza is ongoing, with no end in sight.
Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 45 civilians. In addition, 76 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes, attacks on Israel, and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
Security and emergency services at the scene where a man was killed by a missile fired from Lebanon, in the northern city of Nahariya, November 21, 2024. (Fadi Amun/Flash90)
The IDF estimates that some 3,500 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
According to figures published by the Lebanese health ministry, 3,823 people were killed in Israeli actions since October 8, 2023, a figure that does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite the warnings from both the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/FRIDAY/HUMOUR
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem declares victory against Israel in televised speech
“We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah,” Qassem said.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 29, 2024 19:20
“We are meeting today in an atmosphere of divine victory,” Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a televised speech Friday, adding that the “victory” achieved is greater than the one in 2006.
“We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah, stopped them from ending the resistance, and defeated them because the enemy was forced to justify the agreement,” Qassem said.
One of the signs of Israel’s defeat is “the image of the return of our people and the absence of the settlers on the opposite side,” he said, referring to the Israeli evacuees who have not returned to their homes.
“Israel expected to achieve its goals in a short time after striking the command system and capabilities,” Qassem said, alluding to the pager attack Israel conducted in September.
“Hezbollah was able to stand firm on the frontlines and began targeting the enemy’s home front, which put the situation into a significant defensive position,” he continued.
Cease-fire arrangements
Qassem also discussed the cease-fire arrangements in his speech, saying that there will be “high-level coordination” between the Lebanese army and Hezbollah to implement the deal. “We approved the deal with our heads held high,” he added.
He stressed that the main point of the agreement was the withdrawal of the Israeli military from all parts of southern Lebanon below the Litani River.
“For those that bet that Hezbollah would be weakened, their bet has failed,” he said.
ISRAEL /WEST BANK/IRAN/THURSDAY
Israel says it nabbed large trove of Iranian arms destined for West Bank attack
Shipment on way to terror operatives in Jenin included claymores, RPGs and rockets; Defense Ministry announces plans to build fence along Jordanian border
By Emanuel Fabian Follow27 November 2024, 4:09 pm
The Shin Bet recently foiled an attempt by Iran to smuggle large amounts of advanced weapons, including rockets, to terror operatives in the West Bank for use in attacks on Israeli targets, the security agency revealed Wednesday.
In a joint operation, the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces captured a shipment of advanced weapons destined for terror operatives in the Jenin area, the organization said in a statement.
Later, a site where a large number of weapons from Iran had been buried was uncovered, the statement added.
The Shin Bet did not provide further details on where the weapons were hidden or where the shipment was captured.
Among the weapons captured were 40 “quality” claymore-type explosive devices and 33 makeshift claymores, along with remote detonation systems; six RPG launchers and 24 RPGs; three 107mm rockets; two 60mm mortar launchers and 20 mortars; six M16 assault rifles and one M4 rifle; seven sniper rifles; and 37 handguns.
According to the Shin Bet, two units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ special forces — Unit 4000 and Unit 18840 — were responsible for the plot.
Unit 4000 is the special operations division of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, headed by Jawad Ghafari; Unit 18840 is the special operations unit of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria, which is subordinate to the head of Iran’s clandestine Unit 840, Asghar Bakri.
A captured shipment of Iranian weapons destined for terror operatives in the West Bank, in a video released by the Shin Bet on November 27, 2024. (Shin Bet)
The Shin Bet said it had identified renewed attempts to smuggle advanced weapons into the West Bank in recent months.
“The seized weapons are part of an ongoing Iranian campaign to destabilize security in the region, by arming terror cells in Judea and Samaria whose goal is to carry out attacks against Israeli citizens and IDF troops,” a statement from the agency read.
The Shin Bet carried out similar operations intercepting Iranian weapons on their way to the West Bank in March as well as in August of last year.
Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan. Unlike Israel’s other frontiers — with Egypt, Lebanon and Syria — the border with Jordan is largely open, often without significant fencing, and guarding is limited, making it an easy channel for large-scale smuggling.
Illustrative: An Israeli military jeep patrols along the Jordanian border, May 6, 2015. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said it had begun preliminary work to establish a fence along the entire border with Jordan to prevent infiltrations into the country.
The move to upgrade defenses along the 309-kilometer (192-mile) border running from Eilat through the West Bank to the tip of the Golan Heights, ordered by new Defense Minister Israel Katz, is the latest attempt by the government to take up the plan, which has long been bandied about but never advanced.
The work will include mapping out potential environmental hazards, conducting soil surveys, and laying an initial section of the fence with surveillance equipment and networking infrastructure.
end
I
ISRAEL./HEZBOLLAH/THURSDAY
Netanyahu says he ordered IDF to prepare for ‘intensive war’ if Hezbollah breaks ceasefire
By Lazar Berman FollowToday, 8:19 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an interview on Channel 14 news, November 28, 2024. (Screenshot/Channel 14; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
In his first interview since the ceasefire in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that if Hezbollah doesn’t adhere to the rules, there will be “intensive war.”
“I gave the IDF instructions,” says Netanyahu, speaking to the right-wing Channel 14, “if there is a massive violation of the agreement, not only will we operate surgically like we are doing now, and with force, every time. I said, if there is a massive violation of the agreement, I instructed the IDF to prepare for an intensive war.”
Netanyahu was gathering advisors tonight for a meeting on the continuation of the war on its various fronts, Channel 13 reports.
To Channel 14’s Yaakov Bardugo, Netanyahu says the ceasefire in Lebanon “can be short,” and that Israel “enforced it on its first day.”
Asked why Israel is not creating a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, Netanyahu notes that the “threat of a ground invasion has been removed.”
He says that the IDF destroyed the aboveground infrastructure on the border, and the underground bunkers and tunnels.
Residents of the north “will return in stages, when they feel that what I’m saying is correct.”
On Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu will not promise that Iran won’t attain a nuclear weapon, instead saying “I will do everything so that Iran won’t be nuclear.”
END
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON
Lebanon Accuses Israel Of Already Violating Ceasefire Several Times
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 02:40 PM
Who could have seen this coming?
As The Cradle reports, the Israeli military carried out several artillery and bombing attacks on the south of Lebanon on Thursday, marking yet another round of ceasefire violations on the second day after the cessation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
“Israeli enemy artillery is shelling the heights of the town of Halta, Hasbaya district, targeting citizens in the outskirts of the town,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday afternoon.
Taybeh, Khiam, and the Marjayoun plains were also struck by Israeli artillery, according to NNA. Three shells were fired at the town of Rmeish, damaging a house and a supermarket. Israeli troops also opened fire on Lebanese citizens trying to return to their homes in Bint Jbeil.
Israeli tanks shelled the towns of Kfar Shuba and Wazzani as well. At least two Lebanese citizens were injured in an airstrike on the town of Markaba.
The Lebanese army warned displaced residents of southern border villages on Wednesday not to enter areas where Israeli troops are still deployed.
Israeli forces have been violating the ceasefire since it took effect early on November 27. The Israeli army opened fire on a group of Lebanese journalists in the southern town of Khiam on 27 November.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli troops also opened fire on Khiam, Kfar Kila, and other towns as displaced residents made their way back. Israeli Army Radio and Channel 12 reports claimed several people were killed. Lebanese media did not acknowledge any deaths.
Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday night “that its fighters from various military specialties will remain fully prepared to deal with the Israeli enemy’s ambitions and attacks, and that their eyes will continue to follow the movements and withdrawals of the enemy’s forces beyond the borders, and their hands will remain on the trigger, in defense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and for the sake of the dignity and honor of its people.”
Lebanese forces announced their deployment across the south on 27 November as part of the ceasefire deal, which is based on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701. As part of the agreement, Lebanese troops are required to dismantle all Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Litani River, and Israel is required to withdraw its army from Lebanon – all within a period of 60 days.
The entry of weapons into Lebanon and attempts by the resistance to restock weaponry are prohibited in the agreement.
A pre-existing tripartite mechanism, including France and the UNIFIL, has been headed by the US to monitor any violations reported by both Israel and Lebanon.
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH OPINION
The returning threat: How the IDF disabled Hezbollah’s ability to rearm – analysis
It’s possible the war will start up again, but regardless of what happens, taking out this key Hezbollah capability was a critical play.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANNOVEMBER 28, 2024 16:05Updated: NOVEMBER 28, 2024 16:38
One of the last acts of the third Lebanon war, which appears to have ended with a ceasefire on November 27, was an IAF strike on a Hezbollah precision-guided missile production site.
This was an important strike, and it was a good way to close the curtain on this two-month war, which began on September 23 with Operation Northern Arrows.
It’s possible the war will start up again, but regardless of what happens, taking out this key Hezbollah capability was important.
Hezbollah has been seeking to acquire more advanced Iranian precision-guided missiles over the last decade. Eventually, over the last five years or so, it sought to move production to Lebanon.
This meant it would have to rely on smuggling via a route that stretches through Syria. Precision-guided munitions, or PGMs, are important because unlike unguided rockets, they can target important sites with precision.
Remains of an Iranian Emad ballistic missile, November 25, 2024. (credit: YONAH JEREMY BOB)
Limiting Hezbollah’s ability to return
Hezbollah has also developed a large number of kamikaze drones that also strike with precision. The IDF has eliminated many senior Hezbollah officers linked to the drone program.
“We degraded Hezbollah’s launch capabilities, struck its strategic assets, eliminated its leadership, and damaged its command and control chain,” IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said Wednesday. “We have also targeted its ability to rearm and resupply, and we have severely disrupted its ability to carry out its planned infiltration into our territory – a plan it had meticulously prepared to carry out.”
The strike on the PGM site was one of the last acts of this conflict.
“Before the ceasefire came into effect on Tuesday, IAF fighter jets, under the direction of the Intelligence Directorate, struck Hezbollah’s largest precision-guided missile production site in Bekaa’s Janta area,” the IDF said. “The 1.4-kilometer-long underground infrastructure was used to produce surface-to-surface missiles, and components of different weapons, and store a range of precision weapons designated to be used in attacks on Israel.”
The site was “located in an underground compound near the Syrian border,” it said. “Due to its proximity, the site was a central point through which thousands of weapons components and even terrorist operatives were smuggled from Syria and Lebanon.”
Hezbollah’s production capacity for munitions has increased over the last decade with Iranian support, Israel has said.
Iran prefers to move munitions production to Lebanon because Israel has conducted a campaign between the wars to strike Iranian smuggling via Syria.
“In recent years, Hezbollah began building and operating this site with Iranian assistance and cooperation,” the IDF said. “Iranian operatives worked at the site alongside Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists.”
Hezbollah has now lost this site. Nevertheless, it will likely try to increase its PGM production again.
Israel doesn’t want Hezbollah to rearm. The terrorist group will seek to rearm quietly and secretly in the coming months and years.
This means Hezbollah will again be a threat to Israel. The strike on the PGM facility is a setback for it, however, and it provides a window into how it operates.
END
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH OPINION
Fighters strewn over the battlefield: Israel’s offensive shook Hezbollah to its core
Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand.
By REUTERSNOVEMBER 28, 2024 07:37
With the bodies of its fighters still strewn on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide succor to its supporters who bore the brunt of Israel’s offensive, as the first steps on a long and costly road to recovery, four senior officials said.
Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand, with the vast majority killed since Israel went on the offensive in September, three sources familiar with its operations say, citing previously unreported internal estimates.
One source said the Iran-backed group may have lost up to 4,000 people – well over 10 times the number killed in its month-long 2006 war with Israel. So far, Lebanese authorities have said some 3,800 people were killed in the current hostilities, without distinguishing fighters from civilians.
Hezbollah emerges shaken from top to bottom, its leadership still reeling from the killing of its former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and its supporters made homeless en masse by the carpet bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the destruction of entire villages in the south.
With a ceasefire taking hold on Wednesday, Hezbollah’s agenda includes working to re-establish its organizational structure fully, probing security breaches that helped Israel land so many painful blows, and a full review of the last year including its mistakes in underestimating Israel’s technological capabilities, three other sources familiar with the group’s thinking said.
For this story Reuters spoke to a dozen people who together provided details of some of the challenges facing Hezbollah as it seeks to pick itself up after the war. Most asked not to be named to speak about sensitive matters.
Hassan Fadallah, a senior Hezbollah politician, told Reuters the priority will be “the people.”
“To shelter them, to remove the rubble, to bid farewell to the martyrs and, in the next phase, to rebuild,” he said.
Israel’s campaign has focused largely on Hezbollah’s Shi’ite Muslim heartlands, where its supporters were badly hit. They include people still nursing casualties from Israel’s attack on its mobile communications devices in September.
“I have a brother who was martyred, a brother-in-law who was wounded in the pager attacks, and my neighbors and relatives are all either martyrs, wounded or missing,” said Hawraa, a woman from south Lebanon with family members who fight for Hezbollah.
“We want to collect our martyrs and bury them … we want to rebuild our homes,” said Hawraa, who stayed in her village until she was forced to flee by the Israeli assault in September. She declined to use her full name, citing safety fears.
The Israeli offensive displaced more than 1 million people, the bulk of them from areas where Hezbollah has sway.
A senior Lebanese official familiar with Hezbollah thinking said the group’s focus would be squarely on securing their return and rebuilding their homes: “Hezbollah is like a wounded man. Does a wounded man get up and fight? A wounded man needs to tend to his wounds.”
The official expected Hezbollah to carry out a wide-ranging policy review after the war, dealing with all major issues: Israel, its weapons, and the internal politics of Lebanon, where its weapons have long been a point of conflict.
Iran, which established Hezbollah in 1982, has promised to help with reconstruction. The costs are immense: The World Bank estimates $2.8 billion in damage to housing alone in Lebanon, with 99,000 homes partially or fully destroyed.
The senior Lebanese official said Tehran has a variety of ways to get funds to Hezbollah, without giving details.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally, is urging wealthy Lebanese Shi’ites in the diaspora to send funds to help the displaced, two Lebanese officials said.
The officials also expected significant donations to come from Shi’ite religious foundations across the region.
Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a detailed request for comment for this story. Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘The resistance’ will continue’
Hezbollah has indicated it intends to keep its arms, dashing hopes of Lebanese adversaries who predicted the pressures generated by the war would finally lead it to hand them to the state. Hezbollah officials have said the resistance – widely understood to mean its armed status – will continue.
Hezbollah opened fire in support of Palestinian ally Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023. Israel went on the offensive against the group in September, declaring the aim of securing the return home of 60,000 people evacuated from homes in the north.
Despite the resulting devastation, Hezbollah’s Fadlallah said the resistance put up by its fighters in south Lebanon and the group’s intensified rocket salvoes towards the end of the conflict showed Israel had failed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says its campaign has set back Hezbollah decades, eliminated its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets, neutralized thousands of fighters, and obliterated its infrastructure near the border.
A senior U.S. official said Hezbollah was “extremely weak” at this moment, both militarily and politically. A Western diplomat echoed that assessment, saying Israel had the upper hand and had almost dictated the terms of its withdrawal.
The ceasefire terms agreed by Israel and Lebanon require Hezbollah to have no military presence in an area between the Israeli border and the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean Sea some 30 km (20 miles) from the frontier.
Hezbollah, which approved the deal, has not declared how it intends to help implement those terms, including whether it actively hands its arms to Lebanese troops who are deploying into the south, or leaves the weapons for soldiers to find.
Israel complains Hezbollah, which is deeply rooted in south Lebanon, never implemented the same terms when they were agreed to end a previous war in 2006 war. Israel says the group was preparing for a large-scale assault into northern Israel, pointing to its military build-up at the frontier.
Andreas Krieg of King’s College in London said Hezbollah had retained considerable capability.
The performance of its “core infantry fighters in southern Lebanon and rocket attacks deep into Israeli territory in recent days showed the group was still very, very capable,” he said.
“But Hezbollah will be very much bogged down in the effort of rebuilding the infrastructure and also, most importantly, securing the funds to do so,” he said.
‘Repaying the debt’
Hezbollah has been handing out cash to people affected by the hostilities since they began, paying $200 a month to civilians who stayed in frontline villages, and offering more as people were forced to flee the areas, according to recipients.
Since the start of the escalation in September, Hezbollah has been paying around $300 a month to help displaced families.
The group has made no secret of the military and financial support it gets from Iran, which shipped huge sums of cash to in 2006 to aid the homeless and help rebuild.
Hezbollah supporters say more will be on the way. One, citing conversations with a local Hezbollah official, said the group would cover a year of rent for the homeless in addition to furniture costs.
Addressing the Lebanese people in an October sermon, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “the destruction will be replaced… repaying the debt to the wounded, bleeding Lebanon is our duty….”
The World Bank, in a preliminary estimate, put the cost in damage and losses to Lebanon at $8.5 billion, a bill that cannot be footed by the government, still suffering the consequences of a catastrophic financial collapse five years ago.
Gulf states Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia helped pay the $5 billion reconstruction bill in 2006, the last time Hezbollah and Israel went to war. But there has been no sign that these Sunni-led Arab states are ready to do so again.
Hezbollah conducted a lot of reconstruction work after the 2006 war, financed by Iran and using its construction wing. The project was directed by Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, a Hezbollah leader killed by Israel 11 days after Nasrallah, in a sign of the bigger challenges it will face this time round.
“For Hezbollah the priority is to guarantee the loyalty of the Shi’ite community. The destruction has been enormous and it will impact the organization,” said Mohanand Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
end
ISRAEL/WEST BANK/FRIDAY
Nine wounded in West Bank terror shooting, terrorist thwarted
Three people were in serious condition, and one in moderate condition.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 29, 2024 12:25Updated: NOVEMBER 29, 2024 15:30
https://player.jpost.com/public/player.html?player=jpost&media=3806601&url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-831321Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulances and security forces at the scene of the terror attack in the West Bank. November 29, 2024. (Credit: MAGEN DAVID ADOM).
Nine people were wounded in a shooting at a bus near Ariel in the West Bank, Magen David Adom (MDA) announced on Friday.
The bus driver was in critical condition, the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva said later on Friday.
Earlier, MDA said it transferred three people to the hospital in serious condition, one in moderate condition, and the rest in light condition.
Terrorist apprehended
The military said IDF troops thwarted the terrorists. In addition, forces were positioning roadblocks and searching the area.
Army radio reported that the IDF has begun the pursuit of a second terrorist involved in the attack. However, the military later clarified that following searches it had conducted, it had ruled out the involvement of a second terrorist.
Later on Friday, Israeli media reports identified the terrorist to be 46-years-old Samer Hussain from the village of Einabus in the Nablus area of the West Bank.
MDA team member bears witness
MDA EMT Itamar Hakhamov recounted what he saw upon arrival at the scene. “We arrived at the scene with large forces and saw three injured individuals lying near the bus, fully conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds.
“We immediately provided them with initial medical treatment at the scene, which included stopping the bleeding and bandaging, and evacuated them by MDA mobile intensive care units to the hospital in stable condition. Additionally, other MDA teams treated several casualties who suffered from glass shrapnel wounds and evacuated them to the hospital in mild condition,” he added.
Regional council head Yossi Dagan said that this attack represents “a significant escalation in the Palestinian Authority’s war of terror, which funds both Fatah and Hamas terrorists.”
“The fact that the terrorist was able to reach a major road in Samaria with a vehicle and carry out a shooting attack as if he were grabbing an espresso in central Tel Aviv is inconceivable,” he continued.
END
ISRAEL/WEST BANK/FRIDAY
same story as above
Military believes accomplices provided M-16 used in attack
Hamas terrorist opens fire on civilian bus in West Bank; 8 wounded, 3 seriously
IDF rules out possibility of second gunman after scanning area; Palestinian assailant shot dead by troops; Al-Qassam Brigades names shooter as Samir Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, 46
By Emanuel Fabian FollowToday, 3:37 p
Israeli security forces surround a bullet-riddled bus after a Hamas shooting attack at an intersection near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, near Nablus, November 29, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
At least eight people were wounded, three of them seriously, after a Hamas terrorist opened fire at a civilian bus near the West Bank settlement of Ariel on Friday. The assailant was shot dead by security forces.
According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, four people were hit by gunfire, including three in serious condition and one in moderate condition. Another four people were lightly wounded by broken glass, MDA said.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the shooting, naming the gunman as Samir Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, 46, from the village of Einabus near Nablus. Hussein was a member of the Brigades, Hamas said.
The IDF believes the terrorist did not act alone, and that other accomplices may have provided the M-16 assault rifle and vehicle with which he carried out the attack.
However, a military source said the army had ruled out the possibility of a second terrorist after scanning the area around the Gitai Avisar Junction, where the attack took place.
According to an initial IDF probe, Hussein had set out from the Nablus area, driving from the Tapuah Junction to Gitai Avisar — a route with no internal checkpoints. Hussein stopped his car on the side of the road, about 150 meters away from a bus stop, and opened fire at the bus while approaching it on foot, the army said.
The scene of a shooting attack near the Ariel settlement in the West Bank, November 29, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
IDF troops stationed in the area returned fire, killing him shortly after the attack began, according to the probe.
The West Bank, which is controlled by Israeli security forces, has seen a sharp rise in violence since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
The onslaught was followed by sharp restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank and wide-scale counterterrorism operations there. On Wednesday, the Shin Bet said it thwarted an arms shipment to the West Bank by Iran, Hamas’s benefactor.
Since the Hamas onslaught, Israeli troops have arrested some 5,250 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,050 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 716 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 41 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
SYRIA/HTS/IRAN/USA/TURKEY
Assad may need Israel’s help in trying to stop HTS advance in the Northwest. In return for help, Assad may kick out Hezbollah and Iran’s assets in Syria.
this is a good analysis
(Korybko/Substack)
The Terrorist Offensive In Aleppo Is Meant To Deliver A Coup De Grace To Syria
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 10:00 PM
Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,
The terrorist-designated Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), which is the rebranded form of the Al Qaeda-backed Al-Nusra, launched a surprise offensive in Aleppo this week. It’s already made a lot of progress due to the terrorists’ use of drones and other modern warfare tactics. These were reportedly taught to them by Ukraine according to reports in the run-up to the latest hostilities. Other reports included Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warning about a false-flag chemical weapons attack.
Syrian, Iranian, and Russian forces (including its aerospace ones) are currently trying to push back HTS’ advance. This intense fighting comes immediately after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal, which that Iranian-backed Resistance group agreed to in spite of the late Nasrallah’s pledge not to do so without a ceasefire in Gaza first. It can therefore be interpreted as an Israeli victory despite Iran hailing this agreement and its ideologically aligned influencers spinning it as a Resistance victory.
With the Resistance objectively on the backfoot in the region, it makes sense why their HTS foes decided to go on the offensive at this specific moment, something that they’d clearly planned to do for a while. If the hostilities continue, then another large-scale humanitarian crisis might follow, which could see more internally displaced people in this war-torn country and some of them even fleeing to Europe. Terrorist sleeper cells elsewhere in the country might also awaken and reverse the progress of the past few years.
None of this would be possible without Turkiye’s support since all of HTS’ food, clothes, and arms come from that neighboring country in spite of Ankara formally designating it as a terrorist group. Erdogan’s prioritization of what he believes to be his country’s national interests, whether rightly or wrongly and regardless of morality, explains why he’s exploiting recent events to this end. He sees an opportunity to deliver a coup de grace to Syria for ending its long-running conflict on better terms for Turkiye.
Assad is unlikely to be toppled, but Erdogan wants him to grant broad Bosnian-like autonomy to the Islamist-controlled northwest of the country in which Turkiye continues to exert influence, but the Syrian leader refuses to do so since he remains adamant that his Arab Republic must remain a unitary one. Likewise, he also won’t grant such autonomy to the Kurds in the US-occupied northeast, which is also the country’s most agriculturally and energy-rich region. Readers can learn more about this proposal here.
On that topic, RFK Jr. revealed shortly after the US elections that Trump is considering withdrawing these American troops, which could lead to another Turkish offensive just like the several prior ones that were all carried out under the pretext of stopping Kurdish separatism. Unless pro-Turkish Kurds replace the political influence of Ankara-designated Kurdish terrorists there like they earlier did in Iraq, then Ankara will consider any autonomous project to be a stepping stone to more separatism inside of Turkiye itself.
With this in mind, one of Turkiye’s strategic objectives in HTS’ offensive is to coerce Damascus into granting autonomy to the Islamists under its influence in the northwest while agreeing to do the same in the northeast but only after replacing the current ruling Kurdish clique with pro-Turkish ones. Turkiye could carry out joint operations with Syria in the northeast to defeat the separatists if American troops are withdrawn and Damascus first agrees to grant autonomy to the aforesaid Islamists.
The other strategic objective that Turkiye is pursuing right now is to get on Trump’s good side by doing the US the strategic favor of delivering a coup de grace to Syria that finally ends this long-running conflict and thus frees him up to fully refocus on his planned “Pivot (back) to Asia”. In exchange, Trump might agree not to expand the sanctions regime that he’s inheriting to include Turkiye’s trade with Russia, which involves energy, agriculture, and also the transshipment of Western-sanctioned tech.
Building upon this imperative, Turkiye also knows that the unexpected exacerbation of the hitherto largely frozen Syrian Conflict at precisely the moment when the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine is also intensifying following the latest ATACMS-Oreshnik escalations works against Russia’s interests. Accordingly, by opening up a “second front”, Turkiye might hope to pressure Russia into either coercing Syria into the previously described concessions and/or also enacting its own concessions in Ukraine.
Either outcome, and especially both, would by default work in advance of the US’ interests and thus possibly ingratiate Erdogan much more with Trump. The Turkish leader might be concerned that the returning American one could take a harder line towards Turkiye if he doesn’t give him some impressive geopolitical gifts before the inauguration due to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s documented dislike of his country. He therefore has an urgent impetus to deliver on this.
Lost amidst the discussion about Syrian, Russian, and Turkish interests in this newly thawed conflict is Israel’s interests. The Alt-Media Community largely believes that Israel wants to overthrow Assad due to its prior backing of terrorist-designated Islamist militants, but its interests nowadays are arguably to have Assad expel Iran and Hezbollah. Its hundreds of bombings against those two there over the years, none of which Russia interfered with despite occasionally condemning them, hasn’t yet led to that.
It’s admittedly a far-fetched scenario, but if Syria, Iran, and Russia struggle to fend off Turkish-backed HTS’ latest advance, then it can’t be ruled out that Israel might lend a helping hand to Damascus on the condition that Iran and Hezbollah are immediately expelled. The Russian Aerospace Forces are naturally prioritizing the Ukrainian front over the Syrian one so their limited capabilities in the latter theater might lead to a situation where Damascus becomes desperate enough to seriously consider this possibility.
Even though Erdogan never took any meaningful action in support of Hamas or Hezbollah, limiting himself purely to the realm of demagogic rhetoric, Israel still didn’t appreciate this and thus has an axe to grind with him if the right opportunities and incentives present themselves. Turkish-backed HTS’ offensive represents such an opportunity while the incentive to bomb them could emerge if it advances in Aleppo, Syria and its allies struggle to stop them, and Damascus agrees to the abovementioned deal.
To be absolutely clear, there are no signs that Assad is seriously considering kicking his Iranian and Hezbollah allies out of the country as a quid pro quo for the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) support against HTS, which would amount to a total betrayal of the Resistance that Syria itself helped found. Nevertheless, his calculations could change if Iran’s ground forces and Russia’s Aerospace ones aren’t able to save Aleppo, in which case he might consider this option out of desperation to stop the terrorists’ advance.
Unlike Russia, which is focused on the special operation, Israel just agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon and is pretty much done with its Gaza campaign so the IAF could focus on destroying HTS if Assad agrees. Turkiye won’t go to war with Israel in response no matter what Erdogan might then threaten so it’s possible that Turkiye ends up being the one that’s dealt a coup de grace instead of Syria if Israel helps Syria destroy Turkiye’s proxies there and thus foils Erdogan’s grand plans that were explained.
The odds of Syria agreeing to this would increase if Israel leveraged its influence inside the US and especially within Trump 2.0 to ensure sanctions relief in exchange for kicking Iran and Hezbollah out of the country, which could be paired with Emirati-led Arab reconstruction assistance. Once again, the likelihood of this admittedly far-fetched scenario materializing is very low, but it would represent a regional game-changer that would also greatly advance America’s strategic interests too.
Russia’s military presence in Syria might also be unaffected since neither Israel nor the US minds it. In fact, Putin might even appreciate Netanyahu teaching Erdogan a lesson since the Turkish leader’s proxy offensive in Syria risks reversing Russia’s anti-terrorist progress there and thus harming its reputation. Moreover, Trump might also appreciate Netanyahu doing the same to Erdogan, which Tulsi would applaud as well if she’s confirmed as DNI. Erdogan might thus ultimately regret approving this offensive.
It’s premature to predict that such a scenario sequence will unfold since it’s still very unlikely that Assad would fulfill the prerequisite of betraying the Resistance like Israel would demand, especially since it’s still possible that Syria and its allies will beat back HTS’ Turkish-backed offensive on Aleppo. Even if there’s another full-fledged Battle of Aleppo, so long as that city doesn’t fall to the terrorists, Assad will probably still rule out such a “deal with the devil” as he sees it.
In the event that he loses Aleppo and his allies can’t help him liberate it again, such as if Russia’s Aerospace Forces are still focused on the special operation while Iran’s might have been irreparably weakened by the latest West Asian Wars, then he might finally consider it. Everything will therefore depend on whether HTS is stopped outside of Aleppo; the outcome of any possible battle for that city; and how desperate Assad becomes if he loses control over it and the terrorists advance on Damascus.
end
Same story as above….
(JerusalemPost)
Syrian terrorist forces continue largest offensive in years
Rebel forces from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham claimed that they took a large military base, as well as nearby villages.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 29, 2024 03:38Updated: NOVEMBER 29, 2024 06:32
Terrorists belonging to the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a surprise attack in Syria that killed 200 people, Israeli media reported early Friday morning.
HTS forces blocked the main road from Damascus to Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report found that the attack killed 102 HTS fighters, 19 members of allied groups, 61 from the Syrian regime forces and their supporters, and 20 civilians.
The civilians were reportedly killed during joint operations between the Russian and Syrian militaries.
HTS-backed attacks seen this week are reportedly the first major effort by the Jihadist forces to take territory since Turkey and Russia settled on an agreement in 2019 to halt fighting in the Idlib region.
HTS evolved from al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria, the Nusrah Front.
Largest territorial gains since 2019
Earlier this week, HTS and its allies announced on their Telegram channel that they took over base 46, the largest Syrian government base near Aleppo. The group claimed to have taken members of pro-government forces hostage, seized tanks from the bases, and taken over nearby villages, according to reporting from the New York Times.
The Jihadist forces also seized weapons and vehicles from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Times reported.
Reuters reported that Turkish security sources said that the gains made by HTS remained within the boundaries of the Idlib de-escalation zone agreed in 2019 by Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
END
SAME STORY AS ABOVE
ZEROHEDGE
Syrian Jihadists Mount New Assault On Aleppo After Surprise Advance
by Tyler Durden
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 04:00 PM
Authored by Jaston Ditz via AntiWar.com,
The Syrian proxy war never really ended, but it certainly had quieted down for a time, with various factions confined to various areas, and the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seeming stuck in Idlib Province. Today the war is flaring up again in a big way.
HTS forces have pushed eastward out of Idlib into the western part of Aleppo Province and toward Aleppo itself, seizing several towns along the way. It is being reported that around 182 people have been killed Thursday alone in the fighting on the ground in the area. That includes 102 HTS fighters and 80 fighters including both Syrian troops and their allies.
The battles are still ongoing, and the toll continues to increase all the time. The Syrian military seems to be seeing substantial backing from Russian air assets in the area. The HTS is also reported using Ukrainian drones against the Syrian forces. It has been reported for months that Ukraine has offered “drones for fighters” to HTS, but this would mark the first time such drones are being used in a big way in combat.
On top of those killed in the ongoing fighting, the Syrian and Russian air forces have caused substantial civilian casualties. 19 civilians were killed in attacks in and around al-Atareb and Darat Izza, and at least 26 others were wounded. Both of those cities are about 25 km from Aleppo itself, the largest city in Syria, underscoring how quickly the HTS has advanced.
A number of other towns and villages reported airstrikes in the area. Al-Nayrab is by far the closest town to Aleppo to have reported strikes, saying they were hit twice. They are only about 10 km from Aleppo, making them virtually a suburb of the major city.
HTS formed in early 2017 as a merger of several Islamist militant groups, centering initially around fighting Jabhat al-Nusra but ultimately merging with them as well. Jabhat al-Nusra was effectively the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda, though they broke with them publicly in 2016. Despite that, HTS maintains much of the underlying rhetoric of al-Qaeda.
Publicly, HTS and their leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani has tried to disavow al-Qaeda and ISIS and has courted favor with the US. He has styled the civilian body in HTS-dominated Idlib the Syrian Salvation Government.
It has long been suspected that this rebranding was more about trying to turn Syrian Sunni Islamist factions into a more palatable partner for Western involvement in the region than any major ideological differences with the international jihadists.
The West has a history of backing some of the more local Sunni Islamist groups in the Syrian War. Indeed, the HTS ties with Ukraine’s government underscores that many see them as a practical partner in their respective regional wars.
This could be a growing concern for the Syrian government, as what was once a contained problem in the Idlib Province looks to explode outward starting many of the same fights all over again.
IRAN
Iran nuclear proliferation ‘critical threat’ in coming months, French spy chief says
France’s intelligence head made rare comments on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 29, 2024 16:01Updated: NOVEMBER 29, 2024 16:53
The risk of Iranian nuclear proliferation is a serious threat in coming months and Britain and France are working out strategies to prepare for such an event, the head of France’s foreign intelligence service said on Friday.
“Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats, if not to say the most critical threat, in the coming months – the possible atomic proliferation in Iran,” Nicolas Lerner said at the British embassy in Geneva.
His rare public comments come as Iran and European powers meet in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, the situation in the Middle East, and Tehran’s ties with Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
“The intelligence of intelligence will be crucial to enable our authorities to make the right decisions and define the right strategies,” he said.
Could a transition of power on a global scale push Iranian action?
Concerns have been raised within Israel’s defense establishment that Iran might try to exploit the period before former US President Donald Trump’s return to office to act against Israel.
Intelligence services have begun intensifying intelligence sharing and situational assessments with the US military to prevent overlooking critical developments.
Officials emphasize that Israel’s political leadership must understand Trump’s proposed Iran policy to shape its own military and diplomatic strategy. Many within the defense community believe that the diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have run their course.”
Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.
RUSSIA/UKRAINE/USA
Putin Threatens Ukrainian Capital With New Hypersonic Missile
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 10:25 AM
Another day, another record-setting Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine at a moment the West is escalating its support to Kiev.
President Vladimir Putin announced to security officials at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Kazakhstan that 100 drones and 90 missiles were launched at Ukraine over the last 48 hours “in response to strikes deep” inside Russia.
These have included attacks with US and UK-supplied long-range missiles, which Russia has acknowledged killed and wounded some personnel, and damaged a radar site in Kursk.
“We carried out a comprehensive strike,” Putin said Thursday. “It was a response to ongoing attacks on our territory using [U.S.-supplied] ATACMS missiles.”
He further warned that the Russian military is actively monitoring the locations of Ukraine’s long-range weapons to determine “where they are” and issued a fresh warning over the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile.
He warned that more Oreshnik deployments would be necessary if Ukraine continues its attacks on Russian territory. Importantly he said that this advanced weapon, for which there is no defense, will target “decision-making centers” in Kiev.
The Russian leader boasted that the Oreshnik missile can turn targets “into dust” and that that multiple launches of the hypersonic weapon could be “comparable to a nuclear strike.” He described it can reach speeds of “around three kilometers per second” and unleashed temperatures and energy “like the surface of the Sun” upon impact.
As for these latest attacks on Ukraine, the country’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko acknowledged that the power infrastructure came “under massive enemy attack”. This means emergency blackouts and conservation efforts have been imposed amid freezing temperatures.
President Zelensky denounced “despicable escalation” and said, “In several regions, strikes with cluster munitions were recorded, and they targeted civilian infrastructure,” according to his words on Telegram. “This is a very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics.”
“This is especially important in winter when we have to protect our infrastructure from targeted Russian attacks,” Zelensky warned the population.
end
RUSSIA/UKRAINE/BELARUS/
(KORYBKO/SUBSTACK)
The West’s Next Anti-Russian Provocation Might Be To Destabilize & Invade Belarus
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 02:00 AM
Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,
Belarusian media reported last week about the West’s alleged plot to destabilize and then invade their country. Existing information warfare campaigns are meant to facilitate the recruitment of more sleeper cell agents, who’ll later stage a terrorist insurgency using Ukrainian-procured arms. Mercenaries will then invade from the south, carry out drone strikes against strategic targets, and attempt to seize the capital. If they succeed, then the coup authorities will request a conventional NATO military intervention.
Here are over a dozen background briefings about this scenario over the past year and a half:
* 25 May 2023: “NATO Might Consider Belarus To Be ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ During Kiev’s Upcoming Counteroffensive”
* 1 June 2023: “The Union State Expects That The NATO-Russian Proxy War Will Expand”
* 14 June 2023: “Lukashenko Strongly Hinted That He Expects Belgorod-Like Proxy Incursions Against Belarus”
* 14 December 2023: “Belarus Is Bracing For Belgorod-Like Terrorist Incursions From Poland”
* 19 February 2024: “The Western-Backed Foreign-Based Belarusian Opposition Is Plotting Territorial Revisions”
* 21 February 2024: “Is The West Plotting A False Flag Provocation In Poland To Blame On Russia & Belarus?”
* 26 April 2024: “Analyzing Belarus’ Claim Of Recently Thwarting Drone Attacks From Lithuania”
* 30 June 2024: “Keep An Eye On Ukraine’s Military Buildup Along The Belarusian Border”
* 12 August 2024: “What’s Behind Belarus’ Military Buildup Along The Ukrainian Border?”
* 13 August 2024: “Security Threats To Belarus”
* 19 August 2024: “Ukraine Reportedly Has A Whopping 120,000 Troops Deployed Along Its Border With Belarus”
* 26 August 2024: “Ukraine Might Be Gearing Up To Attack Or Cut Off Belarus’ Southeastern City Of Gomel”
* 28 September 2024: “Belarus’ Warning About Using Nukes Probably Isn’t A Bluff (But There Might Be A Catch)”
This summer’s Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk Region might also have emboldened the plotters.
No nuclear retaliation from Russia followed despite the threat that this NATO-backed attack posed to its territorial integrity. Likewise, they might calculate that neither Russia nor Belarus (which hosts the former’s tactical nukes) would resort to these means if they replicated that scenario in the latter, especially if the invasion also came from Ukraine instead of NATO countries like Poland. This could give the West more leverage in upcoming peace talks with Russia if it succeeds.
That might sound reasonable on paper, but in practice, it ignores the fact that Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine just entered into force and that Putin responded to Ukraine’s use of Western long-range missiles by employing the state-of-the-art hypersonic medium-range Oreshnik missile in combat. The first allows the use of nuclear weapons in response to the sort of threats that this scenario poses while the second was meant as a signal to the West that Putin is finally climbing the escalation ladder.
Taken together, the latest developments indicate that Russia’s response to an unconventional mercenary invasion of Belarus and/or a conventional Ukrainian one might be different than its response to Kursk, and this could serve as the tripwire for the Cuban-like brinksmanship crisis that’s been brewing. Russia cannot afford to have its adversaries capture and hold Belarusian territory because of the national security threat that this presents and also because it would greatly undermine its negotiating position.
It might very well be that the West is aware of this and thus hopes to provoke precisely such a response from Russia with the expectation that “escalating to de-escalate” can end the conflict on better terms for their side. That would be a huge gamble since the stakes are much higher for Russia than for the West, thus reducing the chances that the former would agree to the concessions that the latter might demand, such as freezing the conflict along the existing Line of Contact without anything else in exchange.
There’s also the possibility that the West’s attempt to destabilize and invade Belarus, whether through mercenaries and/or conventional Ukrainian troops (a conventional NATO military intervention isn’t likely at this stage), is thwarted and nothing else comes of this plot. Much less likely but still impossible to rule out is that Russia asks Belarus to let one of the aforementioned invasions make enough progress to justify using tactical nukes against Ukraine to “escalate to de-escalate” on better terms for Russia.
That would also be a huge gamble though since crossing the nuclear threshold might tremendously raise the stakes for the West as its leaders sincerely see it even if the primary intent is only to punish Ukraine. Nevertheless, seeing as how Putin is now finally climbing the escalation ladder and throwing some of his previous caution to the wind after feeling like his prior patience was mistaken by the West as weakness, he might be influenced by hawkish advisors into seeing that as an opportunity to flex Russia’s muscles.
In any case, regardless of whatever might happen, the fact is that it’s the West’s prerogative whether or not Belarus is destabilized and possibly also invaded. Ukraine could also “go rogue” out of desperation if it feels that the West might “sell it out” under Trump and thus wants to make a last-ditch attempt to improve its negotiating position or “escalate to de-escalate” on better terms for itself, but this could greatly backfire if it fails. They both therefore bear full responsibility for what could follow.
END
ROBERT H:
Lavrov on ATACMS strikes against Russia: if you test your patience for too long, it will run out – Kommersant
“When no one listens patience wears thin.
Within a week or two we will see the signs the end of patience with escalation. Putin is running out time with Russian hardliners and is being aggressively pushed to turn up the heat to end this by what means needed. Battlefield tests of new missile variants and new robotic weapon systems should be expected in Ukraine. Remote killer ground based robotic drones ( vehicles) are already being tested in the Donbas and Kursk. Just like fiber optic air drones that cannot be interfered with by jamming. Today’s lessons on the battlefield are being turned into test devices that upon successful results go into serial production and continual performance enhancements. Russia produces in 3 months what a combined Europe and America cannot do in a year.
Now with North Korean and Chinese factories in serial production of missiles and shells stockpiles will be built quickly. While the west sleeps wondering how to cope with increased energy costs. The cost of which is being pushed on to the shoulders of Europeans in wage reductions of 10%+ which will led to further reductions of consumption and lowered investment in Europe.
By summer it will be clear that war is escalating to a full blown conflict likely spring in 2026.
Since the Hazelnut is in serial production with variants yet to be tested in combat, one might imagine that all military bases in Europe and elsewhere will be ranked and targeted based on priority of threat. Bases in Poland and Romania are sure to be early targets as are missile batteries in Germany. One should conclude that when actual open war breaks out being near any military base or factory will not be wise.”
Russia launches tens of missiles and hundreds of drones at Ukraine
This is today
https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/161283-russia-ukraine-missile-strike/
The next targets in Ukraine for Hazelnut are being selected. It will be interesting to see if a cluster strike is done or perhaps several different strikes with variants of what was used last week. The Russians will look to measure performance of what they do to improve design in serial production. This serial production missiles will be more effective than the inventory of current missiles.
END
Russia says it will respond if U.S. places missiles in Japan – The Japan Time
The sad part is that nothing is done in isolation.
Russia reacts to what neocons do. As does China with its build up.
It is like the Chinese ship caught destroying under the sea cables in Europe. While initially blamed on Russia, the narrative changed to China who practices its’ art. In a wartime scenario we can expect that many under the sea cables will be severed wiping out communications. This will also affect banking.
6.COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES//DRUG AND HEALTH ISSUE
GLOBAL ISSUES
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
Can Robert Kennedy Jr. lead HHS & destroy the grift, graft, corruption out of CDC, NIH, NIAID & FDA? I think so! Can the choices/picks be the medicine that America needs now? This is left to be seen
but I do have confidence in RFK Jr. in stopping corrupted conflicted reach that BIG pharma has into the alphabet health agencies; we must hold ALL agency heads feet to the fire at FDA, CDC, NIH, NIAID
| Dr. Paul AlexanderNov 28 |
I strongly support Robert Kennedy Jr. moving forward.
The health and research alphabet agencies under HHS (including points below applicable to HHS) MUST focus on the following immediately on the nominated heads e.g. FDA Commissioner, CDC Director, NIH Director etc. being approved. The turnaround time for action must be at most 6 months from approval e.g. July 15th 2025.
All of the following points addressed to FDA, NIH, NIAID, and CDC (call to action) apply to HHS under Robert Kennedy Jr. in the case of actions it the HHS must also take:
NIH
1)NIH (National Institutes of Health): must initiate and implement research studies and programs that examine the Malone Bourla Bancel Weissman et al. mRNA technology vaccine injures that have accumulated
END
REMDESIVIR key study in LANCET April 2020 (Wang) swept under the rug by media & Fauci: “Remdesivir in adults with severe COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial”
see highlighted passage & numbers and you can see why this study was hidden by Fauci & NIH cabal for with the flawed NIH study, it showed that Remdesivir FAILED in cutting deaths & it increased harms
| Dr. Paul AlexanderNov 27 |
My take:
There was no clinical or scientific or statistical benefit shown from Remdesivir (failed EBOLA drug) and this was quite early on, it was known this drug was blowing up kidneys and livers…was causing harms and deaths and killed…low-risk and was deadly to more severe cases…yet it was made standard of care…
There is evidence that Fauci and NIH et al. tampered with the study protocol (see here and below) so that they could claim some benefit as the drug was showing ineffectiveness and safety failures. So, if you look at the protocol adjustment below, they made a non-patient important outcome (time to recovery), the primary outcome. These are real crooks! Fraud was committed with Remdesivir, and I accuse openly here the NIH and FDA under Francis Collins and Hahn and Woodcock and NIAID under Fauci of fraud. Academic publishing protocol and analytical fraud.
Remdesivir has emerged as liver and kidney toxic and a failed EBOLA drug, failed! It was a drug in search of a disease and found one here due to Fauci and his ‘standard of care’!
Substack Alexander COVID News evidence-based medicine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Remdesivir emerged as one of these ineffective and potentially harmful drugs yet was championed by the NIH/NIAID/US government as a prominent treatment.
The LANCET’s Wang et al. clinical trial (see below) was a seminal study, yet it was hidden. Why? Because the results showed Remdesivir should never ever get any EUA or any form of approval as was deadly. The Wang et al. study came out the very morning Fauci did his dog-and-pony NIH Remdesivir show and no mention was made where Wang et al. showed in LANCET that Remdesivir had no clinical benefit and was deadly. Fauci committed with NIH, scientific fraud sitting in the White House that day as he informed POTUS Trump et al. of benefits of this deadly drug.
The trial results (below) were released on the very same morning that the US government’s NIH trial results (Beigel et al., https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764) on remdesivir were released, and showed a failure of remdesivir and even skewed heavily towards harms.
The key Wang et al.’s findings was that in adult patients admitted to hospital for severe COVID-19, “remdesivir was not associated with statistically significant clinical benefits.” Furthermore, and very alarmingly, adverse events were reported in “102 (66%) of 155 remdesivir recipients versus 50 (64%) of 78 placebo recipients. Remdesivir was stopped early because of adverse events in 18 (12%) patients versus four (5%) patients who stopped placebo early.” In addition, the Kaplan-Meier hazard ratio was not statistically significant, reported as HR 0.73; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.03 (final report).3
Yet the NIH highly touted and flaunted study that did not report or focus on patient-important objective outcomes and only on reduced time to recovery, was deeply flawed methodologically. The reported primary outcome was time to recovery (discharge from the hospital or hospitalization for infection-control purposes). Why was the reported primary outcome in the NIH study not mortality? Did researchers at NIH (including Dr. Anthony Fauci) use a secondary outcome such as time to recovery as the primary outcome because they were looking at the data and saw no benefit for patient-important outcomes such as mortality?
This is very serious if the NIH researchers tampered with the trial’s protocol so that they could declare efficacy yet for a secondary ‘less important’ outcome. Moreover, the legacy media and the NIH/NIAID officials completely disregarded the key findings (including strong signals of harms) from the LANCET Wang et al. trial released on the very same day. Why? When the glorified NIH study’s outcome was not patient-important and there was indication of harms: “serious adverse events were reported in 131 of the 532 patients who received remdesivir (24.6%) and in 163 of the 516 patients who received placebo (31.6%).”
SOURCE:
Wang et al.
SLAY NEWS
| The latest reports from Slay News |
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| John Kerry Demands ‘Climate Emergency’ to Force ‘People to Behave’President Joe Biden’s former “climate czar” John Kerry has made a chilling demand to force the general public into complying with the globalist green agenda.READ MORE |
| Kamala Harris Advisor Admits ‘We Never Saw’ Leads over Trump in Internal PollingFailed Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s senior campaign advisor has admitted that public election polling didn’t match up with internal poll data.READ MORE |
| Hollywood Star Sharon Stone: Trump Won Because Americans Are ‘Uneducated’Hollywood actress Sharon Stone has claimed that President Donald Trump only won re-election because the American people are too “uneducated.”READ MORE |
| Bodycam Shows Drunk-Driving Illinois Democrat Lecturing Cop During DUI Arrest: ‘I’m an Elected Official!’Humiliating police bodycam footage has emerged from the moment an entitled Illinois Democrat was arrested for drunk driving earlier this month.READ MORE |
| Canadian Town Fined for ‘Violating Human Rights’ by NOT Celebrating LGBT ‘Pride Month’A town in Canada has been hit with a fine for failing to celebrate LGBT “Pride Month.”READ MORE |
| Republican States Ask U.S Supreme Court to Protect Women’s SportsThe attorneys general of 24 Republican states have called on the United States Supreme Court to protect women’s and girls’ sports from radical leftist ideology.READ MORE |
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| Jack Smith’s Anti-Trump Cases Cost Taxpayers $50 Million, Records ShowFinancial records have revealed that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s politically motivated cases against President Donald Trump cost American taxpayers a whopping $50 million.READ MORE |
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| MSNBC ‘Unaware’ of Kamala Harris’ $500k Payment to Al Sharpton Group Before Softball Pre-Election InterviewCorporate media outlet MSNBC has claimed that it was “unaware” that Kamala Harris’s campaign gave Al Sharpton’s “nonprofit” $500,000 shortly before the failed Democrat presidential candidate sat down for a softball interview with the civil rights grifter ahead of Election Day.READ MORE |
| The latest reports from Slay News |
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| Canadians Fear Government Is Targeting Poor Citizens with EuthanasiaCanadians are raising concerns that they fear their government is using the country’s liberal “assisted suicide” laws to relieve the “burden” of poor people by euthanizing them.READ MORE |
| Biden Admin Urges Ukraine to Send Teens to Fight Russia to Keep War GoingLame-duck President Joe Biden’s administration is calling on Ukraine to keep its war with Russia going by lowering the age of conscription to allow teenagers to be sent off to the meat grinder.READ MORE |
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| Republicans Raise Concerns about Balance of Power as Mike Walz Quits Congress to Join Trump TeamRepublican Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) has just resigned from Congress after being tapped to serve as incoming President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.READ MORE |
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| Legendary ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Airplane!’ Screenwriter Jim Abrahams Dead at 80Legendary Hollywood comedy screenwriter and director Jim Abrahams has died, according to his family.READ MORE |
| Elon Musk Raises Alarm over America’s Massive National DebtIncoming Trump administration official Elon Musk is raising the alarm about America’s staggering national debt.READ MORE |
| Ted Cruz Calls on Republican Governors to Send All Illegal Aliens to Denver Mayor’s HomeSen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has called on Republican governors across the country to begin rounding up illegal aliens and transport them to the home of Denver’s far-left Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston.READ MORE |
| Bill Maher: Trump’s Victory Proves America Isn’t as ‘Divided’ as Corporate Media ClaimsLiberal talk show host Bill Maher has noted that President Donald Trump’s decisive election victory proves that America isn’t as “divided” as the corporate media claims it to be.READ MORE |
| Democrat Megadonor: Kamala Harris Has ‘No Political Future,’ Is ‘Disqualified’ from Running Again ‘Forever’Democrat megadonor John Morgan has dropped the hammer on failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris.READ MORE |
EVOL NEWS
| LATEST NEWS: |
NEWS ADDICTS
| LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES |
| Trump Brings Project 2025 Back Into the FoldThe Trump transition team is reportedly drawing from a list of people vetted by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 to help staff the incoming administration. The conservative think tank has put together a database of thousands of potential candidates from which to draw. “Individuals helping to fill out the personnel teams for the Trump transition operation have sought and used …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Watch: Portland Leftist Becomes Upset and Panics When She Becomes Victim of Her Own Radical BeliefsRadical-left individuals and politicians over the past several years have turned the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon, into a crime-ridden h*llhole. But some never expected their actions to come back to haunt them. Independent journalist Kevin Dahlgren, along with street photographer Tara Faul, caught one woke individual last week in a panic after her iPhone was allegedly stolen by homeless …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| “Israel’s borders are NOT protected” – Israeli sounds ALARM over unprotected gaps in country’s bordersIn the wake of this new ceasefire with Lebanon an Israeli took to X this morning to sound the alarm over unprotected gaps in his country’s borders that he says endangers communities that live near the border. Uri Kurlianchik says he’s traveled all over Israel more than 300 times and says he’s seen gaps in the border that he could …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Billionaire and Dem Megadonor Reid Hoffman Is Looking to Move Abroad After Trump’s VictoryThe leftist billionaire and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman is reportedly looking to leave the United States after Donald Trump’s landslide victory. Hoffman, who made his billions as the founder of the professional networking website LinkedIn, is said to fear retaliation from the incoming Trump administration and is now weighing a move overseas. The New York Times reported: In the weeks …READ THE FULL REPORT |
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK/
END
7.OIL AND NATURAL GAS ISSUES/GLOBAL
Satellite Analysis Shows Enormity Of Secretive Oil Shipping Hub Funneling Iranian Crude To China
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 04:15 AM
A recent report in Bloomberg has collected and analyzed five years of satellite images monitoring the South China Sea off Malaysia to detail something which should come as no surprise: Iran and China’s sanction-busting activity regarding Iranian oil exports has been going strong.
The working assumption of the report is that it is Washington’s responsibility – and that of its global allies – to better monitor and enforce sanctions. Bloomberg is essentially calling on American Empire to better enforce its stranglehold on the Islamic Republic. But this is precisely what President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to do when he enters the Oval Office in January.
Trump’s pledged ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran is likely to have huge repercussions for Beijing as well, given as the world’s biggest buyer of oil China would face a squeeze on its flow of cheap Iranian crude to its shores. Iranian crude has been estimated to make up about 13% of its supply imports.
Trump’s national security advisor pick, Mike Walz, has pledged to stop or greatly reduce Iran’s petroleum revenue, which the US says will have positive benefits for the Ukraine and Gaza wars from a US policy perspective.
He said the incoming administration will strongly engage China toward reducing its purchases of Iranian oil. But the aforementioned Bloomberg investigation shows that business is booming.
“Forty miles east of the Malaysian peninsula sits the world’s largest gathering point for dark fleet tankers. Aging ships, often operating under flags of convenience and without insurance, come here daily to transfer cargo away from prying eyes. It’s how billions of dollars of sanctioned Iranian oil finds its way to China annually — even though the country, officially, hasn’t imported a drop in more than two years,” the report begins.
“A Bloomberg analysis of nearly five years of satellite images from the hotspot shows the vast size of the shadow industry that’s developed as the US has tightened its sanctions on Iran,” the report continues.
“It’s impossible to gauge precisely how much oil is moving via this channel. But even making conservative assumptions about tanker size, the data suggest some 350 million barrels of oil changed hands in this hotspot in the first nine months of this year,” Bloomberg speculates.
“Taking into account the average oil price for 2024 and the discount applied to sanctioned crude, that amounts to more than $20 billion. The true value is likely far higher.”
twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1862069847036723600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ct
One approach the Trump administration could take is to go after those Chinese companies involved in the ‘illicit’ trade through secondary sanctions:
For Tehran, in need of revenue and desperately short of willing buyers, the South China Sea gambit is a means of survival. For China, which isn’t bound by and doesn’t recognize US-imposed curbs on Iran, the gymnastics of this network of intermediaries and shell company-owned vessels offers a way for its small refineries to access cheap oil. It also conveniently shields key Chinese corporations from secondary sanctions. (The US can restrict or exclude entirely access to its financial system for any company or person found trading with Iran.)
The government of Malaysia appears to have been looking the other way as well:
The maritime hub is a direct threat to Western efforts to curb revenue going to Tehran, Moscow and Caracas and an illustration of why sanctions are so hard to enforce. US President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to increase pressure on Iran upon returning to office, but these extensive networks that move dark oil around the globe typically operate without the overt involvement of large entities. The situation was a source of frustration even for the current US administration, which called on Malaysia to do more to tackle gaps such as this one, with little success.
As for these failed “Western efforts” at enforcement, Washington, London, Brussels and Paris might just have to face up to the reality that they cannot control all trade which happens in the world. When they go ‘imperial’ against the Global South, these countries will push back harder, only finding better avenues and ways to navigate, to thwart and circumvent sanctions.
end
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
CANADA/
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0544 DOWN 7 BASIS PTS
USA/ YEN 150.18 DOWN 0.992 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//END OF YEN CARRY TRADE BEGINS AGAIN OCT 2024/Bank of Japan raises rates by .15% to 1.15..UEDA ENDS HIKING RATES AND NOW CARRY TRADES RE INVENTS ITSELF//
GBP/USA 1.2688 DOWN .0008
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.4017 UP 0.0009 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 9 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 30.76 PTS OR 0.93%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 56.65 OR 0.29%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN .01%
// EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY MIXED
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MOSTLY MIXED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 56.65 PTS OR 0.29%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.76 PTS OR 0.93%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN .01%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 141.03 PTS OR 0.37%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2659.60
silver:$30.77
USA dollar index early FRIDAY morning: 106.03 DOWN 2 BASIS POINTS FROM WEDNESDAY’s CLOSE.
FRIDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
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And now your closing FRIDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.570% DOWN 8 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +1.039% DOWN 1 AND 6/ 10 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.818 DOWN 9 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.304 DOWN 12 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.098 DOWN 9 BASIS PTS
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES : FRIDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.0555 DOWN .0005 OR 5 basis points
USA/Japan: 149.95 DOWN 1.213 OR YEN IS UP 121 BASIS PTS//
Great Britain 10 YR RATE 4.296 DOWN 6 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar DOWN .0013 OR 13 BASIS pts to 1.4021
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The USA/Yuan, CNY ON SHORE CLOSED UP 7.2439(ON SHORE)
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2517)
TURKISH LIRA: 34.69 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +1.039
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 6 in basis points from WEDNESDAY at 4.195% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.383 DOWN 5 in basis points /11:00 AM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.176 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;00 AM 2653.75
SILVER AT 11;00: 30.60
Your 11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: FRIDAY CLOSING TIME 11:00 AM//
London: CLOSED UP 6.08 PTS OR 0.07%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 200.72 OR 1.03%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 51.48 PTS OR 0.72%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 55.86 OR 0.78%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 154.43 OR 0.46%
WTI Oil price 69.12 12 EST/
Brent Oil: 73.13 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 105.99 ROUBLE DOWN 7 AND 25/100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.098 DOWN 8 BASIS PTS.
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.296 DOWN 6 BASIS POINTS
CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 3.165 DOWN 12 BASIS PTS.
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 3.024 DOWN 9
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA 1.0580 UP 0.0020 OR 20 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2744 UP 0.0048 OR 48 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.2855 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 1.037
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 149.58 DOWN 1.605 BASIS PTS// HEADING FOR 160 TO THE DOLLAR
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3994 DOWN 0.0014 CDN dollar UP 14 BASIS PTS
West Texas intermediate oil: 68.15
Brent OIL: 72.05
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 9 BASIS pts to 4.178
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 7 BASIS PTS to 4.366%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 6 PTS AT 4.163
CDN 10 YR RATE 3.13 DOWN 10 BASIS PTS
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.982 DOWN 11 BASIS PTS
USA dollar index: 105.79 DOWN 25 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 34.69 GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 106.50 UP 6 AND 60/100 roubles
GOLD 2,654.50 3:30 PM
SILVER: 30.62 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 188.59 PTS OR 0.42%
NASDAQ UP 185.68 PTS OR 0.90%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 13.51 DOWN .39 PTS OR 2,81%
GLD: $245.59 UP 2,10 OR 0.86%
SLV/ $27,92 47 0.35 OR 1.71%
TORONTO STOCK INDEX// TSX INDEX:UP 104.60 PTS OR 0.41%
end
USA AFFAIRS
USA TRADING TODAY IN GRAPH FORM
Stocks, Bonds, & Crypto Rally As Rate-Cut Odds Rise On Worst Macro Week In 5 Months
MORNING TRADING
II USA DATA
END
III USA ECONOMIC NEWS
TEXAS
Electric Revenge: Texas Sues BlackRock And Others For ‘Conspiring’ To Quash Coal, Sending Energy Prices Soaring
Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024 – 08:00 PM
Texas is leading a new lawsuit with 10 other red states against BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street for allegedly breaking antitrust law by colluding to suppress coal – causing electricity prices to spike.
“Competitive markets — not the dictates of far-flung asset managers — should determine the price Americans pay for electricity,” wrote Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the complaint.
The Republican-led states, including West Virginia and Montana, are asking the court to bar the three largest US investment firms from using their stock in coal companies to vote on shareholder resolutions and take other steps in a way that restrains output and limits market competition. -Bloomberg
The complaint, filed in Tyler, Texas, is one of the highest profile lawsuits targeting companies that promote environmental, social and governance goals, or ESH.
“Over several years, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in every significant publicly held coal producer in the United States, thereby gaining the power to control the policies of the coal companies. Using their combined influence over the coal market, the investment cartel collectively announced in 2021 their commitment to weaponize their shares to pressure the coal companies to accommodate “green energy” goals,” the complaint continues.
“Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street utilized the Climate Action 100 and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative to signal their mutual intent to reduce the output of thermal coal, which predictably increased the cost of electricity for Americans across the United States.”
The ‘cartel’ is accused of “deliberately and artificially constricting supply,” which “increased prices and enabled investment companies to produce extraordinary revenue gains.”
The other states involved in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, West Virginia and Wyoming.
x.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1861776711831937106
BREAKING: Texas Sues BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard for Illegally Conspiring to Manipulate Energy Markets, Driving Up Costs For Consumers Texas will not tolerate the illegal weaponization of the financial industry in service of a destructive, politicized ‘environmental’ agenda. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street formed a cartel to rig the coal market, artificially reduce the energy supply, and raise prices. Their conspiracy has harmed American energy production and hurt consumers. This is a stunning violation of State and federal law.
·
1.8M Views
“Texas will not tolerate the illegal weaponization of the financial industry in service of a destructive, politicized ‘environmental’ agenda. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street formed a cartel to rig the coal market, artificially reduce the energy supply, and raise prices,” said Paxton in a statement. “Their conspiracy has harmed American energy production and hurt consumers. This is a stunning violation of State and federal law.”
The lawsuit follows years of investigation by GOP officials, who have taken aim at Wall Street’s efforts to force a green agenda.
Specifically, the lawsuit accuses BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street of using their shareholdings in Peabody Energy Corp, Arch Resources, Inc. and others to press management to cut their carbon emissions starting in 2021 – at the height of the ESG boom, Bloomberg reports.
The firms also joined activist groups such as Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in which they formed “a syndicate and agreed to use their collective holdings of publicly traded coal companies to induce industry-wide output reductions.”
The suit repeatedly refers to allegations that BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have the power through their large shareholdings to constrain the supply of coal, which significantly diminishes competition in the market and produces “cartel-level profits” for the firms.
Climate-finance coalitions are “voluntary associations and therefore don’t include any form of collusion and coercion, so it’s hard to see a legal basis for this claim,” said Lisa Sachs, director of sustainable investment at Columbia University Law School. But “coal-financed politicians are now using the bully pulpit to scare financial institutions, which won’t in any way benefit the coal sector and will harm the constituents these AGs purport to represent.” -Bloomberg
That said, the firms have since reversed course – with State Street announcing in February that it quit Climate Action 100+ because its requirements were inconsistent with the firm’s “independent approach” to shareholder voting. Vanguard left the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in 2022, however BlackRock and State Street remain members of the group.
Plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit acknowledge the departures, but say that they don’t “change the reality that defendants’ holdings threaten to substantially reduce competition in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act.”
The case is Texas v. BlackRock, 24-cv-00437, US District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Tyler).
end
(AP)
Interesting!!
Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia
By FATIMA HUSSEIN and LOLITA C. BALDORUpdated 5:28 PM EST, November 27, 2024Share
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February.
Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”
Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned.
As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations.
The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18.
What to know about Trump’s second term:
- Staffing the administration: Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far. Plus, a look at recess appointments and how could Trump use them to fill his Cabinet.
Follow all of our coverage as Donald Trump assembles his second administration.
The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. The U.S. has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv.
Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies.
As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared.
Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.”
Trump’s proposed national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.”
Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens.
The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times.
On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory.
He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.”
END
Critics Decry Trump’s Pick For Russia-Ukraine War Envoy As Longtime Hawk
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 02:45 AM
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump named retired General Keith Kellogg as his envoy to the Russia-Ukraine war. The 80-year old is a retired lieutenant general who served as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term. He was also the national security adviser to Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence.
A Vietnam War veteran, Kellog also spent some time in Iraq after 2003 as an official overseeing the post-Saddam transitional government. “I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration,” Trump posted on TruthSocial. The president-elect added: “Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”
Many pundits have observed that Kellogg throughout his long career is a hawk, but in April of this year he co-authored a strategy paper laying out his plan to negotiate peace in Ukraine. He blamed President Biden for waging a proxy war on Russia while simultaneously failing on the diplomatic front.
Still, his clearly hawkish leanings came through. He had written with his co-author Fred Fleitz, “Trump also had a Russia policy that demonstrated American strength. For example, in 2018, after the Russian mercenary Wagner Group advanced on U.S. bases in Syria, they were met with immediate and decisive action when President Trump authorized punitive airstrikes against them.”
“Russia never retaliated against the United States over that attack—which reportedly killed hundreds of Russian mercenaries—likely because Putin did not know how Trump would respond,” the paper continued.
Al Jazeera has summarized Kellogg’s plan for Ukraine peace in the following:
- The US would continue to arm Ukraine to allow it to defend itself against Russia. However, future US military aid would be contingent on Ukraine participating in peace talks with Russia.
- In order to convince Putin to join peace talks, NATO leaders should offer to hold off on Ukraine’s NATO membership application.
- Additionally, Russia could be offered some sanctions relief, contingent on it signing a peace agreement with Ukraine.
- It also calls for charging levies on Russian energy sales to use for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Kellog’s plan is generally at odds with Zelensky’s ‘Victory plan’ – given at the heart of this is a clear path to NATO membership, which Kellog says should be put on hold for the sake of negotiating ceasefire.
Critics have nevertheless warned that Kellog is much more hawkish on Russia than Trump’s own positions laid out on the campaign trail, which blasted the Biden administration’s refusal to deescalate and push for peace.
As a prior regular national security pundit on Fox News, Kellog presented some very hawkish anti-Moscow stances:
Previously in the Ukraine war, Kellog has gone so far as to advocate for a Western-backed No Fly Zone over Ukraine, which would certainly bring NATO and Russia into direct conflict.
END
Did Trump Just Solve The Border Crisis: Mexican President “Agreed To Stop Migration Through Mexico” Trump Claims
Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024 – 11:17 PM
Did Trump solve the border crisis two months before even being sworn in as the 47th president?
Two days after surprising markets – and sending the peso plummeting – by announcing he would enact 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.
tariffs on Mexican goods in response to the flood of drugs across the porous southern border, best known for allowing millions of illegal immigrants to enter the US in the past four ears, Trump’s unexpected gambit may have already paid off.
In a post on Truth Social network, Trump announced that after a “wonderful” conversation with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, she “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
He added that the two also talked about “what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States” concluding that it was a “very productive” conversation which of course, it would be, if indeed Trump – who again is still two months away from inauguration – managed to solve the US border crisis just 48 hours after using targeted tariffs as a bargaining chip.
While it remains to be confirmed on the Mexican side if Trump’s recollection of the conversation is accurate, Trump’s announcement comes just hours after the legacy media reported that Mexico would take on a more aggressive posture, with the AP reporting that Sheinbaum had suggested that “Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own” and that while she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, drugs were a U.S. problem.
“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.
She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl – which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China – have weakened in the last year.
Amusingly, Sheinbaum also said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society” which judging by the libs ongoing reaction to Trump’s victory is pretty much spot on.
As noted, there is still no official confirmation or full context of the agreement from President Sheinbaum’s side, but the market certainly reacted with the peso surging, and almost wiping out all losses from the past 48 hours after Trump’s first unveiled his 25% tariff threat.
If confirmed, this would be the second time Trump has managed to convince Mexico to suspend migrants from crossing its territory to enter the US. Back in 2018, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – a charismatic, old-school politician – developed a chummy relationship with Trump. The two were eventually able to strike a bargain in which Mexico helped keep migrants away from the border – and received other countries’ deported migrants – and Trump backed down on similar threats.
While Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, has been seen as a stern leftist ideologue trained in radical student protest movements, and appeared less willing to pacify or mollify Trump, it seems she too has capitulated just 48 hours after Trump unveiled what was coming.
END
LOS ANGELES
A Rothschild dies mysteriously as his house is burnt down
Man Allegedly Part Of Rothschild Banking Family Dies In Mysterious Hollywood Hills House Fire
Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 – 08:40 PM
The internet is abuzz after a man, identified by local media outlets as a possible member of the Rothschild banking family, died in a mysterious house fire in the Hollywood Hills area on Wednesday.
ABC 7 News reports that fire crews responded to a house fire on the 8500 block of Lookout Mountain Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. While battling the blaze, firefighters discovered a deceased man inside the home. Neighbors identified him as “Will Rothschild,” according to the media outlet.
The outlet further reported, “Rothschild was described by neighbors as an eccentric millionaire—or even billionaire—with multiple properties and dozens of expensive cars,” adding that “Rothschild was said to have lived as a bit of a recluse.”
ABC 7’s Jory Rand commented, “It turns out the man who lived there might have been a billionaire.”
The plot thickens…
END
“Dumb-Shit Grandstanding” – What Part Of ‘Mandate’ Don’t You Understand?
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 01:25 PM
Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
“This version of Trump knows what buttons to press, he knows where the bodies are buried, he’s absorbed their worst and now he is about to throw it right back at them.”
– Jeff Childers
You have every reason to believe that this arrogant, malicious, leviathan government, and the vicious intel / lawfare blob at its vanguard, is about to be turned upside-down, inside-out, and sideways. Every appointment by Mr. Trump is a dose of chemotherapy to this malignant beast, aimed at all its diseased organs. The rogue cells within are going to die hard, struggle against their extinction, shriek and thrash as the treatment proceeds. That is, if it is allowed to proceed.
And so: rumors arise of a coup to prevent it from happening. The benchmark version goes like this: “Joe Biden” keeps up his stupid provocation of Russia with those medium-range ATACMS missiles until Mr. Putin is forced to respond with a strike against a NATO member, say, a military base in Poland used to stage and target the ATACMS. Under NATO’s Article Five — an attack against one is an attack against all — Europe and the US must go to war against Russia. This becomes the pretext for “Joe Biden” to declare an extraordinary emergency (or Kamala Harris, if “JB” can be shoved out under the 25th Amendment.) The inauguration of the newly-elected government must needs be postponed. . . .
Such a move would surely provoke a domestic insurrection against the leviathan and Civil War Two would be on. Or else you might expect a swift counter-coup out of the US military not playing along. Mr. Putin, too, could demur from playing the game, that is, just not go for the bait, refrain from striking any NATO territory. After all, his beef is officially with Mr. Zelensky’s Kiev government. Russia could just pound Kiev until that government ceases to exist. So far Mr. Putin has carefully refrained from destroying the historic city center, mainly hitting power plants to turn off the heat and light to make life extremely uncomfortable in the Ukraine capital with winter coming on. But he could level the city.
The choice is Mr. Zelensky’s, and has been for months as his forces, armaments, and prospects dwindle. He could suspend hostilities, go to talks, even raise a white flag and put an end to the needless suffering. Under no circumstances will he get the Donbas or Crimea back. I doubt that Russia wants to take over the rest of Ukraine, considering the cost of having to support it indefinitely. Better that it should remain a sovereign state and look after itself — but neutral, demilitarized, and, if you like, de-Nazified. You understand that these will be Russia’s final terms? And that there is nothing unreasonable about them?
In short, the hypothetical coup would fail, and the Ukraine war will end, and Mr. Trump will get inaugurated if he is careful to avoid the blob’s assassins until January 20. As for Rep. Jamie Raskin’s scheme to prevent a Trump swearing-in on account of him being “an insurrectionist,” you can file that under “dumb-shit grandstanding.” So, the new government will come in, the new department chiefs will get into office, and the leviathan will get the therapeutic treatment it deserves.
You understand, of course, that the federal bureaucracy is a perverse reincarnation of the old 19th century “Spoils System,” an entrenched, self-replicating matrix of parasites. Both parties have nourished it, but the Democrats have made it their extra-special pet since Mr. Obama was in charge of things. He and his AG Eric Holder arranged for the DOJ to target their political enemies and for the to FBI mutate into a US-KGB, and that behavior persisted for eight long years since Obama and Holder left the scene. The malice all flowed from those departments, since any opponent of the Party’s agenda could get lawfared, financially drained, and put out of business. The party’s sole agenda, really, was to just feed the bureaucratic parasite, and grow it ever-larger and more dependent on the party in order to increase its power.
There will necessarily be confusion over the clean-up of all that. Because of Mr. Trump being the primary target of DOJ / FBI enmity, blob publicists will try to color it as “personal retribution,” but it is really the proper response of an aggrieved nation. A large number of current and former officials deserve to face charges for what they did, serious crimes against their fellow citizens. They also deserve fair trials to determine their culpability. The catch is, these proceedings ought to take place outside the DC federal district court, which is itself parasitized and corrupted.
Outside of these criminal proceedings, the rest is executive process — just firing a lot of dead-weight and bureaucrat officials who contribute nothing but inertia and impediment to the normal functioning of a society. And deconstructing whole agencies. The blob will likely attempt to block that effort by marshaling its own allied lawyer army to bombard the courts with suits and writs. If the Trump team does its work carefully, with scrupulous attention to correct process, that offensive can be overcome and worked-around.
After a while, we’ll discover just how much government is really necessary, sort of like twitter did, after Elon Musk fired 80-percent of the loafers on his payroll. Since so much of the US economy has shifted insidiously into government, this downscaling is apt to be painful, but especially for the local economy of Washington DC, which is to say, a grift economy of overlapping rackets. Upgrade a few laws and whole industries — such as lobbying by military contractors — might be wiped out. But you have to ask: how was that ever a good thing?
For now, we give thanks that important changes are probably underway. Stolen liberties will be returned. You will be free to succeed or fail in a society of voluntary transactions. That was always the essence of being an American, not being a client of a fake therapeutic state, savior of all, but really just protector of its own.
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM
end
iiiC USA COVID //VACCINE ISSUES/IMPORTANT MEDICAL ISSUES
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FREIGHT ISSUES/USA/
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON OR NEWT GINGRICH/TUCKER CARLSON
KING REPORT
| The King Report November 29, 2024 Issue 7380 | Independent View of the News |
| @ChicagoFed: The National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) decreased to –0.64 in the week ending November 22, suggesting looser financial conditions. https://t.co/TKYpBbEQcU @RealEJAntoni: CHI Fed: revisions now show national financial conditions loosening at accelerating rate, down to loosest level since Oct ’21 w/ the index now below where it was in Jan ’21, despite much higher interest rates and hundreds of billions in unrealized losses on bank balance sheets: https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1861804408679379332 @FrogNews: From the BEA corporate profits report. Massive losses at the Federal Reserve Banks. Paying the big banks to “fight inflation” is expensive. https://t.co/2G4MywpKa6 @porterstansb: Right now, U.S. banks’ safety relies on one thing: people not pulling out their deposits. The banking system is riddled with unrealized losses, particularly due to commercial real estate loans and low-yield treasuries. As long as depositors don’t withdraw their money, banks can pretend everything is fine. But that’s not a real solution. The next banking crisis is inevitable—it’s only a matter of time before depositors panic, triggering massive withdrawals. The Fed will try to cover the losses by printing more money, but that will only add fuel to inflation. Do you really want your money in the bank when that happens? @bravosresearch: WARNING: Housing defaults have skyrocketed. This is unlike anything we’ve seen in a decade. A thread: https://x.com/bravosresearch/status/1861462818471747613 @JeffWeniger: The Kansas City Fed Labor Conditions index has been in a downtrend for the better part of 3 years. This historically would have meant declines for the S&P 500. Not so in this cycle. https://t.co/EDnUUvWMIe US Economic Data released on WednesdayQ3 GDP 2.8% as expected, Consumption 3.5%, 3.7% exp., GDP Price Index 1.9%, 1.8% exp., Core PCE 2.1%, 2.2% exp.Oct Advance Goods Trade Balance -$99.1b, -$102.1B exp.Oct Wholesale Inventories 0.2% m/m, 0.1 exp.; Retail Inventories 0.1% m/m, 0.5% exp.Oct Durable Goods 0.2% m/m, 0.5% exp.; ex-Trans 0.1% as exp.; Nondef Ex-Air -0.2%, 0.1% exp. (Core Capital Goods); Shipments 0.2%, 0.1% expectedInitial Jobless Claims 213k, 215k exp, Continuing Claims 1.907 m (3-yr high), 1.893m exp.Nov Chicago PMI 40.2, 45 expected, 41.6 priorOct Personal Income 0.6%, 0.3% exp., Spending 0.4% as expectedOct PCE Price Index 0.2% m/m & 2.3% y/y as exp., Core PCE 0.3% m/m & 2.8% y/y as exp.Oct Pending Home Sales +2.0% m/m, -2.0% exp; 6.6% y/y, 0.2% exp. PCE Core, the Fed preferred inflation metric, at 2.8% y/y for October is a 6- month high. September was 2.7% y/y. @KevRGordon: “Supercore” PCE #inflation jumped by 0.36% m/m in October … largest increase since March. https://x.com/KevRGordon/status/1861801463858569638 Fed’s preferred inflation gauge ticked higher to 2.8% — stoking doubts on December rate cut https://trib.al/JgFDgJZ BEA: Personal Income and Outlays, October 2024 (Also PCE data) https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/pi1024.pdf @FrogNews: The PCE report breaks down what people are spending their money on. Healthcare, housing, and insurance. Cutting on clothing, and non-durables. Ever wonder why sentiment sucks? https://x.com/FrogNews/status/1861797399590498372 @TaviCosta: The Fed is about to face a policy quagmire, in my view. With core PCE inflation now at 2.8%, today’s data reaffirms that consumer prices are likely bottoming. History suggests we might be witnessing the start of a second inflationary wave. (We mentioned this a year or so ago!) What makes this situation unique is the Fed’s limited capacity to combat this second wave, as raising rates further could exacerbate the government’s already heavy debt burden. I can’t stress this enough: This scenario is profoundly bearish for the US dollar in my view. Adding to this, Trump has repeatedly advocated for a weaker dollar, further compounding this bearish USD view. https://x.com/TaviCosta/status/1861822582904791292 @FrogNews: We also got the Durable Goods Report from the Census Bureau. New orders plummeting. Trump is walking into a big mess. They should start blaming him any minute now. https://t.co/Omjv3Wgb1u @zerohedge: And all recent home sales data revised lower. Trump has no idea of the epic rug pull that is coming. https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1861428503461159293 Fangs got destroyed on Wednesday. Near the European close, CrowdStrike -5.13%, Broadcom -3.76%, Nvidia -3.1%, ServiceNow -2.33%; the NY Fang Index was -2.1%. Nvidia’s chart looks bad! While the S&P 500 Index and DJIA are hitting new highs, NVDA is faltering.  Nvidia with 21-day, 50-day, and 126-day (6-month) Moving Averages BBG’s @lisaabramowicz1: Bond vigilantes have their eyes on France in the face of government turmoil, a growing deficit and weaker economic data. The gap between 10-yr yields in France and Germany is the widest since 2012. https://x.com/lisaabramowicz1/status/1861711090301665705 @TheresaAFallon: First the German government collapsed—is France next? (The FT): “French sovereign bonds & stocks fell on Wed as concerns intensified among investors that a dispute over a belt-tightening draft budget could bring down Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government.” https://www.ft.com/content/d056bfb5-81ce-40c2-ac2c-757ccccdb8fe?shareType=nongift French 10-Year Borrowing Costs (3.03%) Match Greece’s for First Time – BBG (Thursday) ESZs traded modestly higher during early Nikkei trading and a tad lower during afternoon Nikkei trading. After a modest rally into the European opening, ESZs fell to 6024.25 at 6:22 ET. The rally for the NYSE opening took ESZs to 6037.50 at 8:31 ET. After the slew of US economic data was released, ESZs broke lower. Cascading Fangs and techs induced traders to sell ESZs. Aggressive selling pushed ESZs to a daily low of 6000.25 at 12:08 ET. When ESZs got near 6000, someone forced ESZs higher to prevent a breach of 6000 that could induce momentum selling. ESZs rallied to 6018.25 at 13:38 ET. After a modest retreat, ESZs went inert until they broke lower at 15:40 ET. After hitting 6007.24 at 15:43 ET, the late manipulation pushed ESZs to 6017.50 at 15:50 ET. Positive aspects of previous session The DJIA traded above 45k Bonds rallied moderately on flight from French bonds; USZ closed +24/32. Negative aspects of previous session Fangs got hammered, which forced Nasdaq and the Naz 100 to decline sharply. Major equity indices declined; gold rallied sharply. The S&P 500 closed below 6000. Ambiguous aspects of previous session Are stocks riding short-term upward seasonality to a short-term top? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Up Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 6001.26 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 6020.16; 5984.87 @JonErlichman: U.S. national debt: 2024: $36 trillion 2014: $24 trillion 2004: $12 trillion 1994: $10 trillion 1984: $5 trillion 1974: $3 trillion 1964: $3 trillion 1954: $3 trillion 1944: $4 trillion 1934: $637 billion 1924: $395 billion (inflation adjusted) Lame-duck Biden administration loans $6.6B to struggling Tesla rival Rivian https://trib.al/GrX1rpY @VivekGRamaswamy: We are acutely aware of the reality that the outgoing Biden administration is pushing out $$ and proposing new regulations at a fast pace to get ahead of Jan 20. All midnight-hour expenditures & new regulations will get special scrutiny and should be rescinded where appropriate. Marc Andreessen Describes “Alarming” Meeting with Biden Admin That Prompted His Trump Endorsement – “We had meetings [Biden officials] this spring that were the most alarming meetings I’ve ever been in. Where they were taking us through their plans, and it was – basically just full government – full government control – like this sort of thing, there will be a small number of large companies that will be completely regulated and controlled by the government, they told us. They said don’t even start startups – there’s just no way that they can succeed – there’s no way that we’re going to permit that to happen.”… https://www.zerohedge.com/political/marc-andreessen-tells-joe-rogan-why-he-backed-trump Sen. Ted Cruz Statement on Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire “The Biden administration has spent the last four years pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel and boosting Iran, including by coercing our Israeli allies to cede maritime territory to Hezbollah. They are now using the transition period to the Trump administration and a Republican Congress to try to lock in those efforts – and to constrain the incoming administration – by establishing what they believe to be irreversible diplomatic, legal, and military policies… I am deeply disturbed both by reports that Obama-Biden officials exerted enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this ceasefire and by how those officials are characterizing Israel’s obligations… Obama-Biden officials pressured our Israeli allies into accepting the ceasefire by withholding weapons they needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening to facilitate a further, broader, binding international arms embargo through the United Nations. Obama-Biden officials are already trying to use Israel’s acceptance of this ceasefire to ensure that Hezbollah and other Iranian terrorist groups remain intact across Lebanon, and to limit Israel’s future freedom of action and self-defense…https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-ted-cruz-statement-on-israel-hezbollah-ceasefire Trump appointed General Keith Kellogg to be a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1861831360819696034/photo/1 Fox: Trump taps Jamieson Greer for US trade representative, announces more picks https://t.co/HrCMJ8nuBB DJT selected Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to be Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Jay was a vocal critic of Covid lockdowns, masks, vax policies, and Fauci. Big Brother and its supporters tried to cancel and censor Dr. Bhattacharya. Sweet irony and justice! Dr. Jay co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which highlighted the damaging physical and mental health impacts of Covid-19 policies. @CatchUpFeed: Alexander Vindman has accused Elon Musk of divulging state secrets to Vladimir Putin, and that the real reason he supports Trump is because Putin ordered him to do so. https://x.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1861813646453534823 @elonmusk: Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States (DJT impeachment ploy), for which he will pay the appropriate penalty. Mexico’s president says its ‘position is not to close borders’ in response to Trump’s claim Trump claimed Mexico would stop border crossings, “effective immediately.” Trump went further, proclaiming that the Mexican president “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.” In a follow-up post, he added, “Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA.” Sheinbaum then appeared to directly contradict the president-elect’s account of the conversation, posting on X: “In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border. We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”… https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mexicos-president-position-close-borders-response-trumps-claim/story @AFP: Ukraine’s energy sector ‘under massive enemy attack’: minister https://t.co/ExW7tVOE7T The FT’s @ChristopherJM: Russia has used cluster munitions and other highly destructive bombs to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, prompting emergency shutdowns across the country… Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: ‘Huge win’ https://t.co/p0LKezIEth Mark Zuckerberg meets Trump and other members of his administration at Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/P4Cv3LxZm3 Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor’s alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics… https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-environmentalist-emails-sources-2024-11-27/ @willcain: In 1960, 80% of U.S. households were led by married couples which is now down to 45% today. The decline in marriage directly correlates with the rise of welfare replacing fathers with government. https://t.co/AFj6VOT3Nt @FinanceLancelot: The 1929 collapse began once the month rolled over on Sep 4th. I bet Gary Gensler is going to make the SMCI announcement on Tuesday December 3rd. Dow DJI is currently above the 125 yr resistance trend. The last time this happened was August 1929. Is it “different this time?” https://x.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1861811617245114500 @TotemMacro: This market is close to breaking point. There is now so much leverage that futures-implied equity financing costs are at the same spread to SOFR as during the height of the GFC. And Japan is about to suck a couple hundred billion of levered balance sheet out of US money markets. https://x.com/TotemMacro/status/1861953558725222844 Thursday Markets Nikkei +0.56%, Hang Seng -1.20%, CSI 300 -0.88%, Shanghai Comp -0.43%, Shenzhen Comp -0.65% Euro Stoxx 50 +0.53%, FTSE +0.04%, CAC +0.54%, DAX +0.84%, IBEX +0.34%, MIB +0.57% Today – Absenteeism will be high for the abbreviated (13:00 ET close) NYSE session. The usual suspects will try to manipulate stuff higher to game November performance. However, the S&P 500 Index has declined in 16 of the past 25 sessions that end November (Stock Trader’s Almanac). Last week we noted that strong trends tend to reverse near Thanksgiving. This year, with the latest day that Thanksgiving can be (Nov. 28, 4th Thursday of month), the holiday coincides with the end of November and upward bias from performance gaming. ESZs are +17.00; NQZs are +76.50; and USZs are -1/32 at 21:20 ET (on Nov performance gaming). S&P Index 50-day MA: 5833; 100-day MA: 5673; 150-day MA: 5559; 200-day MA: 5450 DJIA 50-day MA: 42,879; 100-day MA: 41,695; 150-day MA: 40,799; 200-day MA: 40,297 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (5998.74 close) – BBG trading model Trender and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5218.49 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5589.84 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5907.51 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5984.03 triggers a sell signal X users left stunned by ‘terrible’ video of Harris speaking to supporters: ‘Who thought this was a good idea?‘ – Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her loss for the first time since her concession speech… Many X users were buzzing about Harris’ appearance in the video, commenting about how there seemed to be something “off” with the vice president and expressing surprise it was publicly shared. https://www.foxnews.com/media/x-users-left-stunned-terrible-video-harris-speaking-supporters-who-thought-good-idea @JackPosobiec: Kamala’s staff urged her to not do the video, but it was her request,… at random, and she demanded to be allowed to go on camera and none of the courage to say no, per WH staffer @charliekirk11: Kamala Harris’s senior advisor David Plouffe admits that the public polls, which often showed Kamala up and Trump down, were lying to you the whole time. Forget Russia, public pollsters and legacy media have consistently been the biggest sources of election interference. https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1861800940816433206 @Mark_R_Mitchell: “The Harris campaign’s internal polling apparently never had her ahead of Trump.” (In October or Sept., NBC had Harris +5, NY Post Harris +4, Morning Consult (BBG) Harris +5) https://x.com/Mark_R_Mitchell/status/1861769232771371205 @joma_gc: Kamala Harris’ problems worsen. Kamala has reached out to prominent donors and even sought assistance from Nancy Pelosi to address her campaign debts. However, she has been met with outright rejection or conditional support—with some top Dem donors asking her to sign a pledge not to seek the Democrat Party nomination in 2028 in exchange for financial assistance. The joy is gone. @TheBabylonBee: Hungover Kamala Harris Gets Sinking Feeling While Checking If She Drunk-Posted Anything Yesterday https://buff.ly/3AQtf3Z @charliekirk11: Michelle Obama is pitching an exercise book to help people who are feeling “anxious” and “out of sorts” following Kamala’s landslide loss. https://t.co/pjDj6wnXgH @CollinRugg: Marc Andreessen explains why wealthy limousine liberals vote the way they do… says wealthy liberals are “addicted to control, the feeling of saving the world and being elite.” Rogan: What do you think the motivation of all these wealthy people to vote for Kamala Harris was? Andreessen: Because they feel great, because they’re saving the world… To be in charge and control society and decide how everything works and decide who’s good and who’s bad. You feel great about yourself… it just so happens that the economy is wired up in a way where you’re getting paid a ton of money, not working very hard, and it’s all great. You’re completely isolated, away from the lived experience of just normal people, which is the state that I found myself in, where it would never even occur to you to talk to a garbage man… https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1861838859648291202 Fox: China releases 3 ‘wrongfully detained’ Americans, White House says (Why now?) US Air Force says (Unidentified) drones still being spotted over bases in England Since the first small unmanned aerial system was first spotted on Nov. 20, the number of drones has fluctuated and there have been a range of different sizes and configurations, said the U.S. Air Forces in Europe spokesperson… http://reut.rs/3VcmtML Germany: Man criticizes judge who fined Syrian for raping 15-year-old girl, gets fined twice as much – The judge even told the convicted rapist during the trial: “You are well on your way to becoming a completely normal citizen here” (Germany is lost!) A German man who described a judge as “obviously mentally disturbed” — after the judge issued a light sentence to a Syrian who raped a 15-year-old girl — was slapped with a €5,000 fine for “insulting” the judge. This fine given to Paul S., whose name has been changed to protect his identity, was almost double the fine given to the Syrian rapist… https://rmx.news/article/germany-man-criticizes-judge-who-fined-syrian-for-raping-15-year-old-girl-gets-fined-twice-as-much/ Reports say the Clintons will make an announcement on December 7. Pundits opine that Hillary will announce that she will run again for president despite her advanced age (would be 81 in 2028). Whatever the announcement, it is likely to be driven by concern that Bill and Hill could be the subjective of investigations related to undermining Trump and their relationships with Jeffrey Epstein. Anti-Israel protesters arrested at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade https://trib.al/mbCJiGg @nypost: Cops quickly swarmed in to make mass arrests when anti-Israel protesters tried to ruin the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade again. https://x.com/nypost/status/1862167398771572816 | |
SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
Trump Nominees Targeted With Bomb Threats As Radical Groups Plan Massive Protests For Inauguration Day
Friday, Nov 29, 2024 – 12:45 PM
Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
You didn’t think that the radicals would just give up and go home after Donald Trump won the election, did you? It took a little bit of time for the shock of Trump’s election victory to wear off, but now it appears that they are ready to cause widespread chaos.
On Wednesday, it was being reported that multiple individuals that have been nominated for positions in Trump’s cabinet have been “targeted with violent threats”…
Multiple of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees were targeted with violent threats in recent hours and law enforcement officials are responding, Trump’s transition team said on Wednesday.
The threats occurred on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and included bomb threats and swatting, Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Swatting refers to attacks where people falsely report crimes to police, sending them to locations where no emergency occurred.
“Law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted,” Leavitt said. “President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
This isn’t just happening to nominees that are highly controversial.
For example, Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin were not controversial picks by Trump, but they have both been targets of bomb threats…
Elise Stefanik, a Republican U.S. representative and Trump’s choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who is Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, both said in separate statements they had been the targets of bomb threats.
An FBI spokesperson said the bureau is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and is working with its law enforcement partners.
Could you imagine living with the fear that some nut could set off a bomb at your home at any moment?
Zeldin says that the pipe bomb threat that was directed at his family came with “a pro-Palestinian themed message”…
“A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message,” Zeldin said in a statement posted on X. “My family and I were not home at the time and are safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops.”
President Trump hasn’t even taken office yet, and this is already beginning.
So how bad will it get once Trump and his cabinet start making decisions that the radicals absolutely detest?
Over the past few weeks, we have seen such an explosion of rage all over the country.
Many on the left were absolutely convinced that Trump would be defeated. When that didn’t happen, a tsunami of negative emotion was released.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. In Wisconsin, a group of women recently gathered to conduct a “primal scream” session during which they attempted to release the frustration that they are feeling as a result of the election…
A group of sad leftists gathered at Klode Park in Whitefish Bay to engage in a “primal scream,” releasing what was described as their “pain and frustration” after the election results saw President-elect Donald Trump romp to a decisive victory and Vice President Kamala Harris left far behind.
Video shows the group of people standing at the shore line and screaming. One of the event’s attendees — identified as an organizer — also posted about the event on Facebook.
“What a gorgeous morning to gather at Klode Park in Whitefish Bay to engage in a Primal Scream in order to release our pain and frustration after the election,” Tamara Gibbs posted on November 9, less than a week after the election.
I have watched footage of these women screaming at the top of their lungs, and it is truly frightening.
It is hard to imagine how this could possibly be helpful.
Instead, it seems to me that they are just whipping themselves up into even more of a frenzy.
Unfortunately, radicals have now identified a focal point for their frustrations.
Inauguration Day is coming up on January 20th, and many on the left plan to make it a day to remember. The following comes from the official website of one group that is engaged in a “nationwide mobilization” effort…
On Inauguration Day, January 20, people will come together in Washington D.C. and in cities and towns across the country in a nationwide mobilization opposing Trump’s ultra-right, billionaire agenda.
Trump ran a con game during the election. His real agenda is to destroy worker’s rights, deport millions of immigrant families, and pave the way for a complete corporate capitalist takeover by ending regulations to protect the environment, firing thousands of public sector workers, and transferring ever-larger parts of the National Treasury to the military industrial complex. He is 100 % behind Netanyahu’s genocidal war against the Palestinian and Arab people.
The Trump victory in the 2024 election represents the complete failure of the Democratic Party to stop the rise of the ultra-right. In fact, they have contributed to it by adopting much of the program of the extreme right while embracing endless war. Instead of responding to the needs of the people, both the Democrats and the Republicans have moved further and further to the right. Trump’s agenda is the culmination of this right-ward spiral, and his administration will move to make major gains for the billionaire class at the expense of the millions of everyday people in the US and across the world.
There will be lots of Trump supporters in Washington D.C. on January 20th, but there will also be lots of radicals.
In 2016, radicals smashed windows and set vehicles on fire to protest Trump’s inauguration.
I expect much worse this time around.
Sadly, the violence on January 20th will only be a preview of the tremendous chaos that is eventually coming to the streets of America.
There are literally hundreds of groups that are starting to organize a “resistance” to Trump, and they are not messing around.
GREG HUNTER INTERVIEWING STEVE QUAYLE
US in La-La Land Over Coming Nuke War – Steve Quayle
By Greg Hunter On November 27, 2024 In Political Analysis3 Comments
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Post Sponsored by EscapeZone.com)
Renowned radio host, filmmaker, book author and archeological dig expert Steve Quayle is warning of the biggest coming disaster on the planet that the Lying Legacy Media will hardly mention a word about. All the signs point to a coming nuclear war with Russia, and this disaster may be much closer than anyone thinks. Quayle says, “I want everyone to understand that the lying mainstream media, whore, legacy neuro-linguistic programming press is nothing more than a tool of mind control. Anybody who is listening, and they should not be listening to mainstream media what-so-ever, is being reinforced and put into La-La Land. They are going to be subject to a deadly stupor that will cost them their lives. This is the most important broadcast in my life. I have been on talk radio for 35 years. What makes this important is . . . they, the powers that be, the illuminous, globalists, Luciferian Satanists want a quarter billion of Americans dead. The headlines should tell you that.”
Some of the headlines not reported on the Lying Legacy Media (LLM) include: “Russia’s Top Diplomate, Sergey Lavrov says Biden Ukraine Moves Trying to ‘Muck Things Up’ for Trump.” Another is: “America on the Brink? FEMA Issues Survival Guide Amid Escalating Global Tensions.” Finally: “Talk of a Pre-emptive Attack on Russian is Going to Make Russia Even More Likely to Conduct a Pre-emptive Attack Against US.” Steve goes on to say, “What they don’t tell you . . . I’ll tell you with my sources and demonstrations of the lies the LLM has told. When your life and the lives of your wife and family are on the line, I am not going to hold back.”
Military sources told Quayle, “I received real world intel from someone I know who is a veteran who heard that you better be where you are going to be because there is a coming lockdown during the holidays.” Quayle says it was not specified if it was Thanksgiving or Christmas and New Years.
Quayle says that people need “serious prayer right now to Christ Jesus. . . .Nothing, when you come to Jesus, can pluck you out of his arms. Everybody attacking Jesus Christ and the God of Heaven (Jehovah) want you dead and damned.”
There is more in the 58-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes one-on-one with Steve Quayle who talks about getting ready for possible nuclear war with Russia 11.27.24.
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0:02 / 58:16
After the Interview:
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