CGJB

Even if the baby Putin had been aborted in his mother's womb, we'd still be where we are now, because this wasn't driven by Putin. Current CIA director Burns warned of this when he was ambassador to Russia during the George W. Bush administration. Many others did as well.

I'm not a member of any fan club. Though if forced to choose, I'd be a member of a Putin fan club before a member of a Zelensky one. Moreover, I don't think Putin is another Hitler or Stalin, and I don't buy the lie that Russia's entry into the Donbas was "unprovoked."

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, born 72 years ago today. By far the best leader Russia has had in more than a century. May he have many, many more. ------------------------

I was listening to a podcast with Louis-Vincent Gave yesterday. He said that China now does more trade with Southeast Asia than it does with the US. I would imagine this trend will only grow over time.

It will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend and the likes of Schwab and Fidelity do the same in the US. I hope not.

Of course he's not right about everything. No one is. But it speaks volumes, and is a huge indictment of the media, that Sachs has been pretty much blackballed for daring to say he believes the US is behind blowing up Nord Stream 2.

I think what you say is true for the mainstream media across the collective west. I live in the US and it's bad here. But I have friends and relatives in the UK who tell me that it's even worse there.

For many years, Jeffrey Sachs would appear on mainstream corporate media networks and be quoted in the major publications. Then he appeared on Bloomberg TV and, in an interview with Tom Keene, said that the US was behind blowing up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Keene's reaction was priceless. It was a textbook case of someone going against the approved "narrative" and Keene didn't know what to do. I don't think Sachs has appeared on any of the mainstream corporate media outlets since. Total black eye for Bloomberg and the rest of the media.

+1

Mind sharing what your average cost is?

It's not easy at all for China to go after Taiwan militarily. But Biden has been playing footsie with the third rail (Taiwan sovereignty), and that's a casus belli for China. Nothing else is. Keep the status quo in Taiwan, and China will take no risks. Taiwan is not defensible with America's current navy. We can't shoot down hypersonic missiles, for example.

I'm so glad to see you posted this. I have some Russian ADRs myself. The action the US took on this doesn't "stick it to Putin" or whatever, it just screws over American citizens. What a mess.

Respectfully disagree that war with China would be more likely if Trump wins. Trump would be very aggressive toward China with things like trade restrictions and tariffs, but he has never shown any inclination to getting into a kinetic war with them.

Spot on. I think this is the bigger threat and has been for the last couple of years.