**Amazon Erases 12% Gain, Turns Red After Revealing Sharp Slowdown In April AWS Growth**
Amazon Erases 12% Gain, Turns Red After Revealing Sharp Slowdown In April AWS Growth
**Update (6:00pm)**: Everything was going ok, with AMZN stock soaring as much as 12% and then suddenly AMZN stock erased all gains and turned red during the company's analyst earnings call (the media call held an hour earlier went by ok).
There was initially some confusion what sparked the plunge, but it eventually was revealed that during the call, Amazon said that “Customers continue to evaluate ways to optimize their cloud spending in response to these tough economic conditions in Q1 and we are seeing these optimizations continue into Q2 with **April revenue growth rates about 500bps lower than what we saw in Q1**."
As noted earlier (see below), AWS did a little better than analysts had expected in 1Q, but that might not be worth much if growth continues to drift toward single digits.
The company tried to provide some favorable spin with the CEO saying that he is "pretty optimistic that we have a chance not just to recover to where we were pre-pandemic in terms of operating margin, but I think there is additional upside with some of the opportunities we've identified" but by now it was too little too late, and the stock had erased all of its earlier gains and was on the verge of turning red for the day.
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\\* \\* \\*
With three out of five FAAMG stocks - which of course is now known as GAMMA ever since Facebook's ignominious rebranding to Meta (at least until the company quietly changes its name to MetAI) - having already reported solid results helping push the market back into the green for the week, investors are keenly looking to Amazon earnings after the close today to (almost) round out the picture for the resurgent market generals while could set the tone for the rest of 2023... or at least until the Fed meeting next week.
As previewed earlier (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/amzn-earnings-preview-here-are-main-things-look), Amazon is expected to post sales of $125 billion, up 7.1% from a year earlier. According to Bloomberg, analysts and investors will be watching for insights into consumer spending patterns, both in terms of confidence in the overall economy and with regard to how much they are spending online vs. in stores. Investors will also be watching to see how Amazon’s cloud computing business and advertising business are holding up.
Investors will also want to see signs that CEO Andy Jassy’s cost-cutting measures - which included cutting 27,000 corporate employees - are helping to slash expenses and boost profits. Amazon had 1.5 million employees at the end of 2022, mostly blue-collar workers in its warehouses. In addition to the corporate cuts, Amazon tends to trim its warehouse workforce after the holiday shopping season.
But by far the most important variable will be Amazon Web Services, which is expected to post sales growth of 14%, the slowest since Amazon began breaking out the cloud-computing division’s performance with data going back to 2014. **AWS almost always accounts for more operating income than the rest of Amazon’s businesses combined.** But the unit has been hit hard as businesses pare their technology spending. Among the biggest questions for Amazon during this year of cost cutting and layoffs is how low AWS’s growth might sink.
What about Artificial Intelligence, which has been the core theme of Microsoft, Google and Meta’s earnings calls so far this week. How will Amazon play it? The company’s shown its hand, to an extent, on how generative AI will boost their business. But the focus is on AWS and targeting cloud customers (rather than Amazon’s consumer-facing arms).
Finally, while Amazon stock has badly underperformed the rest of the GAMMA names, heading into today's earnings the stock gained and was on track to notch its biggest two-day jump since February. So far this year, the shares are up about 31%.
So with all that in mind, here is what Amazon just reported for its just concluded quarter
- Q1 EPS 31c,up from a 38c loss YoY, and _**beating**_ the estimate of $0.21
- Q1 Net sales $127.358 billion, +9.4% y/y, _**beating**_ the estimate of $124.7 billion
- Online stores net sales $51.10 billion vs. $51.13 billion y/y, _**beating**_ estimate $50.57 billion
- Physical Stores net sales $4.90 billion, +6.6% y/y, _**beating**_ estimate $4.77 billion
- Third- Party Seller Services net sales $29.82 billion, +18% y/y, _**beating**_ estimate $28.7 billion
- Subscription Services net sales $9.66 billion, +15% y/y, estimate $9.29 billion
- North America net sales $76.88 billion, +11% y/y, _**beating**_ estimate $75.5…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/amazon-soars-after-smashing-expectations-guiding-higher
**Sen. Tim Scott Introduces Bill To Divert $15 Billion From IRS To Border Security**
Sen. Tim Scott Introduces Bill To Divert $15 Billion From IRS To Border Security
Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced legislation on Wednesday **that would redirect $15 billion** **from the $80 billion in new funding for the IRS** in order to beef up security on the southern US border.
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According to the _Daily Caller_, the 'Securing Our Border Act' **would specifically fund border inspections** to allow law enforcement officials to better combat the illegal trafficking of drugs and other substances before the enter the United States.
> _The bill would also fund **border wall construction and other technologies** to help with tracking and enforcement efforts along the southwest border._
>
> _Additionally, **the legislation would give retention bonuses to Border Patrol agents** and end the “catch and release” policy. -Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2023/04/26/tim-scott-bill-15-billion-irs-border-security/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking&pnespid=tb8_FSJIM6ZA2ODapyymEZjcshi.DcBodOOxwOhp.xpmzgPzq2VN2scShaKaB.r2R.a1RmfUXA)_
GOP officials have argued that the $80 billion in new IRS funding - which will be used to hire more than 87,000 new IRS employees - will increase audits on poor (https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/2022-irs-went-after-very-poorest-taxpayers) and middle-class Americans, despite a pledge by the Biden administration to go after wealthier individuals.
" **We have a crisis on our southern border**. Rather than putting resources in place to address this major national security and humanitarian catastrophe, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats chose instead to spend $45 billion of taxpayer money to hire an army of IRS agents to audit the middle class," Scott told the _Caller_ before introducing the bill, adding "While President Biden continues to drop the ball, I’m introducing legislation to fund border infrastructure and give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to help stop the unaddressed flows of illicit goods and persons into this country. **Americans need more border agents keeping them safe – not thousands more IRS agents looking over their shoulder.**"
As the _Caller_ further notes, the bill has **five original co-sponsors**; Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and James Lankford of Oklahoma. It has also been endorsed by the 18,000-member National Border Patrol Council.
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 18:00
**Democrats Attack Gaetz Ukraine Audit Resolution As 'Divisive & Ill-Advised'**
Democrats Attack Gaetz Ukraine Audit Resolution As 'Divisive & Ill-Advised'
_Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,_ (https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/democrats-attack-ukraine-audit-resolution-as-divisive-and-ill-advised/)
Legislation introduced by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) which calls on the White House to release documents related to the war in Ukraine **passed a voice vote on Wednesday**. With debate on the resolution divided along party lines (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m97h1IaQWD0&t=3456s), the House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to vote on the measure on Friday.
The bill, H.Res.300 (https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hres300/BILLS-118hres300ih.pdf), would urge President Joe Biden to **grant lawmakers access to "all documents indicating any plans for current or future military assistance to Ukraine,"** as well as any material "indicating whether any United States Armed Forces, including special operations forces, are currently deployed in Ukraine."
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_Image: Associated Press_ (
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Since Russia invaded its neighbor 14 months ago, Congress has authorized over $100 billion in aid for Ukraine. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Washington has provided $80 billion (https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/) in military and financial aid throughout the conflict.
Though support for the resolution was limited to Republicans, it passed (https://thehill.com/policy/international/3973322-house-gop-breaks-with-democrats-over-audit-of-u-s-funds-for-ukraine/) a voice vote and is set for a full committee vote on Friday. Several Democrats attacked the legislation during Wednesday’s debate.
Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) blasted the measure as "divisive and ill-advised," claiming (https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/democrats-attack-ukraine-audit-resolution-as-divisive-and-ill-advised/) "It is a partisan political ploy, and the height of legislative irresponsibility that jeopardizes the national security of the United States, of our Europe allies and partners as well as the courageous Ukrainian people."
Manning took issue with the resolution because it threatened a consensus in Congress that support for Kiev must be unwavering and indefinite. "The entire Congress has remained resolutely bipartisan for Ukraine as it fights against Russian aggression," the lawmaker continued, adding "Measures like this put bipartisanship in jeopardy."
**She also asserted that the bill amplified Russian propaganda** and claimed that reporting on legislation "favorably" would be "irresponsible."
"It plays directly into \[Russian President Vladimir\] Putin’s hands by **seeking to force the disclosures of all present and future military plans**," Manning said. "Passage of this measure would represent a gift to Putin and his Kremlin cronies and provide visibility into the plans our military and intelligence leaders strive to protect at all costs."
However, she failed to explain how increased congressional oversight for US military policy in Ukraine could actually help the Russians on the battlefield. Congressman Daryl Issa (R-CA) said **any documents provided to the House would not be made public**, and that "every bit of the information requested could be and would be held at the Select Intelligence Committee."
Further, dozens of documents detailing weak points in Ukraine’s defenses were alleged to have been leaked by a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman over the course of several months on Discord.
> Matt Gaetz on fire:
>
> "How much more for Ukraine? Is there any limit? Which billionth dollar really kicks in the door?"pic.twitter.com/gh8YDVWeo1 (https://t.co/gh8YDVWeo1)
>
> — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 7, 2023 (https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1623049535512776709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said that it was not an appropriate time for transparency regarding the billions in US tax dollars pouring into Ukraine. "Timing matters when this committee actions," he argued. "There will be a time in insisting \[on oversight\], but now is not that time."
Congressman Cory Mills (R-FL) **argued in favor of the resolution, saying it could prevent "mission creep,"** referring to a phenomenon in which military or policy objectives gradually shift over time, often becoming vague, ill-defined or impossible to achieve. The concept was frequently used to describe the US occupation of Afghanistan, which began as a counterterrorism operation and later expanded into a sprawling, poorly supervised nation-building project.
Mills went on to say that the bill is not about preventing support for Ukraine or empowering P…
**Argentina Abandons USDollar In China Trade As Local Bitcoin Reaches Record High**
Argentina Abandons USDollar In China Trade As Local Bitcoin Reaches Record High
Over the last few weeks, it has seemed you can't turn a page, blink at a pixel, or hear a news report without some form of **de-dollarization** headline shrieking at you. From Brazil to Saudi Arabia, and from India to Argentina, and increasing number of nations are 'reportedly' shifting away from the dollar hegemon.
Some recent headlines:
- "No Reason" For Malaysia To Rely On US Dollar, PM Warns As Yuan Influence Grows (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-reason-malaysia-rely-us-dollar-pm-warns-yuan-influence-grows)
- De-Dollarization Just Got Real (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/de-dollarization-just-got-real)
- Here Are 7 Signs That Global De-Dollarization Has Just Shifted Into Overdrive (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/here-are-7-signs-global-de-dollarization-has-just-shifted-overdrive)
- De-Dollarization Has Begun (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/de-dollarization-has-begun)
And today it escalated furtheras Reuters reports (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/argentina-govt-pay-chinese-imports-yuan-rather-than-dollars-2023-04-26/)that **Argentina will start buying the bulk of its Chinese imports in yuan instead of dollars, as it seeks to preserve its shrinking supply of USDollars**.
> _In April, it aims to pay around $1 billion of Chinese imports in yuan instead of dollars and thereafter around $790 million of monthly imports will be paid in yuan, a government statement said._
The decision aims to ease the outflow of dollars, Argentina's Economy minister Sergio Massa said during an event following a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, Zou Xiaoli, as well as with companies from various sectors.
> _**"Following the worst drought in history, Argentina must keep its (foreign) reserves robust,"**_ Sergio Massa said, per Anadolu Agency.
**In November last year, Argentina expanded a currency swap with China by $5 billion**, seeking to strengthen Argentina's international reserves.
> _The agreement will allow Argentina "to work on the possibility" of advancing the rate of imports, Massa added (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/argentina-govt-pay-chinese-imports-yuan-rather-than-dollars-2023-04-26/), with yuan-denominated import orders being authorized in 90 days rather than the standard 180 days._
On a side note, as Argentina' official peso rate has crashed 99% against the dollar since the start of its rolling crisis in 2018, the price of Bitcoin just hit a record high in the South American nation...
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At the same time, as CoinTelegraph reports, (https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-hits-new-record-high-in-argentina) Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies operating outside governments’ and central banks’ purview are increasingly emerging as alternatives. For example, data shows (https://coin.dance/volume/paxful/ARS) that Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer weekly volume in Argentina reached a record high of nearly $30 million in March on the Paxful exchange.
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_Bitcoin weekly volume in Argentina. Source: Paxful/CoinDance_
Earlier in April, the National Commission of Value (CNV), **Argentina’s securities regulator, approved a Bitcoin-based futures index (https://cointelegraph.com/news/argentina-securities-regulator-approves-bitcoin-futures-index) on the Matba Rofex exchange set to debut in May.**
The derivative, settled in pesos, will enable accredited investors to gain exposure to the Bitcoin markets.
Finally, and ironically, **Argentina’s parallel exchange rate, known as the blue-chip swap, jumped** after Argentina’s Economy Ministry said the **central bank is preparing to dramatically hike its benchmark interest rate by 1,000 basis points** Thursday as a renewed peso selloff in parallel markets piles more pressure on the country’s economic crisis.
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The rate strengthened 2.2% to about 460 pesos per dollar, on pace for the biggest one-day gain since mid-January.
Nevertheless, de-dollarization continues to accelerate globally.
As we detailed recently, (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-defund-global-police-moment-jen-says-de-dollarization-happening-stunning-pace)the greenback’s share in global reserves slid last year at **10 times the average speed of the past two dec…
**Victor Davis Hanson: Dominion Vs 'Russian Collusion' And 'Disinformation'**
Victor Davis Hanson: Dominion Vs 'Russian Collusion' And 'Disinformation'
_Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,_ (https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/26/dominion-vs-russian-collusion-and-disinformation/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=act_eng)
**_Massaging a U.S. election by conspiring to concoct a disinformation campaign must be as actionable as Dominion’s post-election claim of $757 million in damages. That's exactly what happened in 2016..._**
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Fox News is reeling, both financially and with respect to its talent, after being drawn into a long lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
The network just settled for an astounding $757.5 million and soon after released Tucker Carlson, the network’s highest-rated host.
The voting machine company had alleged some of Fox’s hosts had either promulgated, or allowed their guests to push, a false narrative that the corporation’s voting machines were “fixed” and misreported the vote count in some precincts of the 2020 presidential election.
In other words, Dominion walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars on the accusation that some raving guests and a few Fox journalists insinuated, falsely, that the machines had thrown the election to Joe Biden.
**Yet no one argues that such _post facto_ accusations influenced the election.** The postelection dispute instead was over whether a news organization was responsible for all that its hundreds of guests and hosts say that proved later to be not substantiated, false, or defamatory.
Fox settled with Dominion reportedly to avoid messy revelations of its internal texts and to stop the hemorrhaging of its brand.
**But by doing so, the network may have inadvertently set a dubious standard that any speculative opinion, voiced in public media, however nutty and later proven to be inaccurate, will be actionable.**
If that is the standard, we are going to see a lot more costly lawsuits.
**Compare Dominion’s writ with the twin “Russian collusion” and “Russian disinformation” hoaxes.**
Lots of journalists and guests on network news, cable, public broadcasting, and internet news sites ran daily with the utter lie that the concocted Christopher Steele dossier was accurate.
Four years later, they were still claiming that Donald Trump had won the 2016 election only by enlisting the aid of the Russians—as an “asset” and puppet of Vladimir Putin.
**All that was demonstrably untrue.**
No one on these news shows ever produced any information validating the dossier, much less offered apologies to those whose lives they ruined, as in the case of Lt. General Michael Flynn and Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.
The steady two-year drumbeat of media and DNC-fabricated untruths neutered the first two years of the Trump Administration.
**Robert Mueller’s $40 million, 22-month special counsel “investigation” leaked wild and lurid rumors of Trump indictments to come, and yet ultimately found no proof of collusion.**
No matter. The agendas of the Democratic Party’s collaboration with the media were fulfilled. The Trump Administration was wounded, forced on defense to reply to countless new fabrications, and smeared to the point of caricature.
The incumbent president went into the 2020 election crippled by years of media-voiced lies about collusion. Given all that, did these miscreants learn anything the second time around?
**No. They redoubled their efforts. This time, the new farce was “Russian disinformation,” even as the playbook of smearing remained the same.**
- First, once again, **the Left enlisted the media.** It helped to spread the lie that Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop was a product of “Russian disinformation” aimed at helping Donald Trump.
- Second, once more, the **FBI helped to further what the agency knew was a lie.** So the agency either persuaded or paid social media companies in Silicon Valley to suppress news that pointed to an authentic Biden laptop—whose contents revealed embarrassing details about Joe Biden’s (“The Big Guy”) apparent _quid pro quo_ profiteering with foreign nations.
- **Twitter was hired as a news suppressor.** The FBI paid the company $3 million to suss out “disinformation.”
- Joe Biden’s campaign operative, current Secretary of State Antony **Blinken, tapped former interim CIA Director Mike Morell on the eve of the 2020 presidential debate** to round up 50 former senior intelligence officials.
- **The “experts” publicly promulgated the lie** that the laptop “bears the hallmarks of Russian disinformation.”
- Then, as planned, **Biden in the debate used the experts’ phony consensus**—dreamed up by hi…
**TWITTER FILES: WHO Stealth-Edited Vaccine Info To Help Twitter Censor Tucker Carlson**
TWITTER FILES: WHO Stealth-Edited Vaccine Info To Help Twitter Censor Tucker Carlson
_Authored by Paul Thacker, former lead investigator for Sen. Chuck Grassley, via The DisInformation Chronicle (https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/twitter-files-who-censored-itself) (emphasis ours),_
In a revisit to his famed critique of the media “Manufacturing Consent,” MIT’s Noam Chomsky explained in a 2018 interview that money and elites shape and censor the news, ensuring journalistic complicity in protecting corporations and those in power.
“The myth is that the media are independent, adversarial, courageous, struggling against power,” Chomsky said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf-tQYcZGM4). “That’s actually true of some. There are often very fine reporters, correspondents. In fact, the media does a fine job, but within a framework that determines what to discuss, not to discuss.”
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Much of this framework was exposed in a blistering account by a Columbia Journalism Review investigation that documented (https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-1.php) years of faulty reporting and journalistic failures in coverage of Trump by media outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post—many times in articles that later won journalism prizes. One of the few Americans to challenge the official framework of acceptable narratives was a controversial and polarizing Fox News TV talking head, hated by the mainstream reporters for daring to throw darts at liberal pieties.
Nonetheless, the majority of reporters have shrugged aside their colleagues’ reporting fiascoes and the damage done to their own reputations, and continue to blame most failures in journalism on one person: Tucker Carlson.
> 1\. Why did Twitter censor Tucker Carlson? Better yet, who helped Twitter do that? #TuckerTwitterFiles (https://twitter.com/hashtag/TuckerTwitterFiles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)pic.twitter.com/b5WGinZA4V (https://t.co/b5WGinZA4V)
>
> — Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/thackerpd/status/1651685914119139337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
So it was not surprising that reporters began a week-long celebration this Monday when Fox fired Tucker. But years before Fox canned him, Twitter Files show that the bird company sought to clip Tucker’s wings when he reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) did not recommend that children get the COVID-19 vaccine.
**When Tucker’s June 2021 report on the WHO’s vaccine recommendations hit Twitter, the WHO stealth edited their COVID vaccine page to remove language Tucker cited in his op-ed.** The following day, Twitter officials began discussing Tucker’s essay and how to limit its impact without calling attention to Tucker and creating “political risks” for Twitter by directly censoring Fox News.
“Given that this article’s narrative is related to ‘big tech censorship’, I want to be mindful that taking action at the URL level could lead to this particular article gaining more traction rather than mitigating the harm,” emailed one Twitter executive.
> 4\. Twitter then punished Tucker Carlson for this op-ed.
>
> Tucker actually cited the World Health Organisation's own website which stated that the WHO was NOT recommending children get the COVID vax. pic.twitter.com/BKnMnyqbPV (https://t.co/BKnMnyqbPV)
>
> — Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/thackerpd/status/1651685921509502996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Back and forth emails find Twitter officials scrambling to control vaccine information and limit damage to the WHO. According to a previously reported Twitter File (https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/twitter-files-twitter-loves-dr-fauci), Twitter began helping their client Johnson and Johnson market the pharma company’s COVID vaccine in early 2021 while simultaneously removing tweets for what they called vaccine “misinformation.” In the end, Twitter apparently chose to ignore Tucker’s op-ed itself and annotate tweets for “vaccine misinformation” if the tweet were to “explicitly advance the claims in the op-ed itself.”
The Twitter employee who first brought attention to Tucker’s op-ed was policy communications specialist, Elizabeth Busby (https://www.linkedin.com/in/egbusby/). Busby joined Twitter in 2020 after leaving the Senate (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-tech/2021/03/01/will-the-latest-broadband-victory-outlast-the-pandemic-793676), where she was deputy national press secretary to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a frequent critic of Tucker …
**Bank Bailout Facility Usage Soars For 2nd Straight Week, Money Market Inflows Resume**
Bank Bailout Facility Usage Soars For 2nd Straight Week, Money Market Inflows Resume
After last week saw The Fed's balance sheet continue is decline (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fed-balance-sheet-shrinks-4th-week-money-market-funds-see-largest-outflows-almost-2-years) back from its bank-bailout resurgence,all eyes will be back on H.4.1. report (https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/) this evening to see if things have continued to 'improve' or re-worsened amid regional bank shares re-testing post-SVB amid earnings disappointments.
Following the unexpected OUTFLOW the previous week, this week saw **money market funds resume their trend with a $53.8 billion INFLOW**...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
The breakdown was **$48.9 billion from Institutional funds** and **$4.98 billion from retail funds.**
That pushed assets back up near their $5.277 trillion record high and **suggests last week's deposit OUTFLOWS may be about to re-accelerate - not good news for banks?**
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_Source: Bloomberg_
On top of the news from First Republic this week, one could argue that Round 2 of the banking crisis (bank superwalk as Jim Bianco has put it) is just beginning.
Bear in mind though that it's tax-time and their are some odd seasonal impacts to the data.
Though not wanting to piss all over those hopeful fireworks, we note that **reverse repo continues to rise...**
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_Source: Bloomberg_
However, **the most anticipated financial update of the week** \- the infamous H.4.1. showed the **world's most important balance sheet shrank for the 5th straight week last week, by $30.5 billion**, notably more than last week's tumble (helped by a $16.6bn QT)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
The Total Securities held outright on The Fed balance sheet fell to $7.84 trillion, the lowest since Sept 2021...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Looking at the actual reserve components that were provided by the Fed, we find that **Fed backstopped facility borrowings ROSE AGAIN last week from $144 billion to $155.2 billion** (still massively higher than the $4.5 billion pre-SVB)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
...but the composition shifted, as **usage of the Discount Window rose by $4 billion to $73.8 billion** (upper pane below) along with an **$8 billion increase in usage of the Fed's brand new Bank Term Funding Program, or BTFP, to $81.3 billion** (middle pane) from $79.0 billion last week. Meanwhile, other credit extensions - consisting of Fed loans to bridge banks established by the FDIC to resolve SVB and Signature Bank were relatively unchanged at around $170BN (lower pane)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Scanning down the H.4.1, we note that **Foreign repo down another $20 billion back to $0 finally** and **Other Fed Assets (loans to FDIC etc) rose $2.3 billion to $170.4 billion**...
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Of course we get to see the actual deposit outflows (or inflows) tomorrow after the bell, but it appears the hopeful bounce was nothing more than the tax-related seasonal we warned about last week.
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 16:41
**Bonds & VIX Dumped, Bitcoin & Stocks Pumped As Stagflation Signals Soar**
Bonds & VIX Dumped, Bitcoin & Stocks Pumped As Stagflation Signals Soar
**Ugly** growth (GDP), **uglier** inflation (Core PCE), **ugliest** housing data (pending home sales), and **ugliest-er** manufacturing sentiment (KC Fed)... but hey, META beat so BTFD in Mega-Cap Tech...
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_**META is up 15% because their earnings dropped 20% but they mentioned AI 57 times.**_
That helped Nasdaq extend its outperformance (best day since Feb 2nd). The S&P managed a 2% gain before limped lower into the close and Small Caps were the solid runners up in the squeeze race today... The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all just took off as soon as cash trading opened...
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Today's rampage saw S&P and Dow get back to even on the week while Small Caps lag as Nasdaq soars. Notably, S&P and Dow stalled perfectly at unch and held it, unable to push higher...
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Nasdaq is back at recent highs...
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There was a notable divergence between 0DTE VIX and 'Old' VIX (the latter offered as the former was bid)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Under the hood, this had the **smell of 0DTE call-buying** and longer-dated put-covering (both implicitly positive delta and supporting the rally). Notably, **later in the day, 0DTE saw major put-covering also as call-buying faded**...
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_Source: SpotGamma_ (https://spotgamma.com/hiro-indicator/)
This was also notable, given the rise in 0DTE today. Ultra-short-dated options vol has been an early warning system for 'event risk' over the last year....
> VIX1D Post! The CBOE has generously back-filled the data for a year. And in the process, they've made it easy to illustrate a theme we followed closely over this time period, namely that "event risk" was priced into ultra-short dated SPX vol as a function of FOMC and CPI day pic.twitter.com/yRwHpm3BaK (https://t.co/yRwHpm3BaK)
>
> — Alpha\_Ex\_LLC (@Alpha\_Ex\_LLC) April 26, 2023 (https://twitter.com/Alpha_Ex_LLC/status/1651360536632737792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Treasuries were clubbed like a baby seal today with the short-end underperforming. 30Y yield is almost back to unchanged on the week (while the short-end remains notably lower)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
2Y back above 4.00%...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
And the yield curve (2s10s) flattened significantly...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
The dollar slipped modestly lower today, back to unchanged on the week...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Bitcoin rebounded from last night's Mt.Gox fake news FUD crash
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Oil prices managed small gains today but in context to the clubbing of the last few days, meh...
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https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bonds-vix-dumped-bitcoin-stocks-pumped-stagflation-signals-soar
**Another Lockdown Authoritarian Tries To Weasel Out Of Responsibility For Role During Pandemic**
Another Lockdown Authoritarian Tries To Weasel Out Of Responsibility For Role During Pandemic
Another **lockdown fanatic** is attempting to rewrite history.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (which coordinated with the DOJ to label concerned parents domestic terrorists (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nsba-coordinated-with-white-house-doj-before-sending-notorious-domestic-terrorists-letter-emails)), claimed this week in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, that **her organization "spent every day from February on trying to get schools open,"** adding "We knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools."
> AFT President Randi Weingarten: "We spent every day from February on trying to get schools open. We knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools." pic.twitter.com/1qNL05VD3u (https://t.co/1qNL05VD3u)
>
> — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 26, 2023 (https://twitter.com/FreeBeacon/status/1651307624418164736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Except, as Twitter users quickly noted, **Weingarten is misrepresenting her prior positions** \- having called attempts to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 "reckless, callous and cruel (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/17/trump-teachers-reopening-schools-coronavirus-randi-weingarten)."
What's more, her union **pushed aggressively (https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/how-teachers-unions-are-influencing-decisions-on-school-reopenings/2020/12) for closures at the local level**, while areas with high union influence **remained closed much longer (https://www.returntolearntracker.net/instructional_status/)**.
As the _Epoch Times_ (https://www.theepochtimes.com/teachers-union-chief-admits-offering-edits-to-cdc-school-reopening-guidelines-denies-making-substantive-changes_5223457.html) notes;
> **Throughout questioning, Weingarten appeared to ramble and change the topic frequently**, twice pleading her age and failing memory as a reason for lacking clarity.
>
> “ **Look, I’m 65 years old. I don’t remember anything anymore. I’m sorry,**” she said. When admonished for not responding directly to a question, she said, “Sorry, I’m just slow.”
>
> ...
> **Weingarten insisted that she and the AFT placed a high value on in-person education**, understood the harmful effects of prolonged school closure on students, and felt “terrified” as they fended for themselves to define safety and operational policies in the absence of guidance from the Trump administration.
>
> “ **What we were simply looking for was clear, scientific guidance. And when we couldn’t get it, we did it ourselves**,” she said.
So, Randi is full of shit, once again.
Other lockdown all-stars, Anthony Fauci and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, **have also claimed (https://nypost.com/2022/10/22/dr-fauci-rewrites-history-of-the-pandemic-school-closures/) they didn't force (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trudeau-slammed-after-claiming-he-never-forced-anyone-take-covid-19-vaccine) anyone to do anything**.
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We also learned from the more recent Twitter files (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-files-dr-anthony-fauci), **Fauci lied under oath** about his role during the pandemic - claiming he had 'nothing to do with Twitter' and other social media platforms, while he had actually taken over the White House's Twitter account for covid response.
Meanwhile, as _True North (https://tnc.news/2021/12/08/only-nine-countries-more-restrictive-than-canada-with-covid-measures/)_ news noted during the height of the pandemic, **Canada was ranked the 10th most restrictive country in the world** in terms of government Covid-19 measures, according to the University of Oxford's Covid-19 Government Response Stringency Index.
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Perhaps best summed up by Jesse Kelly... "Wildest thing is that **once we’re all dead and gone, this dishonesty you’re seeing now from all the COVID lockdown communists will be remembered as fact.**"
> Wildest thing is that once we’re all dead and gone, this dishonesty you’re seeing now from all the COVID lockdown communists will be remembered as fact. They’ll spend a few years rehabbing their images and those will be the history books.
>
> Makes me question everything I “know”. https://t.co/uWe7mocCsj (https://t.co/uWe7mocCsj)
>
> — Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/sta…
**Germany Mulls Chip Chemical Export Controls To China As Tech War Heats Up**
Germany Mulls Chip Chemical Export Controls To China As Tech War Heats Up
Whether the conversations have been about Chinese spy balloons or AI breakthroughs, Western nations and China are increasingly ramping up a "tech war (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/biden-launches-full-blown-economic-war-china-it-will-backfire)." The latest development emerges from Germany, as Berlin contemplates restricting exports of chemicals to Chinese firms, which are essential for producing advanced semiconductors.
Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-27/germany-in-talks-to-limit-the-export-of-chip-chemicals-to-china) reports that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government is considering new measures that would restrict German companies like Merck KGaA and BASF SE from exporting some of their chemicals to China for advanced semiconductor production.
Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck are falling in line with other European countries, such as the Netherlands, to ensure Beijing's development of advanced chip technology is halted.
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In March, the Netherlands became embroiled in political tensions between the US and China by announcing plans to move ahead with export controls on "advanced" semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The tiny European nation is home to ASML, one of the world's top manufacturers of semiconductors machines.
Bloomberg said talks concerning German export controls are still in the early stages, and lawmakers understand any final decision could severely damage relations with Beijing.
"Habeck, who is also the vice-chancellor, has advised officials in his department to work on a toolbox of measures to strengthen Germany's economic resilience in certain areas and reduce one-sided dependencies on China. The idea of imposing export controls on chip chemicals is part of these deliberations," sources said.
"The quickest and most practical way to implement such export controls would be to put the respective goods and services on Germany's national dual-use list," the sources continued, adding that other approaches via international lists and treaties would probably take too long.
Export restrictions could be imposed on goods that have the potential to be used for both civilian and military purposes. The purpose of these dual-use lists is to prevent China from making advanced weaponry with Western materials or chip technology.
Bloomberg pointed out that export controls on supplies from Merck and BASF could disrupt Chinese supply chains for developing advanced chip technologies.
It appears now the Biden administration is pressing numerous European countries to help stop China from further developing its chip industry. In October, the US unveiled export curbs, blocking multiple chip technologies from being acquired by Chinese companies.
Washington prohibited US companies Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp., and KLA Corp from exporting some chips to China. Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd. and ASML (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/netherlands-japan-talks-us-throttle-chinas-chip-ambitions-tech-war-heats) would be critical in the West's move to restrict chip products to China.
The technology war between the US and China is heating up as numerous European countries are aligning with Washington to ensure the West maintains its supremacy in global technological developments.
And by the way, China is beginning to hit back. (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-surgically-hits-foreign-firms-us-tech-war-worsens)
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 07:45
**So Many Open Signs Of Financial Disaster Ahead And Gold Working**
So Many Open Signs Of Financial Disaster Ahead And Gold Working
_Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,_ (https://goldswitzerland.com/so-many-open-signs-of-financial-disaster-ahead-and-gold-working/)
From oil markets to treasury stacking, backdoor QE, investor fantasy and hedge fund prepping, it’s becoming more and more clear that the big boys are bracing for disaster as gold stretches its legs for a rapid run north.
Recently, I dove into the **cracks in the petrodollar** (https://goldswitzerland.com/golden-question-is-the-petrodollar-the-next-thing-to-break/) as yet another symptom of a world turning its back on USTs and USDs.
Gold, of course, has a role in these headlines if one looks deep enough.
So, let’s look deeper.
**Diving Deeper into the Oil Story**
The headlines of late, for example, are all about “surprise” OPEC production cuts.
Why is this happening and what does it say about gold down the road?
First, let’s face the politics.
As noted many times, it seems US policy, on everything from **short-sighted (suicidal?) sanctions** (https://goldswitzerland.com/ukraine-war-headlines-tough-talk-real-math-bad-options/) to the “green initiative” makes just about zero sense in the real world, which is miles apart from the “keep-me-elected” fantasy-world of DC.
After all, energy, matters, which means oil matters.
But the current regime in DC has been losing friends in Saudi Arabia and cutting its prior and once admirable shale production outputs (think 2016-2020) in the US despite a world that still runs on black gold fighting against green politics.
The DC attack on shale may make the Greta Thunbergs happy, but let’s be blunt: It defies economic common sense.
Saudi, by cutting production, is now showing a still very much oil-dependent world it is not afraid of losing market share to the USA in the face of rising oil for the simple reason that the USA just aint got enough oil to fill the gap or flex its energy muscles.
In the meantime, Chinese demand for crude is peaking while Russian oil flows to the east (including to Japan) are hitting new highs at prices above the US-led price cap of $60/barrel.
If DC has any blunt realists (wrongly castigated as tree-killers) left, it will have to re-think its anti-oil policies and get back toward that recent era when US shale was responsible for 90% of total global oil supply growth.
If not, oil prices can and will spike, making Powell’s war on inflation even more of an open charade.
Speaking of inflation…
**Ghana Oil-for-Gold Beats Inflation**
When it comes to oil and the decades-long **bully-effect of a usurious USD** (https://goldswitzerland.com/sanctions-spur-a-massive-decline-in-western-hegemony-as-the-world-de-dollarizes/) (See: _Confessions of an Economic Hitman),_ we have argued countless times that a strong USD and an imposed petrodollar was gutting developing economies around the world.
We also warned that developing economies (spurned by global distrust of the Greenback in a post-Putin-sanction era of a weaponized reserve currency) would respond by **turning their backs on US policies** (https://goldswitzerland.com/how-the-west-was-lost-declining-world-reserve-currency/) and its dollar.
In the old days, the US could export its inflation abroad. But those days, as we warned as early as **March 2022**, (https://goldswitzerland.com/why-gold-will-rise/) would be slowly but steadily coming to a hegemonic end.
Again, this does not mean (nod to the Brent Johnson) the end of the USD as a reserve currency, just the slow end of the USD as a trusted, used or effective currency.
Toward that slow but steady end, it’s perhaps worth noting that Ghana’s inflation rate has fallen from 156% to just over 60% since it began trading oil for gold rather than weaponized USDs.
Hmmm.
**Gold Works Better than Inflated Greenbacks**
The most obvious conclusion we can draw from such a predictable correlation is that gold seems to be working better than fiat dollars to fight/manage inflation, a fact we’ve been arguing for well…decades.
From India to China, Ghana, Malaysia, China and 37 other countries engaged in non-USD bilateral trade agreements, the inflation-infected USD is losing its place in more than just the critical oil trade.
Nations trapped in USD-denominated debt-traps (thanks to a rate-hiked and hence stronger and more expensive USD) are now finding ways to tie their exports (i.e., oil) to a more stable monetary asset (i.e., GOLD).
This, of course, makes me that much more confident that as the world moves closer to its global (and USD-driven) “Uh-Oh” moment, that the already-telegraphed Bretton Woods 2.0 will have to involve a new global order tied to something golden rather than just something fiat.
This, again, explains why so many of the world’s central banks are loading up on gold rather than Uncle Sam’s I…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/so-many-open-signs-financial-disaster-ahead-and-gold-working
**Eggflation Ends With Cal-Maine Shares Down The Most Since 2008**
Eggflation Ends With Cal-Maine Shares Down The Most Since 2008
On Tuesday, financial services firm Stephens Inc. lowered their rating of Cal-Maine Foods from overweight to equal weight, pointing to concerns about plunging wholesale egg prices as the reason.
Stephens research analyst covering the consumer staples, food and agribusiness, and grocery/c-store sectors Ben Bienvenu said in a recent conference call with Urner Barry, a market research firm that tracks wholesale food prices, that wholesale egg price trends were "understandably more downbeat."
> _"When considering what's currently playing out for eggs, we think it is best for us move to the sidelines on Cal-Maine as we think risk/reward is now more balanced," the analyst said._
Bienvenu is one of a handful of Wall Street analysts covering Cal-Maine. He said collapsing egg prices threaten to depress the earnings of the egg producer, which recorded revenue last quarter that was more than double the same period last year. Net income for the company jumped more than 700% to $323 million.
Cal-Maine shares are down 19%, the most significant monthly plunge since September 2008. The analyst lowered his price target to $60 from $67. Shares currently trade around the $49 handle.
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On Feb. 6, we were the first to point out: _We've Got Great News: Wholesale Egg Prices "Collapse."_ (https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/weve-got-great-news-wholesale-egg-prices-collapse)At the time, the index of wholesale egg prices plunged from around $4.65 to $2.01. Now the index stands at .887 cents.
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Bienvenu said that a crucial factor for Cal-Maine investors to keep an eye on is the potential re-emergence of bird flu:
> _"While there certainly could still be cases that arise, and that would negatively impact production and consequently result in higher prices, we think at this point it is prudent to no longer recommend putting new money to work in the space."_
Retail egg prices at supermarkets have already begun to slide after the worst avian flu outbreak (https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/egg-prices-grocery-stores-hyperinflate-ahead-thanksgiving) ever devastated domestic egg-laying bird populations last year.
Now comes egg deflation unless bird flu reemerges.
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/eggflation-ends-cal-maine-shares-down-most-2008
**Tucker Reappears In 8PM Time Slot, But Not With Fox -- Which Just Suffered "Catastrophic" Ratings Crash**
Tucker Reappears In 8PM Time Slot, But Not With Fox -- Which Just Suffered "Catastrophic" Ratings Crash
After Tucker Carlson's surprise split from _Fox News_, the #1 rated cable news host in history **re-emerged from his home office on Wednesday to offer a stunning 8PM monologue** covering his thoughts on the media landscape, and his future.
According to Carlson, one of the things one notices when one takes a little 'time off' **is "how unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are. They're completely irrelevant. They mean nothing.**
"In five years we won't even remember that we had them... and yet, at the same time, the undeniably big topics - the ones that will define our future - get virtually no discussion at all. **War, civil liberties, emerging science, demographic change, corporate power, natural resources**. **When was the last time you heard a legitimate debate about any of those issues?**"
" **Debates like that are not permitted in American media**," Carlson continued, adding " **Both political parties,** and their donors, have reached consensus on what benefits them - **and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it**.
"Suddenly the United States looks like a **one-party state**," Carlson said.
Watch:
> Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE (https://t.co/SPrsYKWKCE)
>
> — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1651376097349578753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Carlson doesn't think this will last, however, noting that while the above is a "depressing realization," he doesn't think this is permanent.
> _"Our current orthodoxies won't last. They're brain-dead. Nobody actually believes them. Hardly anyone's life is improved by them. This moment is too inherently ridiculous to continue, and so it won't._
>
> _The people in charge know this, that's why they're hysterical and aggressive. They're afraid. They've given up persuasion - they're resorting to force. But it won't work. **When honest people say what's true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful**. At the same time, the liars who've been trying to silence them shrink - and they become weaker. **That's the iron-law of the universe; true things prevail.**"_
Tucker rhetorically asked "Where can you still find Americans saying true things? There aren't many places left, but there are some **\- and that's enough. As long as you can hear the words, there is hope. See you soon.**"
_Fox News_, meanwhile, **suffered a 'catastrophic drop in viewers'** following Carlson's ouster for still-unknown reasons, according to _The Federalist_'s Sean Davis.
> Fox News suffered a catastrophic drop in viewers after ousting Tucker Carlson.
>
> In the 8pm slot alone yesterday, Fox lost nearly 50% of total viewers and nearly 70% of viewers in demo compared to last Tuesday.
>
> Demo ratings were down across the board, impacting all shows:
>
> The… https://t.co/1ZbAhET359 (https://t.co/1ZbAhET359)pic.twitter.com/HYH4BrGnOW (https://t.co/HYH4BrGnOW)
>
> — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1651379914946347010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
This is devastating...
> 1st pic is last Tuesday's Top 50 cable TV shows
>
> 2nd pic is last night
>
> They are ranked by 18-49 (age) viewers
>
> Tucker was #6 in 18-49. Other Fox News primetime Top 30
>
> This week? Fox News 8pm hour ISN'T IN THE TOP 50
>
> Neither was Hannity at 9pm
>
> Fox News is hemorrhaging viewers pic.twitter.com/WBX4j1tLBn (https://t.co/WBX4j1tLBn)
>
> — The Woke Antidote Podcast (@TheWokeAntidote) April 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/TheWokeAntidote/status/1651385221550333953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 06:44
**Whales And Offshore Wind: The Verdict Was In Before The Coroner's Report**
Whales And Offshore Wind: The Verdict Was In Before The Coroner's Report
_Authored by Nikki Martin & Erik Milito via RealClear Wire (https://www.realclearwire.com/articles/2023/04/23/whales_and_offshore_wind_the_verdict_was_in_before_the_coroners_report_895372.html),_
**It’s always a tragedy when whales and dolphins, among the most majestic, intelligent sea creatures on Earth, wash ashore after dying.**
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A recent spate of whale and dolphin deaths in New Jersey reminded us of this, but what followed was **a rush to jump to conclusions** and blame activities around offshore wind development – in particular geoscience survey work – for the unfortunate series of deaths, without any evidence.
Elected leaders from the local to national level fired off letters to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Congress, and the Biden Administration demanding a moratorium on offshore wind construction or seeking information to support blaming offshore wind. One Congressman held a hearing in his state about the matter. Media reports generated wide interest, and many lacked correct information, whether by accident or design.
In all cases, the guilty verdict was in before the coroner’s (necropsy) report was. The rush of finger-pointing could not be more incorrect nor unscientific.
Here’s the verdict of the Marine Mammal Commission, the independent federal body charged with protecting the animals: “Despite several reports in the media, there is no evidence to link these strandings to offshore wind energy development,” the commission said in a recent statement (https://www.mmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/Update-on-Strandings-of-Large-Whales-along-the-East-Coast-2.21.2023.pdf). It described the deaths as “not new, nor are they unique to the U.S. Atlantic coast.”
As we saw, **those whales that underwent post-mortems died from vessel strikes or fishing gear entanglement (https://www.app.com/story/news/local/land-environment/2023/03/08/nj-whale-deaths-full-list-how-they-died-jersey-shore/69977937007/).** The Atlantic waters near where the whales washed ashore have heavy ship traffic, heading in and out of the ports of New York and New Jersey and Newark, among America’s busiest.
Plenty of evidence exists that neither offshore wind development nor the geoscience survey work required to safely build them is to blame. Although the direct cause of whale beachings remains a mystery, many are attributed to illness and injuries, storms, and even toxins from algae, to name a few.
As for activities to develop offshore wind as a cause of marine mammal deaths, there is no known connection, regardless of species, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) (http://events/). Further, geoscience activities have been conducted extensively for over six decades around the world without direct harm to marine mammal populations, much less been linked to any strandings.
For example, **over 180 humpback whales have stranded (https://www.npr.org/2023/02/05/1153922137/dead-whale-strandings#:~:text=Since%20Dec.%201%2C%20at%20least%2018%20reports%20have,watch%2C%20due%20to%20ongoing%20rises%20in%20unexpected%20deaths.) along the East Coast since 2016, with 10 or more humpback whales beached each year since then,** peaking at 34 in 2017. Offshore wind projects weren’t operating during almost all of that period.
While many gigawatts of wind energy are planned, today there are only seven operational turbines offshore the East Coast. The deaths come as the New Jersey and New York coasts are attracting more whales, in what some attribute to a rebound in their food source (https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/environment/2022/07/19/humpback-whale-sightings-continue-resurgence-in-new-york-bight-waters/65376083007/).
Ship traffic also has increased up and down the seaboard, which prompted NOAA to propose (https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-proposes-new-vessel-speed-regulations-to-protect-north-atlantic-right-whales) enforcing a 10-knot speed limit farther from port and for boats as small as 35 feet to limit marine mammal injuries and give whales time to get out of the way.
Offshore survey vessels move under that speed and follow rigorous protocols to ensure all marine life is protected. In fact, geoscience work contributes to the marine sciences and our focus is always on operating in a manner that does the least to disturb the oceans.
The marine mammal deaths in New Jersey are a tragedy, but we will have failed ourselves and those creatures if we do not study what has happened thoroughly. We should let the facts, science, and best available data determine what happened, why…
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/whales-and-offshore-wind-verdict-was-coroners-report
**"Bottoming Out": World's Second-Largest Memory Chipmaker Sees Bust Cycle For Industry Ending**
"Bottoming Out": World's Second-Largest Memory Chipmaker Sees Bust Cycle For Industry Ending
The world's second-largest memory chipmaker expects the memory chip sector to be bottoming out after several quarters of pain and might be moving toward recovery amid the proliferation of artificial intelligence systems.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix reported (https://news.skhynix.com/2023-first-quarter-financial-results/) Wednesday a record quarterly operating loss of 3.4 trillion won in the first quarter. This is the most significant loss since Hynix was acquired by SK Group in 2012.
This is a reversal from the 2.84 trillion won operating profit in the first quarter of 2022 and an increasing operating loss versus the previous quarter. Revenue also slumped 58% versus the same quarter last year to 5.09 trillion. Net losses for the first quarter were about 2.59 trillion won, compared to a 1.99 trillion won profit in the first quarter of 2022.
"As the memory chip downturn continued through the first quarter, the company posted a sequential drop in revenues and widened operating loss on sluggish demand and falling products prices," SK Hynix wrote in a statement. The company continued, "But we expect revenues to rebound in the second quarter after bottoming out in the first, driven by a gradual increase in sales volume."
Chief Financial Officer Kim Woohyun sees the light at the end of the tunnel:
> _"The memory market, which is still under tough conditions, seems to be bottoming out."_
The call for a bottom in the memory sector downturn comes after Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest producer of chips, said earlier this month it would make a "meaningful" cut to memory production (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/samsung-slashes-chip-production-after-reporting-massive-profits-plunge).
SK Hynix expects the memory chip glut to "improve from the second quarter with production cut by suppliers taking into effect."
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The company expects memory demand to increase in the second half of this year due to the "growing high-performance server market for artificial intelligence including ChatGPT and a wider adoption of high-capacity memory products by customers to have positive impact on the market."
Recall PC demand surged during the Covid crisis, but shortly after, a bust cycle (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pc-bust-cycle-will-last-until-2024) led to a glut of memory chips and all things computers. We've told readers since last fall it might be a good time to build a new trading computer as PC components plunged (read: here (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/gpu-prices-plunge-china-lowest-level-amid-ethereum-merge) & here (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/memory-price-correction-underway-worlds-forth-largest-dram-maker-warns) & here (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/computer-monitor-prices-slide-pc-bust-worsens)). Now a bottom in some of these components is forming.
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 05:45
**Macron Gives 'Le Doigt' To Free Speech: Protesters To Be Prosecuted For Flipping-Off French President**
Macron Gives 'Le Doigt' To Free Speech: Protesters To Be Prosecuted For Flipping-Off French President
_Authored by Jonathan Turley,_ (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/04/24/macron-gives-le-doigt-to-free-speech-anti-macon-protesters-to-be-prosecuted-for-flipping-off-french-president/)
Five years ago, I wrote a column criticizing Democratic and Republican members of Congress (https://jonathanturley.org/2018/04/29/europes-invasive-species-we-should-keep-macrons-oak-and-send-back-his-speech-limits/) who joined the media in gushing over an address from French President Emmanuel Macron as he called for European style censorship. **Free speech has been in a virtual free fall in France for decades and Macron is a major voice in that movement.**
This week, the French added another outrage to Macron’s legacy by promising to prosecute three citizens who protested the President by flipping him off at an event. **The use of “ _Le Doigt_” could now land them in “ _La Prison_.”**
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**The three will be prosecuted under France’s abusive criminal code that allows for the arrest of those who engage in speech that “affect the personal dignity or the respect owed to a public official.”** It is a breathtaking denial of political speech and invites selective prosecution.
If convicted, they could face a fine of 15,000 euros and potentially up to one year in prison, according (https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-divers/trois-personnes-jugees-pour-des-insultes-envers-emmanuel-macron-a-selestat-alsace-2254909.html) to La Chaîne Info.
**Macron has hit a record low in polling, (https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/04/22/le-screw-up-emmanuel-macron-popularity-sinks-to-record-low/) but his government will now enforce respect for him through threats of incarceration.**
France has been a leader in the rollback on free speech (https://jonathanturley.org/2019/07/08/france-emerges-as-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-threats-to-free-speech/) in the West with ever widening laws curtailing free speech. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to “inciting” or “intimidating” others based on race or religion. For example, fashion designer John Galliano has been found guilty in a French court on charges of making anti-Semitic comments against at least three people in a Paris bar. At his sentencing, Judge Anne Marie Sauteraud read out a list of the bad words used by Galliano to Geraldine Bloch and Philippe Virgitti, including using ‘dirty whore” in criticism.
In another case, the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority “smelly.” A French mother was prosecuted because her son went to school with a shirt reading “I am a bomb.”
**A French teenager was charged for criticizing Islam (https://jonathanturley.org/2020/02/05/french-teenager-forces-free-speech-debate-over-her-calling-islam-a-religion-of-hate/) as a “religion of hate.”**
Yet, our leaders (and many in the media) were ecstatic when Macron came to the Congress and called for a joint war against “fake news,” declaring, “Democracy is about true choices and rational decisions. The corruption of information is an attempt to corrode the very spirit of our democracies.”
**Nothing says Democracy like jailing those who do not show you respect.**
The anti-free speech wave has now reached our own shores and many like Hillary Clinton have even called on Europeans to censor Americans (https://jonathanturley.org/2022/12/01/the-european-union-moves-toward-a-possible-ban-of-twitter-if-musk-restores-free-speech-protections/) on social media if Twitter or other companies fail to do so.
Many have argued (falsely) (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/27/yes-hate-speech-is-protected-under-the-first-amendment/) that hate speech is not protected under our Constitution, including members of Congress. In France, the middle finger is not free speech when directed at a public official. Likewise, speech considered harmful or disrespectful to particular groups is barred.
**It is all about instilling good virtue but punishing the wicked.** After all, as Maximilien Robespierre taught the French, “Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue.”
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 05:00
**Taliban Kill Mastermind Of Kabul Airport Bombing That Killed 183, Including 13 US Military**
Taliban Kill Mastermind Of Kabul Airport Bombing That Killed 183, Including 13 US Military
**A ground attack carried out by the Taliban has killed the Islamic State militant believed to have masterminded the Kabul airport suicide bombing** that killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members, US officials announced Tuesday.
The Taliban assault happened earlier this month, and it was only over recent days that US intelligence analysts concluded "with high confidence" that he'd been killed.
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**A video image shows the aftermath of the bombing at the Kabul airport's Abbey Gate**(Department of Defense) (
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**The name of that senior operative of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) is still classified**, and no additional details have been provided about the circumstances of his death.
The Department of Defense said **the United States didn't coordinate with the Taliban** or otherwise aid the assault that killed the senior Islamic State terrorist. ISIS-K is the chief enemy of the Taliban, and has perpetrated an ongoing string of terror attacks. _AP_ (https://apnews.com/article/taliban-isis-abbey-gate-afghanistan-bombing-9a9cb492bb1352a615af8815e715b17a) reports the group is believed to be 4,000-strong in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, **the White House released a National Security Council report that blamed the Trump administration for the disastrous exit.** In addition to the horrific airport bombing, that exit included Afghanis falling to their deaths from departing Air Force cargo planes -- and American taxpayers abandoning (https://fee.org/articles/here-s-the-list-of-billions-in-military-equipment-the-us-left-behind-for-the-taliban/amp?gclid=CjwKCAjw9J2iBhBPEiwAErwpebiAB30_7M7U3vX9Wx5ShnWR72XAfgViDrI_3b3o07KFBKNAl22u-RoCbNoQAvD_BwE) 22,000 Hummers, close to a thousand armored vehicles, 64,000 machine guns, 358,000 rifles and almost 200 artillery pieces.
After the report was released, **White House spokesman John Kirby said Biden is "very proud" of how the withdrawal was carried out,** and mind-bogglingly denied that the withdrawal was chaotic:
> White House spox John Kirby on the disastrous withdrawal from #Afghanistan (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw): "For all this talk of chaos, I just didn't see it!" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/MCpykrUebb (https://t.co/MCpykrUebb)
>
> — Viper (@viper202020) April 7, 2023 (https://twitter.com/viper202020/status/1644179911769194497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
The August 2021 bombing occurred as thousands of Afghans mobbed Hamid Karzai International Airport, desperate to leave before the Taliban re-established full control over the country.
Last weekend, the **Pentagon started notifying family members of the slain US service members**. “Whatever happens, it’s not going to bring Taylor back and I understand that,” Darin Hoover, father of Marine Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, told the _Associated Press_ (https://apnews.com/article/taliban-isis-abbey-gate-afghanistan-bombing-9a9cb492bb1352a615af8815e715b17a).
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“About the only thing his mom and I can do now is be an advocate for him. **All we want is the truth. And we’re not getting it.** That’s the frustrating part," added Hoover, who said that -- ever since the explosion -- **he's been praying for the Biden administration to be held accountable** for mismanaging the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
**That withdrawal capped a pointless 20-year war that killed 2,400 US service members and wounded more than 20,000.** Along the way, they fought enemies created by their own government (https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/thinking-of-enlisting-read-this-afghan), were ordered to ignore pedophilia (https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/thinking-of-enlisting-read-this-afghan) perpetrated by Afghan officers, breathed carcinogenic fumes from waste burn pits (https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/thinking-of-enlisting-read-this-afghan), and endured long-lasting psychological harm -- all while their military and civilian masters lied (https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/thinking-of-enlisting-read-this-afghan) about the war's progress.
_No wonder the military is falling far short of its recruiting targets._
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 04:15
**Poland Vs EU: New Survey Shows Poles Reject Cashless Society, Ban On Combustion Engines, & Restrictions On Meat Sales**
Poland Vs EU: New Survey Shows Poles Reject Cashless Society, Ban On Combustion Engines, & Restrictions On Meat Sales
_Authored by Grzegorz Adamczyk via Remix News,_ (https://rmx.news/poland/poland-vs-eu-new-survey-shows-poles-reject-cashless-society-ban-on-combustion-engines-and-restrictions-on-meat-and-clothing-sales/)
**_Poles are not happy with what the EU is selling..._**
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Poles are opposed to the EU’s policy of banning combustion engine vehicles and to ideas circulating in the EU on forests, meat, clothes and a cashless economy, according to a poll carried out by the European Policy Research Center (CBPE)
The poll reports that **67 percent of respondents are opposed to an EU rule that will ban Europeans from registering combustion engine (https://rmx.news/poland/poles-against-eu-ban-on-combustion-engine-cars/) vehicles starting in 2035**. The idea of the EU ban is supported by only 28 percent of Poles.
The opposition to the EU ban on such vehicles is seen across a broad spectrum of Polish society, including urban and rural inhabitants, as well as both those with higher degrees and those who have only finished high school.
The CPBE survey also asked respondents their views on the idea of **transferring the power over forests (https://rmx.news/poland/polish-conservatives-slam-eu-attempt-to-take-control-of-forests/) to the EU, away from the member states. Over half of the respondents, 57 percent, opposed such an idea.** Only 34 percent supported it. Once again, the opposition to the idea is similar across all age and socio-economic groups.
Another idea being discussed in the EU is limiting the consumption of meat to 16 kilograms per person, per year, as well as limiting the sale of clothes to eight new items per person.
**Only 21 percent backed the meat consumption reduction target,** with 76 percent opposed. The results were similar with regard to the purchase of new clothes, with 23 percent supporting it and 73 percent against.
Poles are also against a cashless economy (https://rmx.news/article/over-500000-austrians-demand-right-to-cash-payments-be-added-to-countrys-constitution/). The European Parliament recently (https://cointelegraph.com/news/european-parliament-report-recommends-researching-but-not-launching-digital-euro) recommended that a digital euro be researched but not yet launched. Privacy advocates warn that a cashless society could have grave consequences for personal freedom, with authorities able to track in all transactions in real time. This may be a prerequisite to imposing strict limits on what people can buy, including clothing items and meat products. Digital currencies may also be tied to social credit scores relating to political opinions and social behavior, as they are in China.
**Advocates for a cashless society within Brussels argue that digital currencies would limit the black market. However, 81 percent of Poles oppose getting rid of cash, with only 17 percent in favor.**
Similar opposition to a cashless society can be seen in nations such as Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Last year, over 500,000 Austrians signed a petition (https://rmx.news/article/over-500000-austrians-demand-right-to-cash-payments-be-added-to-countrys-constitution/) calling for the right to use cash to be enshrined in the Austrian constitution. As a result, a referendum on the issue will be launched within the country. With a population of 8.9 million, the massive show of support for the right to pay with cash demonstrates the growing movement against digital money, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
As Remix News previously reported (https://rmx.news/article/over-500000-austrians-demand-right-to-cash-payments-be-added-to-countrys-constitution/), **globalist institutions like the World Economic Forum have long lobbied for a cashless society** and have routinely run articles such as “Why we should try to make cash obsolete (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/10/bob-keiller-electronic-payments-cash/),” “The benefits of a cashless society (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/benefits-cashless-society-mobile-payments/)” and “Should cash be abolished? (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/01/should-cash-be-abolished/)” Back in 2017, economist Joseph Stiglitz called for banning all paper currency (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/the-us-should-get-rid-of-cash-and-become-a-digital-economy-says-this-nobel-laureate-economist) in the United States, a position the WEF also positively reported on. Central banks across the world are also currently “leading the way (https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2…
**After Being First G-7 Belt & Road Signatory, Italy Under Meloni Mulls Pullout**
After Being First G-7 Belt & Road Signatory, Italy Under Meloni Mulls Pullout
Italy's firebrand conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni is not playing ball with China, throwing a wrench into President Xi Jinping’s efforts to peel a handful of European Union countries away from US policy.
_Bloomberg_ days ago reported (https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3217992/italy-rethinks-its-close-china-ties-us-backs-stronger-break) that "Meloni, the right-wing leader who came to power less than a year ago, is **leaning toward pulling out of an agreement to join China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative**, which has funded US$900 billion in infrastructure projects globally, according to people familiar with the government’s thinking."
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"Italian officials raised the prospect of withdrawal in talks with Taiwan this week, Bloomberg reported." Meloni has previously been on record (in 2019) as calling the BRI "a big mistake".
This could be a huge blow to Beijing, given Italy had been the very **first G-7 country became part of the controversial Chinese initiative**, crucial to Xi's vision for Chinese global expansion.
Italy had formally signed on under then Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte. It's widely perceived that this triggered greater Washington engagement with Rome, in order to steer the country away from Chinese influence.
According to analysis cited in the initial Bloomberg report:
> _“Italy is **stuck between a rock and a hard place**, and what to do with the cooperation pact is a real diplomatic conundrum for Meloni,” Francesca Ghiretti, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies research company, said in an interview. “Renewing it would send a very difficult message to Washington, but not renewing it would put a strain in relations with China.”_
It remains that Italy's governing coalition appears split, with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy said to be more in favor of canceling the pact. The PM could have an official statement ready to roll out by the time of May’s G7 summit in Hiroshima, but this remains uncertain.
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Italy isn't well-connected to China by shipping routes, either, which is probably why Xi in prior years cited improving connectivity and building ports as a key objective of BRI in Italy.
According to priors years' domestic polling in Italy, most Italians have seen the deal as an opportunity, while a few still see it as a risk.
Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Thu, 04/27/2023 - 02:45
**No Conspiracy: Left & Right Working Together**
No Conspiracy: Left & Right Working Together
_Authored by Andrew Korybko via The Automatic Earth blog,_ (https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2023/04/no-conspiracy-left-right-working-together)
**The US’ Weaponization Of Anti-Russian Fake News Against Germany**
The Washington Post (WaPo) pushed several conspiracy theories in their recent piece alleging that “Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/21/germany-russia-interference-afd-wagenknecht/)”. Citing what they claim to be “a trove of sensitive Russian documents largely dated from July to November that were obtained by a European intelligence service”, WaPo reported that elements within Germany’s left-aligned Die Linke and its right-leaning AfD are cooperating due to some shadowy Kremlin plot.
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All three parties denied this accusation, which builds upon Reuters’ similarly conspiratorial report (https://korybko.substack.com/p/reuters-report-about-pro-putin-operatives) from early January alleging that “Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine (https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-crisis-germany-influencers/)”. Taken together, these two articles can be interpreted as part of a wider information warfare offensive aimed at discrediting the natural trend of political forces pragmatically putting aside their differences on specific issues in order to cooperate on shared ones like ending NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine (https://astutenews.com/2022/03/russia-is-waging-an-existential-struggle-in-defense-of-its-independence-sovereignty/).
**Three Interconnected Conspiracy Theories**
This development was first observed over the last decade, during which time three interconnected conspiracy theories were invented by those gatekeepers with a self-interested stake in perpetuating traditional partisan divisions. They claimed that this is all due to the mischievous work of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who supposedly weaponized the so-called “horseshoe theory” in order to assemble what’s been smeared as the “red-brown alliance”.
The first-mentioned forms the basis of countless conspiracy theories due to the false claim that he’s “Putin’s brain”, which preconditioned targeted audiences to extend credence to the wildest claims about him and his work. The second concept, meanwhile, refers to the theory that the far left and far right are secretly aligned. As for the third, those previously mentioned gatekeepers throw this term around in order to discredit all instances of left-right cooperation as supposedly being due to Dugin’s meddling.
**Unipolar Liberal-Globalism vs. Multipolar Conservative-Sovereigntism**
In reality, the global systemic transition (https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-russian-foreign-ministry-comprehensively) has shattered the previous polarization between the left and right by giving birth to two different diametrically opposed concepts: unipolar liberal-globalism (ULG) and multipolar conservative-sovereigntism (MCS). This analysis here (https://astutenews.com/2022/05/whats-dishonestly-smeared-as-russian-propaganda-is-just-the-multipolar-worldview/) explains the differences between them more at length, but the present piece will now summarize them for the reader’s convenience due to its relevance in debunking the conspiracy theories pushed by Reuters and WaPo.
ULG believe in the “hegemonic stability theory” (unipolarity), are against any restrictions on socio-cultural issues like the aggressive imposition of LGBT+ (https://korybko.substack.com/p/whats-behind-russias-latest-bill)propaganda (https://korybko.substack.com/p/putin-has-a-point-the-wests-liberal) onto children (liberalism), and want to force everyone to follow their models (globalism). By contrast, MCS believe in decentralizing International Relations (multipolarity), restricting some socio-cultural issues like the aforesaid example (conservatism), and respect every society’s right to choose their own models (sovereigntism).
**The Real Reason For Growing Left-Right Cooperation In Germany**
The genuine left and right, and not those ULG gatekeepers who masquerade as either (but mostly as leftists), generally embrace MCS. Even if they differ on economic and socio-cultural issues, they’re united in opposing unipolarity and globalism since those two concepts represent an existential threat (https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-wests-liberal-globalist-elite) to their respective ideological interests. Accordingly, they’re increasingly cooperating on shared MCS interests such as bringing an end to…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-conspiracy-left-right-working-together