Steve Bannon: "Nancy Pelosi thought a federal prison was going to break me. Well, it empowered me. I am more empowered today, more focused today, sharper today, in better shape today than I've even been in my entire life, so Nancy Pelosi, suck on that."

📎 CSPAN

🇩🇪🇧🇪 Audi Brussels to close in early 2025, signaling deepening VW crisis

German carmaker Audi will close its Brussels plant on Feb. 28 next year, the company’s management announced at a special works council meeting Tuesday.

Management added it is still in talks with a potential buyer to take over the Belgian plant, which has been facing the ax for several months due to poor sales and a crisis affecting its owner, the Volkswagen Group.

No layoffs are expected until the beginning of 2025, and the plant’s management continues to talk with a potential investor who might take over the factory, although not necessarily to continue making passenger vehicles. A savior could emerge from the commercial vehicle sector, for example, with unions suggesting a manufacturer of tractors.

While unprecedented, however, the closures would come as no surprise, as the automaker is facing a sharp decline in sales in China, its core market, and is also being challenged by Chinese competitors entering the European market.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/audi-brussels-to-close-in-early-2025-signaling-deepening-crisis-of-vw/

🇬🇧🇺🇸 Donald Trump to launch 'all-out war on Labour if he wins' after row over interference in US election

The US presidential candidate reportedly regards Starmer as an "anti-American and a whingeing, liberal bore", according to a Tory source with knowledge of Trump's campaign.

The source told The Mail on Sunday: "Do not underestimate the damage Starmer has done to relations with the US - the Trump team are ready and waiting to unleash all-out war on him, because he is perceived as anti-American and a whingeing, liberal bore".

🔗 https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/donald-trump-to-launch-all-out-war-on-labour-if-he-wins-us-election/

🇯🇵🇺🇸🗳❗️ — Japan Restoration Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai), a Right-Libertarian/Conservative party of Japan, refuses any kind of deals with Japan's Constitutional Democratic Party (Main socially liberal party of Japan) due to the fact that the CDP invited the Leftist Pro-LGBT & Pro-Palestine Reiwa Shinsengumi to talks regarding a coalition

➡️ Thus, given such, any dream of a Liberal Coalition-ruled Japan ended for this election.

🇯🇵🐣 Johann on X:

>McDonald's Japan introduces anime girl mascot
>instant success
>Vatican introduces anime girl mascot
>instant sucess
>LA Dodgers get Gawr Gura to sing to them
>make it to the world series

Simply add a cute anime girl to experience success

📎 Johann

🇨🇳 💻 ⚛️ — China ‘poised to lead’ creation of quantum-proof telecoms security protocol

China is expected to play a leading role in creating a “quantum-proof” communication protocol, after scientists from the country presented a design blueprint at a major international conference on telecoms standards.

The protocol aims to help the world fend off potential attacks from quantum computers that could break traditional communication encryption methods.

A scalable quantum computer once developed could compute exponentially faster than a conventional computer so much so that it could leave all conventional encryption obsolete.

🔗 Link

🇺🇸 🇯🇵 🏦 From Nomura Charlie McElligott:

Markets have largely priced in a Trump victory and Wall Street seems to be eyeing a full Republican sweep next week.

In the event of a Harris victory and a gridlocked congress, traders are positioned "Risk Reversal" across asset classes sending bonds higher while sending interest rates, deregulation themes such as bank stocks ($XLF), gold, and bitcoin lower.

In the unlikely event of a full Democratic sweep of both the Senate, the House, and the Presidency, serious acute downside risks for the broader stock market is likely given negative growth implications of re-regulation and corporate tax hikes impact on earnings, especially after markets have already rallied considerably into the election on expectations of tax cuts.

🗒 In simple terms, if Harris wins but congress is R or split, bonds ($TLT) should rally while bank stocks ($XLF) gold, and bitcoin will likely see downside while the broader market ($SPY) will likely still rally into the end of the year

❗️ However, if Democrats sweep all of congress and the presidency, expect a potential -7% to -10% in the broader market ($SPY) over 1 to 3 months after the election

Overall, market participants are "over-hedged" given recent volatility over the past three months. In the absence of a Democratic sweep, hedge funds are going to FOMO into higher net exposure through to the year's end to make up for the cost of current downside hedging and underexposure.

@CIG_Telegram
Paper

🏹🇰🇵🇷🇺 Dr. Snekotron on X:

"Just saw estimates for the amount of artillery ammunition that the DPRK supplied to Russia, and it's way more than I thought initially. For close to 20,000 shipping containers, it's close to 6m rounds of 152 and 122."

📎 Dr. Snekotron

🚢🇺🇸 The United States must grow the merchant mariner force now, before conflict begins. - U.S. Naval Institute

The recent Houthi-led attacks on commercial shipping have again highlighted a reality of war at sea: Merchant mariners are on the same frontline as their naval cousins—except without defensive weapon systems, extensive compartmentalization, and abundant manpower for damage control. Operation Prosperity Guardian, the multinational security initiative in the Red Sea, provides an excellent opportunity to consider what future awaits the U.S. Merchant Marine in contested waters.

Today, civilian mariners (CivMars) provide 100 percent of the logistical support to the Navy via the Military Sealift Command (MSC), and they are integral to the operation of command ships, submarine tenders, and expeditionary mobile bases. MSC employs approximately 1.27 CivMars per seagoing billet, which has caused significant burnout in the community as reliefs are delayed, stretching nominal four-month tours to as long as six months.1 Programs to improve sea/shore rotation and to modernize the assignment of CivMars to ships from the “pool” remain in progress. Once hostilities commence, retention can reasonably be expected to fall.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2024/october/reestablish-us-maritime-service

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧 — Israel issued evacuation warrent for the whole of Baalbek city, with more than 90k population.

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧🏛 — Mayor of Baalbek:

We fear that the historic Baalbek Castle and its heritage will be targeted.

✍📝Side note: Israel has destroyed over 200 historical and heritage sites in Gaza, including ancient mosques, harbours and one of the oldest Christian monasteries, in what some have described as a “Cultural Genocide”

🚢 🇨🇳🇵🇭 Navy: Chinese Navy taps fishing vessels as ‘force multipliers’ in SCS

The Philippine Navy on Tuesday said China has been tapping normal fishing boats to act as “force multipliers” to show force in the South China Sea (SCS).

🇸🇬📝Collin Koh: "There's a core cadre of full-time maritime militia, but vast remainder of PRC fishing fleet remains liable to be called upon to perform patriotic duties as needed, and even while on fishing expeditions they still serve as eyes and ears for the authorities."

https://tribune.net.ph/2024/10/29/navy-chinese-navy-taps-fishing-vessels-as-force-multipliers-in-scs

🇪🇺 EU wants to create a spy agency that is able to centralise information and coordinate the national spy agencies of its member states

The EU spy agency should be akin to the 5 Eyes agreement between the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-spy-service-cia-ursula-von-der-leyen/

👨‍🚀🇺🇸🗳 American Lunar Astronaut Buzz Aldrin endorses Trump for President and champions Elon Musk's cause for a return to the moon.

https://fxtwitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1851628221013622787