🇪🇺❌💰 Europe seems to be preparing a war on Bitcoiners: higher cap gains on BTC in Italy, a proposed exit tax in The Netherlands, no mortgage in the UK if you made the money for your real estate in crypto (personal experience!), and now the ECB is telling no-coiners that Bitcoiners are keeping them poor. That last one is truly unbelievable: the early adopters were simply smarter (or spent more time on it) and willing to take more risk. Now they are getting villified for that. Very dangerous that these are words from the ECB, it sounds more like the communist Chinese Central Bank to me.

The Overton window is quickly shifting against Bitcoiners (and against wealthy people in general). I have heard from a number of people in The Netherlands who hold Bitcoin that they are getting a bit worried about the changing regulations. If Bitcoin should double or triple in 2025 I would not be surprised to see more politicians turning against BTC and trying to tax it excessively. Be prepared!

https://x.com/marcvanderchijs/status/1847630643766972887

@FelipeChannel

🇷🇺❌🇰🇿 Russia bans fruit and veg from Kazakhstan after country refuses to join BRICS

Russian agriculture safety watchdog this week temporarily banned imports of tomatoes, peppers, fresh melons, wheat, flax seeds and lentils from Kazakhstan.

“The decision was made due to the failure of competent authorities in Kazakhstan to take action and in order to ensure the phytosanitary safety of the territory of Russia,” the Rosselkhoznadzor authority said on its website.

The restrictive measure comes shortly after Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, refused to join BRICS.

“At present and most likely in the foreseeable future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting an application to BRICS,” the Kazakh president’s spokesperson, Berik Uali, said in an interview with local news on Wednesday.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-bans-vegetables-from-kazakhstan-after-country-refuses-to-join-brics/

🇪🇺🔋 EU car sales at 3-year low in August, EV sales plunge 44%

New car sales in the European Union fell 18.3% in August to their lowest in three years, dragged down by double-digit losses in major markets Germany, France and Italy and sliding electric vehicle (EV) sales, auto industry body data showed on Thursday.

The data showed the fourth consecutive monthly drop in EV sales, prompting the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) to demand "urgent action" to prevent further decline.

Car manufacturers ask that the EU cut back on CO2 emissions targets for vehicles as EVs collapse in popularity. Registrations of plug-in electric cars meanwhile fell 22.3% in the 27-member bloc.

Sales at Europe's three largest carmakers Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), opens new tab, Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab and Renault (RENA.PA), opens new tab fell from a year earlier, by 14.8%, 29.5% and 13.9%, respectively.

Car sales in Europe are below pre-COVID-19 levels and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), opens new tab said in September the trend could continue for the foreseeable future.

Sales at EV maker Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab fell 43.2% in August, and those for China's SAIC Motor (600104.SS), opens new tab were down 27.5%.

The shrinking EV sales are partly because of diverging policies on green incentives across the EU, while regulators have imposed hefty tariffs to try to keep out cheap Chinese EVs, potentially adding to purchase prices.

To try to revive the market, Germany agreed in September on tax deductions of up to 40% for companies on their EV sales.

Campaign group Transport & Environment, however, said the market will recover, predicting battery electric cars will reach a total market share of between 20% and 24% by 2025 in the EU, mostly because of lower selling prices.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/eu-car-sales-3-year-low-august-ev-sales-down-439-acea-says-2024-09-19/

🇩🇪 Volkswagen denies plans to cut 30,000 staff from its workforce but wants to end a three-decade-old job protection pledge that would have banned layoffs until 2029.

Manager Magazin reported that the car maker was looking at axing the jobs over the medium term. It said CFO Arno Antlitz was also planning to cut funding for investments over the next five years to €160bn.

That is a cut of €10bn from an earlier VW announcement that its medium-term planning target between 2025 and 2029 would be €170bn.

Analysts at Jefferies investment bank had suggested VW was considering the closure of between two and three plants, potentially putting up to five German sites at risk and threatening 15,000 jobs.

🔗 https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/09/20/volkswagen-denies-plans-to-cut-30000-staff-from-its-workforce

🇮🇹 Italian car workers go on strike for the first time in 20 years as pressure mounts on Stellantis

Oddly enough, the workers demands are not about inadequate salaries but rather, a lack of predictability from the company's board of directors and, in general, the uncertain future of their jobs as car sales go down.

"We are working one to two days a week when it goes well. So, what we are saying today is that the (ecological) transition cannot be exclusively paid for by the workers," said Riccardo Falcetta, an official of the UIL metalworker union in Bari.

The world's fourth-largest car manufacturer is under pressure to provide clarity about its future production plans as it faces growing competition and financial strains.

Italy's government has accused the company of relocating assembly plants to low-cost countries.

According to production figures for the first nine months from the trade union, the Italian Federation of Metal Mechanics, Stellantis' production plunged by 40% in 2024 compared with last year.

"In order to meet the government-established target of 1 million vehicles in 2030, the Stellantis Group would have to double production," the report said.

The multinational group, created in 2021 from the merger of Fiat-Chrysler and PSA Peugeot, recorded a sharp drop in output at most of its Italian plants in the first half of 2024. Over the past 17 years, the car maker has slashed its Italian production by nearly 70%.

CEO Carlos Tavares has recently blamed EU carbon emission rules for raising production costs, suggesting that the group may be forced to close some assembly plants to meet competition from China. He said he "could not rule out" job cuts, reiterating a need for additional state incentives to spur demand for electric cars.

Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Chrysler vehicles, has been in the spotlight following a profit warning in which it said it expected to finish the year with a loss of up to €10bn ($11.2bn).

The company announced this week that it would pause the production of the Fiat Panda in November. The decision followed a similar one a month ago concerning the Fiat 500 electric.

🔗 https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/10/18/italian-car-workers-go-on-strike-as-pressure-mounts-on-stellantis

🇺🇸📁⚡️🇮🇱❌🇮🇷 — 🇺🇸 Axios | Pro-Iranian account leaks alleged U.S. intel on Israel's attack plans | October 19, 2024:

"U.S. officials are extremely concerned about a potentially major security breach after two alleged U.S. intelligence documents about Israel's preparations for an attack on Iran were published by a Telegram account affiliated with Iran."

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🇺🇸📁⚡️🇮🇱❌🇮🇷 — 🇺🇸 CNN | Leaked documents show US intelligence on Israel’s plans to attack Iran, sources say | October 19, 2024:

"(CNN) — The US is investigating a leak of highly classified US intelligence about Israel’s plans for retaliation against Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter. One of the people familiar confirmed the documents’ authenticity.

The leak is “deeply concerning,” a US official told CNN.

The documents, dated October 15 and 16, began circulating online Friday after being posted on Telegram by an account called “Middle East Spectator.”

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🇺🇦We reinvent anti-drone weapons every month. If we don’t, we die

Ukrainian arms plants are using frontline experience to create defence tech at a speed ‘unthinkable’ in Britain. Outpacing Russia is a matter of survival

Hedgehog-style backpacks and land robots with “dome shields” designed to disable Russian drone swarms are being developed and will be rolled out to the Ukrainian front line in as little as four weeks.

Serhii Skorik, commercial director of the Ukrainian company Kvertus, said he usually spent his time either on the front line in Ukraine or in one of several heavily guarded laboratories churning out defensive weapons for under-fire troops on the battlefield.

Although the UK industry can take years to develop drone and counter-drone technology, Skorik says in Ukraine they are having to create new technology every few weeks to keep pace with Russian development of novel weapons.

When senior army chiefs in the Ministry of Defence in London discuss the Ukraine conflict, they refer to “the war of one-day ideas”. Weapons that make it to the front line don’t last long before the Russians have worked out a way to destroy them. The same goes for the Ukrainians, who are developing new defensive measures so quickly that Moscow is having to constantly reinvent new technology.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/9e7a4ed5-7307-46b5-b0f0-1c810f388d73

https://archive.ph/64ADp

🇨🇺💥 — In Havana, Cuba, the people have taken to the streets banging pots and pans in protest against the power outages occurring on the island due to the regime's poor financial management, despite receiving funds from countries like Russia to invest in electrical improvements.

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦🏭 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | Russia Poised To Cripple Ukraine Steel Industry By Seizing Vital Coal Mine | October 19, 2024:

"In what promises to be a major milestone in more than two-and-a-half years of war, Russia is closing in on the capture of a vital industrial asset: a Ukrainian coal mine that's a cornerstone of the country's steel industry.

Owned by Ukrainian firm Metinvest, the modern facility -- opened in 1990 -- is Ukraine's largest mine for producing coking-coal, a specific grade used to fuel blast furnaces. It's near the village of Udachne, about 10 kilometers west of the city of Pokvrosk, which is itself a key supply hub in Ukraine's Donetsk oblast. Per the latest reports, the Russian army is reportedly just 8 to 12 kilometers east of Pokrovsk. Defensive lines have already been dug to Pokrovsk's west, so Ukrainian units will have positions to drop back to if Pokrovsk falls."

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦🏭 — 🇬🇧 The Economist | Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine | Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled | October 13, 2024:

"(...)

Pokrovsk’s mine is far from being a rickety old Soviet relic. It opened in 1990 and now belongs to Metinvest, a company owned by Rinat Akhmetov, one of Ukraine’s richest men. Metinvest also owned the two Mariupol steel plants, and one of the largest coking-coal production plants in Europe which was in Avdiivka, and which was destroyed last year. Now he faces the loss of this mine too.

(...)

Along with its associated plants and administration buildings, the Pokrovsk mine group employs 6,000 people, of whom some 1,000 are currently serving in the armed forces. It is the largest coking-coal mine in Ukraine. Its coal, used for smelting iron ore, is vital for the country’s remaining steel industry. This year Metinvest hoped to mine 5.3m tonnes of coal there. In 2023 Ukraine’s steel plants produced 6.2m tonnes of crude steel. In 2021 though, before the loss of the two Mariupol plants, Ukraine had produced 21.4m tonnes. In 2021 Ukraine was the world’s 14th largest steel producer but last year it had tumbled to 24th.

According to Andriy Buzarov, an analyst, the Russians do not even need to take the mine to throttle Ukraine’s remaining steel industry. As they advance, they will try to cut its power supply and shell the main road that takes its coal west to the remaining steel plants. They will then do the same at another smaller coking-coal mine 18km north of Udachne at Dobropillia, he thinks."

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🇺🇸📰🤫🌐🌐 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | The US Plans To Let BRICS Fail In A Geopolitically Explosive Environment | Authored by Peter Hanseler via VoiceFromRussia.ch | October 17, 2024:

"(...)

For China and Russia, which play a leading role in BRICS – Russia currently holds the chair – the following questions arise: Should BRICS accept few, no or many new members? Candidates are lining up, but some are under enormous pressure from the US to avoid joining BRICS. Should a new payment mechanism independent of the US dollar be introduced now, further upsetting the balance in already unstable financial markets? Such decisions, or even the mere communication of them, have the potential to significantly alter the entire geopolitical situation within hours – positively or negatively, depending on the observer’s point of view."

#Geoeconomics

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🥇📈🚀GOLD spot reach again a new All Time High over $2740/oz!

@FelipeChannel