Bitcoin boom buoyed by investor concerns about ‘weaponized dollar,’ US debt mountain

The decentralized cryptocurrency smashed past the $72,000 mark in Monday trading, a month-and-a-half after a watershed US Securities and Exchange Commission ruling approving Bitcoin-based exchange traded funds.

💬 “Now that the Bitcoin ETFs have been pretty much approved by the SEC, it provides a vehicle that institutional money can get into. And that opens the door among Western investors primarily of where to put their money,” Paul Goncharoff, chief manager of consulting firm Goncharoff, LLC, told Sputnik, commenting on the cryptocurrency’s booming value.

While saying he personally wouldn’t invest in the cryptocurrency at this stage due to a market overheated by investments driven by fear and greed, Goncharoff stressed that any investors looking to take the plunge should set strict limits on expected earnings and display self-control.

💬 “Set the limits of what you want to earn – if it’s 5%, 10%, 20% – and act on it. That is discipline. Because it’s going to go up and it’s going to go down, and violently and radically. So it’s not for a pension plan. Although hanging on to it for a period of five, 10, 15 years, I think is a rather good bet – then you will come out ahead,” Goncharoff said.

The search for alternatives to traditional markets and stores of value like Bitcoin isn’t surprising, in the veteran analyst’s estimation, given the “weaponization of the dollar” and the unsustainability of Fed policy and America’s debt load.

“Using an old expression, [the dollar] is not worth the paper it’s printed on. The debt load cannot be serviced, [with] interest rates that are larger than America’s defense spending. This can’t last for long. I wouldn’t venture to say how long it will last, but eventually it will implode. So better to be far away from it when it does,” Goncharoff stressed.

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Gotland Island: From trading hub to military stronghold

New NATO member Sweden is “open to reinforcing defenses” on the Baltic Sea’s strategic island of Gotland, according to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. But why was this particular island chosen?

Situated off the south-east coast of Sweden, Gotland — with its capital Visby and indigenous language Gutnish – changed hands several times over its history. The trading hub fell under German, Danish, and Swedish rule in turn thanks to its strategic location. Dubbed the "watchtower of the north,” and “giant aircraft carrier,” Gotland:

🟥 Covers 2,994 km2 in area and is fully surrounded by the Baltic Sea.

🟥 Is in the middle of the key Baltic trade route from north-east to central Europe.

🟥 Sits halfway between the Swedish mainland and Estonia.

🟥 Russia's Navy base in the enclave of Kaliningrad is some 350 km away; Kronstadt and Leningrad are even closer.

The Gotland Garrison traces its history back to 1811.

🟥 Throughout the Cold War, Gotland had four regiments numbering 25,000 soldiers.

🟥 In 1989, the GMC in Visby commanded the Gotland Brigade with three Armored battalions. Hardware included tanks, 105mm and 155mm howitzers.

🟥 The Gotland garrison was disbanded in 2005.

🟥 After Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, Sweden reinforced personnel and hardware on Gotland, with an initial garrison of 150 troops.

🟥 The New Gotland regiment was established in 2018, with 400 permanently deployed troops, a mechanized battalion with CV90 armored vehicles and Leopard 2 tanks, and a Home Guard amphibious battalion.

🟥 Surface-to-air missile defense systems were reactivated in 2021.

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US playing 'double game' in Haiti as crisis threatens regional spillover

Haiti’s old ties with the US may aggravate the spiraling crisis, threatening to spill over into neighboring countries, international affairs analyst Rocío Méndez Bautista told Sputnik.

💬 “[Haiti] is a ‘red light’ in the Caribbean which requires a great deal of attention to prevent this crisis from spreading to other regions. It is a situation that has gotten out of control," the academic with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) pointed out.

Furthermore, Haitian gangs “are reluctant [towards intervention of other countries] because the United States recognizes Henry's government; they blame Washington for this undemocratic administration. Likewise, the exodus of people can reach Miami, and even Mexico [...]. Furthermore, gang members could infiltrate, triggering instability [on United States territory]," Méndez Bautista explained.

Whether it was years of direct military occupation or providing money and weapons, US involvement in Haiti has scarred the embattled country, another researcher said.

Washington has already pledged an additional $100 million for a UN-backed force to be sent to Haiti, along with $30 million worth of humanitarian assistance. However, weighing in on Haiti’s economic dependence on the US, Colombian researcher Marcela Landazábal Mora, doctor in Latin American studies, told Sputnik:

“We are witnessing a double game, double rhetoric. On the one hand, there is humanitarian problem with shelters and everything that follows from this. And on the other hand, a military buildup, which is manifest not in the United States sending troops, but in funneling money and weapons to continue to multiply the internal war.”

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