🇪🇺 Eurosceptic parties are on the rise despite the EU's efforts to curtail the trend

🇸🇰Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has become a thorn in the side of the European bureaucracy after moving to abolish the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Per Fico, the office was used by his predecessor to purge opposition. The EC has threatened to take action against Bratislava.

Nonetheless, the Eurosceptic trend is gaining steam across the bloc, especially on the right wing of the political spectrum:

🇵🇹 Portuguese conservative party the Democratic Alliance (AD) came out on top during the March legislative elections, with populist right-wing Chega gaining 50 seats, up from 12 in 2022.

🇳🇱 Populist right-wing politician Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party's (PVV) victory in the Dutch general election in November 2023.

🇩🇪 German polls show that if elections were held today, the nation's conservative Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party would be the second largest.

🇮🇹Brothers of Italy, a national-conservative party, won the Italian general election in 2022. The party's head, Giorgia Meloni, is the incumbent prime minister of Italy.

🇫🇷 In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party is leading over Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance in the polls for June's European elections.

🇦🇹 The Freedom Party of Austria, a right-wing party, is currently leading in polls and has every chance of winning Austria's legislative elections, which will be held in fall 2024.

📹 It is expected that European conservative parties will expand their presence in the EU Parliament in the aftermath of the June 2024 election.

The rise of the anti-establishment right in the EU is at least partially due to the decade-long migrant crisis and the recent involvement of Brussels in the Ukraine conflict, which has led to economic slowdown, soaring inflation, plummeting living standards, and an energy crisis, according to international observers.

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📈 What’s pushing gold prices to sky-high levels?

The price of the yellow metal soared to a record high on Thursday, with gold futures expiring in April climbing 2.12 percent to $2,206.7 per troy ounce on the COMEX Exchange as of 8:54 Moscow time. Meanwhile, spot gold rocketed to a record high of $2,222.39. Experts believe there is still room for gold to rise further. So, what’s driving this gold bull run?

🔶 US Central Bank Policies: A dovish US Federal Reserve is one key factor, as there is an inverse relationship between gold prices and interest rates. A dip in interest rates makes the yellow metal more attractive to investors. While the Fed left the benchmark rate unchanged on Wednesday, they hinted at looming rate cuts in 2024.

🔶 Geopolitical Tensions: Gold has long been considered a safe-haven asset during times of geopolitical turmoil. The ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict and the Red Sea crisis have boosted the appeal of gold as a safe investment. The Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, which controls large parts of northern and western Yemen, vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until Tel Aviv halts its military actions in the Gaza Strip. The US coalition’s failure to secure the waterway has disrupted trade routes.

🔶 De-dollarization: The West’s sanctions barrage against Russia, coupled with the fact that 2023 was the dollar’s worst-performing year, have fueled the de-dollarization trend, as countries aim to secure their assets and distance themselves financially from Washington’s whims.

🔶 Gold Demand: Because of these global tensions and the greenback’s shaky reputation, central banks around the world have been on a gold-buying spree since 2023 amid plummeting confidence in the US-led world order. By Q3 2023, global central banks had acquired close to 800 tons of the precious metal, according to the World Gold Council.

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💬 "The New York Times is pure propaganda," stated Elon Musk

This is how he commented on old NYT publications about the corruption case investigation against Hunter Biden.

The media outlet claims that "Trump supporters" made "baseless" accusations against the US President's son in order to politically damage Joe Biden.

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Why Russia resurrected the Dnepr Flotilla

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced this week that the country has reestablished its legendary WWII-era Dnepr Flotilla. This is not a symbolic move, as the mighty river dividing Ukraine in two parts remains a crucial frontline: Ukraine is holding the right bank, while Russian forces are controlling the left across hundreds of kilometers.

Sputnik queried experts to get a sense of some of the tasks the naval group may be expected to carry out.

🔶“The Dnepr River Flotilla’s formation is connected with the need to strengthen our forces in the southwestern direction,” Russian Academy of Military Sciences corresponding member Alexander Bartosh told Sputnik.

🔶“This is a significant and important step aimed at strengthening our position in operations on waterways,” Bartosh emphasized, saying he expects the flotilla’s missions to include foiling enemy landing, sabotage and reconnaissance operations and providing support to Russian ground forces, and possibly even being used to support Russian forces in ops in the enemy hinterland.

🔶“This idea has been around since the very start of the special military operation, since in some areas the line of contact was along the river,” Dmitry Zhavoronkov, a military expert specializing in the Russian Navy and military shipbuilding, told Sputnik.
“So in my view, the decision is an absolutely correct one. The line of contact runs up along the Dnepr River right up to the outskirts of the city of Zaporozhye,” he said.

🔶Zhavoronkov emphasized the need for the military to pay “special attention” to “various unmanned vessels, including unmanned boats and kamikaze attack vessels, relay boats, air defense boats and electronic warfare vessels” to protect manned ships and enable the flotilla to wage unmanned naval drone warfare operations of its own.

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