Gold update:
🔹China 🇨🇳 has increased its gold reserves for a seventh consecutive month, with an addition of approximately 16 tons in May.

🔹The IMF demands that the gov't of Ghana 🇬🇭 make full disclosure of it's ongoing gold for oil trade deals if it wants the IMF to fulfil a $3 billion Extended Credit Facility programme.

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 has ramped up its imports of gold (3.262 metric tons in the past 6months) amid efforts by the country to offset the impacts of US 🇺🇸 sanctions on its economy.

🔹The UAE 🇦🇪 imported 75.7 tonnes of Russian gold worth $4.3 billion in the 12 months post March 2022, up from just 1.3 tonnes during 2021. The UAE, China and Türkiye 🇹🇷 accounted for 99.8% of Russian 🇷🇺gold exports.

🔹India 🇮🇳 - If local gold prices continue to rise, recycled bullion sales are expected to jump more than 20% and match the previous high of 119.5 tons set in 2019.

🔹Gold giant Newmont has declared force majeure on deliveries of metal products from its Peñasquito mine in Mexico 🇲🇽 due to an ongoing strike where workers are demanding a larger share of the mine's profits.

🔹Rumours continue of mystery gold buyers driving up the price, speculation points to the Central Banks of Russia & China 🇨🇳.

Video source - Sean Foo

🔹Irish Member 🇮🇪 of the European Parliament, Mick Wallace breaks silence on Ukrainian agricultural land being expropriated via schemes by Western hedge funds such as Blackrock and facilitated through Ukrainian oligarchs and Western financial institutions (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development & the European 🇪🇺 Investment Bank). His microphone was cut as he was completing his sentence "what are the working class Ukrainians dying for...?".

🔹An MoU between Ukraine 🇺🇦 and BlackRock on the creation of the Ukrainian Development Fund formalises the processes of transferring the country's main assets under the multinational's control. BlackRock also holds large stakes in Ukrainian companies Metinvest, DTEK, Naftogaz, Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo.

🔹Ukraine's budget deficit is being covered by EU 🇪🇺 and IMF assistance and the state is already pre-bankrupt by all accounts. An active sale of property to Blackrock and others are in motion before state bankruptcy. Cargill, Dupont and Bayer (formerly Monsanto), have bought 17 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural 🚜 land. (the whole of Italy 🇮🇹 has 16.7 million hectares of agricultural land).

🔹Even billions of dollars of US military aid to Ukraine 🇺🇦 is predatory debt paving the way to theft of Ukraine’s assets. Under Clause (3) of the Lend-Lease Act of 2022: "Any loan or lease of defense articles to the Government of Ukraine under paragraph (1) shall be subject to all applicable laws concerning the return of and reimbursement 💵 and repayment...".

🔹A number of large US 🇺🇸pension funds, foundations and university endowments are also invested in Ukrainian land through NCH Capital – a US-based private equity fund, which is the fifth largest landholder in the country. President Zelenskyy put the land reform into law in 2020 against the will of the vast majority of the population who feared it would exacerbate corruption and reinforce control by powerful interests in the agricultural sector.

🔹Kenyan 🇰🇪 President William Ruto described the global lending system as "unfair, punitive and not giving everybody a fair chance", while he attended a two-day summit in Paris 🇫🇷. French president Emmanuel Macron's high-stakes climate financing summit hit a snag as leaders from the Global South seek tangible change.

🔹Macron 🇫🇷 proposed tax on shipping 🚢 emissions reportedly gained support, and could be addressed at the International Maritime Organisation meeting next month. But more comprehensive tax proposals – ranging from taxes on polluters and fossil fuel 🛢companies to financial transactions were discretely parked.

🔹Ruto said: "We are tired of this story" painting Africans as "victims of climate change" who are "looking for favours" and "complaining". "We do not want to look for help. We want to participate in the solution,". Ruto 🇰🇪 wants to attract private investment more than development aid for his eastern African nation, but he is also calling for reform of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 President Ruto encouraged traders in African states to use the Afreximbank (African Export Import Bank) trade mechanism that allows trade between each other in goods and services, where the remaining balance is settled in local currencies.

💠 Kenyan 🇰🇪 gov't starts making purchases of oil using Kenyan shillings so oil brokers will not hoard dollars.

💠 India has given approval for opening a special rupee vostro account with Kenya for facilitating international trade in the Indian 🇮🇳 rupee.

💠 Saudi 🇸🇦 Aramco to supply petroleum products in Kenya for 6 months on credit, due to Kenya's shortage of US dollars.

Video source - Simon Ateba

🔹The Netherlands 🇳🇱 is set to shut down its Groningen gas fields on Oct. 1, leaving it on stand-by in case of an exceptionally cold winter. As of October 2024, the gas fields will be closed permanently and dismantled. The reason given was resulting tremors (earthquakes) related to drilling. Groningen, which still holds massive reserves of natural gas, supplied gas to 98% of the Dutch population as of 2019.

🔹Europe’s LNG 🚢 imports surpassed those coming to the continent via pipelines for the first time. Pipeline gas imports last year were about 151 billion cubic meters, compared with 232 billion a year earlier 📉. The 35% year-on-year drop contrasts with LNG imports, which increased 📈 to 170 billion cubic meters in 2022 from 108 billion a year earlier. Europe was a premium market (paying higher prices), which helped lure more LNG to its shores.

🔹Europe faces a cut-off of piped Russian 🇷🇺 natural gas that transits Ukraine in 2024 as Kiev 🇺🇦 does not plan to renew a five-year transit contract with Gazprom first signed in 2019. Ukraine has secured $7 billion dollars 💵 in transit fees from Russia on this contract.

🔹There is another option if the contract is not renewed, but is highly unlikely given present circumstances. Gazprom 🇷🇺 could technically still send gas through Ukraine by booking capacity through auctions that its gas transmission system operator is obliged to hold, under European 🇪🇺 rules.

🔹European gas prices surged to more than 10 times their normal level in 2022, reaching the equivalent of almost $600 a barrel in oil terms, but have since fallen sharply 📉. The benchmark TTF contract is back to about €40 per megawatt hour — down almost 90% from its peak last August.

Video source - Bloomberg, CGTN, University of Chicago.

🔹Siemens Energy shares previously fell 🔻36% (June 23rd) after the co. withdrew its fiscal 2023 profit guidance after it was discovered that components in wind turbines made by its subsidiary Siemens Gamesa are wearing out faster than expected. Its shares remain down🔻35% over the past 5 days as of June 27th and has dropped 🔻 39% for the past 30 days.

🔹The creaky components ⚙️, which affect 15% to 30% of the installed onshore fleet, will be expensive to fix. Management thinks the cost could run upward of 💶 €1 billion, ($1.09 billion), effectively wiping out more than a third of the profit the co. is expected to make doing maintenance on wind turbines it has already installed. Meanwhile, offshore turbines aren’t meeting their productivity targets due to rising material costs 📈 and manufacturing delays.

🔹Wind-turbine makers rely on the servicing side 🛠 of their business to generate steady earnings. But contracts guaranteeing a certain amount of uptime are turning out to be costly. Factually, wind generation is more expensive than we are being told and the performance of wind turbines tends to deteriorate with age.

🔹Siemens Energy and other manufacturers have given warranties on performance that won’t be met because of higher failure rates. Warranties have a limited period, often 5 to 8 years, but the higher failure rates will affect performance over the remainder of the life of the wind farms. Current energy policies in the West are based on foundations of sand – naïve optimism reinforced by enthusiastic lobbying divorced from engineering reality.

🔹Amid the wind energy turmoil, Sweden 🇸🇪 is now looking to build more nuclear reactors 🏭 after its parliament formally abandoned its 100% renewable energy target of meeting net-zero by 2045. The decision implicitly acknowledges the low quality of unstable wind and solar. Meanwhile, France 🇫🇷 is planning to hike it's wind energy higher above the target of 40 GW to align with the EU’s 2030 climate goal.

Video source- Bloomberg

The de-industrialisation of Germany 🇩🇪- Part 8:

🔹Textile company Hofer Spinnerei Neuhof files for bankruptcy after 125 years of spinning mill 👕operations.

🔹One of the country's largest mail order 📦 co.'s, Klingel, from Pforzheim, existing since 1923 is insolvent.

🔹Glass manufacturer Weck GmbH & Co of Dortmund is bankrupt after 120 years in operation.

🔹Germany’s central bank may need a bailout to cover losses on the debt 💶 it hoovered up as part of it's massive €650bn bond-buying programme from the ECB.

🔹Heads of the Employers’ Association in North Rhine-Westphalia are worried the nation is at a dangerous point and is dissatisfied with the gov't after Germany slipped into a technical recession. Almost one-third of German medium-sized Mittelstand 🏭 firms are thinking about transferring production and jobs abroad.

🔹 Germany's business climate index dropped 📉 to 88.5 this month from 91.5 in May.

🔹German exports of motor vehicles and engines to China 🇨🇳 plunged by 26% Y-o-Y in Q1 2023.

Previous parts on the de-industrialisation of Germany 🇩🇪:

💠 Part 7 - May '23 - 300-year-old traditional slaughterhouse Röhrs Butchery 🥩 filed for bankruptcy along with 2 other century old business.

💠 Part 6 - Mar '23 - Eisenwerk Erla ⚒ of Saxony, files for bankruptcy after more than 600 years of existence. Other century old businesses go bankrupt.

💠 Part 5 - Feb. '23 & Part 4 - Jan. '23 - Year starts with a slew of bankruptcies of co.'s in operation for over 100 years.

💠 Part 3 - Nov. '22 - CEO of the Federation of German Industries 🏭 said 1 in 4 German co.'s is considering moving production to other countries.

💠 Part 2 - Nov. '22 & Part 1 - Oct. '22 - Manufacturers after existing for over a century shut down.

Video source- Afd in English.

🔹Over 328 arrests in France 🇫🇷 after the 3rd night of protests post the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a Paris suburb. Some 40,000 law enforcement officers were deployed nationwide on Thursday June 29th, to quell potential violence, including about 5,000 in the capital and its inner suburbs. Firefighters 🚒 ask Parisians to only call for emergencies.

🔹The unrest comes after a 17-year-old driver was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic check in Nanterre on Tuesday morning. The officer 👮‍♂️ was detained on suspicion of manslaughter amid an ongoing investigation into the incident. Police stations, schools and town halls are set on fire 🔥 or attacked along with reports of looting. Much of the unrest has been centred in the capital Paris 🇫🇷.

🔹The 17-year-old who died has been identified only as Nahel. His mother is Algerian and father Moroccan. He was known to police for previous incidents in which he failed to comply with traffic stops. Nahel died from a single shot through his left arm and chest. President Macron faces criticism for attending an Elton John concert 🎉 during the protests.

🔹Police spotted him driving a Mercedes on a bus lane in Nanterre on the western outskirts of Paris. They attempted to pull him over at a red light 🚦using sirens and lights, but Nahel disobeyed and committed several traffic offences. Tuesday's killing was the third fatal shooting during traffic stops in France so far in 2023, down from a record 13 last year.

🔹Ethiopia's 🇪🇹 Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Meles Alem confirms the country's BRICS 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 membership application."We have applied for membership and we expect BRICS to give us a positive response to the request we have made". "As a country that has been a founding member of global institutions like the African Union and the UN, and as we seek to guarantee our national interests, it is important to join blocs like BRICS".

🔹With the second-largest population in Africa, Ethiopia 🇪🇹 sees an opportunity to tap into the benefits of BRICS membership. Though its current economy ranks 59th globally (IMF data), Ethiopia's rapid growth and sizable population make it an appealing contender for the bloc.

June 2023 BRICS developments reported on this channel:

💠 Bangladesh 🇧🇩 plants to join BRICS & will attend the BRICS leaders’ summit scheduled to take place in South Africa in August.

💠 Algerian 🇩🇿 President A. Tebboune met Russian President V. Putin and mentioned that Algeria's accession to the BRICS bloc is a priority as Algiers applied to join in 2022.

💠 Honduras 🇭🇳 formally requested to join the New Development Bank of the BRICS group.

💠 Egypt 🇪🇬 applied to join the BRICS bloc.

💠 The BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs met in Cape Town, South Africa on June 1st for a BRICS summit.

Video source - TVC News Nigeria, AfricaNews, Africa Diaspora News.

🔹EU 🇪🇺 Commission President U. von der Leyen has disregarded the European Central Bank fears that confiscating the proceeds of frozen Russian assets would damage the euro or financial markets. This has raised concerns in Global South countries whether their sovereign assets in Western jurisdictions are safe from such counterparty risks and violation of international laws governing private property rights.

🔹The assets seized would likely generate about 3 billion euros 💶, each year. Several major global banks are concerned that appropriating Russian 🇷🇺 assets could cause Moscow to retaliate against their remaining interests in the country. One executive said his bank is opposed in principle to confiscation by the EU.

🔹The EU's action undermines ‘Lex Mercatoria’ (Latin – ‘Merchant Law’). The autonomous legal order of international economic relations for trade & rules for settling disputes. The West has now destroyed, how money & currencies function in relationship to trade & private property rights.

🔹The EU 🇪🇺 plans so far, falls short of seizing the underlying assets themselves. The EU has been looking into the 'legal' options (non-existent) to confiscate Russia’s assets frozen under sanctions. However, the sovereign assets of the Russian 🇷🇺 Central Bank belong to the citizens of the Russian Federation, not specific individuals.

🔹Legal experts view the EU's actions as constituting to “theft twice over”, first by seizing the money in the first place, and then preventing Russia from collecting its due interest. Such theft blatantly violates the UN's Charter and the laws of war, noting if they can do this to Russia they can do it to any citizens’ assets.

🔹Apart from Germany's 🇩🇪 de-industrialisation, capital flight from the country is an early indicator that investors are safe-guarding their assets from jurisdictions engaging in piracy. In 2022, $132 billion more direct investment flowed away, than investments made in Germany.

🔹French 🇫🇷 police have reportedly seized weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine from rebels participating in French riots. Gendarmes found two modified large-calibre rifles from Accuracy International, which were supplied to Ukraine last summer. Videos from various sources show rioters armed with military grade weapons despite France being known for its strict gun control laws, with ownership of military grade weapons banned completely.

🔹Last December, the EU dismissed warnings when Nigerian 🇳🇬 President Muhammadu Buhari urged heads of neighbouring African states 🇧🇯 🇹🇩 🇳🇪 🇨🇫 to take independent action against Western arms smuggling from Ukraine. Boko Haram & ISIS terrorists in Africa were receiving weapons from Ukraine through the black market.

🔹In October 2022, Finland 🇫🇮 began warning of weapons sent to Ukraine making their way to different countries criminal gangs. USA's CBS retracted a report on Aug 7th, that 70% of weapon deliveries to Ukraine 🇺🇦 end up in a black hole of corruption. Also a USA-made stinger from Ukraine was detained in Germany.

🔹Some of these weapons in the footage may have also come from a looted gun shop in the southern French 🇫🇷 city of Marseille and police stations that were broken into.

🔹This week, the French 🇫🇷 gov't have begun censoring social media platforms to prevent videos of protestors firing weapons from surfacing as corporate media downplays the reality of events. Various sources on Telegram have published scenes of this armed violence (video).

🔹Last July, this channel warned about weapons from 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺 NATO countries to Ukraine being purchased on the dark web (pics in original post) at huge discounts. We also drew reference to two Caesar self-propelled howitzers ($7 million each) sold by Ukrainians to Russia 🇷🇺 for $120,000 though an intermediary.

🔹Indian 🇮🇳 refiners have begun paying for some oil imports from Russia in Chinese 🇨🇳 yuan as India emerges as the largest buyer of seaborne Russian 🇷🇺 oil. Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest buyer of Russian crude oil, in June became the first state refiner to pay for some Russian purchases in yuan. At least two of India's three private refiners are doing the same.

🔹India’s 🇮🇳 imports of crude oil from Russia have risen for 10 consecutive months, hitting a record high of 2.2 million bpd in June exceeding its combined oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In China 🇨🇳, refiners are scrambling to cut feedstock costs and improve refining margins by buying Russian crude.

🔹The Saudi 🇸🇦 Energy Ministry said it would extend July’s cut of 1 million bpd through August. Russian 🇷🇺 Deputy PM A. Novak said his country will cut production by an additional 500,000 bpd 🛢 in August. Saudi Arabia is expected to reduce the price of its flagship Arab Light grade, by around $0.50 per barrel going to Asia in August. All this is now a problem for the US 🇺🇸, because the Biden admin had planned to begin refilling the US's SPR.

🔹Russia is ready to use the Urals price index of the SPIMEX for calculating the country’s key oil taxes. This is a major departure for Moscow, which for decades has relied on western price agencies to calculate key components of these taxes.

Previous oil reports from India:

💠The EU 🇪🇺 want's to take action against India 🇮🇳 for circumventing sanctions by selling expensive refined petroleum products to Europe derived from discounted Russian oil.

💠 Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft and India's top refiner (IOC) agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai 🇦🇪 oil price benchmark. India have begun paying for this oil in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 India's Oil Min. - "India is not obligated to buy Russian 🇷🇺 oil at rates below the price cap imposed by the G7 & other Western nations".

🔹India’s 🇮🇳 PM N. Modi welcomed Iran as a new full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at a leaders’ virtual summit chaired by India on July 4th. Kyrgyzstan's 🇰🇬 President S. Japarov has proposed that member states of the SCO switch to mutual settlements in national currencies, and set up an SCO development bank and development fund.

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 intends to expand cooperation with Russia and other countries in the region on the International North-South Trade Corridor. Chinese 🇨🇳 President Xi Jinping said China is ready to implement the initiative on global development and that SCO members must fight against unilateral economic sanctions and counteract hegemonism.

🔹Kazakhstan's 🇰🇿 President K. Tokayev, whose country is set to hold the SCO presidency in 2024, proposed creating a common investment fund and a network of partners of major strategic ports in SCO countries for the Belt and Road imitative and the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor. Belarusian 🇧🇾 president A. Lukashenko seeks support for observer state Belarus to become a full SCO member.

🔹Russian 🇷🇺 President V. Putin confirmed that the SCO is firmly committed to building an equitable, multipolar world order. Members stressed the need for a joint and balanced approach to countering trafficking of illicit drugs and their precursors.

🔹SCO states believe that one of the most important factors of preservation and strengthening of safety and stability within the region, is the early settlement of the situation in Afghanistan 🇦🇫. Member states advocated for strict compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They pointed out that "the unilateral and unrestrained buildup of global missile 'defense' systems by certain states or groups of states (NATO) negatively affects the international security and stability."

🔹China 🇨🇳 imposed restrictions on exporting rare earth elements (REE) gallium and germanium that are crucial to parts of the semiconductor, telecommunications and EV industry. This is in retaliation to previous tariffs/embargoes the US 🇺🇸 and Europe imposed on Chinese semiconductor companies.

🔹Both metals along with their chemical compounds, will be subject to export controls 🚢 meant to protect Chinese national security starting Aug. 1. Germanium is used in fiber optic products and military applications due to it being transparent to infrared radiation. Gallium is used for radio frequency chips for mobile phones and satellite 📡 communication.

🔹China produces ⛏60% of the world's germanium and 80% of gallium. Both metals are byproducts from processing other commodities such as coal and bauxite. China has the largest portion of gallium reserves at 68% & accounted for 98% of worldwide primary low-purity gallium production in 2022.

🔹In May, China said it would react "strictly and strongly" should the EU slap sanctions on Chinese co.'s. The European Commission 🇪🇺 proposed extending anti-Russia trade restrictions to China. The measure is to target businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong 🇭🇰. Germany 🇩🇪 is considering restricting exports to China of chemicals used for producing semiconductors, as part of the US-led policy.

🔹Last month, German media warned about decoupling from China 🇨🇳 as it would be more dangerous than beneficial for the EU 🇪🇺, since there are already existing supply chain issues (ex. REE - Neodymium). Even with a shift away from China, Europe would still be dependent on REE imports because as much as 90% of Europe's REEs are imported from China.

🔹Bolivia's 🇧🇴 president Luis Arce, at the Summit of Heads of State of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), said the South American region is seriously affected by the restrictions and regulations imposed by the US financial system, which limits financing options and possibilities of access to international markets. He announces that it was time South America move away from the US dollar 💵 to base themselves using the Chinese 🇨🇳yuan and strengthen their own local currencies.

🔹At the same time, 33 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) sent a 21-page counter-proposal to the draft text the EU 🇪🇺 had sent them for an upcoming summit. CELAC members deleted everything about Ukraine 🇺🇦 for their counter-proposal, modifying the document to say that they only “advocate for serious and constructive diplomatic solutions to the current conflict in Europe".

🔹The Bolivian 🇧🇴 leader also considered it important to “seek strategic alliances with other international players such as BRICS, the Eurasian Economic Union and other Global South countries. Bolivia, two other Mercosur members, has the world´s largest lithium 🔋 reserves, and large deposits of rare earths. He proposed that they work jointly for the industrialization process of these resources and not have the the wealth leaving the region but rather redistributed for the benefit of their peoples.

🔹The organisation is in progress of finalising a proposed EU–Mercosur free trade agreement (FTA). Mercosur is a customs union comprising of 12 Latin American countries with a free intra-zone trade & a common trade policy.

Video source - Bolivia TV Oficial

🔹 South Africa 🇿🇦 has invited heads of state of all African countries to the BRICS summit, which is set to be held in August in Johannesburg. The summit will discuss how the BRICS countries can partner with Africa to help the continent achieve economic growth. The African Union, which brings together all countries on the continent, comprises 55 members will also have representatives at the summit.

🔹Belarus 🇧🇾 has reaffirmed its intention to become a full member of BRICS. Venezuela 🇻🇪 has submitted its application to join the alliance. The New Development Bank (NDB), (BRICS Bank) confirms that they don't have any immediate plans for the group to create a common currency. “The development of anything alternative (to the USD) is more a medium to long term ambition,” said the NDB's VP & CFO Leslie Maasdorp.

🔹Previously in Africa, Egypt 🇪🇬 & Ethiopia 🇪🇹 applied to join the BRICS bloc. Algerian 🇩🇿 President A. Tebboune recently met Russian 🇷🇺 President V. Putin and mentioned that Algeria's accession to BRICS is a priority as Algiers applied to join in 2022.

🔹Last month, Honduras 🇭🇳 formally requested to join the NDB and Bangladesh 🇧🇩 announced plans to join BRICS. The BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs met in Cape Town, South Africa on June 1st for a BRICS summit in preparation for next month.

Video source- SABC News, KigaliToday.

🔹The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have adopted a joint action plan for 2023-2028 following their meeting with Russian 🇷🇺 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow (July 10th 2023). This is the sixth ministerial meeting of the Russia-GCC strategic dialogue. The agreed MoU on strategic dialogue proves the special character of relations between the GCC countries and Russia.

🔹The sides are cooperating in areas of the economy, defense and security, energy and politics. The organization hopes that ties with Russia will expand to other areas, such as academic cooperation and cultural exchanges. Supporting the territorial integrity of Syria was also discussed. The GCC includes Bahrain 🇧🇭, Qatar 🇶🇦, Kuwait 🇰🇼, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 🇦🇪, Oman 🇴🇲, and Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦.

🔹Oman’s 🇴🇲 Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said "We understand that Russia has vital interests in this region, [which] include, among other things, the development of logistics routes, the expansion of trade and economic interaction through us and with us in order to get to Africa and Asia through our region. We welcome the work and partnership with the Russian Federation in this direction..."

🔹Last month, GCC member UAE 🇦🇪 President Sheikh Al Nahyan met with Russian 🇷🇺 V. Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss the UAE-Russia strategic partnership framework. Previously we reported on this channel that a free trade agreement between China 🇨🇳 and the GCC is entering a “final stage”. GCC members Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia are interested in joining BRICS.

🔹Delegates from Ghana 🇬🇭, Côte d'Ivoire 🇨🇮, Nigeria 🇳🇬, Cameroon 🇨🇲and multinational cocoa industry players are reviewing a feasibility study on establishing an African Cocoa Exchange (AfCX). The continent produces 75% of world cocoa and does not have a pricing platform as it relies on the price determined on the Chicago Mercantile 🇺🇸 and the London 🇬🇧Intercontinental Cocoa Exchanges.

🔹Two years of deficits have dramatically reduced stockpiles, with a measure of supplies at its lowest in four decades. an El Niño weather pattern risks further disrupting global production, and top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana 🇬🇭 have already sold a large part of their crop for next season. Cocoa have been trading around 2,808 British pounds per metric ton.

🔹The world’s top exporter of cocoa, Cote d’Ivoire 🇨🇮, saw above-average rainfall in June, which hampered the drying of already-collected cocoa beans. The futures market deviation from physical supplies leaves soft traders prone to shortages, forcing them to buy back futures when they cannot find enough supply to ship to buyers when contracts expire.

🔹Recent heavy rain in West Africa that has accelerated the spread of black pod disease, which causes cocoa pods to turn black and rot. The spread of the disease from the extreme wet weather could result in lower cocoa crop quality and production. Shortages and high prices of fertilizer due to sanctions on producers in Russia 🇷🇺 and Belarus 🇧🇾 have also negatively affected cocoa farmers in 2022-2023. The International Cocoa Organization forecasts a global cocoa deficit of -146,000 tons ending this season.

Part 9 of the attack on Christian Orthodoxy ☦️.

🔹Kiev regime supporters with Ukrainian flags and the help of police, force out believers from the UOC church in Neteshin, Ukraine. The Orthodox priests are ridiculed.

🔹Ukraine's Bandera supporters & schismatics from the OCU broke into the cathedral in Bila Tserkva, Kiev region and attacked parishioners with pepper-spray forcing them out.

🔹The Ministry of Culture 🇺🇦 continues to confiscate (sealing) monastery buildings in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra complex, forcing monks out. Kiev plans to hand over priceless relics from the monasteries to European museums.

🔹The West/CIA politically created the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (OCU) (to foster neo-Nazi style nationalism) & undermine the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) - Moscow 🇷🇺 Patriarchate.

🔹The Kiev regime continues the persecution of Orthodox Christians especially those who are Russian speakers. Ukraine's Azov Battalion, Right Sector & others have an unabashed profession of state paganism (not very discretely disguised in the form of vicious neo-Nazi political cults) & supports eager acolytes inciting anti-Christian pogroms while flaunting satanic innoscriptions.

💠 Pt 8: Ukrainian troops shelled Donetsk’s Transfiguration Cathedral during Orthodox ☦️ Easter Vigil.

💠 Pt 7: The Kiev regime arrests the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra & raids church compound.

💠 Pt 6: 🇺🇦 Neo-nazi arsons burn church of the UOC in Boryspil, Kiev.

💠 Pt 5: Kiev gov't inciting attacks against the UOC over accusations of connections to Russia 🇷🇺.

💠 Pt 4: Ukraine proposes law to ban the UOC as the church is a threat to national security.

💠 Pt 3: The SBU, raids the largest UOC monastery in Ukraine.

💠 Pt 2: Ukrainian militants shell St. Nicholas ⛪️, shot 3 monks in Svyatogorsk, held 800 monks hostage & seized Popelnya UOC.

💠 Pt 1: The West’s silence about multiple attacks on Russian Orthodox Churches around the world.

🔹An increasing number of countries are repatriating gold reserves as protection against the sort of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia 🇷🇺. This was revealed in an Invesco survey of central bank & sovereign wealth funds. One central bank, anonymously, said: "We did have it (gold) held in London... but now we've transferred it back to own country to hold as a safe haven asset...".

🔹The 15th summit of the BRICS 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 group in Johannesburg in late August will discuss proposals for a new gold-backed common currency. Volatility in the Russian ruble exchange rate and interest rates are a concern. The way to fix it is for the ruble to adopt a proper gold standard. Between the Bank of Russia’s official gold reserves, Russia’s National Wealth Fund, and the Gokhran precious metals fund there are ample bullion resources to establish it.

🔹The EAEU 🇷🇺 🇦🇲 🇰🇿 🇰🇬 🇧🇾 currency commission now appears to be working on a proposal using gold and credit based upon it as the principal means of settling trade imbalances. The task therefore is to design an entirely new non-national currency backed by gold, specifically created for cross-border trade and commodity transactions.

🔹Spot gold is presently trading around $1,940 per troy ounce. China's 🇨🇳central bank added 23 tons of gold to its reserves in June, marking an eighth consecutive monthly increase. China and India 🇮🇳 make up nearly 50% of global gold demand. Russia’s biggest gold miner Polyus PJSC plans to spend as much as $6.32 billion dollars on buying back shares as it prepares to delist from the London Stock Exchange.

🔹New York 🇺🇸 and London 🇬🇧 gold vaults reported an exodus of more than 527 tons of gold between April and October 2022. We saw the migration of gold from West to East on a micro level in late 2022. Many Western investors, particularly at the institutional level, were dumping bullion.

Video source - Sean Foo