🔹Derivatives that protect against a default by China's 🇨🇳 Country Garden Holdings Co. may be triggered after the developer didn’t pay interest on a dollar bond.

🔹The US 🇺🇸 Headquartered ISDA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee, which oversee the credit default swaps (CDS) market, ruled a failure-to-pay credit event occurred on Oct. 18. Today a meeting is being deliberated on whether Country Garden missing a $15.4 million coupon payment, even after being given a 30-day grace period triggers CDS payouts.

🔹An independent corporate bond research team, said the co. has not yet officially declared a default, leaving investors in a state of uncertainty. Country Garden had 3,121 projects in Mainland China as of the end of 2022, financed by $50 billion in debt. That includes $10 billion in offshore bonds that are denominated in US 💵dollars, $2 billion in Chinese yuan, and 880 million in Hong Kong dollars.

🔹Meanwhile, one month ago, trading of Evergrande shares were halted on the Hong Kong 🇭🇰 Stock Exchange amid mounting concern over the company's plan to restructure and fend off the looming specter of liquidation. Police detained staff of Evergrande’s wealth management unit after the co. failed to repay investors.

🔹Country Garden missing this interest payment marks another low for China's current real estate 🏢 market. Evergrande which was declared to be in default in 2021 after missing a crucial repayment deadline, continues to struggle to meet the interest payments on its debts.

🔹A few days after the US 🇺🇸 ratcheted up controls on semiconductor exports to China 🇨🇳, Beijing announced that graphite sales from China will require a license as of Dec. 1st 2023. China's commerce ministry said the restrictions on graphite exports are not targeted at any specific sector. Graphite is the basis of the anode, or negative pole, of EV 🔋batteries, accounting for up to half their weight. More than 90% of anode-ready graphite is produced in China.

🔹Graphite can either be mined or derived synthetically from petrochemicals 🛢. Synthetic production is common but the pollution involved negates the underlying purpose of going green with EVs. Türkiye 🇹🇷 and Brazil 🇧🇷 hold the largest reserves of natural graphite followed by China which accounts for 80% of mine production, however.

🔹China 🇨🇳 recently imposed restrictions on exporting rare earth elements gallium and germanium that are crucial to parts of the semiconductor, telecommunications and EV industry. 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.

🔹The 'green revolution' touted by many western countries, is rapidly depleting available rare earth element neodymium (Nd) and also causing pollution. Nd is essential to make permanent magnets 🧲 for electric motors ⚙️ and wind turbines. The Bayan’obo district of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, has an open pit mine for rare earth's including Nd. Each metric ton of rare-earth element mined there necessitates clearing 3,230 square feet of vegetation and topsoil, and releases 1,000 metric tons of contaminated wastewater and 2,000 metric tons of solid or liquid waste tailings.

Video source - HCSS

Part 10 of The Attack on Christian Orthodoxy ☦️.

🔹A ban on Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), has passed a first-round vote by Ukraine's 🇺🇦 parliament. "Draft law number 8371 on the prohibition of religious organizations associated with the Russian Federation 🇷🇺 was adopted after it passed 267 to 15.

🔹If an outright ban on the UOC goes through, despite the church declaring that it cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church in May '22, church seizures and the arrests of clergymen by the state will only increase.

🔹Police tried to close down the Holy Epiphany Convent of the Ternopil diocese and evicted nuns from there.

🔹 Believers were blocked by Ukrainian authorities from passing through the town of Kremenets to the Pochaev Lavra monastery.

🔹The West/CIA politically created the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) (to foster neo-Nazi style nationalism) & undermine the 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 9: Kiev regime supporters with help of police, force out believers from the UOC in Neteshin.

💠 Pt 8: Ukrainian troops shelled Donetsk’s 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.

💠 Pt 5: Kiev gov't inciting attacks against the UOC.

💠 Pt 4: Ukraine proposes law to ban the UOC, citing national security issues.

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

💠 Pt 2: Ukrainian militants shell St. Nicholas ⛪️, shot 3 monks & held 800 monks hostage.

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

🔹US 🇺🇸 - Some officials within the Biden admin. reportedly fear the possible return of high gas prices, especially given their decision to release huge quantities of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) in 2021 and 2022. They tapped into the SPR to bring down prices then, but they have not offset those releases. Biden opted to release 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR in late 2021 and 2022.

🔹The SPR has about 350 million barrels 🛢of supply left, it's lowest since 1983. The US Dept. of Energy decided against replenishing it in August citing high oil prices but now the prices are even higher with Brent and WTI crude hovering at $90 & $85 respectively per barrel. The US is now in a vulnerable position if the Israel 🇮🇱-Hamas 🇵🇸 war expands or otherwise disrupts the global oil market.

🔹Democrats slammed the Trump administration in 2020 for attempting to top off the SPR at a time when prices were around $25 per barrel as COVID-19 lockdowns slashed demand, saying that a replenishment would be a handout for 'Big Oil'.

🔹OPEC has, for now, side-stepped calls by Iran 🇮🇷 for an oil embargo against Israel. The OPEC+ ministerial panel made no changes this month to the group's oil output policy (of previous cuts), and Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 said it would continue with a voluntary cut of 1 million bpd until the end of 2023.

OPINION:

🔹Slovakia’s 🇸🇰 PM Robert Fico is officially sworn in. He campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine, recently won most seats in the country's elections but not a majority and has formed a coalition gov't. It would be naive to think Brussels, the US State Dep't and European 'globalist' oligarchic structures are going to have another Victor Orban type 'populist' running around waking up Europeans to reality.

🔹This week he reportedly told journalists - “Ukraine is among the most corrupt countries in the world and we are conditioning what is excessive financial support on guarantees that European money (including Slovak) not be embezzled".

🔹PM Fico has a coalition gov't and is not in the same standing as PM Orban in Hungary whose party has a majority bloc of support. Poland🇵🇱, Austria and the Czech Republic recently introduced border controls for those entering from Slovakia, soft sanctions?

🔹PM Fico believes that the war in Ukraine began not in 2022, but in 2014 ('Maidan coup'), when Ukrainian fascists killed citizens of Russian ethnicity in Ukraine. Ukraine 🇺🇦 recently filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Slovakia and others who are keeping their borders closed to importing Ukrainian grain.

🔹Slovakia, along with the Czech Republic 🇨🇿, Hungary 🇭🇺, and Croatia 🇭🇷 have managed to remain exempted from the EU embargo on Russian oil coming into their respective countries via the southern branch of the Druzbha pipeline.

Video source - Euronews

OPINION:

🔹Retired US 🇺🇸 Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler said it first and said it best: "War is a racket. It always has been...". "It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope.

🔹20 years of low-intensity conflict has conditioned most Americans to view conflict as a video game, a live-action version of “Call of Duty,” where death is minimized as little more than digital entertainment. Today the US is facing off against two global powers, Russia 🇷🇺 (in Ukraine) and China 🇨🇳 (in Taiwan).

🔹Zelensky and his cronies in Kiev 🇺🇦 have milked the NATO taxpayers for tens of billions of dollars and euros through the weapons racket fueling war. European 🇪🇺 defense companies ascend on Kiev in an effort to build ‘in-country’ weapon-manufacturing facilities, as Ukraine is enlisting more 'cannon fodder'.

🔹In the Middle East, current US escalations seem obviously as an attempt to foment a war with Iran 🇮🇷. Hamas having the overall interests of the Palestinians 🇵🇸 at heart is highly questionable because they are a Western/Muslim Brotherhood Construct, used to undermine the PLO and Fatah.

🔹The main corporate beneficiaries making a financial killing from Ukraine are by far the American firms. In the first half of the year, the revenue of the top 25 Western defense contractors increased by 11% to $212 billion.

🔸Note: Below shows each company’s revenues (2022) from defense, and not total revenues. This is because many companies such as Boeing also generate revenue from non-defense related industries and sectors.

Company —- Revenues from Defense (USD billions) ——- Defense share of total revenue (%)

🇺🇸 Lockheed Martin — $633 — 96%
🇺🇸 RTX Corp (formerly Raytheon Technologies) — $396 — 59%
🇺🇸 Northrop Grumman — $324 — 89%
🇨🇳 Aviation Industry Corporation of China — $310 — 37%
🇺🇸 Boeing — $308 — 46%
🇺🇸 General Dynamics — $304 — 77%
🇬🇧 BAE Systems — $252 — 96%

Video source - Canadian Patriot Press

🔹Palestinian Christians have published an open letter to Western church leaders and theologians. “Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17). It states that Palestinian 🇵🇸 Christians are deeply disturbed when violence and religious national ideologies (ex. Christian Zionism) are advocated in the name of God". In Gaza, the main church denominations are: Greek, Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian Orthodox, Baptist, & Roman Catholic.

🔹The Church of Saint Porphyrius, Greek Orthodox ☦️, is the oldest active church in Gaza, which is the same neighborhood as the Anglican Church run Al Ahli Hospital, that was bombed on Oct. 17. St. Porphyrius was the 5th-century Bishop of Gaza, & he is entombed in the church.

🔹Christians ✝️ in the Middle East, are asking for help to stop Israeli occupation & end the blockade of Gaza. Gaza has almost no electricity and is running out of fuel, water & food. PM of Malaysia (Muslim majority population) D. S. A Ibrahim, have spoken out about the suffering of Palestinian Christians.

🔹Warmongering American Zionist Christian leaders have urged US 🇺🇸 President Biden not to pressure Israel into a ceasefire. The Christian population in Gaza has declined significantly over the years due to Israel taking over new regions of Gaza. Anglican parishioners in the West Bank are “utterly perplexed” by the Archbishop of Canterbury toeing UK 🇬🇧 foreign policy lines at the cost of Christians lives.

🔹Western media fail to report long ongoing Israeli discrimination / attacks against devout Christians worshipping in Jerusalem. Even Orthodox Jews ✡️ in Jerusalem are violently assaulted by Israeli forces for speaking out about the plight of Palestinians.

🔹Christians in southern Lebanon 🇱🇧 who face attacks from Israel, while neglected by the US-supported Lebanese Forces Party are left protected by Hezbollah. The organisation has been protecting Christians and Churches from attacks by ISIS & FSA terrorists in both Lebanon & Syria 🇸🇾.

Video source - Syriana Analysis

PART 1 - A financial crisis is unfolding in the offshore wind power industry.

🔹Ørsted (the world’s biggest offshore wind developer) is ceasing the development of two offshore wind projects in the United States 🇺🇸 due to supply chain delays, etc., which sent its shares plummeting on Nov. 1st by nearly 20% in Copenhagen 🇩🇰. The costs associated with U.S. offshore wind projects have risen by 57% since 2021 due to inflation in components and labor costs, as well as rising interest rates.

🔹The total impairments recognized in Ørsted's interim financial report for the first nine months of 2023 amount to $4 billion, and the majority of these -- $2.8 billion relate to Ocean Wind 1 Project. Just yesterday, BP booked a pre-tax impairment charge of $540 million in the third quarter related to U.S. offshore wind projects.

🔹The UK’s 🇬🇧 latest renewables tender was a flop for the industry—not a single offshore wind bid featured in the auction despite the fact that a record number of renewable energy capacity projects were awarded government funding.

🔹Last Thursday, Siemens Energy shares in Germany 🇩🇪 crashed 37% due to failing quality controls of their wind turbines. In July, this year, Spanish 🇪🇸 utility Iberdrola SA agreed to pay $48.9m in fines to cancel a wind power contract off the coast of Massachusetts.

🔹It's going to get worse as rare earth element neodymium (Nd), used for permanent magnets is facing future shortages. A megawatt of direct drive wind turbine capacity may require around 1100 pounds of permanent magnets. Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is expected to lose £60bn including billions from the public purse due to 'underselling' of leasing rights for offshore wind.

Video source: Tucker Carlson Originals

🔹The St. Petersburg (Russia 🇷🇺) International Gas Forum was held on Oct. 31st - Nov. 03rd 2023 as representatives across Eurasia, China and Türkiye / West Asia convened to help shape the future of natural gas markets. The International Scientific-Practical Conference topic was "Underground Gas Storage: Reliability and Efficiency" where multiple countries shared data for technological advancements.

🔹Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar hopes in 2024 to launch the initiative for a natural gas distribution hub/platform based in Türkiye 🇹🇷, with sourcing of gas from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline. Last year, Russia's FSB thwarted attempts of sabotage & terrorist attacks on the gas pipeline.

🔹Russia's Gazprom and the government of Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 signed a strategic memorandum of cooperation in the energy sector. Recently we reported that parties are discussing the construction of the fourth branch (D) of the Turkmenistan 🇹🇲-China🇨🇳 gas pipeline, which would pass through Uzbekistan.

🔹Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller spoke about the launch of gas supplies through Kazakhstan 🇰🇿to Uzbekistan via the Central Asia - Center gas pipeline system. He said, "...this particular project is a signal to the global gas market that the intensification of relations in the gas industry between countries of Eurasia is a trend that to a great extent will determine the dynamics of gas consumption growth".

🔹Russia has not closed the western route for gas supplies, it is open for negotiations on supplies to Europe 🇪🇺, but is waiting for proposals from the buyer.

🔹Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬 wants Gazprom to produce oil 🛢 and gas on its territory. Over the past 10 years, Kyrgyzstan gas supply to the population grew from 22% to 38%.

🔹Gazprom is considering new routes and the Bukhara-Ural gas pipeline to increase supplies to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Video source: Петербургский международный газовый форум

🔹The 10th summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was in Astana, Kazakhstan, today (Nov. 3rd). Its members are Türkiye 🇹🇷, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, Kazakhstan 🇰🇿, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬 and Uzbekistan 🇺🇿, while Hungary 🇭🇺 and Turkmenistan 🇹🇲 have observer status.

🔹Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov urged the leaders of the Turkic states to strengthen economic cooperation. He welcomed the launch of the Turkic Investment Fund, saying it is a "timely" decision, and important to maintain and expand the availability of various financial market instruments necessary to meet business needs. Trade turnover between the members of the OTS exceeded $22 billion this year.

🔹 Access to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or the so-called Middle Corridor, necessitates passage through Türkiye & Azerbaijan. This route acts as a gateway to unlock global trade opportunities. Azeri President I. Aliyev said the EU 🇪🇺 has much to gain from collaborating with the OTS.

🔹Kazakh President K. Tokayev said "It is important to conclude an agreement on jointly fighting crime and exchanging information between the financial investigation bodies of the OTS".

🔹Turkish President R. Erdogan said the Turkic world must continue to support Azerbaijan in the matter of opening the Zangezur corridor. Azerbaijan has invested more than $20 billion USD in the economy of Turkic states. The main part of the investments is being made to Türkiye.

🔹A joint declaration, adopted at the summit, called on all parties to the Israeli 🇮🇱-Palestinian 🇵🇸 conflict to declare an “immediate cease-fire to protect civilians and to provide immediate and unhindered humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip.” "The conflict can only be resolved through peaceful means based on relevant UN resolutions and the two-state solution".

🔹Kazakh President K. Tokayev advocated adherence to international law and UN Security Council resolutions. He also highlighted the need to revitalize the UNSC 🇺🇳.

Video source: TRT World

🔹US sanctions on Russia's Novatek PJSC’s Arctic LNG 2 project threatens US ally, Japan's energy-security. Japan’s 🇯🇵 gov't is an investor in the project and is set to start imports from Russia 🇷🇺 via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) 🚢 in the coming months. Japan followed US 🇺🇸 sanctions on Russian coal, but its gov't has drawn a line at natural gas, used to generate about a third of its electricity and heat homes.

🔹A consortium of Mitsui and state-owned Jogmec have a 10% stake in Arctic LNG 2 and will receive 2 million tons per year from the facility, equal to roughly 3% of Japan’s total contracted long-term supply. The new US sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 will test Japan’s relationship with the US and other G7 nations. Sanctions so far have largely avoided Russian gas, which is still delivered to Japan and Europe.

🔹Japan 🇯🇵 insists to the 🇺🇸 Biden admin. that Russian LNG is required to meet energy needs and last year urged Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. to hold onto investments in Sakhalin-2 in Russia’s far east. For comparison, Shell Plc, the biggest foreign shareholder in Sakhalin-2, has to drop its stake.

🔹The NSR is reshaping global energy flows as it now takes half the time for a tanker from Russia 🇷🇺 to arrive in Asia instead of taking the conventional route through the Suez Canal 🇪🇬. Russia wants the NSR, the shortest shipping route between East Asia and Europe, to become a major shipping lane and has invested heavily in infrastructure there.

🔹To power the vast quantity of EVs being produced worldwide, a consistent and reliable supply of lithium is required. However, with forecasted annual demand growth of up to 20% by 2030, the current supply of lithium will not be sufficient to meet the demand, and nearly double the amount will be required.

🔹The Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana 🇬🇭 is about to become of the the first links in the US lithium supply chain as Piedmont Lithium will take advantage of US subsidies granted. This year, China 🇨🇳 built a lithium refining plant in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 (the African country passed a law banning the export of raw lithium ore in a bid to keep a bigger chunk of the supply chain at home). However, Ghana does not have such a law and will be exporting the raw ore, as Piedmont Lithium builds a lithium refinery in Tennessee, 🇺🇸.

🔹Cooperation between China and Latin American countries and regions in mining is expected to deepen with lithium mining becoming a new focal point. Recent agreements signed between China and Argentina 🇦🇷/Suriname 🇸🇷 have led to a series of successful geoscientific research collaborations, laying a solid foundation for future mining cooperation between China and Latin American countries.

🔹India 🇮🇳was considering imposing an export ban on lithium, but recently set lithium mining royalty at 3% of LME prices. The Chilean 🇨🇱 gov't in April, announced a plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium industry, as the Mexican 🇲🇽 gov't plans to follow suit. In March, Iran 🇮🇷 discovered its first lithium ore deposit with some 8.5 million MT of lithium ore, making it the world's 2nd largest reserve.

🔹The US is cutting Uganda out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 2024. The programme offers duty-free access into the US for sub-Saharan African countries that meet democratic criteria. US President Biden said that the gov't of Uganda had “engaged in gross violations of internationally recognised human rights”.

🔹In May, Uganda 🇺🇬 passed an "anti-gay law" which criminalises acts of homosexuality using force, threat or undue influence. The World Bank announced in August it was suspending new loans to Uganda, and last month the US State Dep't warned about the risk of doing business there. The US 🇺🇸 may also restrict visas issued to Ugandan officials.

🔹Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni is now telling Ugandans not to be over-concerned by the recent actions by the American gov't in discouraging US/Western companies from investing in Uganda and on removing Uganda from the AGOA list. He argues that the sanction was intended to force his country to abandon its principles and sovereignty.

🔹Recently, Iranian 🇮🇷 and Ugandan officials inked four cooperation agreements and are in talks to share knowledge on nuclear energy development. Uganda is also one of 18 countries which opened a 'special rupee vostro account' in 2023 that allows them to bypass the US dollar in trade with India 🇮🇳 using Indian rupees. Last year, Uganda announced that it had discovered 31 million metric tons of gold waiting to be mined and licensed Wagagai gold mining company, a Chinese 🇨🇳firm to start producing gold products.

Video source: Africa Web TV 2

🔹Declining demand for ocean freight combined with increasing capacity, drive maritime container shipping rates down far below their 2021 peaks. Maersk, the world’s second-largest ocean carrier 🚢, will cut near 10,000 jobs for 2023. The company's capital expenditures will be slashed both this year and next year, and share buybacks could be halted next year.

🔹Larger container ships sailing from Asia to U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports via the Panama Canal 🇵🇦, face restrictions due to low rainfall, since the canal consumes a large amount of water, because they need more than 44 feet of draft when fully loaded. For every foot of lost draft, container ships lose capacity for 350 twenty-foot equivalent units.

🔹However, as Americans 🇺🇸 continue to spend and businesses flee Europe 🇪🇺 to the US (as sanctions on Russia 🇷🇺 backfire, coupled with subsidies from the US's Inflation Reduction Act), US imports have surged 33% from their recent low in February. October’s inbound volumes were the highest since August 2022. Meanwhile, Asia-Europe spot rates are already at their lowest levels in years due to weak demand and record-breaking capacity growth.

🔹A Goldman Sachs analyst P. Creuset believes that freight rates and earnings must continue to decline 📉 until there's enough financial pressure to phase out expensive tonnage. New vessel deliveries are running at c.1% of the global fleet/month with very little slippage, idling and scrapping remain low, and Nov. active capacity is set to increase.

🔹In January and May 2023, this channel reported warnings that a container shipping downturn is coming due to global business activity slowing, companies racing to reduce inventories at warehouses due to overstocking during the pandemic years and trade wars between the US and China 🇨🇳.

🔹Hungarian 🇭🇺Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto states that conditions are simply not right for the European Union to consider membership for Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is of the opposite view and wants the EU 🇪🇺 to commence “accession negotiations” with both Ukraine 🇺🇦 and Moldova 🇲🇩.

🔹FM Szijjarto said a major objective of Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of 2024 will be to move ahead with Romania’s 🇷🇴 integration with the bloc’s passport-free Schengen zone. Hungary's Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor said in a statement that one of the conditions for EU candidacy is guaranteeing the rights of national minorities, and Ukraine’s minority law failed to do this sufficiently.

🔹Ukraine's minority law, is designed to target ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia (who are forcibly connoscripted by Kiev) and Hungarian-language educational institutions there. Dual citizens are not allowed to use a Hungarian passport to cross the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian 'Right Sector' neo-nazis threatened to slaughter all Hungarians in Transcarpathia in a "2023 new years greeting" video.

🔹In August, FM Szijjarto revealed that EU 🇪🇺 member states are expecting to fund the war in Ukraine for at least another 4 years at a cost of €5 billion per year. In May, Hungary chose to block a further €500 million-euro ($542 million) tranche of EU (off-budget) financing for arming Ukraine.

🔹Hungarian President Katalin Novák has expressed her strong belief that strong borders represent a strong country and that Hungary is protecting actually the external borders of the EU, of the Schengen zone. In 2021, Hungarian police detained 1,277 smugglers who tried to ship illegal migrants across the country.

Video source: M1 - Híradó

🔹Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during Putin’s official visit to Kazakhstan on Nov. 9th. Tokayev congratulated Putin on the tenth anniversary of the signing of the bilateral Treaty on Good Neighborly and Alliance Relations. Tokayev stated that 143 joint Russian 🇷🇺-Kazakh 🇰🇿 projects in the field of industrial cooperation worth $33 billon are now being carried out.

🔹Bilateral trade turnover gained over 10% last year. The use of national currencies has expanded significantly in countertrade - 75% of mutual payments are already made in rubles and tenge.

🔹Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 in cooperation with Russia 🇷🇺, Iran 🇮🇷 and Turkmenistan 🇹🇲 has developed a roadmap for the North-South international transport corridor.

🔹Both parties discussed cooperation in the energy sector, with further development of the project on supplies of Russian gas in southern directions, as well as an increase in volumes of transit of Russian oil 🛢 to China 🇨🇳 via Kazakhstan. A new bilateral agreement on strategic cooperation in the gas sphere was signed last week.

🔹Moscow and Astana are cooperating on large-scale initiatives to make and supply high-quality agricultural machinery 🚜. Also, Russia is a key supplier to Kazakhstan of food product groups as wheat - 98% of imports, barley - the same amount, poultry meat - 80-90%, sugar - up to 70%, fermented milk products - 60-70%. Bilateral trade turnover of agricultural products and food in 2022 rose by 22% to $4 billion and then added another 3% in the first seven months of 2023.

🔹Russia is ready for creation of additional facilities in Kazakhstan for assembly of Lada cars and to develop cooperation with Kazakhstan in coal supplies. Both countries will support multilateral mechanisms in the field of nuclear non-proliferation. Rosatom is going to invest in uranium mining in Kazakhstan.

Video source: ShanghaiEye

🔹Moody's on Nov. 10, lowered its outlook on the U.S. credit rating to "negative" 🔻from "stable" citing large fiscal deficits and a decline in debt affordability. The move follows a rating downgrade of the sovereign by Fitch, this year, which came after months of political brinkmanship around the U.S. debt ceiling. Federal spending and political polarization have been a rising concern for investors, contributing to a selloff that took U.S. government bond prices to their lowest levels in 16 years.

🔹A New York 🇺🇸 unit of the world’s largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 🇨🇳 (ICBC) was hit by a cyberattack, disrupting trading in U.S. Treasuries. ICBC injected capital to pay BNY Mellon $9 billion for unsettled trades and hired a cybersecurity firm to help it return online. The ICBC acts as a broker for hedge funds and other market participants, helping them trade in the securities.

🔹Traders have raised concerns that the US Treasury market is becoming strained, while worries about demand for U.S. debt have driven a spike in yields. An investment in 10-year U.S. Treasury notes has lost a third of its value, in real, inflation-adjusted terms, 📉 in just over three years. Investments in long-term Treasuries have lost about half their value. They have fallen as much as U.S. stocks did during the global financial crisis.

🔹Even worse, the Bank of Japan’s 🇯🇵 shift in strategy to allow for more movement in Japanese gov't bonds may upset the multitrillion-dollar yen carry trade. Investors borrow money from the Japanese at absurdly low interest rates in yen and then convert that to dollars to buy U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds.

🔹A joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 on Nov. 11. This was Iranian 🇮🇷 President Ebrahim Raisi's, first trip to Saudi Arabia since rapprochement in March and he met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) on the summit sidelines.

🔹Lebanese 🇱🇧 President Naguib Mikati called on Arab and Islamic countries to work together for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, open crossings and introduce aid to brothers in Gaza. He said Israel's attacks on South Lebanon is a continuous violation of UN 🇺🇳 Security Council Resolution1701.

🔹Arab foreign ministers gathered in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9 ahead of the meeting. Saudi Crown Prince MBS reiterated the Kingdom’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza and held Israel responsible for “crimes” against civilians in the besieged enclave. “Israel’s 🇮🇱 flagrant violations of international laws must be stopped,” MBS said. “The Palestinian 🇵🇸 people must be granted their legitimate rights [which include] establishing their independent state.”

🔹Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced what he called the "destruction of hospitals, mosques, churches and schools in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation force". Türkiye's 🇹🇷President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “it is a shame that Western countries, which always talk about human rights and freedoms, remain silent in the face of the ongoing massacres in Palestine.”

🔹Syria’s 🇸🇾 President Bashar Al Assad (previously re-joined the Arab League), and Qatar’s 🇶🇦 Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad were among those who attended.

Video source: Syrianna Analysis

PART 2 - A financial crisis is unfolding in the wind power industry.

🔹Danish 🇩🇰 offshore wind developer Orsted has officially withdrawn from a consortium set to bid on Norwegian offshore wind projects just days after pulling out of two U.S. offshore wind projects. Due to a prioritisation of investments in Orsted's portfolio, it will withdraw from pursuing participation in offshore wind developments in Norway 🇳🇴. Today (Nov.14) Orsted's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer stepped down from their posts.

🔹In the US 🇺🇸, the Port of Virginia confirms an estimated $280 million-plus wind-turbine blade manufacturing project was scrapped by the Germany-based Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. Today, the German gov't says it is granting a 7.5 billion-euro ($8 billion) loan guarantee to Siemens Energy as part of a 15 billion euro package to help the firm. Siemens Energy shares in Germany 🇩🇪 have been falling over the past weeks due to failing quality controls of their wind turbines but rose today 4% on news of the gov't 'bailout'.

🔹One of Sweden's 🇸🇪 largest wind farms, Markbygden Ett, has applied for reconstruction. The co. (75% Chinese 🇨🇳-owned) signed a very unprofitable agreement to sell electricity to Norwegian 🇳🇴Hydro Energi. The forecast for 2023 is that expenditure far exceeds revenue. Sales are expected to be EUR 40 million with a loss of EUR 52 million. Markbygden wants to terminate the agreement with Hydro Energi.

🔹Scottish politicians have been boasting that Scotland supposedly had 25% of Europe’s offshore energy potential, and it is now revealed to be far lower than estimated. Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is expected to lose £60bn including billions from the public purse due to 'underselling' of leasing rights for offshore wind.

Part 1 of series - Nov. 1 2023

Video source - CNBC