🔹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

Crude Oil Update:

🔹 Global oil demand growth is materially slowing down 📉 in 2023 Q4 compared to Q3. Demand growth is slowing down this quarter, the International Energy Agency said, and revised down its Q4 consumption growth forecast by nearly 400,000 bpd 🛢, with Europe making up more than half of the downward revision. A deterioration in the macroeconomic outlook led to a downward revision in the IEA's global oil consumption growth forecast.

🔹 The US 🇺🇸 DoE reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) stayed the same. Inventories are holding at 351.9 million barrels, with total purchases for the SPR coming in just over 5 million barrels since the Biden Administration began its buyback program. So far, the gov't has bought 9 million barrels of crude in batches of three, the first steps in the refilling of the SPR after drawing over 180 million barrels last year to stabilize fuel prices.

🔹 Russia’s 🇷🇺 crude oil shipments jumped 114,000 bpd, compared to the four-week average to December 3, in the four weeks to December 10, after storms in the Black Sea that had disrupted loadings in November subsided. Analysts and traders indicated that OPEC+ 2.2 million barrel-per-day production cuts in Q1 2024 will be counterbalanced by a potential supply surplus.

🔹Demand for Saudi 🇸🇦crude at Chinese 🇨🇳 refiners is at its lowest since August Earlier last week, Saudi Arabia cut the price of its flagship crude, Arab Light, loading in January for Asia by $0.50 per barrel over the Oman/Dubai average. The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria 🇳🇬, Africa’s biggest, is expected to receive its first of several cargoes of crude oil that would enable it to begin initial runs.

🔹Shipping liners A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, CMA CGM, Yang Ming and HMM Co have suspended sailing trough the Red Sea. Vessels due to sail through the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden would be rerouted (bypassing the Suez Canal) around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.

🔹Container shipping co. 🚢 Hapag Lloyd has paused all of its' ships from entering the Red Sea. BP has suspended gas and oil shipments through the Red Sea amid a surge in attacks on ships in the region from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen 🇾🇪. The Houthis have asserted that their assault on international shipping is a direct response to Israeli 🇮🇱 strikes inside the Gaza Strip 🇵🇸.

🔹Another oil & gas major, Norway's Equinor has rerouted ships. About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal (the quickest sea route between Asia and Europe) and 4-8% of global LNG cargoes have passed through it in 2023. As much as 8.2 million barrels per day 🛢 of crude oil and oil products traversed the Red Sea over January-November. Qatar, the United States and Russia are the most active shippers of LNG via Suez.

🔹Freight line MSC won't transit the Suez Canal in either direction. Evergreen Marine Co will temporarily suspend Israel import and export services. Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen and Belgian tanker owner Euronav have halted sails through the Red Sea strait.

🔹The US 🇺🇸 has started “Operation Prosperity Guardian" by bringing together the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain to deploy navy ships to the region. This effort will fall under the purview of the Combined Maritime Forces — a multinational maritime partnership based in Bahrain.

Video Source: What's Going on With Shipping.

🔹EU officials are working towards forcing Hungarian 🇭🇺PM Viktor Orban to vote for the start of Ukraine's EU accession after Hungary abstained from a recent vote for aid to Ukraine. Last week, Hungary blocked 50 billion euros in EU aid for Ukraine 🇺🇦, just hours after an agreement was reached on starting membership talks. Hungary believes EU funding to Ukraine must not be granted from the EU's budget and that the 26 other members should do a joint loan outside the budget.

🔹Orban said it was unprecedented for the EU to start integration talks with a country at war, adding questions if parts of Ukraine should also be integrated that is now part of the Russian Federation. The EU 🇪🇺 has not provided an “objective analysis” of the possible impacts of Ukraine’s accession.

🔹A day before the vote, the EU commission approved the release of 10 billion euros to Hungary that was frozen by the EU until Hungary enacted judicial reforms. Hungary rejects in the strongest possible terms the political agreement reached on the EU’s new pact on migration and asylum.

🔹In September, Ukraine filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Hungary 🇭🇺, Poland 🇵🇱and Slovakia 🇸🇰 who are keeping their borders closed to importing Ukrainian grain. In August, Hungary's FM P. 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.

🔹Meanwhile, Hungary would do everything it could during its presidency of the Council of the European Union next year to revamp the customs union between the EU and Türkiye 🇹🇷 as well as support Turkey on the issue of visa liberalisation. Both countries are members of the Organisation of Turkic States.

🔹Russia supports India’s candidacy for accession to the UN 🇺🇳Security Council, Russian 🇷🇺 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Indian 🇮🇳 counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The Indian FM arrived in Russia on Monday 25th December on a five-day visit.

🔹Russian FM S. Lavrov said, The North - South transport corridor (INSTC) project does not require the 'second wind' and it will be implemented in the near future. Russia and India highlighted a series of steps to cooperate as part of the INSTC. The project is aimed at integrating the transport and information routes of Russia 🇷🇺, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, Iran 🇮🇷 and India 🇮🇳.

🔹Jaishankar’s working schedule also includes a meeting with Russian Deputy PM and the Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov. Today he met President V. Putin for discussions. The Indian side also supports the resumption of direct negotiations on the issue of creating a "sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine 🇵🇸 within safe and internationally recognized borders."

🔹Russia and India signed agreements pertaining to construction of the future power generating units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Russia is ready to launch the production of defense military-purpose goods as part of the "Made in India" program. The bilateral trade 🚢 between both countries is historically high and the trade turnover will be above $50 bln in 2023.

Video source: Hindustan Times

🔹US and EU leaders along with other G7 nations consider a legal theory for confiscation of $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. The US 🇺🇸 gov't cites confiscation as a reprisal for 'injured' Ukraine. This push is driven by the West's difficulty to fund Ukraine. However, legally, economic reprisals are the prerogative of injured states that are at war with Russia. The US and EU 🇪🇺 nations made no official declaration of war against the Russian Federation, making them third parties. Therefore there is no legality in the confiscation of Russian assets by the West.

🔹This is a destabilizing precedent by the West. How can a state seize assets to end a war it is not directly involved in? US and EU leaders are not sure the rest of the world will play along with such plans and are considering plan B, which is seizing the profits accrued from frozen Russian assets. Western politicians are hoping their theory would be "held up internationally in the courts" and widely recognized as legitimate.

🔹Asset seizures, once it’s done, no country would leave its reserves or other assets in the US or the EU. Member states of the EU were considering Italy's anti-mafia type laws as a concept to confiscate sanctioned Russian assets. EU officials are fixed on legalizing illegality by confiscating private property outside the framework of a criminal trial. The EU has been looking into the 'legal' options (non-existent) to confiscate Russia’s 🇷🇺 assets frozen under sanctions.

🔹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.

Video Source: Sean Foo

🔹Farmers across Germany 🇩🇪 on Monday 8th Jan. continued protests against the gov't’s economic and agricultural policy plans that would see reduced subsidies for the sector. They blocked roads and highways with tractors throughout the country. The plans included subsidy cuts for fuel usage by farmers and tax breaks for farming vehicles.

🔹Germany's 2024 budget plans include significant cuts and limitations to make up for a financing hole worth tens of billions of euros shortly after the constitutional court ruled that a re-allocation of emergency Covid-19 funds to the current budget was unlawful. There is a major structural issue in that German famers 🚜 often can't pass on higher production costs as they do not influence product prices. This forces them to ramp up production and endangers small businesses.

🔹🇩🇪 Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck warns the farmers’ protest could be exploited by far-right groups. Alternative for Germany (AfD Party) criticised Habeck’s comments. Deutsche Bahn’s operations are expected to be disrupted starting Wednesday due to a planned strike.

🔹Highways were blocked due to protests and blockades will continue in coming days as farmers are camping out in Berlin. In Berlin, tractors blasted their horns and blocked the main avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate . Police said roads and highway slip roads were blocked in multiple locations nationwide, including several border crossings with France.

Video Sources from x.com: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Music: Schwarz ist die Sorge

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 and Russia 🇷🇺 merged their financial message transfer systems in January 2024, allowing their banks to make direct payments bypassing the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system, in another step towards de-dollarization. This direct interbank transfer mechanism allows companies in both countries to trade in their respective national currencies instead of using the US dollar or euro.

🔹The deputy head of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohsen Karimi said commercial banks of both countries can establish brokerage relations with each other and settle in Russian rubles or Iranian rials. Both Iran and Russia are subject to US sanctions, which have motivated the emerging allies to craft their own path in the global economy. Plans are in the works for a joint investment committees between the sovereign wealth funds of Russia and Iran.

🔹In June 2023, Iran’s🇮🇷 financial messaging system SEPAM was accepted by the Asian Clearing Union members as an internal financial messaging system. At that time it was revealed that all banks of Russia and over 100 banks in 13 other countries have been connected to Irans SEPAM. The Russian system for the transfer of financial messages, SPFS, has been linked with Iran’s SEPAM and the messages between the two systems are sent on the basis of the SWIFT standards.

🔹In December 2022, Russia’s 🇷🇺 2nd largest bank, VTB, launched a new service allowing both individuals & businesses to transfer money to & from Iran. At that time Russia & Iran were already working out mechanisms to implement oil 🛢 & gas swap deals as both countries were unifying their banking systems for trade in ruble/rial currency pair.

🔹 The United States Pentagon has lost track of $1 billion in missiles and other weapons the US 🇺🇸has sent to Ukraine 🇺🇦. According to a redacted report (revealed during the 2nd week of January 2024) from the Defense Department Inspector General, more than $1 billion of a $1.69 billion worth of weapons, including attack drones, night-vision devices, and Javelin anti-tank missiles, that were sent to Ukraine remain "delinquent."

🔹 Germany 🇩🇪 is reportedly unsure of where the massive military assistance it sent to Ukraine ended up in 2023. Der Spiegel quoted a gov't response to an MP claiming there have been “no controls” whatsoever regarding the massive commitment to finance the Ukrainian military. However, the Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party believes that the West should buy more weapons for Ukraine from non-Western countries.

🔹Last summer, French 🇫🇷 police reportedly seized weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine from rioters participating in French riots. Gendarmes found two modified large-calibre rifles from Accuracy International.

🔹In December 2022, the EU dismissed warnings when Nigerian 🇳🇬 President M. 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.

🔹Way back in July 2022, 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.

Video Source: Stephen Gardner