Toyota Motor on Tuesday halted operations at all of its plants in Japan after a major supplier was hit by a cyberattack. The company is suspending 28 lines at 14 plants. Subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor will also halt operations at some plants in Japan. https://tinyurl.com/mr2ns8s7

Bridgestone-Firestone tire factories across North America and Latin America are still struggling to recover from a cyberattack after sending workers home for multiple days. "Until we learn more from this investigation, we cannot determine with certainty the scope or nature of any potential incident. https://tinyurl.com/4jav9u8p

The website for the Moscow Stock Exchange went down after a cyberattack. (Unverified claim) The Ukraine IT Army, a crowdsourced community of hackers endorsed by Kyiv officials, called on members to launch attacks on the website, Moex[.]com, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister who announced the formation of the Army, celebrated on Facebook. The Moscow Exchange remains closed for the second day. https://tinyurl.com/2p8yrxax

U.S. crude prices hit their highest point in more than a decade. UK Brent Crude @$111.20 up +5.94%. US WTI Crude $109.47 up +5.72%. OPEC+ group of national producers stopped short of adding unplanned supply. OPEC+’s decision leaves oil supply incredibly tight with little hope for an immediate respite as traders shun Russian oil. Russia is a major producer of crude and any disruptions to its ability to supply markets risks pushing the price of the commodity higher. While a widespread Russian oil embargo has yet to materialize, tough financial sanctions look to already be wreaking havoc on supply chains as traders “self-sanction.”

We have not seen any confirmed retaliation for cyberattacks shutting down Russia's stock exchange, financial institutions, their state media websites and Central Bank/government websites. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Cyber Army has been quiet. They have been quiet and never got retribution for Stuxnet destroying Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant. Many in the west are unaware of how 'Shock Doctrine' works which makes us ill prepared for what may be coming. Stuxnet is still out there and modified in many ways. A recommended watch is Zero Days. https://www.bitchute.com/video/UoEy4yfsUtFE/

BREAKING - Wheat prices trade 'limit up' again, hit highest in nearly 14 years. Wheat futures hit $10.59 per bushel, up 7.62%, as of 9:39 a.m. ET. “Limit up,” refers to the highest amount the price of a commodity is allowed to increase in a single day. Russia is the largest exporter of wheat and Ukraine is among the four biggest exporters of the commodity. Black Sea ports would remained closed, "meaning that no wheat shipments can be sent from Ukraine by sea for an indefinite period,".

Ex-terrorist Maajid Nawaz, founding chairman of counter Islamist extremism think tank – Quilliam, called CBDCs a threat to financial freedom as government can control and track it. CBDCs will become the biggest threat to individual privacy and financial freedom. Although it may appear appealing, one should remember that the entire control sits in the hands of the government. https://www.bitchute.com/video/RnqhPtnf7bO3/

Taiwan reported a massive blackout on Thursday that is affecting its two biggest cities. Taipei, the capital, and Kaohsiung, the second biggest city, were among the areas affected. Literally half of Taiwan across north, center, and south saw 50% drop according to Taipower (the state-owned power provider) website real-time power total usage comparison with yesterday. Taiwan Power Co. said its southern power grid system encountered a malfunction, causing the blackout.

CRYPTO- US Federal Reserve Chairman testifies: Cryptocurrencies should not be tolerated because it evades national security concerns and law enforcement. Need to strike balance between privacy and national security for public transactions.

Chaos erupts in Nitrogen Fertilizer markets. Fire at nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer storage facility in Yakima County, Washington US containing 1.75 million pounds of mixed components for fertilizers. Fire report & video: https://tinyurl.com/ef2sn5jx

Russia is a major low-cost exporter of many kinds of crop nutrients. “No other nation has the same breadth of readily exportable fertilizer supply". “Their fertilizers move to all continents.” Major buyers of Russia’s plentiful fertilizer supplies are scrambling for product. https://tinyurl.com/myyp2azp

U.S. crude prices hit another highest point in more than a decade again. UK Brent Crude hit a high of $113.14 and US WTI Crude $111.41 before correcting 2%. A scramble for U.S. and Brent crude comes as global buyers have no access to pay for Russian oil and cargoes sailing from Russia are finding it nearly impossible to get insurance. US investors are being advised to position themselves defensively in anticipation of a recession. Japan's PM Fumio Kishida plans to help residents and businesses facing difficulty due to a surge in oil prices with $3 billion in relief funds.

Westbound gas flows from Russia to Germany via the Yamal-Europe pipeline stopped today (Thursday 03). The German-Polish section of the pipeline switched into reverse, eastbound, mode on Dec. 21 as buyers in Poland drew on stored supplies from Germany rather than buying more Russian gas at high spot prices. Gazprom has intermittingly sent gas westward via the link in recent days amid high demand in Europe. It has also increased supplies to Europe via Ukraine, another key route (Brotherhood/Soyuz pipelines). Gazprom said on Thursday it was shipping gas to Europe in line with customers' requests. Russian gas accounts for some 40% of European gas demand, while the Yamal-Europe pipeline usually accounts for about 15% of Russia's westbound supply of gas to Europe and Turkey. Western media now accuses Russia’s Gazprom of deliberately cutting European supplies. Sources in comment. ⬇️

Wheat futures contract on the US CBOT gained 7.1% to $11.34 a bushel on Thursday 03rd, hitting the exchange’s high limits for how much the price can move in a session for the third-straight day. Wheat futures have climbed around 22% this week. Wheat is up +72% YTD. Corn futures have jumped 14% and soybean futures 5% this week. Much higher oil and natural gas prices will increase the costs of shipping wheat to mills, flour to bakers, and bread and cakes to supermarket shelves. High fertilizer prices are likely to cause farmers to use less and result in lower crop yields. China’s wheat prices surpass 3,000 yuan a tonne for the first time

CRYPTO NEWS - MetaMask and Infura digital asset wallets are unavailable in certain jurisdictions due to US sanctions. Infura, the infrastructure service also owned by Ethereum conglomerate ConsenSys, has imposed new geoblocks. Infura is complying sanctions and has blocked access to users in Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. As a centralized entity, funded by investors like JPMorgan, Infura is subject to regulatory concerns. https://tinyurl.com/3t8sa7rm

New York state’s efforts to enforce sanctions against Russia have ramped up a gear with the Department of Financial Services, or DFS, expediting the procurement of additional blockchain analytics technology to help detect exposure to Russian individuals and entities subject to federal sanctions, by the virtual currency businesses licensed by the department. https://tinyurl.com/7m822szu

Interesting article on Russia and China’s de-dollarization strategy.

“These types of economic sanctions were predictable because this is exactly how the West responded when Russia took the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Strategically, Putin chose to invade now because the U.S. and E.U. would be incapable of mounting a more serious response at the end of the global long-term debt cycle when their economies faced record high-debt levels, the highest inflation in 40-years, and supply chain shortages fomented by lockdown policies implemented in response to covid-19.” https://kanekoa.substack.com/p/inflation-de-dollarization-and-russias?s=r

Aluminium has hit yet another record high, rising to $3,824 on the London metal Exchange (over 30% YTD). The London Stock Exchange has suspended trading in Russian aluminium producer EN. "Maersk, which handles shipments for Russian aluminium giant United Co Rusal has suspended operations in Russia. which accounts for about 6% of the world's aluminium." Shortages have meant draws on inventories, which in LME-approved warehouses have more than halved to 855,525 tonnes since March last year.

Including sanctions, and estimated lower wheat planting this spring, after these cases in the Black Sea, shippers will no longer be sending cargo ships into the Black Sea. Prepare for drastic increase in wheat prices.

Bangladeshi-flagged vessel ‘Banglar Samriddhi,’ which came under a missile attack at a Ukrainian port on Wednesday, have been taken to a safe place after their evacuation from the damaged ship. Estonia-owned Helt sank off the port of Odessa after an explosion. Two of the crew are in a raft on the water and four others are missing.
Turkish bulk carrier Yasa Jupiter and Japanese cargo vessel the Namura Queen were both damaged - reportedly by shells or missiles - and later docked for repairs. Russia claims the two ships were hit by Ukraine's forces.

European natural gas futures hits a new record, rising as much as 27% to 203.865 euros a megawatt-hour. In BTU-equivalent context, that is a new record spread to US (henry Hub) gas (almost 6x the high end of the range for this arbitrage over the last 15 years). for comparison, the new record high natural gas prices are equivalent to a $367 barrel of oil. On the leading European TTF gas hub, the front month contract has now jumped 60% over the course of a week, as the market tries to digest the consequences of the Nord Stream 2 failure and the possibility of no Russian gas to Europe during the coming years.

Wheat prices have hit record highs on intensifying fears over a supply shortage. Prices rose to as high as $13.40 a bushel yesterday while European milling wheat in Paris hit a record of €405 per tonne. The last time the wheat price catapulted higher like this we got The Arab Spring. Social stability in the Middle East depends on the wheat price.

Turkey, a leading buyer of Russian wheat, was forced to reduce its volumes for an international tender to 285,000 tonnes this week, down from a target of 370,000 tonnes. Hungary - one of Europe's most grain rich nations, just announced that it will banning all grain exports effective immediately. China's Agriculture Minister : "China's winter wheat crop condition could be worst in history due to rare heavy rainfall last year delayed the planting of about one-third of the normal wheat acreage".

The IMF is deeply involved in the CBDC process, including by providing technical assistance to many of its members. CBDC networks are also a potential weapon for defanging future sanctions. Cross-border CBDC networks are in development across Asia (like the mCBDC Bridge, which involves Thailand, Hong Kong, China and the United Arab Emirates). Russia’s central bank is working on a digital rouble and Governor Elvira Nabiullina has expressed interest in its value as a means of facilitating cross-border payments, particularly with China. There is very little to no public consultation by most countries in the CBDC development phases. https://tinyurl.com/3f5cm722

Cyberattack knocked out remote access to 5,800 wind turbines in Germany and Central Europe with a combined output of 11 gigawatts. "There is no danger to the wind turbines" which continue to produce energy but can no longer be reset remotely if needed. About 9,000 subscribers of satellite service NordNet were affected. Viasat is a US satellite provided of which Nordnet is a client. The affected were mainly in the countries of Greece, Germany, Hungary, France, Poland and Italy. https://tinyurl.com/2v3kbtph