RUSSIA - As of February 1st, 20 percent of the world’s potash (potassium-based fertilizer) exports are suddenly, and for the foreseeable future at least (Russia as a bypass option can’t yet handle this level of traffic), off-line due to Lithuanian Railways unlawfully tearing up its contract with Belaruskali to bring Belarussian potash to Klaipeda, Lithuania for seaborne export. This arises from Lithuania’s political decision to follow US sanctions on Belaruskali and Belarus in general.

USA - Wall Street titan Steve Schwarzman launched a $100 million plan to create a global education scholarship program in China to rival the Rhodes Scholarships offered at Oxford University, Peter Schweizer writes in his bestseller Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.

USA - Consumer prices rose 7.5 percent annually by the end of January, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, the fastest rate since February 1982. The Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), which tracks inflation, rose on an annual basis for the sixth consecutive month and above the 7.2 percent increase projected by a consensus of economists. Price hikes for food, electricity and shelter contributed the most to January's inflation jump, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. Food prices are 7 percent higher, gas prices are 40 percent higher and energy prices in general are 27 percent higher than in January 2021, according to the Labor Department. “Congress and the Administration must proceed with caution before adding more fuel to an economy already on fire,” Manchin said in a Thursday statement.

USA - US President Joe Biden said after his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will “end” the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. “If Russia invades ... there will no longer [be] a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Scholz. “We will bring an end to it.” When pressed for more details on just exactly how the US can achieve this, Biden could only mutter: “I promise you, we'll be able to do it.” The American president of course found it difficult to answer this question because his country is not involved in the Nord Stream 2 project and has very little influence over it - the only thing Washington can hope for is that sustained pressure on European allies will make them capitulate to their demands. However, the reality is that Germany, Europe’s most important country alongside France, has its own economic interests that must be served and not compromised for the sake of the US. Berlin has defended its ability to complete the pipeline, despite the fact that the US opposes the project in any way possible. Washington has no interest in the fact that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is vital for the German economy and industry.

USA - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting Joe Biden in Washington today. As a student activist, Scholz cooperated closely with the Communist East German regime against NATO, as Gateway Pundit reported. Now it emerges that his Homeland Security secretary, who wants to weaponize the Feds against conservatives, supports violent Antifa extremists.

USA - Stock of Tyson Foods, the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after Brazil's JBS SA, is soaring 9%, hitting an all time high and is one of the S&P's best companies this morning after the company reported blowout earnings (thanks to passing on surging food prices) and announced that it is raising prices even more as it grapples with a tight labor market and smaller livestock herds. According to the report, beef prices jumped by 32% in the quarter, with chicken up ~20% and pork 13%. This helped Tyson's operating margin grow to 11.3%, up from 6.7%, a year earlier. The higher meat prices has, however, had the Biden administration scrambling as profits continue to mount at meatpackers, while runaway inflation continues to crush Biden's collapsing approval rating.

CHINA - In a statement on Sunday, China said it would support Argentina in its claims over the Falklands Islands – also known as Islas Malvinas – a self-governing British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic. The remote archipelago is the subject of an almost 200-year sovereignty dispute. Beijing said that it hoped negotiations over the islands would resume soon in accordance with relevant UN resolutions to resolve the dispute peacefully. China’s announcement, which was part of a joint statement on deepening relations between Beijing and Buenos Aires, has angered Britain. “We completely reject any questions over sovereignty of the Falklands. The Falklands are part of the British family and we will defend their right to self-determination. China must respect the Falklands’ sovereignty,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a tweet on Sunday.

USA - General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central Command, has accused Iran of being “morally responsible” for drone and missile strikes by the Houthi militia of Yemen against the UAE and Saudi Arabia. McKenzie is currently visiting the United Arab Emirates to give Abu Dhabi “assurance” that the US stands with the Gulf country against what he described as a threat from Tehran.

UK - The first Queen Elizabeth transformed her country into a world power. The second, through no fault of her own, has overseen the reverse. There’s no doubt that Queen Elizabeth II is a wonderful monarch, perhaps one of the greatest Britain has ever seen. To put her long reign in perspective, she ascended to the throne only seven years after the end of the Second World War, and Winston Churchill was her first prime minister. Her commitment to duty and to her people are beyond reproach, and, as a result, her jubilee will be met with a swathe of celebratory television documentaries and news articles.

UK - Legendary television presenter turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson has spoken out for his fellow farmers of Oxfordshire, England, who held a protest on Tuesday after local officials decided that only vegan products would be served at council events. “Farmers of Oxfordshire. I wish I’d known about your protest today. I’d have been there like a shot,” Clarkson posted on Twitter. Sharing a link to local news coverage of the demonstration, he criticized the council’s move to ban non-vegan foods at municipal events as “utter utter madness.” “Why are Liberal Democrats always Stalinist?” the presenter added. On Tuesday, local farmers staged a demonstration at County Hall in Oxford to protest the decision made by the Liberal Democrat and Green alliance council. The protesters also called on the authorities, as well as Oxfordshire residents, to better support the British agricultural sector. The council, which passed plans for the move in December, said the measure was part of its efforts to tackle climate change.

USA - Fact-checking is one part of the campaign to control what you see online, and therefore what you think and how you perceive reality. Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson explains how virtually everything you see and hear online has been co-opted, or taken over to serve a greater agenda. Instead of real journalists and reporters, the media is infiltrated with propagandists who dictate what’s “fake news” and what’s not. The public is being manipulated to want their information censored by third-party “fact”-checkers, which were introduced as a tool to confuse and control the public further. “Conspiracy theory”, “debunked”, “quackery” and “antivaccine” are examples of terms that are being used as propaganda tools; if you hear them, it should make you dig deeper for the truth. Those who rely solely on the internet for their information are at serious risk of being controlled; you can fight back by doing your own research, trusting your cognitive dissonance and using your common sense.

ISRAEL - Those who fantasize that ‘Israel’ is against Russia and/or China are irredeemably delusional. Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid commented on the New Cold War’s Western Eurasian theater in exclusive comments to Axios on Wednesday. In his words, “At the moment, the [Israeli] assessment is that we don’t see a violent confrontation soon. I also don’t think a world war is about to start there… We have a duty to act with caution about the Russia-Ukraine crisis that no other country has.” The Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel promptly responded with fury, even going as far as to ridiculously imply that his hosts are Russian puppets when writing on Facebook that “Mr Minister reiterates rhetoric of Russian propaganda and ignores the disturbing messages from his own strongest allies – USA, Britain and EU regarding the high possibility of full scale Russian military invasion into Ukraine in coming weeks.” It’s simply enough for the reader to know that Israel isn’t an American puppet but is fiercely independent in terms of its foreign policy and that the US’ two top rivals have successfully cultivated excellent ties with it that are mutually beneficial. Those who fantasize that “Israel” is against Russia and/or China are irredeemably delusional.

UK - Yesterday, the United Kingdom announced that it was adding itself as a party to a World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute between the European Union and China, as part of a growing row between Beijing and Lithuania over the launch of a Taiwan representative office in the Baltic country. She accused China of “economic coercion” – a buzz phrase which has gained currency among the media and political classes to describe Beijing’s retaliation towards countries hostile to it, such as Australia. Since the end of World War II, the story of Britain’s foreign policy is one of contradiction, to put it mildly. It is the tale of a declining empire, which has repeatedly failed to be realistic about its place in the world, and this has manifested itself in its constant tilting between the US and Europe. The so-called “special relationship” with America embodies the nostalgia of empire, the belief in the supremacy of Anglophone capitalism, clashing with the more mundane reality of Britain being in Europe. This has created longstanding disorientation, ranging from Charles de Gaulle’s rejection of Britain’s entry to the bloc on the basis of its relationship with the US, to Euroscepticism and Brexit itself.

USA - In a joint press conference from the White House on Monday, Germany’s recently installed left-wing chancellor, Olaf Scholz refused to confirm his country’s position on the controversial (Nord Stream 2) pipeline should Russian forces cross into Ukraine. Despite lifting sanctions on the pipeline put in place by Donald Trump, President Joe Biden said per a White House readout: “If Germany — if Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the — the border of Ukraine again — then there will be — we — there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” Though American sanctions could hinder the project, the construction is basically complete and opening of the pipeline is ultimately in the hands of Germany, with approval required from the country’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The German chancellor promised to act with “one voice” on the Ukrainian issue with the United States, yet he failed to support the threat to shut down Nord Stream 2.

USA - 30 Trillion in debt and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. What else do we get? Rising inflation and rising interest rates. Mortgage rates are rising rapidly as The Federal Reserve contemplates 5-7 rate increases over the next year and removing their balance sheet stimulus. Yes, I want to see how The Federal Reserve will navigate the rising rate scenario in the face of $30 trillion … and growing … Federal debt load. Instead of Tennessee Ernie Ford, I want to hear Delaware Joe Biden explain this to us.