Key NATO member against Sweden and Finland in bloc — RT World News

“We are currently following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland [joining NATO], but we are not favorable towards it. At this point, it is not possible for us to have a positive approach,” the Turkish president told journalists.

“Scandinavian countries are unfortunately almost like guesthouses for terrorist organizations. PKK and DHKP/C are nested in Sweden and the Netherlands. And I’m going even further, in their parliaments,” he added.

Well, that puts a spanner in the old NATO wheel.

But there’s more bifurcation on the EU front. Hungary’s Orban says no!

Hungary cannot support new EU sanctions against Russia in present form – Orban

“We know exactly what we need, first of all we need 5 years for this whole process to be completed… 1-1.5 years is not enough for anything,” Orban said, adding that Hungary would also need vast investment in refineries and the shipping system to allow imports of non-Russian oil.

It’s almost as if the pointy shoes in Brussels aren’t prepared for this. Must be rather annoying having one of their recalcitrant minor territories pointing this out to them and vetoing their efforts.

Orban questioned whether it was wise to make investments on that scale for a result in 4 to 5 years time, while the war in Ukraine was happening now.

Pesky details, Orban. This is a crisis.

He said Hungary was waiting to see a new proposal from the Commission.

“I don’t want to confront the EU but to cooperate….but this is only possible if they take our interests into account.”

Orban also said Hungary would not support the blacklisting of the head of the Kremlin-allied Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, as this was an “issue of religious freedom.

I do hope Orban has decent security. Just saying…

So where are we with all of this now?

Well, you’ll not hear it in the MSM but Russia continues to sell oil and gas into the EU and is now no longer paid in dollars but in rubles.

The ruble is now running like the police are after it. Talk about the boomerang effect.

Not only are the West destroying their economies and now — having to pay in rubles, not dollars — they are basically paying Russia to wage a war. Oh, and the money they’re borrowing to prolong said war and possibly bring about a nuclear exchange? $40 billion from the US government at last click. That’s coming from the Chinese.

Here’s US treasuries:

Since August 2021 the yield has more than doubled. Meh, who’s looking? I’m sure it’s fine. Transitory or something. Or in a few months we’ll see some dolly bird on CNBC explaining how it is a “good” that rates are climbing. Helping with climate change or something.

In the meantime, the beat goes on. For us? Well, as much as I think we were all hoping that we’d see a ceasefire in Ukraine, this is now shot to pieces as former marine and ex-CIA Scott Ritter points out in this 20 minute discussion. In essence, Russia sees this war as a fight for their own sovereignty and will continue to fight. The West with such formidable capital will just keep pouring it in. The result will be turning Ukraine into the next Afghanistan.

What this means for us as investors is that energy isn’t likely to come back materially from its current levels. And if energy isn’t coming back, then neither will inflation.

What else? Here’s Putin with Serbia’s head honcho.

I’ve no idea what they’re saying. Probably something like this:

Putin: “It’s nice and warm in here, isn’t it?”
Vučić: “Understood.”
Putin: “Go tell them.”
Vučić: “Da.”

Serbia will ‘fight’ sanctions pressure – Vucic — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

Despite suffering “enormous damage,” Serbia will fight to maintain its policy of not joining Western sanctions introduced against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, President Aleksandar Vucic insisted Sunday.

Serbia is acting this way because it is “a sovereign and independent country” that is well aware of “how unfair and unnecessary” the sanctions are, the president added.

Without restricting Russia, Belgrade lacks access to the capital market and can’t service its foreign loans, which affects the well-being of the population, Vucic bemoaned to local media.

Hungary, on the other hand, has energy independence from Brussels by having contracted directly with Gazprom for natural gas via Turkstream’s train that goes into Serbia and Hungary.

So in summary, the EU is paying Russia to fight the Ukraine war while decimating its own domestic economy. You’d think that’s foolish and they’re muppets, but you’d be thinking this isn’t what they want. The Great Reset actually requires a populace that is desperate, owns nothing, and is hungry. They’re getting just what they want.

Next stop is ”eating bugs.”

The Turks can and will opt out of NATO, but for now are quite happy to keep sucking in billions in funding. You see, the Western nations are paying Erdogan to build his military. Been like that for decades now. Here I grew up thinking that the Western powers with the US at the helm “never funded dictatorships.” Silly me.

So for now both the EU and the US government via their respective taxpayers will continue to send that corrupt sock puppet Zelensky billions of dollars. And because a “war tax” would be highly unpopular (given real inflation is running over 10%), the money has to come from more debt issuance.