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Is the Russian incursion into Ukraine a desperate "land grab" by an unhinged Russian president? Is it as simple as that? That is what the mainstream media across the political spectrum is pumping out. And, as with all propaganda wars, anyone outside the lines is demonized. But what if there is something beyond the bumper sticker talking points?
The Covid Berlin Wall fell. Time to get back to normal, right? Well, not so fast. A fight on the other side of the world has generated war fever in the minds of America's political classes. They're already telling American citizens that "sacrifices will have to be made." Is this what Americans need to hear after years of Covid tyranny?
By Ron Paul
According to numbers released by the US government, consumer prices have increased by 7.5 percent in the past year, the steepest increase since 1982. The actual price increases are even worse than the government numbers suggest, given that the “official” statistics are manipulated to understate the real rate of price increases. According to John Williams of ShadowStats, prices have actually increased by around 15 percent over the past year. The fact that prices remain at historically high levels shows that inflation is far from “transitory,” as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had described it. The continuing inflation has led the Federal Reserve Board to suggest the Fed will start increasing interest rates earlier than previously announced. The Fed may also break with its practice of only raising rates by 25 basis points at a time and increase rates by increments of up to 50 basis points. However, the increases the Fed is discussing would still leave interest rates at historic lows. Thus, such interest rate increases would do little or nothing to ease the pain rising prices cause for average consumers. Most policy “experts” and politicians, including President Biden, support interest rate increases to deal with inflation. However, some progressives oppose raising rates. Opponents of rate increases fear that increasing interest rates will slow economic growth, increase unemployment, and depress wages. These progressives believe the old fallacy that workers benefit from easy money. The truth is workers are inflation’s main victims. Workers may see their nominal pay (pay unadjusted for inflation) increase while the Fed-produced price increases cause real wages to plummet. That is certainly the case today. In contrast, the Federal Reserve’s money creation benefits crony capitalists who receive the new money created by the Fed before the injection of new money causes prices to rise. This increases the elite’s purchasing power, furthering income inequality. The Federal Reserve’s creation of new money does more than erode the value of the currency. It also artificially lowers interest rates, which are the price of money. This distorts the signals sent to market actors, leading to investment decisions that do not reflect the real condition of the market. The result is a temporary boom, followed by a bust. Workers who find new jobs in the boom lose those jobs in the bust. These workers are then not just unemployed. They are also often saddled with unmanageable debt incurred during the low interest rate, easy money phase of the business cycle. Progressives could help workers by joining the movement for market-based money. Free-market money will be safe from government manipulation, and thus its value will remain stable. A step toward restoring a free-market monetary system is letting the people know the truth about the Federal Reserve by passing Audit the Fed. Another step is legalizing alternative currencies by repealing legal tender laws and ending all capital gains taxes on precious metals and cryptocurrencies. Congress must also begin to cut spending, starting by making major cuts in our 750 billion dollars military budget and ending all corporate welfare. Fiat money benefits financial and political elites at the expense of working people whose standard of living is eroded by Federal Reserve actions. As a Texas labor leader once told me, “Gold has always been the working man’s friend.” I would add that fiat money is the worker’s foe.
Russia's wide-ranging assault on Ukrainian military targets in the early hours of the morning has surprised Western capitals even as they repeatedly predicted an imminent attack. Propaganda machines on all sides are turned up to maximum. In today's Liberty Report we try to break down the facts and the antecedents with an eye on where things might go from here.
President Biden's short address yesterday on the Ukraine crisis contained one amusing point: he told Americans they were going to have to suffer more inflation and higher energy prices because he is standing up for freedom in Ukraine! Many Americans love an aggressive foreign policy, but is it not without risk for Biden to blame economic woes at home on an US interventionism overseas?
 By Chris Rossini We Americans have had a 2 year break from the war liars; a nice reprieve from being constantly told that some boogeyman from a foreign nation was coming to get us. Sadly, during those two years, another set of liars, Covid liars, filled the vacuum. Instead of constant lies about "the next Hitler," we were bombarded with constant lies about a virus and a "vaccine." Now that the Covid liars are petering out, serendipitous events on the other side of the planet have jolted the war liars out of their lockdown pajamas. They're back at their laptops where they can once again become keyboard warriors. Americans live under a tag-team of liars for tyranny. Covid liars are now exiting stage left, and war liars are entering stage right. Tyranny is tyranny. It just comes in different wrappers at different times. The oxygen for tyranny is always fear. People must be afraid, otherwise the authoritarian apparatus comes crashing down. This is why there is never a let up. Constant "crisis" means constant fear, which means constant increases in power for government (and its corporate sponsors). Subsequently that means less freedom for us. Over the last two years, we were told to be intensely afraid of a virus with a 99+% survival rate. We were pressured to take an experimental concoction, with no idea as to how it would affect us now or in the future; and if we did not do these things, we were to be treated as selfish and traitorous scum. Now that those lies have lost their muster, and enough people have finally woken up, a new and similar set of nefarious ideas are in our faces. We are to be intensely afraid of what is happening thousands of miles away, on the other side of the earth! You see, all the way over there, there's a border dispute. We have care about this, even if we have no idea where this border is on a map. It doesn't matter that it has nothing to do with us. We must care, and we must support whatever it is we're told to support. Otherwise, we are selfish and traitorous scum (again). All of our problems stem from this border on the other side of the world. Can't afford food or gas? It's because of what is taking place over there. Shortages? Messed up economy? Look across the world for the source. This endless cycle of lies and tyranny will continue as long as Americans believe the propaganda. It only ends when people stop believing. There's no law that says you must believe the TV. Look how quickly the Covid "mandates" and "passports" were reversed. Enough people stopped believing and the Covid Berlin Wall came crashing down. But the damage has been done. It took way too long to wake up. Now the war worshippers are back. It doesn't matter how many failed wars and invasions they have under their belts. It doesn't matter that they've financially bankrupted our nation by foolishly trying to police the world. They're back, and they're ready to do more damage to our freedom. That's exactly what will happen if (and only if) we believe them. 
Russian President Putin's surprise announcement that Russia would recognize two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine as independent has left the Biden Administration and NATO - as well as the EU - at a loss for how to respond. Is it a war? Limited incursion? Will more sanctions do the trick? Also today: Why is Scotland no longer publishing vax info? And Canada's peaceful protest organizer denied bail, faces years in prison.
Recent developments in eastern Ukraine are increasingly pointing to the direction of a more direct conflict between Ukrainian and Russian forces. The two breakaway eastern regions have evacuated civilians amid OSCE reports of massively increasing mortar and other military attacks over the line of demarcation. Most according to OSCE maps are coming from the Kiev side into the breakaway region. Russia today will according to press reports decide today whether to recognize the breakaway regions as independent. Fasten your seatbelts.
War is government at its worst. When it comes to severe destruction and loss of life, nothing tops government wars. When governments can counterfeit money, wars are exponentially worse than they would be if money were sound. Sound money (like gold and silver) act as a restraint. They cannot be counterfeited. This is the prime reason that governments hate sound money with a passion. Government works overtime to make sure their citizens never even think about sound money's return.
By Ron Paul
Over the weekend we heard that the US is evacuating its embassy in Kiev for fear of a Russian invasion. We also heard that Russia is evacuating its embassy in Kiev for fear of a US-backed provocation in eastern Ukraine that may lead to a Russian military response. We are in “uncharted territory” the media tells us. Yes, that is true. But it is uncharted because no one had ever imagined in the past that the US government would be so foolish to risk a thermonuclear war over the borders of a country – Ukraine – that have changed so many times over the past century. An urgent Biden-Putin phone call on Saturday did not lead to any breakthrough – as if anyone thought it would. Instead, it provided cover for Biden Administration hawks to claim they tried every diplomatic approach, but war seems to be the only option. But this whole thing is a farce. As I see it, here is the Ukraine crisis in a nutshell: Biden to Putin: “Don’t invade Ukraine.” Putin to Biden: “We have no intention of invading Ukraine.” Biden to the US media: “Putin is about to invade Ukraine!” Then Biden’s top officials proceed to embarrass themselves by warning that the invasion was imminent. Or it’s coming next Tuesday, or Wednesday, or surely before the end of the Olympics. Does anyone think they have any credibility left with their constant hysterical warnings? Meanwhile “US intelligence” continues to leak incendiary information – likely self-serving – to a US media that has lost any interest in skepticism toward any “scoop” handed down by US government officials. What the US media will not report is that this entire crisis – and the threat of a serious war – has all been brought about by US interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, specifically the US-backed coup that overthrew an elected government in 2014. Every bit of unrest in Ukraine proceeded from that single foolish and immoral act by the Obama Administration. That is why we are non-interventionist. The philosophy of non-interventionism is one very good piece of insurance protecting us from needless war. If you don’t meddle in the affairs of foreign countries, there is less chance of being dragged into an unnecessary war. Ukraine is a great example of why non-interventionism is the only pro-America foreign policy. We are risking nuclear war with Russia over what? Ukraine’s borders? Surely most Americans see how idiotic this is. The Biden Administration is at present shell-shocked that the Russian government did not back down over plans to expand NATO to Ukraine. Russia understandably views NATO membership for Ukraine -with its Article 5 guarantees – to be an unacceptable threat considering the ongoing border disputes. This is not our fight, yet Biden’s foreign policy team has decided it’s a great time to kick the hornet’s nest. Is it all about Biden’s dismal approval ratings? What a sick thing to risk a major war over. We need to stand up and say “enough.” Before it’s too late. |
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