Best Ukraine Info
Too much propaganda these days
The propaganda machine was turned up to 11, with unrelenting “war with Russia” talk. Someone really wants the US/NATO to go to war with Russia, although Russia does not threaten NATO or the US. Unfortunately, the likelihood of the propagandists somehow instigating a conflict is rather high.
By far the best source of Ukraine-related information, with a pro-Russia stance, is TheSaker.is. The author is a fourth-generation Russian emigre (his great-grandparents fled the Bolshevik Revolution) now living in the US. He is a veteran of an unidentified three-letter agency with a professional specialty in Eastern Europe.
Other good sources include:
I would avoid all mainstream media including all television, newspapers and magazines.
Practically our whole list of preferred assets — gold and precious-metals-related, USD cash, commodities producers especially energy and agriculture, defensive high-dividend stable-cashflow stocks — has been doing well, and probably will continue to do at least relatively well for some time continuing.
There is a lot of talk about restrictions on Russian commodity-related exports including energy and fertilizers. Probably these will find new buyers in a few weeks, among Russia-friendly countries including Brazil, India and China. If they really were excluded entirely, for the longer term, things would get rather serious. Russia exports about 4.7 million barrels per day of crude and condensates, plus another 2.8mb/d of products (diesel, gasoline, etc.) out of world production of about 100mb/d. Plus, of course, it is a major natural gas supplier. The world already has about a 2mb/d deficit, which has been coming out of inventories, and which will have to be resolved soon. So, in the short term, there looks like about a 4.7+2.8+2=9.5mb/d hole in the world oil market.
Russia is also a major fertilizer exporter. Besides sanctions, Russia’s government itself “recommended” that Russian fertilizer producers halt all exports in the midst of a worldwide fertilizer shortage. Russia is the second-largest producer of ammonia, urea and potash and the fifth-largest producer of processed phosphates. The country accounts for 23% of the global ammonia export market, 14% of urea, 21% for potash and 10% of the processed phosphates. Planting season is just beginning in the northern hemisphere.
Thank you for some quality analysis Nathan