Professor Tara Smith tries to set the record straight regarding Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and reason. Unfortunately, as David Gordon demonstrates, Smith’s analysis misses the mark.
Category: Economics
The Collapse of the Yen Carry Trade: Impending Recession?
Bob and Professor St. Onge assess the recent collapse of the Yen Carry Trade: and whether financial markets are a reliable barometer for economic conditions.
US Defense Firms Reluctant To Cooperate With Ukraine Due To Safety, Corruption
US Defense Firms Reluctant To Cooperate With Ukraine Due To Safety, Corruption
Authored by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher, via InfoBrics.org,
US military contractors are concerned about corruption and the security of co-production in Ukraine and are therefore in no rush to sign contracts, a US State Department spokesperson said.
Without the US being able to construct military-industrial infrastructure, Ukraine will never be able to meet its weapons and ammunition needs in the current war.
“Several US defense companies are considering joint production inside Ukraine, but questions remain about the safety of doing business in a war zone, the persistence of corruption, and the long-term business case,” Defense One reported on August 6, citing a State Department official spoken to on the sidelines of the Farnborough air show.
“The Pentagon has been pushing American defense contractors to increase collaboration with their Ukrainian counterparts, but US firms have been slower to ink deals than European companies,” the report added.
According to the State Department spokesperson, the main concerns are the security of employees and facilities, corruption, and political risks.
“I think our industry is really eager, but at the same time, [it] has to make sense from a business case, right? And financing is an issue too, how you can actually pay for this stuff,” the official added.
The source noted that Washington intends to increase the number of companies cooperating with Ukraine, that a team oversees such deals, and that US companies are generally open to dialogue. However, despite this supposed enthusiasm, another major concern is corruption.
“Clearly, corruption is a concern,” the official said.
Corruption is not an issue shared only by US companies, though. A survey conducted in February by Rating found that 51% of Ukrainians believe corruption in government bodies is a greater hindrance to development than the war with Russia (46%). A survey conducted from March 1 to 15 found that 70% of Ukrainians believe that the government is profiteering from the war and increasingly sinking into corruption, a massive increase from the 43% recorded a year earlier.
Although Washington, Brussels, and Kiev claim that corruption is being stamped out, as reflected by citizen experiences, this is certainly not the case. Multimillion/billion-dollar companies do not make investment decisions based on the government’s propaganda statements but on the reality on the ground, which is that deep-rooted corruption has been consolidated into fewer hands, mostly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his inner circle.
Beyond the issue of corruption, there is also the likely scenario that Russian missiles and bombs will destroy any military-related infrastructure in Ukraine.
“But American companies have a lot to consider before they sign up for co-production in a war zone; no one wants their facilities blown up or employees getting hurt,” the official was quoted by Defense One as saying.
Although the Biden administration does not take any warnings from Moscow with seriousness, such as the willingness to militarily intervene if the Kiev regime continued its policies of persecuting the Russian minority and pursuing NATO membership, US companies are certainly not under any illusions and are, therefore deterred from making any investments that will quite literally end up in smoke.
It is recalled that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in September 2023: “Any facilities for the production of weapons, especially if these weapons fire at us, they become objects of special attention for our military.”
Staying true to this message, in a recent one-week period alone, Russian troops carried out 19 strikes by precision weapons and drones at Ukrainian military-industrial and energy sites, air defense systems and arms depots over the past week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on August 9.
“On August 3-9, 2024, the Russian Armed Forces delivered 19 combined strikes by high-precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, hitting Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and associated energy facilities, aerodrome infrastructure, air defense systems, assembly workshops and storage sites of attack UAVs. In addition, the strikes targeted fuel bases, armament and ammunition depots, areas of massed Ukrainian army reserves, temporary deployment sites of nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries,” the ministry said in a statement.
These are the conditions under which Ukraine’s military-industrial complex must operate and why it cannot meet the Ukrainian military’s weapons and ammunition needs.
Even if corruption was not deterring American investment opportunities, to begin with, the fact that Russia destroys military-industrial infrastructure with such ease means that the interest American companies will have in setting up in Ukraine will all but end.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 – 03:30
What has the Fed Done to Our Lives?
Most Americans have no idea of the damage that the Federal Reserve system has done to their daily lives. Unfortunately, most Americans are not particularly interested in finding out either.
CIA Sees Kursk Raid As Having ‘Punctured The Hubris’ Of Putin
CIA Sees Kursk Raid As Having ‘Punctured The Hubris’ Of Putin
President Joe Biden said this week that he was in “constant contact” with the Ukrainians related to the ongoing invasion of Kursk oblast. “I’ve spoken with my staff on a regular basis probably every four or five hours for the last six or eight days,” Biden told reporters about the fighting in Kursk, which is now at a week-and-a-half.
“And it’s — it’s creating a real dilemma for Putin. And we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact with — with the Ukrainians,” he added. “That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.”
From the start, US officials have acted like they were in the dark the whole time as to Ukraine’s plans, likely for the purpose of plausible deniability and so Kiev isn’t seen by Moscow as having been directly backed by NATO in the brazen cross-border operation.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had initially said on Friday, “We’re in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts, and we are working to gain a better understanding of what they’re doing, what their goals are, what their strategy is, and I’m going to leave a little bit of space for us to have those conversations before I try to characterize what’s going on.”
But on Thursday there are the following interesting lines from the NY Times pointing out that top US officials have been quick to boast about how the operation has dealt a blow to the “hubris” of Putin:
The operation itself will not drive Russia to the bargaining table, according to U.S. officials. Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, has pledged not to negotiate while Ukraine occupies Russia, and American officials said he should be taken at his word.
But in public speeches, the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, has spoken about the need to puncture the hubris of Mr. Putin. Russia will not make any concessions, he has said, until Mr. Putin’s overconfidence is challenged and Ukraine shows strength on the battlefield.
The Times also proclaims that this operation has embarrassed Putin and exposed weaknesses. And US officials further say that the fight is about to get a lot dirtier and more risky, in expectation of future sabotage and cross-border campaigns.
“American officials say Ukraine will have to build on the operation, with other daring operations that can push back against Russia’s sense that its victory is inevitable,” writes NY Times. “Whether that will include more cross-border incursions, secret sabotage missions or other yet-to-be-planned operations remains to be seen.”
These future operations might involve use of US-supplied equipment, just like with the current Kurks mission: “The lack of warning to Kyiv’s foremost Western ally took on even greater meaning when it became clear that Ukraine was using American-supplied vehicles, arms and munitions to help carry out the bold ground operation into Russia,” the report continues.
Ukrainian forces conduct an ambush in Kursk. Seems like there are a lot of these small groups conducting operations in areas the Russians feel are safe to travel. pic.twitter.com/pms8tvKt5H
— Preston Stewart (@prestonstew_) August 15, 2024
Politico is meanwhile separately reporting that the Biden administration is now “open” to providing Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which would be “a move that would give Kyiv’s F-16s greater combat punch as it seeks to gain further momentum in its fight against Russia,” according to the publication.
Ukrainian operations and heavy fighting have also reportedly spread to the Belgorod region. Kiev continues to tout ‘victories’ – including the capture of another 100 Russian soldiers on Thursday. Dramatic accounts like the following continue to come out in Western publications:
A Ukrainian soldier who participated in the first forays of last week’s Kursk incursion said his unit caught Russian troops completely by surprise as the latter were having coffee. His account, published by The Financial Times, adds to a chorus of assessments that Russia had been unprepared and blindsided by Ukraine’s rare cross-border attack on August 6.
The FT wrote that the soldier, identified as Volodymyr, was part of a unit operating a US-provided Stryker armored fighting vehicle.
Volodymyr told the outlet that his unit entered Kursk in the late morning of August 6, and soon found a group of Russian troops “sitting in the forest, drinking coffee at a table.”
“Then our Stryker drives right into their table,” he said, per the FT. “We killed many of them on the first day. Because they were unarmed and didn’t expect us,” he added.
More mass surrenders of Russians in Kursk. https://t.co/UMcumnK8iG
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) August 15, 2024
And now Zelensky has opened a new administrative center in Ukraine. “Ukraine solidified its control over the parts of Russia’s Kursk region it has taken in a 10-day offensive, announcing Thursday the appointment of a military commander to manage the area as well as new battlefield successes,” The Washington Post writes.
The cross-border assault has unfolded over the past ten days, with Ukrainian officials recently floating a plan to hold territory inside Russia as a “buffer zone”. However, Russia has been sending heavy manpower to the region, as well as aerial power.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 – 20:30
6.1-magnitude earthquake shakes Taiwan: USGS
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit off Taiwan’s eastern coast on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said. The tremor, initially reported as a magnitude 6.3 by the island’s weather service, struck at 7:35 am (2335 GMT) near Hualien at a depth of 15 kilometres (about nine miles). There were no immediate reports of damage.
The post 6.1-magnitude earthquake shakes Taiwan: USGS appeared first on Insider Paper.
MARLOW: Dem Voters Back Harris for Her ‘Vibe’, Not Accomplishments
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The post MARLOW: Democrat Voters Support Harris Based on Her ‘Vibe’, Say ‘She’s Good for Women’ appeared first on Breitbart.
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The post Kamala Harris, Tim Walz Interview Each Other in Policy-Free Discussion as Both Continue to Dodge Press appeared first on Breitbart.