Gosplan Watch: Plumbing alert as commodity hedging unravels
The next liquidity crisis never comes from the same one the last one did.
WW3 Watch: Blind Spot OSINT (07/03/2022)
I’m afraid the Blind Spot Telegram OSINT chat has descended into anarchy. We will be migrating to a better organised alternative very shortly. In the interim, JC has waded into the chaos to bring you what signal is left. Big hat tip to you kind sir! The theatre of war: How realistic are Russian demands […]
From the “Truth Zone”: A collective blind spot
This is an update of a section from Sunday’s Blind Spot Newsletter.
Newsletter: The Brzezinski perspective
This is a repost of Sunday’s Blind Spot Newsletter.
In the Blind Spot today (Trident, WAGMI, famine)
Finance, markets, business etc: Zoltan Pozsar worries Russian sanctions might spell the end of dollar hegemony. Sanctions have shown that currency reserves accumulated by central banks can be taken away. (IMHO this is the biggest risk emerging from the Russian sanction issue — though many informed money-market experts disagree. If the integrity of the dollar […]
WW3 Watch: Buy the MIC stonk rally?
Covid gave us the Stay at Home stonk trade. This peaked at the height of the Omicron panic in November (when yours truly was making predictions about a February gas squeeze), it then powerfully collapsed in January of 2021. Almost like, err, capital knew it would have to go on the hunt for a new […]
WW3 Watch: Blind Spot OSINT (03/03/2022)
From the daily chats curated by The Blind Spot community (in the last 24 hours-ish). The conduct of the war: Apparently a Russian OSINT map of Ukrainian positions, showing how heavily concentrated Ukrainian forces are on the Donna’s line. France seizes Sechin yacht: (French customs have seized a yacht belonging to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin […]
WW3 Watch: The petroleum factor
Inquiring minds want to know: what’s up with the collapsing price of Urals crude and can it ever find its way to market? Here’s a short summary from someone in the know (with my emphasis): Russia supplies crude/products via pipelines direct to customers and via the sea. Under sanctions, movements likely go the way of […]
WW3 Watch: Blind Spot OSINT (02/03/2022)
From the daily chats curated by The Blind Spot community (in the last 24 hours-ish). The conduct of the war: Russian Army – underpromising and overdelivering? The PG Tips International Brigade. Prediction markets and pundits, Ukraine edition. Counter-strike on Russia propaganda talk, a global offensive. Russian satellites in space out of control, maybe. Players got […]
In the Blind Spot today (Hong Kong lockdown, Apple Pay, Knights)
Finance, markets etc: Italian energy bills are getting pricey. Google, Meta face penalties in Russia as deadline passes to open local offices. Rana Foroohar warns Beijing is quite serious about the new de-dollarised world order that it is pursuing. Helen Thomas on Germany’s Zeitenwende (turning point). China is buying more Iranian oil now than it […]