Enslave
Profiteer
Rule
Don’t go there!
Perhaps ironically, one of the most famous 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse paintings is by a Russian:
- Pestilence (on a White Horse -> COVID !?)
- War (on a Red Horse -> PUTIN !?)
- Famine (on a Black Horse -> HYPERINFLATION !?)
- Death (on a Pale Horse -> TOO LATE !?)
- Meduza
- DW
- Ahead
In conversations about a hypothetical Russian invasion of NATO territory, analysts frequently discuss the city of Narva, Estonia, as a possible target. Narva sits directly on the Estonian-Russian border, and 85 percent of its population is ethnic Russian. This has raised fears among some observers that Moscow could stage an attack under the same pretext it used in Ukraine, claiming a need to “protect” Russian speakers from persecution. In March 2025, an Estonian anti-propaganda watchdog flagged a cluster of social media accounts promoting a so-called “Narva People’s Republic,” deliberately echoing the language Moscow used to legitimize its backing of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The accounts have since drawn responses from Estonia’s prime minister, its intelligence services, and international media. But who is behind them — and what they actually want — remains murky. Here’s what we know.
Last week, Meduza asked its readers in Russia how they’re living amid mobile Internet shutdowns and restrictions, which have become worse in recent weeks. We received hundreds of responses from dozens of cities. Together, they show how much everyday life has changed — and how much harder basic tasks have become. We’re sharing some of the most notable responses, translated into English.
Late last week, many Telegram users in Russia began reporting serious disruptions, according to outage trackers Downdetector and Sboy.rf. Reports that Russian authorities planned to permanently block the popular messaging app in early April had been circulating for some time. But according to industry experts, the process may have begun two weeks ahead of schedule.
Ilya Remeslo, a longtime pro-Kremlin blogger known for filing complaints against critics of the Russian authorities, made waves in the country this week when he published a Telegram post titled “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.” Days later, he was reported to have been hospitalized at a St. Petersburg psychiatric facility. Here’s what we know about Remeslo’s about-face.
Last weekend, by all appearances, the Russian authorities began blocking the messaging app Telegram across the country. The restrictions promise to deal a heavy blow to what remains of Russia’s media landscape, including Ostorozhno, Novosti, one of the platform’s largest news channels. Launched in 2021 as part of socialite Ksenia Sobchak’s media holding Ostorozhno Media, the outlet continues to operate inside Russia while covering topics that almost every other censored publication avoids.
2026.03.23
Certain metals are essential for maintaining a country’s warfighting capabilities. Three are tungsten, graphite and rare earths.
Tungsten
Tungsten (W) is one of the world’s hardest and hardest-to-source materials. It tolerates the most extreme-temperature environments, making it useful for lights, transistors, construction equipment, and parts for cars and aircraft. Tungsten-based alloys are used in a variety of industries, including defense, aerospace, energy and electronics.
Because tungsten is extremely hard, it is essential for armor-piercing munitions and high-end tooling.
Continue reading 3 metals indispensable for warfighting – Richard Mills at Ahead of the Herd.
2026.03.21
We’ve got a couple of articles that we wrote, and there’s a couple of articles on the site that points to the US not having the critical minerals, not having the manufacturing capability and getting almost all of the critical metals it needs for warfighting, either from China, processed in China or both.
US risks running out of missiles in war with Iran – Richard Mills
They’re running out of missiles and are in panic mode to secure rare earths, magnets etc.
Continue reading Under the Spotlight – War in Iran at Ahead of the Herd.
2026.03.09
Mercado Minerals (CSE:MERC) has begun its first drill program at Copalito, the company’s flagship project in Sinaloa state, Mexico.
The 3,000-meter program encompassing about 25 holes will target five segments of known veins at 5 Señores, El Agua, La Chiva and El Pilar.
5 Señores and El Agua will be the initial veins tested.
“We are excited to be launching the next phase of exploration at Copalito with this 3,000-metre drill program targeting several segments of known mineralized veins across the project.
2026.03.19
Silver had a phenomenal 2025, more than doubling from around $30/oz to above $70 by late December, and the rally continued into the new year.
Since then, however, silver and gold have both been volatile.
From a record peak of $5,594 an ounce on Jan. 29, gold suddenly fell 9.5% on Jan. 30 to 4,883/oz. The selloff was sparked by President Trump announcing that he plans to nominate Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, as Fed Chairman once Powell’s term runs out in May.
Continue reading The silver shortage is real – Richard Mills at Ahead of the Herd.
ByJijo Malayil – Interesting Engineering
Two soldier robots have been delivered to Ukraine for battlefield evaluation, marking a new step in the development of robotic combat systems.
The humanoid Phantom MK-1 robots were sent by the US startup Foundation in February, according to the company.
Ukraine has increasingly become a real-world testing ground for emerging military technologies, attracting defense firms and startups from the West.
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Mandela’s Kiss Endures
The 2024 Global Elections Super-Cycle
Stay tuned for continuous updates on elections around the world. Click on a country for the latest elections data and analysis.
- Number of national elections to be held in 2024 18 of 68
- Overall turnout (based on registered voters) 63%
- Total number of ballots cast in 18 elections 467,094,737
Pulled conclusions from pooled data compilations
Using some of the world’s largest companies by market cap & some of the most quoted indices + two most sung alternatives: data for this millennia where available
- At 134x, Apple is the absolute stock price growth winner; with Amazon at 45x and Google at 32x
- Despite the lack of interest or dividends, gold at 6.6x looks good compared to any other stock or index!
- Barrick Gold on the other hand seems to be poorly correlated to anything including the gold metal itself!?
- But Barrick is the only stock producing negative correlations with most of the indices including a relatively high -0.77 with the Euronext100 index
- If one wast trying to get something totally uncorrelated on purpose- it would be hard to beat: gold and the Euronext100 index at -0.03; or Barrick and the Hang Seng index at 0.04; or gold and Merck at 0.16; or BTC and the FTSE index at 0.19
- Correlation against a basket of indices & alternatives is best in Disney and Google (0.81-0.82), albeit at different growth multiples
- If an average historical P/E is somewhere in the 20x range, then the current S&P quoted average which is in high 30s is as warned high, BUT: only Amazon and Visa seem to be widely out of range (justified by growth in online transactions?), with many below current & historical averages
- In the current world of no interest & no inflation, maybe the higher P/E averages are justified..? For how long, that is a different question…
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