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
Shortly after Ukraine’s Air Force reported the threat of an intermediate-range ballistic missile launch from a Russian strategic nuclear testing site near the Caspian Sea, explosions rocked the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday morning, local time. Mayor Andriy Sadovyi confirmed the attack, and Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi identified the target as a critical infrastructure facility. According to local media reports, the intended targets were likely the Stryi gas field and gas storage facility.
On January 7, U.S. military forces seized two tankers linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet,” ending a weeks-long pursuit of one vessel, the Bella 1. After the ship sought Russian sovereign protection by changing its flag in late December, Moscow mobilized warships and a submarine to intervene. Despite these maneuvers, U.S. personnel eventually boarded and detained the ship. Russia’s Transport and Foreign ministries have since accused Washington of violating the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, while Washington maintains the operation was a lawful enforcement of sanctions. Meduza spoke with Dr. Pierre Thévenin, an international maritime law researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, to explain the legality of the actions taken by both sides in the “tanker conflict.”
Russia’s domestic censorship leaves almost no space for criticism of the war against Ukraine in music, while the Kremlin actively promotes pro-war artists like Shaman, funneling resources and media coverage their way. Yet in 2025, many of the country’s most-listened-to musicians were those who have remained silent on the war — including some who openly support the Putin regime. Meduza shares a translation of Verstka Media’s roundup of artists who have avoided speaking about the war and the politics behind their silence.
Kyrylo Budanov’s predecessor as President Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was known as the second-most powerful person in Ukraine. However, he was far less successful in the diplomatic arena. U.S. officials on both sides of the aisle had grown sick of dealing with Yermak long before his ouster in December 2025. And direct negotiation between Ukraine and Russia sputtered out last summer. Now, Budanov is stepping in to lead Kyiv’s negotiating team in the middle of the Trump administration’s latest push to end the war. Having risen to the very top of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), Budanov brings with him a stellar reputation as a master spy, public popularity, and established contacts in both the U.S. and Russia. Meduza looks back on Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov’s military career and experience negotiating with Moscow.
On January 7, the U.S. military seized two “dark fleet” tankers: the Bella 1 (also known as the Marinera) and the Sofia. Both vessels are on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list for illicitly transporting Iranian, Venezuelan, and Russian oil.
Most of the world’s silver production, approximately 70-80%, comes as a byproduct of mines focused on other metals, primarily lead/zinc and coppermines.
Only about 20-30% of silver is extracted from primary silver mines, where silver is the main product.
Pure silver plays are difficult to find; Silver North is a true silver play, with silver currently comprising over 80% of listed metal value and 100% drilling success rate.
Continue reading Under the Spotlight – Silver in ‘26 at Ahead of the Herd.
2026-01-07
The Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) is made up of exchange-traded futures on 22 commodities and is widely mimicked by ETFs and fund managers. On Nov. 28, 2025, the weighting for gold was at 19.4% and silver at 7.1%. On Jan. 8 the BCOM is set to change its 2026 target weight to 4.9% weighed to gold and 3.9% to silver.
This is happening on both precious metals because of the large price movements since the end of November.
Continue reading Gold and silver in ‘26 – Richard Mills at Ahead of the Herd.
By Aaron Blake – CNN Politics
President Donald Trump’s decision to remove the head of a sovereign country over the weekend was a hugely significant operation. But it was perhaps even more significant as a statement of intent.
Ever since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump and his administration have leaned in on his expansionist foreign policy agenda like never before.
Read More
by Rebecca Owen – Phys.org
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the system of currents responsible for shuttling warm water northward and colder, denser water to the south. This “conveyor belt” process helps redistribute heat, nutrients, and carbon around the planet.
During the last ice age, occurring from about 120,000 to 11,500 years ago, millennial-scale disruptions to AMOC correlated with shifts in temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon cycling in the ocean—as well as changes in the signatures of carbon isotopes in both the atmosphere and the ocean.
By Marium Ali – Aljazeera
Over the weekend, the United States carried out a large-scale military strike against Venezuela and abducted President Nicolas Maduro in a major escalation that sent shockwaves across Latin America.
On Monday morning, US President Donald Trump doubled down, threatening action against the governments of Colombia, Cuba and Mexico unless they “get their act together”, claiming he is countering drug trafficking and securing US interests in the Western Hemisphere.
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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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