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
The National Security Archive at George Washington University has published eight newly declassified transcripts of conversations between Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush. These exchanges took place between 2001 and 2003 — a period when both presidents were actively searching for ways to cooperate. Despite persistent tensions in U.S.–Russian relations, including NATO expansion, Washington’s push to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, Putin and Bush managed to build close cooperation on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation. Even when the discussions touched on sensitive issues, the tone of the conversations remained consistently warm. The transcripts make clear that during their first presidential terms, Bush and Putin succeeded in forging a genuinely close personal relationship. Meduza traces the evolution of the Putin-Bush “friendship.”
More than 800 apartment blocks in Kyiv are still without heat as a result of Russian strikes on the capital, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported on Monday. “Repair and restoration work continues around the clock,” he wrote on Telegram.
Heavy snow blanketed cities across Russia over the weekend, with powerful blizzards hitting Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Vladivostok. Snowfall in Moscow broke a 50-year record on Friday, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe, after a severe storm struck the capital and surrounding regions. Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport descended into chaos, as flights were delayed or canceled and thousands of passengers waited in the arrivals area for hours on end to collect their luggage. Pulkovo Airport also reported flight delays and cancellations on Saturday as strong winds and snow engulfed St. Petersburg. The city center found itself buried in 26 centimeters (more than 10 inches) of snow. That same day, another storm hit the port city of Vladivostok in the Far East, with snowfall continuing into Sunday. Meduza shares photos from the winter storms sweeping Russia.
In December, Russia’s State Duma passed a law allowing clear-cut logging in Lake Baikal’s Central Ecological Zone, a move swiftly approved by the Federation Council and signed by Vladimir Putin. Although the legislation — set to take effect on March 1, 2026 — permits such logging only under specific conditions, environmentalists and activists have no doubt that officials and businessmen with a stake in the region will have little trouble securing the necessary approvals. And they warn that the consequences for the lake and its unique flora and fauna could be irreversible. Meduza explains how the new law will work, who stands to benefit from it, and what could soon become of one of Russia’s most valuable natural sites.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called territorial control the “most difficult” of the 20 points in the new peace plan drafted by Ukraine and the United States. For the agreement to take effect, Russia would have to withdraw its troops from four of Ukraine’s regions, and the front line that snakes through the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions would be frozen in place, under a monitoring mechanism. This arrangement would leave the millions of Ukrainian citizens behind the contact line under indefinite Russian occupation. But the peace plan currently under discussion barely mentions them. For insight into how a ceasefire agreement would impact these civilians, Meduza deputy editor Eilish Hart spoke with Karolina Hird, a National Security Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) who focuses on the humanitarian consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
2026.01.12
On July 24 Harvest Gold announced they identified 23 priority drill targets in the central and north parts of its flagship property, Mosseau, located in the Urban Barry Belt of Quebec’s Abitibi region.
The company has now completed 21 diamond drill holes totaling 4,692 meters. Drilling targeted the northern and central areas of the property.
This week HVG announced the second and final series of assay results from the northern area of its it’s maiden drill program at Mosseau.
2026.01.09
Silver North (TSXV:SNAG, OTCQB:TARSF) completed its 2025 drill program in mid-November at its flagship Haldane Project, located within the historical Keno Hill Silver District in the Yukon territory.
The road-accessible, 8,579-hectare Haldane property is 25 km west of Keno City, YT, adjacent to Hecla Mining’s producing Keno Hill silver mine. Haldane hosts several occurrences of silver-lead-zinc-bearing quartz siderite veins resembling the veins being mined at Keno Hill.
Silver North offers investors exposure to one of the most prolific silver districts in Canada and the world — Keno Hill — which is seeing major investment from Hecla Mining, the largest silver producer in the United States, following Hecla’s 2022 takeover of Alexco Resources.
2026.01.09
Cassiar Gold (TSXV:GLDC, OTCQX:CGLCF) recently announced results from nine initial diamond drill holes of the 2025 exploration program at the Taurus deposit. According to Cassiar, the results expand mineralization near surface and beyond the extent of the current resource block model.
The 2025 drill program comprised 7,308 meters over 20 drill holes and concluded in early October.
Results are pending for 5,243m of drilling over 11 drill holes from the Newcoast prospect which lies 2 kilometers to the south.
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.
2EMMA Featured Stories
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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