USA - A key concern that vaccine passports bring to the fore is related to privacy. If implemented, they will strip us of most of the privacy we’re used to, as they are a precursor to digital identity and a far more invasive digital surveillance apparatus. Another key concern is that vaccine passports and digital IDs can force compliance in any area of life. The vaccine passport is a platform to which they can add a digital ID and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This would give them near-total control over your life, as they can “cancel” your existence and ability to live if you dissent. If we accept vaccine passports, we’re basically giving our consent to everything that comes after. Another global economic crisis is a mathematical inevitability, so work on improving your resiliency, food security and self-reliance through community...

USA - Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Western world entered a strange interlude in which we forgot about the realities of great power politics. In a way, 79-year-old President Joe Biden personifies that forgetfulness. During the 1990s, the West turned a blind eye to genocide in Rwanda and only woke up to the Balkans War after a great deal of dithering. In Bosnia and Kosovo, belated US intervention bailed out Europe.

RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin is a product of the Cold War. Russia’s president made his career in the old Soviet intelligence service, the KGB, and he viewed the superpower rivalry and nuclear stalemate fondly, at least in some respects: after taking office in 2000, he famously called the collapse of the Soviet Union a “genuine tragedy” and “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the twentieth century. Yet in the context of the current crisis over Ukraine, it is far from clear that Putin has seriously studied the history of the Cold War or comprehended its lessons.

CHINA - China has given “tacit approval” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest invasion of Ukraine, in the judgment of US officials, as part of a joint effort to undermine the institutions that American and allied leaders established to minimize conflict in the decades following World War II. “Russia and the PRC also want a world order,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday. “But this is an order that is and would be profoundly illiberal. ...It is an order that is, in many ways, destructive rather than additive.” China and Russia have made a show of their alignment over the last several years, culminating in the release this month of a communique that outlined a wide range of plans for economic and diplomatic cooperation — including the Kremlin’s support for Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over the island democracy of Taiwan and Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s support for restrictions on NATO activities in Europe.

RUSSIA - Russia has threatened its close Arctic neighbours Sweden and Finland with 'military consequences' if they join NATO. It came as Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensified today after a night of fighting in the capital of Kyiv especially. Sweden and Finland are the two closest countries to Russia in the Arctic Circle. 'Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences,' foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a news briefing. 'We regard the Finnish government's commitment to a military non-alignment policy as an important factor in ensuring security and stability in northern Europe,' the department wrote. 'Finland's accession to NATO would have serious military and political repercussions.' Vladimir Putin is widely believed to have attacked Ukraine after western nations mooted the idea of the country joining NATO, over fears it could end up with a US military presence on its doorstep.

CANADA - When Canadian parliamentarian, Colin Carrie, of the Conservative Party, asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government this week how many Canadian ministers were actually “on board with the World Economic Forum agenda” — before his connection “broke up” in the videoconference — he and the Canadians he represents deserved an honest response rather than accusations of spreading “disinformation”, as left-leaning New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus did.

VATICAN - Pope Francis visited the Russian Federation Embassy to the Holy See on Friday where “he expressed his concerns over the war in Ukraine,” reported L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s daily newspaper. The visit lasted over 30 minutes but the Holy See Press Office offered no further details on the content of conversations between the pontiff and embassy officials. The Russian Embassy to the Holy See is located on Via della Conciliazione, just a stone’s throw away from Vatican City State. On Thursday, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, lamented that the “tragic scenarios that everyone feared are becoming a reality” with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

USA - The Conservative Political Action Committee featured an advertisement titled “Woka-Cola,” highlighting Coca-Cola’s impact on the United States’ obesity epidemic, during its Friday program. The ad is sponsored by the Consumers’ Research initiative, an educational nonprofit dedicated to consumer information. The group has a website called AlwaysWokaCola.com which is devoted to exposing Coca-Cola’s “woke hypocrisy” including the company’s exploitation of forced labor, defense of Communist China and the sugar-loaded soft drink’s hazardous effects on health. “Their products continue to contribute significantly to childhood obesity, they have sourced sugar from companies in China reportedly using forced labor, and they have such poor quality control that racist directives, like ‘be less white’ are included in staff trainings,” Hild added. “Any corporation who decides to distract from their misdeeds by taking radical positions on political and social issues that are unrelated to their business to garner positive praise from woke politicians and press is on notice, it’s not going to work.”

RUSSIA – Excerpts from President Putin's declaration of war on Ukraine

“Dear citizens of Russia! Dear friends!Today, I again consider it necessary to return to the tragic events taking place in the Donbass and the key issues of ensuring the security of Russia itself. Let me start with what I said in my address of February 21 this year. We are talking about what causes us particular concern and anxiety, about those fundamental threats that year after year, step by step, are rudely and unceremoniously created by irresponsible politicians in the West in relation to our country. I mean the expansion of the NATO bloc to the east, bringing its military infrastructure closer to Russian borders.

UKRAINE - Editor’s Note: This article was written and submitted prior to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. The fact that it jibes so well with what we’re currently seeing lends to the notion that it’s an important read if we’re to understand what’s really going on here.

Within the next couple of months it is likely that there will be direct US military involvement in Ukraine, with Russia now openly supporting and recognizing separatist groups in the Donbass region on the eastern edge of the country and apparently moving to aid them militarily in separation. This is not the first time Russia has sent military units into Ukraine, but it is the first time since 2014 and the annexation of Crimea that the threat of military action has been overt rather than covert.

UKRAINE - For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter?” How the independent, sovereign, democratic nation of Ukraine ranks:

• 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
• 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
• 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world’s reserves);
• 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
• 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
• 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
• 8th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

CANADA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will take steps to end the use of the Emergencies Act after it was invoked just over a week ago in response to the ongoing trucker convoy blockades and protests. Trudeau made the announcement alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Justice Minister David Lametti, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair. The House of Commons passed a motion on Monday confirming the time-limited emergency powers, which included sweeping financial tools to cut the convoy’s funding. The Senate is still debating the matter. “Today, after careful consideration, we’re ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency. Therefore, the federal government will be ending the use of the Emergencies Act,” the prime minister said. Trudeau added while the “immediate emergency situation is over” the issue itself “won’t go away.”

CANADA - A promotional video from the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) helps to neatly connect all the dots about why the Canadian government made such a quick reversal in their bank asset seizures in the last 24 hours. And yes, as we suspected, it was almost certainly contact from the World Economic Forum to Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that triggered the change in position. When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced they would use the Emergency Act declaration to target the financial support systems, banks and accounts of the people who were protesting against COVID mandates, they not only undermined the integrity of the Canadian banking system – but they also inadvertently stuck a wrench into the plans of the World Economic Forum and the collaborative use of the Canadian Bankers Association to create a digital ID.

USA - A Chinese bio-fermentation company is setting up shop in America’s heartland. Fufeng Group Limited is reportedly building a behemoth corn processing plant in North Dakota where it will manufacture products like corn starch, animal feed and pharmaceuticals. The company is listed as being based in Hong Kong, however most of its production facilities are located in northeast China. The national security implications of this are astounding. In early November, Fufeng announced that it was in negotiations to build a new agribusiness plant in Grand Forks. The facility is expected to consume around 25 million bushels of corn per year, and will cost around $350 million to build. The investment has been dubbed “historic,” not just because the company is tied to the communist Chinese regime but also because it is “the largest single private capital investment in the region’s history,” according to Keith Lund of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation.

USA - Edible oil prices soared this week, prompting fears that record-high food prices could be imminent. On Wednesday, soybean oil futures in Chicago hit their highest levels since 2008, and palm oil, the commodity used in thousands of food products, jumped to new highs. Soybean prices increased 1.4% to 71 cents per pound, the highest level since 2008. US canola futures are also on the verge of an all-time high, and palm oil in Malaysia hit a new record high of $1,434 per ton. "Drought has crimped soybean crops across South America this season. Rival oilseeds like palm and canola have also suffered shortfalls from adverse weather and labor shortages. And escalating political tensions involving Ukraine and Russia pose a risk for sunflower oil exports, which the two countries dominate," according to Bloomberg. Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs' Jeff Currie warned that shortages across commodities could send higher prices. He said markets are "incredibly tight from a physical perspective"… "we are out of everything, I don't care if its oil, gas, coal, copper, aluminum, you name it we're out of it."