Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Wednesday, 04 May 2022. You can receive this daily briefing by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
CHINA LOCKS DOWN MAJOR COMMODITIES HUB: Chinese government authorities locked down another major city in its pursuit of its zero-COVID policies. The northern port city of Qinhuangdao in Hebei province is the latest lockdown victim. The city is a major transshipment point for coal and metal ore imports destined for China’s steel industry. China also uses coal as a mainstay of power production. Much of the Chinese economy was crippled last year by a massive power crunch. China’s Coal Transportation and Distribution Association recently issued a report that stated eight coastal provinces, including Guangdong, are once again in danger of power shortages for industrial and residential consumers. – M.M.
UKRAINE: RUSSIAN FAMILIES LEAVING TRANSNISTRIA: Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said Russian troops’ families in Transnistria are beginning evacuations. “Preparations are underway for the evacuation of the families of officers of the task force of the Russian troops,” according to the report. – D.M.
RUSSIA NARROWLY AVOIDS DEBT DEFAULT: Russia’s last dollar bond payments cleared international processing the day before the sanctions-stricken country would be declared in default. The U.S. attempted to force the default by blocking Russian dollar bond payments with American Banks, but Citibank received $649 million from Russia last week. The next U.S. move will likely include blocking sovereign payments from Russia, currently exempted until 25 May. – D.M.
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Russia is about to get on the gold standard. China is sure to follow. Even if Russia “loses” and Ukraine “wins”, Russia will STILL have all those nuclear weapons. Having further alienated Russia they WILL partner with China, N Korea and Iran, all in possession of nuclear weapons. The US economy is being artificially propped up by this petro dollar Ponzi scheme we cooked up years ago when we got off the gold standard. When the markets finally start to react to the ruble backed by gold it will not fare we’ll for the US economy which is already in a weakened state