the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Security in our daily lives is key to our well-being. NATO’s purpose is to guarantee the freedom
and security of its members through political and military means.
POLITICAL - NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on
defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.
MILITARY - NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the
military power to undertake crisis-management operations. These are carried out under the collective
defence clause of NATO's founding treaty - Article 5 of the Washington Treaty or under a United Nations
mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.

Who controls NATO?

NATO's Command Structure is under the authority of the Military Committee, NATO's highest
military authority composed of the Chiefs of Defence of all twenty-nine member countries. The NCS
consists of two strategic commands: Allied Command Operations (ACO) and Allied Command
Transformation (ACT).

1929-1932 Recession
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized
world, lasting from 1929 to 1939.

What caused the recession of 1929-1932?

Among the suggested causes of the Great Depression are: the stock market crash of 1929; the
collapse of world trade due to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff; government policies; bank failures and panics;
and the collapse of the money supply.

USSR before 1991, countries which were part of it before independence in 1991
the Russian-dominated Soviet Union grew into one of the world’s most powerful and influential
states and eventually encompassed 15 republics—Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Belorussia, Uzbekistan,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania and
Estonia.

Ukraine, resources, assets, historical background

The country has abundant reserves of coal, iron ore, natural gas, manganese, salt, oil, graphite,
sulfur, kaolin, titanium, nickel, magnesium, timber, and mercury.

History of Ukraine
Ukraine had experienced a brief period of independence in 1918–20, but portions of western Ukraine
were ruled by Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia in the period between the two World Wars, and
Ukraine thereafter became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.).

Ukraine was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which during the 10th and
11th centuries were the largest and most powerful state in Europe. Weakened by internecine
quarrels and Mongol invasions, Kyivan Rus was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
and eventually into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The cultural and religious legacy of
Kyivan Rus laid the foundation for Ukrainian nationalism through subsequent centuries.
A new Ukrainian state, the Cossack Hetmanate, was established during the mid-17th century
after an uprising against the Poles. Despite continuous Muscovite pressure, the Hetmanate
managed to remain autonomous for well over 100 years. During the latter part of the 18th
century, most Ukrainian ethnographic territory was absorbed by the Russian Empire.
Following the collapse of czarist Russia in 1917, Ukraine was able to achieve a short-lived
period of independence (1917-20), but was reconquered and forced to endure a brutal Soviet rule
that engineered two forced famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died. In
World War II, German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 to 8 million more deaths.
Although final independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991 with the dissolution of the
USSR, democracy and prosperity remained elusive as the legacy of state control and endemic
corruption stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties. A peaceful mass
protest "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a
rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into
power a reformist slate under Viktor YUSHCHENKO. Subsequent internal squabbles in the
YUSHCHENKO camp allowed his rival Viktor YANUKOVYCH to stage a comeback in
parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006. An early legislative
election, brought on by a political crisis in the spring of 2007, saw Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, as
head of an "Orange" coalition, installed as a new prime minister in December 2007.
Viktor YANUKOVYCH was elected president in a February 2010 run-off election that observers
assessed as meeting most international standards. The following month, Ukraine's parliament,
the Rada, approved a vote of no-confidence prompting Yuliya TYMOSHENKO to resign from
her post as prime minister. In October 2012, Ukraine held Rada elections, widely criticized by
Western observers as flawed due to use of government resources to favor ruling party candidates,
interference with media access, and harassment of opposition candidates.
President YANUKOVYCH's backtracking on a trade and cooperation agreement with the EU in
November 2013 - in favor of closer economic ties with Russia - led to a three-month protest
occupation of Kiev's central square. The government's eventual use of force to break up the
protest camp in February 2014 led to all out pitched battles, scores of deaths, international
condemnation, and the president's abrupt ouster. An interim government under Acting President
Oleksandr TURCHYNOV has called for new presidential elections on 25 May 2014.

GOLD AS CURRENCY
Simon discusses consumer sentiment and how it is signaling higher prices and high inflation. We’re
seeing inflation running hotter than income. We’re going to see a slow down in global business activity
soon. The Fed will certainly respond with more money regardless of its severity.

We’re going to see a complete run on the metals because they will be hedging into harder assets and
equities. Somewhere around 2025, the US dollar index will be halved to under fifty. We will have a strong
inflationary period into 2024 and that’s when we start seeing a collapse similar to 1929-1932. Once we
come out of this period we should see a long period of good stable growth.

The geopolitical risk appears to be increasing in Eastern Ukraine due largely to western interest and arms
sales. This is likely a red-line for Russia and at some point, there will be a response that could mean war
in Ukraine. China is less likely to take Taiwan over militarily but there are red lines that could be also be
crossed by the West.

China and Russia both hold very significant gold reserves higher than what they are reporting.
Lastly, Simon gives us his outlook on where copper prices could head and how they may be manipulated.
Prices could correct if there are any surprise economic shocks or the economy weakens. However, there
has been significant pent-up demand for some products which will maintain or increase demand next
year.

New World by 2025

extremely volatile times are ahead that will be punctuated by fierce rallies & sharp declines —
with the overall trend moving from stagflation to deflation.

By 2025, Simon sees a good chance the massive pile of $trillions in global unserviceable debt will go into
default, resulting in an immensely painful economic crisis.

It’s not all doom, though. Simon sees reason for optimism and a return to prosperity once the
malinvestment is cleared from the system.

Depression Era

Today we hear from Simon Hunt, one of the world’s foremost experts on the copper industry.

When Simon first appeared on this program back in March, he forecasted that extremely volatile times
lay ahead that will be punctuated by fierce rallies & sharp declines — with the overall trend moving from
stagflation to deflation.

This seems to indeed be the script playing out here in 2022.

He also told us that by 2025, Simon sees a good chance the massive pile of $trillions in global
unserviceable debt will go into default, resulting in an immensely painful economic crisis.

Given that half a year has gone by, we thought we’d check in with Simon to see how his forecast is
changing, if at all.

American Supremacy or Downfall

Claudio Grass (CG): Taken together, the moves by Russia and China, especially on the monetary front,
with their plans of a gold-backed digital currency, appear to pose a direct challenge to the status quo and
America’s central role in it. Do you think we might be witnessing a tectonic shift already, and do you
expect to see the US and the USD decline in influence and relevance? (Click here to read part one)

Simon Hunt (SH): As I shift through your questions, none can be answered in just a few lines so I am
doing my best to summarize the key points as concisely as possible. This question especially deserves a
full report, but I will do my best to confine my answer to a few paragraphs.

There are three interlocking themes for both China and Russia:

To distance themselves from using the dollar because America often uses the dollar for political
purposes.
To develop an alternative payment system for the New World of countries being tied into BRI etc., and
The time will come within 5 years when China especially will demand payment for what it imports in
Yuan, Rubles and other non-US currencies, perhaps including the Euro (part of the development of
Eurasia which America is trying to prevent).
Both countries will soon issue their own E-Yuan and E-Ruble. At some point they are likely to back those
currencies in some way to gold. China has over 40,000 tons of gold and Russia around 12,000 tons
according to our sources.

Middle Eastern countries will look favorably on such an alternative to the US dollar where trust in
America and its currency are waning fast. In fact, watch out as Saudi Arabia is on the verge of an
economic and religious transformation.

The US economy and in fact the world’s is slowing to a point that in the second quarter, if not earlier, the
risk of recession will be rising. Central bank policy will once again open the spigot gates leading to a very
inflation-driven environment by the end of this year and into 2023.

The US dollar will start falling sharply as institutions then begin to hedge aggressively both a falling dollar
and rising inflation which by end-2024 could well reach the sort of levels last experienced in 1980.

By around 2025, we have the US dollar index about halving in value from an imminent rise to the 98
level. Therein lies the real story.

Worlds recession
Is the world in a recession 2022?
The U.S. has already experienced two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth in 2022,
which some people consider to be a recession.

How should investors position for that?

Simon answers this here in Part 2 of our interview with him, laying out his projected timeline &
highlighting what he projects will be the best moment to “cash out before the bust”.

And in addition to that valuable forecast, this video also focuses on the likely implications of the recent
inversion of the yield curve — one of the most reliable precursors we have of coming recession.

Be sure to watch this important interview with Simon Hunt. The road ahead is now looking quite rocky.

A recession is likely to hit the U.S. by the end of 2022 before spreading globally next year,
conceivably lasting for the entirety of 2023. “It's not going to be a short and shallow recession; it's going
to be severe, long, and ugly,”
Drought cycle
Simon says that if the inflation will rapidly increase then we will probably experience a globally
drought. Prices of needed products will also increase rapidly that will result in drought