How South Africa Became 3rd World (Video - 43mn)

   A fascinating video explaining how South Africa has failed over the last 20 years thanks to grift and corruption to slowly walk back from a first world economy mostly benefiting the white population to a 3rd world economy equally pulling back on almost everybody. 

   We take economic growth for granted and the willingness of most political system to succeed economically as an axiom. South Africa proves this is not the case. The economic miracles of Europe first, North America later and finally Asia were truly miracles, getting almost everything right to generate growth consistently over decades. On other continents, under different climes, the landscape is more patchy. If your wealth ends up mostly in Dubai or on the bank accounts of a few individuals, then growth becomes meaningless and investment impossible.     

   As the energy crisis deepens in the months ahead, we will quickly see who was swimming naked and who failed to prepare for the future. Mismanaged countries who were surviving during the good times, will flounder during the storm. Energy, fertilizers and raw materials, food, water... The waves will get higher and our ability to cope weaker. The last 25 years were the end of the last century. We are now entering the new one.  

How South Africa Became 3rd World

Hantavirus: Stop The Spread Is Back

   The problem with the Corona Virus in the end is that it was just the flu and therefore a rather weak candidate for a pandemic. 

   Hantavirus is better but only slightly. The incubation time is much longer, up to a few weeks which is perfect. You can infect many people without being aware. But the transmission mechanism is pitifully inefficient since a direct contact is necessary.  

   Definitively a second rate candidate but as the article below reminds us, the purpose more than a scare is to remind us that we are on edge, and a deadly virus is most certainly just around the corner. This doesn't require insider knowledge, just the certainty of the fact that somewhere, in the dark corner of a lab, someone is quietly selecting the right attributes: Long latency (Hantavirus), easy airborne spread (Corona Virus), deadly outcome (HIV)... Now, how do you combine all this to get the most optimum outcome? Gain of function research is most certainly not dead, just in need of rebranding so that people finally understand how essential this work is for their future health. Once again, George Orwell would recognize the skillful manipulation of language and perception.    

Via the Brownstone Institute,

Hollywood loves a good sequel and so does politics and pharmaceutical development. 

Since Covid, there have been several attempted disease scares – Mpox, Swine flu, Bird flu, Chikungunya, Measles – but nothing has really caught the attention of audiences like the new Hantavirus frenzy. 

Today’s evidence comes from DRUDGE REPORT: global effort to stop the spread. Is “flatten the curve” next?

Let’s remember how this began last year, with of course, a hantavirus death in the family of one of America’s most beloved Hollywood actors. It was Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife, who died February 12, 2025, from apparent hantavirus infection from rodents in the home. Terrifying image. 

At that point, no regular person had ever heard of such a disease. There is a reason. It’s rare and human-to-human spread is nearly unknown. Strange that it would hit the wife of the appropriately named Gene Hackman (get it?), leading man of the prescient 1998 movie Enemy of the State. 

Next up we have a reprise of the Plague Ship motif. Like the Diamond Princess, it is a cruise ship, the MV Hondius operated by Oceanwide Expeditions with 147 passengers, departing from Argentina and now anchored off Cape Verde, West Africa. 

It was headed to the Canary Islands when three people died, two with lab-confirmed hantavirus. No port would allow the ship to dock. With the assistance of rescue boats, the dead have been carefully removed by workers in hazmats and masks.

A flight attendant who came in contact with a dead body is now hospitalized and in rough condition, suggesting that even coming close to a person with hantavirus is risky stuff. No one can figure out how this is even possible. So mysterious, so unusual, so terrifying, just like the movie Contagion. 

This fits with the theory of Drs. Fauci and Morens that we need not worry about lab-created pathogens when animal-to-human spillover is becoming more common. This is why, they wrote in August 2020, that we must commence to “rebuilding the infrastructures of human existence, from cities to homes to workplaces, to water and sewer systems, to recreational and gatherings venues.”

Ready to opine for the press is the World Health Organization’s Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, she of Stanford University pedigree, now widely quoted as the go-to authority. 

You might remember Dr. Kerkhove from the original cast of the Covid production. It was she who wrote the WHO’s report to the world following the February 2020 junket to Wuhan. (We know this from the metadata of the report, which she failed to cleanse in the rush to publication.) 

“Achieving China’s exceptional coverage with and adherence to these containment measures,” she wrote of the CCP’s extreme lockdowns, “has only been possible due to the deep commitment of the Chinese people to collective action in the face of this common threat. At a community level this is reflected in the remarkable solidarity of provinces and cities in support of the most vulnerable populations and communities.”

Many close observers credit Kerkhove’s report with inspiring the worldwide lockdown of all nations but four in the following weeks. She still works at the WHO. Hardly anyone remembers any of this. There is no mechanism in place for her to be held to account for her role. 

There is no known cure but a vaccine is in development by Moderna based on the mRNA platform. 

As a result, Moderna’s stock, down dramatically from its highs, is now starting to recover. It is now up 100 percent year over year. The buy signal is strong with this one.

Looking back at the Covid prequel, there was always a flaw in the coronavirus caper, namely its short period of latency, roughly that of a cold or flu. You are infectious for a few days without symptoms while you pass it on. A genuine disease panic needs a longer period of latency. You need to be infected for weeks while spreading it far and wide. 

Why is this? Because every infectious disease confronts the logic of survival. A smart virus does not kill its hosts – it needs them to infect others – but a dumb one does, which is why dumb viruses are not good candidates for pandemics. 

This persistent trade-off between severity and prevalence can only be gamed by a long period of latency. That’s extremely rare and not even lab-created viruses manage this balancing act well. 

As it turns out, this hantavirus does have a very long period of latency, we are assured by the Harvard School of Public Health. It has issued a pronouncement: “The incubation period – the time between when a person is infected and when they begin to experience symptoms – is usually in the range of two to three weeks, but may be as long as eight weeks.”

Two months! Imagine that. Here we might finally have our candidate for the silent killer about which Deborah Birx fantasized during the last iteration of this story.

Keep in mind that no high institution in the US has repudiated lockdowns, even if two-thirds of the public believes they were pointlessly damaging. The call for Covid Justice has now 37,300 signatures but not enough to cause the Senate, House, or any other legislative body to speak clearly that this will never be tolerated again. 

To this day, the plan of the World Health Organization – which is already practicing for the next pandemic – is to push for lockdowns until vaccination in the event of a new disease scare. “Every country should apply non-pharmaceutical measures systematically and rigorously at the scale the epidemiological situation requires,” they say. 

Meanwhile, the Biden plan was for a 130-day lockdown in the event of a new pandemic. 

There are few mechanisms in place in any country to prevent this from happening. There are good people in government who would oppose this with strong conviction but will they even be asked their opinions? Or does this all occur with any obvious evidence of democratic volition? 

Who precisely is directing and producing this sequel? No one knows for sure. Will it be a box office hit like the last time or only have a limited release to test market interest? All the ingredients are here for an Academy Award: rodents, long latency, spread through casual contact with the dead, workers in hazmat suits, no known cure, a vaccine in rushed development. 

The real beauty of disease panic is that it has broad audience appeal and crosses partisan lines. National Review is all in already, as it was with Covid, and surely The Nation will join the effort in days. 

These are well-worn plot devices and sequels are rarely as compelling or profitable as the original. But when one is out of other ideas – and the public clamor to indict Fauci grows by the hour – it’s always worth a shot. 

UFO - What went wrong! (Joke)

   Clearly these people came with plenty of good intentions but just as we f*cked up in the Garden of Heaven, we did it again then. Will we ever learn? :-) 

    

 

Trump Administration Drops First Batch Of UAP/UFO Files

   Difficult not to see a pattern with the Trump Administration at this stage, trying to distract the medias and public with outlandish claims, disclosures and outright lies then walking us back, as unfortunately, when the time to deliver arrives, we get the usual nothing-burger. And sure enough, here we are once again with UAP. 

   Interesting? Certainly. But groundbreaking would require a galactic stretch of imagination. (Apollo 17 on the Moon below.)

 

   Oddly shaped lights in the sky, balls flying at low altitude with no means of propulsion are certainly interesting but absolutely not what people were expecting since hundreds of such videos are already floating on the Internet.

   Thankfully what the Trump administration lacks in information, they compensate skillfully with communication. This is of course the first batch and far more interesting disclosures will soon follow. Same protocol as the Epstein files? 

   Here too people have died or disappeared. Obvious fakes and suicide notes of people rather ominously telling us they are not suicidal just before committing suicide. (NASA scientists are well known to be unstable, aren't they?).     

   If there is one ray of light in all this, it may be that such official disclosure will encourage more people to speak. Unless of course too many witness die in which case those who didn't will take the hint and keep the information for themselves. 

   To be continued...  

Trump Administration Drops First Batch Of UAP/UFO Files

On Friday, the Trump administration released the first official tranche of declassified UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) and UFO files through the new Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) - which of course was the alternative to the real incriminating Elite Presidential Shielding Taskforce Ensuring Impunity Now (EPSTEIN) files.

The files are hosted at the official government site: https://www.war.gov/UFO/. This marks the start of a rolling release schedule (new materials every few weeks) covering decades of unresolved cases across multiple agencies, with a strong emphasis on unprecedented transparency.

What’s Included in Release 01 (162 Files + Supporting Materials)

The initial drop focuses on 162 FBI documents, all in PDF format. These are unresolved cases where the government states it cannot make a definitive determination on the nature of the phenomena - often due to insufficient data - and explicitly invites public and private-sector analysis.

Mainstream reporting (Fox News, New York Post, and others) highlights additional materials in the broader release:

• Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 mission photos showing strangely shaped objects and clusters of dots in the lunar sky.

• A transcript from Apollo 17 operators describing “very bright particles or fragments” drifting by the spacecraft, “big ones on my window,” and “jagged, angular fragments that are tumbling” - likened to “the Fourth of July.”

• FBI photos from New Year’s Eve 1999 showing two black-dot UAPs flying near U.S. aircraft.
• References to “the latest UAP videos” and other original source documents/photos (including a colored illustration of a UFO over a field).

Specific recent military sightings mentioned across coverage and X discussions include:

• An inverted teardrop-shaped object with a vertically linear trailing mask over the United Arab Emirates (June 2024).
• A “strange contrast” or unexplained area in the skies over Iraq (December 2022, per CENTCOM).

• A small circular UAP flying low near the ocean surface toward land near Greece’s coast.

The Department of War (in coordination with ODNI and other agencies) described the effort as historic and government-wide, involving the review of tens of millions of records (many still on paper). Releases will continue on a rolling basis.

President Trump announced the release on Truth Social: “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

In a subsequent 'truth,' Trump said: "As for my promise to you, the Department of War has released the first tranche of the UFO/UAP files to the Public for their review and study. In an effort for Complete and Maximum Transparency, it was my Honor to direct my Administration to identify and provide Government files related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects. Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Have Fun and Enjoy! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

“The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation - and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency," reads a statement from Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

And of course Russia is mocking the release:

Guess Epstein wasn't (isn't?) an alien?

Professor Jiang: We Are Already in World War 3 (Video - 2h10)

   It is easy to understand or rather feel like you understand the world in TikTok long videos focusing on one specific subject at a time usually approached in a Manichean, good/bad fashion and far more difficult and time consuming to try to grasp how the different actors relate to each others.    

   In this long video of over 2 hours, Professor Jiang displays a masterful global overview of all the players... except surprisingly China. 

   Agree or not with his analysis, his work is excellent food for thoughts and will help build your own understanding of what is currently going on bringing context to disparate and seemingly unrelated events.  

   The conclusion is unfortunately unmistakable: We are already in World War three, even if quite unlike past conflicts, and every truce in this respect can only be but a short respite before the resumption of belligerence. 

Professor Jiang: We Are Already in World War 3

The Rise of Geofence Surveillance by Martin Armstrong

     Step by step, the technologies which are currently being put in place are extremely concerning. The worst is of course not unavoidable but history shows that whatever is possible will necessarily be implemented later. Most people forget that most of the laws used by the Nazi were voted earlier by the Wermar Republic. 

   Today, new technologies are the wet dream of tyrannic systems the world over. The legacy "democratic" systems have inherited their democratic DNA from earlier generations. But as their economies flounder, the guaranty that Western countries will remain democratic is more and more in doubt.  

   The worst aspect of it without doubt is the perversion of language. Exactly as George Orwell warned us:  

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."

by Martin Armstrong

The case of Chatrie v. United States exposed just how far governments have moved toward mass digital surveillance through a technique known as geofencing. This technology allows law enforcement to identify every device present within a designated geographic area during a specific period of time. Instead of investigating a suspect first and gathering evidence second, geofence warrants reverse the process entirely by collecting data on everyone nearby and sorting through it afterward.

To understand why this case matters, people first need to understand how geofencing works in practice. Smartphones constantly transmit location information through GPS signals, cellular towers, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connections, mobile applications, operating systems, and advertising identifiers. Companies like Google collect enormous quantities of this data through Android devices, Google Maps, search histories, application permissions, and background tracking systems tied to user accounts. Google reportedly stores much of this information inside an internal database commonly referred to as “Sensorvault,” which contains detailed historical location records tied to devices around the world.

Geofencing creates a virtual perimeter around a real-world location. Retail companies originally used the technology for advertising and logistics purposes, allowing businesses to target consumers entering certain stores or regions. Governments quickly realized the same systems could be used for surveillance and criminal investigations. Law enforcement can define a geographic radius around a crime scene and request data from Google showing every device detected within that area during a specified timeframe.

That means hundreds or even thousands of completely innocent people can have their data swept into an investigation simply because they happened to walk past the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Chatrie case began after a bank robbery in Virginia in 2019. Investigators obtained a geofence warrant demanding Google provide device information connected to the area surrounding the robbery. Google returned anonymized device identifiers for phones detected inside the geofenced perimeter. Investigators then narrowed the results step-by-step until eventually identifying one device allegedly connected to Michael Chatrie, who was later charged.

The constitutional concern is obvious. Traditional warrants were designed around individualized suspicion. Police were expected to identify a suspect first and demonstrate probable cause before obtaining private information. Geofence warrants instead function like digital dragnets. They gather location data from everyone first and sort out who might be relevant later.

This is where modern surveillance becomes extraordinarily dangerous because technology eliminates the manpower limitations governments once faced. Authorities no longer need teams physically following people through cities. The population now voluntarily carries tracking devices everywhere they go. Smartphones effectively document movement patterns, travel routines, shopping habits, social interactions, political activity, religious attendance, and personal behavior automatically.

The government’s argument in Chatrie should concern everyone. Prosecutors claimed users voluntarily shared their location information with Google and therefore had a diminished expectation of privacy. That logic becomes incredibly dangerous because modern life increasingly requires digital participation. Smartphones are no longer optional conveniences for many people. Banking, transportation, employment, navigation, communication, healthcare access, and financial transactions are all becoming dependent on digital systems.

In practical terms, governments are arguing that participation in modern society reduces constitutional privacy protections.

The implications extend far beyond criminal investigations. Once geofence surveillance becomes normalized, authorities naturally expand its use into broader areas. A geofence could capture data connected to political demonstrations, labor strikes, churches, medical clinics, gun stores, journalists, or private meetings. The technology itself does not distinguish between criminal suspects and ordinary citizens because it collects everyone first.

I have warned repeatedly that technology always migrates toward centralized control once governments recognize its potential. Systems originally marketed for convenience eventually become tools of enforcement and surveillance. Europe is already moving aggressively toward digital IDs, centralized financial monitoring, beneficial ownership registries, CBDCs, and expanded online controls. China built social credit systems openly, while Western governments are constructing similar infrastructure gradually under the language of public safety, financial compliance, cybersecurity, and misinformation control.

The danger is not merely the technology itself but the consolidation of multiple systems together. Once governments integrate geolocation tracking with facial recognition, banking data, biometric IDs, vehicle monitoring, online communications, and AI-driven analytics, anonymity effectively disappears from society.

People continue trading privacy for convenience without understanding what is being built around them. By the time most realize how extensive these systems have become, the infrastructure will already be impossible to escape.

In "Watershed Moment" China Orders Companies To Defy US Sanctions

   The war with Iran may have proved to be a disaster for the US. It didn't achieve any significant strategic goal but conversely deeply dented the military credibility of the US army: Inability to fight more than a month, weak missile defenses and more than anything a complete lack of negotiation skill beyond bravado and public statements. 

   As expected, both Russia and China have noted these weaknesses and more ominously learned the characteristics of the latest American military hardware. What could go wrong?   

   Well, here's what is going wrong below: A much harder stance toward to US based on the confidence that the country is now unable to impose it's will on its opponents as was the case during the short uni-polar window from 1992 to 2020. 

   We are in fact entering a turbulent multi-polar world which will be complex and messy with ups and downs, including financial crisis and conflicts. BRICS was supposed to offer a counterweight to the American hegemon. It is doing absolutely none of that which in retrospect is not surprising, having members like China and India, but also the UAE and Saudi Arabia which hardly talk to each other. 

   Faced with such a challenge, the US should adopt a far more accommodating stance. History tells us that the exact opposite will happen, increasing the likelihood of conflicts and the disintegration of the current world economic order upon which the wealth of the West is so intimately weaved. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!    

In "Watershed Moment" China Orders Companies To Defy US Sanctions

China ordered companies in the country not to comply with US sanctions on five domestic refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade, deploying for the first time a blocking measure introduced in 2021 that was aimed at protecting its firms from foreign laws it deemed unjustified. 

Refiners - including Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery which was sanctioned last month and several other privately-owned processors - had been facing asset freezes and transaction bans. Hengli was the most ambitious target to date in China’s refining sector, and underscores US eagerness to push Iran to the negotiating table at all costs, even just weeks before an expected and long-awaited meeting between Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping. 

The sanctions on Hengli Petrochemical triggered a $1.4 billion wipeout in the fortunes of Fan Hongwei and her husband Chen Jianhua, who together built Hengli Group into one of China’s biggest energy companies, after shares of the refiner tumbled 10%.

But if Trump was hoping Beijing would just let this creeping financial blockade slide, he was wrong: on Saturday, the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement that US measures unlawfully restrict normal trade with third countries and breach international norms. And, in a rare move, it issued an order banning recognition, enforcement, and compliance with the sanctions aimed at the five companies.

“The Chinese government has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that lack authorization from the United Nations and a basis in international law,” the department said.

Still, banks working with Hengli and other private processors are scrambling to understand the decision and are seeking clarity from the banking regulator. Public holidays in China this week allow them some time, since business is on hold, as does the grace period provided by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The sanctions and Beijing’s response come just weeks before a highly-anticipated meeting between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. While the blocking measure is not likely to derail the summit, Washington’s reaction to it will indicate if the matter escalates, according to analysts from Eurasia Group.

“The refineries primarily work with Chinese banks that have not yet been directly sanctioned,” the analysts led by Dominic Chiu wrote in a note. “If the US extends secondary sanctions to those institutions, or major state-owned entities, Beijing would likely respond with more forceful countermeasures.”

The injunction “allows the refineries to seek compensation in Chinese courts from entities that comply with US sanctions, including domestic actors — such as banks, investors, and downstream customers that have ceased dealings — as well as foreign firms with a presence in China,” the Eurasia analysts said, adding the move signals Beijing is taking a more assertive approach to countering sanctions. 

“By activating its blocking measures for the first time since adopting the rule in 2021, China is demonstrating a lower threshold for deploying its legal and regulatory toolkit to counter US sanctions,” they said.

For the past decade, China has been the single largest buyer of Tehran’s sanctioned oil shipments, many of them arriving indirectly and through private refiners, and then turned into gasoline, diesel and other oil products. Chinese customs data do not reflect that trade, with the last official shipment recorded several years ago, and yet the only source of Iran state revenue are Chinese sanctions-busting teapot refiners.

Before Hengli, and wary of the economic and diplomatic fallout, Washington’s efforts to cut off Tehran’s oil revenue had targeted smaller Chinese companies and facilities. Hengli, by contrast, is representative of the most modern of China’s private refiners, with a sprawling oil-processing and chemicals complex in the northeastern province of Liaoning. 

While the country does still have an army of small independent players — the original so-called teapots — the larger entities are now giant operations. Altogether, the private sector accounts for as much as a third of refining capacity, in a country where energy security is an unchallenged priority.

China's decision to activate blocking measures on Saturday, risks becoming what Bloomberg called "a watershed moment." While China has often railed against unilateral sanctions, it has in the past quietly allowed companies to comply with them to avoid blowback on its own economy and preserve access to the US financial system.

Beijing is now signaling a far firmer stance against such restrictions by directing companies not to abide by US sanctions on five domestic refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade.

A commentary on the People’s Daily app, the Communist Party mouthpiece, called the announcement “a pivotal step in the transition of China’s foreign-related legal weapon from institutional reserves to practical application.”

And while it may not matter to markets - which now ignore everything except some imaginary capex plans for a few billions quadruple-ordered DRAM chips which will never materialize - the concern is that now Trump, in addition to retaliating to whether Iran does next in the Gulf, and issuing new tariffs proclamations, will also likely announce - at any given moment - his response to China's sanctions defiance, and since it is in Trump's benefit to escalate ahead of the meeting with Xi, he will waste no time in doing just that. 

Trump Has a UFO Speech Ready to Go…

   Several sources are indeed reporting this news. The speech is said to be ready to be delivered on July 8th, anniversary of Roswell... 

   One thing is certain, by now, we should be extremely circumspect of whatever Trump says. As for rumors, it is even worse. 

   Some governments around the world must have some evidences, but are they overwhelming? Good pictures? Probably. Radar signals? Most certainly. Vehicles and bodies? Very doubtful. 

   Some mysteries are made to last. The Loch Ness Monster? Not so much. Science tells us that in order to survive, there would have to be a population of such monsters which consequently would make them quite difficult to hide. But for UFO, the Universe is vast and as Arthur C. Clarke said: "Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both possibilities are equally daunting." I prefer the second option, but this is a personal taste based on a specific way of looking at nature. 

   Let's be optimistic and hope against the odds, maybe, that something tangible will come from this subject, finally...  

Via: Daily Mail:

President Donald Trump reportedly has a historic speech ready that could finally provide the world with UFO disclosure, according to a filmmaker.

Mark Christopher Lee, a UK-based writer, director, producer and ufologist, said ‘an advisor to the Trump administration’ told him that the president ‘has been given authority by the other major world leaders to make this announcement.’

The speech is said to reveal decades of evidence, recovered materials and credible military eyewitness accounts showing that some UFO incidents cannot be explained by any known human technology.

Lee told the Daily Mail that Trump’s remarks will highlight several high-profile cases, including the 2004 USS Nimitz Tic Tac encounter, the 2015 USS Roosevelt GoFast and Gimbal incidents and the 1947 Roswell event.

‘He will confirm that forensic analysis of recovered off-world vehicles and non-human biologics has established their extraterrestrial origin, marking the first official acknowledgment of this reality by any world leader,’ he added.

Europe Explores Wealth Taxes, Capital Taxes, and Exit Taxes by Martin Armstrong

   As Europe spiral down from de-industrialization to energy crisis, the conditions on the continent are about to get worse. Think of Kiev where goons are running after draft dodgers as a potential EU member and it gives you a fairly vivid image of what Europe could look like in a few years. 

   Cameras everywhere, police everywhere but you wouldn't want pedophiles or Jew hating Somalis in the streets, right? But that's only half the police state they are planning to implement as explained by Martin Armstrong below. The other half will be virtual: CBDC, capital control and taxation. Only the nomenclature in Brussels will live tax free, legally. But hey, they vote the laws, not you!     

   People simply do not realize that the world we will inhabit in a few short years will be very different than the one today.  

Post by Martin Armstrong

The European Commission has now openly published a two-volume study examining “net wealth taxes,” “capital taxes,” and perhaps most alarming of all, “exit taxes.” They are no longer hiding the agenda behind slogans about “fairness” or “solidarity.” The report openly discusses how to tax wealth, how to monitor ownership, how to close compliance gaps, and how to prevent capital from escaping. This is precisely what I have warned was coming as governments across Europe enter the terminal phase of a sovereign debt crisis.

The study was commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union and examines wealth taxation systems across Europe and beyond, including France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, and Colombia. The report specifically focuses on recurring wealth taxes, inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes, and exit taxes designed to capture wealth before individuals relocate outside the jurisdiction.

The timing is everything. Europe’s economy is collapsing into what our Economic Confidence Model has projected would become a prolonged depressionary period into 2028. Manufacturing across Germany has been imploding, energy prices remain structurally elevated because of the self-inflicted sanctions war and Net Zero agenda, and capital has been fleeing Europe into the United States for years. The EU knows this. They see the money leaving. They understand that confidence in European governments is collapsing, and instead of reforming policy, they are moving toward containment.

The report openly admits that wealth taxes historically have not generated substantial revenue because the wealthy either legally restructure assets, move wealth offshore, or physically leave the jurisdiction altogether. In essence, they’re admitting capital flight is the central problem.

This is why exit taxes are becoming so important to Brussels. An exit tax is effectively a confiscation mechanism imposed when someone attempts to leave a country or transfer assets abroad. Governments tax unrealized gains before assets are sold. In other words, they tax theoretical paper wealth simply because someone wants to escape the jurisdiction. The report discusses the importance of tracking beneficial ownership, real estate registries, digitalized tax systems, and international information sharing.

That is the real objective here. This is not about “tax fairness.” This is about trapping capital inside Europe before the sovereign debt crisis accelerates. I have warned repeatedly that governments always begin with taxation but eventually transition toward outright restrictions on capital movement. Once governments become desperate enough, taxes alone no longer suffice. They require surveillance, digital tracking, asset registries, CBDCs, and eventually capital controls. Europe is moving down that road faster than anywhere else in the world.

The ECM has consistently shown that Europe faces the greatest structural risk heading into this cycle because Brussels destroyed competitiveness through regulation, climate extremism, and endless war spending. Germany, once the industrial engine of Europe, has seen factories shutting down while energy-intensive industries relocate abroad. France is drowning in debt and social unrest. The UK is outside the EU politically but remains economically tied to the same collapsing European model. Youth unemployment across parts of southern Europe remains catastrophic even before the next recession fully arrives.

Meanwhile, the EU continues funding Ukraine endlessly while demanding military expansion under NATO pressure, despite already carrying unsustainable sovereign debt burdens. They cannot finance pensions, healthcare, migration costs, green subsidies, military spending, and debt servicing simultaneously. The mathematics simply do not work anymore.

This is where the wealth tax discussion enters the picture. The report repeatedly references growing wealth concentration and the desire for “greater roles” for wealth-related taxes in generating revenue. The political class sees private savings as the solution to public insolvency. They do not intend to cut government. They intend to harvest private capital.

We have seen this pattern throughout history. Governments facing debt crises always move against private wealth. Roosevelt confiscated gold in 1933. Capital controls spread across Europe repeatedly throughout the 20th century. Cyprus seized bank deposits in 2013. During every major sovereign crisis, governments eventually redefine ownership rights.

The danger today is that technology now allows governments to track nearly every transaction digitally. The EU report specifically highlights “effective exchange of information on beneficial owners,” asset registration systems, and the “digitalisation of tax administrations.” In plain English, they want total visibility over wealth.

One section states the importance of “effective exchange of information on beneficial owners.” That is bureaucratic language for cross-border financial surveillance. They want governments sharing ownership information internationally so assets cannot disappear outside the system. There is discussion of “real estate and asset registration.” This is why governments worldwide are pushing centralized digital registries. They want a complete inventory of who owns what before the sovereign debt crisis fully erupts. “Effectiveness depends on administrative capacity, data availability, enforcement and international cooperation, including exchange of information.” Again, this is why we are seeing extreme data harvesting measures globally.

People still do not understand where this is heading. They assume wealth taxes only target billionaires. That is how every confiscatory system begins. Then thresholds decline over time because governments discover there are not enough billionaires to finance the welfare state. France’s wealth tax experience already demonstrated this problem. Wealth taxes often drive entrepreneurs, investors, and productive capital out of the country while generating far less revenue than projected. Even the EU study acknowledges design flaws, exemptions, compliance problems, and mobility responses.

This is exactly why our models projected Europe entering a depressionary cycle into 2028 while capital continues concentrating in the United States despite all the political chaos in Washington. Capital always seeks the least-worst alternative during sovereign debt crises. Europe has become hostile toward capital formation itself. They tax productivity, regulate energy, suppress agriculture, destroy industry, and now openly discuss how to prevent wealth from leaving.

The combination of wealth taxes, exit taxes, digital IDs, CBDCs, beneficial ownership registries, and expanding surveillance powers should terrify anyone with assets inside Europe. Once capital controls formally arrive, it will already be too late. Governments never announce confiscation in advance. They implement it during emergencies.

The EU depression into 2028 is not merely an economic downturn. It is a political transformation phase where governments become increasingly authoritarian as confidence collapses. Civil unrest rises, taxation intensifies, and restrictions on movement and capital expand simultaneously. That is precisely what our ECM has been warning about for years.

If you are sitting in Europe waiting for politicians to reverse course, you are gambling with your future. Get your money out of Europe while you still can.