Mike Norman Economics

At the end of March we finally got the details of how Russia will require foreign buyers of gas to make payment.The process is relatively straightforward. For EU buyers, contracts will remain in force at the price stated in EUR. The change is the account Gazprom will require payment into at Gazprombank, from one denominated in EUR to one denominated in RUB.In addition banks making payments on behalf of gas buyers will not be able to pay into Gazprom’s RUB account directly. Instead they will...

State of Play. Mopping up Mariupol. Regrouping from Kiev. All Eyes on Donbass.The Vineyard of the SakerSitrep: Operation ZNightvisionhttp://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z-4/India PunchlineDonbass still remains key battleground M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and former ambassadorhttps://www.indianpunchline.com/donbass-still-remains-key-battleground/The Dreizin ReportThis month will decide world politics for next 30+...

[embedded content]Is Russia Losing the War in Ukraine? (1.35.55)Richard Medhurst interviews Scott Ritterhttps://youtu.be/BZ32cntgP_8

[embedded content]April 3 Sitrep, Sort of.Andrei Martyanov, former USSR naval officer and expert on Russian military and naval issues. Martyanov was born in Baku, USSR in 1963. He graduated from the Kirov Naval Red Banner Academy and served as an officer on the ships and staff position of Soviet Coast Guard through 1990. He took part in the events in the Caucasus which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In mid-1990s he moved to the United States where he currently works as Laboratory...

Last Friday (April 1, 2022), the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their latest labour market data – Employment Situation Summary – March 2022 – which reported a total payroll employment rise of only 431,000 jobs. Fortunately, employment growth was strong enough to drive the unemployment rate down by 0.2 points to 3.6 per cent. But there is still room for the unemployment rate to fall even further. The US labour market is still 1,579 thousand jobs short from where it was at the...

But what we are seeing right now looks like the beginning of the end of that 50-year system and the birth of a new gold and commodity backed multi-lateral monetary system. The freezing of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves has been the trigger. The giant commodity strong countries of the world such as China and the oil exporting nations may now feel that now is the time to move to a new more equitable monetary system. It’s not a surprise, they have been discussing it for years.…Zero Hedge"A...

In a world with inadequate resources relative to population, conflicts are likely to become increasingly common.World economic growth very much depends on growing energy consumption.There is little reason to believe that Russia will “give up” in response to sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries.Even without the war, the situation has been developing for some time. It has long been recognized that the planet's resources are insufficient for the entire world to live at the...

El-Erian is 100% correct here from the Monetarist perspective… even with all of the “inflation!” media hysteria end of last year and now anti “inflation!” statements “jawboning!” from the Fed people the Fed hasn’t really done anything…They increased the policy rate 0.25% a few weeks ago and don’t even have a meeting this month and will probably go up another 0.25% two months from now… stopped the asset purchases ok but haven’t yet even started the “QT”…Meanwhile they are reporting...

Rublegas is the commodity currency du jour and it isn’t nearly as complicated as NATO pretends. If Europe wants gas, all it needs to do is send its Euros to a Russian account inside Russia.…The effect is twofold (at least):This arrangement avoids sanctions.Payment is rubles supports the exchange rate of the RUB.The Cradle‘Rublegas:’ the world’s new resource-based reserve currencyPepe Escobarhttps://thecradle.co/Article/columns/8638See alsoTom Luongo parses this more deeply from his Austrian...

The Vineyard of the SakerSitrep: Operation ZNightvison for The Saker bloghttp://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z-3/What is Ukraine fighting with?Batko Milacic for the Saker Bloghttp://thesaker.is/what-is-ukraine-fighting-with/One WorldZelensky’s Senior Advisor Confirmed The Russian Defense Ministry’s Military AssessmentAndrew Korybkohttp://oneworld.press/?module=articles&action=view&id=2674