The privatisation of the state monopoly on violence

🇺🇸 Private Security Guards Are Replacing Police Across America

🔷️ Boyer’s armed guard service has boomed over the last year as Philadelphia police staffing issues led to longer response times. Neil Patel, the owner of this Karco gas station, says he hired Boyer in December after thieves stole an ATM from his gas station and the police didn’t respond for six hours.

🔷️ Patel is not the only business owner shelling out money for private security as police departments across the U.S. lose staff. Already struggling to recruit new applicants in 2019, police departments saw a spike of retirements and a drop-off in new recruits after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent backlash against police, says Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. In Philadelphia alone, police staffing levels dropped nearly 10% from the end of 2019 to the end of 2022, a recent government audit found. Nationally, the number of sworn officers dropped 7% between 2019 and 2021, according to FBI data.

🔷️ While police departments were losing officers, crime was rising in many parts of America. Murders, assaults, and car thefts rose nationally in 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, and an increase in homelessness has heightened anxieties about safety. These factors bolstered the private security industry, which had already been growing steadily since the terrorist attacks of September 11 but has boomed since 2020. There are roughly twice as many security guards employed in the U.S. than there were 20 years ago, according to the Security Industry Association, though the nation’s population has only grown 16% over the same time period. By 2021, there were about 2 police officers but 3.1 security guards for every 1,000 civilians.

🔷️ “Private security is going to take over everything,” says Boyer, the Philadelphia armed guard. He adds that a father recently hired him to take his two children to the movies, armed with a shotgun, to make sure they were safe.

https://time.com/6275440/insecure-private-security-replacing-police/

🔹 CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S 🚢 which ships close to one-fifth of the world's containers, warns of a downturn. Chief executive Vincent Clerc said there's still a lot of uncertainty ahead as global business activity slows and companies race to reduce inventories at warehouses due to overstocking during the pandemic years. In return, demand for container ships has sunk on major shipping lanes from Asia to Europe and the US.

🔹 For Q1 2023, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S reported a 56% plunge 📉 in EBITDA, amounting to $3.97 billion. The quarter saw a 9.4% reduction in volumes and a 37% drop in freight rates, which now hover near the break-even point.

🔹Cargo volumes at Canada's 🇨🇦 largest port 🏗 (Vancouver) fell by 3% last yea. In March, container volumes across the country dropped nearly 12% year-over-year. Container traffic has continued to drop off as Canadians tighten budgets amid higher interest rates and ongoing inflation.

🔹 Political tensions between the US 🇺🇸 and China 🇨🇳 are contributing to lower container shipments between the world’s two largest economies. Many companies in the US are looking to reduce down the amount of imports they have got coming from China.

💠 In Jan. 2023, we reported on this channel that the cost to send a container from Asia to the US on the demand-sensitive spot market had already tumbled 📉 more than 80% from its Sept. 2021 peak. Container shipping rates in January was sitting below the 10-year average.

The days of overconsumption of goods, brought on primarily by fiscal stimulus, are over, and is one of the main reasons global shipping lanes are slowing.

🇸🇦🛢📈Saudi Arabia raises oil prices for Europe by $1.1-1.8 per barrel - Reuters

"At the same time, fuel for Asia will fall in price by $ 0.35 per barrel," the publication reports.

@DDgeopolitics

JUST IN - German factory orders slump 10.7% month-on-month in March — one of the largest declines in history.

This is the latest sign that Europe's largest economy is facing a steep downturn under the center-left green-liberal government.

@disclosetv

Riyadh ‘Peace Declaration’ seen as game-changer for stability in Sudan | Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1719091/saudi-arabia

This, to demonstrate KSA's role in Sudan. And now this:

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-warring-parties-meet-talks-saudi-arabia-2023-05-06/

NEW 🚨 Ukraine leader Zelensky meets BlackRock management

Follow @insiderpaper

Shahid Bolsen on global Muslim ascendancy

Sudan Update

🇸🇾 Syria returns to Arab League -Al Mayadeen

♦️Iraqi Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmad Al-Sahhaf announces Syria has been offically granted a return to the Arab League

🚩 @ResistanceTrench

The West is disappearing women as a biological category

🇲🇦🇧🇷 Morocco and Brazil ratified military agreement

Morocco and Brazil have ratified a military agreement that provides for the transfer of technology and military achievements, the creation of joint military projects and joint exercises.

Morocco and Brazil signed the cooperation agreement in June 2019 to cooperate in defense-related sectors, including military training, joint military exercises, and the exchange of defense information.

The agreement will also allow the two countries to engage in theoretical and practical sessions, cultural and sporting events, as well as humanitarian assistance and military training.

#Morocco #Brazil

@africaintel

Qatar arrests 8 Indians accused of spying for Israel  – Middle East Monitor
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230501-qatar-arrests-8-indians-accused-of-spying-for-israel/

Sudan update: Personally, I do not see the RSF being a viable victor here. They seem to be loathed by the population, disorganised as a military force, and appear to be relying on mercenaries from outside Sudan. According to the "peace talks" KSA is going to pump $100 million in "humanitarian aid" into Sudan — but who knows what that will actually be used for. In my opinion, the smart play for UAE and KSA at this point would be to abandon the coup project, cut a deal with the army, negotiate some sort of amnesty for the RSF, and hold them as a destabilising threat against the government to coerce fealty. But when this will be seen by the Emiratis and Saudis as a weak move and, essentially, an admission of defeat; so I am not sure if they will have the conscience to do it.

Chile's "nationalisation" of lithium industry: opportunities for partnership

Imran Khan in custody

I've been telling you all since the beginning of the war...

The de-industrialisation of 🇩🇪 Germany - Part 7:

🔹Waggonbau Niesky, the last producer of freight wagons 🚃 in Germany goes insolvent.

🔹More than 300-year-old traditional slaughterhouse Röhrs Butchery 🥩 filed for bankruptcy. The business in northern Germany has roots back to 1709.

🔹140 year old Schongau Strumpffabrik hosiery factory enters insolvency.

🔹Peek & Cloppenburg the largest fashion retailer in the country, goes bankrupt after being in business since 1901.

🔹Rudolf Dankwardt GmbH, traditional manufacturer of hygiene products🧴goes bankrupt after 60 years in operation.

🔹Ride-pooling service Clevershuttle, files for bankruptcy after Deutsche Bahn stopped financing it.

🔹Dörsch bakery 🍞in Hof, after almost 90 years of operation in insolvent along with other traditional bakeries.

Previous parts on the de-industrialisation of Germany 🇩🇪:

💠 Part 6 - Mar '23 - Eisenwerk Erla ⚒ of Saxony, files for bankruptcy after more than 600 years of existence. Other century old businesses go bankrupt.

💠 Part 5 - Feb. '23 - Co.'s operating for over a century goes insolvent.

💠 Part 4 - Jan. '23 starts with a slew of bankruptcies of co.'s in operation for over 100 years.

💠 Part 3 - Nov. '22 - CEO of the Federation of German Industries 🏭 said 1 in 4 German co.'s is considering moving production to other countries.

💠 Part 2 - Nov. '22 - Major department store chain & other co.'s file for bankruptcy.

💠 Part 1 - Oct. '22 - Manufacturers after existing for over 100 years shut down.

Video source - SputnikGlobe