💰🪖 Western weapons manufacturers are popping champagne corks over record sales with total revenues hitting $400 billion for last year. According to media reports, this coming year-end will see that record figure exceeded by another salivating $50 billion.
Ukraine may be resembling a bloodbath, as we noted in last week’s editorial. But apparently, Western military corporations are swimming in a bonanza of profits and stock market investments.

Most of this lucrative new business stems from NATO’s proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, which is heading toward its second year. There is no sign of a diplomatic effort from the West or the Kiev regime it sponsors to end the bloodshed.

The main corporate beneficiaries making a financial killing from Ukraine are by far the American firms. They include such behemoths as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and RTX (formerly Raytheon). But also enjoying soaring profits are arms makers in other NATO countries: BAE in the United Kingdom, Airbus in France, Netherlands and Spain, Leonardo in Italy, and Germany’s Rheinmetall.

This week the Joe Biden administration requested another $24 billion in U.S. taxpayer-funded aid to Ukraine. It’s hard to keep track of the money flowing from NATO countries to prop up the Nazi regime in Kiev. Even the NATO authorities don’t seem to know the precise figures, such is the rampant corruption that is inevitably associated with the vast doling of funds. But estimates of total U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine range from $150 billion to $200 billion over the past year alone.

Western capitalism is at once a sponsor and an addict of war 🛑

💬 Read more in this week’s Editorial

#military #MIC #ProxyWar #Ukraine #UnitedStates

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🔹German 🇩🇪 media warns about decoupling from China 🇨🇳 as it would be more dangerous than beneficial for the EU 🇪🇺. Even with a shift away from China, Europe would still be dependent on rare-earth element (REE) imports from places like Africa. As much as 90% of Europe's rare earths are imported from China.

🔹China controls 60% of global production of REE and 85% of the processing capacity. China is considering banning the export of technologies used to produce high-performance rare earth magnets 🧲 citing “national security”. Mining ⛏ REEs causes various types of environmental damage including radioactive waste because of how they are extracted. Processing centres are concentrated largely in China due to special know-how, high costs for processing plants 🏭 & operations.

🔹Africa as a continent can outmatch both China and the West by formulating a new strategic approach towards the REE industry by developing a sound mineral policy through inter-state cooperation in order to get geopolitical leverage in the global mineral market.

🔹African states involved in the REE sector need to consider:

🔸Strengthening tax policy to maximize revenue collection.
🔸Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area to maximise value addition.
🔸Using resources strategically to build strong trade partnerships.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Neodymium permanent magnets for EV's 🚗 & electric motors face multiple supply chain & mining limitations.

💠 European sanctions can backfire if Russia 🇷🇺 closes it's rail cargo route to Europe with REE from China .

💠 Swedish 🇸🇪 discovers a major REE deposit. It will be at least 10-15 years before mined products is brought to market.

Video source - Shahid Bolsen of Middle Nation.

🔹Bangladesh 🇧🇩 Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen reveals the country's aspirations of becoming a BRICS member. He revealed this after a meeting between Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and South African 🇿🇦 President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva🇨🇭. Bangladesh is already a member of the BRICS New Development Bank since 2021.

🔹PM 🇧🇩 Hasina will attend the BRICS leaders’ summit scheduled to take place in South Africa in August. However, Bangladesh is not presently a Dialogue Partner as other BRICS member applicants such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The country will use this move to diversify foreign relations and reduce the dominance of the US and the US dollar.

🔹Washington 🇺🇸 previously warned it would slap visa ✈️ restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens who undermine the democratic election process at home. The US is the largest importer of Bangladeshi products, importing $8.3 billion worth of goods in 2021 & US companies are among the largest foreign investors in the Muslim-majority country.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Bangladesh's 🇧🇩 ministry of commerce looks at the possibility of using the Indian rupee instead of the US dollar with India 🇮🇳. Both countries reached a deal that will see a small part of their bilateral trade transactions settled in their own currencies

💠 Bangladesh is set to make loan repayments in Chinese 🇨🇳 yuan for its nuclear power plant being built by Russia

🔹India 🇮🇳is considering imposing an export ban on four key metals; lithium, beryllium, niobium, and tantalum because of their importance in powering sectors critical to national security and technological advancements. India’s Parliament also passed the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, which will allow commercial mining ⛏in India, of titanium and zirconium addition to the previous mentioned metals. The Bill now awaits the President’s assent.

🔹India discovered a large lithium deposit near Kashmir, this year but is about a decade away from final production. Iran 🇮🇷 discovered its first lithium ore deposit in March, making it the world's 2nd largest reserve. Australia 🇦🇺 has identified at least five mines of of lithium and cobalt for Indian entities to participate in exploration/production. India is discussing the possibility of FTAs with Lithium Triangle countries Peru 🇵🇪 and Chile.

🔹A coalition of US 🇺🇸 tech giants has also protested the abrupt way in which India introduced tech import restrictions this month. The restriction requires Indian companies to get a license before importing PCs, laptops, or servers in hopes of boosting domestic tech production as more countries try to have less dependence on China's 🇨🇳 dominance of critical sectors.

🔹More than 50 companies from around the world are jostling to negotiate lithium deals under the Chilean 🇨🇱 gov't's new plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium 🔋industry where the state would take a controlling interest in each partnership. Mexico 🇲🇽 is also reviewing foreign companies that have active mining concessions, with plans to follow in Chile's footsteps.

🔹Saudi Arabia’s 🇸🇦 US Treasury holdings fell to a more than six-year low in June. Saudi Arabia, the largest Middle East holder of US gov't debt, sold more than $3 billion of its shares in June. This brought down Riyadh's total holdings to $108.1 billion, the lowest since December 2016. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s disclosed holdings of US 🇺🇸-traded stocks rose almost 10% in value to about $39 billion in the second quarter.

🔹Historically Saudi Arabia used to keep most of its reserves in US Treasuries 💵, but with the country’s diversification strategy Vision 2030 backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund results in investments being redirected domestically. Oil revenues, are fueling these projects.

🔹Saudi Arabia's cut in oil 🛢 production through OPEC has hindered the US from re-filling its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as oil prices have increased. Closer ties between China and the Middle East have raised concerns in Washington DC 🇺🇸 and European 🇪🇺 capitals after Saudi Arabia signed $10 billion worth of investment agreements with Chinese 🇨🇳companies in June.

🔹The UAE 🇦🇪 offloaded $4 billion worth of US treasury bonds in June, making it the second consecutive month the country sold US government debt. Its holding fell to $65.2 billion from $69 billion in May 2023. Kuwait 🇰🇼 shares of the US debt instrument fell to $40.6 billion in June from $41.4 billion in May. However, much this was off-set by Japan 🇯🇵 increasing US Treasury purchases for June.

🔹China 🇨🇳, the second-biggest holder of US debt, has reduced its stake to the lowest level in more than 14 years. It now holds about $850 billion of US debt, lower than its all-time high of over $1.2 trillion.

Video source - Sean Foo