Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

We start our podcast today more than 2,500 years ago at a time when the dominant superpower in the western world was the Achaemenid Empire of Persia.

Their civilization had reached an unfathomable level of wealth and sophistication; historical records show that, at peak, the Persian treasury had more than $300 BILLION in savings (in today’s money).

They had an intricate road network, a highly-functioning postal system, impressive engineering works, and had even invented a crude form of refrigeration and air conditioning.

Most of all they had a fearsome military. It was huge. And it was terrifying. Simply put, an invading Persian Army had never been defeated.

And yet, early in the 5th century BC, when they went to war against a rapidly rising power in Greece, the Persians suffered a humiliating defeat. Then again. And again. And again.

The losses changed the perception of their Empire forever.

Practically overnight their reputation sank, and they were no longer viewed as a terrifying superpower able to dominate the world.

We’ve seen this story over and over again throughout history, from Ancient Rome to the Mongols to Imperial Portugal in the early 1800s.

Simply put, dominant superpowers almost invariably have an equally dominant, fearsome military that inspires awe and intimidation in the rest of the world… and especially in the superpower’s adversaries.

But superpowers have a life cycle. They rise, peak, and decline. And at some point during the decline, the military begins to show signs of weakness.

Often times there’s some specific event– something happens that’s so humiliating to the superpower that it shocks the world.

This is what happened to the Persians in 490 BC. And it’s what happened to the United States in 2021.

As a West Point graduate and US Army veteran, I still hold in my heart that the US military is the finest fighting force on the planet.

But facts are facts, and the US military is showing clear signs of decline. Most of it is due to incomprehensible failures of leadership.

Today we discuss that decline; I reference a brand new report by the Heritage Foundation, its 2023 Index of US Military Strength, which provides an extremely honest (and distressing) analysis of the US military’s capabilities, capacity, and readiness.

The report spells out in nearly 600 pages of painstaking detail how the US military is rapidly losing (or has already lost) its technological advantages. It shows how there are not enough forces to defend American interests against a major adversary like China. And most importantly, the report concludes that the military is simply not ready.

These conclusions have far-reaching implications.

History has shown over and over again that once a superpower’s veneer of invincibility is pierced, it rapidly loses its status. And that’s even more true when another competing power is on the rise.

Loss of status as the world’s sole superpower goes far beyond reputation and military conflict.

The economic consequences are devastating.

That’s because dominant superpowers also tend to own the world’s primary reserve currency– in this case, the US dollar.

Being the world’s reserve currency means that commercial and financial transactions around the world are conducted primarily in US dollars.

So for example, a Brazilian merchant and its supplier in India do business with each other in US dollars. Futures contracts for gold, copper, crude oil, etc. that are traded in foreign commodities exchanges (like the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange) are denominated in US dollars.

The dollar is so dominant that when Airbus (a European aircraft manufacturer) sells its jets to European airlines, they typically close those deals using US dollars instead of euros. And giant European companies (like Nestle, BP, and Volkswagen Group) issue corporate bonds in US dollars.

You get the idea.

All of these USD financial and business transactions around the world mean that foreign investors, corporations, governments, and banks HAVE to stockpile US dollars, simply because the dollar is the global reserve currency.

And foreign institutions tend to hold the majority of their dollar assets in US government bonds (which is the largest and most liquid USD asset class in the world).

In total, foreigners collectively own $7.5 trillion worth of US government bonds, equivalent to 25% of the national debt… because they HAVE to own the world’s reserve currency.

This allows the US government to get away with the financial equivalent of murder.

The US government can run outrageous budget deficits, fund endless wars, and pay people to NOT work… and foreigners will still hold US dollars and buy US government bonds.

But this unparalleled privilege would dry up very quickly if the US dollar loses its status as the world’s dominant reserve currency.

I wrote about this briefly earlier in the week. But in today’s podcast, we put all the pieces together.

Specifically, I show you how US military dominance is linked to US superpower status… and the US dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency.

We look at the lessons from history to examine the trajectory of a superpower in decline. And we try to connect the dots to see where our currency trajectory will lead us.

This fate is not necessarily imminent; strong leadership and better performance from government could arrest the decline.

Unfortunately, the US government seems completely incapable of solving problems.

Their entire approach to problems, in fact, is very cyclical. It goes something like this:

1) The government does something stupid that creates a problem.

2) They ignore the problem they just created and let it fester.

3) When the problem becomes obvious, they offer a symbolic gesture– ‘thoughts and prayers’

4) When the problem becomes so extreme, they panic and do “whatever it takes”

5) “Whatever it takes” is reckless, expensive, and usually destructive, causing the cycle to start over again.

We cover all of this, and more, in today’s episode, which you can download here, or access in iTunes and Spotify…

The former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was ushered from his seat beside General Secretary Xi Jinping during the final session of the 20th National Congress Saturday.

As WSJ reports, midway through the otherwise carefully-choreographed closing session, Hu Jintao, 79, Xi Jinping’s immediate predecessor, was helped out of his chair next to Mr. Xi and inexplicably led out of the hall.

Footage shot by foreign media in the hall, which wasn’t included in the official China Central Television broadcast, showed Mr. Hu seemingly reluctant or unable to stand up when an aide tried to lift him off his chair.

In the commotion, Mr. Xi leaned toward Mr. Hu and appeared to speak with him.

Mr. Hu was ushered off the center dais, briefly looking back at Mr. Xi and patting outgoing Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder as he departed.

It wasn’t clear why Mr. Hu left or where he went. The incident has gone unmentioned in Chinese state media coverage of the event.

By Saturday evening, however, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu’s name were no longer visible, according to a Reuters review.

On Twitter, Xinhua news agency suggested Mr. Hu’s issue was health related.

In English, indicating the report was aimed at an international audience, the government-run agency said Mr. Hu “was not feeling well during the session” and left to rest in a room next to the meeting venue. “Now, he is much better,” the account said.

When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better.

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 22, 2022

Reuters also adds that Hu had appeared slightly unsteady last Sunday when he was assisted onto the same stage for the opening ceremony of the congress.

As some China-watchers have noted, if Hu were really “purged” as some are speculating “i highly doubt that CCTV would show him like this in the report.”

further on this, the sequence of leadership appearance matters greatly. in this cctv report, which they had plenty of time to arrange after the ceremony, the shots of leaders starts with xi, then hu, then the rest of current and retired standing committee members. https://t.co/X17npjTQgx

— Bill Bishop (@niubi) October 22, 2022

Still… does this look like the face of a man who ‘wants’ to leave for health reasons?

Meanwhile, Xi has set the stage to extend his rule into a second decade, and on Saturday the Communist Party announced new names for some top spots as some of his rivals head toward retirement.

Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, warned China’s human rights situation would deteriorate in a statement issued on Oct. 12.

“Another five years of Xi’s leadership is bad news for the cause of democracy and freedom, and worse news for the Chinese people,” Abramowitz said.

“If past is prologue, a third term for Xi will result in more human rights abuses within China and more aggressive suppression of free speech globally, even as his domestic and foreign policies backfire and public outrage intensifies.” 

As a reminder, Hu advocated maintaining good relations with the U.S., and was also an opponent of a military solution to the Taiwan issue. As SouthFront suggests, the former CPC Chairman’s escorting out of the hall is a clear demonstration of the renewed anti-Western foreign policy of Beijing, which, apparently, is ready for all measures, defending its sovereignty and the role of a superpower in the modern world.

Of course, the question remains, is it now in the Deep State’s favor to make it seem like there is political discord at the top in China – remember, an unstable China is a ‘dangerous’ China, that will require much bigger State and Defense Department budgets to battle not to mention serve as a generous source of revenue for the Lockheeds and Raytheons of the world for years to come.

On Tuesday we noted that the most recent NYT/Siena poll was a disaster for Democrats – putting Trump ahead of Biden in a hypothetical 2024 match up, and a massive swing to the right from independent women. The poll found that the most important issues are to Americans aren’t climate, January 6 or Covid (<.5>The economy and inflation (44% combined vs. 36% in July).

The poll also found that 64% of Republicans, 26% of Independents and 1% of Democrats believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election, while 97% of Democrats, 29% of Republicans and 64% of Independents believe President Biden won.

Going even deeper, the poll asked whether American democracy is ‘currently under threat,’ to which 74% of likely voters polled said ‘yes.’

Of those, respondents were asked to rank various people and institutions. The top threat? The mainstream media, with 59% saying it poses a “major threat to democracy,” 24% saying the MSM poses a ‘minor’ threat to democracy, and just 16% who think there’s no threat at all.

Got a few minutes?

As Just the News notes;

This attitude toward the media was strikingly bipartisan, with 95% of Republicans, 83% of independents, and 70% of Democrats calling the press a threat. However, only 38% of Democrats deem the media a “major” threat, compared to 80% of Republicans and 53% of independents.

Prominent, mainstream press outlets have come under fire in recent months for portraying Trump and those criticizing the FBI’s August raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as threats to democracy and national security, in some cases hastily reporting false or misleading information.

In key ways, the news media’s coverage of the raid resembled how the press previously covered now-debunked allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 presidential election, with journalists prematurely weaving a narrative of Trump’s guilt resting on flimsy underpinnings of anonymous government leaks and innuendo.

Meanwhile, back in government, Biden and his political allies, including Democrats in Congress, have repeatedly described Trump and his allies as dangers to the foundations of America, warning democracy itself is at stake and positioning themselves as its savior. -JTN

The “Major threat” runner-ups were;

Donald Trump (47%)

Joe Biden (39%)

Democrats (35%)

Voting by mail (32%)

The federal government (32%)

Republicans (30%)

The Supreme Court (27%)

The Electoral College (25%)

Electronic voting machines (22%)

Authored by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com,

U.S. trade and energy policies have created a “double standard”, with Europe left paying higher prices for its natural gas, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

France, the latest—and largest–country to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, has switched from being a net exporter of energy last year, to being a net importer of energy this year, after problems with its nuclear fleet surfaced.

To compensate for its declining nuclear fleet and Russia’s complete halt of natural gas shipments into the country, France has turned to the United States for LNG—only Macron is unhappy with the price it’s paying. 

U.S. natural gas exports to France increased 421% during the first eight months of 2022—but the value of that LNG increased by 1094% in August alone due to the higher prices of LNG.

“The North American economy is making choices for the sake of attractiveness, which I respect, but they create a double standard,” Macron explained at a Brussels news conference on Friday, with the United States enjoying low energy prices at home, while exporting at record prices.

“In addition, they allow state aid going to up to 80% on some sectors while it’s banned here — you get a double standard. It comes down to the sincerity of transatlantic trade,” Macron added, after earlier in the week referring to both the United States and Norway as those who are reaping “the real superprofits,” in what Macron calls benefiting from “geopolitcal war unearned income.”

With ties already strained over the previously botched nuclear deal between France and the United States, Macron is scheduled to visit the United States in early December, and the subject of energy is likely to be a prime focus.

Submitted by ‘BlueApples’,

Perhaps out of sheer necessity for his mental well-being, Alex Jones was defiant as ever following the verdict against him in his latest defamation case. A jury recently ordered Jones to pay the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and an FBI agent included in their suit an unfathomable $965 million. In the wake of that verdict, Jones took to the air on InfoWars to not only denounce the judgment but to ensure viewers that its absurdity only aided his case on appeal.

While portraying the ruling as absurd will only ruffle the feathers of opponents of Jones amidst their latest victory lap on their crusade to push cancel culture, the families of victims who sued the maligned political commentator made that assertion hard to disagree with. Claiming that “the highest possible punitive damages,” are the only thing that can keep Jones from continuing to harm them, the families who sued the InfoWars founder asked the Connecticut judge presiding over the defamation suit to award them $2.75 trillion in damages. To contextualize how obscene their request is, only 7 countries in the whole world exceeded a GDP of $2.75 trillion in 2020.

The basis of the families claim relies upon the judicial interpretation of Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. That law bars the sale of products using false statements. The family’s invoked that law by asserting that Jones’ claims about Sandy Hook aided the sale of supplements and other merchandise he sells and regularly advertises on InfoWars. Predicating their claim on that legal argument, the families reached the $2.75 trillion by imploring the judge to multiply the $5,000 fine set worth by the law to the 550 million exposures that Jones’ commentary on Sandy Hook had across Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in the wake of the shooting before the deplatforming campaign which saw him removed from each website. The previous $965 million ruling against Jones was entirely based on a jury’s decision on restitution for the emotional pain and suffering the InfoWars host inflicted upon them.

In support of the monetary claim, attorneys of the families continued their assault on Jones by continuing to portray his mere existence as a continued threat to the well-being of their clients.

“Alex Jones perpetrates this attack for one reason: greed,” the families’ lawyers said in the filing Friday.

“Alex Jones will never treat them like real people, because they are too valuable to him as targets.”

Although the CUTPA was originally passed in order to compensate those directly harmed by deceptive practices in the marketing and sale of products, the application of the law has since been expanded to directly aid the legal cases pursued by the families of victims of Sandy Hook. In 2019, the Connecticut Supreme Court over-ruled a state appeals court by deciding that the CUTPA could be cited in a case those families fledged against Remingtom, the firearms manufacturers who they sought to hold liable for the school shooting. In their decision the court ruled:

The gravamen of the plaintiffs’ complaint was that the defendants negligently entrusted to civilian consumers an assault rifle that is suitable for use only by military and law enforcement personnel and violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) (§ 42-110a et seq.) through the sale or wrongful marketing of the rifle.

The Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling that the CUTPA could be applied to the families’ suit remanded the case to be adjudicated on appeal. However, no judgment was rendered as Remington reached a settlement paying the families a total of $73 million. That sum was agreed to after Remington originally offered $33 million as a settlement, which the families deemed was too little. The $73 million award far exceeded the $2.5 million settlement reached between Bushmaster Firearms and the gun dealer who sold the rifle used by the DC serial snipers that ravaged the nation’s capital with their indiscriminate shootings over the course of 2004.

The monetary claim is another chapter in a tome of tales chronicling attempts to plunge InfoWars into financial ruin. Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis argued that the provisions of the CUTPA don’t fit his clients defamation case and went on to detail how his oppositions arguments weren’t rooted in facts but instead on a pathological approach to effectively nullify the jury by vilifying Jones. Pattis stated the focus of the plaintiffs was aimed at “arousing sympathy, directing anger, and anchoring a large number before the jury with the hope that jurors would do what they did in this case — award a fortune,”

In spite of his auspicious outlook of his case on appeal, the defamation case against Jones has already taken its toll. The InfoWars founder placed the news outlet’s parent company Free Speech Systems into creditor protection in Federal Bankruptcy Court following another ruling in a defamation case fledged by the families in Texas earlier this year. In that case, a jury awarded one of the families suing Jones $50 million in damages. That judgment is 0.0018% of the latest monetary awarded at issue. As optimistic as Jones and his legal counsel can be and have been, the barrage of defamation cases against him continues on as the host is slated to stand trial in a third lawsuit later this year in his native Texas. Despite the outcome of his appeals, it appears that it’s only a matter of time before one of these lawsuits proves to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.

In a sane world, the voice of reason would be looked down upon as a madman. While Jones’ claims have a clear track record of being proven as legitimate time and time again, instances like his commentary on Sandy Hook have been weaponized in the court of public opinion against him, ultimately obfuscating the other truths InfoWars has brought to light over the decades it’s been airing. Independent of the validity of his claims about Sandy Hook, the hysteria advancing the defamation cases against him may very well be the end to InfoWars and Free Speech Systems.

What remains to be seen is the dangerous bearing that the precedent the ruling sets would have on enabling civil lawsuits to be weaponized against political dissidents and those who question accepted narratives and whether or not that will ultimately mean the end of free speech as we know it.

Germany’s national weather service, the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), released a new report Friday showing temperatures across the country will be well above average through mid-November. This promising forecast could stave off a worsening energy crisis (for now). 

DWD’s month-ahead forecast expects warmer-than-normal temperatures in Germany through at least mid-November. A weather model via Bloomberg shows above-average weather. 

A two-week forecast shows heating demand across the EU’s largest economy will be below a 30-year trend line. This means less natural gas will be drawn out of storage. 

Regarding NatGas storage, the EU is about 91% full despite reduced NatGas shipments from Russia. Shipments via Ukraine are one of the last remaining Russian supply lines to western Europe after the bombing of Nord Stream pipelines.

Warmer weather plus EU storage is above a 10-year average for this time of year is good news (for now). 

Dutch front-month gas futures, a European benchmark, has been halved and hit lows not seen since June of around 113 euros per megawatt-hour. 

As for now, a worsening energy crisis has been delayed. But as explained recently by Russian energy giant Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, all of that can change in the event of a cold snap and send “entire towns freezing” this winter. 

Authored by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

(Complexity – Energy) x (Arrogance + Ignorance) = A Great Disaster

This is a critical episode that explores a concept that can change how you see the whole world.  It did for me when I first learned it, and now I am passing that on.

Today we explore what complex systems are and how they have features that we simply have to appreciate and respect. However, unfortunately, none of the World Economic Forum or western leaders seem to have any awareness of the fact that they live in a world composed of complex systems and governed by this pesky thing we call ‘reality.’

One reason we suspect this is their insistence on the idea that we can readily transition to ‘clean energy.’  However, even the most basic of straightforward (linear) arithmetic reveals it cannot be done.  All that’s required to come to this conclusion is to simply divide current rates of mineral and metal production into the minimum requirements for a first-generation clean energy build-out.

When we do, we discover that it would take anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years to mine the resources needed to build the desired renewable energy world.  At best we’ve got a decade or two left before a permanent energy decline bites and renders all such dreams to the dustbin of what could have been.  If only…

If we can’t even properly manage simple math (add, subtract, multiply and divide) for our most dominant narratives, what hope is there that the subtleties of complex systems command a proper seat at the table?

Complex systems are what govern our world and define our reality. They share a couple of important features. (1) They are inherently unpredictable. (2) They owe their order and complexity to energy flows.

Our economy is a complex system. Take its energy away, and it will extremely rapidly “simplify” and become a lot less dynamic, complex, and interesting.

Your body is a complex system. Starve it for food, and you too will quite rapidly become a lot less interesting and dynamic, and eventually dead.

What the WEF is trying to do, along with a host of colluding world leaders and other true believers sprinkled throughout the elite centers of power and intellectual exploration, is to force a Reset so they can Build Back Better.

Their words and their deeds align and reinforce that this is exactly what they are doing. But without any apparent appreciation for the fact that they are attempting to control the uncontrollable and to pull off the impossible. They want to force multiple, nested, and feedback-looped complex systems to do their bidding.

The chance of them pulling this off, without accidentally breaking the whole system, is about as close to zero as you can get without actually being zero. Never say never, but to succeed, they’d have to somehow rewrite the laws of nature that govern complex systems and the laws of physics to defeat thermodynamics. Ain’t going to happen. Not on purpose; maybe accidentally, but you might as well hope to hit the Powerball lottery after buying a single ticket because those are better odds.

Watch the Video

This is the BIGGEST Reason the WEF Will Fail – powered by sovren.media

*  *  *

If you enjoy deep investigations that are clearly presented, and we know you do, then you’ll find that being a paying member of Peak Prosperity is the best investment you could ever make.

At 0.1% of the cost of a Harvard tuition, you’ll gather more useful information from your personal scout that will literally change your life for the better than you would anywhere else for the price. As an Insider (our most popular offering) you’ll have full access to Chris’s content and receive a minimum of 3 additional weekly “Inside Take” videos. Consider joining today for yourself, for your tribe, and to support Chris and his team. Click here to join!

Peak Prosperity proudly supports Sovren, a blockchain-secured, censor-proof video and social media platform. Click here to visit Sovren!

The National Grid warned Britons of winter power blackouts earlier this month if it can’t import enough natural gas and electricity from other parts of Europe. According to Daily Mail, the grid operator developed a new scheme to prevent the worst-case scenario of power outages by offering households equipped with smart meters to turn off appliances during peak demand times. 

National Grid’s scheme pays households up to £20 per day if they don’t use energy-intensive appliances, such as electric ovens and stoves, washing machines, tumble dryers, televisions, microwaves, and even video game consoles, between 4 pm and 7 pm or 2 pm until 9 pm over the next five months. 

They will be advised to use washing machines, tumble dryers, ovens, dishwashers and other appliances outside those periods so boffins can measure how much energy is saved on the grid when it is at its busiest. If the entire proposed £3 per kwh rebate if passed on to Britons by their supplier, over five months this could mean around £240 off their bills in total. –Daily Mail 

The grid operator hopes the ‘demand flexibility service’ will save 2GW of electricity — equivalent to powering 1 million homes — during peak demand hours to thwart supply and demand imbalances that could result in power rationing. 

“But the scheme relies on users having a controversial smart meter, a device which automatically transmits your energy usage to your provider,” Daily Mail said. 

Remember in the US, over the summer, when households in Colorado could not control their own smart thermostats after the local power company digitally seized them to prevent people from increasing cooling demand during a heatwave. There are risks when using anything smart. 

This winter could be reminiscent of power outages experienced in the 1970s across the UK if power generators cannot get enough NatGas to operate.

Ahead of the cold season, we’ve pointed out that European households have returned to burning wood, coal, and even trash to heat their homes. Western sanctions against Moscow are backfiring and risk sending tens of millions of Europeans not just into energy poverty but back a couple of centuries in progress. Thank you, NATO.