There are many sides to the same story:

‍

There are many sides to the same story.

‍

Don’t believe what you see at face value.

‍

Every story is complicated.

‍

The Russia-Ukraine situation now is a classic example.

‍

The Western media are blaming everything on Russia.

‍

Biden is blaming oil prices and inflation on Russia.

‍

That’s a lie.

‍

His central bank has printed trillions of dollars in the last year.

‍

But this story is more complicated.

‍

Russia tried invading Crimea, a region in Ukraine in 2014.

‍

What did the West do? They imposed sanctions on Russia.

‍

So what did Russia, specifically its central bank, do since then?

‍

Dump US treasuries and buy gold.

‍

Many countries’ central banks have bought 3x more gold than US treasuries in the last 8 years.

‍

Then when this current crisis happened, America and the West completely took out Russia’s foreign reserves.

‍

Let’s get this straight.

‍

A world reserve currency is supposed to be equal for everyone to use.

‍

Politics shouldn’t intervene in how countries transact in the world reserve currency.

‍

But the US completely flipped the script when they took out Russia’s foreign reserves. 

‍

I’m sure every central bank around the world started asking questions.

If America can do that now, what else can they do to me?

‍

I can’t rely on them because if they deem me an enemy at any point, they can take my reserves out.

‍

What’s the point of central bank reserves in US dollars if they just disappear one day?

‍

So countries are now working around the system.

‍

It’s why Saudi and China are discussing doing oil deals in RMB, China’s currency.

‍

It’s why India and Russia are discussing doing deals around the RMB.

‍

When Nixon took the US off the gold standard in 1971, he also signed a deal with Saudi to make sure all their oil was transacted in dollars - creating the petrodollar system.

‍

For the last 50 years, America has had ultimate power because oil transactions are done in US dollars.

‍

Energy markets run the world. Never forget that.

‍

Everything is downstream from energy.

‍

So now that the US has taken out Russia’s reserves, big countries like China, India and Saudi Arabia are realizing they can’t rely on America anymore.

‍

They’re now doing deals in their own currencies.

‍

It’s a sign of massive change in world history because it means America is losing its power as the world reserve currency.

‍

Russia and China knew the writing was on the wall the last decade which is why they’ve been buying tons of gold.

‍

So when Russia decided to enter Ukraine, it had to know America would impose massive sanctions.

‍

But did Putin strategically do this to ultimately crumble America’s own economy?

‍

Why?

‍

America doesn’t buy a lot of oil from Russia but Europe does, particularly Germany.

‍

This is why the EU was hesitant to sanction Russia out of the SWIFT system because they know Russia controls them from an energy perspective.

‍

Germany has also stopped investing in nuclear power, which is one of the cleanest and safest ways to produce mass amounts of energy and will be a part of the future of green energy.

So they screwed themselves.

‍

Of course, there’s blowback in Russia because their economy effectively went to zero.

‍

It’s wild what happened.

‍

Their stock market is shut indefinitely.

‍

The Ruble crashed against the American dollar.

‍

Businesses pulled out of Russia, including Visa and Mastercard, which is a huge deal.

‍

It means your credit card doesn’t work there.

‍

So of course they’re having local problems.

‍

But my guess is Putin is holding out as long as he can to see if America breaks.

‍

Same with China.

‍

Here’s a summary of the US situation: 

‍

Inflation hasn’t been this high for 40 years, the stock market is massively inflated, trillions of dollars have been printed in the last few years, their debt to GDP ratio is above 100%, interest rates are effectively zero, inequality hasn’t been this bad in the US since before the 1930s, their population is hyperpolarized on opposite sides led by different mainstream media outlets who are worsening this problem, more people bought guns during the pandemic and commodities are going up, including food and oil.

‍

Remember, everything is downstream of energy markets.

‍

The average American is getting absolutely destroyed right now.

‍

They’re not ready for a recession or stagflation.

‍

A recession and/or stagflation is disastrous for this country.

‍

So is it in the elite's interest to blame another country for their own issues?

‍

Absolutely.

‍

Get the mob to believe whatever you tell them.

‍

So how do you understand these issues from a different lens?

‍

Listen to smart individuals. They’re now more powerful than media outlets.

‍

The guy who’s nailing macro right now is Luke Gromen. His podcast with Grant Williams is the best macro podcast I’ve ever heard and he discusses all of this.

‍

He walks through several thought experiments but also uses his historical knowledge to put everything in context with today’s events.

‍

He’s an example of a smart individual who’s an expert in his field that’s thinking long term and trying to connect stories over many years.

‍

Listen to guys that challenge your belief and force you to look at issues in a different way.

‍

They’re the ones that’ll help you see the truth from fiction in this world of fake news and information warfare.

‍

Don’t just read a headline and accept it as fact. 

‍

Not everything on the Internet is true.

‍

Because of this information overload, it’s now harder to distinguish truth from fiction.

‍

So question everything.

‍

It’s up to you to find the truth.

‍

Listen to the guys that have been doing this for a long time.

‍

But always remember, there are many sides to the same story.

‍