Steve Hanke on stopping the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East

If you want to know what's going on, you've got to know who's funding what's going on.  Where does the money come from?  And the money and the munitions and the intelligence all come from the United States.  If the United States cut the funding off and cut the intelligence off and the munitions going into the Ukraine and Middle Eastern war zones, the war would stop.  As an economist, that's my formula for peace.  I'm 100% for peace and the best way to stop a war is to stop funding the thing.  It'll stop in a hurry.

~ Steve Hanke, "Steve Hanke: Recession is Coming - The Fed, Trump & Wall Street Are Blind," Wealthion, 9:45 mark, June 25, 2025

Jeffrey Sachs: "The United States is playing the Taiwan card"

The United States, of course, is playing the Taiwan card.  Taiwan is a part of China.  Interestingly, the Taiwanese say so, the Republic of Taiwan says so, the People's Republic of China says so - they disagree about who should run the place because they had a civil war going back to the 1940s.  But both of them said, "yes," this is one China.  And when we recognize China, the People's Republic of China, we adopt the One China policy.  

But what does the United States do?  It's sending billions of dollars of weapons to Taiwan now.  Can you imagine if China said, "We're going to arm the state of Tennessee?"  And the United States says, "No, please don't do that..."  "No, we're going to arm the state of Tennessee because they like us, maybe someday, who knows, they'll be an ally of ours and so forth, we have a really important company in Tennessee."  This is what we're doing.  It's crazy!  

By the way, it's crazy for Taiwan to follow into this.  My advice to Taiwan is, "Don't become the next Ukraine.  In other words, the next place of a war between superpowers that takes place on your territory."  By the way, I said to the Ukrainians, "Don't become the next Afghanistan."

I've seen this movie too often and I told the Ukrainians, "You will be destroyed.  Not by Russia, but by the United States.  They will tell you, 'Fight on, fight on, fight on!'"  And I often quote Henry Kissinger's quip when he said, "To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be a friend of the United States is fatal."  This is applying to Ukraine, but I say it to my friends in Taiwan: "Don't play games.  Don't play games.  Don't think the United States is going to be able to save you.  It's no way, but it could destroy you if a war breaks out.  And so don't take weapons from the U.S.  That's not how to get security.  That's how to end up in a war."

Jeffrey Sachs, "Harvard Economist Shocking Prediction for US China Relations in 2025," Cyrus Janssen, 5:10 mark, November 24, 2025

Edward Curtin on Trump bringing peace to Ukraine

The real issue is Trump and the question of whether or not he is for real in his efforts for peace in Ukraine. I am very skeptical and think it is justified. 

I am convinced that the US/NATO war against Russia will not be ending unless NATO is dissolved, which Trump is not proposing.  He only wishes to strengthen NATO with European money, not that of the U.S. NATO’s only raison d’être is to destroy Russia as an independent country and create regime change there through multiple means.  This has always been so.  This is why NATO has existed for so long and has expanded.  Open warfare in Ukraine is just one means among many they have used over the years.  You can end the overt war and continue the covert. 

If NATO is not dissolved, the undermining of Russia will continue under Trump, who seems to recognize that the proxy war is lost on the battlefield, a fact obvious for years despite U.S. government and mainstream media propaganda to the contrary – propaganda so blatantly false that it raises questions about people’s gullibility.  How many foreign leaders does such media need to call the new Hitlers before people wise up? 

Trump’s theatrical antics will persist, however, and Trump and Putin will probably eventually meet and some deal may be struck on Russia’s terms, but if Russia doesn’t want to be tricked again, it should beware the possibility of a Trump Trojan horse.

~ Edward Curtin, "Hold the Applause for Trump, the 'Peacemaker'," LewRockwell.com, February 22, 2025

Jim Grant on Asian central bank buying of gold

Not everyone cheered when Western authorities immobilized some $350 billion of Russian foreign-currency reserves following the Putin-ordered invasion of Ukraine.  Nor does everyone agree with recent Western proposals to commandeer that cash to shore up Ukraine's defenses.  China, in particular, has withheld its applause, and it may not be coincidental that March marked the 17th consecutive month of Chinese gold purchases.  [The People's Bank of China bought a record 735 tonnes of gold in 2023 according to The Gold Observer.]  Even such central banks as Singapore and Poland, the governments of which harbor no known extraterritorial ambitions, have been stocking up on the legacy monetary asset, the World Gold Council reports.

"The U.S. is essentially throwing its weight around, maybe a little too much," Pierre Lassonde, a cofounder of Franco-Nevada Corp. and a dean of the Canadian mining community, opines to deputy editor Evan Lorenz.  "Looking at the finances of the United States and the enormous budget deficits, just interest on the debt is more than the defense budget.  The dollar used to be called TINA, i.e., There is No Alternative.  Gold is the new alternative.  I call here GINA."

~ Jim Grant, "Gold rush," Grant's Interest Rate Observer, April 11, 2024

Phil Butler on how lithium is tied to the Russia-Ukraine War

The riddle of unhinged EU support for the Zelensky regime in Kyiv is now solved. Anyone inclined can unravel why the Germans, in particular, backstabbed Russia in the Minsk peace boondoggle.  Lithium.

Energy Monitor’s parent company, GlobalData, recently released a report showing that Europe’s biggest lithium reserves lie in the Donbass region of Russia.  The former Ukrainian Shevchenkivske field in the Donetsk region and the Kruta Balka block in the Zaporizhzhia region are now part of Russia.  These reserves add tremendously to Russia’s humongous Lithium deposits (now 1.5M metric tons) and solidify the country’s top ten position globally.  If we consider other BRICS nations’ reserves, including China (2M metric tons), EU industry is at a leverage point.

What’s most significant about this is that the EU, and Germany in particular, desperately need the rare mineral to manufacture green energy technologies such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, and a wide variety of electronic devices.

~ Phil Butler, "The EU Is Willing to Go To War Over Lithium?," LewRockwell.com, January 3, 2023

Lindsey Graham warns Russian pilots not to drop cluster bombs on civilians in Ukraine

And I want to let the Russian generals and the Russian pilots know that you follow the orders of Putin at your own peril.  You can find yourself in The Hague if you drop cluster bombs on civilians.  They'll come a day when the rule of law will trump the rule of the gun.  There's ample evidence that there's a breach of the Geneva Convention, that the customs and laws of war are being violated, that cluster bombs dropped on civilians is not legal in this world.  Now the rule of law and war are always difficult.  People say "why don't you even think about law when it comes to war?"  Because that's what makes us different than other groups, that we do believe, in America following, the law of war.

~ Lindsey Graham, Sen.-SC

(As posted by Daniel McAdams, The Liberty Report, 8:45 mark, November 2, 2023)

The Economist: "Ukraine faces a long war"

The war in Ukraine has repeatedly confounded expectations.  It is now doing so again.  The counter-offensive that began in June was based on the hope that Ukrainian soldiers, equipped with modern Western weapons and after training in Germany, would recapture enough territory to put their leaders in a strong position at any subsequent negotiations. 

This plan is not working.  Despite heroic efforts and breaches of Russian defences near Robotyne, Ukraine has liberated less than 0.25% of the territory that Russia occupied in June.  The 1,000km front line has barely shifted.  Ukraine’s army could still make a breakthrough in the coming weeks, triggering the collapse of brittle Russian forces.  But on the evidence of the past three months, it would be a mistake to bank on that. 

~ "Ukraine faces a long war. A change of course is needed; Its backers should pray for a speedy victory—but plan for a long struggle," The Economist, September 21, 2023

Ron Paul on Biden asking for another $24 billion to support Ukraine in war with Russia

As Maui Burns, Biden Demands Another $24 Billion…For Ukraine! 

I am not a big fan of Federal Government disaster relief. Too much of the time the money never gets to those who need it most, and too often Washington’s armies of disaster “experts” are more interested in pushing people around than helping them. 

Nevertheless, it’s hard to look at recent footage of the devastation in Maui and then hear President Biden tell Congress that he needs another $24 billion for Ukraine. How can this Administration continue to justify tens of billions of dollars for this losing war that is not in our interest while the rest of the United States disintegrates? 

Biden’s new $24 billion request comes on top of well over $120 billion already spent to fight the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine. Heritage Foundation budget expert Richard Stern has done the math and determined that Biden’s spending on the Ukraine war thus far will cost each and every American household $900. How many Americans would rather have those 900 dollars back in their pocket rather than in the pockets of Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and Ukraine’s oligarchs? 

Recent surveys have shown that a majority of Americans could not afford to cover a sudden $1,000 emergency. Will Americans connect the dots and realize that the reason they can’t find that $1,000 for an emergency is because the neocons have already sent it to Ukraine? 

Ukraine has long been known as among the most corrupt countries on earth and not long ago investigative journalist Seymore Hersh wrote that Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has embezzled at least $400 million in aid from the American people. Corruption scandals continue to break in Ukraine. Just last week Zelensky fired the heads of all local draft boards for corruption. Some press reports suggest that sales of luxury cars in Ukraine have broken all previous records. I wonder why.

No wonder the tide of U.S. public opinion is turning against further involvement in the war. Recently CNN found that among all Americans, more than 55 percent are opposed to continued aid to Ukraine. Among Republicans the number opposing more aid to Ukraine rises to three-out-of-four. That is why we are finally starting to see more Republican Members raising concerns. I’d like to think they have seen the light that an aggressive and interventionist foreign policy is not in America’s interest, but most likely they are worried about losing elections. Whatever their motivation, this turning tide should be welcomed. 

Yet the Biden Administration persists in backing Ukraine even as the U.S. mainstream media is increasingly pointing out the obvious: Ukraine is not winning and cannot win, and continuing to pour money into a losing cause will just result in bankruptcy at home and more dead Ukrainians overseas.

Last week Newsweek published an article asking, “Does Ukraine Have Kompromat on Joe Biden?” In the article, Northeastern University Professor Max Abrahms wonders out loud whether Biden’s continued support for Ukraine might be related to compromising information held in Kiev about the many Biden family shady business ventures in Ukraine and the region. It is certainly worth considering.

Meanwhile, the residents of Maui who survived the recent horrific fire will take little comfort knowing that the Biden Administration is more interested in sending their money to Ukraine than in helping them recover.

~ Ron Paul, Campaign For Liberty, August 20, 2023

Jacob Hornberger on the Russia-Ukraine War, corruption abroud, debt and loss of freedom at home

One of the unanswered questions is how much of the $100 billion in U.S. taxpayer money that U.S. officials have given to the Ukrainian government has been used to line the pockets of Ukrainian officials. After all, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt regimes in the world. There is no reason to believe that the Ukraine-Russia war has suddenly converted Ukrainian officials into honest and honorable government officials. 

Finally, there is something else to consider that is of critical importance. The federal government’s debt now exceeds $31 trillion. U.S. officials, led by President Biden, continue spending money like there was no tomorrow. That includes almost a trillion dollars being given to the Pentagon to keep us “safe” from the threats that it itself induces. Ever-increasing federal spending, debt, taxation, and monetary destruction constitutes a grave threat to the freedom and well-being of the American people. In pleading with Congress to give the Ukrainian government even more billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money, it’s too bad that President Zelensky gives short shrift to the continued destruction of our own freedom and well-being here at home.

~ Jacob Hornberger, "Ukraine's War with Russia Has Nothing to Do With Freedom," FFF.org, December 22, 2022

Jordan Peterson on the collision course between saving the planet and war with Russia

We can't win against Putin anyways because you cannot win against someone you cannot say "no" to.  Period.  And we can't say no to Putin because we sold our soul for his oil and gas.  And we did that to elevate our moral stature in relationship to saving the planet.  And so here we are, facing a very dire winter hoisted on the petard of our own foolishness and moral presumption.  We're saving the planet.  We'll see.  I don't think so.  It doesn't look like it to me and this is the most catastrophic issue here: Assuming that we're facing an environmental crisis of planetary proportions, which is not something I buy, by the way.  Assuming we are, well then I would imagine that you would put in place measures that would ameliorate that problem instead of exacerbating it, but all the measures you're putting in place are actually making the environmental problem worse.  So how is that even vaguely acceptable?  And I look at that and think, "oh, I see, it's just like what Goerge Orwell said about middle class socialists fifty years ago: it's not that you love the planet, it's that you hate humanity."  

So, well, have at her, boys and girls.  And we'll see what happens this winter, and it's very terrifying to me.  Especially here because your energy prices have gone way out of control, and that's going to hurt a lot of poor people.  And certainly around the world as well.  The World Bank already estimated that we put 350 million people into what they call "food insecurity."  350 million.  That's three times as many as the communists managed to kill.  Maybe we can manage that in a winter.  But the planet has too many people on it anyways, you know, so just poor people.

~ Jordan Peterson, interview with Piers Morgan, Sky News Australia, 5:05 mark, September 22, 2022