a message from russia
market vibes
January 15…)
“Russia is a gas station with a nuclear arsenal, masquerading as a country.” John McCain, March 26, 2014
A little extra credit study this morning…in edited form, 2 clips and 20 minutes of video.
Tucker Carlson posted a monologue on his TCN channel rehashing the “did-didn’t” history of war in Ukraine. The takeaway is a recent statement by confidants close to Putin that Russia has said through classified diplomatic channels it will attack Germany and the UK with hypersonic nuclear warheads if they persist with their proxy war via Zelenskyy. Last week Russia attacked Kyiv with several hypersonic missiles, weapons for which there is no defence. There were no casualties. The objective, according to Tucker, was to send a message: this strike could have been nuclear.
This is something I have been expecting. The endless slaughter continues to feed insane unaudited grifting at the expense of an innocent world. Over a million KIAs over the years. Without litigating the ghastly history of this war, and the shame I feel for my country’s part in it, I can’t see how it will ever end if Europe continues to fund it with impunity.
Is Tucker trolling public opinion? I don’t think so. He went to Russia, interviewed Putin (embarrassing himself, imo) and he is a credibly neutral third-party publisher with millions of free and paid subscribers. It fits like a glove. (Here’s a link …begin at minute 4:30)
Here’s another link to a Jeffrey Sachs discussion on December 19, 2025 and an eyewitness recap of how the war in Ukraine started (beginning at minute 39 through minute 1:02)… I think Russia’s message to the world via Tucker is something that may have been heretofore moving money into gold in Q 4.
In other news
The US sold $500 mm of Venezuelan oil. The cash held in a ring-fenced DC account. Iran cools after reportedly killing as many as 2000 protesters. Oil is lower on signs of easing tensions. No agreements on Greenland yesterday. More violence in Minnesota. BlackRock assets under management hit a new high of 14 trillion.
Initial claims and Philly Fed at 8:30. Natty inventories at 10:30 EST.
In the markets
Silver had whoopsie last night, why? A blogger on Telegram said someone sold 5 mm toz. However, the selloff in 5 minute data wasn’t a sweep or a plunge. Prices traded down and traded back up in an orderly fashion but moves of 7% a day imply dangerous instabilty because moves of 15% or more…are likely before long.
When open interest either drops precipitously with high volume and a much bigger range than this one, maybe… I’ll begin to think about shorting it. For now it looks like the blast furnace is still burning full speed ahead. I often say rallies in bear markets make the market weaker. Sell-offs in bull markets make the market stronger.
Silver fell $7 bux and gold didn’t even blink.
