Lord Stirling's News Blog EUROPE

The EU Commission has been pressuring member states to withdraw from the project, with the new Bulgarian government saying it will not allow Gazprom to lay the pipeline without permission from Brussels. 

Putin said that Russia is ready to build a new pipeline to meet Turkey’s growing gas demand, which may include a special hub on the Turkish-Greek border for customers in southern Europe.

Gazprom to build new 63 bcm Black Sea pipeline to Turkey instead of South Stream ~ link ~ Putin’s ‘Soft Underbelly Of Europe’ Strategy!!!  Stirling 

Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller said the energy giant will build a massive gas pipeline that will travel from Russia, transit through Turkey, and stop at the Greek border – giving Russia access to the Southern European market.

The pipeline will have an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters. A total of 14 bcm will be delivered to Turkey, which is Gazprom’s second biggest customer in the region after Germany. 

Russia’s energy minister Aleksandr Novak said that the new project will include a specially-constructed hub on the Turkish-Greek border for customers in southern Europe. 

Russia in historic move drops South Stream natural gas pipeline project ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link

America targets Iran and Russia with OPEC ‘oil weapon’ ~ link ~ All hell is beginning to break loose, but it is at a level where many people will not understand the ramifications.  Stirling   

Falling oil prices could cripple Russia and trigger WWIII ~ link ~  This is a major new strategic threat to Russia.  It is designed to do as much economic damage as possible.  The globalists want WWIII but I suspect that this will not by itself be the trigger point, as Russia has been preparing for this!  Stirling  

The Cold War 2.0 is going hot, and while it may someday be fought with planes, tanks, guns and bombs, the first front is being fought with oil and shale gas.

The U.S. and European sanctions against Russia will become more severe and crippling in the face of drastically falling oil prices – prices which are falling drastically because of the unprecedented boom of shale gas fracking both domestically in the U.S. and abroad in Ukraine and other locales. The oil & gas giants like Chevron and Exxon Mobil have created revolutionary conditions with now direct consequences on U.S. foreign policy and global war for dominance. 

Russia is launching a new national defense facility, which is meant to monitor threats to national security in peacetime, but would take control of the entire country in case of war.

The new top-security, fortified facility in Moscow includes several large war rooms, a brand new supercomputer in the heart of a state-of-the-art data processing center, underground facilities, secret transport routes for emergency evacuation and a helicopter pad, which was deployed for the first time on Nov. 24 on the Moscow River. The Defense Ministry won’t disclose the price tag for the site, but it is estimated at the equivalent of several billion dollars.

The last time that the Euro hit these levels Europe was in “total collapse” ~ link ~ 

Today the Euro is on the cusp of breaking critical support. Draghi will likely see this as a success (he wants inflation). More likely, it will bring in another round of the EU Crisis (the same line was hit when Greece imploded in 2010 and when Spain imploded in 2012).

The next round of the EU Crisis beckons…

Russian Ruble big fall in value ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ link ~ 

Russia is heavily dependent on revenues from oil exports, making its currency vulnerable to falling prices.

Silver and Gold “going through the ceiling” ~ link ~ 

Silver is up over 17% from its intraday lows today - this is the biggest positive swing since our data began. All the previous major swings have been downshifts, most recently in September 2011 (-22% and -18% over 2 days). Volume is very high also. Gold is back above $1,210,up over $70 from its intraday lows… 

Guess what happened last time oil price crashed like this ~ link ~ Do take the time to read all of this one at the link.  Stirling   

There has only been one other time in history when the price of oil has crashed by more than 40 dollars in less than 6 months.  The last time this happened was during the second half of 2008, and the beginning of that oil price crash preceded the great financial collapse that happened later that year by several months.  Well, now it is happening again, but this time the stakes are even higher.  When the price of oil falls dramatically, that is a sign that economic activity is slowing down.  It can also have a tremendously destabilizing affect on financial markets.  As you will read about below, energy companies now account for approximately 20 percent of the junk bond market.  And a junk bond implosion is usually a signal that a major stock market crash is on the way.  So if you are looking for a “canary in the coal mine”, keep your eye on the performance of energy junk bonds.  If they begin to collapse, that is a sign that all hell is about to break loose on Wall Street.
 
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the shale oil boom to the U.S. economy.  Thanks to this boom, the United States has become the largest oil producer on the entire planet.

Russian Foreign Minister – Tensions between USA and Russia are WORSE then you realize ~ link ~ 

First, as someone who spends much of his time analyzing and critiquing the many destructive policy decisions made by American “leaders,” I was shocked to find how accurate his description of the U.S. power structure’s mindset seems to be. He gets it, and he is more or less trying to warn the world that America’s leaders are basically power-drunk children. I concur.

Second, Lavrov also describes the negative impact that this behavior has had on the Russian psyche generally. He expresses dismay that the U.S. status quo sees the world as unipolar, and attempts to tackle every problem from the perspective that might is right. In no uncertain terms, Lavrov makes it clear that Russia will not stand for this. I don’t think the Russians are bluffing, so this is a very dangerous situation.

China Biggest Winner from OPEC’s Price War ~ link ~  

“This is a golden time window to acquire more strategic oil at lower costs,” notes one Hong-Kong based analyst, as Bloomberg confirms what we have noted here and here, that China is emerging as the winner from OPEC’s battle with rival oil producers as the world’s biggest energy consumer stockpiles crude.

American Shale Oil bust has arrived ~ link ~ 
With a third of S&P 500 capital expenditure due from the imploding energy sector (and with over 20% of the high-yield market dominated by these names), paying attention to any inflection point in the US oil-producers is critical as they have been gung-ho “unequivocally good” expanders even as oil prices fell. However, as Reuters reports, new data suggests that the much-anticipated slowdown in shale country may have finally arrived – permits for new wells dropped 15% across 12 major shale formations last month, as one analysts warns, “the first domino is the price, which causes other dominos to fall.”

World’s largest stock market index: FLASHING RED ~ link ~ 

With a market capitalization of around $16 trillion, the NYSE Composite Index is a massively broad equity indicator less affected by the day to day gyrations of AAPL, TSLA, BABA, or NFLX. As NewEdge’s Brad Wishak remarks, the world’s largest market cap equity index is painting a very different picture than that of the Dow or S&P 500…

Longest streak in Stock Market History is finally OVER ~ link ~  

For 29 days – off the Bullard lows – the S&P 500 closed above its 5-day moving average. As MKM’s Jonathan Krinsky noted last week, this is the longest streak of sustained equity momentum higher in the history of US markets (surpassing the previous record 27 days from 1928). Today (well techncially Friday’s early close) saw that streak come to an abrupt end… 

November: Worst month for Crude Oil since Lehman Crisis 2008 ~ link ~ That was the crash that started the “recession” that we supposedly are in a “recovery” from!!!  Stirling    

Shocking reason the Dutch got their gold back ~ link ~ 

So the war against gold and silver is heating up. And the precious metals may lose a battle or two – like the Swiss referendum. But here it was actually the Swiss people who are the losers, not gold, because the precious metals will win the war. It would be illogical to conclude that gold’s 6,000 year history as money ends here.