Italy elections, Giorgia on my mind. Sullivan, Blinken warn Russia. Heating sidewalks. Update 1 – Alex Christoforou

Italy is normally left wing – this looks to be a right wing coalition.

It will be really tough going for Meloni because Italy is locked into the Euro fiat currency. Fiscal sovereignty has been ceded to Brussels.ECB can just stop providing fiat currency to the ATMs, as it did to Cyprus and Greece.

She has Orban as an ally; Italy is one of the big 3 in Europe. This is a game changer. We shall see if she just falls in line.

A German industrialist has lost his job just because he chose to be an observer of the referenda. It looks like all four regions with get the 50% threshold.

Sullivan and Blinken are determinedly focusing on just the last few paragraphs of Putin’s speech in which he reminded the West that Russia has the means to retaliate if attacked. The narrative is being created that he is threatening nuclear attack. A bit like the same of Chinese whispers, in which the original message is totally transformed the more times it is repeated. Whole different narrative or truth is formed.

Alex asks, is this projection or huffing and puffing?  Why so hyper focused?

Saint Petersburg planning to experiment with heating the pavements in winter as a way of clearing ice.

Trolling Europe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeEd7YKt4oM