RUSSIA - Kazem Jalali described Russia as a major power with huge economic, defense, military and technological potential. A possible coalition of Iran, Russia and China would be very painful for the West, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told reporters during his working visit to Russia’s North Caucasus region of North Ossetia. "Naturally, the United States and the West in general are concerned about new coalitions, which are currently [being created] on the international arena. A coalition of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China is an example of such strategic coalitions," the ambassador said on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS - Be afraid. Be very afraid. Technocrat scientists want you to know when the end will come. Welcome to the Club of Rome, where the author is an official advisor. The original study in 1974 was commissioned by the Club of Rome in an attempt to panic people into following their crazy environmental policies. Herrington, a Dutch sustainability researcher and adviser to the Club of Rome, a Swiss thinktank, has made headlines in recent days after she authored a report that appeared to show a controversial 1970s study predicting the collapse of civilization was – apparently – right on time. Coming amid a cascade of alarming environmental events, from western US and Siberian wildfires to German floods and a report that suggests the Amazon rainforest may no longer be able to perform as a carbon sink, Herrington’s work predicted the collapse could come around 2040 if current trends held.

CANADA - Quebec's new insane vaccine passport scheme banning the unvaccinated from big-box stores like Walmart and Costco provides exceptions only for "groceries and pharmacies," though you'll apparently need to be escorted around by an employee to make certain you're not buying anything else, at least for the pharmacies. This CBC newsreader said the policy requires the unvaxxed to be followed around while buying groceries or medicines "to make sure they do not go and buy other products or other items that might be in the store." "Some people are scared, some people are reluctant for other reasons, so sometimes they need a little push to get their vaccines," Dr Karl Weiss, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Jewish General Hospital, told the CBC, endorsing the scheme. The leftists running Walmart, who endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement during the Floyd riots of 2020 and championed their stance against "discrimination," are happily going along with the government's plan to discriminate against the unvaxxed to "ensure a safe and efficient customer experience."

DENMARK - Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on January 26 Denmark would be throwing out most of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions it placed, including mask mandates. Restrictions currently in place are for the public to wear masks on public transportations, in restaurants, in shops, and people entering healthcare facilities and retirement homes, according to the Associated Press. However, following the February 1 change of restrictions, masks will only be required in hospitals, healthcare facilities and homes for the elderly. "We say goodbye to the restrictions and welcome the life we knew before," Frederiksen said. "As of February 1, Denmark will be open."

USA - The numbers: The US trade deficit in goods topped $1 trillion in 2021 for the first time ever, as an economic recovery enabled Americans to snap up a record amount of imports such as toys, cell phones and appliances. For all of 2021, the trade gap in goods rose to $1.08 trillion from $893.5 billion in the prior year. The deficit in 2020 had also been a record high. The deficit in goods increased 3% in December to $101 billion from $98 billion, according to an advanced government estimate. It was the biggest monthly increase on record. Big picture: The speedy rebound in the US economy compared to most other countries — fueled by massive government stimulus — helps explain the record trade deficit. Americans could afford to buy more foreign-made goods, and they did.

USA - When President Joe Biden was sworn in on January 20, 2021, the federal government's debt stood at $27,751,896,236,414.77. When his first year in office ended on January 20, 2022, it stood at $29,867,021,509,573.92. That means that during Biden's first 12 months in office, the federal debt grew by more than $2 trillion — or $2,115,125,273,159.15 to be exact. How do you put that in perspective? The United States of America had existed for 210 years — and 40 presidents had served as this nation's chief executive — before the debt first topped $2 trillion in 1986.

USA - President Joe Biden’s press conference last week was atrocious, but one of his worst missteps amounted to telling the truth about Germany, if not by name. Biden said there’d be divisions within NATO over a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine. This is true enough, and the chief cause would be a Germany that is staking a strong claim to being our worst European ally. If NATO is hollowed out over time, Germany will have much to do with it. The country is too guilt-wracked over its enormities in World War II to contribute rigorously to the defense of the West, and too cynical to allow anything to interfere with its selfish interests, both in Russian energy and the Chinese export market. It is attempting a kind of de facto economic alliance with the revisionist autocratic powers, China and Russia, at the same time it is allied politically with the foremost defender of the democratic West, the United States. No one buys more gas from Russia, where Germany now gets more than half of its supply. It is Germany, the laggard of NATO with a deep and growing conflict of interest regarding Russia, that is the weak link — and Putin, unfortunately, knows it.

FINLAND - Have you ever posted a Bible verse on social media? In Finland, this could land you in jail. The Finnish criminal code holds that if a person is found to have expressed an “opinion” or “another message” deemed to have “threatened, defamed, or insulted” someone, that person could face imprisonment for up to two years. That’s serious jail time for nothing more than a perceived insult.

USA - Tens of thousands of Americans descended on Washington DC, on Friday for the 2022 March for Life with renewed optimism amidst what many people hope are the waning days of Roe vs Wade as we know it. According to The New York Times, the march was largely centered around December oral arguments from conservative justices on the US Supreme Court that signaled a willingness to uphold a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. The Times reported “several” of the six conservative justices on the court seemed willing to not only uphold that law, but also overturn the Roe vs Wade decision that requires states to provide abortion access until the fetus is capable of living outside the womb. “We are hoping and praying that this year, 2022, will bring a historic change for life,” March for Life Defense and Education Fund president Jeanne Mancini said, according to the Times. The weekend’s events were a powerful message to the pro-abortion crowd that their lies are being exposed, and the pro-life generation will not be silenced.

USA - The US Department of Homeland Security claims that American “extremists” have designed concrete plans to attack the nation’s power grid in hopes of paralyzing the government and stirring unrest. AP obtained a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis which claimed extremists in the country had “developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.” Extremists allegedly belonging to “a range of ideologies” will “likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure” based partially on the idea that “disrupting the electrical supply will disrupt the ability of government to operate,” the report said. The “extremists” also allegedly believe that “by conducting attacks against the communications and electrical infrastructure,” they “will actually accelerate the coming civil war that they anticipate because [the attack] will disrupt the lives of so many people that they will lose faith in government.”

USA - The combat system for the Navy’s newest and costliest warship, the US$13 billion Gerald R Ford, “has yet to demonstrate that it can effectively” defend the aircraft carrier from anti-ship missiles and other threats, according to a new assessment by the Pentagon’s testing office. Mixed performance by missile interceptors, radar and data dissemination systems on a testing vessel limited the ability to destroy replicas of incoming weapons even though sensor systems “satisfactorily detected, tracked and engaged the targets,” according to the report obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its release.

USA - Automation has rapidly expanded in businesses of all sizes to cope with rising wages and labor shortages. Robotics help firms streamline otherwise inefficient tasks and slash labor costs amid an inflationary environment. Orders for robotic machinery have jumped for automotive, agricultural, construction, electronics, food processing, and warehousing companies. The benefits of employing a robot over a human are now being realized for small and medium-sized companies. Jose Figueroa, who manages Polar Manufacturing, a small company that produces hinges, locks, and brackets in south Chicago, told Wired that he employed a robot on the production line that costs only $8 per hour versus a minimum wage of $15 per hour for humans. He said the robot has allowed workers to concentrate on other tasks while increasing output. Polar pays $8 an hour to use the robot, making it very affordable for small businesses. The manager expects 25 of these production line robots within five years.

USA - Many residents in the region were caught by surprise as late January is not the typical time of year for wildfires to spark. An evacuation order remains in place for portions of the mountainous Big Sur region of Monterey County, California, after a brush fire, dubbed the Colorado Fire, broke out late Friday, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate and scorching at least 700 acres. Originally, it was estimated to have burned 1,500 acres, but the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) updated the acreage due to better mapping. As of Monday evening, the fire was 40% contained.

TAIWAN - Taiwan's air force scrambled its own jets and tracked the People's Liberation Army planes on its air defence radar systems, the defence ministry said. China has flown dozens of warplanes towards Taiwan in its largest display of power of the new year, continuing a pattern that caused the island to scramble its own jets in response. The formation of 39 jets on Sunday night included 24 J-16 fighter jets and 10 J-10 jets, among other support and electronic warfare aircraft, according to Taiwan's defence ministry. Taiwan's air force tracked the People's Liberation Army planes on its air defence radar systems, it added.

USA - Evidence of US Economic Slowdown Everywhere - To wit, the Nasdaq 100 just did something it hasn’t done since the aftermath of the internet bubble: fall more than 1% in every session of a week. It doesn’t count as a superlative because Monday was a holiday. But for investors caught up in the selloff, it felt like something shifted. A full week of big down days hasn’t happened since the dot-com bubble burst, first in April 2000 and then in September 2001. Back then, the Nasdaq went on to fall another 28% before the market bottomed roughly a year later. Jeff Bezos shed $20 billion from his fortune. Changpeng Zhao of Binance dropped $17.7 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth fell $10.4 billion. It was a painful week for billionaires… Bitcoin’s decline from its peak has wiped out more than $600 billion in market value, and over $1 trillion has been lost from the aggregate crypto market.