Why Europe is Turning Right

The current policies are a complete failure. [The Rude Awakening] July 25, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Why Europe is Turning Right - Economically, Europe is a basket case. - Militarily, Europe is piss weak. - Politically, Europe is changing. [Download My New Survival Guide Today!]( I’ve created a BRAND-NEW “2023 Crisis Survival Guide” that I’m making available to all of my Strategic Intelligence readers today. This short 54-page document has everything you need to know to protect yourself and your family in times of crisis. Things like what foods to stock up on now, staying safe during periods of rioting and looting and more. Inside I break down all of the coming threats you face and how to prepare. [>> To see how to download your copy, click here now](. [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Happy Tuesday! One of my favorite quotes is, “The profits of capitalism pay for the follies of socialism.” And for a long time, Europe could take advantage of American largesse. Americans worked their asses off and defended Europe. Europe bought American weaponry and took five-week vacations. But far from uniting Europe, this Ukraine business has divided it. The elites sing from the same hymn sheet, but the regular folk wants out of it. The cosmopolitans will call them lazy and unintelligent, but higher energy prices crush the country folk. There’s one simple thing Europe is learning. You can’t have “civilization” without cheap energy. It’s impossible. Empires try to acquire resources at below cost. Europe is paying four times what it needs to by importing shipped American liquified natural gas (LNG), as it would if it were still importing cheap piped natural gas through Nordstream. That’s fine if you think the war will last for a year or less, but it’s dragging on now. And the rifts are plain to see. Now, the right wing is imposing itself on the European electorates, and the “elites” - their word, not mine - don’t like it one bit. Italy, still Catholic and conservative, is no surprise. And Giorgia Meloni, while doing a good job domestically, is somewhat more liberal with her foreign policy. But Spain? France? The Netherlands? Those are much bigger surprises. In this edition of the Rude, we’ll look at Europe economically, militarily, and politically. Economic Europe Germany’s Purchasing Managers’ Index declined into recession territory. To remind ourselves, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is an economic indicator that measures the health of a country's manufacturing or services sector. It provides insight into the current business conditions, trends, and outlook. PMI data is published monthly by various financial institutions, research organizations, and government agencies. To read the indicator, a value above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a value below 50 indicates contraction. A PMI reading of precisely 50 suggests no change in activity compared to the previous month. Here’s Germany’s PMI: [SJN] Credit: [The Daily Shot]( In short, Germany's composite PMI (manufacturing and services) has dipped into contraction. This is entirely unsurprising considering the energy price situation. [SJN] Credit: [ZeroHedge]( From [ZeroHedge]( The Eurozone’s downturn deepened at the start of the third quarter as the region's composite flash PMI decreased by 1.0pt to 48.9, below consensus expectations, on the back of a broad-based decline across sectors., with weakening demand triggering the steepest decline in manufacturing orders since 2009, while the services sector suffered its first drop in orders for seven months. - Euro Area Composite PMI (July, Flash): 48.9, consensus 49.6, last 49.9. - Euro Area Manufacturing PMI (July, Flash): 42.7, consensus 43.5, last 43.4. - Euro Area Services PMI (July, Flash): 51.1, consensus 51.6, last 52.0. Leftist economic policies have always been Europe’s Achilles Heel. This, combined with the war in Ukraine, has been wreaking havoc on Europe’s economies. After all, it’s not like Europe isn’t productive. In fact, contrary to what most think, Europe is very productive: [SJN] Credit: [OECD]( The United States is sixth, behind five European countries. Australia is more productive than the UK. It must be the sunlight. New Zealand and Japan are way down the list. How about Christine Lagarde and her ECB? She said inflation came out of nowhere. I think she underestimates herself: [pub] Credit: [FRED]( That’s some bit of money printing, Madame Lagarde! [Over 62 And Collect Social Security? Take Action Immediately!]( [James Altucher]( [If you’re over the age of 62 and currently collect Social Security, you need to prepare now](. Because Biden has given our country the worst inflation in decades – and many warn things will only get worse from here. Worse yet, the Social Security check you receive now may not keep pace with inflation… [Which is why, if you don’t act now, you could fall behind in the months ahead](. Is your retirement at immediate risk? [Click here now to get the simple, step-by-step actions to survive inflation](. [Click Here To Learn More]( Military Europe There is no “Military Europe,” so to speak. Look at defense spending from NATO countries: [SJN] Credit: [World Population Review]( It’s a bit of a joke, really. The US spends far too much being the World’s Policeman™, and Europe spends far too little, primarily because it depends on the US. This is how Vladimir Putin is somehow unprepared for war and yet the Greatest Threat Ever™. But this is what NATO is for: to keep the Americans in, the Germans down, and the Russians out. Except it’s thirty years past its sell-by date. Whatever it is, it’s clear the Europeans want more of a say in their collective destiny. How do I know this? Well, they’re telling us. Political Europe Europeans have no economy and no military. But they have the dumbest set of bureaucrats on the planet. I’ll give you just one example. This climate malarkey. Europeans are amongst the most nature-loving and nurturing people on the planet. They don’t litter. Their companies don’t pollute. And yet, they’re slapped with the most idiotic net zero policy on the planet. It drives costs rapidly upward. Unless and until China, India, and the United States do something about pollution, nothing Europe does will matter. And Europeans are slowly getting this. Not their elites. They’re as tone-deaf as ever. But the people who are footing the bill? They get it, alright. Let’s do country by country. Spain Ok, it wasn’t the blowout victory the Right had hoped for. But the Conservatives are the largest party in the new Spanish parliament. And this is in a country that hates the right wing for its past association with You-Know-Who and Guernica. That’s how bad the Socialists have done in Spain. Hungary Viktor Orban won his fourth consecutive election as Prime Minister in April 2022. France Marine Le Pen is so close she can taste it. Le Petit Roi Emmanuel Macron has done so poorly, she might have a chance at the Elysees Palace soon. Italy Giorgia Meloni, allegedly the face of fascism itself, won her first term as Italian Prime Minister in September 2022. Sweden The Sweden Democrats became the second-largest party in Sweden’s parliament in the 2022 elections. They campaigned on an anti-Islam and anti-immigration ticket. Finland Sweden’s new NATO partner, Finland, lurched to the right in April 2023. A four-party alliance that includes the Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, made it into government and secured seven cabinet posts. Greece Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis easily won a second term with a record-high margin over the left-wing opposition. At the same time, the right-wing populist Elliniki Lysi (Greek Solution), the ultranationalist and ultrareligious Niki (Victory), and the Spartans (successor to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, which was banned in 2020) all entered the Greek parliament with a combined share of almost 13% of the vote. Germany The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party now outpolls Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and just scored a watershed district election win. Germany seems to be getting over its Nazi past. Wrap Up Maybe I’m smoking the hopium, but I’m still bullish on Europe. There’s too much talent, truth, and beauty here to be wasted. I can see BRICS and the US fighting over Europe for years. And that can only be good, provided it doesn’t get violent. But first, these “elites” have to go, and it looks like the electorate is doing just that. Have a great day! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( In Case You Missed It… These Comments Reveal Biases About Russia [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Happy Monday from a hot and sunny Asti! I’m back in Italy and loving it. Instead of my morning Starbucks burnt roast, I went back to Fabrizio’s and nearly kissed the floor. I missed my perfectly roasted and poured Lavazza La Tierra Reserva and drank two of them down quickly. As I was thinking about today’s piece, I stumbled upon something a friend from England sent me. It was an asinine comment from the FT (The Pinko Paper) where some sub-90 IQer listed everything he thought Putin accomplished with this war. Obviously, it was all negative. That it was sent to me as if it was an authoritative opinion made it worse. No criticism, but here it is. Read it and weep. Over the years, I’ve become much better at not replying quickly to stupid stuff. But this got buried, and I’d like to retort today. Instead of screenshotting the screenprint, I’ll write the points as headers. But first, we must ask ourselves why the Brits hate the Russians so much. Why is Britain So Anti-Russian? The Great Game, the Cold War, and the post-Cold War NATO expansion have pitted the UK against Russia for over 150 years. There’s precedence for the animosity. But with the advent of the [Londongrad Laundromat]( in the 1990s, all seemed to get better. Much of the stolen Russian wealth was laundered through the City of London. After that, I never thought the Brits would descend into full-blown piracy. (Incidentally, that edition of the Rude is one where I was proved entirely wrong!) But I’ve concluded it’s not just Russia the UK opposes. It’s the entire BRICS structure and for good reason. While Britain has had a mostly harmonious relationship with Brazil and South Africa, the UK’s relationships with Russia, India, and China have been littered with diplomatic incidents. We looked at Russia above. With India, the UK’s position as colonial overlord places them within Delhi’s crosshairs for any historical grievances. (Many of those are justified, such as Churchill’s Bengal Famine.) And the UK drugged China to get to its tea, leading historian Niall Ferguson to call the United Kingdom “the world’s greatest narco-state.” It’s easy to infer a BRICS alliance would be fatal to the City of London. And since the City is anywhere between 8% to 16% of the UK’s economy - yes, the UK’s economy, not just London’s - the UK would face a perilous economic restructuring. With all this said, at least you have the background to the kind of “reporting” UK citizens get from the BBChé and the Pinko Paper. [New Biden Bucks Follow-Up Available Now]( Hey, it’s Jim Rickards. Since posting my original Biden Bucks presentation online, millions of people have viewed it. Snopes and the Associated Press have even attempted to “fact check” me and claim my warnings are false: [Click here to learn more]( Point being, my message has raised a storm and caused a lot of controversy. But in the time between my message and now, a lot of new developments have come to light. That’s why I’ve just released an update to my original prediction… one which will likely be even more controversial. [>> Click here now to access my new 2023 Biden Bucks follow-up](. [Click Here To Learn More]( And Now to the Comment… The sarcastic comment starts as “Working on my list of Putin’s achievements:” Then it begins a list of nineteen items which I’ll now address. - Strengthen and expand NATO. Finland has indeed entered NATO. Thanks [to that IMF loan “The Big Guy” arranged for Turkey’s assent]( Sweden is now on its way in. What’s not mentioned is that both countries already participated in NATO exercises and will not allow nuclear weapons on their respective soils. As far as I’m concerned, all this accomplished was putting big targets on both countries. - Inspire Germany to rearm. He wrote this like it’s a bad thing. Europe is not America’s job. It’s Germany’s job. This artificial disarming of Germany will come to an end sooner or later. Hopefully, it’ll push America out of Europe. - Lose European energy markets. I don’t know how often I’ve written: “[Pipelines Run East, Too.]( But Russia has already replaced its Western customers. And once those pipelines are reoriented eastward, Russia has no incentive to turn them around. Then Europe is locked into 4x US-shipped LNG pricing. Good luck with that. - Reveal [the] inadequacy of Russian military hardware. This is a Saul Alinsky-like quote. You know, accuse your enemy of that which you do. The only military hardware that’s been an embarrassment is the HIMARS and Patriot missile systems. They don’t knock anything out of the sky. Also, [NATO can’t hide the US and European taxpayer-funded munitions it’s sent over](. - Crush the morale of Russian troops. I’m not sure how that happened when [Ukraine’s counteroffensive has done absolutely nothing]( but kill its own troops. - Bankrupt the Russian population. This is simply untrue. [Russia’s GDP is growing again.]( external debt-to-GDP level]( is not just healthy. It’s tip-top. - Isolate Russia from global institutions. Not being in SWIFT is still a pain, for sure. But as for the rest of the “rules-based” international order, Russia is giving it a hard pass. Why? [Watch South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, call out Western hypocrisy.]( - Diminish [the] soft power network of Russian oligarchs in the West. [Stealing the money from their bank accounts]( did far more harm than Putin ever did. - Encourage skilled Russians to emigrate. Thanks to Western sanctions, Russian techies emigrated because they couldn’t get paid. They had to go to Western companies, and open Western bank accounts to stay gainfully employed by Western countries. I’d have to do the same thing if I were Russian. Sure, some didn’t want to get called up, but we don’t know the split. - Turn Russia into a helpless Chinese dependent. Russia is now the [world’s second-largest military power]( behind the United States, according to globalfirepower.com. Then it’s China and India. It’s hardly helpless. - Make US Intelligence appear omniscient. Again, this is completely stupid. The US has gotten practically everything wrong. If they got so much right, [why is the CIA asking Russians to spy for them]( The truth is, they don’t have a damn clue. - Mass slaughter [of] innocent Ukrainian civilians - the friends and families of Russians. Destroy their homes, schools, churches, and hospitals. Torture, kidnap, and rape their families. Bucha. Mariupol. War crimes deserve to be punished. We don’t know what happened. That’s why due process is important. It’ll take years, and it’s worth it. - Inspire Ukraine’s national pride. Heck, people saluted police officers after 9/11. Then, it went back to normal. I’m not sure what point this makes. - Make the Chinese regret partnering with a global war criminal. Do the Chinese regret this so much [they’re trying to launch a common currency]( with Russia? Another idiotic statement. - Allow the bulk of Russian armor to be destroyed or donated to Ukraine. Again, no idea where this comes from. [The only thing getting systematically destroyed is NATO’s taxpayer-funded weaponry.]( Heck, the [Commander-in-Chief himself admitted it.]( - Drive former Soviet Republics into the arms of China. Again, what? Are they happy to be a part of the Belt and Road Initiative? Of course! [Are they going to start speaking Chinese instead of Russian anytime soon? Unlikely.]( - Ensure that Ukraine will never, ever want to be part of Russia and that [the] angry armed Ukrainian population will hate Russia for generations. Oh, that’s ok. By the end of this, what was Ukraine will probably look like this: [pub] Credit: [( - Reinforce [the] global image of Russia as incompetent, corrupt, dishonest, brutish, and violent. This is the UK’s image, I’m sure. But it’s not everyone’s. Certainly not when [more than 40 countries are trying to join BRICS](. - Successfully defend Moscow from a Russian attack. Ok, that’s funny. You got me. Boy, that was an extensive list full of nonsense. But that’s what the Brits are ingesting regarding world affairs. Their elites must have tightening buttocks at the moment. The game headed eastward, and the UK wasn’t invited. Have a great week ahead! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, [contact us here]( or call (844)-731-0984. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. 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