Western empire has reached the end of the line in terms of consumption, debt issuance and the financialisation of economies. Reality continues to consume the illusion. Extent to which the west implodes depends on a recognition of this and a need to radically reform on that basis.

The idea that a sovereign nation's capability to manage its debt issuance depends on its GDP is utterly ridiculous.

UK 10 year bonds face biggest monthly fall since 1986.

Gazprom has cut gas deliveries to France’s Engie.

West is happy to see nations apparently stick it to Russia with energy sanctions but then throw their toys out of the pram when the reverse happens to them.

Europe winning again.

Italy CPI EU Harmonised y/y August 9.0% versus estimate 8.2% and previous 8.4%

Italy CPI EU Harmonised m/m August 0.8% versus estimate 0.0% and previous -1.1%

You don't raise interest rates to curb energy price inflation and the contagion effect that will have throughout your entire economy and society.

They still haven't worked out the blindingly obvious reasons why.

Eurozone annual inflation rose to 9.1% in August, up from 8.9% in July and versus an estimate of 9.0%.

Now claims that Berlin wishes to provide further military assistance to Ukraine but has admitted that it is literally out of weapons itself.

Kiev’s attempted counteroffensive in Kherson may be premature, a Pentagon official informed NY Times, adding Pentagon is cautious about whether Ukraine has sufficient military capabilities to make any significant progress against Russian forces.

So do you believe the Pentagon?

Von der Leyen:

Electricity market was no longer functioning because there is one actor, Putin, who is systematically trying to destroy it and manipulate it.

So who exactly sanctioned NS2?

That's just for starters.

Chinese state owned banks are dumping dollars once again.

Hungary has signed a deal with Gazprom for 5.8 billion cubic metres of extra natural gas securing their supplies this winter.

Maybe time to move to Budapest 😂

China's coal-fired power generation was 120bn kWh in August, another record high.

Western Chinese experts are confused once again.

Russia doesn't need European gas markets.

Gazprom increased gas deliveries via the Power of Siberia to China by 60% in January to August this year and has on several occasions set new records for daily gas supplies in excess of contractual obligations.

US life expectancy has fallen from 78.8 years to 76.1 years, the largest drop in 6 decades and has fallen for the second year in a row.

Silver remains in backwardation for a very simple reason. There are physical shortages, so ask yourself why spot price keeps falling?

We are witnessing an ever-growing disconnect between physical reality and paper illusion.

India's massive physical silver buying was catalyst.

Germany is looking at expanding its military presence in Indo-Pacific by sending more warships and joining drills apparently due to the enormous build-up of China's forces in region.

Berlin is failing to see that rather like Russian sanctions, the blowback will be immense.

The arbitrage between western gold markets and the SGE continues to grow. It is now over $20 higher, per ounce in China. Something to keep an eye of as it could be highly significant if the trend continues.

German FM: I will put Ukraine first “no matter what my German voters think” or how hard their life gets.

US is not getting response they expected from China wrt Taiwan so they keep sending US representatives, sailing down Taiwan Straits and a $1.1bn arms deal for Taiwan.

Desperate for China to attack or invade Taiwan to impose sanctions and attempt to isolate Beijing like Moscow.