And now this:

Trump Plans to Bring Back Firing Squads, Group Executions if He Retakes White House

The former president wants to expand the use of the death penalty, and expand the federal government's options for carrying out death sentences

https://t.co/9CHiw6Ov4o

France and Hungary are refusing to place additional sanctions on Russia's nuclear industry

Reality kicks in again, promises followed by failures to deliver:

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that western allies would not be able to prepare two full battalions of Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

The European Commission is taking Poland to court over rulings by Polish judges considered to fundamentally undermine the EU’s legal structure.

Lukashenko:

I'm ready to wage war, alongside the Russians, from the territory of Belarus. But only if someone, even a single soldier, enters our territory from Ukraine with weapons to kill my people.

Japan's woes continue:

Japan’s trade deficit rose to a record high in January reaching ¥3.5tn ($26.1bn ) from ¥1.45tn in December.

Lukashenko has arrived in Moscow

Increasingly European diplomats and politicians are wishing that the Minsk agreements had been enforced.

China had no choice but to end zero covid policies as we stated last year many times and after a matter of weeks, life has returned to normal and there was no health armageddon as West suggested or the ridiculous notion that China would cause the pandemic to reignite globally.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has denied claims that Islamabad has been supplying Kiev with military equipment.

Meanwhile they will continue to pay multiple times more for LNG than Russian pipeline gas:

EU and UK significantly increased LNG imports last year and the trend is expected to continue.

According to Shell, EU and UK imported 121m tons of LNG in 2022, an increase of 60% yoy.

Rift we have discussed for months between US military and Biden admin is now visibly playing out.

As military advises no military intervention in Crimea, Nuland said military sites in Crimea were legitimate targets for Ukraine, and that her country was supporting strikes on them

Energy reality playing out:

The percentage of Russian gas in Austria’s energy imports jumped to 71% in December from 41% a month earlier.

Clown show just went up many notches:

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by U.S. Air Force fighters

https://t.co/77CxWV5vjo

Joint drills between China, Russia and South Africa have commenced in the Indian Ocean.

US keeps reiterating to Zelensky that support is finite

US keeps winning:

US credit card balances increased by $61bn in Q4 of 2022 to $986bn Consumers are borrowing more in order to spend, often on essentials, with delinquency rates rising.

China's major banks are SOEs and they cannot fail.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to understand.

But it appears for too many in the world of fintwit it is just too much for them to comprehend.