ZEUS11 USAF RC135 Rivet Joint done in Black Sea off Crimea wif it's NATO harassment program and sw
09-0016 USAF C-32A wn from JBA
SAM045 USAF G5 sw from Barnstable Muni. Airport ground stop of just under 2 hours
Gulf look
MOOSE81 USAF C-17 Globemaster and French AF CTM1573 Airbus A400M outta Paki
RCH884 USAF C-17 arriving at Ali Al Salem AB Kuwait from Ramstein departure earlier
Dutch AF MMF51 Airbus A330 inbound from Eindhoven Airport Belgium
morning
IMF's $650 billion reserves distribution is 'shot in arm' for global economy- Georgieva
The IMF will distribute about $650 billion in new Special Drawing Rights to its members on Monday, providing a “significant shot in the arm” for global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
The International Monetary Fund’s largest-ever distribution of monetary reserves will provide additional liquidity for the global economy, supplementing member countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt, Georgieva said in a statement. “The allocation is a significant shot in the arm for the world and, if used wisely, a unique opportunity to combat this unprecedented crisis,” she said. Countries can use the SDR allocation to support their economies and step up their fight against the coronavirus crisis, but should not use the fiscal space to delay needed economic reforms or debt restructuring, the IMF said in separate guidance document.
IMF member countries will receive SDRs the fund’s unit of exchange backed by dollars, euros, yen, sterling and yuan in proportion with their existing quota shareholdings in the fund. Georgieva said about $275 billion of the allocation will go to emerging market and developing countries, with some $21 billion to flow to low-income countries. Georgieva said the IMF was encouraging rich countries that receive SDRs to channel them to poorer countries that need them more. One key option is for wealthier countries to contribute SDRs to the IMF’s existing Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust for low-income countries, she said.
The IMF was also continuing to work on a possible Resilience and Sustainability Trust that could use channeled SDRs to help the most vulnerable countries with structural transformation, including dealing with climate change, she said. Another possibility, she said, could be to channel SDRs to support lending by multilateral development banks.The IMF’s last SDR distribution came in 2009 when member countries received $250 billion in SDR reserves to help ease the global financial crisis. To spend their SDRs, countries would first have to exchange them for underlying hard currencies, requiring them to find a willing exchange partner country.**
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-reserves/imfs-650-billion-reserves-distribution-is-shot-in-arm-for-global-economy-georgieva-idUSKBN2FO18R
**hello currency swaps with the FRB
India to monetise $81 billion worth of state assets over next 4 years
India plans to monetise 6 trillion rupees ($80.90 billion) worth of state assets over the next four years under a plan announced earlier in the 2021/2022 budget to boost infrastructure spending and spur economic growth in Asia’s third biggest economy.
The Indian government aims to hand already built assets such as gas pipelines, roads, railway stations and warehousing facilities among others over to the private sector to operate on a long-term lease, Amitabh Kant, chief executive of government think tank NITI Aayog, told a news conference. “The strategic objective of the programme is to unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term patient capital which can thereafter be leveraged for further public investments.” The top five sectors, estimated by their potential for monetisation, are roads, railways, power, oil and gas pipelines, and telecommunication. The government aims to monetise assets worth 880 billion in the current fiscal year that began in April, and a transparent mechanism would achieve “a fair value”, Kant said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the programme would give an impetus to economic growth.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced a privatisation plan which would leave government ownership only in a few critical sectors. Although coronavirus lockdowns and the subsequent downturn have slowed the privatisation process, the government still hopes to raise 1.75 trillion rupees from such sales in the current fiscal year to March 2022. In the current fiscal year, the government expects to list state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India, and privatise state-run oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. and state carrier Air India Ltd. Proceeds from privatisation are crucial for India, which witnessed a record fiscal deficit of 9.3% in the last fiscal year to March 2021, when the economy contracted by 7.3%.
By the end of the current 2021-22 fiscal year, the government aims to cut the fiscal deficit to 6.8% and revive economic growth to 10.5%.
https://www.reuters.com/article/india-privatisation/update-1-india-to-monetise-81-bln-worth-of-state-assets-over-next-4-years-idUSL4N2PU389
Taliban Threatens Biden With "Consequences" If Afghan Evacuation Goes Past Aug. 31
Following another rambling, incoherent press conference from President Joe Biden on Sunday, a spokesman for the Taliban told Sky News early Monday that the Taliban would not permit the US to extend its evacuation efforts beyond Aug. 31.
The Taliban met with Sky News for an exclusive interview in Doha, and issued a stark warning about the withdrawal of troops from the country. Taliban spokesperson Dr. Suhail Shaheen said: "It's a red line. President Biden announced that on Aug. 31 they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that."
He added that the deadline is "a red line."
"It's a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces...If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations - the answer is no. Or there would be consequences." "It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction."
The response was elicited by a question about a possible extension, which itself followed comments from UK PM Boris Johnson, who said he would ask Biden to try and extend the pullout deadline. Unfortunately for both of them, the authority to do so is no longer in their hands. When asked about the people risking their lives to escape Afghanistan - including the people who clung to a plane as it took off, only to plummet to their deaths in gruesome footage that swiftly went viral - the Taliban spokesman said all people attempting to migrate were doing so for economic reasons, not fear of Taliban retribution, despite the many reports of Taliban members threatening Afghans who worked with the US and NATO, as well as their families. "All fake news," Dr Shaheen told Sky. "I can assure you there are many reports by our opponents claiming what is not based on realities." He added: "I assure you it is not about being worried or scared." "They want to reside in Western countries and that is a kind of economic migration because Afghanistan is a poor country and 70% of the people of Afghanistan live under the line of poverty so everyone wants to resettle in Western countries to have a prosperous life. It is not about [being] scared."
The Taliban spokesman also defended the Taliban's treatment of women and especially female students, saying they would be allowed to be educated, so long as they wear the Hijab. Dr Shaheen said: "They will lose nothing. Only if they have no hijab, they will have a hijab… women are required to have the same rights as you have in your country but with a hijab." When pressed, he was insistent: "Now, women teachers have resumed work. Lost nothing. Female journalists they have resumed their work. Lost nothing." Finally, asked about what he would say to the families of those who died fighting in Afghanistan, the Taliban spokesman showed little compassion. "They occupied our country. If we occupy your country. What you will say to me? What if I killed your people in your country what you will say?"
Then added that the past is the past, and it would be best for both sides to simply move on. "I think all people suffered a lot. Bloodshed. Destruction. Everything. But we say the past is the past. Part of our past history. Now we want to focus on the future." Around 10K to 15K Americans are still in the country now controlled by the Taliban, with thousands being evacuated every day. However, more than 50K Afghans who aided in the American effort are still stuck in the country, with many desperately calling American troops that they worked with, pleading for help.
But the Taliban has made it clear: no additional time will be ceded to the US and the West. Once Aug. 31 passes, Taliban will have near-complete control of Afghanistan, with the last pockets of resistance gathering int he Panjshir Valley.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/taliban-threatens-biden-consequences-if-afghan-evacuation-goes-past-aug-31
>>85506 pb BOXER47 inbound to Kyiv last night (CONUS time)
Some high level Gov't AC's departing Kyiv, Ukraine
Dis is Merkel
German AF GAF833 Airbus ACJ319-133X departed Kyiv- Boryspil Int'l
Angela Merkel meets President Zelensky to discuss gas pipeline
German Chancellor Angela Merkel met President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Kyiv strongly opposes the pipeline, which runs between Russia and Germany. Ukraine says it will increase Europe's energy dependence on Russia and Moscow's geopolitical clout. Merkel called for Ukraine's existing transit deal with Russia to be extended beyond the expiration date of 2024. She also tried to reassure Zelensky and expressed her understanding of Kyiv's concerns. This is her last official trip to Ukraine as she prepares to step down next month, after nearly 16 years in office.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-08-23/Angela-Merkel-meets-President-Zelensky-to-discuss-gas-pipeline-12XVQ8GSoKc/index.html
Slovenian AF LSV101 Falcon 2000, Hungarian AF Falcon 7X, Irish AF IRL258 Learjet 45, Italian AF IAM3105 Falcon 900 also departed from Boryspil Int'l Airport
Three of the Fed’s Wall Street Bailout Programs Vanish from Its Monthly Reports to Congress
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision, Randal Quarles, would desperately like to make three of the Fed’s emergency bailout programs to Wall Street disappear from further scrutiny by Congress or the American people. That’s because the specific details of those programs do not comport with the testimony that Powell and Quarles have provided at Congressional hearings throughout the pandemic. Both Powell and Quarles have told Congress that the mega banks were a source of strength during the pandemic. (The chart above shows what was really happening.)
The three emergency lending programs that the Fed would like to make vanish are the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF); the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF); and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF). These are not only the most opaque of the Fed’s “official” bailout programs but they are also the first three emergency lending programs that the Fed stood up in 2020. The PDCF and CPFF were both announced on March 17, 2020 by the Fed. The MMLF was announced the very next day. For each of the other Fed emergency lending programs, those created under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed has reported the transaction details, including the names of the recipients and dollar amounts received. But the Fed has withheld that information from Congress for these three programs – despite promising complete transparency.
Now, it seems the Fed wants to make these programs disappear altogether.
In its monthly 13(3) emergency lending reports to Congress, from January through May of this year, those three programs appeared with a lump sum total for what had been loaned out but no names of recipients or transaction details. Now, even the names of those programs have completely disappeared on the most recent June, July and August reports to Congress. Just how much money was sluiced to Wall Street under these programs? We know from the Fed’s H.4.1 weekly release of the line items on its balance sheet that as of April 8, 2020, just a few weeks after these three programs started, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility had ballooned to $33 billion in loans outstanding while the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility had soared to $53 billion. The Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) grew far more slowly but gyrated in disconcerting fashion in its early days. According to the Fed’s weekly H.4.1 releases, as of May 20, 2020 the CPFF stood at $4.3 billion, but one week later, on May 27, it had almost tripled to $12.8 billion, strongly suggesting that one or more large financial institutions could not roll over their commercial paper because of some kind of taint attached to it. But the size of these three “official” emergency lending facilities pales in comparison to what the Fed had rolled out four months before COVID-19 had ever been heard of in the United States.
1 of 2
2 of 2
On June 22, 2021 the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis convened a hearing to take testimony from Powell regarding the Fed’s crisis relief efforts. During Powell’s opening statement, he testified as follows: “Our emergency lending tools require the approval of the Treasury and are available only in unusual and exigent circumstances, such as those brought on by the crisis.”
When the eyes of mainstream media are on the Fed, Powell is quick to say that the Fed can only make emergency loans with the approval of the Treasury. In fact, there was no Treasury approval, or Congressional oversight, when the Fed launched its repo loan bailouts of Wall Street beginning on September 17, 2019 – four months before the first reported case of COVID-19 in the United States. By January 27, 2020, the Fed’s ongoing repo loans to bail out Wall Street had reached a cumulative $6.6 trillion. According to the Fed’s own audited financial statements for 2020 and 2019, on its peak day in 2020 the Fed’s repo loan operation had $495.7 billion in loans outstanding to Wall Street versus $259.95 billion on its peak day in 2019. That’s a lot of Wall Street bailout money avoiding any oversight by Congress.
The American people have good reason to be skeptical of the Federal Reserve as a transparent operation as a result of how it stonewalled the public during and after its last big bailout of Wall Street from December 2007 through at least July of 2010. The Fed battled media outlets in court for years, refusing to turn over the names and dollar amounts of where the money went. When the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finally released the granular data from its audit of the Fed’s bailout programs in July of 2011, Senator Bernie Sanders’ office issued a press release stating the following: “The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression…“The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.”
But the GAO audit failed to include all of the Fed’s secret bailout programs. When the Levy Economics Institute added the additional lending facilities not included by the GAO, the total cumulative tally came to $29 trillion. The reality was that the Fed was attempting to cover up its own incompetence at supervising the mega banks on Wall Street. In the press release, Sanders was quoted as follows: “The Federal Reserve must be reformed to serve the needs of working families, not just CEOs on Wall Street.” Despite two unprecedented bailouts of Wall Street in 2007-2010 and again in 2019-2021, Congress has failed to strip the Fed of its supervisory role over the mega banks on Wall Street or its ability to create electronic money out of thin air to bail out the same banks, while hiding the details from the American people.
It’s time for all Americans to demand accountability from both the Fed and Congress because it’s the American taxpayer who is on the hook for the liabilities of the Fed.
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/08/three-of-the-feds-wall-street-bailout-programs-vanish-from-its-monthly-reports-to-congress/
Moar coming out after sunset
58-0009 USAF KC-135 tanker RCH864 USAF C-17 Globemaster followed by RAF NAG82XT Airbus A400M
RAAF BONDI71 C-17 Globemaster behind the inbound to Paki Dutch AF MMF51 Airbus A330
TORQUE12 USAF C-130 Hercules wn wif
CREEP57 USAF C-130 Hercules east
58-0085 east from Al Udeid AB
RCAF RACER24 C-17 Globemaster east from Kuwait
Belgian AF BAF640 Airbus A400M heading into SA after Paki exit
Germany Warns Situation At Kabul Airport Continues To Deteriorate After Latest Killings
Update (1155ET): German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned the press Monday that the situation outside the airport in Kabul has grown even more chaotic on Monday after a member of the Afghan national forces who was working as a guard outside the airport was killed, while several others were wounded.
Meanwhile, after the Taliban assured there would be no extension of the airlift deadline, UK PM Boris Johnson has nevertheless called for a virtual meeting of G-7 leaders on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, and the possibility of an extension. The US managed to evacuate more than 10K people over the past 24 hours, the administration confirmed Monday.
Meanwhile, on the ground in Kabul, some militants wanted by Islamabad have been freed from jail in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s interior minister said. The militants are from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that has previously carried out attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban are also asking Iran to step up exports of fuel. Circling back to the latest word out of Germany, Maas said the government in Berlin is holding talks with the US and Turkey to plan for extending civilian operations at Kabul airport after the departure of US troops to enable further evacuations. This includes current negotiations with the Taliban. Mass also said the early-Monday firefight showed how dangerous the situation is. "The situation at the airport has only grown more chaotic over the last few hours,” Maas told reporters in Berlin on Monday. "The situation remains dangerous."
Outside Afghanistan, Kamala Harris is doing her best not to talk about the situation during her trip to Singapore. Heading into Monday afternoon in the US, new videos of a fire blazing at the airport are circulating on social media.
NOW - Fire erupts at #Kabul airport in Afghanistan.pic.twitter.com/GoscbdxRGr— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 23, 2021
Another guard was killed Monday outside the International Airport in Kabul when a firefight broke out, leaving one member of the Afghan National Army dead, and three others wounded. Some members of the now-dissolved Afghan military are helping to guard the airport. News of the killing was revealed by the Germany military, which announced it via twitter early Monday morning in the US. No German soldiers were harmed in the skirmish, fortunately. It doesn't appear that any other NATO forces were harmed either. The firefight was instigated by unidentified gunmen.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/afghan-killed-firefight-kabul-airport-resistance-forces-prepare-showdown-panjshir
C101 US Coast Guard G5 ne from Reagan National Airport
BOXER43 USAF C-40C inbound to JBA from overnight at Azores-Joao Paulo II Airport on San Miguel Island
>>84337 pb
this AC last seen having landed at Agadez, Niger on 0818
Dry Bulk Shipping Rates Are Soaring and the Rally Looks Set
For a glimpse at how fast demand for commodities has rebounded in the wake of the coronavirus, look no further than the market for shipping them.
Monday marked the 10th consecutive increase for the Baltic Dry Index, a benchmark measure of commodity hauling costs that has surged to an 11-year high. “Earlier in the year, people thought this was a short-term spike in the market, but now people see it as more structural and longer term,” said Jan Rindbo, the chief executive officer of D/S Norden A/S, a 150-year-old Danish operator of more than 500 vessels. Demand for cargoes of raw materials like coal and iron ore has jumped this year, outpacing an expansion of the fleet as economies recover from the ravages of the pandemic. Exacerbating tight vessel supply, Covid-related disruptions have cut how many ships are available, tilting the market further in favor of owners.
The Baltic Dry hit 4,147 points on Monday, the highest since May 2010. Rates for Capesize carriers jumped 2% to $50,708, the strongest market since at least 2014, according to the Baltic Exchange. Forward contracts are pointing to continued bullish expectations. Seaborne trade in iron ore trade is forecast to climb 4% to 1.56 billion tons this year, the largest annual jump since 2017, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker.
Wider dry bulk trade is expected to rise 4.2% year-on-year in 2021 and by 1.7% in 2022. Fleet growth is likely to lag behind the increase in cargoes, with capacity expanding by 3.3% this year, and 1.4% growth next, the Clarkson data show.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/dry-bulk-shipping-rates-are-soaring-and-the-rally-looks-set-1.1643363
U.S. Holds This Year’s Largest Sale of Strategic Oil Reserves
The U.S. is holding its largest sale of oil from strategic reserves this year at a time when the outlook for fuel demand is darkening amid the resurgent Covid-19 virus.
The Energy Department plans to auction off 20 million barrels of crude, twice as much as it offered for sale 3 1/2 months ago. The oil will be delivered during the fourth quarter, when U.S. demand for gasoline and other fuels typically falters and refineries slow down oil purchases while they shut down equipment for repairs and maintenance.
The sale also comes after crude prices have dropped 15% since touching a 6 1/2-year high in early July as the spread of the delta variant threatens to derail the economic recovery and return to business as usual. Companies including BlackRock Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. are postponing plans to return workers to offices.
The reserve, created in 1975 to serve as an emergency stockpile, held 621 million barrels in four underground caverns as of Aug. 13, Energy Department figures showed.
Benchmark American crude futures rose almost 6% on Monday in New York amid a broader rally in commoditiues and equity markets.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/u-s-holds-this-year-s-largest-sale-of-strategic-oil-reserves-1.1643358
After cooling off for a bit we habs moar heading back in.
BUFF heading east from Al Udeid and looks like a topping of da tanks
GRIMM22 USAF B-52 Stratofortress and 61-0293 USAF KC-135 tanker east from Al Udeid AB
Looks like GRIMM22 topped off da tanks
French AF CTM1573 Airbus A400M back out from Al Dhafra AB
RCH884 USAF C-17 Globemaster departed Ali Al Salem AB Kuwait
RAF NAG87XT A400M up from Al Minhad AB Dubai
chek't and rek't those ebil digits