“I have been reading Jim Rickards' political analysis for years, and usually find it most enlightening — even if I don't always agree with said analysis,” Mark H. writes after reading Monday’s Rundown. 

“But it is with utter dismay that I see Rickards constantly repeating Russian ‘disinformation’ (i.e., lies) regarding the situation in Ukraine.” 

So is this “disinformation” too? 

Our reader continues: “For example, he keeps saying that the pro-Russian president (Viktor Yanukovych) was ousted in a ‘coup,’ whereas, in fact, he was voted out by his own parliament (by a vote of 328 to 0) on 22 February 2014 in the aftermath of the Maidan Revolution.

“Jim Rickards seems to relish being Putin's number-one cheerleader/fanboy, with his constant implications that Russia was somehow justified in launching an all-out war against Ukraine (Nazis! Corruption! NATO encroachment!).

“And he seems to delight in any sort of negative development (from the Ukranians' perspective) in this clearly unjust war. Perhaps Putin will invite Jim to one of his mansions when/if the Russians do indeed prevail, where they can both dance a victory jig.” 

You’re not the first to accuse Jim Rickards of being a Russian stooge… And you probably won’t be the last. 

Send your opinions to, feedback@newsyoucanacton.com

Your Rundown for Wednesday, February 21, 2024...

Regime Change IS “Uncomfortable”   

But Jim Rickards won’t be putting on his dancing shoes anytime soon, I can assure you. Instead, perhaps he does speak from a place of schadenfreude. 

To be clear, Jim takes zero pleasure in the suffering of everyday Ukrainians, but he’ll gladly expose the control freaks and power trippers who’ve orchestrated events behind the scenes. 

And make no mistake: The U.S. government helped orchestrate events in Ukraine. 

Listen, for example, to this leaked telephone conversation between former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and then U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. (Read the transcript here.)

During the call, uploaded to YouTube on Feb. 4, 2014, Nuland and Pyatt cavalierly discuss who should replace Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych — who wouldn’t leave office until, as our reader mentioned above, Feb. 22, 2014.

Regime change, anyone? 

(If you’re tempted to dismiss the YouTube post as some Russian deep fake, former State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki herself confirmed: “I didn't say it was inauthentic.”)

In terms of why the U.S. would meddle in Ukraine’s affairs, one smoking gun has got to be the U.S.-Russia power struggle for global oil-and-nat gas supremacy. 

The longstanding animus in D.C. — aimed at Russia and its biggest oil-and-gas customer, Western Europe — is apparent in this brief clip of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaking obliquely with German channel N24 about Russia’s energy aspirations on May 16, 2014.

The threat is veiled, of course — “uncomfortable” even, according to Rice. 

But she might as well have said what Victoria Nuland put plainly: “F*** the EU.” How dare they rely on Russian oil and gas! 

We’ll install a puppet government in Ukraine… threaten NATO expansion… and sanction Russia’s economy to hell. 

Oh, while we’re at it, we’ll blast the Nord Stream pipelines — long a burr in our saddle.

Ukraine, with its strategic Crimea Black Sea ports to transport Russian oil and gas to Europe, has been little more than a proxy for a war between two energy superpowers. 

Have we changed your mind, reader? We hope we’ve at least sparked a level of healthy skepticism. 

Market Rundown for Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024

The S&P 500 is down 0.30% to 4,960. 

Oil’s taking a break at $77.04 for a barrel of WTI. 

Citing Kitco, gold is up 0.15% to $2,027.20 per ounce.

Bitcoin’s lost 2.25% to $51K at the time of writing.

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