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The second edition of “The Plot to Seize Russia – The Untold History” is now available for purchase in paperback and hardcover on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The ebook will be available shortly.
Book description:
“Take care of Russia,” Boris Yeltsin said as he departed his presidency in August 1999. These words were directed at current Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin specifically picked Putin as his predecessor to prevent the takeover of Russia.
So, who was Yeltsin warning against? Newly declassified documents from the Clinton Administration prove that there was a plot to rig the Russian election of 2000. These never-before-seen documents confirm numerous attempts to implement pro-Western policies using the Russian oligarchy headed by Boris Berezovsky.
On the other side were the communists who desired a return to the glory days of the Soviet Union. As one of the largest international hedge fund managers, author Martin Armstrong found himself in the middle of perhaps the greatest espionage, or attempt at a regime change for Russia, in modern history.
The Plot to Seize Russia pulls back the curtain to expose the most extraordinary attempt to seize power in modern history, but with the pen rather than armies. These declassified documents reveal a plot that has altered our thinking about the relations between the United States and Russia. The thirst for power comes seething through every line of these papers that alter our perception of reality, change the course of history, and now threaten us with World War III.
Arabella Advisors, the world’s most influential fund for left-wing politics, has rebranded but not dissipated. Arabella Advisors infamously created the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money nonprofit that funneled hundreds of millions to persuade voters to support “progressive” causes, with the backing of George Soros, Bill Gates, Pierre Omidyar, and Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.
Arabella rebranded itself into Sunflower Services, a public corporation controlled by a collective group of nonprofits that were previously under its management. The group has separated its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) arms as only the latter has the ability to send money to political missions in lieu of offering tax deductions for those donations. All donations are strictly anonymous. Not only is the group permitted to operate anonymously, but those paid to promote their messages also operate in secrecy. WIRED magazine alerted the public that the Sixteen Thirty Fund was paying over 90 online social media influencers up to $8,000 a month to support Democratic causes. These content creators operate under the “Chorus Creator Incubator Program,” and they are provided with specific propaganda tools such as “advocacy training,” message briefings, newsroom events, and are often asked to partner with politicians and other left-leaning organizations.
Traditional political advertisements are disclosed as advertisements. “Paid for by…” However, the new form of media control is through “unique” social media messaging. Moreover, the majority of these social media platforms are already controlled by the leftist billionaire elite. Aside from Elon Musk’s X, all major channels can remove content at whim, and we saw their broad reach during the COVID-19 pandemic when every platform was scrubbing the internet of content that went against the left mainstream media narrative.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund will distance itself from Sunflower Services, but all of these non-profits operate as the left’s personal ATM to use for political warfare. Clinton administration alumnus Eric Kessler began Arabella Advisors in 2005, before it quickly gained popularity among those with the money and power to reshape politics. Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss was the first major financier, using his wealth to reshape US politics. 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations may receive funds from foreign donors, and the likes of Soros and Wyss were quick to insert their ideals into US politics through Arabella.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund, for example, spent nearly $80 million on 33 different state referendums from 2017 to 2023. Conservatives argued against permitting foreign investors from infiltrating US politics, leading Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Wyoming to enact laws banning foreign funds from being spent on ballot referendums. The anonymous donors bypassed the law through numerous smaller NGOs masked as grassroots organizations including “Families Over Billionaires,” “Arizonans United for Health Care,” “Log Off Movement,” “Keep Iowa Healthy,” “Floridians for a Fair Shake,” “Design it for Us,” and “Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity.”
Propaganda is far more subtle in today’s day and age. The people controlling the narrative do not care about these causes. The people paid to push these messages do not understand that they are working for the very people they claim to detest.
Syria has agreed to create an intelligence network with the United States and Israel. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Sunni jihadist and known terrorist, became a CIA asset after he was captured while fighting for Al Qaeda in Iraq. I explained on numerous occasions that he was compromised and installed into his position by the CIA; Syria’s new alignment with Israel should not come as a shock.
Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Tom Barrack represented the US envoy for Syria during the Israel-Syria meeting in Paris this week. Washington reported that the meeting went as intended, with Israel and Syria agreeing to a “fusion mechanism” by which they will share intelligence, diplomatic engagement, military de-escalation, and commercial issues.
For decades, Syria and Israel have technically been at war. That hostility has been useful politically for both sides. It justified military budgets, internal repression, and foreign alliances. This development reiterates what the computer has warned: the Middle East is fragmenting into blocs, and the old Cold War alignments are collapsing.
Reports have emerged that Iranian officials are seeking to assassinate al-Sharaa. Al-Assad’s former military intelligence chief, Major General Kamal Hassan, is building a militia among Syria’s Alawite minority community, according to a December 2025 Reuters report. The ousted dictator’s billionaire cousin, Rami Makhlouf, has been financing Hassan’s efforts. Feared special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan, known as “The Tiger,” has been recruiting thousands of men to oppose al-Assad and retake control.
Syria is no longer beholden to Iran as its new financiers are from the West. Russia is no longer policing the region and the US has a stronghold over Syria. This alignment is temporary and a precursor to a larger regional conflict on the horizon.
Britain is not becoming a nation of part-time workers by accident, nor is this some benign lifestyle evolution as the press would like to portray it. It is a symptom of a collapsing incentive structure, and once incentives break down, the economy follows. Britons today work, on average, 2.3 fewer hours per week than they did twenty years ago.
Economists keep missing the point because they obsess over employment levels rather than productivity and motivation. Adam Smith understood this centuries ago. The wealth of a nation depends on the productive use of its population, and labor itself is capital. When you penalize labor through taxation and regulation, you destroy the capital base of the economy. Britain has done precisely that.
The expansion of the welfare state requires ever-higher taxes, and those taxes do not fall evenly. They fall disproportionately on those who actually work, produce, and take risk. Britain has created a system in which the marginal benefit of working harder is weak or outright negative, once taxes, lost benefits, compliance costs, and inflation are taken into account. Under those conditions, rational people become unproductive.
What is especially telling is that this is no longer confined to low-income workers. Highly skilled professionals are opting to reduce hours, shift into part-time roles, or deliberately cap income to avoid punitive tax thresholds. When doctors, engineers, accountants, and executives start making lifestyle decisions based on avoiding taxation rather than maximizing productivity, the system is already broken.
Governments always pretend this is about “work-life balance.” That is propaganda. People have always valued their time. What has changed is confidence. When people believe that extra effort will improve their future, they work harder. When they believe the state will confiscate the reward while increasing the risk, they stop. Productivity collapses not because people cannot work, but because they no longer believe it is worth it. People no longer believe the system is fair, and once that belief is gone, productivity never recovers without a crisis.
I was invited to a briefing this morning on Term Limits and Congressional Insider Trading. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna presented the agenda. I mentioned at the WEC in November that these two actions would be forthcoming. Anna Paulina Luna is behind the prohibition of Congressional Insider Trading with bypartisan support. In addition to throwing his support behind Luna’s bill to end Congressional Insider Trading, Governor DeSantis also said he is leading the effort across the country to have states certify a Constitutional Amendment for term limits for members of Congress.
I was invited to this briefing this morning. I certainly endorse these efforts. I don’t believe the press is fairly reporting what is going on. So far, I believe 28 states have agreed to propose a Constitutional Amendment for Term Limits. To PROPOSE an amendment via state application: 34 states (two-thirds). To RATIFY an amendment and add it to the Constitution: 38 states (three-fourths). This is the effort and with 2026 being the 250th year anniversary and political change lies on the horizon, we have have a shot at at getting to the formal proposal stage.
If this were solely up to Congress, it would be a real uphill battle. The only way to do that would be to say those who are there now are grandfathered in, but any replacement would then be confined to one term and out.
Congress passes a law saying “the FDA must make rules to ensure safe food” (the statute). The FDA (like the SEC) then creates a specific rule that “eggs must be refrigerated at 40°F” (the rule). The insider trading ban works the same way. Congress NEVER created an insider trading statute. This is all done under the rules of the SEC. The real problem is that the bureaucracy has become so outrageous and vast that we are NOT represented by Congress and this is, in my opinion, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, because we the people have no right to vote for anyone on the bureaucracy.
In 1986, I had written the Greatest Bill Market in History where I did the full account of the formation of the SEC. Insider Trading was that a Director of a Company knew they were going to file bankruptcy so he sold all his stock the day before. When they charged Michael Milken with Insider Trading, I was contacted by the lawyers and explained that the interpretation they were using was exactly opposite of the 1930s. Here they claimed you and I are going to takeover Facebook. The Facebook shareholders do not know. The fraud is supposed to be that they LOST the opportunity to make money. They did not lose money as in the 1930s. One guy went to trial and he won against the SEC.
The SEC will NEVER prosecute a politicians for what they have completely distorted. They can argue that the information is coming from lawyers, not directors. But essentially, the entire “Inside Trading” is completely vague at best and is selectively applied if they want your ass. Most assume there is a LAW and Congress exempted themselves. This is an abomination created by the SEC. Because other countries did not understand the reality of the SEC “rule” in the slightest, various countries passed laws that were not really about privileged “insider” info, but it was just ant-rich Marxism.
Because I had offices around the world, trying to comply as an advisor and an investor became impossible. In some jurisdictions, if you asked me about IBM, and I owned one share of IBM, I had to disclosed my entire investment portfolio. With a team of law firms from every financial center, the conclusion was I could not have a stock account anywhere. It has morphed into me advising of a share I happened to have with no inside information can be a crime. When they tried to investigate me, the US Attorney Richard Owens could find anything and just said “You are one smart SOB.”
Even Ron DeSantis said clearly that when he was in Congress decades ago, they knew about the fraud in Minnesota. They would even talk about it back then but do nothing.
I have informed them that the best way to disguise a bribe is to set up two futures accounts. They enter a buy and sell trade on whatever and at the end of the day, they they allocate the win to the politician and the loss to the payee. This will NEVER show up as “insider trading” just that they were a fantastic trader one time in some commodity.
Like my dogs who will patiently wait for my return, we will have to be very patient on these two actions. They are step in the right direction. Let’s see!
US/AMERICAS:
DJIA advanced by 484.90 points (0.99%) to 49,462.08
S&P 500 advanced by 42.77 points (0.62%) to 6,944.82
NASDAQ advanced by 151.35 points (0.65%) to 23,547.173
Russell 2000 advanced by 34.97 points (1.37%) to 2,582.893
Canada Market Closings:
TSX Composite advanced by 187.07 points (0.58%) to 32,407.02
TSX 60 advanced by 8.08 points (0.43%) to 1,895.85
Brazil Market Closing:
Bovespa advanced by 1,795.80 points (1.11%) to 163,665.56
Thousands of Venezuelans go out in La Vega, a popular area of Caracas to celebrate the fall of Nicolás Maduro and the victory of Edmundo González.
The eyes of the world are on Venezuela. ?? pic.twitter.com/3uMAND74TT
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) July 29, 2024
The people of Venezuela are celebrating Maduro’s departure. Those who have lived under socialism understand the depths of its destruction. Hugo Chávez is celebrated as a social justice warrior for eliminating capitalism in the 2000s. Socialism does not work because the system eventually runs out of other people’s money, as Margaret Thatcher once proclaimed. We only need to look at recent history to see the severe consequences of switching to this system. Venezuela first reported that it had a “nutritional emergency” in February 2016. President Nicolás Maduro also declared an “economic emergency” in January of the same year, providing him the power to rule by decree. Inflation was running at 141.5%, according to Venezuelan authorities, but the IMF believed the figure reached 270% in 2015 and had the potential to reach 500% by the end of 2016.
There were rumors going around that people under socialism faced such severe food shortages that they were forced to break into zoos and eat the animals. Unfortunately, this is a fact. Reports were circulating in Venezuela of people consuming zoo animals around 2016 and 2017. The animals that remained in these zoos starved to death or ate one another. The people were in such dire conditions that they were forced to consume dogs, cats, decaying meat, and anything else they could find.
The socialists claimed that acknowledging the food shortages could lead to American intervention, and Maduro consistently blamed US sanctions for his nation’s failure. As reported by a Spanish newspaper, this is how the average person waiting for their food rations: “Five hours in line to buy a chicken; kicks, pushes, and blows of all kinds to be one of the fortunate ones to enter the supermarket and get away with a bag of flour or rice, basic goods that Venezuela does not have available to everyone, unfortunately.”
Maduro told the people to grow their own food and gloated that he, too, was producing his own eggs and produce. The government owned the grocers and food production companies and intervened numerous times to prevent private-sector intervention. Politicians take no responsibility for the suffering caused by their policies, and this is precisely what a portion of the West is seeking to implement today.
Over 7.7 million people have fled Venezuela due to one of the worst economic collapses in modern history not attributed to war. GDP contracted 80% from 2013, according to the IMF. Inflation reached an astounding 130,060% by 2018, the bolivar collapsed, prices doubled daily, and people were forced to carry carts of worthless cash for basic purchases. Around 30% of the population lived in poverty in 2013. Fast forward to 2025, roughly 87% to 90% of the population lives in extreme poverty and despair.
People wonder why Venezuelans are cheering Maduro’s downfall from the safety of their first-world suburbs. Older generations remember a time when Venezuela was a thriving economic powerhouse before it rapidly fell under socialism. Oil was insufficient to sustain a system that rendered innovation and productivity worthless.
Now, Venezuela’s problems did not begin with Maduro. Maduro inherited a flawed socialist system and continued its mismanagement. Under Chávez, Venezuela was already in decline, but Maduro assumed power precisely as the country entered a major ECM down wave. Instead of reforming, he doubled down on the same policies that were already destroying confidence and refused to take ownership in typical bureaucratic fashion. The destruction was locked in long before sanctions became meaningful because the government destroyed confidence, property rights, and capital formation. Socialism wages war on capital, and capital is a pacifist that will willingly flee. Once you nationalize industry, confiscate private property, impose price controls, and criminalize profit, capital will flee and not return. Every war waged against capital results in a lost battle for the aggressor as it cannot be captured and the business cycle cannot be defeated.
![Minimum Wage Rate by State in the U.S. [2026]](https://www.paycor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MinimumWage_StateMap_740x560-768x582.png "MinimumWage_StateMap_740x560 768x582")
The minimum wage increased significantly in 19 U.S. states on New Year’s Day. Minimum wages are often portrayed in the mainstream press as a straightforward way to raise incomes for the lowest-paid workers, but this portrayal ignores the underlying economic mechanisms.
When the cost of labor exceeds the value the labor actually produces, companies begin to reduce labor costs. This has led to a massive shift to automation and outsourcing. Employers are often forced to reduce their workforce, and those who remain face reduced hours or increased responsibilities without commensurate pay increases.
Wages rise with productivity in a healthy economy. Currently, employers’ costs are growing faster than the value added by workers in numerous instances. Yes, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for nearly a decade, and nowhere in the US is that salary sustainable. Washington state now mandates roughly $17.13 per hour; California’s state minimum is nearly $17; New York’s major cities approach $17; and other states set their minimums above $15. The market or demand does not determine these set wages.
California routinely selects groups of minimum-wage workers and determines that their skill set is now worth 10 times as much. The state in general increased the minimum wage to $16.50 per hour on January 1, 2026, while certain cities have raised the minimum to $19 per hour. Yet, hotel and airline workers in Los Angeles are to receive a minimum wage of $38 per hour within the next two years. Hotels are already struggling, with only 79% of the traffic they once experienced prior to the pandemic. The city shed 11,000 hotel jobs last year, and this proposal nearly ensures more jobs will be cut. The state saw the same phenomenon when minimum wage was raised for fast food workers—employers reduced staff and raised prices for consumers.
Should a hotel maid earn more than a teacher in Los Angeles? Do the people constructing the hotel deserve less than those paid to book rooms? Does replacing towels and bed sheets, or checking a boarding pass, warrant an $80K salary? Pay grades are no longer based on skill and experience but on industry pandering. Yet another reason for companies to relocate when possible, as we saw throughout 2025 and will continue to see in 2026.
Rest assured that the government will continue to raise taxes on the lowest-paid workers. Wages rise naturally in a real economic expansion when businesses compete for workers. That is how a free market functions. But when governments artificially raise wages, businesses respond logically—by cutting jobs, reducing hours, or passing the costs onto consumers through inflation. The very people politicians claim to be helping end up worse off, as their cost of living rises and entry-level jobs disappear.
Minnesota has to come first – always.
Today, I’m proud of the work we’ve done to make Minnesota the best place to live and raise kids.
I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work. pic.twitter.com/AYbvcOzyPI
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) January 5, 2026
Disgraced Governor Tim Walz announced that he will not seek re-election after the Somali socialism scandal imploded.
“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” Walz said in the statement. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences,” he said.
The truth of the matter is that Tim Walz will soon be facing a litany of legal investigations into his role in the Somali scandal that is perhaps the largest drain on America’s social system in recent history. Investigators still cannot determine how much taxpayers sent to Somali fraudsters from Minnesota, but they have begun to uncover a direct link to these criminal organizations and the Democrats whose campaigns they’ve repeatedly supported with stolen funds. Walz personally received $10,000 in campaign donations from Somali-operated day care centers, which is likely only one drop in the bucket.
@nickshirleyy This daycare in Minnesota receives the most amount of money from the government at a staggering $3,670,000 in CCAP funding (tax exempt), in one day my crew and I found an estimated $110,000,000 is fraud. One top of the daycare fraud you also have an autism center fraud, these “centers” have EXPONENTIALLY increased in over the years in 2024 $228,092,998 was allocated for autism Medicaid. Tim Walz is yet to say anything… What do you expect to see happen in Minnesota? JOEY JUST WANTED SOME DAYCARE ??
The top journalist uncovering this story does not work for a major news outlet. There have been countless reports of fraud surpassing $1 billion, but no one has dared to show the public how unconcealed and blatant these sham practices have been permitted to run in broad daylight.
@nickshirleyy
Nick Shirley is an independent journalist who took to the streets of Minnesota to see for himself how these government-funded programs are operating. Shirley showed up at the doors of numerous day care centers to take his questions directly to the sources. The people operating the centers refuse to let him in the doors, nor could they answer basic questions about the day care. Strangely, there were no signs of children at any of these childcare facilities. In a few videos, Shirley asks the people on site if they can enroll a child in these day care centers. After all, these childcare facilities run by Somalian migrants have been receiving millions in funding for YEARS. Every center turned him away. Shirley is now receiving death threats as the nation has become so divided that the left would prefer to see their taxpayers robbed than to admit the Democrats passively permitted open-air fraud markets in Minnesota.
Tim Walz, Ilhan Omar, and everyone else connected to this crime ring must face their day in court. These far-left socialist diehards masquerading as modern American politicians always use social programs as their personal piggy banks. There is no feasible way that these crime rings could have operated openly without support from the inside.
QUESTION: You said this invasion of Venezuela set s precedent. Would you please elaborate.
Mikki
ANSWER: Russia could then kidnap Zelensky and point to Venezuela. China is already demanding Manduro be returned to Venezuela immediately. The computer is showing that this is by no means over. The computer has been showing this would begin the first week of January and this goes into the 1st week of Feb and then look out for April. We are entering geopolitical chaos in 2026.
US/AMERICAS:
DJIA advanced by 594.79 points (1.23%) to 48,977.18
S&P 500 advanced by 43.58 points (0.64%) to 6,902.05
NASDAQ advanced by 160.19 points (0.69%) to 23,395.822
Russell 2000 advanced by 39.70 points (1.58%) to 2,547.920
Canada Market Closings:
TSX Composite advanced by 336.58 points (1.06%) to 32,219.95
TSX 60 advanced by 17.25 points (0.92%) to 1,887.77
Brazil Market Closing:
Bovespa advanced by 1,501.40 points (0.94%) to 162,040.09
