South America

Finally, we have a 'snowden' event for the CIA and the inner workings of how the agency operates in the digital 'cyber' sphere.  Wikileaks released "Vault7" - a treasure trove of documents pertaining to their 'cyberwarfare' or in layman's terms, hacking operations.  Since we've released Splitting Pennies, in the hope of explaining how the world 'really' works - we've received mostly positive feedback, but many mainstream readers have accused us of being 'conspiracy theorists' - well now we have the proof.

There is a new powerhouse dominating the U.S. futures market for raw sugar contracts and it's creating a bit of confusion among the the more established trading houses of the world's most volatile commodity markets.  The firm is Wilmar International, a Singapore-based agribusiness whose major shareholders include the family of Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok and Chicago-based Archer Daniels Midland.  Founded 26 years ago, Wilmar is one of the world's largest palm-oil producers but was essentially non-existent in the sugar market until just a couple of years ago.

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Washington’s Benevolent Mask Is Disintegrating

Paul Craig Roberts

Via Peter K of SovereignMan.com,

I’m visiting my brother in Indonesia right now.

Being a good host, he was fixing us vodka martinis, when he realized he ran out of olives.

Both of his drivers had finished for the day so I was expecting him to compromise on the olives.

No need.

He loaded up a mobile phone app and ordered a jar of olives.

America's Midwest farmers can't seem to catch a break.  First, an epic collapse of grain prices over the last couple of years have threatened to wipe out family farmers (see "Midwest Farm Bubble Continues Collapse As Farm Incomes Expected To Crash In 2017") and now, thanks to the pending NAFTA showdown threatened by President Trump, Mexico, the single largest importer of U.S.-grown corn, has announced plans to find alternative grain sources in South America.  Per Bloomberg: