Monday, September 25, 2023

NR4 & NR7 (Narrow Range 4 & 7) and ID (Inside Days) | Toby Crabel

Narrow range patterns were described by Tony Crabel in his book, "Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns & Opening Range Breakout". Even though it was published in 1990, many of Crabel's concepts and set-ups are still effective, and in particular his NR4 (Narrow Range 4) and NR7 (Narrow Range 7) patterns became quite popular with short-term traders. The idea for set-ups is similar to the Bollinger Band Squeeze or Short-Squeezes and Long-Squeezes in general: a volatility contraction is followed by a volatility expansion; narrow range days mark price contractions that precede price expansions. The NR7 day and the NR4 day as such are 'neutral' when it comes to future price direction, and other tools need to be employed to determine directional bias. Because NR4/NR7 days are relatively commonplace and the range is small by definition, the chances of whipsaw are above average. A break above the NR7 high can fail and be followed by a break below the NR7 high. Just be aware of this probability and keep the bigger picture in mind. In other words, be wary of sell signals within a bullish pattern, such as a falling flag or at a support test.
 
Examples of Narrow Range 7 Inside Days (IDnr7) in the Nasdaq.

Traders will want to qualify NR7 signals because they are quite frequent. A typical instrument will produce dozens of NR7 days in a twelve month period and a daily scan of US stocks will often return hundreds of stocks with NR7 days. Traders can increase or decrease the number of narrow range periods to affect the results. A decrease from NR7 to NR4 would increase the number of instruments fitting the criteria, while an increase from NR7 to e.g. NR20 would decrease the number of signal days. Consider NR7 and NR4 days that are at the same time Inside Days (IDnr4, IDnr7) also as signal days (see chart above).

Strategy: This strategy starts with the day's range, which is simply the difference between the high and the low. Crabel used the absolute range, as opposed to the percentage range, which would be the absolute range divided by the close or the midpoint. Because we are only dealing with four and seven days, the difference between the absolute range and percentage range is negligible. Crabel focused on two different narrow range timeframes: four days and seven days. An NR4 pattern would be the narrowest range in four days, while an NR7 would be the narrowest range in seven days. It is a very short-term pattern designed to initiate a trade based on an "opening range breakout", which is another term from Crabel's book. Look for an upside breakout when prices move above the high of the narrow range day and a downside breakdown when prices move below the low of the narrow range day.

Bull Signal:
  1. The daily bias is bullish.
  2. Identify a NR4, a NR7, an IDnr4 or an IDnr4 day.
  3. Buy on move above high of narrow range day high.
  4. Set trailing stop-loss.
Bear Signal:
  1. The daily bias is bearish.
  2. Identify a NR4, a NR7, an IDnr4 or an IDnr4 day.
  3. Sell on move below low of narrow range day low.
  4. Set trailing stop-loss.
Targets: Because this is a short-term setup, it is important that the trade starts working right away. Failure to continue in the direction of the signal is the first warning. After a buy signal, a move below the low of the narrow range day would be negative. Conversely, a move above the high of the narrow range day would negate a sell signal. Consider profit targets and stop-losses. Crabel took profits quite quickly, usually at the close of the first trading day or on the first profitable close. Again, this is very short-term-oriented and might not be suitable for all traders. Alternatively, profits can be taken near the next resistance levels or a percentage target can be used. Base stops on previous highs and lows, the Average True Range (ATR), etc. For example, the stop-loss on a long position could be set two ATR values below current prices and trailed higher.

Buy/Sell 50% Retracements | Jason A. Jankovsky

Fifty percent retracements are important because they balance the net inequality between the competing net order flows [...] Fifty percent retracements happen because once enough buyers square off against enough sellers, only half of those contracts will be profitable. At the 50% number, exactly half the bulls have a profit and half the bears have a profit. When I say this, it is important to note that this is a net perspective. The actual result to any one trading account isn’t the issue. If you could find a way to look into the total number of open trades, you would see that of the sum total of the open longs, about half of that total number of open contracts will have an open-trade profit—the others will have losses. In other words, if there were 10,000 open longs, around 5,000 of them will have some open-trade gain and the other 5,000 will have some open-trade loss. The exact same situation will be accurate for the shorts. The market is now temporarily balanced from the net perspective. This situation won’t last long; it will only take a short time for new buying or selling pressure to come in. Whoever has the net advantage at that point will tip the balance. Most of the time it is in the original direction back toward the previous high or low because from the net perspective the late loser entered from the short-term trend—that is, the few days or so just before the 50% level is reached.

» You can make a fortune following this one rule alone. «
W.D. Gann - The Tunnel Through the Air, 1927

This is a factor of the Rule of 72. Most market participants operate on a time frame of 72 hours or less. That means that in all the various ways of creating a market timing signal that now is the time to initiate a position, most traders have gotten at least one signal in a 72-hour period and have executed, creating net order-flow. Once they have initiated, they must liquidate to accept their open-trade profit or loss. Most methodologies will have given the exit signal within that time frame as well, with the net result that almost everybody has gotten in and out at least once within a 72-hour period. If this process happens at a 50% balance point, the net result is usually a resumption of he previous trend.
 
Mark Fisher's Three-Day Rolling Pivot = 72 hours

How to use the rule: First you must select a significant high or low price previous to the price the market is currently retreating from. When I say significant price I mean a price that is around 72 bars back in time; also they are usually weekly, monthly, or daily price points. If we use a bullish scenario, you are looking for a previous important low price and the market is retreating from the most recent high. If you use a daily chart, your previous low price must be about 72 days/bars back or so, I find that on longer time frames anything substantially less is not as accurate, and anything significantly more is usually ignored by traders as “old data.” 
 
Place a 50% retracement study between the old low and the new high—that would be your best buy point. That point will be some time in the future that approximately reflects the 72-bar ratio. This is why a price could trade to a high. The opposite would be a sell point if you were tracking a rally in a bear market. But the underlying psychology behind the 50% retracement is not about resumption of a previous trend or a failed reversal; it is about the late trader who entered in the last 72 hours. 
 
Most people who initiate a position—about 80% of the total warm bodies sitting in front of a trading screen—are going to do at least one full round turn in the market just prior to the market reaching the 50% price area. The vast majority of those traders are looking to make money right now. If they follow standard technical analysis or use any of the most common methodologies, because the market was trending lower for more than 30 bars from the rejected high to the 50% point, they are looking to sell into the market and join the apparent downtrend currently in progress, from their point of view. Their focus is to get positioned on the short side because “the trend is your friend.” 
 
But the market has just become balanced momentarily. That means only one thing. The shorts from above the market will cover; they have the most recent 72-hour open-trade profit. The late shorts cover, adding to the buy order imbalance as they take their loss. Last, the old longs on the greater-than-72-bar time frame (the 20% of long-term traders, the ones who know how to follow this rule—the professionals who know you need more than 72 hours to beat the loser) add to net winning open positions, many of which they have owned since the turn under the market. They know that the retracement is coming and it will draw in late blood. So they gladly sit through the 50% retracement with at least part of their original position. Of course, the exact opposite scenario develops when a declining market rallies 50%.
 
Gerald Marisch (1990) - Gann’s 50% Retracement Rule.

Now obviously, markets don’t always turn on a dime once they retrace 50%. Sometimes they take more time to balance temporarily; sometimes they need several more or fewer bars than 72; sometimes they sit at the 50% level for a bit and then retrace farther before moving back in the original trend. None of that is the point. The point is, if you want to make a lot of winning trades and keep it simple, enter your position at the 50 percent retracement point and wait. More often than not you will get at least something you can work with.

Sunday, September 24, 2023

20 Ridiculously Simple Rules of Trading | Dennis Gartman

  1. Never, under any circumstance add to a losing position ... ever! Nothing more need be said; to do otherwise will eventually and absolutely lead to ruin!
  2. Trade like a mercenary guerrilla. We must fight on the winning side and be willing to change sides readily when one side has gained the upper hand.
  3. Capital comes in two varieties: Mental and that which is in your pocket or account. Of the two types of capital, the mental is the more important and expensive of the two. Holding to losing positions costs measurable sums of actual capital, but it costs immeasurable sums of mental capital.
  4. The objective is not to buy low and sell high, but to buy high and to sell higher. We can never know what price is 'low'. Nor can we know what price is 'high'. Always remember that sugar once fell from $1.25/lb to 2 cent/lb and seemed "cheap" many times along the way.
  5. In bull markets we can only be long or neutral, and in bear markets we can only be short or neutral. That may seem self-evident; it is not, and it is a lesson learned too late by far too many.
  6. "Markets can remain illogical longer than you or I can remain solvent", according to our good friend, Dr. A. Gary Shilling. Illogic often reigns and markets are enormously inefficient despite what the academics believe.
  7. Sell markets that show the greatest weakness, and buy those that show the greatest strength. Metaphorically, when bearish, throw your rocks into the wettest paper sack, for they break most readily. In bull markets, we need to ride upon the strongest winds ... they shall carry us higher than shall lesser ones.
  8. Try to trade the first day of a gap, for gaps usually indicate violent new action. We have come to respect "gaps" in our nearly thirty years of watching markets; when they happen (especially in stocks) they are usually very important.
  9. Trading runs in cycles: some good; most bad. Trade large and aggressively when trading well; trade small and modestly when trading poorly. In 'good times', even errors are profitable; in 'bad times' even the most well researched trades go awry. This is the nature of trading; accept it.
  10. To trade successfully, think like a fundamentalist; trade like a technician. It is imperative that we understand the fundamentals driving a trade, but also that we understand the market's technicals. When we do, then, and only then, can we or should we, trade.
  11. Respect 'outside reversals' after extended bull or bear runs. Reversal days on the charts signal the final exhaustion of the bullish or bearish forces that drove the market previously. Respect them, and respect even more 'weekly' and 'monthly', reversals.
  12. Keep your technical systems simple. Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance.
  13. Respect and embrace the very normal 50-62% retracements that take prices back to major trends. If a trade is missed, wait patiently for the market to retrace. Far more often than not, retracements happen ... just as we are about to give up hope that they shall not.
  14. An understanding of mass psychology is often more important than an understanding of economics. Markets are driven by human beings making human errors and also making super-human insights.
  15. Establish initial positions on strength in bull markets and on weakness in bear markets. The first 'addition' should also be added on strength as the market shows the trend to be working. Henceforth, subsequent additions are to be added on retracements.
  16. Bear markets are more violent than are bull markets and so also are their retracements.
  17. Be patient with winning trades; be enormously impatient with losing trades. Remember it is quite possible to make large sums trading/investing if we are 'right' only 30% of the time, as long as our losses are small and our profits are large.
  18. The market is the sum total of the wisdom ... and the ignorance ... of all of those who deal in it; and we dare not argue with the market's wisdom. If we learn nothing more than this we've learned much indeed.
  19. Do more of that which is working and less of that which is not: If a market is strong, buy more; if a market is weak, sell more. New highs are to be bought; new lows sold.
  20. The hard trade is the right trade: If it is easy to sell, don't; and if it is easy to buy, don't. Do the trade that is hard to do and that which the crowd finds objectionable. Peter Steidelmeyer taught us this twenty-five years ago and it holds truer now than then.

Saturday, September 23, 2023

The Enigma of 24 | Robert Edward Grant

 
  1. 24  =  4 x 3 x 2 x 1 — Pythagoras’ Tetractys
  2. (((10^.5) / 10) + 1) ^ 1 / .24)-(((((4 / π) / 2) + 1) * 10^2) / 360) * 10^-3 = 3.1415926 (perfect π to six decimal places)
  3. 360°- (φ x 360°) = 2.4 Radians (137.51°—The Golden Angle), (One Radian = 57.296°)
  4. Fibonacci Numbers in Digital Root (Mod 9) analysis (reduction to single digit thru simple addition in Mod 9) PATTERN REPEATS every 24 numbers
  5. Musical scales possess 12 notes per Octave (sine wave) and an additional 12 notes for the next octave (cosine), there are 24 total Major and Minor Keys
  6. The Vector Equilibrium (Cube Octahedron) has 24 edges
  7. >3 All Prime Numbers (and Quasi Primes) are arranged in Mod 24 (spoke 1, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23) without exception
  8. >3, All Prime^2 values are multiples of 24,+1 without exception
  9. The full Flower of Life has exactly 24 circles in its outermost perimeter
  10. (π^π) / (e^e) = 2.4
What is it about this number? Is it because it is the smallest of only three Prime and Quasi Prime number pairs (.571 (Ω) and 175 (1/Ω)/.731 (α) and 137 (1/α)) whose Reciprocal Value is equal to it’s Palindrome (24 has a Palindrome of 42 AND 1/24 = .042). Interestingly and even more enigmatically 137/57 = 2.4 AND 175/73 = 2.4 as well …

Also, we have 24 hours in one day, and the Sum of Interior Angles of a 24-sided polygon (Icositetragon) is 3960°… which also happens to be the exact Radius of the Earth in miles … Was Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy right after all in proposing that the ANSWER to the Universe really is 42 (and therefore it’s reciprocal value of 24)?

 
See also:

Friday, September 15, 2023

Syria Warns the US: "Stop the Oil and Gas Robbery! Get Out Immediately!"

The United States tries to overthrow Syrian governments through different proxies like Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1970ies, and since 2011 through al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, more radical Jihadi terrorists and militias as well as through substantial US military forces inside of Syria. As a consequence more than half of Syria's population of 23 million is displaced from their homes, 5.5 million fled the country, and estimates of the total number of deaths, in what is framed as 'the Syrian civil war' by the West, vary between 603,064 and about 620,000 as of August 2023. 
 
On September 10, 2023 the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and the President of the Security Council Ferit Hoxha, demanding that they put an end to aggressive practices and violations of the principles of international law and the provisions of the UN Charter, which are being committed by the United States of America and its military forces that are illegally present on one third of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic - on more than sixty thousand square kilometers - in the northeast and in the Al-Tanf region in the southeast of the country (yellowish and light green on the map below)
 
The Ministry pointed out that the United States of America and its tools continue to violate sovereignty and plunder the country’s wealth and strategic resources, with the aim of exacerbating the effects of illegal unilateral coercive measures and depriving Syrians of the capabilities of their homeland and increasing their suffering. The Ministry added that the value of the damage caused to the Syrian oil and mineral wealth sector as a result of acts of aggression, looting and sabotage committed by the US forces and their terrorist tools amounted to a total of $ 115.2 billion during the period from 2011 until the end of the first half of the year 2023. The Ministry stated that the latest statistics and estimates of the losses of the oil sector in Syria show that the value of direct losses amounted to $ 27.5 billion, resulting from the following: The theft, waste and burning of extracted oil quantities estimated at 341 million barrels. The rate of theft was around 100-130 thousand barrels per day and recently reached 150 thousand barrels per day in addition to 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas and 413 thousand tons of domestic gas. The value is $21.4 billion. Vandalism and theft of facilities, resulting in damages amounting to $ 3.2 billion. 
 
Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, US-Department of Defense, October 2019:
"The US now owns one third of Syria, all of the hidrocarbons, and the country's food basket. The rest is rubble."

The so-called ‘international coalition’ bombed oil and gas facilities in Syria, with the amount of damage amounting to $2.9 billion. The Ministry continued that the indirect losses amount to $87.7 billion, which represents the value of the lost benefits (from crude oil, natural gas, and domestic gas) as a result of a decrease in production below the planned rates under normal working conditions. Syria demanded that American officials be held accountable for these thefts and that the American administration be forced to compensate for them, end the illegal presence of American forces, and return the lands it occupies, oil and gas fields and other natural resources to the Syrian state to ensure improving the humanitarian and living conditions of the Syrians.

Trend Reversal Entry Strategies

Trend-Reversal Entry Strategies aim to buy at or near the bottom and to sell at or near the top. Advisors and educators often reject these strategies because their technical analysis relies on lagging indicators. However, there are three high probability two-bar reversal patterns: the Reversal Day, the Signal Day and the Snap-Back Reversal Day. These are low-risk trend-reversal entry strategies for short-term trading and swing-trading. The set-ups are identified on the daily chart and the entries executed on the hourly chart or lower timeframes. The profit/loss ration needs to be 1.5 or more. Proper knowledge of market structure and price action is required.
 
How reliable are these 'text book' patterns?
Brent Penfold (2017) - Reversal Patterns.
Oddmund Groette (2023) - Reversal Day Strategy Backtest – Does It Work?

Reversal Day Trade Entry Set-Up
A Reversal Day top forms when price makes a new daily high but the day closes below the prior day's close. The current day's open and the trend to new highs is not sustained by the close. Variations of the Reversal Day are the Key Reversal Day, the Outside Reversal Day and the Outside Key Reversal Day.
 

On a Key Reversal Day the market opens below the prior day's close, makes a new high, but closes below the prior day's close and the current day's open. A Key Reversal Day is a stronger reversal signal than a Reversal Day. Outside Reversal Days and Key Reversal Days are both Outside Days and meet the criteria of the Reversal Day. Outside Reversal Days are stronger reversal indicators than Reversal Days, and Outside Key Reversal Days are even more convincing that a daily reversal has taken place. In all cases the Initial Protective Stop Loss is one tick above the high.

Signal Day Trade Entry Set-Up
A Signal Day opens above the prior day's close, makes a new high and the close is below the current day's open. The open must be in the top 1/3 of the daily range and the close must be in the bottom 1/3 to qualify as a valid Signal Day. Unlike a Reversal Day, the Signal Day's close does not have to be below the prior day's close, only below the current day's open.

The Gap Signal Day is a very strong daily reversal indicator. The entire daily range of the Gap Signal Day is above the prior day's range, leaving a gap at the end of the day. Considering the positive up close as bullish is a misleading view of a Gap Signal Day.
 

In both cases the Initial Protective Stop Loss is one tick above the high of the Signal Day.

Snap-Back Reversal Day Trade Entry Set-Up
This is a two-day reversal setup. On Day One the market makes a new high with an open in the lower 1/3 of the daily range and the high in the lop 1/3. It appears to be a very bullish day. Day Two is the Snap-Back Day with the open in the top 1/3 of the daily range and the close in the bottom 1/3. Day Two does not have to reach new highs or lows compared to Day One. The wider the range of Day One and Day Two, the stronger the indication for a reversal. A stronger Snap-Back Reversal Day has Day Two's open below Day One's close with a new daily low and a close below the prior day's low. 


The Initial Protective Stop Loss is one tick above the higher of the two days.
 
All of the above daily reversal patterns frequently occur within a trend without resulting in a sustained change of trend. Hence daily reversal set-ups are only to be considered valid when time, price and patterns are indicating a termination of the trend. 

Trend Continuation Entry Strategies

Trades can be entered after a new trend is already established. There are three low-risk trend continuation entry strategies for short-term trading and swing-trading. The set-ups are identified on the daily chart and the entries executed on the hourly chart or lower timeframes. The profit/loss ratio needs to be 1.5 or more. Proper knowledge of market structure and price action is required.
 
Inside-Day Trade Entry Set-Up
The price range of an inside-day is within the price range of the previous day. An inside-day is a day of indecision. It is a day when traders do not have strong conviction as to the trend of the market. An inside-day often occurs after a wide-range day when the range exceeded the average range of the prior few days. Inside-days also often occur either after a trend reversal or after a fast move as a brief period of consolidation within a larger trend. Usually, the direction of the breakout from the inside-day is a continuation of the direction prior to the inside-day. 


Inside Day Buy Set-Up Rules:
  1. Only enter in the direction of the trend  against the last pivot reversal.
  2. Enter a buy position, as long as the low of the day prior to the inside-day has not been exceeded, or, on the day following the inside-day, buy at one tick above the high of the day prior to the inside-day.
  3. Place the initial protective sell stop one tick below the lower of the low of the inside-day or the low of the entry day.

Outside Day Trade Entry Set-Up
An outside-day is a period of range expansion. A market usually continues in the direction of the close of an outside-day. The outside-day entry setup requires the market to be monitored during the day.
 

Outside Day Buy Set-Up Rules:
  1. Only enter in the direction of the trend.
  2. For a buy set-up, if the market first exceeds the low of the prior day without having exceeded the high of the prior day, buy one tick above the high of the prior day.
  3. Place the initial protective sell-stop one tick below the low of the entry day up to the time the trade is entered.
  4. Exit the position on the close if the close is below the current day's open and prior day's close. The failure of the close to be in the anticipated trend direction is a negative signal and reason to exit the trade.

Pull Back Trade Entry Set-Up
The Pull-Back entry strategy is based on the observation that minor corrections in trending markets usually only last some three days. The Pull-Back trade set-up enters a trade on minor corrections against the main trend.
 
 
Pull Back Buy Set-Up Rules:
  1. Only enter in the direction of the trend.
  2. For a sell set-up, the three most recent days must each have higher highs or any combination of two higher highs and an inside-day. Just the opposite for a buy set-up.
  3. For a sell set-up, place a sell-stop one tick below the low of the prior day once the set-up conditions are met.
  4. If the market makes a new high, adjust the sell-stop one tick below the low of the prior day.
  5. Place the initial protective buy-stop one tick above the higher of the high of entry day or the day prior to entry.
  6. Exit the position on the close of the entry day if the close is above the current day's open and the prior day's close.
Keep in mind, no single strategy is bulletproof, stop-loss strategies must be in place and the profit/loss ratio 1.5 or more. Trading is about probabilities and losses part of the trading-business.
 

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Crude Oil Near Weekly Reversal


After 3 weeks of rise out of the Aug 24 (Thu) low, Crude Oil is nearing a weekly high.

This week may complete another full 3 x ATR advance out of the Sep 08 (Fri) low to 91.68 by Sep 15 (Fri). 
Then the minimum retracement target should be 50% down to around 84.75. Pump and Dump.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Sell Rosh Hashanah & Buy Yom Kippur 2023 | Jeff Hirsch

Sell Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur is aligning quite well this year with late September seasonal weakness and the notoriously treacherous week after quarterly options expiration, AKA Triple Witching (Fri, Sep 15th). It’s a few days before FOMC (Tue-Wed, Sep 19-20) with a market jittery on hotter inflation data.
 

Rosh Hashanah lands on Saturday 9/16 this year so we close the day before. This is right at the mid-month peak of the typical September pattern. Yom Kippur falls on 9/25 (Mon) which is the 16th trading day of the month, right around the seasonal monthly low point.


The thesis is that folks sell positions on Rosh Hashanah the first of the Days of Awe to rid themselves of financial commitments and then return to the market after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is no coincidence that this coincides with the seasonal September/October weakness. The market has been tracking the 4-year cycle and seasonal trends to a T this year and the past 3. So this should make a great entry for the Q4 pre-election year rally.

 

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Terminating French Neocolonialism & the CFA Zone in Africa | Ibrahim Traoré

African states are one by one falling outside the shackles of French neocolonialism. Six decades after 'independence' Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger reject France's uninterrupted domination of African financial, political, economic, and security affairs. It is absolutely impossible to understand Africa's current turmoil without understanding the nature of French neocolonialism. The key is the CFA franc, the colonial franc, introduced in 1945 in French Africa, which still rules over 14 African countries. 
 
» The slave that cannot carry out his own revolt deserves no pity. «
Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of Burkina Faso, July 2023.


The whole world remembers that after the 2008 global financial crisis, Libya’s Leader
Muammar Gaddafi was Chairperson of the African Union, and called for the establishment of a pan-African currency pegged to gold, the African Gold Dinar. By that time Gaddafi had developed Libya from one of the most miserable into the richest country in Africa. Libya was economically and socially stable, had a prosperous and educated people, its own currency, no obligations to the IMF, the World Bank nor the BIS, zero foreign debt and about 150 tons of gold, kept in its own fully sovereign central bank - not in London, not in Paris, and not in New York. Together with South Africa's gold the new pan-African currency would have had its own independent financial center in Tripoli, Libya, and a sovereign African Development Bank in Yaoundé, Cameroon. For scores of African nations that was the plan and strategy to finally jail break from the CFA and from the entirely fraudulent Western global monetary and financial system that was imposed at gunpoint on the 'decolonized' after 1945 by the new 'free world' champions: the US, the French and the British. 
 
What Libya still did not have was nuclear weapons, satellite-guided long-range missiles nor an efficient air defence. In March 2011 the first airstrike on Libya came from a French Mirage fighter jet. France's bombing campaigns on Tripoli, Misrata, Sirte - on water supply and electricity infrastructure, on public buildings and civilian living quarters alike - started even before simulated 'emergency talks' between western leaders in Paris ended. The US kept on bringing in through Cyrenaica tens of thousands of their Jihadists out of Syria and Iraq via US bases in Türkiye for the dirty work on the ground. In the course of the assault the French COS looted the central bank in Tripoli and airlifted all of Libya's gold to Paris while the EU Commission seized all Libyan assets in Europe (by the way, during the 2014 Maidan coup UKSF rushed out 40 tons of Ukraine's central bank gold to London and New York). After murdering Gaddafi in October 2011, France became the first country in the world to recognize a US-fabricated mercenary Jihadist 'National Transitional Council' as the legitimate government over a completely destroyed and dysfunctional Libya, contaminated by countless US, British and French Depleted Uranium projectiles. 
 
The African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was immediately cut off from all funds and cleansed from pan-African sovereign aspirations and diplomats by a concerted coup of the US, the British, the French and the EU Commission. The new head of the African Union became one of Jacob Zuma's ex-wifes, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Her agenda replaced formerly well funded programs for health, education, infrastructure, industrialization and pan-African trade with mass-vaccination and sterilization campaigns of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO-'Ebola' test runs for the Covid-19 plandemic, gender issues, CO2 reduction programs, WEF-Central Bank Digital Currency experiments, and an EU-funded African Union military intervention in Somalia, to name but a few of her achievements. When Zuma's term ended in 2017, any genuine purpose of the African Union had been erased. Since 2011 the neocolonial consortium of the US, the British, the French and the EU Commission had launched the so called 'Arab Spring', destroyed Libya, established some two dozens of additional military bases, fostered ethnic separatist movements, armed jihad fanatics, imposed bogus 'peace keeping' and 'humanitarian' military interventions and turned the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes Region, and the Sahel from Mali to Sudan into quagmires of violence and misery. This triggered displacement and migration of tens of millions within Africa  - Egypt alone now hosts some 11 million refugees - as well as mass migration of epic proportion into Türkiye and Europe.  

The French CFA racket in Africa makes the Mafia look like street punks. The monetary policy of 14 African nations with a population of more than 120 million is controlled by the French Treasury in Paris. The Central Bank of each African nation was initially required to keep at least 65 percent of their annual foreign exchange reserves in an 'operation account' held at the French Treasury, plus another 20 percent to cover financial 'liabilities'. Even after some 'reforms' were enacted since 2005, these nations were still required to transfer 50 percent of their foreign exchange to Paris, plus 20 percent V.A.T. The CFA Central Banks impose a cap on credit to each member country. The French Treasury invests these African foreign reserves in its own name on the Paris bourse and pulls in massive profits on Africa's dime. More than 80 percent of foreign reserves of African nations in those  'operation accounts' are used by the French Treasury as if they were French capital and as collateral in pledging assets to French payments to the EU and the ECB. French conglomerate Bolloré controls ports and marine transport throughout West Africa; Bouygues/Vinci dominates construction and public works, water, and electricity distribution; Total has huge stakes in oil and gas. And then there is France Telecom and big banking - Societe Generale, Credit Lyonnais, BNP-Paribas, AXA (insurance), Areva - France's highest valued company (uranium) - and so forth. France de facto controls the overwhelming majority of infrastructure in Francophone Africa. It is a virtual monopoly. Policies are issued by the President of the Republic of France and his 'African cell'. They have nothing to do with parliament, or any democratic process, since the times of Charles De Gaulle. The 'African cell' is a General Command and uses the French military apparatus to install 'friendly' leaders and to get rid of those that threaten the system. 
 
ECOWAS = Of the Colonialist, by the Colonialist, for the Colonialist?

The French exploitation scheme became shaken to its core by the 2021 military coup of Colonel Assimi Goïta in Mali, the 2022 military coup of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, now President of a transitional government of Burkina Faso, and the recent military coup of General Abdourahmane Tchiani in Niger in July 2023. They are now counting on their own abilities and capacities and support from Russia and China. During the past twenty years China became Africa's biggest trading partner and foreign investor. No wars, no coups, no destabilization involved. Without a single shot. Bypassing the African Union and based on bilateral agreements, China built thousands of kilometers of railways and roads,
cargo trains, high speed trains, urban transportation systems, dozens of airports, sports stadiums, schools, universities, some twenty deep water ports, container hubs, hydroelectric dams, some eighty large power plants, tens-of-thousands of kilometers of power lines, hundreds of factories, mining projects and hospitals, sent twenty thousand Chinese medical workers providing free care to hundreds of millions of Africans, and had invited some one hundred fifty thousand Africans with all inclusive academic scholarships to China. Many African countries expect an increasing Russian engagement, mainly in order to promote their defense capacities and food security.

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