Camille Pissarro Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain 1897
https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2054756638155006263?s=20 https://twitter.com/CryptoNobler/status/2054841983630225712?s=20
Inflation is 3.8% and rising on Iran-driven energy costs, but still nowhere near the Biden-era highs.
— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) May 13, 2026
The chart below shows us where we were four years ago: pic.twitter.com/RgM96bQ1hL
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2054734278869602379?s=20Powerful and concerning.
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) May 14, 2026
This man James Erdman is a national hero for standing up against the CIA.
Pray for him and his family. https://t.co/89tx1kPz1u
Most Americans still think geopolitics is politicians giving speeches at podiums.
— AJ Inapi (Allan) (@aj_inapi) May 13, 2026
That’s the old world.
What President Trump is doing in Beijing right now is something entirely different:
Using CORPORATE POWER as a geopolitical weapon.
Look at the delegation he assembled for… pic.twitter.com/SUnEdLgtmE
Let Trump explain himself. Works for Xi.
• President Trump Discusses China Visit and Discussion with Chairman Xi (CTH)
President Trump sits down with Fox News Sean Hannity for an interview immediately following the fast-paced visit in Beijing, China.Hannity asks President Trump for his sense of the greeting and pageantry put on by Chairman Xi at the formal greeting, as well as some general discussion on the topics of a very lengthy talk between Trump administration officials and their Chinese counterparts.Read more …
President Trump and Chairman Xi discussed Iran and the current conflict which has impacted the global supply of oil. It should be noted that closure of the Strait of Hormuz in combination with the U.S. control over Venezuela oil production has reversed the dependency dynamic between Russia and China. Prior to oil/gas shortages (skyrocketing prices), and due to Western U.S/EU sanctions, Russia was very dependent on China for supplies and component goods. After oil/gas shortages were triggered by the Iran conflict, China became dependent on Russia for their energy demands. A rather unusual dynamic sitting like an 800lb Gorilla in the corner of the meeting between President Trump and Chairman Xi.
(1) Upon reelection President Trump told all U.S. energy providers to “drill baby drill” and maximize energy production. Trump then deregulated the industry for maximum efficiency: Secretaries Burgum (Interior), Wright (Energy) and Zeldin (EPA).
(2) Trump then meets with Putin in Alaska Aug 15, 2025. Three days later, Aug 18, 2025, Putin restarts Russia’s flagship Arctic project, the LNG export facility via the Northern Route to Asia.
(3) President Trump then signs contracts with Finland for the urgent start of Arctic icebreaking ship manufacturing in the USA and emphasizes the prior conversation about taking over Greenland which infuriates the Danes and EU.
(4) President Trump then triggers the Venezuela operation, captures Nicholas Maduro and -in addition to other benefits- forms a new strategic oil development relationship with the interim Venezuela government. Russia stays silent.
(5) President Trump then triggers Operation Epic Fury against Iran; completely changing the geopolitical landscape that surrounds energy partnerships. Energy flows through the Gulf of Oman are impacted.
(6) President Trump then removes specific sanctions against Russia permitting Russian oil and LNG to be sold (in petrodollars) into the Asian market. Meanwhile, the European Union is forced to increase LNG purchases from the United States.
Sure, it could all be just coincidence… or not. One thing is certain, the FIVE-EYES opposition (Canada, EU, U.K and Australia) do not think all of this downstream benefit that flows to Russia and the USA is coincidental. The FIVE-EYES opposition clearly see all of this as a strategic realignment between the USA and Russia, and they are going to do everything in their power to stop it.
Last point. The next world leader to visit China will be…. wait for it… Vladimir Putin.
“Trump and Xi agreed that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open to free navigation and that Tehran should not charge a fee to ships using the critical waterway.”<
• “Fantastic Day” With Xi, 200-Jet Boeing Deal, China Offers Hormuz Help (ZH)
Boeing-China Jet DealRead more …
A highly anticipated Boeing jet deal appears to have materialized after the first day of President Trump’s summit with President Xi Jinping. Fox News reports that Trump said Boeing secured an order for 200 “big” jets from China. He said the order was initially for 150, but the final figure will be 200
Trump Says China Will Help On Reopening Hormuz
It is nearly midnight in Beijing, and President Trump is still speaking on the record with corporate media, offering additional insight on the first day of the summit and state banquet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In comments to Fox News, Trump said Xi offered to help pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, signaling that Beijing may be willing to use its leverage over Tehran.
*TRUMP SAYS CHINA'S XI OFFERED TO HELP ON IRAN: FOX NEWS
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 14, 2026This comes as energy insiders and traders warn that continued closure of the Strait through the end of the month could spark a worsening energy shock.
Trump also said Xi would not provide weapons to Tehran.
*TRUMP: XI SAID HE WON'T GIVE MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO IRAN https://t.co/9s2HQn4rPs
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 14, 2026Trump, Xi Put Hormuz, Iran, Trade, Taiwan At Center Of Historic Beijing Summit
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are currently seated at the main table at a state banquet. President Xi called the visit historic, and said U.S.-China ties are “stable” amid talks with Trump’s team.President Xi offers a toast at the state banquet dinner in Beijing: "To the bright future of China-U.S. relations, and the friendship between the two peoples, and to the health of President Trump and all of the friends present." pic.twitter.com/VmJeU4Xk1f
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 14, 2026According to a White House readout, Trump and Xi agreed that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open to free navigation and that Tehran should not charge a fee to ships using the critical waterway.
From the Bilateral Meeting in Beijing:
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 14, 2026
President Trump had a good meeting with President Xi of China. pic.twitter.com/WaH8hR1ZV3Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. pic.twitter.com/7hYMIBoTZY
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 14, 2026Beijing also signaled interest in buying more U.S. oil to reduce China’s reliance on crude and crude products transiting the Hormuz chokepoint. This signifies how the U.S.-Iran conflict is rewiring global energy flows.mTrump-Xi talks also covered fentanyl, securing market access for U.S. companies in the mainland market, and increasing Chinese investment in American industries and purchases of U.S. agricultural products. “American enterprises are deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up, a process from which both sides have benefited,” Xi told the leaders of U.S. companies accompanying Trump on the trip. Those CEOs include Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between countries, including expanding market access for American businesses into China and increasing Chinese investment.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 14, 2026
Leaders from many of the United States’ largest companies joined a portion of the meeting. pic.twitter.com/i3Q1ogde2E
They have to give it to all
• Iran Proclaims Safe, Toll-Free Passage For 30 Chinese Tankers (ZH)
During President Trump’s ongoing state visit to China, he and President Xi Jinping agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must be open for the free flow of energy. They along with their senior officials have expressed agreement that no country can be allowed to exact shipping tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. Following this, Thursday saw Iranian state media proclaim that some 30 Chinese vessels are being allowed safe passage by Iran. Bloomberg also freshly reports, “The vessels were allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz with the coordination of the Iranian authorities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, state TV reports, citing an IRGC naval official.Read more …
While it’s as yet unknown or unclear whether the US Navy side of the de facto blockade will also let them pass, Reuters has also reported the following: Iran has begun allowing some Chinese vessels to transit through the Strait of Hormuz following an understanding over Iranian management protocols for the waterway, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Thursday, citing an informed source. In particular the move also follows formal requests by China’s foreign minister as well as Beijing’s ambassador to Iran, with Tehran reportedly agreeing based on safeguarding the two allies’ strategic partnership.Bloomberg cited the IRGC official as saying of the Iranian protocol for passage, “A new era in the Strait of Hormuz has started as many countries of the world and fleets have accepted that the best, quickest and simplest way for transiting this very important waterway is only though coordination with the IRGC’s naval forces.” This was after Wednesday saw the key milestone of a Chinese supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude having successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz, after previously being stranded for more than two months.
Also of note is that the Chinese Cosco Shipping tanker did not have to pay tolls. According to The Wall Street Journal: Lloyd’s List Intelligence data show the Yuan Hua Hu crossed the waterway through the corridor in the north controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ship trackers said the vessel switched off its transponder while sailing from an anchorage in Dubai towards Larak, then came back online for a couple of hours before going dark again. Ships crossing through Larak pay an average of $2 million each, according to brokers.
The Yuan Hua Hu is the third Chinese state-owned tanker to leave the Gulf since the start of the war. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott emphasized earlier this week that Washington and Beining “agreed that no country or organization can be allowed to charge tolls to pass through international waterways like the Strait of Hormuz.” China imports the bulk of its energy from the Middle East, and while it has amassed substantial crude oil stockpiles that are helping it weather the worst of the crisis – anecdotally over 1.4 billion barrels – restoring normal flows from the Persian Gulf is important for one of the world’s top energy importers.
Spittin’.
• The Secretary of State Is Cool (Sarah Anderson)
For years, we’ve had the media try to force the idea that certain Democrats were “cool” down our throats. Barack Obama is probably the best example. Turns out, he’s just a guy in mom jeans whose wife likes to go on podcasts and share enough marital gripes to make him sound overly henpecked. They tried with countless others. Eric Swalwell. We all know how that ended up. Turns out he’s less “cool” and more “pervy predator.” (Allegedly.) Gavin Newsom tries very hard himself to remind us he’s cool, but every time he does, he comes across as racist, ridiculous, or just plain out of touch.Read more …
For some, however, it’s effortless. I’m talking, of course, about our dear Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Most of y’all who read here regularly know I’m a fan and have been from the beginning of his career. I stuck with him, even when a lot of conservatives didn’t. I was thrilled when Donald Trump chose him as Secretary of State — it was the first breaking news story I got to write when I joined the team here at PJ Media. That’s who I learned so much of my Western Hemisphere foreign policy from over the years. bI say all this to admit that I’m biased. And I don’t know that Rubio is necessarily “cool.” He can actually be kind of dorky. But I’m not even sure that matters.What does matter is that, while yes, he is a politician and proves that sometimes, he’s also human and relatable in a way that those guys I mentioned above will never be. Now that he’s arguably one of the most important men in the world, the MSM is catching on, and they don’t like it one bit. The biggest example of this is Rubio’s passion for rap music and the fact that he often injects lyrics into his speeches and appearances. He’s been doing this for a while, but the media has, apparently, just figured it out. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume a lot of you in our audience do not care for this kind of music.
Rubio has even joked himself in the past that it’s not really what a lot of conservatives listen to. Personally, I don’t mention it here often, but I’m a huge rap fan, and I think more conservative millennials like myself, who grew up on it in the 1990s, are too, and I think that adds to the secretary’s appeal to my generation. I’ve said before that one reason I always liked him is because I felt he spoke to my generation (even though he’s Gen X and a decade or two older than most of us). But this is not necessarily about his taste in the music. This is just one of many examples.
It’s about how he remains authentic and refuses to back away from his love for it, even if it may not be popular with all of his base. In his 2012 memoir An American Son, Rubio mentions that when he was in sixth grade, while his friends were listening to Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne, he was discovering Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. He called hip-hop his “guilty pleasure,” and claimed that when he was on the campaign trail, he’d sit with his earphones on and close his eyes and envision winning his initial campaign for the Senate. And apparently his young staff members were always surprised about his musical tastes. Here’s something from the book The Rise of Marco Rubio:
Rubio liked to blast hip-hop on the stereo. ‘He can spit!’ one young staffer marveled to a friend, invoking the slang term for singing rap lyrics. A love of rap wasn’t exactly what they expected from the up-and-coming voice of righteous conservatism. You know, I get in trouble when I talk about that a little bit, because maybe I shouldn’t listen to that anymore, but the music is good, Rubio would later say. ‘[You’ve] just got to sometimes ignore what their politics may be and just enjoy the music.’
Fast forward back to 2026. On January 3, shortly after we captured Nicolás Maduro, Rubio said of Trump always doing what he says he’s going to do, “If you don’t know, now you know.” It’s a line from The Notorious B.I.G.’s — aka Biggie Smalls — 1994 song “Juicy.” The White House actually used it in a social media video last night, featuring Rubio aboard Air Force One, wearing the same Nike jogging suit Maduro wore the night we got him — a total troll move and yet another reason why Rubio is “cooler” than your average Democrat. During a hearing earlier this year, he quoted Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” when talking about life in Venezuela under the Maduro regime. At a Cabinet meeting in March, he quoted a Public Enemy song, “Welcome to the Terrordome.”
Full circle moment pic.twitter.com/6hkxyGNo8J
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 12, 2026When he filled in for Karoline Leavitt during the White House press briefing last week, he worked in lyrics from Cypress Hill — saying the Iranian regime is “insane in the brain” — and Ice Cube, suggesting the regime should “check themselves before they wreck themselves.” For what it’s worth, Rubio has also said he’s a big EDM (electronic dance music) fan, and we’ve seen proof of that too. Most recently, him DJing a wedding in Florida a couple of weekends ago. My point is that none of this is forced. It’s not for political gain. He is just being who he is. And that’s something very few Democrats are able to do these days.
You can tell it’s a threat to the left because the MSM is starting to speak negatively about it. They see this cool dude whose star is rising at a rapid pace because of relatable things he says and does, who is a strong potential 2028 contender, and who is having fun while doing it. They also see they’ve only got, well, Gavin Newsom in Atlanta telling a predominantly black audience that he’s as dumb as they are, while his wife alienates most of the country with her absurd ideas that boys are bad and Southern conservatives are all hateful bigots.
They know they can’t win elections with that, so they have to send out their barking dogs to try to make Rubio look bad. On The Daily Show last week, they began mocking his use of rap lyrics, saying they’re inappropriate when talking about war. They also declared that rap music is no longer cool. And just look how sad Jake Tapper appears to be over the whole “rap lyric” situation.
https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/2052503376638669290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2052503376638669290%7Ctwgr%5E4d108a73701bc209eb84e584ad9138c3868f6e45%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fsarah-anderson%2F2026%2F05%2F13%2Fthe-secretary-of-state-is-cool-and-the-msm-is-having-a-meltdown-over-it-n4952802
The Atlantic also recently published an article called “Is Marco Rubio the Happiest Cabinet Member?” On the surface, it sounds like a feel-good puff piece, like something, I don’t know, maybe yours truly would write, but the subheading gives it away: “While his colleagues deal with war and controversy, he’s laughing and talking in rap lyrics.” Laughing? Talking in rap lyrics? It’s criminal! Let’s just lock him up right now. I didn’t read the entire article, but it goes on to list all the supposedly bad things going on in the country, the world, and the Trump administration and declares “In a more normal time, he would seem like just another glad-handing politician. But consider the moment.”
If that’s the worst these people can come up — he laughs, he uses lyrics to make points, he’s enjoying his life — I’d say Rubio is doing much better than most of the current politicians in the U.S. And I, for one, am here for it. As a matter of fact, I’d like to see more.
https://twitter.com/SarahDownSouth/status/2051774945521279461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2051774945521279461%7Ctwgr%5E4d108a73701bc209eb84e584ad9138c3868f6e45%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fsarah-anderson%2F2026%2F05%2F13%2Fthe-secretary-of-state-is-cool-and-the-msm-is-having-a-meltdown-over-it-n4952802
And Russia?
• US Secretary of State Calls Chinese Military Second Strongest In World (TASS)
China has been building up its military at an unprecedented pace over the past decade, making it the second strongest in the world today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “I mean, the pace of growth in the Chinese military over the last 10 years has no precedent. <...> It’s hard to ignore how fast and how big [it’s growing]. <...> They are, right now, the world’s second most powerful military without a doubt,” he said in an interview with NBC News. According to Rubio, Chinese authorities “have ambitions to ultimately be able to project power globally the way the US does now.”Read more …
EU declares itself ready to be fleeced.
• Europe’s Dependence On US LNG Set To Surge (Irina Slav)
The European Union’s dependence on liquefied natural gas from the United States is set to rise significantly, reaching 80% of all LNG imports in two years, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has warned. In a report cited by Reuters, IEEFA noted that the European Union already imports significant volumes of U.S. liquefied gas, creating a potentially risky dependence on a single supplier. LNG imports from the United States into the EU accounted for 58% of overall LNG imports. Yet this dependence is only going to increase in the coming years, the outlet said, recommending more wind, solar, and heat pumps as an alternative.Read more …
This year, the United States will become the European Union’s biggest supplier of liquefied gas, even as the bloc also gobbles up every ton of Russian LNG it can buy ahead of the 2027 ban on Russian energy imports.The motivation for that ban, in addition to punishment for the war in Ukraine, has been to avoid overwhelming dependence on a single energy supplier, which is what the EU is currently doing with the U.S. Energy commodities are a big part of the trade deal signed last year by President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.The deal featured a commitment on the part of the EU to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy commodities over a period of three years. The European Parliament earlier this year signaled it has problems with the deal, which angered the U.S. president, and he threatened to hike tariffs on EU goods unless the bloc signs the deal as is. The arrangement elevated American LNG, oil, and refined fuels in Europe’s energy supply mix. The actual supply of so many energy commodities, however, would be physically – and financially – challenging both for the suppliers and the buyers.
Someone actually mentions Seymour Hersh.
• US Wants To Restore Nord Stream & Purchase, At Steep Discount: Lavrov (ZH)
The Nord Stream pipelines have long slipped from headlines, apart from the occasional whodunnit narratives, and they have remained damaged and offline. The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipeline bombings occurred on September 26, 2022 – but their future fate is still up in the air and being wrangled over, including by Washington. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has alleged that Washington now it wants to buy the part of the pipelines owned by European companies, in order to assert influence and control over European energy.Read more …
“Take a look at how the Americans are planning to restore Nord Stream. I am talking about two gas pipelines, and they were blown up,” he told RT in an interview this week. “The Americans under Biden said that these gas pipelines would not work, but now they accuse the Ukrainians of blowing up these two pipelines,” he continued, before noting: “Actually, four pipelines. Three out of four were blown up. The Americans want to buy out the part that was owned by European companies.” He further explained that the US “wants to strike the deal at a price that is 10 times lower than the initial European investments” – according to Russian state media.He explained that this would be about US control, and the ability to dictate the price of gas – instead of what would have been a prior mutual agreement between Russia and Germany, before the pipelines were sabotaged. “They [the US] openly stated that they wanted to halt gas transit via pipelines from Russia to Europe through Ukraine in order to control these flows as well,” he alleged. Last year ZeroHedge asked Trump directly about who was behind the Nord Stream sabotage op. “If you can believe it they said Russia blew it up,” Trump initially responded at the time.
“Well probably if I asked certain people they would be able to tell you without having to waste a lot of money on an investigation,” the president said. “But I think a lot of people know who blew it up, but I was the one who blew it up originally because I wouldn’t let it be built, and then when Biden got in he allowed it to be built.”
President strongly suggested that based on classified intelligence he knows exactly who was behind the September 26, 2022 covert operation which ended in the Baltic Sea explosions and major leaks which took the vital Russia to Germany natural gas pipelines permanently offline. Of course, with no investigation whatsoever (a serious European inquiry didn’t even begin till the following year), Western mainstream press coalesced around the dubious “Russia bombed their own pipeline!” narrative.
The Kremlin has hinted that the US could potentially take over and revive the damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines to supply Russian gas to Western Europe.
— Brian McDonald (@BrianMcDonaldIE) May 13, 2026
Asked whether Moscow would consider cooperation if American investors acquired EU stakes in the infrastructure, Kremlin… pic.twitter.com/YTawPt6iKgIn early 2023, famed journalist and Pulitzer price winner Seymour Hersh published a bombshell report which concluded that the United States blew up the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise. Hersh’s report has been subject to a lot of pushback since then, but he’s not backed off this initial reporting and investigation.
NATO want war. It’s that ssimple.
• NATO Chief Wants To Triple Money Flows To Ukraine – Politico (RT)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged member states to devote 0.25% of their GDP to aid for Ukraine, Politico Europe reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.Rutte reportedly raised the issue during a closed door meeting of NATO ambassadors late last month. If adopted, the proposal, first floated by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky last year, would effectively triple aid to Kiev to around $143 billion annually, according to NATO estimates of the allies’ combined GDP cited by Politico.Read more …
The proposal is said to be partly motivated by frustration among some countries that they are contributing more support to Ukraine than others. Several allies, including major NATO members France and Britain, reportedly oppose the initiative. The discussions on increasing support for cash-strapped Ukraine come as the country has been rocked by another major corruption scandal allegedly involving figures close to Zelensky.On Thursday, Ukraine’s top anti-corruption court is expected to rule on whether to detain Zelensky’s former chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, who was named a suspect in a money laundering case involving kickbacks in the energy sector and elite real estate developments outside Kiev. According to the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the suspects, including former Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, laundered around $9 million through investments in the construction of the Dinastia (Dynasty) residential complex.
Last year, investigators uncovered a $100 million kickback scheme allegedly orchestrated by Timur Mindich, Zelensky’s longtime former business partner, who has been described in the media as his “wallet.” Mindich fled the country to avoid arrest, while several senior officials, including two ministers, resigned.
““If you are already part of NATO, then you can’t create a separate army. And if you have, like the European army, and then you have the NATO one, then, you know, the ball just falls between the chairs.”
• Spain Wants An Eu Army: What Would It Mean? (RT)
Spain has become the latest European nation to call for the EU to build its own army as opposed to relying on the NATO framework, citing a growing rift with the US. The idea itself, however, has split European NATO members, with many still viewing the US-led military bloc as a preferable defense mechanism. Whatever the outcome of those debates, most NATO nations are engaged in an accelerated militarization campaign costing hundreds of billions of dollars in the long run, citing an alleged Russian “threat.”Read more …
The idea of a joint European army harks back to the early days of the Cold War, when in the early 1950s, France pushed for the European Defense Community, which would have brought France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg into a common 100,000-strong European force. The plan received US backing. However, France later balked, fearful of a potential loss of sovereignty and West Germany gaining an oversized role while memories of World War II were still fresh. Still, under Charles de Gaulle, France was highly skeptical of NATO, seeing it as a tool for US dominance in Europe. In 1966, de Gaulle pulled France – which was struggling to cling to the remnants of its colonial empire and superpower status – out of the NATO command structure.The idea of an EU army has since resurfaced several times, most notably during the Balkan wars and illegal bombing of the former Yugoslavia. While European leaders mostly backed the US-led strikes, the internal dissent was significant, and the campaign showed a humiliating reality for the EU: a security crisis in its own backyard was being handled mostly by the US. During the 2011 Libya intervention, it was much worse. Not only were EU powers dependent on the US doing all the heavy lifting, but the campaign also led to a European fracture. Only France and the UK coordinated the strikes with the US, while Italy was initially opposed to the intervention. Later, France and Italy worked at cross purposes, supporting different sides in the Libyan Civil War.
The EU army debate once again took center stage following the start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014. Amid tensions with Russia, bloc members ramped up military spending and drew joint procurement plans. In 2022, plans were announced to establish a EU Rapid Deployment Capacity – a force of up to 5,000 comprised of personnel from European states with a mandate for missions abroad. Some EU nations, however, have called for a standalone European army with wider authority, citing Washington’s growing unreliability and the need for strategic autonomy.
Who is in favor?
Spain has become the most recent proponent of the EU army idea. On Monday, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares made the case in an interview with Politico, saying, “We cannot be waking up every morning wondering what the US will do next … our citizens deserve better.” He added: “This is the moment of the sovereignty and independence of Europe. The Americans are inviting us to that.” In a thinly veiled allusion to US President Donald Trump, Albares stressed that the EU has to be “free of dependence,” as well as “free of coercion, whether it comes to tariffs or the use of military threat, [or] the consequences of someone else’s decisions.”While his comments came amid a stark rift with the US over the Iran war, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for “a real European army” already in February, stressing that the bloc needs it “not in ten years’ time, but now” and pledged Madrid would contribute all necessary resources. In France, an EU army has long been a personal project for President Emmanuel Macron, who began calling for a “true European army” as early as 2018, arguing the continent could not rely solely on the US. One year later, he famously proclaimed NATO “brain dead,” also citing failure to coordinate efforts with the US. In April, Macron also stressed that the EU’s “objective is not to be the vassals” of the US and China.
In Italy, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who leads the center-right Forza Italia party, has stressed that “if we want to be a peacekeeping force in the world, we need a European army,” describing it as a premise for “an effective European foreign policy.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, however, has been more cautious, stating that the issue is not on the agenda, adding that the bloc’s defense should be based on the cooperation of national armies.
Who is against?
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has been among the most vocal critics of the concept. In February, she described the idea of a European army as “extremely dangerous,” saying that its proponents “maybe haven’t really thought this through practically.” “If you are already part of NATO, then you can’t create a separate army. And if you have, like the European army, and then you have the NATO one, then, you know, the ball just falls between the chairs.”In Poland, the bloc’s most aggressive defense spender at 4.7% of GDP in 2025, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called the idea “unrealistic because national armies will not merge.” However, he was more sympathetic to a brigade-sized “European legion” comprised of EU citizens or even candidate states, which could be involved in foreign operations short of a confrontation with a near-peer adversary. In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to build “Europe’s strongest conventional army,” but has been skeptical of a bloc-wide force due to legal hurdles, arguing that the EU should “focus on the tasks that we need to accomplish now.”
The Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – have historically been among the most skeptical of EU defense autonomy, fearing it could dilute US commitments. In this vein, outgoing Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds has called NATO “irreplaceable.” As for the US, in 2018, Trump strongly opposed the idea of an EU army, dismissing it as “very insulting.” “Perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidizes greatly!” he said at the time.
What’s Spain’s beef with NATO?
Spain’s problem is not necessarily with NATO itself, but rather with the current US administration. Madrid has vehemently opposed the US-Israeli war on Iran, and refused to allow its bases to be used for attacks. Trump subsequently called Spain “a terrible ally” and threatened to cut off all trade. The US president encountered similar problems with the rest of NATO members, slamming the bloc as a “paper tiger” and accusing it of “turning their backs on the American people.” Another point of friction was Greenland, which Trump threatened to annex, meeting strong pushback from the EU.
“Minnesota’s Somali community just the start ..”
• Trump Administration Uncovers Massive Welfare, Citizenship Abuses (JTN)
The Trump administration’s work to pare back waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government has reportedly exposed a vast network of taxpayer-fleecing scams, abuses of immigration, and of the citizenship process across all corners of the United States. The story involves resettled refugees soaking up federal paychecks to run home healthcare and childcare businesses, transnational criminal organizations exploiting food benefit programs, and scammers using fake student profiles to make off with millions in federal student loans. It also involves non-monetary forms of fraud, especially in immigration — legal and illegal alike.Read more …
Minnesota’s Somali community just the start
The Trump administration’s focus on fraud was originally sparked by new attention on a massive COVID-19-era fraud scheme in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Last year, the number of individuals charged by the Justice Department in the scheme surpassed 70. The defendants, the vast majority of whom are part of the state’s large Somali immigrant community, were accused of systematically defrauding a federally-funded state food program, instead using the proceeds to enrich themselves, as Just the News has extensively reported.Recent public reports indicate that federally-funded state government programs beyond just Minnesota are ripe for exploitation and fraud. In a sweeping investigation, the Daily Wire and a researcher from the Capital Research Center found that Ohio spent billions of federal dollars on “personal services” payments to home healthcare companies with dubious credentials. These funds are frequently used to compensate individuals for performing non-medical tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and “companionship” for their own family members. Because these services are conducted inside private residences without supervision, it can be difficult to verify actual service delivery.
The investigation found a surge in dubious home health companies that appear to exist solely to bill the government. In Columbus, the reporters found a single windowless office building that houses 94 different companies that have collectively billed taxpayers $66 million over a few years. Many of the business owners lacked medical training or had criminal records, the outlet reported. There is evidence that this type of fraud is specifically encouraged by the way federal government programs are set up. For example, the Office of Refugee Resettlement runs a program that helps new immigrants develop “microenterprises,” like home healthcare companies, “to help generate an income and achieve self-sufficiency.”
Welfare fraud a top priority
The Trump administration has made hunting down this type of welfare fraud a top priority. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year establishing a national task force to combat such fraud and appointed Vice President JD Vance to lead it. The task force, with help from the Justice Department and other government agencies, has vigorously pursued states where potential fraud has been documented. Last month, it shut down 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in California after Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Dr. Mehmet Oz in January raised concerns about fraudulent hospices in Los Angeles, linking the issue to the Armenian mafia in the area.California and Ohio were apparently only the tip of the iceberg. On Wednesday, the task force announced that it would be halting $1.4 billion in federal funding for home health and hospice providers across the entire United States. Vance also issued an ultimatum to all 50 states on Wednesday, demanding they show that they are adequately protecting against fraud in federally funded Medicaid programs, or risk losing that funding.
“Today, we are sending, across 50 Medicaid programs, letters that will require them to show that they are effectively and aggressively prosecuting Medicaid fraud in their states,” Vance said at a press conference. “These letters are the first step. The first effort to try to force these states to get serious about prosecuting fraud.” “We’re a generous country. We’re generous people. I love that about this country,” the vice president added. “But part of that generosity is that it extends to our fellow Americans. We cannot give Medicare and Medicaid benefits to everybody all over the world.”
Dr. Oz said this week that there are signs the Medicaid programs were also exploited by foreign governments. “We’ve got Russian government involvement, we believe, in Los Angeles. We’ve got the Chinese government involved in a big fraud ring in New York,” Oz said in an interview with Fox News. “In New York State, the number-one job in the entire state is not retail, it’s not folks working in shops, it’s personal care services. Why? It’s because it’s a jobs program for the state.”
Federal investigators have previously identified foreign exploitation of federal benefits programs. Last month, prosecutors charged five Romanian nationals for their roles in an alleged conspiracy to steal nearly $1 million worth of food assistance benefits in Ohio and California. Last year, another Romanian national was sentenced to ten years in prison for stealing more than 36,000 EBT card numbers in California and New York using skimming devices. He had connections to a Romanian criminal organization, according to prosecutors.
Something to do with age.
• This Is the Democrats’ Achilles Heel and the Republicans’ Super Power (Moran)
Last month, 12-term Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) died at the age of 80. He was the fifth Democrat to die in office since Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress was seated. Someone is trying to tell the Democrats something (“Yes Lord, we’re listening”). We are, but what about the Democrats? The message is for them, and the “silver ceiling” they’ve placed on running for Congress is about to shatter into a thousand pieces.”In fact, scan the lists of congressional candidates this cycle, and you’ll find a record 80 Gen Z and millennial candidates challenging Democrats aged 65 and older — up from just 24 last cycle,” reports The Hill. “And those young challengers are increasingly outperforming older incumbents in both fundraising and polling, in some cases by double digits.”Read more …
These younger Democrats have lots of energy, lots of moxie, and a passel of bad ideas. And they’re coming to Congress in a revolutionary wave. Democratic leaders are holding back the change for reasons that, to them, seem sound. A change so drastic and radical would roil the party, setting off leadership fights and behind-the-scenes brawls for choice committee assignments. Also, while younger Democrats may win primaries in blue districts, how would they fare in the general election? Even some blue districts considered “safe” may end up being competitive.“There’s a real rift in the ability of Democrats to reach young people and have an authentic message that they are fighting for them when it seems that [older lawmakers] are fighting just to hang on and have another term in Congress,” warned Brian Derrick, co-founder and CEO of a political fundraising platform. “There’s a silver ceiling on what Democrats can achieve while this generation refuses to pass the torch and step aside.” Republicans have their own problems with aging members, but they have taken steps to address that problem in the last two cycles. Speaker Mike Johnson is 54, while other leaders are in their 50s and early 60s.
The current leadership is younger than the previous era, particularly in the Senate, where the departure of leaders in their 80s has dropped the average age of the top brass by nearly a decade. The Massachusetts Democratic primary race is a good example of the Democrats’ problems. Rep. Seth Moulton, a veteran and experienced lawmaker, is running against 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey. The current leadership is younger than the previous era, particularly in the Senate, where the departure of leaders in their 80s has dropped the average age of the top brass by nearly a decade.
Semafor: “At campaign stops in community town halls to backyard fundraiser barbecues, Moulton is dragging the Democratic Party’s quiet family conversation about age into the light of day, arguing to voters that the stakes of the race are bigger than ideology and speak to the future of the party itself.
“Why does this race matter, beyond Boston or Newburyport?” Moulton asked a crowd of about 200 at Newburyport’s City Hall. “Because it’s a referendum on the future of the Democratic Party. In fact, it’s the last Senate primary before the November midterms. So people are either going to look at the Democratic Party and say: Oh, there they go again, reelecting the same establishment gerontocracy that we just voted against two years ago; or they’re going to say, no, it looks like the Democratic Party is changing. It’s listening.”
Markey isn’t alone. Elderly incumbents across the country who’ve won endorsements from colleagues, labor unions, and progressive organizations are not scaring challengers away. Instead, they’re drawing them – in the form of younger Democrats willing to say the uncomfortable part out loud to voters, whose harsh memories of Joe Biden dooming their 2024 campaign – and of four Democrats dying in their House seats since that election – are still fresh.”
In Connecticut, 77-year-old incumbent Rep. John Larson of the 1st Congressional District lost the party endorsement to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 46. There’s going to be a primary, but the writing is on the wall for Larson. Bronin won by 10 points at the convention and has outraised the incumbent. “
There’s a reason that so many Americans are starting to support age limits, because it’s just good and healthy to get renewal every once in a while to get some new voices and new perspectives,” Bronin told Semafor. “I’m running because he’s been in elected office for almost half a century, and in Congress for almost 30 years, and he’s part of a Democratic establishment that keeps doing the same thing despite the fact that the world has changed.”
“Moulton and Bronin are seeing some of the same angst in their parts of New England – a non-ideological worry that their party has too many senior citizens in power, and that they should have retired after Donald Trump’s comeback,” says Semafor. The younger Democrats have ideas, but don’t possess the power to make those ideas into law. Many of them have no idea how to proceed. They don’t realize that while some of their ideas sound good and poll well, turning those ideas into law requires an entirely different skill set.
The Hill: Voters are increasingly supporting younger candidates over older incumbents; the only question is whether the party’s older voices want to be seen as a constructive part of the party’s evolution or as the biggest obstacles to its growth.
Voters are proving quick to punish the latter: 78-year-old Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is trailing 37-year-old challenger Christian Menefee by at least 20 points in his runoff battle. Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), at 78 years-old, had to suspend her Senate bid in April after voters flocked to the upstart campaign of 41-year-old Graham Platner (D). If older candidates are unwilling to recognize how the party is changing, voters will do the recognizing for them. These younger Democrats are more radical, angrier, and more willing to ditch the Constitution to get what they want. They’re a danger to the republic and a danger to the United States as we know it.
Yeah yeah, NYT. Now do the Automatic Earth.
• US Gov’t Settles With Former NYT Reporter in Vaccine Censorship Case (ET)
The U.S. government has reached a settlement with a former New York Times reporter who was kicked off Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic for posts about vaccines Officials in a settlement agreement dated May 11 and obtained by The Epoch Times said that the government “did in fact violate the First Amendment by exerting substantial coercive pressure on social media companies such as Twitter to suppress disfavored speech like Plaintiff’s,” referring to former New York reporter Alex Berenson.Read more …
Officials said they were paying Berenson $150,000 to settle the case, which was filed in 2023 against then-President Joe Biden, Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb, and others. In exchange, Berenson moved to dismiss the case. “I’d like to thank the Trump administration for acknowledging the government’s unconstitutional actions against me in 2021 and standing for my First Amendment rights as a journalist and American,” Berenson told The Epoch Times in an email.The government under President Donald Trump already settled a case raising similar issues and involving multiple states, agreeing not to take actions “to threaten Social-Media Companies with some form of punishment (i.e., an adverse legal, regulatory, or economic government sanction) unless they remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech.”
Twitter banned Berenson in 2021 after he wrote in opposition to mandating COVID-19 vaccination because “it doesn’t stop infection or transmission.” Berenson and Twitter settled a different lawsuit arising from the same incidents, with Twitter acknowledging that it should not have banned the journalist. Emails disclosed in other litigation showed that U.S. officials during the Biden administration, as well as Gottlieb, who is also a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, communicated to Twitter executives their view that Berenson’s posts violated Twitter rules and that he should be punished. Berenson said in his lawsuit that the actions violated his First Amendment rights.
A federal judge in 2025 dismissed the suit against Gottlieb, a former White House adviser named Andrew Slavitt, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, concluding that Berenson had not alleged “discriminatory animus” by the individuals. She later threw out the litigation against the government, finding that Berenson did not have standing to bring a First Amendment claim against federal officials. Berenson, in an appeal, said that Twitter’s permanent suspension violated company policy, which required leadership approval, noting internal emails that showed top Twitter executives did not approve the ban. He also said the case should not have been dismissed because he had adequately alleged discrimination.
“Defendants targeted Berenson’s speech by reason of his status as a representative speaking for and to unvaccinated Americans,” the appeal stated. Berenson told The Epoch Times, “I look forward to continuing to pursue Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb and chairman Dr. Albert Bourla for their role in the conspiracy to deplatform and silence me.” Lawyers for Gottlieb and Bourla said in a May 11 brief to the appeals court that Berenson’s claims fail in part because unvaccinated Americans do not constitute a recognizable class, undercutting the discrimination allegations. They also said Gottlieb’s communications with Twitter were “noncoercive expressions of opinion on matters of public concern,” and thus protected by the First Amendment.
“Anthony Fauci is sitting sipping margaritas somewhere with his multi-million dollar financial success as a result of duping the American people into putting an experimental vaccine into their bodies..”
• Fauci Accused Of Intentionally Burying COVID Lab-Leak Evidence (MN)
A CIA operations officer provided explosive sworn testimony Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of directly intervening in the intelligence community’s review of COVID-19’s origins. James Erdman III, a veteran CIA special operations officer, told senators that in August 2021 the intelligence community was on the verge of concluding the virus most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Days later, that position reversed with no clear explanation.Read more …
Erdman stated under oath: “Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional. Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists.”
BREAKING: A CIA whistleblower just testified UNDER OATH that Anthony Fauci DIRECTLY meddled with intelligence agencies to cover up the COVID lab leak.
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 13, 2026
Every day that Fauci remains free is an INJUSTICE.
Per the whistleblower, the CIA was on the verge of calling it a lab leak —… pic.twitter.com/V6c4Xx67zdHe added that intelligence leaders “purposefully downplayed the lab origin” and “knew the virus came from Wuhan but pushed the natural origin narrative anyway.” Erdman testified that CIA scientists had circulated papers noting “all the conditions were present for a lab leak,” yet senior analysts ultimately buried or softened those assessments.
Senator Rand Paul pressed Erdman on the timeline. Paul described the Biden administration’s final moves as a “clean-up operation,” noting: “Scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19. Yet those conclusions never shaped the official narrative… It was not until after the 2024 election that the outgoing Biden administration directed the CIA to issue an assessment not because of new intelligence, but so officials could walk out of the door claiming there was nothing left to find.”
Sen. Rand Paul: "CIA scientists from an early time…were concluding that a lab leak was the most likely hypothesis?"
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 13, 2026
CIA whistleblower James Erdman III: "There were agencies within the IC circulating papers…that said that all the conditions were present for a lab leak." pic.twitter.com/qBp8BCrYvgSenator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) demanded accountability. He told the witness: “All these hearings are important. What you said is super critical… But where is the accountability? This is what I hear from my constituents all over Ohio… they want to see the perp walks.” Moreno continued: “Anthony Fauci is sitting sipping margaritas somewhere with his multi-million dollar financial success as a result of duping the American people into putting an experimental vaccine into their bodies or risk losing their jobs. He’s not accountable to anybody.”
Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul pushed back after the CIA labeled the public hearing “political theater.” Johnson stated: “This committee needs an apology! This is not political theater. This is what the American people need to see.” Paul added: “Closed-door testimony doesn’t provide oversight. Public testimony provides oversight.”
Fox’s Bill Melugin just exposed the stunning no-show by Senate Democrats at the CIA whistleblower hearing on Covid.
— Overton (@overton_news) May 13, 2026
Not a SINGLE Democrat was in the room — even though several sit on the Homeland Security Committee.
MELUGIN: “There are no Senate Democrats inside of that hearing… pic.twitter.com/dERE0QpHWYFox News reporter Bill Melugin noted the complete absence of Senate Democrats from the Homeland Security Committee hearing, despite several members serving on the panel. One Democrat, Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, walked past the media setup but did not enter the room. Erdman also raised separate concerns about oversight of declassification efforts. He claimed the CIA “took back 40 boxes of JFK and MK-Ultra files” that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was reviewing.
The whistleblower further alleged the agency “illegally monitored the computer and phone usage” of investigators working on the COVID-19 origins probe under presidential direction. He said: “These were Americans being spied on illegally while carrying out duties directed by the President and under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.” The testimony aligns with earlier official reviews of the pandemic’s beginnings.
It builds on the White House’s comprehensive lab-leak assessment released in April 2025 and Department of Defense and Defense Intelligence Agency reports indicating the Biden Pentagon may have suppressed aspects of the origins investigation. It also connects to prior reporting on gain-of-function research and public statements downplaying alternative theories, including pieces examining the experiment that may have started the pandemic. The hearing underscores ongoing scrutiny of how federal agencies assessed and communicated the virus’s origins more than six years after the first cases emerged in Wuhan.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2054868440762978330?s=20 https://twitter.com/XFreeze/status/2054906460308672707?s=20
U.S. corps are valued at 7x more than Chinese corps. In fact, U.S. corps are worth much more than the other top ten countries combined.
— David Asman (@DavidAsmanfox) May 13, 2026
We create so much wealth because of creative entrepreneurs who are free to build new companies that make new things.
It ain't rocket science. pic.twitter.com/a7eseZf8VY
https://twitter.com/JoshHall2024/status/2054701571913453926?s=20"Documents we got from Kash Patel's FBI reveal something a little troubling…the FBI created a memo laying out how they could resume the case [against President Trump]." @jsolomonReports on newly discovered FBI documents from the "Arctic Frost" investigation, alleging a… pic.twitter.com/yVTLaI6YR1
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) May 13, 2026
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