Debt Rattle May 14 2026
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Nicolai Dubovskov Hushing (Calm Before the Storm) 1890 • Bessent’s “Suffocating” Iranian Regime Strategy Materializes (ZH) • Trump, Xi, and the Taiwan
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 14 2026]Faced with a Global Financial and Economic Crisis, China Has Better Options than the US
12 May 2026 by Larry C. Johnson 235 CommentsThe Direct Comparison of Debt to GDP
This article is longer than my usual contribution, but the issue is of critical importance. Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping is taking place at a time of unprecedented economic turmoil caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. As I have discussed in my recent articles, the disruption of the supply chains for oil, Liquid Natural Gas, sulfur, helium and urea marks a global event that has not happened in modern history.Many Western economists claim that China’s economy is more troubled than the US, even though the US has a far worse debt to gdp ratio. Based on official data from US government sources and China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the United States has a significantly higher debt-to-GDP ratio than China. As of the end of 2025, the US ratio was 122.6%, while China’s ratio was 11.9% .
However, it is crucial to understand that these two figures measure very different things. They are like comparing the debt of an entire country to the foreign debt of a single corporation. Here is a detailed breakdown of the comparison.
The Western analysts give the edge to the US over China using the following criteria:
Debt quality and productivity matter more than raw ratios. The core Western argument is not simply about the size of debt but about what it bought. Western analysts point to China’s debt-fueled investment in property, infrastructure, and state-owned enterprises as having generated diminishing returns — ghost cities, empty highways, and overcapacity in steel and aluminum — whereas US debt has financed consumption, defense, and transfer payments in a predominantly market-driven economy where capital allocation is more efficient.
The property crisis is structural and severe. China’s property sector, which at its peak accounted for roughly 25–30% of GDP when including related industries, has been in a prolonged downturn since Evergrande’s collapse in 2021. Unlike a cyclical recession, this represents a fundamental repricing of the dominant store of household wealth in China, with no clear floor yet established. The US has no equivalent structural drag of comparable scale.
Deflation vs. inflation dynamics. China is battling deflation — consumer prices were negative or near-zero through much of 2024 and 2025 — which is particularly dangerous for a heavily indebted economy because it increases the real burden of debt even without new borrowing. The US, despite recent inflation, has seen nominal GDP grow faster than its debt in recent years, which mechanically improves its debt-to-GDP ratio.
Demographics are dramatically worse. China faces one of the most severe demographic contractions in history — a consequence of the one-child policy — with its working-age population already shrinking and its old-age dependency ratio set to roughly triple by 2050. A shrinking workforce means slower growth, higher social spending, and a smaller tax base to service debt. The US demographic outlook, while challenging, is substantially better due to immigration.
Reserve currency privilege. This is arguably the most important distinction. The US dollar is the world’s reserve currency, meaning the US can borrow in its own currency at relatively low interest rates from a virtually unlimited global pool of creditors. If the US faces a debt crisis, it can ultimately print dollars. China cannot do this — the renminbi is not freely convertible and is not a global reserve currency — meaning China’s debt dynamics are more constrained. Al Jazeera
Transparency and data reliability. Many Western analysts distrust China’s official statistics. GDP figures, local government debt levels, and bank non-performing loan ratios are all viewed with suspicion, with analysts routinely assuming the real figures are worse than reported. US data, produced by independent statistical agencies, is generally taken at face value. MS NOW
An Alternative View:
These arguments, on the surface, appear valid but reflect a Western bias that is a product of arrogance and ignorance. Here are the main biases I see that skew the Western analysis:
Dollar-centric framing. Much Western financial analysis is produced by institutions — Wall Street banks, Washington think tanks, European universities — whose entire intellectual framework assumes dollar hegemony as a permanent feature of the world. Any analysis that questions that hegemony is institutionally uncomfortable.
Confirmation bias in the analyst community. For roughly fifteen years, Western analysts have been predicting an imminent Chinese economic collapse that has not arrived. Having made those predictions publicly, there is professional pressure to continue making them rather than to revise the framework.
Political convenience. At a moment of intense US-China geopolitical rivalry — and now active conflict in the Gulf — there is obvious political utility in portraying China’s economy as fragile. Analysts who work for institutions with government contracts or who seek access to policymakers have subtle incentives to align with the prevailing political narrative.
The US debt problem is genuinely uncomfortable to discuss. Interest payments on the US national debt surpassed spending on both Medicare and national defense in fiscal year 2024 — a milestone that would, in any other country, prompt serious discussion of fiscal sustainability. The tendency to focus analytical attention on China’s problems rather than comparably serious US structural issues reflects a form of motivated reasoning.
Both economies have serious structural problems. China’s are more acute in the near term — the property crisis, deflation, and demographic collapse are genuine and severe. However, the US problems are more dangerous in the long run — a debt trajectory that is mathematically unsustainable without either significantly higher taxes, significantly lower spending, or financial repression through inflation. The critical variable is the US reserve currency privilege… Can the US maintain that privilege? I say no.
There is substantial and growing evidence across multiple independent indicators that dollar erosion is real, measurable, and accelerating, though its pace and ultimate destination remain genuinely contested. The dollar’s share of global foreign exchange reserves has fallen below 57% for the first time since 1995, reaching 56.9% in Q3 2025 and dropping further in subsequent quarters. This represents a structural decline from a peak of 72% in 2001. US Government Spending
The IMF adds an important nuance: once adjusted for exchange rate effects — since a weaker dollar mechanically reduces the dollar-denominated value of reserves held in other currencies — the underlying active diversification away from dollars is somewhat smaller than raw figures suggest. Even so, the longer-term decline is real. NBER
The dollar’s share has now dropped to a 31-year low, though what has primarily driven the declining share is not central banks selling dollar assets but rather a surge in assets denominated in dozens of smaller currencies as central banks diversify their growing reserve piles.
The Dollar’s Exchange Rate
The DXY index — the dollar against a basket of major currencies — fell more than 10% in the first half of 2025, its biggest drop since 1973. The dollar fell 7.9% against the euro and over 11% against the Swiss franc in those six months alone. In January 2026, it fell a further 1.2%, following the cumulative 10% decline against major currencies over the prior year. Pew Research CenterCongressional Budget Office
The sudden, sharp nature of these falls is unusual for a currency traded as widely as the dollar. The daily flow of transactions into and out of the dollar is so massive that sudden sharp declines should theoretically be smoothed out — the fact that they have occurred has sparked serious debate about whether the US is losing reserve currency status. MacroTrends
Foreign Holdings of US Treasuries
The share of foreign ownership in the US Treasury market has fallen from above 50% during the Global Financial Crisis to roughly 30% today. China specifically has cut its Treasury holdings from $1.3 trillion in 2013 to $682 billion as of November 2025. However, total foreign holdings have continued rising in absolute terms, hitting a record $9.35 trillion in November 2025, split between private entities ($4.8 trillion) and official institutions ($3.8 trillion) — so the decline in share reflects rapid Treasury issuance more than an exodus.
The Gold Signal
Gold’s share of global reserves has risen from 13% in 2017 to approximately 30% in 2025, with BRICS+ nations now holding 17.4% of global gold reserves, up from 11.2% in 2019. Net central bank gold purchases surged to 230 tonnes in Q4 2025 alone, bringing the full-year total to 863 tonnes. Increases in gold holdings are most strongly associated with a decline in dollar reserves specifically for China, Russia, and Turkey — the three countries most strategically motivated to reduce dollar dependence. Rhodium Group
The Petrodollar: The Most Consequential Crack
The petrodollar system — the cornerstone of dollar dominance since the 1970s — is showing cracks. BRICS nations now settle approximately 67% of intra-bloc trade in local currencies, up from under 20% a decade ago. The current Gulf conflict has materially accelerated this: Iranian oil is being sold for Chinese yuan, tolls at the Strait are being settled in yuan, and the PGSA’s payment infrastructure operates entirely outside the dollar system. \
The Safe Haven Question
Perhaps most significantly, a January 2026 CEPR paper titled “The US Dollar: Not a Traditional Safe Haven” argued that the dollar no longer behaves as a reliable safe haven in all risk-off events — a foundational assumption of dollar dominance that, if permanently impaired, would have profound implications for reserve demand. However, the Reserve Bank of Australia noted that the dollar did appreciate following the recent attacks on Iran, suggesting the safe-haven function has not fully eroded.
China’s Alternative Infrastructure
China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) recorded 750,540 transactions valued at approximately $270 billion in a single month by March 2026, now connecting 194 direct participants and 1,597 indirect participants across 117 countries, with total annual volume reaching 180 trillion yuan ($25 trillion) in 2025 — a 43% annual volume increase. This is the plumbing of a parallel financial system being built in real time.
The question that analysts ought to be asking is what happens when (not if) the current supply chain disruption triggers a global depression, rather than global stagflation? The primary vulnerability for the US is not the size of its debt ($39 trillion, ~125% of GDP) but its funding model. The US relies on the constant goodwill of global investors to roll over its debt. A severe recession would directly test this confidence.
If a recession hit, the US government would face a massive fiscal cliff:
Required Stimulus: To fight the recession, the government would likely need to pass another multi-trillion dollar stimulus package
Automatic Stabilizers Surge: Spending on unemployment benefits, food assistance, and healthcare would skyrocket.
Tax Revenues Collapse: Corporate and personal income tax receipts would plummet.
This sudden explosion in borrowing needs would come at the worst possible time. Here is the “doom loop” that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have warned about:
The Trigger: A recession causes the budget deficit to balloon far beyond current projections.
Loss of Confidence: Global investors, spooked by the US’s inability to control its finances, demand much higher interest rates (yields) to buy new Treasury bonds.
Debt Spiral: Higher interest rates dramatically increase the government’s cost to borrow, adding hundreds of billions to the deficit, which forces the government to issue even more debt.
The “Minsky Moment”: This self-reinforcing cycle could trigger a sudden collapse in bond prices, leading to what experts call a financial crisis or a currency crisis, potentially undermining the US dollar’s status as the world’s safe-haven currency.
China’s vulnerability is the opposite of America’s. Because its debt is mostly domestically held and controlled, it is less vulnerable to a sudden loss of confidence from foreign investors. Its risk is structural: The Chinese economy now requires enormous amounts of debt to generate very little growth.Research data shows that in 2000, China needed roughly 13-16 yuan of new debt to generate 1 yuan of GDP growth. By 2025, it needed 60-75 yuan of debt to generate the same 1 yuan of growth. This collapsing “debt productivity” is the key danger. However, China’s Belt-and-Road-Initiative provides the Chinese with some options that would mitigate suffering in China from a global economic crisis.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is no longer just a foreign infrastructure program; it has evolved into a central pillar of China’s domestic economic strategy. Far from retreating as some Western analysts predicted, the BRI saw a record-breaking resurgence in 2025, with total project value reaching a staggering $213.6 billion. It now serves as a critical pressure valve and strategic engine for the Chinese economy in three major ways: absorbing industrial overcapacity, securing essential resources, and creating new export markets.
Massive Scale and Recent Resurgence
After a period of slower growth, the BRI has re-emerged with unprecedented scale and strategic focus. The data below illustrates the initiative’s recent explosive growth:
The initiative’s focus has also shifted, moving beyond “small yet beautiful” projects to massive, strategic investments. This growth is directly linked to solving challenges inside China’s economy.
A Safety Valve for Domestic Overcapacity
China faces a significant domestic challenge: it manufactures far more than its population and slowing economy can consume, particularly in green and high-tech sectors. The BRI provides a crucial outlet for this excess production.
High-Tech & Green Energy Surge: In 2025, China’s exports of electric vehicles (EVs), lithium batteries, and solar panels jumped by 27.1%, and wind turbine exports skyrocketed by 48.7%. Much of this production is finding a home in BRI partner countries.
Building Factories Abroad: To bypass trade barriers like high US tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing is using the BRI to relocate manufacturing capacity. In 2025 alone, BRI projects in the technology and manufacturing sector hit a record $28.7 billion, focusing on EV battery factories and semiconductor facilities in intermediary countries like those in Southeast Asia.
Diversifying Markets Away from the West
As Western markets, particularly the United States, have become less accessible due to trade tensions, the BRI has been instrumental in finding new customers for Chinese goods.
BRI Now Dominates Trade: For the first time, trade with BRI partner countries now accounts for over half (51.9%) of China’s total foreign trade.
The African Pivot: The most dramatic shift has been towards Africa. In 2025, Chinese exports to Africa jumped by roughly 18%, making it the top destination for Chinese export growth. Correspondingly, the value of BRI projects in Africa surged by a staggering 283% to reach $61.2 billion.
This strategy is reshaping global trade patterns. As one analysis notes, “south-south trade” —economic exchange between developing countries—has expanded tenfold over the past three decades and now accounts for over a third of global commerce
Securing Supply Chains and Critical Resources
Beyond selling goods, the BRI is also about securing what China needs to keep its industries running. It is being used as a tool to vertically integrate global supply chains.
Critical Minerals: Massive investments are being made in mining and resource processing. The mining and metals sector under the BRI saw investments reach about $32.6 billion in 2025, including significant projects in Kazakhstan and other resource-rich nations.
Energy Transition: While China has pledged to stop building new coal plants abroad, the 2025 BRI saw record green energy investments of $18.3 billion in solar and wind projects, alongside continued investment in oil and gas to meet its energy needs
The competition between the US economy and the China economy is the backdrop for this week’s meeting in Beijing. If the shutdown of the supply chains from the Persian Gulf persist, the US economy and financial system is the most vulnerable. Does Donald Trump understand that?
Here is a conversation I had on Friday with Zulfiqar Ali. Zulfiqar is my source for the intel provided by the Pakistani ISI official:
EX-CIA Larry Johnson: Saudi Arabia Is KICKING Out the US World Will Never Be the Same
Judge Napolitano and I discussed the current situation in the Persian Gulf:Larry Johnson : Israel Secretly Invades Iraq
Nima and I discussed Trump’s reaction to the Iranian position paper on ending the war (what a terrible AI photo):Larry Johnson:
I thank you for your invaluable support by taking time to read or comment. I do not charge a subscription fee nor do I accept advertising. I want the content to be accessible to everyone interested in the issues I am discussing. However, if you wish to make a donation, please see this link.For those of you not familiar with current slang, G.O.A.T. stands for Greatest Of All Time
Instead of focusing on Americans who are paying soaring prices for gasoline, diesel and food — all a consequence of Trump’s boneheaded, dangerous policy gambits — Trump pretended he was the wicked Queen in Snow White and asked the mirror, Who is the Greatest Of All Time:
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2026/05/exactly-this-is-called-truism.html
TAE Summary closed out last night with this ;-}
* I loathe, despise, detest, abhor,
Abominate the Iran war.
I love our troops, I love our land,
The flag goes by, I always stand;
But of all bad news outside my door,
The worst of all’s the Iran war.
Chain me up with clowns galore,
But don’t give me the Iran war.
The Donald made a huge mistake,
And now his cabinet’s on the take;
They peddle bombs and make a ton,
And yuck it up like it’s all fun.
The world think our land’s a joke
And groceries soon will make me broke,
The dollar’s doomed and one thing more,
It’s lies that justify this war.
Knock me flat upon the floor,
But don’t give me the Iran war.”Planning For Summer https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/planning-for-summer
This summer is going to be a modern version of the gas lines in 1974 and 1979. That much is already baked-in, because the transit time from the Strait of Hormuz is a couple of months, and the US is rapidly depleting the strategic petroleum reserve, which was already depleted, by selling it on the global market.
Oil, natural gas, sulfer, helium and nitrogen fertilizer supplies are all knocked down hard and will stay down everywhere until early July, even if the Strait of Hormuz opens tomorrow.
Global agriculture will be hit hard, with much reduced fall harvests, so grain and bean stocks will be depleted. Poor countries will be hit this year by poor rice crops, and traditionally more wealthy countries will be hit by price rises this year, then tighter supplies next year. UK farmers are reportedly being told to get rid of half of their cows.
Most people do not recall the impact of the 1973-1974 Arab Oil Embargo, but it was a big, hard systemic shock that everybody in an embargoed country really experienced, and had to adapt to. People changed, cars changed, and government policies changed.
Imagine that you can’t drive or fly anywhere this summer. What might you do instead? What if it stayed that way for a couple of years? What if you lose your job?Professor Ugo Bardi, 50+ years of World Models: Collapse, Collapse, Collapse – The Way the Universe Works
image.png
Above, you see five “standard run” scenarios, starting from the first Limits to Growth calculations of 1972, to very recent ones (there are others; this is just a sample). The model is always the same, “Word3” but with updated data, and slightly different assumptions. Note that the population peak has been moving back from ca 2050 in 1972, to around 2030 nowadays…
..Now, a question: why do all these models predict collapse? An accusation that was often made to the authors of the first “The Limits to Growth” report, in 1972, was that collapse was built into the models. Hence, it was said, collapse is an ideological feature that modelers inserted into their models…
..Yet, it is starting to appear that the assumptions at the basis of these models were NOT just reflections of how the authors saw the world. They were based on physics, even though this point was not explicitly stated.
I am working right now on a paper that quantifies the trajectory of complex systems as a function of the availability of resources and the impact of pollution — the “core” of the LTG world models. It turns out that you CAN generate the growth and decline curves starting from the first two principles of thermodynamics, energy conservation, and entropy generation, together with the Maximum Power Principle (MPP), sometimes said to be the 4th principle of thermodynamics.
Here is the abstract (provisional)
The Hubbert curve, originally proposed in 1956 as a phenomenological description of oil-field production, has long resisted derivation from independent principles. We show that the curve emerges as the structural consequence of a thermodynamic chain combining four established results: the Gouy–Stodola theorem on irreversible processes, the Lotka–Odum maximum power principle (MPP) for biological energy harvesting, the Curzon–Ahlborn endoreversible bound for heat engines operating at maximum power, and the two-stock model of Bardi and Lavacchi (2009) for resource depletion under autocatalytic capital reinvestment. Within this framework, the symmetric bell-shaped Hubbert curve is the prediction of the model in its simplest form, while the asymmetric “Seneca” curves observed empirically arise from named symmetry-breaking terms — capacity depreciation, EROI decline, pollution feedback, and best-first extraction — each with a clear thermodynamic interpretation. The synthesis suggests that the descent phase of fossil-energy civilization is not an empirical curiosity but a thermodynamic prediction, and that its asymmetry is structural rather than accidental. https://senecaeffect.substack.com/p/50-years-of-world-models-collapsePANIC NOW! ;-o EIGHT WEEKS TO EMPTY SHELVES. SIXTY DAYS TO FAMINE. WHAT CAUSED IT, AND WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IMMEDIATELY https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/component/content/article/eight-weeks-to-empty-shelves-sixty-days-to-famine-what-caused-it-and-what-you-need-to-do-immediately
Gail Tverberg knows there will be oil shortages, but presents the questions of how societies choose to deal with them. The Hormuz War is, I believe, a way of dealing with the decline of net oil, which has irreversibly begun. Forced cutbacks are the “solution”. China and US Trade Talks: A Solution for Oil Shortages?
China may also be a key to ending the Iran conflict
The war with Iran is not going well. It is difficult to supply US troops with adequate food and other necessities. With summer arriving soon, the region will soon be an even more inhospitable place for ground troops to fight. An underlying problem is that the world economy was reaching resource limits even before the Iran War began, adding to the difficulties.
The most pressing resource limit is distillate fuel oil–an industry term for what we think of as diesel and jet fuel. This fuel is heavily used in transportation. It is also used extensively in agriculture and industry. Somehow, the system needs to cut back on these fuels for international trade so that more fuel is available for agriculture and industry. https://gailtverberg.substack.com/p/china-and-us-trade-talks-a-solution Nate Hagens and Art Berman were prominent contributors to The Oil Drum blog, along with Gail Tverberg. A World On the Precipice: The Last Oil Tanker From the Strait of Hormuz has Arrived – Now What? The Great Simplification #220 with Art Berman https://natehagens.substack.com/p/a-world-on-the-precipice-the-last
Alex Krainer reports on the English farmer who got a letter saying to get rid of half of his cows for “Net Zero”: Racing toward “Absolute Zero”
It’s very real: the Epstein class is dead serious about ‘getting rid of the poor people,’ and creating an Orwellian totalitarian society. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/racing-toward-absolute-zeroSwap Lines, Gulf Debt and the Unravelling of Dollar Primacy
Michael Hudson: So if the Emirates actually insist, well we need the money, you’ve got to give us the money that we’ve invested in the United States. The United States can’t say, “Well we’ve frozen it all because we don’t want the bond prices to go down. We don’t want the stock prices to go down because that’s what our economy is all about. You threaten to bring the Ponzi scheme to an end.” So what does the Treasury do? It says, “Well don’t worry. We’re going to save you from having to sell these investments that you’ve made that have gone bad.” … So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make a swap agreement and we’re just going to create dollars and you’ll give us an equivalent couple of hundred billion dollars of your currency, we’ll give you a hundred billion dollars and we’ll just swap and lend you the money that you need to spend to keep afloat…
..A swap agreement manages to cope with the freezing up of the US financial markets as a result of all of the debt leveraging and the private capital companies, and the fact that the US economy has been kept afloat for its stock prices and its bond prices by easy credit in a Ponzi scheme. And the easy credit has just created such an overhead of debt that now if you say, “Well, we want to cash out,” well there’s only a teeny little bit of equity for this huge pyramid of debt, and if the price of this debt goes down, then the equity is wiped out totally. That’s what the US is facing and that’s why it’s doing this. It’s creating this swap system because there isn’t any other alternative.
Radhika Desai: This is exactly right, Michael. And let me put it in slightly different terms. Let me formulate what you’ve said in slightly different terms. What you’re saying is that the very thing that the Federal Reserve has been doing domestically, which is supporting asset markets through quantitative easing, it is now going to have to do internationally. https://michael-hudson.com/2026/05/swap-lines-gulf-debt-and-the-unravelling-of-dollar-primacy/It’s Yalta-2, but Trump is just Churchill, not FDR. Maybe Putin is Stalin and Xi is FDR. Moon of Alabama, Trump Goes To China
This week U.S. President Donald Trump is going to China.
His larger plan had been to take Venezuela, Iran and their oil before pressing China, via tariffs and energy restrictions, to concede to U.S. hegemony.
That plan has failed. Trump has lost two wars. His tariff schemes ended in retreat after China restricted the export of its rare earth products. His war on Iran has been one big failure.
Trump is coming to Beijing with his cap in his hand. He, as usual, will try to bluff a way to ‘victory’. He will proceed as if the U.S. were in a great position. The Chinese will be polite, but won’t have any of it. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/05/trump-goes-to-china.htmlGold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-13
April CPI inflation hits 3-year high at 3.8% YoY (exp 3.7%), Core 0.4% MoM (exp 0.3%). Energy +17.9% YoY, gasoline +28.4%, airfares +20.7%. Fed rate HIKE odds surge to 31%. Rate cuts entirely priced out. Real wages post first annual decline since April 2023…
..Iran issues 5 preconditions for any nuclear talks with the US: end war on all fronts including Lebanon, lift all sanctions, release frozen assets, pay war reparations, recognize Iran’s sovereign right over Hormuz. Trump rejected as “totally unacceptable”. Iran parliament threatens 90% uranium enrichment in event of new attack. NYT reports Iran retained 70% of missile arsenal with 30 of 33 Hormuz missile sites operational...
..Global bond market meltdown intensifying: US 30Y yield above 5.02%, 10Y nearing 4.50%. Japan 20Y at highest since 1996. UK 30Y gilt at highest since 1998…
..China imported record 528 tonnes of silver in March — most ever recorded…
..Trump en route to Beijing with 16 CEOs including Cook, Fink, Musk, Solomon, Schwarzman, Fraser, Ortberg. Jensen Huang joined last minute. Summit Thursday-Friday. Chinese state media showing zero mentions of the visit per JustDario — a deliberate signal. Topics: Taiwan, AI, rare earths, trade, Iran pressure on China…
..Hormuz crisis: Iran tightening control, not losing it – Iraq and Pakistan have cut deals with Iran to ship oil and LNG through the Strait — Iran moving from blocking to access control per Reuters
At least 6 Chinese-owned tankers crossed Hormuz in a single day with Iran’s approval. Maersk still avoiding the Strait entirely
Saudi Aramco CEO calls this the “largest energy supply shock the world has ever experienced” — ~1 billion barrels lost, 2-5 ships daily through Hormuz vs 70 pre-war…
..Pentagon confirms 39 US aircraft lost in Iran war per Rep. Ed Case…
..US releasing another wave from Strategic Reserve as gas prices soar — SPR drawdowns compared to Biden-era playbook by JustDario
Gasoline inventories at 10-year lows per Chris Martenson; could hit “tank bottom” by early July…
..Copper hits all-time high above $14,000/ton…
..AI market structure — fragility building under euphoria…
..Russia tests Sarmat ICBM — nuclear posture escalation – Russia successfully tests the Sarmat heavy ICBM, entering combat duty before year-end. Putin: range 35,000km, warhead yield 4x any Western analogue, suborbital trajectory capability, overcomes all missile defense…
..Ukraine: ceasefire over, corruption exposed, Belarus mobilizes – Three-day ceasefire ended; Russia claims 30,383 Ukrainian violations. Putin ready to meet Zelensky in Moscow “at any time”
Yermak (Zelensky’s former chief of staff) charged with money laundering — $10.5M, 4 diplomatic passports found, fortune teller consulted for personnel decisions
Zelensky’s former spokesperson tells Tucker Carlson: cash bags in meetings, “Goebbels-style propaganda” requested, drug use allegations...
..UK political crisis deepening – Starmer refusing to resign despite 80+ Labour MPs calling for him to step down. Now 85 MPs — above 81 threshold for leadership challenge…
..Consumer financial stress reaching extremes – 55% of Americans say financial condition getting worse — highest since 2001 tracking began
Seriously delinquent credit card balances about to surpass GFC record
Millions of student borrowers defaulting — average age 40 https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-13 Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-12
Iran-US ceasefire collapse: Trump called Iran’s counter-proposal “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE” and a “piece of garbage”, put ceasefire “on life support”, met with generals Monday, and is considering reactivating Project Freedom (military escorts through Hormuz). Iran’s Parliament Speaker responded: “Our armed forces are ready… they will be surprised”. US Navy deployed nuclear-armed submarine USS Alaska through Gibraltar. Iran deployed combat-ready mini subs in Hormuz...
..Iran Strait of Hormuz sovereignty assertion – Iran formalised the Persian Gulf Strait Authority with pre-approval forms for every transit and claimed authority over seven major subsea cables carrying ~15-20% of inter-regional data traffic
First commercial transits since February — Qatari LNG and Saudi tanker — moved under IRGC-designated routes. Mediators paid the toll…
..~1,550-1,600 vessels remain stranded inside the Gulf per NYT/AP estimates. Lloyd’s Joint War Committee has not delisted Hormuz…
..2022 Biden dumped SPR during no supply shock vs 2026 Trump leasing SPR during largest supply shock in history — to hide the crisis…
..A Polymarket account with 100% win ratio on Iran war bets just placed large wagers on US invasion and regime fall by June 30…
..Europe pivoting toward Russia talks – Finland’s Stubb: “time to start negotiations with Russia”, confirmed European leaders discussing who will be contact person – EU Kallas refused Schröder as Putin-proposed negotiator
Slovakia’s Fico: “Are we such IDIOTS?” — Russia supplies gas to US who resells to Europe at markup
Hungary’s new FM Anita Orban: no weapons/soldiers to Ukraine, won’t participate in €90B EU loan; will build relations with Russia…
..Zelensky inner circle unravelling – Tucker Carlson full interview with ex-press secretary Yulia Mendel: Zelensky demanded “Goebbels propaganda” with “1,000 talking heads” – She confirmed he was unqualified, called him a drug user
NABU serving notice of suspicion to Yermak (former presidential office head) over multi-billion-dollar Western aid theft schemes
Germany’s AfD at 28% nationally, most popular party https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-12US surveillance plane overhead on guard: Secret Israeli Base Hidden In Iraqi Desert Backed Operations Inside Iran https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/secret-israeli-base-hidden-iraqi-desert-backed-operations-inside-iran
Top Iraqi officials establish committee to ‘disarm’ resistance factions: Report
Iraq’s incoming Prime Minister is under pressure from Washington to disarm Shia armed factions and prevent their leaders from taking roles in any new government https://thecradle.co/articles/top-iraqi-officials-establish-committee-to-disarm-resistance-factions-report#google_vignette‘Mediator’ Pakistan Hosted Iranian Military Aircraft To Insulate Them From US Attacks, Graham Fumes At Islamabad https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/very-wide-gap-between-us-iranian-positions-tehran-blasts-white-house-unreasonable
Iran Deploys Combat-Ready Mini Subs In Hormuz As US Flexes Nuclear Submarine En Route https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-deploys-combat-ready-mini-subs-hormuz-us-flexes-nuclear-submarine-en-route
Iranian General: Army submarines monitor, intercept vessels in Hormuz Strait https://en.mehrnews.com/news/244388/Army-submarines-monitor-intercept-vessels-in-Hormuz-Strait
Moon of Alabama, War On Iran: – U.S. Experiencing Price Increases
The stalemate in the War of Iran is characterized by bets on each side that the enemy side will soon incur unsustainable economic problems.
After several wars and decades of sanctions Iran is well versed in how to sustain under economic pressure. Its people and government know of the larger picture. Price fluctuations are inconveniences but do not change the will of the people.
The U.S. on the other side is rather fragile. Even only mildly unconformable circumstances will lead to political pressure. One percent more or less of inflation will change the election chances for this or that party.
The consequences of the blockade of Hormuz are starting to come in: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war – BBC https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/05/war-on-iran-u-s-experiencing-price-increases.htmlLeaked GRU Document Shows Russia Proposed Supplying Iran with 5,000 Fiber-Optic Drones and Training for Potential Use Against U.S. Forces https://www.thedefensenews.com/news-details/Leaked-GRU-Document-Shows-Russia-Proposed-Supplying-Iran-with-5000-Fiber-Optic-Drones-and-Training-for-Potential-Use-Against-US-Forces/
Israel committed ‘brutal violations’ against activists of aid flotilla: Int’l Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza
Violations included assaults, sexual harassment, beatings, Youssef Ajissa, head of International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-committed-brutal-violations-against-activists-of-aid-flotilla-intl-committee-to-break-the-siege-on-gaza/3932133 Going down like the WTC buildings: Israel is taking out the last remaining residential towers in Gaza to make it impossible for the remaining Palestinians to live there and turning them into refugees. https://x.com/Partisangirl/status/2052930181959213173
Israeli strike levels building sheltering displaced families in south Lebanon
The latest civilian massacre came as part of a wide and violent wave of Israeli attacks across south Lebanon https://thecradle.co/articles-id/37600#google_vignette Jerusalem Post on Israeli Hostage (“dead or alive”) retrieval: Soldiers who shot hostages had orders to shoot all men on-sight – report
Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Talalka, 25, and Alon Shamriz, 26, were all taken captive during Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-895632Locking Palestinians into little islands to remove one by one: Israeli occupation allocates one billion shekels for colonial bypass roads in West Bank https://english-wafa-ps.translate.goog/Pages/Details/170258?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
They are mastering the versatile technology: Hezbollah released footage of an FPV drone hitting another Israeli tank. https://en.topwar.ru/282447-hizballa-pokazala-kadry-porazhenija-fpv-dronom-ocherednogo-izrailskogo-tanka.html
Israeli army chief says more recruits needed ‘immediately’ – Eyal Zamir makes remarks in meeting of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-army-chief-says-more-recruits-needed-immediately/3933208
Israeli Strikes Across Lebanon Killed at Least 22 – Triple drone strike killed Syrian man and his 12-year-old daughter https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/09/israeli-strikes-across-lebanon-killed-at-least-22/
Israeli Military Has Killed More Than 850 Palestinians in Gaza Since So-Called Ceasefire Deal Was Signed – Israeli attacks continued on Sunday, with one strike killing two police officers in Khan Younis https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/10/israeli-military-has-killed-more-than-850-palestinians-in-gaza-since-so-called-ceasefire-deal-was-signed/
Lebanon says farmland area roughly size of Chicago destroyed in Israeli offensive https://www.aa.com.tr/en/greenline/agriculture/lebanon-says-farmland-area-roughly-size-of-chicago-destroyed-in-israeli-offensive/1830137
Hezbollah strikes Iron Dome battery with FPV drone – The IDF has struggled to respond to the FPV drone threat, which uses special cables and manual operation of the drone to outwit the military’s advanced technologies for jamming and tracking drones. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-895734
Sundance, The CIA, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and John Brennan
In 2008 Joe Biden was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with oversight jurisdiction of the U.S State Dept., and by extension all foreign policy nominations etc.
In 2008 John Brennan was working for the Obama campaign when someone from his outside government group, The Analysis Corporation, “hacked” into the state dept database to access the passport files and State Dept records of Barack Obama.
Mr. Brennan spent most of his C.I.A. career as an analyst, but during the 1990s served a tour as the chief of the station in Saudi Arabia. From 1999 to early 2001, he was chief of staff to George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, as the position was then called. At the end of his CIA. service, in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Brennan set up what is now the counterterrorism center.
Yet, people would have us believe, after 25 years within the CIA, and after being the Chief of Staff to the Director, and after being the person who set up the counter terrorism center, and after being the CIA approved contractor for the State dept., well, John Brennan just didn’t know that someone from his firm was penetrating the passport files within the State Dept. on three occasions in Jan and Feb 2008 to look at information of the candidate who he was specifically working for.
That was their story, and they stuck to it in 2008.
After the initial inquiry, federal investigators maintained that the target of the illegal activity was Senator Barack Obama’s passport file. It does not take a stretch to come to the conclusion this was for the sole purpose of cleansing records of information that would jeopardize Obama’s candidacy. As many people speculated at the time, the breach of the passport records of the other candidates was merely to create confusion.
Brennan was, at the time, an unpaid advisor working with Obama’s campaign. Passport files include an applicant’s name, gender, social security number, date and place of birth, and passport number. Additional information may include birth certificates, naturalization certificates, or oaths of allegiance for U.S. born persons who adopted the citizenship of a foreign country as minors.
It is important to remember the oversight agency that would be investigating the breach – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee oversees the State Department. At the time Senator Joe Biden was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the breach would be investigated... And, well, what do you know… Biden became the VP pick of Obama.
State Department employee, Lieutenant Quarles Harris, Jr. who had the passport access, apparently was the guy who penetrated the database and scrubbed the records. Harris was killed – April 18th, 2008.
Yes, Lieutenant Harris decided to cooperate with the FBI who were investigating the break-in. Soon after his cooperation became a matter of record, his body was discovered in his parked car; he had been shot twice in the head, likely a “suicide”.
Last point. In mid-February 2010, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs alerted WH reporters that certain questions about Obama’s job with Business International Corporation (BIC) would not be subject to discussion. BIC was well known in Washington DC to be a front company for the CIA; hence, many speculated the State Department passport records were scrubbed to erase any potential mention of Obama’s CIA activities and his personal information. You decide. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/05/10/the-cia-barack-obama-joe-biden-and-john-brennan/#more-283299And it was a good thing, too: Simplicius, Zelensky Again Steps Down From Ledge as Russian V-Day Parade Predictably Proceeds as Planned https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/zelensky-again-steps-down-from-ledge
Nearly $22 billion secretly shipped to Ukraine – Austrian politician – Euroskeptic FPO leader Christian Hafenecker has called on Vienna’s money laundering watchdog to investigate https://web.archive.org/web/20260512092128/https://www.rt.com/news/639864-22-billion-shipped-ukraine-austria/
EU Prepares For ‘Potential’ Talks With Putin As US Slowly Reduces Troops On Continent https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-prepares-potential-talks-putin-us-slowly-reduces-troops-continent
Gilbert Doctorow, Contradictory signals from the Kremlin on Russia’s strategic deterrence
‘News of the Week’ showed the 9th May demonstrations as they took place across the globe. What they did not show, but you will have the opportunity to see on Wednesday during the ‘’Judging Freedom’‘ podcast is how the day was celebrated across one-story Russia. A long-time friend and neighbor in a hamlet 80 km south of Petersburg sent me photos via WhatsApp that demonstrate the deep sense of pride, high emotions and patriotism that reaches into the smallest villages and is spontaneous, not officially prompted. I trust that you will find this backchannel to real people to be enlightening...
..The coverage of Putin’s press conference after the parade included one sentence that deserves special attention. Putin said the the war with Ukraine ‘’is close to completion.’‘ What can that mean? I believe he may be right and that the key factor in this end game is some understanding that Putin has with Donald Trump. Let us note that the three-day, 9 – 11 May truce seemingly came from nowhere after Zelensky had dismissed it out of hand and had stated during his visit to the All European conference in Yerevan, Armenia that he intended to attack the parade in Moscow with drones. I believe that he was dissuaded from this violence by Trump who must have told him that the game is up, that his country will be utterly destroyed by Russia in the immediate days ahead if he dares to violate the sanctity of 9 May in Moscow or other Russian cities. And I will go a step further and hazard the guess that Trump made this threat to Zelensky following the 90 minute phone call he had with Vladimir Putin, likely at the initiative of the Russian president.
If my conjecture is correct, then Trump will indeed be the broker for concluding at the very least a long term cease fire in the Russia-Ukraine war if not a definitive peace. I believe the former denouement is more likely because it requires very little time to achieve and would satisfy certain needs both on the Russian and on the Ukrainian sides. For President Putin, it would be an instant satisfaction of the loud and growing demands in Russian society for this nearly five year war to end.
For Zelensky, it would leave his regime intact even if he personally will be obliged to withdraw from the presidency following the elections which surely will be a part of any Russian-US-Ukrainian truce agreement. He will be given a safe exit ramp and can spend the rest of his life enjoying his ill-gotten wealth...
..Karaganov is saying essentially that Russia should shift from use of nuclear weapons strictly in response to attack to a first strike policy if its economy, defense or other parameters of its sovereignty are being threatened. Now that would be a sea change. Russia would, in effect, be responding to the first strike posture that the United States has been developing ever since George Bush pulled out of the ABM treaty early in this century.
Which way will Russia go? Towards a compromised peace that demeans the sacrifice of one million Russian soldiers dead or maimed for life in the Special Military Operation? Or to a more vigorous deterrence wherein red lines do not have to be crossed before Russia delivers a crushing blow on its enemies? https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/contradictory-signals-from-the-kremlin“U.S. Military Inferiority”? Russia Develops “Son of Oreshnik”, More Advanced Long Range Hypersonic Ballistic Missile https://www.globalresearch.ca/son-of-oreshnik-and-zero-deviation-russia-develops-more-advanced-long-range-hypersonic-ballistic-missile-u-s-military-inferiority/5924644
Andrew Korybko on a current Trump/NATO project-country: Azerbaijan Risks Placing Itself on a Ukrainian-like Collision Course With Russia https://www.globalresearch.ca/azerbaijan-ukrainian-like-collision-course-russia/5925788
Stalwart Sir Kier stands his ground… Cable, Gilts Under Pressure As UK PM Starmer On The Brink As Rebellion Spreads https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cable-gilts-under-pressure-uk-pm-starmer-brink-rebellion-spreads
Sundance, DNI Tulsi Gabbard Investigating 120 Foreign Biolabs Funding by U.S. Government – More than 40 are Located in Ukraine
Gabbard told The Post Monday in a statement that her team is going “to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain and what ‘research’ is being conducted to end dangerous gain-of-function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and the world.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have,” the spy chief also said.
“Yet despite these obvious dangers, politicians, so-called health professionals, like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of these US-funded and supported biolabs and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth.”
Under new guidance from Gabbard, the US Intelligence Community will review research at all US-funded biolabs, which would include facilities engaged in gain-of-function experiments that could increase the transmissibility of viruses, as well as work for defensive purposes against dangerous pathogens.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence officials noted that the foreign labs extend into more than 30 countries, and several had received funding in the past through a Department of Defense program that sought to dispose of weapons of mass destruction after the end of the Cold War.
More than 40 of the biolabs under review are located in Ukraine — and could “be at risk of compromise” due to Russia’s war, ODNI officials noted. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/05/11/dni-tulsi-gabbard-investigating-120-foreign-biolabs-funding-by-u-s-government-more-than-40-are-located-in-ukraine/#more-283333Paul Marik MD, Treating Depression as a Whole-Body Disease (Part3) https://substack.com/home/post/p-192475777
Jessica Rose Ph.D. Genomic evidence confirms natural evolution (variance) of Andes hantavirus – It’s not a new strain (according to sequencing data) https://jessicar.substack.com/p/genomic-evidence-confirms-natural
Further investigation going forward. Might novel strains be found by further sequencing? Is ANDV hanta natural spillover or lab design? – Predicting the answer using science: hypothesize, test, conclude https://jessicar.substack.com/p/is-andv-hanta-natural-spillover-or
Meryl Nass MD has information I’d want to know if I’d been exposed: Symptomatic Andes Hantavirus enters the US–while a potential very early treatment [CQ/ HCQ] is suppressed. What about antibody treatment? What about other repurposed drugs? – Will we see treatments suppressed again? Info from the treatment and prophylaxis literature. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/symptomatic-andes-hantavirus-enters
Peter McCullough MD asserts that the case for human to human transmission of Hantavirus has never been made convincingly. Virus in the Dust: Exposing the Fabricated Contagion of Andes Hantavirus – Why the “human-to-human” panic ignores the simple reality of common environmental exposure to rodents on the ship https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/virus-in-the-dust-exposing-the-fabricated
Dr. McCullough recites the litany of WHO mistakes in managing this incident: The WHO’s Deadly Blunders: Why Globalism Is Failing Public Health
As the Hantavirus crisis unfolds, it is clear that ceding authority to international bureaucrats is a fatal mistake—the U.S. justified in cutting ties. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-whos-deadly-blunders-why-globalismDr. McCoullough explains non-human-transmission possibilities: The Epuyén Extrapolation: Challenging the Community Hantavirus Andes P2P Spread Assumption – Could dead bodies on board MV Hondius for several days be the real “super-spreaders” https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-epuyen-extrapolation-challenging
As well as Vitamin-D, Hydroxychloroquine, zinc and ivermectin: Beyond the Breach: Taming the Hantavirus Threat with Favipiravir
A new horizon in antiviral defense: how oral favipiravir should be trialed in and offers hope for victims of the MV Hondius debacle detained in biosecurity centers and in self-quarantine https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/beyond-the-breach-taming-the-hantavirus New York Times Attacks ‘Spelling’ — Parents Say It ‘Changed Everything’ for Their Nonspeaking Children With Autism
Families of nonspeaking autistic people are pushing back at The New York Times after the newspaper last week published an op-ed claiming that spelling — a method through which nonspeakers communicate using a letter board — is “debunked” and unsupported by scientific evidence. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-york-times-attacks-spelling-nonspeaking-children-autism-parents-say-changed-everything/ Can Vaccines Cause Autism? Existing Studies Aren’t Designed to Answer That Question
Existing epidemiological studies — studies on how often diseases occur in different groups of people and why — are designed to examine whether vaccines cause neurodevelopmental injuries in the general childhood population. But these studies can’t capture the effects of vaccines on subgroups — like children with mitochondrial dysfunction who may be more vulnerable to injuries from vaccines, according to a preprint by Children’s Health Defense scientists and their colleagues. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/can-vaccines-cause-autism-existing-studies-arent-designed-answer-question/ BREAKING: Landmark Peer-Reviewed Study Finds Vaccination Is a Major Risk Factor for Autism
Our 50-page analysis of more than 300 studies provides one of the most comprehensive syntheses to date on the possible causes of autism. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-landmark-peer-reviewed-studyLegalizing treatment of Stop signs as Yield signs by bicyclists reduces intersection accidents. We Finally Have the Data on Cyclists Running Stop Signs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCs5nDEZpoM
A Huge meteorite impact 44,000 years ago appears to have have seeded an ecosystem, implying that this could have also happened billions of years ago.
Major Discovery on the Origin of Life Found Inside a Korean Crater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4g1Oi6SoB8Henry what are you doing in there?
Ralsph what are you doing out there?I now understand with clarity where i went astray. Adopting Stoicism as my philosophical base is the most grievous of errors. What good, after all, could come from physics, logic and ethics?
Donald J. William Calley Jr. Trump
ignorance, greed and violence
That’s the ticket !!!“if Islam is so great?”
if someone spent more than a century murdering and robbing my family i would move close to them and wait for an opportune moment.
Sykes-Pico – 1916Most Arrogant Greatest Assholes
CIA did or did not raid Tulsi Gabbard’s office? https://x.com/nicksortor/status/2054722723834732776
We may be beginning to understand part of what’s going on with Iran, etc.
Billed: Israel made Trump/America bomb Iran, in order to 1) obviously NOT win in Iran (as everyone said) and also 2) To get bombed to snot (Also as everyone said, was completely obvious, and turned out to be perfectly true.) 3) This is because Trump loves doing what people tell him, because of Epstein files no one can find.
While the camera is on Israel, the “real instigator”, being bombed to powder for a war they didn’t have to have, but turns out Israel is second rate. Huh? Like your mother said: “Come again?”
Yes, Martin Armstrong again says UAE is bombed MORE than Israel. I’ve heard this, but makes no sense, including considering their sizes, so I needed it better established. Again, Wha-Huh? And NO press coverage on this, which is…Huhhhhh???? I mean, if it were Yemen, or Cleveland, or the English countryside, then yeah, no one cares: kill them all you want. But UAE is a New, Modern State which has attracted the WORLD. And not just the world, the world’s RICH, the Capital. The TV cameras, the Vegas, “Bling Bling” as the Iranian said yesterday.
But really no coverage? Hold on. Iran hates UAE MORE than Israel. Da fuq? Iran hates UAE more than SAUDI, which seems impossible, since they hate those guys a LOT, going back LIFETIMES. They are the heavyweights of the Sunni-Shia divide. So it’s not that. But they hate tiny UAE more than Israel, more than Saudi, more even than the United States. Not just from their words (see the article dissertation yesterday) but from their ACTIONS.
Armstrong has the answer. “UAE is the New Switzerland, after Switzerland gave up their privacy to London” he said. “All the money has left Europe and is going there, and Singapore.” He says this with no recognition of what that means.
Iran, as a proxy of LONDON, is bombing London’s COMPETITOR. First, most, and often. Iran JUST SAID they are declaring war, invading and holding, Oman and UAE, taking them over, putting them out of business. The UAE is VERY tiny: there is no POSSIBLE way to defend themselves from Iran. At all. Only a HUGE nation, the size of China or Russia could POSSIBLY defend them. …And neither Russia nor China have any projection force. Russia could support Iran by rail, mostly (but hasn’t at all) but they couldn’t even sustained projection to Syria, which is tiny.
So UAE is a competitor to the London/Globalist banking system. They were under control as long as they were always in the shadow of Iranian attack. But the key leg of getting rid of London/Globalists is to have an alternative London. That’s Dubai, and has been going way back: they decided, then built the place, whole cloth, from bare sand. Never bothered before. Everyone we know goes there, Jet setters, crypto bros, libertarians, people you’d never DREAM would dare going there. Popular.
So Iran is taking out London’s competition, for London. They are a London proxy, just as read. Confirm.
But surely this is nonsense. This is very long branch of very thin wood.
Nope. Maybe no one remembers the LAST Switzerland that tried this. Another golden jewel, another world-famous resort on the sea. Then attacked and ruined the minute they put out their “In Business” banker’s sign: they were called “Beirut.” Next day, amazing accidents happened to them! Over and over! And so on to this very day, the war never letting up for a single minute even now.
So we have motive, means, opportunity…and history.
So Iran works for London. They are London’s army. Attacking the rival family in Dubai.
This is double because they very, very specifically do NOT say that UAE is/has been the major target. And major focus of Iran’s rhetorical Ire too. I believe this was made hot last week when UAE handed Iranian banking records to Bessant. And although the rubes aren’t told or wouldn’t understand it anyway, the facts of all this won’t be lost on the world’s leaders, and primarily, Russia, China, and the Gulf nations, all neck-deep in banking themselves. So Iran may be an “Ally” but Russia would have to decide if they want to support “an ally” or support London who is their primary or perhaps only aggressor. Looks like they picked Dubai.
upon closer examination “The Shining City on a Hill” is just a well lit whore house.
The Two Greatest Bernaysian commandments:
1. .Abhor truth will you whole being and place no condition above ignorance.
2. Hate your neighbor as you despise yourself and do unto him every evil at your command.I much prefer listening to The Talking Heads than the buffoon Napolitano and cia asset Johnson.
slowly warming to the idea that preventing or derailing the Trump juggernaut might be in the best interest of The United States and the less equal animals.
as Doctor Matkowski once queried, “If ignorance is bliss how many happy people do you know”?
using The Roman-Persian war as a benchmark we can only hope the world lasts another six hundred years. Cognizant of geological time it is easy to see how far humanity has advanced in two thousand eighty years.
When it comes to cynicism, as Lily Tomlin instructed, i just can’t keep up.
Do you hear Judy Collins singing?Stay tuned, Trump is not allowed to visit China. What fresh nonsense will they totally “make up” today? Whoops Moon of Alabama on the case! Trump has control over BOTH Venezuela AND Iranian oil flows to China. China is DEAD without them. He therefore concludes Trump has no leverage and is going to China, cap-in-hand to beg.
To beg China not to collapse from our oil shutoff on them? Which we did overnight in only two chess moves? Thanks, Moon, you’re a f’n genius. Let me shut off the oil in YOUR house and see if that gives me any leverage over you.
Congresswoman was on CNN saying the fact that Trump has closed the straits and is choking China out for oil means he has no leverage over them and should knock it off. …She worked closely on making sure we invaded Iraq, so she’s an “Expert” on such things, listen carefully.
“Trump Mulls ‘Operation Sledgehammer’ If Ceasefire Collapses, But Iran Has Re-Armed
Name change would seek to circumvent the War Powers requirement & Congress…Guh. And Congress rolls over and pretends it’s fine of course. Among other things, there is no national discussion about it. Why have a discussion? We don’t have a democracy anyway.
“UK Risk Spreads Oddly Calm As PM Starmer Faces Growing Threat Of Ouster
Speaking of markets. Bond Yields ARE in danger there, but not what one would expect. The market probably IS saying something, but I don’t understand it. There’s no panic elsewhere either, (eg Into Brazil or Russia) so perhaps no one does. But if markets mean anything, markets claim it remains under control, a rotation, not a collapse.
“TREASONOUS CONSPIRACY”
So they undertook to actively overthrow the government and the will of the American People. Okay, hang them. Actually it’s far worse than just shooting someone. As we’ve seen from the Biden years, it’s shooting, robbing everyone.
“when irrefutable proof emerges that at least 10,000 fraudulent votes flipped Georgia — the exact margin of victory”
Yes, that is effectively a coup, although it may not seem so at the time to the players because no one is shot. But it is.
“Iran hasn’t successfully exported any crude oil by sea over the past 28 days.”
Everything’s in details: I thought China’s oil alone was leaving. There are many explanations, that oil is from Kuwait, etc, it is from a different station, it was before 28 days, etc. But these things matter and there’s a lot of this in the news. And fair enough: there’s a lot going on, and several people are lying. The conclusions from these weak details lead to Opposite conclusions though.
“Reading the archives [on Taiwan] is downright infuriating.”
Why? Idgaf who rules Taiwan. That’s not my country nor my business. Not only that, but if one or the other ruled it, I probably couldn’t tell the difference, unlike for example, the era of Bruce Lee and Chairman Mao when it would matter a lot.
“Right now, every minute of every day, operatives within and around the federal and blue states’ governments are building cases and preserving — maybe even manufacturing — “evidence” for the zealous lawfare to come.”
Crazy Right-wing paranoia, except John Brennan, their major general, just said so yesterday. Carville, head DNC strategist, just said so last week. This isn’t Joe/Josephine Blue Hair, so believe them. They’re just straight telling you, point of fact, so just take it at face value, point of fact. And we know all the Good and Pretty people actively chase Federal agents down and hit their cars. It’s not JUST the Brennan and Carimellas. Any rich Luigi shoots anyone he just thinks is not-quite-pure-enough and they cheer and hang posters rejoicing in murder. This is bad.
“Yermak was arrested overnight. Not long ago, he was either Zelensky’s right-hand man or his most likely successor.”
Oh. I see. So same as here past 12 years ‘cause Nazis gonna Nazi. Blast from the past, Taibbi was interviewed on the Twitter Files story (yesterday), that EVERY Federal employee of EVERY agency, was shutting down the speech of EVERY American, sometimes focusing on accounts with under ten likes. As an example. The point was – his point – Matt ONLY talked about banning, say Democratic Socialists of America, ONLY about throttling and shutting off Jill Stein, hard, very-far Leftists. Not because that was special, but because he thought it would get more traction, that it would keep it out of “But Orange Man!” “Bad Alex Jones” territory. NOPE. They Left didn’t care, they liked it and not only didn’t THEY care, the New York Times, Atlantic, CNN, MSNBC, every reporter, author, civil rights advocate, the View didn’t care. They LIKED there to be no free speech for anyone, even Socialists and Union Rights Activists. They took the erasure of Jill Stein’s far-left, antiwar campaign, following direction on Bernie’s hyper-suppressed campaign, as the same as if they were both Donald Trump and Dr. Mengele combined.
Why bring this up? The Same as ACTUAL living Nazis, Azovs, with the Black Sun tattoos and uniforms, there with Yermak in Ukraine. Dude, EVERYBODY KNOWS about the coke! You’re not HIDING anything, changing anything. You just go from “Got bad coke habits, meh” to “You’re a bloodthirsty maniac and menace who ALSO does coke.” That’s it. Or the actual Nazis in Canada who give 12 minute standing ovations to the SS, same as Nutsy in Congress here. And if you say/report it, yes, like her, several levels of warnings, but eventually arrested and killed for saying what everybody knows: Justin Trudeau is a useless fop and a jerk who’s softer than 10-ply. THAT is what they kill journos for, while other journos cheer. Identical in Ukraine and here.
So who’s FOR any free speech or the having of spines? Well “The. Twitter. Files.” so maybe the guy who owns Twitter is slightly further on the Free Speech, rule of law side? And his friends?
““Arctic Frost memos suggest: Jack Smith’s team primed their criminal case against Donald Trump to resume once his presidency ends.”
Promethean says Smith was trained in Globalist’s International Criminal Court, then inserted in the U.S. to attack Trump. (I wanted to cross check this) The new Inspector General of Canada, the same. That changes the view slightly, as same crooked and completely fabricated action, but not from organic hate or domestic politics: Globalists directly attacking and killing Sovereigntists.
“• Von der Leyen’s Power Grab Angers EU Officials – Bloomberg (RT)
She’s just taking off the Velvet glove to show the fist always there. She’s just lifting the curtain and showing the brick prison wall in the back Zappa spoke of. About time these dum-dums realized they never had any power, ever, at all. That was the whole purpose. AND Ursula was never elected. At all. Even her last committee appointment was 1) Illegal, she is under serious investigation and 2) iirc, she was sub 30%, but everyone else was hated MORE. So even by their NON democratic Soviet Appointment rules, she’s illegitimate.
Like Macron, Starmer, all the Neocons, it just goes on anyway, against all law and desire. Sooo…how? If I screw up every order at Taco Bell, and the manager and everyone on staff wants me fired, why am I still there screwing up everything and not fired? ‘Cause it would be really useful to know in my day job. How can I do literally anything wrong, do no work, screw up everything, and get paid 10 more years anyway, including billion dollar serial felonies? That’s odd, ain’t it? Doesn’t that make the list of suspects who could arrange that protection, very, very short?
“• Kathy Hochul Caves to Mamdani, Will Bail Out Socialist NYC (Margolis)
Triumphal Social Media posts “See?? Mamdani proves you CAN just tax all the billionaires!!!” Uh… Sigh. Yup, here it happened, the 150th year in a row, every billionaire JUST left, they are now raping the RED part of the state (everyone north of TriBeCa) permanent loss of industry and Wall St to Miami, and are in a budget collapse on every front. No. You’re right: Totally no downside to taxing the rich, now or ever.
It can never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, end. You’d think: “They have to learn” but it happens, they hit the rake, then DON’T learn, then hit the rake again, and DON’T learn, again…
That’s okay, raping the REST of NY where they still do work won’t have any bad effects and flight I think in all such states, like IL, are like 100k/year to Red states.
“• CIA Went Rogue, Raided Tulsi’s Office to Seize Papers (Catherine Salgado)
That’s a very big statement as she’s their boss. I hope the reporter has the receipts, ’cause can’t be.
Oh, and what was that thingie John Brennan was saying?
“JFK and MK-ULTRA files, and it seems the CIA gave us indirect confirmation that there is something in those files that they desperately do not want anyone to know.”
Huh. Thanks for confirming everything with your actions, morons. Btw, does the government have “Copies”? They act like everything is on paper. Is it? Type: RoboCopy: Hard Drive. Enter.
“Democratic lawyer Marc Elias appears to believe that Democrats do not need to stop at simply sacking and packing the Virginia Supreme Court”
I’m sure that won’t have any downside, but when the express GOAL is civil war, it’s all good. More than anything, they need and require the Red Hats of Western Virginia to take up hands against the Blue enclaves in the state so they can cry violence and victim. Only if that happens can they stay well in the game.
“85% of refugees are Muslim”
As I was saying all last year about Gaza. Egypt and Jordan are running the walls locking them in there to be murdered. Saudi and UAE watch daily on TV, with fully as much lobbying power as Israel has. Discuss? No. Only TWO countries are responsible, and one of them is not anywhere in Europe.
“Economist Richard Werner makes a pointed argument: the EU was modeled on the Soviet Union.”
Entirely, but not ONLY that: they also took all the staff and PEOPLE from the Eastern Bloc, because they already agreed with these same principles. Like Merkel for example.
I, as an observer, trying not to be a pretender, give kudos to this site contributors for their efforts.
The Modern surrender ceremony, ( full of pomp, pageantry ), is being opposed by TDS (Trump Deranged Syndrome )
I heard the speeches on TV. NOW, I’m waiting to see the results.
————1,623 DRONES & MISSILES! Russia’s Largest Strike Since Day 1
TRUMP MEETS XI IN BEIJING
MS 2026.05.14From a comment at TCH, a post that says we don’t need data centers, and it made so much sense to me I am linking it.
China’s problem with the United States is the hard question of whether or not it is worth it to geopolitically KILL the United States ZionNazi Empire at this time and at this rate. It is a highly complex and nuanced question, and I am seeing that the Chinese and Russians and Persians are taking it very very seriously indeed.
It is not a matter of can they do it, as in capable? Of course they can, and of course they are (everybody knows that the East wins, just by looking at how the Scoreboard numbers are running and trending. It is a question of how hard to do it, how fast to do it, and what the price will be.
The price is pretty high at the moment. It could cost them a lot of damaged infrastructure and civilian casualties among their own population, which weakens the war mongering governments as well, so nobody actually likes to do that until their minds are so corrupted and ill that they think that depopulation is a good long-term survival goal.
I look for them to ease back on the throttle a little bit and just let the current War of Attrition do its thing.
If you really want to know what people really believe then observe what it is that they really do, because when you get right down to basic basic basics people will NEVER voluntarily do anything that they think violates their own belief of what is really good and true and what is really not good and true at all.
When that genuinely fundamental determination (that must be made) turns out to be a really close call, (For Examples: “Is money a good thing or a bad thing?”, or “Should I seek power over others as the best strategy in life?” “Does might make right, or doesn’t it?”) they hedge the bet. And they hedge it in an astonishingly creative array of various means of achieving an acceptable balance between good and bad that enables them (us) to survive (at least) either way it goes, regardless of which side winds up running the side show in this ring of this circus.
It doesn’t matter who wins the Battle of the Side Show. What matters is who owns the circus, and there’s only one identity who could possibly be that Maker, Owner, User of the whole circus.
UAE:
Well maybe those City of London Ukrainian drone experts accidently hitting 2 skyscrapers in UAE wasn’t accidental afterall!
They were sent packing by UAE!Indictments:
So far, indictments of various Democrat traitors hasn’t made much of a splash with the American people.
Indictments meansn nothing these days.
Seems to be a bad case of “Wake me up when they arrest or convict anybody”!
So far, nothing has happened!
r.i.m.:
here’s a real journalist reporting real information. meet max blumenthal, america’s best journalist:
* I loathe, detest, abominate,
Despise, abhor the shadow state.
I love my kids, I love my wife,
I love my cush suburban life;
But of all the things that make me mad
The shadow state is twice as bad.
Call me a fascist, seal my fate,
But don’t give me the shadow state.
Our leaders just pretend to rule,
Expecting us to play the fool.
Their orders come from up on high;
They say they care, but that’s a lie.
It’s all about complete control;
They flatter, threaten, then cajole.
It’s like they want to kill us all,
But save a few to keep in thrall
Send me a tiger to my gate,
But don’t give me the shadow state.
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