G7 Archives - The Automatic Earth

That moment when John McCain in Kyiv in 2013, was openly boasting on CNN that the US delegation was there to "orchestrate" a regime change in Ukraine?

He flaunted it, with Victoria Nuland at his side, actively manipulating the overthrow of the democratically elected President… pic.twitter.com/W9LclLXHld
— Richard (@ricwe123) October 4, 2026

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/2107016456617501113?s=20 https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2106974435626590313?s=20 https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1__/status/2107084663378313320?s=20

🚨‼️Putin: "The BIGGEST MISTAKE we MADE in our RELATIONS with WEST that we TRUSTED you TOO MUCH. Your MISTAKE was that you PERCEIVED this TRUST as WEAKNESS and ABUSED it." pic.twitter.com/STtX54gti7
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) October 5, 2026

I’m slowly starting to get confused about who’s fighting who.

• Houthis Unleash Large Missile, Drone Barrage On Saudi Arabia (ZH)

Houthis Launch Missiles/Drones On Saudi Territory
The Houthis have announced in the late evening (local) their forces have launched a large missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s territory. The group has announced it again targeted King Khalid Airport in Riyadh as well as the Aramco refinery in Rabigh. Air traffic halted at Riyadh airport due to a Houthi attack, via Sabereen

An official statement also listed that Abha Airport, Khamis Mushait Airbase and sites in Najran and Jazan provinces in Saudi Arabia were targeted in the missile and drone wave. On the other side, the Saudi coalition says it is engaged in operations across Yemen’s Hodeidah ` governorate. It has some 100 warplanes for the operation, prior Monday statements indicated. Monday witnessed Saudi coalition air strikes on Kamaran Island and al-Salif District in Hodeidah governorate, according to Al Jazeera.
Saudi Coalition Fighting to Retake Mocha, Bab al-Mandab Strait Region
Yemeni Saudi-backed forces have announced the takeover Mocha city, west of Taiz province, according to government-affiliated Saba news. While as yet unconfirmed, this would be a significant reversal as the Saudi-coalition seeks to regain the Red Sea coast, with air support from some 100 Saudi coalition warplanes operating overhead.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said 324 “high-value targets” had been destroyed since the operation began. “100 fighter jets participated at dawn today in Operation Dawn of Yemen,” Al-Maliki said in posts on X, adding that the coalition was providing round-the-clock air support to Yemeni armed forces on the ground.
“Saba quoted a responsible military source as saying that the joint forces engaged in clashes in a number of locations surrounding Mocha, during which various types of weapons were used, and which, according to the source, resulted in deaths and injuries among the Houthis, the capture of a number of their members and the escape of others,” a regional source writes.
On Monday reports are emerging that the Houthis may have lost Mocha, in what would be a hugely symbolic setback if accurate:

Houthis just lost Mocha https://t.co/2i7sjogxOa
— Zineb Riboua (@zriboua) October 5, 2026

However, some prominent regional watchers are disputing this:

The reports circulating on Saudi-affiliated channels about their forces controlling Mocha and Bab al-Mandab are false and baseless. This video is currently live from the city of Mocha. pic.twitter.com/6C0POZWjQM
— ابراهيم ناجي Ibrahim Naji (@Ibrahym22Nagi) October 5, 2026

Meanwhile a US Embassy alert for Americans in Saudi Arabia… “Due to the ongoing security situation in Saudi Arabia and the potential for aerial drone or missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, the US Mission strongly encourages all US citizens to remain vigilant and follow the guidance of national alerts released by Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense,” it posted on X.

“..the IRGC Appeal to the West for Defense vs Trump.”

That is just plain weird, the IRGC talking to Americans.

• Background Context for the IRGC Appeal to the West for Defense vs Trump (CTH)

Susan Kokinda delivers a great contextual overview for the IRGC letter to the world asking everyone, anyone, to help protect them from President Trump’s strategic operation against Iran.

Kokinda opens with the 26-page open letter Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps addressed to the American people weeks before the midterms, which the State Department dismissed as desperate and the Daily Wire read as a call to vote Democrat. She argues the letter tells a bigger story than anyone is reporting: it names the CIA, Israel and the military-industrial complex, but never once the British.
After President Trump’s “easy way or the hard way” remark on Iran, and his statement at the U.N. that the election won’t influence his Iran policy, the episode revisits the 1953 overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh, whom the letter calls an “Americanophile,” after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, today’s BP, and cites National Security Archive documents showing the British Foreign Office approached the Truman administration in late 1952 to propose a coup.
Her review then turns to a Foreign Affairs newsletter citing the 1956 Suez crisis as a parallel to the war with Iran, President Eisenhower’s refusal to back Britain and France at Suez, and Gamal Abdel Nasser’s 1955 Foreign Affairs article on how the British ran Egypt. It closes with Richard Haass on Morning Joe, the morning after Trump’s U.N. speech, calling it “the end of 80 years of American foreign policy,” Chatham House director Bronwen Maddox on Europe having to defend itself against the U.S., and Mark Carney telling the New York Times he spent the past year preparing for the “extreme tail risk” of U.S. military action against Canada. WATCH:

“In Brussels, Berlin and Paris, they had counted on the Americans shouldering the lion’s share of forcing a regime change in Moscow ..”

• Trump’s Diesel Threat Worked: G7 Dumps 100 Million Barrels (Thomas Kolbe)

In the end, Donald Trump’s threat to prohibit diesel exports apparently proved credible after all. Faced with rapidly rising prices at the pump and an emerging acute shortage of middle distillates, from diesel and heating oil to aviation kerosene, the G7 heads of government decided on Friday, under pressure from the US president, to release their own oil reserves.

For the EU, the perfect storm is brewing: a rising dollar price, the visible control of the Strait of Hormuz by the US military, as well as rising interest rates in the bond markets amid the threat of a sovereign debt crisis, have made the pressure particularly tangible for the EU states: further rising energy prices will hit the fragile eurozone industrial economy considerably harder than the essentially energy-autonomous United States.
The problems of the EU Europeans are homegrown and not the result of American special interests: completely overstretched welfare states, a self-inflicted migration crisis that can no longer simply be wished away, an economy in an atmosphere of departure – though not at home, but fleeing EU regulation, excessive energy costs and the political raid of the Green Deal. They have laid a fuse to the fragile structure of the EU, lit it and are no longer willing to recognize that this powder keg could explode at any moment.
One miscalculation is piling on top of another. In Brussels, Berlin and Paris, they had counted on the Americans shouldering the lion’s share of forcing a regime change in Moscow – cheap access to the country’s energy and resources, possibly bargaining and pricing power, have by now become indispensable to keeping the EU’s economic model alive. Energy costs have to come down, as quickly as possible. From Washington to Brussels, from Moscow to Beijing, they all understand the EU Europeans’ strategic hopelessness. In the case of Russia, instead of a triumph, the result has recently been the destruction of Russian refinery capacity, ironically by partner Ukraine – the next setback in view of the EU’s energy problems.
So now comes the first step toward alleviating the energy price crisis, merely a fight against symptoms that will solve none of the EU’s structural problems. French President Emmanuel Macron explained the strategy, which essentially consists of three steps:
“First, 100 million barrels will be released from strategic reserves in a coordinated manner over a period of four months. A substantial quantity of diesel is supposed to reach the market within the first 20 days. Second, the maintenance schedules of the refineries in the participating states are to be better coordinated. The aim is to prevent several facilities from being shut down at the same time – the throughput is above all intended to help reduce the diesel shortage.
Where possible, refineries are to temporarily increase their utilization rates. Obviously, this does not resolve the contradiction of how, in the face of destructive climate policy, new refinery capacity could possibly be conjured up in Europe. These projects take long periods of time and, given CO2 certificates and climate regulation, are simply no longer profitable. In the CO2 frenzy, more than 20 percent of refinery capacity had already been destroyed in recent years. This madness is now coming back to haunt them.
As a third measure, the G7 states committed themselves not to impose any export restrictions on energy and petroleum products among themselves. This is precisely where the geopolitical background to the release of these reserves becomes apparent: the conflict between Washington and the EU had recently shifted from trade policy issues to the energy market and has now reached a temporary climax with the release of the reserves.
In addition to the measures mentioned above, the International Energy Agency is to monitor their implementation and propose a further package of measures within 20 days. All in all, the action was an act of desperation that is likely to lose its effect in the markets after a few weeks.
These weeks are exposing the economic-policy sins of a policy that was, on the one hand, driven by the understandable desire to achieve an energy-autonomous situation – Europe still obtains around 60 percent of its energy requirements from abroad. Added to the desire for autonomy were eco-socialist forces that saw their opportunity in the fight against fossil fuels not only to eliminate parts of refinery capacity and fossil energy production, but also to establish their own political center of power with the help of climate policy.
With overregulation, a CO2 extraction economy and a green patronage economy designed to enrich political friends, greater damage is being left behind than anyone is currently willing to admit. Ultimately, it was trillions spent on the green transformation, on von der Leyen’s Green Deal, that were simply burned and produced no positive effect whatsoever.A few have made themselves rich, while what remains are industrial wastelands and a slowly rotting continent in unchecked decline.
What awaits the EU Europeans who are still dreaming green is a brutally hard emptiness, delivered straight to their door by reality: The global economy still operates to 87 percent on the rails of fossil fuels and the resurgent power of nuclear energy. Everything else is propaganda.

Translated from Dutch.

How Europe blachmails its people by making up Russian threats from whole cloth.

• German Intelligence Agency Warns of Violent Conflict With Russia (Chiem Balduk)

Martin Jäger

Germany is at risk of becoming embroiled in a violent conflict with Russia. Martin Jäger, head of the German intelligence agency BND, has issued this warning. “We are not seeking this confrontation; Russia is forcing it upon us. They view us as their primary adversary.” According to Jäger, Germany is the greatest obstacle to Russian President Putin’s expansionist ambitions. Germany is Ukraine’s most important ally in terms of military support and also maintains a military presence in the Baltic states. “That makes us a target for Russian actions.”

The failed attack at Leipzig Airport—in which drones carrying explosives were intended to blow up a transport aircraft—was just one example of such actions. The BND chief expects further attacks on targets in Germany, particularly against military shipments. Assassination attempts are also part of the threat. “Russian agencies operate professionally and ruthlessly.” Jäger made these remarks during the annual hearing on intelligence agencies in the Bundestag. The warnings were more serious than those of recent years.
According to the BND chief, Russia has been escalating tensions since this summer, launching attacks against both Ukraine and its allies. Through hybrid attacks and threats, Russia is attempting to undermine German support for Ukraine. This strategy is working: fear of a military conflict is causing a significant portion of the German population to turn against military aid to Ukraine. While a majority still supports the policy, that support is slowly eroding. Four out of ten Germans feel that the provision of military aid goes too far.
There is a prevailing sentiment, particularly in the east, that Germany is actively seeking confrontation with Russia. Parties opposed to the aid, such as the AfD and Die Linke, made significant gains in state elections last month. This view is also voiced within the governing parties. For instance, Saxony’s state premier Kretschmer (CDU) recently described the military aid as a “huge mistake.” He argued that by providing it, Germany has effectively made itself a party to the war—a conflict that, in his view, is “not our war.” According to Kretschmer, this is fueling public anxiety.
BND chief Jäger observes that Russia is exploiting this German anxiety. “Any sign of hesitation encourages Russia to ramp up the pressure on us.” He therefore expects Russia to increasingly threaten Germany with nuclear attacks. While there is no immediate threat of war at present, Jäger considers small-scale military actions in the Baltic states a real possibility. He cites the “little green men” scenario—similar to the events on the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula in 2014—where unidentified troops appear and subsequently occupy territory.
Undermining trust
In recent months, Germany has witnessed a series of incidents attributed to Russian intelligence services. In addition to the attempted attack in Leipzig, these include arson at a defense company in Munich, the discovery of a weapons cache near Berlin, and the use of drones around critical infrastructure. Martina Rosenberg of the military intelligence agency MAD warned that these actions are intended not only to stall military aid but also to stoke fear. “It is intended to undermine citizens’ confidence in the state’s ability to defend itself.” Ultimately, this leads to societal division, according to Rosenberg.
This explains why intelligence chiefs are so explicitly issuing concrete warnings. The aim is to convey the gravity of the Russian threat so that support for German policy remains intact. The attempted attack in Leipzig appears to mark a turning point in this regard: Russian hostility toward Germany is being taken more seriously.
For Chancellor Merz, support for Ukraine is a key priority. During a visit to Kyiv this weekend, Merz announced a new aid package. Berlin has pledged €11.5 billion to Ukraine this year.

Europe gambles Russia won’t dare.

• Don’t Know? Blame Russia (RT)

Finnish President Alexander Stubb

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has blamed Russia for a wide range of security concerns facing the EU, including the influx of migrants over the summer into Ceuta, Spain’s enclave in Morocco. He later admitted that he did not know the situation in Ceuta “well enough to take a position.”

Stubb made the remarks in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo over the weekend. Asked about potential hybrid threats posed by Russia, Stubb said the country would try to interfere with the upcoming Spanish election. Madrid “should expect some form of sabotage or hybrid attack. It could be related to information warfare or a campaign that threatens their democracy,” he claimed.
The president went on to allege that Russian-backed cyberattacks are “happening as we speak against Spanish banks and other targets,” without citing specific evidence. “They send asylum seekers to our border, as we have also seen in Ceuta,” he said, accusing Russia of committing acts of sabotage throughout the EU.
He also mentioned cases in which Russian-linked ships were accused of cutting undersea telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea and the recent incident at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, where explosives-laden drones were found near Ukrainian cargo planes. Germany blamed Moscow and ordered the closure of a Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. Russia dismissed the accusations as “nonsensical” and denied any involvement.
Pressed further about Russia’s alleged role in the Ceuta crisis in late July, when more than 70,000 migrants crossed into the enclave, Stubb admitted that he did not “know the matter well enough to take a position.” Reuters reported at the time that migrants had been encouraged by viral videos and misleading claims about Spain’s asylum and migration rules. Spain later accused Russian- and Israeli-linked networks of spreading disinformation regarding the crisis, which both countries denied.
Stubb’s interview came after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte encouraged members of the bloc to attribute incidents to Russia whenever they are sure or “almost sure” that Russia is responsible. “When able, when you are sure it is the Russians, or almost sure it is the Russians, attribute it to the Russians,” Rutte said this week.
Direct conflict unlikely
Asked about the possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, however, Stubb dismissed it as negligible. “Do we expect Russia to attack? The answer is no. We have no evidence of that,” he told El Mundo. According to the Finnish president, EU leaders have a “communication problem,” as some have been “acting in an alarmist way and conflating [hypothetical] scenarios with the perception of the threat.”
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged officials this week not to “exaggerate” when making alarmist statements about Russia and said there is no evidence that the country is planning to attack NATO. Rutte has also said there is “no imminent threat to NATO territory.”
Nevertheless, EU officials have argued that the bloc, as well as NATO, should be prepared for a potential clash with Russia. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the country must be ready for a conflict by as early as 2028. The German government amended its constitutional debt brake to fund military spending and passed a 2026 budget allocating a record €108.2 billion ($121.5 billion) to defense and €11.5 billion in military assistance for Ukraine.
Russia has stated that it would not attack any NATO country unless attacked first – warning, however, that Western military aid to Ukraine makes a dangerous escalation more likely. President Vladimir Putin has argued that European politicians are stirring tensions with Russia to distract voters from problems at home.

Letitia James Jack Smith, John Brennan, Christopher Wray.

Names from dark times in which Trump was targeted.

Names you would think are now in jail or under investigation.

But instead most are still in their jobs and “functioning”.

As if nothing happened.

• Orders for Legal Targeting of Trump Came From the Very Top (Robert Spencer)

On Monday morning, the indefatigable investigative journalist Catherine Herridge posted a series of newly declassified FBI memos dating from 2022 and 2023, and demonstrating definitively that the left’s lawfare campaign against President Donald Trump was carried on with approval from the very top.

In the Biden White House, the very top didn’t necessarily mean Old Joe Biden himself. While all this was going on, the putative president of the United States was busy demonstrating that he did not possess the cognitive faculties necessary to discharge the duties of his office.
Instead, the memos show that top FBI and Justice Department officials signed off on this cynical and dishonest operation, which from beginning to end was designed to cobble together something that would appear as if Trump had engaged in wrongdoing serious enough to prevent him from running for president again, or, failing that, would so discredit him in the eyes of the American people that he wouldn’t be reelected anyway.
The operation failed. Trump became president again, and only the bitterest hardliners buy into the “34 felonies” nonsense. Nevertheless, the new memos’ evidence that the lawfare operations against Trump proceeded with approval of top Biden regime officials points to the power of the deep state, the deeply rooted corruption and politicization of agencies that should be apolitical, and the left’s willingness to destroy our free republic in order to gain control of the government.
One memo, dated March 24, 2022, is heavily redacted, but damning enough anyway. FBI Director Christopher Wray wrote to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco “to obtain your signature authorizing the Washington Field Office (WFO) to open a full sensitive investigative matter.” Wray noted that “this request is based on the recommendation of the Deputy Director, Executive Assistant Director National Security Branch, and the Assistant Director in Charge, WFO.”
What the sensitive investigative matter exactly was is redacted, but Herridge states that the memo adds: “Although members of the 45th Presidential administration are no longer in office, the DOJ Memo states that the scope of this policy should be broadly construed to ensure that Department leadership is made aware of the opening of matters that could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election….”
These hard-left anti-Trump officials were almost certainly referring to Trump being “disruptive to the democratic process.” After all, the Democrats posed as the guardians of “our democracy” all through the 2024 campaign, falsely charged that Trump had engineered an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, and to this day, still insist that the president is an incipient fascist dictator who is still bent on destroying “our democracy.”
Monaco sent Wray’s memo on to Garland with the note: “Merrick, I recommend you approve, Lisa 3/25/22.” And so the initiative to frame and destroy Trump proceeded with approval at the highest levels. A second memo notes on Nov. 3, 2023, the Marxist, Trump-hating former CIA top dog John Brennan met at CIA headquarters with FBI and “Special Counsel personnel.” This memo states that the “purpose of the meeting was to discuss expert testimony to National Defense Information in the forthcoming trial.”
Herridge asks: “Was Brennan being prepped as potential ‘expert witness’ in Trump classified documents case?” Maybe, but the FBI record about the meeting is completely blank. Herridge suggests “at least three potential scenarios”: “FBI agents took no notes, violating long standing Bureau procedures,” or “FBI agents took notes which were intentionally withheld so ‘Brennan conversation’ was not discoverable for President Trump’s lawyers,” or “FBI agents’ original notes were ‘electronically buried’ in a restricted file.”
Any of these possibilities only reinforces the impression that these leftist officials were busy framing Trump, and trying to cover their tracks. And not only Trump. According to Herridge, a third memo, dated March 24, 2023, “appears to use FBI investigative tool known as a ‘Pen Register’ to target phone calls of then campaign manager @SusieWiles47,” one of Trump’s closest aides.
The feds also “allegedly tracked nearly two dozen defense attorneys, five journalists, @FLOTUS, political advisers including @FBIDirectorKash.” Herridge notes that special counsel Jack Smith employed “intrusive tactics” to prepare his classified documents case against Trump, potentially violating both “First (Freedom of Speech) and Fourth Amendments (unreasonable search and seizure).”
Herridge adds that a “former Senior FBI agent says it looks like a classic FBI ‘tickle the wire’ operation. After FBI agents contact Wiles, the bureau tracks phone calls to identify who she immediately contacts. ‘On 10 April 2023, FBI WFO (Washington Field Office) reviewed WILES’s telephonic activity to determine contacts of interest on the date of her FBI interview.’” Hey, you can’t catch any fish if you don’t put your line into the water.
The overall impression that these memos give is that the Biden regime was more corrupt than any administration in American history, and that it was bent on destroying Biden’s principal opponent in a manner that previous presidents and their staffs never even would have contemplated. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if at least some of the ringleaders of this disgraceful, anti-American operation faced justice?

“Declassified memos reveal that Jack Smith’s secret dragnet, codenamed “Plasmic Echo,” monitored senior Trump associates and staff’s contacts with lawyers, staff, and journalists during the 2024 campaign. “

• Jack Smith Team Tracked Trump Defense Lawyers’ Calls (JTN)

Already in the crosshairs for spying on Congress, ex-prosecutor Jack Smith and his team monitored the activities of President Donald Trump’s legal defense team, journalists and campaign advisers using a pen register device that tracked the calls coming to and from his chief of staff Susie Wiles’ phone, according to newly declassified memos that reveal some of the FBI’s invasive tactics used to target Trump.

Just the News reported last week that Smith obtained the phone records of several senators through a subpoena and secured a non-disclosure order from the court preventing the mobile carrier from notifying the lawmakers affected. One of those senators, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., filed a lawsuit against Smith arguing his spying constituted an unauthorized intrusion into her civil rights.
The latest memos, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force on Monday, show FBI agents assigned to Smith’s team in a probe codenamed Plasmic Echo used a dragnet of data gathering tactics in the midst of the 2024 election to monitor phone calls, social media, political endorsements and other constitutionally protected activities in the name of determining whether Trump broke any laws when he brought classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after his first term.
The three-year probe of the ex-president — which put Joe Biden’s administration in charge of the legal fate of his GOP rival in the 2024 election — was approved at the highest levels of the Biden Justice Department, including by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray, the memos show.
In March 2022, Wray sent a memo to Garland and Monaco, seeking the attorney general’s approval to open a “Sensitive Investigative Matter” that would become Plasmic Echo. “I recommend you approve,” Lisa Monaco wrote at the end of the memo, leaving her initials “LM.” Days later, Garland signed the memo with his initials, giving his approval.
Field agents raised concerns that top brass disregarded
The probe also made FBI agents at times uncomfortable, with a senior official at the bureau’s Washington, D.C. Field Office (WFO) counterintelligence unit and his team raising concerns that they did not have a justification to raid Trump’s Florida home and wanted to use a less invasive solution than a search warrant, the documents show.
“WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES), that we have established probable cause for the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. DOJ has opined that they do, requesting a wide scope including residence, office, storage space,” one Assistant Special Agent in Charge wrote in a July 13, 2023, update on the Plasmic Echo probe.
In that same memo, the agent laid out alternative methods for resolution, rather than executing a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida estate, including by asking “to speak with” the former president and his counsel directly.
“A reasonable step would be to recontact the attorney and inquire about any further documents. WFO has made numerous suggestions to DOJ over the course of this investigation that the most expedient way to ensure recovery of all classified documents would be to go through [redacted] DOJ has persistently disagreed,” the agent also wrote.
Smith has denied wrongdoing and last week in congressional testimony suggested he would pursue Trump all over again, denying politics was ever involved in his probe.“Anybody who has worked with me and knows me during the course of my career knows that I would not let politics play a role,” he told the Senate Judiciary Commitee. “And I would just add that if you knew the people I worked with, they would not either.”
The newly released memos show an intense focus on two constitutionally protected activities — Trump’s right to a legal defense and the normal activities of a presidential campaign. After the Justice Department and the FBI began their investigations into the then-former president, Trump announced his third campaign for the Oval Office in November 2022 and appointed Wiles to serve as co-campaign manager.
Smith had agents track Wiles’ phone calls and text messages in secret
The memos released Monday by the White House show that FBI investigators were tracing Wiles’ phone calls and text messages with at least 21 lawyers affiliated with Trump, numerous campaign staff, political advisors, and at least five journalists from at least February to May 2023.
The lawyers’ names and the journalists’ identities were redacted except for current FBI Director Kash Patel and Just the News founder John Solomon.
For example, on March 24, 2023, one FBI employee wrote: “Good afternoon, WFO is continuing to review the PR/TT on Wiles’s phone number and observed that [Lawyer 7] called Wiles at 2:04pm this afternoon for 41 seconds. [Lawyer 7] first called Wiles at 2:10pm EST on March 21, and Wiles returned his call for 1 minute and 34 seconds later that day at 2:59pm. These are the only contacts we have observed between the two of them since the PR/TT’s inception.”
PR/TT is an acronym for pen register and trap and trace, the mechanisms used to track phone calls.

“.., but FBI agents left notes blank..”

• Jack Smith Team Secretly Met Ex-CIA Chief John Brennan In 2023 (JTN)

Doesn’t democracy die in darkness anymore? Nothing about the substance of the meeting was recorded in the notes even though the U.S. Attorney’s Manual requires agents in important cases to confer about notetaking ahead of time, memorialize that discussion and then take substantive notes of contacts with witnesses. Smith’s team did neither.

Then-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team secretly met at the CIA in late 2023 with former Director John Brennan to discuss “expert testimony” in the classified documents prosecution of President Donald Trump, and the FBI agents who attended the interview left blank their notes of what transpired, according to bombshell memos released Monday.
The autumn 2023 interaction with Smith’s team occurred just months after Brennan testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the now-discredited Russia collusion case. Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, alleged in an October 2025 criminal referral to the Justice Department that Brennan’s testimony was false.
“On 3 November 2023, FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) and Special Counsel personnel met with former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John BRENNAN at CIA Headquarters in McLean, Virginia,” a typed FBI summary of the meeting states.
“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss expert testimony to National Defense Information in the forthcoming captioned investigation,” the summary written five days after the Brennan interaction added. “No documents were shown in this meeting. The original Agent notes will be maintained in the attached IA.” Two agents’ notes are attached to the memo, but they are entirely blank except for the date of the meeting, the location, Brennan’s name and the government attendees.
The memos were released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force. You can read them here.
Nothing about the substance of the meeting was recorded in the agents’ notes even though the U.S. attorney’s manual (formally named the “Justice Manual”) requires agents in most cases to take substantive notes of contacts with witnesses. In standard FBI practice, agents typically take rough notes by hand during an interview and later convert them into an official FD-302 Interview Report Form.
“Although not required by law, generally speaking, witness interviews should be memorialized by the agent,” the manual states, “Agent and prosecutor notes and original recordings should be preserved, and prosecutors should confirm with agents that substantive interviews should be memorialized.”
The interaction with Brennan was part of the FBI code-named investigation “Plasmic Echo,” which later became the genesis of Smith’s charges accusing Trump of mishandling classified information taken to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his first term ended. Those charges were dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Smith was not legally appointed as a special counsel because he was not confirmed by the Senate as required by the Constitution’s Appointments clause.
The timing and nature of Smith’s contact with Brennan is likely to generate intrigue in Washington, first because he was a vociferous critic of Trump on television, a status which would make him an unusual neutral expert for a Florida jury to hear from in a case against the president.
And secondly, Brennan’s interaction with prosecutors and agents occurred just a few short months after the ex-CIA boss gave testimony in Congress that has generated widespread controversy and a criminal referral. Brennan recently got a grand jury subpoena over that matter.
In a contentious Senate hearing last week, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tore into Smith’s perceived partisanship in launching two anti-Trump investigations and indictments. At that hearing, Hawley ridiculed Smith’s claims to non-partisanship, asserting — supported by unearthed memorandums and emails — that Smith’s actions “were in fact all about politics from day one […] it was an nothing other that an attempt to interfere, politically in a presidential election.”
Brennan accused of false testimony and obstruction of justice from different quarters The House Judiciary Committee last year formally referred Brennan for prosecution, alleging he gave false testimony in 2023 about his role in trying to bring the discredited Steele Dossier into the assessment. Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe also sent a criminal referral about Brennan to the FBI following his CIA “lessons-learned” review earlier in July.
After his tenure as CIA director, Brennan continued to stand by the Intelligence Community conclusions over which he presided, even as evidence emerged that called into question the basis for the investigation into the president. He continues to be a paid “Senior National Security and Intelligence Analyst” for left-leaning MSNOW and charges tens of thousands of dollars in speakers’ fees.
At the height of Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian collusion, for example, Brennan wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which he said President Trump’s claims of “no collusion” were “hogwash.” The retaliatory screed came after the president revoked Brennan’s security clearance.
Brennan’s role in the ginned up “Russian Collusion” hoax: “The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted a criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of ‘Trump Incorporated’ attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets,” Brennan wrote, arguing Trump’s revocation of his security clearance was designed to silence those who dared to challenge him.
Brennan’s actions at the beginning, middle, and end of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation and narrative are likely to feature prominently in the questions prosecutors will want him to answer in front of the grand jury.

You can read the filing here: gov.uscourts.dcd_.294102.32.0.pdf
Editor’s Note: John Solomon is working as an unpaid Special Government Employee as the chairman of the White House Government Transparency Task Force and has taken a leave of absence as Editor-in-Chief of Just the News while he serves in that role.

How does this woman still have a job?

• Letitia James Named Special Counsel Despite Declaring Guilt of Accused (Turley)

“Seven men drugged and gang raped a 20-year-old woman.” That verdict in the alleged Cornell rape case was delivered by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has joined a chorus of others in pronouncing the guilt of Cornell students accused of raping a fellow student. Mind you, not a single witness has testified under oath publicly and not a single charge has been brought. However, guilt is now being collectively declared from the usual figures and outlets who have never been late to mob justice.

Ocasio-Cortez declared, “I want to be clear that the culture of rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States and including Cornell University in this instance. It has got to stop.” We have been here before. Twenty years ago, Duke students were accused of gang raping a stripper at a campus party. The media quickly lionized Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong as he pandered to the media in portraying the students as personifying a racist rape culture in the United States.
The problem is that, from the start, the facts did not fit the allegations and there was a total lack of forensic evidence to support the claim. Crystal Mangum later admitted that she had lied.Nifong was disbarred and Mangum, who was still not prosecuted for lying about these students, later went to jail for murder. All the politicians and pundits who declared the Duke students guilty simply shrugged and moved on to the next scandal, demanding instant, uninformed judgments.
Conflicts in testimony, as there is in the Cornell case, does not mean that there was no rape. Indeed, this is a stronger case than Duke in my view. However, there is ample reason to withhold judgment until more is known. Much of what we know comes from a 101-page civil complaint filed by Doe against Cornell, fraternity-related entities, seven individual defendants and other defendants.
The alleged rape occurred on the night of Oct. 19, 2024. Doe admits that she drank heavily at a sorority house and then, despite being underage, drank more at a couple of bars before, around 11 pm, going to the Chi Phi fraternity house to meet a friend. It was there that she claims to have been drugged and gang raped. The Snapchat messages sent after 1 am from the fraternity brothers are disgusting and horrifying. Frat brothers announce that there was “free” sex with a woman upstairs, and one later asked, “Shop still open?”
Yet the case also includes countervailing statements from the alleged victim herself, including suggestions that the sex with the first couple of men was consensual.Friends recounted that Doe later laughed about the incident and said, “Oh my goodness, isn’t that crazy?” (Notably, some also added that they believed Doe was still traumatized by the experience and had not fully processed it). She also later told her sorority “big sister” that “You may hear some rumors about me, and unfortunately they are true.”
On October 22 and 23, Doe exchanged messages with one of the men who expressed regret about “how things went down.” Both said that their memory of what occurred was cloudy because they were intoxicated. However, she told him “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.” She reportedly added that she liked being with him and another man and wanted to come over and smoke more “but like leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine.” On Oct. 22, Doe did go to Cornell Health and was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases.
On October 28, Doe reportedly wanted to go to the fraternity’s Halloween party, and her frat friend said she was welcome because “chi phi is your house and you are welcome here.” She responded with “thank u i really appreciate … i’ll bring my cigs tomorrow.” Later, the president of the fraternity contacted her to rescind the invitation and she responded angrily to her friend that “I knew this was going to happen. The woman will always get the short end of the stick. Yall aren’t my friends. Yall are covering your asses.”
On Nov. 7, Doe did seek a rape kit test (which was not useful after the passage of so much time). The next day, she reported the alleged rape to the Cornell University Police Department. Cornell then moved quickly that day to suspend the Xi Chapter of Chi Phi and temporarily suspended the seven men later named in her civil lawsuit.
In her later accounts, Doe admitted to heavy drinking and drug use. She also reportedly told investigators that she was okay with the initial sex, adding, “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all of this.” However, she also said “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
Legally, the extreme intoxication and drug use undermine claims of consent. While she admits that her memory was “super clouded,” it is hard to imagine anyone believing that a student in her condition was capable of giving knowing consent. However, there are obvious problems with the case, which likely contributed to the decision not to bring criminal charges or make a criminal referral.
In New York, one threshold issue will focus on her voluntarily drinking to excess. Like other states, a mentally incapacitated individual cannot legally consent to sex but there is an exception for those who voluntarily consumed alcohol to the point that they became incapacitated. Roughly 20 states have the same exception — where an accuser must show that her incapacity by intoxication was involuntary due to being drugged or brought to intoxication without knowledge or consent.
Faced with a prosecutor who had previously declined charges (but was reopening the case), Gov. Hochul condemned the university and played to her base. She promised her own prosecutor. She then picked the one prosecutor who surpasses Nifong in the Duke case in her reputation for putting politics ahead of prosecutorial integrity: Attorney General Letitia James.
James was elected on a pledge to weaponize the legal system against President Donald Trump, promising that she would prosecute Trump without specifying any crime. She is known as one of the most political prosecutors in the country, using her office to pursue groups and individuals on the right. Former staffers recently condemned her for converting them into “Tish’s personal attorneys … targeting her political enemies.” Hochul’s appointment of James maximizes the chances of a criminal charge in the case. James has always followed the policy of the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”: “Sentence first, verdict afterward.”

“[NY Attorney General Letitia] James has always followed the policy of the Queen of Hearts in ‘Alice in Wonderland’: Sentence first, verdict afterward.”

• Pornish Hen (James Howard Kunstler)

A group of young men standing side by side stared up at the house, yelling and cursing at the defunct fraternity and the seven former members whom Jane Doe accused of assault. One of the men threatened to throw a rock through a window before his companions hustled him away. (Credit: The New York Times)

You can be certain that nobody involved in the Cornell U fraternity gang-bang circus is going to come out looking good, not the frat boys, not the girl, not the county DA, not New York AG Letitia James, and not NY Governor Kathy Hochul. The latter two have decided to showboat what has become a rape case in an election year when both are up for another four-year term.

First, the incident itself: October 19, 2024, a Saturday night when upstate New York is at its fall color peak and the campus is jumpin’, 20-year-old “Jane Doe” starts drinking at her sorority, Delta Delta Delta, Triple Delt, whose motto is Let Us Steadfastly Love One Another. Around eleven o’clock Jane goes into downtown Ithaca to do more drinking at a bar. She’s legally underage, but manages to get served.
Meanwhile, messages are zinging around on social media, Snapchat, etc. There’s a party going on at the Chi Phi fraternity Jane communicates with one of the members there. He cordially invites her over for “a threesome.” Jane apparently has a reputation as a lively girl around campus. She accepts and heads over to Chi Phi with a load on, “five out of ten” on the intoxication scale, she later writes in a nine-page statement she gave to campus police.
She arrives at Chi Phi around midnight. More drinks. Pretty soon she’s in that threesome in a bedroom. The frat boys are also pretty hammered. Things get even wilder. Four other frat boys enter the picture. On top of the alcohol, they start doing ketamine, known to produce a dissociative “floaty, out-of-the-body feeling.” One’s judgment is not too good on it, even worse when mixed with booze. The scene at Chi Phi is Animal House plus. Various shenanigans ensue. Eventually, Jane Doe gets home.
Jane makes a whole lot of statements to her friends and sorority sisters after the incident. Law analyst Jonathan Turley tells The New York Post, “Friends recounted that Doe later laughed about the incident and said, ‘Oh my goodness, isn’t that crazy?’” She also “later told her sorority ‘Big sister’ that ‘You may hear some rumors about me, and unfortunately they are true.’”
Three days later she exchanged messages with one of the frat boys who expressed regret over “how things went down.” Jane reportedly texted back, “I really liked being with you,” and “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.” She added that she wanted to come over and smoke more “but, like, leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine.”
Five days after that, she got wind that Ch Phi was throwing a Halloween party, and asked to be invited. The threesome boy replied, “Chi Phi is your house and you are welcome here.” She texted back “thank u i really appreciate. . . i’ll bring my cigs tomorrow.” Did she mean cannabis? Shortly, the president of Chi Phi chapter texted her to cancel the invitation. Jane, pissed off, texted back, “I knew this was going to happen. The woman will always get the short end of the stick. Yall aren’t my friends. Yall are covering your asses.” A woman scorned. . . .
A week after that — it’s November now — she reported the incident to campus police, but gave a muddled statement saying, she consented to the initial threesome, “Yeah, as much as I can because, again, I was super drunk when I got there. . . But I was pretty OK with all of this,” adding, “I can say with one hundred percent confidence I was raped.” You can suppose this was so, too, insofar as the ketamine she took probably launched her into a semi-hallucinatory state. Due to that muddle of intention and action in Jane Doe’s statements, the Tompkins County (NY) District Attorney Matthew Van Houten declined to prosecute the frat boys.
Anyway, that was then, 2024. Since then, Chi Phi’s chapter at Cornell was shut down. Fast forward two years. Jane Doe has now brought civil lawsuits against Cornell U and the seven Chi Phi frat boys, plus the Chi Phi national org, plus the Tri-Delt sorority, plus the bar in downtown Ithaca where Jane got hammered, plus unnamed faculty, alumni, and executive-board members. She alleges severe physical and psychological injury and says she later left Cornell.
A week ago, Tompkins County DA Van Houten reopened the criminal investigation. Then Governor Hochul stepped in and appointed AG Tish James “special prosecutor” for the state, taking the case away from DA Van Houten. Tish James, you might recall, initially ran for AG in 2022 by promising to go medieval on Donald Trump.
There’s a bit of a problem with the case: under New York State law, voluntary drinking and drug use that impairs judgment does not legally constitute and inability to consent to sexual activity. But leave it to Tish to figure out some way to skin this cat. She made good on her promise to haul Donald Trump into court in 2023 on a civil fraud rap (Judge Arthur Engoron presiding in the New York County (Manhattan) Supreme Court. It resulted in a roughly half-billion-dollar judgment. In August, 2025, a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division tossed the half-billion-dollar judgment.
The New York Times has commenced its own inquisition against Cornell U. The coverage is essentially free campaign advertising for the unpopular Governor Hochul and for AG “Big Tish” James, who proudly presides over a New York State legal system that releases indicted violent repeat-offender felons with no bail so they are free to push people in front of on-rushing subway trains. Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff has made the requisite, weepy, handwringing statement, promising to do better. Everyone must now play his and her assigned roles in this psychodrama.
You wonder if it will turn out anything like the Duke U Lacrosse team rape case twenty years ago, where the DA who brought the case was disgraced and disbarred, the students implicated were all let off, and the girl who made the rape complaint admitted she lied and was later convicted on a murder rap. But not until after racking up millions in legal fees for the attorneys of all concerned. Our country. . . .

She misses it.

• Karoline Leavitt to Join Fox News as Contributor (ETM)

Former press secretary Karoline Leavitt has joined Fox News as a contributor. She will start providing on-air commentary and analysis on Nov. 1. “I am grateful for the opportunity to continue appearing on FOX News Channel as an official member of the extraordinary team at FOX News Media,” Leavitt said in a statement. “I look forward to bringing my unique perspective from my experience as White House Press Secretary, along with the same energy and candor that defined my tenure, to Fox’s millions of viewers across their many platforms.”

Leavitt gave birth to her second child, Viviana, in May. She returned as press secretary in June and stepped down in August. Leavitt was the youngest press secretary in history. She told reporters she would return to working for President Donald Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc. after leaving the White House.
“The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary–and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” Leavitt wrote on X at the time.
“Our country is facing an existential threat from an increasingly extremist Democrat Party that seeks to destroy everything great about America, and I believe it is incumbent upon all of us who care about this country to fight back against that threat,” she added. Trump will likely welcome Leavitt’s addition as a strong voice for his administration on TV, as he has complained that Republicans are doing a “poor job of promotion” of his policies.
“I’m going out because nobody’s selling it,” he said. “The only thing we’re doing badly at is public relations,” he has also said. Leavitt ran as the Republican candidate for congress in her home state of New Hampshire’s first Congressional District in 2022. She served as national press secretary for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and as an assistant press secretary in Trump’s first term.

ELON MUSK TOLD RON BARON HE'S BUILDING A CHIP 2 TO 3 TIMES BETTER THAN NVIDIA, AT 10% OF THE COST

The chip is AI5, Tesla's inference chip for cars and robots. His own words: "I have the entire physical design of the chip laid out in memory, I can visualize the whole thing." No… https://t.co/viajl6J0xe pic.twitter.com/cydHhqf2PV
— Arven (@arvenxbt) October 4, 2026

TESLA ALREADY BUILT A FACTORY WITHOUT HUMANS. THIS IS NOT A TEST. THIS IS THE NEW REALITY

Four Optimus robots install doors, seats and wheels on Model Y.
Not a single person on the entire line.

Robots work 24 hours.
No breaks. No mistakes. No salaries.

Each Optimus… https://t.co/No6paeIBSg pic.twitter.com/jQNadsVqcS
— VynqorxeAI (@Vynqorxe) October 4, 2026

https://twitter.com/XFreeze/status/2106964603582161364?s=20

Optimus will help human to build the Moon base pic.twitter.com/tTT7ffjinF
— Doge Tipping (@Dogetothemoon) October 4, 2026

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Debt Rattle June 19 2026

Jun 192026

June 19, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:30 am Finance Tagged with: Apple, denazification, enforcement, G7, Hegseth, merger, Merrick Garland, SpaceX, Tesla, Ukraine 28 Responses »

M.C. Escher Fish and Boat 1948

• Trump Ties His Name and Credibility to Vance’s Dubious Iran Diplomacy (Hammer)

• The Iran War Was Easy. The Peace Is the Problem. (Stephen Green)

• Victor Davis Hanson: The Biggest Test of the Iran Deal: Enforcement (Bolt)

• Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Just Tore Into NATO (Bolt)

• Britain Bought The Keys To Ukraine’s Nuclear Future – What’s Next? (Ostashko)

• G7 Considering Licensed Arms Production In Ukraine: Why Now? (RT)

• EU Pushes Trump On Russia Policy As Moscow Warns On Greenland Militarization (TASS)

• Denazification of Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, Canada (Helmer)

• Speculation About A SpaceX–Tesla Merger Is Already Growing (ZH)

• Stupid, Stupid, Stupid”: DOJ Memo Tarnishes Record of Merrick Garland (Turley)

• Two Top Senators Urge Trump DOJ To Prosecute Fauci Despite Biden Pardon (JTN)

• Dems Could Have Beaten Trump If Biden Had Stepped Aside: Hillary Clinton (JTN)

• What Joy Behar Told JD Vance Shocked Him (Margolis)

• White Ethnicities Have Been Demonized Beyond Recovery (Paul Craig Roberts)

• Apple To Raise Prices As AI Boom Pushes Up Chip Costs (BBC)

https://twitter.com/robertdunlap947/status/2067352902713196650?s=20 https://twitter.com/AmericaPartyX/status/2067243242127503555?s=20

Elon Musk to the British people:

“You’re in a fundamental situation here where you, whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you.

You either fight back or you die.” pic.twitter.com/JharlkWQHF
— Taya Bass (@travelingflying) June 16, 2026

https://twitter.com/VictoriaSask/status/2067407714498551928?s=20

Not many illustrations today or other things that break the text monotony, and I even double-checked. Sorry for that. “First, can Americans somehow believe that Iran will uphold its commitments, given its history of deceiving and lying at every turn? Second, what does this mean for Trump’s legacy and successor plans ..”

• Trump Ties His Name and Credibility to Vance’s Dubious Iran Diplomacy (Hammer)

Donald Trump has been the greatest, most clear-eyed and most transformative foreign policy president of my lifetime. But Trump is also the famed businessman who wrote The Art of the Deal four decades ago. There has therefore always been the risk that the president’s novel and often unorthodox approach to foreign policy could be subsumed by a greater dealmaking imperative.

Prudent statesmanship on the world stage requires setting clear ends and then working backward to calibrate the appropriate means — diplomatic, economic, military or otherwise — to achieve those ends. Because of his dealmaking background, Trump — despite all his foreign policy successes — was always uniquely vulnerable to confusion of means and ends, prioritizing a deal itself above any end that a deal might be meant to secure.
That is how we got to this troubling week in U.S. foreign policy — namely, the deeply flawed new “memorandum of understanding” between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which represents the single greatest subsumption of noble ends into politically convenient means in at least a decade of American diplomacy.
The Iran appeasement, primarily negotiated and championed by Vice President JD Vance but ultimately bearing Trump’s signature, raises at least two crucial questions. First, can Americans somehow believe that Iran will uphold its commitments, given its history of deceiving and lying at every turn? Second, what does this mean for Trump’s legacy and successor plans, as it pertains to the Middle East and 2028 presidential hopefuls?
We shouldn’t mince words on the first issue. To place trust in Iran’s fanatical Islamist leadership is not merely naive — it’s delusional. For decades, Iran’s apocalyptic Shiite theocracy has demonstrated a consistent pattern of deception and hostility, undermining any notion that it can be a reliable partner in Western diplomacy. The history of Iranian negotiations is littered with broken promises, yet the administration — with Vance as its most prominent salesman — somehow argues this time will be different. There is zero reason for thinking that will be the case. The mullahs are still in charge, after all. As Roger Daltrey of the Who famously said in the hit 1971 song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”: “Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.”
This current MOU looks shockingly similar to former President Barack Obama’s catastrophic 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — a deal that Trump, shortly before withdrawing the United States from the pact in 2018, correctly excoriated as the “worst deal ever negotiated.” Under the guise of diplomacy, the plan said nary a word about Tehran’s formidable ballistic missile arsenal, allowed Iran to continue its nuclear ambitions, and provided the regime with a windfall — or, more accurately, literal pallets — of cash to fund its regional terror proxies.
What exactly is different with the current deal? The mind reels. The new MOU, with its quixotic presuppositions, risks repeating all those same grave mistakes. At its outset earlier this year, Operation Epic Fury had four reasonably clear goals: a truly free Strait of Hormuz, an end to Iran’s funding of its sprawling terror proxy network, an end to Iran’s ballistic missile threat, and a final resolution of the nuclear issue. The current agreement fails to achieve a single one of those American goals.
The Iranian regime, long guided by the sharia doctrine of taqiyya, has always viewed negotiations with Western powers as a strategic tool to buy time while advancing its nuclear capabilities, exporting jihad and sowing discord across the region. To imagine that Iran will suddenly embrace a spirit of good-faith cooperation is simply preposterous. No one actually believes that — including Trump’s own CIA director, John Ratcliffe.
We should also consider how this appeasement affects Trump’s Middle East legacy and, looking toward 2028, possible successor plans. Up until the April 8 ceasefire, Trump evinced a life’s work of consistent toughness toward the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism — a regime whose revolutionaries’ very first action, in 1979, was to storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and commence a 444-day hostage crisis. To cap off the fiery and effective Epic Fury on such a limp note, without a single American goal having been achieved, is to jeopardize that legacy.
What is the point, after all, of winning the war but losing the peace? On Wednesday, Trump celebrated the signing of the MOU at a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles. The profound symbolism of having that particular dinner at that particular location, intimately associated as it is with tragically flawed peace accords, cannot be ignored.
It seems, then, that Trump is placing a high-stakes wager on his Middle East legacy on his credulous vice president. As Trump said at the G7 summit earlier this week in France: “If (the Iran deal) works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.” Perhaps Trump meant that comment in jest — but perhaps he didn’t. The buck stops with the commander in chief, but maybe this has also been a trial run for Vance as he gears up for a likely 2028 run. If so, it has not been a particularly impressive one. No intellectually honest person can deny that Iran comes out the big winner from yet another futile exercise in kicking the nuclear (and missile) can down the road.
Throughout this ordeal, many Iran hawks have asked, “Where is Marco Rubio?” Rubio, like Ratcliffe and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, allegedly lobbied Trump against the deal. Perhaps the answer, in a possibility raised by the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, is that Rubio is deliberately missing in action: He is letting Vance “take the fall” if (when) the deal inevitably implodes. If Trump cares about preserving his legacy on the world stage, then, ironically, his best remaining hope may well be for Rubio to clean up this mess.

“Once we were at war, the proper solution was to force Hormuz back open. We even learned last week that Trump ordered elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to Israel for just such an eventuality.”

• The Iran War Was Easy. The Peace Is the Problem. (Stephen Green)

When President Donald Trump ordered the start of Operation Epic Fury on February 28, like many people I assumed a brief air campaign to further degrade Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The instigator was Iran’s own negotiators, who boasted to Trump advisor Steve Witkoff that they had produced enough nuclear material for nearly a dozen weapons. All Tehran needed to do was make the final uranium enrichment step from 60% to 90%, then assemble the warheads. Neither Trump nor Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu — whose nation former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called a “two-bomb country” — had a choice in the matter. It was either war then or nuclear blackmail later. Or worse.We went to war. I cheered it on.

Milblogger and retired Navy officer CDR Salamander put it better than I did at the time, writing that “I support the strikes on Iran because it firmly fits into a view I have held on the use of national military power for decades.” Sal was writing in support of the age-old Great Power custom of punitive expeditions — brief and often impressively violent campaigns to bloody a smaller enemy without all that “Pottery Barn Rule” nonsense that Colin Powell saddled our strategic thinking with a quarter century ago. “Nation building OPLANS again? No. Not any more. Breaking their things and killing their worst leadership that endangered the USA and her allies? I’m in.” Me too.
Now the Memorandum of Understanding is public, and I must ask: How in the hell did we get to this from where we started on Feb. 28? • Ceasefire: Immediate/permanent end to military ops (incl. Lebanon); no future attacks/threats; respect sovereignty/Lebanon integrity. • Non-interference: Respect sovereignty/territorial integrity; no internal meddling. • Timeline: Negotiate final deal in max 60 days (extendable). • U.S. Actions: Lift naval blockade (start immediately, full in 30 days); withdraw forces post-deal; $300B+ reconstruction plan; end all sanctions (UN/US) per schedule; oil export waivers; release frozen funds/assets. • Iran Actions: Safe commercial shipping (Hormuz/Gulf, 60 days free); no nuclear weapons; maintain nuclear status quo; down-blend stockpile under IAEA. • Interim: Status quo maintained; monitoring mechanism; final deal via binding UNSC resolution.
There’s so much to pick apart here, but there are really only three things that matter: “Status quo,” “End all sanctions,” and “$300 billion.” As for the efficacy of a denuclearization plan involving the UN… I just throw my hands up in the air. I spent weeks coming up with or sharing other people’s attempts to explain what Trump was thinking, from the “rug-merchant” delay strategy to the “there’s no one left there with the authority to negotiate” conundrum. But reading these bullet points, you have to wonder if they weren’t having the exact same discussion inside the White House, right up until the very end.
Here’s a big tell about what the MOU is worth. The two strongest foreign policy hands on Team Trump — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth — seem to be doing their best to maintain radio silence while JD Vance does the P.R. blitz. Axios reported on Monday that “[CIA Director John] Ratcliffe isn’t the only skeptic in Trump’s top team. In internal discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both expressed concerns and raised questions about the memorandum of understanding.”
“As Vance emerges as the spokesman for the deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has raised eyebrows across the political world with his near-total absence. Rubio, who has taken on multiple roles in the administration,” Mediaite reported Thursday, and “was central to the Iran negotiations up until the last week or so, in which Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff stepped in to rush to finalize an end to hostilities.”mI’ve said here before that Witkoff is one of the very few weak parts of Trump 47, and if those are his fingerprints all over this MOU, then I’ll say it again.
Netanyahu is also nowhere to be seen, following months of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the administration. The biggest mistake was a ceasefire that effectively locked in Tehran’s control of Hormuz. The clock started ticking on the Islamic Republic the moment the bombs started falling almost four months ago. The clock started ticking on the global economy the moment Tehran more or less closed the Strait.
As Trump himself put it in France on Thursday, “I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this [war] going, that could have happened.” He added, “It could have caused an international depression.” Once we were at war, the proper solution was to force Hormuz back open. We even learned last week that Trump ordered elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to Israel for just such an eventuality.

“.. we have to react disproportionately any time they break the agreement..”

• Victor Davis Hanson: The Biggest Test of the Iran Deal: Enforcement (Bolt)

Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, said the biggest test of the Iran deal will be how the United States enforces it, as the full text of the memorandum of understanding was finally released Wednesday. Hanson said he’s not entirely worried about the core issues, like issues surrounding the enriched uranium or opening the Strait of Hormuz. He explained that Iran needs the Strait open nearly as much as the rest of the world due to the economic pressures currently on the country, and U.S. intelligence can track enriched uranium so precisely that if Iran moves toward building a nuclear weapon, the U.S. can immediately resume a bombing campaign.

However, the very real threat of those attacks, or other serious U.S. action against Iran, will determine how closely Iran complies with the rest of the agreement and broader American interests.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/2067420491967791267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067420491967791267%7Ctwgr%5Ee67877b70d719b47e684bf23fb0ffddee91ad04b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fdmitri-bolt%2F2026%2F06%2F18%2Fvictor-davis-hanson-the-biggest-test-of-the-iran-deal-comes-down-to-one-thing-enforcement-n2677936
“So the two chief issues I’m not so worried about,” Hanson said. “I think we know where the enriched uranium is, it’s sealed, we have great intelligence, we can bomb it, bomb it, bomb it, we can hit more of their industrial complexes if they cheat, and they will open the Strait of Hormuz because they’re just about broke.”
“The other things are known unknowns. It’s going to be more difficult to ensure they’re not giving money to Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. That’s more murky, and we don’t know what they’re going to do in Lebanon. And then, of course, we don’t know what’s going on in Iran, because this is the first real air war,” he continued. “We don’t have boots on the ground, we don’t have embeds, but we will learn very shortly, and we’re going to get an idea of just how much damage was done. I think it might have been half a trillion dollars or more in the nuclear military-industrial complex.”
We don’t know the mood of the people. Are they going to come out and say to their own government, you mean we lost everything we had, and now you could have done this peacefully? Instead, you acted so tough, you were humiliated, and now we’re broke and destitute, and all you had to do was agree in the first place. And then we don’t know how the government will react to that. There could be a widespread uprising. We don’t know what we’re going to do if they try to kill another 40,000 people. “So the main denominator, though, that has to be ironclad is we have to react disproportionately any time they break the agreement,” Hanson added.
This comes as concerns have been raised about the memorandum, which essentially serves as an extended 60-day ceasefire to allow negotiating parties to work out the technical details of a more lasting peace deal. The concerns primarily center on the fact that those technical details remain unworked, including how the United States will ensure Iran abandons its nuclear weapons pursuit, how it will prevent Iran from funding its terror proxies in the region, and how the agreement will serve as more than empty commitments by the Iranians.
The Trump administration has maintained that enforcement will hinge on financial incentives: a $300 billion reconstruction fund, an upfront arrangement allowing Iran to immediately begin selling its oil, and U.S. vows to free up sanctioned money and assets upon Iran’s compliance. President Trump also said Wednesday he has no problem resuming military strikes if Iran begins to play games.

“As Dwight Eisenhower himself said as early as 1951, if in ten years all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole process will have failed.”

• Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Just Tore Into NATO (Bolt)

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth tore into NATO on Thursday, branding the military alliance a paper tiger and demanding Europeans finally take responsibility for their own defense. Hegseth went on to call for a return to “NATO 1.0,” the era when Europeans understood that NATO’s power came not from “small flags on fancy tables” but from “warriors.” It’s a feature of the military alliance that Europeans have been happy to ignore, vastly preferring the negotiating table, meetings, and international governing bodies over legitimate, hard defense.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2067581391986921892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067581391986921892%7Ctwgr%5E4de527fd700b140c5d10de1007d956d0ec7fea42%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fdmitri-bolt%2F2026%2F06%2F18%2Fpete-hegseth-just-tore-into-nato-n2677940

“For too long, NATO has been a paper tiger and a one-way street. No more,” the Secretary of War said. “And that’s what the Hague Summit is all about. That’s what defense spending commitments are all about. Transforming NATO back into a real military alliance that’s focused on hard power and real deterrence.”
A NATO 3.0 modeled on the NATO 1.0 that won the Cold War, with our allies actually taking the lead in Europe’s conventional defense. And that’s what NATO was always supposed to be and what its framers like President Eisenhower always expected. Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the United States. That’s not what Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, or Conrad Adenauer wanted or expected. No, Europe was supposed to be a military power allied with a strong America. This is the essence of NATO 1.0. As Dwight Eisenhower himself said as early as 1951, if in ten years all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole process will have failed.
“Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander then, not yet our nation’s 34th president. But he and his allied counterparts, all of them still living in the shadow of World War II, understood that NATO’s power did not come from committees or from meetings or from small flags on fancy tables. It came from warriors,” Hegseth said. “And for Europe’s defense, it had come from NATO allies.”
This comes as President Trump has voiced massive displeasure with European allies, especially amid the war in Iran. The U.S. launched military strikes without consulting NATO partners, and Europe flatly refused to directly assist, a move Trump called “shameful” and uncharacteristic of allies. He went on to say that the Europeans “haven’t been friends when we needed them” and threatened to punish the military alliance by potentially reviewing whether to withdraw American troops from Europe altogether.
European powers, for their part, have agreed to a new distribution of senior leadership across NATO’s Command Structure, giving Europe more control of the alliance’s military operations. They now control all three Joint Force Commands, UK leads Norfolk, Italy leads Naples, and Germany and Poland share Brunssum. The U.S. still maintains key theater commands, but the move is clearly a step toward a more Euro-centric NATO that sidelines Washington from the alliance’s top decision-making positions.

It’s Britain all the way.

• Britain Bought The Keys To Ukraine’s Nuclear Future – What’s Next? (Ostashko)

The UK has once again stormed into Ukraine with the grace of an old imperial administrator that goes about rearranging the furniture. But in reality, things are quite serious. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to finance the supply of enriched uranium for Ukrainian nuclear power plants over the next two years has nothing to do with commerce. Through this deal, London de facto gains access to the most sensitive sector of the Ukrainian state.

In a country where nuclear energy accounts for more than half of all power generation, control over nuclear reactors means direct control over industry, logistics, communications, and the viability of cities, especially in winter. On the surface, the plan is flawless: the UK is acting out of concern for energy security, offering support to its partner, and strengthening Kiev’s resilience. But behind the glossy facade lies a classic debt trap and a new level of external control.
The British have arranged things very well. Ukraine gets the physical resources, the allocated funds immediately return to the UK, and London becomes entrenched in Ukraine’s strategic sector for decades. Following the pain of Brexit, the UK is desperately trying to make a comeback into European politics, and now is an excellent opportunity to do so by means of Ukrainian nuclear energy. We may already see a long and complex technological chain behind the current supplies of uranium: Urenco is responsible for enrichment, Westinghouse provides nuclear fuel assemblies, and the construction of new AP1000 reactors looms on the horizon.
The Soviet nuclear legacy is being systematically replaced by Western companies. This transition will inevitably entail changes in standards, licensing, long-term maintenance, personnel training, and most importantly, the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Whoever embarks on this path today guarantees themselves the right to dictate the terms of the Ukrainian energy sector for decades to come. This expansion poses direct risks for Russia and Belarus. The Rovno Nuclear Power Plant is located close to the Belarusian border, and operating the old Soviet reactors requires great engineering precision and strict discipline.
In the context of a protracted military conflict, any managerial lapse, technical failure, or political mishap could instantly escalate into a regional catastrophe. The West is steadily consolidating the military, financial, and nuclear components into a cohesive anti-Russia front. While the UK capitalizes on this process, converting it into status, defense contracts, and influence, Ukraine is once again allocated the historical role of a battleground for foreign geopolitical interests.

“The latest Western idea to prop up the Zelensky regime and compensate for weapons shortages could flop right at the start..”

• G7 Considering Licensed Arms Production In Ukraine: Why Now? (RT)

The G7 group is considering providing Ukraine with licenses to allow domestic production of Western weaponry, including anti-aircraft and long-range missiles. RT looks into why the West is doing this so late in the conflict and Ukraine’s ability to deliver on mass arms production.

The scheme
The G7 made the announcement in a joint statement following its summit in Geneva, stating it had agreed to “increase the delivery of air defense capacities, additional systems and interceptors, and long-range capabilities.” “We are also ready to consider extending to Ukraine the benefit of licenses to allow for an increase in Ukraine’s military production,” the group said in a statement. The plan also involves US manufacturers granting licenses to EU military-industrial companies in order to compensate for shortages in production of high-demand weapons, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “We are all currently producing too little, and this can be offset by granting licenses to companies that have these production capabilities, including European and Ukrainian firms,” Merz told reporters.
How is the scheme supposed to work?
The US rarely grants weaponry production licenses to its partners, pressing them into buying ready-made products instead, or in some instances, creating overseas manufacturing plants without transferring technologies to the third parties. The enduring need to supply Ukraine, as well as the extensive use of assorted munitions during the US-Israeli attack on Iran, however, could have softened Washington’s stance on the outsourcing of arms manufacturing. US President Donald Trump has confirmed the licensed production of anti-aircraft missiles for Patriot systems in Ukraine is under consideration, specifying that no decision has been made yet. “They would like to be able to do that, we’ll take a look at it. They have asked about it,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Over the past few years, Kiev has repeatedly urged Washington to grant it licenses to manufacture such munitions. The US, however, has consistently rejected the idea, while the American arms giants have reportedly been very wary of making any investments in Ukraine due to the obvious risks connected to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Does Ukraine have actual industrial capacities?
Setting up a full-cycle production of sophisticated weapons in Ukraine seems to be highly improbable, given the country’s shrinking industrial capacities, as well as questionable record of local arms manufacturers. While Kiev inherited a well-developed industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has been in decline ever since, with the process further accelerated by the civil conflict in formerly Ukrainian Donbass and the subsequent war against Russia, given that a bulk of plants were located in the east of the country.
One of the flagship Ukrainian ‘domestically built’ weapons, the Bogdana self-propelled howitzer, appears to have little to nothing Ukrainian in it. The howitzers are chambered for 155mm NATO rounds manufactured in the West, while assorted heavy-duty trucks made by European manufacturers have been used as the chassis for the systems. The origins of the barrel itself are also debatable, given Ukraine’s poor record in making even the most basic artillery pieces. For instance, the infamous mortar M120-15 Molot, a copy of a Soviet-era design manufactured by Ukraine since 2016, has repeatedly made the headlines over deadly detonations of shells in its barrel and other malfunctions.
The supposedly domestically built Ukrainian weapons, mainly assorted drones, are at best assembled locally from components supplied from abroad. The hyped FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile also gives a glimpse of Ukraine’s real industrial capacities. The missile has emerged as a parts-bin project, with design features varying from one piece to another, a US-made free-fall bomb used as its warhead, and antique Soviet-era AI-25TL engines, believed to be recovered from scrapped trainer aircraft, used for propulsion.
Why is the West doing this now?
In mid-April, the Russian Defense Ministry published a list of Ukraine-linked military production facilities scattered across Europe and beyond. The military said it had identified such sites in the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Poland, as well as in Türkiye and Israel.
The list came with a dire warning. “The implementation of terrorist attack scenarios against Russia… using supposedly ‘Ukrainian’ UAVs manufactured in Europe is leading to unpredictable consequences,” the ministry stated. “Instead of strengthening the security of European states, the actions of European rulers are rapidly drawing these countries into a war with Russia,” it added. The licensing scheme could be a part of the effort to further decentralize arms production to avoid potential retaliatory strikes from Russia, as well as to disguise the supplied weaponry as a Ukrainian homegrown product.
One drone assembly site destroyed in a Russian strike was accidentally exposed this week by the Ukrainian media. A warehouse at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev, which was allegedly used to store some “unique costumes,” had multiple aircraft wings visible in its rubble, with the parts appearing to be consistent with FP-1/2 drones produced by Vladimir Zelensky’s favorite and corruption-scandal-plagued company Fire Point.

From TASS Press Review. Origin is either Izvestia, Vedomosti or Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

• EU Pushes Trump On Russia Policy As Moscow Warns On Greenland Militarization (TASS)

The Europeans appear set to bend US President Donald Trump to toughen his stance on Russia, as Moscow and Tehran move to coordinate their actions at the UN to lift sanctions. Meanwhile, Russia has cautioned against continued militarization of Greenland. These stories topped Thursday’s headlines in Russia.

US President Donald Trump is trying to resolve the Ukraine conflict and is reluctant to assess actions by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, even as he is ready to consider putting more sanctions on Moscow and supplying missiles, including manufacturing air defense missiles for the Patriot system under license in Ukraine, the US leader himself said at a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit on June 17.
He specified that partial reintroduction of restrictions on Russian energy will depend on market price dynamics. It’s worth noting that, on Wednesday, the US Treasury did not extend its waiver of sanctions on Russian oil. Shortly prior to that, on the night of June 16, G7 leaders released a joint statement on geopolitical issues in which they reaffirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine” and agreed to increase “the delivery of air defense capacities,” and “long-range capabilities’ as well as to strengthen their sanctions on Russia, including on its oil and gas sector. On June 16, Trump held talks with Vladimir Zelensky.
The Europeans are seeking to make Trump reverse the understandings reached at his meeting with Putin in Anchorage in August 2025, Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, told Vedomosti. According to him, Brussels would like to introduce a new format of talks with their participation. “They advocate for a format without withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the rest of Donbass but with deployment of troops from the coalition of the willing in Ukraine,” the expert explained. The Europeans understand that if Trump adopts such a stance, this will actually disrupt talks, but they are not ready for a full cessation of negotiations either as they realize that Ukraine is losing, he argued.
“He is currently facing a much weaker internal and external political situation than at the Anchorage meeting,” Suslov continued. For example, he can no longer threaten Kiev with reduced aid as the bulk of it now comes from the EU. In addition, Trump is looking for European support in the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The Europeans are pursuing the goal of buying Trump on Ukraine and putting pressure on Putin through him, while also strengthening Zelensky’s negotiating position, but they are unwilling to disrupt talks, Pavel Koshkin, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, maintained.
As regards the prospect of the Europeans eventually sitting down to the negotiating table, this seems possible as the US cannot ignore its key allies in the region, despite the accumulated differences. “Trump will continue to maneuver further down the road. His goals are still the same: he is still seeking a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. And if this requires involving the Europeans, he could perhaps propose these ideas to Putin. For if Russia actually views the EU as an indirect party to the conflict, a durable peace is unlikely to be agreed without the EU,” Koshkin concluded.
Moscow and Tehran are coordinating their actions at the United Nations to lift all sanctions on Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov told Izvestia. They actually secured the support of 16 additional states here. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Iran and the United States last night includes a provision on lifting restrictions. A 60-day period of talks will begin next, at which Tehran will concentrate on the nuclear problem and sanctions, the Islamic Republic’s MFA said. However, given the number of sanctions, this may turn into a very complicated legal process. For the time being, only pinpoint energy waivers that will greatly facilitate oil sales for Iran seem more likely.
On Wednesday night, two days ahead of the scheduled date, the United States and Iran separately signed a pre-agreed MoU. Without taking account of waivers post the 2015 nuclear deal, it can be said that the Islamic Republic has been under strict restrictions since its foundation, or for almost half a century already. Meanwhile, Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, recently hosted a meeting of the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter. Apart from Russia and Iran, it was attended by 16 other countries, including China. Among other topics, the Group has constantly focused on countering unlawful sanctions, including on Iran.
In general, lifting restrictions still seems to be the most challenging process, in light of their number. More than 6,000 sanctions have been imposed on Iran – Russia alone is under even more sanctions. The bulk of those was imposed by the United States. And cancelling relevant UN Security Council resolutions will obviously cause the most difficulties. A new resolution will be needed for this. And given the dozens of failed attempts at the UN to adopt at least some resolutions, not to mention the split in the Security Council, this will constitute the biggest challenge in purely technical terms.
Only the lifting of energy sanctions can be realistic in the near future, experts say. “Restrictions on ship freight, tanker insurance, logistics operations, and financial transactions in the oil industry and with hydrocarbons may be lifted,” Yekaterina Arapova, head of a research program at the Institute of International Research at MGIMO University, told Izvestia.
Despite the fact that Iran cannot currently sell all the oil it can produce amid the sanctions, the country is among the top 10 major exporters, therefore if operations with crude oil are greenlighted, this may seriously change not only the republic’s economy but also the situation on global markets. “If sanctions are lifted on Tehran, then it will not make much sense for China to buy exclusively Iranian oil. And there will remain only one supplier who could offer a discount due to the sanctions pressure, and that is Russia. The Americans have already `torn Venezuela away’ from China. Moreover, the increased demand from China will intensify competition for Russian oil with India, and this will enable Russia to slash the discount,” Igor Yushkov, leading expert at the Financial University under the Russian Government, told Izvestia.

Is the west simply going to deny it’s needed?

• Denazification of Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, Canada (Helmer)

Russian officials are insisting in private that tomorrow’s (June 19) signing of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with its fourteen points, is the signal for finalizing a similar multi-point term sheet for agreement with the US to halt the war on the Ukrainian battlefield.

They also insist — add sources in a position to know — that the Trump Administration is promising the lifting of US sanctions on the Russian oil trade and on the alternative fleet which has been carrying these oil cargoes to buyers in India, China, Turkey, and elsewhere. The sources claim that the Russian military plan for the peace pause assumes a ceasefire, including a halt to Ukrainian drone attacks, for at least the remaining two years of President Donald Trump’s term – longer if he is succeeded by Vice President JD Vance or by one of Trump’s sons. The Russian intelligence forecast is for a Republican victory in the 2028 presidential election.

If the future is this rosy, or if it only looks that way through rose-coloured glasses, what is to become of the UKRAINIZATION of drone warfighting operations now extending across the NATO bases, NATO drone manufacturing plants, and NATO exercises, deployment, and operational plans to prepare to fire them at Russian targets?
What is to become, also, of the AMERICANIZATION of security for Russia in Europe which President Vladimir Putin insists he discussed – one on one and in fluent English – and agreed with Trump at their Anchorage, Alaska, summit meeting last August 15? This is what Russian officials call the Anchorage Formula – it means trust in Trump to deliver a security guarantee protecting Russia from the drone, missile, and other attacks currently under way on the Russian hinterland, on Crimea and the Donbass, and on Russian oil and gas cargoes moving to market on the high seas.
The Russian General Staff and its chief intelligence officer, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, believe that Americanization will put a pause on Ukrainization for at least the year ahead. These officers don’t give any credit for negotiating this pause to Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special negotiator with Trump’s bagmen, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner; nor to the individual bribe schemes and slush funds they have been discussing together.
And so the sources in a position to know are asking each other — if Ukrainization and Americanization are about to be implemented by an MoU-type paper for at least a year or two, what about the DENAZIFICATION of the regime currently ruling the Ukraine? That has been a Russian war objective from the beginning of the Special Military Operation. It has been operationalized on term sheets in the Istanbul and Abu Dhabi talks as regime change in Kiev by an election to replace Vladimir Zelensky and his associates. The alternative is regime decapitation by military means or by covert methods.

Very obvious. Will someone try and prevent it?

• Speculation About A SpaceX–Tesla Merger Is Already Growing (ZH)

SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO has fueled speculation that Elon Musk could take an even bigger step: merging SpaceX with Tesla to create a roughly $4 trillion technology conglomerate spanning rockets, AI, satellites, electric vehicles, robotics, energy, and social media, according to a new report from the New York Times. The idea has gained traction among investors, analysts, and even SpaceX executives. Tesla and SpaceX already share personnel, collaborate on major projects, and have business ties through AI development, data centers, batteries, and vehicle sales.

Because Musk controls SpaceX and is Tesla’s largest shareholder, any merger would effectively be a deal with himself, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and shareholder lawsuits. However, legal experts say Texas corporate law—where both companies are now incorporated—makes such challenges difficult. Shareholders generally need to own at least 3% of a company’s stock to sue, a threshold that would require roughly $45 billion in Tesla shares. The Times notes that approval would still require support from two-thirds of Tesla shareholders. Musk controls about 20% of Tesla’s voting power, and many investors have historically backed his initiatives. Tesla’s board has also frequently aligned with Musk, while SpaceX recently added longtime Musk associate Roelof Botha to its board.
Supporters argue a merger could unlock significant synergies. Tesla’s expertise in chips, AI, and data-center construction could complement SpaceX’s ambitions in orbital infrastructure, satellite communications, and space-based computing. Ark Invest, which owns shares in both companies, has said the combination makes strategic sense, though it would prefer Tesla’s self-driving taxi business to mature first. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has acknowledged potential benefits, saying a merger could simplify Musk’s responsibilities and noting clear overlaps between the companies’ futures: “There’s no question that there are synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures.”
Opponents could challenge the deal through securities-fraud claims, antitrust scrutiny, or national-security concerns, particularly given the companies’ combined presence in AI, robotics, communications, and space technology. Still, experts believe regulators would face significant hurdles, especially if the combined company continued to perform well. “As long as he keeps running the business well and the stock price keeps going up, that is a pretty good bar to bringing a securities fraud suit,” said James Spindler, a professor of corporate law at the University of Texas School of Law.
Ultimately, the greatest obstacle may be financial rather than legal. As one corporate-governance expert noted, investors tend to support ambitious deals when markets are rising and shareholders are making money. Charles Elson, the founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware told The New York Times that Musk “has got this cheering section who will follow him to the gates of Hades or gates of heaven, wherever he leads them.” “Basically he’s gotten to the point where he can do almost anything he wishes…”

Every now and then, a glimpse at how bad the previous 4 years were.

• Stupid, Stupid, Stupid”: DOJ Memo Tarnishes Record of Merrick Garland (Turley)

“Internal emails were uncovered recently that cast a new, negative light on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s record in targeting parents over school board controversies. The communications show that various Justice officials raised alarms over the effort pushed by Democratic allies and the National Association for School Boards. Career officials condemned the Biden Administration proposal by objecting that “If they do this, they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force.”

As parents organized against COVID and woke policies being implemented by school boards, Democratic allies and the National Association for School Boards called upon the Biden Administration to crack down. Garland agreed and implemented a plan detailed in an October 2021 memo to treat these parents as engaged in potential “domestic terrorism.” There was public outrage, but Garland defended the action, declaring “The obligation of the Justice Department is to protect the American people against violence and threats of violence and that particularly includes public officials.” As the outcry grew, the Biden Administration was forced into a retreat and an apology:
“On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.” We now know that rank-and-file officials opposed the effort, but decided to go forward anyway. The Justice Department in October 2021 issued a memo to coordinate a response to what it described as an “increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools” by parents.
Newly released emails raised all the objections later made by critics after the policy’s release. One deputy assistant attorney general wrote that: “I don’t think it’s possible to state how strongly I object to this. It will completely and totally nuke our election threats efforts, and will damage the reputation of the Public Integrity Section into the bargain. It’s like they’ve affirmatively trying to make this thing not work and look political.” When officials said that the Biden Administration was about to create an “Anti-MAGA Task Force,” officials responded, “Exactly! Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Another principal deputy assistant attorney general wrote,
“We will not do this. There is no conceivable connection to [public integrity] (indeed, I’m not seeing a federal interest of any kind.). And if they’re going to make the AG’s memo to the field about this and election threats, I’m going to strongly recommend that they not send it.” The Public Integrity section chief agreed, saying the memo could turn the Justice Department and the FBI into the “threat police” and that it contained “no limiting principle at all.”The question is how such an ill-considered, excessive memo could be issued in light of such internal opposition. The answer focuses new attention on the record of Garland, who seemed at times to be a virtual pedestrian in decisions at his own department.
In 2022, I wrote a column titled “The Incredible Shrinking Merrick Garland” to express my disappointment in his developing record as someone who supported his nomination. Citing the school memo and other decisions, I wrote that Garland appeared increasingly “immaterial” to the running of the department: “Garland sometimes looks more like a pedestrian than a driver on decisions in his own department. Top positions were given to figures denounced as far-left advocates on issues from defunding the police to racial justice. For the moderate Garland, these did not seem like natural choices.”
As Special Counsel Jack Smith took a hatchet to preexisting DOJ policies and the First Amendment in his crusade against Donald Trump, Garland seemed little more than a figurehead in refusing to exercise any moderating or supervisory influence. Likewise, as his department pursued a “shock and awe campaign” against citizens who joined the January 6th protests, Garland remained passive. By 2023, I was writing columns that Garland had become an “utter failure” as Attorney General. He had become the kind face of a department weaponizing charges and targeting opponents.
While the same charges have been leveled at the current Administration, that does not alter the troubling legacy of Merrick Garland. The school board memo reflects how political rather than legal or institutional priorities prevailed under Garland. The merits of these controversies can be left to history. However, what is most striking is the absence of any discernible control or direction from Garland.
Unlike his predecessor, Bill Barr, who was famously “hands-on” in his leadership style, Garland delegated authority to powerful subordinates, who carried out these measures with little apparent restraint. As discussed in my 2022 column, Garland seemed to morph with the character Scott Stuart in the cult classic, “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” in which Stuart delivers a strikingly profound line: “The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet — like the closing of a gigantic circle.” That may be the final epitaph of Merrick Garland’s record as United States Attorney General.

“I think we should challenge the pardon, because it’s an extraordinary pardon. It’s a pardon not for a specific crime, and it’s a pardon over a 10 year period. It’s the same that he got the same thing Hunter Biden got…”

• Two Top Senators Urge Trump DOJ To Prosecute Fauci Despite Biden Pardon (JTN)

Two top U.S. senators are urging the Trump Justice Department to challenge the legality of President Joe Biden’s pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci and to pursue criminal charges against the nation’s former top doc during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think we should challenge the pardon, because it’s an extraordinary pardon. It’s a pardon not for a specific crime, and it’s a pardon over a 10 year period. It’s the same that he got the same thing Hunter Biden got,” Sen. Rand Paul told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Tuesday. “I think that could be challenged in court, because it’s not specific, it’s vague, and it doesn’t specify the crime, and it’s such a large period of time.

So, I think it could be challenged, and should be challenged,” he said. Paul, a longtime Fauci critic who accused the doctor of misleading Congress, added that the recent indictment of two Fauci deputies could give the DOJ leverage to secure their cooperation and testimony against their former boss. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., echoed Paul’s concerns on Wednesday, telling Just the News that he’s “pretty certain” what Fauci funded in terms of research caused the COVID pandemic. “Anthony Fauci is a bad person, and he ought to be prosecuted, because I believe he did commit crimes,” Johnson said.
How she has long denied wrongdoing and dismissed such criticisms in the past. But Biden nonetheless infamously pardoned Fauci in 2024 by autopen before leaving office. Paul compared the pardon to Hunter Biden’s. Referencing the autopen action, Paul added, “Was President Biden of sound mind? Did he understand who he was pardoning? Did he participate in it? Did he approve of each of the ones that were signed by autopen?” Paul described some of the most alarming elements of a detailed timeline his committee released last week, and accused Fauci of launching a public relations campaign to deflect scrutiny from his agency’s funding of risky virus research in China as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020.
Paul detailed a timeline of Fauci’s actions speaking exclusively to Just The News, citing emails and documents his office obtained. Paul highlighted from the timeline that Fauci was awake at 3 a.m. in late January 2020, emailing Dr. Robert Kadlec, who oversaw dangerous research, falsely asserting the virus originated in animals with “nothing to do with the lab.” Fauci also called on old friends within the intelligence community, according to Paul, to mislead them about what was really going on at the Wuhan, China laboratory.
“He (Fauci) already knows he’s going to have to defend this because he outsourced this dangerous research to China. There weren’t adequate safety controls, and now he’s got to start the spin,” Paul said. Paul noted that Fauci’s spin operation was not only necessary for political purposes, but for survival, because in Fauci’s capacity as a health official, he funded research to humanize the virus and re-adapted it to make it more contagious to humans. Within a week, according to Paul, on Feb. 1, 2020, a group of top virologists privately told Fauci the virus appeared engineered, citing its furin cleavage site. The furin cleavage site is a short, specific amino acid sequence that acts as a recognition signal for the host enzyme furin to cut and activate the protein.
Days later, several of those same scientists published a prominent paper declaring it was “not a laboratory construct,” language Paul called “adamant language you rarely see in a scientific article, political type of language, PR type of language.” One author later received an $8 million grant approved by Fauci, Paul said. Fauci then cited the paper in White House briefings as independent evidence against a lab leak, despite having helped commission and edit it. “It’s a big circle, but it’s all around Anthony Fauci,” Paul said. aEncouraging developments, Paul said, include federal indictments of two Fauci lieutenants: David Morens, accused of destroying records and acting as Fauci’s intermediary, and Vincent Munster, a virologist, charged in connection with importing dangerous pathogens into the country without a permit, claiming they were “diagnostic equipment”.
Both were involved in research grants that proposed creating viruses with features similar to SARS-CoV-2. Paul added that Morens and Munster might be willing to flip on the government’s former top pandemic doctor and testify if offered leniency on their terms. “My goodness, it would be worth it to see one or two of his lieutenants give up testimony that they would not have given up otherwise, but now that they’ve been indicted, might be inclined to tell the truth,” Paul said.

Hillary is talking about (who else) … Hillary.

“Biden was in MY way”.

• Dems Could Have Beaten Trump If Biden Had Stepped Aside: Hillary Clinton (JTN)

Hillary Clinton said that former President Joe Biden made a “terrible mistake” when he decided to run for reelection. The remarks were made at an event in Manhattan on Monday, the New York Times reported. Biden’s decision, Clinton said, was a “terrible miscalculation” that resulted in the Democratic Party’s loss in 2024. If instead of running for reelection, Biden had decided to “pass the torch,” Democrats could have held a competitive presidential primary. “Whoever emerged from that contest — whether it was the vice president, or a governor, or a senator or anybody else — would have beaten Donald Trump,” Clinton said.

They think they can make JD a Democrat. Trump no.2 has them thinking he’s one of theirs. Likability.

• What Joy Behar Told JD Vance Shocked Him (Margolis)

JD Vance walked into enemy territory on Tuesday, and while everyone is talking about how he crushed it, with an endorsement nobody saw coming, least of all him. The vice president appeared on ABC’s The View to promote his new book, and he spent the better part of an hour fielding hostile questions from a panel that was never gonna give him a fair chance. But surprisingly, he impressed at least one of his harshest potential critics, who told him so directly during a commercial break. That critic was Joy Behar, the show’s longtime co-host and a woman who has openly admitted that she’s “never voted for a Republican in my life.” According to a report by the New York Post, Behar told him off-air that he should run for president.

The compliment came with a major caveat, though, which Behar made sure everyone heard the next day. She revealed the exchange on The View’s companion podcast, Behind the Table, after executive producer Brian Teta put her on the spot. “I’m getting a note here. You told him during the break that he should run for president because he had a good vibe,” Teta said. Behar’s response: “For a Republican.” That qualifier became the theme of her entire defense of the moment. Behar insisted she doesn’t think Vance is “a bad guy,” calling him “very genial” and crediting him for coming on the show “in good faith.”
The comedian and television personality, who stressed that she is not a Republican, said she has no intention of backing Vance politically, arguing that Democrats are more compassionate than Republicans on national issues. “I don’t mind a Republican on the city level because it needs a little discipline, but on the national level, I want somebody with a good heart,” Behar said, adding that she voted for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg ran for mayor as a Republican but later registered an independent. He then switched to the Democrats in order to mount what would be an unsuccessful bid for the party’s presidential nomination.
Behar insisted that her personal impression of Vance differed from her view of the administration he serves. “Truthfully, as I said to you at the beginning of this conversation, I don’t think that he’s a bad guy,” she said. Vance also let slip just how much the appearance rattled him beforehand, telling Behar backstage more than once that he was more nervous walking onto that set than he was heading into last year’s vice presidential debate. Well, I guess I can understand that. I mean, Tim Walz, am I right? We all knew how that was going to go. But the women on The View aren’t much smarter than Walz; there are just more of them.
He recounted the compliment again later that night on Gutfeld!, still amused by it. “Joy Behar even said during the break, not joking, she said, ‘You know what? You’re, like, pretty good for a Republican.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That is a way better compliment than I expected from Joy Behar.” If you missed his appearance on The View, here it is:

Here is the entirety of JD Vance's appearance on The View, which did not go well for him

(and kudos to the hosts for actually asking him hard-hitting questions and followups) pic.twitter.com/oDnFYqyZeU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2026

In fairness, I don’t think he needs validation from Joy Behar.

PCR NOT talking about Trump. Or Putin.

• White Ethnicities Have Been Demonized Beyond Recovery (Paul Craig Roberts)

In 1968 Britain’s only leader, Enoch Powell, explained that the mass influx into Great Britain by immigrant-invaders from the third world would turn ethnic British into “strangers in their own country.” Powell, of course, was lambasted by the liberals and the left, by presstitutes, and by fellow politicians anxious to move forward at Powell’s expense. Powell’s prediction turned out to be correct and his detractors wrong. In 1973 Jean Raspail said the same thing about France in his book, The Camp of the Saints. In more recent years Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s largest political party, which is carefully kept out of power by the French establishment, has warned that France was ceasing to be French. Her warning has been rewarded by the French elite’s ongoing attempts to imprison her.

In 1972 Wilmot Robertson warned Americans about their future in his book The Dispossessed Majority. In more recent times the immigration website Vdare fostered debate about the consequences of mass immigration for American society. Vdare‘s reward was to be shutdown by anti-white New York attorney general Leticia James, a black woman who was educated by white liberals to hate white people as racists. As almost all immigrant-invaders are people of color, AG James concluded that Vdare was racist and white supremacist and decided to abuse the powers of her office to destroy the immigration website. She did this by endless demands for documents without ever filing charges until Vdare‘s funds were used up by lawyers and the site closed.
Now that Vdare is destroyed by AG James and its former owners left without funds, Leticia James will probably file some unsupported charge against the former owners knowing that they lack the financial means for their defense. Thus she can continue her ruin of the “white racists” and perhaps imprison them. This is what multiculturalism and diversity has brought to insouciant white people everywhere. White ethnicities have everywhere allowed their own brainwashed anti-white governments to put immigrant-invaders in charge of their lives. This result is precisely what Enoch Powell, Jean Raspail, Marine Le Pen, and Wilmot Robertson predicted.
In what little remains of Great Britain today, Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, and newcomer Rupert Lowe are making objections to the anti-white policies institutionalized in the British government.. That there are three Britishers protesting the demise of British ethnicity indicates that there is some spark of self-defense among ethnic British. But so much has been lost that the ethnic British are now the underdog in their own country, just as Enoch Powell said they would be. Instead of listening, the dumbshit British read the liberal newspapers and scolded Powell for being a racist.
Essentially, the British government, both parties, have abandoned white British ethnics in favor of immigrant-invaders. Nigel Farage has correctly accused the British government of “deep anti-white racism.” There is no doubt that his accusation is correct. He proves it with the government’s own statistics. There is no doubt that the 2010 Equality Act institutionalized anti-white attitudes into every aspect of legal and public life in Britain.
There have been so many scandals in Britain of the anti-white British government covering up mass crimes committed against British ethnics by immigrant-invaders. There is the now admitted 30-year coverup of mass gang rapes by immigrant-invaders of British women and children. Different reports give different numbers. Some are 180,000 ethnic British female children gang raped and nothing done about it. Other figures are 300,000. A former British prime minister stated publicly that the rapes were ignored by the authorities as it would question the immigration policy.
In the past few days we had the murder of Nowak by an immigrant-invader. Nowak, a white British citizen, bled to death handcuffed by the police .while the white British police chatted amicably with his black murderer. We have had the attempted beheading of an ethnic Britisher by a black immigrant-invader. We have had the stabbing in the neck of a young ethnic British girl by an immigrant-invader who dances at his success. I could go on forever and write volume after volume, and the weak-minded white ethnics sit there thinking as they are told by the white liberals it is their fault for being racist.
The collapse of Western civilization, like the collapse of the Roman Empire, is not a sudden event. It happens slowly over time. The time is upon us, and the collapse is now. The cause is not Russia, Iran, China, or white racism. The cause is the systematic brainwashing of ethnic nationalities in the white world that they uniquely are racists who have oppressed people of color and must now pay the consequences. White ethnicities have been so drained of confidence that they are incapable of fighting for their lives, for their culture, for their civilization. Everywhere white ethnicities are being replaced and they do not resist.
It is that simple. There is nothing left to be said.

20% and more. Serious.

• Apple To Raise Prices As AI Boom Pushes Up Chip Costs (BBC)

Apple plans to raise the prices of its products as the cost of the memory chips it uses has surged, the technology giant’s boss has said. Tim Cook, Apple’s outgoing chief executive, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that price increases were “unavoidable” as the situation around memory chips had become “unsustainable”. He did not say when prices would rise or which products would be affected. It is also unclear whether the price hikes will affect the iPhone 18, which is expected to be launched in September. Memory chips are essential components in smart devices like mobile phones, but the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) has driven up their prices in recent months.

Later, US President Donald Trump said that Apple had agreed to work with chipmaker Intel to make its chips in the US. “I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our Chips right here in America,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. The BBC has contacted Apple and Intel for comment. In August last year, the Trump administration announced that the federal government would take a 10% stake in Intel. Intel’s shares rose more than 10% when US stock markets opened on Thursday.
‘Less supply’
Speaking to the WSJ, Apple boss Cook said: “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable. “There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” said Cook, who is due to be replaced by John Ternus as Apple’s CEO in September after 15 years in the role. “We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line.”
The price of Ram – typically one of the cheapest computer components – has more than doubled since October 2025. In addition to rising AI demand, the war in Iran has also disrupted the global supply of helium, a gas crucial in making semiconductors, adding to the cost of computer chips. The average selling price of smartphones globally is expected to rise by around 20% in 2026 to an all-time high, according to research firm Omdia. Apple’s new phones are likely to cost up to $150 more than the iPhone 17s, as the firm is expected to upgrade their specifications to support new AI features, Omdia’s smartphone market analyst Chiew Le Xuan told the BBC.
Most smartphone brands have already raised prices, pulled back on promotions or cut specifications to protect their profit margins in response to rising costs, he added. “This is the new pricing reality, not a temporary spike.” Other technology giants have also highlighted pressure in the chipmaking industry. In an exclusive interview with the BBC this month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) would not rule out price increases as inflation pushed up its costs. TSMC makes the most advanced chips designed by companies such as Apple, Nvidia and AMD. Earlier this year, Samsung said that it expects memory chip supply shortages to make electronic devices more expensive.
In April, Sony raised the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles by £90 in the UK and $100 in the US as a result of “continued pressures in the global economic landscape”. Nintendo later said it would increase the price of its Switch 2 from September due to “changes in market conditions”. The iPhone 17 has been popular since the lineup was launched last September. Sales of Apple devices grew by 17% in the first three months of 2026 compared with the same period a year ago, helped by strong demand in China. Apple removed the entry-level option of its Mac Mini compact computers, raising its starting price by about $200 (£150) earlier this year.

Full movies by the end of this year https://t.co/kkBrngWA0X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 17, 2026

https://twitter.com/Maga4liberty/status/2067213950890987655?s=20 https://twitter.com/VictoriaSask/status/2067403042232651902?s=20

Elon Musk: “I wake up, I work, I go to sleep. Wake up, work, and do that seven days a week. My workload went up from 70–80 hours a week to probably 120.”

Nobody works harder than Elon Musk. He has done more for humanity than anyone else. pic.twitter.com/iS6wrvXG1J
— Taya Bass (@travelingflying) June 17, 2026

The biggest improvement ever made to the most complex machine in human history came from a guy holding a camera.

Not a propulsion engineer. Not a systems architect. Not anyone on the SpaceX payroll.

A YouTuber named Tim Dodd.

Dodd was touring Starbase when Musk explained how… pic.twitter.com/CFKNQ4ARAi
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) June 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/iAnonPatriot/status/2067340182018297936?s=20

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Debt Rattle June 16 2026

Jun 162026

June 16, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:54 am Finance Tagged with: AI, amicus briefs, Anthropic, Comey, G7, Iran, Netanyahu, Nvidia, peace deal, social media ban, SpaceX, Trump 25 Responses »

El Greco St. Paul and St. Peter 1595

• US and Iran Agree On Peace Roadmap, Israel Rejects All Terms (RT)

• Trump Details Iran Deal At G7: No Nukes, Conditional Sanctions Relief (ZH)

• Trump Scores Once-Elusive Peace Deal With Iran, Easing Oil Prices (Ben Whedon)

• President Trump Attends G7 in France – This One Will Be Ridiculous (CTH)

• So, What Do We Know? (Rabobank)

• Yes, Trump’s Iran Deal Is So Much Better Than Obama’s (Margolis)

• SpaceX Erupts In After Hours Trading, Hits $3 Trillion Market Cap (ZH)

• Why Did the Smartest AI in the World Just Go Dark? (Stephen Green)

• Anthropic Races To Defuse Trump’s Fable 5 U.S. Export Curbs (ZH)

• Monsters Far and Near (James Howard Kunstler)

• No Friends for Comey; Judge Rules No Amicus Briefs (Alan Wooten)

• Ukrainian Military Hooked on Drugs – Deutsche Welle (RT)

• Starmer to Ban Under-16s From 10 Social Media Apps Including X (DS)

• Starmer Announces Social Media Control System to Protect “Children” (CTH)

• Newspaper Dailies Killing Their Editorial Pages (Tim O’Brien)

• You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone: The Tragedy of John Cleese (PJM)

80 years old and at 3am going wheels up to France to attend the G7.

Dude is a machine! pic.twitter.com/iaf1gjrY6B
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 15, 2026

Elon Musk: “The reason I felt that it was important to acquire Twitter was because I could feel the walls closing in. It was outrageous that they suspended the account of a sitting president

And I think it was only a matter of time before they suspended my account.

Twitter and,… pic.twitter.com/VgupF1OX5u
— Teddy – PolyBackTest.com (@Bitcoin_Teddy) June 14, 2026

https://twitter.com/BarronTNews_/status/2066184316133032022?s=20

Elon Musk is a masterclass in resilience. Even when he was hit down to rock bottom, he refused to give up

In late 2008, he was on the absolute verge of total bankruptcy:
• SpaceX had suffered three failed launches in a row, with only enough capital left for one final roll of… pic.twitter.com/XicumPguxZ
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) June 15, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2066287378201706966?s=20

Secretary Hegseth smacks down CBS’ Margaret Brennan for trying to put words in his mouth to create a headline about U.S. ground troops in Iran.

BRENNAN: “It’s an important point for those who are members of the U.S. Military to understand whether you are saying ground troops… pic.twitter.com/3cebc0Ow3Z
— Overton (@overton_news) June 14, 2026

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly rejected the deal terms that pertain to his country’s invasion of Lebanon..”

• US and Iran Agree On Peace Roadmap, Israel Rejects All Terms (RT)

The US and Iran said they have agreed on a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict, which began on February 28 with a joint US-Israeli bombing campaign and prompted Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz to most shipping. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US President Donald Trump that Israel does not consider itself bound by the Lebanon-related provisions of the agreement with Iran and will not withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, according to Ynet. The US-Iran agreement will reportedly be formally signed on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland.

Iran has said the document would focus on ending the war and reopening the strait, while the two sides would have 60 days to negotiate the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he ordered “the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz” and the end of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. “Let the oil flow!” he added. Trump later clarified that the waterway, which carries around a quarter of global seaborne oil and LNG shipments, would reopen after the agreement is signed.
The talks were repeatedly stalled and delayed, with both sides accusing each other of making unacceptable demands and citing a lack of trust. Most recently, Iran threatened to suspend the negotiations over Israel’s continuing strikes in Lebanon. In an effort to prevent the talks from collapsing, Trump reportedly demanded that Israel halt the attacks during several heated phone calls with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Here are the latest developments:
• Iran will reportedly reopen the Strait of Hormuz, halt uranium enrichment, and renounce nuclear weapons in exchange for the release of $25 billion in frozen assets, sanctions relief, an end to the US naval blockade, and a $300 billion reconstruction package.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called for an end to Israeli military actions in Lebanon, saying during separate phone calls with his Turkish, Iraqi, and Egyptian counterparts that all hostilities must cease.
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said the IDF will not withdraw from southern Lebanon despite the reported terms of the agreement, warning that it will respond “with full force” if Iran attacks over its operations against Hezbollah.
• The EU has welcomed the reported deal, with foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas saying it could create “much-needed space.”
• Oil prices fell sharply on the news, with US WTI crude dropping 4.7% to $80.83 a barrel and Brent crude falling around 4% to $83.77, the lowest levels since March 4, shortly after the US-Israeli operation against Iran began.

Los of people saying this is not a real deal. Guys, this is Trump, who became a billionaire trading in a cutthroat market.

• Trump Details Iran Deal At G7: No Nukes, Conditional Sanctions Relief (ZH)

CNBC is reporting that a deal between the US and Iran has been electronically signed by Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. According to an unnamed US official, the US-Iran MOU provides for the ‘immediate’ reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, however – while President Trump said earlier that ships were beginning to move, the US official then said that reopening the strait would ‘take time’ due to mines, and that we can expect an increase in strait traffic over the next 1-2 weeks.

Trump addressed reporters and allies at the G7 summit in France on Monday, just hours after a major interim agreement with Iran that includes a 60-day ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear program. Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, he repeatedly underscored that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was the central achievement of the deal. “The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “They fully agreed to that with strong policing powers.”
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2066554436361625702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2066554436361625702%7Ctwgr%5Ed07c7ee8629e2f04914139007d93a8e708c22577%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Firan-offers-60-day-toll-free-hormuz-transit-100s-ships-await-reopening
He then compared it to the Obama-era JCPOA, calling the earlier agreement “a horrible deal for the United States” that had put Iran on “a road to a nuclear weapon” while sending billions of dollars to Tehran. Trump was also sharply critical of past U.S. cash payments to Iran, describing the $1.7 billion withdrawal from banks plus tens of billions in additional spending as a failed attempt to “bribe them to make a deal that didn’t work.” On the current arrangement, Trump stressed that any sanctions relief would be strictly behavioral and tied to compliance rather than granted simply for signing. He noted improved relations with Iran’s current leadership and reported that the Strait of Hormuz is already partially open, with mines being cleared and commercial shipping set to resume fully by Friday.
Markets reacted immediately, with stocks surging and oil prices posting their biggest drop in some time. Trump also called for an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, saying the long-running conflict “should NOT be tough” to address and that “we have to have a little talk with them.” Less than 24 hours after the Iran developments, he revealed he had already spoken with both President Zelensky and President Putin, describing the conversations as “very good” and expressing optimism that progress could be made to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, where he noted roughly 25,000 people are dying each month.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2066554967377227989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2066554967377227989%7Ctwgr%5Ed07c7ee8629e2f04914139007d93a8e708c22577%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Firan-offers-60-day-toll-free-hormuz-transit-100s-ships-await-reopening
Details of the MOU will be released over the next 24-48 hours, though one US official said that the MOU contains ‘possible’ $300 billion in reconstruction funding.
Ghalibaf notably came into public view for the first time in weeks in April to lead the Iranian delegation in talks in Islamabad with US Vice President DJ Vance – marking the highest-level contact between the two foes since before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Trump
President Trump on Monday claimed on Truth Social that commercial ships loaded with oil are transiting the Strait of Hormuz followinmg an announced deal to end hostilities with Iran. “Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. “They are going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine. There are other areas of travel, also!!!”

“The terms of the agreement were unavailable as of Sunday night, but a top Pakistan mediator said both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of all military operations.”

• Trump Scores Once-Elusive Peace Deal With Iran, Easing Oil Prices (Ben Whedon)

President Donald Trump has unveiled a deal to end 47 years of hostilities with Iran, bringing months of U.S.military operations to an end and opening the Strait of Hormuz in a one-two punch certain to ease oil prices ahead of the midterm elections.”Let the oil flow!” Trump declared Sunday on social media after completing the deal on his 80th birthday and the day the U.S. began its 250th anniversary celebration with an historic UFC Freedom 250 mixed martial arts fight on the White House South Lawn. A signed ceremony was set for Friday in Switzerland.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines.” Trump said the U.S. Navy would immediately end the blockade of the strait, which it maintained for several weeks in response to Iranian interdiction of oil tankers. Other details about the deal were not available as of Sunday evening including those on a key sticking point – whether Iran will wind down its nuclear enrichment program.
However, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a top negotiator in the peace negotiations, said the sides have declared an immediate and permanent end to military operations including those in Lebanon. Prior to Sunday, Trump claimed nearly 40 times since the start of the war on Feb. 28 to be close to a deal with Iran or to have reached some measure of consensus with the Iranian government, according to CNN. The war began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Speculation abounded throughout the conflict that the Iranian regime might succumb to internal pressure or face an incursion from Kurdish forces, though it appears to have emerged with the core of its government intact.
Trump has said he started the war to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, after negotiations on that matter failed. Other objectives, he said, were to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and navy and to ensure the Iranian regime could no longer fund or direct “terrorist armies” outside its borders. Sharif also said Sunday that a signing ceremony would occur on Friday. Pakistan was a critical mediator in negotiating the original ceasefire agreement, which managed to hold despite intermittent bouts of live-fire attacks by nearly every combatant faction. “With the agreement now in place, mediators will facilitate a series of meetings this week,” he also said.
“These pre-implementation discussions will lay the foundation for the technical talks and the official signing ceremony.” The deal and the Friday signing ceremony already represent something of a moved goal post, considering Trump previously stated that the signing ceremony would take place Sunday and insisted upon that timetable until early Sunday afternoon.Plenty of time remains between Friday and the present, however, and if prior alleged deals are any indication, any number of potential developments could upend the agreement. On Sunday alone, Trump fumed over Israel launching strikes on Lebanon in response to an attack by Hezbollah, asserting that the Israeli response jeopardized a peace agreement.
Fighting in Lebanon was a sticking point for the Iranians, who repeatedly insisted that the original ceasefire was meant to include Lebanon. Trump repeatedly pressed Israel to abandon continued conflict in the country against Hezbollah, leading to considerable tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How Israel, considered the United States’ longest and most loyal Middle East ally, will respond to the agreement announced Sunday is also a factor to consider going into Friday. Public opinion has been decidedly opposed to the war throughout the conflict and opinions of Israel have soured dramatically. The disruption to oil sales has also led to higher gas prices, which in turn, contributed to dropping approval numbers for the Trump administration.
But the news of an agreement is likely to soothe markets, especially if maritime commerce fully resumes through the strait, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes. Such a development could conceivably result in falling gas prices and potentially higher approval ratings for the administration. The war will apparently end without a complete, so-called “regime change,” for which war hawks repeatedly advocated. Iranians staged large public demonstrations against the regime weeks before the start of the war that resulted in thousands of reported deaths. However, public opinion still was not in support of the U.S. overthrowing the Iranian government.
At one point, Trump stated that the U.S. had attempted to arm anti-regime dissidents in Iran by supplying them with weapons through Kurdish factions, though he said the Kurdish groups merely kept the weapons for themselves. The long-term implications of the war for the U.S.’s presence in the Middle East remain somewhat unclear. Numerous Gulf State allies expressed frustration with the U.S. during the conflict over its limited ability to supply interceptors for their own defense as the Americans struggled to intercept Iranian strikes on Israel, U.S. bases, and allied nations. Iranian forces, for their part, repeatedly stressed to neighboring nations that aiding U.S. operations against them made those nations valid targets for Iranian counter-operations.

For Trump, the G7 is like Gulliver among the lilliputters.

• President Trump Attends G7 in France – This One Will Be Ridiculous (CTH)

The G7 was originally constructed as an assembly for the U.S, Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and the U.K. However, in the past several years it is abandoned it’s limited economic purpose and agenda and morphed into an assembly of nations far beyond the original intent.

Now we watch the ridiculous assemblies of dozens of nations who come under the guise of the G7 to discuss everything from cow-farting mitigation to the best weapons and techniques to fight the Russians. The economic focus of the G7 is entirely lost. This will never be more evident than the current apex assembly of leaders brought together at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron in France. Watch and you’ll see how geopolitically ridiculous this has become.

A bankers’ view of war?!

• So, What Do We Know? (Rabobank)

A deal is struck and the parties are reportedly set to sign on Friday of this week. Markets are jubilant after an agreement was confirmed by US, Iranian and Pakistani sources, but not without first being threatened by Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon which prompted a telling-off by Donald Trump on Truth Social where he told everyone “don’t blow it”. Brent crude is down more than 4% this morning to be dealing around $83.72 at time of writing and a rally in bonds late last week has carried over to this morning with Aussie and Kiwi sovereign curves both seeing notable bull steepening.

US equity futures portend the printing of a healthy green candle when markets open later today, but there’s still a lingering sense that we’re not out of the woods yet. Aside from the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah over the weekend, and the lesson of experience that the IRGC doesn’t need much convincing to return to fighting, we learned this morning that despite Donald Trump’s declaration that the strait is now open the strait will actually remain closed until the official signing occurs on Friday – ostensibly to provide time for mine clearing operations. Needless to say, a week is a long time in Middle East geopolitics.
Nevertheless, markets are rallying on the vibe right now but what is actually in the deal will be the critical points – and there is still plenty of fog of war surrounding terms. So, what do we know? Firstly, the agreement is not really a ‘deal’ at all, or even a deal to have a deal, but rather a memorandum of understanding staking out a framework to discuss a deal over the next 60 days.
War is supposed to cease on all fronts – including Lebanon, Hormuz is supposed to open and the US blockade lifted within 30 days in a kind of oil-for-oil exchange that we have flagged here many times. Iranian sources are claiming that Hormuz transits will occur under Iranian auspices, whereas the US side is still saying no tolls. Axios reports comments from US sources that sanctions relief will follow the re-opening of Hormuz, but there seems to be disagreement over the release of frozen funds and Iranian sources are claiming reparations of some form up to $300bn in value would be payable. If true, that really would be the full enchilada of TACOs and would see the US agreeing to a set of terms that had it restart bombing only a few weeks ago.
On the other hand, it could be the case that the terms are actually much more favorable to the US and that the Iranians are simply trying to save face. Crucially, there appear to be no guarantees on the nuclear issues aside from a promise from Iran not to seek a nuclear weapon and to engage in talks over the next 60 days. Given that the nuclear program was the entire casus belli in the first place, we still see plenty of scope for this to all fall in a heap. The US midterm elections are 81 days after the expiry of the 60 day negotiating period. Could we see a few more can-kick extensions over that time? Announcing the conclusion of the deal, Donald Trump posted to Truth Social “Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
Start your engines indeed, because the race is now on to restock the global energy supply chain while we can. So, at the risk of being a party pooper, could this be one of those instances of buy the rumor sell the fact? Perhaps there is no greater bear indicator than the fact that the New York Knicks just won the NBA playoffs. The last time they did that was in *checks notes* 1973, just before the Yom Kippur oil embargoes became the biggest energy shock in history up to that point. The Knicks basically top-ticked the market back then with one of the deepest bear markets of modern history (down more than 40% peak to trough) following their victory.
That brings us to SpaceX, where the largest IPO in history just raised $75 billion at a hefty valuation last week and minted another $2trillion market cap company after the stock rallied almost 20% in its first day of trading. His 42% ownership stake combined with other holdings now makes Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, a financial milestone event that feels a bit like the topping out of the Sears Tower as the world’s tallest building in – ahem – 1973.

I don’t think Obama ever really protested Iran having nukes. Their delay tactics worked great on him. Plus he sent planes full of cash.

• Yes, Trump’s Iran Deal Is So Much Better Than Obama’s (Margolis)

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the United States has reached a peace deal with Iran, and the contrast with what Barack Obama handed the world in 2015 could not be starker. “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” The naval blockade on Iranian ports has already lifted. The Strait of Hormuz is open. And for the first time in a long time, there’s an actual framework that puts nuclear weapons permanently off the table. Results are happening. Oil prices have dropped, and the market is up.

The deal, currently structured as a Memorandum of Understanding, extends a ceasefire for 60 days while both sides work toward a comprehensive permanent agreement. A formal signing ceremony is set for June 19 in Switzerland. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed from Tehran that a halt to military operations, including in Lebanon, took effect Sunday. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also confirmed the agreement, saying it followed “intensive talks.”
Now let’s talk about why this matters, because the media is going to spend the next week trying to muddy the waters. But make no mistake about it: this is clearly a better deal than Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). That was the official name of the deal that the left told us was a historic diplomatic achievement. Under that agreement, Iran kept its advanced centrifuges and retained the right to keep enriching uranium.
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst broke down exactly why that was so dangerous. “During the Obama administration, it allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium,” Yingst explained. The enrichment process takes uranium ore through a series of chemical conversions until it becomes hexafluoride gas, which is then spun in high-speed centrifuges. Do that process enough times and you move from low-enriched uranium to 20%, then 60%, then 90%, which is weapons grade, a process, he explained, could take weeks or even just days.
“And so allowing the Iranians to keep advanced centrifuges and then enrich uranium eventually closer to weapons-grade material, set them on a path toward a weapon, because that is a process that is needed to create a nuclear weapon, even if they weren’t doing it at that moment,” Yingst continued. “This agreement does not allow the Iranians, according to this senior administration official, to keep any of their enriched material.”

FOX NEWS: “During the Obama administration, it allowed Iran to continuing enriching uranium…[President Trump’s] agreement does not allow the Iranians…to keep any of their enriched material.” pic.twitter.com/1q5HAN2f59
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 14, 2026

The inspection regime under Obama was a joke, too. Under Obama’s nuclear deal, Iran could delay inspections of suspicious undeclared sites for up to 24 days through a multi-step dispute process, giving critics reason to worry that evidence could be concealed before inspectors arrived. That concern was amplified by Iran’s long history of exploiting diplomatic delays while advancing its nuclear program.
Obama’s crappy deal relied on the expectation that Iran would comply in exchange for sanctions relief and other benefits. Trump’s framework assumes Iran will seek opportunities to cheat and ties any rewards to verified compliance. And, of course, there will be consequences for violations. Obviously, the next 60 days will tell us a lot. But right now, the Strait of Hormuz is open, a naval blockade is lifted, and global oil is flowing.

“.. retail investors have now bought almost as much SPCX over the last two sessions as they bought across the entire US stock market last week.”

• SpaceX Erupts In After Hours Trading, Hits $3 Trillion Market Cap (ZH)

Update (9:00pm): just a few minutes after the initial post, the squeeze is accelerating and SPCX hit just shy of $230, or $3 trillion in market cap, surpassing MSFT in value. And what is even crazier, tomorrow SPCX options start trading, which means one good, solid gamma squeeze could send this stock to $400, surpassing NVDA as the world’s biggest company in the process.

Earlier: After a relatively calm first day of trading, the gamma squeeze crew has finally sniffed out that SpaceX’s float makes it a perfect candidate for an OTM-call option driven meltup, and the stock soared ~20% today, adding over $400 billion in market in the regular session. Commenting on the move, Vanda Track earlier noted that SpaceX topped the leaderboard as the most bought stock by retail investors for a second consecutive session, with net buying potentially set to clear $100mn for the second day in a row.
On a net basis, retail investors have now bought almost as much SPCX over the last two sessions as they bought across the entire US stock market last week. In fact, today’s $93.8mn of net buying in SpaceX accounts for roughly 73% of all retail net buying across single stocks so far today.

The one notable development today according to Vanda, is that we’re seeing some appetite return to semiconductor stocks. Names such as MRVL, MU, SNDK and AVGO have all seen some modest buying today amid the rebound. However, retail flows remain selective rather than broad-based, with leveraged bearish ETFs such as SQQQ and SOXS also among today’s most bought securities by retail investors. Vanda’s conclusion is that “the broader message remains unchanged: SpaceX has not sparked a retail buying frenzy across the market. Instead, retail investors continue to direct capital into this one name, while maintaining a relatively cautious stance elsewhere.”
And since momentum elsewhere is fading, retail has decided to double down on the very illiquid SPCX after hours, where its low float has made it a great squeeze candidate by the retail crew, and the stock is now exploding higher, and at last check was trading just over $210, meaning the stock has added $250 billion in market cap after the close – or a total of $650 billion today alone…
… which translates into a market cap of $2.75 trillion or more than Apple’s $2.65 trillion, and just behind MSFT’s $2.97 trillion.

They’re slowly finding out AI aystems are nigh impossible to keep secret.

• Why Did the Smartest AI in the World Just Go Dark? (Stephen Green)

Two of the most powerful large language models in the world just got yanked from service, starting with a national security directive from the United States government during the Friday night news dump. “The U.S. government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees,” Anthropic said in a statement. “The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.” Double emphasis in the original — and, I’d have to add, some claim not all their customers. But stick a pin in that thought for just a moment.

Although the administration failed to give any specific details, Anthropic says it believes the government became aware of a method of “jailbreaking” Fable 5, potentially unleashing the AI from its built-in guardrails against use in developing cyber exploits, deadly chemical synthesis, and other sensitive topics. That’s a big deal. The “Fives” are the latest version of Claude, Anthropic’s enterprise- and government-centric LLM. Fable is the “safe” version available to the public, while you might think of Mythos as the weapons-grade version. Because it is. What separates Fable from Mythos are the guardrails that, as Anthropic put it, are supposed to “greatly reduce the likelihood that Fable is misused for tasks related to cybersecurity (among others).” “
To date, the government has only given us verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak, which essentially consists of asking the model to read a specific codebase and fix any software flaws,” the company continued. “Our understanding is that one potential jailbreak was shared with the government.” Since “that perfect jailbreak resistance does not appear to be possible today, Anthropic adopted a defense in depth strategy” by shutting down both “Fives” until further notice. Again, the emphasis is in the original, but let’s come back now to “all their customers.”
Social media is awash in rumors that Fable 5’s underlying code wasn’t just stolen, but it’s out in the wild — successfully uploaded to Pirate’s Bay for anyone to run locally. Provided, of course, they’re in possession of a powerful enough system. While I can slowly run some stripped-down models on the M4 Pro Mac mini right here on my desk, I assure you I couldn’t run Claude. But don’t believe the rumors. Near as I can tell, they’re based on this prank posted to X on Friday.
https://twitter.com/PtrPomorski/status/2065743732792512621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2065743732792512621%7Ctwgr%5E37d8ae1ea8e93e55a24707b6e741389460344816%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fvodkapundit%2F2026%2F06%2F15%2Fwhy-did-the-smartest-ai-in-the-world-just-go-dark-n4953976
The attached Community Note reads: “A Pirate Bay search for ‘fable’ returns no relevant results, and further, there is no ‘Other / Models’ category as claimed in the screenshot.”I asked Grok for any other examples, and it came back with this: “Pliny the Liberator extracted and dumped the full ~120k-character system prompt on GitHub shortly after launch. People are using it to emulate Fable-like behavior on Opus 4.8 or other models… but it’s instructions, not the model itself. Useful for prompting, not a full clone.” Good to know.
“The sudden regulatory intervention serves as a stark warning to the enterprise sector: centralized, cloud-based frontier models exist at the absolute mercy of government oversight and vendor compliance,” is how Venture Beat put it, but I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing. I don’t doubt that someday, something like Mythos 5 will escape into the wild, potentially setting up a situation like Frank Herbert’s The White Plague. In his 1982 novel, the Dune author postulated what might happen as genetic engineering becomes inexpensive and accessible enough for a deranged individual to create a plague capable of wiping out humanity.
The book’s distraught villain, John Roe O’Neil, nearly succeeds in doing just that. We have extremely powerful tools in LLMs like Fable, and as you know, tools are easy to refashion into weapons.

Is the US still ahead of China?

• Anthropic Races To Defuse Trump’s Fable 5 U.S. Export Curbs (ZH)

Anthropic’s Fable/Mythos 5 ranks number one in the world for model intelligence, widening the US-China gap. The gap may widen further because of “anti-distillation” features, and the models are now under US export control, which has shuttered access to the advanced models.
LLM model matrix pic.twitter.com/d64OIhoYDH
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 11, 2026

Late Friday, the US government banned foreign governments, companies, and individuals from using Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models after researchers at Amazon demonstrated to the Trump administration that some safeguards on Fable could be circumvented. People familiar with what’s happening inside the Trump administration told The Wall Street Journal that Anthropic sent top officials to the White House and held calls to resolve software vulnerabilities, including the alleged ability to ‘jailbreak’ the model.

DARIO REFUSED TO FIX JAILBREAK W/ ANTHROPIC MYTHOS MODEL: SACKS https://t.co/VArxay0cVA
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 13, 2026

Anthropic’s top security staff, including Nicholas Carlini, Logan Graham, and Dave Orr, were sent to Washington on Saturday to speak with senior US officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The move by the frontier AI lab aims to resolve vulnerabilities exposed by Amazon researchers. More color from WSJ: “People close to the company and the administration said both parties are interested in resolving the issue and restoring access to the cutting-edge models, but it isn’t clear what a solution would entail. Anthropic technical experts and government security researchers coming together was seen by some administration officials as a key step toward a compromise.”
The weekend discussions continue months of tension between the administration and one of America’s leading AI labs over how new, cutting-edge technologies are used and regulated. The Trump administration has recently taken more steps to control the fast-evolving industry.

The imminent “Anthropic – White House” ceasefire is the new imminent “Iran-US” ceasefire https://t.co/byCO9mLo2h
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 14, 2026

A Sunday letter by cybersecurity experts urged the Trump administration to lift the restrictions on the models, warning that such a move could hurt U.S. cyber defenses, create market uncertainty, and weaken America’s AI leadership. However, Jefferies analysts said quite the opposite, noting that “anti-distillation” features and US export control, “which could make it harder for open-source (Chinese) models to catch up.” “US models are improving at a faster pace likely due to compute advantage, but anti- distillation and US export control are new negatives for China AI,” the analysts said.

More from Jefferies: “Open-source models (mostly Chinese) may find it harder to improve given new anti- distillation features and US export control. More importantly, Anthropic introduced anti- distillation features on Fable 5. If Fable 5 detects suspicious distillation activities, it would downgrade the model to Opus 4.8 and notify users. While this seems to be targeting Chinese AI development, we believe this would set back open source progress if all closed-source model developers follow suit.
“Moreover, the US has imposed emergency export control on Fable 5, barring foreigners from using them (including foreign employees of US companies), given loopholes in the cybersecurity safeguards. However, since Anthropic has no tools to limit the use to US nationals only (ie, ID checks?), it has suspended both Fable 5 and Mythos 5 globally until it could come up with a way to enforce that export control.”

“We used to say that we don’t know what 2050 will look like. Now it’s more like we don’t know what 2030 will look like.” —Jesus Enrique Rosas

• Monsters Far and Near (James Howard Kunstler)

You must be thinking that reality is pushing its luck with the president bringing this Iran business — a war, actually, let’s face it — to a favorable conclusion around dinner time Sunday evening (yawn) and then Mr. DJT sliding directly into his seat on the White House lawn to enjoy the special 80th birthday edition of Testosterone Gone Wild, that is, a full card of tattoo-bedizend savages beating the crap out of each other UFC style, like it was a Hooters parking lot on wife-swap night. . . why, it just doesn’t get more surreal than that.

Imagine what Victoria Nuland, Robert Reich, George Stephanopoulis, Elizabeth Warren, and other good folks of that ilk must be thinking. The. . . (Sputter sputter) indelicacy of it all! A freaking peace deal, and now this low-rent spectacle of ultra-violence! Like their whole world had turned out to be the meanest, lowest, most sordid backwater of the Marvel Comics universe where no one has ever heard of chardonney. The ape-men slugging, kicking, gouging, and head-butting each other half to death is one thing. . . but to let the slip the opportunity to continue the Iran War with its downstream emoluments for another nineteen years. . . well, now that is an affront to all that is holy in the sub-basements of Foggy Bottom and the broom closets of Langley.
As you read this on Monday morning the cries for impeachment will be ringing across the District of Columbia like calls to prayer in Mamdani’s Caliphate on the Hudson. Surely, you’ll get more details on the Iran deal as Monday spins out, but the terms look not bad at all for Western Civ in the news media’s early shorthand reports: Teheran pledges no nukes, ever, no how, no way. They will allow their cache of super-enriched uranium to be destroyed. The Strait of Hormuz will reopen promptly, free to international shipping, no tolls, no piratical monkey-business. No more Iran funding terrorist proxy groups. That means you Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and sundry cadres of jihadi maniacs ‘out there’ in the world’s hotspots.
Speaking of which, Mr. Netanyahu felt the president’s wrath earlier on Sunday (once again) when he replied to a Hezbollah rocket salvo out of Lebanon with air strikes. But, hey, everybody knows that Israel always and ever answers every attack against it no matter what, because Never Again. Even Mr. Trump knows that, so the whole flap was a sort of mummery. Obviously, Hezbollah must be anxious to wreck the peace deal, since without Iran’s ongoing largess they will not know where their next meal is coming from, not to mention their next shipment of missiles. If Iran actually complies with the deal, Hezbollah can have no more support. There may soon be no more Hezbollah. (Boo-hoo.)
Which raises the next obvious concern, namely, Iran is not known for keeping its word with The Great Satan (us). There is every reason to believe that the vaunted deal is just another sorry episode of them stringing the USA along, playing us. But Mr. Trump has made it clear he reserves the option to rev up the bombers and “do a number on” the Islamic Republic if they pull a fast one on this.
For its part, Iran is crowing in its own state-controlled press that it has won the war. Iran can say whatever it wants to — world opinion will probably not be fooled — if it makes the people running the joint feel good about themselves losing a war. It’ll be Iran’s actions that matter. There’s a chance, perhaps a low-percentage chance, but a chance nonetheless, that Iran has been persuaded to stop being insane.

“He is facing two federal counts of threats against the president.”

86 47.

• No Friends for Comey; Judge Rules No Amicus Briefs (Alan Wooten)

No friend of the court briefs will be allowed in America’s attempted prosecution against its former FBI Director James Comey in a North Carolina federal courtroom. In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge Louise Flanagan on Friday gave a one-page order explaining the discretion available to the court and the route she’s chosen. Comey, facing charges tied to his posting of an image of seashells spelling out 86 47 on the Outer Banks, is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 30 in New Bern and trial Oct. 21. He is facing two federal counts of threats against the president.

“No federal rule of criminal procedure or local criminal rule provides for the filing of amicus briefs before this court,” Flanagan wrote. “It is a matter of this court’s discretion whether to allow. “Defendant and the government are ably represented by competent counsel.” The case is formally known as United States of America v. James Brien Comey Jr. Her order concluded, “Acting within its discretion, the court provides this notice that no amicus brief will be considered. Accordingly, any future motion requesting permission to file summarily will be denied.”
In May 2025, prosecutors say, Comey – a resident of Virginia – posted to social media seashells on the Outer Banks arranged to spell out 86 47 – a commonly interpreted reference for eliminating something (86) and the numerical count (47) of presidents. Comey was FBI director in the administration of former two-term Democratic President Barack Obama, serving from July 29, 2013, to May 9, 2017, when Trump fired him. His Senate confirmation was 93-1.
Comey was infamously investigating Trump ties to the Russian government when he was let go. Comey was deputy attorney general to John Ashcroft during the administration of former two-term Republican President George W. Bush. His career outside of politics includes law professor at Columbia, and time with Lockheed Martin and Bridgewater Associates.

You betcha. They’re experimenting with new drugs as we speak.

• Ukrainian Military Hooked on Drugs – Deutsche Welle (RT)

Drug addiction is emerging as a growing problem among Ukrainian troops as the conflict with Russia enters the fifth year, according to doctors and specialized organizations cited by Deutsche Welle. The report also cites the experience of a former Ukrainian Marine Corps officer who said he became addicted to drugs. Experts reportedly attribute the problem to combat injuries and psychological exhaustion, with many servicemen spending months on the front line without adequate rest or prospects for demobilization.

While narcotics are officially banned in the military, heavy losses, the lack of rotation, and acute manpower shortages forcing wounded troops back to the front before fully recovering are reportedly fueling the problem. According to the report published last week, more than half of Ukrainian soldiers serving on the front line have experience with the use of drugs, alcohol, or a combination of both. “No army in modern history has fought for four years without rotation,” psychotherapist Igor Alferov told Deutsche Welle. He added that when commanders refuse to grant leave, and “there is no one else to do the fighting,” the troops increasingly feel a sense of injustice.
Alferov also cited family problems as a factor, noting that many soldiers have relatives living abroad, causing spouses to drift apart. “She plans to stay in Europe because she sees prospects there for the children, while he remains at war in Ukraine, where every day carries the risk of death,” he said. A former Ukrainian serviceman and patient at a rehabilitation clinic told DW that drug addiction cost him his military career. “I had more than 200 men under my command and took part in a number of successful operations,” he said, adding that his condition deteriorated after being discharged from the hospital and that he eventually “lost control of everything.”
Earlier this year, a local resident rescued from Krasnoarmeysk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, which was liberated by Russian forces in late 2025, told TASS that most Ukrainian troops stationed in the city used drugs delivered by drones in the form of candies wrapped in camouflage packaging. He claimed that intoxicated soldiers often clashed with civilians, with some incidents ending in gunfire. The Guardian reported that many Ukrainian servicemen developed drug addiction, the scale of which is hard to assess due to limited official data, linking it in part to post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety from prolonged combat exposure.

Social media ban for kids is information control, pure and simple.

• Starmer to Ban Under-16s From 10 Social Media Apps Including X (DS)

Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce sweeping reforms tomorrow banning under-16s from 10 major social media platforms, including X, but not the Left-wing platform Bluesky. In addition, he will introduce daily curfews for 16 and 17 year-olds, going further than Australia’s restrictions. The Times has the story: Teenagers will be banned from certain social media platforms and have their daily usage curbed under sweeping reforms to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday.

The ban will go further than the one imposed by Australia in December by targeting technology deemed harmful to children, including chatbots and certain features on gaming apps. Under-16s in Australia have been banned from using ten platforms: TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch and Kick. It is understood that the UK will follow suit by raising the minimum age on social media to 16, from the average of 13, for the same ten sites. Curfews for older teenagers will be introduced. Daily social media use will be restricted for 16 and 17 year-olds in a move designed to curb unhealthy late-night scrolling habits.
A Government source said: “Keir has been clear we need a game-changer to keep our children — and future generations — safe online.” The reforms, which come two weeks after a public consultation on potential restrictions closed, will stop short of banning the messaging platform WhatsApp and apps considered to have educational value. However, the government will go further than Australia and introduce restrictions on romantic or sexual chatbots after several legal cases involving the AI agents mimicking relationships and encouraging children to take their own lives.
Kanishka Narayan, the online safety minister, has said the government — which will also give 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote — could block conversations between children and strangers on gaming platforms. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, which was passed in April, gave ministers the ability to introduce measures to restrict harmful features on online services without needing to pass new laws. It is not clear when the ban will come into force or how effectively the government will be able to enforce it.

Social media ban for kids equals social media control for everyone.

Whatever your age, you have to prove it. How do you show you’re not 12? By proving you’re 48.

“..you now have to prove your age by proving your identity. It is obvious to the non-pretenders that proving your identity is the objective; the ruse to force the mandate is to prove your age.”

• Starmer Announces Social Media Control System to Protect “Children” (CTH)

Leftist British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has lost support among the majority of voters within the United Kingdom as evidenced by the shellacking his party took in the recent election. However, as the embattled leader clings to power by telling law enforcement to crackdown on anti-government voices, he extends the control mechanisms under the guise of “protecting children.” If you are a social media user or internet user in the U.K, you now have to prove your age by proving your identity. It is obvious to the non-pretenders that proving your identity is the objective; the ruse to force the mandate is to prove your age. This is the way a grand lie is deployed in order to achieve an objective. ‘All your information are belong to us.’

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a press conference with the announcement from 10 Downing Street. He announces a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16, describing it as a “big step” to protect young people from online harm. Starmer defends the policy as necessary to tackle “addictive algorithms, cyberbullying, and mental health risks.” Britain will follow Australia’s example in raising the minimum age to 16 for sites such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Snapchat.

BIG PICTURE: Australia, New Zealand and Canada all have social media control systems in place. Now, the U.K joins with them. What does Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.K have on common? They are all part of the 5-Eyes intelligence network. This is an IC operation. Don’t lose sight of it. This is a freedom battle against aligned interests that have historically used the intelligence community as their main strategy. From the western globalist perspective, you must always accept their #1 priority is information control. It doesn’t matter what the tool or technique of the day being discussed it, the #1 issue -for them- is to control information.
Look at everything, including and importantly the current AI discussions and debate, through the prism of information control. COVID-19 taught you the lesson. Information control is the objective. Social media restrictions, internet restrictions, the terms ‘mis-dis-mal-information’ etc., the AI race, election systems they can manage, demonetizing or deboosting, CISA, NED, USAID, the payment to “influencers”, media bans, all of it, the sum of every effort, tool and technique is about controlling information.

“The Dirty Little Secret Behind ..”

“It died because its commitment to wokeness superseded popular attitudes and the business discipline it takes to serve a marketplace.:”

“.. the powers that be at America’s dailies have demonstrated they would rather drive their papers into the ground than betray a core leftist editorial philosophy.”

• Newspaper Dailies Killing Their Editorial Pages (Tim O’Brien)

Back in January I chronicled the death of a local newspaper daily, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which at the time was slated to close for good in May. I listed the many reasons for the newspaper’s demise and how it served as a great example of why so many American daily newspapers have expired. The newspaper industry would have you believe that the massive decline in America’s dailies was driven only by changes to news delivery technologies, but it’s much more than that, and yet they are related. Yes, the internet has made the need for an actual paper newspaper unnecessary, but that doesn’t explain why so many of these news organizations continued to decline even as they embraced the internet, social media, podcasting, and so many more on-trend platforms.

My contention in January, as now, is that news consumers get their news from sources they trust. This is common knowledge in the media and communications fields. People pick the source; the source no longer picks them. And we tend to pick sources that agree with our worldview. That’s why you are here on PJ Media, and you’re not right now listening to Barack Obama’s groupies over at Pod Save America. We live in ”media silos” which ensure that no regular listener of Pod Save America ever hears what we’re talking about here, and we never hear what they are saying there, unless of course they say something that ends up going viral on the X platform. More often than not, however, an algorithm looks at what you seem to really like, and it gives you more of that.
In my January eulogy for the Post-Gazette being declared dead by its long-time owner, Block Communications, I wrote: “It died because its commitment to wokeness superseded popular attitudes and the business discipline it takes to serve a marketplace. In short, leadership and staff put their own ideologies first, and they made their product irrelevant to the town they served. And they still have no idea. They openly ridiculed MAGA and the populist movement that put Trump in power in 2016. They did it again in 2020. And they did it again in 2024. Time and again, in big and small ways, they just couldn’t see the formula for success and adapt.”
In the TV world, if Fox News, the major conservative cable news network, is wiping the floor with the lib networks, wouldn’t it make sense to shift a little to the right? The same is true across all media. There is a demand for conservative content. But the powers that be at America’s dailies have demonstrated they would rather drive their papers into the ground than betray a core leftist editorial philosophy. Since January, the Post-Gazette was saved, if that’s what you want to call it. A Baltimore-based nonprofit news outlet called the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism bought the Pittsburgh “daily” at a bargain-basement price.
When making the announcement, Venetoulis pointed to its track record in salvaging local news organizations, and it said it had no plans to cut back on the newspaper’s editorial or distribution schedule. When the purchase was announced, most reports alluded to the likelihood that Venetoulis would be cutting personnel and making other changes. A moral win for the 240-year-old newspaper, but none of this changes the challenges the Post-Gazette faces. People still get their news elsewhere in growing numbers. So, unless Venetoulis makes changes to the product that the marketplace wants, the Post-Gazette will continue to fade in influence.
Speaking of changes, one of the most significant content changes the nonprofit newspaper made was the elimination of its editorial section. In an editorial on May 3, 2026, the newspaper announced it would no longer “support or oppose public policies or candidates for public office.” Hmmm.
Okay, so I get they won’t endorse candidates. Let’s face it, they haven’t had a great track record with endorsements of late (as with almost all other dailies in America), but the obvious reason is this: If a newspaper endorses only Democrats, who lose at the national level a lot, it’s going to lose credibility and alienate the conservatives it needs to attract to its pages. Yet if it endorses a Republican, it will lose newspaper staff, leadership won’t get invited to World Cup watch parties, or may get shunned on Parent-Teacher Night at the private schools where their kids attend. They may even lose their seat on the board of the local opera or symphony.
But why decide not to “support or oppose public policies”? I would think that’s why newspapers exist in the first place. Imagine Ben Franklin’s The Pennsylvania Gazette deciding in the 1770s not to take a position on public policies like the Stamp Act. What good would that have done? Of course, there will be no shortage of opinion in the newspaper. Surely, you’ll find it in the bias that permeates stories presented as “straight news.” You’ll also find actual columns from columnists from time to time, but those will be carefully curated, of course. This will be in keeping with the inherent ideologies at play in the nonprofit management of a legacy newspaper.

Like so many people who were once liberal and then met woke.

• You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone: The Tragedy of John Cleese (PJM)

Over at Instapundit, Ed Driscoll notes a piece by S.D.Wickett, whom I presume to be a British writer. The article is around four years old, but the commentary is still valid. Indeed, the passage of time has moved us closer to the end the author is concerned about. I’d like to draw your attention to an anonymous post on the forum website 4chan, which forms the basis for what I have titled the Tragedy of John Cleese. It goes: “He was a Progressive, Liberal degenerate in 1960s uber-white uber-polite Britain. He could take the p*** out of the people he saw as uptight and repressed while enjoying the clean, safe streets and quiet little hamlets full of those same uptight, repressed, polite-to-a-fault, helpful, white Christian Englishmen.

“The best part was that those same British conservative Anglos were generally pretty humorous about themselves. So, when you made fun of them, they laughed along with you and shook their heads saying ‘Ha! You know, Margie, he’s got a point!’ It was heaven on earth for him, to be a popular counter-culture icon loved by conservatives and liberals alike for being hilarious, but also enjoy the benefits of a strong, stable and homogeneous culture. I’ve been a Python fan for a long time. But even back in the ’70s when they first burst onto the scene, I noticed they almost invariably targeted traditional conservatives — or at least members of the cultural majority. The one exception I can think of appears in the 1979 film, The Life of Brian:

That’s about as prophetic as the Pythons in general, and Cleese in particular, ever got. Since then, that small crack of light has widened, and thereby revealed to the remaining Pythons a lot they’d not faced before. Wickett continues: Now, he’s an old man, staring at a desolate wasteland where in London, Britons are now in the minority. Everyone is suspicious, the hamlets and villages are economic dead-zones. Every week, there’s a new group you’re not allowed to make fun of, no one has a sense of humour anymore. Little girls are being sold as sex slaves, women are harassed in the street and the men are suspicious and surly over their lowered living standards. The sinking realization that the world he made fun of, but loved more than anything, is gone forever and will never come back.

The horrifying conclusion that his own counter-cultural irreverence may have helped to kill it. So, he impotently gripes on Twitter and wonders where the laughter went, when did the jokes stop? Where are those wonderful, repressed and uptight conservatives So now, apparently, Cleese is making a documentary titled Cancel Me on the cancel culture phenomenon that my PJ Media colleagues and I have written about often enough. One really must wonder if he can see signs, however dimly, suggesting he himself has long been part of the problem. Wickett seems to wonder about that as well: “I want to bring the various reasonings right out in the open so that people can be clearer in their minds what they agree with, what they don’t agree with, and what they still can’t make their mind up about.”
He mentions political correctness as if it were new. Something that emerged out of a campus vacuum in the mid 2010s. Yet, its true origin is something far closer to home. John Cleese cut his teeth in the 1960s. As I’ve previously stated, it was a time of revolution, a springboard into hyper-modernity, hyper-liberalism. It was the death of the suit, the family, the stigmatic removal of undesirable and unbecoming behaviour. The normalisation of sex, drugs, and psychedelia. A time of free expression without limits, restraints, or shame. Hedonism without consequences. Pregnant? Just have an abortion. Bored at a party? Here, take this. ‘Only God can judge me, except he doesn’t exist.’
The last fifty years of evidence have finally handed us the bill, and it’s steeper than anyone, including Cleese, wanted to admit back when the dreaming was seen as being without cost. I’ve long maintained that Britain is the canary in this particular coal mine, and that we colonials are only a few stumbles behind them.
Buried inside the 1960s counterculture was the cheerful slogan “God is dead” — lifted, naturally, from Nietzsche’s Parable of the Madman, by people who couldn’t be bothered to read past the bumper-sticker version. Had they done so, they’d have found a warning, not a guide. Nietzsche wasn’t celebrating the death of God; he was outright terrified of it. His point? Without a moral and cultural framework, the foundation under everything crumbles. The social left grabbed that warning, mistook it for a manifesto, and promptly set about proving him correct, both in terms of the Judeo-Christian ethic and the culture that sprang from it.
The cultural rot and the cancel culture springing from it that has Cleese wringing his hands today is exactly what Nietzsche was describing. Shakespeare’s Miranda squealed with delight at her brave new world, blissfully ignorant of what lurked beneath the surface. Cleese and his fellow progressive cheerleaders spent decades doing the same, pompoms and all. Now they stand slack-jawed while Huxley’s ghost is joined by Rush Limbaugh and other cultural conservatives in saying, “See? I told you so.”
Turns out the architects of that brave new world built precisely what we were warned they would. Cleese is getting a masterclass in a very specific flavor of irony: you never know what you treasure until the revolution you spent your career championing shows up to confiscate and burn it. Or as another leftist icon, Joni Mitchel so famously put it, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” Cleese has a history with the left in the UK, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, and the Liberal Democrats, but he has changed in recent years. Just this last February, he joined the Restore Britain party, which the Brit pass has laughably tagged as a “far right group.”
The really sad part? He will likely be called out by the far left for finally noting these things and for being open-minded enough to recognize the damage done by the positions he once championed. Did he cause all of this? Of course not. (No single raindrop, however fat and self-important, floods a valley alone). However, he makes a perfect starting point for diagnosing what led us to this pass. Will he ever own his role in it? Please. Red pills don’t get easier to choke down when you get older — they get harder. So, John Cleese, I’ll borrow from Bruce Willis here: “Welcome to the party, Pal.”

https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1/status/2066373154633662892?s=20

Ukraine wasn't the first money laundering operation. Elites used Afghanistan and MANY other wars THEY STARTED to steal our tax dollars too.

Julian Assange on wars being used for money laundering:

"The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the United… pic.twitter.com/Nl9RhNsEat
— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) June 15, 2026

https://twitter.com/WellsJorda89710/status/2066376688447950964?s=20

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

Debt Rattle June 14 2026

Jun 142026

June 14, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:04 am Finance Tagged with: ActBlue, birthday, Carney, FISA, G7, Hunter Biden, Macron, managed poverty, migration, peace deal, Russia, suicide, Tren de Aragua, Trump 35 Responses »

John Singer Sargent Corfu-Lights and Shadows 1908

• President Trump ‘Utterly’ Defies Age As He Turns 80 (Earle)

• Trump Says Iran Peace Deal To Be Signed Sunday (ZH)

• Hillary Clinton Fears Revolution Preventing US From Being A Rainbow Nation (ZH)

• Trump Announces Strike on Tren de Aragua Leadership with Venezuela (CTH)

• Trump: We Got Another One -And This One Is HUGE (Sarah Anderson)

• Russia Is Single-Handedly Standing Against The West: Putin (ZH)

• Carney in France 3 Days Early for Trump Strategy Session with Macron (CTH)

• Why Have I Spent a Decade Focusing on FISA (CTH)

• Leftist Judge Blocks ActBlue Lawsuit to Protect Democrat Candidates (Margolis)

• “It’s Just Me”: The New Hunter Biden Seems Strikingly Like the Old (Turley)

• 400 Businesses, $6 Billion in Fed Contracts, No Physical Addresses (Salgado)

• A Villainous Blueprint For Managed Poverty (Veronique de Rugy)

• The Suicide Of Europe: Historic EU Migration Pact Goes Into Force Today (RMX)

https://twitter.com/RealAmVoice/status/2065601982237176076?s=20

JOE ROGAN: “As much as people hate Trump, and hate his decisions, and hate what he’s doing, and hate how he talks…”

“My experiences with him personally, have always been fun, unfortunately. Unfortunately for everybody else.”

“If he likes you and you’re on his good side, he’s… pic.twitter.com/UxH98F7kJZ
— Overton (@overton_news) June 12, 2026

Elon just created 4,400 millionaires in a single day.

400 of them are now worth over $100 million.

These aren't VCs. They're SpaceX employees, and the list includes welders, technicians, and cafeteria staff, because for two decades the company paid every level of the workforce… pic.twitter.com/tc2LuK7Gd7
— Shruti (@heyshrutimishra) June 12, 2026

https://twitter.com/playmatejaylene/status/2065419827263774941?s=20

pic.twitter.com/OC6l7harKj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 12, 2026

Ukraine leads DIRECTLY to 9/11.

I hope the world is ready to find out What's TRULY been happening because the same disgusting rats that have been placing Biolabs in Ukraine to weaponize genetically supercharged viruses as exposed in 2018 by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, were ALSO… https://t.co/qmlQfXCqzR pic.twitter.com/xziVr3MnPa
— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) June 12, 2026

I looked up and down for an article that simply congratulates Trump on his 80th.

Not that he wants to be 80.

Very hard to find. This, from the New York Post, was the only thing that came up in a Google search for “Trump”, “birthday”.

I still don’t understand why people dislike the man so much.

‘I don’t know where he gets the energy’.

• President Trump ‘Utterly’ Defies Age As He Turns 80 (Earle)

President Donald Trump on Sunday will become the second octogenarian to occupy the White House – and his admirers told The Post he still has plenty of spring in his step. “At least to date, he has seemed to utterly defy age,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), 55, who ran against Trump for president a decade ago. “I don’t know where he gets the energy that he displays, but he is up early in the morning and late at night,” he added. In a chamber where Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, 92, is the senior-most Republican and third in line to the presidency, Republicans who work closely with Trump insisted age is nothing but a number.

“He calls me at sometimes 2 o’clock in the morning,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). The 74-year-old lawmaker quickly added: “I mean, just because you’re 80 doesn’t mean you’re falling apart. For some people it does — but other people are fine.” “Age is relative,” agreed former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), 82, who served three terms in the Senate – including two years alongside Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who retired from the chamber at 100. “I knew people who were senile at 40, and I knew people in their 70s that were contributing members of the Congress. It depends on the individual, and you have to judge an individual not by the chronological age, but by their ability, and some are great at 80, and some are not so great at 40.”
And he’s not slowing down, said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 82, a longtime Trump advisor who drew some life advice from the president. “President Trump, in the Kissinger tradition, has gained in stamina as he has gotten older. He is so interested in the wide range of things he is achieving that he has no time to get older,” he said. “His life invigorates him and fits what we now know about longevity. If you have a big goal, like what you are doing and have friends you live longer, healthier, and with more energy. All that fits President Trump.”
Trump keeps a vigorous schedule, regularly fielding questions from reporters during marathon press events and posting on Truth Social about war and peace during odd hours. “If there’s one thing I know about President Trump, it’s that nothing slows him down,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), the former White House physician who tended to Trump after Thomas Crooks shot at him in Butler, Pennsylvania and wounded his right ear. The president plans to spend his birthday at a UFC fight organized on the South Lawn of the White House before jetting to France for the annual G7 meeting.
Eldest son Donald Trump, Jr. and his new wife Bettina, son Eric and wife Lara Trump, daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner all were set to join him for the bouts. Democrats are relishing the opportunity, for a change, to poke at the age of the other party’s standard bearer. Former White House spokesman Andrew Bates questioned Trump’s memory regarding inflation, despite Bates’ ex-boss, former President Joe Biden, delivering a 2024 debate performance so bad his wife thought he was having a stroke. “But you have to give it to him that a White House ballroom is the ultimate senior arts and crafts project,” he quipped.
Trump has been fatalistic when speaking after numerous attempts on his life. “I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world,” he said after Cole Thomas Allen allegedly opened fire at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April. “It’s not a number I like, but I’m here nevertheless,” he said in a video posted Thursday by Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. But if he frets about aging, he can turn to White House Physician Dr. Sean Barbabella’s memo after his latest visit to Walter Reed Medical Center. It proclaimed him to be in “excellent health” and estimated his cardiac age as “approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.”

That was the birthday present Trump wanted for himself.

• Trump Says Iran Peace Deal To Be Signed Sunday (ZH)

President Trump said a long-awaited deal to end the war in the Middle East is scheduled to be signed on Sunday, paving the way for the opening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. In a statement issued through Truth Social, President Trump first took a shot at President Obama: “Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now.”

Then explained why his deal is different: “My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement. The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.” Building relationships: “Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had. Unlike Obama’s Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in payments to them, including 1.7 Billion Dollars in green, cold cash, no money will exchange hands. We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future.
About the nuclear dust: “At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States. Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly.If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!
Trump’s statement, however, ran counter to Iran’s foreign ministry which indicated earlier in the day that the deal would not be signed Sunday, according to state media reports. We shall see …
Iran Peace Deal Signing Expected Within 24 Hours, Technical Talks To Follow, Pakistan’s Sharif Says
After Friday witnessed a rare moment of agreement between Tehran and Washington saying that indeed a peace deal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is indeed ‘very close’ – there’s been more color issued by Pakistan. The country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the United States and Iran have agreed to the final text of the agreement, but that curiously Pakistan is now preparing for an electronic signing expected within the next 24 hours. Is this going to be history’s first Docusigned peace agreement?
Sharif further indicated this signing will be followed by technical-level ` talks this upcoming week - but this is definitely where the proverbial devil will be in the details. Contained within the MoU signing will reportedly be an extension of the April 7 ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz would gradually reopen - or we should say that this is at least the very optimistic version of things, given that Tehran still insists that its military is in control of the Strait, which the Pentagon has flatly rejected is a a reality. So Iran is seeking to hold on tightly to its obvious geographic leverage, while the US is rejecting that this is the case at all.
Another interesting possibly point of contention - but which looks to be merely papered over for now - is the status of the nuclear file, which has long been a major point of fierce contention. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made clear Friday Iran’s understanding that terms dealing with the country’s nuclear program would be finalized in the 60 days after the initial agreement is signed. So in essence, this means Iran could get its wish of pushing nuclear negotiations back, only after the hot conflict has clearly ended. Iran has long sought to separate the issues of a final end to the war from consideration of its nuclear program.
Importantly Araghchi indicated the two sides could extend the 60-day period further, and a yet a lot could go wrong in such an extended interim. Still, it remains that Washington - and certainly the American public - doesn’t have the appetite for an escalation that would lead to a boots-on-the-ground scenario complete with full regime change operations (and this means almost inevitable nation-building).
We are closer to a peace deal than ever before. With finalisation likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week.

We would like to thank United States of…
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 13, 2026

Most Americans don’t want to live in a Rainbow Nation.

• Hillary Clinton Fears Revolution Preventing US From Being A Rainbow Nation (ZH)

The word “Democracy” is thrown around frequently within progressive circles as a call to arms; a rallying cry based on a fraudulent narrative of patriotic duty. Throughout the entirety of Joe Biden’s first and last term, the political left painted conservatives as a threat to democracy. Anyone who opposed pandemic mandates, compelled vaccination, open borders, mass immigration, gender ideology in public schools etc., was labeled a danger to society.

The inherent fallacy being that leftists (and by extension Democrats) represent the majority of the nation. However, this notion has been consistently debunked by multiple elections, polls and the fact that the vast majority of liberal movements have been exposed as astroturf funded by NGOs. If Democrats actually cared about democracy, they would listen to the actual American majority, instead of waging a propaganda war on the majority in order to manufacture a false consensus. And, the majority of Americans do not support multicultural or “intersectional” ideology. The liberal vision is on the decline and that’s a good thing.
Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton disagrees. At the first Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference since the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson in February. Pete Buttigieg and Hillary Clinton took to the stage in front of a small audience in Chicago this week to sell their Utopian future, but mostly they slandered the Trump Administration. Their rhetoric continues to echo the message of the Biden era, that conservatives want the end of civil rights and voting rights in the US. Buttigieg asserted that the Trump Administration was “corrupt” and “corruption is bad”.

The former DOT Secretary makes no mention of the fact that he shares a stage with Clinton, widely known as one of the most corrupt politicians in recent American history. While Democrats spend endless media time trying to tie Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, it’s the Clinton Family that is well documented as being truly friendly with the globalist pedo pimp. Around 90% of Epstein’s political contributions went to the Democratic Party including multiple donations to Hillary Clinton. None of his donations went to Trump.
Buttigieg faced extensive backlash for his handling of the pandemic lockdowns, including his avid support for draconian mandates which were ultimately found to be useless in stopping the spread of covid; and all over a virus with a 99.8% average survival rate. He continues to echo the party line, calling for rigging of the Supreme Court to ensure Democrat supremacy.

Pete Buttigieg: We have to deal with a Supreme Court that is now a rogue Supreme Court. It’s time to think big. Nowhere in the constitution does it say there have to be nine justices… We could have 13.
pic.twitter.com/17epK62lyM
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 13, 2026

Buttigieg is expected to run in the 2028 Democrat primaries for President. Though, he lacks any mainstream popularity and, like most Democrats, he continues to campaign as if he’s running against Trump even though Trump is leaving office. Clinton, on the other hand, seems less concerned with Trump and far more concerned with the larger conservative and anti-woke movements which have left Democrats stunned and bewildered. Clinton calls these movements a “counter-revolution” which she believes is undermining the liberal order established over the last several decades. Clinton fearmongers with the usual rhetoric, claiming that civil rights and voting rights are under threat.

Hillary Clinton: "We are in a counterrevolution. It is a revolution to turn the clock back and take away the rights we have worked so hard to achieve. This counterrevolutionary crew in Washington right now doesn't want us to be a Rainbow Nation." pic.twitter.com/5sBnJuhwru
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 12, 2026

She is ostensibly referencing the end of redistricting using race-based gerrymandering, which exclusively worked in the favor of Democrats. But, this was enforced by the Supreme Court, not Trump or the MAGA movement. Clinton is also a vocal opponent of the Save Act, which would make proof of citizenship a requirement for voting in the US (a bill which is supported by around 80% of American voters). Her comments on the “Rainbow Nation” might be confusing for those who don’t understand what this entails. Jackson used “Rainbow” to describe a broad coalition of “marginalized groups” (Black Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, LGBTQ+ people, low wage workers, etc.) uniting for political power and social justice. His organization commonly promotes Marxist “intersectionality” and multiculturalism.
Clinton has made similar anti-populist statements in recent months, arguing that the rise of American conservatism has the potential to break apart the liberal west. At the Munich Security Conference in February, she participated in panels on what they call the “West-West Divide”, warning of democratic backsliding on human rights (including women’s and LGBTQ+ rights), and authoritarian dangers. Clinton called for civil rights and grassroots networks to counter the weakening of liberal institutions. She made the same call for popular opposition in Chicago.
“We have to reconstitute the movements that moved us forward, that made it possible to claim we were trying to get to that more perfect union. They were not led by politically elected officials. They were led by clergy, they were led by business leaders, they were led by civic organizers, they were led by young people. So we don’t need to have a bunch of elected officials leading this new movement. We need to have it be from the bottom up, the grassroots, coming back to get organized and move forward again.” In other words, if they can’t win (or steal) the elections and if they can’t gain the majority approval of the voters, then they will turn to mob actions to disrupt reforms and force the public to accept woke ideology anyway. Democrats only romanticize democracy when it works in their favor. When it doesn’t, they completely abandon it.

Venezuela as the 51st state?

• Trump Announces Strike on Tren de Aragua Leadership with Venezuela (CTH)

President Trump announces a deadly strike on the leadership of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang with support from the interim Venezuela government.

TRUTH SOCIAL – “At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth. Before I returned to office, Joe Biden opened our Southern Border to millions of Illegal Criminals, and allowed this foreign army to rape, maim, and murder American Citizens with total impunity. During my Campaign, I pledged to expel these monsters from our Country, and bring Justice to the families of those they slaughtered, including the precious 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, 22-year-old Laken Reilly, and countless other beautiful souls. With this action, the United States Military has brought retribution for them, their families, and their loved ones.
Early in my Administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the Cartels, who have long been waging war against our Citizens, while weak leaders left America helpless and defensive. This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well. As a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drugs lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
~ President DONALD J. TRUMP
Venezuela’s government released a statement confirmed its participation in the operation and revealed it took place in the southeastern state of Bolivar. “During the operation, clashes occurred with members of criminal groups, resulting in the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias ‘Niño Guerrero,’ the leader of one of these criminal organizations,” according to the statement.

“..Just in case you need a refresher, Nicolás Maduro claimed TdA didn’t exist, but the reality is that he was using the members as his own henchmen..”

• Trump: We Got Another One -And This One Is HUGE (Sarah Anderson)

On Friday night, Donald Trump announced that the United States, along with our “friends in Venezuela,” took out another very, very bad guy. This one is a big one. Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka Niño Guerrero, was the kingpin of c (TdA). He started out as a local thug, with a rap sheet full of homicides, robberies, and other crimes, but he turned a stint in prison into one of the biggest criminal organizations in the world. Here’s what I wrote about him in April 2025:

“But TdA actually dates all the way back to 2014 when a man named Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka Niño Guerrero, was locked up at Tocorón Prison, which is located in the Aragua state of Venezuela. According to the State Department, ‘During his time there, Guerrero expanded the influence of Tren de Aragua from extorting prison inmates and bribing prison guards to assuming the overall control of the Tocorón prison as well as the control of gold mines in Bolivar State, drug corridors on the Caribbean coast, as well as control of some of the clandestine border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia.’
The BBC reported that because of Guerrero’s growing power, the jail essentially turned into a luxury resort and included a zoo, nightclub, and swimming pool. ‘Families of inmates moved into the compound. Inmates had access to a makeshift bank, a betting shop, a restaurant, and a baseball diamond, while their children could marvel at flamingos and ostriches in the animal enclosure.’ Meanwhile, Guerrero came and went as he pleased, reportedly living ‘like a king.’ He had his own floor in the prison, complete with personal bodyguards. He also had no major rivals or opposition, which helped him grow TdA throughout Venezuela. It eventually made its way to the Colombian border. By 2018, it was spreading through other South American countries, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Leaders in these countries reportedly put pressure on Venezuela to shut it down. In 2023, the country’s government reportedly sent 11,000 soldiers and police into the prison to take control and after the fact, they claimed it went off without a hitch. However, Guerrero, who is currently 41 years old, wasn’t there — though it took Venezuela some time to make this information public — and a manhunt began across numerous South American countries. As of last summer, the State Department, in conjunction with Colombian National Police, have offered up to a $5 million reward for information leading to Guerrero’s arrest, as well as an additional $7 million for the arrest of two other TdA leaders.”
Just in case you need a refresher, Nicolás Maduro claimed TdA didn’t exist, but the reality is that he was using the members as his own henchmen, sending them to the United States and other countries to wreak havoc and even reportedly having them kill some of his enemies. Joe Biden’s open-border policies played right into the Maduro regime’s hands, while Trump and Marco Rubio designated TdA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization almost immediately when Trump began his second term.
The fact that our “friends in Venezuela” played a role in this (and let’s face it, they — and by “they” I mean “acting president” Delcy Rodríguez — really didn’t have a choice but to play ball) is an incredible turn of events from what was going on in that country just five or six months ago. Anyway, I won’t rehash the whole TdA story, but you can read more about it here: The Truth Behind Tren de Aragua. So what happened exactly? Here’s what Trump posted on Truth Social:
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth. Before I returned to office, Joe Biden opened our Southern Border to millions of Illegal Criminals, and allowed this foreign army to rape, maim, and murder American Citizens with total impunity. During my Campaign, I pledged to expel these monsters from our Country, and bring Justice to the families of those they slaughtered, including the precious 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, 22-year-old Laken Reilly, and countless other beautiful souls.
With this action, the United States Military has brought retribution for them, their families, and their loved ones. Early in my Administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the Cartels, who have long been waging war against our Citizens, while weak leaders left America helpless and defensive. This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well. As a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drugs lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong. GOD BLESS AMERICA! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also confirmed the news that Guerrero was killed: As did SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan:

“We extend our gratitude to the Venezuelan security forces for their support to the successful joint operation against a Tren de Aragua compound that resulted in the death of the narco-terrorist organization’s leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero.”… https://t.co/GT4z4FMyYq
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) June 13, 2026

Guerrero was reportedly hiding out in Bolívar state, specifically the mining area around Las Claritas at a TdA compound. I can’t express what a big blow this was to TdA, and to organized crime and drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere in general. I’m sure the lefties in the U.S. will be besides themselves over it, but if my social media and communication with my Venezuelan contacts are any indication, most of the sane people in Venezuela, in Latin America, and in the United States are celebrating this almost as much as they did the capture of Maduro in January. They just want to know if Diosdado Cabello is next. Let’s hope.
https://twitter.com/iamGermania/status/2025941192869810310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2025941192869810310%7Ctwgr%5E59850d30c63a003e8fb18de821213ac223484379%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fsarah-anderson%2F2026%2F06%2F13%2Ftrump-we-got-another-one-n4953924

Should he have seen this coming? Be more suspicious? He suggested making Russia part of the west.

• Russia Is Single-Handedly Standing Against The West: Putin (ZH)

“It was they who carried out the coup d’etat in Ukraine, which forced us to take the people of Crimea under protection. When they started the war, they started bombing Donetsk using warplanes” – Putin in a fresh address to Russian service members came out swinging, giving a familiar lesson in recent history. And quite provocatively, he emphasized that Russia is now practically fighting against the entirety of the collective West in the Ukraine conflict in the Friday remarks. “Russia is standing against the so-called Collective West single-handedly,” Putin said, state media cited, and he noted that the ‘special military operation’ he ordered to stave off NATO encroachment is revealing itself to be “exceedingly high-tech.”

“The NATO nations are all, without exception, ramping up efforts to do all they can to orchestrate actions against Russia,” he added, sate media continued. He stressed that Moscow did not initiate the Ukraine conflict, but that the Western allies and their hegemonic expansion and meddling did. He perhaps for the first time acknowledged some pain inflicted on Russia due to Ukraine’s long-range drone waves, which for months have been inflicting serious damage primarily on oil and energy sites: Now, Western nations have set out to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” but “this is not something that can be done,” Putin said.
“The enemy is expanding the use of [kamikaze] drones… trying to strike at our morale, trying to break up Russian society… and cause economic damage,” he noted, stressing that “they will not succeed.” These drones have grown more long-range in their targeting and increasingly effective, as Russia’s anti-air defense – which are set up primarily to intercept higher flying and faster inbound missiles or jets – seem powerless.
Or rather, if Ukraine sends 100 drones on Russia on any given night, at least dozens are bound to make it through, the recent pattern has shown. But Putin also seems to be strongly suggesting that Western intelligence is assisting Ukraine’s drone mayhem on the Russian populace. Earlier this month, the Putin-hosted St. Petersburg Economic Forum came under significant drone attack from Ukraine. Videos revealed that international dignitaries entered the venue against the backdrop of thick black smoke from drone hits on oil and other facilities.

“.. strategize with President Emmanuel Macron the best way to defeat Godzilla Trump. ”

• Carney in France 3 Days Early for Trump Strategy Session with Macron (CTH)

The media frame the early arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as part of a bilateral discussion ahead of the G7 which begins on June 15. However, those who have followed the nuance of geopolitics well understand Mark Carney is in Paris early so that he can strategize with President Emmanuel Macron the best way to defeat Godzilla Trump. There is a certain irony that amid the G7 only one economy is growing, the USA. EU leaders including U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron himself are all barely hanging on to power with almost no public support.

Historically, Macron always tries to reposition his domestic lack of support by focusing on international affairs. Macron and Carney have one nemesis in common, President Donald Trump. Emmanuel Macron is famous for scheming subtle ways to overcome his own inadequacy, and hosting the G7 puts him in the spotlight. Mark Carney is coming back to Europe after previously giving a speech in Davos calling for a collective alignment of middle-economy nations to stand united against the terrible Trump. There is little doubt the pontificating duo has any other topic other than Trump in their scheme and planning folder.
Factually the G7 is a joke now, with likely around 15 to 20 countries showing up. The G7 used to be the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. Then they added the EU, which brings three more Brussels figureheads, and if the last G7 in Canada is any indication of the intention, there will likely be at least a dozen more showing up. This G7 is deemed critical due to the issues of Iran and Ukraine, in combination with President Trump’s international reset that has diminished the economic status of Europe significantly. Trump doesn’t chase the climate change agenda, and that is another policy disconnect from the rest of the group.
Macron wants to avoid the G6+1 narrative that has come to define the assembly in the era of Trump because France needs to be seen as a coequal within the group. However, in reality in addition to the USA the only other country that matters in this new geopolitical framework is Japan; all other nations are a mess of globalist chaos, domestic political trouble and economy shrinking energy problems. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron need to position themselves as the leaders of the anti-Trump movement. Thus, they get together three days in advance to figure out the best way to diminish Trump’s appearance. That’s really what this early bilateral nonsense is about.

A key that fits in many doors?

• Why Have I Spent a Decade Focusing on FISA (CTH)

My dearest friends, I have not spent a decade focusing on FISA or the ‘702’ issues because defeating the pending surveillance state has been the priority; that is an ancillary matter against powerful financial interests. No, the core of my focus has always been on what FISA (702) represents. FISA (702) et al, is a tool, a key per se’. A key that unlocks a data library. We debate control of the key, but do not spend enough time focusing on the data library itself and what it represents. I’m not even sure if President Donald Trump is fully aware of this or not, but I am generally confident that DC insiders understand the potential.

The NSA database is essentially a library of information about activity. It is a storage box of metadata and within that data there is a sub-set, a flow of information related to election activity.Behind that part of the issue, with that thought in mind, you now have an expanded perspective of why the ODNI would be involved in election type investigative activity. The DNI is above the NSA Director. The ODNI is an access point to the data library. Tulsi Gabbard as DNI has a vested interest in all the data housed within that vault. Congress stood jaw agape at the appearance of DNI Gabbard in Fulton County, Georgia, without actually recognizing what stakeholder interests are represented by the content in Fulton County election warehouses.
Essentially, the NSA data vault shows XXX activity, and the factual paperwork supporting XXX exists in physical warehouses. The data is within a digital library. The factual paperwork is on the ground. Now, pause for a moment and understand the digital library is one aspect. Access to that digital library is an entirely different kettle o’ fish. The lockbox to open the digital record is accessed using the recently discussed 702 pathways. As presented for several years, the FISA (702) key is simply a tool. The tool is needed to unlock the data. Arguably, if you cannot access the data there is no reason to capture it. As a result, without FISA (702) there is no collection, because there is no need for metadata collection. Understood?
As a consequence, FISA (702) is not about foreign stuff as it relates to the common discussion; instead, it is the baseline of the entire data capture. Understanding this takes you to a mental reset. The capture is never discussed (see Edward Snowden -vs- James Clapper), we only see debate on the access. So, if you take your thinking back to the data collection itself, then you ask what is in that massive digital vault we call the NSA library. There’s a lot of stuff in there, including all of the electronic data that surrounds elections. All of that data can be filtered permitting a granular look at election outcomes and all the background electronic communication that comes attached to it. [Hence, the DNI stakeholder interest in Fulton, County.]
FISA (702) essentially represents the authority, the key that unlocks the ability to review the data. Think very carefully. If the database contains the digital records of elections, and if those digital records show manipulation of election data, then anyone accessing that massive library would represent a risk. How many people in DC are in elected office as a result of election manipulation? Now, does the recent display of extreme concern from specific people in congress start to take on a new context?

“There’s just one problem with that claim. Paxton’s investigation into ActBlue started in Dec. 2023. Talarico didn’t enter the Senate race until Sept. 2025…”

• Leftist Judge Blocks ActBlue Lawsuit to Protect Democrat Candidates (Margolis)

A federal judge handed ActBlue a get-out-of-jail-free card on Thursday, blocking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from pursuing a lawsuit against the Democrat fundraising platform. District Judge Richard Stearns decided the lawsuit was political. Specifically, Stearns concluded Paxton filed it to retaliate against ActBlue for raising money for his U.S. Senate opponent, James Talarico. Stearns wrote in his decision, “The lawsuit in Texas is undoubtedly an adverse action. And having previously found bad faith, the court agrees with ActBlue that the evidence in the record compels the conclusion that, far from protecting Texas consumers, the action was filed in retaliation for ActBlue’s fundraising on behalf of Talarico, Paxton’s current political rival for the Senate seat.”

There’s just one problem with that claim. Paxton’s investigation into ActBlue started in Dec. 2023. Talarico didn’t enter the Senate race until Sept. 2025. That’s nearly two years before the “political rival” Stearns claims Paxton was targeting even announced a candidacy. And the judge knows this, because his own ruling says so. The factual background section of that same ruling tells a different story. Stearns wrote:
ActBlue is a prominent fundraising platform for Democratic candidates for public office, amassing as much as $19 billion in donations, mostly from small contributors, since its founding in 2004. In December of 2023, Paxton began investigating ActBlue with the stated purpose of determining “whether ActBlue’s operations are compliant with all applicable laws.” The next month, he served ActBlue with a Request to Examine (RTE) to be conducted at ActBlue’s headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. Think about that for a second. Stearns literally acknowledged in his own ruling that the investigation began in late 2023, well before Talarico was a candidate. But he still “concluded” it was retaliatory? What a joke.
Here’s the real problem. The lawsuit itself has real substance. Paxton alleges ActBlue violated Texas law by misleading consumers about its fundraising practices. The platform told Congress in 2024 that it had stopped accepting donations via gift cards and foreign prepaid debit cards, only to quietly resume accepting gift card donations afterward. That’s a serious allegation, with nothing to do with Talarico. None. Nada. Zilch. It’s about whether ActBlue lied to Congress and, in the process, broke state consumer protection laws.
Paxton had already been pushing on this at the federal level. In 2024 (again, before Talarico was even a candidate), he filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Election Commission, to close the fundraising loopholes ActBlue exploits. This was a sustained, multi-front legal effort that predated Talarico’s Senate announcement by nearly two years. Reuters left all of that context out of its report on the injunction. Convenient. Paxton will obviously appeal the ruling. “Texas has every right to enforce its own laws to protect our citizens, and we will continue to fight to hold ActBlue accountable,” he said on X.
Good. Because what Stearns did here goes well beyond bad legal reasoning. ActBlue has funneled billions into Democrat campaigns, and now gets judicial protection the moment a state attorney general tries to examine whether its practices are even legal. The platform told Congress one thing, did another, and a federal judge decided the Republican who noticed was the real problem. Stearns isn’t applying the law. He’s running interference for a fundraising machine the entire Democrat Party depends on to stay competitive. If ActBlue’s practices hold up under scrutiny, it has nothing to fear from Paxton’s lawsuit. A judge swooping in to kill that scrutiny tells you exactly what this ruling is actually about: helping Democrats.

He needs money.

• “It’s Just Me”: The New Hunter Biden Seems Strikingly Like the Old (Turley)

Hunter Biden is once again reinventing himself with the help of an ever-enabling media and the Democratic establishment. The media is full of reports that people are rediscovering Hunter and finding him strikingly honest and refreshing. In his pitch, he assures viewers that now “it’s just me” and not some team of advisers. The problem is that, for some of us who have been critics of the Bidens for decades, there is nothing new about the new Hunter other than a podcast audience.

For the record, I have been a critic of the Biden family for decades as one of the most corrupt political families in U.S. history. Joe Biden and his family have been influence peddlers and self-dealers since his time in the Senate — enriching themselves with positions and shady dealings. Hunter Biden was the ultimate personification of that corruption — both financial and moral. He spent his life attacking those who tried to investigate his dealings, including filing ruinous lawsuits against individuals who would not yield.
At the same time, he spent lavishly with money that he acquired by leveraging the access and influence of his father. Some of this conduct continued during periods of sobriety as well as addiction. That includes his disgraceful record with regard to his daughter Navy Joan, whom he fought not to recognize or support. Hunter has repeatedly sought to reinvent himself with the help of an army of advisers. His current pitch is that everything that he did for literally decades was because he was an addict and that he is now proud and unafraid. The problem is that the facts do not fit the pitch. Hunter was cashing in on the family business from the moment that he emerged from law school. He was entitled and eager to use his father to enrich himself.
For a party that often seems on a recurring loop of mantras condemning white privilege and entitlements, Hunter Biden would seem the last person that the left would embrace. However, the use of his identity as a recovering addict is drawing crowds and accolades. He presents himself as a virtual sage as a result of the struggle. I have previously expressed sympathy for Hunter’s recovery and credited him for writing about it. However, his honesty about addiction is notably missing in his account of his influence peddling and corruption. He prefers to focus on how he spent the money and not how he got it.
We’re missing accounts of his strong-arming of foreign figures, such as BHR Partners CEO Jonathan Li. In the summer of 2019, Li wired $250,000 to Hunter Biden from Beijing, with Joe Biden’s Delaware home listed as the beneficiary address. There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.” There are messages like the one to a Chinese businessman , openly threatening Joe Biden’s displeasure if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:
“I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.” Hunter puts all of these dealings and his attacks on critics into a deep memory hole while thrilling liberal audiences as the liberated voice of reason.
Hunter continues to twist history to fit his needs. In an interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Biden explained how his infamous pardon was simply proof of “how much you know my dad loves me.” He said that his father “chose me over his legacy.” That last point may be the only unassailable point from his interviews. However, Hunter notably stuck to the same carefully crafted narrative put out by his family in interviews on the pardon — insisting that it was made necessary by Trump’s election to protect him from retaliation.
Hunter told Newsom: “My dad said that he wouldn’t give me a pardon and he was absolutely 100% genuine about it…he said it at a moment in time where he thought that he was going to be the next president of the United States and there would be a Justice Department that would treat me fairly…It would have been like having a gun to my family’s head for the next four years at least, so that’s why he pardoned me. It’s a really incredibly rational decision and a really difficult decision.”

The fraud in the US is staggering.

• 400 Businesses, $6 Billion in Fed Contracts, No Physical Addresses (Salgado)

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson exposed yet more horrifying details of the mass taxpayer funding fraud network in the U.S.

Ferguson said on Fox News that there are many tools and laws at hand for the federal government to use in identifying, investigating, and eliminating fraud, but the previous administration wasn’t interested in using them. In fact, the Biden-Harris administration deliberately removed fraud guardrails. Now, the FTC, the General Services Administration (GSA), and other federal entities have found that “400 businesses, with contracts worth $6 billion, originally allocated by the Biden administration, didn’t even file physical addresses at their businesses. That’s a statutory requirement.”
Ferguson emphasized, “You’re not supposed to be able to get any money from the United States government unless you put down a physical mailing address, and they just didn’t do it. And so [we], with the GSA, in conjunction with the [White House] task force, issued letters to these businesses, it says you have 30 days or we’re cutting you off. There’s still $3 billion unpaid on these contracts as of today.” That would be a fair amount of money we would save. “And that’s just a drop in the bucket over at the Justice Department,” Ferguson added.
The DOJ has “gotten indictments and convictions just in the last week worth almost half a billion dollars. We started turning off Medicaid and Medicare dollars to providers that [it has] become clear are fraudulently charging the government with our partners at HHS.”
For too many years, Ferguson declared, “dishonest citizens, and tons and tons of foreigners and foreign governments, have been putting their hands into the pockets of ordinary and honest Americans and taking that money from them, and President Trump is the first president to take this problem seriously, and that’s why the task force is being successful.”
Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany asked Ferguson if a single Democrat governor had shown any initiative in helping to identify fraud. Ferguson answered, “No, in fact, all I’ve heard from Democrat governors until early this week was, ‘The fraud isn’t a problem. This is all a hoax. This is all a distraction.’ Now, of course, it’s clear that they understand the political pain that the empire of fraud, that [Gov.] Gavin Newsom has constructed in California, is gonna cause California Democrats, because this week, he had the attorney general of California and the governor touting all the work they’re doing on fraud, total bull crap.”
In reality, Ferguson stated, “They have been sitting on top of tens of billions of dollars in known fraud for decades, and doing nothing about it, and not just doing nothing about it, they have been facilitating it. Let me give you an example of this. The government sends tens of millions of dollars to the states every year to fund their Medicaid and Medicare fraud fighting units. Hawaii, just since 2021, has gotten millions and millions of dollars from the federal government to fight Medicaid fraud. Do you know how many convictions they’ve gotten since 2020? Zero.”
That’s why the federal government temporarily decertified Hawaii for Medicaid funding. We need to make these fraud-loving Dems feel the financial pain.

Piketty.

• A Villainous Blueprint For Managed Poverty (Veronique de Rugy)

Writer and philosopher Ayn Rand was often accused of inventing cartoonish villains.Rogues like Ellsworth Toohey in “The Fountainhead” would scheme to seize the global economy’s commanding heights in pursuit of a distorted sense of justice.But the people who hold such ideas don’t just appear in cartoons or in Rand’s novels. Enter Thomas Piketty and company. In early June, Piketty – the French economist whose work on inequality has made him something of a rock star even while being serially challenged for methodological errors, data imputations and cherry-picked baselines – and his large team unveiled what can only be described as a villainous plan.

It’s a comprehensive program for global managed decline dressed up in the language of climate justice and equality. The plan is far too ambitious for most nations to accept. But given the influence of Piketty and his circle of economists on U.S. wealth taxes and prominent global policy proposals, we should take its underlying ideas seriously. Piketty’s plan would cap GDP per capita in wealthy countries at roughly $69,000, far less than America’s current $94,430.The plan would also limit annual global economic growth to between 0 percent and 0.5 percent. Monsieur Piketty would allot only 0.115 percent annual growth to the U.S, whose GDP has expanded by more than 3 percent on average since 1930. This would hurt not just the billionaires but every American.
The plan would mandate an international three-day work week and reduce construction activity by 70 percent, manufacturing by 87 percent and even leisure-sector activity by 58 percent. There would be massive and punishing trade actions against noncompliant countries. It envisions a “Global Justice Fund” financed not by taxing carbon but by global wealth and income taxes. This fund would be 20 times the size of current development aid and would be administered by a new international bureaucracy answerable to heaven knows who.
Don’t be fooled by Piketty’s training as an economist. This is not economic thinking. Consider the utter inconsistency of relying on a vast stock of wealth (mostly from the U.S.) for redistribution while suffocating long-term growth to near zero. Much of the value of the assets needed to finance this scheme would be destroyed. It is also disqualifying to claim that sub-Saharan Africa will grow at 4 percent if we crush the economies that provide the capital for its investments and buy its exports. Let’s ask the uncomfortable question: What would it require to enforce Piketty’s plan? About this matter, he is conveniently vague.
Confiscating something on the order of 10 percent of world GDP and redirecting it through a newly created supranational body does not happen by asking nicely. You cannot restructure the global economy at that scale without a coercive apparatus that dwarfs anything in human history. The mechanism must be authoritarian. It would require a world government with the power to tell billions of people which jobs they may and may not hold, what they may build, what they may eat and how many hours they are permitted to work. And to what end?
“Climate change” is an insufficient answer when Piketty’s entire edifice is built on a discredited foundation. The report relies on a baseline from the “RCP8.5” climate scenario that projects Earth warming by as much as 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100. But last month, the UN’s own climate panel officially retired RCP8.5 (always a high-end estimate) as “implausible.” A more central projection is around 2.7 degrees Celsius. Replies to Piketty’s X feed pointed this out immediately. His response, as far as anyone can tell, has been silence.
That leaves the inequality argument. Worldwide income inequality is nearing a 150-year low, but Piketty insists that radical redistribution of wealth is essential for the Global South. And where have billionaires and wealth been popping up fastest in recent decades? Embarrassingly, data from Piketty’s World Inequality Database confirms that it’s in South and Southeast Asia and East Asia. These are the exact Global South regions that have spent recent decades rescuing hundreds of millions of people from poverty through market-directed economic growth.
A core confusion of the degrowth ideology is its conflation of inequality and poverty, in fact two very different things. Reducing inequality by making everyone poorer is not a victory for the poor. The billions of people still lagging in the global income distribution have one realistic path out: growth. Dynamic, market-driven, property-rights-protected growth is the only proven path to prosperity. It’s also the path to environmental improvement, which costs money.
Degrowth is the ultimate luxury belief. It’s dreamed up by tenured professors in Paris and progressive think-tank pundits in Brussels. These are people who already have high incomes, comfortable apartments, generous health care and pensions and whose ideas would pull up the ladder on billions of poor people. Rand’s villains always insisted they were acting for the greater good. They always had elaborate plans. They always needed just a little more power to make it work. And they thought little about the terrible burdens their plans would impose on ordinary people.

They have condemned their children to bitter fights.,

• The Suicide Of Europe: Historic EU Migration Pact Goes Into Force Today (RMX)

Six years ago, in 2020, French political leader Marine Le Pen described the Migrant Pact, which was then in the planning stages, as the “suicide of Europe.” She said it would bring 60 to 70 million new migrants to Europe, as Remix News reported at the time. Europe is about to find out just how prophetic its critics have been. On June 12, the highly contested EU Migration Pact officially came into force, instantly triggering a sharp political divide across the continent. Brussels is already signaling a hardline approach toward resistance; the bloc’s own EU Migration Commissioner recently admitted that the Union is preparing a “crackdown” on member states that refuse to comply with the new relocation directives.

At the heart of the controversy is the pact’s mandatory migrant quotas, framed by Brussels as “burden-sharing.” In practice, critics argue this distribution system allows nations like Germany and France a convenient mechanism to offload asylum seekers onto Central and Eastern European nations – such as Poland and Hungary – which have historically maintained strict anti-refugee stances.Europe’s anti-immigration politicians are already responding to what they say is a law that will bring disaster to Europe. Le Pen, six years later, is calling for a “constitutional referendum on immigration.”
“Tomorrow, the Migration Pact will enter into force. It will require the States of the European Union to welcome migrants, under penalty of fines. When we come to power, we will propose to the French a constitutional referendum on immigration, the only means to regain control of our migration policy,” she wrote on X. The financial penalties for defiance are severe. Non-compliant governments face fines as high as €21,000 per migrant, potentially costing dissenting nations hundreds of millions of euros. Furthermore, the pact allows for these financial penalties to be adjusted upward in the coming years, which could quickly escalate the cost of non-compliance into billions of euros.
Meanwhile, other establishment European politicians are celebrating the move. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz tried to frame the migration pact as a positive for controlling immigration. “The migration turnaround has been initiated—nationally and at the European level. As of today, the Common European Asylum System applies: better control and order, faster procedures, and a fair distribution of responsibility. The reform must be implemented effectively. This is how our country will benefit,” wrote Merz. Of course, the EU is also trying to sell the pact on social media as well.
The end goal of the EU Migration Pact
Linguistically, the EU’s emphasis on sharing a migration “burden” represents a stark rhetorical departure from the peak of the 2016 refugee crisis. A decade ago, newcomers were widely championed by Brussels as Europe’s future workforce—the doctors, lawyers, and engineers destined to salvage the continent’s aging pension systems. Today, that idealistic language has been replaced by the utilitarian vocabulary of managing a “burden.” Strategically, the pact acts as a political pressure valve. By reducing the immediate concentration of migrants in Western Europe, Brussels hopes to blunt the rapid electoral rise of populist right-wing parties.
Simultaneously, the framework seeks to introduce demographic diversity into Eastern European nations, which EU leadership has long criticized as being overly homogenous and politically conservative. Over the long term, the naturalization and family reunification of these migrants could fundamentally alter the electoral dynamics in these traditionally conservative regions in favor or left-wing and pro-migration parties. However, Central and Eastern European populations remain overwhelmingly opposed to forced relocation. Decades of polling show a deep societal preference for maintaining current demographic structures, setting the stage for protracted constitutional and political gridlock between national capitals and Brussels.
Hungary under new leadership
The EU’s political chess board has also shifted significantly with Hungary’s recent transition of power. Former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, long the most fierce opponent of Brussels’ migration quotas, has been succeeded by Prime Minister Péter Magyar. A report in Euractiv’s newsletter questions “whether some national governments are ready” for the EU Migration Pact, which has “raised questions over whether Brussels will need to crack down on non-compliant capitals.” In an interview, Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said they are ready to use “sticks” to make countries like Hungary fall into line.
“There are sticks and carrots in the pact. So, you get funding, you get money, only if you apply the pact,” he said. In fact, Euractiv is quite open that Magyar may be more than willing to sell out the public on the issue of migrant quotas. “Péter Magyar, Hungary’s prime minister, once firmly opposed to the EU migration pact, is now keeping his options open. Pressed by the opposition Fidesz to rule out implementation, he sidestepped the question, saying only that ‘there will be no illegal migrants in Hungary’ under a Tisza government,” wrote Euractiv.
This carefully worded distinction leaves the door wide open for the arrival of migrants who are processed “legally” under the parameters of the new EU framework. Unsurprisingly, Commissioner Brunner has lauded the new Hungarian administration’s shift, calling the government “very constructive” and adding, “Our job is to explain the advantages for Hungary and make them visible on a political level.” Certainly, Brunner was smart enough to not frame the new migration pact as the “suicide of Europe” while trying threaten the new Hungarian government. He can be given that much credit.

Elon responded to Warren calling him a “freeloader" in 2021:

“I'm actually paying the most tax that any individual in history has ever paid this year. Ever."

"And she doesn't pay taxes basically at all. Her salary is paid for by the taxpayer, like me. If you could die by irony,… https://t.co/FOY6sZi7Bm pic.twitter.com/OnycwBJblo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 12, 2026

Congratulations @ElonMusk.

Thanks to SpaceX's IPO, he's the first Trillionaire.

He didn't TAKE money from anyone. He CREATED wealth.

He launched satellites that connect even the poorest, most remote parts of the world.

Our world needs more MAKERS like Musk; fewer TAKERS like: pic.twitter.com/wXlTBXPWUV
— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) June 12, 2026

https://twitter.com/GreereMedeea/status/2065467174605513183?s=20

The Turin shroud, brought to life by AI pic.twitter.com/2yPz1xK8zG
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 12, 2026

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

Debt Rattle June 17 2025

Jun 172025

June 17, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: aerial tankers, G7, G8, Iron Dome, islam, jamming, Kulldorff, provocations, Tehran 76 Responses »

Rembrandt van Rijn Small self portrait 1627-28

• Trump Warns ‘Everyone’ To Flee Tehran (RT)

• How Iran Turned Israel’s Iron Dome Against Itself Using Clever Jamming (Sp.)

• US Aerial Tankers Headed To Middle East – Media (RT)

• Russia Should Be In G8 – Trump (RT)

• The Crux of the Problem is NATO on Russia’s Borders (Paul Craig Roberts)

• Kiev and London Plotting ‘Bloody Provocations’ – Russian Spy Agency (RT)

• US Postpones Talks With Russia – Moscow (RT)

• Russia Has Fulfilled Istanbul Promises – Medinsky (RT)

• Russian Diplomats Facing ‘Nerve-wracking’ Situation In Israel – Envoy (RT)

• Zelenskyy and Sheinbaum Travel to G7 Canada to Influence and Intercept (CTH)

• Martin Kulldorff Named To CDC Vaccine Panel (ZH)

• King-Less? (James Howard Kunstler)

• Islam Growing Three Times As Fast As Christianity – Study (RT)

• Happy Birthday Donald, Happy US Army and Flag Day (Helmer)

• 10 YEARS AGO: Donald Trump Announces Presidential Candidacy (DS)

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1934236554765176878

Mossad
https://twitter.com/tpvsean/status/1934340625479934430

what a time to be alive. pic.twitter.com/VLF1QlQK9v

— el gato malo (@boriquagato) June 15, 2025

One day. the news is focused on one topic: Iran/Israel. The next, it’s all over again.

We wait: will Persia act next?

Note: Metro Tehran has 17 million people. It’s like evacuating New York City. No can do.

• Trump Warns ‘Everyone’ To Flee Tehran (RT)

US President Donald Trump has issued a cryptic warning on Truth Social, urging “everyone” to leave Tehran as soon as possible, without confirming whether Washington will intervene in the ongoing tit-for-tat hostilities between Israel and Iran. The two states have been exchanging strikes since West Jerusalem bombed Iranian nuclear and military facilities last Friday, describing the move as a preemptive effort to halt the Islamic Republic’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran, which denies these claims, said the airstrikes amounted to a declaration of war and has retaliated with multiple volleys of ballistic missiles. “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. Such a shame and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again!” Trump wrote on Monday evening, as the conflict entered its fifth day.

“Everyone needs to evacuate Tehran immediately!” the US leader added, without elaborating on where the city’s roughly 10 million residents should go. Trump earlier insisted that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran” but warned Tehran of retaliation “at levels never seen before” if it targets American assets in the region. He declined to clarify what might trigger US military involvement, telling reporters on Monday: “I don’t want to talk about that.” Earlier in the day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the deployment of additional “defensive capabilities” to the Middle East, without disclosing which military assets were sent over the weekend. “Protecting US forces is our top priority, and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth posted on X.

According to Military Watch Magazine, the US has reportedly sent more than 30 aerial refueling tankers across the Atlantic toward the Middle East. The outlet described the buildup as “unprecedented,” suggesting it could signal broader US involvement in the Israeli-Iranian conflict. bIsrael has reportedly asked the US to participate directly in strikes on Iran. The IDF lacks the bunker-buster bombs required to destroy the Islamic Republic’s heavily fortified underground nuclear sites, but Washington could supply them, Axios reported Saturday, citing West Jerusalem officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out an attempt to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, telling ABC News on Monday: “It’s going to end the conflict.” Tehran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear program is peaceful and has accused Israel of undermining diplomatic efforts with the US. “Iran did NOT begin this war and has no interest in perpetuating bloodshed. But we will proudly fight to the last drop of blood to protect our land,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X on Monday. He warned that “getting the US mired in the Mother of Forever Wars” would destroy any chance of a diplomatic solution.

The reports are very one-sided on US/Israel power. But Iran is not some backwater anymore.

• How Iran Turned Israel’s Iron Dome Against Itself Using Clever Jamming (Sp.)

New evidence suggests that Iran successfully compromised Israel’s vaunted air defense systems during recent attacks — forcing Tel Aviv to fire on its own positions. How? Iran overwhelmed Israeli defenses by breaching the data transmission and correction system early in flight, explains military expert and historian of the Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov. “Based on the footage that was released, it seems that the Iranians were able to breach the data transmission and correction signal system at the early stage when the missiles were flying, using an inertial guidance system. As a result, the system misdirected the missiles, not toward their intended target, but toward Israel’s own surface-to-air missile batteries, leading to a strike on them.”

The attack included:
100+ Shahed drones (swarming tactics)
Decoy ballistic missiles (old models to waste interceptors)
Fattah hypersonic missiles (unstoppable by Israeli Arrow/PAC-3)
As a result, the Iron Dome’s interception rate dropped drastically to just 10-15%.

“The use of jamming against surface-to-air missiles and missile defense systems is actually a fairly old tactic. During the Vietnam War, the Americans used jamming to mislead missiles by range, angle, and many other active interference methods. Special transmitters were deployed to create the illusion of aircraft presence on the radar screens of Vietnamese missile guidance stations,” Knutov says. “During the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1970 and 1973, similar jamming techniques were used by both Israeli and Egyptian pilots, as well as Soviet pilots who assisted the Egyptians,” he adds.

Iran’s hypersonic Fattah missiles and Haj Qassems guided ballistics hit critical Israeli targets, including the Defense Ministry HQ and a major airbase housing F-35 and F-16 fighters. Despite Israel’s marketing of its advanced defense systems, the Arrow and Patriot systems failed to stop them. Iran also deployed decoys so effectively that Israeli strikes repeatedly hit fake targets. The Iron Dome, which covers only 144 sq km and is good for single rockets, but seemingly couldn’t handle mass attacks or the hypersonic gap — Fattah missiles reach Israel in 7 minutes, while the Iron Dome needs 11 minutes to reload. Iran has learned from past Israeli strikes and improved tactics, establishing backup command centers and more efficient maneuvering to increase its chances of success.

US bombers? Stay home.

• US Aerial Tankers Headed To Middle East – Media (RT)

The US has reportedly deployed more than 30 aerial refueling tankers across the Atlantic toward the Middle East, Military Watch Magazine reported on Monday. The outlet has described the buildup as “unprecedented,” claiming it could suggest broader US involvement in the ongoing Israeli-Iranian war. West Jerusalem and Tehran have entered the fourth day of open hostilities. Last Thursday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets, killing senior military officials and scientists and prompting retaliatory missile barrages on Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa. The US has expressed support for the Israeli strikes, with President Donald Trump calling them “excellent.”

He has also warned that Washington could become directly involved in the conflict if American interests are threatened but has yet to announce any plans to involve US forces. However, according to flight tracking data, the US has already started deploying KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling tankers to the Middle East. Military Watch Magazine has suggested that the aircraft may be intended to support Israeli Air Force operations or refuel US fighters and bombers if Washington expands its role in the conflict. The report also claims that tankers from other Western countries have participated in Israeli aerial refueling efforts, while the US is believed to have provided intelligence, satellite targeting data, and missile defense support. On Sunday, Axios reported that Israeli officials had asked the US to directly take part in the military operation, specifically requesting assistance in striking Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility.

However, US officials cited by the outlet said the request was declined, with one stating that the Trump administration is not considering any such involvement. Nevertheless, Tehran has claimed that Washington’s support for West Jerusalem has made the US complicit in Israel’s aggression against Iran. Sources within the Iranian military have also reportedly indicated that Tehran’s response to Israeli strikes would “spread to all areas occupied by this [Israeli] regime and related US bases in the region in the coming days. In response, Trump has warned that any Iranian attack on US forces would trigger a military response, writing on his Truth Social platform that “if we are attacked in any way, shape, or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.” He also insisted that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran” and called on Tehran to return to negotiations.

“..Obama and a person named [..] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.”

• Russia Should Be In G8 – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has called Russia’s removal from the group of major Western economies (G8) a mistake, arguing that the country’s presence could have helped prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Russia joined the group originally known as the G7 in 1997. It includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and also the EU as a “non-enumerated member.” Moscow’s membership was suspended in 2014 following Crimea’s reunification with Russia, upon which the G8 reverted to the G7. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia via a referendum in the aftermath of a Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. Trump made the remarks on Monday at the opening of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Canada, recalling that Russia had been part of the group before.

“The G7 used to be the G8,” he said at his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “[Former US President] Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.” “And I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago,” he argued. Trump repeatedly criticized Russia’s exclusion and floated the idea of bringing Moscow back during his first term, though the proposal was rejected by other members. In February, Trump once again said he would “love” to see Russia back in the group.

The Kremlin responded by saying the G7 has “lost its relevance” as it no longer reflects current global economic dynamics. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to the G20 as a more representative format, noting it includes fast-growing economies like China, India, and Brazil. “The G20 better reflects the economic locomotives of the world,” he said. Trump, who has been calling for a settlement to the Ukraine conflict, said at the G7 summit: “You spend so much time talking about Russia, and [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] no longer at the table,” which he said “makes life more complicated.”

“..How did three countries that are not hostile toward the West get turned into enemies whose subjugation is worth the risk of nuclear war?”

• The Crux of the Problem is NATO on Russia’s Borders (Paul Craig Roberts)

Have you noticed how many wars there are without being declared? Israel launches a military attack on Iran and Iran retaliates, but there is no declaration of war. Israel will attack again, and Iran will again respond by retaliating. But neither country is at war. Russia has been in conflict with Ukraine since February, 2023, but it is a Special Military Operation, not a war. Russia’s strategic triad was attacked, but it was merely a terrorist action, not an act of war. After a couple of years of being bombed, Gaza’s population is now being starved to death, but it is just a matter of clearing the area so a resort can be built. Libya and its leadership were destroyed; Iraq and its leadership were destroyed; Syria and its leadership were destroyed. But it wasn’t wars, just the imposition of democracy. Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen, but war was not declared. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah are merely anti-terrorist operations, not war.

War is everywhere but the reality cannot be acknowledged. The most serious event of all is not even acknowledged. Someone in the West gave a green light for an attack on Russia’s nuclear triad despite the fact that Russia’s war doctrine requires a “strategic response” to such an attack. Putin sidestepped the issue by declaring the attack to be a terrorist action, not an act of war. But whoever gave the green light for an attack that could have initiated nuclear war between Russia and the West has not been identified and held accountable for the risk to which he subjected life on earth. Indeed, there is zero interest in discovering how the West green lighted an attack that under Russian war doctrine should have initiated nuclear war. Putin pretends it didn’t happen, and Washington is uninterested in who and how the US could have found itself in nuclear war.

President Trump says he did not know of the planned attack on Russia’s strategic triad. This should scare Trump to death. But he seems uninterested in who it was that would have initiated nuclear war with Russia had Putin not flinched. How is it that the American people, the people of Europe, the Russians, Chinese and the rest of the world can be content that it is not in the hands of President Trump whether a strike on Russia that could result in nuclear war can be initiated? How is it that an outside third party has the initiative? Left unexamined, what will the next reckless provocation be? At what point will Putin be forced to recognize reality and be forced to respond? The entire media, governments, and security agencies of the world should be focused on identifying, and preventing, a third party from initiating nuclear conflict between the two major nuclear powers.

Instead, there is no interest in the question. False narratives are in place, and they are running their course. Despite his boasts, Trump has done nothing to achieve peace. Trump could easily forestall Israeli attacks on Iran by agreeing to an inspection to certify the extent of Iran’s enrichment of uranium. Instead, Trump read Iran an ultimatum–which Trump regards as a negotiation–to stop enriching uranium for any purpose or risk being bombed out of existence. In other words, for Trump negotiation means complying with Trump’s demands. Imposing hegemony is not negotiation.

Putin says the Ukraine negotiations must address the central issue. Does anyone in Washington understand that the central issue is NATO on Russia’s borders? There are US missile bases in Poland and Romania. The missiles can be loaded with conventional or nuclear warheads. This is an existential problem for Russia, as were Soviet missile bases in Cuba for the US. President Trump can diffuse the entire issue by removing the US missile bases on Russia’s borders and by rolling NATO back to the 1997 borders.

Trump could diffuse the situation in the Middle East by announcing publicly that the US will not support any more Israeli aggression, and Trump could cease picking a fight with China. Ask yourself, what is Russia doing to us? Nothing. What is Iran doing to US? Nothing, What is China doing to US? Nothing, How did three countries that are not hostile toward the West get turned into enemies whose subjugation is worth the risk of nuclear war? This is a massive failure of Western foreign policy. Where there is no vision the people are lost.

“The “Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem”..

• Kiev and London Plotting ‘Bloody Provocations’ – Russian Spy Agency (RT)

Kiev and London have been plotting a series of “bloody provocations” to escalate the Ukraine conflict and disrupt dialogue between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned. In a statement issued on Monday, the agency described growing coordination between Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and its military intelligence (GUR) with British intelligence, which it said is due to Kiev’s “mounting battlefield setbacks and deepening moral exhaustion.” Such sabotage operations typically follow a set pattern, the SVR said, with Britain planning and coordinating, and Ukrainian operatives carrying out the attacks. The report suggested that the same approach was used in recent railway sabotage in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk Regions, which Moscow denounced as Ukrainian “terrorist attacks.”

The incidents killed seven and injured over 120, including children. The agency also cited the June 1 Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airbases as part of the same playbook. The “Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem” is now preparing more attacks, the SVR claimed, aiming to escalate the conflict, derail Moscow-Washington dialogue, and convince the White House to maintain large-scale military support for Kiev. According to the agency, one such scenario involves a false flag Russian torpedo attack on a US Navy ship in the Baltic Sea. Ukraine has already supplied Soviet-made torpedoes to the UK, the SVR said. Some are meant to detonate at a “safe distance,” while one will be left unexploded “as evidence of Moscow’s malicious activity.” Ukrainian operatives, it added, are prepared to carry out the plan.

Another alleged scheme involves British, Ukrainian, and Northern European partners “accidentally” recovering Russian-made naval mines in the Baltic, supposedly placed to sabotage international maritime shipping routes. “Kiev has become the perfect executor of vile provocations and terrorist acts for perfidious Albion [England],” the SVR concluded. The agency’s chief, Sergey Naryshkin, has repeatedly warned of possible British provocations, saying the SVR is well aware of London’s covert hostile activities against Russia.

“..Moscow hopes that “the pause they have taken will not last too long.”

• US Postpones Talks With Russia – Moscow (RT)

The US has postponed bilateral consultations with Moscow aimed at easing tensions and restoring diplomatic missions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced on Monday. Earlier this year, Russia and the US held two rounds of high-level talks, the first on February 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the second on February 27 in Istanbul, Türkiye. The discussions marked the first major direct talks since the deterioration of relations following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. The agenda included mutual restoration of embassy operations, easing visa issuance, addressing the Ukraine conflict, and exploring potential post-conflict economic cooperation. The next round of talks was to take place in Moscow. However, according to Zakharova, this meeting was canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators.

In a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel, she stated, “As of today, the next meeting within the framework of bilateral consultations on eliminating ‘irritants’ to normalize the operation of diplomatic missions of both countries has been canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators.” She did not disclose the reason Washington’s gave for postponing the meetings, adding only that Moscow hopes that “the pause they have taken will not last too long.” Since taking office earlier this year, US President Donald Trump has made efforts to reestablish contact with Moscow, which had been largely severed under his predecessor, Joe Biden. Russian officials have welcomed the shift, also expressing readiness to normalize bilateral relations.

“The bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been handed over to Kiev as agreed, Vladimir Medinsky has announced..Kiev returned the bodies of 78 slain Russian soldiers, he added..”

• Russia Has Fulfilled Istanbul Promises – Medinsky (RT)

Russia has returned the bodies of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, Moscow’s chief negotiator for the Ukraine conflict, Vladimir Medinsky, has said. Moscow repatriated a total of 6,060 sets of military remains, the presidential aide said in an update posted on Telegram on Monday. Kiev returned the bodies of 78 slain Russian soldiers, he added. The exchange was agreed upon during the latest round of direct talks between Moscow and Kiev, hosted by Türkiye, in June. Medinsky’s Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, suggested at the time that Kiev would hand over an equal number of killed Russian troops.

In April, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky stated in the interview that Ukraine had lost up to 100,000 troops since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Russian Defense Ministry estimates suggest that Kiev’s losses are an order of magnitude higher than that, as of the end of 2024, with more than half of the total casualties suffered that year. The handover of military remains to Ukraine was jeopardized after Kiev reportedly refused to accept the first batch, on June 7. Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for being too hasty, though the exchange started the following day and and continued over the past week.

Kiev presently relies on mandatory conscription of men aged at least 25 years to refill the ranks of its armed forces and is currently considering making men over 60 years old eligible for the army. The mobilization campaign has been undermined by mass draft avoidance and alleged corruption among military officials responsible for recruitment.

Odd news.

• Russian Diplomats Facing ‘Nerve-wracking’ Situation In Israel – Envoy (RT)

Russian nationals in Israel, including diplomatic staff, are facing significant danger due to the country’s ongoing hostilities with Iran, Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov said Monday. In an interview with the television news channel Russia 24, Viktorov outlined the mounting difficulties confronting the embassy since tensions escalated following Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last week. “The situation is nerve-wracking, I must admit. The threat to the lives and well-being of both diplomats and Russian citizens in Israel is not ephemeral,” Viktorov said from Tel Aviv. He noted that shockwaves from nearby explosions had shattered windows in several embassy residences. “Thankfully, there were no direct hits, but the incidents were unfortunate,” he said.

Viktorov added that the US consular office in Tel Aviv had also recently sustained minor damage from flying debris. Embassy staff have also seen their workloads increase significantly during the crisis. Viktorov said he had only managed three hours of sleep the previous night. Still, he urged employees to take their annual leave. “This is a good moment to take families and rest back home,” he said. The embassy has encouraged Russian nationals to exit Israel via Egypt, citing safety concerns. According to Viktorov, dozens have already done so and “rightfully so.”

Israel has said its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, scientists, and senior officials were “pre-emptive,” claiming Tehran posed an existential threat. Iran denies the allegations, maintaining its nuclear program is peaceful. It has responded with missile attacks, calling them legitimate acts of self-defense. Exchanges of fire between the two nations have occurred daily since the hostilities erupted last Friday.

Moscow has placed responsibility for the escalation on Israel, accusing it of seeking to derail the indirect US-Iran negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Russian officials have also warned that strikes on nuclear sites pose a potential global risk of radioactive contamination. The broader regional conflict traces back to October 2023, when a deadly incursion by the Palestinian militant group Hamas led to a sustained Israeli military operation in Gaza. West Jerusalem has also carried out air strikes in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

G7 came ad went.

• Zelenskyy and Sheinbaum Travel to G7 Canada to Influence and Intercept (CTH)

I’ll break out a different analytical discussion on other foreign interest matters in a separate post; however, as the G7 kicks off it is very interesting to notice who shows up on President Trump’s G7 schedule in Canada – that has absolutely no bearing on the G7 meeting in Canada. According to the schedule, President Trump has meetings with both Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Neither Mexico or Ukraine are in the G7 (Italy, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Japan, U.K). Obviously Zelenskyy is traveling to Canada at the behest of the global intelligence network because they are afraid President Trump may no longer keep Zelenskyy at the center of the foreign policy universe. The distraction of Iran/Israel might take away the focus of President Trump – Zelenskyy cannot bear the thought of that.

For President Sheinbaum, the first Jewish leader in Mexican history, the issues are even more dramatic, consequential and serious. President Trump’s rapid deportation program is making it very difficult for Mexicans in the USA to send money back to Mexico. This is quickly becoming an urgent matter for Mexican officials who will be forced to intervene in support of the local Mexican economy if President Trump keeps impeding the accumulation of illegal wages in the USA. These two meetings are on top of all the other G7 priority meetings that are traditionally scheduled. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is intent on leveraging all the effort she put into gaining close proximity to President Trump’s inner circle for influence. Unfortunately, Meloni used Elon Musk as the entry point and, well, now her sense of desperation to retain relevance gets context.

French President Emmanuel Macron is currently battling British Prime Minister Kier Starmer in the quest to see who has more influence over President Trump. Starmer has a state visit and praise from King Charles to bolster his agenda, but Macron has a longer tenure of proximity to Trump. Zelenskyy showing up in Canada is intended to make Europe the focus of the assembly, with Macron and Starmer representing the ‘coalition of the -mostly- willing’. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, is unfortunately not getting as much attention despite hosting the G7. The reasoning is simple, Carney doesn’t represent anything of value to the USA agenda until President Trump decides to take apart the USMCA trade agreement. Until that process begins, the shouting of Canada about tariffs is akin to an annoying buzzing sound in the background; irrelevant white noise from the snow Mexicans.

Ursula von der Leyen will be in Canada because the insufferable European Union always consider themselves as part of the G7 despite not being a nation. The stupid parliamentarians of the EU always demand representation for their Brussels nonsense and often the NATO knuckleheads tag along. In many ways we can look at the appearance of Mexico and Ukraine through the prism that the G7 doesn’t have any other issues more important to them than (1) trade/tariffs, and (2) war against Russia. PM Carney willing to inject any ally of his that might assist the trade war and Ukraine war advocacy.

World-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff — who was fired from Harvard Medical School last year after refusing the COVID vaccine — just got a new gig.

• Martin Kulldorff Named To CDC Vaccine Panel (ZH)

Kulldorff has been named a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. Kulldorff, who had refused the COVID vaccine because of his infection-acquired immunity, lost his appointment at a Harvard-affiliated hospital in the early days of the COVID era, and in March of 2024 was officially terminated as a med school faculty member. Since the COVID lockdowns began five years ago this month, Kulldorff argued that tactics such as social distancing, masking children, vaccines after infections, and other extreme measures were not the best course of action to fight the virus. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for sensible tactics that would allow the globe to reach “herd immunity” and has been signed by nearly 1 million scientists worldwide.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in announcing the new members of the panel last week on X, wrote that his selections signify a “major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.” Kennedy wrote he retired the 17 current members of the committee and is repopulating ACIP with eight new members “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.” “They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well,” Kennedy stated. MassLive reported that in 2021, “Kulldorff posted on X that ‘thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should.’”

“COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers,” he wrote. “Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.” According to the New York Times, after Kennedy’s announcement, some infectious disease and vaccine experts accused the health secretary of going back on his pledge not to pick so-called anti-vaxxers. “When Mr. Kennedy fired the entire committee, known as the A.C.I.P., he cited financial conflicts of interest and said a clean sweep was necessary to restore public trust in vaccination,” the Times reported. As for Harvard’s role in the controversy, writing in City Journal last year, Kulldorff argued that Harvard turned its back on him, open debate, and medical freedom.

“The beauty of our immune system is that those who recover from an infection are protected if and when they are re-exposed. This has been known since the Athenian Plague of 430 BC—but it is no longer known at Harvard,” he wrote. “Three prominent Harvard faculty coauthored the now infamous ‘consensus’ memorandum in The Lancet, questioning the existence of Covid-acquired immunity. By continuing to mandate the vaccine for students with a prior Covid infection, Harvard is de facto denying 2,500 years of science.”Kennedy, in announcing Kulldorff, noted he is a biostatistician and “a leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance.”“… Dr. Kulldorff developed widely used tools such as SaTScan and TreeScan for detecting disease outbreaks and vaccine adverse events. His expertise includes statistical methods for public health surveillance, immunization safety, and infectious disease epidemiology. He has also been an influential voice in public health policy, advocating for evidence-based approaches to pandemic response.”

The Clinton-Soros machine.

• King-Less? (James Howard Kunstler)

Saturday morning, we toodled over to the next town, Salem, New York, (pop. 2,612, per capita income $19,499) fifty miles northeast of Albany, to catch one of the hundreds of “No Kings” demos across the nation sponsored by Shanghai-based software billionaire Neville Roy Singham, Walmart heiress Christy Walton, Paypal partner (and Linked-in founder) Reid Hoffman, and father-and son team, George and Alex Soros. Speaking of A;ex Soros, Saturday also happened to be his wedding day, to Huma Abedin, former Hillary Clinton sidekick and BFF (and ex-wife of disgraced congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner.) The nuptials happened at the Soros’s Hamptons estate. Cable news covered the fabulous cavalcade of black Escalade limousines conveying the super-elite of Progressive-Wokery to the glorious event. The New York Times, with its habitual lack of self-awareness, styled the event thusly:

“Liberal royalty?” Say, what. . . ? There is such a thing? In the party of No Kings? What’s the deal, then? Just princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, earls, viscounts, baronets, lairds, marquis, knights and dames, and so on. Yet, no king? Well, if you asked the fortunate wedding guests, they might aver to Hillary Clinton as a sort-of Queen of the party, or maybe just Queen Bee. As for former president Bill, he appears to be undergoing slow-motion mummification, so he currently occupies an ambiguous zone between this world and the next, with no mojo left for kingly duties. Anyway, it rained that day down on the South Fork. Meanwhile, back upstate, cloudy and cool but no rain, some two-hundred wrathful plebeian souls gathered at the one-stoplight-intersection in little Salem, these days mainly a farm community, the old railroad engine repair shop defunct, and many good non-farm jobs with it, the usual story in this corner of the country. The hopped-up crowd was well-supplied with signs and placards, many avouching Down with Oligarchs! — which, oddly, seemed a sort of backhanded reference to billionaires of the very type underwriting the day’s festivities, not to mention the super-rich “liberal royalty” gang gathered for the Soros-Abedin royal wedding.

But that was only one of the many incongruities haunting the mass protest against the abhorred president, Mr. Trump. For instance, one poor fellow on the southeast corner of South Main and East Broadway inveighed mournfully against the suppression of free speech, apparently unaware of the epic efforts 2021 to 2025 by “Joe Biden’s” underlings to censor the Internet and de-platform the regime’s critics (including yours truly, whose website was mysteriously destroyed in October 2024).

The moiling mob was overwhelmingly geriatric, perhaps reflecting the backwater demographics of a region with few job opportunities for young folk. A spirit of revival bubbled among them as they reenacted old rituals of the hippie halcyon, the grand old days of the Vietnam War protests, when thousands gathered to levitate the Pentagon. Only now, their sentiments and beliefs exhibit a striking and peculiar inversion of the ancient 1960s credos that drove the beloved Movement.

I know because I was there, on campus, between 1966 and 1971. Back then, the Left opposed the wicked “establishment” and all its nefarious operations, from the war in Vietnam to the FBI’s underhanded suppression of political dissent. These days, strange to relate, the Left stands in staunch defense of the Deep State, big government (and its prodigious corruption), and the politicization of the FBI and CIA.

Their placards lament the withering of “our democracy,” yet they were just fine with “Joe Biden” selecting a 2024 presidential candidate for them — with no customary vote by party delegates, or anything approaching an open democratic process. They shout for the “rule-of-law,” except when it concerns special persons such as the former president’s crackhead, bag-man son. They’re all for the colossal grift around the war in Ukraine. And don’t forget they supported vaccine mandates, the closing and ruination of small businesses (while Walmart and Taco Bell were allowed to thrive), and all the other hypocritical, fraudulent, lethal actions of Covid-19 policy.

“..a Muslim woman was estimated to have 2.9 children during her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Muslim women..”

“Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift..”

• Islam Growing Three Times As Fast As Christianity – Study (RT)

Islam grew approximately three times as fast as Christianity between 2010 and 2020, spurred by higher birth rates and lower rates of deconversion, according to new data from the Pew Research Center. The global population of Muslims rose by nearly 21% over the ten-year span, while the number of Christians only grew by around 6%, according to data from the study, which was released last week. The number of Muslims grew twice as fast as the rest of the world’s population, which expanded by 10% during the same decade. Islam also gained more individual followers than all non-Muslim religions combined during the decade, the research indicated. The study cited higher birth rates and a younger average age among adherents of Islam as key reasons for the growth.

On average, a Muslim woman was estimated to have 2.9 children during her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Muslim women, the research suggested, citing 2015-2020 data. New converts and those leaving the faith had little impact on the growth, as both averaged about 1% during the 2010s, according to the study. Despite growing more slowly, Christianity had remained the world’s largest religion, with 2.3 billion followers in 2020, while Islam held second place with 2 billion, the research indicated. While the number of Christians grew within the ten-year period, the religion’s overall share of the global population shrank by nearly 2%, according to the data. Christian population growth has tapered due to high rates of people leaving to become religiously unaffiliated, according to the study. Despite relatively high fertility rates among adherents, the faith witnessed a net loss of 11.6 adults for every 100 adults who were raised as Christian.

“Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift,” said Conrad Hackett, the lead researcher at the Pew Research Center and the main author of the study, according to The Washington Post. He added that it was “striking” to see such a dramatic shift in just a decade, pointing out that the Muslim and Christian populations had grown closer in size as Islam expanded more rapidly than any other major faith. The research covered thousands of censuses and surveys in 201 countries and focused on seven groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, other religions, and individuals who do not identify with any particular religion.

“..state media platform RIA Novosti editorialized on June 14 that the Israeli operations are a rehearsal for what the US and its allies are planning to do to Russia, and that this is well understood in Moscow.”

• Happy Birthday Donald, Happy US Army and Flag Day (Helmer)

There are no flies on President Vladimir Putin. That’s an expression which originated in the fly-blown goldrush mines of Australia in 1840 and then moved with the flies to the goldrush mines of California a few years later. Literally, it means a man who is too quick for a fly to settle on him. Metaphorically, it means a man who is much too clever to be fooled by a fraudster or deceived by an enemy. Putin is much too quick not to recognize that President Donald Trump is both a fraudster and an enemy. Putin doesn’t have to be told by the General Staff that Trump’s war plans are an existential threat to Russia’s security on the western front (Ukraine, Romania, Poland); northern front (Norway, Sweden, Finland), eastern front (Japan, South Korea); and southern front (Iran).

Last Thursday night, as the US and Israel began their war against Russia’s strategic ally Iran, starting with decapitation strikes against the Islamic Republic’s leadership, the Russian General Staff didn’t have to send Putin their “we told you so” message. But the Kremlin’s communication system broke down, nonetheless. Officially, the war didn’t begin for the Russians until they detected US and Israeli fuelling, arming, and deception preparations on Thursday ahead of the first Israeli weapons launches after midnight into Friday. Earlier in the day, Putin had been telling his arms chiefs “we know the enemy’s modus operandi. However, I do not think we are falling behind in any way.” The combination of drone and missile attack tactics of the enemy requires, he said, “the new state armament programme [to] ensure creation of a universal air defence system capable of operating under any conditions and effectively hitting air assault weapons regardless of their type.”

What about defence against ultra close range, ultra low-altitude drone attacks of the kind which the US, the UK and Ukraine had successfully executed, evading detection and interception, on June 1 against Russia’s nuclear bomber bases across the country? Putin’s scripted phrase “air assault weapons” left that unmentioned in the Kremlin communiqué, but not in the closed-door session after Putin announced: “Let’s get to work”.* What then was the similar coordination by the US and Israel of long-range air assault operations with ground-level attacks targeted fatally on five, possibly eight Iranian generals and five Iranian nuclear scientists. The US and Israeli media reports have termed these decapitation strikes acts of war, not acts of terrorism. The Russian media reports have followed suit.

The state media platform RIA Novosti editorialized on June 14 that the Israeli operations are a rehearsal for what the US and its allies are planning to do to Russia, and that this is well understood in Moscow. “Many respected analysts of different calibres believe that the purpose of the attack on Iran is to eliminate the country’s nuclear program (necessarily) and regime change (extremely desirable). In fact, the main goal of the operation is to work out a mass preventive disarming strike against the enemy with serious military capabilities – that enemy is called not Iran, but Russia.”

This strategic plan, writes Boris Rozhin, a leading military blogger reflecting the views of senior Russian military officers, is President Donald Trump’s first of all, and aimed at Russia next. “Current events in the Middle East region demonstrate a dramatic change in the geopolitical situation. The Western powers, throwing away their purported enmity, have united in a general offensive against an independent Iran, a key ally of Russia…The previous ‘disagreements’ have turned out to be only a spectacle for the public. Iran’s defeat will be a strategic catastrophe for Russia, surpassing even the loss of Syria. Iran plays a key role in maintaining a balance of power in the Middle East and is Russia’s most important ally in confronting Western domination…The war against Iran, initiated by the Western world, could have disastrous consequences for the entire world order. This is not a local conflict, but an attempt to finally break the last pockets of resistance to the unipolar world…For Russia, this means the need to make drastic decisions to protect its strategic interests and allies.” — June 14, 21:19.

“In summing up this story,” Rozhin wrote yesterday, — June 14, 14:31, “we can conclude – if there is anyone who has not yet understood – that the ‘Trump peace attempts’ are worthless and will lead to nothing – neither in the Middle East nor in Ukraine. Therefore, agreements with Trump are not worth it. It is necessary to strengthen the army and the military-industrial complex and achieve the goals of the SVO [Special Military Operation] by military means. In order not to say again, ‘we wanted peace, and the Americans deceived us again’, as the Iranians do now.”

In the policy discussion currently under way, a Moscow source reports the intelligence assessment that Iran’s military capabilities are not as effective as they have been publicly portrayed or as the generals have threatened; that the clerical leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei knows this; and that he and his clerical allies believe their best chance of survival in power is to limit the counterattack on Israel, ask for a ceasefire, bargain with their threat to close the Hormuz Strait, and abandon their negotiating positions on nuclear enrichment and missile development.

“If the nuclear bomb was a bluff, and we believe it was,” the source says, “then they should have learned the lessons of Saddam [Hussein]. They should have expected Netanyahu and Trump to call their bluff. Now that’s happened, Iran’s internal weakness is also stark. I believe SVR [foreign intelligence], GRU [military intelligence] and MiD [foreign ministry] have concluded the conflict is the Iranians to lose – and this is what is happening. What can Putin do if the clerics have no nerve to fight?”

At least it was not quiet.

• 10 YEARS AGO: Donald Trump Announces Presidential Candidacy (DS)

Ten years ago today, now-President Donald Trump came down the Trump Tower escalator in Manhattan to announce his run to be president of the United States. “We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. …. We need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again,” said the Queens-born real estate mogul and reality television star. The 69-year-old made a number of promises, reshaping American politics to this day. “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall, mark my words,” Trump told the Manhattan crowd. Trump’s claims were met with general ridicule from most media coverage.

“Donald J. Trump, the garrulous real estate developer whose name has adorned apartment buildings, hotels, Trump-brand neckties and Trump-brand steaks, announced on Tuesday his entry into the 2016 presidential race, brandishing his wealth and fame as chief qualifications in an improbable quest for the Republican nomination,” wrote the New York Times in its mocking coverage of the candidate who would defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton little over a year later. Ten years later, Trump is pushing for the speedy passage of the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill, which would secure funding to complete construction of the Southern border wall. In his Trump Tower speech, the billionaire also vowed to bring stability to the Middle East.

“Islamic terrorism is eating up large portions of the Middle East. They’ve become rich. I’m in competition with them. They [ISIS] just built a hotel, can you believe this? … Nobody will be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump,” he said, also promising to “stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” In June 2025, Israel and Iran are currently at war after Israel struck the Islamic regime in an attempt to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The future-president also spoke at length on a topic that is still top-of-mind today—China. ““I like China. I love China,” he said. “[But] it’s like take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team. That’s the difference between China’s leaders and our leaders. … We have all the cards, but we don’t know how to use them.” In June 2025, Trump’s White House has said they have reached a consensus on a trade agreement with China. Now at the age of 79, Trump is half of a year into his second term as president after winning every swing, as well as the popular vote. The journey he began in 2015 is far from over.

Anthony

Moose

pic.twitter.com/eVlRzGehgd

— Kat❤️ (@IrishKat00) June 15, 2025

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Debt Rattle March 9 2025

Mar 092025

March 9, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 11:06 am Finance Tagged with: autism, dementia, DOGE, empire, G7, ICE, MAHA, Moneypenny, No Dissent, proxy war, satellites, Starmer, Trump 34 Responses »

Raphael The transfiguration 1520

• A New American Empire: Trump, Russia, and The End of Globalism (Kashin)

• U.S. Admits Ukraine Proxy War Defeat (SCF)

• Acute Dementia: Europe Declares War On Russia All Over Again (Pepe Escobar)

• Keir Starmer Is Ditching Zelensky To Avoid Trump Tariffs (Proud)

• UK Will Return Russian Money It Is ‘So Generously Giving Away’ – Moscow (RT)

• “NO DISSENT”: Trump Asks “All Republicans” To “Give Us A Few Months” (ZH)

• Federal Judge Denies Request to Block DOGE From Accessing Treasury Data (ET)

• Early ICE Arrests Are Below 5% Of Trump’s Target: Here’s Why (JTN)

• Something Huge for the MAHA Movement Is About To Happen (Margolis)

• The Media Can’t Hide This Trump Victory Forever (Margolis)

• US Pushing To Soften Anti-Russia Language In G7 Document (RT)

• Ukraine Loses Access To US Commercial Satellites (RT)

• Polish PM Plans To Double Size Of Army (RT)

• Ukraine’s Losses Mounting Due To US Intel Freeze (RT)

• Trump CDC to Probe Long-Rumored Vaccine-Autism Link (PJM)

• Bezos Ousts Bond Producers Over ‘Idiots’ Remark (RT)

"I mean, look what's happened in the last 5 years. In 2019, we spent about 4.5 trillion. Today we‘re spending about 6.5 trillion."

"And the question all Republicans have is, does it have to be this big, and does it have to cost this much money?"

Scott Jennings is right, again. pic.twitter.com/451OJKd7gw

— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) March 8, 2025

Candy

PLANTGATE: Someone’s girlfriend was getting paid $56k to water bureaucrats’ eye candy. pic.twitter.com/H0jMXzZ35j

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) March 8, 2025

Article 2
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898352472546070902

Sacks

I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/FnqfZSOfiN

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 8, 2025

https://twitter.com/i/status/1898216959038439807

Crypto Czar @DavidSacks said "Yeah, I think that's largely fair" when @Jason suggested the Treasury Secretary should sell off America's $ETH holdings to buy more $BTC pic.twitter.com/8Q5IAfdKLU

— Pledditor (@Pledditor) March 8, 2025

Cards
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897995649330598293

Promises
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898058853033365678

Daylight time in the US, not for another 3 weeks here in Europe. Always throws me off.

“Since the late 1990s, the costs of maintaining global hegemony have exceeded the benefits..”

• A New American Empire: Trump, Russia, and The End of Globalism (Kashin)

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is shaping up to be nothing short of a political revolution. The new administration is rapidly dismantling the old order, purging the ruling elite, reshaping both domestic and foreign policy, and cementing changes that will be difficult to reverse – even if his opponents regain power in future elections. For Trump, as for all revolutionaries, the priority is to break the existing system and consolidate radical transformations. Many of the principles that guided US policy for decades – sometimes for over a century – are being deliberately discarded. Washington’s global strategy, long built on expansive military, diplomatic, and financial influence, is being rewritten to serve Trump’s domestic political needs.

The end of the American liberal empire For the past 100 years, the US has functioned as a global empire. Unlike traditional empires built on territorial expansion, the American empire extended its reach through financial dominance, military alliances, and ideological influence. This model, however, has become increasingly unsustainable. Since the late 1990s, the costs of maintaining global hegemony have exceeded the benefits, fueling discontent both at home and abroad. Trump and his allies seek to end this ‘liberal empire’ and return America to a more self-reliant, mercantilist model – one reminiscent of the late 19th and early 20th centuries under President William McKinley. Trump has openly praised this era, viewing it as the golden age of US prosperity, before the country took on the burdens of global leadership.

Under this vision, America will reduce unproductive foreign expenditures and refocus on its natural advantages: Vast resources, an advanced industrial base, and the world’s most valuable consumer market. Rather than policing the world, Washington will wield its economic power more aggressively to secure trade advantages. However, the transition to this model carries significant risks, particularly in a highly globalized economy.

A shift in global strategy Trump’s policies are driven by domestic concerns but will have major implications abroad. His administration is systematically dismantling key institutions of the old order, including those that irritated Moscow. For instance, USAID – a major vehicle for American influence in the post-Soviet space – has been gutted. Ironically, Trump had more motivation to destroy USAID than even Russian President Vladimir Putin, given that its resources had been repurposed for domestic political use by Trump’s rivals. If the US abandons its liberal empire model, many sources of tension with Russia will disappear. Historically, Moscow and Washington had relatively stable relations throughout the 19th century.

If Trump’s America reverts to a more isolationist approach, Russia will no longer be a primary target of US interference. The main friction point will likely be the Arctic, where both nations have strategic interests. China, however, remains Trump’s top adversary. Beijing’s state-led economic expansion is fundamentally at odds with Trump’s mercantilist vision. Unlike Biden, who sought to counter China through alliances, Trump is willing to go it alone – potentially weakening Western unity in the process. His administration is expected to escalate economic and technological warfare against Beijing, even if it means alienating European allies.

Europe’s strategic uncertainty One of Trump’s most disruptive moves has been his open hostility toward the EU. His vice president, J.D. Vance, recently delivered a speech in Munich that amounted to direct interference in European politics, signaling support for right-wing nationalist movements that challenge the EU’s authority. This shift is forcing Europe into an uncomfortable position. For years, China has viewed Western Europe as an ‘alternative West’ with which it could engage economically without the same level of confrontation it faces with the US. Trump’s approach could accelerate EU-Chinese ties, especially if Western European leaders feel abandoned by Washington.

There are already signs that European policymakers may loosen restrictions on Chinese investments, particularly in critical industries such as semiconductors. At the same time, the ambitions of some Europeans for NATO expansion into the Indo-Pacific may falter, as the bloc struggles to define its new role in a post-globalist US strategy. For years, Washington fantasized about splitting Russia and China apart. But Trump’s new approach is unlikely to achieve this goal. The Russia-China partnership is built on strong fundamentals: A massive shared border, complementary economies, and a shared interest in countering Western dominance.

If anything, the shifting geopolitical landscape could push Russia into a position similar to that of China in the early 2000s – focusing on economic development while maintaining strategic flexibility. Moscow may reduce its efforts to actively undermine the US and instead concentrate on strengthening its economic and security ties with Beijing. China, meanwhile, will bear the brunt of Trump’s new American empire. The US will no longer rely on alliances to contain Beijing but will use direct economic and military pressure. While this may make life more difficult for China, it does not necessarily mean the US will succeed. China has been preparing for economic decoupling for years, and Beijing may find opportunities in a more divided Western world.

“European leaders are desperate. The about-turn in U.S. policy to walk away from the failed proxy war in Ukraine has left them holding a dead-end hand of cards..”

• U.S. Admits Ukraine Proxy War Defeat (SCF)

In an interview on Fox News this week, America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio made a damning admission. He called the conflict in Ukraine a proxy war between the United States, its NATO allies and Russia. Stop the press. In one fell swoop, the narrative justifying the NATO-backed war for the past three years was exposed as a naked lie. It is not about “defending Ukraine” from alleged Russian unprovoked aggression. It is a proxy war. That means it has deeper causes and responsibilities. This is what Moscow and many other international observers have been saying all along. To recognize the conflict as a proxy war is to begin admitting wider culpability for it and to start addressing the root causes for a genuine peaceful settlement.

Secretary of State Rubio went on to emphatically call for an end to the war to spare lives. He claimed the conflict was in a stalemate, not quite bringing himself to utter the word, “defeat”. But defeat is what this debacle is. Rubio decried how the previous Biden administration and Congress (including himself as a Senator) had fueled the conflict along with other NATO members in a futile campaign. It is now time to bring the conflict to an end, he said. Appropriately, the U.S. foreign minister appeared on television with a prominent Lenten cross of ash marked on his forehead. Christians around the world begin preparations for Easter by donning ashes as a sign of repentance. Rubio’s “confession” of a failed U.S. policy of proxy war against Russia in Ukraine may be seen as a belated recognition in Washington that it needs to cease, desist and make amends for peace.

Not so the European leaders, however, who this week persisted in their lies about a noble purpose in Ukraine. Following the humiliating rebuke of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week, the European politicians have been rallying their support for the Kiev regime. Trump aides ejected Zelensky from the White House last Friday because he testily refused to comply with a U.S. initiative for peace in Ukraine. This week, the chastened Zelensky wrote a letter to Trump appealing for forgiveness – and more U.S. military aid. It’s not clear if the Ukrainian redundant president has convinced the Trump administration that he is ready to sign a peace deal. In the meantime, the White House has now cut off military aid and intelligence sharing with the Kiev regime. Again, proving the reality of a proxy war.

That move has thrown the European allies into a quandary and existential crisis. It is a crisis of their own making. An emergency EU leaders’ summit was convened to drum up more military support for Ukraine. The EU 27 could not agree on a package because Hungary vetoed it. Another summit is to be called on March 20, when it is intended to bypass Hungarian objection to funding the war in Ukraine. European leaders are desperate. The about-turn in U.S. policy to walk away from the failed proxy war in Ukraine has left them holding a dead-end hand of cards. Rather than folding, they are doubling down on their worthless chips. Trump upbraided Zelensky in the Oval Office by telling him, “You don’t have the cards” to keep this war going. The same advice can be leveled at the European governments, including the British, who strangely have wormed their way back into calling shots in Europe despite exiting the bloc five years ago.

This war has been lost with appalling losses. Three years of the biggest war in Europe since World War Two has resulted in over one million deaths – mainly on the Ukrainian military side – and hundreds of billions of dollars and euros wasted, which the American and European public will pay over generations through debts. This war is an abominable crime perpetrated by Washington and its European allies. All the more so because it could have been avoided if Russian diplomatic efforts in late 2021 had been reciprocated to deal with Moscow’s legitimate security concerns over NATO’s expansion. But no, the Western imperialists wanted to strategically defeat Russia and they used a NeoNazi regime in Ukraine as their pawn following the CIA-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 against an elected president.

Western leaders must be held to account for their nefarious machinations and the colossal damage in Ukraine and Russia. Russian civilians have been killed by NATO weapons and over $300 billion in Russian assets have been confiscated. Russia has the right to seek massive war reparations. At least, to their credit, the Trump administration has realized that the evil of this fraudulent war must stop.

“..the overwhelming majority of France would gladly agree that mini-Napoleon should be dispatched to the battlefields in the black soil of Novorossiya right away…”

• Acute Dementia: Europe Declares War On Russia All Over Again (Pepe Escobar)

Let’s start with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Road to Damascus moment: “Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers, the United States helping Ukraine and Russia, and it needs to come to an end”. Now that’s a howler. Jeffrey Sachs to the rescue. Of course, the correct formulation would be “proxy war launched by the United States”. But still: Hallelujah! Such illumination – by proxy – from Heavens Above could never had hit the previous American Secretary of Genocide. Now cut to panic. Total European panic. Le Petit Roi, as popular in France as nighttime mosquitoes in a five-star beach resort, has declared that peace in Europe is only possible with a “tamed” Russia – and that Russia is a direct threat to France and Europe. On Ukraine, he pontificated that peace simply cannot take place under Russian terms or via the – inevitable – Ukrainian surrender.

Le breathless Petit Roi literally went nuclear. He stressed that France possesses a nuclear deterrent – and offered it to the rest of Europe, while insisting that Europe’s future should not be dictated by Moscow or Washington. Le Petit Roi napoleonically all but declared war on Russia. Well, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of France would gladly agree that mini-Napoleon should be dispatched to the battlefields in the black soil of Novorossiya right away – where he would surrender in less than 5 minutes, waving a rainbow flag, as he realizes he’s about to be turned into an instant steak tartare. Now couple this Moliere farce with the fate of the much larger, fatter, pan-European New Model Woke Army regimented by the Fuhrerin SS von der Lugen out of Brussels, allegedly to be financed to the tune of 800 billion euros – money that no one has, and would have to be loaned then repaid with sky-high extorsion interest rates to the usual international financial system vultures.

SS von der Lugen insists Europe is in danger, so the solution is a massive expansion of the military-industrial complex – in practice, buying more overpriced American weapons – and “rearmament”. Talk about Gotterdammerung on crack. Were the New Model Woke Army ever come to light, surrender would also be a matter of less than 5 minutes – brandishing rainbow flags – as its woke warriors would face the dire prospect of being Oreshniked to a pile of charcoal grilled burgers. Add to it the Return of the Nord Stream Saga – with a new plot twist. Sy Hersh conclusively proved that the Nord Streams were bombed under orders of the previous Crash Test Dummy regime in Washington. Now Nord Stream 2, at least, could be back in business via a not-so-secret U.S.-Russia deal involving Gazprom and American oligarchs.

All that while fanatics in Berlin assure right and left they want to explore every possible way to prevent (italics mine) the Nord Stream system from being repaired – because after all no one, especially the new BlackRock chancellor, can deviate from the official policy of destroying the German economy by all means necessary. Compounding the Kafkaesque scenario, the Prime Minister of Denmark – which is on the brink of losing Greenland “one way or another” to Trump 2.0 – immortalized the words, “peace in Ukraine will be more dangerous than war.” The Polish Prime Minister did not miss a beat, adding that “Europe is stronger than Russia and capable of winning in any military, financial, or economic confrontation.” Europe is in such a “winning” streak now – as the record shows.

All this discombobulated Tower of Babel proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that Europe is geopolitically – and geoeconomically – dead and buried. No Teutonic Gods – complete with fat lady singin’ – will be able to resurrect it. The notion that Europe is able to pose a military threat to Russia does not even qualify as trashy propaganda for sub-zero IQs. It would take at least a decade to re-militarize Germany as its economy is moribund, serially stabbed by unmanageable energy costs. Russia for its part is protected from a possible nuclear attack by Le Petit Roi’s puny “umbrella” arsenal by the most sophisticated missile defenses in the world. The Aegis defensive missiles in Poland are relatively worthless – even if their prime danger to Russia remains that the system can be converted to handle offensive missiles. As a whole, the Aegis, Patriot, THAAD-PAC-3, SBIR-HIGH Ground Based Infrared Systems are all relatively useless.

Other than the U.S., NATO simply has no military worth. And Washington under Trump 2.0 simply will not be involved in the next European War. The U.S. has satellite systems for targeting but no one else in NATO has them. With the U.S. pulling out, and in the event of a hypothetical von der Lugen-led New Woke Army attack against Russia, Russian missiles can knock out all European ports, airports and manufacturing and energy systems in a day max – instantly returning Europe to the stone age. This applies to England, France, Germany, not to mention assorted chihuahuas: all of NATO. Russia can knock out all British power systems with Zircons launched from a conventional submarine. Stone Age, here we come. Russian hypersonic missiles cannot be intercepted.

“..His Majesty King Charles II and President Trump are peers as Heads of State, and Prime Minister Starmer is a more junior Head of Government..”

• Keir Starmer Is Ditching Zelensky To Avoid Trump Tariffs (Proud)

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington majored on an historic invitation for President Trump to make a second state visit to Britain. Despite considerable pre-visit hype among the UK mainstream media, Ukraine was barely mentioned. The cold truth is, Starmer is ditching Zelensky to avoid tariffs. The subtle art of diplomacy is often hard to fathom for the outsider. When Keir Starmer called on Donald Trump in the Oval Office on 27 February, there was an air of conviviality that belied what some considered to have been, hitherto, a difficult relationship. The set piece moment was the Prime Minster handing the President a letter from His Majesty, King Charles II. While it has attracted little comment, The King’s letter to President Trump was a diplomatic masterstroke. A section of the first page was captured by a photographer.

These were words crafted by His Majesty himself, with his distinct syntax, rather than written by an anonymous committee of officials in 10 Down Street. The preambular second paragraph appears to contain mere niceties about a possible Trump visit to Scotland, but it was so much more. Donald Trump’s mother was born in Scotland, and the President famously owns golf courses there. The King extends a deeply personal invitation for the President to stay at Balmoral, the favoured Residence in Scotland of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the place she passed. There is also an offer to visit and stay at Dumfries House, which was His Majesty’s seat in Scotland before ascending to the throne, when his Royal title in Scotland was the Duke of Rothesay. He mentions that underprivileged young people are trained at the House and many end up working at the President’s golfing establishments.

Scotland holds a special place in the hearts of both Heads of State. And Diplomacy, ultimately, is about human connection. This was King Charles addressing President Trump as an equal, a peer and a cherished friend. And then the coup de grace, an invitation to an historic second State visit, historic because no US President has been afforded two State visits. President Trump appears to value the form of diplomacy at least as much as its substance. The style and class of King Charles’ letter sits in stark contrast, to the truculent, unshaven President Zelensky arguing in the Oval Office on 28 February. And the theatre behind Keir Starmer’s handing the letter to President Trump was designed to reinforce two perceptions. The first was that The King continues to regard the United States as a dear and trusted friend. The second, and perhaps more significantly, that Prime Minister Starmer was the messenger, not the peer.

Some British journalists jokingly referred to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday 27 February as a visit to the King. Clearly, President Trump isn’t a monarch, nor is he Elvis Presley. But in the game of diplomacy between the United States and the United Kingdom, His Majesty King Charles II and President Trump are peers as Heads of State, and Prime Minister Starmer is a more junior Head of Government. While the first sentence of the letter is not fully visible, His Majesty is clearly thanking President Trump for receiving the British Prime Minister – i.e. His Head of Government – so soon after the inauguration. I don’t believe the optics of this would have been lost on the President. The Labour Prime Minister’s has had a bad start with Donald Trump. The King’s letter brings the adults back into the conversation in a way that can only help the UK repair some of the damage caused.

In inviting President Trump to Britain, with all the pomp and ceremony that Britain offers like no other country, the UK government wants to reprioritise its trade and investment relationship with the United States. As Europe and America teeter on the brink of a trade war, Britain wants a genuinely open trading relationship with America that both prevents the risk of US tariffs but also gives the UK economy a much-needed boost post-Brexit. America is Britain’s largest export partner accounting for 15.7% of business and trade in goods is fairly balanced, with a tiny surplus of £2.5bn going Britain’s way in 2023. This may help to explain why Britain appears less in the firing line for US tariffs than the European Union, which President Trump said was designed to ‘screw the US’ flooding America with a surplus of $300bn in goods trade.

After President Obama famously said that Britain would have to join the back of the queue in any post-Brexit trade talks with America, UK-US trade talks were not prioritised under the Biden administration. This has now become a top priority for the UK in its relationship with the Trump administration. And Starmer has recognised that he can’t have it all – he can’t criticise Trump on Ukraine, backing Zelensky and steering Europe on a pro-war course, while at the same time landing a lucrative trade deal and avoiding Trump tariffs. He has therefore decided quietly to ditch Zelensky and to line up behind Trump’s plans for a peace deal.

“Volodin said Britain “will have to give back to Russia what they are now so generously giving away,” adding that Moscow has “every reason to respond in kind.”

• UK Will Return Russian Money It Is ‘So Generously Giving Away’ – Moscow (RT)

The UK’s transfer of the proceeds from Russia’s frozen central bank funds to Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has said. On Friday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said that Kiev had received a first tranche worth about $1 billion from the UK, secured by the proceeds from the Russian assets. He said the funds would go toward “strengthening” Ukraine’s defense and voiced hope that all frozen Russian assets would be “confiscated and transferred” to Kiev. Speaking to reporters later in the day, Volodin said Britain “will have to give back to Russia what they are now so generously giving away,” adding that Moscow has “every reason to respond in kind.”

Volodin also warned that London’s actions would “undermine confidence” in its financial system, as they “violate the principle of property inviolability, a cornerstone of the global financial system.” Western countries froze around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Of this total, more than $200 billion is reportedly held at the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear, while up to $30 billion is in the UK. The assets have already generated billions in interest. Euroclear transferred over $1 billion directly to Ukraine last July. Kiev has been pressing its Western backers to expropriate the assets to finance its military and reconstruction efforts.

The West remains divided over the fate of the frozen assets. Many EU countries are reluctant to tap the reserves themselves, opting instead for the interest earned on them. Some have raised concerns that seizing the assets could damage the Western financial system and erode trust in the euro. The International Monetary Fund has also warned that taking the funds without a clear legal basis could undermine global confidence in Western financial institutions. The Kremlin has repeatedly denounced the asset freeze as “theft” and warned of legal action against those involved in the asset seizure.

“..a March 14 deadline approaches for the latest government shutdown threat..”

• “NO DISSENT”: Trump Asks “All Republicans” To “Give Us A Few Months” (ZH)

President Trump on Saturday implored ‘All Republicans’ to vote on a 99-page spending bill that would keep the government funded through September, as a March 14 deadline approaches for the latest government shutdown threat. The bill largely maintains current spending levels, while an additional $8 billion would be included for defense programs, and $6 billion for veterans’ healthcare. Non-defense spending would drop by approximately $13 billion. Johnson is setting up the bill for a vote on Tuesday, despite a lack of buy-in from Democrats – essentially daring them to vote against it and risk a shutdown. He’s also betting that Republicans will be able to quash inner divisions over spending and force it through.

As Bloomberg notes, unlike previous shutdowns, this one would impact all discretionary spending since none of the 12 appropriations bills have been signed into law. While key entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would continue making payments, administrative delays could affect new enrollments. With a razor-thin Republican majority in the House and the need for bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, negotiations remain fraught, as both parties clash over budgetary provisions that could make or break a last-minute deal. The economic consequences of a prolonged shutdown, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, would be immediate yet largely reversible. A month-long halt in government operations could shave 0.4 percentage points off GDP growth in the first quarter, though a rebound is expected once normal spending resumes. While federal workers may face furloughs, unemployment figures would not be affected in March but could rise by 0.5 percentage points in April if the impasse drags on. Inflation would see a temporary uptick because furloughed federal workers’ output wouldn’t be counted, even though they will eventually be paid.

More:
• Economic Data Collection: The shutdown will delay crucial economic reports like the consumer price index (CPI), unemployment rate, and retail sales data.
• Federal Agencies: Around 850,000 workers could be furloughed.
• Impact on the Fed: The Federal Reserve, which operates independently, will continue normal operations, including the scheduled March 18-19 FOMC meeting.

As Bloomberg concludes: In normal times, avoiding a shutdown would be a big priority – but now, amid the flurry of dramatic steps early in Trump’s term, it’s just one of many competing priorities. It’s not clear if the two sides can find common ground. Only twice before has the government been shuttered when one party controlled the White House, House of Representatives and Senate – and both were during the first Trump administration. Whether a third such episode can be avoided will depend on how the two sides assess the tactical risks of bringing the normal operations of government to a halt.

The first judge DID block DOGE, “citing concerns over insufficient vetting and training” and saying “..the potential consequences of a cybersecurity breach could be catastrophic.”

Really, the Treasury is better at training and security than Musk and Big Balls? Is that judge just ignorant or is something else amiss?

• Federal Judge Denies Request to Block DOGE From Accessing Treasury Data (ET)

A federal judge in Washington has refused to block staff from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems that contain millions of Americans’ personal data. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly—who previously restricted DOGE’s work at the Treasury to two employees with read-only access—issued a decision on March 7 that rejects a request from the Alliance for Retired Americans and several employee unions to bar DOGE staff from the Treasury’s Fiscal Service system, which processes roughly 90 percent of federal payments. In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly determined that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that allowing DOGE employees access to the system would result in irreparable harm.

“If Plaintiffs could show that Defendants imminently planned to make their private information public or to share that information with individuals outside the federal government with no obligation to maintain its confidentiality, the Court would not hesitate to find a likelihood of irreparable harm,” the judge wrote. She found no indication of any plans to misuse or improperly disclose sensitive data, and noted that the plaintiffs are free to return to court to seek emergency remedy if these circumstances change. The decision also lifts Kollar-Kotelly’s earlier access restrictions, which had permitted two DOGE-affiliated individuals to view the Fiscal Service system on a read-only basis. DOGE staff remain barred from the Fiscal Service under a separate order issued by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York.

Vargas, responding to a lawsuit from 19 Democratic attorneys general, partially granted their request to block DOGE personnel from the Treasury’s payment system, citing concerns over insufficient vetting and training. “Indeed, taking the time to adequately mitigate potential security concerns and properly onboard members to engage in this work outweighs the defendants’ immediate need to access and redevelop [the] Treasury system,” Vargas stated in her 64-page order. “Without addressing these issues, the potential consequences of a cybersecurity breach could be catastrophic.”

Vargas left open the possibility of lifting or modifying her order if the administration certifies that DOGE staff have undergone proper training and obtained necessary security clearances. She also denied the plaintiffs’ request to impose broader restrictions preventing DOGE from creating processes to stop payments within the Treasury’s systems. Vargas argued that such measures would “far exceed” the scope of the earlier temporary restraining order and that the plaintiffs had not justified the need for such extensive relief against DOGE.

Homan will get there.

• Early ICE Arrests Are Below 5% Of Trump’s Target: Here’s Why (JTN)

President Donald Trump put the figure of illegal aliens in the U.S. under President Joe Biden at 21 million during his Tuesday address to Congress, but the latest arrest figures show his administration on pace to apprehend less than 5% of that amount by the end of his term. “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States,” Trump said. “Many of them were murders, human traffickers, gang members and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world because of Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies, they are now strongly embedded in our country.” The latest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures pointed to 20,000 arrests in Trump’s first month. Calculated as 20,000 in 30 days, the daily rate came to 667 arrests, which projected over four years would lead to slightly fewer than one million arrests by the end of Trump’s term, or 4.8% of the 21 million.

Put simply, ICE arrests are significantly behind schedule and would need to total roughly 440,000 per month to see Trump’s target met. Border Czar Tom Homan has expressed optimism that federal law enforcement can meet that target. So, why then the sluggish pace? The short answer is money. After a string of continuing resolutions from Congress to avoid government shutdowns, ICE and other immigration-related agencies are operating at Biden-era funding levels. That administration prioritized processing illegal entrants to the United States rather than removing them and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did not make arrests at a comparable rate to current figures.

Border funding is on the table, of course, but pending the resolution of House and Senate budget battles, there exists little in the way of resources to expand operations. Capacity issues prompted efforts to expand detention at Guantanamo Bay, though an early effort to use tents to expand the facility was abandoned over standards concerns. On Wednesday, reports emerged that the administration had halted deportation flights using military aircraft due to cost concerns. At present, the House and Senate remain divided on a one-step vs. two-step funding plan, with Trump himself favoring the former. The upper chamber has sought to advance border funding in the first phase while addressing Trump’s tax promises in a second. But no surge in additional funding to address the border crisis is expected until the resolution of that standoff.

Homan initially outlined plans to prioritize illegal alien violent criminals, namely those tied to gangs such as Tren de Aragua, repeat deportees, and those convicted of crimes. Recent ICE social media posts have pointed to MS-13 gang member arrests and efforts to handle trafficking operations. On February 20, the U.S. Department of State announced that Executive Order 14157 designates drug cartels and international gangs as “as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).” “We are prioritizing public safety threats, child predators, rapists, murderers. These are the worst of the worst walking around your communities,” Homan told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in late February. “And you would think any elected mayor, any elected governor, any elected city councilwoman would want public safety threats removed from their communities.”

ICE stopped posting regular updates on daily arrests weeks ago, leading to speculation that arrests had ground to a halt. The recently unveiled 20,000 figure appeared to confirm that the pace was not on target. Arrests and deportation figures are not the same. Potentially simplifying things for ICE, however, is the precipitous decline in new entrants to the U.S., with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting only 61,465 encounters at the southwest land border in January. The agency has yet to report on February’s numbers, which are expected to be much lower, but the January figures still represent a significant decline from the December 2023 high of 301,981.

ICE enforcement statistics are not currently up to date and are published on a quarterly basis. An ICE spokesperson told Just the News that “since Jan. 20, ICE has significantly increased its immigration enforcement activities with additional support from other federal law enforcement and DOD partners. In an effort to keep the American people informed about the results of our efforts with only the most accurate information, ICE is compiling and validating the data and is working toward publishing our enforcement statistics on a monthly basis.”

“It’s about time someone in Washington had the courage to stand up to these corporate giants. Monday can’t come soon enough.”

• Something Huge for the MAHA Movement Is About To Happen (Margolis)

The foxes are about to meet the new guardian of the henhouse, and it promises to be quite the showdown! Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is scheduled to meet with executives from General Mills, PepsiCo, and other food industry giants on Monday, according to a report from Politico. And boy, do they have some explaining to do. Kennedy, who’s been waging war against what he calls the “chemical-intensive processed foods” poisoning Americans, isn’t exactly known for pulling punches. During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, he boldly declared what many of us have known for years: “Something is poisoning the American people.” Now he’s taking his fight directly to the corporate boardrooms of Big Food.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect—or more terrifying—for these corporate executives. With the Health and Agriculture Departments set to craft new Dietary Guidelines for Americans this year, the stakes couldn’t be higher. These guidelines shape everything from what our kids eat at school to what your doctor tells you about nutrition. What’s particularly interesting about this whole situation is that the Consumer Brands Association—the very group representing these food giants—initiated the meeting proposal back in February. This could be a sign they’re willing to do what it takes to make foods healthy again, or they’re going to play offense against the changes Kennedy wants to make. So what’s going to happen with to their precious seed oils and chemical additives? Will Big Food capitulate to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement?

The meeting agenda remains “undecided” as of Friday, which has apparently caused quite the stir among CBA board members. It could mean they are trying to figure out how to defend their ultra-processed food empire against someone who’s made it his mission to expose their role in America’s chronic illness epidemic. But some industry insiders are whispering that these CEOs might actually cave to Kennedy’s demands. The real question is whether these corporate bigwigs will finally acknowledge their role in America’s health crisis, or continue hiding behind their slick marketing campaigns and army of lobbyists. Kennedy’s appointment signals that the days of business as usual might be coming to an end for Big Food.

Steak 'n Shake is proud to support MAHA and Secretary Kennedy! Your days are numbered seed oil. We want to lead the way and make a difference! #MAHA pic.twitter.com/oGo5xNLQEe

— Steak 'n Shake (@SteaknShake) March 7, 2025

Several fast food chains have recently announced they are switching to beef tallow for frying. One such chain is Steak ‘n Shake, which announced its support of RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement on Friday. One thing’s certain: Monday’s meeting won’t be your typical corporate kumbaya session. With Kennedy’s track record of calling out food conglomerates for their role in increasing childhood chronic illnesses, these executives better bring more than their usual PR talking points to the table. The American people are watching, and they’re tired of being force-fed chemicals disguised as food. It’s about time someone in Washington had the courage to stand up to these corporate giants. Monday can’t come soon enough.

“..completed the hazardous materials cleanup in Los Angeles in just 29 days—far ahead of initial projections. “The estimates were it was going to take 18 months..”

• The Media Can’t Hide This Trump Victory Forever (Margolis)

The Trump administration has shattered expectations with its rapid response to the Los Angeles wildfire cleanup, delivering results in record time and proving critics wrong. Despite accusations of inefficiency and political grandstanding, the administration worked closely with California officials to expedite the recovery effort. And no one is covering it. CNN’s Scott Jennings pointed this out Friday night on “Laura Coates Live” on CNN, after Keith Boykin, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House aide, made a wild accusation that the Trump administration was responsible for “waste, fraud, and abuse” across various sectors, including water management and foreign aid.

“Not to mention the $400 million going to Elon Musk for his Cybertruck,” Boykin claimed. “This is the waste, fraud, and abuse in America. It’s not because of the federal workers doing their jobs. It’s because Donald Trump is self-dealing.” The Cybertruck story was debunked last month, by the way. But to the larger point that somehow Trump is causing “waste, fraud, and abuse” in America, Jennings destroyed that claim in a matter of seconds by highlighting an achievement that has gotten virtually no coverage in the media. It turns out that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Trump completed the hazardous materials cleanup in Los Angeles in just 29 days—far ahead of initial projections. “The estimates were it was going to take 18 months,” Jennings pointed out. “But this is the cleanup of the hazardous material that you have to do in order to start rebuilding. Twenty-nine days.”

Jennings dismissed the narrative that Trump was neglecting California, emphasizing instead the growing confidence in government efficiency under his leadership. “All this idea that there’s photo ops and waste and fraud and whatever and that Donald Trump was going to abandon California and L.A.—the EPA under Donald Trump, 29 days.”

"The EPA under Trump has completed the Phase 1 cleanup in the wildfire zone in LA in a record 29 days. The estimates were it was going to take 18 months."

"There's quite a bit of confidence in government right now because Trump's now the President"

Scott Jennings nails it. pic.twitter.com/mJuXg3lSiC

— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) March 8, 2025

Have you heard anything about this? Probably not, but it’s true. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the achievement on February 26. “President Trump set an extremely ambitious deadline for EPA to clean up all hazardous materials in the wake of the deadly California wildfires. Thanks to his leadership and the hard work of countless personnel in the field, we got it done in record time. There is still a long road ahead for thousands of residents who lost everything just a few weeks ago, but EPA is proud to do our part in the recovery process. The community will rebuild stronger than ever before,” Zeldin said in a statement. According to the agency, this effort “has been the largest wildfire hazardous waste cleanup in the history of the EPA.”

At the direction of President Trump, EPA partnered with the U.S. military and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop and execute a response plan. Under EPA leadership, crews identified and cleared hazardous materials from 13,612 residential properties and 305 commercial properties, paving the way for debris removal and other stages of the recovery effort to move forward. Administrator Zeldin traveled to Los Angeles on February 6, 2025, to survey damage and meet with EPA personnel on the ground. The results speak for themselves. Make no mistake about it, the Biden administration would have taken at least 18 months to get it done. The Trump administration took 29 days. Thanks to Trump, the government is working more efficiently and effectively, and the rebuilding process will be able to begin far sooner than anticipated. Once again, Trump delivered where bureaucrats and politicians had long failed.

Found this funny: “..replace the wording about Russia’s ability to “maintain its war” with “earn revenue..”

• US Pushing To Soften Anti-Russia Language In G7 Document (RT)

The US has been pushing to soften the language aimed at Russia in the final communique of the upcoming G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Bloomberg has reported, citing a draft of the joint statement and people familiar with the matter. The Group of Seven, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US, will meet next week in the Canadian city of Charlevoix. According to the report published on Saturday, the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing to strengthen the language on China while “watering down” the wording on Russia. The US wants to remove the word ‘sanctions’ from the final statement and replace the wording about Russia’s ability to “maintain its war” with “earn revenue,” Bloomberg said. The US has reportedly rejected Canada’s proposal to establish a task force that would monitor the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers the West claims Russia is operating to bypass sanctions on energy exports.

During the final weeks of the previous administration of President Joe Biden, the US blacklisted more than 180 vessels allegedly used to illegally transport Russian oil. Moscow insists that all Western sanctions are illegal and has denied that it operates a shadow fleet. Trump has abandoned his predecessor’s strategy of “isolating” Russia on the world stage and reopened direct talks with Russia, which were suspended in 2022. He has stressed that his priority is to end the conflict through diplomacy and reach a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev. Last week, Trump suggested that the US could lift the sanctions “at some point” during peace talks. He has since threatened Moscow with a new round of “large-scale” sanctions until a ceasefire and a “final settlement agreement on peace” is reached. Moscow has stated that the Western sanctions have failed to weaken or isolate Russia, instead harming the countries that imposed them.

“..it would “probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

• Ukraine Loses Access To US Commercial Satellites (RT)

The US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has stopped providing Ukraine with satellite imagery paid for by Washington, several media outlets have reported, citing a statement by the agency. The decision was made in line with President Donald Trump’s “directive on support to Ukraine,” it said. The move follows Washington’s recent freeze on further weapons deliveries and intelligence sharing with Kiev, which, in turn, came on the heels of last Friday’s altercation between Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House. The US head of state accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III” by refusing to seek peace with Russia.

On Friday, the Washington Post, ABC News, and several other media outlets reported, citing a statement from the agency itself, that the NGA had “temporarily suspended [Ukraine’s] access” to commercial satellite imagery purchased by the US government. The NGA is a unit within the Department of Defense. The same day, Maxar, a leading US provider of commercial satellite imagery, issued a statement, confirming that the “U.S. government has temporarily suspended Ukrainian accounts” in the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery program. According to the Washington Post, the Ukrainian military, artillery and drone units in particular, had heavily relied on the NGA service. The media outlet quoted several Ukrainian service members as saying that the “suspension was immediately felt” by Kiev’s forces.

The publication noted, however, that Kiev could still access this kind of satellite imagery via its own accounts. In a post on X on Wednesday, Oliver Carroll, a staff writer for The Economist, claimed that the US had ceased providing Ukraine with the data needed to conduct long-range strikes on Russian targets with the help of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). Also on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox Business that Trump had “asked for a pause” in intelligence sharing with Ukraine to determine whether Kiev was ready to negotiate peace with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Washington’s decision to halt intelligence sharing with Kiev proved that without the West’s direct involvement “Ukraine would not be able to… launch long-range missiles at our territory.” Commenting on Tuesday on the halt of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed cautious optimism, noting that if the US were to suspend supplies altogether, it would “probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

“..that would require every adult male in Poland to undergo “large-scale military training” to prepare for a potential conflict with Russia..”

• Polish PM Plans To Double Size Of Army (RT)

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has unveiled plans to more than double the size of the country’s military to 500,000. Speaking in the Polish Parliament on Friday, Tusk said Poland must be prepared for future conflicts and strengthen its defenses. Tusk reiterated his earlier claims that Russia poses a threat to Europe, saying Moscow could launch a “full-scale operation” against a “larger” target than Ukraine within three to four years – which Russia has repeatedly dismissed as unfounded. He argued that Poland must serve as a “bastion” to protect NATO’s eastern flank and should expand its military capabilities. “We’re talking about the need to have an army of half-a-million in Poland, including the reservists,” he stated, noting that Poland’s current armed forces number around 200,000, which he compared to Russia’s estimated 1.3 million troops.

Tusk said his government is drafting legislation that would require every adult male in Poland to undergo “large-scale military training” to prepare for a potential conflict with Russia. “We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats,” he said. He added that Polish women may also be required to undergo military training, thought “war is still to a greater extent the domain of men.” Tusk’s remarks came a day after EU leaders approved a major military spending plan to unlock billions of euros to build up defense capabilities. The initiative – ReArm Europe – which was adopted following an emergency summit in Brussels, hikes defense spending by up to €800 billion ($840 billion) – twice the total EU defense expenditures in 2024.

The Kremlin condemned the bloc’s “militarization” plan, calling it a path towards confrontation that hinders peace efforts with Ukraine. In addition to a larger army, Tusk said Poland must enhance its military capabilities, including through the acquisition of nuclear and “modern unconventional weapons.” Tusk’s speech followed his recent accusations that Moscow is fueling a new arms race, and calls for fellow EU nations to ramp up defense spending. The Kremlin has criticized Tusk’s rhetoric as confrontational and militaristic. Moscow has rejected accusations that it poses a military threat to Europe, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing the claims as “nonsense” designed to justify increased military budgets.

Kursk.

• Ukraine’s Losses Mounting Due To US Intel Freeze (RT)

The recent suspension of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine has critically weakened Kiev’s defense capabilities, leading to substantial casualties, territorial losses – particularly in the occupied part of Russia’s Kursk Region – and plummeting morale, Time reported on Friday, citing Western and Ukrainian officials familiar with the situation. One unnamed official claimed that the lack of US intel directly resulted in “hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” adding that “the biggest problem is morale,” as Kiev is unable to effectively use some of its most powerful Western-supplied weapons. According to Time, the abrupt halt in intelligence sharing has affected the Ukrainian foothold in the Russian border region of Kursk, which Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky regards as a bargaining chip in potential peace talks with Russia.

The magazine said, citing sources, that Russia has made swift advances in the area, aiming to cut off Ukrainian supply lines into the region. According to Ukrainian media reports citing the Deep State monitoring website, Russian forces have nearly cut off Kiev’s foothold in Kursk Region from the border. The New York Post reported, citing sources, that Ukrainian forces in the region could wrap up their incursion within as little as two weeks due to supply shortages and deteriorating battlefield conditions. On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed gains in the region, saying Russian troops had liberated three villages. Ukraine invaded Kursk Region last August, and while it initially made some gains, the advance was soon halted.

A source in Zelensky’s government told Time that the loss of US intel has had major consequences beyond Kursk. The magazine noted that Ukraine has lost its ability to track Russian bombers and fighter jets, leaving the country vulnerable to surprise attacks. “It’s very dangerous for our people,” the source said. “It has to be immediately changed.” The halt in intelligence sharing has also weakened Ukraine’s ability to launch long-range and intermediate-range strikes against Russian military positions, as these operations rely heavily on precise targeting information from US reconnaissance data, Time added.

The US froze military aid and intelligence support for Ukraine following a heated exchange between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump on February 28 at the White House. During the televised meeting, Zelensky cast doubt on the possibility of diplomacy with Russia and told Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance that the US “will feel” the impact of the conflict. Trump accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful for the US aid to Kiev, as well as being reluctant to seek peace with Russia while “gambling with World War III.” US officials have said the suspension of aid will remain in place until Kiev shows a commitment to holding peace talks.

“..perhaps his handlers figured out that rolling a diseased-looking hippo in a white coat out in front of the cameras to parrot pharma industry talking points isn’t the compelling sell they would hope it might be.”

• Trump CDC to Probe Long-Rumored Vaccine-Autism Link (PJM)

Sources inside the Trump administration have leaked reported plans to put the CDC to work studying the “potential connections between vaccines and autism,” per the Washington Post. Via Washington Post:

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a study into the potential connections between vaccines and autism, according to two people familiar with the plan, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that there is no link between the two. The request for the study came from Trump administration officials, said the two people familiar with the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy have repeatedly linked vaccines to autism… In a statement, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said: “As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening. The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering.”… The number of autism cases is rising in the United States. About 1 in 36 children has received such a diagnosis, according to data the CDC collected from 11 states, compared with 1 in 150 children in 2000.”

For the first time in history, the American people might actually get an exhaustive, thorough, (fingers-crossed) unbiased examination of the long-suspected link between the ever-growing list of recommended (for all practical purposes, mandated) childhood vaccines and skyrocketing autism rates among American children. The biomedical industry that would stand to lose billions — along with its credibility, possibly forever — if the results of this investigation don’t go its way is not likely to simply allow the research to go forward unimpeded. And it has a major asset on its side: the legacy corporate state media machine that, although it’s losing influence, still holds massive sway in terms of narrative-setting.

For such propagandistic purposes, MSNBC turned to the de facto face of the “vaccinate everything and let God sort it out” side of the ideological spectrum, Dr. Peter Hotez. (To be radically fair to Hotez, he’s looking significantly less bloated these days than we are accustomed to seeing him. Speculatively, perhaps his handlers figured out that rolling a diseased-looking hippo in a white coat out in front of the cameras to parrot pharma industry talking points isn’t the compelling sell they would hope it might be.)

Me thinks the doctor doth protest too much; if he’s as sure of his professed belief in vaccine safety as he portrays, why wouldn’t he be eager to put the conspiracy theories to bed once and for all rather than shut down any inquiry before it gets off the ground? For the record, Peter Hotez got everything wrong that he possibly could have during the pandemic in terms of his pronouncements regarding the COVID shots as a frequent guest on corporate state media. Hotez also — and he should never be allowed to skirt this stain either — declared himself, with none of the commensurate shame, a “junk-food-a-holic” on Joe Rogan’s podcast a few years back at the height of COVID insanity. He then, like the weasel that he is, justified his horrific dietary habits by hiding behind his autistic daughter, claiming that their trips to the “Burger Joint” are ritual bonding experiences that they share.

In honor of Peter Hotez blocking me for sharing this clip of him on The Joe Rogan Experience blaming his autistic daughter for his poor diet, I’m sharing it again.

Also, what kind of adult doesn’t take a daily multivitamin?l pic.twitter.com/rzjn7vHK6F

— Storm (@stormrobinson) February 3, 2023

A Moneypenny spinoff?!

• Bezos Ousts Bond Producers Over ‘Idiots’ Remark (RT)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken full creative control of the James Bond franchise after longtime producer Barbara Broccoli reportedly called his executives “f**king idiots,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote on Friday. According to insiders, Bezos reacted immediately, ordering her removal at any cost, which ultimately led to a $1 billion deal. As a result, Amazon now holds full control over the future of James Bond. Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, gaining distribution rights to the films, but creative control remained with Eon Productions under Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. The duo resisted Amazon’s proposed spin-offs, including a Moneypenny series and a female-led 007 project, preferring to maintain James Bond’s traditional narrative.

Tensions between Broccoli, Wilson, and Amazon executives escalated in late 2024. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that Broccoli privately told friends she did not trust “algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct.” She also described the status of the next Bond film as dire, with no script, no story, and no actor chosen for the role. In the same conversation, referring to the company while among executives, she said, “These people are f**king idiots.”

The comment enraged Bezos, prompting him to take drastic action, the Hollywood Reporter stated. “He read her quote in the Journal and got on the phone and said, ‘I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her,’” an insider told the magazine. Soon afterwards, Amazon struck a deal worth nearly $1 billion to remove Broccoli and Wilson from creative control and bring the franchise under Amazon MGM Studios. After the deal was finalized in February 2025, Bezos shared a headline on X that read, “James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon,” adding the caption, “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?”

Dore

After living through COVID, Russiagate, the Ukraine war, the Syrian war, and 20 years of Afghanistan, I am now doubting climate change.

Especially since I found out how easily medical journals and doctors can be corrupted by Big Pharma. None of the climate predictions have come… pic.twitter.com/kyGnBagvVJ

— Jimmy Dore (@jimmy_dore) March 9, 2025

Milk

This farmer gives ones of the best explanations you will ever hear about why unpasteurized milk is healthier for you and lasts longer! pic.twitter.com/sxdRgePNC0

— Conspiracy Gardener Homestead (@DaysofNoahGen6) March 8, 2025

Genius
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898335037918945515

Toucan

A dog trapped in a toucan's body pic.twitter.com/lH7C6kI8e1

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) March 8, 2025

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Debt Rattle Valentine’s Day 2025

Feb 142025

February 14, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:22 am Finance Tagged with: AI, buyout, Elon Musk, G7, JD Vance, military budget, Munich, NED, Putin, RFK jr, Trump, Zelensky 50 Responses »

Margaret Gillies Charles Dickens 1844

• Trump To Xi, Putin: Let’s Cut Military Budget In Half – Russia Back In G7 (ZH)

• Russia and US To Hold ‘High-Level’ Meeting In Munich Friday – Trump (RT)

• Trump’s Call With Putin Marks A Shift In Global Power (Fyodor Lukyanov)

• Putin-Trump Summit On The Way – Kremlin (RT)

• Trump Wants A Deal With Russia – But Can He Deliver? (Suchkov)

• RFK Jr. Confirmed As Trump’s Health Secretary (RT)

• Panic Grips European Leaders as EU Left Out of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

• European NATO ‘Fears Cost’ Of Trump’s Ukraine Burden Shift (RT)

• Orban Sees EU As Undeserving Of Role In Ukraine Settlement Talks (TASS)

• Vance Blasts ‘Russian Meddling’ Excuse (RT)

• Musk Fraud Probes May Explain ‘Urgency’ of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

• Zelensky Targets Political Opposition (RT)

• Trump Will Terminate ‘Woke’ Policies – Musk (RT)

• Trump Freezes All National Endowment for Democracy Funding (RT)

• DOGE Exposes Insane Federal Use Of Old Limestone Mine (MN)

• Musk: “We Need To Delete Entire Agencies”; Fed Worker Buyout Tops 75,000 (ZH)

• US Govt Paid Reuters For ‘Social Deception’ – Musk (RT)

• The Great AI Game: US, China Vie For West Asian Cash (Cradle)

• The Pentagon Is Recruiting Elon Musk To Help Them Win A Nuclear War (MacLeod)

CNN

pic.twitter.com/aB0gwH9mBV

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2025

182
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889801494897238094

Trump Zel
https://twitter.com/i/status/1890000851185668123

Tulsi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889873438791073796

Benz
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889851950189125656

Leavitt

The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 TRILLION in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas, to people who should not have gotten it.

Democrats, SHUT THE FUCK UP! This government's spending needs to be audited and gutted. pic.twitter.com/da2sjib7e5

— Errol Webber (@ErrolWebber) February 12, 2025

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889744236867707247

"Does Elon Musk have powers of the presidency?"

Karoline Leavitt: "Absolutely not. That's a ridiculous question — and nothing more than a failed attempt by the media to try and sow division. We saw them do it in the first term; we're not going to let them do it in the 2nd term." pic.twitter.com/RuwzSir3AS

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) February 12, 2025

Tillis

This disgusting threat was made against @elonmusk for helping President Trump eliminate government waste and protect taxpayer dollars. We need to find out who paid for this and who allowed it to be posted.

cc: @MayorBowser pic.twitter.com/ub2Vbpznjf

— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) February 12, 2025

Rand Paul

Senator Rand Paul: "And then we now have Pfizer paying $800 million to the NIH to share the patent. We have Moderna paying $400 million, over a trillion dollars. And so it becomes, I would think, impossible for a human to be objective. You know, if you give me a trillion dollars,… pic.twitter.com/NpQ8eKXVDD

— Camus (@newstart_2024) February 13, 2025

JD Vance criticizes “American leaders” who pick a side in the war in Ukraine:

“Unfortunately, you got a lot of American leaders who like to beat their chest and say; this [Ukraine] is the good guy and this [Russia] is the bad guy.”

*Russia is the bad guy pic.twitter.com/7uVg0d9i5w

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) February 13, 2025

Full collision course with the MIC/deep state.

And: you can demand that Europe pays more, or you can pay less yourself.

• Trump To Xi, Putin: Let’s Cut Military Budget In Half – Russia Back In G7 (ZH)

On Thursday President Donald Trump continued to signal positive feelings about a future relationship with Russia and Putin, telling reporters that he’d like to see Russia invited back in to join the The Group of Seven major economies, or G7, which until 2014 was the G8 when Russia was included. “I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8,” Trump said from the Oval Office upon announcing new US reciprocal tariffs. “I said, ‘What are you doing? You guys – all you’re talking about is Russia and they should be sitting at the table.’ And he then added, “I think Putin would love to be back.”

The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. In 2014 these nations decided to expel Russia over the annexation of Crimea, but Moscow pointed out that Crimeans overwhelmingly voted to become part of the Russian Federation after a popular referendum. Another highlight from the Oval Office press conference was when the president called on China and Russia to join the United States in agreeing to cut their enormous defense budgets in half. He said in the context of also urging the three major powers to restart nuclear arms control talks.

“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to,” Trump declared. According to an Associated Press summary of the comments: Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their own spending. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump continued. Russia and the US have long had the world’s biggest nuclear arsenals, but China has in the last ten years been making strides to greatly bolster its strategic capabilities, which has alarmed the West. Trump warned that any future nuclear use by a global power is “going to be probably oblivion.” Likely Moscow and Beijing will receive these words positively as an overture, especially on the nuclear front, but neither will actually heed Trump’s call to pledge a 50% reduction in defense spending – especially when Russia is at war in Ukraine and under US-EU sanctions. They might tell the Trump White House instead: ‘your move first’.

The Munich Security Conference was going to take place anyway, but it acquires a whole new status now. JD Vance leads the US delegation, Foreign Ministers Rubio and Lavrov(?!) will be present. Perfect settings to prepare the Putin-Trump get-together. Not sometime in the future, but today, Feb. 14, and over the weekend. Things move fast.

• Russia and US To Hold ‘High-Level’ Meeting In Munich Friday – Trump (RT)

President Donald Trump has announced that “high-level” US representatives will meet their Russian counterparts at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to discuss a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, marking the first known direct interaction between the Russian and US heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Thursday, Trump said the phone call paved the way for further direct contacts between American and Russian officials. “They’re having a meeting in Munich tomorrow. Russia is going to be there with our people,” Trump told journalists at the White House on Thursday. Trump added that “Ukraine is also invited, by the way,” but did not specify the format of the meeting or clarify whether it would be a three-way dialogue or a series of bilateral talks.

“Not sure exactly who’s going to be there from any country, but high-level people from Russia, from Ukraine, and from the United States,” the US leader added. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that the fact that both presidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a “very important achievement” that has “set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministries and so on, that will now gradually begin dialogue and prepare the next contacts.” “Now that the leaders have demonstrated political will and provided their aides with the necessary instructions to initiate communication, we ask for a bit of patience. These discussions need time to gain momentum,” Peskov said.

The Munich Security Conference is taking place from February 14 to 16 in Munich, Germany. US Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the American delegation at the MSC, where he is expected to meet with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conference is an opportunity for American officials to “lay out a broad path forward” on Ukraine. Meanwhile, US presidential envoy for the Ukraine conflict Keith Kellogg is reportedly expected to make it clear that the US has no intention of deploying troops to protect Ukraine and wants European NATO allies to increase their defense spending. Russian officials have not attended the Munich Conference since 2022, and Moscow has yet to confirm its participation this year or announce the composition of its delegation.

“The liberal world order is no longer a guiding principle – it is a relic of the past..”

• Trump’s Call With Putin Marks A Shift In Global Power (Fyodor Lukyanov)

The long-anticipated phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has finally taken place, sending shock waves through the geopolitical landscape. But before anyone gets carried away with triumph or despair, it’s worth recognizing what has actually happened: Russian-US relations have simply returned to their natural state – one of strategic rivalry, conflicting interests, and fundamental differences in worldview. For decades, the US pursued a fantasy – one where it could reshape Russia in its own image, first through incentives and later through coercion. Washington believed it could mold Moscow into a compliant partner within the ‘liberal international order’, an illusion that only collapsed when reality hit: Russia was never going to be remade. Meanwhile, Moscow spent years trying to find common ground, adjusting its own policies in hopes of reaching a workable coexistence.

That experiment, too, ended a decade ago. The dissolution of the Cold War system in the late 1980s was a historical anomaly, a fluke that many mistook for a permanent transformation. The Western narrative of ‘victory’ was premature – history does not end, it evolves. Over time, the illusion of a unipolar world became harder to sustain, and the global balance of power began shifting. Those who benefited from the old order clung to it desperately, while those who felt shortchanged pushed back harder. Ukraine became the unfortunate fault line in this struggle, the battleground of irreconcilable visions. What is happening now is not the beginning of a new era but the inevitable correction of an old one.

The US, even under Trump’s presidency, has recognized that great power rivalry is once again the defining feature of international politics. But unlike previous decades, when ideological battles masked geopolitical interests, the new competition is more pragmatic, stripped of the pretense of universal values. The liberal world order is no longer a guiding principle – it is a relic of the past. This shift does not guarantee peace, nor does it eliminate the risks of confrontation. But it does bring a certain rationality back into the equation. The West’s ideological zeal, which often led it to take reckless, counterproductive actions, is giving way to a more sober assessment of power and interests. The focus is no longer on forcing one side to submit, but on negotiating tangible advantages.

Russia, meanwhile, is positioned as a key player in shaping this new world order. The strategic fantasies of the 1990s have been replaced with a hard-nosed realism that acknowledges the limits of Western power. The reset to ‘factory settings’ does not mean stability – it means a return to the fundamentals of global politics, where strength, influence, and calculated diplomacy dictate the course of history.

The view from Moscow: “..the Trump team apparently “holds the view that everything must be done to stop the war and for peace to prevail..”

• Putin-Trump Summit On The Way – Kremlin (RT)

It is hard to overestimate the significance of the recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He also noted that the presidents have instructed their teams to lay the groundwork for the summit. The call on Wednesday marked the first known conversation between the US and Russian leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Trump has since signaled that he is “okay” with keeping Ukraine out of NATO and suggested that it is “unlikely” that Kiev could regain all of the territory it has lost to Russia over the past decade. Trump also noted that the presidents had exchanged invitations to visit each other’s countries.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Peskov described the phone call as “a very important conversation.” “Against the backdrop of what has been happening for several years, there have been no contacts at the highest level between Moscow and Washington,” he said, noting that this landscape did not contribute to solving the Ukraine crisis. Unlike the administration of ex-US President Joe Biden, which believed that “everything must be done to ensure that the war continues,” the Trump team apparently “holds the view that everything must be done to stop the war and for peace to prevail,” Peskov said. “We are much more impressed by the position of the current administration, and we are open to dialogue,” the spokesman stressed. Peskov added that the leaders would remain in touch regarding a summit.

“They will focus on a separate meeting; they also agreed that instructions would be immediately given to the relevant assistants so that they would begin the relevant work.” At the same time, Peskov declined to reveal which side had initiated the engagement, while clarifying that there has been no agreement on whether Trump will come to Moscow to attend the Victory parade to celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. “Exchanging mutual invitations is one thing, but focusing on a separate bilateral meeting is a different process,” the spokesman noted. Regarding a potential territory swap with Ukraine, Peskov cautioned against “getting ahead of ourselves.” “There is political will… to conduct a dialogue to reach a settlement… We need to wait for… at least the first results of the joint work.”

At the same time, Peskov would not confirm or deny Trump’s remarks that Saudi Arabia would host a summit between the two leaders. He also did not provide any timeline for a potential Trump-Putin meeting, or when Russian and American work groups could get down to negotiations. “There is definitely a need for such a [Trump-Putin] meeting to be held promptly. The heads of state have a lot to talk about… It is also impossible to speculate on any deadlines at this point, because the work will only begin these days.”

“The idea that Trump and Putin could strike a deal on Ukraine [..] poses an existential threat to the current European security order.

• Trump Wants A Deal With Russia – But Can He Deliver? (Suchkov)

The defining geopolitical rivalry of the 21st century may be between the United States and China, but few interactions in global politics draw as much scrutiny and intrigue as those between America and Russia. While the future world order may hinge on the dynamics between Washington and Beijing, the stability of the world itself often depends on the relationship between the US and Moscow. Wednesday’s phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was a reminder of this enduring reality. It was also a signal that, for all the efforts to isolate Russia, serious negotiations are back on the table.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump has never treated Russia with the hostility so often expected in Washington. While he has mocked and insulted rivals and allies alike, from Mexico to NATO partners, Russia and India remain two notable exceptions. The US foreign policy establishment readily accepts Trump’s warmth toward India but views his respectful approach to Russia as something suspicious. Since his first presidency, speculation has swirled around whether Trump genuinely sees Russia as a major power deserving of engagement, or whether he simply understands that diplomacy with Moscow requires mutual respect. Whatever the case, the meticulous preparations that preceded this latest phone call suggest a stark contrast with Trump’s often impulsive approach to other world leaders. Every face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin during his first term was marked by strong personal chemistry and productive discussions on key global issues.

However, each time Trump returned to Washington, those tentative diplomatic breakthroughs were undermined by a political establishment determined to preserve the narrative of a Russian threat. Allegations of “Russian interference” sabotaged potential cooperation on Syria, Ukraine, counterterrorism, missile defense, and arms control. Now, with Trump back in office, those same forces are once again mobilizing to block any steps toward détente. The idea that Trump and Putin could strike a deal on Ukraine — one that would leave behind those who have invested political and financial capital into prolonging the war — poses an existential threat to the current European security order. It is no coincidence that this phone call took place just before the Munich Security Conference, where many of these “investors in war” gather to reinforce their commitments to perpetual conflict.

Yet, this conversation is merely the first step in a long and uncertain road. Trump’s primary focus remains making America — not Russia — “great again,” and any agreements he seeks with Moscow will be dictated by that priority. However, his openness to negotiation and strategic realism signal a shift in approach that could redefine the global balance of power. The next crucial moment will be an in-person meeting between the two leaders. Whether that meeting leads to a genuine breakthrough or another cycle of political sabotage remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: with the world watching and the stakes higher than ever, Trump and Putin have set the agenda — and their adversaries are paying attention.

“..Kennedy joined Trump’s campaign, with the latter vowing to let him “go wild” on healthcare policy.”

• RFK Jr. Confirmed As Trump’s Health Secretary (RT)

The US Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday. The confirmation was secured despite Democratic objections to what they described as Kennedy’s promotion of ‘conspiracy theories’ about vaccines and nutrition. The vote was largely divided along party lines, with 52 Republicans supporting the nomination and 48 Democrats opposing it. Former GOP leader Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against the confirmation. Kennedy, 71, an environmental lawyer, was nominated by US President Donald Trump shortly after his reelection victory in November last year. The vote breakdown marks the second time in as many days that McConnell has opposed one of Trump’s nominees. He was the only Republican to oppose the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday.

McConnell said he refused back RFK Jr. due to the nominee’s vaccine skepticism. “I’m a survivor of childhood polio … I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell stated. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement that “when dangerous diseases make a comeback and people struggle to access lifesaving vaccines, all Americans will pay the price.” Warren also warned that “with his significant, unresolved conflicts of interest, RFK Jr.’s family could continue profiting from his anti-vaccine agenda while he holds office.”

Kennedy, the founder of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, has gained prominence in the US for questioning the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccinations and promoting the claim that vaccines are linked to autism. He was also a vocal critic of the Covid-19 response measures recommended by the World Health Organization, including the strict lockdowns and rapid rollout of vaccines. Despite this, Kennedy denies being opposed to vaccination, noting that his own children are immunized. During his confirmation hearings, he stated that he simply advocates for stricter studies and safety testing of vaccines. Following an unsuccessful independent presidential bid, Kennedy joined Trump’s campaign, with the latter vowing to let him “go wild” on healthcare policy.

Kennedy has publicly backed Trump’s pledge to end the Ukraine conflict quickly. In a 2023 interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, he alleged that the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, had funneled $5 billion to support the protests that led to the 2014 Maidan coup. In the interview, Kennedy described USAID as a front for the CIA. He also referenced a leaked phone call between then-US diplomat Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, in which Nuland was heard selecting members of Ukraine’s post-coup government – just weeks before the president was overthrown. Kennedy is the son of former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

NOW – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes the oath of office to be sworn in as the 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services pic.twitter.com/to5JOGKY6E

— Overton (@overton_news) February 13, 2025

https://twitter.com/i/status/1890081625368854561

Schumer's opposition to RFK Jr. is less about public health and more about protecting his political and pharmaceutical allies.
"Mister president, this morning, the senate will vote on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy to serve as secretary of health and human services. By now,… pic.twitter.com/opRNvj5S8V

— Camus (@newstart_2024) February 13, 2025

Europe wants to be important. In reality, it is impotent. Close, but…

Why on earth would Trump and Putin want the likes of von der Leyen or Macron at the table? They would just be in the way.

• Panic Grips European Leaders as EU Left Out of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy issues, and the exchange of citizens in a telephone call that lasted for one and a half hours, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed. The phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has triggered a litany of reactions from European politicians. Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted a joined statement by several European states that read: “Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.” UK Defense Secretary John Healey claimed that no peace talks could be done “about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense chief, lamented the development as “regrettable” arguing that the Trump administration had made “concessions” to Russia, while asserting that “it would have been better to speak about a possible NATO membership for Ukraine or possible losses of territory at the negotiating table.” Joining the bandwagon, Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock added that “peace can only be achieved together. And that means: with Ukraine and with the Europeans.” In addition, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that “All we need is peace… Ukraine, Europe and the United States should work on this together.”

For his part, French top diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot insisted that “There will be no just and durable peace in Ukraine without Europeans.” Meanwhile, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur chimed in, saying: “Europe is investing in Ukrainian defense, and Europe is rebuilding Ukraine with European Union money, with our bilateral aid – so we have to be there.” And finally, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called for turbo-charging defense production among member states, adding: “We have to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of strength.”

It’s not just the money. Europe has no war industry, it has no troops. For decades, it let the US take care of all that. Much cheaper. It will take decades to re-balance this, if ever.

• European NATO ‘Fears Cost’ Of Trump’s Ukraine Burden Shift (RT)

Officials in European NATO states are reluctant to shoulder Ukraine’s security without US backing, The Financial Times reported on Thursday. This week, the US President Donald Trump administration signaled its desire for minimal involvement, once a possible truce is achieved. According to the FT, Washington’s transatlantic allies “fear they will have to bear the cost of postwar security and reconstruction” and are frustrated by Trump’s negotiations with Russia conducted without their input. One source indicated that a scenario where “the US says, ‘We did the ceasefire, and all of the rest is for you to clean up’” wouldn’t work for the EU. The diplomat further noted: “There is a limit to what the EU alone can realistically provide in terms of money, arms, and perhaps boots on the ground.”

Another EU official remarked that “the Americans don’t see a role for Europe in the big geopolitical questions related to the war,” adding: “Trump sees us as money.” Former US President Joe Biden’s stated policy was to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” a sentiment echoed by the EU and various national governments. The shift in Washington’s stance was articulated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a meeting of arms donors in Germany on Wednesday. Hegseth characterized Kiev’s ambition to recover territories it has lost since 2014 as “an unrealistic objective,” an “illusionary goal” would only lead to greater suffering. He also dismissed the feasibility of NATO membership for Ukraine and emphasized that any post-ceasefire peacekeeping mission should not involve the US-led military bloc or US forces: “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.”

Trump then made his intentions clear by announcing he had held a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK issued a joint statement on Wednesday evening alongside the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, reaffirming support for the previous US government’s approach. Releasing the statement on Wednesday Kallas declared Ukrainian territorial integrity “unconditional” and demanded Western Europe has a “central role” in any negotiations. Russia has consistently expressed concerns over NATO’s eastward expansion since the 1990s, viewing it as a direct threat to its national security. Moscow has viewed Ukraine’s potential NATO membership as a “red line” and a significant factor in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

“While [Trump and Putin] negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements. You can’t request a seat at the negotiating table. You have to earn it! Through strength, good leadership and smart diplomacy.”

• Orban Sees EU As Undeserving Of Role In Ukraine Settlement Talks (TASS)

The EU leadership has not earned a seat at the Ukraine negotiating table alongside Russia and the US, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. His comments came in response to a statement by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who, following phone talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, insisted that Europe and Ukraine should be included in any negotiations to resolve the conflict. The statement was issued on behalf of the EU as well as France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the UK.

“This declaration is a sad testament of bad Brusselian leadership. While President Donald Trump and President Putin negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements. You can’t request a seat at the negotiating table. You have to earn it! Through strength, good leadership and smart diplomacy. The position of Brussels – to support killing as long as it takes – is morally and politically unacceptable,” Orban wrote on X. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s conversation with Trump on Wednesday lasted almost 90 minutes. They discussed the crisis in Ukraine, the Middle East and exchanging convicted nationals of the two countries. The Russian and US leaders agreed to maintain communication and arrange a face-to-face meeting.

But that excuse is all Europe has.

• Vance Blasts ‘Russian Meddling’ Excuse (RT)

Western mainstream political parties blaming Russian meddling for electoral failures are increasingly out of touch with voters, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said. EU politicians would rather suppress dissent than reflect on their actions, he told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Ahead of attending the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Vance urged Western politicians to embrace the rise of anti-establishment politics. He criticized attempts to dismiss viewpoints on issues such as traditional values and immigration by those who attribute them to “misinformation.” “If your democratic society can be taken down by $200,000 of social media ads, then you should think seriously about how strong your grip on or how strong your understanding of the will of the people actually is,” Vance said.

Hillary Clinton, former US secretary of state and presidential candidate, notably popularized the tactic of blaming Russia following her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election — a claim Moscow has consistently denied. A recent instance occurred in Romania in December, where the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of voting in the country’s presidential election after right-wing anti-establishment candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly led the race. Media reports revealed that the alleged Russian interference cited by the court actually stemmed from a consulting firm associated with the ruling National Liberal Party. Allegations of Russian efforts to undermine Romanian democracy were promoted by Context, an NGO funded by the US through the National Endowment for Democracy — an organization that according to its co-founder Allen Weinstein is mostly doing in the open what the CIA previously did covertly.

The narrative suggesting Moscow bolstered Georgescu was supported by the US Embassy in Romania and senior American officials. Vance argued that mainstream parties in the EU are “kind of terrified of their own people.” He pointed to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which despite electoral success struggles to find coalition partners due to being labeled extremist by centrist factions. Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, ignited controversy in Berlin by endorsing the AfD in this month’s federal election, asserting that “the entire fate of Europe” hinges on its outcome. In response, the German government accused the billionaire of election interference, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz stating that freedom of speech does not encompass the promotion of “extreme-right positions.”

“..Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE sniff out “the fraud and corruption of the Biden Ukraine project.”

• Musk Fraud Probes May Explain ‘Urgency’ of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

“Trump appears to have a better understanding of the causes and conditions of the Ukraine-Russia and US/NATO versus Russia conflict,” retired US Air Force Lt. Col and ex-DoD analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik, commenting on Wednesday’s lengthy telephone conversation between the Russian and US leaders and its focus on Ukraine. “His tendency to be practical (something we are not seeing in his Israel-Gaza policy) is apparent here. The signal is one of deal making and practicality,” Kwiatkowski said. The call comes at a decisive moment, the observer stressed, pointing out that Congress will be teeing up a new package of aid to Ukraine shortly, with current commitments to run dry in March, as Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE sniff out “the fraud and corruption of the Biden Ukraine project.”

“I suspect this cannot be kept under the lid much longer, so this may explain the urgency of a settlement,” Kwiatkowski said. “Whether Trump gets a settlement he likes from Russia” or not “is not clear, but I think Trump realizes Russia has already won, and Europe/NATO, in agitating for a long costly wasteful war, needs to start dealing with what it has wrought,” the analyst said. Earlier in the day Wednesday, President Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with President Putin, and that the leaders had discussed an array of issues, focusing on Ukraine.

“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately,” Trump said, adding that his first step would be to call Volodymyr Zelensky. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed important details on the call, including Putin and Trump’s expression of mutual commitment to a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis. Putin reiterated the importance of addressing the “root causes” of the conflict, Peskov said, and invited Trump to visit Moscow. The conversation was said to have lasted for one and a half hours.

“..criticized Zelensky in parliament, accusing him of transforming Ukraine into a dictatorship with “closed borders, state-controlled television, and leader KimJong-Ze..”

• Zelensky Targets Political Opposition (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has imposed personal sanctions on five prominent individuals, including potential political rivals former President Pyotr Poroshenko and exiled opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk. Zelensky previously suspended elections nationwide, citing the ongoing conflict with Russia. On Wednesday evening, Zelensky put into power an order penned by the National Security and Defense Council, which he chairs. In addition to the two politicians, it targeted three wealthy entrepreneurs, including Poroshenko’s business partner Gennady Bogolyubov, former Dnepropetrovsk Region Governor Igor Kolomoysky, and former MP Konstantin Zhevago. Reports of impending sanctions against Poroshenko have circulated in the Ukrainian media since January.

The former president, now serving as an MP, has condemned Zelensky’s move as politically motivated and labeled it “a crime” with “many accomplices.” He accused Zelensky of attempting to scapegoat others for his own mistakes. MP Aleksey Goncharenko, a political ally of Poroshenko, criticized Zelensky in parliament, accusing him of transforming Ukraine into a dictatorship with “closed borders, state-controlled television, and leader KimJong-Ze,” alluding to the Western perception of North Korea. The sanctions issued by Zelensky vary in severity, ranging from largely symbolic revocations of state awards to the freezing of assets, prohibiting legal contracts, and barring the use of mass media for communication. Zelensky has framed the measures as essential for “protecting our state and restoring justice,” alleging that the five targeted individuals “earned billions by effectively selling out Ukraine and Ukrainian interests.”

The sanctions were announced shortly after US President Donald Trump reportedly secured Zelensky’s agreement to transfer $500 billion worth of Ukrainian rare earth minerals as compensation for American military assistance. Trump aims to swiftly resolve the Ukraine conflict while recouping costs for US taxpayers. Zelensky’s presidential term expired last year, although he has refused to call new elections or relinquish power, citing martial law in Ukraine. He maintains that his landslide victory over Poroshenko in 2019 grants him sufficient legitimacy and insists that Ukrainians are not interested in choosing a new leader at this time.

“..wasting taxpayer money on “ridiculous – and in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats..”

• Trump Will Terminate ‘Woke’ Policies – Musk (RT)

US President Donald Trump and his administration will work to end the promotion of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs across the world, Elon Musk announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday. The billionaire’s statement comes as Trump has launched a campaign aimed at ending DEI initiatives within the federal government since assuming office last month. Shortly after being sworn in, Trump repealed some 78 orders signed by his predecessor Joe Biden. This includes terminating DEI programs and ending protections for transgender individuals. Trump also set a 60-day deadline for federal agencies to cease all DEI-related practices.

Speaking via video link at the Dubai forum, Musk, who currently heads Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), acknowledged that there has been “a lot of pushing of DEI worldwide” by the US and stressed that the new administration “doesn’t agree” with this approach. “We want to terminate that stuff, and we are,” Musk said. He warned that if DEI principles were allowed to continue and be used to implement “crazy things that are untruthful” and “don’t reflect reality” into things like artificial intelligence, it could easily lead to a “very dystopian outcome.” Earlier this month, the billionaire claimed that DOGE had already saved the US over $1 billion by scrapping over 100 contracts related to DEI programs.

Musk also reported that his department has managed to cut federal spending by $1 billion per day by effectively halting “the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, the deletion of DEI, and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations.” Trump has also ordered the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad. The president accused the agency of wasting taxpayer money on “ridiculous – and in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats,” which included promoting DEI initiative both domestically and internationally. Musk has also called USAID a “criminal organization” and claimed that it had funded bioweapons research.

USAID’s ugly little sister.

• Trump Freezes All National Endowment for Democracy Funding (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s administration has frozen all funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), several media outlets reported on Wednesday. The move is said to have caused a “bloodbath” within the organization, leaving it unable to pay staff or fulfill financial commitments. The NED, established in 1983, is officially a nonprofit organization that provides grants to support democratic initiatives worldwide. However, over the years, it has faced allegations of covertly influencing political outcomes, with critics arguing that it has taken over covert functions previously handled by the CIA, particularly those aimed at overthrowing foreign governments.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has been in charge of finding ways to cut federal spending, singled out NED, calling it a ”scam” and an “evil organization” that needs to be dissolved. Since then, the organization has reportedly been “under siege” from Musk’s DOGE, according to Free Press. “It’s been a bloodbath,” one NED worker told the outlet, explaining that the organization has been unable to meet payroll and pay basic overhead expenses.

The NED has faced longstanding criticism over its role in supporting political movements to undermine sovereign governments. The Center for Renewing America, a think tank founded by Russell Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, released a policy paper on February 7, accusing the NED of acting as the “tip of the proverbial spear for heightened CIA and State Department efforts to foster political revolution in Ukraine.” The report claimed that the NED had funneled tens of millions of dollars to a myriad of Ukrainian political entities and anti-Russian interests and “advanced both the ‘Orange Revolution’ and ‘Maidan Revolution’ that paved the way for the current Ukraine-Russia war.”

The NED has also faced accusations of sponsoring “color revolutions” in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan and of funding opposition groups in Belarus, Serbia, and Egypt. “The reasons for defunding NED are as numerous as they are imperative,” Vought’s think tank wrote, listing things like “Ukraine warmongering” and “Middle East meddling” as the most clear and pressing rationales for dismantling the agency. The NED funding freeze comes as part of broader measures by the Trump administration to cut foreign spending. This has already included a crackdown on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad. Trump earlier called for the agency to be shut down, claiming it is run by “radical lunatics.”

Easily the craziest story this week. People can’t retire when the mineshaft elevator breaks down.

• DOGE Exposes Insane Federal Use Of Old Limestone Mine (MN)

Elon Musk’s DOGE has revealed that the federal government is using an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania to store tens of thousands, if not millions of physical paper files in cardboard boxes. The files are just retirement documents for federal workers, so could easily be digitised, yet the government has continued to physically store them. The mine is 230 feet underground and requires over 700 workers with the Office of Personnel Management to operate and upkeep it. What the hell? At least if there is a nuclear apocalypse whoever survives in here will have access to…information on retired government workers. Musk shared the insane finding, noting “Maybe it’s just me, but I think there is room for improvement here.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I think there is room for improvement here https://t.co/gQqx3sAOyZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2025

The vault inside Iron Mountain which is equipped with a huge reservoir for geothermal cooling. A 2021 report uncovered that despite spending $106 million spent trying to digitize the process, the government abandoned the idea and decided to stick with the stone mine. Labelling it a “time warp,” Musk noted that “The limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government.” “The elevator breaks down sometimes, and nobody can retire,” Musk revealed, adding “Doesn’t that sound crazy?” Musk also revealed that since 2014 they had gotten to the letter B in their efforts to digitize the records.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889923424145011151

The DOGE post has close to 45 million views at time of writing. Commenting on the mine and other “rot” being exposed by DOGE, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday on Fox News that the media was left in “sheer silence.” “I was watching the faces of the mainstream media reporters who were in the Oval Office, and there was sheer silence because it appeared that many of them who are supposed to be writing the truth about our federal bureaucracy had no idea that the federal retirement system is being processed deep into the ground and is not computerized,” Leavitt said.

BREAKING: @karolineleavitt promises @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk will shut down the bureaucratic retirement caves.. pic.twitter.com/gVFyczegg7

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) February 13, 2025

“They, the president and Elon are shining a light on the truth about our federal government. But the mainstream media simultaneously is saying there’s an alleged lack of transparency and access. It’s preposterous,” Leavitt continued, adding “Together, President Trump and Elon, the entire DOGE team and this entire administration are shining a light on the corruption, the waste, the fraud and abuse.” “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and they are revealing the rot of this city every single day. It’s music to the ears of the American people who voted for this. As you rightly pointed out, 77 million of them liked what President Trump promised on the campaign trail, and he is delivering and it’s fascinating,” Leavitt urged.

“Even Ronald Reagan, the great apostle of smaller government, couldn’t achieve in eight years what Mr. Musk has done in 3 1/2 weeks.”

• Musk: “We Need To Delete Entire Agencies”; Fed Worker Buyout Tops 75,000 (ZH)

Early Thursday, Elon Musk joined Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit via video link to provide an update on his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts within the US government, aimed at rooting out corruption and dismantling federal agencies, reducing the federal workforce, and eliminating the shadow government operated in a complex web of NGOs. “We need to delete entire agencies. We need to remove the roots of the weed. That’s not to say there won’t be an increase in future bureaucracy from another administration but it will be from a lower baseline. Nothing is forever but we can strengthen the foundation,” Musk told the crowd.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889921154082807841

President Trump appointed Musk as a “special government employee” to lead DOGE and has waged war against the federal bureaucracy. The latest data from Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the voluntary resignation program for the federal workforce, indicates that 75,000 workers across various federal agencies have opted to leave. This number only makes up about 3% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workforce, far short of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s target of 5% to 10%. This came after a federal judge in Boston lifted his order freezing the buyout program overnight. “The federal workforce grew 6.3% under former President Joe Biden, fueled by pandemic spending programs. A 3% cut to the federal workforce would only bring the number down to 2023 levels,” Bloomberg pointed out.

Source: Bloomberg

Even with the targeted buyouts missing the White House’s estimates, an op-ed by the Wall Street Journal’s deputy op-ed editor, Matthew Hennessey, noted: “Even Ronald Reagan, the great apostle of smaller government, couldn’t achieve in eight years what Mr. Musk has done in 3 1/2 weeks. The billionaire businessman is less apostle than avenging angel. The Department of Government Efficiency is the change we’ve been waiting for.” On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate what he described as “waste and bloat” in the government while “promptly undertaking preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force.” He called it a “critical transformation” of Washington, DC, and framed the move as a necessary step forward for the nation.

DOGE kicked a roach infested couch and the roaches are now scattering
pic.twitter.com/QcmcR0EARo

— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) February 6, 2025

Early Thursday, we noted internet search trends across the DC metro area, including Maryland and northern Virginia counties, indicating growing panic among federal workers in the so-called DC swamp. Searches for “Criminal Defense Lawyer” and “RICO Laws” have erupted in recent weeks. Draining the swamp is long overdue. Yet Democrats are calling for war against Musk and Trump over DOGE’s efforts for a more transparent and efficient government. Some far-left Democrats, like Rep. Robert Garcia, called for supporters to begin arming up.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889848260954841445

“..the US Department of Defense had committed more than $9 million on two projects called Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) and Large Scale Social Deception (LSD)”.

• US Govt Paid Reuters For ‘Social Deception’ – Musk (RT)

A subsidiary of Reuters has received millions in US government funding for “large scale social deception” projects, Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has claimed. In a post on Thursday, Musk weighed in on data from the website USAspending.gov stating that Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, had contracts with government agencies. One of the publicly available documents stipulated that the US Department of Defense had committed more than $9 million on two projects called Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) and Large Scale Social Deception (LSD). Commenting on the document, Musk wrote: “Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for ‘large scale social deception’. That is literally what it says on the purchase order! They’re a total scam. Just wow.”

According to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the ASEAD program aims to develop automated defenses against social engineering attacks, which could involve deceptive tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information. Neither the Pentagon nor USAspending.gov elaborates on the purpose of the program, but both LSD and ASEAD are listed as activities within the realm of engineering and research and development. Reuters was awarded another Pentagon contract that provides the Department of Defense with unidentified advanced development services. The agency has also received around $500,000 from the State Department for access to news services.

Both Musk and US President Donald Trump have vowed to fight corruption and wasteful spending in the US government. In light of this, several federal agencies have terminated contracts totaling $8 million with Politico magazine following Musk’s criticism of these agreements as a “wasteful” use of taxpayer funds. Trump has also suggested that billions of dollars have been misappropriated within agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, to pay for favorable media coverage of Democrats. The claim was rejected by several US media outlets, including Politico and the Associated Press.

AI requires lots of energy. Where is that cheap? In the Gulf states.

• The Great AI Game: US, China Vie For West Asian Cash (Cradle)

China’s unveiling of DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the tech industry. The app skyrocketed to the top of Apple’s US App Store, surpassing ChatGPT and Gemini, and triggered a market tremor: US tech giants like Nvidia saw their valuations plunge by $600 billion. The development heightened Washington’s security anxieties, with officials warning that China’s AI advances could give Beijing a military edge and serve as a tool for spreading state-backed narratives. Global investors have responded by shifting capital toward China’s AI sector, signaling confidence in Beijing’s ability to challenge US dominance. Simultaneously, China is accelerating its push for technological self-sufficiency, reducing reliance on western semiconductor firms like TSMC and Samsung.

Beyond economics, AI-driven automation is expected to disrupt the global labor market, displacing jobs in data analysis, translation, and customer service. Meanwhile, China’s surging demand for AI talent is attracting experts from western markets, exacerbating a potential brain drain in the US and Europe. The global AI contest is often framed as a US–China duel, but West Asia is emerging as a decisive force capable of tilting the balance. With DeepSeek proving that western AI hegemony will no longer go unchallenged, Persian Gulf states are reevaluating their AI alliances, making them a critical factor in Washington’s efforts to secure AI investments. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are now considered the “swing states” of AI geopolitics. Their importance in the AI revolution rests on three key pillars: energy, finance, and geography.

Energy is the most obvious element as generative AI data centers require vast amounts of power, and energy-rich countries in West Asia are expected to benefit significantly. Persian Gulf states, rich in energy resources, are well-positioned to benefit from this demand. Financially, oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are heavily investing in AI infrastructure and future technologies, making them not only key customers but also influential players. Sovereign wealth funds are channeling billions into AI-related projects through initiatives like Sanabil, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which invests $3 billion annually in top-tier venture capital firms across both the US and China. In addition, Prosperity7, the investment arm of Saudi Aramco, made headlines by investing in Zhipu AI, one of China’s largest AI startups, becoming the first non-Chinese investor to do so.

The move highlights West Asia’s evolving strategy of playing on both sides in the geopolitical race for AI, maintaining influence and independence despite growing global pressure to ally with the US or China. Such investments demonstrate the region’s ability to balance geopolitical tensions while expanding its influence in the global AI ecosystem. In addition, the geographical location of West Asia represents a fully untapped advantage in the development of AI globally. Data centers play a pivotal role in improving the speed and quality of digital services for users as service efficiency increases and data centers get closer to the end user. Having multiple data centers in strategic locations ensures that data recovery backups are provided in case of failures.

The region’s location is also an advantage, as West Asia serves as a digital crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa. The majority of web traffic between these continents passes through the region, making it a prime hub for global AI deployment. As AI competition intensifies, West Asia is no longer just an emerging market – it is a strategic theater in the tech war between Washington and Beijing. China views the region as an extension of its Digital Silk Road, aiming to expand its technological footprint through cost-effective AI solutions.

The US, on the other hand, is deepening its AI partnerships with Persian Gulf states, trying to ensure that AI infrastructure aligns with western standards. The battle over AI in West Asia transcends mere technological rivalry; it is a contest for economic and geopolitical dominance. With Persian Gulf states positioned as kingmakers in this struggle, their decisions in the coming years could redefine the balance of power in the AI era. The US–China AI war is no longer just a two-player game – West Asia is now firmly in the mix, and its role in shaping the future of AI is only growing.

I have a hard time seeing Musk as a -nuclear- warmonger. For one thing, how would he ever get to Mars?

• The Pentagon Is Recruiting Elon Musk To Help Them Win A Nuclear War (MacLeod)

Donald Trump has announced his intention to build a gigantic anti-ballistic missile system to counter Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, and he is recruiting Elon Musk to help him. The Pentagon has long dreamed of constructing an American “Iron Dome.” The technology is couched in the defense language – i.e., to make America safe again. But like its Israeli counterpart, it would function as an offensive weapon, giving the United States the ability to launch nuclear attacks anywhere in the world without having to worry about the consequences of a similar response. This power could upend the fragile peace maintained by decades of mutually assured destruction, a doctrine that has underpinned global stability since the 1940s. Washington’s war planners have long salivated at the thought of winning a nuclear confrontation and have sought the ability to do so for decades. Some believe that they have found a solution and a savior in the South African-born billionaire and his technology.

Neoconservative think tank the Heritage Foundation published a video last year stating that Musk might have “solved the nuclear threat coming from China.” It claimed that Starlink satellites from his SpaceX company could be easily modified to carry weapons that could shoot down incoming rockets. As they explain: “Elon Musk has proven that you can put microsatellites into orbit, for $1 million apiece. Using that same technology, we can put 1,000 microsatellites in continuous orbit around the Earth, that can track, engage and shoot down, using tungsten slugs, missiles that are launched from North Korea, Iran, Russia, and China.” Although the Heritage Foundation advises using tungsten slugs (i.e., bullets) as interceptors, hypersonic missiles have been opted for instead. To this end, a new organization, the Castelion Company, was established in 2023.

Castelion is a SpaceX cutout; six of the seven members of its leadership team and two of its four senior advisors are ex-senior SpaceX employees. The other two advisors are former high officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, including Mike Griffin, Musk’s longtime friend, mentor, and partner. Castelion’s mission, in its own words, is to be at the cutting edge of a new global arms race. As the company explains: “Despite the U.S. annual defense budget exceeding those of the next ten biggest spenders combined, there’s irrefutable evidence that authoritarian regimes are taking the lead in key military technologies like hypersonic weapons. Simply put – this cannot be allowed to happen.” The company has already secured gigantic contracts with the U.S. military, and reports suggest that it has made significant strides toward its hypersonic missile goals.

Castelion’s slogan is “Peace Through Deterrence.” But in reality, the U.S. achieving a breakthrough in hypersonic missile technology would rupture the fragile nuclear peace that has existed for over 70 years and usher in a new era where Washington would have the ability to use whatever weapons it wished, anywhere in the world at any time, safe in the knowledge that it would be impervious to a nuclear response from any other nation. In short, the fear of a nuclear retaliation from Russia or China has been one of the few forces moderating U.S. aggression throughout the world. If this is lost, the United States would have free rein to turn entire countries – or even regions of the planet – into vapor. This would, in turn, hand it the power to terrorize the world and impose whatever economic and political system anywhere it wishes.

If this sounds fanciful, this “Nuclear Blackmail” was a more-or-less official policy of successive American administrations in the 1940s and 1950s. The United States remains the only country ever to drop an atomic bomb in anger, doing so twice in 1945 against a Japanese foe that was already defeated and was attempting to surrender.

President Truman ordered the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a show of force, primarily to the Soviet Union. Many in the U.S. government wished to use the atomic bomb on the U.S.S.R. President Truman immediately, however, reasoned that if America nuked Moscow, the Red Army would invade Europe as a response. As such, he decided to wait until the U.S. had enough warheads to completely destroy the Soviet Union and its military. War planners calculated this figure at around 400, and to that end—totaling a nation representing one-sixth of the world’s landmass—the president ordered the immediate ramping up of production. This decision was met with stiff opposition among the American scientific community, and it is widely believed that Manhattan Project scientists, including Robert J. Oppenheimer himself, passed nuclear secrets to Moscow in an effort to speed up their nuclear project and develop a deterrent to halt this doomsday scenario.

Humanity

This is the real face of humanity … pic.twitter.com/XLVvJXP6DA

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) February 12, 2025

Princess

Princess reaction to her new bed pic.twitter.com/Dgli4wLNvW

— B&S (@_B___S) February 13, 2025

Dogkey
https://twitter.com/i/status/1890033188241915922

Albatross
https://twitter.com/i/status/1890110258112262291

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Debt Rattle June 24 2024

Jun 242024

June 24, 2024 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:52 am Finance Tagged with: alternate electors, B-52, drug test, evil, far right, G7, Prigozhin, Sevastopol, Very Fine People 65 Responses »

Paul Gauguin Van Gogh painting sunflowers 1888

• “Falling Gently Away:” The G–7 in Italy (Patrick Lawrence)

• Evil Is Now the Dominant Power in the Western World (Paul Craig Roberts)

• The Myth of the European “Far-Right Surge” (Thunder)

• It Won’t Be The End Of The World, But Of Europe (SCF)

• Macron May Trigger France’s Exit From EU, Says EU’s Barnier (Sp.)

• The Prigozhin Paradox: What Was Russia’s Wagner PMC ? (RT)

• Ex-DoD Analyst Derides Bid to Upgrade Outdated B-52s With Nukes (Sp.)

• Scott Ritter: It’s Direct Attack on Russia by US and NATO (Sp.)

• Ex-White House Physician Demands Biden Drug Test Before Trump Debate (RT)

• Snopes Finally Admits Trump Never Called Neo-Nazis ‘Very Fine People’ (ZH)

• No Way Financial System Survives – Bill Holter (USAW)

• Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies (Turley)

• Judge Dismisses Nevada Alternate Electors Case On Jurisdiction Concerns (ET)

Kim

The US Air Force directed the ATACMS missile strike against Russian civilians today. This is an act of war by the US Govt against Russia. Did Joe Biden seek permission from Congress to start a direct war with Russia? Did Americans sign up for this? pic.twitter.com/9E9uz5ByjK

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) June 23, 2024

Can’t sue them all, there’s too many

This video is a masterpiece and documents the people who have been complicit in crimes against humanity.

All these journalists, scientists, and politicians undeniably belong on the defendants’ bench, as their behavior has caused immense harm to millions.

No amnesty! pic.twitter.com/gc8edfiAXn

— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) June 22, 2024

Elon

pic.twitter.com/vtCbii4wpF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2024

12 years ago today, Elon Musk delivered the first Model S. "Customers will discover this is the best car in every dimension that matters." pic.twitter.com/u86v6B7pVo

— ELON DOCS (@elon_docs) June 22, 2024

Kash

Paul Ryan had the ‘ Clinton ‘Steele Dossier handed to his Chief of Staff in 2016….which is Treason.

Republicans like Paul Ryan are the TRUE Domestic THREAT that’s destroying America from within. pic.twitter.com/WIWEFFFgRO

— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) June 23, 2024

“Conversing with a hang-glider rather than the French president, the German chancellor, or the British prime minister is just what “the leader of the free world” should get up to at a G–7 summit.”

“..If many of us have worried for some time that no one seems to be driving the bus, maybe we can take cold comfort now in the thought that not many seem to be on it..”

• “Falling Gently Away:” The G–7 in Italy (Patrick Lawrence)

That Group of 7 gathering on the coast of the Adriatic June 13–15 was truly a doozy, I have to say. Readers might think it a waste of column inches to devote any linage to it, as many will surely have forgotten about it by now—not to mention those many others who did not know of it in the first place and so could not get as far as forgetting it. But this just is my point: The seven people claiming to be the world’s most powerful assemble for a summit and it is not worth our attention? Say whaaa? The significance of this year’s G–7, I mean to say, lies in its insignificance. Considering the mess these very folk have made of the world, this bears consideration. Giorgia Meloni seems to have given some thought to the “non–” aspect of the event she hosted at the Borgo Egnazia, a resort hotel in the town of Savelletri di Fasano, “where the hills of the Itria Valley fall gently away to the Adriatic Sea.”

Prominent among the diversions the Italian premier arranged was a squad of hang-gliders who descended on the group, each trailing the flag of a G–7 member. Is this gravitas or what, 21st century statecraft at its most elevated—especially with a genocide, as supported by every one of these people, proceeding exactly 1,147 miles across the Mediterranean? The lasting image of the G–7 2024 summit has to be that viral video of President Biden wandering away from the others with, per usual at this point, the demeanor of a sleepwalker (which seems to me about right). No! the Democratic machine and its clerks in the media protested. That video was unfairly cut. Biden wasn’t drifting into nowhere: He went to talk to one of the hang-gliders as he, the hang-glider, packed up his harness and airframe. That changes everything. Conversing with a hang-glider rather than the French president, the German chancellor, or the British prime minister is just what “the leader of the free world” should get up to at a G–7 summit.

It was, of course, more worthwhile than talking to Justin Trudeau, I will give Biden this. One of the oddities of this year’s G–7, remarked upon here and there in the media coverage, is the low standing the seven had among their electorates. Axios had a wonderful headline on this, “World losers gather at G–7 summit.” Meloni was the enviable star, with a 40 percent approval rate, but Meloni was the odd one out: She has populist tendencies in a group of neoliberal authoritarians. Biden was second, with 37 percent, but this puts him behind Donald Trump in the American polls. The rest we can count among the walking wounded: Trudeau arrived at Savelletri with a 30 percent approval rate, Olaf Scholz with 25 percent, and then the hanging-by-fingernails group: Rishi Sunak (25 percent, about to be turned out of office), Emmanuel Macron (21 percent, tipped to lose in snap elections), Fumio Kishida (13 percent).

These people are by dint of the offices they hold the leaders of “the West.” If many of us have worried for some time that no one seems to be driving the bus, maybe we can take cold comfort now in the thought that not many seem to be on it. Can what remains of the West now fit into an Italian resort? I pose this as a serious question. Those ever-courteous but mercilessly direct Chinese went straight at this in their official comment on the summit. “The G–7 does not represent the world,” Lin Jian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, remarked after the group issued its communiqué. Lin referred to the G–7’s share of global GDP: It is now roughly 10 percent and declining as the non–West’s rises. But, viewed from the Atlantic world’s perspective, it is just as significant, I would say, that those purporting to lead the West enjoy a similarly declining share of their population’s support.

The New York Times had an entertainingly contorted take on all this. Shared political weakness, along with high anxiety as the West’s major investments go bad—the proxy war in Ukraine, the Israelis’ savagery in Gaza, the attempt to isolate Russia—combined to make this year’s summit “unexpectedly smooth,” as Steve Erlanger wrote from Savelletri—“another example of unchallenged American leadership of the West.” Leave it to The Times, ever ready to find roses in the desert if it makes the imperium seem a good and welcome thing.

“Can People Cope with the Challenges of Life when so Much of their Culture has been Destroyed?”

• Evil Is Now the Dominant Power in the Western World (Paul Craig Roberts)

Depression, the meaninglessness of life and spiritual depravation engulfs so many people today, because they no longer have the cultural knowledge gained from familiarity with their classic literature and religion which teaches how to deal with the challenges of life and how to grapple with inner demons. This knowledge has been lost. It has been excised from education as outdated, racist, not inclusive, judgmental, and white. Hanne Herland reminds us of the importance of culture to survival and a moral life. She gives us hope for our revival by pointing out that Russia is again Christian despite decades of enforced communist atheism, which was also enforced on Americans by liberals and Jews. For example, no prayers in school, no Christian symbols in public places. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, was a hero in America as a Soviet dissident until his speech at Harvard University at which he said that “men have forgotten God,” and that this forgetfulness is the explanation for the numerous crises and social and personal maladies of our time.

Instantly, Solzhenitsyn became person non grata. If you are a Christian, a real one and not a worshipper of Israel, you can understand what has happened to us in terms of Satan squeezing the good out of Western civilization and replacing it with evil. When I challenge this thought, I am confronted by the facts that it wasn’t Russia, China, and Iran who on the basis of totally false accusations overthrew the governments in Iraq and Libya and murdered the leaders. It wasn’t Russia, China, and Iran who tried to do the same in Afghanistan and Syria. It is not Russia, China and Iran who are providing the bombs and aircraft and money and diplomatic cover to Israel to exterminate the Palestinians. It is not the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians who are provoking more war. It is Washington and its EU Empire. If you consider the bare-faced facts, it is evil flowing from the Western World that is operating in the world. Russia, China and Iran think they are confronting governments that have lost their senses. They are relying on the threat of the breakout of a world war to bring the West to its senses.

They do not understand that they are confronting evil with whom no negotiations are possible. This means that the halting, hesitant, insufficient responses of Russia, China, and Iran to evil are too weak to be effective.The liberals, the left-wing, the Woke are the ones who destroyed the cultural knowledge of the West, thereby depriving the people of the ability to confront evil. For the liberal-left-Woke destroyers of civilization, spiritual evil is incomprehensible. For them the only evils are Trump, “white racism” and “Putin’s aggression.” In the liberal-left-Woke matrix there are no other evils. The West no longer rests on a Western culture. It rests on sexual perversion and the promotion by governments, corporations, and universities of transgenderism and critical race theory. Western nations have been replaced with Sodom and Gomorrahs and towers of babel. Enemies are necessary to justify the US military/security complex’s massive budget and power. The more enemies the larger the budget and power.

There is not much more hope in American conservatives than there is in the liberal-left-Woke contingent. Conservatives confuse their country with the government. As Albert Jay Nock and Thomas Jefferson clearly explained, the two are entirely different. But it is an important distinction that is over the heads of many conservatives. Solzhenitsyn told us that when respect for religion, traditional values, family, and religious faith are stripped from a society, society has been disarmed and no protection remains against the triumph of evil. As the liberal-left-Woke contingent has stripped away these protections, evil is now the dominant power in the Western World. Russia, China and Iran do not confront Western governments capable of reason. They confront unbridled evil. Putin puzzles why the West is so unreasonable. The answer is that evil is unreasonable. You cannot make a deal with it.

“the term has degenerated into a cheap label used to discredit political conservatives..”

• The Myth of the European “Far-Right Surge” (Thunder)

The term “far-right” should be reserved for political groups that oppose constitutionalism, are rabidly racist, or want to institute an authoritarian State akin to fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. But instead, the term has degenerated into a cheap label used to discredit political conservatives. This label is being attached willy-nilly to people who take political positions that are not in vogue among those who self-identify as “Woke” and/or “progressive,” even if these same positions were considered fairly conventional a couple of decades ago: People are labelled “far-right” if they defend the idea of a national identity, want an orderly immigration process, advocate for laws that are tough on crime, believe in traditional marriage and biological markers for gender; or believe that civil rights like informed consent are still relevant during a pandemic.

If you really want to understand why new parties are emerging on the right, throwing around the “far-right” label will not get you very far. What is really happening is that the traditional right-wing parties, many of which are represented by Europe’s largest political group, the European People’s Party, have jumped ship on a lot of traditional right-wing commitments, creating a vacuum to be filled by the “new right.” For example, rule of law and limited government have been replaced, under the watch of mainstream “right-wing” parties, with vaccine passports, lockdowns, intrusive hate speech laws, crippling “green” taxes and regulations, and the Orwellian idea that we should clamp down on “disinformation,” lest citizens be exposed to “dangerous” ideas. The old right has overseen a Europe of uncontrolled and disorderly immigration, with no proper vetting of migrants and little consideration for the impact of large-scale migration on local communities.

And the old commitment to the right to law and order has given way to a palpable complacency and inaction in the face of a growing crime problem in Europe’s cities. This has created a pent-up political demand for parties prepared to avow traditional right-wing commitments, such as law and order, orderly immigration, freedom of speech, pro-family taxation and welfare policies, and limited government. In some cases, this political vacuum has been filled with egregiously xenophobic, racist, and authoritarian rhetoric. But in many other cases, parties dismissed as “far-right” are simply questioning the wisdom of open border policies, exposing abuses of the refugee system, defending free speech, and trying to moderate the green agenda so that it is not so oppressive for farmers and ordinary citizens.

If having serious concerns about immigration and being opposed to far-reaching environmental regulations is considered “extreme,” then it appears that being “extreme” is now pretty normal in Europe: one recent opinion poll shows that immigration is one of the leading concerns for European voters, after the economy and war. In addition, the abysmal performance of the Greens in these EU elections—dropping from 71 to 53 seats—suggests that the Greens’ enthusiasm for ambitious climate regulations is not shared by many voters. In short, two of the central concerns of the new right—uncontrolled immigration and excessively burdensome environmental regulations—are actually shared by a sizeable number of European voters. Finally, there was no “surge” to speak of among the new and emerging parties on the right: more like a moderate consolidation.

“..there are many domestic priorities for the U.S. that make Ukraine increasingly less important..”

• It Won’t Be The End Of The World, But Of Europe (SCF)

Since the start of NATO’s proxy war against Russia, Europe still appears to have not understood its role in the conflict. By irrationally adhering to all measures imposed by the U.S., such as unilateral sanctions and unrestricted arms shipments to the Kiev regime, the EU appears increasingly closer to a true collapse, given the negative social circumstances and high security risks. In the end, the European bloc, like Ukraine, is just another proxy in this war. For obvious reasons, Europe has always been dependent on good relations with Russia to maintain its economic and social well-being and the balance of its regional security architecture. However, European countries seem to have forgotten the basic principles of geopolitics, betting on a futile attempt to “isolate” Russia through irrational sanctions that only harm Europe itself – without generating any impact on the Russian economy.

Without Russian gas, Europe has rapidly deindustrialized, increasing levels of poverty, unemployment and inflation. The most rational thing to do in this type of situation would be to avoid unnecessary spending and invest heavily in economic recovery projects – but, apparently, no European attitude is based on rationality. Instead of acting strategically in pursuit of the best for their people, European decision-makers committed themselves to a policy of systematically supplying weapons to the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime, spending billions of euros on manufacturing and exporting weapons for the war against Russia. Obviously, the European people are dissatisfied with so many harmful policies, which is why in the last European elections voters reacted by voting massively for right-wing politicians and parties, trying to find an alternative against the unpopular Russophobic madness of liberal regimes.

Retaliating against the popular will, liberal governments are already beginning to take authoritarian measures, such as President Emmanuel Macron, who decided to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections. It is possible that many more similar dictatorial measures will be taken in the near future, which will only further worsen the serious legitimacy crisis of EU member countries. To make matters worse, some of these European governments are even thinking about going a step further in their support for Ukraine, with advanced discussions about sending troops on the ground. Apparently, European nations have lost their fear of escalating the war into a global, nuclear conflict, during which they would be easy targets for powerful Russian strategic weapons.

In parallel, in the U.S. there is great instability in the electoral scenario. Donald Trump promises to end the war, but the liberal establishment wants to prevent him from running. Biden promises to continue the conflict with Russia, which will certainly also be the guideline of the Republican candidate who replaces Trump. However, both domestic politics and the international scenario are extremely complicated for Washington. Having to deal with a pre-civil war atmosphere, social polarization, Texas separatism and mass migration, in addition to a severe economic crisis, there are many domestic priorities for the U.S. that make Ukraine increasingly less important.

“They are still anti-European..”

No, they just don’t like your idea of Europe. Not the same thing.

• Macron May Trigger France’s Exit From EU, Says EU’s Barnier (Sp.)

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the country’s parliament and hold snap elections could trigger France’s exit from the European Union, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said. Barnier said in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper that Macron’s hopes of beating the right-wing National Rally (RN) party in the elections are very risky, the report read on Saturday. “I don’t think Ms [the leader of the RN’s parliamentary faction, Marine] Le Pen and Mr [president of RN party, Jordan] Bardella changed their minds. They are still anti-European,” Barnier said. On June 9, Macron announced the dissolution of the French parliament’s lower house and holding of two-round snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7. The decision was made in the wake of the European Parliament elections in which the National Rally party emerged victorious, finishing with over 15 percentage points ahead of Macron’s centrist coalition.

“Prigozhin had a very tenacious intellect, huge ambitions and no brakes.”

• The Prigozhin Paradox: What Was Russia’s Wagner PMC ? (RT)

On June 23, 2023, one of the most mysterious events in modern Russian history kicked off. Units of PMC Wagner – at the time a highly combat-ready but also historically unusual component of the Russian Armed Forces – withdrew from the theater of operations in Ukraine. The story of the Wagner mutiny cannot be told without the story of the people behind the creation of the PMC. The main figure is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman who rose from humble beginnings to become a wealthy tycoon. His youth was turbulent, and in the early 1990s, as the USSR collapsed, he went into business, far removed from military affairs. Prigozhin was a restaurateur. He started by selling hot dogs, but quickly acquired money and ambition and began to open restaurants in St. Petersburg to suit all tastes and budgets.

By the end of the 1990s, Prigozhin ran a chain of restaurants and a catering company, and was well known to the establishment of the city on the Neva. When Vladimir Putin, also from St. Petersburg, became president of Russia, Prigozhin found more success. He was involved in organizing catering in schools and then in the army, construction and other projects. The businessman tried to keep a low profile, but in the 2010s became increasingly involved in politics. In 2013, he created a media network that included online resources as well as a large, shadowy social media group. This media outlets were characterized by its sharp tone and assertiveness. Then, in 2014, he was asked to set up a private military company. Prigozhin was involved in organizational matters. The PMC received orders from official structures and was financed by them. It was commanded by Dmitry Utkin, a veteran of special military intelligence units.

One of his call signs was Wagner, so when information about the creation of the unit leaked to the media, it was referred to as the Wagner Group or PMC Wagner. Hence the informal name of the unit, ‘Orchestra’, and its fighters, ‘Musicians’. Initially, its fighters were recruited from retired Russian military personnel and participants in the war in Donbass. The fighters were attracted by good salaries and an informal management style: private soldiers were expected to produce results without worrying about army drills and the need to sign multi-year contracts. Wagner’s first operation was to storm the airport in the city of Lugansk, which had been occupied by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainians were driven out and the beginning was made. Prigozhin, a non-military man, suddenly turned out to be an exceptionally suitable person to lead the PMC. Energetic and extremely rude, he had very little education, but quickly learned everything he needed to know. Prigozhin had a very tenacious intellect, huge ambitions and no brakes.

They still can’t make hypersonics…

• Ex-DoD Analyst Derides Bid to Upgrade Outdated B-52s With Nukes (Sp.)

The defense policy bills for fiscal year 2025 in both the US Senate and House include funding to enhance the nuclear weapon capabilities of approximately 30 B-52H Stratofortress bombers. However, the Pentagon is not enthusiastic about the proposal and instead favors a more expensive option of investing in a next-generation nuclear-capable bomber. Congress’ bid to restore the B-52 bombers’ nuclear capabilities comes in the wake of repeated disappointments in developing US hypersonic standoff weapons, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik. “Putting nukes back on the upgraded B-52 is a band aid that covers that,’ said the former analyst for the US Department of Defense. “It is important to note that Congress and the Pentagon have already approved and funded engine, avionics and radar upgrades for the nearly 60-year-old B-52 airframe. The B-52H models will be designated B-52J’s, upon upgrade. This was justified several years ago with the B-52Js as a delivery mechanism for planned AGR-183 hypersonic missiles – a missile tested by the Air Force, but one that is no longer being funded in the FY2025 defense budget,” she underscored.

Dozens of the Pentagon’s hypersonic missile projects for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and DARPA have suffered setbacks, despite a desperate race to catch up with Russia and China in this field. The hypersonic weapon that was in development by the Pentagon, the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), had been mired in delays and test failures. The weapon was to be fired from beneath the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber and also contain a glide vehicle. The ARRW program, launched in April 2018, was to achieve operational deployment in 2022. However, in November 2023, after conducting two test flights in August and October 2023, the Fiscal Year 2025 budget provided no funding for procurement or further research and development of the AGM-183, effectively ending the project.

“The initiative will be costly and profitable for the defense industry, and in practical terms it keeps the B-52 in the game for tax-payer dollars. It is somewhat practical, as nuclear re-arming of the new B-52J model, as it completes other B-52 upgrades, fits well in the Boeing and Northrup Grumman industrial base,” noted Kwiatkowski. It’s really all about the Congressional lobbyists, the ex-DoD analyst pointed out, clarifying that in the House, “Congressman Mike Rogers is the second-highest recipient of defense lobby money; In the Senate, Deb Fischer’s top donor is Northrup-Grumman a major missile developer, and Boeing, the maker of the B-52, is her fourth-largest donor.” The conventional B-52H Stratofortress bombers had been part of the US nuclear triad close to a decade ago. However, under the New START treaty with Russia, the planes were stripped of these capabilities.

With the treaty set to expire in February 2026, there is a drive to “beef up the US nuclear arsenal”. Congress has been advocating making the old bombers nuclear capable again, but the idea does not appear to be viewed favorably in the Pentagon. “The treaty expires in 2026, and… We need to be prepared to face a nuclear environment without any treaty limitations,” said House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., as he introduced the amendment to the passed FY25 defense policy legislation. In line with that bill, the Air Force would start upgrading the bombers within a month after the accord expires. Accordingly, it is hoped that the restoration of the B-52’s nuclear capabilities might be completed by 2029.

“..this is an act of terrorism by the United States against Russia..”

• Scott Ritter: It’s Direct Attack on Russia by US and NATO (Sp.)

On Sunday, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked Russia’s Sevastopol, using US-made ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads, four of which were shot down and one deflected and exploded over the city. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter commented on Ukraine’s terrorist attack on Sevastopol. “The Ukrainians made a decision to use ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions against a city, a civilian city. This is an act of terrorism,” Ritter emphasized. “Ukraine since 2014 has been bombarding Russian civilian sites, cities, villages, towns for the sole purpose of inflicting death and destruction on Russian civilians. This is an act of terrorism and given that the ATACMS missiles cannot be deployed by the Ukrainians without extensive intelligence support by the United States, this is an act of terrorism by the United States against Russia,” the analyst said.

Commenting on the terrorist attacks in Russia’s Dagestan, Ritter said they were “deliberately designed to disrupt the civil life of the Russian Federation”. He highlighted that the CIA has historically made attempts to “engender a split between the Muslim and non-Muslim segments of Russian society” and failed. “That effort failed and the effort in Dagestan will fail, too, but it doesn’t absolve the parties involved of their guilt in launching what is a direct assault on the Russian Federation,” Ritter insisted.

Scott Ritter: This is a direct attack on Russia by the US, by NATO, and by non-NATO European entities

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter commented on Ukraine's terrorist attack on Sevastopol and terrorist attacks in Russia’s Dagestan which “are deliberately designed to… pic.twitter.com/JufBZkKfsh

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) June 24, 2024

“..his aides are fine-tuning the dosages for the drugs he will be taking on debate night..”

• Ex-White House Physician Demands Biden Drug Test Before Trump Debate (RT)

A former White House doctor has argued that US President Joe Biden should be subjected to drug tests at this week’s debate with Republican challenger Donald Trump to check whether he’s taking performance-enhancing substances to cover up his allegedly declining cognitive health. Dr. Ronny Jackson, who served as White House physician in the Trump and Obama-Biden administrations, said he has reason to believe Biden will be drugged to boost his mental sharpness in Thursday’s presidential debate. The doctor, now a Republican congressman representing Texas, added that he suspected Biden took drugs before his State of the Union speech in March. “It’s really embarrassing, as a former White House physician, to have to do something like this, but we don’t have any choice, based on what’s going on,” Jackson said on Sunday in a Fox News interview.

“But I’m going to be demanding, on behalf of many millions of concerned Americans right now, that he submit to a drug test before and after this debate, specifically looking for performance-enhancing drugs.” At 81, Biden is already the oldest president in US history, and he would be 86 by the end of his second term if he wins reelection in November. Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly mocked Biden’s frequent mental gaffes and physical stumbles. A New York Times poll released in April showed that 72% of US voters, including over half of Democrats, believe Biden is too old to be an effective president. Jackson has repeatedly sent letters to the White House demanding that the president take a cognitive test to prove his mental fitness for the job. He said Biden and his staff ignored those demands. The congressman administered such a test to Trump in 2019, and the then-president passed the exam.

Biden is reportedly spending a full week at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland to prepare for the debate. Jackson said he believes part of the reason for the president’s long absence from the White House is that his aides are fine-tuning the dosages for the drugs he will be taking on debate night.

“They have to treat his cognition, they have to give him something to help him think straighter, they have to give him something to wake him up, for his alertness,” the doctor claimed. “And then, you know, he’s been agitated. We see that all the time, and that’s a common symptom, or sign, of this cognitive disorder that he seems to be suffering from. So, they’re probably going to give him something to take the edge off that as well.” The Biden campaign has denied that the president uses any drugs, calling accusations by Trump “a bizarre outburst.” Speaking at a political rally on Saturday in Philadelphia, Trump joked that Biden is sleeping at Camp David to rest up for the debate. “They want to get him good and strong, so a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the ass,” Trump told the crowd. “I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up.”

7 years.

• Snopes Finally Admits Trump Never Called Neo-Nazis ‘Very Fine People’ (ZH)

One of the more common lies peddled by top Democrats, including of course President Joe Biden, is that former President Donald Trump called neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’ during his press conference following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. Except, anyone who watched the full clip knows it’s bullshit, which is why anyone peddling the hoax has been operating in bad faith. Now, after seven years, and days before the Trump-Biden debate in Atlanta, Snopes has finally admitted that Trump never called neo-Nazis ‘very fine people.’

August 15, 2017: Trump called neo-Nazis very fine people after Charlottesville.

Right? Wrong.

The media deceptively cut the context of his remarks where specifically said he was NOT referring to neo-Nazis.

Instead, he was referring to the people who oppose tearing down… pic.twitter.com/83PVDdTBWd

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 17, 2024

“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,” wrote Snopes. Of note, Biden launched his his 2020 campaign based on this lie. “The president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden claimed in his campaign announcement video. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.”

Amazing…

“..They have to kick the table over. They cannot allow the table to fall over on its own..”

• No Way Financial System Survives – Bill Holter (USAW)

Financial writer and precious metals broker Bill Holter has been documenting all the unpayable debt that has been building up in the financial system like cancer. The latest black hole of default is coming from a big bank in Japan. Norinchukin Bank is selling $63 billion in Treasuries and other sovereign bonds to stay afloat. Then there is recent news announced by the FDIC that 63 US banks (the names are being kept secret) have more than $500 billion in losses, and let’s not forget about the trillions in losses sitting on the books of European banks ready to suck the world into a black debt hole. This is just a few of many on a long list of destabilizing problems that can tank the entire over-indebted financial system. Holter warns, “The list is so long…” “it could be a banking problem. It could be a derivatives problem. It could be a derivatives problem in the stock market, the bond market and you could see a failure to deliver in silver. Some type of warfare could crash the system. You could see warfare in Ukraine, Israel or Tiawan.

The system is so unstable, at this point, it could be anything that could bring it down. Unpayable debt is not just a US problem. This is all over the world. Central banks are having to issue huge amounts of debt because we are in the exponential decay phase. We are exactly where Richard Russell said we would be 20 years ago. It’s inflate or die, and the only way to inflate is to create more money supply.” Add to that the $10 trillion in debt the US Government has to roll over by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the US government piles on $1 trillion in new debt every 100 days. What could go wrong? Holter said the last time he was on USAW that there was a little less than a 50% chance we would even have an election. Now, he predicts it is more likely there will be no 2024 Presidential Election. Holter says:

“There is no way the system, as it is now, survives. It’s mathematically impossible. So, if it is mathematically impossible, are they going to blow smoke . . . up until the day it blows up? Or are they going to do something to blow it up and then say our programs and policies were working except for XYZ this or whatever. They have to kick the table over. They cannot allow the table to fall over on its own because then there is going to be finger pointing. To avoid the finger pointing, they have got to kick the table over.” Holter also thinks gold is going to exponential numbers to back all the debt the USA has.

If you go with the 8,030 tons of gold the government claims is in Fort Knox, you will need a dollar price of gold at “$125,000 per ounce for 100% gold backing of the dollar.”Holter also says, “The dollar is being pushed out of the global financial system…” “Demand for dollars is shrinking at a time when borrowing demand is rising.” This is a going to be a disaster for America and anyone holding dollars in the future. In closing, Holter says, “The financial collapse that is coming will be worse than anything we have ever experienced…” “This is going to be far worse than the Great Depression simply because society itself is far worse. . . . Back in the Great Depression, you had neighbors helping neighbors. Today you will have neighbors picking on other neighbors like vultures.”

Sounds good until you realize what will be called ‘lies’.

• Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies (Turley)

Will Rogers once said that “if you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no politics.” In Wales, it appears that the government is challenging that assessment. However, if the new legislation criminalizing political lies is successful, the Welsh are likely to find themselves with the same abundance of lies but little free speech. A proposal in the Welsh parliament (or the Senedd) would make it the first country in the world to impose criminal sanctions for lying politicians. Adam Price, the former leader of the liberal Plaid Cymru party is pushing for the criminalization, citing citing a “credibility gap” in UK politics. Astonishingly, this uniquely bad idea was received support from a key committee. Once on track for adoption, this is the type of law that can become self-propelling through the legislature. Few politicians want to go on record voting against a law banning political lies. The free speech implications are easily lost in the coverage.

The new law would make it a criminal offense for a member of the Senedd, or a candidate for election to the Senedd, to wilfully, or with intent to mislead, make or publish a statement that is known to be false or deceptive. There is a six-month period for challenges to be brought. The law allows a defense that a statement could be “reasonably inferred” to be a statement of opinion, or if it were retracted with an apology within 14 days. If guilty, the politician would be disqualified from being a Senedd member. The defense is hardly helpful. It creates an uncertainty as to what statements would be deemed an opinion and what would be treated as a statement of fact. It invites selective and biased prosecutions. After all, what does it mean to accuse a politician of trying to “mislead” the public?

Winston Churchill said “a politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.” It is a standard heavily laded with subjectivity and potential selectivity in prosecution. It is more likely to determine not whether lies can be told but which lies can be told. The government and the majority of the public are likely to hold certain “misleading” claims of politicians to be true or opinion while holding a harsher view of the claims of the opposition. Consider the massive censorship system in our own country. During Covid, you were labeled a liar, conspiracist, or racist for holding views now viewed as credible. For example, academics joined this chorus in marginalizing anyone raising the lab theory. One study cited the theory as an example of “anti-Chinese racism” and “toxic white masculinity.”

As late as May 2021, the New York Times’ Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli was calling any mention of the lab theory as “racist.” Mandavilli and others made clear that reporters covering the theory were COVID’s little Bull Connors. She tweeted wistfully “someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here.” Now federal agencies have stated that they believe that the origin of the virus was indeed the Chinese lab. If this law were in place, politicians could have been charged with lying and barred from the legislature — only serve to diminish dissenting views further in the government. Politicians have long been accused of lying to the public.

In this country, presidents routinely lie on matters great and small. Many of those lies cost citizens dearly, from “keeping your doctor” under ObamaCare to losing your life in Vietnam. Criminalizing lies in campaigns because of the spread of disinformation or disorder is a slippery slope that vests unprecedented power in the Justice Department. There is obvious an abundance statements from politicians that could be deemed as intentionally misleading. Officials can then simply pick and choose what politicians they want to tar with the allegation and potentially bar from office.

Cherry picking courts. Insane.

• Judge Dismisses Nevada Alternate Electors Case On Jurisdiction Concerns (ET)

A Nevada judge on Friday dismissed the alternate electors’ case against six Republicans who were alleged to have submitted fraudulent certificates to Congress in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Clark County Judge Mary Kay Holthus issued a bench ruling on Friday during a hearing at the Clark County District Court that dismissed the case, according to courtroom reporters. The judge said she was not convinced by state prosecutors’ arguments that Clark County was the proper venue to hear the case, appearing to side with defense attorneys who said the signing of the certificates occurred in Douglas County. “You have literally, in my opinion, a crime that has occurred in another jurisdiction,” Judge Holthus said at the hearing. “It’s so appropriately up north and so appropriately not here.”

In dismissing the case, the judge called off the trial, which had been scheduled for next January. The defendants included state GOP chairman Michael McDonald; national party committee member Jim DeGraffenreid; national and Douglas County committee member Shawn Meehan; and Eileen Rice, a party member from the Lake Tahoe area. Each was charged with offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, felonies that carry penalties of up to five years in prison. Defense attorneys contended that Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford improperly brought the case in Las Vegas instead of Carson City or Reno, which are cities located near where the alleged crime took place. After the hearing, Mr. Ford told reporters at the court that “the judge got it wrong and we’ll be appealing immediately.” He did not provide any more details.

Margaret McLetchie, an attorney for one of the defendants, told news outlets that it’s unlikely the case will proceed. “They’re done,” she said. She said that the attorney general would have to now bring the case to another grand jury in another venue such as Nevada’s capital city of Carson City, which would violate a three-year statute of limitations on filing charges that expired in December 2023. Earlier this year, attorney Richard Wright, who was representing the defendants, argued that prosecutors made a “politically expedient” move by bringing the case in Clark County. “The venue that’s appropriate is Carson City and Minden,” he told the Nevada Independent in January. “That’s a Republican area, so I’ll be anxious to hear why the attorney general chose [Las Vegas] as the convenient forum. To me, it’s painfully obvious. Because it’s Democratic.”

Miami shark
https://twitter.com/i/status/1804865710130147758

Turtle
https://twitter.com/i/status/1804771449309126737

Good human

He is very good human.

pic.twitter.com/4pvBRqfkIr

— The Best (@ThebestFigen) June 23, 2024

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Debt Rattle June 16 2024

Jun 162024

June 16, 2024 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:46 am Finance Tagged with: G7, Garland, gender insanity, irresponsibility, peace offer, Putin, seized assets, two-tier 44 Responses »

Edward Hopper Summer interior 1909

• Americans Must Criticize Our Corrupt Courts (Holloway)

• Connecticut Bar Association Warns Critics of Trump Prosecutions (Turley)

• The Corruption of Attorney General Merrick Garland (Turley)

• DOJ Won’t Pursue Criminal Contempt Charges Against Garland (ET)

• US Supreme Court Could Be Key Election Issue: ‘They’ve Grown Too Powerful’ (G.)

• Jeffrey Sachs Blames US ‘Irresponsibility’ For Ukraine Crisis (RT)

• Putin’s Peace Offer ‘Not Serious’ – Scholz (RT)

• Rejection of Putin’s Peace Offer ‘Exposes’ NATO’s Proxy War in Ukraine (Sp.)

• ‘We Must Go After Everything Russian’ – UK’s Cameron (RT)

• G7 Countries Could Lose $83 Billion If Russia’s Assets Confiscated (Sp.)

• G7 Demands $486 Billion From Russia (RT)

• Two Summits… Elitist Warmongering G7 And Peacemaking Multipolar BRICS (SCF)

• Russian Wine Boom Follows The War (Helmer)

• Putin On Seized Assets: “Despite All The Trickery, Theft Is Still Theft” (ZH)

• Trump Vows To End ‘Gender Insanity’ In Schools (RT)

Trump votes

TRUMP: "I actually tell our people we don't need your vote. We got so many votes, we don't need them. We just don't want to see votes stolen. We don't want to say, you know, steal the vote. We're not letting it happen. We're not going to let it happen. It's not happening again."… pic.twitter.com/xvSXyGfIup

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 15, 2024

Vivek
https://twitter.com/i/status/1801839172467990616

Chamath

WATCH: Silicon Valley Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya says the media's portrayal of Trump has been a LIE and reveals that seeing Trump speak in person completely changed his view of him

"He is charismatic. He's intellectually sharp, and he's funny… I felt that I had misjudged… pic.twitter.com/a5T8kTU7UG

— George (@BehizyTweets) June 14, 2024

Trump 1980
https://twitter.com/i/status/1801692215170973746

Orban

Viktor Orban issues a warning to Ursula von der Leyen: "There is not enough money in the world to force us to let migrants in… And there is not enough money in the world for which we would put our children or grandchildren in the hands of LGBTQ activists. That's impossible."… pic.twitter.com/6smuv7aLbl

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) June 15, 2024

If Trump is able to come in and stop the war in Ukraine immediately like he claims he will, that would be a nail in the coffin for the Deep State.

It would prove that the Biden regime could have stopped this war the entire time, yet chose to push us to the brink of WW3 anyways.… pic.twitter.com/2x371JiOVf

— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) June 14, 2024

Putin Eurasia

1. Vladimir Putin: “We have come unacceptably close to the point of no return. Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which has the largest nuclear weapons potential, demonstrate the extreme adventurism of Western politicians. They either do not understand the scale of… pic.twitter.com/SAxtVz0Hiq

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) June 14, 2024

Fanny

"I’m so tired of hearing these idiots call my name as ‘Fanny,’ in a way to attempt to humiliate me. Because like silly schoolboys, the name reminds them of a woman’s rear." – Fani Willis

This clown is a narcissist attention wh*re pic.twitter.com/nSScYUhOTZ

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 14, 2024

Tucker Alex

Tucker Carlson: "Be a man about it, don't lie to yourself. Am I going to go along with the deception and become something less than human or am I going to say in a gentle nonviolent but persistent way: No, I'm not doing that, I'm not taking your Covid vax, I'm not going to… pic.twitter.com/1eGqTwVfoW

— Camus (@newstart_2024) June 14, 2024

“Prosecutors Got Trump, But They Contorted the Law.”

• Americans Must Criticize Our Corrupt Courts (Holloway)

In the wake of his conviction in a New York court, President Trump has complained that the process was rigged against him, that the whole proceeding was a corrupt effort to persecute him with a view to influencing the 2024 presidential election. In response, many of his opponents have criticized him for undermining public confidence in our system of criminal justice and thus harming our democracy—a criticism that has been magnified by many in the media. These critics, however, are missing the point and undermining a principle that is in fact essential to preserving our republic: namely, that criticism of the justice system when it errs or overreaches is necessary to preserving freedom under the rule of law. Those who founded our nation were aware of this necessity. Alexander Hamilton, representing the defendant in the famous libel case People v. Croswell, warned that “the most dangerous, the most sure, the most fatal of tyrannies” operated “by selecting and sacrificing single individuals, under the mask and forms of law, by dependent and partial tribunals.”

“Against such measures,” Hamilton continued, “we ought to keep a vigilant eye and take a manly stand. Whenever they arise, we ought to resist, and resist till we have hurled the demagogues and tyrants from their imagined thrones.” No sensible American would look back on these remarks and think that, by them, Hamilton was undermining democracy. Hamilton’s great rival, Thomas Jefferson, acted on a similar view. As president, Jefferson pardoned publishers who had been convicted under the Sedition Act of 1798. Jefferson’s course of action here was inseparable from his belief that the Act was unconstitutional and that the courts of the United States had made themselves party to serious injustices by convicting defendants under it. Indeed, the pardoning power is included in the United States Constitution, and in many state constitutions, and is used routinely, precisely because prosecutors and courts can make mistakes and sometimes even willfully abuse their power over the lives and liberties of citizens.

These dangers are also recognized in federal law. Title 18 of the United States Code prohibits and punishes “deprivation of rights under color of law.” By its very terms this provision acknowledges that sometimes those entrusted with the administration of justice are themselves guilty of behaving lawlessly and abusively. The United States Department of Justice’s website observes that this provision may be applied not only against “police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and prison guards” but also, as appropriate, against “judges, district attorneys,” and “other public officials.” This important provision is itself an acknowledgment by the government that all the proceedings of our justice system are not entitled to uncritical acceptance.

Everyone conversant with American history knows that the problem of politicized and corrupt abuses of the justice system has not disappeared in the modern era, that it continues to rear its ugly head precisely when political passions run high and communities are inflamed against leaders for whom they harbor deep animosities. In the 1960s, Alabama state authorities brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to trial on charges that he had committed perjury in relation to his tax filings. This prosecution was a transparently cynical attempt to deprive an important American political and social movement of its most effective leader. In that case, however, even the Alabama jury, composed exclusively of white men, perceived the abusive character of the case and returned an acquittal. Afterwards, Dr. King thanked the jury for their “fair, honest, and just verdict” and commended the Alabama judge for the “high and noble manner” in which he had conducted the case.

If criticism of prosecutors and courts is permissible and necessary in certain circumstances, the only important question at present is whether such criticism is justified in the case of President Trump’s New York conviction. Would it be reasonable for impartial Americans today to echo Dr. King’s words and congratulate the Manhattan jury for a “fair” verdict and commend Judge Merchan for his “high and noble” handling of the case?For an answer to that question, we need not rely on Trump or his aggrieved supporters. We need only look to the evaluation of respected CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, writing in New York Magazine: “Prosecutors Got Trump, But They Contorted the Law.”

“Americans must criticize our corrupt courts“ vs are not allowed to.

• Connecticut Bar Association Warns Critics of Trump Prosecutions (Turley)

I have previously denounced overheated rhetoric and share the concern over how such rage rhetoric can encourage violence. After the verdict, I immediately encouraged people not to yield to their anger, but to trust our legal system. I believe that the verdict in New York may ultimately be overturned. I also noted that I do not blame the jury but rather the judge and the prosecutors for an unfounded and unfair trial. Of course, the concern over rage rhetoric runs across our political spectrum. While rarely criticized in the media, we have seen an escalation of reckless rhetoric from the left. For example, Georgetown Law Professor Josh Chafetz declared that “when the mob is right, some (but not all!) more aggressive tactics are justified.” My concern is not with the plea for lawyers to take care that their comments do not encourage such “aggressive tactics.” The problem is the suggestion that lawyers are acting somehow unprofessionally in denouncing what many view as a two-tier system of justice and the politicalization of our legal system.

Like many, I believe that the Manhattan case was a flagrant example of such weaponization of the legal system and should be denounced by all lawyers. It is a return, in my view, to the type of political prosecution once common in this country. For those lawyers who view such prosecutions as political, they are speaking out in defense of what they believe is the essence of blind justice in America. What is “reckless” to the Connecticut Bar is righteous to others. Notably, the bar officials did not write to denounce attacks on figures like Bill Barr or claims that the Justice Department was rigging justice during the Trump years. Likewise, the letter focuses on critics of the Trump prosecutions and not the continued attacks on conservative jurists like Justice Samuel Alito. It has never published warnings about those calling conservative justices profanities, attacking their religion, or labeling them “partisan hacks” or other even “insurrectionist sympathizers.” Liberal activists have been calling for stopping conservative jurists “by any means necessary.”

In Connecticut, Sen. Richard Blumenthal has warned conservative justices to rule correctly over face “seismic changes.” That did not appear to worry the bar. Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also declared in front of the Supreme Court “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.” The letter goes further and suggests that lawyers should speak publicly in support of trials like the one in Manhattan, a view that ignores the deep misgivings over the motivations and means used in New York to target an unpopular figure in this city. You have the top bar officials calling on lawyers to take a public position that is opposed by many lawyers and citizens in defending the integrity of these prosecutions. Imagine the response if the Idaho bar called on its lawyers to speak out against these cases and declared that it is reckless or unprofessional to defend them.

I expect that, in the very liberal bar of Connecticut, the letter is hardly needed. Indeed, this letter is likely to be quite popular. Yet, I would have thought that bar officials would have taken greater care to respect the divergent opinions on these trials and the need to avoid any statements that might chill the exercise of free speech. Ironically, the letter only reinforced the view of a legal system that is maintaining a political orthodoxy and agenda. These officials declare that it is now unprofessional or reckless for lawyers to draw historical comparisons to show trials or to question the motives or ethics underlying these cases. They warn lawyers not to “sow distrust in the public for the courts where it does not belong.” Yet, many believe that there is an alarming threat to our legal system and that distrust is warranted in light of prosecution like the one in Manhattan.

“Garland’s tenure as attorney general has shown a pronounced reluctance to take steps that would threaten President Biden..”

• The Corruption of Attorney General Merrick Garland (Turley)

Garland’s tenure as attorney general has shown a pronounced reluctance to take steps that would threaten President Biden. He slow-walked the appointment of a special counsel investigating any Biden, and then excluded from the counsel’s scope any investigation of the massive influence peddling operation by Hunter Biden, his uncle and others. However, it is what has occurred in the last six months that has left some of us shaken, given our early faith in Garland. I have long been a critic of Garland’s failure to order a special counsel to look into the extensive evidence of corruption surrounding the Bidens. As I stated in my testimony in the Biden impeachment hearing, there is ample evidence that Biden lied repeatedly about his knowledge of this corruption and his interaction with these foreign clients. However, a more worrisome concern is the lack of consistency in these investigations.

First, Special Counsel Robert Hur found that Biden knowingly retained and mishandled classified material. However, he concluded that Biden’s age and diminished faculties would make him too sympathetic to a jury. It was less sympathetic than pathetic, given that this is the same man who is running for re-election to lead the most powerful nation on Earth. More importantly, Garland has not made obvious efforts to reach a consistent approach in the two cases by dropping charges based on the same crimes by Trump in Florida. Second, Garland has allowed Special Counsel Jack Smith to maintain positions that seem diametrically at odds with past Justice Department policies. This includes Smith’s statement that he will try Trump up to (and even through) the next election.

It also includes a sweeping gag order which would have eviscerated free speech protections by gagging Trump from criticizing the Justice Department. While Garland has said that he wants to give the special counsels their independence, it falls to him to protect the consistency and values of his department. Garland’s most brazenly political act has been the laughable executive privilege claim used to withhold the audiotape of the Hur-Biden interviews. The Justice Department has not claimed that the transcript is privileged, but only that the audiotape of Biden’s comments is privileged. This is so logically disconnected that even CNN hosts have mocked it.

“..DOJ policy not to prosecute officials for contempt of Congress when they don’t comply with subpoenas due to a presidential claim of executive privilege..”

• DOJ Won’t Pursue Criminal Contempt Charges Against Garland (ET)

An official from the Department of Justice (DOJ) told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a letter that Attorney General Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted for contempt of Congress because his refusal to hand over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with a prosecutor did not amount to a crime. In the letter, which was obtained by several media outlets, the DOJ official said that Mr. Garland’s refusal to comply with a subpoena demanding audio records of an interview that special counsel Robert Hur conducted with President Biden in his investigation into the president’s alleged mishandling of classified documents “did not constitute a crime.”

“Consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, the Department has determined that the responses by Attorney General Garland to the subpoenas issued by the Committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, wrote in the letter. The letter also cited DOJ policy not to prosecute officials for contempt of Congress when they don’t comply with subpoenas due to a presidential claim of executive privilege.

[..] The refusal to pursue contempt charges against Mr. Garland comes after the House voted on June 12 to hold him in contempt for failing to comply with the subpoena to turn over the tapes.The House resolution, which passed in a mostly party-line 216–207 vote, came amid a months-long standoff between Republicans and the DOJ over the production of the audio recordings of President Biden’s two-day interview with the special counsel. House Republicans have said that they want to obtain the recordings to verify Mr. Hur’s assertions that President Biden couldn’t recollect certain facts during the interview. They have alleged that a two-tiered justice system exists because Mr. Hur opted to not charge President Biden while former President Donald Trump faces multiple charges in connection with his own classified documents probe.

Mr. Hur, who faced criticism from Democrats and the White House for remarks on the president’s cognitive capacity in his report, didn’t recommend charges against President Biden, in part because of his ailing memory. “At trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the special counsel wrote in his 388-page report, which found that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” when he was a private citizen after the end of his term as vice president during the Obama administration.

Uber-left Guardian leads the anti-SCOTUS chorus. They’re not too powerful, they’re just not left-wing enough.

• US Supreme Court Could Be Key Election Issue: ‘They’ve Grown Too Powerful’ (G.)

Look at me, look at me,” said Martha-Ann Alito. “I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you.” It was a bizarre outburst from the wife of a justice on America’s highest court. Secretly recorded by a liberal activist, Martha-Ann Alito complained about a neighbour’s gay pride flag and expressed a desire to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag in protest. This, along with audio clips of Justice Samuel Alito himself and a stream of ethics violations, have deepened public concerns that the supreme court is playing by its own rules. The Democratic representative Jamie Raskin has described a “national clamour over this crisis of legitimacy” at the court. A poll last month for the progressive advocacy organisation Stand Up America suggests that the supreme court will now play a crucial role in voters’ choices in the 2024 election. Nearly three in four voters said the selection and confirmation of justices will be an important consideration for them in voting for both president and senator in November.

Reed Galen, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a pro-democracy group, said: “The idea that these guys act as if they are kings ruling from above, to me, should absolutely be an issue. It was always Republicans who said we hate unelected judges legislating from the bench and we hate judicial activism. That’s all this stuff is.” Public trust in the court is at an all-time low amid concerns over bias and corruption. Alito has rejected demands that he recuse himself from a case considering presidential immunity after flags similar to those carried by 6 January 2021 rioters flew over his homes in Virginia and New Jersey. Justice Clarence Thomas has ignored calls to step aside because of the role his wife, Ginni, played in supporting efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

Ethical standards have been under scrutiny following revelations that some justices failed to report luxury trips, including on private jets, and property deals. Last week Thomas, who has come under criticism for failing to disclose gifts from the businessman and Republican donor Harlan Crow, revised his 2019 form to acknowledge he accepted “food and lodging” at a Bali hotel and at a California club.These controversies have been compounded by historic and hugely divisive decisions. The fall of Roe v Wade, ending the nationwide right to abortion after half a century, was seen by many Democrats as a gamechanger in terms of people making a connection between the court and their everyday lives.There are further signs of the debate moving beyond the Washington bubble. Last week, the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper argued that, since the court’s own ethics code proved toothless, Congress should enact legislation that holds supreme court justices to higher ethical standards.

The paper called for the local senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is chair of the Senate judiciary committee, to hold a hearing on the issue. Maggie Jo Buchanan, managing director of the pressure group Demand Justice, said: “It’s important to keep in mind that, even though debate among members of Congress would lead you to believe that court reform is a polarising issue, it really isn’t. For years we have seen broad bipartisan support for basic supreme court reforms such as ethics. “A broad bipartisan consensus exists that they’ve grown too powerful, that they have too much power over laws and regulations. That’s shared among nearly three-fourths of Americans, including 80% of independents, so the demand is there and this isn’t something where it’s Democrats versus Republicans in the sense of real people. The American people want change and want to check the judiciary.”

“This isn’t rocket science… Leave a little space in-between the major powers.”

• Jeffrey Sachs Blames US ‘Irresponsibility’ For Ukraine Crisis (RT)

The West could have easily prevented the catastrophic Ukraine conflict, which had been brewing for many years, by abandoning its many escalatory policies including NATO expansion, according to Jeffrey Sachs, the president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In an interview with Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi on Saturday, Sachs, a prominent expert on post-Soviet economies who served for more than a decade as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, claimed that the Ukraine conflict represented the “utter failure” of US diplomacy. He said that G7 countries, particularly the US, “grew into a lot of arrogance,” in believing that they could do whatever they wanted. This approach, Sachs argued, has drawn the world into three major geopolitical crises, including the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, while fueling Sino-US tensions over Taiwan.

”The US is… an irresponsible actor in all three of those events. When it comes to Ukraine, the irresponsibility is that this war could have been easily avoided… by NATO by declaring clearly [that it] will not expand into Ukraine,” he said. He also chided Western politicians and media for claiming that the Russian military operation in Ukraine was “unprovoked.” Sachs recalled that it had been preceded by numerous “provocations,” including several waves of NATO expansion, the Western-backed coup in Kiev, and the West’s failure to pressure Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements. The now-defunct deal sought to end the bloodshed in the two Donbass republics by giving them a special status within the Ukrainian state.

The economist also suggested that the West could have easily ended the conflict early on, as Moscow and Kiev had largely worked out a preliminary peace deal during talks in Türkiye, which revolved around Ukraine’s neutrality. However, according to Sachs, then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson “swooped in” and advised Kiev against the agreement, a claim denied by Johnson. “This was a terrible piece of advice… and a dreadful, awful miscalculation,” Sachs said, adding that it had resulted in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian deaths. He alleged that the US wants Kiev to “fight to the last Ukrainian” instead of helping to negotiate “the basic point” of Ukraine’s neutrality. “This isn’t rocket science… Leave a little space in-between the major powers.”

Scholz says “not serious”; Stoltenberg says “not a proposal made in good faith.” But it is, and they know it. Moreover, Russia is tired of coming up with these proposals.

• Putin’s Peace Offer ‘Not Serious’ – Scholz (RT)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new proposal to achieve a lasting peace between Moscow and Kiev, branding the overture a ploy to distract the global community from the Swiss-hosted Ukraine ‘peace summit.’ Speaking to the country’s top diplomats on Friday, Putin signaled that Russia “will order a ceasefire and start negotiations” as soon as Kiev completely withdraws its troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions. The four regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in referendums in the fall of 2022. Neither the West nor Kiev recognized the votes. Other conditions for a lasting peace, according to Putin, include Ukraine’s neutral status, a pledge not to seek to acquire nuclear weapons, “demilitarization” and “denazification,” and respect for the rights of the Russian-speaking population.

All of those points should be fundamentally recognized at the international level, followed by the removal of Western sanctions against Russia, the president said. However, in an interview with the broadcaster ZDF on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy on Saturday, Scholz stated that “everyone knows that it is not a serious proposal,” suggesting that “it has something to do with the peace conference taking place in Switzerland.” He also claimed that the initiative revealed that Putin was after “the classic, realistic conquest of land.” In similar remarks, the proposal was dismissed by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, who branded it “nothing different than other ultimatums that he has made before.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also claimed that “this is not a proposal made in good faith,” adding that it would require Kiev to “give up significantly more land” than Russia currently controls.

Putin’s new peace overture comes ahead of the Swiss-hosted conference on Ukraine this weekend. The event is expected to revolve around Zelensky’s ten-point ‘peace formula,’ which demands that Russia, among other things, withdraw from all territories claimed by Kiev. Moscow has rejected the initiative as detached from reality. According to Zelensky, the ‘peace summit’ will focus only on three points of Kiev’s plan: prisoner exchanges, and nuclear and food security. Putin has dismissed the conference as a Western trick to create the illusion of a global anti-Russian coalition, distract attention from the roots of the conflict, and boost Zelensky’s claim to legitimacy after his presidential term expired last month.

“Trump may come in there and say, ‘hey, Putin offered a deal.’ People want a deal. Now the mainstream media will call him a Russian bot, but 94% of Americans want it.”

• Rejection of Putin’s Peace Offer ‘Exposes’ NATO’s Proxy War in Ukraine (Sp.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the country’s conditions for an end to the Ukraine conflict during a lengthy address at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Friday. Moscow’s central demands are the same as those put forth during previous rounds of negotiations sabotaged by the United States: Ukraine must become a neutral state not aligned with Western powers’ crusade against the Russian nation. Additionally, Kiev must be demilitarized and de-Nazified, Putin stated, and the country must formally renounce plans to join NATO. The offer was rejected almost as soon as it was extended, leading Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to jokingly ask whether it had even yet been translated into Ukrainian. “With such statements they want to deprive the citizens of Ukraine of a real chance for peace,” said the Russian official. But a deeper analysis of the conflict and its history reveals why a peaceful resolution remains so elusive.

Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program hosted a series of guests to discuss the Russian president’s proposal, breaking down the context of the Ukraine crisis and Western elites’ deep-seated interest in its continuation. Anti-Russian sentiment has been on the rise in the West for a number of years, with the emergence of the Russiagate narrative alleging Moscow’s influence in the 2016 US presidential election representing a key acceleration of this trend. The conspiracy theory, widely promulgated by Western intelligence agencies in mainstream media, laid the groundwork for the Cold War-esque narrative that Russia once again represents an existential threat to the West’s purported democratic values and, by extension, to the West itself. Former President Barack Obama had announced a “pivot to Asia” just a few years prior, stressing the importance of responding to China’s ascendance as a major world power.

Meanwhile, the strengthening of Sino-Russian relations under Chinese President Xi Jinping helped solidify the formation of a geopolitical bloc countering US hegemony, a dynamic that has intensified with the growth of the BRICS economic alliance. The United States has become increasingly intent on challenging this counter-hegemonic force and undermining Russia in particular. The launch of Russia’s special military operation in the Donbass finally gave the US an excuse to confront Moscow militarily, with Western media portraying Russia as a belligerent imperialist power. But the claim bore little resemblance to reality. “We need to remember that Russia did not want to have to invade Ukraine,” noted Margaret Flowers, a peace activist and editor at the website Popular Resistance. “They tried and tried and tried to warn and say, ‘look, here’s what you need to do. Stop killing the ethnic Russians. Stop threatening to join NATO and take our security interests seriously, and the West refused to do that over and over again.”

Former Washington Post bureau chief Jon Jeter argued that Western elites still oppose any lowering of tensions between Russia and Ukraine as they remain intent on denying Moscow a victory. “I would be surprised to see any real discussion of this in the mainstream United States news media, or certainly at the White House itself,” Jeter said of Putin’s peace proposal. Independent journalist Caleb Maupin agreed that Western media would continue to help undermine any rapprochement with Moscow. “A recent poll showed 94% of Americans want exactly what Putin just offered, which is a diplomatic end,” he noted. “Trump may come in there and say, ‘hey, Putin offered a deal.’ People want a deal. Now the mainstream media will call him a Russian bot, but 94% of Americans want it.”

UK gov’t is about to fall.

• ‘We Must Go After Everything Russian’ – UK’s Cameron (RT)

The West must show Moscow that it stands “completely” behind Ukraine by sanctioning everything Russian, Britain’s foreign secretary David Cameron has said. Cameron spoke at a press conference in London as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government announced new sanctions against Russia. His remarks were published on Friday, by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.“We will show [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that we are completely behind Ukraine: we will chase the money and the oil, we will stop the gas, we will stop the ships, we will do everything we can to stop the Russian war machine and show Putin the folly of his actions,” Cameron told the Italian outlet The UK is “hunting” companies that do business with Russia “all over the world,” he said. “We will sanction companies in China, in Türkiye, in Kyrgyzstan, even in Israel, that we believe are supplying dual-use material” to Russia, he added.

Of special concern to Cameron was the so-called shadow fleet of tankers delivering Russian oil in defiance of the G7 “price cap” and the Western embargo. The UK has used its dominance in the global shipping insurance industry to blacklist all Russian vessels, hindering the deliveries of everything from oil to food – but blaming Moscow for it. Faced with Ukrainian setbacks on the battlefield, the US and the UK launched another wave of sanctions against Russia this week, expanding their definition of Moscow’s war effort to target individuals and companies around the world allegedly helping it. The US Treasury Department openly stated that its objective was to raise “the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions” that deal with Russia, threatening to deprive them of access to Western finance.

China has responded by condemning “illegal unilateral sanctions” and vowing to protect its citizens and companies from American “abuse.” Beijing also denounced Washington for fueling the Ukraine conflict by sending weapons and ammunition to Kiev. The US “has totally undermined trust in the dollar as a global reserve currency by imposing illegal sanctions” against Russian banks, said the chairman of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin. “The dollar has become toxic,” he added, predicting that the sanctions will result in more and more countries moving away from US securities. Cameron was prime minister from 2010-2016 but resigned after UK voters surprisingly voted to leave the EU. He returned to the government in November 2023 as Sunak’s foreign secretary. The UK is headed for a general election in July, which the ruling Conservatives are widely expected to lose.

“..Moscow also has the option of not returning funds that Western countries have kept in Russia..”

• G7 Countries Could Lose $83 Billion If Russia’s Assets Confiscated (Sp.)

The confiscation of Russian assets by G7 countries could cost them almost $83 billion in the amount of their investments in the Russian economy, Sputnik has calculated based on data from national statistical services. According to the calculations, the volume of direct investments of G7 members in the Russian economy by the end of 2022 (there is currently no more recent data available) amounted to $82.8 billion. The largest investor in the Russian economy was the United Kingdom, according to the latest available data, with assets estimated at $18.9 billion. Next was Germany ($17.3 billion), France ($16.6 billion), and Italy ($12.9 billion). Investments of American companies in the Russian economy amounted to $9.6 billion; Japan and Canada invested $4.6 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.

In a statement following the first day of their summit in Italy on Friday, the G7 countries formally confirmed their intention to provide Ukraine with about $50 billion in loans by the end of the year, to be repaid from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. The EU and G7 countries have frozen almost half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves, about 300 billion euros, since the start of Russia’s special military operation. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the seizure of Russian state assets by Western countries would not go unpunished. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the freezing of assets in Europe theft. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Russia would respond if its reserves were confiscated. According to him, Moscow also has the option of not returning funds that Western countries have kept in Russia.

“..the G7 will launch ‘Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans’ for Kiev..”

• G7 Demands $486 Billion From Russia (RT)

The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations have demanded that Russia pay $486 billion to Ukraine in damage allegedly inflicted by the ongoing conflict, according to a joint statement issued on Friday. The US and its G7 allies – the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan – indicated that Russian assets will remain frozen until Moscow ends the conflict and pays compensation. The West has frozen roughly $300 billion in Russian sovereign funds since the start of the Ukraine conflict. “Russia must end its illegal war of aggression and pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine. These damages now exceed $486 billion, according to the World Bank,” the G7 statement, published by the White House, reads. The group declared that “with a view to supporting Ukraine’s current and future needs in the face of a prolonged defense against Russia,” the G7 will launch ‘Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans’ for Kiev. This will make available “approximately $50 billion in additional funding to Ukraine by the end of the year,” it said.

The G7 said it intends to provide financing that will be serviced and repaid by future flows of “extraordinary revenues stemming from the immobilization of Russian Sovereign Assets” held in the European Union and other relevant jurisdictions. “To enable this, we will work to obtain approval in these jurisdictions to use future flows of these extraordinary revenues to service and repay the loans,” the statement reads. The G7 intends to disburse the financing through multiple channels that direct the funds to Ukraine’s military, budget, and to its reconstruction needs, it added. The US has been pushing its allies to embrace a loan backed by income from the frozen Russian assets that could provide Ukraine with billions of dollars in near-term funding. Most of the frozen assets are being held in the EU. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said recently that the flow of windfall profits earned on the immobilized Russian assets amounts to around $3-$5 billion per year.

Russia has repeatedly stated that any actions taken against its assets would amount to “theft” and would violate international law. Moscow has warned it would respond in kind if the West went through with threats to confiscate Russian assets. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday outlined conditions for Ukraine peace talks, insisting that Ukraine should first of all remove its troops from Russia’s new regions. Putin also condemned Kiev’s Western backers for allegedly preventing it from holding peace talks with Moscow while also accusing Russia of rejecting negotiations. Accepting the terms would allow everyone involved to turn the page and gradually rebuild damaged relations, the Russian president said. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has rejected Russia’s terms for ending the conflict, describing the peace conditions as an “ultimatum.”

“..despite Russia winning decisively in that two-and-half-year conflict and the Kiev regime facing oblivion from corruption and alienation from a war-sickened population.”

• Two Summits… Elitist Warmongering G7 And Peacemaking Multipolar BRICS (SCF)

This week provided an instructive juxtaposition of summits. In Italy, the United States and its Western allies convened the Group of Seven (G7) talking shop, while in Russia the BRICS nations held a workmanlike summit for their foreign ministers. The G7 has become a shorthand term for elitist Western dominance over the world economy. On the other hand, the relatively new group known as BRICS can be seen as a progressive forum and voice for the global majority. While the former is shrivelling with irrelevance, the latter is steadily growing in importance for authentic international development. There was a time when the U.S. and a clique of Western capitalist nations (including Japan) were viewed with respectability and an aura of global leadership. The heyday of Western economic and political power has waned in line with the systemic failing of U.S.-led capitalism as a model for the rest of the world to emulate.

The presumed moral authority of these nations has also diminished as their reputation for hypocrisy and insufferable arrogance has burgeoned. Indeed, the G7 has become a caricature of power. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan are seen as being ruled by self-serving extortionists, contributing little to global development. Their presumed superiority is untenable and looks ridiculous. The group represents a neocolonialist clique whose exploitation of finance and natural resources of other nations is an obscenity and shackle on the abundant potential for world development. By contrast, the BRICS coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa plus a growing number of other nations, collectively known as the Global South, is a living harbinger of a more just and equitable international order. The multipolar world that the BRICS represent and advocate has become the practical roadmap for proper international development.

It is based on cooperation, partnership, and mutual respect grounded in a genuine commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The BRICS summit this week held in the beautiful city of Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga River was a convening of foreign ministers. In October, the national leaders of the BRICS will gather in the Russian city of Kazan. The list of nations seeking to join the group has reached 50, representing every continent. In terms of combined economic power and population, the BRICS Plus has far surpassed the G7. At the G7 confab, the leaders of that motley crew look like yesterday’s men. U.S. President Joe Biden is languishing in record-low poll numbers among his citizens while Britain’s Sunak, France’s Macron, and Germany’s Scholz are clinging onto power by their fingernails. European Union elections this week showed a cratering in voter support for Macron and Scholz.

No doubt their slavish pandering to Uncle Sam’s warmongering in Ukraine while their citizens endure hardship and poverty rightly took a toll. The G7 has dispensed with any pretense of standing for international economic development. The entire summit in Italy can be summed up as a gathering for warmongering and theft. The disreputable clique could henceforth be labeled the “economic wing of NATO”. Guest of honor was the corrupt dictator of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, wearing his pantomime military fatigues and being ladled with tens of billions more dollars. His G7 patrons pledged $50 billion a year for the NeoNazi Kiev regime to buy more weapons “until it prevails” in the proxy war against Russia. This is despite Russia winning decisively in that two-and-half-year conflict and the Kiev regime facing oblivion from corruption and alienation from a war-sickened population.

“..real wages grew by a record 13.3% in May 2023..”

• Russian Wine Boom Follows The War (Helmer)

Wine, and the money to spend on drinking it, are growing at an unprecedented pace in Russia. For a country at war in Europe this has not happened in modern times, and probably not since the ancient Roman emperors and medieval English kings arranged for their city fountains to flow with wine in celebration of military victories and coronations. The surge in wine consumption signals the growing confidence of Russian consumers in their future. A parallel surge in wine imports since April is also a signal that the Russian Finance Ministry aims to raise taxes on this good cheer. In 2023, 320 million litres of still and fortified wine were imported to Russia, which was 4.4% more than in 2022, according to a study by the large Moscow importer, distributor, and retailer, the Luding group.

According to other market reports, by the end of last year the largest supermarket groups had increased their imports of wine by 7% compared to the year before. The X5 group, for example, which operates the Pyaterochka and Perekrestok stores, reported an 18% annual increase; the Magnit chain was up 83%. This year the rate of increase in wine imports has been accelerating. Through April, the Russian Customs figures show a 20% rate of increase in the volume of wine imports compared to the first four months of 2023. The most noticeable surge was observed in April, when twice as much wine was imported as a year ago. Part of the reason is that the Russian war economy is now generating significantly faster growth in consumer income than the rate of inflation. Adjusted for that, real wages grew 0.3% between March 2022 and March 2023. This is after a prolonged decline in real wages between 2013 and 2021.

In the first quarter of this year, January through March, real disposable income – a slightly different metric measured by the state statistics agency Rosstat — jumped 5.8% compared to the year before. This was a relative slowdown compared to the last quarter of 2023, when real disposable income was up 7% year on year. Rosstat is reporting also that real wages grew by a record 13.3% in May 2023. The agency’s measurement reflected the jump in war-related civilian sector wages and in payments to military personnel. Pensions, by contrast, were shrinking slightly in real terms. The government is now estimating the full-year 2023 rate of real income growth at 5.4%; in 2024 at 2.8%, and next year at 2.8%. Consumer demand is predicted to rise in step. Despite Russian casualties at the front already running ahead of the ten-year Soviet Afghanistan War, the Russian war economy, and the impact of the NATO sanctions war, are paying a large domestic dividend – and not only at the wine shop.

“In the West, the thesis that Russia started the war within the framework of a special military operation, that it is the aggressor, is constantly being repeated..”

• Putin On Seized Assets: “Despite All The Trickery, Theft Is Still Theft” (ZH)

After on Thursday Group of Seven leaders agreed at a summit in Italy to give Ukraine $50 billion utilizing interest from frozen Russian Central Bank assets, President Putin has addressed the move during a speech before his Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He once again denounced this as brazen ‘threft’ and described that Western leaders are trying to come up with “some kind of legal basis” for the asset freezes, “but despite all the trickery, theft is still theft and will not go unpunished.” European Council President Charles Michel had announced the day prior, “Russia has to pay.” And President Biden had said, “I’m very pleased to share that this week the G7 signed a plan to finalize and unlock $50 billion from the proceeds of those frozen [Russian] assets, to put that money to work for Ukraine, [in] another reminder to Putin that we’re not backing down.’ Putin also warned that if the West steals Russia’s sovereign assets, then it is proof that “anyone” could be next.

Additionally, following up on Putin’s words Alexander Bespalov, co-chair of the Investment Russia public organization, addressed the G7 plan: “The idea of issuing any loans to Ukraine is inherently hopeless because only a person who is extremely detached from life and reality can suppose that it may win a conflict with Russia. Ukraine is already in a losing position. This is clear to everyone, and from an economic point of view there will be no growth or the capability to return loans in the next decades. So what we see is yet another attempt to establish some formal economic foundation to provide money for Ukraine’s military needs,” he told Izvestia. In Putin’s remarks before diplomats, he at one point asserted that Moscow did not start the war. Instead, “In the West, the thesis that Russia started the war within the framework of a special military operation, that it is the aggressor, is constantly being repeated,” he explained.

“The left-wing gender insanity being pushed at our children is an act of child abuse. Very simple..”

• Trump Vows To End ‘Gender Insanity’ In Schools (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has promised that if reelected this November, he will defund schools that promote “inappropriate” content to children such as gender identity and critical race theory. He also pledged to strip federal funding from schools mandating vaccines and masks, as well as banning men from participating in women’s sports. “On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children,” the presumptive Republican nominee for the White House told a cheering crowd at Turning Point Action’s ‘The People’s Convention’ in the state of Michigan on Saturday.

“And I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” he continued, adding that he will also “keep men out of women’s sports” and fully uphold the Second Amendment, which protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. “We will protect innocent lives and we will restore a thing called free speech, as it is being taken away from us by these radical thugs,” Trump vowed after announcing that he had received a full endorsement from the National Rifle Association gun rights advocacy group. Trump has said education is one of the main priorities of his presidential campaign, arguing that the system needs to be overhauled. He previously outlined plans to “break up” the Department of Education, change the school curriculum, and allow school principals to be elected.

Accusing the Democrats of forcing the “liberal indoctrination of America’s youth,” he vowed to reverse a new expansion by President Joe Biden’s administration of Title IX – which restricts federally funded schools from preventing transgender students from using bathrooms, locker rooms, and pronouns aligned with their identities. He also pledged to block doctors who provide gender-affirming care, as well as forbidding federal agencies from promoting “the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.” “The left-wing gender insanity being pushed at our children is an act of child abuse. Very simple. Here’s my plan to stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth,” Trump said in a video address in January, in which he detailed a range of policies designed to curb the promotion of the LGBTQ agenda.

Sopranos

The Sopranos is a true masterpiece pic.twitter.com/4WLQbzFzhr

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) June 15, 2024

Elon Optimus

This is the final 3 minutes or so from the TSLA shareholder meeting yesterday.

Elon Musk details why Tesla is uniquely positioned to make the best humanoid robot and the immense opportunity ahead.

Most have no idea. pic.twitter.com/qVEnuqkk0V

— Dave Lee (@heydave7) June 14, 2024

Wise words from a recent interview with @geoffreyhinton, one of the smartest people in the world regarding AI

pic.twitter.com/11A7fJpLcs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024

Poach

The moment we moved in to save a big bull from a poaching attempt. This is the story behind the scene: During a routine patrol, our fixed-wing pilot spotted a very large bull in Tsavo West, about 45 years old, with a hulking stature & huge tusks.

Elephants of this size are often… pic.twitter.com/1eEKnlBcUr

— Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) June 14, 2024

Lizard
https://twitter.com/i/status/1801532529260040438

Whale
https://twitter.com/i/status/1801659875790819444

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

Debt Rattle August 22 2023

Aug 222023

August 22, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:45 am Finance Tagged with: Assange, BRICS, F-16, fusion, G7, Macgregor, Trump 44 Responses »

Titian Venus of Urbino 1534

• Col. Macgregor Tells Tucker Why The Ukraine War Must End Now (ZH)

• F-16 Transfers to Ukraine Will Take Years to Produce Results (Sp.)

• Democrats Aren’t Laughing About The Hunter Biden Debacle Anymore (Turley)

• The Disqualification of Donald Trump and Other Legal Urban Legends (Turley)

• We Won’t Be Fooled Again (Jim Kunstler)

• ‘BRICS Is Now The Hottest Club In The World’ – Senior Diplomat (RT)

• BRICS 2023: Who are Participants & Guests of the Summit? (Sp.)

• BRICS Plus-SCO Super Bloc vs. US Empire (Pepe Escobar)

• The Founder Members Of BRICS Face A Historic Decision (RT)

• China Wants BRICS to Rival G7 – FT (RT)

• ‘Fallen Angels From Hell’ – Scholz On Critics Of His Ukraine Policies (RT)

• Nuclear Fusion Still Long Way From Becoming Viable Energy Source (Sp.)

• The Crucifixion of Julian Assange (Chris Hedges)

RFK Dore

Comedians were funnier before they started toeing the government line. pic.twitter.com/F0D5OW577f

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 21, 2023

Trump BRICS

A year ago I said that the US dollar is losing its world reserve currency status because of the efforts by BRICS+ to stop using USD in trade. Now USD is losing trade volume everywhere. Soon the US Govt can’t print the money it needs without hyperinflation. pic.twitter.com/xFDaE0FFXx

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 17, 2023

Mask
https://twitter.com/i/status/1691137859485573120

Worth every minute of your time.

”President Biden has enabled ‘combat pay’ which implies there are American forces on the ground in Ukraine.”

• Col. Macgregor Tells Tucker Why The Ukraine War Must End Now (ZH)

Tucker Carlson on Monday published an interview with former Trump administration official Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret.), who explained why the war in Ukraine has put the United States on the brink of a ‘catastrophic war that could easily destroy us.’ Carlson begins with a bold statement: “pretty much everything that NBC and The NYTimes have told you about the war in Ukraine is a lie.” “‘The Russian army is incompetent’ – they claim. ‘Ukraine is a Democracy!’ ‘Vladimir Putin is Hitler and he’s trying to take over the world!’ ‘Thankfully, the Ukrainians are winning.’ “Every claim is false, the last one especially,” said Carlson, adding “the Ukrainian army is not winning – in fact, it’s losing badly. Ukraine is being destroyed. Its population is being slaughtered.”

“Most American know nothing about Ukraine,” Macgregor continued, adding that “if they knew anything about the history of Eastern Europe, they would all say ‘get out!’… because the wars and the blood and the hatred that’s been fought over for centuries is something we can’t sort out.” Macgregor’s comments grow more ominous in their tone as the discussion continues. He notes that President Biden has enabled ‘combat pay’ which implies there are American forces on the ground in Ukraine. “It would be a mistake to think that the Russian forces do not know where they are,” the retired colonel explains, pointing out that the Russians are sending a message with recent precision missile strikes near the borders of Poland and Moldova: “if you think you can hide from us, if you come in here, if you cross these borders, we will annihilate you.”

We need to come to terms with these realities because we can’t defeat it,” he remarked reflecting on the fact that people have called him ‘unpatriotic’ for his comments. He summed the situation in Ukraine up rather succinctly: “if we press this war with Russia in Central East Europe, it will reach us here in the United States.” According to Macgregor, “The smartest thing we can do is end this war now,” adding “The Russians will never tolerate NATO forces on Ukrainian soil.” “Ukrainian forces are in piecemeal fashion, surrendering to the Russians, not because they don’t want to fight; it’s because they can’t fight anymore, they have so many wounded they can’t evacuate them … we’re going to see this army that we have spent so heavily on, melt away.”

When it comes to the equipment being used to fight, MacGregor said that “a lot of the equipment we sent over there is quite frankly, obsolete… its very old, it’s not new.” “Integrated air defenses will knock virtually everything that flies out of the sky,” he said, adding “We will then fall back on a nuclear deterrent – a tactical nuclear weapon that says ‘if you keep advancing, we’ll have to use a nuclear weapon.’ We don’t want to go there, because the notion that there are so-called tactical nukes ‘oh, it’s just a little nuke, so that won’t precipitate a nuclear war’ – the use of any nuclear weapon is going to precipitate an escalation very rapidly,” he said.

Ep. 18 Into the abyss: Colonel Douglas Macgregor tells us why the Ukraine war must end now. pic.twitter.com/a3bGLvJC4s

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 21, 2023

Medvedev on Telegram: “This is a good day for Ukraine, and consequently, a good day for Europe,” said the foreign minister with an incomplete secondary education, Annalena Berbock, regarding the decision to supply F-16 aircraft to the Bandera brothers of German Nazis. Oh, don’t play with toy planes in your sandbox, kids. Let’s hope one of these future ‘good days’ for Europe doesn’t turn out to be its last day…”

“Since Russian intelligence has certain capabilities to track such cargoes, it is possible to detect their location and eliminate them even before the start of their operation..”

• F-16 Transfers to Ukraine Will Take Years to Produce Results (Sp.)

While Ukraine is now set to receive F-16 Falcon fighter jets from NATO, they won’t be on the battlefield for at least six months, and they stand little chance of being effective for at least two years, meaning the program won’t affect the course of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine for a while, experts told Sputnik. According to the latest deal hammered out between the NATO powers and Ukraine, the Netherlands and Denmark will together supply Kiev with 61 F-16 Falcon fighter jets of the older A/B variants – with updated equipment – in exchange for being permitted to buy newer versions of the jet from the United States. Kiev has long sought Falcons, which were introduced as an interceptor in the 1970s to counter Soviet fighters and bombers, as a year and a half of combat has severely attrited its air forces.

While Western powers that are former Soviet allies have until this point supplied Ukraine with Soviet-made aircraft from their own inventories, shipping Western-made fighters presents a new challenge since both Ukrainian pilots and Ukrainian technology will have to be adapted to use them. Boris Rozhin, a military expert with the Center for Military-Political Journalism, an independent Russian military affairs think tank, said that the transfer of fighters would likely be slow and it would present few problems for Russian forces.“It was promised that Denmark and Holland should receive 61 F-16 fighters according to their plans within three years. That is, some quantity will be delivered possibly before the end of the year, some parts will arrive in 2024-25 and even possibly in 2026.

This is a rather lengthy process, at each stage of which geopolitical and technical problems may arise. Maybe the conflict will come to naught by then. Various things can happen. But there is no particular doubt that these aircraft will be provided in principle, the process is underway, approved by the United States,” he told Sputnik. “It has already passed into the stage of practical implementation, so the planes will take part in the fighting. It depends on the quantity of the first delivery. In addition, how many aircraft will be delivered as part of the first batch is also unclear, as is the final number of aircraft that will be provided to Ukrainian troops,” Rozhin said. “If the planes are nevertheless handed over, the pilots have time to master these machines and learn how to handle them correctly and efficiently, then they will be used to launch missiles.

That is, they will also seek to carry out missile strikes against our facilities, because they fly at low altitudes,” Rozhin said. “In response, we can attack the airfields where they are based and warehouses with missiles that are transmitted from the West. Since Russian intelligence has certain capabilities to track such cargoes, it is possible to detect their location and eliminate them even before the start of their operation,” Rozhin continued. “We will probably also see strikes on military targets, personnel accommodation facilities and guarding the parking lot or repairing such vehicles. They will need to hide them well to avoid such blows.”

“..those two mocked whistleblowers prompted the Justice Department to prosecute..”

• Democrats Aren’t Laughing About The Hunter Biden Debacle Anymore (Turley)

“There is a time to laugh and a time not to laugh, and this is not one of them.” Those words from Inspector Jacques Clouseau may have to be emblazoned across the hearing room of the House Oversight Committee. It was a month ago that House Democratic members mocked the testimony of two whistleblowers who testified about the rigged investigation to protect Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden. Now it appears that the controversial “sweetheart deal” was not the first choice of US Attorney David Weiss. He actually was planning to let Hunter walk without even a misdemeanor charge despite massive unpaid taxes, gun violations, and work as an unregistered foreign agent, among other alleged crimes. The reason for his change at Justice, according to the New York Times? Those pesky whistleblowers.

One of the most insulting moments for the respected IRS agents came from ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who mocked the allegations as part of “this Inspector Clouseau-style quest for something that doesn’t exist [that] has turned our committee into a theater of the absurd, an exercise in futility and embarrassment.” Raskin assured the public that these “disagreements” are “routine” matters in investigations (a position echoed by his junior colleague, Rep. Dan Goldman of New York). The IRS agents tried to object that they had never seen anything like what happened in this case. Then the case became anything but a laughing matter for Democrats. The plea agreement with Hunter Biden collapsed within minutes of a federal judge asking a few basic questions.

When District Judge Maryellen Noreika balked at sweeping language on immunity, she asked the prosecutor if he had ever seen any agreement like this one. He answered “no” and the deal quickly fell apart, with Hunter Biden’s lawyer finally saying exasperatedly, “Just rip it up.” The language was anything but routine. Then an FBI agent spoke to Congress and confirmed testimony of the IRS agents, including that Hunter Biden was tipped off on an attempt to interview him. The agent said they were forced to sit a block away and told not to approach the house. The interview was then cut off. He described being “upset” and how this was not routine. The New York Times, which has spent years downplaying the Hunter Biden scandal, has published an internal account of the investigation. The Times reported that US Attorney David Weiss was actually preparing to let Hunter walk “without requiring a guilty plea on any charges.”

However, that “changed in the spring, around the time a pair of IRS officials on the case accused the Justice Department of hamstringing the investigation. Mr. Weiss suddenly demanded that Mr. Biden plead guilty to committing tax offenses.” In other words, according to the Times, those two mocked whistleblowers prompted the Justice Department to prosecute. Why would that be? Attorney General Merrick Garland insisted that no political pressure or political considerations would affect the investigation. Yet it appears that the Biden team did raise the potential embarrassment for the president and the Justice Department if Hunter faced serious charges. New emails reveal that Hunter Biden’s lawyers told the prosecutors that, if there were serious charges, it would be President Biden in the spotlight.

Gavin Newsom is trying to get him off the ballot in California..

• The Disqualification of Donald Trump and Other Legal Urban Legends (Turley)

The popularity of urban legends is a testament to the will to believe. The desire of people to keep Elvis alive or prove that a Sasquatch could exist furtively in our backyards shows the resilience of fables. Constitutional urban legends often have an even more immediate appeal and tend to arise out of the desperation of divided times. One of the most popular today is that former President Donald Trump can be barred from office, even if he is not convicted in any of the four indictments he faces, under a long-dormant clause of the 14th Amendment. This 14th Amendment theory is something that good liberals will read to their children at night. It goes something like this: Donald Trump can never be president again, because the 14th Amendment bars those who previously took federal oaths from assuming office if they engaged in insurrection or rebellion.

With that, and a kiss on the forehead, a progressive’s child can sleep peacefully through the night. But don’t look under the bed. For as scary as it might sound to some, Trump can indeed take office if he is elected…even if he is convicted. Indeed, he can serve as president even in the unlikely scenario that he is sentenced to jail. Democrats have long pushed this theory about the 14th Amendment as a way of disqualifying not only Trump but also dozens of Republican members of Congress. For some, it is the ultimate Hail Mary pass if four indictments, roughly 100 criminal charges and more than a dozen opposing candidates fail to get the job done. I have strongly rejected this interpretation for years, so it is too late to pretend that I view this as a plausible argument.

However, some serious and smart people take an equally strong position in support of the theory. Indeed, conservative scholars William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen have argued for the interpretation and insist in a recent law review article that “the case is not even close. All who are committed to the Constitution should take note and say so.” But some of us like to believe that we are committed to the Constitution and, for that same reason, we say no. While I have great respect for these academics, I simply fail to see how the text, history or purpose of the 14th Amendment even remotely favors this view. Despite the extensive research of Baude and Paulsen, their analysis ends where it began: Was January 6 an insurrection or rebellion? I have previously addressed the constitutional basis for this claim. It is, in my view, wildly out of sync with the purpose of the amendment, which followed an actual rebellion, the Civil War.

“..yet a new, fresh Covid-19 scare for the fall, in order to reenforce the special mail-in voting scheme that’s working so nicely (for them)..”

• We Won’t Be Fooled Again (Jim Kunstler)

If you are among that segment of the population that has not lost its mind, you might realize that the public health authorities have no authority. They lied outrageously about everything connected with Covid-19. And when they were caught lying, they just lied some more in the vain attempt to cover up their previous lies. And so, it would be foolish to regard anything they say from now on — without a complete house-cleaning of agency personnel, plus some earnest prosecutions — as worth listening to and following. Authority, you see, is granted only to those who are trustworthy. Yes, it’s really that simple. If an authority lies about everything, and is caught doing it, then it is rendered invalid.

Now, it happens that the US public health agencies, huge and costly as they are, make up only one part of the even larger and costlier US government, which has been busy surrendering the authority of all its other parts for years now, to the point that the whole enterprise is untrustworthy and in need of a severe housecleaning. Traditionally, elections are the mechanism for cleaning that house, but our elections have lost their authority, too? Really? How so? Because the untrustworthy officials in charge of them employ dubious systems for gathering the vote: mail-in balloting that invites fraud and hackable vote-counting machines that are connected to the Internet. The defects of these things are so obvious they can hardly be ignored. And the remedy is obvious and simple, too: paper ballots hand-counted in small precincts of manageable size, all done on one day, which we call Election Day (and which should be a national holiday, so more working people can get to the polls).

Somehow, though, we are unable to avail that remedy, probably because the untrustworthy people in charge would lose their jobs and the power they enjoy in a truly fair election. So, they conclude, let’s not have that. It’s even looking like the untrustworthy public health authorities are ramping up yet a new, fresh Covid-19 scare for the fall, in order to reenforce the special mail-in voting scheme that’s working so nicely (for them), and to disorder the minds of the public so they’ll be too frightened to notice that all the other parts of the government are failing in virtually all their duties to the people of this land. Bring on some new Covid variants and the lovely new booster vax that’ll work so well (not). Go ahead, we should say, I dare you. We won’t be fooled again.

BRICS Summit in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24.

• ‘BRICS Is Now The Hottest Club In The World’ – Senior Diplomat (RT)

African nations can establish new trade alliances by working with the BRICS group of emerging economies, Tanzania’s high commissioner to South Africa told RT in an exclusive interview on Sunday. Maj Gen Gaudence Salim Milanzi said BRICS is “the hottest club in the world” and although Tanzania has not yet applied for membership, it sees opportunities in working with the bloc. A Tanzanian delegation will be attending the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24. Milanzi explained that “BRICS offers an alternative to many other systems which we have now.” African nations have traditionally traded with Western countries, but “we always look for other trading partners,” and that is what BRICS can offer as well “as a huge economic bloc.”

According to the high commissioner, the economic objectives of BRICS – currently comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are “aligned to what Tanzania aspires to” and “there is common ground.” Milanzi noted “a welcome change” in recent years in how Western and Eastern countries have turned their focus to Africa and poured investment into the continent. “Many countries are realizing the potential of Africa as an economic partner,” he added. Gaudence Salim Milanzi also pointed to the long-running exploitation of Africa, saying that with its vast resources the continent “should not be poor as it is now” and that it needs “the development to be actually in Africa itself.”

“..Over 40 countries have expressed their desire to join BRICS, with 23 of them doing so officially..”

• BRICS 2023: Who are Participants & Guests of the Summit? (Sp.)

The heads of state or heads of government of the five member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – will be attending the BRICS 2023 Summit this year. Accordingly, on the list are President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, which took up the rotating chairship of the group in January, China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the gathering in person, but is expected to participate in the summit via video link. The online speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in South Africa is expected to take place on August 23, according to Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s BRICS envoy. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be heading the country’s delegation at the BRICS 2023 Summit.

The South African president has “invited (with consensus support from his fellow BRICS Leaders) sixty-seven (67) Leaders from Africa and the global South to attend the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogues. The Leaders cover all the continents and regions of the global South,” South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said earlier in August. Another 20 representatives of international organizations have also been invited, the minister said. “The President has also invited twenty (20) dignitaries that include the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the President of the New Development Bank, the Chairs and Executive Heads of African Regional Economic Communities, African financial institutions, and the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and CEO of the African Union Development Agency,” the statement said.

Currently, 41 countries have confirmed their participation, with more expected, according to Anil Sooklal. Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik will participate in the BRICS Summit, Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz told Sputnik. “On the instructions of the head of state, our delegation [to BRICS] will be headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Aleinik,” Glaz said. He added that the country will participate in the BRICS-AFRICA Outreach and BRICS+ dialogues. This will be the first time Belarus takes part in BRICS Summit events, Glaz noted. No Western leaders have been invited.

[..] Over 40 countries have expressed their desire to join BRICS, with 23 of them doing so officially, according to South African top diplomat Naledi Pandor. “We have had formal expressions of interest from the Leaders of 23 countries in joining BRICS, and many more informal approaches about the possibilities of BRICS membership,” Pandor said. Among those who have officially applied are Argentina, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia. “The list of countries is large,” Anil Sooklal said..

“In terms of a game-changing geopolitical moment, this is it..”

• BRICS Plus-SCO Super Bloc vs. US Empire (Pepe Escobar)

Johannesburg is gearing up for the 15th BRICS Summit, which will kick off on Tuesday and run through Thursday, with this year’s theme entitled “|BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism.” “Multilateralism” is perhaps the most significant word to describe the gathering nations’ intentions, with the BRICS’ combined economic might already outweighing that of the G7, and, when accounting for the human, geographic, economic and resource potential of countries that have expressed interest in joining, pose a serious challenge to the US-led international order. “The great potential for creating a fair and democratic architecture of international relations lies in structures like BRICS,” Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said last week on the eve of the summit.

Pointing to the bloc name’s similarity to the English word “bricks”, Naryshkin indicated that BRICS is a subtle nod to the US and its allies that the so-called “rules based international order” is on its way out. “These are indeed the building blocks in the foundation of a truly free and equal world. In the near future, new bricks or poles will be added. The structure of multipolarity will continue to grow and strengthen, protecting the rights of nations to sovereignty and identity will promoting real economic development. No beast on Earth will succeed in dismantling this structure.” “In terms of a game-changing geopolitical moment, this is it,” Pepe Escobar told Sputnik, when asked about the special significance of this year’s BRICS summit.

“Much more than previous summits, much more than the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, much more than all previous BRICS summits. And the fact that it takes place in Africa, which, as we all know now, is at the center of everything once again, especially because of, let’s put it concisely, the ‘African revolt against French neocolonialism,'” only adds to the gathering’s significance, Escobar said. There’s also “the fact that the organizing committee invited 67 heads of state of powerful representatives from all over Africa and many other places in the Global South to be part of discussions involving the collaboration between BRICS and Africa and also ‘BRICS+,” Escobar added, referring to the exciting prospect of new members joining the bloc for the first time since South Africa itself did so in 2010.

“One thing we already know for sure coming from [leaders’ representatives] is that they already decided on a mechanism for the absorption of new members. Of course, this is a very complex endeavor because it involves, at the last count, over 30 nations, 23 that that have already expressed their formal desire to be part of BRICS+,” the observer noted. “Of course, these are baby steps, Escobar clarified. “We should not expect BRICS in two days in South Africa [to turn] the ‘rules-based international order’ upside down. No, this is going to be a gradual, slow moving, very challenging process. But what’s happening in South Africa and immediately after South Africa is, let’s say, a sort of Rosetta Stone for what’s going to happen ahead.”

Iran, Indonesia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia. Who else in round 1?

• The Founder Members Of BRICS Face A Historic Decision (RT)

About 20 countries are reportedly seeking admission to the five-member organization and the list of countries that will be represented at the meeting in South Africa is three times as long. This is a sign of the times and points to two things: the yearning of many non-Western nations to become more consequential to how the world is run, and the growing pushback against self-serving Western dominance in global politics, economics, finance, and the media. This does not mean, however, that BRICS (an acronym made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will have an easy run in reshaping the world order. Ahead of the Johannesburg summit, two issues emerged as the main challenges to the group’s further evolution.

One is expanding membership. A number of countries from all over the globe have lined up at BRICS’ door, ready to walk in. These include Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Going for a big-bang enlargement would be a loud statement, to the effect that an alternative to the US-led system of alliances and partnerships is being built. However, the question is would such an expansion make a much more diversified BRICS immediately stronger or not?

[..] Within BRICS itself, views on enlargement differ. Yet, there is a model that can prove useful. Another non-Western group, with some of the same participant states, did manage the enlargement issue without diluting effectiveness. This was the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which started with Russia, China, and three Central Asian states. Over time, the SCO has found a formula for categories of participating countries and criteria-cum-processes for admitting new full members. The organization was able to extend its full membership to India and Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Iran, with a number of others in line for admission. If the SCO approach is adopted by BRICS, this could be a solution.

The other challenge for the bloc is coming up with new financial instruments to reduce the non-Western economies’ dependence on the dollar. Washington’s weaponization of its currency in its Hybrid War against Russia and its concurrent manipulation of trade and technology against China have made the issue urgent. Western restrictions have hampered the activities of the BRICS’ New Development Bank. Calls have been made for the group to create a common currency, to break the dollar’s monopoly in world finance. Yet, it is self-evident that creating a reserve currency for five very different economies, of which China accounts for two-thirds of the combined nominal GDP of the group, will run up against the jealously guarded principle of national sovereignty. The original goal of achieving financial independence will not be met.

“What we do seek is to advance the agenda of the Global South and to build a more inclusive, representative, just, fair global architecture..”

• China Wants BRICS to Rival G7 – FT (RT)

China plans to push for BRICS to become a full-fledged rival of the G7 during the bloc’s upcoming summit in South Africa, officials told the Financial Times. The Chinese government has “clashed” with India over the prospect of expanding the bloc in the run-up to the event, which is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg between August 22 and 24, the British paper reported on Sunday. According to FT’s sources, there’s no agreement between Beijing and New Delhi on whether BRICS, which currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, should be a non-aligned economic club or a political force that openly challenges the West. South African officials told the paper that 23 countries had expressed interest in joining BRICS and some of these could receive invitations to join in Johannesburg.

The report singled out Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia as the favorites to become the first new members of the bloc since the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. “If we expand BRICS to account for a similar portion of world GDP as the G7, then our collective voice in the world will grow stronger,” an unnamed Chinese official told the FT. Earlier this month, New Delhi dismissed media reports that it opposed the expansion of the bloc, with Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi describing them as “baseless speculation.” “As mandated by the leaders last year, BRICS members are internally discussing the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for the BRICS expansion process on the basis of full consultation and consensus,” Bagchi pointed out.

A senior Brazilian diplomat told the FT that the country supported the expansion of BRICS, but noted that “it’s important that criteria are defined for the entrance of these new members.” Last week, South Africa’s ambassador to BRICS, Anil Sooklal, dismissed claims that the bloc is “anti-West” and looking to compete with the G7. “What we do seek is to advance the agenda of the Global South and to build a more inclusive, representative, just, fair global architecture,” he explained. In early August, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia believes that “in one form or another, the expansion of BRICS will contribute to the further development and strengthening of this organization.” He noted that “the format and size” of this expansion would be discussed by BRICS leaders during the summit in Johannesburg, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate via video link.

2/3 of people want him gone. That can’t of course be his fault…

• ‘Fallen Angels From Hell’ – Scholz On Critics Of His Ukraine Policies (RT)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received a frosty welcome during a campaign speech in Munich’s iconic Marienplatz square on Friday evening. Critics of the country’s military aid to Ukraine booed the official, who then questioned the true intentions of his detractors and accused them of playing right into Russia’s hands. Scholz was confronted by a crowd that was calling the chancellor a “warmonger,” “loser,” and “liar,” among other things. The chancellor parried, insisting that the “right-wing populists” stand for a “gloomy future.” Scholz went on to argue that those demanding an end to German weapon deliveries to Ukraine were not peace doves, but rather “fallen angels, that come from hell, because at the end of the day they make the case for a warmonger,” – an apparent reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The official went on to defend his decision to provide Kiev with weapons to fend off “imperialist aggression,” assuring the public that such steps were taken only after careful consideration. Similar scenes occurred during events attended by Scholz in Frankfurt and Neuruppin last week, with critics also taking aim at his climate policies. Meanwhile, the results of a new opinion poll released by Bild on Saturday indicated that some 64% of respondents would want to see the incumbent “traffic light” coalition government made up of Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Free Democrats, and the Greens replaced. Only 22% are content with the way the country is being governed at present, the media outlet revealed, with 70% of the Germans polled dissatisfied with Scholz personally.

Back in June, Scholz was booed at a ‘European Festival’ in the town of Falkensee, organized by his own SPD party.As captured by a Ruptly video agency cameramen, some of the attendees denounced the chancellor as a “people’s traitor” and a “warmonger,” while calling for “peace without weapons.” According to Bild, some of those people were members of right-wing groups and were sporting pro-Russia symbols.Scholz’s government has consistently supported Ukraine since the start of its conflict with Russia last February, with the chancellor predicting that Berlin would have to provide weapons to Kiev for years to come.

However, in addition to those opposing such deliveries, the official has also caught flak from top Ukrainian officials and some politicians at home for his apparent hesitancy when it has come to certain types of hardware, such as Leopard tanks.Speaking at another event on Friday, the official insisted that all efforts to shore up Ukraine were being undertaken only after careful consideration and in close coordination with allies to minimize the risk of the conflict merging into a “war between Russia and NATO.”

Is limitless energy a good idea for mankind? Look at what we did with our newfound energy the past 200 years…

• Nuclear Fusion Still Long Way From Becoming Viable Energy Source (Sp.)

Earlier in August, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California said it had repeated its controlled nuclear fusion reaction experiment, achieving higher energy yield than during the laboratory’s original feat last December. Back then, the US scientists became the first to conduct a controlled fusion experiment that produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. Such developments have excited proponents of fusion who hope to one day produce nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels as well as other traditional energy sources. However, this remains an elusive goal at the moment since fusion happens at inordinately high temperatures and pressures that are extremely hard to control.

“In the recent experiment, the fusion energy is very small. It can heat roughly a cup of water. To produce a power plant (i.e. to produce hundreds of megawatts of power per hour) one would need to have many fusion explosions per second. Now, one has no idea how to produce laser pulses at the required rate. My conclusion is that one would need at least 30 years of research to approach the necessary performance and it is not clear at all if it is possible,” Jean Barrette, professor emeritus with McGill University’s Department of Physics, said. When asked which of the main approaches to controlled-fusion energy — inertial confinement or magnetic confinement — is more viable from a technical and economic standpoint, the expert replied that there was no way to determine this as both methods have a long way to go before reaching a final positive result.

The magnetic confinement approach is embodied in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which has been in development since the late 1980s, with actual construction launched in 2010. Nevertheless, while ITER is closer to being a working power plant, it is still unclear whether the project will be economically viable, Barrette said. At the same time, the inertial confinement model used by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is “further away but may be progressing faster at least for a while,” the expert added. “Note [that] today one only talks about the Livermore Inertial Confinement Result and ITER as the only two options. This is not quite the total picture,” Barrette said, citing reports about other approaches, some of which are quite old.

“Tyrannies, from Biblical times to the present, invert the rule of law. They turn the law into an instrument of injustice. They cloak their crimes in a faux legality. They use the decorum of the courts and trials, to mask their criminality. ”

• The Crucifixion of Julian Assange (Chris Hedges)

Bearing the cross, living in truth, is not about the pursuit of happiness. It does not embrace the illusion of inevitable human progress. It is not about achieving wealth, celebrity or power. It entails sacrifice. It is about our neighbor. The organs of state security monitor and harass you. They amass huge files on your activities. They disrupt your life. They throw you in prison, even when, like Julian, you did not commit a crime. It is not a new story. Nor is our indifference to evil; palpable evil we can see in front of us, new. In the reading from the Hebrew Bible we hear the story of the prophet Jeremiah. He, like Julian, exposed the corruption and lust for war by the powerful. He warned of the catastrophe that inevitably comes when the covenant with God is broken.

He condemned idolatry, the corruption of kings, priests and false prophets. Jeremiah was arrested, beaten and put in stocks. He was forbidden from preaching. An attempt was made on his life. After Egypt was conquered by Babylon, and Judea began to prepare for war, Jeremiah delivered an oracle warning the king to maintain peace. King Zedekiah ignored him. Babylon besieged Jerusalem. Jeremiah was arrested and imprisoned. He was freed by the Babylonians after Jerusalem’s conquest, but was exiled to Egypt, where, according to the Biblical tradition, he was stoned to death. Jeremiah, like Julian, understood that a society that prohibits the capacity to speak in truth extinguishes the capacity to live in justice.

Yes, all of us who know and admire Julian decry his prolonged suffering and the suffering of his family. Yes, we demand that the many wrongs and injustices that have been visited upon him end. Yes, we honor him for his courage and his integrity. But the battle for Julian’s liberty has always been much more than the persecution of a publisher. It is the most important battle for press freedom, and truth, of our era. And if we lose this battle, it will be devastating, not only for Julian and his family, but for us. Tyrannies, from Biblical times to the present, invert the rule of law. They turn the law into an instrument of injustice. They cloak their crimes in a faux legality. They use the decorum of the courts and trials, to mask their criminality.

Those, such as Julian, who expose that criminality to the public are dangerous, for without the pretext of legitimacy the tyranny loses credibility and has nothing left in its arsenal but fear, coercion and violence. The long campaign against Julian and WikiLeaks is a window into the collapse of the rule of law, the rise of what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin calls our system of “inverted totalitarianism,” a form of totalitarianism that maintains the fictions of the old capitalist democracy, including its institutions, iconography, patriotic symbols and rhetoric, but internally has surrendered total control to the dictates of global corporations.

I was in the London courtroom during Julian’s extradition hearing overseen by Judge Vanessa Baraitser, an updated version of the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”, demanding the sentence before pronouncing the verdict. It was a judicial farce. There was no legal basis to hold Julian in prison. There was no legal basis to try him, an Australian citizen, under the U.S. Espionage Act. The CIA spied on Julian in the embassy through the Spanish company, UC Global, contracted to provide embassy security. This spying included recording the privileged conversations between Julian and his lawyers as they discussed his defense. This fact alone invalidated the hearing. Julian is being held in a high security prison so the state can, as Nils Melzer, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, has testified, continue the degrading abuse and torture it hopes will lead to his psychological, if not physical disintegration.

This deceiving grid tricks you into thinking there’s a curved line somewhere, but you can’t find it. The purposefully placed gray lines will induce your peripheral vision to interpolate curved lines [image by Lesha Porche. Explanation: https://buff.ly/3b79VC8]

– Just one dragonfly can consume over one hundred mosquitos in a day
– Dragonflies can fly backwards
– They have nearly 360-degree vision
– Their wings inhibit bacterial growth due to their natural structures
– They're actually beautiful pic.twitter.com/DJ4s7ieNWt

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 21, 2023

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