IRGC Archives - The Automatic Earth

I think most of us have got the idea by now

Like a bunch of five-year-olds, Muslims just want their own way, and will kill non-Muslims to achieve it https://t.co/Y4AVv9NQVR
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) March 19, 2026

This sounds like a 'fair swap' https://t.co/fkXdM4ZPPX
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) March 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/2034703779447140540?s=20

Historian Bill Federer says by By 2030, unchecked Islamic immigration is going to push Muslim majorities into European regions, where bloc voting installs Sharia law by force.

Entire cities have already been swallowed whole.

Egypt and North Africa, once majority Christian for 6… pic.twitter.com/HKBEnm14f8
— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) March 19, 2026

pic.twitter.com/oNeM0owGbA
Charlie Kirk: “Islam is NOT compatible with the West, and importing millions of Muslims is suicidal.” This is a fact.
— Yossi BenYakar (@YossiBenYakar) March 19, 2026

If you are an immigrant and feel “alienated” by white Europeans, then leave. Go feel at home in your homeland.

In fact, you’re making me feel alienated in my own country, and unlike you I have nowhere else to go.

So tired of this shit. https://t.co/Kke2yxVbXH
— Rebecca Mistereggen (@RMistereggen) March 19, 2026

Both sides win. Of course.

• “I Think We’ve Won” Trump Says As Iran Refuses Hormuz Talks

More somewhat confusing rhetoric on Iran plans from Trump: He said late in the afternoon Friday US strikes on Iran are “weeks ahead of schedule” – but caveated that he expects oil prices to surge more than they have. He repeatedly emphasized that he does not want a ceasefire – “we’re not looking to do that” – while leaving the door open to dialogue, insisting talks don’t necessarily require halting the fighting. He said all this while also proclaiming “I think we’ve won.” He also expressed he thinks Israel will wind down the war when the US does.

Trump asserted further that Iran’s military has been severely degraded, saying it has “no radar, spotters, aircraft” and that key leaders have been killed, concluding: “from a military standpoint Iran is finished” and “I think we’ve won.” He also said Israel would be ready to end the war when the US does, noting both countries “want more or less similar things.”mnLate in the day Friday Trump followed his verbal comments to reporters with this:

Oil plunged immediately after the latest Trump statement went out:

“NATO could help us, but they so far haven’t had the courage to do so. And others could help us, but we don’t use it,” he said. “At a certain point, it’ll open itself.” Again, some confusing messaging to say the least… “I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he said. “We’re not looking to do that.” Trump hinted at possible escalation options around Kharg Island—“I may have a plan or I may not”—while accusing Iran of “clogging up” Hormuz. He also continued to berate Tehran leadership as “thugs and animals” – and praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio for doing a “fantastic job.”
Meanwhile Iran too is saying it is not ready for ceasefire or dialogue (at least in its public statements), and has expressed intent on exacting revenge. All of this means: no offramp yet in sight amid fresh reports that ‘heavy preparations’ for ground forces are being planned: “Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources briefed on the discussions told CBS News.” More from CBS: “Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for such an option as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, the sources said.”
REPORTER: “What’s your plan for Kharg Island?”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I may have a plan or I may not, but how would I ever say that to a reporter?"

"If I said that to a reporter, Marco would say, ‘please, sir let's bring you over to the helicopter immediately.’ Right? I can't tell… pic.twitter.com/iLcgj7lWOo
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 20, 2026

“.. the direction of travel is clear. “He wants Hormuz open… If he has to take Kharg Island… that’s going to happen..”

• IRGC Says Missile Production Intact, Contradicting Netanyahu (ZH)

On day 21, the Iran war shows no signs of abating. Iran’s IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini was reportedly killed in an Israeli overnight strike, another high-level hit as the decapitation campaign grinds on. However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that the Islamic republic has continued to produce missiles despite the war with Israel and the United States. This directly contradicts Israeli PM Netanyahu’s assertions from the day prior, where he said both missile production capacity and uranium enrichment capability have been destroyed. Netanyahu had claimed, “Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles.” “Our missile industry deserves a perfect score…and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production,” IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said according to Fars.

⚡️Massive airstrikes in Iran this morning pic.twitter.com/5FBlymJ5V4
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 20, 2026

Energy Complexes From Gulf to Israel Burning; Casualties Mount
The energy war continues to be front and center. Israel confirmed major Thursday Iranian strikes hit its Haifa refining complex, damaging critical infrastructure, and leaving many in the area without power. Also, the attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility is expected to slash LNG export capacity by roughly 17%. Kuwait hasn’t been spared either, with its massive Mina al-Ahmadi refinery hit for a second straight day, with fires ripping through processing units.mElsewhere, Bahrain says it has faced over 140 missiles and 240 drones since the war began, underscoring the scale of Iran’s regional barrage.
Across the region, escalation is bleeding into civilian life even in countries not directly part of the conflict. The biggest Muslim holiday of the year, Eid, is being celebrated, and in Iran the Persian New Year “Nowruz” – are unfolding under air raid sirens, also with fresh Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Syria. Currently Palestinians are being barred from Al-Aqsa during Eid. Casualties continue to mount with over 1,400 reported dead in Iran, including 204 children per the Red Crescent – and more than 1,000 killed in Lebanon.
Signs of US Plans to Take Kharg Island
But the real escalation risk surrounds what Washington’s next move may be, as the Trump administration is actively weighing seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s key export hub, in a desperate effort to force Hormuz back open. One source put it bluntly to Axios: “We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island, and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations.” For all the bravado and rhetoric, some analysts see the situation as a classic escalation trap.
But the report says no final decision has been made, but the direction of travel is clear. “He wants Hormuz open… If he has to take Kharg Island… that’s going to happen,” one senior official said, while acknowledging a coastal invasion remains on the table. The Wall Street Journal in fresh reporting sees signs that an operation is already underway: “The U.S. and its allies have intensified the battle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending low-flying attack jets over the sea lanes to blast Iranian naval vessels and Apache helicopters to shoot down Iran’s deadly drones, American military officials said.” it writes.

“If he does, Israel will win.”

PCR brings up the USS Liberty incident from 1967. Not sure that makes any sense.

• The Iranian Foreign Minister Seems to be Losing Focus (Paul Craig Roberts)

Will Abbas Araghchi save Israeli-America from defeat? He has proposed turning over Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz to an international coalition that in the interest of uninterrupted oil flows would prevent further Israeli-American attacks on Iran.Araghchi said: “In my view, after the war, a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz should be designed so ships can pass safely under clear regulations that consider the interests of Iran and the region.”

Clearly Araghchi is a reasonable person. He is willing to sacrifice some of Iran’s sovereignty to prevent further Israeli-American attempts to destroy Iran in the interest of Greater Israel by placing an international coalition in front of Israel’s aggression toward Iran. Araghchi has made it sparkling clear that Iran is not the cause of the problem. But he overlooks that it is the Zionist Israeli agenda of Greater Israel–“seven countries in 5 years”–that is the cause of the problem. Araghchi’s phrase, “after the war,” indicates that he fails to understand that as long as the Zionist agenda exists, there is NO “after the war,” unless Iran submits to Israel’s domination of the Muslim Middle East.
As Iran has rejected acquiring nuclear weapons, which it could have done long ago, displaying instead a moral concern that overrides Iranian national security, Iran’s only choice is either to submit to domination and rule by Zionists or to destroy Israel and drive all US military bases out of the Arab oil sheikdoms. Araghchi’s proposal shows that he is reasonable, but that he has failed to understand that Iran’s sovereignty is inconsistent with the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel–“from the Nile to Pakistan.” Araghchi should instead be proposing negotiations that Zionist Israel renounce its agenda of Greater Israel.
Most of the Zionist agenda has already been accomplished. Acting for Greater Israel Washington has destroyed Iraq, Libya, and Syria and left chaos in the place of functioning Arab states. Iran is the current target, and the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last month told the Conference of American Jewish Organizations that “Turkey is the next Iran.” In other words, Bennett gave marching orders to the powerful US Israel Lobby to begin the demonization of Turkey to take the place as next in line for destruction after Iran.
In February the Israeli-American assumption was that Iran would collapse in 3 days. In March we are learning that Iran was better prepared for long term conflict than Israeli-America. Trump wants out as the rising energy prices threaten his presidency in the upcoming midterm elections. But Netanyahu, completely ignoring Trump’s need, has escalated the conflict by attacking Iran’s large gas field. Iran responded by destroying the largest gas facility in the Persian Gulf, a multibillion dollar facility that will take years to rebuild. It is Israel and their American puppet, President Donald Trump, whose unprovoked, gratuitous aggression against Iran in the interest of Greater Israel, is producing a world shortage of energy and fertilizer.
Billions of people are going to pay for the Israeli-American unprovoked and unjustified aggression agains Iran. Iran is already paying for it as the way the Israeli-Americans conduct war is to kill civilians as in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan. Iran is probably afraid to use the advantage it has to hand a humiliating defeat to Israeli-America, because to gain a victory from defeat the Israeli-Americans will nuke Iran. Thus, Iran will be tempted give up its victory because the Iranian government decided to present a moral front of rejecting nuclear weapons and, as a consequence, have endangered Iranian National Existence.
It is the Zionist Israelis who are the only determined nationalists on the face of the earth. It is Zionist Israel that has an agenda that Zionists think is worth risking all to fight for. Everywhere else ethnic identity is in abeyance and hardly exists. European ethnicities, such as Germans and French, are being turned into Europeans and multiculturalists. In the US Democrats identify with criminals, immigrant-invaders, and sexual perverts. They regard their fellow Americans as Trump Deplorables. It is OK for Israel to be an ethnic nationalist state, but everywhere else to be nationalist is racist and Nazi. In Europe today it is almost a crime to be a nationalist. France and Germany want to put nationalists, such as Marine Le Pen, in prison.
In the Western gentile world, nationalistic self-awareness has been sacrificed on the alter of Multicultarism. In place of national states there are Towers of Babel. Towers of Babel are extremely weak as the populations have no common values or interests or beliefs and are often arrayed against one another, such as Sunnis and Shia It is a strong sense of identity that gives the tiny Israeli state dominion over the so-called “superpowers.” Israel has had no difficulty controlling American foreign policy in the Middle East for decades. The US government is so cowed that it refused to hold Israel accountable for the intentional Israeli attack on the USS Liberty resulting in 200 casualties of US Navy personnel. That tells you who holds the power. It is Netanyahu, not Trump, and Netanyahu knows it.

“Europe’s own regulatory architecture turned off Europe’s own energy supply. And America. . . on the other side of the Atlantic with a full tank of gas, watched it happen.” —Jeff Childers

• And Then the World Changed (James Howard Kunstler)

Let’s pause for a moment amid all the excitement to address an abiding mystery of these times: why does the news media seem to be rooting for American failure in the Iran operation? Or more generally, how did the media become handmaiden to the Lefty-left and all its ancillaries? How were they lured into their Cloward-Piven bunker of crypto-Marxian “resistance?”

It’s unlikely that the network executives, news producers, and editors are communists outright. That would take you into a simpleminded John Birch Society fantasyland. Or did they just read too much Antonio Gramsci on campus back in the day. If they’re merely whores pandering to an audience, it’s a dwindling one as the Woke mass formation dissolves and the insanity of its agenda stands naked. (Why not pander to the growing demographic that yearns for a restoration of normality?)
Is the news controlled by the so-called Deep State? Do cadres in the CIA send headlines to the Washington Post newsroom? Many think so. I don’t pretend to know one way or the other. The problem with lying, of course, is that you have to keep lying to protect your previous lies. Does the rise of alt-news across the Internet provoke them to lie harder in the face of better narratives? Or is it just plain old group-think, fear of stepping out-of-synch with tribal certainties and shibboleths? Which is to say, are they merely cowards and cads?
Do they really believe in the totalizing bad faith of the Democratic Party in its naked racketeering and power-seeking? That’s a sinking ship — the party that is now battling to obstruct simple straightforward election reform in the US Senate. Here’s a headline from today’s New York Times:

What will The New York Times do when bona fide, convincing evidence from material seized in recent FBI raids in Georgia and Arizona shows that recent elections were arrantly and knowingly rigged? It’s going to happen, you know. And if the procedural delays in the Senate drag out for weeks over the SAVE Act, the truth is likely to emerge while the bill is still in process, and will slam the whole country in the face, like thirty inches of re-bar. Will the newspaper print an apology to its readers?
We’re in a season of whacking great change in global and national affairs. “Epic Fury” in Iran will neutralize a regime dedicated to terrorizing the region and reorder the world’s energy flows to the disadvantage of America’s adversaries. China will lose its deep discount on imported Iranian oil just as in Venezuela a month ago. It already lost control of the Panama Canal as well. All its inroads around the western hemisphere have been nullified in this first year of Trump 2.0. China has to play nicer with America now.
The crisis has demonstrated that the US can’t depend on its NATO allies — who either refused to send ships to assist, or dawdled over it — which can allow the US to step away from the enormous expense that NATO imposes on us, and also from the tarbaby known as Ukraine. The truth is, we are ideologically more aligned with post-Soviet Russia than we are with France, Germany, and UK under their current regimes. Ironically, the Russians, with Hungary, Poland, and the Czechs, are the last earnest defenders of Western Civ. Europe has apparently elected to go medieval, anyway. They like to pretend that they can maintain a high standard of living without oil or natgas, a formula so obdurately stupid that only the most awful hardship might avail to change their policies.
This month, the US leaped to create a maritime insurance alternative to Lloyds of London, meaning the UK banks can no longer impose a 20-percent cost premium on Persian Gulf oil, which thunders through the global system and affects everyone. We’ve already stepped away from the UN-backed international Net Zero carbon pricing scam on tanker and container ships. The economics of oil are going through a quick and decisive readjustment. With an end to Iran’s threats to world peace, the US can eventually leave policing of the Persian Gulf to the nations that depend on its oil (we do not).
Meanwhile, the US will continue pounding Iran until it can’t launch so much as a distress flare. They will have no nukes, no navy or air force, no more missiles and drones and payloads, and no ability to manufacture anymore of them. And if they try, we will blow them up again. That’s real politics, not performative diplomatic jive. Sooner or later, the Revolutionary Guard regime will disintegrate and someone else will have to step up. The Iranian people deserve a chance to live in the sunlight after what they’ve been through for a half century. But it’s really up to them to make it happen. It’s pretty obvious that the American President and his people understand that.

“Our Employees and Guests were Uncomfortable.”

With her? Or perhaps with her security detail?

• Arkansas Gov. Sanders Told to Leave Restaurant (Turley)

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of another restaurant this week. Years ago, I wrote about how Sanders, then the Trump White House spokesperson, was told to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. Now, the Croissanterie Restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas, has told the governor to leave because employees said they felt uncomfortable having her in the restaurant. One person yelled at her and flipped her off as she left with her friends and security.

Sanders went to the restaurant with three other moms for a quick meal. She recounted how she and the other moms were then told to leave: “Last week I was having lunch with two other moms at a restaurant when the owner approached a member of the State Police Executive Protection Detail and said my presence made their employees feel threatened and told us to leave.” She added: “Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and while that restaurant certainly doesn’t meet that standard, my administration will continue to focus on lifting Arkansans up, not tearing others down with discrimination and hate.”
Sanders had already started to eat when the restaurant’s owner approached a member of the security detail and requested that the governor leave.The Croissanterie released a lengthy statement and admitted that they told the governor and her party to leave. While offering a hand-ringing explanation about being “surprised and uncertain how best to respond,” it admitted that it “ultimately made the decision” to “support our employees and guests who expressed they were uncomfortable.” It added, “We regret being placed in this position and having to make a difficult decision. However, we stand by our choice to support our employees and guests.” The restaurant is founded and owned by Jill McDonald, executive chef, and Wendy Schay, pastry chef.
We have seen various restaurants refusing to serve Trump supporters, conservatives, and even those deemed allies. Democratic members of Congress have defended such actions and even encouraged liberals to disrupt meals of conservatives. Liberals went to social media to celebrate the move by the restaurant. One posting from an employee declared: “Good Morning! Sarah Huckabee Sanders no amount of evil you send our way can ever take our smiles away!!! I’m proud af to work here! I’m proud af to be gay and I’m proud af to be an Arkansan. My voice matters. Try again.” There have been virtually no condemnations from leading Democrats, who either fear or support such mob actions.
In my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” and my new book, Rage and the Republic, I discuss what I called this “age of rage.” Rage is a curious emotion. It is the ultimate release. It allows you to do things and say things that you would not otherwise do or say. That is why it is addictive and contagious. What people will not admit is that they like it. It allows them to hate completely; to dispense with notions of decency or civility. This restaurant yielded to hate and intolerance to appease not only its employees but the radical left.
This action occurs the same week as a poll showing that a majority of Americans now view those with opposing views as “morally bad.” The rage addiction is obvious in these postings, as shown most recently by James Carville. Democratic leaders believe that they can fuel this rage addiction and lead the mob to victory in the midterm elections. The cost is also to fuel the product of rage, including political violence. The most recent targeting of Sanders presents a moral choice for the left. If you rationalize this action or continue to patronize restaurants like the Croissanterie Restaurant, you have made a choice. You have embraced the intolerance and hatred sweeping over this nation.
For all of their superficial expressions of reluctance, Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay chose hate over tolerance. While claiming to be “uncertain how best to respond,” the answer was obvious for anyone with a sense of decency: you serve everyone regardless of your political differences. Food, like music, allows people to come together; share common experiences and environments. I truly believe that this age of rage will end as prior such ages ended. Eventually, the rage burns off and people recognize that their hatred had twisted them into grotesque figures. To reach that point, however, we must learn to speak to each other again and tolerate those who disagree with us. To put it simply, we have to break bread with one another and consider what we have in common.
Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay appear to want to cater to the rage and make their food exclusively available to those with whom they and their employees agree politically. We will have to see if that is a winning business strategy, but most of us have little appetite for their type of culinary-based hate.

“Can I say a public prayer?” Carville began. “John Fetterman, whatever you do, keep your position. Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay right where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every goddam thing that you’ve ever said, and we don’t want you to break your streak.”

• John Fetterman Reveals Who’s Really The Leader Of His Party (ZH)

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sat down for an interview on the “All-In Podcast” this week and made a telling admission about the Democratic Party.When co-host David Friedberg asked Fetterman point-blank, “Who do you think leads the Democratic Party today?” the Pennsylvania senator didn’t flinch. “Oh, we don’t have one,” he said. “I think the TDS, that’s the leader right now. You know, right now our party is governed by the TDS.” Fetterman then described what that governance actually looks like in practice – a kind of loyalty test that runs in reverse. Opposition to Trump has become the organizing principle, the ideological north star. Agree with anything the other side does and you face consequences. “It’s made it virtually impossible, without being punished, as a Democrat, to agree something’s good, or ‘I agree with the other side,'” he said.

He then cited Operation Epic Fury – the U.S. military campaign against Iran – as the latest illustration of the problem. Fetterman said he is “literally the only Democrat […] in Congress, that I’ve come across that’s saying, ‘I think it’s a great thing to break and destroy the Iranian regime.’ I think it’s entirely appropriate to hold them accountable.” Fetterman correctly pointed out that this is not a fringe or even partisan position, historically. Every Democrat who ran for president in recent memory vowed Iran would never get a nuclear weapon. Now that it’s actually happening, the party’s response has been mostly blind criticism of President Trump for finally taking action.
Fetterman previously accused Democrats of refusing to put “country over party” over the Iran strikes. “The last two professional candidates for the Democratic Party all agreed that we can never allow Iran to acquire nuclear bombs, and that’s made that possible now. I think we can say, ‘Hey, that’s a great thing. That makes the world more safe, more secure and holds Iran accountable,’” he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity earlier this month, after 53 House Democrats voted against a resolution declaring that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism — something which isn’t remotely in doubt. “That’s almost 25% of Democrats in the House that can’t just call Iran the world’s biggest terrorism underwriter,” Fetterman added.
“Virtually every Democrat that I’m aware of says we can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, and they were a significant risk to America,” Fetterman continued. “I know why they [Democrats] don’t say that now because I’m aware that it is very damaging as a Democrat to just happen to agree with the president on anything. But, for me, that’s easy — country over party.” This week, veteran Democratic strategist James Carville blasted Fetterman, accusing him of always being wrong. “Can I say a public prayer?” Carville began. “John Fetterman, whatever you do, keep your position. Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay right where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every goddam thing that you’ve ever said, and we don’t want you to break your streak.”
He continued, “And can I assure you that the fact that you think it’s a good idea is not going to matter one wit to any Democrat,” and went on to say that Fetterman’s support for the war in Iran was more likely to make Democrats oppose it anyway. “It might get your name in the paper more,” Carville added. “Fucking asshole.” Carville’s criticism isn’t likely to sway Fetterman either. In fact, recent polling suggests that while Americans are skeptical of the war in Iran, opposition is waning. According to a new Washington Post survey, 42% now support the U.S. military campaign against Iran, while 40% oppose it. That marks a dramatic shift from just days earlier, when the Post’s flash poll showed 52% opposed and only 39% in favor.

“.. Kent resigned on March 17 “over Operation Epic Fury, asserting that Israel wrongly convinced America to strike Iran’s regime, the same regime that has been killing Americans for half a century.”

• Former Trump Allies Face ‘The Pence Effect’ (Tim O’Brien)

Most people who follow American politics are well aware of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The term pretty much covers all of the left that hates President Donald Trump so much that it will side with terrorists, murderers, and communists just because Trump opposes them. But there’s an equally common dynamic at play that becomes more obvious the deeper the Trump administration gets into its second term. Let’s call it the “Pence effect,” named after Trump’s former disloyal vice president Mike Pence, who famously turned on Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Ever since, based on the fact that he burned his bridges to Trump and the conservative movement in the process, Pence has essentially betrayed whatever sincere conservative standing he may have once had. He’s now swung far enough to the “moderate” wing of the Republican party to qualify as a Republican in Name Only (RINO).

What makes the Pence effect a thing is that it centers on someone who was once a Trump ally, perhaps a member of his inner circle. This is not garden-variety never-Trumpism. Over the years, a number of people in Trump’s universe have been experiencing the Pence effect for themselves as he weeds out the posers, the incompetents, the impostors, and the saboteurs in his circles. Joe Kent may be the most recent example of someone dealing with the Pence effect. Kent was the administration’s National Counterterrorism Center director until he tendered his public resignation this past week. CBS News reported that the FBI is investigating Kent, “in connection with alleged leaks of classified information,” saying that “multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter” informed the network.
Our Catherine Salgado reported on Kent’s departure, saying that in his resignation letter, Kent resigned on March 17 “over Operation Epic Fury, asserting that Israel wrongly convinced America to strike Iran’s regime, the same regime that has been killing Americans for half a century.” Catherine provided details, saying “a clue as to why Kent made this decision — so contradictory to many of his previous stated views — could come from his second wife’s past connection with a virulently anti-Israel, pro-terror website.”
In other words, it’s possible Kent didn’t resign for his stated reasons, and the legacy media’s narrative may be a cover for other things that could be at play. As a result, Kent has been very popular in recent days with leftist media, from Reuters and NPR to CNN and some of the more click-baity “conservative” interviewers out there. And why not? If I’m a leftist or a cynical opportunist and I don’t like Trump, and you leave the administration on bad terms, you’re going to be welcome on my show, right? Kent is not alone. The growing list of people who couldn’t maintain loyalty to Trump and paid the price includes: former generals and White House staffers John F. Kelly and James Mattis, John Bolton, Anthony Scaramucci, Bill Barr, and others.
It’s not clear to me where Tucker Carlson stands these days. So much of what he’s been doing can easily be read as something more than just criticizing Trump’s policy on Iran, but rather trying to undermine the administration, one that Carlson helped get elected. Even Elon Musk, one of Trump’s greatest champions in 2024, became one of the president’s most vocal critics and enemies last year – that is, before the two made up and moved on after the memorial service for the late Charlie Kirk.
If you study Trump, for better or worse, he views many of his business and political relationships as transactional. I’d never attempt to speak for his personal relationships. So, in that spirit, if he can help you, and you can help him, you’ll get along just great. To get on his bad side, publicly demean or criticize him. The rules are pretty clear. He views such behavior as disloyalty, and he’s not alone. Most people do.

Anno Domini 2026, this is a long and complex story, 10 years later.

• Bagman and Enabler of ‘Spygate’ and ‘Russiagate’ Receives Subpoena (CTH)

In the next few days, much more about the overall investigative review underway in Florida will begin to surface. The review has been led by USAO Jason A. Reding Quiñones, a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida. As with all investigations containing multiple players and actors, the first investigative information is extracted from testimony by those furthest away from the principals, yet closest to the granular details of the events being reviewed. The questioning then goes upstream, using information collected to assembly more specific questions as the principal players are approached.

The widest concentric circles questioned first. Then using the responses and investigative information from that circle, the questioning and inquiry goes to the next inner circle of participants. The information is assembled, and more pointed questions are then targeted to the next inner circle; the process continues until the core is questioned.= Beginning with the end in mind. The biggest challenge is knowing what the correct questions are to ask of those who were closest to the corrupt activity (the outer circle). Background research is critical – CTH of value. From those pointed questions you get answers. Then next level of more specific questions get focus; and so on, and so on.
FLORIDA – Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed in connection with a wide-ranging investigation being run by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Florida, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Thursday. The probe, which focuses on an earlier investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other prosecutions related to President Donald Trump, is being led by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The sprawling probe has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation by Trump allies.
An attorney for Comey did not have an immediate comment, while Quiñones’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (read more) Please remember, there are two distinct and different aspects to the overall conspiracy and timeline. There was surveillance of the 2016 Republican candidates by contractors working on behalf of the FBI who was institutionally collaborating with the Clinton campaign; that is known as “Spygate.” There was then an FBI operation to target and eliminate the threat represented by the 2016 GOP primary winner, Donald Trump; that is known as “Russiagate.”

‘Spygate’ and ‘Russiagate’ are two distinctly different corrupt pathways that eventually merged due to common interests. The Mueller investigation, an extension of Crossfire Hurricane (Russiagate) was used by Obama-era politicians and internal government officials as a mechanism to block President Trump from executing a divergent foreign policy. The primary policy of focus was to protect the Iran deal. Based on mounting evidence, a pattern in other international activities and U.S. participants, the Obama-Clinton-Kerry Iranian deal likely included a mechanism for return payments to U.S. officials following the release of billions in frozen Iranian asset funds and the loosening of sanctions. (ie. pallets of cash) Qatar were the mediator/broker.
However, it is speculated, perhaps being currently evidenced, that return payments to the Obama team contained a timing mechanism and the quid-pro-quo payments were stopped after President Trump withdrew from the Iran deal and re-instituted sanctions. Thus, a much larger background context exists for why the totality of the U.S. government and Intelligence Community opposed President Donald Trump. Is it all about the money? Time will tell. Current events may not be coincidental.

Walid Phares was the 5th target within the Weissmann/Mueller probe [..] . The other four were Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

• Evidence of Manipulated Political Targeting within Mueller Probe (CTH)

Let me start by saying there is a lot of misleading information circling current events, some of it by what CTH considers very dubious alt-right voices. I suggest just to be leery of “exclusive” insider information. There are motives and angles that are not obvious and would not be comfortable for those who follow events closely. [As an example, the election/voting information -connected to the Intelligence Community- and recently outlined by John Solomon, is not new. What Solomon is rehashing is the background information exposed by Catherine Engelbrecht and True the Vote surrounding Chinese involvement in prior elections (Konnech etc.). Engelbrecht gave the FBI the data, the FBI buried it and eventually targeted Engelbrecht. The hidden data and FBI conduct is now resurfacing.]

As a result of datamining the FBI ‘prohibited access’ records Chuck Grassley has released an FD-302 from an FBI agent who was on the Mueller team and became a whistleblower about the motives and agenda of the Mueller participants. One of the stories surfacing surrounds one of the Mueller targets, Walid Phares. Walid Phares was the 5th target within the Weissmann/Mueller probe who were using Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) violations as targeting mechanisms. The other four were Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.
Why Phares? This is a little complicated but becomes straightforward once you get it. One of the first things President Obama did when he took office was to travel to Cairo, Egypt, give a speech to the Islamic world and trigger what later became known as the “Arab Spring.” Obama was an ideological ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, which positioned him in alignment with Qatar, Iran, Turkey and various factions of the more extremist Muslim community. The Muslim Brotherhood is political Islam.
Trying to keep it short, essentially Walid Phares was on the opposite side of that ideology. He was a critic of the Brotherhood, and a supporter of the person who eventually shut down the Arab Spring uprisings, Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi. After success in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, President Obama was furious when Army General al-Sisi stepped up and removed Muslim Brotherhood aligned Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. That military uprising stopped the Arab Spring, and it stalled out thereafter.
Obama’s efforts to give increased power and voice to the Muslim Brotherhood was essentially stopped by Sisi, and that made anyone on the stability side of Islam an enemy of Obama. Without Egypt, Team Obama couldn’t trigger Syria – they did get extremism to expand via ISIS, but the coalition of Arab states al-Sisi put together pushed back on the extremists. That’s the Muslim ideological part of the issue, and we could write a dozen deep articles about all of the ancillary issues within it. However, for the sake of reader time, we’ll just jump forward to the other, perhaps more important, issue.
Walid Phares was an advisor to Donald Trump, helping him to connect to middle east moderate Arab leaders like al-Sisi and frame policies to end the extremism aspect. As a policy advisor Phares saw the structural flaws in the Obama Iran-deal and, more importantly, Phares saw the outline of a financial relationship that intersected with Obama policy.mThe Obama Iran deal involved the U.S. dropping sanctions, feeding billions of dollars back to Iran (via Qatar) as part of the incentive for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to “eliminate Iran’s nuclear ambitions.” At least that was the forward face of the policy goal.
However, in the background there was a semi-opaque quid-pro-quo where Obama would transfer sanctioned funds back to Iran and then Iran would send a portion of the funds back to the Obama network. The problem was the return funds were contingent upon the success of the Iran deal. By advising President Trump against the Iran deal, Walid Phares was essentially putting a stop to the quid-pro-quo that was contingent upon the deal’s success. In the bigger picture, that made Phares a target and the Weissmann-Mueller probe was the mechanism to target him, using FARA as the weapon.

Our weekly sing-along.

• Comey Goes Full Beyoncé: Did the Former Director Reveal a Pop Secret? (Turley)

Former FBI Director James Comey has been called many things by critics and fans alike. However, it appears that his stab at being a pop singer did not pan out. Comey recently raised eyebrows with an account of his singing Beyoncé’s “Sandcastles” to FBI officials in a classified briefing … only to be met by a stony silence. It appears that some of his agents may have viewed the occasion as grounds for intervention rather than for rendition. In fairness to the agents, they were likely unaware of Comey’s use of beaches to uncover hidden intelligence and messages.

Comey has periodically popped up in the press with bizarre or self-edifying posts. However, this one left many scratching their heads. Yet, it was vintage Comey, including a surprising admission about his handling of classified information. Comey recalled the moment from a classified FBI briefing when he realized that a secret program being discussed was named after a favorite song. He wrote:
“One morning, I was sitting at the head of a big table in a crowded room to get briefed on a particular piece of work. The briefer started by saying, the operation was codenamed ‘Sandcastles.’ Now, this was 2016, and you may know that Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’ had come out with a track called ‘Sandcastles.’ So, I said, ‘Oh, like the Beyoncé song.’ Blank stares all around the FBI conference room. So, I did the natural thing. I think I sang, ‘We rebuild sand castles that washed away.’ Nope, nothing — dead silence. ‘Never mind,’ I said, ‘continue.’ Only when I got home and told my family the story did I get the reaction I was looking for. When I write, I listen to classical or jazz because, in ways I can’t explain, the music unlocks something. It frees me.”
It also apparently freed Comey from security protocols. His charming story included the fact that, disappointed by his audience at the FBI, he decided to repeat it to his family. In doing so, he may have revealed the code name of a classified FBI program to uncleared individuals in an unsecured location. There is no indication from Comey whether the code name was considered sensitive information by the FBI before his encore performance. The Justice Department has fought in court to withhold code names as sensitive national security matters, including during Comey’s tenure as director.
For example, in N.Y. Times v. DOJ, 2023, it was uncontested that the FBI could withhold code names because “specific code names that [the] FBI used for certain FBI programs and that disclosure of these things ‘would risk circumvention of the law by revealing FBI processes and potential issues related to relationships with foreign countries.’” This is not the first time Comey has raised concerns of his violation of FBI protocols and procedures regarding classified material. The Justice Department inspector general issued a scathing account of how, after being fired by President Donald Trump, Comey improperly removed FBI files and then arranged for the information to be leaked to the media to undermine Trump.
The media immediately came to his defense despite his having led investigations into leakers in the past. On CNN and MSNBC, legal experts dismissed the arguments that this was improper or FBI material. The memos clearly reveal that Comey was likely aware they contained possible classified information. Comey wrote in a Jan. 7, 2017, memo that “I am not sure of the proper classification, so I have chosen secret.” The four memos, including two given to his friend to leak to the media, were later found to be classified.
What was notable about the leaks was Comey’s obsession with his own public persona. He took FBI material to bolster his image with the media. He later published “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” which portrayed him in heroic terms without addressing allegations that he was a leaker. During his term as director, the Justice Department investigated and prosecuted FBI personnel for leaks. The “higher loyalty” shown by Comey often seemed to be his blind loyalty to his own image.
Comey has previously recounted his obsession with Taylor Swift as well as Beyoncé, but insists that “I can’t explain, the music unlocks something. It frees me.” Given his history of leaks and other violations, it may be time to try a new musical genre. It appears that pop is a bit too liberating for James Comey. In the meantime, Comey may be misinterpreting tears of joy rather than regret when he made it to the line from “Sandcastles”: “I made you cry when I walked away.”

Did John Cleese open Pandora’s Islam box?

• The Political Left, Multiculturalism And The Dark Alliance With Islam (Alt-M)

For 15 years the FBI was engaged in a landmark investigation into the largest Islamic-based charity in the United States, called The Holy Land Foundation. The organization was operating as a front for Muslim terror groups, funneling cash from western countries to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, until they were finally put on trial in 2008. Convicted leaders were known as the “Holy Land Five,” and included Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad El-Mezain. Among the documents seized from these individuals during the investigation was a strategic paper drafted by senior Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram in 1991.

The paper was titled: “Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America”. It outlined an agenda called the “Civilization-Jihadist Process”, also known as “Stealth Jihad”. The memorandum gave detailed methods for establishing Islam as a “civilization alternative” in the West and a “grand Jihad” for eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within. It called for the ‘sabotaging’ of the west and its “miserable house” by domestic hands AND the hands of the believers so that the west is eliminated and “God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” The plan explicitly referred to using western society’s own people, institutions, laws, and unwitting allies (progressive groups and NGOs, media, politicians, academics, or civil-rights organizations) to advance the Islamic agenda.
Tactics included infiltration of education, media, government, finance, and alliances with non-Islamic actors “when tactically beneficial” while maintaining ideological separation. This is also called “long-term settlement” (tamkeen); a form of demographic or cultural subversion rather than direct conquest. It is often mentioned in the paper as “the settlement mission”. A related 1982 Muslim Brotherhood document (called “The Project”) outlines a 100-year global plan with similar elements: building parallel societies, exploiting Western freedoms, and forming pragmatic coalitions.
One problem the Muslims wrestled with was the need for foreign alliances and western “advocates” to make immigration and the integration of Islam into target countries more “official”. Twenty-five years ago, this was considered all but impossible in the US and in Europe. However, since around 2014, the Sharia fundamentalists found a willing and ready ally in the new “woke” left.= Today, the notion of even discussing the agenda of “Stealth Jihad” in a public venue in 2026 is labeled “racist” by progressive activists and left wing politicians (even though Islam is not a race). If you were to go back in time around 15 years ago and explain to people what is happening today in terms of third-world immigration, they would probably laugh in your face and call you a conspiracy theorist.
In 2026 in Europe the plan is nearly complete and in the US the plan is well underway. The change in how our society views Islam as an untouchable subject is largely due to a dark and convenient political alliance between the woke left and the Stealth Jihad. Only recently has the problem of Muslim immigration risen to the forefront of media coverage, but only because of the work of citizen journalists like Nick Shirley who are exposing widespread fraud among migrants. The majority of this fraud, whether it is in Minnesota or California, is connected to Somali Muslim immigrants and is perpetrated with the help of leftist NGOs and politicians.
Coming from a country with an average IQ of 67, these people are not capable of instituting such a plan on their own. They had help and it is clear that Democrats are deeply involved in these operations, perhaps in exchange for financial kick-backs, but certainly in exchange for votes (Somali migrants in Minnesota voted 80% in favor of Democrats in 2024).It’s not surprising, but there are a lot of similarities between progressives in the west and third world Islamic migrants from the east.

For the good of your people. Without Russia, Europe will be dark and cold.

• Putin’s Envoy Recommends EU Change Its Leadership, Abandon Russophobia (TASS)

Special Representative of the Russian President for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev advised Europe to acknowledge its previous blunders in energy and geopolitics, replace the EU leadership, and reconsider its policy course toward Russia. ”Told ya. Europe needs to acknowledge its strategic energy and geopolitical blunders, atone, change its EU leadership and Russophobic approach. As predicted, a devastating energy tsunami will soon decimate Europe. As explained many times, Europe needs Russia to survive,” he posted in English on the social network X, commenting on an FT Energy post stating that Europe should brace for an extended energy shock.

Earlier, Dmitriev warned that Europe is facing an “energy shock tsunami” over the European Union’s refusal to use Russian natural gas as he predicted that gas prices will rise further. At the end of January, the Council of the European Union finally approved a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports starting on January 1, 2027, and pipeline gas starting on September 30, 2027. At the same time, restrictions will begin to be introduced earlier. Imports of LNG under short-term contracts will be banned from April 25, 2026, while short-term contracts for pipeline gas supplies must be completed by June 17, 2026.

Breaking: America versus the Globalists

No candidate in modern American history has faced what Donald Trump has faced. Not opposition. Obliteration. The full weight of institutional power was deployed against a single political figure because he could not be controlled. Look at… pic.twitter.com/03BAtgwT36
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) March 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/Rob_Roos/status/2034957666485751997?s=20

Joe Rogan goes silent as guest dives deep on who Zelenskyy really is.pic.twitter.com/GC26GNKzwu
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) March 20, 2026

"The longest lived people had high Cholesterol…I am a great defender of Cholesterol. It is a molecule of life."
~Dr Ben Bikman, PhD

"Studies on longevity show that we need LDL to fight infections…it is an unsung hero of immunity."

"The higher your LDL, the longer you live."… pic.twitter.com/IEdJOj5vcD
— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) March 20, 2026

https://twitter.com/itsme_urstruly/status/2034613572798652914?s=20 https://twitter.com/ThatOneFrank_/status/2034722298444276080?s=20 https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/2034992045165879785

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Debt Rattle March 15 2026

Mar 152026

March 15, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:04 am Finance Tagged with: AI, Canada, Dmitriev, drones, Iran, IRGC, Kharg, sanctions, Tesla, UAE 103 Responses »

Theodoros Vryzakis The Reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi 1861

• Rats Jumping Ship: Is the Iranian Regime Relocating to Canada? (Tim O’Brien)

• Trump Announces Obliteration of Iranian Military Assets on Kharg Island (CTH)

• Donald Trump Checkmates Iran On Day 14 (Duane Patterson)

• Iran Shows The World The Limits of US Power (Timofey Bordachev)

• My Prediction For the War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)

• UAE Fujairah Port Burns As Iran Vows Escalation For Kharg Island Attack (ZH)

• Drones Are A ‘Rapidly Evolving’ Threat To US (JTN)

• Media Says ‘Gambling’ Trump Got Lucky On The Economy (ZH)

• The AI Boom Is Creating A Global Memory Chip Shortage (ZH)

• Did Someone Forget To Ask Zelensky? (RT)

• The Most Expensive Science Lesson in European History (Hickman)

• The EU Never Learns – Except For The Wrong Lessons (Amar)

Colin Powell’s former chief of staff admits that Israel may permanently cease to exist as a nation.

He says America’s alliance with Israel is now a major liability.

“Israel will not be a state in 20 years. It will be gone.

“The world will just reject it.” pic.twitter.com/h1o3SNnD7m
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) March 13, 2026

https://twitter.com/OCOCReport/status/2032878205154041991?s=20

Jensen Huang just called the exact top of the pharmaceutical industry.

Not a pivot. Not a disruption.

An extinction event.

Huang: “Where do I think the next amazing revolution is going to come? And this is going to be flat out one of the biggest ones ever. There’s no question… pic.twitter.com/4WZxvPHgBg
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) March 13, 2026

Elon: To understand the universe, we have to explore it.

Earth is a dust mote. The Sun holds 99.8% of the solar system’s mass.

Orbital data centers are next. 100–200 gigawatts per year.

Moon factories. Mass drivers. AI satellites into deep space.

This is how consciousness… pic.twitter.com/m5Drq5Faef
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2026

Tesla just announced it will begin building its own chip factory in 7 days.

Tesla is going to manufacture its own semiconductors from scratch.

The project is called Terafab and Elon Musk has been warning about this for months.

Even with TSMC and Samsung running at full… https://t.co/ZFeE5jf4zJ pic.twitter.com/JQmKxd36wV
— Milk Road AI (@MilkRoadAI) March 14, 2026

Strange story, but from multiple aources, so we’ll run with it.

• Rats Jumping Ship: Is the Iranian Regime Relocating to Canada? (Tim O’Brien)

This is not an overnight development that just happened in the past two weeks, after the Trump administration and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Reports were emerging in January that even while Iranian citizens fed an uprising that led to the murder of roughly 40,000 of them at the hands of the Iranian regime, members of the regime have been quietly relocating to Canada. A news site called Justice In Conflict reported in January that “in 2021, a Tehran police chief was spotted at a Toronto-area gym. In 2024, it was reported that 700 Iranian nationals linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) resided in Canada – the same group that has been designated as a terrorist entity by the Canadian government. That same year, five Iranian regime figures faced deportation back to Iran.”

Now, thanks to the X platform, we have almost real-time proof that the IRGC rats are fleeing the ship. Of course, it would be easy to make a lot of assumptions based on a video that can very well be taken out of context. But then there’s this post from X that corroborates the initial X post that went viral. We have a name of this Iranian official. It’s Hojjatoleslam Morteza Tayyebi. So is this a one-off? Not according to Canada’s Melissa Lantsman, a member of the Canadian Parliament.

BREAKING: The Shia cleric who was filmed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, arriving from Iran together with his family, has been identified as Hojjatoleslam Morteza Tayyebi. He has recently obtained Canadian citizenship. Unfortunately, the government of Canada is… https://t.co/Ecu6nJjHnU pic.twitter.com/ViBhL8jQwQ
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) March 14, 2026

Lantsman got into greater detail in an op-ed she penned for a Canadian news site called Todayville, where she said that hundreds of IRGC agents may be in Canada. While she acknowledged that Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, called that number inaccurate, he won’t confirm any number. “This week we learned from the Minister’s own agency that at least 239 people linked to the Iranian regime are living here in Canada and have had their visas revoked,” Lantsman wrote. “Yet of the 239 whose visas have been revoked, only one single person has actually been deported.” Lantsman’s numbers are based on news media reports, which she says suggests that 700 IRGC agents may be in Canada.

https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/2032751309363818982
When discussing the Canadian government’s seeming paralysis on the issue and the notion of deporting potential hostile residents from Iran, Lantsman said “senior bureaucrats blamed a lack of flights to Iran for the government’s inaction, as if the regime was not already a listed sponsor of terrorism long before the current hostilities.” She added that the government “went on about protecting ‘privacy,’ and suggested that some of these individuals might even be able to claim asylum. This is very much another self-own from Canada’s broken and abused refugee system, which is supposed to protect those fleeing violence, not protect those importing it.”
Carney has gone on record as saying he won’t support the U.S. and Israel in their attacks on Iran. In light of these reports of IRGC members setting up shop in Canada, you have to wonder if Carney’s motives were tied to his desire for peace in the form of the status quo, or has he taken a side in this conflict? The last thing the U.S. needs is a shift in the Iranian center of global power and influence from Tehran to the country just north of us. If Canada thinks Trump was tough on them before all of this, Carney & Co. could find out just how resolved the Trump administration is to protect the U.S. from the Iranian threat.

“..90 percent of Iran’s crude is processed at Kharg Island ..”

• Trump Announces Obliteration of Iranian Military Assets on Kharg Island (CTH)

Kharg Island is a small coral island in Iran in the northern Persian Gulf. It is 34 miles (55 km) northwest of the port of Bushehr and vital to Iran’s oil industry. The oil processing facilities at Kharg Island are a foundational component of Iran’s economy. Roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude is processed at Kharg Island, and any disruption to its oil processing could cripple Iran’s economy.

President Trump announced: “Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island. Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
“During my First Term, and currently, I rebuilt our Military into the Most Lethal, Powerful, and Effective Force, by far, anywhere in the World. Iran has NO ability to defend anything that we want to attack — There is nothing they can do about it! Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon, nor will it have the ability to threaten the United States of America, the Middle East or, for that matter, the World! Iran’s Military, and all others involved with this Terrorist Regime, would be wise to lay down their arms, and save what’s left of their country, which isn’t much! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
~ U.S. President Donald Trump

Kharg check or checkmate?

• Donald Trump Checkmates Iran On Day 14 (Duane Patterson)

Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. The war in Iran will continue for at least another week, according to President Donald Trump, and probably much longer. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands of targets, human and places, to destroy, thousands of sorties to be flown by U.S. and Israeli forces, and American naval assets will soon be joined by up to 5,000 Marines. There undoubtedly will still be casualties to come, joining the 13 we’ve already lost in the last fortnight. But not only are we winning this war against Iran, the killer move that all but assures the final outcome in our favor was played on Friday afternoon by Donald Trump.

The events began early in the morning, Washington, D.C. time, when War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Raisin'” Caine held a press briefing. Both men at several points in their remarks stated with conviction that Friday would become the most intense and largest bombing day to date. And from what we’ve seen thus far, that is saying something. No one knew what that would look like, but the fireworks to come were promised to be spectacular and game-changing. As it turns out, they were not kidding. On Brian Kilmeade’s Fox Radio Network show, the President joined him on the phone for a bit to update on Iran. Kilmeade asked Trump if a strike on Kharg Island was on the table.
To be honest, it’s a fair question for pundits and hosts to ask of experts in the Middle East, because that little strip of land off Iran’s southern shore accounts for nine of 10 barrels of oil Iran exports. In short, it’s the Persian Gulf’s largest Buc-ee’s. Trump’s reaction, in hindsight, was extremely telling. Brian is a wonderful newsman and anchor, and has a long history of doing radio well before his tenure at Fox. I’m not surprised he asked that question. And I’m also not surprised at all that the President answered by saying there’s no way he can answer that. But taking it to the degree of admonishing Kilmeade for the question, giving him a Trump tattoo in the process, tells me Trump was angling for the element of surprise.
He reacted in a way to at least make people think it was a stupid question; it wasn’t on the table, at least not imminently, and don’t bother him with such piffle. A couple of hours later, under the cover of darkness, the bat signal went out to several of our B-2 stealth bombers, and they took flight, one right after another. They were coming out to play in whatever this event was the Pentagon had previewed earlier in the day. Of course, the videos of them taking off were not released until they were already back home from delivering the mail to wherever they were headed. And as it turns out, where they were headed didn’t have a lot of street cameras or other video capabilities to make into neat, little reel videos.
A few hours later, Donald Trump unveiled what happened. Kharg Island was targeted. Instantly, the online community predisposed to hate the President and everything about this war, precisely because Trump is leading it, leaped to the conclusion that Trump had now escalated things to an irreparable level. Of course, they missed what was struck, how it was struck, and to whom his messaging was addressed. Here is Trump’s announcement on Truth Social and X.
pic.twitter.com/XQnxIEJkgu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

“The US did not defeat its major rivals through decisive military victory. Rather, it emerged as the strongest actor at a moment when other powers were preoccupied with solving their own internal problems.”

• Iran Shows The World The Limits of US Power (Timofey Bordachev)

Despite the optimism expressed in some quarters, it would be premature to declare that the American and Israeli military campaign against Iran has already stalled or that the crisis will soon be resolved through international mediation. The situation remains volatile, and the resilience of the Iranian state is still being tested. Yet even at this early stage, the conflict is raising deeper questions about the role the US will play in world politics once its latest attempt to restore global dominance runs its course. The US is not about to disappear from international affairs. Scenarios of American collapse belong to the realm of fantasy.

For Russia, China, India and other major powers, the real question is not whether the US will remain a central actor in global politics, but how it will fit into the evolving international order. For Russia in particular, this issue carries special significance. The US remains the most powerful component of the Western world, with which Russia has historically maintained relations that are at once close and confrontational. Geography and history ensure that our strategic calculations will always take into account both Western Europe and America. Russia must therefore think carefully about how the US can be incorporated into a future balance of power that serves our own long-term interests.
The events surrounding the recent attack on Iran may mark an important turning point. They have exposed the limits of American power in a world that is no longer willing or able to accept unilateral leadership. It remains unclear how long Iran can withstand sustained military pressure, what degree of assistance it will receive from external partners, and how long Washington itself is prepared to continue a campaign that appears to have exceeded its original expectations. What is already visible, however, is a contradictory picture.
The Israeli leadership appears determined to press ahead to the end. By contrast, Donald Trump and members of his administration seem increasingly perplexed by the unexpected resilience of the Iranian state. At the same time, many American allies are visibly anxious about the consequences of the conflict. Perhaps most importantly, the war is already having serious repercussions for the global economy. These economic pressures help explain why rumors are circulating that Washington may be quietly searching for mediators capable of opening a dialogue with Tehran.
In this turbulent environment, Russia has expressed support for the Iranian people and state, which it views as victims of an unprovoked attack. At the same time, Moscow must pursue policies that correspond to its own strategic interests. As one of the world’s major military powers, Russia is concerned above all with the overall balance of power in the international system, and with the unique place historically occupied within that system by the US.
To understand this position, one might use a medical analogy. The US resembles a neoplasm within the global political organism. Yet unlike in medicine, the existence of such a “tumor” does not necessarily destroy the whole system. Instead, it becomes integrated into the organism’s development, occupying a special role.
The extraordinary position achieved by the US in the second half of the twentieth century was not simply the result of overwhelming superiority. It was also the product of very specific historical circumstances. Western Europe had been devastated by war, China was in a state of internal upheaval, and Soviet Russia had largely isolated itself from the rest of the world during its communist experiment. These conditions allowed the US to assume a position of leadership with remarkable confidence.
But this leadership was never the result of classical imperial conquest comparable to the Roman Empire or the empire of Genghis Khan. The US did not defeat its major rivals through decisive military victory. Rather, it emerged as the strongest actor at a moment when other powers were preoccupied with solving their own internal problems.

“.. there is no common front against the hegemonic agendas of Washington and Israel and there will be no military aid to Iran. That is a big green light for Trump and Netanyahu

• My Prediction For the War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)

President Trump, in an effort to rescue himself from a war that he began without adequate preparation, as he was warned to no avail by his hand-picked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has propositioned Russian President Putin. The deal Trump has offered is to free Russian oil from sanctions on the condition that Putin direct the released oil flows to Europe away from Asia. This achieves two goals for Trump. It lessens or removes the pressure on oil price and inflation from the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, thus negating an Iranian advantage in the conflict, and it prevents China from replacing Iranian oil lost to blockage of the Strait and curtailment of shipping insurance. Little doubt that Russia’s incompetent central bank director is telling Putin to take the deal on the grounds that Russia needs the oil revenues to develop its economy.

In other words, if Putin will betray Russia’s Iranian and Chinese allies, Trump will remove sanctions on Russian oil. Think about Trump’s proposal for a minute. What does it tell us about Trump’s opinion of Putin? It tells us that Trump thinks of Putin as a man devoid of integrity and strategic vision who would sell out his allies and his country itself.I agree with Gilbert Doctorow that by accepting Trump’s call Putin revealed himself as a person of questionable character. Trump had a few days prior conducted a dishonorable sneak military attack on Iran. Putin should have refused the call.If Putin aligns with Trump and Israel against Iran it means the end of BRICS and the New Chinese Silk Road and a cessation of Chinese trust in Russia.
John Helmer thinks it reflects badly on China that the country’s leadership is entering into trade negotiations with Trump soon after Trump has begun a war with Iran that has adverse impact on Chinese economic and military power. I agree. So, both Russia and China have shown that the Israeli-American attack on an ally has given them no wakeup call and they are both content to continue with business as usual. I can’t help wondering if one motive for Trump’s attack on Iran was to create divisions between the three countries and to isolate them from one another.
As I have emphasized several times and again today on Rasheed Muhammad’s excellent program the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel means that the talk about mediating the Iranian conflict and restoring peace and stability to the Middle East is meaningless. Israel’s agenda is not consistent with peace and stability in the Middle East. Iran cannot be secure when Iran is in the way of Greater Israel. The Iranian president still does not understand this and is making a fool of himself and his country by giving conditions for negotiations to end the war, but a more powerful figure, Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, does understand. Larijani recently stated:
“Tonight, we received messages from U.S. President Donald Trump through the Omani mediator, asking us to negotiate a ceasefire. Our response is that we will not accept any negotiations as long as an entity called Israel exists.” The Iranian Supreme Leader should say that Iran is willing to trade all nuclear ambitions for Israel’s renouncing of the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. The only way the Middle East can contain both Iran and Israel is for Israel’s agenda of Greater Israel to be deep-sixed. The first quarter of the 21st century has witnessed Israel use American blood and money to clear the Muslim Middle East of obstacles to Greater Israel. “Seven countries in five years.” It has taken longer than five years, but Iran is the last big obstacle.
It looks as if Trump and Israel are going to lose the conventional war. Iran seems to have the larger stockpile of missiles and the determination and ability to stay the course. After having their children slaughtered by the Trump and Netanyahu war criminals, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is unlikely to counsel negotiations or surrender. Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and other major American financial institutions have already been forced to cap withdrawals from their funds. Unless Putin bails out Trump, the oil price will continue rising carrying inflation with it and driving down the stock market and employment. Washington has shown that it is Incapable of protecting the Gulf oil sheikdoms from which people are fleeing.
The US Navy which the White House Fool said would escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has had to move out of Iranian missile range. The war has spread to Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah is now attacking Israel. The Houthis may soon join in the attacks on Israel. The American Gulf bases seem to be indefensible. We don’t know the US casualties, but it is certainly more than Trump’s reassuring six. Perhaps the Russian and Chinese leaderships will save the war for Israel and Trump by pressuring Iran into a ceasefire, thereby showing that both countries lack intelligent leadership. There are no ground troops to send into Iran.
Trump and Netanyahu seem to have given up attacking Iran’s military capabilities and are focusing on bombing Iranian civilian residential areas, schools, and hospitals as Israel does to Gaza with Trump’s bombs. This cowardly way of fighting will only succeed in hardening the attitude of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. So, what is Trump to do now that in a midterm election year the fool has permitted Netanyahu to trap him into a longterm and apparently losing war. If Trump loses the midterm elections, he is likely to be impeached and removed from office. The only option left to Trump is to nuke Iran or have Netanyahu do it.
Thus the duplicity and lack of strategic vision of Putin and Xi will have let the nuke genie out of the bottle. Emboldened by the success of violence, Trump and the Zionists will turn on isolated Russia and China in pursuit of their hegemonic agendas. On March 11, Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister and Politburo member conveniently let Trump know that there is no Chinese-Russian alliance when he said that Chinese-Russian “bilateral ties are based on the principle of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party.”
In other words, there is no common front against the hegemonic agendas of Washington and Israel and there will be no military aid to Iran. That is a big green light for Trump and Netanyahu. Based on what we know at this time, the picture I have painted is a probable one.

“America sacrifices everyone for Israel and does not care about anyone but Israel.” He added, “Anyone clothed by the US is literally NAKED!”

• UAE Fujairah Port Burns As Iran Vows Escalation For Kharg Island Attack (ZH)

Upon the overnight major US attack on Iran’s key oil hub of Kharg island, here’s what Iran’s military is threatening to do by way of response and escalation – which was also entirely predictable: “If Iran’s oil, economic, or energy infrastructure is attacked, we will immediately destroy energy and economic infrastructure across the region belonging to companies with American shareholders or ties to the U.S.” –IRGC spox Iran continues launching widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has vowed that any US site or any country hosting it will feel pain. “This war proved one thing quite clearly: American bases in our region do not protect anyone – they are a threat,” he wrote on X. “America sacrifices everyone for Israel and does not care about anyone but Israel.” He added, “Anyone clothed by the US is literally NAKED!” And in fact this retaliation is already in progress on Saturday. A missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy compound in Baghdad, and debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has informed the United Arab Emirates that US “hideouts” are “legitimate targets” after the US struck Iran’s Kharg island. –Al Jazeera. Associated Press images meanwhile showed a column of smoke rising over the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital and a fire at the Fujairah port, offering confirmation.
Plumes of black smoke can been seen rising from the UAE’s port of Fujairah, the country’s only oil export outside the Strait of Hormuz.

The local government confirms that Iranian drones targeted the area, says that damage was from falling debris. pic.twitter.com/fQU139cgPy
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 14, 2026

President Trump had said late Friday that the US military “obliterated” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, home to the primary terminal handling the country’s oil exports. Additionally, an American official said 2,500 additional Marines and an amphibious assault ship are heading to the Middle East – though it remains unclear on if they will actually enter the strait, or what their mission will ultimately be. But ‘mission creep’ is already happening at rapid pace, as the White House refuses to publicize an exit plan or offramp (if there even is one).
⚡️Another video of the damage done to the U.S embassy in Baghdad following a drone strike pic.twitter.com/jxmFK3Ot6j
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 14, 2026

US seems late to the show.

• Drones Are A ‘Rapidly Evolving’ Threat To US (JTN)

Iran’s Shahed-style drones each cost between $20,000 and $50,000, but they can do a lot of damage. Since the latest conflict began, Iran’s drones have killed six members of the Army Reserve at a command center in Kuwait on Sunday, and Iranian drones have wreaked havoc on Middle East petroleum facilities. The FBI is now warning that Iranian drones potentially pose risks to targets in California. Some journalists in the legacy media are shocked to discover that the U.S. has limited capabilities to counter these destructive and lethal aerial devices. While it’s true that neutralizing drone threats is difficult, it’s a problem the Department of War has been aware of and working to address since long before the conflict in Iran.

In 2007, Tom Rullman, president and CEO of GT Aeronautics, ended up sharing a cab ride with a two-star general in Washington, D.C. GT Aeronautics develops a variety of drones for commercial and defense purposes, and in 2006, it was developing a drone with air to ground capabilities, called a Bandito. The small devices have a wingspan of 16 inches, weigh less than two pounds, and fly at 200 miles per hour. During the chance encounter with the general, Rullman discussed the Bandito and showed him charts of the drone. The general was very interested in the technology and invited Rullman to brief the Air Force at the Pentagon on what his Banditos could do.
“There were like 40 generals in the room, and I had a 20-minute time slot. That brief turned into three hours,” Rullman told Just the News. Among the questions the generals asked Rullman was if his Banditos could be used to, say, attack the White House. “Absolutely,” Rullman told the generals. “We can launch a Bandito outside the window of a truck that’s moving, do it 20 miles away and send it to a target on the ground.” That got the Pentagon’s attention. The government asked GT Aeronautics to help develop drones that could take out air targets. By 2009, Ruleman was flying Banditos out in the California desert near Point Mugu Naval Air Station and developing the systems that allow them to track targets.
Col. Guy Yelverton is a project manager for the U.S. Army’s counter-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) — what the military and FAA call drones. Yelverton said the Department of War is actively working to address the risk that drones are posing to U.S. troops. The U.S. military has seen a proliferation of low-cost adversarial drones in recent years, and they range from small, commercial-style drones to larger, more capable platforms. “They’re becoming a defining feature of modern warfare,” Yelverton told Just the News. These drones increase the ability of our adversaries, as well as “non-state actors,” to conduct reconnaissance, targeting and harassment with little risk to their own personnel, Yelverton said.
“They can make a drone pretty cheaply and then hang something off of it that could do some damage,” Yelverton said. On the battlefield, adversaries’ use of drones provides them with persistent surveillance and enables rapid strokes. This presents a situation for U.S. troops where decision-making timelines are severely compressed.

“..Trump has no business still standing. Except the economy is still standing..“

• Media Says ‘Gambling’ Trump Got Lucky On The Economy (ZH)

Democrats have been predicting doom and gloom ever since Trump returned to office, yet the economic calamity they assured us would come has yet to materialize. But rather than give Trump credit, the narrative being pushed now is that his wins are just dumb luck. That’s certainly the message of a Politico piece headlined “Trump Keeps Gambling With the Economy — And Getting Away With It.”

“President Donald Trump has spent his second term turning risky economic gambles into a way of life,” the article kicks off. “He has implemented sweeping global tariffs that have dramatically increased the cost of doing business across the world. He has sharply decreased the number of people immigrating to the U.S. He has pushed for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates under any circumstance, even though inflation has not entirely cooled. And now, he’s launched an attack on Iran, a scenario that has long been the clearest and most direct threat to one of Trump’s favored political barometers: gas prices.”
The implicit verdict is clear: these were all reckless moves, and Trump has no business still standing. Except the economy is still standing. Quite well, actually. So-called experts warned repeatedly that Trump’s tariff regime would send prices spiraling. That didn’t happen. Inflation went down. Democrats entered 2025 predicting that aggressive immigration enforcement would “deliver a catastrophic blow to the U.S. Economy.” That blow never landed. What about the prediction that Trump’s mass deportations would devastate the economy? Not only did that not happen (albeit there was TACO’ing over the scale of deportations), it reversed the trend of rising housing costs, making them more affordable. At some point, a pattern of failed predictions stops being an argument about Trump’s recklessness and starts being an argument about the quality of the predictions.
The article quickly pivots to gas prices, which are up following the attack on Iran – though Energy Secretary Chris Wright called this a ‘fear premium’ that will fall in ‘weeks, not months’ [though we generally place little stock in bureaucrat promises]. “And now, he’s launched an attack on Iran, a scenario that has long been the clearest and most direct threat to one of Trump’s favored political barometers: gas prices,” the article warns. “The conflict has led to a jump in oil prices, though not quite to worst-case levels, and markets have been jittery about the prospect of more expensive energy and higher U.S. federal debt, stemming from the cost of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.”
Politico is unwilling to credit the Trump administration for successfully managing the economy after the Biden administration went full leeroy jenkins on inflationary stimmies and red tape; instead, we’re supposed to be convinced that Trump is just lucky that disaster hasn’t struck, or as Politico put it, “getting away with it.” In fact, Politico suggests that the economy is doing well in spite of Trump… “In so many ways, that is the story of Trump’s economic stewardship up to this point. His disruptive policies have left some dents, including serious damage to his approval rating, but by the biggest readings of its health, the U.S. economy – measured by overall growth, the job market, the stock market, even inflation – largely keeps absorbing what he throws at it.”

Elon is way ahead of you.

• The AI Boom Is Creating A Global Memory Chip Shortage (ZH)

A global shortage of memory chips is emerging as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure surges, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Large technology companies are locking in supply by signing long-term agreements and paying higher prices to guarantee access to chips years in advance. Because these deals are more profitable, chip manufacturers are increasingly directing production toward AI customers. This shift has reduced the number of chips available for other products such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and cars, pushing prices sharply upward.
Memory chips play a critical role in modern computing because they store and deliver data to processors, which carry out calculations. Without sufficient memory, devices would struggle to run applications, load programs, or process data efficiently. Two types dominate the industry. DRAM functions as short-term working memory that computers and servers use to quickly access active data. NAND flash memory serves as long-term storage, holding files, photos, and software even when devices are powered off.

The AI industry is about to run out of chips. The world's largest foundries are maxed out and the demand curve is still going vertical.

Tesla’s TeraFab is a bet on a solution no other company in the world has been ambitious enough to try…. build the chips yourself

Quick math… https://t.co/EXMHu5GYbC pic.twitter.com/31Ln43JLiO
— Josh Kale (@JoshKale) March 14, 2026

Bloomberg writes that Artificial intelligence systems require enormous amounts of memory, especially a newer design known as high-bandwidth memory (HBM). This technology stacks multiple layers of memory vertically and places them close to processors, allowing data to move much faster than with traditional designs. The speed is essential for AI models that must constantly move and process huge volumes of information. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has dramatically increased demand for memory chips. Major technology firms are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to expand computing capacity, and AI servers require far more memory than traditional systems.
As a result, data centers now account for a much larger share of global DRAM usage than they did just a few years ago, and that share is expected to keep growing. With supply unable to keep pace, memory prices have climbed steeply. In some cases, DRAM spot prices have risen several hundred percent within a year, while NAND storage costs are also increasing. The impact is spreading across the electronics industry. Companies that build computers, phones, and gaming systems are facing higher manufacturing costs and tighter component supply. Some manufacturers have already raised prices or reduced the amount of memory included in certain devices to manage expenses.

Expanding production is not a quick solution. The memory chip industry is highly concentrated, with most output coming from companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. Building new fabrication plants requires enormous investment and several years before meaningful output begins. Producing advanced chips like HBM is even more challenging because they involve stacking extremely thin layers of silicon with microscopic connections; even a small defect can ruin an entire unit.

Manufacturers are expanding cautiously because the memory business has historically been volatile, swinging between shortages and oversupply. Companies want to benefit from the AI boom without repeating past cycles that led to large financial losses when demand suddenly weakened. For the moment, firms building AI infrastructure are securing the components they need, while consumer electronics makers may have to cope with higher costs and limited supply until production eventually catches up with demand.

Russian energy is indispensable to easing the world’s largest energy crisis. EU bureaucrats will soon be forced to recognize this reality, acknowledge their strategic blunders, and atone. https://t.co/5kn6RTZBb3 — Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) March 13, 2026

• Did Someone Forget To Ask Zelensky? (RT)

What have we learned from Kirill Dmitriev’s latest round of talks in Miami, and where does Ukraine stand now?

Two weeks of war in the Persian Gulf have forced the US to admit the obvious: that Russia is an indispensable oil supplier. After some lightning-fast diplomacy from Moscow, Russian oil is reaching its old markets again, and nobody is angrier than Vladimir Zelensky. The impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran on global energy markets has been brutal. Around 40% of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East, where Iranian attacks have forced the shutdown of refineries in US-allied countries, and a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits the Strait of Hormuz, which has been de facto closed for nearly two weeks. As a result, the Brent oil benchmark has soared to more than $103 per barrel, a figure last seen in June 2022, when oil markets grappled with the escalating conflict in Ukraine.
That Moscow would benefit from this situation was inevitable. Russia is the world’s largest oil producer, is not participating in the war in the Gulf, and does not depend on the Strait of Hormuz to bring its oil to buyers. The only impediment to Russian oil flows are Western sanctions, which the US proved this week it is willing to wave away with the stroke of a pen. It took only four days for US sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to start to fade. The process began with a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Kremlin described the call as “frank and businesslike,” noting that the two leaders discussed the effect of the war on “global energy markets.”
Earlier that day, Putin publicly declared that Russia is a reliable energy supplier, willing to work with countries that themselves are reliable partners. Two days later, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev was on a plane to Miami, where he met with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum. Neither side revealed much about the meeting, with Witkoff stating that the teams discussed a variety of topics and agreed to stay in touch, with Dmitriev thanking the Americans for a productive meeting. Less than 24 hours later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the temporary lifting of sanctions on Russian oil currently at sea. The waiver relates to exports of Russian oil loaded onto vessels prior to March 12 and is set to last 30 days.
Neither side has suggested that the decision to waive sanctions was made in Miami, but it is unlikely that the issue was not discussed. Bessent described the waiver as a “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” that would “not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction.” However, Dmitriev believes that further easing of sanctions will follow. In a post on Telegram on Thursday, he said “many countries, particularly the USA, are beginning to better understand the key, systemically important role of Russian oil and gas in ensuring the stability of the global economy, as well as the ineffectiveness and destructive nature of sanctions against Russia.”
A Harvard-educated former investment banker, Dmitriev is a long-time proponent of increasing economic ties between the US and Russia. Throughout repeated rounds of talks aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict, Dmitriev has accompanied Moscow’s negotiators to the US and held separate economic-focused talks with the Americans. $100 oil is “just the beginning of the largest energy crisis ever,” Dmitriev wrote on X, adding that “even $200+ is a possibility in a prolonged conflict.” “Amid the growing energy crisis, further easing of restrictions on Russian energy sources appears increasingly inevitable, despite resistance from some in the Brussels bureaucracy,” he predicted.
The war on Iran has been an unmitigated nightmare for Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Not only has the conflict denied him the constant press coverage that he enjoyed since 2022, he has also been forced to watch as American weapons – particularly the PAC-3 Patriot anti-air missiles he has spent years demanding from the West – are burned up in the Middle East.In less than two weeks of fighting in the Persian Gulf, the US, Israel, and their Arab partners have used more PAC-3 interceptors than Ukraine has received in the last four years. In talks with his European backers earlier this week, Ukraine managed to secure a meager 35 of these missiles. The US and its partners have fired this many interceptors every five hours since the war on Iran began.
Zelensky’s attempts to insert Ukraine into the war have also proven fruitless. Despite offering to deploy anti-drone “experts” to the Middle East, the Ukrainian leader was told on Friday by Trump that “we don’t need Ukraine’s help with drone defense.” Before Bessent announced the waiving of sanctions, Zelensky took to social media to vent his frustrations. “Europe, the United States, and the entire civilized world imposed sanctions on Russia for its aggression,” he wrote on X on Wednesday. “In my view, if these sanctions are lifted, it means we are recognizing the legitimacy of this aggression… I consider this absolutely unjust.”
With Witkoff, Kushner, and the entire Trump administration consumed with Iran, trilateral talks between Moscow, Kiev, and Washington have been postponed until next week at the earliest. For now, Zelensky – the spurned mistress in this story – can only complain to the Europeans. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have all condemned Trump’s sanctions waiver. “We believe that easing sanctions now, for whatever reason, is the wrong thing to do,” Merz told reporters on Friday. “Russia,” von der Leyen said, should absolutely not benefit from the war on Iran.” However, Russia will continue to benefit as long as oil prices remain high, and Dmitriev has warned European “warmongers” that “energy markets will punish them” as long as they maintain their embargo on Russian oil and gas.

Merkel turns out to be the great destroyer. Who saw that coming?

• The Most Expensive Science Lesson in European History (Hickman)

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors melted down, and it became the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. On the other side of the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel panicked. Her government had extended the operating lives of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors just five months earlier. But, because of the earthquake in Japan, Merkel reversed course overnight and mothballed eight German reactors.But Merkel’s decision wasn’t really about natural disasters. It was political. Merkel was terrified of Germany’s Green Party— which was literally founded on anti-nuclear activism in 1980 and had been gaining ground. A critical regional election was just two weeks away, and Merkel was hoping that she might pull out a victory if she killed the reactors.

Her gambit didn’t work, and the Greens won anyway. But at that point the fate of nuclear had already been set in motion. Within three months, the German government decided to phase out EVERY nuclear reactor in the country. Bear in mind that Germany’s 17 reactors were generating over a third of the country’s electricity… with zero carbon emissions. That’s a pretty good thing for a country obsessed with climate change. Yet Germany’s Green party had inexplicably spent decades campaigning to close them, i.e. to shutter the cleanest, most carbon-free source of baseload energy known to man. Germany committed to replacing its nuclear plants with solar panels. Naturally this meant that, in a country where the sun barely shines, Germany became increasingly dependent on natural gas— most of which is piped in from Russia.

The true extent of this idiocy didn’t reveal itself until February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine: Germany joined Western sanctions against Russia. Russia retaliated by throttling gas supplies. And Germany had no fallback. So Germany— the country that had lectured the entire world on carbon emissions— frantically restarted more than 20 coal-fired power plants. Then they imported 42 million metric tons of coal, including a surge from southern Africa. They even bulldozed the village of Lützerath to expand a lignite mine, dragging away protesters. Germany also became a net electricity importer, buying power from France’s nuclear grid. And gee what a surprise: German electricity prices are now the highest in the European Union. One obvious consequence is that Germany is no longer industrially competitive due to energy costs.
And that brings us to March 6, 2026. Manuel Hagel, a 37-year-old political candidate from ex-Chancellor Merkel’s party, visited an elementary school. National television cameras were rolling as Hagel attempted to explain the greenhouse effect to the children: “Between the earth and the sun is the atmosphere. And as this gets increasingly thin, the sun gets hotter and hotter. And the reason for this is CO2 emissions and and and. And that is the greenhouse effect.” Unfortunately his explanation is completely wrong. The greenhouse effect works because CO2 and other gases trap heat within the atmosphere; it has nothing to do with the atmosphere thinning or the sun getting hotter.
This is a guy who takes away stoves and gasoline powered vehicles in the name of reducing carbon emissions. Yet he doesn’t even understand the basics of his own ‘science’. Zee German leadership humiliated themselves even more when, on March 10, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stood at the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris and declared that Europe’s retreat from nuclear power had been “a strategic mistake.” “In 1990 one-third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear, today it is only close to 15%. This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice, I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.”
She’s right, of course. It was a mistake. An extraordinarily costly one. This is hilariously ironic since Von der Leyen is German. She served in Merkel’s cabinet. She personally voted to phase out nuclear, and her own policies at the Commission have been to quietly phase out nuclear power. Also this week, Germany’s current Chancellor (Friedrich Merz) weighed in on this nuclear blunder when he called the reactor phase-out “a mistake” and said, “I regret this.” Great. Then fix it! But they’re not going to do that. Unfortunately for Germany, said the Chancellor, “it is the way it is, and we are now concentrating on the energy policy we have.”

Give it up.

• The EU Never Learns – Except For The Wrong Lessons (Amar)

Some observers of the current EU ‘elites’, including this author, used to believe that their defining feature – apart from things such as complicity in genocide and wars of aggression with Israel and the US, bigoted xenophobia about Russia and China, and, of course, pervasive corruption – was an absolute inability to learn.We must admit, we stand corrected: Those running the EU are able to learn. The real problem is their relentless compulsion to learn the wrong thing. We are not dealing with non-learners but anti-learners: where others progress from experience, they regress.

Case in point, their response to the fact that their US-Israeli masters have started a war to end if not strictly all then at least all (barely) affordable energy supplies to the EU’s economies, while its major players are already limping along on a spectrum between walking-wounded (for instance, France, maybe) to comatose (Germany, definitely).In Germany, still the largest single economy inside the EU, providing almost a fourth of the bloc’s total GDP, industrial demand – orders from factories – fell by over 11% in January. Such a decrease – really, collapse – in orders is “drastic,” as German Manager Magazine notes. According to the Financial Times, this “very weak” start into the new year, puts preceding – and very modest – signs of a recovery from years of stagnation in doubt. Indeed.
And all of that disappointing data was gathered before the fallout of the Iran war had even started.Regarding the latter, it will be severe. Even Berlin’s Ministry of Economics admits that the risks stemming from the war’s consequences, most of them still incoming, is substantial. In general, the Eurozone – different from but covering most of the EU – is not in good shape either. According to Bloomberg, a very low and yet still over-optimistic Eurostat estimate of expansion by 0.3% for the last quarter of 2025 has just been revised downward to 0.2%. But frankly, who cares at that level of misery?
And for the Eurozone as well, America and Israel’s unprovoked war against Iran is likely to make things much worse. Philip Lane, chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), has confirmed that much to the Financial Times: An enduring decrease in oil and gas supplies from the Middle East can (read: will), he warns, bring about a “substantial spike” in inflation and a “sharp drop in output.”And what is the EU leadership’s response to this deeply depressing outlook for its economy and the European citizens depending on it? Let’s not dream. It is true, if the EU’s ‘elites’ were in the business of protecting European interests and prosperity, they would, obviously, take a sharp turn against both the US and Israel (as well as London in case it were to stick to its special-poodle relationship with Washington).
Yet if the EU leadership had such priorities, it would long have turned against the US, for its blatant exploitation of its vassal regimes via, first, NATO over-expansion and, now, crippling overspending, for Ukraine proxy war outsourcing, and for devastating tariff warfare. It would also long have broken with Israel, for, to name only two compelling reasons, its genocide and serial wars of aggression that are both horrifically criminal and extremely destabilizing and damaging not “only” to the Middle East but the world as a whole and Europe in particular.In short, the EU would not even be in the mess it is now if it actually took care of Europe. And, by the way, if it were not so craven but had opposed the US and Israel instead of pandering to them, perhaps it could even have contributed to preventing the current criminal war against Iran.

Russia is threatening to embargo natural gas to Europe.

This could double Europe’s gas prices, gut European industry, and set off a recession.

Trump warned Europeans this would happen way back in 2018. They laughed at him. pic.twitter.com/h6YFMHLIKu
— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) March 13, 2026

pic.twitter.com/kzvrSWxtlG
— Amazing Physics (@amazing_physics) March 13, 2026

Richard Feynman, in his iconic 1981 BBC Horizon interview "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out", delivers one of the most liberating takes on uncertainty ever captured on film:

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different… pic.twitter.com/uNvZsyayQ9
— Camus (@newstart_2024) March 14, 2026