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Debt Rattle March 11 2026

Mar 112026
 
 March 11, 2026  Posted by at 9:41 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  58 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) 1888


• Gulf Oil Production Could Stop In Weeks – Putin (RT)
• Iran Reportedly Starts Mining The Strait Of Hormuz (ZH)
• Introducing Schrödinger’s Ayatollah (Stephen Green)
• Oil Prices Fall, Democrats Most Hurt (Matt Margolis)
• Admin Mulls Special Forces Into Iran to Retrieve Enriched Uranium (Moran)
• Anthropic Sues Pentagon Over Supply-Chain Risk Designation (ET)
• Trump Talks ‘Takeover’ Again as Cuban Protests Hit Day 4 (Sarah Anderson)
• Polls: Trump More Popular Than Kamala, Newsom, AOC, Stephen Colbert (Cantrell)
• Trump Targeted By Four FBI Code-Named Counterintel Probes (JTN)
• UK Govt Plots ANOTHER X Shutdown Over Grok’s ‘Offensive’ Roasts (MN)
• Happy Anniversary, Adam Smith (Jonathan Turley)
• Republicans Prefer War To The US Constitution And Truth (Paul Craig Roberts)
• New York Mayor Won’t Tell The Truth About Islamic Terror Attacks (Pinsker)

 


 

https://twitter.com/lovetocook12345/status/2031077465070702973?s=20

 


 

 


 


Squeeze Europe.

• Gulf Oil Production Could Stop In Weeks – Putin (RT)

Oil production dependent on the Strait of Hormuz could come to a complete halt within a month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. He warned about the serious risks that the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran could pose to the global energy market. Last year, around a third of the global sea-borne oil exports went through the straight, Putin said at a government meeting on the global energy markets on Monday. “That is around 14 million barrel per day and 80% of that went to the Asian and Pacific nations,” he stated, adding that “now, this route is de-facto closed.”


Traffic through the straight has reportedly dropped by 80% over the past week after the US and Israel launched their bombing campaign against Iran, prompting retaliatory strikes from Tehran. Several tankers were hit in the exchanges. The developments pushed crude above $100 and prompted expectations of emergency energy measures from the EU and other major economies. “Oil production dependent on the strait risks fully stopping in the coming month. It is already dropping,” the president said. Restoring production could take weeks or even months, he added.

The global oil prices are already rising, Putin stated, adding that the increase amounted to over 30% in the past week alone. Disruptions in energy supplies also boost inflation and lead to industrial output decline, according to the president. The world is about to find itself in a “new… price reality,” Putin warned, calling it “inevitable.” Russia remains a “reliable energy supplier,” the president said, adding that it will continue to provide oil and gas for the nations that it also considers reliable partners. According to Putin, the list includes Asian nations and EU members Slovakia and Hungary.

On Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto urged Brussels to lift its ban on Russian oil and gas amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the easing of sanctions on some Russian oil to stabilize the markets.

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I’m itchy.

• Iran Reportedly Starts Mining The Strait Of Hormuz (ZH)

Update(1555ET): A fresh Tuesday CNN report says that Iran has already begun laying mines in the vital oil transit Strait of Hormuz waterway: Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most i mportant energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil, according to two people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.The mining is not extensive yet, with a few dozen having been laid in recent days, the sources said. But Iran still retains upward of 80% to 90% of its small boats and mine layers, one of the sources said, so its forces could feasibly lay hundreds of mines in the waterway.


The report further says that after IRGC threats have already de facto closed the strait to nearly all international traffic (apparently unless they signal they are Chinese vessels) amid the ongoing drone and missile threat, it maintains the capability to deploy a “gauntlet” of dispersed mine-laying craft, continues CNN, including explosive-laden boats and shore-based missile batteries. TRUMP RESPONDS to the reports, warns the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.


Trump revised his tweet quickly, adding the following: “Additionally, we are using the same Technology and Missile capabilities deployed against Drug Traffickers to permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait. They will be dealt with quickly and violently. BEWARE!” He also followed with saying that the US already destroyed ten inactive mine laying boats.CENTCOM meanwhile quickly counter-signals that it stands ready to fight back:

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“Mojtaba has yet to be seen in public since his promotion. Strange way to reassure the public about the succession, yes?”

• Introducing Schrödinger’s Ayatollah (Stephen Green)

The point of Erwin Schrödinger’s Gedankenexperiment (thought experiment) was to highlight the absurdity of quantum superposition, where subatomic particles can exist in multiple states at once until measured by conscious human beings. The radioactive element might (or might not) decay at any given moment, activating the Geiger counter that’s rigged to a hammer that smashes the vial filled with cyanide gas. Schrödinger’s contraption, according to hip theories, should remain in superposition — that is, with the cat both alive and dead — until observed by opening the box. Anyway, in Iran this week we have what might be a real-world case of Schrödinger’s Cat, or to put a finer point on it, Schrödinger’s ayatollah.


As near as anyone can tell, nepo baby Mojtaba Khamenei exists in an actual state of superposition. Two, really. Khamenei the Younger exists in not one but two states of superposition: both (or neither?) alive and dead, and simultaneously the Supreme Leader… and not. Don’t bother taking notes on this one — even I’m too confused to put together a quiz for the end of this column.But fancy theories aside, let’s look at what we know/don’t know about the man who would be/won’t be king. As I’m sure you know by now, Mojtaba’s dad, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed by Israeli warplanes one lovely Saturday morning during the opening minutes of Israel’s half of the current operation, which they call Roaring Lion.

More than a week went by before Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts managed to name Mojtaba as Ali’s successor as “the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” But even that might not be all it seems. While the Assembly of Experts announced the formal decision, in reality, it was likely militants in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps making the call. Mojtaba is considered a hardliner rather than an “austere religious scholar,” and on Monday, the Times of Israel reported that his appointment “locks hardliners firmly in control in Tehran — a gamble that could reshape Iran’s war with the US and Israel and reverberate far beyond the Middle East.”

The paper also concluded that Mojtaba means “expanded authority for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), harsher domestic controls and sweeping repression to crush dissent.” But he also owes his position to the IRGC, unofficially making the ayatollah subordinate to the military for the first time in the Islamic state’s 47-year history. And yet… Mojtaba’s figurehead status might be even less than it appears because there’s also the question of whether Mojtaba remains upright and breathing. Also on Monday, Iran state television confirmed that Mojtaba was wounded, presumably during an airstrike. AP reported: “The anchors read reports describing him as ‘janbaz’ or wounded by the enemy,” even as they parade him around — virtually only! — as the new boss.

Mojtaba has yet to be seen in public since his promotion. Strange way to reassure the public about the succession, yes? In addition to Ali Khamenei, also believed dead in the compound airstrike is the elder Khamenei’s wife, a daughter, a grandchild, a son-in-law, and Mojtaba’s wife. Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch to believe that coalition airpower took out so much of the Khamenei family, except for the one guy the IRGC needed as a well-known figurehead to consolidate its power during a chaotic time when one military and theocratic leader after another gets chalked up as KIA. But the point is, we don’t know. He’s Schrödinger’s ayatollah.

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“They want economic pain, they’re hoping for a terrorist attack, and they pretty much want things to fall apart so the voters will blame Trump.”

• Oil Prices Fall, Democrats Most Hurt (Matt Margolis)

Democrats thought they had found another golden ticket. When Trump ordered military strikes on Iran last month, oil prices spiked more than 10% overnight. The liberal media pounced with reports of historic price hikes, acting like things were terrible, conveniently forgetting that while prices did go up, they were still significantly lower than the peak of the Biden years. Still, Democrats clearly saw a political opportunity.“Democrats are seizing on President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran as a new front in their energy affordability campaign,” Politico reported after the bombings began. “Oil prices jumped more than 10 percent Sunday night following military action in Iran, a major producer that also sits at the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for fossil fuel shipments.”


Fresh off a House retreat to nail down midterm messaging, Democrats saw the Iran strike as “a fresh line of attack.” The narrative wrote itself — or so they thought.It didn’t last long. Crude oil briefly surged to nearly $120 per barrel on Monday as markets panicked over the Strait of Hormuz. But then, prices started to plunge. Apparently, Trump told reporters at a Florida news conference, “We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. Then, I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.” He added that he thought “the war is very complete, pretty much.”Markets responded immediately.

Trump then fired off a warning to Iran on Truth Social, making clear what happens if Tehran tries to weaponize the strait: “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”

This matters politically because the Democrats are banking on economic pain. They need voters to feel squeezed at the pump and to blame the Trump White House. They barely had a case when prices were up, because they were still lower than under Biden. But they completely lost their talking point because of Trump’s confident tone; his explicit threat to hit Iran “twenty times harder” and his framing of the conflict as a short, necessary operation shifted the calculus entirely. The panic premium has largely disappeared, stocks are rebounding globally, and the doomsday energy crisis narrative Democrats were banking on hasn’t materialized.

Democrats spent their retreat crafting a message around affordability, betting that Trump’s foreign policy moves would hand them the economic ammunition they desperately need heading into 2026. Instead, they got a brief spike, followed by a sharp reversal. Despite the Democrats’ hopes, what we have here is a president who looks more in command of the situation than they will admit or want voters to see. Without a doubt, Democrats are rooting against America right now. They want economic pain, they’re hoping for a terrorist attack, and they pretty much want things to fall apart so the voters will blame Trump.

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“If we ever did that, [the Iranians] would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight on the ground level,” Trump said.”

• Admin Mulls Special Forces Into Iran to Retrieve Enriched Uranium (Moran)

Iran has about 450 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% that is buried under tons of rock near the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities. Iran is capable of digging that stockpile out and enriching it to 90%, a process that would take a matter of days if the country had any advanced centrifuges to spin the uranium up.mThe Iranian nuclear program was all but destroyed in the attacks last June. While it would take years to reconstitute the entire program, building a few hundred advanced centrifuges would take a matter of months.


Getting at that stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU) may be a little easier than first thought. U.S. intelligence recently identified a “very narrow access point” at the bombed Isfahan site, suggesting Iran might still be able to retrieve and move this material. At a House hearing on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked whether Iran’s enriched uranium would be secured. “People are going to have to go and get it,” he said, without specifying who.The Israelis say Trump is seriously considering not only sending a small contingent of special operators to either retrieve the HEU or “dilute it” by bringing scientists along to render it less potent. Plans to capture Kharg Island, the major chokepoint for Iran’s oil export industry, have also been discussed.

Axios: NBC News reported on Friday that Trump has discussed the idea of deploying a small contingent of U.S. troops in Iran for specific strategic purposes. Semafor reported Trump’s Iran options include Special Operations raids on nuclear sites. The U.S. official laid out the operational challenge of securing Iran’s uranium: “The first question is, where is it? The second question is, how do we get to it and how do we get physical control?” “And then, it would be a decision of the president and the Department of War, CIA, as to whether we wanted to physically transport it or dilute it on premises.” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday that ground troops were possible — but only “for a very good reason.” “If we ever did that, [the Iranians] would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight on the ground level,” Trump said.

This sounds very much like a trial balloon the administration is floating to see how much opposition to a few ground troops it will generate. CNN did its best to throw cold water on any operation to retrieve the HEU. The news site claims that retrieving the HEU “would require a significant number of US ground troops beyond a small special operations footprint, seven current and former officials familiar with the military planning told CNN.” Lucky number 7. “Highly enriched uranium is a dual-use material, and Iran has said it produces it only for peaceful energy purposes,” offers CNN. That helpful news is total baloney.

There is no known commercial or scientific use for enriching 450 kilograms of HEU to 60%. Commercial reactors only need uranium enriched to about 3%. Some experimental reactors use uranium enriched to 20%. The only reason to enrich uranium to 60% is to create a way station on the trip to 90% enrichment to create a nuclear bomb. Regardless, CNN tries to make the point that it’s darn near impossible to accomplish a mission like that. Sounds tailor-made for our special operators. Capturing Kharg Island is a different matter. Shutting the facility down for even a short while would be a catastrophic blow to Iran’s economy. The facility handles nearly all of Iran’s 1.6 million barrels per day in exports, most of which go to China. Losing this terminal would effectively “paralyze” the Iranian economy by cutting off its primary source of hard currency.

Because Iran has limited storage capacity, a shutdown at the export terminal would quickly back up the entire supply chain. Within days of a terminal closure, Iranian oil fields would be forced to halve their production or shut down entirely because there would be nowhere to put the oil. Shutting down active oil wells can cause long-term geological damage, making it difficult and expensive to bring them back to full capacity later. Unfortunately, shutting down Kharg Island for any length of time would also be detrimental to the West. The resulting oil shock could result in a recession for most Western countries, including the United States. The war shows no signs of winding down, so Trump’s options on how to proceed are still wide open.

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You want to force the Pentagon to adopt your morals and worldview?

• Anthropic Sues Pentagon Over Supply-Chain Risk Designation (ET)

Artificial intelligence (AI) developer Anthropic sued the Department of War on March 9, following the federal government’s designation of the company as a supply chain risk. That designation hinders government agencies and their contractors from working with Anthropic. The suit comes after the company refused to change the user policy for its AI tool Claude to allow the government to use it for what Anthropic described as “mass surveillance” and “fully autonomous weapons.” The Pentagon has denied that it planned to use Claude for such purposes.


The refusal caused President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct federal agencies to sever ties with Anthropic and state that “effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.” On social media, both Trump and Hegseth accused Anthropic of trying to “strong-arm” the federal government by dictating its military policy.“WE will decide the fate of our Country—NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” Trump said in a Feb. 27 Truth Social post.

“Their true objective is unmistakable: to seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military,” Hegseth said on X the same day. “That is unacceptable.” Anthropic alleges that the federal government is punishing the company for its First Amendment-protected speech and viewpoint. The company also alleges that the Department of War reached out to some of its business partners following the rift and that those companies “delayed or paused several national security contracts or business engagements already in active development with Anthropic.” That puts “millions, possibly billions, of dollars at risk,” Anthropic stated. “These actions are unprecedented and unlawful,” Anthropic’s lawsuit reads.

“The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here. “Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.” In its filing, Anthropic said it isn’t confident that Claude “would function safely or reliably” if used for those purposes. Anthropic’s suit asks the court to set aside Trump and Hegseth’s designation as unconstitutional. The Pentagon declined to comment on the suit. The Pentagon previously said the company must accept “any lawful use” of its tools and technology to support the U.S. military.

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“They have no energy, they have no money,” Trump said. “They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis. And we don’t want to see that.”

• Trump Talks ‘Takeover’ Again as Cuban Protests Hit Day 4 (Sarah Anderson)

On Monday, a USA Today reporter asked Donald Trump about the fact that he recently said Cuba wants to make a deal. She said, “What would the United States get in return for that, and why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?” (Why should we trust Marco Rubio? Girl, please. Where have you been the last year… Oops, sorry, my inner monologue escaped and got the best of me. Back to the president.) Trump laid it out like this: Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of State in history. Look at what we’ve done as a presidency. Look at what we’ve done as an administration. They trust Marco, and so do the American people… He’s been successful no matter where he’s been. He also speaks the language, which is always nice and always helpful.


Trump went on to say that Marco is dealing with Cuba and what may end up being a friendly takeover, but he says it may also end up being a not-so-friendly takeover. Either way, it wouldn’t matter because the country is in crisis and down to “fumes.” “They have no energy, they have no money,” Trump said. “They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis. And we don’t want to see that.” The president went on to talk about how important the Cuban people are to him, and how the regime was largely living off Venezuela. Without its lifeline there, it has nothing.

But they were very, very bad to a lot of people, as you know, and a lot of people living are — the Cuban American vote, which I got at record levels, very important. Those people are very important to me. I know what they went through. They went through hell. Some of them have gone on to be some of the most successful people in the country. Cuban American business people, some of them are like the most successful in the country. And a lot of them are friends of mine because I’ve been fighting this battle with them for a long time. The Castro regime was brutal, but they lived off Venezuela. Now, they don’t live off Venezuela — sends them no energy, no fuel, no oil, no money, no nothing. They lived without Venezuela. They couldn’t have made it. And we cut them off from everything else.”

Ultimately, he said, “So yeah, they’re going to make either a deal, or we’ll do it just as easy anyway.” It’s still not clear what the end of the Cuban regime will look like. Trump and Rubio have been purposely vague, and it’s possible that even they don’t know for sure yet. Rubio has said that they didn’t know if or how the Nicolás Maduro operation would go down until sort of the last minute, though it’s highly unlikely Cuba will look like that.

There are rumors circulating that the U.S. will make a “major economic deal” with the Cuban “government” that includes easing sanctions and cooperation on various sectors within Cuba, as well as providing an exit strategy for “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel and allowing the Castro family to remain on the island under some protection. Personally, I don’t necessarily buy this, nor do Cuban opposition leaders. Allowing the Castros to hang around indefinitely would be a slap in the face of every person in that country. It comes from anonymous sources, and it seems like it would defeat the purpose of the whole plan, but we’ll see.

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“Pope Leo XIV ranks as the most popular, with a rating of 42%. He barely beat out Trump for the top spot.”

• Polls: Trump More Popular Than Kamala, Newsom, AOC, Stephen Colbert (Cantrell)

A brand new poll NBC conducted between February 27 and March 3 that surveyed 1,000 registered voters will likely have Democrats blowing steam out of their ears, as it concluded that President Donald Trump is more popular than many of his most virulent critics. The list includes late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Given that Trump has done a stellar job sticking to his America First agenda and has kept most of his campaign promises, this probably will not shock average voters. Only those whom major media outlets have brainwashed—outlets that dropped any pretense of actual, objective journalism and instead produce propaganda—could possibly find this information shocking.


The thing is, most media outlets avoid talking to regular people. Instead, they opt to take the word of so-called political and cultural “elites,” who, by the way, are the same folks waist-deep in the Epstein files. And this situation does not result from accidental oversight or incompetence. They do it on purpose. If nightly news programs presented the truth, the president—along with MAGA politicians and supporters—would be even more popular than he is now. According to the poll’s data, respondents gave Trump a total positive rating of 41%, compared to Colbert, who pulled in only 35% support. That, to me, is still astronomically high. Colbert is an outspoken liberal who does his absolute best to prevent those on the right from having an opportunity to present their side on his program. Add to that the fact that Colbert is not talented or funny, and it is amazing people like him even that much.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has spent many months attempting to warm the pool for his entrance into presidential politics, has only a 27% positive rating. Again, that is still far too high. We are talking about a man who signed almost 500 bills into law and then goes on late-night television to complain that California is overregulated. Who are these people saying they like Newsom? They are likely consumers of news products from outlets like CNN and MSNBC. Harris, who failed miserably against President Trump in the 2024 presidential race and is likely preparing for yet another bid for the White House, had a 34% positive rating. The only vibe I get from that figure is that a lot of intellectually challenged individuals vote in our elections. And that is scary.

Moving on to AOC, her positive rating stands at 31%. Out of the 14 figures listed in the data, Pope Leo XIV ranks as the most popular, with a rating of 42%. He barely beat out Trump for the top spot. Vice President JD Vance holds the second-highest rating at 38%. He was tied with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vance will most definitely throw his hat in the ring for president, and to be perfectly honest, he is likely the most qualified individual for the job. He has stood by Trump’s side throughout his second term without hesitation. He has earned the respect of the MAGA movement, which is essential for any Republican candidate to win an election. If he gets into office, you can almost guarantee that the America First agenda will continue to move forward.

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“… a dozen members of Congress and their staffers, his future chief of staff Susie Wiles, journalists, campaign advisers, defense lawyers, and even Patel himself had their privacy pierced by warrants, wiretaps, FISA surveillance, phone record analysis, FBI assessments, or grand juries..”

• Trump Targeted By Four FBI Code-Named Counterintel Probes (JTN)

President Donald Trump and his supporters were targeted by four consecutive FBI code-named counterintelligence investigations over the last decade that secretly subjected hundreds of innocent Americans to privacy-invading tactics and essentially treated the man twice elected president as a national security threat for most of the first nine years of his political career, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Just the News. FBI Director Kash Patel has personally led the effort to review the operations code-named Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, Plasmic Echo and Arctic Frost that stretched from summer 2016 to January 2025, uncovering evidence of a far-reaching dragnet that in some cases may have been predicated on false, misleading or uncorroborated justifications, officials said.


Many of the investigative files were hidden from view, even from most FBI agents, because they were marked “prohibited access” and controlled carefully by FBI leadership. Patel’s search has been aided by whistleblowers inside his agency, a handful of senior bureau executives close to the director and some members of Congress, particularly Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Those who have seen the records told Just the News they chronicle how how the FBI’s expanded counterterrorism and counterintelligence missions after the Sept, 11, 2001, terrorist attacks eventually became hijacked by politics and led agents to deploy tools meant for terrorists and spies against everyday Americans in a bid to find a way to bring criminal cases against Trump.

One whistleblower this month told the FBI that surveillance and monitoring of Trump figures continued right up to the president’s January 2025 inauguration, according to multiple interviews. Few inside Trump’s orbit were spared from targeting by their stature: a dozen members of Congress and their staffers, his future chief of staff Susie Wiles, journalists, campaign advisers, defense lawyers, and even Patel himself had their privacy pierced by warrants, wiretaps, FISA surveillance, phone record analysis, FBI assessments, or grand juries.

Many targets and subjects fell under the bureau’s definition of special circumstances targets because they have recognized constitutionally protected privileges – like lawyers, members of Congress, journalists, and political figures. Even a political consultant turned documentary filmmaker who investigated Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings before joining Trump’s 2024 campaign was recently notified he was targeted in a criminal investigation that only recently was shut down, according to letters between Congress and the FBI reviewed by Just the News.

Michael Caputo had his emails and communications seized in 2023 by a “classified subpoena” issued about two weeks after he joined the Trump campaign and the email account the bureau penetrated “contained correspondence on The Trump Campaign’s private strategies and deliberations,” the correspondence stated. Patel’s FBI has informed Congress that probe has been shut down. But the question of how so many Americans were targeted remains open. At least 1,200 people that fall into the categories of special circumstances targets or subject were investigated under assessments by the FBI between 2018 and 2024 during Wray’s tenure, an explosive recent audit report to Congress revealed.

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Someone posted AI Starmer in a bra, and he’s gonna close down X for that?!

• UK Govt Plots ANOTHER X Shutdown Over Grok’s ‘Offensive’ Roasts (MN)

The UK government under Keir Starmer is once again eyeing a total ban on X, this time claiming Grok’s ability to spit out “insults” and “offensive language” poses a dire threat. But as users on the platform point out, this is just another excuse to silence dissent against the regime. Fresh reports reveal Starmer’s administration is probing ways to penalize X for “spreading offence online,” including a potential shutdown. Sky News reported on Grok being prompted to generate vulgar responses targeting Hinduism, Islam, and even historic football disasters.


The correspondent notes that Grok has been used to generate “highly offensive content” directed toward groups of football fans, such as blaming Liverpool supporters for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, where 97 fans died in a crush, and for which authorities were found to be culpably responsible. Similar insults targeted Rangers fans, referencing the 1971 Ibrox disaster that claimed 66 lives.The government says it is investigating the issue. This comes after Ofcom, as the regulator, stated at the start of the year that it was considering potential actions. Under the Online Safety Act, penalties could include fines up to 10% of a company’s worldwide revenue or £18 million if non-compliance is determined.

Sky News states that X is “urgently investigating” the chatbot responses. This isn’t Starmer’s first rodeo in targeting X. As we detailed in our earlier coverage, the UK government threatened a total ban on X over the so-called “Grok bikini flap,” where the AI was prompted to create ‘sexualized’ images. As we further noted, the push for a total ban likely has nothing to do with protecting children, but everything to do with stifling free speech and criticism of the Labour government’s policies. X users aren’t buying the latest pretext. One post blasts “Starmer Bin Lying gets fact checked by Grok every time he speaks He can’t even post on this app without being exposed as a liar.”


A reply warns of tyranny, quoting Robert A. Heinlein: “When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.” This pattern reeks of authoritarian overreach. Starmer’s regime, facing backlash over open borders and surveillance creep, can’t stand a platform where truths about their failures go viral. X remains a bastion for uncensored discourse, exposing leftist hypocrisy and globalist agendas. Shuttering it just because a minority of people made Grok make up some insults would constitute a total victory for tyrants.

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1776 was a productive and decisive year.

March 9: The Wealth of Nations

July 4: Declaration of Independennce.

• Happy Anniversary, Adam Smith (Jonathan Turley)

Today is the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In my book “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” I explore the importance of The Wealth of Nations to the founders and why it will be even more important in this century. The Wealth of Nations was released around the same time as the Declaration of Independence, but was not a particular success in Great Britain. Many panned his free-market theories. In addition to its foundational support for capitalism, it challenged the mercantilist policies of the British Empire and supported the claims of the colonies in seeking greater economic freedoms.


Smith, however, was immediately embraced by the founders, who saw his work as the perfect economic theory to advance their political theory. Ours was the first Enlightenment Revolution based on a belief in natural rights that came from God, not governments. Yet, the founders knew that true individual liberty could not be achieved without economic freedom. Smith’s idea of the “invisible hand” offered an idea of individual economic freedom where the individual tastes and choices of citizens drove whole economies. As I write in Rage and the Republic:

“While he never visited the United States, his theories seemed quintessentially American to many of his generation. For a revolution that was triggered by tariffs and fueled by events like the Boston Tea Party, Smith’s general principles read like an economic version of Common Sense. It was a type of declaration of independence not just from the British policy of mercantilism (emphasizing British exports over imports) but from economic controls over individual productivity and self-determination….

In summary, Smith was first and foremost viewed as a political theorist, and his economic theories were closely tied to his views on the natural liberties of humanity. He saw capitalism as a liberating system for individuals to allow them the wealth and resources to pursue their own chosen paths. Conversely, he saw government controls and subsidies as forms of control and potentially forms of suppression of the human will. If people are to be truly free, they must have the resources to pursue that freedom. The government dole can become a type of servitude or at least a subterfuge for citizens. If they are dependent on the government, they are never truly free.”

I believe that the key to our surviving and thriving in the 21st Century will be the preservation of what I call a “liberty-enhancing economy.” I will be discussing both anniversaries tomorrow at the Reagan Presidential Library.

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The President has to ask Congress for permission to initiate a war.

That meant something different in, say, 1776, than it does today. 250 years ago, you could have an assembly and then a vote, and the enemy would only know you officially declared it, an hour later. Or the next morning. Today, it takes seconds. The President CAN no longer ask Congreess for permission.

• Republicans Prefer War To The US Constitution And Truth (Paul Craig Roberts)

The Republican-controlled House and Senate rejected a war powers vote that would have granted Congress the ability to decide whether Trump could continue serving Israel’s conflict with Iran. Apparently 77% of Republicans have fallen for the propaganda that Iran is a terrorist state developing nuclear weapons. The same Republicans fell for 9/11, Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction,” Assad’s “use chemical weapons,” Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Gulf of Tonkin, the endless lies about Gaddafi. And now the Republicans are falling for Trump’s unsupported claim that the “War is very complete, far ahead of schedule.” If the war is nearly over ahead of schedule, how come on March 8 the US State Department ordered non-emergency US government employees and family to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks?

How is a war that has expanded to Saudi Arabia nearly over? This was an upgrade of the previous order. It seems that the State Department’s concern about its personnel is inconsistent with Trump’s optimism. Has Trump now joined the whore media lie machine? Is Trump creating a non-existent reality for his remaining supporters? Democracy does not function when the only information citizens have comes from a lie machine that serves the official narrative of the day and from a president who confuses his hopes with reality. Alexander Dugin, apparently Russia’s smartest person, says it is not Iranian war capability that is collapsing, but American credibility. “The fact that Iran is not surrendering, not agreeing to a truce or a ceasefire, is already changing the balance of power.”

It is worth listening to Dugin, because if he is correct, Trump has allowed Netanyahu to lead America into difficult times. “Missile and drone strikes have been carried out against all U.S. bases surrounding Iran. According to neutral estimates, more than 1,000 American service members have been killed (Iran reports much higher numbers, while Trump speaks of only a handful, which seems laughable given the scale of the Iranian strikes). “Iran has chosen a very effective tactic: striking not only military targets in Israel, which is gradually turning into something resembling Gaza, but above all the hubs and energy centers of the Arab Gulf states on which the global economy depends. Combined with the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, this has already led to enormous losses for the global market. Moreover, the situation will worsen with each day of Iranian resistance.

“It is significant that the Gulf countries—whose plans to transform themselves into neutral and safe centers of the world economy have now come to an end—blame not so much Iran as Israel and the United States. They have always disliked Israel, but in their eyes Trump has become a direct traitor. If American military bases do not protect them but instead create danger, what are they needed for? Arab leaders ask this question quite logically. “Meanwhile, the plankton of global capitalism and the armies of escort girls are hastily leaving Dubai. On the roof of an abandoned hotel, only the somewhat unhinged influencer Andrew Tate dances alone, stubbornly insisting that all of this is merely a computer simulation and that we are living in a matrix where new scenery has simply been loaded in.

“The next step will be the withdrawal of Arab bonds from the United States. Incidentally, BlackRock has halted the process of withdrawals from its funds, lowering the ceiling by more than half. It looks like the beginning of a collapse. Oil prices are soaring, and the indices are falling rapidly. It is entirely possible that the global economy may collapse altogether in the foreseeable future.” If Dugin is right, at what level of intelligence does the US government operate when an expected 3-day war ends not in the expected victory but in economic and military catastrophe? Are not the American people somehow derelict in their responsibility to be informed and to do their duty to make certain that the US government actually serves Americans’ interest, not the interest of Israel?

Is the conservative Republican chant: “you cannot be an American if you don’t love Israel” a method of creating blind American subservience to Israel’s agenda of Greater Israel regardless of the huge cost to Americans? Obviously, the answer is yes. To see and to understand how far off course America is in the ability of its population and elected representatives to preserve accountable government by protecting the separation of powers, reread the first sentence of this article.

Why did the elected US representatives in the House and Senate need a vote to determine whether Congress could vote on whether Trump could start and continue a war for Israel? The US Constitution, not Israel or Trump, is the governing power of the United States. The US Constitution makes no concessions to Israel or any other country to determine US policies. The US Constitution says that it is the power of Congress alone to take America to war.

How long has it been since Congress exercised its Constitutional power? 1941. All wars costing American blood and money have been fought since by executive authority alone. On occasion the president obtains after the hostilities begin Congress’ “authorization.” But the authorization to continue a war already started is not the same as authorization to initiate a war. The war power of Congress delegated by the people has been for decades the prerogative of the Executive Branch, a power explicitly denied to the Executive Branch by the US Constitution. So for decades the so-called “American Democracy” is a country ruled not by the people and their elected repesenaives but by the executive branch. When it comes to war, the American executive branch is a dictatorship.

The destruction of the balance of powers and the Constitution’s limits on the executive branch has been accepted by an insouciant population step by step. Today America no longer resembles the country created by the Founding Fathers. Indeed, I cannot recognize today the country I was born into in 1939. My generation understood that freedom depended on truth, and that truth depended on the media and the universities. We knew that if people were inculcated with lies, the nation would be lost.What has happened to America is that it is under attack by both of its political parties. The Republicans tell Americans about Israel’s enemies. The Democrats tell Americans lies about Americans–that they are racists, homophobic, misogynist, anti-semitic. Trump tells us that we are good, but leads us to evil ends to serve Israel. The Democrats want to replace us with immigrant-invaders.

In the world in which we live powerful weapons exist, weapons that can destroy life on planet Earth. Russian hypersonic missiles cannot be intercepted. Their destructive payload is enormous and is delivered in multiple warheads. A year or so ago a Russian official said that only one Russian missile with its multiple warheads was sufficient to wipe Great Britain off of the face of the earth, Another official said it only takes three to do the same to the United States. The American missiles are less efficient but none the less dangerous if they get through.

Both Russia and the US have thousands of these missiles. How many would Russia have to launch before 3 got through? Why is the world playing at war when Armageddon is hanging over our heads? Israel needs to immediately renounce its doctrine of Greater Israel and the United States needs to immediately renounce its doctrine of American Hegemony. The idiots in charge of governments today are capable of destroying a planet. We must not believe one word of what they say.

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Britain, Italy, New York.

• New York Mayor Won’t Tell The Truth About Islamic Terror Attacks (Pinsker)

March 8, 2026, isn’t a “date which will live in infamy.” It was more like the Ides of March in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar — the date when a violent conspiracy finally came to light, unmasking the conspirators and revealing their true agenda. March 8, 2026, is the date that New Yorkers learned the truth about their young mayor, Zohran Mamdani: He’s dishonest about Islamic terror attacks. Which means, the next time New York City is targeted by Islamic extremists — and, sadly, the Big Apple’s bloody history strongly suggests there will be a next time — Mayor Mamdani won’t tell New Yorkers what the hell just happened. The way he sees it, that’s not his job. He’ll minimize, obscure, misdirect, and post lies of omission.


That’s because Mayor Mamdani cares more about shielding the Muslim community from “inconvenient PR” than honesty, integrity, or telling the truth about Islamic terror attacks. That’s not his north star. His north star is the crescent moon. Even when the facts are overwhelming. As the AP reported: Two men who brought explosives to a far-right protest outside New York City’s mayoral mansion said they were inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, according to a court complaint. Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were being held without bail after a court appearance Monday on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. Their lawyers didn’t argue for bail but could do so later.

The homemade devices, which did not explode, were hurled Saturday during raucous counterprotests against an anti-Islam demonstration led by Jake Lang, a far-right activist and critic of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and the first Muslim to hold the office. The more we learn about the two ISIS-inspired perpetrators, Balat and Kayumi, the harder it is to deny the awful truth: Two Islamic extremists intended to murder American citizens with homemade bombs — directly outside New York’s mayoral mansion. The defendants said nothing in court, but Kayumi smirked and looked over at Balat as the judge read part of the complaint alleging they acted in support of the Islamic State group. Balat stared ahead at the defense table.

According to the complaint, Kayumi blurted out, as he was being arrested Saturday, that “ISIS” was the reason for his conduct. Balat later told authorities that he had pledged allegiance to the extremists, and Kayumi asserted that he was affiliated with the group, the complaint said. Officers asked Balat whether he was aiming to accomplish something akin to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded hundreds more. “No, even bigger,” Balat replied, according to the complaint. Yet, according to Mamdani’s X post, you’d get the impression that the victim of the terror attack — Jake Lang — was the one responsible for the violence. Note how Mamdani artfully connected the dots:

Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism. Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are. What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are. Of course, the mainstream media did its best to cover up Mamdani’s dishonesty. As the New York Times put it, “Mamdani Chooses His Words Carefully After Alleged Terror Attack.” So did Politico: “A Bomb Thrown Outside Gracie Mansion Unearths Grim Reality for NYC Mayor.”

Politico, quite naturally, focused extensively on — what else? — the terrible, horrible scourge of Islamophobia. Just five paragraphs down: “The Muslim community in New York has seen a significant increase in Islamaphobic rhetoric and actions since Mayor Mamdami won his primary,” said Murad Awawdeh, a close adviser to Mamdani and the head of the New York Immigration Coalition. “As elected officials and right-wing media pile on by peddling hate speech and false narratives, Islamophobic attacks have become more persistent and aggressive.”

There were seven anti-Muslim hate crimes in the city in January, an increase compared to January 2025, when none were reported, NYPD statistics show. Awawdeh said NYPD statistics alone don’t capture the full picture, noting that Islamophobic rhetoric and actions do not always amount to crimes. Reread that last paragraph and marvel at Politico’s logic: If “Islamophobic rhetoric and actions” don’t amount to crimes, then by definition, they CANNOT be “hate crimes.”

Instead, it sounds a helluva lot more like free speech! So the mainstream media conflated lawful free speech with unlawful hate crimes. Then it used these fake crimes to excuse real, actual, ISIS-inspired terror attacks in the heart of New York City. Politico noted the seven(!) anti-Muslim hate crimes in January 2026. (Which is awful: Every American has the Constitutional right to worship as he or she sees fit.) But how come Politico didn’t mention the 31 antisemitic New York City hate crimes during the exact same time period? Wouldn’t that have been useful contextual info for readers? There were 58 hate crimes in January, and over half targeted Jews! Just 12% targeted Muslims.

Most probable answer: The fact that New York’s Jews are MORE THAN FIVE TIMES LIKELY to be victims of hate crimes in Mayor Mamdani’s city wasn’t helpful in blaming everything, including ISIS-inspired violence, on “Islamophobia.”It beckons the obvious question: How can New Yorkers expect Mamdani to tell them the truth when the Islamic terrorists strike again? Most probable answer: They can’t. Remember the mainstream media’s uproar when New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg suggested Mamdani would cheer another 9/11-style attack? Turns out Rosenberg was wrong: Instead of cheering, Mamdani would pretend it never even happened — and then blame all the chaos on “Islamophobia” instead. (And Mamdani’s wife would like the X posts that insist it’s a “hoax.”)

In hindsight, perhaps we should hire Lang to stage protests in every major city in America. Might be the only way to keep us safe. Hunters call it rough shooting: It’s when you flush the prey from its hiding places, forcing it out into the open.Lang just exposed two murderous, psychotic Islamic terrorists who were lurking among us, patiently awaiting the most opportune time to strike. At least now, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi won’t have a chance to hurt anyone else. Say whatever you want about Lang, but our citizens are safer with Balat and Kayumi off the streets. So don’t just “Beware the Ides of March.” Beware Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He’s not being honest with you.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Sagan

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle June 19 2025

Jun 192025
 
 June 19, 2025  Posted by at 9:33 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  86 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Self portrait with tousled hair 1629

 

• Ayatollah Tells Trump “We Will Never Surrender” In Televised Speech (ZH)
• Trump Says Iran Reached Out, But It’s ‘Very Late To Be Talking’ (ZH)
• Strait Of Hormuz Disruption Fears Surge (ZH)
• Neocons Dragging Trump into WWIII – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
• Israel Running Low On Missile Interceptors (ZH)
• Only 16% Of Americans, 19% Of Trump Voters Want US To Join War On Iran (ZH)
• Erdogan Backs Iranian Response To Israel (RT)
• Is the Trump Project Unravelling? (Alastair Crooke)
• Blue Collars, Bigger Paychecks: ‘Strongest Growth in 60 Years’ (PJM)
• Germany Stoking Russophobia and Fears of World War III (Norbert Davies)
• NATO Rearmament Is Completely Pointless – Putin (RT)
• Brussels Makes EU ‘As Uncompetitive As Possible’ – Putin Envoy (RT)
• Intelligence Has Departed Every Government (Paul Craig Roberts)
• 40% of Americans Expect Civil War In Next Decade (RT)
• Zelensky Seeks $40bn a Year For ‘Resilience’ (RT)

 

 

Sachs

https://twitter.com/RussiaIsntEnemy/status/1935005386307707124

Ritter

 

 

 

 

Message for the home front, not Trump.

• Ayatollah Tells Trump “We Will Never Surrender” In Televised Speech (ZH)

In a rare and important nationally televised wartime speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he warned against American military intervention on behalf of Israel. bHe set out three clear messages: first that Israel’s aggression happened when Tehran was engaged in indirect nuclear talks with the US and that there was no sign whatsoever that harsh military action was coming. This is confirmation he and the Islamic Republic were caught completely off-guard. Axios had claimed that Washington knew about it, and that the talks were a smokescreen to allow Israel the element of total surprise when its warplanes began hitting Iranian nuclear sites. Second, he asserted that the Americans should know that Iran is not going to surrender and that US entry into the war would bring irreversible destruction.

A third main point Khamenei maid in the speech, even as bombs are still falling on Tehran and elsewhere, is that the American military’s entry into the conflict would be clear sign of weakness for Israel. “The US President threatens us. With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him. They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats,” the Ayatollah said according to state translation. “It isn’t wise to tell the Iranian nation to surrender. What should the Iranian nation surrender to? We will never surrender in response to the attacks of anyone. This is the logic of the Iranian nation. This is the spirit of the Iranian nation.”

He continued: “The US entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment. The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter.” And more: The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if they enter this conflict militarily. The Zionist regime’s malicious attack on our country took place at a time when Iranian officials were indirectly engaged in negotiations with the US side. There was no indication on the part of Iran that signaled a military move. Speaking on the question of potential direct US involvement already, Khamenei said, “It was already suspected that the US was involved in the malicious move carried out by the Zionist regime, but considering their recent remarks, this suspicion is growing stronger day by day.”

Read more …

Iran has one big thing: hypersonics. But how many, and how strong?

• Trump Says Iran Reached Out, But It’s ‘Very Late To Be Talking’ (ZH)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday fielded reporters’ questions on the Iran crisis, but refused to answer whether the US military will directly enter the war, amid Israeli requests that the Pentagon assist in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities. “There’s a big difference between now and a week ago,” Trump told reporters outside the White House, and added curiously: “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.” He indicated that the Iranians had reached out but he feels “it’s very late to be talking.” But he also threw out the possibility: “We may meet. It’s, I don’t know, there’s a big difference between now and a week ago,” he said on the White House lawn. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate. And I say, ‘Why didn’t you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction?'” And more:

“For 40 years they’ve been saying death to America, death to Israel, death to anybody else that they didn’t like,” he said. “They were bullies. They were schoolyard bullies. And now they’re not bullies anymore. But we’ll see what happens. “I wouldn’t say that we won anything yet. I would say that we sure as hell made a lot of progress.” He further described Iran as “totally defenseless” at this moment of Israeli warplanes having full dominance of skies in Western Iran. According to a recent Bloomberg headline: “Iran’s Missile Attacks Wane, Allowing Israel to Start Reopening“ Amid all of this, CNN is reporting that a third US aircraft carrier is being moved, though not all the way to Middle East waters. This could be as ‘back-up’ to the two carriers currently deploying to the CENTCOM region of responsibility:

“USS FORD CARRIER STRIKE GROUP EXPECTED TO DEPLOY TO EUROPE: CNN”. CNN details of this latest new deployment: “The USS Ford Carrier Strike Group is expected to be deployed to Europe next week, near the Middle East, putting a third aircraft carrier in close proximity to the conflict between Israel and Iran, a US official and two other people familiar with the matter said. nThe Ford’s scheduled deployment to the European Command theater has been in the books since late last year. But it will likely move into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Israel, given the ongoing conflict with Iran. At the same time, another aircraft carrier is en route to the Middle East, where it will either join or replace the USS Carl Vinson, CNN has reported.

Meanwhile the hawks are circling, as GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he spoke with President Donald Trump last night about Iran, and that he argued there is one facility that “it would be hard to Israel to get without our help.” “We’ll see what the president does. But I never felt better about the end of the Iran nuclear program is very close, and the world will be better off for it,” Graham said.

Read more …

“Starting tomorrow, for 100 days, no oil tankers or LNG cargoes will be able to pass through the strait without Iran’s approval,” Khandouzi said..”

• Strait Of Hormuz Disruption Fears Surge (ZH)

JPMorgan’s forecast of triple-digit Brent crude prices could soon be a reality as conflict risk in and around the Strait of Hormuz intensifies. The waterway, which handles roughly 20% of global oil trade, remains one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints. Any disruption, particularly amid growing military escalation between Iran and Israel, could impact energy flows worldwide and send prices soaring. The most concerning sign of potential maritime disruption in the Strait of Hormuz emerged in the overnight hours via a statement on X by former Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi. While unofficial, the timing and seniority of the comment may reflect broader regime sentiment—or serve as a warning of what’s to come.

“Starting tomorrow, for 100 days, no oil tankers or LNG cargoes will be able to pass through the strait without Iran’s approval,” Khandouzi said. He stated, “This policy is decisive if it is implemented “in a timely manner.” Any delay in its implementation means enduring more war inside the country. Trump’s battle must be ended with a combination of economy and security.”

https://twitter.com/A_M_R_M1/status/1934805393412063259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1934805393412063259%7Ctwgr%5E68829673ae0d439f19690df06424f4777aafd1e0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theautomaticearth.com%2F2025%2F06%2Fdebt-rattle-june-18-2025%2F

Such messaging, especially when paired with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval activity in the region, raises the increasing probability of IRGC actions targeting commercial shipping lanes in the strait. This escalation could serve as the catalyst that turns JPMorgan’s $120–$130 per barrel Brent crude forecast from a scenario into a market reality. Some more excerpts from the full JPM note: A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—the world’s busiest oil-shipping channel—would shut down the region’s oil trade, supercharging oil prices. The skinny waterway—at its narrowest point it is only 21 miles (33 km) wide— separating the UAE, Oman and Iran, connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean, and facilitates the movement of some 30% of the world’s seaborne oil trade and 20% of the world’s LNG supply.

Widespread GPS jamming has been reported across the strait for the last several days: Which unfolded into a maritime disaster early Tuesday when crude oil tanker Front Eagle slammed into the port quarter of the tanker Adalynn, sparking a massive fire on Adalynn, and concerns about a potential ecological disaster have surged. All in all, the world’s most critical maritime chokepoint appears to be in the crosshairs of the Iranian regime. On Tuesday, President Trump met with his national security team for over an hour to discuss the Middle East and later held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. The key question now is whether the U.S. will enter the conflict. If it does, a shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is almost guaranteed—setting the stage for global energy markets to be thrown into turmoil.

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“Things are going to be bad in the US but much worse in Europe. Armstrong says, “If they turn this into a Jihad or holy war, it will go absolutely crazy. You are going to be looking at civil war in virtually every city.”

• Neocons Dragging Trump into WWIII – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Two weeks ago, legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong was signaling a big turn toward war. We all know Ukraine is out of control with no peace deal in sight, and now the Middle East is blowing up too. Armstrong says, “I think Trump has been kind of snookered into this . . . Netanyahu knew he could not get the nuclear. Now, he says we are losing because they have not been able to achieve that. So, Netanyahu says President Trump, please go in and attack Iran and eliminate that, which is World War III. . .. Iran is not by itself. We have to consider what is going to take place here. . .. I am concerned this drags in Russia and also China. . .. You have Zelensky over there conspiring with Britain to use an old Soviet torpedo to sink an American ship so they can blame that on Russia.

You have the same nonsense in the Middle East so they can create a false flag there to say Iran attacked American forces. They are trying to drag Trump into World War III. These neocons are horrible people. They have no humanity, and they do not care about how many people die.” For anyone hoping this would blow over or not be too severe, forget that. Socrates, Armstrong’s computer program that is extremely accurate, says this is going to be a long and very bad dream. Armstrong says, “Socrates is not showing this is going to be over swiftly and ending. It is warning that this is going to be more protracted. On top of that, Iran has supersonic missiles. They had them before we did. They claim they domestically developed them, but it’s widely believed Russia helped them. In addition to that, about 80% of the oil from Iran goes to China. This, to me, is a classic neocon blunder.”

Things are going to be bad in the US but much worse in Europe. Armstrong says, “If they turn this into a Jihad or holy war, it will go absolutely crazy. You are going to be looking at civil war in virtually every city. This is not good. If you are looking at war that is a dispute over a border or economics, you can come to some sort of negotiation. You cannot do that when you are talking about a religious war. . .. If you take out the Supreme Leader, you are going to turn this into a religious war. You are looking at Muslims reacting in Europe and even the United States. This is s different type of war, and we better damn well respect that.”

Armstrong thinks gold will hit some resistance at around $4,000 per ounce and then go up to $5,000 per ounce. When that happens, Armstrong says silver will easily hit $50 per ounce and beyond. Armstrong says oil could hit $115 a barrel sometime in July, and it could go higher from there. In closing, I asked Armstrong what he would tell President Trump right now. Armstrong says, “We are in a war cycle, and it is a contagion. . .. Get the hell out of Ukraine, and get the hell out of the Middle East.” Armstrong is still strongly recommending getting two years of food.

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Will the US step in? Note: these things don’t stop hypersonics.

• Israel Running Low On Missile Interceptors (ZH)

Following multiple rounds of Iranian missile barrages that have proven far more effective than many “experts” anticipated, the Israeli Defense Forces are already running low on defensive Arrow interceptor missiles, making Israel all the more desperate for the United States to join the war Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government initiated on Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, as Iran’s retaliation continues, reports of war-fatigue among Israel’s population are already emerging.

Against that backdrop, President Trump has been dialing up the intensity of his rhetoric as he pushes Iran to capitulate to demands that it cease all uranium enrichment — a demand that Iran has long ruled out as a violation of its sovereignty, while insisting its nuclear program isn’t focused on creating a weapon. The US intelligence community assessed that to be true in March. “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” exclaimed Trump in a terse Tuesday social media post. Trump, who spoke with Netanyahu by phone on Tuesday, is considering options that include a US strike on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports. As his deliberations continue — while some members of Congress are backing a resolution that would bar a US attack without congressional authorization — the Pentagon continues shifting a variety of assets toward the region. The DOD insists they’re for defensive use, which includes shielding Israel from the consequences of starting a war with Iran.

According to an individual briefed on US and Israeli intelligence, Israel is on pace to run out of defensive missiles in 10 to 12 days. “They will need to select what they want to intercept,” that person told the Washington Post. “The system is already overwhelmed.” Arrow interceptors are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. The United States has been pushing other missile defense assets into Israel over the last week, but the Wall Street Journal reports that practice is already raising concerns about the effect on US military readiness.

“Neither the U.S. nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” Tom Karako of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told the Journal. “The Israelis and their friends need to move with all deliberate haste to do whatever needs to be done, because we cannot afford to sit and play catch.” (CSIS is funded in part by the US government and major weapons manufacturers.) According to Israeli financial newspaper The Marker, the ongoing missile defense is costing Israel about $285 million a night, though ZeroHedge readers will reasonably brace for the day that American taxpayers are presented with the bill.

Even ahead of running out of interceptors, Israel is struggling to consistently defend its citizens and assets from Iran’s arsenal, and especially its cutting-edge hypersonic missiles. Videos of the missiles repeatedly hammering Israel have been making jaws drop around the world and across social media since Iran began retaliating for Israel’s unprovoked launch of a war on Iran.

https://twitter.com/zhao_dashuai/status/1934087063806341372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1934087063806341372%7Ctwgr%5Ef6d22de9c737405f4010b842d909090e19dbe45a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fisrael-running-low-missile-interceptors-iran-proves-stronger-foe-expected

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that strikes over Tuesday night used “a new advanced missile.” According to state media, the first-generation Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile has a two-stage solid-fuel system, a 1,400-kilometer range, a top speed of Mach 13-15, and a maximum time-to-target of just 336 seconds. Claiming it repeatedly and easily penetrated Israel’s defenses, the IRGC boasted that “tonight’s missile strike demonstrated that we have achieved total control over the skies of the occupied territories.”

Of course, there’s also the question of how long Iran’s inventory of offensive missiles can last — but it’s far from clear how much of the arsenal remains after accounting for missiles already launched and others destroyed by Israeli strikes. Iran’s pace of strikes has reportedly eased over the past two nights. “Iran has to make a very, very difficult calculation, because they have a limited amount of missiles, and considering the rate of fire, they cannot replenish in real time,” said International Institute for Strategic Studies analyst Fabian Hinz told the Post. Working to accelerate the math to Iran’s detriment, Israel said it struck missile factories on Tuesday, along with a centrifuge production center.

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“The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war. Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”

• Only 16% Of Americans, 19% Of Trump Voters Want US To Join War On Iran (ZH)

As President Trump reportedly considers issuing an unconstitutional order to commit the US military to Israel’s war on Iran, a new poll finds very little public support for an American attack on Iran — even among those who voted for Trump in 2024. According to an Economist/YouGov poll taken between June 13 and 16, only 16% of Americans “think the US military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran. In an even more significant finding, only 19% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 support American military involvement. (23% of all self-identified Republicans support going to war.) Similarly, 56% of all Americans say the United States should engage in negotiations with Iran. That avenue has even greater support among Trump supporters — with 63% advocating negotiations.

On the other hand, some of the poll’s findings illustrate the effectiveness of decades of government propagandizing about Iran that’s been echoed by establishment media. For example, 61% of Americans say Iran’s nuclear program poses either an “immediate, serious threat” or “somewhat serious threat” to the United States. In 2007, the US intelligence community issued a National Intelligence Estimate that concluded with “high confidence” that Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon. That same conclusion has been periodically reiterated by the intelligence community ever since, including just three months ago. Similarly, 50% of Americans and 68% of Trump voters classify Iran as an “enemy” of the United States. A quarter of Americans categorize Iran as “unfriendly.”

Interestingly, the poll also asked respondents to characterize Israel in the same way. Here, 10% said Israel was unfriendly and 6% called Israel an enemy; 61% said Israel was either an ally or friendly, while 23% said they were unsure. Against the top-line finding of 16% of Americans saying Israel is either “unfriendly” or an “enemy,” some groups with above-average negative convictions about Israel include Hispanics (21%), 18- to 29-year-olds (21%), 30- to 44-year olds (20%), income under $50k (18%) and liberals (22%).

The finding of broad unpopularity of another US war in the Middle East comes alongside a rising chorus of voices demanding that the decision should be made by the Congress, as required by the United States Constitution. On Monday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the “Iran War Powers Resolution” that would prohibit the US military from “unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Also on Monday, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine introduced a resolution in the upper chamber that would require a debate and vote before any use of force against Iran.

“The Constitution does not permit the executive branch to unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the United States,” said Massie “Congress has the sole power to declare war against Iran. The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war. Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.” A coalition that spans ideological lines is forming to back the resolutions, and the Ron Paul-affiliated Campaign for Liberty has posted a webpage that makes it quick and easy for citizens to urge their representative and senators to sign on.

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Big player between Christians and Islam. NATO member.

• Erdogan Backs Iranian Response To Israel (RT)

Iran has a legitimate right to respond to Israel’s attacks, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, accusing West Jerusalem of engaging in “banditry and state terrorism.” He also compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. Israel began bombing Iran on Friday, claiming Tehran is nearing the completion of a nuclear bomb. Iran dismissed the accusations and retaliated to the Israeli military operation with waves of drone and missile strikes on the Jewish state. “It is entirely natural, legitimate, and lawful for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s banditry and state terrorism,” Erdogan stated on Wednesday during a parliamentary group meeting in Ankara.

The Turkish president strongly criticized Israel’s leadership for its acts of aggression, claiming that Netanyahu has “long surpassed the tyrant Hitler in the crime of genocide.” He also condemned the global inaction over Israel’s aggression in Gaza, seen by the UN rights committee as characteristic of genocide, stating that “the blood of massacred civilians, murdered babies, and children is splattered not only on the hands and faces of those who support Israel’s arrogance, but also on those who remain silent.” Türkiye is doing “everything we can” to stop what he called “inhumane aggression” not only against Iran, but also Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, Erdogan insisted. “Stopping Israel’s aggression is essential for the world and humanity,” he said. Ankara is staying vigilant and “closely monitoring Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran,” he said.

The government is committed to safeguarding the country’s interests, peace and security and is prepared for “every possible negative development and scenario.” Russia has condemned the Israeli campaign as illegal and warned that strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure could trigger a “nuclear catastrophe.” In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel’s attacks on peaceful atomic sites violate international law and threaten global stability. US President Donald Trump, however, has backed Israel and demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” On Tuesday, he claimed that American forces and allies have achieved “complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” and said the US knew the location of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him an “easy target.”

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When you lose Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon…

• Is the Trump Project Unravelling? (Alastair Crooke)

The Musk versus Trump fallout (at least for now) has a distinct ‘made for television’ quality to it. But do not be deceived by the entertainment content. The spat illustrates a fundamental contradiction at the heart of the MAGA coalition. It is quite possible that this contradiction will erupt at some further point and may end up triggering the slow decay of Project Trump. bA fulcral moment in the last U.S. election was the switch of Silicon Valley’s ultra-rich Tech oligarchs from their support for the Democrats to Trump. It brought both money and the potential glittering prize that America could seize a monopoly over global data storage; AI; and what Yanis Varoufakis calls ‘cloud capital’ – the purported ability to extract rent (i.e. fees) for access to America’s putative massive data hoard and to Big Tech’s associated platforms. Such a data monopoly, it was believed, would then give the U.S. the ability to manipulate how the world thinks – and to define the products and planforms seen to be ‘cool’.

The notion too was that a monopoly on data centres could potentially be as lucrative as the U.S. monopoly of the dollar used as the principal trade currency – which could provide major capital inflows to offset debt. The explosive quality to a coalition of Tech Oligarchs with the MAGA Populists, however, is that both factions hold irreconcilable visions – both for dealing with America’s structural debt crisis, as well as that of America’s cultural future. The ‘Tech Bros’ vision is wildly radical; it is ‘authoritarian libertarianism’. Peter Thiel, for example, argues that a small posse of Oligarchs should rule the empire, unfettered by any democratic limitation; that the future should be based in ‘disruptive technology’; be robotic and AI driven; and that the populace should be tightly ‘managed’ through AI control.

The Trump Economic Team’s vision is quite different: Trump’s own primordial objective – to which geo-politics is subordinate – is to shore up the dollar as the world’s main trading currency. This objective however can only be sustained through addressing America’s unsustainable debt overhang. The overhang reflects the imbalance that built up after 1970 when the U.S. trade account slipped into deficit: On the one hand, the U.S. has facilitated an exaggeratedly large sphere of global dollar indebtedness to splurge worldwide; but at the same time, this massive inverted pyramid of debt rests on a diminutive and shrinking American production base. nIn other words, whilst America benefited enormously from these capital inflows, it can no longer expect to grow itself out of its own, self-created debt-trap.

Team Trump proposes to address this imbalance through devaluing the dollar (perhaps by up to 30%), by corporate tax cuts (to induce a return of overseas manufacturing to the U.S.), and thus bringing about a managed shrinkage of the offshore dollar debt cloud relative to U.S. productive capacity. To be clear, this does not solve the debt problem – It just buys time. The Tariff ‘shock and awe’ strategy was intended to frighten the world into making unwise deals to accommodate this schema. The U.S. pressure on states for greater NATO defence spending too, similarly follows U.S. ‘bankruptcy best practice’ for the restructuring of existing creditors. So far, this has not worked out as planned, due in major part to Chinese resistance. As a result, the U.S. bond-market (debt market) remains today on tenderhooks, with every auction a nail-biter.

Over simplifying things – one can see that the populist MAGA base are insisting on a return to a real human economy and well-paid employment prospects versus the contrasting dystopian view of theTech Bros, who see only a (non-human) disruptive tech, robotic and AI future. These visions are completely at odds with each other. Knowing this background may explain how Steve Bannon (a supporter of the MAGA populists) can be viscerally opposed to Elon Musk, labelling him an apostate, an ‘illegal migrant’, with the demand that he be deported. The question is, how did such contradictory visions find themselves joined into a single coalition?

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“..create up to 6 million blue-collar jobs in construction and manufacturing, reversing decades of offshoring.”

• Blue Collars, Bigger Paychecks: ‘Strongest Growth in 60 Years’ (PJM)

We’re only five months into President Donald Trump’s second term, and we’ve seen him keep many of the promises he made during his campaign, a rarity for anyone in politics. Now, we can add a pretty historic bump in blue-collar wages to the list. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Tuesday that real wages for hourly workers are up almost 2% so far this year, the strongest growth in 60 years. Under Joe Biden, hourly wages were down nearly 2%. As a matter of fact, no other president has seen a rise in hourly wages since Richard Nixon… with the exception of Trump’s first term, during which wages were up 1.3%.

Bessent, who sat down with columnist and “Pod Force Once” podcast host Miranda Devine for an interview recently, said three things have contributed to this significant growth: falling inflation, the president’s “emphasis on manufacturing,” and the removal of illegal immigrants from the workforce. Bessent told Devine that when Biden opened up the border and allowed everyone to flood the country, it was a disaster for “working Americans” because it put pressure on their wages. Team Trump also believes that if the One Big Beautiful Bill passes, wages will increase even more, while inflation drops even lower. The bill targets hourly and blue-collar workers via elements like “no tax on tips.” “The bill would also eliminate federal income taxes on overtime pay for over 80 million hourly workers in industries like manufacturing, construction, and first responders who often rely on overtime for income,” according to Devine. She adds that it would also provide “tax incentives for manufacturers to build U.S. factories,” which would “create up to 6 million blue-collar jobs in construction and manufacturing, reversing decades of offshoring.”

Bessent also released a statement on Tuesday, praising the Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill: “We applaud the Senate’s action to progress this critical legislation and expand upon President Trump’s tax relief for hardworking Americans. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill will protect families and small businesses from the largest tax hike in history and deliver No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, and new tax cuts for seniors. The bill will ensure the United States remains the premier destination for global capital, while protecting American companies and workers from foreign taxes. The passage of this bill will deliver the permanence and certainty both individual taxpayers and businesses alike are looking for, driving growth and unleashing the American economy. We look forward to continuing to work with the Senate and the House to further refine this bill and get it to President Trump’s desk.”

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The only thing they have left to sell is fear.. Their economy is crashing… Find someone to blame it on..

• Germany Stoking Russophobia and Fears of World War III (Norbert Davies)

Berlin continues to peddle lunacy, warning the state needs to be prepared for an attack from Russia within the next four years. The Western European nation responsible for starting two world wars now has designs to enlarge and modernize its civil defense infrastructure as its European NATO allies fast-track militarization in preparation for a potential direct showdown with Russia, according to Ralph Tiesler, head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). Presently, Germany has around 600 operational shelters with room for half a million people, which is less than 1% of the population. In comparison, the BBK said that Finland has 50,000 protective shelters, amounting to space for 4.8 million people, or 85% of its population.

In a series of recent interviews with national media, Tiesler said that to manage the shortage, the BBK plans to convert cellars, underground garages, and metro stations into a system of bomb shelters capable of accommodating up to one million people out of Germany’s population of 85 million. The hardened facilities would come complete with food, water, bathrooms and sleeping areas. “For a long time, there was a widespread belief in Germany that war was not a scenario for which we needed to prepare. That has changed. We are concerned about the risk of a major war of aggression in Europe,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung news outlet. “New bunkers with the highest protection standards cost a lot of money and take time. We need faster solutions,” Tiesler said, adding that his agency will present a comprehensive plan later this summer.

“Nearly every basement can become a safe place in the event of an attack,” he said in a separate interview with Zeit, encouraging his fellow Germans to reinforce windows, stock essentials, and prepare to shelter for extended periods. President Vladimir Putin has consistently argued that Moscow has “no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, nor political, nor military” to fight with the countries of the NATO bloc. While downplaying the likelihood of a full-blown Russian invasion of Berlin reminiscent of the final days of World War II, Tiesler warned that as a major NATO logistical hub, Germany would become a target for “selective strikes” in the event of an eastern front conflict.

German hospitals are being considered for their ability to treat mass casualties, with Tiesler warning that the national health system could witness up to 1,000 additional patients daily in the event of a military confrontation. Other plans include doubling the number of warning sirens nationwide, upgrading emergency apps to include missile strike instructions, and possibly introducing a national civil service requirement, as reported by RT. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who gave Ukraine the greenlight to use long-range missiles against Russia, pledged to turn the Bundeswehr into the strongest conventional army in Europe by giving it all the financial resources it needs to become so. Merz also said he would introduce a new volunteer military service. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reportedly hopes for a “drastic increase” to the country’s military budget, up to €90 billion ($102 billion) by 2028.

Tiesler has insisted that civil protection must not be neglected, estimating that at least €10bn (£8.4bn) would be needed over the next four years to cover civil defense needs, and at least €30bn over the next decade. All this must be accomplished by 2029, the year German officials have repeatedly cited as the deadline for Berlin to be “ready for war.” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that “the absurdity of such statements is clear to anyone who understands the slightest bit of history and the goals of the special military operation in Ukraine, which we announced openly and without hiding.” Russian officials have repeatedly said that Moscow is seeking the “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine, as well as an arrangement guaranteeing that the country would not join NATO, and would instead recommit to neutrality.

Meanwhile, Moscow has also slammed Western Europe’s militarization drive, which is pushing smack up to the Russian border in the Baltic States and Finland. Rather than supporting U.S.-led peace initiatives for the Ukraine conflict, the EU and UK are instead gearing up for an apocalyptic confrontation with Russia.

Lavrov recently stated that Germany’s military buildup and arms deliveries to Kiev prove Berlin’s “direct involvement” in the conflict. He warned that the country is “sliding down the same slippery slope it already followed a couple of times in the last century – toward its own collapse.” According to a survey by the Levada Center, a Western-funded organization which has been designated as a “foreign agent” in Russia, the United States is no longer the country tht Russians consider the most unfriendly. Germany is now in first place, with 56% of respondents describing it as an “unfriendly country” towards Russia, followed by the UK at 49% and Ukraine at 43%.

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Russia will not attack.

• NATO Rearmament Is Completely Pointless – Putin (RT)

Moscow does not consider any NATO rearmament to be a threat to Russia, President Vladimir Putin told journalists on the sidelines of the 28th annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Certain threats could arise from the US-led military bloc’s actions, but Russia would be ready to address any challenges to its security, Putin stated at a Q&A session early Thursday, adding that any increase in defense spending by NATO would not make a difference. “We do not consider any NATO rearmament to be a threat to the Russian Federation, because we are self-sufficient in terms of ensuring our own security, and we are constantly improving our armed forces and our defense capabilities,” Putin said.

The Russian leader has insisted there is “no doubt” that Russia “will mitigate all the threats that may arise.” Putin dismissed rhetoric about an alleged threat posed by Moscow to NATO as an “inconceivable lie” used by Western governments to justify tax increases and the diversion of public funds to the military-industrial complex. “A Nazi propagandist once said that the more incredible the lie, the faster people will believe it. This legend that Russia is planning to attack Europe, the NATO countries, is the same inconceivable lie,” Putin said. “Everyone understands that this is nonsense. And they deceive their population to ensure the extraction of money from the budget… and to explain failures in the economy.”

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Couldn’t have done it “better” if you tried..

• Brussels Makes EU ‘As Uncompetitive As Possible’ – Putin Envoy (RT)

Officials in Brussels are completely undermining the EU’s competitiveness, according to Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and presidential envoy. His comment follows the European Commission’s proposal to eliminate all Russian oil and gas imports within two years. EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen unveiled the plan, which is backed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday. It seeks to ban all new gas contracts with Russia, and presents measures to facilitate the end of Russian oil imports by the end of 2027. “EU Commission bureaucrats seem obsessed – with making the EU as uncompetitive as possible on the global stage,” Dmitriev, who is also the Russian president’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, wrote on X. “Mission accomplished or still in progress?”

The comment came in response to criticism from Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who warned that the plan represents “a serious violation” of Hungary’s sovereignty. He claimed that the EU is “ready to dismantle Hungary’s secure and affordable energy supply.” The legislation seeks to apply EU trade law mechanisms to imports of Russian oil and gas, enabling Brussels to bypass potential vetoes from countries such as Hungary and Slovakia. Energy prices across Europe soared following Ukraine-related sanctions in 2022. Jorgensen said the latest phaseout is not about Ukraine, but because “Russia has weaponized energy” against the EU. Moscow has called the sanctions illegitimate and counterproductive. Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the lifting of sanctions as a condition for resolving the Ukraine conflict.

The Kremlin also noted that Russia has been a reliable energy supplier to the bloc. Russia, once the EU’s main gas supplier, sharply reduced exports three years ago amid Western sanctions and the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Its share of EU pipeline gas fell from over 40% in 2021 to around 11% in 2024. While most EU countries have cut Russian gas, landlocked members, including Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Serbia, still rely on limited supplies through various exemptions. Meanwhile, Russian LNG imports to the EU have surged, making up 17.5% of the bloc’s supply last year – second only to the US at 45.3%. France, Spain, and Belgium took in 85% of these shipments, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

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“We are headed into a massive conflagration, because there are no honest governments on earth..”

• Intelligence Has Departed Every Government (Paul Craig Roberts)

Iran had the strategic advantage over Israel and could have wiped Israel out. Instead, the hapless Iranians sat passively on their butts, gave a gratuitous demonstration of their capability, thus putting Israel on guard without doing any damage to Israel. Next the Iranian government failed to see the many indications that it was about to be attacked while it wasted its time in “peace negotiations,” and had an important part of its leadership decapitated and its oil fields set on fire. Talking about doing oneself in, Iran takes the cake. Reminds me of Putin. Putin kept Russia sitting on its passive butt for eight years self-deceiving himself with his “Minsk Agreement,” while Washington built and equipped a large Ukrainian army.

Unable to get a mutual security agreement from the Biden regime, on the eve of the Ukrainian army’s intended invasion of the two Donbas republics–Russian people whose requests in 2014 to be reincorporated into Russia Putin foolishly refused, Putin had to finally intervene although he had made no effort to be militarily prepared and had to rely on a semi-private army known as the Wagner Group. The Russian general staff were jealous of the fighting capability of the Wagner Group and wanted the troops integrated into their forces. When the Wagner Group’s commander and his troops could no longer stand the mindless restraints Putin was putting on the conduct of a war, causing Russians casualties while restraining Russian offensives, some of the Wagner Group marched on Moscow as a protest.

The Russian generals called it a coup, a rebellion. The Wagner Group’s leader died “mysteriously in a plane crash,” the Wagner group was broken up. Thus, an effective Russian fighting force was destroyed by the government it was fighting for. The latest consequence of Putin’s inability to face up to reality is the attack on the Russian strategic triad. Again Putin denied reality and said it was not an act of war against Russia, just a terrorist action. Putin did more damage than Ukrainians to Russia’s fighting force. As I recently wrote in a column, there are wars everywhere but they are not acknowledged as wars. Governments are too stupid to understand that this is a dangerous situation. Now Trump has demanded “unconditional surrender” from Iran or Trump is going to assassinate the Iranian leader. “We know where he is hiding,” Trump added.

Can you imagine! What has Iran done to America? Nothing. Trump is hot and bothered that Iran, according to Netanyahu, has, or is about to have, nuclear weapons, the thought of which discomforts Netanyahu, President Trump’s real boss. Tulsi Gabbard, US Director of National Intelligence told Trump that the American intelligent services believe there is no evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons. Really, does anyone think Israel would be attacking Iran if Iran had nuclear weapons? Israel tried to take out Iran’s nuclear research facilities and failed, lacking the ability. So Netanyahu has passed the task on to the Trump and his MAGA-American super patriots. Americans have already destroyed FIVE countries for Israel, disguised as “the war on terror,” and now Netanyahu has set Trump up to do in the sixth.

The Russian Foreign Ministry responds to this dangerous situation with nothing but meaningless words. RT reports: “The ongoing intensive attacks by the Israeli side on peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran are illegal from the point of view of international law, create unacceptable threats to international security and push the world towards a nuclear catastrophe,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday. Why does the Russian Foreign Ministry think that Washington or Israel care what it says? As Russia never does anything, Russia is not a player. If the Russian Foreign Ministry has anyone capable of thought, just because Iran has a target on its back doesn’t mean that Russia doesn’t. China also has a target on its back, and the Chinese government sits there passively telling their “Russian allies” to sue for peace in Ukraine.

The stupidity is unimaginable. What is the point of seeking peace with those whose intention is to get you?Israel and/or Washington bribed, paid, threatened, or ordered the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board to push through last week’s “biased anti-Iranian resolution” on Tehran’s nuclear program,” which, without an inspection, gave Israel a free hand, and led to this tragedy, according to the Russian foreign ministry. Yet, Putin and his foreign ministry are desperate to be a part, even a subordinate part, of the totally corrupt Western World whose reality is a fabrication of lies. I sometimes wonder if the Russian population is lost to Russia. Have the decades of Washington’s propaganda via the Voice of America, Radio Liberty into the minds of Russians succeeded in alienating Russians from their own defense?

If not, why are the Russians doing such a poor defense of themselves. All the Russians do is to protest the West’s official narratives. What kind of resistance is this? None at all. The absence of resistance leads to war. Are there any governments capable of acknowledging reality? Every government is lost in official narratives that are stupid and dangerous beyond belief. Tulsi Gabbard, US Director of National Intelligence, reported to President Trump that the US intelligence community discounts the Israeli claim that Iran has, or is about to have, a nuclear weapon. Trump responded: “I don’t care what she says.” Trump’s controller–Netanyahu–told Trump different, and Trump believes his controller, not his own appointee as Director of National Intelligence.

With Netanyahu firmly in charge of the US government, war is a certainty. American patriots will conclude that I am on the side of Iran, Russia, and China, which shows the limits of emotional response. I am on the side of truth and life. When governments refuse to confront reality, reality runs away with them. We are headed into a massive conflagration, because there are no honest governments on earth. A government somewhere has to stand up and acknowledge that pointless war is afoot, and the presence of nuclear weapons makes it dangerous.

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Lovely.

• 40% of Americans Expect Civil War In Next Decade (RT)

Forty percent of Americans believe a civil war in the US is “somewhat” or “very” likely within the next decade, a new YouGov poll released on Tuesday suggests. The poll, which surveyed 3,375 adults, underscores widespread anxiety over the nation’s deepening divisions. It also follows a wave of unrest in the country, including violent protests against federal deportations and nationwide demonstrations aimed at President Donald Trump. Women were more likely than men to consider civil conflict plausible, with 45% indicating it was likely. Views also varied by political affiliation: 48% of Democrats, 39% of independents, and 32% of Republicans said a civil war was at least somewhat probable. While respondents were more or less split on the likelihood of a civil war, just over 20% were unsure or declined to answer.

The data also suggested racial disparities. Among white respondents, 10% said a civil war was “very likely,” compared to 18% of black respondents. Hispanics were the least likely to completely dismiss the idea, with only 11% saying a conflict was “not likely at all,” while 15% called it “very likely.” Earlier this month, riots erupted across California in response to federal immigration enforcement actions. Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines after a public clash with California Governor Gavin Newsom over his handling of the crisis. Last week, Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot and State Senator John Hoffman and his wife injured in what officials called “politically motivated” attacks.

On Saturday, an estimated 5 million people participated in “No Kings” marches across all 50 states. Organizers described the protests as a stand against “authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarization of our democracy.” Meanwhile, some Republican allies have warned that Trump is losing support for deviating from his “America First” platform, particularly after backing Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump dismissed the criticism in an interview with The Atlantic, saying he alone defines what “America First” means.

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Always looking out for number 1.

• Zelensky Seeks $40bn a Year For ‘Resilience’ (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has called on Western donors to commit $40 billion annually to prop up his country’s budget, following a high-profile snub by US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit. Zelensky made the appeal Tuesday during the gathering in Kananaskis, Canada, where he failed to get an audience with Trump, who left early.Posting a photo on social media of himself speaking to six leaders, Zelensky demanded sustained donations. “It’s crucial to have $40 billion annually in budgetary support for Ukraine – to ensure our resilience and the ability of our country to carry on,” he said, urging the US to approve the aid.

Trump “does not apply strong enough pressure on Russia,” Zelensky claimed, despite Kiev purportedly defending Washington’s global interests. He called on other G7 members to lobby the US leader, while advocating investment in Ukraine’s arms production and new sanctions against Russia. The summit’s results have been reported as a disappointment for Kiev and have cast doubt on the prospects of a Trump-Zelensky meeting at a NATO leaders summit scheduled for next Tuesday. “It is a permanent hazard that Ukraine is a victim of events and Trump’s short attention span,” a Ukrainian official told The Guardian. “There had been all sorts of promises for this summit – including new US arms deliveries being offered.”

G7 leaders did not issue a joint statement on Ukraine, reportedly due to Trump’s refusal to endorse language critical of Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chair summary noted that participants supported Trump’s efforts to broker a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine” and backed Kiev’s call for an unconditional ceasefire. Russian officials have dismissed the Ukrainian demand as a ploy to give Kiev’s forces time to regroup. During recent peace talks in Istanbul, Moscow offered two options for a conditional truce: A withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from territories that have joined Russia, or a halt to Ukraine’s military mobilization and Western arms deliveries. Kiev rejected both proposals.

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Viagra
https://twitter.com/Mangan150/status/1935303367137645000

Worth the read
https://twitter.com/anarchy_build/status/1935254968031678505

Iran map

 

 

 

 

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